[The Audiofiles] Sea of Dreams: Getting Live into the New Year

January 15, 2015January 16, 2015Leave a comment

Sea of Dreams Sets the Tone for the Resurgence of Live Music within EDM

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2014. As of this moment, there’s only a separation of two calendar weeks – but it somehow it already seems a lifetime a go. I’ve heard it’s just one of those things about aging, and understandably so: the older you get, the years become a smaller and smaller percentage of your life. 5 year old Amanda got to enjoy the year as a fifth, or 20% of her life – and here I am, inches away from 30 and last year merely accounts for 3.3% of my time on this wonderful planet. But in that year, twelve months, 365 days, 525600 minutes – I started a miniature business, delved into my DIY capabilities, moved in with the only man I ever want to live with. Hand in hand, we’ve made friends across the West Coast while simultaneously passionate pursuit of perfecting our crafts while diving headfirst into the electronic music scene. I’ve been humbled to work alongside some of the best and brightest minds in the industry, and am living out a my adulthood’s childhood fantasy. After seven years of living in Los Angeles, I was finally booked for a paid modeling shot; my lost dream and the reason I swapped zipcodes as a young college grad.

From Lighting in a Bottle to Global Dance, Shambhala to HARD Day of the Dead – I consider myself blessed to be taken in by so many different music communities and families; and then to be entrusted by the music community to share that journey, and evolve what it means to be part of it – it’s more than I could’ve ever asked for. But, that’s not to say my year didn’t have it’s equivalent share of setbacks – after being in a car accident last Spring, I was anxious behind the wheel for months, I resigned my maid of honor status by endeding what I thought was a close friendship and I’ve been living with an obnoxious Bartholin cyst since the Summer. Whether your year was full of accomplishments and accolades or trials and tribulations, New Years Eve marks a time when the lot of us can put on our party pants, forget our worries and party like it’s 1999 (or, 2015, whatever).

As the penultimate day of 2014 quickly approached, I was haphazardly balancing work, family and trying to pack for that my favorite blustery city in the Bay, San Francisco. For the second year running, Danny and I were off, off and away – to the land of tech talk and Burner babble, where the Sports teams are hot and the weather is brisk, the skyscrapers tower above you while the city rumbles with animation. Now in it’s 15th year running, Sea of Dreams was plotting a triumphant return to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium after last year’s immense success. In an incredibly welcomed yet unprecedented move – they booked a two night stand for the event. The brainchild of Joegh Bullock, founder of Anon Events, Sea of Dreams was celebrating a decade and a half of decadence, dancing and deliriously wonderful vibes in San Francisco with support and assistance from Another Planet Entertainment and Sunset SF.

We crushed the 5 on Tuesday morning, leaving as early as possible so we could muster in a nap before the first night of the show. It’d been forever since I’d had a healthy dose of Pretty Lights, and now – I’d be seeing him twice in two nights. Christmas might’ve come early for some, but it came late for me and I was in no way complaining.

The first night of Sea of Dreams was as laid back as we were feeling, with only one active stage an intimate crowd and only a handful of artists, but they were all bursting at the seams with talent. For this night only, dancers, festies and music lovers of all kind brought out the flow toys and hoops as they grooved to the salacious sounds of Sea of Dreams. The early bird caught the worm at 7pm when Pumpkin jumped on the decks, but for anyone that missed his opening set – he was featured in between the other sets for an equal amount of time, if not longer, than his actual set. My only wish was that he was a little more highlighted as the crowd got down to a slew of remixes, from the tried and true MJ vocals to his soul tingling remix of Wildlight’s Twirl Me.

For anyone who’s said that true music is dead or lost within EDM had surely never witnessed the musical genius of the rest of the lineup. Next to grace the stage were Adam Deitch and Borahm Lee, better known to fans as NYC glitch-hop duo Break Science. From start to finish, they expertly fused genres from Funk to Hip Hop and Breakbeats with layered, live elements.

Thanks to the Clayton Call Concert Photography for the Epic Video

Break Science ebbed into Pumpkin and then flowed into The Glitch Mob. Living in LA since ’08, I consider myself more or less a local down south at this point – so seeing the Glitch Mobbers up in San Francisco was a nice treat. They kicked the crowd’s energy up, flowing through tracks from Love Death Immortality and older, crowd favorites; a solid set from the Mob, but being a pre-NYE event, I was hoping it would have been more raucous than it was. But that was immediately forgotten as the stage was stripped and the equipment rearranged. Left and right, audiophiles were geeking out as the acoustic musical setup took place and made way for the last performance of the night: the man, the myth, and the lights – Pretty Lights, to be exact. For this two night stand, Derek Smith brought the beats – and a full band, equipped with keyboardists Bor, trombonists, trumpeters, a Hammond Organ, a mixer and a drummer. And quickly, you remember why it’s called the ‘Pretty Lights Family’ – it features Scott Flynn of John Brown’s Body, Lettuce’s Eric Bloom and both members of Break Science. – at the very least. And we can’t forget, Lightning Director Greg Ellis, but you might know him better as LazerShark – and does that guy ever live up to his name!

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For the next two hours, hundreds of eager ears danced their cares away until New Years Eve Day on a musical high that you can honestly only get from real instruments. There’s something in their tonality, the depth, the layering, the colors of the notes and harmonies they create. Nowadays within EDM, were so accustomed to a one man show – but we forget that traditionally, culturally, historically – music has been a multifaceted, artistic vehicle that encompasses the community and brings it together, in celebration; and Pretty Lights did just that. After the show, we forgot about the blustering wind and frigid weather while reminiscing on the beauty and wonder of the PL Live Band; a perfect pre-party for the main event.

Overnight, the wind subsided and the New Years Eve excitement was palpable as the sun rays broke through the window. Puffy white clouds dotted a surprisingly bright blue sky as the last moments of 2014 dissolved in front of us. During the day, we gallivanted around Crissy Field and over the Golden Gate Bridge – dishing on our favorite moments on the night and eager to feast on the main course of music. The sun slipped into the Pacific Ocean while spirits soared simultaneously from each corner of the city.

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Strolling up to the second night of Sea of Dreams, the mood was elevated and enlightened, overflowing with ostentatious costumes and enigmatic personalities. Tonight was the big night; hello, 2015! If the main room was the main course, the small rooms may as well have been decadent appetizers that could fill you to the brim. Off to the right side of Bill Graham, the aptly named Trapeze Room was in full swing – fully equipped with life burlesque performances from local favorites Meka La Crème, Elektra Cute, Olivia Bellafontaine, Mojo Deville, Hunny Bunnah, Iza L Vamp, Tonya Kay Jay Siren and Miss Emma Nation. Throughout the night, DJs from The Gentlemen Callers of LA, Jazzy Fox, The Bellhop, Delachux and The Klown delighted party go-ers with the delectable rhythms of Electro Swing until the late hours of the morning. If you took a few steps back, the Silent Disco was getting a quiet groove on with the likes of Matt Haze, Analog Disco, DJ Phleck and DJ Mancub – just to name a few. On the flip side, there were some Funky Deep House and Disco vibes being tossed around jubilantly in Larkin Hall. An eclectic array of artists – from Dirtybird’s Worthy and the Fort Knox Five to Sea of Dreams’ own Robbie Kowal as Motion Potion – delivered exceptional sets to eager fans, lapping up celebratory drinks and reveling in style on the dancefloor.

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Descending onto the main dance floor was a treat in itself; decorations adorned the ceiling while live painters and artists from Anthony West to Gregorio de Masi lined the walls, finishing the musically influenced masterpieces they began the night before. Mikey Thunder opened the night, followed by the funky freshness of Lettuce. Beats Antique came out swinging with animated set, more exuberant than their Creature Carnival Tour. Live performers including Zoe Jakes writhed to a bass heavy take on world music, with group members David Satori on the violin and Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel on the drums. For the second time in as many nights, the Pretty Lights Music Band reminded the crowd what dance music should truly be about – musicians and artists collaborating on the creative process, the end result – pure magic. Lightning Director LazerShark outdid himself, as the room filled was once again bombarded with the salacious sounds of a menagerie real instruments. I can’t stress how wonderful it is to hear the color a brass section produces or the emotions an organ can convey. As Derek and the band flowed through old (and personal) favorites like Hot Like Sauce and Keep Em Bouncing, I actually forgot that we’d just seen him the night before; it was a completely different vibe, but the same musical prowess and passion.

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Whether it was the exceptional talent presented by the Pretty Lights Full Band, a desire to head home after the midnight ball drop or the almost poetic lull of music after Pretty Lights as the stage was discombobulated and reconfigured in front of our eyes – the crowd seemingly disappeared at 1:30; only to be slowly drawn back to the dance floor as Flying Lotus took the stage. The 2am crowd at Sea of Dreams had a mystique to them, a twinkle in their eye and an extra bounce in their step. As the music picked up, a hushed tone settled over the room; bodies at rest were revived and reinvigorated by the subtle tonality of near binural beats layered over intelligent lyrics. Dancing suddenly felt more like reacting as the low end frequencies emanated from my head down to my toes. We stood there, eyes transfixed on the cube come to form in the center, projection mapping psychedelically warping our minds. The lyrics wrapped their way around our skulls and into our memory, while the projection mapped visuals manifested, fractled and spiraled into and out of control. Tl; dr: my mind was blown.

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Like a select other festivals that boast permaculture and collaboration through societal progress – Sea of Dreams is about more than just the music; it’s about the culmination of a music and collaborative community that embrace it. I spent the two nights of SOD celebrating with good friends old and new, festival friends that I’d made at Lightning in a Bottle and new friends just as thrilled as we were to rock into the New Year surrounded by exceptional artists, visionaries and peers. With the menagerie of live musicians that graced the main stage we’re seeing true musicians push back against the stigma – displaying their instrumental prowess as well as their exceptional production skills on the same scale. it’s a different crowd, a different edge of the venn diagram that EDM lovers mingle between. For once, the ‘Dance’ was rightfully thrown back into the moniker ‘Electronic Dance Music’ and was sweet music to all of our ears. It’s been said that how you spend your New Years Eve is indicative of how your year is going to be, and if so – the dance community is in for quite a treat this year.

To take a gander at the breadth of the photos from Sea of Dreams, head over to The DJ List’s Photo Gallery or our photographer Daniel Leist’s Gallery.

For more information on Pretty Lights and Sea of Dreams, check out their socials –

Pretty Lights: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

Sea of Dreams: Website | Facebook | Twitter

[Tech Talk] Spring Clean Your iTunes Library With Smart Playlists

January 13, 2015January 12, 2015Leave a comment

From the moment I flutter my eyes awake until the millisecond I drift off into dreamland, I essentially eat, breathe, drink, sip, slurp, embrace and flirt with music. And it’s not just some music, I love it all – music of all genres, shapes, sizes, styles, frequencies, tempos, colors, temperatures. Back when I was younger, I picked my high school based on my purported future basketball career – and I’ll be honest, I really had a good thing going. As an Eighth Grader, I was being recruited by a few Division II colleges. Yeah, I know – DII, but in my defense – I still had braces, didn’t have a drivers license and was far from my first kiss; but, basketball? I could do that. Well, until I couldn’t. My freshman year, I was sidelined with a stress fracture in my L5 and simultaneously discovered my obsession with music history thanks to an exceptional teacher. Sophomore year, as I File Clean Up optioned to leave the basketball team – I happily, and swiftly, replaced my basketball scrimmages with choir practices and reciting lines for the school musical. Looking back, it’s almost comical how life’s trajectory can change velocity in a heartbeat. Not to mention, this was right around the time when Napster came into play.

My musical taste expanded with every breath I took and every song that got stuck in my head; I’d scour the internet for unreleased masters, live versions, acoustic versions – of? Well, anything! As much as I ‘appreciate’ (and I use that term vaguely) the radio – it’s a purely commercial market that people are funneling mindless music at ten times the rate of intelligible, honest, legitimate work. So, instead, I use my hunting and pecking skills to scour the internet in search of everything that the Record Labels didn’t want me to hear. Keep in mind, this started when I was a teenager – now that I’m 30 and I’ve been collecting music for the better part of the last two decades, my iTunes library better resembles a game of minesweeper than an actual music library.

There are two basic malfunctions in my iTunes library – ‘Incomplete Information’ and ‘Missing Files’. They’re equally obnoxious but in entirely different ways, but I’d say the later is worse – because your library will literally stop playing when it can’t find your music file. Let’s tackle that first. Besides, do your really want to rename files that you could potentially be deleting? Right; didn’t think so.

Before I started this, I had 43274 songs in my music library – according to iTunes, about 210 days of music (my personal goal is to have 365 days worth…but whatever, that’s for a different time). But, thanks to all of my warning signs – literally, flags – I knew that this wasn’t the case: almost 10% of my library was actually missing or deleted.

Missing Files.

Ever wonder what that annoying ! mark was in the left hand column on iTunes? Well, if you’ve never seen it – you can probably skip this part. But if you’re like me and files are scattered throughout your machine haphazardly, this section will be your bread and butter. Each and every time your iTunes comes across one of these files, the music stops and a dialogue box pops up, asking you to locate the missing music. Sometimes, I know exactly where that Above & Beyond album is sitting, or which single by Griz I needed to link back to my library – but more often than not, I have no damn idea where the files are. The biggest annoyance? Whatever groove I was getting on has been thwarted, and I have to start fresh – and less funky. Thank goodness I found these simple steps to Music Library Liberation. Make New Folders

First things first, the folder up. We’re eventually going to make a hat trick of Playlists, so first let’s make a Playlist Folder to enclose them:

File > New > Playlist Folder

Then, we’re going to make two Smart Playlists and one Static Playlist. From a data doll in the flesh to the rest of you, if you’re not playing around with your Smart Playlists you’re honestly missing out! I have a playlist set to collect data every month, and yearly, for the songs I’ve ranked 4+ so I can have an ongoing ‘Best Of’ Playlist without touching a single thing. You can set filters on filters for the multitudes of metadata each file contains.

We’re going to be creating two Smart Playlists and they’re going to be working off of each other, like logic statements. The first smart playlist is going to encompass ALL of your music files. And I mean, all of them. To do this, we basically tell our playlist to find all files not made by some fake name – logically, the smart playlist places anything and everything in this folder. Make sure the live updating is on, and there aren’t any file restrictions. If you don’t feel like being creative – you can try using my folder name, unless you have some yodeling music on your computer or something…

File > New > Smart Playlist > “All Files”

The more I played around with iTunes and sought some solice online, I found an incredibly helpful hint: If you’re dragging a group of songs out of a Smart Playlist and into a regular playlist, iTunes will automatically eliminate all files it can’t locate. That said, let’s tackle the easy playlist – the Static Playlist. Think of this playlist as a bucket; a helpful, musical bucket where we’re going to be moving our files to. Label it ‘All Live Files’

File > New > Playlist > “All Live Files”

Last, but certainly not least – your second Smart Playlist. This is going to be for your ‘Dead Files’ – we’re going to set this folder up like a sieve, it’s going to collect all the crap data within the application. We want this Smart Playlist to match two rules – we want it to be in the “All Files” Smart Playlist, and we don’t want the files to be in “All Live Files”

File > New > Smart Playlist > “Dead Files”

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Head into your “All Files” playlist and select everything – yep, everything (Command + N), right click – and add the files to your ‘All Live Files’ folder. This could take a few minutes, especially if you’ve got a large library, so go open a cold brew, sit back and let your Smart Playlists do the work. When you get back to your tracks, you should see a pretty folder with no warning flags – and a populated “Dead Files” folder. Go to the “Dead Files”, highlight everything – right click and scroll down to delete. Voila; a cleaned up iTunes Library!

Now, if you’re still in the mood to fill in that missing metadata – make a new Smart Playlist, set ‘Artist’ ‘is’ ‘Blank’ – or, Album ‘is Blank’. Your new folder will have all the files missing information – it’s a long, tedious road to adding it back in (trust me, I’m in the middle of it), but it’s so much easier when your playlists are seamlessly streaming.

[The Audiofiles] A Little Bit Softer Now: Red Rocks Amphitheater Subject to New Noise Restrictions

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015Leave a comment

One of the few natural amphitheaters on the globe, Red Rocks Amphiteater in Morrison, Colorado manifested from enormous sloping rock monoliths that have been carbon dated back to the Jurassic Period – complete with sea serpent, flying reptile and marine reptile fossils from over 160 Million Years ago. The Rocks have been called many things, like ‘Garden of the Angels’ and ‘Garden of the Titans’, and at one point, Red Rocks was considered one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the World‘. Anyone who’s been there, including me, will vehemently agree with that statement.

As Dance Music continues to dominate the music industry, the landscape of musical acts at Red Rocks has shifted accordingly; and now that we’re in 2015 – ‘Pop’ has become pseudo-synonymous with EDM. If you’ve been living under a Rock, or at least living under ‘Rock and Roll’ – EDM is an uber generalized term for the bass heavy, synth rich Dance Music you hear coming from those Tweens, 20-anythings and young professionals in the car next to you… or, at the gym, on the sidewalk or in a State of the Union address. Honestly, it’s just everywhere at this point. And that includes Red Rocks.

“Over the 50 years, the biggest and brightest pop stars in the music industry have graced the Amphitheater stage…” – but even that’s a loaded statement. For some, ‘Pop’ is the culmination of redundant records on the radio, for others, it’s the ‘Sound of the Youth’ and even then – you can just make the argument that ‘Pop’ is simply what sells. All statistics aside, ‘Pop’ is a simple, watered down version of the complexities of ‘Underground’ Dance Music that’s made acceptable for approval by the masses. Starting in the 60’s, fans at the Rocks bore witness to the musical genius of The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, John Denver, Fleetwood Mac, Rush and Jimi Hendrix. This is the location where U2’s fabled ‘Under a Blood Red Sky‘ was filmed. As we catapulted into the 90’s – Rock Bands from Dave Matthews, Incubus and Oasis to A Perfect Circle, Phish and Colorado’s own The String Cheese Incident have all hosted musically monumental events at Red Rocks.

As we ushered in a new millennium, Red Rocks witnessed a parallel changing of the guard. In addition to raucous rock and roll evenings, the night air at Red Rocks is filled with the delirious, delectable Electro sounds from industry greats – for at least one night a year. In 1999 local radio station KTCL hosted the first ‘Rave on the Rocks‘ with The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim; and in, 2000, Moby became the first solo EDM artist to perform at Red Rocks. Rave in the Rocks eventually disintegrated and reappeared as Global Dance Festival – a recurring, now multiday, Music Festival at the Rocks in the Summer. And let’s not forget, the grounds also play host to annual events like Punk at the Rocks, ‘Reggae on the Rocks’ ‘Opera on the Rocks’, The Mayor’s Jazz Festival and more.

As the decade wore on, there were spotted dance acts including Paul Oakenfold in 2002, Daft Punk in 2007 and STS9 starting in 06 (who never left the bill, and trust me – no one is complaining about that!) but the only real EDM show in town was Global Dance. It wasn’t until 2011 that the people of Morrison were truly taken for a spin. Yes, it’s true that there were more shows in general – jumping from 74 events in ’08 to 98 in ’11, but a larger proportion of acts also had deep roots in EDM. In one concert season, ears and eyes feasted on Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, The Glitch Mob, Thievery Corporation, Benny Benassi, and LMFAO – a 700% increase in solo performance EDM nights at the venue compared to previous years. The amount doubled the next year, with 2 nights of Bassnectar and Pretty Lights (not combined, mind you, I would have known about that one…), Avicii, Kaskade, Skrillex, and Justice in addition to previous performers. And it was only uphill, or downhill, from there – depending on how you want to look at it.

Between graduations, Festivals, Concerts and community events – 2014 has been the heaviest scheduled event season ever at Red Rocks with over 150 Scheduled Events – and over 10% of them were EDM. From Flux Pavillion to Zeds Dead, Global Dance to 2 nights of Skrillex, it went off this Summer at the Rocks. Red Rocks even went HARD thanks to Gary Richard’s – and now, the city of Morrison wants us to go home.

The first time there was a crack down on the musical mayhem at Red Rocks it was almost 50 years ago. Back in the 70’s, a rowdy group of Jethro Tull fans changed the game for the next five years as non-ticket holders attempted to crash the festival – this led to a ban on ‘heavier sounding’ acts that was finally dropped in ’75. And now, it’s happening again. The heavy metalhead turned dubstep producer and most epices of DJs, Bassnectar literally brought the noise – busting out his own speakers and incurring over $100,000 in fines at the Rocks – on multiple occasions. Over time, this pushed the residents of Morrison– and then the city of Denver – to enact a new noise ordinance on the area. In a tour de force, the music community came together to help contribute to the atrocious fine as well as speak up in support of his decision to be heard loud and clear, but that doesn’t change how the legislators and residents feel.

In 2013, the city of Denver imposed several sound regulations over Red Rocks. And now again in 2015, we’re witnessing yet another schedule heavily riddled with EDM and a city with residents that want the genre banned all together. Set in motion at the beginning of the year, there are some new regulations for artists to take notice of. Instead of having a to tone down the music, 2013’s music regulations are now extended to the entire set. The entire show must be at or below 105 dB for one minute averages, and the bass levels are limited to 125 dB between 25 and 80 Hz for one minute averages. The weekday music curfew has been moved a quarter of an hour back to 11:45 pm, and on weekends – the music has to shut off by 12:30am. The sound levels are measured independently by the city’s equipment at the Front of House, and performers can be fined $10,000 for every five times the one minute dB limit is surpassed – not to mention $5,000 for every half hour they go over curfew. Going into effect January 1st, the new laws stipulate that the City of Denver has the authority to ban any offending artist for the subsequent concert season.

Though some artists aren’t happy, others – including Pretty Lights labelmate Michal Menert don’t seem to take issue:

If anything, this is going to bring more dynamic out in the music because it will allow more frequencies to breathe…It will be less in-your-face sound coming at you and more dynamic.

As an audiophile myself, I whole heartedly agree. Though there’s a lot of music I love listening to loud and proud, when you change the volume on any song – you’re presented with new nuances in tonalities and melodies, a novel way of interpreting the melodies and a richer understanding of the song. Generation Y, Y-Not, or Generation NOW seems to disagree – and has brought an influx of music that effortlessly blends together in a barrage of bass defaced by drops. When you add that on top of rocks that are already breaking apart and falling on fans, well, you’re going to have a bad time. So, bring on a new era of music at the infamous rocks and let’s see how (or if) this season’s musicians – including Adventure Club, Excision, Chromeo and Odesza – fare under new regulation.

Do you live in Morrison or does your city have amplification regulations?

Are you a musical artist that feels slightly devalued by their sonic restrictions or do you merely see this as a minor obstacle?

Or, are you a fan that just likes your music loud, bass filled and proud?

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below?

[The Audiofiles] Alt-J: Changing the Game

December 16, 2014Leave a comment

In the current state of the music industry – genres are merging, producers across the board are collaborating and the end result is a smorgasborg of music that simply put moves the feet and soothes the soul. Guitar riffs layered over gritty, emotive lyrics; basslines pulsing in time with your heart beat; ethereal melodies dichotomized by dissonant chords and tense moments dispelled by eerie moments of quiet. Partly thanks to advances in modern technology like streaming media, though in part also due to piracy problems, today’s music makers are sitting on an epoch of music history; commercial ‘pop’ music is as readily available as what the rest of us consider ‘underground’ tech house, trap, glitch, minimal and all of those other nuanced sub-genres that might or might not actually exist anywhere beyond our minds.

Musicians are compounded, creative beings, constantly evolving from generations and artists before them. Unknowingly or in tribute, time and time again artists sonically ingrain their surroundings into their source material – only to remix, rework, regurgitate, and revolve the cycle of the arts once more.

It was a typical Tuesday morning – scouring Soundcloud and hunting through Hypem. Lido’s remix of ‘Left Hand High’ came through my feed and I was instantly hooked. Repeat Button. Within moments, I was having a one person dance party in my living room, grooving to the deliciously layered drops and almost ethereal vocals. Twenty minutes later, I emerged from a trancelike haze – instantly yearning for more. Instead of doing the typical – researching the remixer, I pulled back a layer to find Alt-J.

Though Alt-J(∆)’s been around for the better part of the last decade, they’ve only been releasing music for since 2012 and I didn’t discover them until literally a week ago. A triumvirate of creativity, Alt-J is constantly pushing back on the boundaries in the most beautiful way. In the Venn Diagram of Alternative Rock, Indie Electro and Hip-Hop Syncopation, Alt-J sits proudly front and center. Diving further into their discography, I’ve come to a unique conclusion – I almost don’t like any remixes of their work. And why would I? Did the Mona Lisa need a Lo-Fi filter? Great work needs no retouching, and almost every remix I’ve heard seems like a building block of their intricate design – not an homage to their work or a complex re-imagining of their harmonies.

If you don’t believe me, try this on for size: after logging at least 100 listens to ‘Left Hand High’ (and no, I’m not kidding), I matriculated on to Story 4: Sleeplessly Embracing. So, for a second – take all I knew of Alt-J. I’ve heard Tessilate and Breezeblock on the radio, and then all a sudden – a glitching, booming bassline takes over – grimy, street smart lyrics overflow my headphones as the bass fills my body. Combine that all into one compact musical package, and what you have borders on genius.

[The Audiofiles] The Weird Went Pro as Beats Antique’s Creature Carnival Tour Closed Out in LA

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014Leave a comment

The next generation of Electronic Music synthesizes the audio, visual and tactile elements into one musically inspired organism. It captivates each and every one of the senses without overstimulation, leaving each listener, dancer, hooper, light show artist inspired, engaged and wanting more. Sure, bass is beautiful and heavy hitting drops know just how to shake your soul to the core; but there’s something to be said for the empty space between the notes, a whimsical auditory adventure in Eastern Scales and stage performers oozing with professional energy. The next generation of EDM is already here – and it’s been waiting for you.

A triumverate of trippy, World Music inspired beats and elegant compositions – David Satori, Tommy Cappel and Zoe Jakes – Beats Antique has been crafting beats and captivating audiences since 2007. This past Autumn, they took North American by Storm for their Creature Carnival Tour, with Lafa Taylor, Simon Posford in a Shpongle DJ Set and ethereal, downtempo EDM guru Emancipator in tow. After a bevvy of successful stops, in November the tour drew to a poignant close at Los Angeles’ famed Shrine Exposition Hall. Host to raves like HARD 13 and How Sweet It Is, and shows from the likes of Q-Dance, Above & Beyond, Kaskade – The Shrinewas the perfect setting for the whimsical event, boasting a bevvy of beautiful beats. The night started off with Lafa Taylor on the mic and slowly shifted to a moody, melodic set from the Portland based producer Doug Appling with Ilya Goldberg getting down on the violin. Penultimate was none other than producer Simon Posford is a unique Shpongle DJ Set. Last time I was lucky enough to get my Shpongle on, he had the Shpongletron 3.0 and Zebbler by his side. Though the visual spectacle was subdued, the music was on point – as Shpongle proceeded to throw one hell of a party, giving new life to old tracks and some from his latest album the Museum of Consciousness ( though admittedly, most names are so obscure that I have issues remembering them)

Last, but most certainly not least, were Beats Antique – accompanied by a stellar performance troupe in exquisite costume. The Creature Carnival Tour was about More than a menagerie of musicians and expertly devised compositions, The Creature Carnival Tour was about the audience – the community – who come together with such poise and grace. Strangers become friends, flowing around each other and often – even with each other, as many had brought hoops, poi and the like as they let their freak flags fly with delight.

[ Click for Entire Album – Shot by Daniel Leist ]

[The Audiofiles] Tricks, Treats and Beats – How HARD’s Day of the Dead Won Halloweekend

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014Leave a comment

The last thing a lay-person would expect descending on the Pomona Fairplex is a gaggle of grown-ups, dressed to the nines that more closely resemble the lost boys of Peter Pan than a group, fully ready to self-indulge in one of the best Halloweekends that Southern California has to offer. As a tried and true fan of HARD Events, not only was I at the very first HARD Haunted, but I’ve followed the festivals around from The Forum to The Shrine, from LA’s Exposition Park and now – to my new favorite venue of in the Los Angeles ‘region’ – The Pomona Fairplex. I was there when HARD Summer was shut down during Crystal Castles, and I’ve seen more acts than I can count give the crowd lessons in heavy bass. The last event of theirs I went to was last year’s HARD Summer – and I made what I thought was an executive decision at the time that this would be my last HARD Festival, ever.

Heading into this year’s Day of the Dead, I literally had no expectations – sure, there were DJ sets that I was drooling over, and I was excited for it to be in a brand spankin’ new location; but I was ready for anything – and blown away by everything. From from Dubstep to Electro House, Deep House to Trap, for two days and nights, twenty two hours on 5 Different Stages – the crowd at the Pomona Fairplex was treated to some ghoulishly good treats and bass infused beats that you can’t help but shuffle your feet to. What made it so epic? Well, glad you asked!

Location, Location, Location

One thing about shifting locations, is that it’s brand spankin’ new for everyone – from Gary Richards, the head honcho of HARD himself, to the artists and right on down to the fans: this was a new adventure, and we were all down for the ride. Though the venue itself sits about 45 minutes outside of LA proper, it’s only about half as far from LA as the NOS Center in San Bernadino where Escape from Wonderland raged for two days – which is pretty excellent PLUR-spective. Once you made it to the Fairplex and navigated the various lines to park, get your tickets and then descend into the grounds themselves – it was game on! Everywhere you turned, there was ample space to move and groove, as well as space to wait for your crew, a plethora of delicious food trucks for anyone who got the munchies, an expansive row of patrons helping out in the various beer gardens and new friends everywhere you turned. In the past, I’ve had a time pushing through crowds, getting elbowed on the dance floor and having an all around claustrophobic clusterfuck of an experience – this is the first HARD event where they really accounted for how many bassheads would be in attendance, and how much room they’d all need to go HAAM on the dance floor. Kudos for finding such a prime piece of festival real estate; I can’t wait until we’re all back there together!

All Star Performances

It typically goes without mentioning that the entire roster of artists is on point for such a high caliber festival, but every set that I danced my ass off to was a phenomenal auditory adventure that had my whole crew looking around at each other to make sure we all knew how amazing it was. Whether you were an instant Superfriend during Zhu’s debut US performance, were front and center while Mau5ville opened up with Longest Road, took part in Sunday’s Dirtybird BBQ with Eats Everything, Justin Martin, ShibaSan and the Master himself – Claude VonStroke, or lost your mind when Bassnectar put on a masterclass of mixing – there were an infinite number of reasons I was proud to be back home, so to speak, surrounded by beautifully bouncing souls that were set free on the dance floor.

So Much Room for Activities

Going into the weekend, I was already excited for the Zip Lining, Ferris Wheel and stages – but what I hadn’t prepared for was how expansive the grounds really were. No joke, when I checked the Health app on my phone after one day at the festival it told me we walked 5 miles. Fitness aside, yet another wonderful trait of the fairgrounds is it’s size. There were 5 large stages set up and none of the noise from the stages bled together. To top it off, everyone knows that at a festival you’re going to run into people: there’s just so much energy, and enough confusion, that you’re literally going to bump into strangers and friends alike. Instead, like I was saying earlier, it was like everyone finally had enough of a personal bubble that it wasn’t an issue. We even managed to have a 10+ person yoga session smack dab in the middle of everything. To my complete surprise and utter happiness, this festival didn’t have same anxiety, pushing, low grumble of negative energy from people invading your personal bubble. Instead, we all bumped, danced, grinded, jumped and got down in a whole new realm of comfort.

Costumes

Last, and most certainly not least – how could I forget about the myriad of mind blowing outfits and costumes I saw over the weekend. Now, I’m more of an ‘I’m Always a Cat’ girl – no, really; I always have cat ears when I’m out at festivals – to boot, I’m a tried and true testament to the fact you’ll enjoy yourself more if you’re comfortable. For me, that honestly means rocking it out in uber comfy clothes (a tank top, leggings, flat boots) and cat ears. but it was great to see how creative people could get! Of course, things got a little bit ratchet at HARD – but would you honestly expect anything less? For as many people were dressed up in costumes or dressed down in their cats and casuals, as I think I’ll forever call it, but there were a good number of fist pumping bros and girls wearing pasties, bras and Little Black Diamond shorts. I have the utmost respect for people who strut their stuff and don’t have a mind for what others think, but to the same token – and potentially, a symptom of my age – I kept wanting to put clothes on some of the girls; they looked freezing! But, once the sun went down – but inside the Fairgrounds, surrounded by the warmth of the dancefloor and a rampage of ravers – it was incredibly warm and downright comfortable.

I can’t wait for the next HARD Festival, and I surely hope more Southern California EDM Production Teams start taking advantage of that Primo Festival Real Estate.

Keep tabs on HARD for their highly acclaimed international and national festival dates through their website and socials –

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Soundcloud

Still can’t get over the weekend? No sweat, we’ve got some excellent pre-DOTD Soundcloud mixes sure to get you groovin’ into the long weekend:

[The Audiofiles] Music Monday: Go One Deeper

November 17, 2014Leave a comment

I know Monday’s can hurt, but Music always helps! My musical taste ebbs and flows like an irreverent tide – but lately I’ve been attracted to a deeper, darker side of ‘Deep House’; the kind of music you’d find at at DirtyBird BBQ, at an early morning yoga sesh at Lightning in a Bottle or in a dark warehouse at 3am with 300 of your newest, closest friends. Hailing from France, Shiba San is the latest in a slew of DirtyBird producers that just tickle my eardrums. His heavy bass infused deep house is perfect; from the dancefloor to the car stereo and more, he intricately layers Hip Hop, House and a little bit of soul into a whole lot of fun.

And then the Robot Heart Community, known for their epic NYC parties and Burning Man Sound Camps, released a historic set from Above & Beyond that I get incredible FOMO over; yes, the rumors are true – my favorite trance triumverate put together a deep house ‘yoga set’ for Elena Brewer and the result is pure magic.