Review: Dirty Birdy's Maiden Voyage on April 6

Well, it was quite a harrowing experience to get to Taste & Thirst last Saturday - I think it was mostly the fact that my hangover from the previous night was still kickin (my parents were in town, do the math), but I had a stinky attitude.  About 100 times I thought of not going, and we didn't get there until well after 11.  However, as soon as I walked into the bar and saw the Spectr art on the wall, it was all ok.  I haven't seen those tagged-out blacklight paintings in years, and it was so nice to see them again.  I didn't think that a venue in the Gaslamp could possibly work with this crew, but it actually did: relatively cheap drinks, chill staff, plenty of dancing space, and street tacos on the patio outside.  I dare you to try to argue with any of that - you can't.
Now with my shock in not hating the venue faded and I had my first (strong!) T&Diet T in me, I managed to catch the end of The Beatkillerz set, and was promptly bummed when they were done.  Heretofore, I hadn't really heard too much of their stuff, but I had high hopes that the griminess in Havok's beats would translate to hiphop.  It did, and more than I ever could have hoped.  I was shocked (no offense to parties in the group reading this) at how good it was and pretty damn grumpy that I only got to hear two tracks.  Live, they're amazing and have a funky energy you can't find anymore outside of the most underground of the undergound clubs. 
2nd T&T gone, and Gum-B got up.  Now this will show what a dick I am, but I've known about Gum-B for years, seen him on flyers, known he was working with Organized Grime, and probably whized by him snarling at clubs a dozen times, but I'd never actually met the kid or seen him perform.  I know!  I said I was a dick.  I'm also not always the biggest fan of full dubstep sets (understatement) and prefer to listen to one dubstep song at a time while rolling my eyes and cursing hipsters.  However, in this case I sat through the entire set not because I was drunk but because it was actually really good and I liked (possibly loved) almost every track that Gum-B, wearing the best kitten t-shirt I've ever seen, dropped.  Who knew!  Surprise #2 of the evening and definitely my favorite dubstep set.
Now that I've said Gum-B was my favorite set, let me tell you that headliner Cyber Optics was still great.  There were a few times he got a little techy for me, and I love techy so that's a lot of techy.  But his set fused well, the crowd loved it, and his puzzling Abercrombie & Fitch Model appearance made my friend very happy.  He definitely had the crowd going and I was once again bummed when it was over.
All around, this was a great opening night to this new monthly put on by Drumz/SpectruMega Media and I'm excited for the next one, "I Like it Dirty" partenered with Elev8, which will feature Evol Intent.  Link to the teaser video below along with my not-as-bad-as-I-thought pics.  Thanks guys for putting on one hell of an event and bringing it back to San Diego!

I Like it Dirty Teaser
http://vimeo.com/17032810


Havok Mega doing something interesting with the mixer in his set with The Beatkillerz.

Havok Mega saying something I couldn't hear in his set with The Beatkillerz.

Gum-B dubsteppin with amazing kitten tshirt!

Cyber Optics looking like a dude from Abercrombie & Fitch (I stole this from Havok's Timeline).