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.
In partnership with Time Warner Cable, Above & Beyond – America’s favorite Trance trifecta – are bringing their signature radio show ABGT to New York City to celebrate the 100 episode mark! After last year’s epic show for ABGT50 at London’s Alexandra Palace, the bar will definitely be raised for the group – but that’s nothing they can’t overcome. And, for their century episode they’re doing it big – broadcasting live from Madison Square Garden, the world’s most famous arena, and it’ll be their largest show in America to date.
Pre-sale registration is open now until 4/28 at Midnight. If your ‘Sticky Fingers’ are itching to say ‘Hello’ to A&B in NYC, you’ll want to register ASAP. Pre-sale for registered members begins at Noon EDT on 4/30 and could easily sell out, sale to the general public begins on 5/1 at Noon EDT.
Looking back at my posts from the last year, one that stands out the most to be is my 2012 Year in Musical Review. Partially, because it’s catalyzed my writing career on multiple fronts – but mostly because music, especially kickass live music, is something I truly care about to my core. Music influences our moods, our personalities and even our daily interactions. Unless there’s something highly important and technical that I have a deadline for, I’m literally submersed in music 24/7 – from the time my alarm and I wake up, to my morning runs, to the drive to work, you get the picture: I more or less have provided myself with a soundtrack to my life. With my attention span as short as it is (…squirrel!…), I constantly refresh my collection of original jams, remixes and singles and try to take in as much live music as I can.
I’ve been leafing through the ticket stubs and reminiscing about the excellent year in music that I just had. From attempting to co-start a music forum site and to with The DJ List, my daily extra-curricular activities have always circled around new music, fresh artists and the latest and greatest they have to offer. Somehow, even though I’ve managed to be busier than I’ve ever been I’ve definitely managed to fit in some quality R&R (Rave & Relaxation) into the mix. So, without further ado – here are my musical musings for 2013; enjoy!
Truth be told, I’m sitting here trying my hardest to even place Cosmic Gate in second place because Above & Beyond’s sunset at Avila Beach was just so spectacular! It was a small crowd with unexpected surprises in store for everyone in my friend group – we each found someone at the event from out of town (LA, Riverside and SF) that we didn’t know was in attendance and were all simply wowed by the musical prowess the group possesses. But Cosmic Gate is not a team to be underestimated, during the live show they brought out my favorite pixie blonde vocalist, Emma Hewitt, and Jonathan Mendelson who gave a phenomenal first live vocal performance during Nic Chagall’s ‘This Moment’.
Best D&B show: Modestep at the Nokia Club, High Contrast w. Camo & Krooked at Dim Mak Studios
Best Deep / Tech House Show: Kaskade @ Focus OC’s 10 Year Anniversary
Best Progressive House Show:Eric Prydz / Pryda / Cirez D @ Create
Best Electro House Show: Gareth Emery @ XIV
Best Festival: Lightning in a Bottle
For the last six or seven years I’ve been a self-professed seasoned festival go-er and have a host of Insomniac, HARD and GoVentures events under my EDM belt (almost 40 if you want to get specific), but truth be told last year I only attended three festivals, one of them being Sea of Dreams on NYE. For as much as the lineup to HARD Summer thrilled my pants off, the event didn’t…however, Lightning in a Bottle and Sea of Dreams surely did. Each was musically right in their own right but on a more personal level, I truly felt bonded to the community that LIB and Burning Man cultivates and have actively been seeking out similar events ever since.
Best Festival Set:Keys n Krates, Dillon Francis, Alex Metric ((HARD Summer)) HeRObust, Pumpkin, Rusko, The Polish Ambassador, Odeza, Andreilien ((LIB)), LowRIDERz, A-Trak, Thievery Corporation ((Sea of Dreams))
Best Venue: Sea of Dreams @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium | NYE was one of the most amazing musical experiences I’ve ever had, everything about the night was golden and a lot of that is due to the venue and soundsystem that came with it; top notch.
Weird but Rad Venue: Lightning in a Bottle @ Lake Skinner, Temecula, CA | I was tempted to give LIB the gold star for ‘Best Venue’ but after the all of the shenanigans with the county and residents of Riverside, I’ll wait until next year to grant the festival that award. Basically, I want to see it shine in all of its glory; not just in my personal experiences but for the greater community in attendance as well.
Best Pool Party: Daylight
Best Party:Sea of Dreams
Best Up and Coming Venue:Sound in Hollywood
Favorite Reopened Venue: Create (previously, known as Vanguard)
Best Crowd: DoLab shows –Avalon | If you only remember one thing about the music scene in LA, let it be this: the Do Lab will always do you right. I always look forward to the art infused musical events they throw. Whether they’re at the Nokia Club, King King or out in the middle of nowhere Riverside – they make sure to cater to all of your senses and the people who show up are some of the nicest friends you hadn’t met you.
Douche-iest Crowd: XIV by Hyde, Greystone Manor, Sutra | I still hold by last year’s statement about Sutra, but now that I’ve finally attended events at Greystone and XIV I can easily bump those two to the top of the list. Maybe it goes hand-in-hand with my appetite for all things Do Lab and underground, but I can’t wrap my head around wearing 3″+ heals to a club and cozy-ing up to people just snag an extra drink (or five). I prefer the let-your-freak-flag-fly mentality of other events and prefer stomping around in flats to trying to maintain a proper demeanor in an outfit that’s definitely not meant for dancing.
Best Lasers:Create and Exchange have most definitely stepped their laser game up in the last year, far surpassing anything that Avalon has ever done (sorry guys – not knocking the place (it’s still rad!) but it’s true).
Ferry Corsten @ Exchange Hit us with those laser beams *pew pew pew*
Artists
Favorite Set/Act of 2013: Above & Beyond in Avila Beach
Best Surprise of 2013: Crywolf, Mitis, Kill Paris, Disclosure, Keys n Krates, Flume
So Glad I (Re-)Discovered: Bonobo, Emancipator, Shpongle, The Magician,
Remixes So Nicely: SubFocus, Flume
Best Remix-er: Boy Noize, Dillon Francis, Cazzette
Favorite Vocalists: Jonathan Mendelson, Alex Clare, Annabel Englund, MNEK, Chet Faker, Florence Welch, Emma Hewitt
Most Disappointing: Daft Punk everything; maybe because it was directly juxtaposed to Keys’n’Krates with their live instruments, but Duke Dumont was also pretty underwhelming live and looked like he was just pressing a button; last but not least, Cedric Gervais did absolutely nothing for me.
Vocalists Who Shouldn’t Perform Live with DJs: Danny Brown
People Who Should Be Reminded They’re Not DJs: Will.i.Am, Paris Hilton
Songs:
My Top 10 Songs of the Year
Depeche Mode – Soothe My Soul (Steve Angello + Jaques Lu Cont Remix)
Darkside – Papertrails
Oliver – Night is On My Mind (Dillon Francis Remix)
Disclosure – You & Me (Baauer Remix)
Seven Lions + Myon & Shane 54 – Strangers
Minnesota – Stardust Redux (Crywolf Remix)
Maya Jane Coles ft Karin Park – Everything
Thomas Jack – Booka Shake
Flume ft Freddie Gibbs – Holdin’ On (LKids Remix)
Lane 8 – Be Mine
Mat Zo – Lucid Dreams – (M Machine Remix) [runner up]
No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.– Robert Southey
rAWr! Rocking my first Spirit Hood; Welcome to the Tribe =D
Nails, check!
What a freakin’ whirlwind this last week has been; if it wasn’t evident by the lack of posts, I’ve been beyond busy and nowhere near a computer or strong internet for that matter. I know, I know – that sounds incredibly unlike me but at the same token I think that it was necessary. I had a few days with some of my closest friends from around the state to play, eat, drink, sleep and bounce to some amazing music all over the Southern and Central California coast.
I’ve been blessed with amazing people in my life and friends that span over space and time; the friendships I’m currently in the middle of are proof that you can know someone forever but you can get to know them in an instant. Each and every person that was part of last weekend plays an integral role in my life and I couldn’t be more thrilled that they’re part of my journey. And it was such a hodgepodge of personality! My close friend and former housemate just got back from two years in Shanghai and is ready to pursue new and exciting things on the East Coast, then my boyfriend and his best friend were there – and the beauty of it all is that she’s the one that introduced us! Then there was Anne and Jeff from the Bay Area, late additions sure but the best additions by far – Anne and I have known each other since Freshman year of high school and though I can’t say for sure why we’ve never been close before I know that I’m lucky to forge such a great bond with such a fabulous person! And Jeff, oh, Jeffery. What a perfect addition to our ridiculous group of people =)
The festivities started early on Wednesday night with an outing to Create – SBE‘s newest Los Angeles nightlife venture; being here for five years now I’ve seen just how quickly clubs change hands, but on the plus side this means that between WeHo, Hollywood and Downtown LA there are tons of awesome places to go and get your bounce on, including but not limited to: Avalon, Create, Lure, Greystone Manor, Dim Mak Studios, The Hollywood Palladium, King King, Los Globos and Exchange (phew!). And to boot, about half – the places in bold – are run by the Insomniac Events / SBE crew. Eric Prydz was the headliner on Wednesday and man did he put on a motherf&*king show, and he’s so different in a club setting like Create than a nighttime pool party like XS or a festival set from Coachella or EDC. The first hour he played as Prydz, the second as CirezD and the last he played as Pryda – the visuals echoed the alterego, and provided for both seamless transitions and an epic night of fun!
Reach out and touch faith.
As lame as it sounds, Thursday was spent being incredibly lazy with loads of sleep and I absolutely loved it! At nighttime, a few friends and I ventured over to Pasadena to see if we could take a gander at what was going on at the Rose Bowl. I’ve heard so many amazing things about their fireworks that I was beyond stoked to finally view them – this shot sums it up pretty well:
On Friday, we headed up to Avila Beach with a ridiculously fun group of friends for a weekend at the Hot Springs and a chance to see Above & Beyond play a sunset set on the beach; sound epic? Because it was! I wish I had more pictures but nothing could ever accurately capture what we both witnessed and took place in. Literally the best weekend of the year so far and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say best 4th of July weekend ever!
“I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde
Though I’m sure my parents would readily disagree with this statement – I don’t consider myself much of a whiner or a complainer; the fact of the matter is that I’m an only child – and twice over at that with divorced parents. But that’s totally a story for another day – bottom line: the only type of wine I like comes in a glass and is paired with cheese. That said – BLAAARG: <y Aunt has been at Mass-Gen with some rare, tropical illness that no one’s ever heard of or knows how to treat and – this isn’t me exaggerating to get my point across, or get your sympathy – she would’ve died last week if it weren’t for the quick thinking and overwhelming concern from a family friend. When ten of the best specialists in the world are running around like chickens with their heads cut off asking for “Dr.House” you know you’re in for a hell of a ride; thankfully, my family is rock solid and we’re sending all of our energy to get her better. To boot, I’ve had a whale of a time dealing with a misanthropic apartment “manager” on various different issues and it literally makes my head want to explode and implode simultaneously. So this is me; trying to be calm, content and in the present. This is me being constructive and moving forward. And this is me, understanding that I can only control what is in my power; the universe has it’s own plan for all of us.
So, that being said – I’ve been in search of an escape. Most people view escapism as something external: somewhere you go or a new place to rest your existence. But, why limit yourself? To escape is to literally break free of confinement, control and convention – did you ever stop and think that all those mechanisms exist in your mind? This weekend ended up being about an internal escape, a sort of manifest-destiny of the mind of you will. I had great company, good food, roamed the streets in the sunshine and had at least 8 hours of sleep each night; suffice it to say, I forgot how amazing detoxing can be! But now that we’re here – at Monday – again, I need something to pick me up. I was diagnosed with a fainting disorder a few years ago so with no caffeine in my diet, I leave it up to music to soothe my soul – here are some of my go-to, feel-good jams that make you just want to dance, love and break things (in the best of ways, of course!). Enjoy, and I hope your Monday is just as manic as you need it to be.
Playlist:
Depeche Mode – Soothe My Soul (Steve Angello & Jaques Lu Cont Remix)
Empire of the Sun – Alive (Zedd Remix)
SubFocus ft Alex Clare – Endorphins (Tommy Trash Remix)
Above & Beyond – Walter White
Disclosure ft Eliza Doolittle – You & Me (Baauer Remix)
The Partysquad – Lighterman (Krafty Kuts Skank Remix)
MitiS ft Collin McLoughlin – Born
J Majik & Wickaman – Life Me Up
Duke Dumont – Lean N Bounce
Armin van Buuren ft Trevor Guthrie – This Is What It Feels Like (W&W Remix)
Maison & Dragen – Wet Dreams
Hard Rock Sofa & Dirty Shade – Collapsar
Submatik – Stories Can Wait
Will Sparks – Ah Yeah (TJR Edit)
Wallpaper. – Good 4 It (Laidback Luke Goes Melbourne Vocal Mix)
One of the great things about meeting people in the EDM scene is we each have such unique tastes in what moves us; take me for example – I’m a sucker for some floor to the four beats but I love me some dirty dubstep and vocal trance. Actually, let’s just be real – I love it all!
The other day, a new friend of mine got to talking about favorite trance tracks and he sent me away with some homework: my mission, should I choose to accept, was to create a CD with ten songs – seven favorites and three absolute classics. Well, I’ve been bumping this mix now all morning and can’t get enough – so I thought I’d share the wealth =)
#1. First State – Falling (First State’s Stuck Parachute Mix)
#2. Above & Beyond present Oceanlab – Lonely Girl (Gareth Emery Remix)
#3. Aly & Fila ft. Jwaydan – We Control the Sunlight
#4. Armin van Buuren ft. Jennifer Rene – Fine Without You
#5. Aven – All I Wanna Do (Ferry Corsten Remix)
#6. John O’Callaghan – Save This Moment (Gareth Emery Remix)
#7. Lange ft Sarah Howells – Out of the Sky (Kyau & Albert Remix)
#8. Markus Schulz & Departure – Without You Near (Gabriel & Dreseden Remix)
#9. Motorcycle – As The Rush Comes ( G&D Sweeping Strings Remix)
#10. Tiesto – Everything (Cosmic Gate Remix)
(Bonus) – Tritonal – Hands to Hold Me
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…
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.
The Bouncy Kitty 
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