Monthly Archives: February 2015

#FestFriday

Posted on by

Join us at 4:30 PM today for #FestFriday! Ravelrie has some tips to survive & enjoy multi-day events as well! Also, get over there and give her props on her sweet website redesign!

ravelrie

IMG_1552In our monthly dialogue about festivals on twitter,  @staysafeseattle, @NYDanceSafe, @terrygotham, and I talk about festival safety, best practices, and how to generally stay comfortable.

This month, we have chosen to tackle the multi-day festival that spans many venues. You are probably most familiar with MMW/WMC (Miami Music Week / Winter Music Conference) which happens to be capped off by Ultra Music Festival each year at the end of March. You are probably also familiar with The BPM Festival, which happens in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, for 10 days, every January.

So, how exactly do you manage to stay hydrated, safe, get enough rest, and not experience FOMO (feat of missing out) during events like these? Here are my top 10 tips as a BPM vet for not burning out, and still maximizing your fun!

View original post 921 more words

Multi-Day Festivals & Safety

Posted on by

 

2hxslecWhile there’s a whole lot of information out there about how to not die when the party lasts 4-8hrs, what the heck do you do when you want to go HAM over a weekend? Multi-day events are becoming the norm, as festival culture to continues to explode. To put this in context, there were over 800 festivals in North America, in 2013 alone. This stuff is the new normal, and they’re quite different from club nights.

IMG_1552My peeps ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle are going to focus on tips for the raver/festival attendee themselves, but I wanted to take this time to directly address fest producers & managers. I worked with the Electronic Music Alliance to develop this Event Safety guide for festival managers. There are a number of tips that most people haven’t thought of, but if ravers are aware of them, they can help mitigate the potential for a bad experience even when the festival is kind of a clusterfuck.

Some of the easiest take aways are:

  • Know where the water/crisis intervention/medical stations are before you have an emergency. This can literally make the difference between life & death.
  • Assume that the water stations will have heavy lines & no one will have extra ear plugs. Bring multiple pairs of those & more than one pair of sunglasses, especially for events with a heavy day component. There’s nothing worse than having your shades break on day one and squinting in 3 days worth of pictures.
  • Know the route from the stage(s) back to your tent in daylight & the dark without relying on too many landmarks. One of the biggest issues newbie Burning Man attendees have is the day after the Man burns, no one can find their way around because they were using “the man” as a guide post to locate themselves.
  • Start consuming gatorade & electrolytes after the 1st day. The water stations don’t take into account the fact that you’ve been sweating & pissing salts out for 24hrs, and the opposite of dehydration can kick on when you don’t have enough salts.
  • Pick up your garbage from your campsite gradually over the weekend, such that you don’t have a massive clean-up task when the event is over.
  • Have a plan to get there AND TO GET HOME. No one wants to be the guy who is hitching a ride away from the festival.

There’s a lot to talk about so join us at 4:30pm EST/1:30 PM PST for #FestFriday on Twitter!

Midnight Music: Vance Joy – Riptide (Kasbo Remix)

Posted on by

Vance Joy - Riptide (Kasbo Remix)Kasbo has been on my radar for a minute now. His almost sensual understanding of trap beats is on full effect here. This Riptide remix is one of the best out there . This seeming fusion between shimmering electro, chill trap & almost chiptunes give the remix an unmistakable edge. This is Kasbo at his best. Instead of trap being used to get girls to grind, or bros to fist bump, this takes us a journey that I frankly couldn’t have taken with the original. And it’s a Free Download, so we have nothing to complain about. This is great work from an artist you’re going to be hearing a lot more of in the future. But, you know that, because, why else would I be talking about them of course? Show him some love and bomp the rest of his ish too. The Sir Rock remix is dope as well. (via This Song Is Sick, great pick up by Mr. Guarino.)

 

Attend:More Fridays! – Hospitality ft. Nu:Tone, Metrik & Etherwood @ Slake!

Posted on by

I almost fell down when I heard this was happening. A real, live, actual Hospitality night here in NYC, and at a club that doesn’t make me cry. That’s right ladies & gentlemen, Slake is hosting three of my favorite Hospital Records DJs first Friday of March. The talent assembled here is simply stunning, but before I dive into the stupendousness that is the three of them, I wanted to shout out Slake for making this event happen. It seems they’re the one of the only clubs taking risks on talent these days, bringing in stuff other than craplectro, big room & VIP house. I hope they’re keeping the lights on with this, because it’s one of the things you hope make them the cash they need to stay open & keep doing it. But, onto what you’re still reading for: 
This is a set of previews from Nu:Tone’s latest album, from Nov. 2014. It’s the drum & bass you used to write home about to your best girl while you were fighting in the struggle. The lightness that Nu:Tone is able to issue forth doesn’t sacrifice any of the dope jungle, liquid or soulful roots you need in a proper D&B album. This may seem like surface stuff, but put the whole album into your world, and you’ll find a surprising amount of depth and throwback themes & vibes to turn your head while you groove.
Metrik dropped an album about 5 months ago, but it contained one of my absolute favorite tracks of 2014, Make The Floor Burn. The album is rapturous joy, a sonic journey that most producers should spend a semester studying. The progressions, chords & bass are unmatched, except by other members of the Hospital Records stable. When London Elektricity says he’d take a bullet for the record, you know it’s not something to ignore.
Bringing up the rear is the irreplaceable Etherwood. Etherwood creates drum & bass that I can only describe as crushingly beautiful. I would go on about his attention to detail, deep understanding, or perfectionist production skills, but really, that would just be more time you spend reading this and not listening to his album preview. So, go listen to that. When you’re done, here’s some icing for your drum & bass cake.
 
DJ Dali is one my hometown favorites that ensures parties like this actually happen. He & Nicky Twist going B2B on some d&b will be a sight to behold, and my Konkrete alumni know what I’m talking about. Cameron Kush holds the record for the weirdest set I’ve heard at Slake that maintained a full dance floor, so I’m always interested in hearing what he’s got cooked up for us. Tickets can be purchased here & the event info is right here.

Update! Dali & Alex English have dropped another D&B mix to get you hype for Saturday night. Respect!

Midnight Music: Adventure Club – Wonder (Giordani Remix)

Posted on by

Adventure Club - Wonder (Giordani Remix)I remember when I got hooked on Adventure Club after I heard some of their earlier remixes and couldn’t get enough of their sound. It seems the circle is now complete, as I’m now finding the cream of the crop by seeing who has the chops to remix Adventure Club singles. 1:25 into this track, Giordani gets your attention and never lets it go. This half trap, half footwork, all chill re-envisioning of Wonder by the dynamic duo deserves all of the praise Fresh New Tracks & whoever else besides me found it and posted it out. There’s a serious return to un-grimey bass, while keeping the vibe and the big room feel of the original intact. Sit up & pay attention, this Canadian is gonna be on your radar by the end of festival season, you heard it here first. (via Fresh New Tracks)

The Prodigy Keep It Going With The Day Is My Enemy & Wild Frontier.

Posted on by


Because I’m your favorite internet music celebrity, I’ve got not one, but two new Prodigy singles for you. Wild Frontier brings in a classic amen break driven breakbeat track that screams remix. I’d make one myself if I wasn’t too busy shaking my ass to it. The Prodigy are certainly no strangers to hyping a new release, but these are my favorite kind of bread-crumbs. The Day Is My Enemy has a perfect mix of vintage Prodigy sounds and modern production values. You can almost hear The Glitch Mob in their vocal sampling, which could an homage to the way new producers are pushing being angry with female vocals these days. The red fox returns for a feature spot on the official video for The Day Is My Enemy, but in a different style than their first single. The music remains massive and if you told me The Prodigy paid to work with a drumline from a marching band I’d believe you. The drum work is perfect, backing up the syrupy smooth vocals in a way only The Prodigy can.

Midnight Music: Mistabishi – From Memory (Matrix Remix) [Soulful Drum & Bass]

Posted on by

Mistabishi really can do great work when he puts his mind to it. This track from a while ago, really encapsulates what the genre of drum & bass can be. The Matrix remix of From Memory and the music video created for Hospital Records is equally good. Watching the creativity of a human drain away from them while they work their lives away have become one of the central stories of the Western world in the modern age. This video is no exception, and frankly, especially at this point, I think we need to be reminded to do it more. Especially when there are no guarantees of job security even if you play by all the rules. The idea that his mixer & system are in a box labeled “old stuff” and he’s still rocking an old CRT monitor really give the video a little bit more authentic resonance than you’d expect. The vibe here is almost hopeful, which is shocking for a UK release, I know.

MellowEDM, The Lighter Side Of Drum & Bass, Electro & EDM.

Posted on by

Get in on the ground floor ladies & gentlemen. If you’re looking for another YouTube stream to get the soothing, more chill side of the dance music spectrum, MellowEDM is off to a great start. If you wanted to learn about how to produce a channel like MrSuicideSheep, just watch this one rise. If they can keep cranking out fantastic, chilled out remixes of some amazing tunes and the interesting artists I’ve never heard of before, there won’t be anything stopping them. Klrx & Hybrid Minds are just two of the crazy good artists featured on the channel and I think it’s less than a week old. You know what to do, especially to smooth your way into Monday.

Midnight Music: SoySauce ft. Joni Fatora – Broken Record [Space Bass]

Posted on by

SoySauce ~ Broken Record (ft. Joni Fatora)My girl Michelle out at EDMTunes not only tips me off to some of the best tracks, but is consistently in my Top 5 for descriptions of tracks online. Like, check it:

SoySauce delivers an unexpectedly classy track with ‘Broken Records’, heightening a rapport from food court fried rice to high-class sashimi platter.

I mean, honestly, how good is that? She’s totally accurate. This kind of thumping chilltrap could’ve been totally phoned in, warmed over and made you hungry for something real in under 30min from listening to it. However, an original use of some squelchy chords, competent pad work & legit vocals by Joni Fatora gives the track a surprising flavor. This is on the Cashmere Cat & Chet Faker end of the pool, but that side of the pool has hotter people and the ones diving in are doing sweet flips & shit. Letting that metaphor die, the track is quite good, especially in the relatively early stages of the genre they’re working in. The soft sounds mesh with the irregular beat structure in a way that’s inviting, not erratic. And as anyone who has been fucked up at a trap party can tell you, moments of regularity & warmth are precious. Go ahead, pour some SoySauce on your  evening. (via Michelle Chu of EDMTunes)

Mix Of The Weekend: Werk It! by Tinker

Posted on by

Tinker - Werk It!This weekend, I’ve got a delightful future/space bass mix for you from Tinker. This dope creator not only drops sick beats, but she’s one of the few DJs across the world that are really trying to incorporate future bass & hip hop. This gargantuan task is one of the real issues that EDM needs to negotiate to really integrate within the larger global music universe. To put it another way, the first person to mix hip hop & EDM correctly wins a billion dollars, as Avicii proved with mixing bluegrass & EDM. She’s on her way, as this mix proves. If you need more proof, just check out this tweet charting her among them DJs to watch in 2015 😀

This mix is definitely higher energy than most of the attempts I’ve seen to fuse the two. The track selection is flawless, with crucial tunes from TroyBoi, Wave Racer, Mr. Carmack, Modeselektor & Aztek being highlights. All in all, it’s a groove-filled 30min that is exactly what you need in your life now that you’ve chased the hair on the dog & realized you woke up too late for brunch. Put it into your face & show my girl Tinker some love!