all words: Robb Scott
all photos: Aditya Banerjee
His twitter name is @RuskoOfficial, and rightly so—Saturday night at the 9:30 club, the English producer/DJ blew the roof off the building. Christopher Mercer, better known by his stage name Rusko, is thought by some to be the creator of dub-step—personally I wouldn't go that far, but I'll leave that up to one's own opinion. Bringing his own flavor of grimy 2-step beat making to the District, he played to a sold-out house full of fans primed and ready for an old-fashion rave.
Having seen him back in August at Sonar, I had a some idea of what to expect from the guy: a solid mix of new and old styles of dub-step along with skweee influences. While my expectations had already been set pretty high, once the glowing marquee of R-U-S-K-O begun to rise, I knew I was about to receive a whole other level of awesomeness.
Along for the ride was fellow UK producer/DJ talent Doorly. Not to be limited to his opener status, Doorly came hard with a fun mix of house, trance, and lots and lots of bass. Notable mixes were his dub-step infused remix of Basement Jaxx's "Raindrops" and a comically fun re-imagining of "YMCA" (The Village People). Getting drenched in light and sound, not to mention sweat, the kids came out to play—some harder than others… but more of that later.
With the crowd appropriately hyped up, Rusko made his way to the stage. As previously mentioned, his name glowed in big bright lighted letters, all moving up and down independently throughout his set. Unlike Doorly, he didn't rely on the bevy of colorful spotlights, opting instead for a more cavernous feel with a healthy amount of strobes. There was so much going right with his act; from the impeccable transitions, to the crowd interaction, to the unrelenting stream of hits he played.
Much of the night I admittedly don't remember as I was so overcome with all that is Rusko; I hadn't grooved so hard in a long time. One thing however that I do remember, though I wish I didn't, was one unfortunate young woman who spontaneously broke out into convulsions right in front of me. Luckily, enough people noticed her having a seizure in the pit that security acted quickly, and Rusko put a pause to ensure she was safely taken care of.
Now while it's no secret that party drugs were coursing through the veins of many in attendance, I have to point out the seriousness of such drug use. I won't say don't do them, but let's be real, if you do, be smart about it. It becomes quite easy to lose control at such a show, and even easier to die with no one being aware of it till the lights come back on.
To anyone who missed out, I feel bad for you, but I strongly encourage you to make your way to see Rusko, not to mention Doorly, the next time either stops in town again. Rusko's album O.M.G.! is now available on iTunes, as well as Doorly's Pigeonhole This! EP. Now time to take in the impressive visual playback provided by the talented Aditya Banerjee:
Previously in Live DC:
- 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
- 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
- 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
- 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
- 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show
- 5/22: LiveDC: Penguin Prison & Class Actress @ RNR Hotel
- 5/21: LiveDC: James Morrison @ 930 Club
- 5/21: Photos: Que Sera L'Anniversaire @ Napoleon
- 5/21: LiveDC: La Sera/ Beach Week @ Red Palace
- 5/21: LiveDC: The Black Keys & Arctic Monkeys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
God loves a cheerful giver.
Rusko doesn't play anything close to 2-step. Dubstep is part of the garage family and the hardcore continuum but definitely not 2-step. If you're looking for 2-step revivalism, check out UK Funky or Bassline House or some of the newer future garage/bass sounds like FaltyDL. Rusko plays straight-up brostep/mid-range crack. 2-step is waaaaaay more soul-oriented.
http://youtu.be/4z1OhSYjhfw
Also, who says Rusko created dubstep? Dubstep was around years before the guy even popped up. He's made some great tracks but even the suggestion is a bit out of bounds. He didn't have a full release until 2006, like 5 years into it.
172387 @2-step was totes awesome: Doorly introduced him as the creator of dub-step (hence my eyebrow raise)... as far as dub-step involving 2-step, wiki it... you will find that it reads like this: "The earliest dubstep releases date back to 1998 and were darker, more experimental, instrumental dub remixes of 2-step garage tracks attempting to incorporate the funky elements of breakbeat, or the dark elements of drum and bass into 2-step, which featured B-sides of single releases"
fyi, dubstep has been around since around 2000 or thereabouts, when rusko was like 15 or something.
172390 @Robb S: doorly was acting as the hype master which, by its nature, involves hyperbole.
As for the 2-step element, the wikipedia article you're citing is referring to an early incarnation of it, before the name was even affixed and when it sounded more like what was then called breakbeat garage. The derivation here is to fundamentally place dubstep within garage as a whole and even if you stretch it to the absolute max, Rusko never produced 2-step.
Vex'd is a pretty good example of someone showing the intra-genre connections and FaltyDL is definitely a great guy for hearing modern 2-step connections
172405 @2-step was totes awesome: We learn something new everyday I guess huh—thanks for the clarification... but once again, don't get me wrong, if you read what I wrote, I called Doorly out on his "hyperbole"—did you catch the show though? You seem really into the genre, I hope you did.
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