Show Review: Electric Daisy Carnival 2010, Los Angeles

Fireworks. Pyrotechnic shows. A flame thrower rigged arena. Confetti. State of the art lit up carnival rides. Circus midgets. Fog. and LIL JON! ...Just a few of the spectacles that filled the weekend in Los Angeles at the Electric Daisy Carnival that I had the invaluable pleasure of attending. I have been to some amazing electronic music events in my life...namely being LoveFest of San Francisco, POP of San Francisco, and Monster Massive of Los Angeles, but after going to Electric Daisy Carnival for the first time, I can undeniably concur that this is the grand daddy of them all. Considering that I can't separate myself into 5 and couldn't catch all 5 stages and every set, there is a good recap that MTV news did here. Some of the best moments? Spin did a great job of recapping that here.


Day 1 sets I was able to catch:
Chuckie
Steve Aoki
Dada Life
Swedish House Mafia
Kaskade
Deadmau5

Day 2 sets I was able to catch:
Dada Life
Afrojack
Sound of Stereo
Laidback Luke
Benny Benassi
Above & Beyond
Armin van Buuren

I really can't put into words the experience that I had with this event. But here...

Breakdown:

Crowd - The crowd was insane. Probably too insane. The energy levels were so high and people were so desperate to get on the field they even jumped the fences. With everyone so hype, the DJ's knew they had to bring it and responded well.
Production - On a scale from 1 to 10, EDC gets an 11. This production was absolutely insane. The stages were set up and let incredibly well, especially the main stage. Huge wall of LED lights the size of a building and all the pyrotechnic stuff that went down was really incredible. Rigging the entire coliseum with fire torches, state of the art light shows, confetti shooters, fireworks behind the stage, the trampoline jumpers, acrobats, marionettes, and the circus midgets! Insanity! Plus the rides were rigged with great lighting as well. Added an great sense of carnival theme to it all.
Organization - All things considered with the almost 200,000 in attendance, the event was organized rather well. The stages were separated well, the bathrooms were plentiful, and crowd control was handled decently. Props to Insomniac events for the plentiful staff. The only thing I didn't like was the expensive beer and garbage for food.
Lineup - You will never find a more exciting and big name filled line up at any other electronic music event other than Electric Daisy Carnival. Stellar. Amazing. What else can I say? Plus the celebrity appearances...holy moly.

Rating: This event really smacked me in the face big time and showed me indeed how mainstream electronic music is getting here in the United States. I couldn't believe the world class DJ's and all the surprise celebrity appearances saying that this was the greatest massive they have been to. If anything is for sure, it's that dance and electronic music is here. And it's here to stay. ***** (5 stars).

Scale:
***** - Perfect night. Legendary show
**** - Great night. Very enjoyable
*** - Decent night. Some things were hit or miss but overall fine.
** - Boring night. Not too many enjoyable things at this show.
* - Terrible night. Everything went wrong with this one. Where's the booze?

~M

#MusicMonday: Electric Daisy Carnival Hype

Hey everyone. Considering #MusicMonday is almost over, might as well make this one short and sweet. Typically I have a lot of musical thoughts going through my head and thinking of a lot of different ideas, but at this moment only one thing is on my mind: Electric Daisy Carnival. Even though Drake's album has come out recently and Eminem dropped Recovery today, EDC is my main focus. For those who have no idea about events that go on within the dance/electronic music scene, Electric Daisy Carnival is the biggest event to happen on the west coast. 2 days long, 12 hours each day, and jam packed full of the filthiest beats of house/trance/electro/drum&bass you can imagine. Also did I mention they have carnival rides? Yeah...it has carnival in the name; makes sense. My journey will take me to the heart of LA to witness the craziest spectacle that I will probably experience in the electronic scene unless I fly to Ibiza or go to one of the European festivals like Love Parade or Dance Valley in the Netherlands. Anyways, here are the DJ's that I am thoroughly stoked to see:


Steve Aoki
Deadmau5 (as usual)
Kaskade
Dirty South
Chuckie
Dada Life
Sean Tyas
Afrojack
Benny Benassi
Fedde Le Grand
Gareth Emery
Laidback Luke
Boys Noize
Above & Beyond
Sasha
ATB
Armin van Buuren (the man!)

If you weren't drooling over that then you just don't know whats going on. Did I also mention Spain plays Chile the same Friday that all this mayhem goes down? Brain overload!! Here's to me surviving the next week...

~M

#ThrowbackThursday: Paul van Dyk's "Crush"

I've been doing this Throwback thing for a while now and I honestly believed my concept of "Throwback Thursday" was completely original and unique. I was thinking about getting the trademark and everything. Now I come to realize not only is it not original, it already has it's own trending topic. Epic #fail. Oh well, serves me right for thinking I came up with anything before someone else. Anyway...onto this week's Throwback. Being the huge electronic music lover that I am, I'm really excited to take part in next weekend's big festival Electric Daisy Carnival. Considering how it's the biggest electronic music festival to hit the west coast, all the big power house names flood the line up. However, I am sad I missed last year's because this year my man Paul van Dyk is not making an appearance. And this got me thinking...what a perfect subject for my Throwback this week...


This week: "Crush" by Paul van Dyk

Without a shadow of a doubt my favorite trance song to date. Not only is it my favorite, it is the first trance song I have ever heard. I can't remember exactly what year it was when I first heard this, but I know for sure I was still in high school. I was enlightened to the ways of electronic music by that point, but not anything like this. All my knowledge was strictly to the commercial that hit the airwaves and MTV like Daft Punk and The Prodigy. Seldom I got into things like The Crystal Method but it wasn't until I heard this song that it completely blew my mind on the possibilities of what electronic music could do or sound like. I didn't even know trance was a genre. And when I did think of music like this being played in clubs, it struck me as something I would never like. However, when my friend sent me this song it all made sense. This was electronic music with a story. It has unbelievable build ups, break downs, and feeling. It's almost like the "Stairway to Haven" of trance music for me. I get filled with emotion when I hear this. Talk about a track that's a total crowd controller. When Paul plays this in arenas (which I have had the pleasure of seeing Paul van Dyk live), I know the audience feels it too. Here's to the song that got me hooked on trance for the rest of my life probably.

Take a listen...let your mind be blown. Keep your speakers on high and brains on melt.



~M

Concert Review: ETD POP 2010, San Francisco

Hey what's going on everyone?? Hope all you music heads had a good Saturday night. I certainly did, as I lost my mind last night at ETD POP 2010 in San Francisco. I slightly mentioned it before, but ETD POP is an annual electronic music event that happens in San Francisco usually around memorial day weekend. This would have to be the second biggest electronic music event that happens in Northern California, with LovEvolution (the former LoveFest) being the first. However, this POP was a little different than the previous others. First and foremost, this was the first year that all the acts would be confined to one single stage. Typically is the case that there would be several different rooms (usually 5) separated based on music type; usually Trance, House, Breaks, Drum & Bass, and Hardcore. I guess the money saved on having lesser DJ's to pay was spent on advertisement (saw flyers and billboards everywhere) and the improved stage production. Anyway, on to the show...

As I got there quite a bit later into the show (thanks lazy friends), I missed the sets put on by Dyloot, LA Riots, and Gareth Emery. Dyloot is usually at every San Francisco event as he is a San Francisco native and the main organizer of Skills, so as I've seen him many times before I'm sure to see him again many times down the road. LA Riots, a house act presumably out of LA, I have never seen before so I'm a tad bit disappointed I missed them. Hope to catch some of their live stuff on youtube. I don't know too much about Gareth Emergy, but the general consensus is he is a really great trance DJ on the rise. Hope to see some of him in the future. Getting inside I did notice that the stage production was done AMAZINGLY. The previous year had a rotating stage and looked all nice. 2008 had some great production with gymnasts coming down from the rafters. This year's winner was the incredible lighting, huge rotating DJ stage, well timed fog machines, surrounding dancers placed in the crowd, and bubble machines.

The first act I was able to catch was Steve Aoki. Leading up to this I heard the man puts on a good show and plays some really club heavy house. I have heard some of his studio work as was not impressed at all, but that again that never speaks towards how good of a set they do when they DJ. I'm definitely in the Deadmau5 way of thinking that a DJ should stay off of the mic as much as possible, but clearly Steve Aoki doesn't share this sentiment. The guy was on the mic the whole night shouting out the songs he was playing and then ran around the stage like a madman and shouting lyrics a la death metal to some songs like we were at Ozzfest. I wasn't too big a fan of that but his song selections were on point when it came to the club tracks and he definitely got the mood set off right. I wasn't too big of a Steve Aoki fan leading up to this but I'm warming up to him I will have to admit.

Next up was Boys Noize out of Germany. Again, an act that was relatively unheard of to me until I found out he was on the POP lineup. I didn't really do that much research but I knew he was a house act. I heard his act leans more towards electro house and techno. I really enjoyed this set. The beats sounded great and the transitions were really great as well. I will have to check this dude out some more as he won me over last night for sure.


Next up was the famous Fedde Le Grand out of the Netherlands. The man has been a household name in the realm of house ever since the release of the smash single "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit". I know that he puts on a lot of great sets and has some great house selections so I was really excited for this one and he certainly did not disappoint. Of course he had to throw in a remix of his famous breakthrough single. His DJ work was great with the lighting and the stage. Really great setting for Fedde to put it down.

Next up was the Italian Stallion himself, Benny Benassi. He has been on a roll as one of, if not the leading, names in house music. The man is a pioneer and I have been a fan of his for a while. His set certainly was amazing as he tore through a bunch of hits like "Satisfaction" and "I Love My Sex" along with doing what makes him famous around the world with his DJ transitions, remixes, and song selections. This set was amazing and I wish I could see it in more of an intimate club setting. Great nonetheless!

Next up was my man, voted #1 DJ around the world, Armin van Buuren out of the Netherlands. I have seen Armin various times before at Monster Massive 2007, LoveFest After Party 2008, and once again at Monster Massive 2009. He has never disappointed me in his sets and his song selections. As the world renowned leader of Trance, he hardly ever falters in his reputation, and it is because of sets like this one. Considering the night was more house than trance, I was a little skeptical on how the crowd would react to him. However, he is a master for a reason. His trance selection leaned a little more to the bass heavy and dance side, which got the crowd in right mindset. He threw in a few classics "In and Out of Love", "Zocalo", and "Aisha" nicely remixed and had the transitions and pauses at perfect timing. Stage lighting and everything was perfect as well. One thing that makes Armin as famous as he is, is the interaction with the fans to show his true appreciation. It was certainly hot as hell inside and he was joking around with us on the subject. Smiling, waving, jumping and dancing with the songs; little things like this, without being like Aoki and being all over the mic, can make a DJ a huge success like him. This might have been my favorite Armin van Buuren set I have seen.

Last up was Infected Mushroom out of Israel. I've always had mixed feelings about this group. I first caught them at Monster Massive 2007 and didn't necessarily dig their entire live band gimmick while trying to be an electronic music act. While rock and electronic music can be fused together successfully, usually is the case is that a live band incorporates elements of electronic music in their studio production, and not the other way around. Plus, as I said before, I'm not a huge fan about MC's on the mic while dance songs are on. It kills the entire mood of the beats for me and is a huge distraction. To me you have to be on some serious drugs to like this group. I left halfway through their set to avoid as much traffic as I could and simply because they didn't really change my original perspective on them. Not too sad that I missed it. Armin should have closed out but it worked out for me this way so I could leave a little bit earlier.

Breakdown:

Crowd - The crowd responded to the music and DJ's super well. Kept the energy levels high.
Production - The production was the best of any POP I have seen to date. Beside the sound having a few troubles, it was all done very well.
Organization - Beside the super long line to make it to the front entrance, the venue did a good job of organization considering the smaller crowd size (16,000 from 24,000 the previous year) with maintaining things at a good pace.
Lineup - You couldn't really put much of a better lineup together for an event of this magnitude and the time that was permitted. I would have chosen a better closer than Infected Mushroom, but all things considered, the lineup was awesome. Good picks for a night that combined house and trance.

Rating: Overall, this was an amazing POP. Quite a night to remember. I will give this one **** (4 stars).



Scale:
***** - Perfect night. Legendary show
**** - Great night. Very enjoyable
*** - Decent night. Some things were hit or miss but overall fine.
** - Boring night. Not too many enjoyable things at this show.
* - Terrible night. Everything went wrong with this one. Where's the booze?

Throwback Thursday: The Prodigy "The Fat Of The Land"

Throwback Thursday? Wtf is that? Let's start this off with a bang. This will be a retro-throwback-oldschool-vintage-aged (or whatever you want to call it) review of an album or band or a reminiscing of a particular trend, scene, or moment in music that takes importance in my mind. So considering it's Thursday and this blog is brand new, why don't we start off with one right off the bat? Let's get right to it....



This Week: The Fat Of The Land (album) by The Prodigy [1997]

Now I was a wee-lad when this album came out, but in terms of groundbreaking discoveries, this is the album that changed mine and a lot of other peoples' lives around the world. When Prodigy dropped The Fat Of The Land in 1997, that year became a big year for the electronic music scene to make its way out of the dungeon basement raves in the Europe and certain sectors of the US and into the mainstream and onto the charts. I want to say this album and Daft Punk's Homework (which also came out the same year and will get its own Throwback Thursday post) were the two driving forces that made 1997 a year where electronic music found their way onto boomboxes (what are those?), walkmans (what are those), and stereo systems around the world. It could be debated forever as to why people were turned onto this album, considering the big beat and hardcore techno movements weren't necessarily new, however this was a big step for Prodigy into a more commercial friendly sound. Their previous albums were pretty much the same genre, however The Fat Of The Land had more "song" aspects than their previous albums had. The songs were structured, they were shorter, they were less ambiguous, they had quite a few vocalists...but the main keys: they were catchy, they had some ridiculously freaky videos, and they were club bangers. Those 3 elements were what really shot them into the masses. Liam Howlett's beats, the genius that he is, rang through everyone's ears yes, but the freakishly looking outfits and haircuts of Keith Flint (main vocalist) haunted everyone's nightmares after watching a Prodigy video. Catchy beats and catchy hooks, cue "Smack My Bitch Up" made something for everyone to request in the club, whether they knew about electronic music or not. I was no exception to that rule. I spent many nights watching the videos of "Breathe", "Firestarter", and my favorite "Smack My Bitch Up" and watching in awe as my musical tastes began to evolve from that point. The mind of a child might be weak, but there was no going back after this point. This album never gets old and to this day, I still hear some of the jams played at clubs and at raves. And guess what...the electronic/dance scene is bigger than ever (expect a post about that in the near future as well). I'm positive that won't change anytime in the near future. Thanks Prodigy...you'll always freak me out and make me dance at the same time.

~Dr. M

Review: (*****) 5/5 stars

P.S. Remember..did I miss anything? Do you disagree? Did you not like the album? Did you really like the album? Leave a comment yo!