Part 1. Ladies night and the feelin’s right!
On March 5th and 6th, INVY and Uriah G. Presents showed up and showed out with a double-header weekend that absolutely knocked my socks off! Saturday’s event was super-charged with strong, female energy. Hannah Wants headlined, with support from AZA and MAE.
This was my first time seeing MAE and I was not disappointed! MAE was fun and set the vibe for the evening with contagious energy that spread throughout the club as people filed in for the evening. It wasn’t long till the dance floor was filled and club goers got their groove on.
AZA took the stage next, building on the vibe that MAE set. She turned it up a notch, bringing in that driving techno sound mixed with melodic house beats that never fail to set the dance floor on fire.
I have been following AZA and writing about her for almost a year now, and everytime I see her perform she gets better. Hands down, she is one of my favorite artists to go see and another example of how much talent is really hiding out in the midwest. If you haven’t seen or heard a set from her, then you are missing out.
Hannah Wants is one amazingly talented lady. The former footballer turned house DJ/ producer, brought the house down! She is adept at connecting with the crowd, then, leading them on a musical journey and controlling the rise and fall of the dancing crowd. Then towards the end of the evening, she dropped a track that took me all the way back to sneaking into gay clubs in Florida at 15 yrs old. I never thought I would ever be dancing to SNAP’s “rhythm is a dancer” at a big club again on a Saturday night. For that, she will always have a special place in my heart.
Part 2. Holla, Holla, They them boyz!
Sunday was part two of the INVY double-header. Dieselboy was the headliner with support from Paranoid INC and Roksteady. And get this kids, the show was FREE! That’s right, INVY and Uriah G. Presents threw this for free, inviting the underground to come out from under their rocks and play.
Roksteady opened the evening with a fun and diverse track selection. Rocksteady is a versatile and seasoned DJ and producer, even claiming South Florida’s “DJ of the year” in 2015 under his former moniker “DJ Deeogee”. He didn’t hesitate to stretch his legs for this set. He kept it fun and light, throwing out a DnB remix of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air ”, and perfectly set the tone for the evening. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long till he had the floor moving and the people grooving, setting the tone for Paranoid INC.
Courtesy of
Aggressively Positive Media
Paranoid Inc. is a supercharged duo made up of Rich Lather and I:Machine that, combined, have enough energy to power a small city. The dynamic duo served a healthy mix of DnB sub genres and kept it relevant, but always with a nod to the underground.
You could see the synchonymity between them and I loved watching them play off each other! They did a great job of getting the crowd pumped for Dieselboy.
For over two decades Dieselboy has been a force to be reckoned with in the drum and bass community. If the set he performed Sunday evening is any indication, it’s going to stay that way for sometime time to come.
Just like camping, Dieselboy is intense! Moreover, Dieselboy is presice. He is equally creative as he is analytical. He started out building on those old school roots laid down by Paranoid INC, demonstrating his love and appreciation for that old school drum and bass sound. Then he took the term “high energy” to a new level, melting our faces with his charicteristc machine gun bass lines and masterful drops we have all come to know and love.
While there are an overwhelming amount of things that I can take away from this incredible weekend, however, one theme that really stood out to me above all the others; unity. Unity is defined as: “1 : the quality or state of being one. 2 : the state of those who are in full agreement”. Now, I know that we don’t all agree on everything all the time, but I know the one thing we ALL do agree on is the love of music. No matter the genre or subgenre you love, play, or prefer, no matter whether your goal is to blow up and get big, or you want to stay underground and local, continuing to enrich the local scene, it is and always has been about the music. Events like these expose hundreds of people every weekend to amazing music they may not have had the opportunity to be exposed to otherwise. It’s the reason Aggressively Positive’s mantra is “For the love of music”. Keep in mind that “unity” does not mean “uniform” and I encourage us all to celebrate the different and unique things we all bring to the table in this new and vibrant post-covid electronic music scene. So get out to the events, support your scene, and be open to trying new things.
Cover photo by Anita Bass LLC