Unlocked Presents

It’s a quiet November night when Kai Wachi makes the second-to-last stop of his “Muscleville” tour in the City of Brotherly Love. Thanksgiving weekend sends Philadelphians home to the burbs for a tryptophan coma, the Eagles game enjoyed from sunken couches through half-shut eyes. One might expect this show to be a sleeper, but there’s a ghostly air blowing off the Delaware that says a storm is coming. The venue teems with headbangers as the Boise-born bass music producer takes the stage. Herein lies the intersection of wook and meathead. A pashmina-clad crowd sings, “electrify every cell, ‘cause I don’t wanna flatline” while visuals of skulls and flowers pulse from psychedelic swirls. Wachi’s signature, vicious blend of dubstep and metal drives the life-death motif unfolding. A...