Review: Bassik presents LA Dubstep, Cookie Monsta and Nero @ Republic NOLA

As a one-year anniversary celebration, Bassik could not have brought a more appropriate group of producers and DJs to perform for the massive crowd assembled at Republic in New Orleans.

After arriving in New Orleans just in time to see Unicorn F#kr setting up and the massive crowd gathering outside, I quickly realized that the evening was going to be set off correctly. As a Louisiana local, Unicorn F$kr has been performing at a couple of different residencies, including Dirty Disco here in Baton Rouge – and has been trying to hype the local electronic scene since his stint as a KLSU DJ with his “Antipop Radio Show” in 2008 and 2009. He opened up his set with some absolutely fantastic Drumstep that I found extremely interesting; if you had double-timed it, some of the tracks could have passed for a regular Jungle or Drum & Bass set.

Following Unicorn F@kr was the first of two UK natives Cookie Monsta. No doubt an early fan of electronic music after having grown up during the second wave of underground waves in Europe, Cookie Monsta did not disappoint New Orleans but instead blew the lid off of the crowd. After dropping a few big bangers like the Flux Pavilion’s “I Can’t Stop”, he felt the time was right to power up the bass cannon and drop Excision and Datsik collaboration. You know you’ve got the crowd on the right flow when you’ve got everyone raising their hand, palms out, waiting for the drop. Afterwards we were able to catch a quick word with the man behind the cookie-crazed-googly-eyes, Tony Cook, and I asked him how he felt about the whole never ending debate about UK versus American Dubstep. He could only provide a quick answer as he was pretty drained, but he commented that not only does he appreciate his roots because he grew up with the UK Dubstep scene, but he’s making the music that he enjoys right now at this moment.

The moment everyone was waiting for, however, was not far away as 1 a.m. rolled around and Nero decided to step up to the CDJs after Cookie Monsta. The room was beyond packed at this point, both downstairs and the VIP upstairs were filled with people craving more bass, and Nero was not about to disappoint. One of the first tracks dropped was Sub Focus’ remix of Rusko’s “Hold On” – there aren’t many songs that can make a crowd of people jump around in rhythm nearly as well as this track. To not disrupt the energy, the track immediately following was the ever-popular “Warp 1.9” by the Bloody Beetroots. It just so happened to be another song that captures the energy of the crowd so serendipitously, as if it sneaks up on you and tells you to dance now. One of my personal highlights, however, was the edit/remix/wizardry of the classic “Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys. One of my favorite things about an electronic show is you never know what sort of remix a particular producer has been sitting on and along with SebastiAn’s remix of “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine, “Sabotage” was an absolutely crowd-pleaser.

Sadly for the crowd, Nero’s time had come to an end and had taken a bow to leave the stage – but not before the chants of “One more song! One more song! One more song!” brought him back for a quick one-song encore. The crowd absolutely loved it and I’m fairly certain I saw a few articles of clothing get thrown onto the stage.

Nero finally passed off the stage to another LA Dubstep member Shanook, a native New Orleanian and another residency specialist with Bassik. Shanook was the only DJ to use the Technics 1200 turntables, as apposed to the CDJs, which I found quite pleasing to the ears. Some may call it snobbery, but there is warmth to vinyl that just doesn’t not exist with CDJs. Being the closer, he had to go out with a bang and did not disappoint.

All in all, the show was an absolutely blast and I cannot wait to attend another Bassik event. Republic was an excellent venue in terms of both capacity and intimacy, while all of the performers knew exactly how to control the flow of energy to and from the crowd – something I believe a lot of electronic producers/DJ’s lack.

Don’t forget to check out the next Bassik here in Baton Rouge @ The Varsity, featuring Liquid Stranger, High Top Kicks and DUBsquadron.