NYC Party Review: Dub War

NYC Party Review: Dub War

20 February, 2008 | 10.00PM

• Written by: Carl Ritger
• Filed under: Music News: dub war

Long an epicenter of North America’s fledgling dubstep scene, New York’s Dub War monthly held their second soundclash of ‘08 last Friday, hosting a bevy of top notch talent including their resident DJs Joe Nice and Dave Q alongside the likes of Dusk & Blackdown and DMZ mainstay Loefah.

Pairing guys like that with Club Love’s cavernous ambiance and a leviathan soundsystem rumored to be among New York’s finest is a surefire way to get that bass hitting heavy.

Needless to say, the dubs kept flowing all night long!

Unfortunately, we arrived a bit late to catch Dave Q and Joe Nice’s tag team history lesson set, but we managed to get to the club just in time to check out the hotly anticipated return of the Shocklee Brothers, aka the Bomb Squad - the production team infamous for crafting some of Public Enemy’s classic tunes.

Initially being billed as a live PA, it was a bit of a letdown to discover that they were instead going to be doing a DJ set, and as they started up with a tentative sampling of rootsy Jamaican tracks that failed to move the dancefloor, it was clear that this probably wasn’t going to be the awe inspiring moment in musical history those in attendance had been expecting.

It took them a while to find their groove - taking detours into glitch-laden breakbeat and top 40 rap along the way - but sure enough, once they found their footing, they churned out a serviceable, albeit predictable, selection of dubstep that managed to get the larger-than-usual crowd bobbing their heads in approval.

Once Dusk & Blackdown took over the reins, things were definitely moving into high gear.

Serving up an eclectic two hours of tracks that spanned from atmospheric arabesque dubs through to nasty grime bangers and back again, Dusk & Blackdown ended with a smattering of dub plate exclusives, including a ridiculous re-edit of Martyn’s killer ‘Broken’ [check it in the player below], that stands as the most compelling argument that dubstep will indeed be competing with techno for the world’s dancefloors in 2008.

Mind, I’ve seen some rowdy dance floors, and this easily ranks near the top; but while Dusk & Blackdown might have set it up, Loefah stepped up and absolutely destroyed the crowd, pushing Love’s rig to the extreme and delivering a punishing salvo of bass weight that left no clubber unmoved.

From this point on, I’m not going to lie: the evening became a bit of a blur.

After one too many bottles of Stella, and with my senses dulled to the roots by wave upon wave of blistering bass lines and propulsive beats, I couldn’t have been happier.

The crowd may have started to thin out once Loefah left the decks, but Dusk & Blackdown made a triumphant return, spinning well into the morning hours and treating the so-called Stamina Crew - the Dub War crew’s cheeky little nickname for the after hours warriors - to unreleased tracks, crowd favorites and obscure rarities pulled from the deepest recesses of their record bags.

With our feet numb and ears ringing, we stumbled back out into New York’s lower east side with a huge smile plastered across our faces.

Sure, a phalanx of DJs might have just banged us over the head with the heaviest tracks at their disposal for the past 6 hours, but we loved every minute of it.

From the crowd to the music, this was easily the best Dub War I have had the pleasure of attending; it only makes me wish that there were more events of this caliber in New York.

Let’s hope that Dub War’s rising profile doesn’t jeopardize what it’s really all about: the music.

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