Audiotistic

I headed down to LA this weekend to hit up the Audiotistic Festival, which is sort of the younger cousin of the Electric Daisy Carnival. It was a much smaller event, but the line-up was sufficiently top-notch and the production, for its size, was some of the most organized I've ever seen at an electronic event. With raves (I don't think I'm ready to call them Electronic Dance Music Events just yet) getting a lot of shit in the media these days, it's nice to go to a show where the promoters really have it together.

First up was a Kill the Noise x Donald Glaude back to back set. Mostly missed KTN, but we came through in time to watch Donald sweat out the packed room. Once that stage segued into a prog/trance bonanza (don't get me wrong, I have mad love for all my trance-heads), we moved to the Sound Arcade, which seemed to have the coolest stage setup and the least number of people in the crowd.

From there, Riva Starr threw down a funky set of his signature house, gypsy drops and all, as the audience built up. Then A-Trak put down the best big-room set I've ever seen him play, with the perfect balance of electro bangers and flawless turntablist micro-routines. As it was just about time to head back to the hotel, Treasure Fingers came in and closed out the night with his synth-drenched disco goodness. I wish I had something more controversial to say, but every DJ we saw came and crushed it.

A-Trak

Riva Starr

Donald Glaude getting mad with the crowd

Foooooooools Gooooold

Slow Roast in the house!

To make the weekend even more special, I had the opportunity to end my trip at the Do Over. The Do Over is a Sunday-afternoon weekly at this little restaurant/bar in LA where a trio of residents and handful of guest DJs play classic sets in this tiny fenced-in backyard (really, tiny) while burgers get flipped in the front and the line on the street grows like some kind of bottle service ish. However, with Audiotistic and LA being LA, this was a particularly special Sunday.

On the lineup we had an all-vinyl house set from the Juan Maclean (while eating a burger, I might add; pretty sure the dude's name isn't really Juan though). Then Craze came through with a crowd-pleasing hip-hop routine, rocking everything from Ice Cube to Deja Vu. Nick Catchdubs picked up the sunset hour with an eclectic set of reggae jams (he played a lot more than that, but I can't just say he played everything, can I?), and while A-Trak was slated to close out the night, I needed to hop back in my car, delirious as all hell, and drive six hours back to San Francisco with one headlight. The things we do for music...