Black Coffee

Best concert of my life. I didn’t see any drama, everyone brought good vibes. Danced right until the last song. Thank you Black Coffee. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

It’s fitting that Ali Shirazinia (AKA Dubfire) states that some of his most formative influences stem from the Iranian punk scene that he grew up around, along with records from the Washington D.C Hardcore scene from bands like Minor Threat and Black Flag. One cursory look at his recent career is enough to see that it’s been pretty punk rock by anyone’s standards. Making his name in the progressive house DJ and production duo Deep Dish, he sacked that in after winning Grammy’s for what they do and radically changed his sound with his subsequent DJ sets. No matter what music you listen to, you have to respect the dedication and sheer spine that it took to follow that through, even if Deep Dish reunited for a single release this year. The truth is, however, that Shirazinia’s evolution from the duo’s prog house to minimalist techno works far better live and makes for some outrageous sets for any house fan. The music he creates in his solo sets just is more accessible than his previous work, and while that might seem like a cop out on the surface, in the heat of the moment, it would take someone seriously churlish to care. Besides, the man’s shown that he’s an artist, and now he wants to show that he’s just as adept at making people dance like utter lunatics. Go and join them the next chance you get, you will not regret it!

Skepta is a newer Rap artist that I've seen around on youtube and other rap sites. He seems rather new in the mixtape area, producing music in the underground (but upcoming) Grime scene. He has a really good sound to him and unique. His rapping flow is nice and unlike any other that I have seen before.

When I have seen him on stage he usually is starting up for someone since he is new. He usually has a large presence on stage with people behind him trying to living up the crowd. He usually kind of dresses baggy and hood. I like the way he moves on stage and keeps the crowd hype he moves around the stage around alot and doesn't hesitate to do anything wild.

One of my favorite songs from him is "The man". He also has alot of freestyle I've heard on youtube I really like. I would love to go see him at some point since he seems like he is an up and coming rap artist. I really do believe with in time he will be famous and have a decent cd out where it will sell millions he seems so much more advanced then some of these other artist I've seen.Skepta is awesome.

I had the chance to see Dennis Ferrer at a festival earlier this year and it opened my eyes to his music. I was unfamiliar with this artist before the festival, but I am definitely a fan now. He played on a large stage that was very well lit and worked well with the type of show he was doing. The lights were coordinated with the beats of the music he was playing. What I liked about him was that he used softer beats rather than the hard hitting stuff that tends to be softer now. It kind of reminded me of something you would hear in the early to mid 90’s. He let the music build from a soft swell to a strong climax. His set was over two hours long and he paced it wonderfully. His set list got the crowd in to the music and everyone was dancing. There wasn’t any crowd interaction really, but with the type of music being played, I can understand that. I was never really in to this type of music but his set list and the crowd have turned me on to the genre. I will be seeking more of this out in the future.