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.
Back when Gramatik released The Age of Reason, we were introduced to the styles of Gibbz. Staying true to the age of funk, Gibbz brings sexy back to EDM. Packed with delicious synth and solid dance beats, this is some serious baby making making for any lover of funk and something fresh for us. Introducing his new EP: WHO GIBBZ A F#@$
Enjoy the crap out of this. We are over here, it's like bathing in relaxing waves of awesome.
There are a couple of shows coming up that you can catch Gibbz at: -The Who Gibbz a F#@$ Spa Party w Branx & Pomo @ Body by Brooklyn
Notice on the right over there, you got some music you can check out! It's always changing, and this is what's new this week!
This week Wish[Paus3] is checking out Pretty Lights Music. Being that Fitz and Zodd are going to be at CounterPoint Music Festival, they will be checking out almost the entire roster of Pretty Lights Music... Wish[Paus3] will not. So instead, he's banging out some beats imagining how amazing their shows are going to be.
Zodd's chiming into Australia with with some music from Mr. Bill! This is some sick stuff, if you haven't listened to any Bill, it's your chance to evolve your earbuds to a whole new level.
Wassup everyone? It's Wish[Paus3] here and I'm hunkering down in NYC while Zodd and Fitz are making their way out the Michigan for StereoTerra! Ever since preparing for Camp Bisco, I have had my ear to the festival community becoming a little more fine tuned. One event that caught my eye instantly was a Facebook page that popped up in my news feed called "Destroy Gnarnia the Festival" (EDIT 8/17 It seems the page has been taken down). I started looking into the page, why would someone create something like this without reason. Well the reason was pretty shocking. According to posts on the page, there had been 490 arrests, most of the felony charges, in and around the festival. Holy cow right?! I had to look in deeper. What I've been finding is more disturbing than the initial shock and question of, "who's to blame". The differences between posts there and on the official event invite are vast...
Let me start by saying the festival looked awesome. It was a first for the folks behind it, this was Gnarnia's inaugural year. All the pictures and video that came out, the lineup, the grounds... everything looks so legit. The website provides everything for you, from camping guidelines, to ride sharing, to a ton of activities they were holding. There's no doubt that people would be wanting to come out to this one, this was no underground festy. The problems began when there were more people than expected, and of course the increased amount of police presence in the area.
Fact is, police are in every event whether you know it or not. Breaking the law in any way WILL put you in a position to get caught by law enforcement. Being at a festival is not an excuse to do illegal things, but that is a personal decision. At Gnarnia, it seemed that the police were a little, hyper-active if you will. DT's trying really hard to set people up, harassing and arresting people next to tents that weren't theirs, being violent, randomly searching persons, hippie profiling, and all-in-all using terror tactics to get what they wanted. This is what stands out as the most significant issue here. Not the problems the producers had with tickets or camping, or even having the cops in the festival grounds.
"If you are for the path of open communication and change, share this article"
According to one trusted festival goer, the majority of arrests happened outside the festival at road blocks and at hotels and cabins. Apparently the festival grounds were not connected to the camping fields, one had to take a shuttle to get back and forth.... too many people decided they should drive their own cars. They had also told me about the sale of alcohol on festival grounds. As normal as that seems, North Carolina has a department for that, called the Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE). This allowed them to be on festival grounds whenever they wanted, in other words, more law enforcement around. So you had several different police departments doing "their own thing".
Getting back to the Facebook pages. The "Destroy" page has been garnering a lot of attention, but in my opinion is negatively affecting the community. People are angry their friends got in trouble, as anyone would be. Everyone is looking for someone to blame, which is literally pulling people apart. If anything everyone should get together and figure out a way to change legislation. I personally have been blocked from posting on the page after posting my rant to the page owner (I apologize for my French!). It sickens me that people are seeming more ok with seeing a police state in action than they are with a first time festival having first time festival issues. On top of that, people like myself, who are looking for answers and momentum and not just suggestions of conspiracy within the ranks of the promoters, are being silenced. The owner of the page won't even release his/her name to the public, but they will sit behind their desk and do nothing but instigate. When asked for pictures, I was replied to that I should post them, and people were "too scared" by the police to actually pull a camera out and film. If you don't exercise your rights, they will be stripped away from you. It's all smoke and mirrors to me, tactics to get people riled up, but there is no clear cause. On top of that, the page is censored (as certain posts have been on the event page as well). To me, it means make up your own mind. It's obvious that there are gaps in this story, but once again the over all lesson seems clear to me. This is a motion towards a police state. Ya'll didn't like it? Guess what, stop blaming everyone else but yourselves.
As a community, we are strong. There are hundreds of thousands of us, all with similar goals. We just want to have a good time at these events, but what do we stand for? The problem is that everyone is too comfortable. Festivals become marketing tools and we forever are stamped as a drug culture. If you are for the path of open communication and change, share this article. Don't let a bad experience shy you into a corner, instead make a stand. I hope that those wrongfully arrested and were harassed get their justice (if those stories posted are true).
LAST RANT:
The grounds were held on Beech Mountain, NC. Seemingly the middle of no where (it is), this town is only lively during the winter time when skiing and snowboard season open up. To have a mass amount of people in their town is both a great and terrible thing. As people, we don't like seeing things we are not used to coming into our comfort zone, but business loves it. Something else to think about here is the lower rate of crime in this type of area. Seeing a "neo-hippie" music festival coming into town, well that's an instant mark for law enforcement. I have never been involved with organizing something like this, but take Camp Bisco for example. Last year 25,000 people came through to Mariaville, NY. It caused so many issues with traffic, the locals, and it almost seemed like the festival might have to find another home. But it didn't. The problems caused the year before were handled in a new way this year, and Bisco was in it's 11th year.Now I do not know the way money gets thrown around for both private security and/or police, but it seemed like MCP was working directly with the police to insure the traffic moved and people that weren't supposed to be there were not there.
I am so unbelievably excited for StereoTerra! This is the first annual festival for StereoTerra, being held this weekend in Edenville, Michigan. It features one of the best lineups I've seen all summer. On top of that its being held in nature. Imagine the woods, two rivers and a lake... the place looks gorgeous. There's also going to be plenty to do outside of dancing and jamming out, with such activities planned as a festival wide scavenger hunt, their own version of the dating game, and "the worlds largest dreamcatcher" over the course of four days and all for a pricetag of 75 dollars! I have a feeling this may be the festival of the summer and Electric Ghost Punk will be there to provide coverage. Here's a quick sampling of some of the artists playing.
Whatsup Internet, Z here again and today I felt like I had to share
some personal hotness from my collection I feel wasn't getting enough
attention in the EDM scene in the U.S. let alone the rest of the world
away from the U.K. which even in itself is in spades. So for today's
artist overview is on none other than Raf Riley.
The onslaught of a producer Riley is a 21 year
old from North London who is currently signed to Labrinth's Odd Child
Recordings and is creative quite a stir in the underground for those
who pay attention to what I call the "release flow" of music.
His style mixes everything from Trap, Drum and Dubstep, Moombahton,
and other influences on all sides of the spectrum cultivating a sound
that is very much his own and can't even be called any of the genres
he decides to take from and build upon. I was literally taken aback
by his producerial genius a couple weeks ago as I sampled some tracks
so here at EGP today I wanna share with you this bit of EDM gold. I'm
warning you here, prepare to be blown away, at least I was. I think you
guys trust me enough, now don't ya?
This first track is off his recently released EP Dog Unit, which by the way is available free, and this impressive beast of a song is a certified BANGER. His incorporation of Drumstep stylings
twisted into a form only known as Raf Riley with an almost surrealistic
feel to its highs, well placed and crunched into a almost royal sounding
overtone complete with crushing intense bass and drumplay. Etta Bond x Raf Riley - Boring Bitches by Raf Riley
This next one is featuring vocals from Etta Bond. Her and Raf Riley have another free EP out called ETTA BOND X RAF RILEY for your listening pleasure. This song is just as impressive with a Trap outing that quickly destroys the wall into some more intense
bass-play. This is sure to get spun at many events soon, and I for one
can't wait to hear this dropped.
This next one is the first track off the Dog Unit EP, and this is Trap at its finest. It creatively mixes that police siren sample in a way that doesn't make me pissed off at it, and that's a feat in itself. The 808 bass is something else and its interludes
are surprisingly funky. Making a whole ensemble that feels like something you'd listen to in the future in some far off time where music has evolved beyond comprehension.
I personally believe Raf Riley might be the next big thing especially with the whole Trap movement coming on up in the EDM scene. Keep your ears open, and expect a lot from him. I know I'm gonna be on the lookout for any shows or events in the area that he
might spin at. If this isn't enough to make you keep him on the radar then I don't know what is.
Yo
Whatup?! Z here again and I just had to share with you something that
literally blew me away when I was at Camp Bisco 11. I found myself separated
from Wish[Paus3] and Fitz, so I decided to take my good friend Josh
around for some sight seeing in the late nights on Friday. We found
ourselves at the door of the Silent Disco neatly tucked away on the
outskirts of the festival with an impressive underwater decor theme and a
caged dance floor and a cool versus-style DJ setup. They had two DJs
every set to go on the wireless headphones off two FM channels. The
headphones were some of the best I've ever used by the way, on top of
being wireless with no delay. I thought it was a cute idea but I didn't
really give it any thought to who might be there until earlier that
morning Alpha Data
had told me he would be playing again later in the Silent Disco. Being that he's one of my favorite glitch hop DJs made me realize I
should be spending a lot more time there, and boy was I right in deciding
that.
I
Had no Idea what to expect from The EDM producer and DJ, Jasha Tull, I
mean really? Space Jesus? I had thought the name was funny in a cheesy
way. Maybe some campy DJ alot of the locals knew or some kinda fun joke
guy... at least that's what I expected. Upon putting those wireless
headphones I was instantly hooked on some the dopest,
dirtiest, catchiest, and most versatile music I have heard from one
single DJ at Bisco 11 yet. I mean just listen to this:
DURO
DURO quickly became one of my favorite songs ever the second I heard it
and I'm pretty sure it was his first time playing it that day from what
he said, and It doesnt dissappoint with its catchy vibe and nice
glitched out vocal work that just gets your head in the right kinda mood
to party. Great thing to be introduced to the Silent Disco to if I
don't say so myself.
Songs like Book One, really showed off his harder side with still
keeping a bouncy style that leads off in a sick original styled drop
that I quickly learned can only be called Space Jesus style. I couldn't
help myself I was literally jumping around at every corner of his music
it sets such a great mood, and it looks like he's having a blast doing
what he loves on stage. Keep a lookout for him if you don't know him
already I expect alot from him. He's also giving away his newest album
Quantum Crunk Theory for free on his Bandcamp. He just might really be a saint.
In just one week is the beginning for us at Camp Bisco. I got the final word in on the press passes, and I am so happy to be bringing along a buddy and excellent videographer, Steve from Triple Threat Productions. We are going to be bringing you HD video, photos, and live up-to-the-minute updates FROM the campgrounds at Bisco... and guess what, we've started now! Everyone, meet Steve:
Steve has a little more experience than I do on the festival scene, but I have a feeling this is going to be brand new territory for me. I'm going to be releasing my own Vlogs as well, so keep on the lookout for those! We can't wait to be there!
There are music festivals happening all over the country and world, especially during the summer time. With Electrik Graffiti quickly growing on the East Coast, Mufasa and Koyote decided it was time to head south and introduce their styles down there. We took the opportunity to check out a local music festival in Virginia, called Camp Glow.
Silo-ffiti
This was my official first festival, complete with setting a tent, cooking in a bonfire, and sleeping amongst a few hundred people that I would get to know pretty well by the end of the weekend. All the attendants were supporting autism awareness, and they were donating with ticket price as well as with canned food. Being surrounded by thoughtful, friendly and colorful souls was one of the best parts of the weekend for me. It was awesome being able to walk around to just talk to people and see who they are. The grounds were pretty large. Essentially the property was a farm surrounded by woods. There were horses roaming the fields, random wood creatures peering out from the woods, tall grasses, plenty of earth and open space.... it felt millions of miles away from the suburbs of Long Island.
Setting Up Shop
Tractor Ride Anyone?
Meme Me
There was a full line up of DJs, ranging from VA locals like Jynx and Conduktor, to out of towners like Fattie Fatz and Unicron. It was awesome listening to the filthy sounds of the south, they give a whole new feeling to dubstep, and don't even come close to touching the hardstyles of New York. Different areas different swag... it felt good and culturing. There were three stages to pick at any time. Main stage was in the largest field, there was a forest stage (in the forest [duh]), and another stage on the other side of the forest. All three were technically connected through a path in the woods, although the direct path was meant for staff and devoid festival goers.
Styling Hooping
Stage in the Woods
I Like that Stick
There were so many vendors on site too. It was awesome meeting everyone, shout out to Neon Black clothing, their stuff is on point! There was massaging with Giggle Box, fresh food and drinks, jewelry, glass blowing and so much more! Seeing everyone out doing their thing was great, so many people had so many skills. Electrik Graffiti also had the opportunity to set up shop right at the entrance to the woods and the forest stage. One tent served as a canopy leading to the woody path, and at night this canopy glowed brighter than anything in that field. It was almost like walking through a portal for festival goers, from music and open space into light and then in the darker woods emmiting differents tunes to dance and throw lights to.
Into the Fields
Mufasa and Koyote Repping with Dirty Dub
Yessssss Hand Massages
Gogo and Glover!
Gloving was awesome. Almost needless to say. Friday was my gloving day, and VA has some sick glovers. I was so happy to get an awesome reception down there, I can't wait to wave my hands around in the air with them again ;)
And then came Sunday morning. There had been thoughts among us of something going down, because on Saturday there was a guy walking around asking lots and lots of questions. Turns out he was undercover, and him being there warranted the state police to come in and break up the music festival. They rounded everyone up around 5am, some reportedly were dragged out of tents and some said they were even physically hurt by the officers. Once they had everyone together in one of the fields, they searched every tent with a drug sniffing dogs and of course manually. There were several arrests and narcotics found. There are two sides to every story, and this is one that is a continuing story. The owners of the property are not happy with the way they and the situation was treated.
You can reach the articles out on the situation HERE and HERE. To add to the story, I've taken a direct quote from one of the women that live in the house about the story that came out in the news: "It
just makes me so mad. But no. That was real. We all saw it. They
searched our house as well. Took all our computers and other sh*t from
the house. Notice they don't show any of that. But they did bring us a
copy of the warrant the next day and
scratched a bunch of sh*t out that hadn't been [there] when they showed us. It
was flawed and you can bet we're not backing down. Orry's mom already
has a meeting with a GOOD lawyer. About everything that went down too.
Not just the house. They broke so many rules." I also suggest reading into the comments below the articles as well.
Love <3
Love <3
Tagged Banner, and Posing Galore
Lesson of the day? Make sure all your legal obligations are covered as well as be prepared to deal with situations if they arrive. Everyone was extremely well behaved, having an amazing time and fun, until it got torn apart. It opened my eyes to festivals though and I'll tell you, I need more.
EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival [duh]) has been the epitome of festivals for hundreds of thousands on electronic music lovers across the USA and the world. A festival gathering almost a quarter of a million people in Vegas last year for three days speaks for itself. And now if you didn't know, it's coming to New York, well it's really in New Jersey but even Insomniac considers NJ part of the greater New York. That's right all you Jerseynites! You are becoming one of us, it's a glorious day for you I'm sure.
Anyway... May 19th-20th were the original dates. Now the 18th is getting thrown into the mix for an even bigger show.
Yup. Three days. Legendary talent. Here. New York (lol). What-up-son! For anyone that already purchased their two day pass can go ahead and purchase their Friday passes tomorrow (Wednesday 4/11/2012), before they go on sale for the public on Thursday (4/12/2012) at 12 o'clock noon. Festival is going down at the Metlife Stadium.
Are you ready for what's going to be the biggest party in NY since Showtek? Then get ready to experience Glow: Naughty Neon 2. This is an event not to miss; if it's not for the shear amount of volume that will be in the house, you'll want to be there for the lineup. If not for the kick ass line up, it'll be for the atmosphere of the venue. If not for that it'll be for all the attractions. Whatever your reason, Original Brooklyn and NYCR are making sure you want to be at Naughty Neon.
Back and bigger than the last one, this event will be housed in the Cultural Performing Arts Center of Brooklyn. The spot is enormous! There enough space in this venue for almost 5,000 people. According the invite so far, over 3,000 people said they were coming through, and a little birdie told me presales were NUTS. There's going to be a huge crowd at this one so it's good they have an even larger venue.
The lineup is so insane! Original Brooklyn and NYCR are bringing in some major headliners from around the world! In the mix you have: Lisa Lashes, Isaac, Dieselboi, Drop the Lime, Dj Irene, Soulslinger, Urban Assault, Hellfire Machina, Charles Feelgood, X-Dream... all part of 39 Djs that will be spinning over the course of the night. That's right! between single and tag team sets, there will be close to 40 Djs making you move your feet here.
The production crews are also making sure that you are entertained no matter what! They are bringing in a video game truck, a UV lit moon bounce, fresh fruit, massage tables, food vendors, clothing and gloving vendors (Electrik Graffiti!), fetish performances and gogo dancing by NYCR Eyecandy, and even a Naughty Lingerie Competition with a cash prize!
This is going to be a sexy banger, no pun intended. You can still get presale tickets for cheaper than they are at the door, and there are VIP tickets still available too. VIP will score you a private partying area, bathrooms, access to free vodka/water/juice/energy drink bar, immediate entry, a whole bunch of swag, and even more swag with the VIP pass.
There were two events this past weekend that should not have been missed. It marked the second party for Blue Star Productions and a stand alone event brought on by the handiwork of three awesome ravers! Both were great events and both unfolded very differently. They had a lot of similarities as well as many differences... Let's take a closer gander into the happenings of A Heartless Valentine and Pussy Power!
First and foremost, this was a double header for the Electric Warehouse, aka The Lab. Both were themed parties: Heartless being Kingdom Hearts themed and Pussy Power being....well vagina. The decor for each party was pretty cool too. For Heartless, there were people sporting keyblades running around, a lot of people in costume, Jack Skellington was all over the upstairs - which was absolutely stunning by the way, playing cards on the walls, a big wall with the Kingdom Hearts logo on it behind the kandi table, a sick laser system by Paradox Productions... some pretty cool stuff. Pussy power had decorations all over! Some walls had white sheets with holes cuts in them, there were lips and balloons all over the place, painted banners, visualizations by Kaliptus, towers with LED disks blasting color out, an LED wall behind the DJ booth... Pussy Power went all out with decorations!
You can imagine how different the room looked with just the lights alone. For example, at Heartless the upstairs was banging with the lights and awesome decor. For a while the upstairs at Pussy Power was lightless, lending hand to upstairs being a little more chill. Eventually there was a system brought upstairs, and the room became more lively, but it was good to have a spot that was more relaxed. The rooms were lit up otherwise, not to mention Kaliptus' work. His visualizations are mostly animations he put together, and it's some trippy stuff. He was telling me how most of his work is in the psy-trance scene, a genre of music that I really got into while gloving. Best believe that in a little bit I'll be going to one of his events and seeing what that side of the scene looks like.
Mischief Sporting Electrik Graffiti By: Griffin Dolan
Friends Having Fun and a x2 WTF Moment By: Ronnie C.
As far as music goes, Pussy Power felt a lot more laid back. The music seemed to mostly be hardstyle for both parties, and Heartless was banging on it all night. For me personally, I loved Pussy's feeling to the music. The beginning was very trancy, slow and progressive. All of a sudden the beat dropped and hardstyle took over. The weird thing about hardstyle is how trancy it is in the beginning of a track. You could be dancing and jumping around and all of a sudden the whole room is just standing there waiting till the next moving part. One set of DJs that did it right for me was at Heartless, Wink-E VS H4rdnox *Hardstyle Vs.Jumpstyle*. Wink-E knows how to get a crowd pumped, apparently his secret lies in cursing everyone out. No joke, it really works. At Pussy Power, I was melting over Gaby Noodle set. Two reasons, one the music was on point and two she had a gogo dancing slave-girl. This girl had a collar wrapped around her neck and the other end was Gaby's wrist. I stood the and watched as Gaby (without paying any mind) walked to the other side of the stage yanking the girl with her, and she loved it. Plus ten swag points for Gaby, look out for her sets at upcoming events!
Both parties had different attractions, including Kevin Carpet (both), kandi making table (Heartless), Electrik Graffiti with their tent selling scoodies and led toys and gloves (both), UV body paint by Pixel (both), costume contest (Heartless), Massage Table by Batman (Pussy), free stuff like candy (both), Kaliptus (Pussy), fire poi (Heartless).... there was a lot to do and see at each event, which is a very positive thing. Getting people stimulated if they are not dancing to music keeps the movement going.
I was a little put off by some of the crowd at both parties, which is going to be expected anywhere you go. However, when looking over the event postings on facebook, I noticed several similar complaints for either party. At Heartless, a lot of cell phones went missing. At Pussy Power, there were some undesirables that kept putting their hands on women there. Things like this will happen, but in my opinion, collectively it can be dealt with in two ways. What you do to prevent it in the first place, and what everyone does to keep the environment friendly. First and foremost, don't leave your stuff lying around. No matter what. Give it to a friend or have a bag with you, or don't have it at the event in the first place. Second, tell somebody. If something happens, calmly tell the promoters, tell a friend, spread the word, and the situation will hopefully be dealt with.
All in all, I had a fantastic time at each event. However, Pussy Power will forever hold a special place in my heart due to all the wonderful people I met there. From all over the world in fact! It shows that our scene here in NY is thriving. There is so much good in it, what can i say, I love it! Big shout outs to Blue Star Productions, Sacha, Sam, Yolanda and W@x, awesome job this weekend!
