Netsky the Belgian drum and bass producer brought the noise with Dynamite MC at the Middle East in Cambridge last Saturday, the concert itself yielding over five consecutive hours of kicks, snares and deep bass.
With openers like Lenore whose stoic stature juxtaposed with her heavy hitting jams made the show built for success even before Netsky took the stage. His grand entrance with Dynamite MC finally came just as the crowd’s heart rates began to match the 170 BPM breakbeat hinged basslines, which had been shaking chests since the show started at 8 p.m. With the powerful combination of Netsky’s slick “liquidfunk” style and Dynamite MC’s overlay of lightspeed vocals, one is easily swept away by the vicious current that is created.
The crowd was filled with a plethora of different types of dancers from the simple detached head nod, to couples getting down and dirty and the most memorable, those who were so lost in the music that their bodies created some sort of rhythmic flailing which was hilarious to watch but painful to be next to.
Netsky played his new classics like “Love has Gone” and “Come Alive” while Dynamite MC kept the show at maximum by carrying the crowd through the lulls in between drops and building the drop up more than a prerecorded track ever could. The two together were a duo as complementing as the drum and bass that was being played; exceptional together, yet probably still pretty good independently. The new blood Netsky created the framework onto which Dynamite would exercise his veteran rhyming skills and build a palace out of what was once Netsky’s metaphorical musical house.
Although these things only existed in the estranged depths of my mind, the energy radiated by these two is probably the only thing that could birth such creatures. The music and its creators were fast and heavy hitting. This new age “band” composition creates something nowhere else in music and makes for an experience unlike any other. Although the genre has been around since the mid 90s, its only now that we are starting to see this rich culture percolate out of Europe into the states, and it’s something I’m glad to finally see.
Ultimately Hospital Records, the real figurehead of this entire show, accepts nothing but quality artists who are good at what they do. Both Netsky and Dynamite MC are far from exceptions and this concert was not only a showcase of two very talented individuals, but of the quality of producers that Hospital Records has under its wing.
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