Music Monday: BLOND:ISH – The Perfect Frequency

January 14, 2013January 15, 2013Leave a comment

By just browsing through my recent music postings on the blog, my Facebook and through Twitter – I can tell that this Deep House kick I’ve been on is much, much more than just a seasonal shift in the headphones. This new found…dare I say “relationship” with the deeper, darker side of House Music started at the beginning of 2012. I’ve toyed around with various DJs and Producers, trying to find where exactly in the genre I fit – and finally, after a lot of soul searching and bass pounding, I think I figured it out.

The great thing about being friends with so many people in the music industry is that they continually give me fresh new DJs and music to get into. Record Labels like Get Physical – which boasts phenomenal artists like Heidi, Catz n Dogz, Audiofly and Damian Lazarus, Noir and Kompakt; DJs like Climbers, Maya Jane Coles, Infinity Ink, Claude VonStroke, Russ Yallop, Maxxi Soundsystem. These guys are what gets my feet movin’ and groovin’; what moves my body, mind and soul as one. It’s like the perfect hat trick.

A few weeks ago I was on a huge Finnebassen and Climbers kick – as I searched through videos and soundcloud posts, I discovered a sexy little group called Blond:ish that I just can’t get enough of.

Originally hailing from Canada, the fiesty and fun duo of Vivie-Ann and Anstacia have made their mark on the industry with their delicious sounds, sultry vocals and A+ attitude on the decks. Just take a listen to their collaborations with the ever soulful Climbers, or their mixtapes from the Robot Heart bus at Burning Man and I bet you’ll love them just as much as I do.

It’s just my luck that they’ll be playing down in Orange County on 1/22 at FOCUS, which is held at the adorable Tapas of Orange County every Tuesday. I’ll definitely be in attendance; y’all should as well!

The Audiofiles: [Shameless Plug] Beatnet EDM Forums

January 9, 2013August 14, 2013Leave a comment

One of the effects of living in Los Angeles, is that everyone, their mom and their step brother’s cousin’s dog has a side project that they’re feverishly working on.

Some people end up forfeiting nights out with their closest friends so they can turn their apartment into a deco-collage of crumbled paper, scribbled gibberish and lofty dreams; others end up with insomnia and a stomach ache – they eat, sleep and breathe these ideas and suddenly find their entire mind, body and spirit have been taken over by the ghost of what-could–be. Their passion is the difference between deference and pursuit; their perseverance is that thin line between fantasy and reality.

Passion, like happiness, is contagious.
The difference is that happiness can be passed from person to person on a completely subconscious level: I’m listening to a favorite song and drive into work, when I flash my badge a smile shows in tandem; the next person who enters the studio lot sees some pearly whites, no longer hidden by a stern look but framed by a smile and in parallel, one cracks on their face. And so on, and so forth, ad infinitum. Passion, on the other hand, is that fine line between action and reaction. Passion can’t exist without proactivity, nor would it exist without people to share it with.

Timing is Everything
The great thing about friends, especially as you enter adulthood (…I never said I was there yet; merely entering…) is you find symmetry in each others lives and ironically beautiful parallels between what moves us and what we want to accomplish. A few months ago, I was approached by a friend about an idea they had; and I sat there, open minded and ready to listen. This idea they had, they literally wanted to hit the ground running; they claimed it was only a side project – but what my heart translated was: ‘It’s only my everything.’

She wanted a place where music lovers, creators and promoters could get together and share sets, techniques and knowledge; in a sense, a forum for any and everything related to electronic music and the eclectic culture that surrounds it.

Some people need to be careful what they wish for; we are not those people.

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
― Aldous Huxley, Music At Night: And Other Essays

Beatnet EDM isn’t just the fabulous brain child of one of my best friends: it’s also an amazing resource for anyone remotely addicted to those four to the floor beats, pounding baselines, dissonant drops. Whether you’re a promoter looking for new acts, a DJ wondering what song they should open with or you just want to complain about how Americans are ruining dubstep – Beatnet is for you; so go ahead, check it out! Browse our blog, send us some tweets or subscribe and get in on the real chatter; who knows, you could even win a 3 Day Pass to EDC!

Music Monday: We Go Deep

January 7, 2013Leave a comment

Could you imagine if your whole week was essentially made of out Mondays?! That sounds like one of Dante’s seven layers of hell to me! The one great about Mondays – when they’re over, they’re over! The unfortunate part of this is that it’s not quite over for us West Coast-Best Coast’ers. But conveniently – we have a few more hours to go until that 5 o’clock happy hour starts and I have a few hours of my favorite sultry and savory deep house tracks to share.

I hope they’re as good for y’all as they are for me; enjoy!

Tracklist:

Infinity Ink – Infinity (Claude VonStroke Remix)
Jade – Monday (Finnebassen Remix)
Russ Yallop – I Can’t Wait
Maceo Plex – Frisky
Odd Parents – Fame (Catz n Dogz & Martin Dawson Sweet Saturday Remix)
Audiofly ft Fiora – 6 Degrees (Tale of Us remix)
Disclosure ft Sam Smith – Latch
Maya Jane Coles – Easier to Hide
Maxxi Soundsystem ft Name One – Regrets We Have No Use For
Lee Foss & MK – Electricity
HNOQ – We Do It
Kolombo – Dancing On The Floor
Oxia ft Miss Kitten – Housewife (Miss Kitten’s Wipeout Mix)
Solomun – Living On
Betoko – Not Alone (Climbers Grey Sky Remix)
Climbers – Equal Responsibility (Betoko Remix)
Karmon – When Dark Becomes Light
Art Department ft Soul Clap & Osunlade – We Call love
Luca C & Brigante ft Ali Love – Different Morals
Lee Burridge & Matthew Dekay – In Reverence

The Audiofiles: 2012 – A Year in Musical Review

December 17, 2012August 14, 2013Leave a comment

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 =)

Coachella 2k12

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.

Rockstar Studios: All Day I Dream

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.

Group Therapy with Above & Beyond

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:

Get LOST

My Top 10 Songs of the Year:

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

Worst Popular Groups: Gotye, One Direction

5 Songs that DJs need to stop remixing:

Avicii – Levels
Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
Avicii – Levels (Skrillex Remix)
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

♥

The Audiofiles: Happy Tune-sday

December 11, 2012August 14, 2013Leave a comment

I’m coming off of the greatest birthday weekend ever only to realize that I have mountains of work that seem to be piling up by the millisecond; well thank goodness for sites like Hypem, Soundcloud and Mixcloud for keeping me company on this uber busy day.

These are some of my favorite songs and DJ sets at the moment; one of the things I love about my collection of music is that all the DJs I love are so different and so amazing at what they do – take a listen to some cross- genre selections featuring Trance, Progressive House, Electro House, Drum & Bass and some Moombahton from the master himself – Sir Dillon Francis.

Music Monday: Trance Around the World

November 26, 2012November 26, 2012Leave a comment

I have way too many guilty pleasures; honestly, at times it seems like I just can’t help it! Lately – and in no particular order – they’ve been: sparkly jewelery, suede riding boots, skinny pants in rich colors, pristine white t-shirts, one of a kind gaudy purses and music. When I was driving back home last week for Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to go through my old CD collection; and when I say “collection” – I mean it. There were some that dated back as far as middle school and freshman year of high school – and then through college and up to my years in Los Angeles. What was supposed to be a cathartic six hour drive back to San Francisco turned into an assorted hodgepodge of the highlights of my childhood; what it drove home was how my brain and my ears evolved from loving the dirty basslines of old school hip-hop and gangsta’ rap, the soul soothing vibrations of the kick drum and the acoustic guitar and the effortless angelic vocals within folk rock. For the longest time, I thought all of this had been lost on me – but now I realize that it’s been here all along, hiding in plain sight. It’s in the timbre of drum and bass, the ephemeral qualities of vocal trance and the harmonic dissonance of dubstep and tech house. But, no matter how I spin it, my heart will always and forever be in the hands of trance.

During the work week there are so many trance podcasts to pay attention to that it’s hard knowing just which one to listen to – I’ve bounced around from Ferry Corsten, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren and Max Graham – all equally talented, and offering something totally different than the others. Lately, though, Above and Beyond have been pulling me back into their grasp – especially their Trance Around the World show from India. In my opinion, they have some of the best, brightest and talented musicians on their label – and it shows in both their live shows and in the production quality of the hit-after-hit singles they release. Above & Beyond’s latest show was in India, where they celebrated the 450th Episode of Trance Around the World with some of their favorite DJs. So turn your volume up, tune the world out and get ready for a musical journey…

The Audiofiles: Travellin’ Tunes

November 12, 2012August 14, 2013Leave a comment

I’m currently suffering from Packing Procrastination Syndrome, and writing this entry is even more evidence that I just am not in the mood to get it together this fine Monday morning. Tonight, I’ll fly into Bentonville, Arkansas for a work trip and to be honest I can’t decide if I’m more excited or nervous. It’s such a privilege to be asked to participate in Wal Mart’s “Bring it Week” – no one from Walt Disney Studios has gone in the last six years; and at the same time, it’s kind of like an earthquake – no matter how prepared I think I am, there’s no way to fully prepare for an experience that is so beyond unique.

One thing I can prepare for is pleasing my ear-buds for two days of six hour flights. For car trips, I honestly live for making customized mp3 playlists; but when I’m flying, it’s nice to let someone else do the legwork while I sit back with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Below are some of my favorite Soundcloud DJ sets that I’ve queued up for today’s flight. Some tried and true, and others brand spankin’ new – regardless, I’m stoked on them and I hope y’all are too. Bon voyage!