Wednesday Watercooler: Week of August 28th, 2013

August 28, 2013August 28, 2013Leave a comment

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances:
if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
― C.G. Jung

It’s almost been 31 days since August rushed in and it feels like it’s exiting my life is essentially the same fashion; the weeks get shorter, and the weekends – doubly so, but the memories I’ve made over the course of the past month are set to last me for a lifetime. As if it weren’t obvious, I’m beyond in love with the most wonderful man; he makes me feel equal parts sexy, intelligent and hilarious – what a hat trick, right?! To me, the best part about being in a relationship is constantly evolving myself to be the best person I can be; and he completely does that for me. I’ve been all over the map (literally and figuratively) for the past few weeks. I had a master plan to shake things up and I did! I cruised to LA State Historic Park for downtown’s now annual event HARD Summer, I had the luxury of heading to San Diego for an exciting weekend on the sea, I introduced my boyfriend and his housemate to the wonders of the J Paul Getty Museum and for the upcoming long weekend I’m taking my boyfriend home to meet the rest of my family and friends. A whirlwind for sure….but I couldn’t think of a more beautiful one to be stuck in!

Sunset from the J Paul Getty Museum

Before I get to the gusto of this post; I think it’s time for a teensy tinsy confession. The Wednesday Watercooler piece slowly but surely became my favorite post to churn out on a biweekly basis; but as I’ve been honing in on my writing style – and niche – I’ve enjoyed devoting full posts to interesting topics instead of glossing over them like stepping stones on a riverbed. I’ve gone head over heals about Doing It Right, a series of pieces on the way I play – my favorite vacations, staycations and day-ventures with friends; I’ve been creating my own visual quotations and adoring every second of the process – especially the photo editing, which I also do in my Oh, Snap segments; and last but definitely not least, I can’t help but want to write for days about my love of music – whether it’s the EDM scene, new artists, concerts or the community – if I’ve experienced, felt, laughed, screamed or cried about it, I want to share it with the world. In the past year, this blog has catapulted into over 100 followers and 200 unique and, at least in my opinion, well researched posts – all inspired by the effervescent and ever changing world around me. As I’ve developed personally over the past year, this blog has manifested into something bigger than I can imagine – and that’s thanks to my wonderful readers, like you! Anyways, now that’s out of the way – let’s get down to business.

The 50th Anniversary of I Have a Dream

Today is an extra special day in History; if you haven’t seen the Google Doodle or been inundated with posts from your favorite social media outlets – then let me break it to you nicely. 50 years ago today, one of the most influential characters in our Civil Rights Movement gave one of his most famous speeches. There’s a kickass interactive website set to capture and chronicle the voices of today discussing the changes and state of race relations in the United States today. Currently, the site contains almost 100 interviews from people involved in the civil rights movement – from leaders and activists, to elders and clergy members; if they had a voice, they’re telling their stories. If you feel inclined, you can head over to the website and submit your own story commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the event.

Twerk Somethin’

One thing’s for sure about the upcoming Generation – I’m a little nervous about their role models! Working for Disney maybe I’m hyper aware of this – but I’ve seen more than a handful of child stars that were plucked from the masses and put on pedestals completely disengage their fanbase and – essentially – say fuck the media, I do what I want. Currently, the Queen Bee of this scene is none other than ex-Disney star Miley Cyrus. Now, a girl can do what she wants – shake what her momma gave her, twerk sometin’, hang with the cool kids and run rampant on the streets; but in my opinion, once you’ve garned the power of popularity you should also have some semblance of social responsibility – mmm, yeah…right. This past weekend at MTV’s infamous VMA Awards, Miley treated us all to a lesson in Twerking; something I’d much rather soon forget. Between shaking her money maker on Robin Thicke, raging with Borgore and living the good life – I have to say, she’s doing something right; I’m just not sure what it is!

Concerning Consciousness

I’m no psychologist – but I’m earnestly and honestly fascinated by the human mind, how it can be manipulated and how it relates to others; as far as consciousness is concerned, it’s beyond interesting. What makes something sentient and self-aware? How can we possibly assume that because we cannot quantify consciousness in other things – a cat, a rock, a shooting star – that it ceases to exist? As far as humanity is concerned, I believe in a massive,collective unconscious that slowly gets siphoned in and out of reality and in and out of our constrained, physical bodies. But like they say in Fight Club: that’s just me, and I could be wrong. However, Aeon Magazine published a magnificent article about the condition of consciousness and I’m so exited to share it:

“We can’t help it, and the fact that we can’t help it ought to tell us something about what consciousness is and what it might be used for. If we evolved to recognize it in others – and to mistakenly attribute it to puppets, characters in stories, and cartoons on a screen — then, despite appearances, it really can’t be sealed up within the privacy of our own heads.” [Read More Here]

Pendulum Swinging Back Into View

At the beginning of last week I heard maybe the best EDM news of the entire Summer! A few years ago, one of my favorite groups decided they were done with their signature drum & bass sound in favor of evolving their craft the way of the industry – Trap, Dubstep, Drumstep, etc. They went from having 3 members to 2 members, and from being a live group to essentially being a DJ Set. If you haven’t put it together by now, the group I’m talking about is Pendulum – made of the trio Paul Harding, Gareth McGrillen and last but definitely not least Rob Swire; and Knife Party – their offshoot, is made of only the two later members.

In Spring of ’12, right after Coachella, one of my friends and I moseyed over to Funktion Wednesdays at Avalon to see a Pendulum DJ Set; I remember explicitly asking what the difference between a Pendulum DJ set and a Knife Party set was and they honestly couldn’t tell me. Low and behold, three months later Pendulum announced they were going to stop touring together in favor of pursuing Knife Party – much to the dismay of the majority of their fan base, including myself. Now, don’t get me wrong because I love me a bloody Knife Party – but there’s absolutely nothing like a live set from Pendulum! I’m definitely doing my happy dance in eager anticipation of their next album; bring on 2014!!

Who Gave Us Numbers

One of the greatest debates a mathematician or scientist can get into is distilling their craft to this: when it comes to numbers, did we as a society invent them or are numbers divinely created and handed down to us? I’m sure your side of the debate weighs heavily on your views of this world, or even worlds beyond this; but regardless of your stance, the following video from PBS’ Idea Channel asks the simple following question – does math exist; as a statistician, I’m sure you already know my response but I’ll leave the job of answering that question to you guys 😉

[Artist Spotlight] Lane 8 + Russ Chimes

August 23, 2013September 26, 2013Leave a comment

It’s not often that I’m moved enough to share a favorite artist with the world, but when credit’s due – credit is due; I’ve been digging around through the deepest of house music for the past year and I feel like I’ve finally found my niche in it. Just a little bit of bass, some soulful lyrics, a killer bridge and a dance-able beat – I’ve found it before so I know that it’s possible. It’s the music Kaskade was giving us back in 2004 with his artist album ‘In the Moment’ and again with his last US tour, which he dubbed the ‘It’s You, it’s Me Redux. The Deep House that is doled out nowadays can have a generic beat and at times, it can be hard to tell where a song begins and ends….and doubly so during a deep house set. I can’t tell you how many times my friends and I have turned to each other and asked ‘Is this still the same song?’ So, when I discovered this latest artist I was beyond stoked. I’ve been listening to my fair share of Finnebassen, Cyril Hanh and the guys on Crosstown Rebels but the one thing I’ve been craving is original work from a deep house artist. Both Cyril Hahn and Finnebassen are more more than adept at remixing (or as I love to say, mixing down) oldies and goodies alike, including but not limited to: James Blake’s Retrograde and Jessie Ware’s Sweet Talk.

Over the last few months ‘Perfect Form’ and the B Side have come out – giving Cyril his first singles which were amazing; A+! In the meantime, I’ve had a golden opportunity to discover two amazing new (at least to me) artists in the scene. Russ Chimes and Lane 8 have been giving me chills for a few months now – between their adept remixes and ellquently catchy singles, I’m surprised these two haven’t blown up more than they already have! They’ve been dishing out hit after hit recently and it would take a real asshole to not enjoy their sound. Perfect for a BBQ with friends, weekend getaway or poolside – catchy lyrics, dance-y beats, non-repetitive structures; totally my thing! Nothing like having a diamond in the rough, but I’m the type that loves seeing that lesser known artists start popping up in mixes, live sets and finally into festival lineups in my area. There’s no sense in talking someone up who can speak for themselves, so without further ado – here’s a few mixes and original singles from Russ Chimes and Lane 8. I guarantee you’ll be sailing smoothly into your weekend in no time!

Lane 8

Russ Chimes

[Doing it Right] HARD Summer 2013

August 7, 2013September 26, 20131 Comment

‘It was deep, it was soulful , it was techno, it was disco – a kaleidoscope of sounds.’
A tribal beast of rhythm, a ceremony of sound, the gathering of the spirits that would lift us off the ground,
My vision was so clear, but it was still hazy in my mind;
I must have went to house heaven, because nothing’s that divine.

My Love

This Summer has been one of my busiest and best to date; but between the caliber of friendships that I’ve developed over the past year and the effervescent and ever-evolving music scene in Southern California why would I expect anything less? This past weekend marked the annual mayhem and debauchery that is Hard Summer – one of the only multi-day EDM festivals left in the city of Los Angeles. It’s taken a few days to recover, but somehow and somewhere between the laughs, the stories, the ‘did-you-guys-see-that?!’ moments and our tired joints we’ve managed to detox from one hell of a wild ride and revel in its glory.

One of the best things about the way HARD has transformed in the past year is that you could get fresh and funky one minute and dirty and dubstepping the next; with acts like Disclosure, Alex Metric, Oliver and Claude VonStroke‘s DirtyBird crew – J.Phlip and Justin Martin in the ‘Underground’ tent you could take a break from the ear thrashing bass (not that I don’t enjoy a good rage sesh every now and again) and groove to something different. All in all, we couldn’t have asked for better company, weather, food trucks, people watching and amazing acts to see.

On the flip side my friends and I walked from the event with a few legitimate concerns about the safety of the set-up and layout of certain areas like the location of the food trucks, merchandise tents and the ‘Underground’ stage. The vending areas were in an incredibly central -read: profitable – area and disrupted an otherwise pleasant flow to the grounds. The biggest problem for me was having a tented off stage with closed sides. The Sahara and Gobi tents at Coachella created a similar relaxed, shady atmosphere but the addition of sides on the tent made the crowding unbearable and trampling a definite possibility. I was there for Disclosure and so thankful we escaped – the lack of oxygen was pretty brutal!

HARD works hand in hand with Los Angeles: when you purchase your ticket, you’re granted free access to the Metro systems in the city for the entire weekend. It makes so many things absolutely easier on all of the festival go-ers – driving, traffic, parking, the possibility of accidents and DUIs; the list is endless and we didn’t have to fret about any of it! Once we hit Union Station, we were a mere hop, skip, jump and a ten minute walk to LA Historic Park. On the way there was an amazing vendor handing out deliciously flavored, and might I add free, fruit-infused waters to all of us so we could fend off our impending dehydration – thank goodness!

Especially compared to the last few HARD events I’ve gone to (last year’s HARD Summer + Day of the Dead), the lines were so much more manageable this year and we barely had to wait; the addition of metal barricades between the lines was absolutely necessary and completely welcomed. After a friendly little frisk by the security team, we were on and through to the other side: lights, camera, action – here we go!

I had-had-had to make sure we were inside by the time Keys n Krates hit the stage and rightfully so – I guarantee you one thing, they are part of an EDM revolution with the likes of Modestep, Infected Mushroom and the old Pendulum live sets. There’s just something so damn magical about live instruments – especially the evolution and pairing of them with modern forms of electronics and technology. It’s giving me a braingasm just thinking about it! We bounced around between the stages essentially the entire day, because we have severe forms musical ADD and after Tommy Trash tore the city a new one the main stage never really sounded the same.

Day 2 was a whole horse of a different color when compared to the first day; chalk it up to people on Sunday needing to go to work on Monday (or, conversely, people on Saturday who planned on partying for 36 hours straight) but the vibe was a lot more low key and I heard lots more people interject with a “Sorry!” or an “Excuse me…”. It was like we all got some unwritten memo about chilling out, and we did. If the aggression of the first twelve hours dissuaded anyone from coming back to another HARD event I surely hope they let the second day change their minds. Like usual, I came out of this festival with more friends than I went into it with; but, I’ve been doing one thing differently as of late that I hope everyone employs at festivals sooner or later: turn off your phone. Not just the mobile network but the entire thing! Sure, in emergencies whip that shit out and find your passe but while you have one: enjoy the moment and focus on the friends that are next to you instead of concerning yourself with people that aren’t around. You’ll find your entire experience so much more enjoyable; trust me!

Justin Martin

Miau!

Zedd

For an excellent way to bounce through your day, peruse these fine sets from my favorite acts at Hard Summer; enjoy!

[The Audiofiles / Music Monday ] Keepin’ It Moving

July 22, 2013September 26, 2013Leave a comment

In standard, normal, everyday time it’s really only been a week since I’ve been home from Lightning in a Bottle but truth be told it feels like another century ago; another me ago, even. If you want to get down to brass tax – yes, in all honesty the weekend was absolutely transformational, mercurial and magical all at the same time. I’ve spent the past week in a solid state of reflection about life, the universe…and literally anything and everything under the sun.

My love; my life.

Part of the reason Lightning in a Bottle was such a big deal for me emotionally was that it represented multiple turning points in my life. First and foremost, back in 2010 I actually had a ticket for LiB – but because I was just diagnosed with Vasovagal Syncope I sold my ticket to get my health back on track. The year after, in 2011, was my best friend’s bachelorette party in Vegas and there was no way in hell I was missing that – so this year, my adventures to and at LiB seemed more than necessary and slightly overdue. Then mix in equal parts falling in love with my boyfriend while two of my best girl friends leave LA for Montreal and Boston respectively, and I had a whole mess of a machine to figure out for myself. Phaedra and Jessica represent two different worlds of friendships to me, but are equally loyal and loving friends; it was a blessing to have them get to know each other last summer and as people have always said – how lovely it is that I’ve met two souls who make saying goodbye so difficult.

It’s not that I define myself by the friendships I keep, but I place a lot of value on their opinions and moral codes; then again, shouldn’t we all? In the absence of both of them I’ve been doing some soul searching and emotional wandering with this mantra in mind: we’re all cups, full to the brim of emotion and with each interaction with others we’re constantly tipping out our emotions and being refilled by the thoughts and feelings of others; I’ve come out of my shell within the last two years and maybe the shape of my cup has shifted, or I’ve switched from still to bubbling water. Either way, I’ve watched myself grow – mature – evolve – and I simply don’t have the same needs, nor the same amounts of patience, that I used to have. Meaning a lot of introspection into what it means for me to both have a friend and be one.

Besides taking time to detox and emotionally decompress, this past week has been about intertwining friend groups and developing the framework for future plans and ideas. Simply put, every since LiB there’s been a sense of passion, dedication, creativity and urgency from my group of friends – business plans, life goals, trajectory altering decisions – they’re being made en masse and I couldn’t be more impressed. As my boyfriend put it – they didn’t call it the ‘Maybe Lab’ and they don’t call it the ‘Do Lab’ for nothing; we can’t wait to see what’s possible when we put our minds together for something positive!

Besides the introspection, we did manage to have a bit of fun over the past week: last Thursday I discovered that one our of favorite DJs and Producers – Pretty Lights – was playing a free show at the Amoeba records in Hollywood so I went with a few of my guy friends and had an absolute blast! He even freestyled for us – so legit.

Pretty Lights gettin’ funky

And now, for the next two weeks, I’ll be doing absolutely as little as possible as I get ready for the ruckus and shenanigans of Hard Summer! Just because I’m not out and about prancing to the beat doesn’t mean I feel like sitting still – so here are some jams to help you get through your Monday – your week – your whatthehellever – just dance!

Tracklist:

TJR – Whats Up Suckaz
Disclosure – F For You (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix)
Skrillex & Damian Marley – Make It Bun Dem (Dead Battery Remix)
Major Lazer – Get Free (Ft. Amber Coffman) (Andy C Remix)
Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr – Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat
Sound Remedy – Chiaroscuro (Original Mix)
Boys Noize – Starwin
Diplo ft. Mike Posner, Boax van de Beatz, RiFF RAFF – CROWN
Mounties – Headphones (Sleepy Tom Remix)
Neon Jungle – Trouble (Monsieur Adi Remix)
Foreigner – Cold as Ice (A.Skillz & Nick Thayer Bootleg Remix)
Major Lazer – Bubble Butt (It’s The Kue Remix!)
Gareth Emery & Krewella – Lights and Thunder
Thrift Shop – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Kinetik Groove Remix)
HeRobust x gLAdiator – We Are
Rusko – Lift Me up
Deadmau5 – Suckfest 9001
Knife Party – LRAD (Erotic Cafe Remix)
Calvin Harris feat. Ayah Marar – Thinking About You (Laidback Luke Remix)
Krewella – Live for the Night
Sleepy Tom – Let It Go
Tommy Trash vs A Trak – Tuna Truffle (Tommy Trash Coachella Snack)
Matthew Koma – One Night (Vicetone Remix)
Smallpools – Dreaming (The Chainsmokers Remix)
Capital Cities – Safe & Sound (Panic City Remix)

[Doing It Right] EDC Weekend in Las Vegas

June 25, 2013September 26, 2013Leave a comment

I’m back from a whirlwind trip to Vegas with some of my hands down favorite people ever! We danced, we played, we raved and now we’re paying the price. Traffic was no joke yesterday but when you have an amazingly handsome reason to come home, it just seems to fly on by. Not only am I back home with some epic memories and an amazing group of friends, but I also have a new outlook on Vegas nightlife and a stellar PSA for you pretty party people about the “Las Vegas hat-trick-of-terror”

Hangovers, dehydration and hunger are awful, on you and most importantly…not cute! No one wants to carry their friends to bed, charge the bar for waters ever ten minutes or cater to your dietary needs – you’re a big kid now in a big kids playground so start acting like it! You don’t have to go home, but please GTFO of Vegas so the rest of us can get back to raging like the professionals we are, thanks much 🙂

I know I touched on the idea of Vegas being a mecca of dehydration last week but it really should be stressed more frequently: if you’re trying to go to pool parties in heats that are reaching to 103 or clubs packed to the max while drinking copious amounts of alcohol and shaking your groove thang, you should always have a bottle of water handy! For every alcoholic drink you consume, drink two hydrating drinks – and no, soda and chasers with caffeine don’t count, they’re actually diuretics that’ll dehydrate you even worse. One neat thing about water, the more hydrated you are – the easier the hangover on your body. Isn’t science neat?!

Ok, enough preaching – onto the party pics!

Friday night went from tame to turntUP in like 3.5 seconds; fine by me! We ended up gallivanting around the strip and discussing the debauchery in our near and present future the whole night. Also, I learned that even though I don’t need an entire bottle of champagne to myself…I totally do.

Saturday was a tame day; which was necessary after drowning myself in champ the night before – and at night we headed out to Daylight at Mandalay Bay to see Skrillex play a SunSET; absolutely amazing.

Daylight at Night; amazing…

That night we ended up at Light at Mandalay Bay for some dirty dubstep and Trap music courtsey of Baauer

Baauer at Light

On Sunday, we bounced out real quick so we could get into Krewella’s party at Daylight and let me tell you – so worth it; those girls throw down hard and they’re sexy as eff to boot. I might or might not have a total girl crush on both of the ladies in the group….

Last, but most definitely not least – we made it out to XS’s famed Nightswim for Eric Prydz from 1 til 4 am. Amazing as all hell; easily my favorite party in Vegas – where the hell else can you cannonball on people as a sick beat drops?!

For some more icing on this EDC weekend cake, check out this amazing set by Eric Prydz during day 2 of EDC weekend =)

Strobelight Seduction: Kaskade + Focus’ 10 Year Anniversary

June 5, 2013July 1, 20131 Comment

I’d been waiting two months for last night to come to fruition.

Back in April, a good friend of mine gave me a very valid heads up that one of my favorite DJs would be playing a secret show at an intimate Southern California venue; since then, the interwebs have seen ample speculation about who this Mystery DJ would be.

The venue in question is Orange County’s hub of House – Focus OC. Once a week, a Tapas of Newport Beach is transformed into a mecca of music and an escape for everyone wishing they could time travel from Monday to Friday with the snap of their fingers. They’ve gotten some incredible DJs over the last few years and totally too many for me to list off – but of the ones I’ve actually seen there, I’ve yet to be disappointed.

Mark Farina and Collette both gave phenomenal shows last year at Focus’ 9th Anniversary Party and the gentlemen of Dusky proved that they’ve mastered moving the dancefloor. So, when it came time to purchase tickets for this year’s 10th anniversary show – who was I kidding? So in! I’ve tried to pay little to no mind to the rumors but come the fuck on, how could you not be the least bit enticed?! So, I did what any rational EDM maven would do – buy two tickets and hope for the best; life’s more fun with a partner in crime, and going to concerts? Doubly so.

From the moment we arrived, we were greeted with both fresh and familiar faces; Focus has a knack for attracting some of the most down to earth, friendly, music loving people to the west of the 405 and last night was definitely no different. I mobbed down with two of my favorite partners-in-crime – just add them to my collection of attractive, intelligent blondes if you will – and we were beyond stoked to bounce around to the tunes of Wobs, Josh Billings and Non-Fiction while everyone was getting settled.

Then, at midnight – it was time for the man, the myth, the legend:

KASKADE.

For the last few months, Kaskade has been on his ‘Redux’ tour around the United States, hitting his favorite major cities for some intimate gigs – and last night was certainly no different. I’ve seen Kaskade a handful of times – each has been energetic, lively and entrancing; last night at Focus I got something completely different and it’s precisely what I’ve been craving from him: seductive basslines, delicate transitions and the bass – so much bass! His next tour, titled ‘Atmospheres: Big Rooms, Small Tour‘ is set to follow a similar format to his Redux tour, bringing him back to his true deep house roots. Pre-sales went up today at noon in each time zone – LA, Chicago, New York and Miami – and tickets formally go on sale this Friday – if this sounds up your ally, grab your tickets now or you’ll be walking those empty streets alone at 4am.

The Audiofiles: Manic Monday – No Gloom in My June

June 3, 2013Leave a comment

“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.