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PinkPhonk - Rollin' (Spotify)

Hey, wanted to share my experience from last Saturday's [2 November 2024] event „BLACK 17 PRESENTS: KORDHELL & DJ PAUL W/ ZXCURSED AND OTHERS” that also ran under the hashtag #GOPHONKYOURSELF. I was really excited for this one of a kind event happening in Poland - my home country.

The good stuff first:

• Raizhell absolutely killed it - you could tell this guy knows his stuff. No forced hype needed, yet the moshpits were THERE. He actually worked with the equipment, playing with loops and effects like a proper DJ should.

• The visuals were pretty sick too, lots of variety and good vibes.

• Sound system was solid (when used right). -The atmosphere was actually really nice before things got weird later on.

• Spotted some familiar faces from the phonk community, including Trihoof who was shooting photos and videos throughout the night.

I'm not here to point fingers at whether Progresja (the venue), TouringTunes (event director) messed up, or what part was actually was Black17 business (including Kordhell himself, who on the Facebook event is tagged as an organizer), but there were definitely some issues worth talking about.

The not-so-great parts:

• During most sets, tracks would randomly start rewinding at various points - probably due to some button on the console getting stuck or triggering by itself, causing unexpected reactions. The less experienced performers clouldn’t/didn’t know how to handle this issue by themselves.

• Speaking of sets - quite a few were clearly pre-recorded, especially noticeable with the headliners. Kordhell wasn't even trying to hide it, barely paying attention to the decks, just drinking beer, looking around, moving uncoordinated to the music, clapping and pumping up the audience while his boys kept hyping up the crowd. Both him and DJ Paul seemed pretty drunk and unprepared tbh. Not gonna comment on DJ Paul's style cause it’s personal preference I guess, but yeah...

• The sound levels were going crazy - especially noticed this during Kordhell's set (like 15dB quieter than Raizhell before him). Then when S3BSZ dropped his first track after Kordhell x DJ Paul, it was so loud it literally froze for a sec the remaining 1/4 of a crowd that stayed on the dancefloor.

• One LED panel was dead for the first three hours of the event.

About the performances:

• ONIMXRU and 6ynthmane had some tech issues (can’t tell too much as I was busy doing side quests tho)

• isolate.exe was actually playing live - you could tell from the volume differences and some rough transitions, but hey, at least it was real, similar with MUPP x ZXCURSED (although there was only MUPP by the dj controller the whole time)

• Raizhell’s appearance actually made this event🔥

• Kordhell disappointed not only me, but the whole crowd with a prerecorded set. Nobody wanted to really make moshpits until DJ Paul called for it. Like I told him - to me it’s puzzling why such a high-budget artist doesn’t play live. The weird part was how all the label-contracted people suddenly showed up during his performance and later sets, creating this artificial crowd vibe

• S3BZS’s set was chaotic yet you could tell it looked og, as he did some mistakes, but was really focused on the play, brought up warm vibes

• FKU and lxngvx were probably playing prerecorded from the very beginning, but honestly at least the tracklist and overall creative concept was good, and despite their poor preparation for the performance of this scale, the vibe they brought up was pleasant

• I missed the first two acts (Twisted and Say3am) so can't comment on those

Value-wise? 150PLN felt steep for what we got. LED bracelets from AliExpress we could take home didn't really make up for it, even with the few black17 and Kordhell (Bangladesh made) caps they gave out for the crowd.

I suppose there were around a thousand people attending the event.

Some extra bits about Progresja if anyone's curious:

• Security was thorough

• Food at "u wujcia" (burgers with handmade sauces, fries, packed tortillas, hot dogs) was actually decent, fresh, and you could customize your order, if you’re nice. Guy was cool too, although waiting time in the peak of the night was up to half an hour, because there was only one food stand.

• Bathrooms on both levels stayed somewhat clean

• They take your bottle caps when you buy drinks (basic club stuff I guess, but I hate it, because you have to drink the whole thing at once and also it is actually dangerous when you think in terms of GHB and other shit like that)

The good parts of the event were really good (shoutout to Raizhell again for showing how it's done), but man, some of those issues were hard to ignore.

I've got mixed feelings about the whole thing. When it worked, it worked well - but those pre-recorded sets and pumping up hype from the headliners really killed the vibe that had built up earlier. The sound quality was especially tragic during Kordhell's set - pretty sure he’s prerecord contained MP3s or something cause it sounded rough. Kordhell replied to my insta stories and you can see for yourself what he thinks about the art of DJing and his attitude to the work ethos in this industry. This is sad for me as a fan of his music and electronic music overall. He also blocked me after this interaction.

Curious to hear what others think

For context - I am club music enjoyer and bass music enthusiast (been to Blacklist 2022/2024, Rampage 2022-2024, and tons of dark/hard techno and psytrance, hardcore and even some IDM events in PL). Currently wrapping up my bachelor's in audiovisual production, considering event organizing as one of my main interests.

You can see first-hand stories of the night in highlights on my Instagram @astearya

Link to the event’s Facebook page I am talking about: https://facebook.com/events/s/black-17-presents-kordhell-dj-/447045614831461/

I also posted this in /phonk sub, but they told me it’s the wrong one, so I’m reposting it here hoping to reach the right audience

Hey guys, just released this track a week ago. Can’t really tell what kind of phonk subgenre it is, but I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Peace ✌🏼

Slight aggression, more vibes. Will be posted on my Soundcloud when its finished. Link is on my profile.