When I moved to Los Angeles in the Summer of 2008, I had a pretty good idea of the things I wanted to accomplish but little to no idea of the journey that I was literally right about to undertake.  From living in a small city where everyone more or less knows your name and who you live with to living alone in a enormous city where you blend into the masses, I had a considerable amount of adjusting to do.  So I sat down with myself and I made some lists – things I wanted to accomplish before my time in Los Angeles had past and personal benchmarks that I thought would guarantee my sanity, both short term and long term. What started out as a brainstorming session, turned into several binders of ideas – things scratched off and scribbled on; intentions, desires, dreams, passions, places to live, things I wanted to avoid and types of people I wanted to meet; you name it – I had a list for it.

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this before, but I have a strong affinity for lists – I love making lists to the point that I have lists for my lists; my friends that are Virgo’s seem to be convinced that I should have been born under a different star sign but – as usual – I digress.  This year has been more than I could have ever imagined or asked for – and trust me when I say there will be at least few more posts chronicling my crazy antics of this past year; including best weekend vacation, least favorite month, darkest dive bars and best places for hipster watching. But first things first, I gotta bring it on home – and if home is where the heart is, then home is living in some Funktion 1 speakers and being played at full volume.  Let’s get real for a millisecond, and fun fact to boot: all of my photo albums on Facebook are from songs by DJs that I love! So without further ado, this is my 2012 Musical Year in Review =)

Live Shows: Concerts and Festivals

Favorite Event: Cosmic Gate + W&W at the Hollywood Palladium, Coachella Day 2

Worst Event: Coachella Day 1 – bad weather, boo!

Best Venue: LA State Historic Park – I had an absolute blast at HARD’s Day of the Dead and Summer Festivals; and to boot, perfect venue for those of us taking the metro in lieu of driving!

Weird but Rad Venue: On top of a parking garage in Downtown Los Angeles for All Day I Dream

Best Pool Party: Standard Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles; Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel is a close runner up

Best Party: All Day I Dream

Douche-iest Pool Party: Drai’s Hollywood; just shoot me.

Douche-iest Venue: Sutra.  I cruised through for an Infected Mushroom DJ Set and some girl asked me if “I knew anywhere around that wasn’t so nasty.” Hello, did you realize that we’re here for a group called INFECTED MUSHROOM and their fans are some of the smelliest, sweatiest, music appreciating-ist fans around? Ugh, STFU and choke on your sugar-free Red Bull with Vodka that tastes like shit.

Best Up and Coming Venue: Exchange in Downtown Los Angeles

Best Crowd: Avalon until 4am – the people and vibe is hands down the best; you’ll probably meet your next best friend in line for drinks or the bathroom; Incognito after 2am

W0rst Crowd: Avalon after 4am –  the Mt Fuji Swing is in full force and most likely headed straight for your face; also, that girl you’ve been checking out has a really sexy adam’s apple….

Best Lasers: Avalon – according to a few friends who assist with the lighting and making us all go “Ooooh, LAZERS!”, they change things up at Avalon quite a bit and it shows – every time I’m there the lighting effects are stunning and unlike the last show I went to.

Artists

Favorite Set/Act: Maya Jane Coles at Hard Festival: Day of the Dead,  Snoop Dogg + Friends at Coachella

Best Surprise of 2012: W&W

So Glad I Discovered: Finnebassen, Jessie Ware, Cyril Hahn, Climbers, Infinity Ink, Art Department, Jamie Jones, Lee Burridge,

Remixes So Nicely: Rihanna, Adele,

Best Remix-er: Finnebassen + Cyril Hahn; the remixes – or rather, reworksthey produce sound very little like the original and give me everything I didn’t have before.  They’re stunners and I can’t wait for more.

Most Disappointing: Afrojack – his noises used to sound more like music, now they sound more like broken horns fighting each other. Also, way to teach Paris Hilton how to DJ; apocalypse meow….

DJ who should stick to one DJ name: Avicii. Just stop it already. Tim Berg remixed by Avicii with the Tim Berg vocal remix on the Avicii instrumental….and shut the front door already. If you have two DJ monikers, you’d think you’d produce twice as much good music….wrong.

Most Sold Out: Swedish House Mafia – with your “ONE LAST TOUR” and your jumping around while you press a button and then blame it on the “really skilled pyrotechnics” that are going on behind you. Shut up and go learn how to spin vinyl; there are plenty of First Class DJs who would rather give a great musical performance than dazzle with lights…

Vocalists Who Shouldn’t Perform Live with DJs: Rihanna, Wynter Gordon

People Who Should Be Reminded They’re Not DJs: Paris Hilton, “DJ” Pauly D, Kim Kardashian

Songs:

My Top 10 Songs of the Year:

1. Gareth Emery – Concrete Angel
2. Nero – Crush on You (Knife Party Remix)
3. Above & Beyond – Love Is Not Enough
4. Finnebassen – Go Slow
5. Eric Prydz (Pryda) – Shadows
6. DEVolution – Good Love
7. Jessie Ware – Sweet Talk (Joe Goddard Remix)
8. Kamelion – Confetti
9. Boys Noize – What You Want (Chromeo Remix)
10. Alex Clare – Too Close

Worst Popular Groups: Gotye, One Direction

5 Songs that DJs need to stop remixing:

1. Avicii – Levels
2. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
3. Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
4. Avicii – Levels (Skrillex Remix)
5. Alesso – Calling

Show and Tell:

Best Hosted Web Show: BBC Radio 1 Fridays with Annie Mac, Above & Beyond Group Therapy

Best Site for Discovering New Music: Hypem

Most Annoying Site to Discover Music: Spotify – did I really need to know that you still like Nickleback? Probably not.  It is, however, wonderful for helping clear out your friends lists…..

Best Recommended Shows: MetroWize LA, Resident Advisor

Hottest Tickets: Flavorus – http://www.flavorus.com/

XP Points:

Festivals Attended: Coachella Weekend 1, HARD Summer, HARD Day of the Dead

Shows Attended: Skrillex, Lucent Dossier Experience, Ferry Corsten ft Aruna and Kristina Sky, Tommy Trash & Fegulk, Norin & Rad, Sander Van Doorn, Emancipator, Pendulum DJ Set, Group Therapy with Above & Beyond, Andrew Bayer, Gui Boratto & IV Legend, Mark Farina & Colette @ Focus 9 Year Anniversary, Eric Prydz, Overboard // Incognito Presents: Moonlight, Get LOST: Art Department, Infinity Ink, etc, Beats Antique, Max Graham & Rank1, Cosmic Gate + W&W

Parties Frequented: Incognito, Harmonic Productions, Reset

♥