Photo Credit: Jed Ramos

Ahh it’s already Monday and yet I am still thinking back to the epic night on Friday/Saturday morning at Exchange LA in downtown Los Angeles. I will start out by saying that before, I was one of the harshest critics of Insomniac and their productions. While they always brought a lot of good stuff, they oftentimes had issues and problems that made the events unenjoyable. However in the past couple of years, my criticism has heavily subsided and I have turned into one of their biggest supporters. Especially compared to SOME promoters who throw an Armin Only event and then cancel it a month out. And after EDC this year and the event at Exchange, I must say that my support for Insomniac is only growing. So for my review:

Yes! Amazing event. Good times, good vibes, good people, good music.

Venue

Photo Credit: Jed Ramos

As I said in my preview, I think Exchange is a great venue for EDM events. It’s one of those places that you look around during a long trancey breakdown and realize just how big and awesome the main room is. The event was sold out but not over-sold so there was plenty of room to move around on the dancefloor. You could actually get pretty far forward, which is always nice if you’re a big fan of the DJ. Try getting up close to Armin at EDC and face trampling, shoving, and possible stomping. It’s not pretty. The venue also had a pretty large VIP area up top which was not only for table service, but for certain lucky people (like myself) to get a good view and escape the masses. Lastly, there is a pretty large area downstairs next to the bathrooms with its own bar and DJ. That area had some cool art setups which I haven’t seen in any photographs yet but check out my instagram (@mishasilin) for some pics.

As far as drinks, it was $10-12 for a mixed drink (didn’t buy beer) which is pretty average for EDM clubs in Hollywood. I’m definitely glad it’s not the $14-16 that they charge in Vegas and high-end Hollywood clubs. You could get free icewater at most bars, however one of the bartenders downstairs wouldn’t pour it for me for some reason and said I had to go to the bar on the other side. To get an icewater? Let’s just say her tip was negatively affected by that.

Bathroom situation was fine – didn’t see too many shady people, line moved quickly, etc. No complaints there, although it would be nice to have a big bathroom on the 2nd floor (please, no need to re-build the whole building for me).

The crowd itself was fairly young and ready to party. Very peaceful. I didn’t see anyone get out of control, get in a fight, or anything like that. People were pretty nice when I would try to move around the dancefloor or VIP area – they would let me through and then go back to whatever they were doing. Definitely one of the best crowds for an EDM show – they are there for the music, not the drugs, or whatever else. Although personally this seems like an overall shift that I have been seeing lately. The ravers are getting separated into their own group, while people who go to shows like these aren’t here to rave, they are here to enjoy the music.

And lastly, everyone’s favorite part – the visuals and lasers. I thought that was well done also – I saw a little more than other times at Exchange but I could be wrong. Anyway, plenty of confetti, cryo blasts, and lasers to go around. Tritonal had some pretty cool visuals while the others seemed to mostly go with the default. No biggie. And of course the sound was crystal clear, no complaints there. I didn’t bring my earplugs and I didn’t feel that it was too loud, however if you are in the middle of the dancefloor the whole night I would definitely recommend it.

Music

Photo Credit: Jed Ramos

Trance trance and more trance. You would think that one would get sick of it, but there was enough variety to the point that it didn’t happen. First up was Leon Bolier (I arrived just as Kristina was getting off the decks, unfortunately). I’m not super knowledgeable in Leon’s sets but for some reason I was expecting a mellow, uplifting set. Boy was I wrong. Leon came out bangin’ and kept it up all the way through. The only tracks I recognized were his – Capetown, You, and Vengeance (unfortunately not the Samuel L Jackson version…) It was a high energy set and got the crowd going, for the most part, however seeing as how he was DJ #2/4 on the lineup and following him were Tritonal, I probably would have mellowed out just a little bit. Also Leon didn’t get on the mic at all which at this point, in my opinion, is a must, unless your set is mindblowing.

Up next were Tritonal. Again, like I said in my preview, I was expecting a good performance based on what I saw at EDC, and I would say that overall Tritonal did a great job. They were definitely the best of the night, and an excellent headliner. They opened with the Prydz remix of M83, which I LOVE, and didn’t look back from there, mixing tracks like Porter Robinson’s Language, an awesome vocal mashup of Omnia & Ira’s The Fusion,  the SHM remix of Every Teardrop is a Waterfall (crowd loved that one), Ferry Corsten’s Live Forever, Above and Beyond’s Sun and Moon, and closing out with Motorcycle’s As the Rush Comes. So as you can see, a lot of singalongs, but also Tritonal played a bunch of uplifting trance tunes such as the Duderstadt remix of Dakota – Gypsy Room that broke up the pop songs. Furthermore, they had plenty of crowd interaction – those guys were jumping around, getting on the mic pretty often (didn’t annoy me much), and waving their hands in the air during every breakdown. I’ve noticed that with DJ partnerships such as these guys or Dada Life, it makes it a lot easier to interact with the crowd more, and I think that made a big difference here. In the future, I could definitely see Tritonal opening for Above and Beyond or Ferry Corsten (they probably have already, in fact).

Last up was Richard Durand. He did a good job continuing the energy that Tritonal had during their set. Again, not a lot of stage or mic presence which I think hurt him a little bit, but the good track selection made up for it. He came out blasting with a remix of Ferry Corsten’s Punk that I didn’t recognize (not Arty), and a remix of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. Later on, he dropped my favorite tune – Madagascar – Art of Trance (Richard Durand Remix). But alas, at that point, I was no longer there – I got tired and went home early. That’s what I deserve, I suppose!

Conclusion

Photo Credit: Fernando Campos

If you’ve been reading the whole review you can see that I basically have nothing bad to say except for a few tiny complaints (gimmie free water!). Great crowd, great music, and great venue combine for an awesome and fun night. Looking forward to having more of these at Exchange LA with other interesting artists. I almost want to avoid having the super popular ones because that will bring in a totally different crowd and might spoil the vibe. Let’s start something special here.

Special thanks to all the people at Exchange LA who hooked me up with this night: Anthony, Malia, and Courtney. And thanks to all the photographers that we met, especially Jed whose photos I used in this post.

Tritonal and others at Awakening

Woot! Happy to log on and post about another huge event coming up this week, one that I personally am attending and am psyched about. Tritonal, LA favorite Kristina Sky, Leon Bolier, AND Richard Durand all playing at Exchange in LA downtown this weekend for Insomniac’s Awakening Series launch! Ticket link here. Why is this exciting? Well for numerous reasons. I hate to be one of those bloggers who always writes “6 reasons why X will be awesome!” type posts but lists are always easier to organize…

1. Trance is back!

Let’s be honest. Haters always be hating with their PHDs and such. But hate all you want, Insomniac, the biggest dance music promoter in the United States, has just decided to dedicate a weekly series to trance and progressive acts. People constantly claim that trance is dead, it’s done, it’s boring, it’s over, but look at this – those people just got their foot stuffed in their mouth pretty well, in my opinion. Now I know I might be coming off a little too zealous – at EDC there were not very many trance acts on the main stage, fair enough. So trance isn’t the hot ticket item it used to be about 5 years ago. However, for a while I thought it was going away almost completely, and now it’s coming back. Maybe it will never come back to the main stage fully, but I don’t think anyone would complain about having an all-trance stage at all future dance festivals like EDC and the Wonderlands. That would be pretty sweet. And having an opportunity to catch your favorite trance DJs at a pretty great venue in downtown LA every week can’t be much to complain about either! On top of that, there is still Circus Disco in Hollywood (which, to be honest, will probably be gone soon as a trance venue, but for now you get 2 per week!)

2. Exchange is a great place to have this event

I’m glad Insomniac chose a solid venue to host this thing. First off, it’s not in Hollywood. Sure, Hollywood is fun to go out and get schwasted at a hip-hop club or maybe even Avalon but it definitely attracts a certain crowd. And those certain crowds typically don’t like trance. They might not even like house! So I think Exchange is a great place to avoid your typical Hollywood table crowd and instead enjoy the company of people who actually WANT to be there to see the DJ. And it’s promoted by Insomniac who has clearly labeled this night for what it is, so if anyone is surprised and doesn’t like it… well they can GIT OUT! So long story short I’m expecting a great crowd, and I’ve already been to a few events at Exchange so I know it’s awesome. It’s a cool historic place with short lines and a great sound system (Funktion One)!

3. Great Talent

Of course I don’t have a roster for future dates (the only other one announced is Jaytech next Friday) but I am expecting some solid DJs to roll through this place. There aren’t many trance-only events in the US so booking DJs for stuff like this shouldn’t be too hard. For example, although the mainstage table crowd might not know who Lange is, people who are into trance would be super excited to see him rock a smaller venue like Exchange (hint hint). For this weekend, I am pretty excited to see Tritonal and Richard Durand. Leon Bolier is more of a chill guy – I like his productions but I am expecting more of a warm-up set from him. As far as the other two, one I like for producing but have heard a couple of sets, the other is completely the other way around.

Richard Durand – surprise surprise, a great trance DJ from the Netherlands… Richard is a guy who has released a bunch of SOLID productions in the trance scene. Pardon me for regressing a little bit but his remix of Skunk Anansie’s Brazen Weep was one that was heavily rocked by Armin and Trance-Tiesto alike back in the day. Another production that comes to mind is one that a LOT of people would recognize – his remix of Art of Trance – Madagascar. I would say Richard’s sound changed when he was put in charge of the ISOS series that was previously done by Trance-Tiesto. He couldn’t do it any more because he had morphed into House-Tiesto. At that point, along with his first album Always the Sun, Richard took on more of a vocal, Tiesto-like sound which of course people loved. So the last thing that he released is his album Wide Awake (coincidence that it’s Insomniac’s tagline? I THINK NOT!), which I would expect him to pull from. One of my favorites from that one is Orjan Nilsen’s remix of his single Run To You. Listen to it below.

Tritonal - Ah, a little American flavor for once! Tritonal is a trance group from Texas and I must admit out the gate – I haven’t been listening to trance as much lately and am not as knowledgeable in Tritonal’s latest productions. I know they typically make uplifting vocal stuff which sounds really good. I remember loving a few of their tracks from ASOT or Corsten’s Countdown episodes. I really like an Ashley Wallbridge remix of one of their tracks that was featured on Ferry’s amazing OUAN compilations. My favorite track by far would have to be Walk With Me (Air Up There Remix) – see the youtube below. Great uplifting vocals that are impossible to get out of your head once you listen to it once.

Instead of harping on further about production, which is definitely solid, I would instead like to say something about their live performances. I have seen Tritonal twice now, both times at EDC, and both times I came in not really knowing what to expect. Both times I was blown away. These guys keep the energy up very well. They actually get on the mic (something 99% of trance DJs never do) and get the crowd moving. And they drop excellent uplifting trance tunes while still getting everyone jumping and moving. For this reason alone, I am very excited to see Tritonal live. You’d be surprised how amazing a song like their new single Everafter sounds live. It was awesome!

Conclusion

Very excited that Insomniac is launching a trance night in LA, and very excited to see the first round of artists perform live, including of course Kristina Sky who continues to rock crowds in the area and gain fans left and right. Looking forward to more events at Exchange, and meeting more trance addicts along the way.

Insomniac Presents: Carl Cox at Exchange

Hello there. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I am still in the process of my EDC recovery. However I already know that come Friday I’ll be good as new. Fresh as a cucumber. And where would I head in that mood? Straight to Exchange in downtown LA. Why you ask? Simply look at the poster above. This Friday, Exchange will be hosting Carl Cox, an EDM legend (ticket link here). Hailing from Britain, he’s known as the kind of techno. Just like Armin and other DJs, he’s got a trademark, but it’s not a pose. He likes to get on the mic and say “oh yes oh yes oh yes!” He also brings out a lot of hardcore fans and music veterans who aren’t as much into hearing the track-of-the-day but just want to see a master at work. You won’t hear any Avicii or Tiesto tracks here. In fact, you’re not likely to recognize a single track that he plays. In fact, Cox was recently quoted as saying he wouldn’t accept $10 million to play a Black Eyed Peas track.

However, if you go his show, you are likely to be mesmerized by a DJ who is super into the stuff he is playing, and has been honing his art for over a decade. Furthermore, you will get to experience it in a pretty historic and awesome setting. Exchange LA has that name for a reason – it used to be an old stock exchange. My experience at the venue has been nothing but stellar. There is typically very little waiting in line, the crowd tends to be young and fun, and there is plenty of space to move around. Oh and very little creepy people swirling their head around in a circle. If you’ve been to Avalon… you know what I’m talking about. We call them washers.

Exchange LA

In any case, it’s best to get used to going to Exchange LA, because Insomniac is a week away from launching a series called Awakening, which will be focused on trance/progressive music (watch out Circus!). I for one can’t wait – I’m a lover of trance, and with Insomniac behind the event I know it will have great production value and a lot of attendees. Furthermore, I will have backstage access to their opening event with Tritonal next Friday. More on that later – for now, hit up Carl Cox, recover from EDC, and I hope to see you all out there soon! And again, the ticket link is here.

Hello folks, taking another break from being in the dark for a while to announce an LA rising star: Justin Michael. I met the guy personally and saw his set at Exchange (awesome venue) on a good ol’ fashioned Saturday night, and I must say I was blown away. Justin, besides being a great guy in person, controlled the crowd very well, and dropped a lot of euphoric house tracks that I loved dancing to. He’s very talented and plays a lot of those ethereal tracks that completely fill the room with sound. No wonder he opened for Kaskade when he played in LA at the Palladium! If you want to support a very quickly up and coming Los Angeles local, here are a couple of things to check out. The first is his mix entry for the Axwell competition to play at the Axtone party in Miami. If you like it, click the heart, and share share share! Help represent LA in Miami during Ultra week. That’ll show those east coast bastards who’s boss.

The second thing would be a preview of Justin’s new track. He just got signed to Armada, Armin van Buuren’s behemoth label. Perhaps pretty soon he will be gracing the stage at festivals like Beyond Wonderland and EDC (gotta be any DJs dream), but for now be sure to catch Justin Michael playing somewhere in LA soon via his Facebook page. This track is definitely an epic track with great vocals and a heart-warming synth. Can’t wait to hear it live. Just a heads up regarding the preview: be prepared to be teased in the worst way possible! Don’t hate me!

I remember a few years ago hearing about this dude Afrojack. I checked out his track Polkadots and thought it was a great track. Didn’t really think much more of it.

Fast forward to today and the guy is huge. Simply huge. He played both days at EDC 2010 and continues to get top billing nationwide. According to Wikipedia, he’s helped produce the records of a lot of people in the pop music scene, including Pitbull and Ne-Yo who thanked him personally when he won a VMA. Afrojack is also rumored to be dating Paris Hilton but… that’s another story.

Some might know this already while some might not, but Las Vegas is simply blowing up this year with EDM. Last year the Wynn had Afrojack for a residency and while nothing has been announced this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got something similar going since I’ve already seen 3 dates with him playing at either Surrender or XS. While I’m dying to know how much money he’s making at these gigs, one thing is a fact – he is huge.

Personally, I am not a fan of all of his music. Some of it is simply too much bleeps and bloops. As a person who lives and dies by progressive music, I’ve gotta have a melody of some sort, and a lot of his tracks are missing that. However when Afrojack does put in a melody, it delivers. Some of my favorite tracks of his are Collide with Leona Lewis (even though he blatantly jacked Avicii’s melody and got sued for it) and his remix of The Wombats. But my favorite currently is, surprisingly, his collaboration with David Guetta which is called Lunar.

Say what you will but the sound is simply massive and it’s a great party track. Definitely would love to hear this dropped at a festival… and with Beyond Wonderland and EDC around the corner, I have a good chance at my dreams coming true!

Back to the point though – Vegas is doing it big this year, which is exciting since LA is just a 4 hour drive away. XS, Marquee, Surrender, Tao, and Tryst all have top house DJs rolling through on a WEEKLY basis. That’s right, you heard me. A massive shift has taken place this year. XS, the biggest club in Vegas, has shown the new direction of partying and clubbing – they are doing house DJs on their Friday and Saturday nights. So anyone who is still resisting this movement and this music is crazy . I’m seeing Calvin Harris at XS this coming weekend and I will report back with a review and some tips to have a good time, but in the meantime I hope everyone has fun out there in Vegas. My friends saw Afrojack a few weeks back and had a blast, and of course if Don Johnson is willing to pop some bottles, you know it’s going to be a party.

Hello to anyone still checking the blog once in a while, and hello to anyone who stumbles onto this through Google. Google certainly does love this blog – our EDC and Coachella posts are ranking very high on Google even though they are super outdated. So to anyone reading this, here’s the deal. The EDM community continues to grow and there are lots of people and blogs that are talking about it all day and all night. Some ones that I particularly like are Dancing Astronaut, TranceAddict (I post once in a while but loooove to troll), and LessThan3.

Each one has its own pluses and minuses – LessThan3 has a lot of GREAT content, and the website functionality is amazing. Not sure how they are monetizing, or if they are, but I imagine it did cost money to build that site so kudos to them. Dancing Astronaut solved a problem we weren’t able to on this blog – they got comments! A lot of folks seem to read and comment on their posts, I imagine it’s because they write a lot about the big guns (Avicii, Afrojack, SHM, etc.). Kudos to them as well. And last but not least TA is for the old-schoolers who gripe about anything new and like to talk about the good ol’ days, but it is a great place to find out about local events and ticket presales.

Long story short, there are solid options out there. As for us, Rob has moved out of the country so he is not an LA Beat Connector at the moment, and I am busy with work and feel uninspired to write. One of the big reasons was because we were unable to foster a community on this blog. My thought is that it was because we wrote about a lot of niche music and events – people who go to those and listen to that music are harder to find than engage. Also we were very eclectic in the types of music we wrote about. And if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

However, for now, I am going to write a little bit less often, but try to use the blog’s SEO love to drive some traffic to it and generate a bit of affiliate income. So to the user who feels like this is shady, cheap, or shameful in any way – I am being very straightforward in here. And perhaps in the future we’ll come back to writing about EDM and all of its glorious experiences more frequently – if you want to become a writer and get this blog back up and running, let me know!

OK now that I got out of the way, I wanted to mention a sponsor that we recently got. I know back in the day I used to play a lot of online poker. I even know a guy living in LA who makes his entire living off of playing poker online. It’s pretty crazy how you can just sit in your bedroom and rake in cash – who would have thought that that would be possible even 15 years ago? Anyway, there are tons of good sites out there, and one of the best is definitely Party Poker. So definitely check them out and support this blog. If the blog starts bringing in enough revenue I would be more than happy to hire writers and get LA’s beats connected again!!!

Hello, Los Angeles, today is a very special day. You and me are part of history now. This is the day that we’ll all remember that dance music is bigger than anything else in the world, I thank you for that! So let’s celebrate and party.

When Tiesto speaks everyone listens. His show at the Home Depot Center on October 8th proved why he sets the standard in EDM music and why he will continue to be at the forefront of what can only be called a musical revolution.

Okay. So. Maybe I’m getting a little too intense, but Tiesto’s show was nothing short of spiritual. I’ve seen nearly every DJ under the sun to this date (in every type of venue/show possible too) and the only thing that can compare to the final installation of Tiesto’s College Invasion Tour is Swedish House Mafia in Miami, but even then it’s not a direct comparison. Everyone at the Home Depot Center was there to fucking dance. Everyone was there for the music. Nobody was there for the ‘scene’. There was a palpable energy around the arena that you could feel almost instantly and it made for a completely unforgettable experience.

Tiesto is, hands down, the most legit and reputable DJ in the game right now. Nobody can deny that. He could have filled his two hour set with Tiesto exclusive tracks—but he didn’t—which just shows how much he really understands what’s going on in music right now. He mixed dub-step and moombah, Kanye West with Oasis and dropped obscure tracks by up-and-coming DJs like Tommy Trash and Alesso. When he played “Feel It In My Bones” I literally thought my heart stopped and he ended the night perfectly with “Maximal Crazy.”

The cracked out ravers tried to start a chant of “Two More Hours” after the last beat of “Maximal Crazy” but the show ended perfectly and nothing else would have even compared. I may have doubted Tiesto’s relevance (and legitimacy) before but after last Saturday I’ll never question it again. It’s officially Tiesto’s world. We’re just living in it.

Whether you like dubstep or techno, whatever your entry point, at some point someone is going to say, ‘Have you seen Tiësto?’
-Billboard Magazine

It’s true. Even EDM neophytes are aware of Tiesto. He’s essentially a deity in the electronic community, his presence is so much greater than himself as an individual.

I’ve been lucky enough to see Tiesto three times in the past year (the only year I’ve been exposed to any type of EDM music. Also known as the best year ever) but saying I’m excited about his College Invasion show at the Home Depot Center tomorrow is an understatement. First of all the lineup is crazy, if Tiesto wasn’t enough Dada Life and Diplo have been thrown into the mix, and he’s planning to set a record for the largest single DJ event in US history.

I hate to say it so obviously. But shit’s about to get maximal crazy.

I was pumped to find out Calvin Harris was coming to NYC. His set at Masquerade Motel literally blew my mind and when he tweeted he was coming to New York I was sold. No questions asked.

When I found out he was coming to Pacha I changed my mind—-but then he decided to come to Lavo, aka Narnia on earth, and I was back on board.

So. Let’s talk about his set. First Calvies gets major points for actually hanging out in the crowd while Treasure Fingers was opening up. I didn’t even realize I was dance battleing him for a bit and then I put two and two together and figured the extremely tall British man was actually the DJ in question. If only he was sporting fly eyes.

His set was your standard Calvin Harris set. All bangers all the time. He mixed in some of his classics like “I’m Not Alone,” “You Used to Hold Me” and “Ready For The Weekend.” I literally got tingles when he started playing “Awooga” (awooga will always have a special place in my heart though) and he got the crowd bouncing with “Bounce.” In typical Calvin Harris fashion he mixed in some crowd favorites like “Dirty Talk” and “Barbara Streisand.” All in all a great house set.

Maybe it was because I wasn’t dancing in the sand, maybe it’s because it wasn’t Miami or maybe it’s because it was Cinco De Mayo and I was sincerely hoping he’d be wearing a bedazzled sombrero but his set was kind of a let down. There wasn’t as much energy, people didn’t seem as into it and I’m not sure if anyone could actually recognize the music but I’m starting to expect that with the NYC house crowd.

Axwell is by far my favorite thing from Sweden.

I said it. I like him better than ikea, socialism and definitely more than Swedish fish. Those are waxy and synthetic. Axwell is anything but.

There’s a reason why my best friend has Swedish House Mafia listed as her religion on facebook. Axwell’s show at the Roseland was as close to a spiritual experience as I’ll probably ever get. But before I can even get into the show I have to talk about the venue.

Because it’s gross.

I get that the Roseland Ballroom in NYC is probably one of the best places for DJs to do shows in NYC. It’s not as cheesy as Pacha, not as exclusive as Lavo and the open space gives you the feel of a massive without actually being outdoors for 7 hours straight. Deadmau5, Steve Angello and and Armin Van Buren all choose the Roseland when they want to put on major shows in the city and since they can get away with intense pyrotechnics and crazy light shows I don’t blame them…I just wish it didn’t feel like a seedy broadway theater and have awful rose carpeting. The place was packed with under and over grown ravers too…if I didn’t have stage access I would have been in the worst mood ever when he was spinning.

Anyway. Axwell blew my mind. He introduced his set with a teaser of “Miami to Ibiza” and then remixed Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”—just like SHM did in Miami. You could hear the crowd give a collective “oooooh” when he started to drop “Awooga” (since anyone who wasn’t in Miami or at Coachella had probably never heard it live before) and then he started experimenting with his set. For a solid 30 minutes Axwell—aka the king of instruments—was playing straight electro and killing it.

About halfway through his 4 hour set he got super Swedish on the mic and started saying “MY NAME IS AXWELL. I AM FROM THE SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA” and then led into SHM classics. “One”, “Nothing But Love”, “Teenage Crime” and “In the Air”. He even dropped some of my favorite pop mixes like “Otherside” and “Clocks” but my favorite parts of the set were definitely when he played the SHM remix of “The Island” and “Save The World”.

Saying Axwell put on an amazing show was an understatement. Then again I’m convinced the man can do no wrong.

All hail Axwell House Mafia.