Major Lazer = Major Chaos

I'll just post what I typed into my IPhone "notes" as I was sitting there, smoking a cigarette, watching numerous "scene" kids enjoy their lives regardless of the music that was right in front of them. Sleigh Bells feature/interview, which I thoroughly enjoyed is forthcoming on Agit-Reader.

"From my observation, lots of kids drove from many far points to experience this 21st Century experience. I am impressed with BOMA as a venue, but the majority that populate this place are "just getting into dubstep." Let's see if they can dance to it? I need to blog about this properly. I feel like I should yell out to the people here that Major Lazer is not Girl Talk, no matter how much they emulate a crowd at Girl Talk. He's destroyed live electronic music, or has it never been legitimate as something other than a gathering of drug-users. The rave experience has never ended. There are kids here with LED lights on their fingertips, girls with glow-in-the-dark hula hoops, and the worst of the bunch, doods with glow-stick nunchucks who think they have mastered a skill by twirling them around in the same cadence as the Major lasers coming off the stage. It was Major Lazer, more a light show than a "show." I've seen this many times before and I feel like a combination of Skerrit Boy's Flavor-Flav party-starter, clownish, persona and the way-too-bassy for it's own good soundsystem of BOMA has turned this into a - "Hey I was there" moment, instead of a piece of art that I'm normally used to getting from Diplo. At this point I feel guilty to accuse Diplo of sabotaging this event and taking full advantage of the low IQ audience he's attracted.

There's always been an art to what Wes Pentz does, that goes beyond a simple mash-up mentality or even reinvention or celebration for reggae dub electronic-ness. The conversations heard about the music is mind-numbing. Half of me is glad for their exposure, but my other half despises this rise, like I'm the only one who really gets it. It's a sad sheltered perspective, I know. Maybe I'm jaded, crusty, and just trying hard to be indifferent. All that doesn't deter from my individual connection to this music and my inability to describe the genius of Pentz's beat politico and world views. For him I've always had rush after goosebump-inducing rush. Big highs and few lows. So are these the new hippies?"

So that's what I wrote. And after it was all said and done, I was impressed with what Major Lazer has accomplished in twelve short months, but disappointed at what it has become. I enjoy the music enough, but on this night thought the setting was all wrong, the feeling was all wrong, and for that, this spectacle was a failure. I have prescience though to think that Diplo will realize this, and scant down his stage-show to focus on what's important -- yes, a good time is important - and that's the beat.