Alisa Tiburzi
A night at Webster Hall, one of New York’s biggest venues, never fails to leave you with life long memories. This club is serious about bringing the dubstep, which is why it came as no surprise that Downlink was spinning there this past Saturday. What was a surprise, however, was that Downlink was not taking over the main floor – he was spinning in Webster Hall’s tiny basement! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take an intimate Downlink set any day of the week! – he has rocked stages and festivals all over the world, including America’s first Dubstep Music Award show this year in Atlantic City where he took home the award for Best Dubstep Track for his “Existence VIP” with Excision.
This Rottun Records artist throws down these heavy hard basslines and beats that are impossible not to move to. Honestly, his style could not be more perfect for Halloween. His set, plus the crowd that Webster draws in on Halloween weekend makes for one seriously interesting night. If anyone goes hard with the Halloween costumes, it’s definitely at Webster, not to mention the lights they hooked up that made both me and my friend look like we had face paint and creepy contacts in when we had not dressed up at all. Imagine what everyone decked out in costumes looked like! This night was definitely all about the weird.
The basement was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it; full of monsters, vikings, super heroes, villains, and then just some really strange stuff that words cannot explain! Oh, and lots and lots of cats; after all, it was a cat-face party. Downlink had the crowd going bonkers! With producer and MC Cameron Kush (MISCHIEF) on the mic, everyone was raging out both on the stage and all over the dance floor. People were going crazy, and that is in the most literal sense possible. Although for such a nutty night, the crowd was mostly very friendly and happy, which is always awesome. That’s a huge part of what makes this scene so special; making friends at shows!
The perfect ending to an insane set brain-washed the crowd with an un-released collaboration featuring Excision. Could this have been a taste of what’s to come with Destroid? If you have not heard yet, Downlink, Excision, and KJ Sawka (Conspirator and Pendulum) are calling their new “dubstep band” Destroid, and it sounds dope. Well, the vibes this track sent out into the crowd were amazing, it had the crowd so pumped they had no idea what to do with all their energy. So they started smashing pumpkins and doing push-ups mid-dance floor. Eventually the floor was covered in pumpkin guts and people were sliding all over the place, sometimes wiping out and giving many in the crowd a good hearty laugh (no one got hurt thankfully!). If Destroid sounds anything like this closing track, we’ve got a lot to look forward to. Make sure you check out Excision’s Shambhala Mix featuring tracks from Destroid, Datsik, Skrillex, Delta Heavy, and more.