Heard It Here First

Last week, we were fortunate to witness one of the more special, jam-filled bass events that Baltimore has seen in a while.

Up-and-coming event curator Headnod Entertainment continued its impressive run of boundary-pushing audio/visual experiences in the Baltimore/DC region. They collaborated with The Rust and Aspire Higher in addition to local promoter Blueberry Management as part of the Road to Submersion event series, a plethora of unique shows leading up to Submersion Festival, which will take place next week in Hammonton, New Jersey. Packing it in at the 8×10, this show featured several talented artists such as Thought Process, ZONE Drums from 5AM Trio, and special guest Alejo.

The night started with a handful of local talents that set the mood for the rest of the evening. Howhippie kicked things off and crawdad sniper followed, laying down some tasty morsels that had the crowd moving. Philadelphia-based FREQ kept the energy going strong with deeper frequencies that had the 8×10 properly shaking.

We were then blessed to hear the sounds and styles of Alejo. This talented individual deserves way more recognition than he currently receives. Having thrown down one of the better sets at Secret Dreams in Ohio last month, Alejo’s approach to bass music certainly puts him in the conversation with the Tipper’s, Detox Unit’s and Mickman’s of the world. He completely flipped the 8×10 on its head with speaker-knocking hits from his own vault of heaters in addition to a selection of carefully-picked tunes from some of the most promising talents in bass music. Some of my favorite tracks from Alejo that I highly recommend checking out include “Leadfoot”, “75 Dollar Buick”, as well as a filthy bootleg of “Dr. Birds” by Griselda.

It was a particularly special night for the main headliner, Thought Process. A native of Kent Island on Maryland’s eastern shore, last Thursday was Thought Process’ first hometown headlining performance at the 8×10, the venue that started it all for the talented producer. He was joined by ZONE Drums, one of his best friends and one of the most talented creators in the music scene today. Not only does he crush it on the drums with producers like Thought Process, 5AM and Tygris, but he is also the artist behind these mind-blowing wooden sound panels and lighting sculptures that he creates from upcycled drum shells. These two seriously knew how to keep the party going late into the night, laying down some amazing head-nodding, groovy bass jams. You could tell everyone was feeding off of the full-circle moment and contagious energy that Thought Process was giving off. These are the moments that remind us why music is so special.

Not only was the music spectacular, but attendees were treated to some amazing visuals courtesy of O Z W V L D, as well as live painting and art vending from aabstract, GuMo and Kassafrass Creations. This has become a common theme at Headnod Entertainment shows, where both the audio and visual aspects are properly taken care of to give attendees the best experience possible. Headnod has brought in some of the biggest names in the visual artist game like DR01D, Papa Bear and Cortex Visuals. These forward-thinking artists have created visual journeys for some of the biggest names in bass music at festivals such as Tipper and Friends, Sound Haven, Nocturnal Funktion, and soon-to-be Submersion Festival.

To go along with these incredible visual artists, Headnod has brought in names such as HIHF favorites Chef Boyarbeatz and Keota, along with Nic Baker (a collab project that includes Vide and Inspect3r), Pluto Era, Danny Grooves, pheel., Humandala, Leet, Cloud-D from Bricksquash, and even an Innamind Recordings Takeover that featured Boofy, Kursk and Epoch. Want to stay in the loop to know when the next Headnod Entertainment show is? Follow them below on socials for all of the latest announcements and updates! We can’t wait to see who they bring in next.

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