Munchi’s moombahton madness

A short couple months after the Metro played venue for the Moombahton Massacre concert, presented by One Night Stand, it brought the slowed-down reggaeton-inspired EDM subgenre back for another successful round two. The first event featured Nadastrom, one half of the founders of moombahton, Dave Nada. This time, however, the event brought the best of the genre: Munchi.

The key word here is “best.” Best moombahton producer, best dance party DJ, best afro, you name it.

The independent 22-year-old Dominican producer out of Rotterdam brought his beats, heavy with tropical bass, to a crowd with open arms. The audience was of a humble size, as the moombahton genre is a relatively new concept coming up from 2009. Still, none of the young 18+ crowd was afraid to get busy on the dance floor.

Openers and One Night Stand local staple twosome, Team Bayside High, warmed up the floor with mixes of bits and pieces of electro hits. “Shave It” by Zedd and other electro house wonders made appearances. And, of course, the moombahton started seeping in.

Munchi, outfitted in a t-shirt referencing Epic Meal Time and his massive signature afro, took to the stage with his little blue leather backpack, filled with CDs, headphones and a laptop. Very shortly into the set, the sounds of bass, sirens and whistles blaring through the speakers actually took a speaker to the ground. Munchi kept going, looking a little shyly happy about the accident.

The rest of the show saw Munchi spin in the moombahton anthem “Sandungueo” among other banging tracks from his recent EP on Mad Decent, “Moombahtonista,” including “Tomma Essa Porra” and “Pero que lo que Mejor.” The wide grin of the producer came out with every drop, drops he shot his arms up with and bumped his hands up to in preparation to help the crowd.

Though pinned as a moombahton producer, Munchi has released tracks in almost every other EDM subgenre. He showed off his knowledge of the super-fast Chicago juke music as well dubstep, with his remix of Datsik’s “Firepower.” The crowd welcomed the variety.

Almost as equally entertaining as the young producer’s big-‘fro-ed head bobbing was the big dance circle in the middle. People gyrated on their knees, vogued on the floor, booty shook with hands on the floor and just about everything in between. If you’re at a moombahton concert and you’re not dancing, you’re not doing it right.

By the time 2 a.m. rolled around, the producer came around the booth to sign some CDs and posters and give high fives and handshakes before leaving through the side of the stage. The crowd was sparse by then, but there was no way they, or any of the early exiters, could possibly have been disappointed.