SKRILLEX @ The Glass House

That's right, Pomona, California's venue, The Glass House was full of much dubbing and even more stepping this past Friday night June 24. Skrillex returned to his old southern California turf for one of the best shows I have seen in years.

And the cherries on this dubstep ice cream sunday were none other than Porter Robinson, Zedd, Innerpartysytem and The Juggernaut. All of whom made the night that so much better!

But lets not just focus on the who, but also remember, the where! The Glass House has to be one of the best small club venues I have been to. Big things in a small package are the first thoughts that come to mind while entering the main arena. After cozying up to the bass, intimacy with a wedge of comfort is the next feeling to take one over as the music starts coursing through one's veins. But that's not all that made this venue great. It was first and foremost the friendly and positive staff, especially the security staff, that all did their jobs and made guests feel welcomed. Another plus

about this venue, it was all ages and one could enter and leave the building freely thanks to a wrist band system. So club goers are not just quarantined to The Glass House, but are free to enjoy some of what downtown Pomona has to offer! Additionally, for those who are of age and desire to enjoy some cocktails, The Glass House has to their own bar located immediately adjacent to the main building. With its exposed brick contemporary urban mod style interior, The Glass House's bar is quite a chill spot with good vibes, great service and decent drinks.

But as important as painting the setting for the night is, that is not what this post is about. Its about Skrillex and his dub crew's killer show that was emphatically a one-two knockout!

Unfortunately we missed out on Innerpartysytem and The Juggernaut. A really huge shame considering what good material these fine fellows have! Seriously check them out! By the time we made it to the venue we caught the last bit of Zedd's set. A set that deserves full compliment and helped fluff our night quite nicely! Cheers Zedd, looking to enjoying a full night of your mixing next time!

Following Zedd, Porter Robinson graced the stage and with style! This young 18 year old prodigy from Chapel Hill has the magik touch and emits his spell the moment he lays hands on the decks. A definite wizzard in my book, his set truly set fire under the shoes of club goers that night, in the just the right way before Skrillex himself got on. Perhaps it is his traditions in house music, but personally my body lost all restraint wanting to hit all the beats Porter produced. A definite WINNING of a set for one hell of an incredible night!

As Porter finished off the crowd with a mighty twinkle in his eye and the last track, Skrillex's tech crew made sure to set the stage! And so it began the part of the night many of club goers came to see and hear, Sonny Moore, none other than Skrillex himself!

In a most thoughtful opening, Skrillex simply took to the stage and had a few words to share to the audience. If anything can be said about this young man just from simply being exposed to his personality as a performer, he is a very thoughtful and contentious individual who is very down to earth. Something to be found almost surprising considering his rise to high fame at such a young age. A key illustration of this can be found in our clip of his opening when Sonny addresses the audience regarding all the camera's fixated on him and humbly asks the audience on several other occasions to lower their lenses, just dance, enjoy the music and remember that it is about themselves not the performer. His empathy extended onto another level as he arranged for a brief moment of silent memorial for famous skate legend and reality tv personality Ryan Dunn, best known for his tenure on MTV's Jackass.

That too however, was just another cherry on the delicious dessert that was the night. Skrillex is no doubt some kind of grand wizard of electronic music! At only 22 years old, his ability on the decks, behind his mixer and pounding his drum machine is beyond impressive. Not only did his set sound exquisite, but his mixing on the fly has brought me to appreciate dubstep in a far more positive light.

As an EDM enthusiast I have had an appreciation for nearly all genres of electronic music for the better part of the last 10 years... however dubstep was not one of my favored styles. The ears of an old guard trance man like myself sometimes take a little bit more time to perk. But in all fairness, this is the first night I legitimately paid attention to dubstep itself. With that being said, let me tell you... this genre has endless possibilities! A point that is evident by Skrillex's powerful mixing of dance hall, hip-hop, house and just about anything else you can imagine into a set of hard hitting heavy bass electronica was impressively phenomenal! Check some of that in the mixed genres sample clip from that night.

If anything else can be said about this music is that it is definitely for living in the moment. That hard, uber heavy, low dropping bass hits you like a ton of bricks. The lighter twinkles and chorus moments let you get back on your feet until the music will simply pound you, just right, all over again. And, as much of electronic music can be described sexually, this is also a process that helps explain dubstep in such a context just as appropriately. Where as trance in so many ways is the romantics long night of passion with the foreplay build up, session of love making, with a climax and huge orgasmic drop; dubstep in so many ways could be described as the sexual process of two lovers changing positions. Dubstep's hard hitting loin throbbing bass in a lot of ways truthfully captures just that, the throbbing of the loins and the good hard pounding that sex can often be. The light twinkles and soft lulling breaks in the dubstep atmosphere alleviating the sessions of pounding bass could materialize in one's contentiousness as the point of changing positions mid sex. And as the bass resumes the new position is thoroughly ravaged. And, what position might that be... in the thoughts of conversation with some dubstuppers... definitely doggy style. With that said, DUBSTEP = DTF !

But enough Freudian attempts at sexually classifying a music that is so much more than just sexual. Dubstep is definitely the new age wave of not only electronic music but music in general and a night of Skrillex is what helped for me to discover this fact of life. It is far more heavily electronified and electrified than anything I have experienced in a long while! Even more so in a live arena at an alter of wheels of steel! As many times has been articulated throughout this blog, music might very well keep progressing towards further and further electronified states of existence as technocratic subconscious grows. Dubstep might very well be a checkpoint on this road of electronic permeation. And I do indeed very much like it. Electric shock therapy for the soul!

Musical Technocracy's Christian Florin, a young southern California public relations, graphic and web design professional, as well as EDM enthusiast and dubstep connoisseur, will have more to contribute following up on this post!