Music begs to be felt — but electronic dance music downright demands it.
SLANDER and Kai Wachi's delicate marriage of melodic bass and headbanging delights in Chandler on Saturday was no exception.
EDM of all varieties has slithered its way into my top genres for over a decade now, mostly without my trying.
12-year-old me would walk home from middle school with Avicii blaring from my cheap, cupcake-shaped earbuds. At 14 I saw The Chainsmokers with my parents and my childhood best friend, Sophia, the same day I got my bright teal braces taken off. When I was 19, I started teaching indoor cycle classes and quickly found friends in the steady beats of ILLENIUM and, of course, SLANDER.
Since June, though, I've gotten into EDM in a serious and major way. It scores my morning routine, drives to work, late-night showers. I usually stay in my house lane soundtracked by the likes of Max Styler, Layton Giordani or Gorgon City.
But there's just something about bass you can feel through your entire body. Fingertips to toes, ricocheting off of shins and from eardrum to eardrum and back again.
Kai Wachi's hour-long set before SLANDER was explosive, full of thundering beats that settled bone deep. His production was nothing short of methodical and curated in a way that can transform any boots-and-cats kinda girl like me into a human hurricane in an instant.
Backed by screens cascading with headbanging skeletons, stomping T-rexes and forests dense enough to claw through, Kai Wachi possesses an energy that is entirely innate and unteachable. He fit the bill, muscle tee and all.
There was something so special about the atmosphere Kai Wachi's bass-heavy set was able to create, and I can already tell that his music will frequent my day-to-day Spotify shuffle.
SLANDER, the production duo that has served as an ever-present staple in EDM since the golden age of progressive house in the early 2010s, was the headlining star of the night. The show opened with a blaring bass remix of their popular tune "Back To U" and lingered in that booming presence for the first portion of their set.
Eventually the duo slowed into their signature melodic bass, spinning songs like "First Time" and "Love is Gone." The show persisted in this pattern — an ebb and flow between grounding in pensive lyrics and the ungrounding in teeth-chattering bass. A perpetual cycle of inhales and exhales.
SLANDER also introduced lasers that reached across and through the entire space, presenting the show with a new dimension of visuals. However, in general, they were lacking in comparison to Kai Wachi for me. I think I just loved his set so much it was a high bar to reach.
But, the one constant that never diminished was the overwhelming sense of community and relentless individualism that filled the room. There were flowstars and light whips and light sabers, and so many people taking up space without apology.
As the show progressed, I noticed that I felt more present and comfortable in a direct response to how the people around me were carrying themselves.
By the end of the show, I wasn't at all concerned with how I was being perceived. Instead, I took out the flimsy hair clips that had been trying in vain to hold my hair back the whole night.
A breath in, a breath out. Fingertips to shins, this music was meant to be felt.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at agbeck1@asu.edu and follow @abbygisela on X.
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Abigail is a senior studying journalism and mass communication. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has previously worked with News21, The State Press Magazine and The Arizona Republic.
