Posted by: Matt

Hey hey hey! It’s podcast time once again and this week a local friend of the Beatery is gracing us with his presence. SF superstar-in-the-making DJ KidHack recently scored a major coup recently by landing a slot in the Subsonic Tent at this year’s (always) epic BFD festival at the Shoreline Amphitheater. Sharing the stage with great artists like Wolfgang Gartner, Blaqk Audio, and Innerpartysystem (among many others), KidHack dropped a slammin’ set of Dubstep, Drumstep, DnB, and just really some sick ass bass pounders. He’s generously allowed us to podcast it and we certainly aren’t going to pass that up!

Peep photos from the event and a tracklist below the jump. Download the mix from the Soundcloud player, KidHack’s website, or why not subscribe to our very own iTunes Podcast!?

If you love this and just need, need to hear more, check out KidHack’s SF collective Future Universal on Facebook. They have a pretty happening page going over there right now.

DJ KidHack - Live @ Live 105 BFD 110605 by KidHack

Hit the ‘more’ link for the tracklist and epic photos! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

Bonjour mes amis! Je suis très heureux aujourd’hui parce que… Yelle is coming to town!! Yelle (pronounced “yell”) is a bite sized explosion of French electro-pop that I had never heard of until she come out with her most recent album, Safari Disco Club early this year.

Being smitten with her super spunky electro-swag I checked out her back catalog and turns out she’s been banging out the synth-pop jams for years! Here are a few of my favorites and the show details. See you there? I can’t imagine she’d disappoint live.

Yelle at The Regency Ballroom - Thursday, May 19th, 2011

GET TICKETS HERE ($22 plus an OUTRAGEOUS “Convenience Charge” of $9.70)

Yelle - “Safari Disco Club”

Yelle - “Ce Jeu” - The Twelves Remix

Yelle - “Je Veux Te Voir”

PLAY ALL

VIDEOS:

Safari Disco Club / Que veux-tu
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Derek

whoa, what a ride…

As mentioned in my [last podcast post] I just got back from Miami Music Week, and hot damn that was alot of awesome.
Industry parties, pool parties, things happening at all hours, craziness all around.

Given that nearly the entire dance music community was there it was a great place to meet friends, listen to some amazing tunes at arms-length from legendary spinners, and bask in the sun and the beats coming from every direction (even Wallgreens had a DJ!).

roger sanchez - yup, he's right there.

Besides new connections and great memories though, one of the most incredible things I took away from the experience was the power of dance music as a uniting and unifying force for all sorts of people. This was present on every dancefloor in town, where the vibe was just ALIVE in some indescribable way, from the small events to the huge warehouses. However, the largest events seemed to showcase it the most - Above & Beyond’s Anjunabeats Ice Palace event was incredible, and the biggest of them all - Ultra Music Festival - trumped all reason.

Ultra is insane.
According to the figures, this year was attended by over 100,000 peeps.

ultramainstage

The amount of people there should be absolute chaos, and if you look at the aftermath photos it still was to some extent.

However, nothing speaks to the human spirit like 70,000 people in sync with the DJ and each other in an undulating, bouncing, flowing tide.

Though every stage at Ultra shared this, the tent (or blimp hanger I should say) shared by Carl Cox and then A State Of Trance 500 was off the charts.

Absolutely nothing like it - look in any direction and thousands of people are experiencing what you are, bobbing to Carl Cox’s impeccable rhythmic melange, or completely losing it to Gareth Emery throw down Forbidden City.

The crowning moment for me had to be when Ferry Corsten threw down Beautiful - and the message hit home, leaving the entire arena crying, laughing, jumping, and sweating their hearts out. Very meta in a way, as one of the (minimal) lyrics to this tune is “Let the music carry us together” — it did, and in a way impossible through any other medium.

I’ll have to get a video from somewhere of this slice of time — it was absolutely incredible - will post if I find.

If you’re interested in seeing more pix of what Miami is like during music week, check out my album on Facebook.
And if we’re not friended on there, add me for chrissakes ^_^.

Bienvenido a Miami!

PS - I had the awesome chance to spin on one of the smaller Ultra stages! it was epic. and very miami. see below:

Posted by: Matt

Back in the middle of 2010, Derek dropped a tip on this blog about a little Drum n Bass band called Pendulum in which he took time to emphasize the fact that they actually perform live as a real band - drums, guitars, synths, vocals, bass (guitar), and so on. I actually had a chance to check them out at their stop at the Fillmore in San Francisco last week, and though I didn’t know much more than that going in, I was definitely not disappointed.

Having tried it once or twice myself, I know how hard it can be to play “live” electronic music while both retaining the feel of the studio tracks AND keeping it interesting for the performers. What do you think? Did they pull it off? (tip: the answer is fuck yes).

(*I may have been the only person at the show who didn’t know this at the time, but they are playing live their own remix of Voodoo People by The Prodigy. Meta, no?)

Since I’ve really been enjoying their latest album Immersion, here are two taster tracks to whet your appetite:

Crush

Watercolour

If you like ‘em, go get the whole thing from iTunes or Amazon.

Posted by: Jay

Sasha @ District 30, Sacramento (tickets here)
Thursday, Jan 20th, 2011

Sasha @ Ruby Sky, San Francisco (tickets here)
Friday, Jan 21st, 2011

So can we consider Sacramento “coming to town” if we’re in the San Francisco or the East Bay?  I’m leaning towards yes.  It’s hella closer than Ibiza, even if we use the scientific definition of hella.  I’m sure all you brilliant readers know who Sasha is, but if not just take a look at his case for best producer of the 00’s I wrote up right here.

This is the second in a star studded kick off for “District 30″ in Sacramento, the first being Steve Aoki this Thursday night. I’d be super hyped for this new venue if they weren’t already trying to be everything I despise about Super Clubs. Check it:

“A boutique Dance Lounge for the socially sophisticated.  District 30 is posh, elegant, and has a comfortable environment. We are on par with some of the world’s hottest clubs from San Francisco to New York and Las Vegas to Miami, this is a place to see and be seen.”

*gag* I think I just threw up in my mouth. Memo to District 30: YOU ARE IN SACRAMENTO.  Embrace it’s small town with cool, down to earth people charm instead of trying to be everything we hate about superclubs, except lookin way worse BECAUSE YOU ARE IN SACRAMETNO.  Ohh well, love the music, not the club.

UPDATE (1/12/2011) - Brilliant reader and long time friend of The Beatery “The Baron” points out that if you wait a mere 24hrs that you can actually see the very same Sasha in the 415! He’ll be at Ruby Sky Friday, 1/21/2020. Get tix here, they’re already $30 tho! And The Baron also points out that SF prog staple, Qool founder and friend of The Beatery “Spesh” will be opening for Sasha, in Sac and SF! KILLER lineup. I can’t go Friday (headed back to Bolivia for a Youth Congress on Water and Environmental Sustainability the next morning) but do let us know how it is if you make it out!

And speaking of music, to get us in Sasha mood let us groove out to some hot, fresh, new progressive jammy jams.

New Sasha!

Barry Jamieson & Charlie May “Homecoming” - Sasha & Dimitri Nakov Remix
Buy it on Beatport

New Joris Voorn!

Marc Romboy - “Callisto” - Joris Voorn Remix
Buy it on Beatport

New Booka-Shade!

Booka Shade - “Regenerate” - Pan-Pot Remix
Buy it on Beatport

*****

PLAY ALL
*****

So am I gonna see you in Sac for Sasha??  Or should we talk about how we all hate pretentious super clubs?