Heard It Here First

The Gradient Perspective and Para Presents continued their impressive streak of jaw-dropping shows at Flash Nightclub last Tuesday with an absolute howitzer of an event, featuring underground rising stars NotLö and Black Carl! Building upon previous shows featuring Ivy Lab and Ternion Sound, Flash Nightclub on a Tuesday night reminded us why this community is so special.

Upon entering, attendees were greeted by the rare, rooftop-on-the-first-floor takeover provided by District Wav and Rhythm City Co. These talented, local artists offered a nice, welcoming vibe as attendees mingled before making their way up to the main dance floor. Washington D.C-based Crawdad Sniper and Virginia-based Nolweez set the tone for the evening in the main room, strategically laying down heaters on the ever-pleasing Funktion-One sound system. Their performances built up a lot of hype going into the two headliners’ sets.

Black Carl! took the stage next and suddenly the energy in the room shifted. Attendees were met with a beautiful combination of crunchy, hard-hitting bass with soothing, angelic sounds. However, the highlight of the night came when he played out “Old Ways” by Lab Group, which includes rap vocals from hawk., the side project of CharlestheFirst, who tragically passed away back in December. It was a beautiful moment to witness the entire main room rapping along to the lyrics, with some even tearing up at the sounds left behind by this legendary artist. I, myself, had full-body goosebumps after all of the love, support and comfort that went around during that song.

This led into NotLö’s set, which blew the roof off this place. The next hour was a 140 fan’s dream. Her signature dark, bone-crushing sounds filled the room and turned it into a frenzy. It got to a point where I was having trouble keeping track of how many new, unreleased IDs she was blessing us with. This included several tunes from her next EP that is set to drop in the coming weeks. Baltimore-based Trekka capped off the evening with some additional vibes to close out one of the most intimate, energy-filled nights that the nation’s capital has had in quite some time.

Flash Nightclub was truly blessed by Black Carl! and NotLö. Wondering what’s next from The Gradient Perspective and Para Presents? They have Tripp St., Daily Bread, and Veil as well as Super Future and Manic Focus coming to D.C. in March. They will also have The Widdler, Pushloop, Eazybaked and Vide coming to D.C. in April as well as Opiuo coming to Baltimore in June.

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