This is a place for everything related to Electronic Dance Music! Tracks, DJs, light shows, festivals, news, entertainment, reviews, interviews...this is about Electronic Dance Music Culture and Community.
Finding anything on the internet takes patience. Knowing where to search, what to search and how to search can sometimes be a little much. Perhaps that's why so many people have taken to believe every single meme they see posted on Facebook. Well, now there is one website that exists to give you what you want, and that's it.
Music Festival Nation is here to tell you what, when, where, how and why for music festivals all over, with a community aspect. To use the site, simply type the festival you're looking for in the search bar in the top and chances are it'll pop up. You can also search through festivals by searching alphabetically, by location, or by date. Once you find a festival, there are links to get to their official websites and social media connections. Many have photos attached, the full lineup, and every festival has it's own ride share page.
People want to come to festivals from all over the country, and with this it could be possible for people to connect and see where the other is. Right here there's people in Michigan, Florida, New York, and New Jersey looking for and giving rides to the Hudson Music Project. It's super simple and to the point, it's a very useful tool.
This is everything you would need to find a festival to go to, buy tickets and get there. The community aspect is enormous, and Music Festival Nation makes it easy to do. The guys behind it (Jared and Blaine) have been around for a few years, and recently they have been updating their look and outreach. I would highly suggest checking it out, and seeing if there's been any ride share info posted up. I found a ride last minute for The Hudson Music Project, but I was about to grab one from New Jersey originally from someone offering a ride on Music Festival Nation. Right off the bat the site helped me out.
Remember, if the festival you're looking for isn't there, take a moment to add it in with some info. Usually the festival's Facebook page will have most of it. You can also just comment on how excited you are to be going to a festival already listed! Either way, it is important to know that this site is online and has so much information and connectivity to it.
It's been too long, and I am thankful that Music Festival Nation now is here.
I know it's a little late now... but a couple Saturday night's ago was a night for many ravers here in NY that will not be forgotten anytime soon. From most of the same folks that put together my favorite party of all time (Power Ravers [duh]) brought us "When World's Collide", a Nintendo themed rave.
Once again, I made my way over to The Electric Warehouse (herein "The Lab"). I came a little late for this one, but I was extremely pumped about what I was about to walk into. I knew about some stuff in the background (that unfortunately I still cant talk about) that was going to make this rave BEAST compared to any other rave that's been there. However, when I came in half the stuff I heard about was not there. However, what was going on there blew my freaking mind!
First and foremost, I walked into Rockman's set. It felt like there were easily over a thousand people in the room, walking through a crowd had never been this hard for me. Rockman was tearing up the floor it was unbelievable. I headed over the Electrik Graffiti tent to say hey to everyone and see what was going on. As I walked up, I saw 30 (maybe more) glovers surrounding the side area and front of the tent. Mufasa came up to me and all rushed asked if I wanted to join the glover's competition.
Paus3. A glover's competition that is actually going down? Not even five minutes in the door and the DJ I couldn't wait to see is spinning AND there's a legit competition about to happen. I was glowing. I was not ready to start gloving, I had just gotten there and my camera wasn't even out yet, so I had to decline... this time. There were 22 glovers in total for the tourney and Raptor came out on top! He won himself a brand new pair of gloves with Genesis chips, an $80 value prize from Electrik Graffiti. He was pumped that he won, and let me tell you, this kid has major skills!
Another hug bonus to this party was having Morgan Freeman there. Morgan brought a ton of his game to the table, making some of the coolest digital mapping I've seen of his in person. Since this was a Nintendo themed party, the downstairs was Hyrule Castle. The walls were covers in flying Triforce symbols, sometimes it looked like someone was actually playing the Ocarina of Time, and my favorite was the stained glass windows from Hyrule Castle. Morgan made the room look absolutely amazing.
Of course [Space] Flux did their own decorations that looks wild! With Morgan and a little extra from Flux the downstairs portrayed the historical Zelda castle beautifully. Upstairs with Kirby's Dreamland was a little different, but very original. The walls were covers with hand painted sheets. They were very colorful, and very trippy! It was great to see the elbow grease they put into making the scene comes to life, both rooms were very colorful and delightful to be in. And don't forget everyone's favorite carpet, Kevin Carpet! He was by the door to step outside and get some fresh air, and some awesome pictures came out of that as well! People get really artsy with the living art!
The music was kicking all night and it all went off with very few hitches. There was a costume contest that went down, and the two top costumes were awesome! First place went to a Zentai cat suit Zentai Samus, and second place to a girl dressed up in a well-made home-made Charizard costume! The winner was supposed to get a free Nintendo tattoo from Eddie at Heart of Brooklyn Tattoo!
All in all, this party was a massive success. Great job to everyone at Flux, and I can't wait till the next one!! Check out all these awesome pictures!!
When I originally heard about this event, I knew this was going to be a huge party. I showed the flier to a fellow OWL and close friend Hurricane Irine and she went crazy about how awesome it was going to be. I'm still new to a lot of the DJs on the scene, but after hearing it from her, I figured I needed to be there. And awesome it was! Both [OWL] Supernova and myself went to see the scene and catch what was good at this event.
It was another night hosted at the extremely spacious Amazura Lounge. I've been here once before, the night that Showtek rolled into town, but this time it was done up all differently! The lighting and sound system were the same. Laser and moving heads everywhere and constantly putting on a show to the music. Massive speakers blowing out so much bass it was terrifying. What was different was the feeling to the main room. They had placed several large white spike-balls hanging from the beams in the ceiling. When the light was bouncing off of them it was unreal. Morgan Freeman was also in the house, and he did up the stage so nicely! There was an entire layer of screen stretched out from end to end of the DJ as well as two towers on each side as well. He was playing constant visuals on the screen, it was awesome to watch the stage come alive. Behind the towers were the Peek A Boo gogo dancers casting their silhouettes for the crowd to groove to.
It was great being there and recognizing so many people. Our new friends from Electrik Graffiti came in from Jersey sporting their custom made scoodies. These hoods are so warm and cozy! Not to mention uber unique and well made. It was so great seeing them, we were all rocking our scoodies and giving tons of light shows and sending out good vibes. It's people like that who are constantly putting out the positive message of community. Check out their store online for what they have in store for you!
It was wonderful, there were so many lights going on, thanks to all the glovers, poi-artists, hula hoopers, glow stick maniacs (?) and Utopia providing so many glow toys. It was a good night to be out gloving that's for sure! There were people there from all over... New Jersey, Connecticut, and even Massachusetts were there and representing their styles. There was supposed to be a glovers competition, but unfortunately it did not happen. That didn't stop the glovers from trading shows and entertaining the masses. If the competition did go down, it would have been hard for the judges to choose a winner, there was a lot of talent in the house.
The music was great, a lot of hardstyle and dub was being spun, and Afrika Bambaataa brought it back to a much funkier time. The crowd was going crazy for Jen Mas as it was her first time back on the scene or a while! She and Lady Faith gave some sick tracks to glove to, made me appreciate hardstyle a little more. It's so crazy to watch an entire dance floor dancing to hardstyle, things get a little crazy.
There were other activities to partake in while the party raged on. There was a bouncy castle, right next to it a massage table, there was a kandi making table, a Utopia booth, a Method booth, cotton candy and popcorn as well as fresh fruit (YES, there was actually fresh fruit at this event!) being passed around. Definitely a night to remember, with a job very well done by Epic Entertainment and California Dreaming. Let's walk through the party, shall we?
Along with raves you have the greater community within them. Something that happens within any large community are the smaller communities within. One such group within the rave scene here in New York are the glovers. They all go to raves, some together, some separate, but always gravitate toward one another with a common love of throwing lights. Every glover is unique and has a unique story to tell. They also help keep the scene alive with a newer artistic side of the culture.
For the first ever Glover's Spotlight, I sat down with G-reg, aka [OWL] Supernova, to hear his side of gloving:
[PAUS3] What’s good everybody, I’m here with G-reg! what’s good man.
[SUPERNOVA] Not too much man.
[P] Glad to have you here. So tell me, everyone seems to have a glover name, what’s yours?
[S] I go by Supernova when I glove.
[P] Where did the name come from?
[S] I made it up! I was tossing names around with a couple of raver friends, and it’s just something that stuck, something I really liked.
[P] When did you start gloving?
[S] I started back in the spring of last year after I saw a couple of kids at a Deadmau5 concert with them. I had been throwing around the idea of picking up a pair of gloves for a while actually but it wasn't until the end of April 2011 when I finally decided to make the purchase.
[P] So was it the kids at the concert that really inspired you to go do it?
[P] Where do you find the inspiration to actually glove? What is it that moves you to express yourself with your hands like that?
[S] Well, I guess it’s a combination of the lights themselves and the music. Just… creating different shapes with my hands, and different trails of light to a beat, to EDM. It’s my passion; it’s something that I love.
[P] Which glovers specifically do you look up to?
[S] Mimik was one of the first glovers that I looked up to, Mimik is on Team (AYO?). As I started getting into the community a little bit more there was this glover over in California who I spoke with on Throwlights(.com), his name is Fry, and he was on Team (Who?) and now he’s on Team [Fuck]. So he’s actually one of my favorite glovers at the moment.
[P] So, I’m kinda curious, were you part of rave culture before you started gloving?
[S] Yea, I started raving a couple years ago. Then I went to college and I didn’t have too much time for it. And then this year I started picking it up a little bit and, you know, gloving and raving kinda go hand-in-hand.
[P] In your own words, what is gloving?
[S] Gloving is… well, I see gloving as two separate things. One, it’s an art form. It’s self expression in its purest form. The other is just to fuck someone up! If they're sitting there and they're zoning out looking at your lights and you’re straight putting them into a trance… like that’s the two different avenues of gloving right there.
[P] Onto the music, what do you like to listen to when you glove.
[S] I like trance, because it’s slow and it gives me time to think about what I want to do with my hands. I can really get into a nice slow beat.
[P] Let’s talk about the gloving community as a whole. Describe what that community is like.
[S] The gloving community…I’d say it came out of the rave scene, but the two are very different from each other. Ravers are all about PLUR and all that but I'd say that a lot of glovers are more about their own swag.. They like showing off their stuff and trying to look cooler than one another. I’m not saying all glovers are like this but the community as a whole does kind of strike me as that kind of an organization.. at least on the west coast. The east coast isn't really like that at all! We're ravers at heart man.
[P] But what about what happened with Deblette not too long ago and having her gloves borrowed but not returned and the reaction on the NYC Glovers page? **
[S] Right, well these glovers were ravers first. So I'd say they have PLUR in the forefront of their mind. Whereas a lot of glovers that are just starting to get into it, like over in California, twelve year olds, fourteen year olds who have never been to a rave before, but now look on youtube and see videos of glovers… they get inspired by this and they’re not necessarily all about the PLUR like the old school ravers are. Over here on the east coast most of the glovers are old school ravers, whereas over on the west coast, not so much.
[P] So do you think that the east coast has the old school ravers and the west coast doesn’t? Did they not have raves over there?
[S] Well over here it's a lot less commercialized. So in order for someone to find out about gloves they'd have to go to a rave or know someone who throws. In other parts of the world like in California for instance, it’s just so commercialized with Emazinglights(.com), and the BOSS videos that you don’t necessarily have to go to a rave to know about it. It’s a little different.
[P] Do you think that’s the only difference, commercial versus PLUR?
[S] Well I’ve never actually visited the west coast, so all my knowledge comes from whatever I see on the internet. I’m not a hundred percent sure I can really answer that question..
[P] The internet has bridged this gap of these two communities, how do you see that interaction.
[S] It seems like the majority of glovers on the internet are from the west coast. Gloving on the west coast started way before we knew what a microlight was or how to use one haha. But seriously, our communities are slowly integrating and we’re starting to become one big happy family.
[P] I hope that’s true! What about your style, it’s very fluid. How would you categorize it?
[S] I would say my style comes out of the basics of finger rolls and tunnels. I’m only recently getting into digiting and starting to work on my liquid. But for the most part when I started gloving, I would just sit in front of a mirror practicing my finger rolls every day. I was all about trying to clean them up. Now I’ve gotten my rolls to a point where it’s respectable; same thing with my tunnels. They're always the core of my shows now. Whenever I give a light show it’s all about fluidity... finger rolling, tunnels, and just different variations on them… I'm just trying to keep it fresh.
[P] So let’s talk about crews, why start one?
[S] Crews are sort of like rave families here on the east coast, whereas I think over on the west coast they are more for competing. They have those BOSS competitions and if you're competing you want to represent your crew… I guess in a way it is very similar to the east coast with rave families and glovers and their glove crews.. but there are subtle differences, it’s hard to explain.
[P] We actually just formed a crew out here, let’s talk a bit about that.
[S] That’s right! You and I are part of Team [OWL]. We just started a crew because you can really help each other to grow and learn faster that way. It’s nice because we have different bulbs and you we can trade and like check out each others lights. Most importantly it gives us the opportunity to trade moves, trade lights and trade shows.
Part of OWL: Yoyo, Paus3 and Supernova By: Sam Freund
[P] What’s the difference between you gloving for your own enjoyment and actually giving shows?
[S] When I’m giving shows at a rave I’m not really trying to keep my moves clean. I’m not worrying about practicing this new move I learned last week. I’m just going out there and having fun. I'll go up to someone who has gloves and be like “Hey! Do you want to trade? See what you got, see what I got?”, or I’m just going up to people that look like they're bored and sitting on the side and going “Hey! Want to be entertained for a minute?” It’s fun for me; a fun little interaction.
[P] Tell me about the deepest, greatest, most melty-faced show you have ever given.
[S] I think my better shows are at the after-party. A lot of the time when I’m gloving, my mind is over active and I’m thinking too much about my show and what I’m doing. But at like 6 or 7 in the morning after a rave, after an event, you’re just kicking back at someone’s place… you’re too tired to think about anything, your hands are doing all the thinking for you. That’s when my best work comes out. I’m just not caring about the show, because everyone’s tired and we're all on the same page. It’s a much more intimate experience.
That does it for this installment of Glover's Spotlight!! More to come next week!!
**Deblette's gloves were borrowed and never returned one night. She was very upset and thought she'd never see them again. So the NYC Glovers group put their heads together and made her a set until she could get her own new lights or got her old ones back.**
