Skyrocketing to the top of the dance music circuit over the past decade, classically trained Gareth Emery boasts production skills that refuse to be reduced to a single genre. Crossing over effortlessly between Progressive House to Trance, Emery has produced hit after hit, including 2012’s Concrete Angel is the definition of perfection, a timeless track transporting me back three years ago to when it first trickled into my ears. Fast forward to 2015, and Emery has over 50 episodes of his ‘Electric For Life’ podcast under his belt – bringing the shows mantra ‘a good melody can change the world’ to life.
For the past several months, Gareth Emery has taken his immersive and audio-visually seductive show on the road, appropriately called the road to EFL in preparation for key stops in New York City, Los Angeles and London. Thrown in conjunction with LED Presents and Goldenvoice is pleased to host Gareth Emery’s Electric For Life Tour at the Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hallon Saturday, November 21st 2015. Unlike previous shows that boasted a mere 2 or 3 hour set, Emery sets the stage for sonic storytelling over the course of a meticulously plotted five hour set featuring special guest Emma Hewitt in all of her pixie perfection.
For a taste of the magic, dive ears first into his delicious and unprecedented six hour set at Vancouver this past August.
For the tried and true Trance fans, The DJ List is home to an exclusive giveaway for Gareth Emery fans – enter our contest on for an amazing opportunity: a 4 pack of tickets to the 11/21 Gareth Emery show in Los Angeles plus some stellar swag from none other than Electric Family!
Enter our contest HERE to Electrify Your Life with Gareth Emery!
For more on Gareth Emery, LED Presents or Goldenvoice head to their socials:
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]
Per usual – the long weekend came and went with an amazing amount of fanfare and a complete lack of respect for the limited amount of hours in a three day time span. Whether your time was spent marinating in relaxation or in complete play-cation mode, chances are you’re still yearning for just one more sweet day to get your life back together. The one benefit to today’s condition is that 5pm on Friday is just so much closer; but what’s a gal to do until then? Well, relive the weekend of course!
I both kicked things off and ended things right with a few of my favorite things – my partner in crime, some picnic eats and a marathon of my ultimate TV show, Battlestar Galactica; if you’re into political, military or sci-fi drama’s this is simply a must-see series. Check out this trailer and tell me you’re not interested; all four seasons of the reimagined series are currently on NetFlix so try it out while you still can!
Considering the amount of DJs in Chicago for EDC or in Las Vegas to enjoy the pool parties, on Saturday night we got one of the most eclectic lineups I’ve ever seen – Jack Beats, Style of Eye and Jamie Jones. Two of which I adore, the middle I still have no clue who they are. The new Create is where the old Vanguard was – there’s essentially less tables, more LEDs and I’m so okay with that! And as a bonus, the glorious outside patio is still in tact and prefect for catching up with new and old friends alike.
Probably my favorite thing about the long weekend was the fact I had friends from all over the state coming into town for one mission: a sun & fun filled play-cation. I, for one, can definitely get down with that. Sunday morning I made the beautiful trek down to Venice Beach to grab brunch with one of my best friends from high school and her new business partner. They’re starting up a boutique Marketing firm in the SoCal area called the Marketing Minxes – it’s an uber cute concept and I have the utmost faith in their vision. Plus, like I really need an excuse to head out to the beach!
The only mission for the afternoon and evening was to get our collective boogie on – and thanks to some good doses of karma, we accidentally ended up at XIV, yet another SBE venue on the replacement rotation. For any party junkies the place used to be known as Colony; it’s pretty small and intimate, especially for the ridiculous level of raging taking place there! It was a madhouse with Co2 so thick that you couldn’t see in front of you for half a minute and the most confetti I’ve ever seen at a club. A few minutes after walking in, we heard something trancy – and turned around and saw one of our favorite DJs – Gareth Emery! We even got to hear Concrete Angel, ahhhh – insert #trancearms here; so epic – and the perfect way to rage until the Monday light =)
Music, like math, seems to run in the family; both of my Grandmothers sang and played the piano. My dad is a master of the guitar and the cello, which he brings out of the old closets every now and again. My mom grew up playing the piano and still loves playing the guitar and piano as hobby. Growing up, the musical staples in the household were CCR, Johnny Clegg, Eric Clapton, U2, the Jackson’s in any combination, and the soundtrack toLa Bamba.
I picked up the flute when I was in 3rd grade; don’t let anyone tell you differently than this: it’s a difficult instrument! I went from having a basic flute, to a silver flute, to a flute with open holes called the ‘French Model’. The older I got, the more modified the instrument became but my love for sports and physical competition outweighed my desire to play. (Fun Fact: The bone flute is the oldest recognizable instrument, coming in at 40,000 years old.) Ironically, after I left the basketball team as a Sophomore I dove right into my music history class and joined the choir.
The more I studied the different periods of classical music, the more I picked apart modern music and saw it in context with society. The music genre says something very specific about the culture and era of the people that both produce it as well as absorbing themselves in it. The first CD I ever bought was Offspring’s Americana, my first mix tape was Hip Hop and R&B with the likes of Next, TQ, Nas, TLC and 2Pac.
By the time I was old enough to both understand what those rap songs were talking about and be annoyed by emo screaming, I’d gravitated towards electronic music and have dabbled in pretty much in subgenre, but Trance was my first love.
There were little to no vocals, and if they did exist there were sweet and delicate; much more pleasing to the ears. In my opinion, modern day trance is the natural evolution of classical music as a genre. Songs contain harmony, modulation, and thematic development; they more or less follow strophic form and much like with classical composers, modern producers have essentially attained demigod status.
Most of my favorite DJs have a weekly broadcast on Digitally Imported Radio, which covers all genres of Electronic Dance Music – more commonly referred to as EDM. I could go on and on and on about all of the different trance DJs and what they each bring to the genre, but I’d rather have you listen for yourself. If you wanted to ask what my favorite trance tracks were, look no further than the Trance Thursday playlist below. And if you still want more, check the links at the bottom for a few of the DJs and broadcasts I can’t live without.
Tracklist
Lange vs Gareth Emery – This is All Out (Heatbeat vs Lange Edit)
Andain – Promises (Myon & Shange 54 Summer of Love Mix)
Tiesto ft Jes – Everything (Cosmic Gate Remix)
Ørjan Nilsen feat. Neev Kennedy – Anywhere But Here (Radion6 Remix)
First State – Falling (First State’s Stuck Parachute Mix)
Maz Zo & Arty vs Oceanlab – Satellite Dynamics (Mat Zo Remix)
Ah, yes – I’m one of those strange, strange people who actually enjoys that first day of the work week.
First, it only happens once a week which is so lovely – I think if we had more of them I might suddenly understand where the rest of you are coming from.
Secondly, that feeling 5 o’clock feeling when the day is done and under your belt; there’s no better day to appreciate that than a Monday.
I usually spend part of my day reminiscing about the good fun I’ve had over the weekend: editing and posting pictures, reaching out to new friends, and tracking down any tonal treasures that got stuck in my head over the weekend.
I’m not sure who came up with the idea that Monday‘s always had to be manic – or that a little mania on Monday was a bad thing;I had an incredibly relaxing weekend (all things considered, being me and all…) and I’m feeling pretty mellow at the moment. But regardless of where your weekend dropped you off, I have some jams, new and old, to pick you up and chill you out. Each playlist is about half an hour, so why don’t you treat yourself to some fun on your lunch break and take a listen? After all, it is a Monday – you deserve it!
This one is for the gogetters and anyone looking to pick it up a notch or rock it out:
Tracklist:
Dog Blood – Next Order
Adventure Club ft Kai – Need Your Heart (Candyland Remix)
Sub Focus ft Kenzie May – Falling Down (xKore Remix)
Bingo Players – L’Amour
Zedd ft. Matthew Koma – Spectrum (A-Trak + Clockwork Remix)
Gareth Emery – Tokyo (Pixel Cheese Remix)
And for everyone else – maybe your hangover is too loud today, or you and the snooze button just became best friends this morning; either way, I’m sure you’d love to pull a Grandma’s Boy and take a nap under your desk. In lieu of doing that, and potentially getting fired – why not listen to this mix and try and make it through the day.
Tracklist:
Finnebassen – Touching Me
Jessie Ware – Running (Disclosure Remix)
Blackmill – Miracle
Sunlounger ft Zara Taylor – Found (Downtempo Edit)
Music, like math, seems to run in the family; both of my Grandmothers sang and played the piano. My dad is a master of the guitar and the cello, which he brings out of the old closets every now and again. My mom grew up playing the piano and still loves playing the guitar and piano as hobby. Growing up, the musical staples in the household were 
The Bouncy Kitty 
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