I went down to the Black Box on Friday to see Meska, Mtn Menace, Big Chocolate, and Shlump. They have a chill outdoor area with lots of seating and a huge Chris Dyer painting on the wall. Inside they have vendors, a pool table and a lounge with djs all night, that happens to be free if you are over 21 years of age.
Meska started it off with some hot liquid dubstep. Warming up the crowd with fluid danceable tunes he played songs such as Tipper’s “It’s Like’ and Esseks’ remix of Space Jesus’ song “HMU”. He also shouted out his dad, who was in the venue and happened to be attending his first electronic show ever. You could catch him in the middle of the crowd bouncing up and down watching his son go to work. Meska ended his set with a song that he produced, called “east.coast”, which is now on soundcloud for your pleasure. It was a great track with lots of bleep bloopy sounds and some Notorious B.I.G snippets. A great way to end the set.
Meska throwing liquid fire (From his facebook page)
Following him was a Colorado native from Durango, Mtn Menace. His slow heavy bass shook the crowd and continued the hype. He had a very interesting mix of low frequency hip-hop songs and jammy melodies.
Mtn Menace in control (Photo credit to JV Photography)
Big Chocolate played before Shlump, and had quite a quirky stage presence. He danced and wiggled his way around, with effortless movements. It was clear that he could dance, and his dancing instilled energy in the crowd. He played “Blue Milk”, a heavy trap beat, along with other trap/dubstep borderline music. Big Chocolate got the dance floor hot and sweaty as the crowd packed in tight. An impressive set from Big Chocolate.
Crowd packing in for Big Chocolate (Photo credit to JV Photography)
Closing out and headlining the show was Shlump who wove in slow and masterful bass tones to the crowd. Everyone was moving and the dance floor was packed for the full hour and a half set. He wove trippy noises back and forth with heavy dubstep and slow gritty bass. He played songs off his album Like A Drug, such as his track “Maniac”, which really packs a punch. The speakers inside the Box highlighted his producing capabilities and shook the entire venue with their power.
Shlump throwing down the bass(Photo credit to JV Photography)
It was a great show, with high powered bass blasting all night. Check out upcoming shows at the Black Box including a set from TRUTH on new year’s eve.
