Hula hoops on stage Saturday. Photo by DJ Still Life.

An energetic crowd filled the dance floor at the base of the three-story scaffoldings in the grand hall of House of Yes this Saturday. Under those towering trusses a diverse crowd of mixed ages, orientations, and nationalities danced the night away in the warm breeze of tropical bass blasting from the speakers. Glowing hula hoops, aerial acrobatics, and pole dancers spread the icing on the cake that was the night’s event.

One of the selectors of the occasion, DJ Still Life, host of East Village Radio’s Worldwide Smash, lauds the open-mindedness of the Brooklyn warehouse scene. Originally from California, he says it’s a difficult thing to come across: “I like this warehouse-type, anything-goes vibe. I’d never seen anything like it. It’ll go from bass music to disco to anywhere, with deejay sets that are all over the place, but the crowd still gets down.”

And this positive audience certainly danced all the way through his eclectic set. They got open to his travels through dancehall to Latin beats to electrofied folk remixes and more. Whether it was his housey edit of “Trans Europe Express“; the ska of So Shifty’s “Keep It Going Louder” remix; or an Old Dirty Bastard cumbia mash up; they seemed to be feeling it. It was also a good sign when they cheered for the last song he dropped – the moombahton stylings of DJ Sabo’s “Philly Bounce” – since Rotterdam’s Munchi would give them all a full taste of the budding genre later in the night.

DJ Sabo – “Philly Bounce”

People jumped about and let out big cheers to the other deejays as well. ’90s hip hop, electro, soul, and filthy dubstep made their appearances throughout the night and kept everyone amped. The aerial acrobatics of dancers hanging from hoops and curtains stopped people in their tracks to watch in amazement, only to get right back into things after applauding their intermittent performances.

But the real treat was the last minute addition of Munchi, who didn’t need to put on any performance behind the decks other than to smile contently. This Dominican Dutchman, who is staying in New York for a few months and has been booked a couple times a week since he got here, made his international mark as moombahton began to catch people’s attention all over.

“When I heard it, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he recently told ethnomusicologist Wayne Marshall about discovering the genre. “The idea was so simple, yet THE chance for reggaeton to get out of its hole.” That opportunity to combine the love of a sound connected to his roots with another birthed in his hometown sparked the desire get involved. And he quickly became one of the names that is always brought up when mentioning it.

Munchi – “Pero Que lo Que Mujer”

A lot of his beats made appearances on Saturday, like “Pero Que lo Que Mujer“, and “Metele Bellaco“. But he also played some big tunes by other producers that speak to the genre’s rapid growth and the spirit of inclusion with moombahton’s players. Most notable was likely DJ Orion’s “Big Pun” refix. That song is actually boombahchero, a sub-genre Orion is pushing which is faster and uses the 3/4 time signature of tribal guarachero, a new type of club music from Mexico. Other producers are quick to inject a vast array of other styles in the sound as well, Munchi included, and new names are being coined at a rapid clip. There’s coombiahton, which infuses cumbia, and moombahchore, which blends filthy brostep.

Various obscure genres aside, it’s evidence that this sound is already wiggling out of an identifiable box. Munchi refuses to be locked down either. He just dropped his first official release on Brooklyn’s T&A, Murda Sound, and only one of the five songs resembles moombahton. You can grab a large amount of his music for free on his blog. But if you missed his set at House of Yes, or just need to see another, you can catch him on Jan. 27th at the reopening of Que Bajo.