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Review
of Transistor Electronic Arts Festival
Don't even begin to think
my weekend ended with Transistor! It was 12:00am
and I still had another party to get to, Electric
Daisy Festival at the Arapahoe County
Fairgrounds.
Being that I had the aforementioned
engagement planned the same night, I missed
several of the earlier acts at the carnival,
but what I lost in enjoyment earlier I sure
made up in dancing... and sweat.
My evening at EDC, starting
at 1:00am-ish, began in the Cosmic Meadow
(House of Om), with the lovely Colette
spinning and singing on top of her own songs
from her own albums. Upon completion of her
set, she handed the decks over to none other
than Mark Farina who rode the
funky, deep house grooves all the way till 4:00am.
I loves me some deep house and I loves the way
they played it.
Meanwhile in the bassPod,
breakbeat legends donned the stage, first Uberzone,
then The Freestylers. Both
sets, brash and over the top as they were, added
yet another piece to my near electronic fulfillment.
There was but one piece remaining. That was
to be received in the Kinetic Field.
As I entered the Kinetic Field
and heard the lovely sounds of the early part
of Kaskade's set, I began to
brace my legs. Not only because I was almost
literally on my last leg but because I knew
a set like this would have me dancing till they
closed the doors. And dance I did. As did the
sweating, shirtless mob of glowstick wielding
rave kids. Seriously, glowsticks and pacifiers?
Still? Anyways, I can put our differences aside,
we were there for the same reason, Kaskade.
Rest assured, he gave us plenty of reasons.
Like any DJ set, I can't tell
you many tracks he played for certain, as DJ's
seem to have special rights to songs we will
never lay our eyes or ears on. However, I do
recall a few, having recently reviewed his new
album, Strobelite Seduction.
One being the instantly danceable, melody soaked
"Move For Me." If you had somehow
avoided dancing by that point, you surely were
moved off the wall with this Kaskade/Deadmau5
collaboration.
Though I didn't recognize
the tracks only available to the DJ elite, the
important thing about a great DJ set is the
feeling that said DJ creates. Kaskade was more
than successful at harnessing his trademark
"warmth," using his own tracks and
those of others to masterfully drive the crowd
insane as only a quality DJ can do.
2008 marks the first year
that Insomniac Events brings this huge electronic
music event to Colorado and what a welcome breath
of fresh air it was. It brought several seldom
or ne'er seen acts to our fair state and according
to the site, plans to do so next year as well.
Make yourselves ready! And if you plan to attend
the next Daisy fest in Los Angeles this coming
weekend, ditto.
www.electricdaisycarnival.com
www.myspace.com/kaskademusic
-Joshua Jones, Thursday,
June 19, 2008 |
