The world of electronic music shifts accordingly to scenes, trends and fads at any given moment. Most of these have a shelf life that withers away within 12-18 months with a re-invention of the prior music scene taking bits and pieces and shining them up into something new and receptive. The world of French/filter house’s decline in the early 2000s gave rise to the formation of the now-famed Ed Banger Records, run by former Daft Punk manager Pedro “Busy P” Winter. Focusing on releasing music that had a slight feel of the past as a well a loud vision of the future, Busy P began work by signing artists such as Sebastian, Kavinsky, DJ Mehdi and the now-golden boys that are Justice. With seven years of music, touring and support from all over the world, Ed Banger landed in New York City to celebrate its seventh anniversary to a packed house at Terminal 5. What ensued is what many patrons accepted as a rowdy good time with distorted bass, an almost rock-show atmosphere and lots of screaming fans; however, for people rooted in the electronic world, they might have expected something entirely and radically different.

The night started off late as the line wrapped around the West End side of 57th Street, and if the patrons on-line were any indication of what was to come inside, it was sure to be underage, unadulterated and unequivocally bizarre partying. The people who paid close to $50 per ticket (and even more as tickets were being sold off on eBay for hundreds) were a circus of wannabe hipsters, 99 cents-store ravers and bandwagon-jumpers onto the train that was the Ed Banger phenomenon. Being straight-laced and quiet for almost forty minutes in a line full of kids pushing, crying, shouting and complaining, one would be itching to get inside and get away from the outside chaos. However, it was only magnified once the depths of Terminal 5 were entered just as DJ Mehdi was getting on the decks around 10 p.m. with people losing their souls, minds and coats all around.

Staying away from the chaos on the floor of Terminal 5, the balcony provided no protection from hormone-filled preteens having a grand old time to what was known that night to be a “banger-thon,” a marathon of loud, aggressive tunes that hit the consciousness with power, angst and recklessness. The crowd on the floor was relentless, jumping up and down, moshing towards the front and just having a good time. At 11 p.m. the “secret guest” at this event was revealed as Fool’s Gold head-honco and DJ-extraordinaire A-Trak, and he brought a set which was his own, to say the least. Playing a selection of his remixes, doing his live-scratch routine and playing the tracks kids would like, he did his job by delivering a set that kept the kids jumping and fist-pumping. At 11:45 p.m., he left to give the decks to the more experimental DJ mind of Feadz, who would provide support for the upcoming guest, Uffie. To be blunt, a sloshed Uffie delivered choppy rapping and less-than amicable hype to the proceedings, and “MCs Can Kiss” was nothing short of average. The other track off her upcoming album (five years in the making) was sub-par as well. Once Uffie finished her tunes, Feadz played a couple of tunes around the conga and bongo lines that surround the genre that is UK Funky. While people on-stage and others were feeling the relentless percussive rhythms, the crowd was standing still. “Play something heavy, shithead,” someone yelled. With that proclamation, Busy P came on and saved the day.

Now, Busy P is always forward-thinking and looking for the next best thing in music culture, otherwise he wouldn’t have opened for The Prodigy last year in New York as well as put together such events as WARP vs. Ed Banger in Paris, but on this night, his crowd overcame his desire to be the auteur to new minds. He began his set with a Crookers remix of his mid-2008 track “To Protect And Entertain.”  Of course, the crowd ate up everything. Afterwards, Justice came on and did their thing, which was close to the same thing they did at Webster Hall in October, which was unfortunately a phone it in. At this point, playing tracks off a 2007 album looks a bit weak. Again, it was all for the crowd, which was nice, but undeniably a boring move to people expecting more.

Ed Banger Records became a star label because of its acts, pushing the envelope with sounds that went between destroying soundsystems, distorting bass and being overwhelmingly loud, and they certainly brought their history out on Friday night. However, with the progression of electronic music, maybe their reign on the world is coming down. Maybe it’s time for a change. The question is, without these guys at the forefront for the young kids, who or what will take over?

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