EDM

Decemberween 12: PLF Rings in NYE with More Art, Music, & a Fire-Breathing Dragon

John Reinhold | December 14, 2017

Topics: art, Decemberween, Diversity Richmond, EDM, festival, New Years Eve, Party Liberation Foundation, Party Liberation Front, RVA live music, Toxic Moxie

It’s time for another Decemberween and for their twelfth year, Party Liberation Foundation is bringing all the crazy antics, fire, and pyro effects, dancing, music, art and more that you love to send off 2017 with a bang. RVA Mag President John Reinhold recently sat down with the co-founder of PLF Conway Jennings, who will also be playing a set at the event, to get the rundown on this year’s festivities.

Reinhold: What makes this NYE event different than others around Richmond?

Jennings: Well, I think the main difference is that we create a pretty immersive environment. There’s a lot more going on than just some bands or DJs and a bar. There are multiple rooms inside, plus a large outside area, with many art installations placed all over the event. Musically we will feature a variety of DJs and a few bands, offering cutting edge underground dance music as well as some great live music. Oh yeah, we also go late!

Reinhold: The event is hosted by Diversity Richmond, what do you like about this venue?

Jennings: Well, for starters, we feel great about their mission. It’s super important for us to create a safe space for people from all walks of life (including race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) to be themselves at our events. It’s great to work with Diversity knowing that we share this goal. The venue itself is also perfect for us. Because it’s largely a blank canvas, we are able to bring in art, decorations, projectors, lights, etc. to transform the space differently each time. Fire spinning and fire art are both very important for our community, and use of the parking lot allows us to safely include this element. Ivan Trittipoe and the crew at Diversity are also just super friendly and great to work with.

Reinhold: What’s new for this year?

Jennings: Well, this is the 12th Decemberween, but the third year at Diversity Richmond, and also the third year above ground. It’s been more of a smaller private party in the past. This year we are completely flipping the layout inside, which is exciting. We’re also adding a third bar in our new speakeasy /cabaret lounge, which will help cut down on waiting in line. We’ve also increased funding for art grants, so there will be even more awesome art both inside and out.

Reinhold: Tell me about your headliners and music plans for guests this year?

Jennings: We’re really excited to have Soohan as our headliner. He’s been making waves at all the West Coast festivals for the past couple summers, so we’re stoked to have his unique blend of global bass and hip hop at Decemberween. We’re also super stoked to have Richmond dance punk favorites Toxic Moxie in the lineup. Bunk Buddha will be joining us from Baltimore, as well as DJ Shakey from New York City. We have a lot of PLF favorites rounding out the rest of the lineup. The music is really gonna be amazing this year.

Reinhold: Sounds like you have more live music this year. Things like the jazz speakeasy lounge, what’s the plan for that room?

Jennings: Yup! We are turning the smaller room inside into a speakeasy/cabaret lounge this year. We will have a jazz band playing throughout the night, with a variety of dance and burlesque performances in between. As I mentioned before, there will be a bar in there, as well as tables and couches, so you can take a load off and enjoy the show with a nice cocktail. And while we generally lean pretty heavily on electronic music, we’re stoked to have Toxic Moxie’s blend of live dance music to spice things up a bit.

Reinhold: What kind of large-scale art and immersive environments are planned?

Jennings: We’re super excited to have Davina the Dragon for her first PLF event in years. Outside we will have a whole bunch of fire sculptures and flame effects, but there will also be all kinds of other fun stuff. Ziggy Sawdust will be carving wooden portraits of partygoers with a chainsaw, live (yes, really!). Man Camp! crew will be constructing a roving Trojan Mop Bucket because …well, why not? Inside, we will have Illumious Plumes, a giant peacock with an amazing paint job, by Emily Wimbis, Alexa Eliana, and Molly Chopin. Ian Hess and crew will construct a wondrous 8-foot tall glowing pyramid, complete with mysterious glowing obelisks. And this is just less than half of the art grants! There will be all kinds of awesome stuff this year.

Reinhold: Tell me more about the fire-breathing dragon?

Jennings: Davina is a 30-foot long, 10- foot tall fire-breathing dragon art car. She was built in 2010 by Charlottesville artist Christian Breeden, who also built Josephine the Colossal SkeletalMarionette, an integral part of our past two Decemberweens. Davina has been prowling the playa at Burning Man for the past several years, offering rides to wayward burners and dazzling everyone with her flames. But she has made a triumphant return home to Virginia! This will be her first PLF event in many years, and we couldn’t be more excited to have her back. While there won’t be room for her to move around too much at Decemberween, she will definitely be shooting plenty of fire.

Reinhold: So we know you all love fire, are there going to be fire performers or special performances?

Jennings: In addition to Davina, we will have a wide variety of flame effects and sculptures, as well as live fire performance throughout the night. Expect a lot of fire at midnight, from humans and dragons alike.

Reinhold: The entire event s a benefit for Party Liberation Foundation correct?

Jennings: Sure is! The Party Liberation Front collective has been around since 2006, but we decided to start a non-profit last year. Our goal is to nurture the arts and the creative community in the Richmond region. Over the past year, we have awarded several thousand dollars of art grants both for our events and for local art openings. We have also launched a series of free workshops on performance art, dance, and more. We’re very new to this, but we are excited to see what the future holds.

Reinhold: How can people purchase tickets?

Jennings: Diversity has allowed us to increase our ticket cap to 700 this year (up from 650), but we do expect it to sell out, as it has the past two years. Grab your tickets here.

Top Photo Credit: Janpim Wolf Photography

Review: Illenium Drops Explosive Performance On Richmond Fans Monday Night

Malik Hall | December 7, 2017

Topics: EDM, electronic music, Illenium, The National

Denver’s Illenium made Monday night the best day of the week with his explosive performance at The National.

The producer has been dropping beats and shaking the dance industry since 2013 with his debut album Ashes, and was on tour promoting his most recent release Awake, and fans packed the Richmond venue immerse themselves into Illenium’s captivating sounds and visuals.

He’s a household name to most festivalgoers, with sets at Lollapalooza and Summer Set Music Festival under his belt just to name a few. Racking up almost five million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and his remix of the Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down’”, which has almost 300 million views on the YouTube, has put him in a category all his own.

Illenium stayed behind the mic and his MacBook Pro and was joined by opening acts, Said the Sky — a co-producer of his most recent album, who also put on a hell of a warm-up act, and Dabin — who I unfortunately missed. These openers as well a few others played guitar, keyboard, taiko and snare drums during Illenium’s performance to make up for an immersive masterpiece of a set.

Songs from the Awake album convey more of an emotionally driven vibe as Illenium mentioned during a Billboard interview that he was listening to a lot of Blink-182 and soft rock. To sum up the energy of the crowd that night, listen to “Fractures” on his new album and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Just like most EDM performance an array of colorful lasers and fog machines blanketed the crowd and engulfed the venue, getting the crowd hyped up by the second. What set Illenium apart from the rest, was his spiritually-healing tunes combined with the lighting and with his fans loved.

Illenium went all out for his encore, playing his single “Beautiful Creatures” and love — and phones- were in the air, as confetti guns came out shooting colorful paper into the air and falling down on dancing fans. It marked the perfect ending for the night.

It looks as though Illenium will be touring through the rest of the year, ending with a New Years Eve performance at Decadence SLC in Salt Lake City where he will be joined by Dabin and Porter Robinson. If you happen to be there be sure to check him out because his music and stage presence is one not to miss.

Photo Credits: Malik Hall

EDM DJ Rezz Hypnotizes Fans at Friday’s Performance at The National

Malik Hall | November 7, 2017

Topics: DJ, EDM, REZZ, rva music, The National

Canadian DJ Rezz accomplished her mission of bringing peace through music as she blew the crowd away at Friday night’s show at the National. Sporting her signature spiral glasses, Rezz had fans hypnotized with her tunes.

Promoting her Mass Manipulation album, the show featured many songs off the DJ’s debut album. Hearing the single “Premonition” live was an intense experience and it sent the crowd into a frenzy of cheers and applause. Her vibrant nature came out through her music as well as her movements with her swaying and pumping to the heavy beats. Her energy and vibe on stage never wavered and kept the crowd on their feet throughout the show.

Rezz’s visuals were amazing, rotating through numerous mind-bending fractal patterns that got so vivid, there was a point where I thought I was being sucked into a kaleidoscope. She also added some visuals from her Mass Manipulation comic book, which enhanced the effect of her psychedelic-based tunes.

The DJ gave a shout out to her visuals team, and it the trance-like shapes and colors kept the packed venue invested and fixated on her the entire night. Rezz’ hectic tour schedule has had her playing several music festivals and she will continue to tour into January, but she showed no sign of fatigue during her set Friday night.

“This was our second time seeing her in the past two months(last time being at lost lands) and she put on a different set, this one was definitely the best,” Rezz fan and Richmond local Tara told RVA Mag at the show.

Before exiting the stage, Rezz gave her fans a treat, an unreleased track which seemed to get everyone stoked and get their energy back up.

And openers No Mana and K?d, put on an excellent performance and did a great job of hyping up the crowd before the main attraction. Rezz, thanks for coming to Richmond, your radiant presence, and hypnotic tunes will always be welcome.

Photo Credits: Renee Brown

Canadian DJ REZZ Brings Her Mass Manipulation Tour to The National Friday

Malik Hall | October 30, 2017

Topics: DJ, EDM, electronic, REZZ

EDM lovers get ready for a mass hallucination as Canadian DJ and producer Rezz will take you through a mind-altering experience you don’t want to miss.

The 22-year-old, whose real name is Isabelle Rezazadeh, is kicking off her world tour for her debut studio album Mass Manipulation and will be making a stop in Richmond this Friday.

The Mau5trap label artist uses Ableton 9 to create a dark psychedelic sound that delights all, as she is embraced by the EDM crowd and doesn’t necessarily conform to the mainstream.

After making her way as a DJ in her hometown of Niagra Falls, Rezz has since churned out several EPs and after her 2015 release of Insurrection, Deadmau5’s Mau5trap label picked her up and the DJ/producer has been taking over festivals ever since, including the likes of Bonnaroo and Electric Forest 2017.

Rezz released a trippy, animated video for “Premonition”, a single off Mass Manipulation, which you can check out below, along with a 60-page comic book. The book centers around the young alien named Rezz from the planet of Neptune who befriends two earthlings who recognize her gift to hypnotize humans through music. Using her special talent she makes this her mission to bring peace to Earth via music.

Richmond will be one of many stops on the tour, which spans from California to Colorado, to as far as Budapest and Sydney, Australia. Rezz will also hit the festival circuit with performances at Something Wicked, Escape: Psycho Circus and EDC Orlando.

You can catch Rezz at The National this Friday, Nov. 3 at 8 pm. K?d and No Mana will open the show. Tickets to the show are $20 and can be purchased here.

Photo Credit: Philip Prolo

EDM artist Buku leaves Richmond fans in a trance after Broadberry show

Malik Hall | August 29, 2017

Topics: Buku, EDM, electronic music, The Broadberry

Power, electricity, and love are the best way to describe the emotions being felt on the floor of The Broadberry Saturday night.

It was electronic artist BUKU’s first time in Richmond since 2013, and I certainly hope it won’t be his last. This time he was accompanied by LUZCID; whose fanbase is just as large, as well as Richmond’s own The Rico Suave, Agent and Elliott Ness.

Pittsburgh’s BUKU, who dropped his debut EP Janky in 2013, is certainly a master of his craft, being a graduate of Duquesne University’s Music Technology program; his years of experience paired with his vast knowledge of music theory certainly showed during his performance.

Just like most EDM artists, BUKU makes use of well-timed “bass drops” after a build up during mixes. What distinguishes him from most in the business is his careful selection of samples accompanied by the perfect beat, that made for some remarkable remixes. His original material was also enjoyable, but it served more as filler as the remixes seem to evoke the most hype from the crowd.

His hands almost never left his Pioneer DJ Player, constantly tinkering and adjusting certain knobs which made for an unforgettable experience. The flashing lights at the venue perfectly captured BUKU’s vibe and it was extended to everyone else in the crowd.

LED light toys were being twirled to the beat of each song and an inflatable light up alien was being bounced around during the whole performance like it was someone who was crowd-surfing. No matter what mind state anyone was in, everyone seemed to be overtaken by a trance of dancing.

The crowd was a mixed bag with die-hard EDM fans and returning college students who are just trying to have a good time and everything else in between. For a show going on during peak clubbing hours and the same night of the “Fight of the Century”, it was certainly a packed house.

BUKU’s September will be a busy one with several music festivals and shows on his plate, including Lost Lands music festival and a performance in his hometown in the middle of the month. One of his tracks is also being featured in the new Madden 18 game. If anything this only indicates his star power is continuing to grow.

I can’t speak for the EDM fanbase, but from what I’ve seen and heard that night, I’m confident that BUKU will only continue to make waves throughout the scene.

Hollywood features sounds from Richmond in genre-bending Ki:Theory

Tico Noise | May 25, 2017

Topics: EDM, Ghost in the Shell, Ki:Theory, rva music

While not a household name (yet), Ki:Theory’s music has been going worldwide via placements in shows like “Suits,” “CSI” & “How to Get Away With Murder” for some years. Even popular brands, ranging from Nike, GoPro and Audi, feature his music in advertisements. And this succesful producer and song writer does it all from a studio located in Scott’s Addition.

Joel Burleson, better known as Ki:Theory, creates music that dances fluidly between the genres of rock and electronic music. His latest album, Silence, which dropped earlier this month, features a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence” from 2017’s Ghost in The Shell reboot.

“I’ve been playing music for a long time,” said Burleson, in an interview with RVAMag. “I write and release albums and I tour and stuff. [Before streaming,] it was a lot more lucrative to make music when people were paying like $18 for a CD and they bought a lot of them… you just have to diversify. So my business model, I guess you could call it, is I write what I want to write. When I haven’t released things, I try to get them placements in film and television.”

“It’s just been contacts and connections that I’ve made and formed through the time I have been playing music,” he said. “[This] has led me down that path and I feel like my music just has sort of a vibe to it. Like an emotional component that fits well to picture. That’s sort of helped me get opportunities. Opportunities work in kind of a chain: you get one and you get another.”

The name “Ki:Theory” was once a moniker for an entire Richmond band. Burleson described the split as amiable and more of a difference in artistry. Before The National was even a venue, the band of the same name opened up for bands at Toad’s Place and down in Alley Cats (turned Kingdom, now it’s The Top).

“Our bass player left, and I was certain to do my own thing,” said Burleson. “The drummer was more into metal and our guitar player was actually moved to Nashville and plays in Old Dominion which is a pretty huge country band now.”

As each member of the band went on to explore their own sound and musical passion, Burleson took great influence from electronic artists like DJ Shadow and rock band Nine Inch Nails. His sound, while wholly unique, is a blend of many rock and hip hop percussive elements, electronic ambience and up-beat vocals. Silence, Ki:Theory’s latest album was released on May 5th, before the artist’s headlining appearance at Harvey Milk Festival in Florida.

“Silence is just basically the culmination of work that I’ve been writing since my last album,” said Burleson; the musician’s release before that was Kitty Hawk (Remixed and Extended).

Despite being a seemingly random collection of new recordings, Burleson said the tracks fit well into a cohesive group of songs, and they all only date back about the last 2 years.

“Basically I’m always writing,” he said. “If I like a song enough to take it to completion, then I will probably release it- whether that’s a single or [a track that] waits for the record.”

Ki:Theory’s live performances are also nationally recognized having supported major acts like Phantogram, Sparta, Passion Pit and playing the Bonnaroo festival back in 2009. Burleson’s attention to his craft and work is nothing short of dedication. This dedication and talent put Ki:Theory on the same stage as DJ Shadow, which Burleson admits was like coming full-circle.

“He is definitely a top influence of mine,” he said. “He is the reason I started getting into electronic music. He was a super nice guy; I got to talk to him a little bit backstage and he is totally down to earth… humble [even though] he knows how big of an influence he is on so many artists.”

And despite commercial successes that range from an invitation to be part of Disney’s album Tron: Reconfigured to collaborating with contemporary Nashville artist Ruelle, Burleson (the sole Ki:Theory musician, now) stays incredibly humble and hard at work.

His advice to his young musicians in the city is how to stay grounded, and realize being a ‘rockstar’ is the equivalent to winning the lottery. With musicians and creatives no longer even needing to visit a studio and instead opting to create sounds from a bedroom set-ups, the pool of noticeable, talented folks is significantly larger.

“If you have a midi keyboard and a computer, you can kind of dabble in any genre that you would like- not to say that you’d be good at it,” said Burleson. “I would say do/play music because you like to play music. You’re more likely to be successful versus just playing music because you want to be successful. If you don’t love to play and totally immerse yourself in it, then odds are you will not [be successful]. Somewhere along the line you will fizzle out. This was the road that was laid out in front of me and I kept taking turns to be on that path.”