Monstercat University I

Chapter 024

[Dilumi's POV]

My set goes great over the next half hour. The crowd and I feed off each other's energy, and for the first time, I go way off-course and steer myself free of everything I had planned, putting myself in the moment and playing songs that really fit the emotion of the night. The crowd is reacting very well, a sure-fire sign that this night is a success. I got two out of three throwback tracks done early on, so now I can mostly just focus on doing whatever I want to do. I really want to play Deeper, so hopefully that will fall into place somewhere. Right now, I think it's time to let my heavy dubstep side free with some old Tristam. I can always steer myself back to a lighter level before Soulero comes on. From the electro house track I'm playing, the melodic beginning of Extermination comes in perfectly. But it's not long before the drop. When the drums drop out into the buildup, I pick up the mic. "Yo, who's ready for some heavy dubstep?! MAKE SOME FREAKING NOISE!!!" I scream. The other artists, mainly the ones that produce dubstep, begin to scream like crazy, just before the drop comes. Dang, that drop sounds good through the loudspeakers in here. I wonder how many of my fellow artists even know this is Tristam. But they seem to be liking it. After the first climax of Extermination, I start the very beginning of Astronaut's and Barely Alive's remix of Collide. I love this remix, probably even more than the original. It sounds so amazing, and the beginning gets me every time. The crowd seems excited to hear this one, and many people sing along with the lyrics, including me. Next I make Breakdown start right before the second verse would come in. Dang, that went perfectly right there. You're doing great, I encourage myself. I love the tune a lot, and the buildup is so much fun to play. The crowd claps along to the beat. At the drop we all go crazy. I love it when the tune comes back in afterwards and then it goes all heavy-dubstep again. It makes me break out into a grin because it's so much fun. "YO, IF YOU LOVE SOLACE, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!!!" I scream. Several cheers go up. Everyone loves Solace. And it just happens that the 2nd verse makes a perfect transition into Deeper. I run Deeper all the way through...but I'm not done with Breakdown. I decide to speed up the BPM and then get the crowd hyped by fading in Breakdown VIP.
...More like blowing the place up with Breakdown VIP. Everyone goes absolutely insane at the drop, and when the climax starts you can just feel the energy going through you. I don't think I ever realized how amazing this sounds through loudspeakers. Noisestorm is just amazing. I play Breakdown VIP pretty much all the way through. Then I decide to promote one of my favorite EDM artists to listen to outside of Monstercat. They are a Christian duo called Capital Kings. I start their newest single Be a King where the vocals come in. "There's so many around the world with voices buried beneath, we can't let our voice start to fade away!" I sing along. I bet nobody knows this song, but they seem to love it...especially when it drops into a dubstep climax. When the rap part comes on I mouth the lyrics. I'm always happy to promote Capital Kings. They're the best. Right at the very end of Be a King I grab the mic as the quiet tune of the new Vicetone track comes in. "Yo guys, this is a new track from Vicetone! It's only been out for two days!" Screams from a few people. "Now, I want you guys to help me get this track started out!" I wait for a few seconds. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP FOR UNITED WE DANCE!!!" It's only been out on Ultra for a couple days, but I'm already as addicted to that tune as anyone can be. And oh my gosh, that drop. It beats anything live. Even Breakdown VIP. Everyone is smiling and laughing and pumping their fists in the air and jumping up and down, including me. The part after the first climax begins to play. "Yo, if you're feeling the music tonight, let me know!" I point to the crowd and they scream. Then that quiet music box part comes on. I wave my hands in the air. As it begins to build up again I clap along to the beat. This song fills me with so much joy, and during the climax, dancing is the only thing I can do. At the very end I make Colors by Headhunterz come straight in...another of my favorites that I've always wanted to play live. One great melody followed by another. I remember falling in love with this song the moment I heard it in a Pegboard Nerds EDC set on YouTube. It's great to get some hardstyle in there. I can't help singing along with the lyrics and clapping with the beat again. So many great memories come with this song for me. It means so much. This one is so fun to play. I bet it would go great at a big festival. You know what, I think I'll give Pegboard Nerds some credit for being the reason I found this epic track by playing their song How U Feelin. After all the heavy stuff, this is a great track to play. I can see the crowd is enjoying this one. The vibes in this track almost remind me of Tristam. I remember when I found a mashup on YouTube in which a fan had taken the Aero Chord remix of Razor Sharp and mashed it up with Aero's original Ctrl Alt Destruction. So I decide to take that concept and use it here. During a break about 2 minutes through How U Feelin, I bring in the Razor Sharp remix. Man, that sounds good in here. I slowly turn up the BPM during the last part of the buildup so it will match Ctrl Alt Destruction, then bring that in right at the drop. The crowd is loving this...and Aero Chord, who is standing with Tristam and Braken (I have no idea when they came back in), looks very excited to hear his stuff. That's one of the things I love about playing for my fellow artists. It's so fun to watch them go crazy over their very own tracks. Let's see, I've played trap now...ah yes. Levels. I pick up the Tristam remix of Levels right after the Ctrl Alt Destruction climax fades out. I love this remix. The climax showcases Tristam's style of dubstep so well, and it sounds so much like Follow Me that I think everybody knows it's Tristam, especially those who have been here long enough to see him back when he released heavy dubstep. And those high-pitched vocals are so Tristam. That's one thing we both love. "If you're feeling it tonight, sing it along with me!" I yell into the mic. I look around and see most of the artists' mouths forming the lyrics. "C'mon, I can't hear you!!! Oh, sometimes, I get a good feeling, yeah!" I sing at the top of my lungs. "C'mon, put your hands together!" We all clap along to the beat. "Get a feeling that I've never, never, never, never had before! One more time guys! Lemme hear you!!!" After the vocals run through once more, it drops again, and all the dubstep people go crazy. This set is going so great.