Excision was at Atlanta’s Tabernacle last weekend, Friday, March 7th.
Jeff Abel, better known by his stage name Excision, is a Dubstep Record producer and DJ from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Excision frequently works with fellow Canadian dubstep producers Datsik and Downlink and is the founder of Rottun Recordings. Abel started in 2004, and his first release was in 2007. He releases an annual “Shambhala” mix album each year, and he is also known for his watts of bass tours.
Abel recently founded another label “Destroid Records.” Upon it’s debut, the label released a full length digital album with the majority of tracks by Excision himself and collaborations with other artists such as Downlink, Space Laces, Far Too Loud, Bassnectar, and Ajapai. Another single was released in December 2013 by Excision and Space Laces entitled “Get Stupid”. There are more releases scheduled to be released on Destroid Records such as these two newest singles released last week.
The show in Atlanta was a perfect mixture of weird, fun, and energetic. All the artists had great sets with visuals as weird as their names and their music. If it wasn’t sold out, it had to be close to it. I was on the third floor balcony to the left the entire show and I felt like I was front row center stage in the pit.
The night began with the well-known artist ill.Gates. He dedicated his set to a friend our mine Armend Kaleshi, an aspiring young DJ named Armend Hammer who is battling Leukemia. Needless to say, it brought tears to our eyes and touched our hearts.
He then proceeds to drop one of the greatest sets I’ve ever seen him play. I’ve seen ill.Gates 3 times and the Tabby was great because he dropped original tracks which includes one of his most famous tracks “Expanded” ft. Bassnectar. He had some different and fun visuals including close ups of his hands on the beat pad going wild. He then dropped a couple of brand new, unrecorded, “off the cuff” tracks. It was an unexpected treat for the crowd.
The next opener was DirtyPhonics who I had had not litsened to much, but I was pleasantly surprised with their sound and their showmanship. Their set consisted of many genres from dubstep to trap to drum & bass. At some point during their set, they came out with big water guns and began spraying the crowd. They had two large packs of water and were throwing bottles of water to the crowd, and eventually, they jumped off the stage and into the crowd and proceeded to “crowd surf” from the back to the front and back on the stage. It was high energy to say the least and a perfect crowd pumping introduction for Excision.
Excision’s visualizer stole the show. It was quite a spectacle. It was a giant sheet covering his DJ booth, and it looked like a giant space shuttle. He had many different visuals on it such as an actual space ship along with random faces and figures. Every now and then when his set would get extra intense, a small window would drop and reveal Abel behind it. At this point, he would proceed to interact with the crowd and get everyone excited with his corssed arms “X” symbol.At some point during his set, out of no where, a giant T-rex comes stepping onto the stage! I look at my friends, they look at me, and we just stare in amazement! We could not believe what was happening on stage. I will admit, it seemed a bit “gimmick-y” almost like a ploy to get people talking, but it worked. I’m still talking about it on this post now. It was weird to say the least, but it was still fun and quite appropriate to the Excision style.
His set featured a lot of hardstyle, which I am not a big fan of, but he mixed it well with wompy dubstep, house and uptempo sounds, and even some trapstep style beats. He played originals like “X Rated,” “Bounce,” and a more recent original “Rock You.”
As far as these new track go, let me just say, genius! The first track “Destroid 7 Bounce VIP” is very well done. It starts with the traditional “Bounce” layer, but it quick escalates into a build. This build drops into a hard dubstep layered with sirens sound that will, in the words of Excision, “exhilirate the heart and exterminate the weak!” The later drop goes into an uptempo sounds and eventually turns into a hardstyle beat with some slowere whomp inbetween, but the fast style is not wuite doing “it” for me. Its too quick and too much in your ears at once. He needs to stick to his slower paced, sample-filled music that he’s done so well with in the past. I do realize that it is a VIP edit, so naturally it’s faster, but I just don’t like that in this scenario.
Not a big fan of “Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP” at first. Its fast, hardstyle, VIP edit that I don’t like, but it drops into this weird slow style beat that almost seems like Abel is trying to hard to make it sound good. After this, he goes back to the faster style: no sir. That is all I can say. Somewhere toward the end of the song Abel drops a sample of the cartoon character Goofy laughing. I am normally all about some random samples, but this just does not work. Not a big fan of this song.
PRESS RELEASE – MSO PR
In the midst of his current headline tour, Canadian dubstep trailblazer EXCISION engages full-blown aural annihilation with not one but two new singles, “Destroid 7 Bounce VIP” and “Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP. The tracks are available now on Beatport, iTunes and other digital retailers via Destroid Music, and they signal the next phase of the producer and artist’s electronic dance music conquest.
Teaming up with Louisville, KY-based producer and artist Space Laces for both “Destroid 7 Bounce VIP” and “Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP,” the two songs see North America’s premier dubstep sorcerer cast his most potent spell to date and make for a fitting follow-up to the duo’s last collaboration “Get Stupid.” This also continues their promised series of singles that began in November 2013.
“Destroid 7 Bounce VIP”
“Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP”
“Destroid 7 Bounce VIP” builds from a horror movie-style soundscape into chopped-and-screwed dubstep madness augmented by an anthemic refrain bound to tear a hole through any dance floor. Then, there’s “Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP,” which elevates tense synths through an explosive catharsis of electronic energy and organic spark. You can also hear “Destroid 10 Funk Hole VIP” on Soundcloud‘s main page right now. EXCISION cuts through genres and emerges with an intoxicating amalgam all his own.
Right now, he’s destroying venues across the states and Canada alongside supporting acts Dirtyphonics and Ill Gates. The live show itself proves to be downright revolutionary incorporating both 150,000 watts of PK sound and the return of the 28 foot wide, 15 foot tall mammoth video and lighting installation known as The Executioner.
This custom crafted stage production was specifically designed for EXCISION’s 3D video mapped visual sequences as he DJ’s both music and video live on stage. The Executioner is fully recharged and returning as EXCISION’s on-stage bass bunker, complete with brand new 3D visual animations displayed across its 420 square feet of surface area. This technological audio video monstrosity is equipped with various sliding panels and pneumatics to hide lasers, fog machines, an extensively upgraded lighting system and more than a few surprises you have to see to believe.
“Bounce” along to EXCISION’s new singles now and be sure to catch him on tour this spring.
Tickets and exclusive merch bundles for the tour are available now at: www.flavorus.com/excision
View the trailer for the tour here:
The remaining dates for EXCISION’s 2014 tour is:
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| DATE | CITY | VENUE | |
| Mon | 3/10 | Asheville, NC | The Orange Peel |
| Fri | 3/14 | New York, NY | Best Buy Theatre |
| Sat | 3/15 | New York, NY | Best Buy Theatre |
| Tue | 3/18 | Charlottesville, VA | The Jefferson |
| Wed | 3/19 | Norfolk, VA | The Norva |
| Thu | 3/20 | Richmond, VA | The National |
| Fri | 3/21 | Philadelphia, PA | The Electric Factory |
| Sat | 3/22 | Washington, DC | Echostage |
| Mon | 3/24 | Portland, ME | The State Theatre |
| Tue | 3/25 | Syracuse, NY | F Shed At The Market |
| *Wed | 3/26 | Providence, RI | Fete Ballroom |
| Thu | 3/27 | Boston, MA | House of Blues |
| Fri | 3/28 | Hartford, CT | The Dome at Oakdale |
| Sat | 3/29 | Montreal, QC | Metropolis |
| Fri | 4/4 | Toronto, ON | Sound Academy |
| Sat | 4/5 | Detroit, MI | The Filmore |
| Tue | 4/8 | Urbana, IL | Canopy Club |
| Wed | 4/9 | Columbus, OH | The Bluestone |
| Thu | 4/10 | Buffalo, NY | Town Ballroom |
| Fri | 4/11 | Indianpolis, IN | The Egyptian Theatre |
| Sat | 4/12 | Pittsburgh, PA | Stage AE |
| Sun | 4/13 | Cleveland, OH | House of Blues |
| *Mon | 4/14 | Louisville, KY | Mercury Ballroom |
| *Tue | 4/15 | Cincinatti, OH | Bogart’s |
| Fri | 4/18 | Chicago, IL | The Aragon Ballroom |
| Sat | 4/19 | Minneapolis, MN | The Skyway Theatre |
| Sun | 4/20 | Fargo, ND | The Venue |
Written by Bryan Nonni from netfreq.com
Photos: DV Photography