In the past year, EDM artists have been teaming up left and right to give their fans double the amount of bass, energy and production for the price of seeing just one artist. Joining such collaborations as New World Punx (Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten), Jack U (Skrillex and Diplo) and Dog Blood (Boys Noize and Skrillex), the EDM community welcomes Kill the Zo.

This new joint venture of EDM artists, Kill the Noise (Jake Stanczak) and Mat Zo (Matan Zohar), debuted last week at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom and this new partnership had the sold-out crowd pleasantly surprised. I was grateful to have the opportunity this past Saturday to go to the Hollywood Palladium to witness the musically driven show that had the crowd jumping, shuffling, dancing and screaming for more until 4 a.m. in the morning.  

Taking the stage around 12:00 a.m., Kill the Noise spent no time at all jumping right into the bass-heavy performance to the point where the speakers were actually moving my shirt. (Always remember earplugs, concertgoers!) He kept the show going with drums and bass, dubstep and, of course, some collaborative tracks, such as Skrillex’s “Ease My Mind” and “NRG,” with Skrillex and Milo & Otis.

One of the more notable music skills that Stanczak has mastered was the ability to seamlessly change tempos throughout his performance. This is extremely effective and quite useful when looking at the range of genres he covers in one set. Personally, I found it refreshing to not feel the jolt of consecutive and quick tempo changes that I unfortunately notice too often from live performances. 

The pair took full advantage of Stanczak’s talent because the next thing I knew, Mat Zo had taken the stage! It was so effortlessly done; I could not comprehend how I had missed the exchange. Zo quickly settled into the groove and added some emotion to the night with his well-known and highly praised bootleg “Boneless vs. Strobe vs. Sun & Moon,” and even lowered the volume to let the crowd sing along. For the next hour, the British DJ brought the crowd on a musical journey of ascending electro house and bone-rattling trap drops that had the crowd going wild. 

Finally, Stanczak joined Zohar back on stage to give the crowd exactly what they had been waiting for since they bought their ticket: Kill the Zo. Going back to the two artists’ drum and bass roots, the duo introduced the crowd to their track “Part I,” which was an instant crowd pleaser that left everyone in the venue wanting more.

And just as quickly as it started, the set was over, leaving the breathless crowd with sadness that accompanies the end of any great show. This is definitely one group to keep an eye out for, and if you have the opportunity to see them at a show or festival, do it. Do not pass them up to see another performer you have seen, and will probably see, countless other times. Give Kill the Zo the chance to take you on a journey you would have never expected. You will be so thankful that you did!

Reach Staff Reporter Marc Sessa here.