After hip-hop concert success, AS Productions hosts electronic music concert
ABOVE: The electronic concert featured extravagant lighting design and visuals. Photo by Janna Bodnar // AS Review.
Story by Josh Hughes
“Thank you guys so much, this is the first sold out show here since 2013,” Big Wild said, a couple of songs into his headlining set in the VU MPR.
Students filled the entire space, illuminated by brief flashes of light and an overhanging disco ball. Spirits were high and hands pulsed in the air with every passing beat.
On November 18, AS Productions put on Sound Block, a concert consisting of Ca$h Bandicoot, Manatee Commune, TOKiMONSTA and Big Wild. Following October’s hip-hop show, this set catered to the EDM and electronic crowd at Western, aptly booking Bellingham’s own Manatee Commune. Each of the acts have been on their own respective tours, but this show gave them a chance to all share the stage for one night.
ABOVE: Artist Ca$h Bandicoot opened with a set of trap music. Photo by Janna Bodnar // AS Review.
After the enormous line outside vendor’s row slowly paraded into the venue, Ca$h Bandicoot immediately broke into a DJ set that largely consisted of current trap music. The already lively crowd burst out singing along to Lil Yachty’s “One Night” and the dancing ensued during snippets of Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps” and A$AP Mob’s “Telephone Calls” among other songs. His set only lasted some thirty minutes, but Bandicoot gave the crowd a suitable appetizer for the following acts.
Between small bursts of a fog machine somewhere on stage, Manatee Commune, or Grant Eadie, came on to a screaming applause. His setup, which consisted of an oddly placed Ableton Push, drum pads, and a couple cymbals, encroached around Eadie as he swiftly went into a set of organic chillwave and bedroom electronica. Manatee Commune takes some influence from Odesza, Western’s inescapable EDM giants, but he also draws from other mellow electronic artists such as Giraffage and Slow Magic. All the same it would be unfair to reduce his sound to a few influences, considering halfway through the set Eadie brought out a violin and started playing along to a skittering beat in the background.
BELOW: Local artist Manatee Commune plays violin, brining a different sound to the concert. Photo by Janna Bodnar // AS Review.
Manatee Commune gave a dazzling performance, playing live drum pads and also breaking out his guitar for a couple tracks. Over appropriately nature-based visuals, his hour-long set ended with some cuts from his new self-titled record, which topped the KUGS charts for a few weeks in October.
Next up was TOKiMONSTA, the stage name of Jennifer Lee, a producer from L.A. who just released her fourth album, “Fovere,” in March.
“I’m gonna take you guys on a little journey, are you ready to go with me?” asked Lee as she came on stage.
Her setup, which landed closer to a typical DJ template, put her front and center as more and more fog developed in the energetic, sweaty crowd. Staying true to her word, TOKiMONSTA took her set all over the map, starting with mellower cuts and ending with an explosive Daft Punk remix.
ABOVE: TOKiMONSTA thrills the crowd with her industrial sounds. Photo by Ricky Rath // AS Review.
She interspersed her own tracks with remixes of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” and Keith Ape’s “IT G MA,” the last of which may have been the most intense moment of the whole night. As each song progressed and morphed into the next one, TOKiMONSTA got the crowd just as amped up as her successor Big Wild would. Her set sounded like the rigid, more industrial counterpart to Manatee Commune’s natural sounds, but each song burst to life as everyone in the crowd compacted closer and closer.
Finally, nearing 11:15 p.m., Big Wild came on for the final performance of the show. With a full keyboard, another drum pad, some cymbals and his laptop, the Seattle producer made his set worth the wait.
While the previous artists all encompassed live elements into parts of their productions, Big Wild integrated live drumming and keyboard playing into nearly everything he did. Over tracks bursting with horns and bell kits, Jackson Stell had everyone dancing and clapping along as he pulsed around on stage, his long hair thrashing around.
BELOW: Audience members enjoy good vibes and a hand-held light show. Photo by Janna Bodnar // AS Review.
When things couldn’t seem to get more exciting, Stell brought out a cajón and started drumming on it during song buildups. Animated visuals were projected in the background, and Big Wild finished his set with some of his more well known tracks like “Afterglow” and “Invincible.”
He closed his set by once more thanking the crowd, looking dazzled at the sheer amount of people in the room.
Once the show had ended, students struggled to file out of the packed MPR, leaving the lingering fog and pulsing lights behind for the November Washington air.