By Daniel Paiz

Tokimonsta and Maddy O’Neal headline a rambunctious group, rattling Mission Ballroom to its core Saturday night in Denver. The bass-heavy lineup lent itself to some house, hip-hop, and jungle, but just every once in a while. Here’s a breakdown of how the night went as the energy climbed higher and higher in this photogenic venue.

Openers

S’mores and Neumonic both took on the arduous task of getting the evening going despite a very small crowd seeping into the ballroom. Neumonic in general delivered UK jams to pump the energy up, as people finally trickled in to a considerable degree towards the end of their set. Both did a solid job of sound selecting.

Mary Droppinz

This set provided all kinds of questions for this listener. Droppinz played all the bass possible, varying sounds here and there and delivering visuals that glided along with the tunes. However, the set also provoked some existential reflection. Life should be a roller coaster: ups and downs, twists and turns, and fun that results from facing some peril. This set was more like a rocket, perpetually blasting off with no end in sight.

Hype can make a fun night, but there has to be some release from the tension delivered. Occasionally some flow happened with the music, some rhythm via a sonic story. Individual tracks sounded good.

But when crunched together, it left this listener adrift, wondering if any variation of significant change was going. Ironically the last track of the set was far more mellow and inviting. Had that been more of the set, this particular set would’ve rivaled the headliners. Still a good set, but missed potential.

Tokimonsta

This artist is automatic each time I’ve witnessed this sound selector. Tokimonsta arrived and took no prisoners, jamming from the jump. Different levels via a variety of sounds and tempos graced the speakers. Headnodic and bouncy jams to house meeting jungle medleys abounded. Bass had its place of course, as this evening was all about that. But, Toki would slow things down, give the notes space to breathe, and encourage that groove to just grow and bounce along at her command.

One of my favorite flips was Tokimonsta using vocals from an Ol’ Dirty Bastard tune and reworking it to build a better dance track. ODB is hard to improve upon only because too much emphasis is given to the verses and lyrics. Toki used those voices as instruments themselves to make the flip appear to be light work for her.

Another sign of a veteran DJ is seeing that (for some ridiculous reason from this one-track minded crowd) the crowd wasn’t fully embracing the house tunes. So, Toki flipped some tracks that were more main room. This appears to have caused enjoyment across the room.

Toki gave us a mountain range of variations, styles, and sounds rivaling the fifty-plus 14er peaks visible just down the road.

Maddy O’Neal

A great many sounds smattered and smashed through the speakers to start this set. Thankfully after a few tunes, Maddy gave the crowd some reprieve. This allowed the music some space and room to breathe.

Denver seems to be enamored with bass music. What improves any genre, even in dance music, is the absence of sound. That is the space between notes to anticipate, to listen, and to possibly recognize something familiar. At times this set allowed for that and it added to the tunes perforating the venue. Like any good story, tension and relief balance the narrative, and there were some tracks here that did just that.

This last Saturday of February was a night of energy and camaraderie, and hopefully these headliners team up again in the future.