By Dyer Whitt
Staff Writer
Last Thursday, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, who make up the electronic dance music group, Knife Party, played a mind-blowing show at Dallas’ very own Lizard Lounge.
The Australian group, who combines different genres of electronic music such as “electro house” and “dubstep” are uniquely original in the sense that their music cannot quite be defined as one certain genre.
As the doors opened, over a thousand people flooded the Lizard Lounge. By midnight, the air was getting thinner and the crowd bigger all in anticipation of having their faces melted by intense and heavy bass lines.
Two other DJs, Vibelung and Treg, killed their sets as the opening act and had the mass amount of ecstatic fans in a frenzy as they prepared for the main event of the night, Knife Party.
Neon strobes and flashing lights illuminated the club as two familiar faces began to take the stage. Swire and McGrillen both took the microphone and stirred the crowd up; the main dance floor was swarmed with people pushing to get closer to see the disc jockeying duo.
When the first song dropped, a roar of excitement hit the crowd. The bass moved from the speakers, to the floor and into your soul. The venue could hardly contain the hard hitting beats let alone the amount of people.
Knife Party, who released their first record, “100% No Modern Talking” in December, have been touring ever since and their emergence in the electronic dance music scene has been monumental.
They played popular songs from their EP such as, “Internet Friends” and “Destroy Them With Lazers,” in addition to the various other electronic songs incorporated into mix.
At one point during the night, McGrillen grabbed the microphone and exclaimed his feelings toward the venue.
“We have played Vegas, Puerto Rico, SXSW, Miami; this is the best night so far!” McGrillen said.
With those very words the liveliness of the club turned into a flat out rage.
As Knife Party beautifully synced the wonders of the up-tempo electro house genre with the unsettlingly awesome wobbles of dubstep, the crowd moshed, shuffled and danced the night away.
For anyone who is familiar with electronic beats per minute (BPM), it is extremely hard to master the blending of two genres with completely different BPM, but Knife Party showed no difficulty.
The group chopped up different songs, buildups, intros, and drops with ease; almost as if they could do it in their sleep. Without hesitation they continued to keep the energy of the music in sync with the crowd so that there was never a dull moment.
In comparison to the countless number of concerts I have been to, no matter what genre of music, Knife Party at Lizard Lounge has been without a doubt my favorite performance. Combining their music style, presentation and ability to maintain a level of intensity that resembles a hardcore metal concert, Swire and McGrillen outdid any performer I have seen in my 18 years of existence.
Knife Party is definitely the show to see this year. Whether at a festival or a venue concert I highly recommend seeing this group. I will warn you however; your head will continue to spin in disbelief the day after, in addition to the ringing reminder in your eardrums of the pure bliss experienced by the performance.
