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Bass-ic Instinct

Our survey of Colorado’s dubstep and electronic dance music landscape
 

By Chris O’Keefe

 

Electronic dance music, specifically dub and dubstep, have especially gained interest in recent years. Multipl

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Our survey of Colorado’s dubstep and electronic dance music landscape

 

By Chris O’Keefe

 

Electronic dance music, specifically dub and dubstep, have especially gained interest in recent years. Multiple artists from mixed genres have been including such styles in their albums. Metal artists like Korn have been mixing tracks with Dubstep artist Skrillex recently in a new song called “Get Up.”

Another key to the explosion of the EDM scene in Colorado is the growing popularity of local night clubs here, with artists wanting to come to Denver just to play in these select clubs. People make an extra effort to see them and it has an almost domino-like effect. During the summer, nightclubs like The Church and Beta have hosted artists such as DJ Sunlounger and drum-n-bass band Pendulum.

We have such an active EDM scene here you can find promoter battles going on any time, testing each other to see who can swoop in next for a spot to play their beats at the club. Companies like Triad Dragons helped the EDM cause by promoting shows at clubs and hosting events throughout the state while introducing and launching competitions for others and their DJs.

This past June, Electric Daisy Carnival (yes, this event did feature a full carnival with rides) made a stop in Aurora at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. Each stage had its own name and select genre. The “bassPOD” headlined with popular artist Datsik from Canada, who threw his bass so hard that it just about broke the speakers. Over at the “kineticFIELD” was DJ Axwell, whose “progressive house” style of music was so fluent, he had human waves flowing in all directions.

The following month, the three-day event called Global Dance Festival erupted at Red Rocks. Friday’s headliners were the popular drum-n-bass artist Diesel Boy and up-and-coming Porter Robinson on the “Scion Bass Stage.” I also checked out popular dub artists Nero and Skrillex, each playing their own hour-long sets, with LMFAO headlining the show.

The intensity of the bass was so intense that at one point I looked up and wondered if the vibrations were enough to collapse the natural amphitheater around us.

As the sun set that night, a quick rainfall came in from the west, cooling everyone off and reinvigorating the crowds to keep the party going until 3 a.m. It seems that Denver has a lot of energy and potential, even with an industry that has no time to rest such as medical marijuana. We always find a way to party rock.

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