photos by Oliver Correa for HiFi Cartel

full gallery HERE

A staple of Poland's long-running Unsound Festival has always been it's Bass Mutations party, which showcases the various amalgams of bass music on an international scale.  During last year's inaugural Unsound NYC, Beyond Booking teamed up with Unsound to put together a bill that included the likes of 2562, Pole, Untold, CosminTRG, FaltyDL and many others.  This year's festival followed in that same vein, gathering worldwide talent from Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Argentina, and the UK; and bringing them all together on April 9th for a two room takeover of Public Assembly in Brooklyn.

Dave Q, a veteran of both the Krakow and Brooklyn installments of Bass Mutations, got the night started in the newly reconfigured Back Room of Public Assembly.  With two hours to work with, Dave took the early arrivals through a variety of tempos, kicking things off with some house and building things from there.  When you hear the Joy O and Boddika collab 'Swims' going off before 11pm, you know you're in for a big night.  As Dave's set began to venture into some 140bpm territory, Distal's 'Rattlesnake' slithered it's way into the forefront and warranted a huge crowd response.  Never one to shy away from the occasional well placed D&B selection, Dave also threw down some old-school jungle before ending the night back on a 160pm juke vibe with a brand spanking new tune from Boston's DJ Wheez-ie.

No stranger to Unsound in Krakow himself, Raz Mesinai aka Badawi has been cutting his teeth in the NYC underground since the early 90s.  The mad scientist and sublo genius played out a live set of material forthcoming on his "The Unsettler" album.  Casting a spell over the audience and taking them through a journey of hypnotic and tribal percussion elements and tonal sub-bass, his music resonated down to the subterranean foundation of New York City.  Never one to stick to only one medium, Raz is also currently in the process of designing an iPad app as well as creating a comic book companion to Kode9 and the Spaceape's recent 'Black Sun' album, which he remains tight-lipped about.  Out to Badawi for always remaining ahead of the curve and for creating music that will always be impossible to truly capture or describe with words.

With two fantastic releases under their belt on the legendary Hotflush label and having recently toured throughout Europe this past Fall, Sepalcure are a duo who have been on the rise since first appearing on the scene as a collective.  The touring has made their recent live sets even tighter over the past year, rightfully earning themselves a spot at this year's Bass Mutations.  When it comes to Machinedrum and Praveen, there's no hiding the enjoyment they get out of playing out their music in a live setting.  Armed with an array of MIDI controllers and unwavering grins, their set sent the dancefloor into a blur of skanking limbs and glowstick trails.  Standout tunes from the set included Distal's 'Amphibian' as well as LandoKal's rework of 'Rhythm Of The Night.'  Extra points awarded for incorporating DeBarge into your set in any way, shape, or form.

Kode9 took to the stage at 1:30 and started his set with 'Street Halo' off of the new Burial EP on Hyperdub.  'NYC' perhaps would have been too obvious and if there is one thing that Kode9 sets aren't; it's predictable.  His recent sets have been extremely eclectic and his set at Unsound continued that trend including bits of Funky (Ill Blu, Funkystepz), Dubstep (Digital Mystikz), Garage (So Solid Crew), Grime (S-X, Terror Danjah, Skepta), Hip Hop (Warren G), Jungle, and Juke (DJ Rashad).  For those of us who don't discriminate when it comes to bass, Kode9 is just what the doctor ordered.