Knife Party at LED Anniversary Party: 5 tracks you need to know
There is much debate within EDM circles about which subgenre is best. Bass heads argue that dubstep can’t be trumped — that there’s nothing better than sweat, filth, and wobble. Progressive housers say that life isn’t worth living without Avicii’s tinkling piano melodies. Minimal techno geeks insist that less is more. Trance fans vow that no other genre can create such sweeping metaphysical euphoria. Moombahton junkies maintain that moombah is the most fun to dance to.
At Dancing Astronaut, we believe it’s ridiculous to claim that one type of EDM is inherently better than the rest. We only have one criterion for music, and it applies to every genre: Is it done well?
Which brings us to electro. In our eyes, electro is all about sensory overload — about supplying your ears and feet with more input than they know what to do with. In electro, more is more, and the bigger the drops, the harsher the screeches, the better. At the LED Anniversary Party in San Diego, special guests Knife Party demonstrated — to devastating effect — what happens when you turn up the energy at 2:30AM. With a deliciously schizophrenic set that spanned electro, dubstep, and moombahton, Knife Party destroyed our minds. While Rob and Gareth were on stage, time as we knew it simply ceased to exist.
Here are the five tracks you need to know.
Knife Party opened with Hard Rock Sofa’s pulsing, brooding “Quasar,” setting the tone for a set that was dark and delirious. Re-energizing yourself can be difficult at 2:30 in the morning (particularly if you’ve already been going hard for five and a half hours), but “Quasar” managed to make it easy.
2. Porter Robinson – Unison (Knife Party Remix)
Electro’s present and future collide with “Unison,” the kind of aggressive, snarling EDM that makes you want to stab your friends just to watch them bleed. (In a good way). We’re pretty sure this is what Satan’s farts sound like.
3. Swedish House Mafia – Save the World (Knife Party Remix)
This is the remix that made the world sit up and take notice of Knife Party. On the night, John Martin’s utopian vocals lulled us into a false sense of security before the drop grabbed our testes and dropped them in a blender.
4. Knife Party – Internet Friends
This might have been the most highly-anticipated track of the night. When vocals of “Internet Friends” kicked in, the entire Valley View Casino Center went absolutely ballistic. Knife Party actually played VIP Mix of “Internet Friends,” which switches to dubstep for the second drop, but we were unable to find a decent version online. If you have one, please link to it in the comments.
5. Nero – Crush On You (Knife Party Remix)
Nero’s “Crush On You” was already a dubstep anthem. The KP remix accelerates the tempo, elevates the high end frequencies, and shrieks its way into your soul with an utter lack of respect for what your parents probably think about music like this.
Categories: Music