Accompanied by a dubstep version of Star Wars’ “The Imperial March,” a Buzz Lightyear-dressed Rusko came out of the darkness and onto a square-framed platform Thursday night at The Canopy Club, greeting his audience with his bona fide beats and overwhelming bass-heavy genius. Bouncing between sweaty and drunk bodies, this dubstep DJ was able to get his fans literally off the ground as they jumped and danced to his tracks at the concert, which was part of his Lift Me Up Tour.
DJ Roni Size and Dynamite MC opened for Rusko’s performance. Roni Size’s performance smoothly transitioned into Rusko’s tracks, and was a good segue from the older drum and bass to the newer dubstep style.
Throughout the show, Rusko’s energy was unmatchable — he danced like a maniac to his music and seemed to be enclosed in his own cocoon of musical creation. Much like other DJs, he played and remixed some of his own music, but also sampled other artists’ songs and added his own musical twist to them.
The show visually coordinated smoke machines and the stage lights to sync with the music. This coordination let Rusko aesthetically engage the audience in more than one way. The combination of Rusko’s entertaining dance moves, unparalleled beats and music-to-visual synchronization made the show unforgettable.
In light of Rusko’s recent performance, The Daily Illini got the chance to interview the artist about his recent work.
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Daily Illini: How would you personally define dubstep?
Rusko: The focus of dubstep is the bass and the bassline, and there isn’t really any other genre where the focus of the track is on the bass. When I make a dubstep track, I make the bassline first and then build everything else around that, so for me it’s bassline music.
DI: What inspired you to start making dubstep tracks?
Rusko: I made regular dub records for a long time and then kind of evolved from that. I played in a lot of reggae bands, and by the time dubstep started around 2004-2005, I was already making dub records electronically, so it was kind of a natural leap. It really was a small community of about 20 people when it first started out, so it was very natural to leap from dub to dubstep.
DI: Some of your older tracks, like “Cockney Thug,” were a lot heavier and ominous. Why the transition to tracks that are faster and lighter than the older ones?
Rusko: The difference for me is that those old tracks are very simple and the new stuff is a lot more complex. I can write 15 (songs like) “Woo Boosts” a day; it’s the simplest thing. There is really nothing to those tracks. So as a musician I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to do more. I wanted to put more into the tracks.
DI: Who is your favorite artist whom you’ve collaborated with?
Rusko: It would probably be MIA, for sure. When I did the MIA album, it was the most amazing fun. We went to Hawaii, spent a week finishing the record, just me and her in this crazy house, in the middle of nowhere in Hawaii — so much fun. Music-wise, she is so talented, she came up with like 20 tracks a day, and we had to widdle it down to 12 for that record. She is such a crazy person; I have never met someone with so many wild ideas, and that was really what made the album.
DI: You’re traveling with Roni Size now. How is that experience for you?
Rusko: Awesome. As I mentioned before, I play to mostly college kids, and most of these kids don’t know what dubstep evolved out of and the history of drum and bass. So the idea behind bringing Roni was that if I am playing the future of drum and bass, it seemed fit to bring some history of drum and bass and to provide some more depth — to give some of these kids that don’t remember drum and bass from the first time around a kind of schooling and history before bringing them the future.
DI: Do you do anything during your performances that you can call exclusively your own?
Rusko: I never ever, ever, ever wear shoes. That’s something unique to me. I never do, I never have. I used to fly a lot, when I didn’t have the luxury of a tour bus. … They would get really stinky, it would just get gross. … So it started off as me just protecting the shoes, because I am kind of a shoe freak, but now it’s a way to move around better, dance better, and also it just gets me in the zone. I know that once I take my shoes off, it’s usually five minutes before I go on stage, my brain goes “psst”, and it’s go time.
Alexander can be reached at [email protected].
