Scene
Last Saturday, October 3, felt like the whole city is getting ready to see Bad Boombox. One of the city’s most successful promoters Piknik events have yet again shown the importance of a quality booking, proved with the sold out event at Peti Kupe a week before the show. The arrival of Djeki Morris was also a focal point of our weekend; we too wanted to witness the balkanboi’s Zagreb debut. An artist and producer who is crossing all genre boundaries and the one who proudly shows his Bulgarian roots has lived up to all expectations and served the Zagreb audience a night to remember.
Even though Peti Kupe opened its doors at 11 PM, the club was fully packed by midnight and everyone was finding their places on the floor with a warm-up set by Giancarlo, who perfectly set the tone of the night. With groovy rhytms but lower BPMs, he prepped the audience and kept them dancing enough to boil the floor just right until 1 AM when Bad Boombox took over the decks.
Twenty minutes before his 3-hours-long set, the organisers, club crew and our team toasted his debut with rakija and had a chance to have a short chat with him about his return to the Balkans along with expectations of his Zagreb debut:
His love for the Balkans was absolutely felt throughout the conversation and on the floor; this short clip of was just a part of the atmosphere he created at Peti Kupe. When asked how this region influenced his music, the conclusion was he could basically talk about that topic for hours. “There is something spicy in the music. It’s almost like you can’t explain it – a certain movement, a certain pulse that has this energy underneath it. If you tap into it as an artist you can get some crazy rhythms, dancing and energy. My goal is to spread it to the world to see that the energy in the Balkans is the best and everyone needs to hear this music”, Bad Boombox pointed out.
The famous balkanboi kicked off his set with his recently released track ‘Bring That Beat Back‘ released on his own label Hot Meal Records – the track he describes as deeply personal bringing him back to his roots and upbringing surrounded by music. The first seconds of the track have immediately set the floor on fire as the crowd recognized it instantly. The distinct sound was set – the first hour continued with his own production such as ‘Sofia Marina‘, with the hard beach rhythms kicking from the speakers. By the end of the first hour of the set, Morris has slowly introduced the Balkan “melos” mixed in the higher BPMs and entering the half of the set with a pace of techno, trance and importing the songs that surprise and resonate.
From harder grooves and ‘in berlin we milly rock‘ to latino rhythms, brazilian funk, bass lines, ‘Borat’s Disko’; remixing the millenials’ Balkan beach bar hit – INNA’s song ‘Amazing’ to including the recent Bulgarian Eurosong winner – Dara’s ‘Bangaranga‘, the flow was uninterrupted and the selection surprising. Not only the crowd was dancing, at moments they were literally jumping to the point that felt like we were attending Metallica concert rather than an electronic music clubnight. The floor was bouncing the whole time, right up to the mere end of the set crowned with ‘Balkan Groove‘, fast-paced rhythms and intense energy. From the beginning to the end of the set – Bad Boombox has impeccably kept and fired up the club, serving a 3-hours-long mix that completely immersed the Zagreb audience.
To match the energy, finish the evening and close the night, there was no better choice of a local support DJ than Kali. With her debut EP ‘First Pulse‘ released last year, she introduced her version of techno with a proper bounce, mixing elements of ghettotech, hard groove, electronica and bass, often with hip hop vocals and higher BMPs to spice it all up. Last Saturday was no exception – her techno selection for the night was perfectly representing her while aligning as follow-up to set by Bad Boombox, as she kept the club almost full until 6 AM, the end of the event.
To sum up the night that will definitely be mentioned again by everyone who attended, it was a party completely characterized by music that makes you dance (or jump), DJs whose music selection is extremely fun, but also so intelligently picked, the audience that completely felt the energy and organisers who greatly put all of the mentioned dots together. At the end of the day, there is nothing greater than when someone is completely truly themselves, showing their artistic identity to the fullest and sharing it with the ones who recognize it. That happened to Bad Boombox in Zagreb last weekend, and his debut in Croatia’s capital was one for the books.
