LOS ANGELES, CA- Every time I visit Catch One, the show of the night takes place on a different stage. After security guided us past 2 or 3 other signs for different events happening that night, my group and I were finally led to the very back of the venue where Kris Baha was performing that night: The Jewel Room. Definitely the smallest of all stages at Catch One, as soon as I opened the door, I was enveloped in a thick haze of synthetic fog. Yeah, I thought to myself, this must be the place.
The fog filling the snug room was so thick that I couldn’t see Void Palace on stage from a mere 10 feet away, but it didn’t matter; I was already dancing. The synth-kissed, dark techno sounds emanating from the stage were all I needed to enjoy the performance. I’m a regular member of the dark electronic live music scene in LA, mainly because it happens to be my favorite genre, but feeling like I’m living in the vampire rave from the opening scene of Blade (1998) every time I step out is an added bonus.
The transition between Void Palace and the next artist, Houses of Heaven, was so smooth that I didn’t even realize a new act started for a few minutes. The mist slowly began to dissipate, revealing the trio on stage: a vocalist, a synth wizard, and a drummer sporting rose-tinted shades. Their retro, 80s-influenced dance tracks kept the crowd dancing for the next hour.
But when Kris Baha finally took the stage, it was like my feet no longer belonged to me, and I was possessed by a dancing demon in the best way possible. I wasn’t letting the heavy camera around my neck hold me back from jumping up and down to Baha’s self-described “mutated industrial”, EBM-influenced dance tracks. I had the opportunity to chat with Kris Baha via Instagram DMs, and he revealed that “Cyber Wave is a new genre I am making up”, and his music would also fall under this new category. The uniquely metallic, industrial layer that Baha brings to each track brings dark dance music to new heights, but there are no words to describe the spiritual experience I had when Baha started spinning his remix of Boy Harsher’s “Electric”. Anybody that knows me will tell you that I’m one of the biggest Boy Harsher heads out there, but Kris Baha’s take on “Electric” sends me into a rhythmic frenzy every time I hear it, so much so that I enjoy it even more than the original.
Usually, I’m exhausted by the time I get home from a show, but the energy that Kris Baha’s set provided me with kept me up until nearly 5:00am, dancing in my room with a big smile on my face as I eagerly browsed the rest of his catalog.
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