On Saturday, December 1st NYC was home to British bass-aholics UKF. This UK based electronic conglomeration is a worldwide hub for bass lovers that includes events, news, tracks, and tours but has shied away from the American shores until this past weekend. And boy were they greeted with eager, wide eyed enthusiasm from NYC’s bass-bunnies ready to show these UK dubstars what the American scene is all about.

The UKF family of dubstep, and drum & bass, artists on the bill included Chase & Status, Borgore, Gemini, Delta Heavy, Bare Noize, Dirtyphonics, Xilent, and Alex English. They brought this massive line up with the clear goal of melting faces, and cracking ear drums, symptoms synonymous of the entire 3500 person sellout crowd.

The huge cavernous space of the Hammerstein ballroom, with its dramatic vaulting balconies, wouldn’t seem like the ideal place for a scene that is all about tightly packed, grimey, sweaty dancefloors but this lineup had no problem rocking the whole place. The once-poorly reviewed sound system has been rectified and left all attendees wobbling and mobbing to the heavy mashups.

Just because UKF had never been to the US did not mean that these DJ’s were not facing huge expectations by the young, fervent, zealots of the bass underworld. And they did not disappoint. Gemini kept the momentum from his 35 city sell out tour going strong into his set mixing in both young and old bangers and keeping the bass to a maximum. Borgore masterfully directed his set from beginning to end really calling out to the crowd for their opinion and then bringing what they wanted and more.

He did a great job of mashing up several of his familiar songs while being unafraid to play some dirty trap, and drumstep. He played a trap bootleg of Kanye West’s Paris into RL Grime and Salva’s Mercy remix into a bootleg of Waka Flocka Flame’s Grove St. Party with near effortless execution. From dubstep sampling hip-hop, to trap, to drumstep, and seamlessly back to dubstep. He, along with all the performers from the night kept us all guessing, and kept us all dancing. A real treat.

Chase & Status played a stellar DJ set. They maintained their drum and bass roots with a tinge of American EDM influences, something the whole crowd jeered for on and on. What really stood out was their ability to expand deep into the abyss of bass music and string together several drops for an intense dance experience.

The “keep you on your toes” mentality of bass driven music is what makes UKF special and is what made their American premier one to commend amongst the common predictability of the current EDM scene. A real thumbs up for all the performers.

Visit UKFmusic.com to keep you in the loop with all things UKF.

Jake Annear | Elite.
Photos courtesy of WFF