When we arrived we met up with Dmize, who was promoting the show. Got our hand stamps put on and then it was time for things to kick off. Now this review will be different as I will not be going so in depth with the performances as I have in the past.
First up was a group called HMSM or Horror Movie Style Musick. The group was 3 people, 2 guys and 1 girl, and they were all quite young. This was their second time on stage and it showed. Their live vocals need a lot of work, understandable due to the limited stage time. The show mix they had needs to have the levels mastered better. Overall not to bad for a second show. But their inexperience showed for sure.
The second group of the night was the Karnie Lunaticz. For those that heard Psychopathic radios Sugar Slam's Demo Jams they won the bootleg catagory and 2 tickets to the Gathering! Their show was good. Great vocals, show mix was done right and their stage presense was very impressive.
Next we had Saint Ekkwall. I do not remember anything about the set so any review of the performance would be inappropriate on my part. I do remember during this performance the Albuquerque Police/Fire Dept decided that 10 pm was a great time to perform a fire inspection. This delayed the show for about 30-40 min.
Native Remedies were next up. It was a decent set but nothing really stood out as outstanding in my opinion. Had good energy and did well.
Solo hit the stage next. The only thing that stood out from this performance was the fact the vocals on the show mix were way too loud and the live vocals were not in time. This made for a very distracting performance.
Loco Chaos was next. I do not remember anything about this set either so once again I cannot give an honest review.
Next was Cryogenikstyles. He had a style and sound similar to Eminem or Underrated. His set was way more than the 15 min we were alloted. I don't know if it was technical difficulties or not but the distortion on his mic was way to high. That coupled with the fact he held the mic to close to his mouth made it really difficult to hear the lyrics he was spitting. His flow sounded good but the lyrics I could not make out.
Draztik the Terrible was next. He also was featured on Psychopathic radio's demo jams and he also won 2 tickets in the semi-pro catagory. He has made it a point in recording that his show mix not have the primary vocals on it, this allows for a 100% honest performance, but can also be very painful if there is any equipment issues. That being said, during his first track the mic kept cutting out, which had him distracted. Between the first and second track the DJ turned the volume down and announced to the crowd that who ever brought the wireless mics the batteries were dying. When the show mix was turned back up it was about halfway into the first verse. This threw Draztik for a loop and he never really recovered. With the rest of his set having mic issues the set was lost. He lost his breath several times and really seemed off his game.
Born Wicked was up next. Their show mix had the vocals on it still and I feel it saved the set from the same downfall Draztik had. Kano held his mic almost all the way up to his mouth and his vocals were still very muted coming through the speakers. Corerupt's mic was not pickeing up his vocals for most of the set but it was saved by having the show mix vocals on it. Their second to last track was a track called "Bounce". This song was live as hell. It had the crowd up on their feet which hadn't really happened all night. I personally feel that should have been the last track for their set because the one that followed brought the crowd down off that high. All in all a great set even with the technical difficulties.
Nmaniaks hit the stage next. This group was 2 guys and a girl as well. One of the guys looked like he came straight off the set of jersey show (track suit and all), the other had a standard rap look and the girl was in massive heels and a nice tight outfit. Their set was not impressive. The girls rap skills need a lot of work. The 2 guys tried to bring a gangster sound to the stage and to me it seemed forced and fake. Their flow was ok but their show mix needed a lot of work on levels.
Black Projects performance started very rocky. They chose to use a wired mic due to the issues the wireless were having. The volume on one mic was minimal and the other was way to high. Halfway through their first track they stopped to adjust the levels. Once both mics were the same volume they restarted their set. About 3/4 way through their set the levels were jacked up again. They kept going and just traded the mic that was working back and forth. This set was a huge step down from the previous shows I have seen. It was however not due to their abilities but the technical issues they had to deal with.
Shovelo was next. I did not stay for the whole set because I was in a meeting with my guys. What I did hear didn't blow me away.
Dmize finished the night. Unfortunately I was unable to see his set because I was giving a few people from the show a ride home at the venues request. I was told one of the speakers stopped working during his set and they had to stop and restart his set as well.
I had really high hopes for our first trip into Albuqeurque. Unfortunately I was really disappointed at all of the technical issues everyone had. I hope all of us will be invited out again for a future show and hope that the tech issues will have been resolved. I do feel all 3 groups from the West Texas area did the best they could and definitely represented for their cities! Much love and respect to all the performers and Dmize.
MMFWFL,
Juggalotus
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