I have something horrible to admit. I've never gone to Elysium. During the last couple years, I was either really overloaded with work or had another gig on the same weekend. In fact, the first year I sent my aunt and uncle down to check it out and my plans had changed last minute and they were left to fend for themselves! However, when my friends would come back, they would tell me stories about how awesome it was to have both bands and DJs, and I've seen some of the live performances from SoCal's top fire groups on YouTube that blew me away.

So this year, I am excited to finally be going to Elysium and I'll be playing downtempo during the day. Those of you who know me well or have known me throughout college know that I have a very deep love of downtempo and now I get to share that love with many of you. For you music heads, I'm lettting you know right now that I love stuff off of FatCat, Warp, Planet-Mu, etc... Expect to hear anything from Sigur Ros to Plaid... Prefuse 73 to Boards of Canada... Mum to Lamb... Bjork to Bluetech... I frequently attend IDM events in Los Angeles, listen to Morning Becomes Eclectic regularly, and generally just love to chill out.

Well, now you know what to expect from me. Hope to see you at Elysium!

Elysium Lineup

Galleries from Past Elysiums

I would've had more photos but Krystal and Ms. Fortune (M.B.I.A.T) stole my camera and took a lot of... uhhh... non-postable creative photos. I'm charging you for my therapy bills!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qwiki/sets/72157605798860437/

My laptop is still in the shop so this is my lunchbreak! Deal with the generic captions and tags

I just received word that Hyjynx will be unable to make it tonight, but here are the directions for Hyperborea 2.

////Transmission Engaged////
////Protocol: Zulu Tango////
////Subject: Hyperborea////
////Clearance: K - Thulu////

Overview:
Success: the way is clear. The Audio Response Team tonight will bring you to Hyperborea. We will take you to the portal, but you yourself must make the choice to venture beyond.

Briefing:

Friday, May 30, 2008
NinjaPenguin 2.0

a night to celebrate the birth of dave mertl, pinguino, and dj rhines

The Good Nite Bar
10721 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601 US
21+ | 8:00pm - 2:00 am | NO COVER
Eastern Attire Recommended

Featuring the musical talents of:
RHINES (Innerflight, DJ Culture, NinjaSkillz.net)
KEITH MYERS (Substandard)
MARK ZABALA (NinjaSkillz.net)
SUMBRY (Stormriders, WaxDJ.com)
RED APE

Also on display:
SMS Flickr Wall by cnelson

He looked vaguely familiar, thought Phoenix. Was it Tianguan, God of Fortune? Or perhaps Taiyi, God of Heaven? The mysterious Golden Figure flew westward beneath the full moon. His aura was like that of a Buddha, dispelling darkness wherever he went. He was a lantern in the night. Phoenix pursued. To what strange and wonderful place would this light lead her to tonight?

Saturday, May 10
The Phoenix Projekt Presents:
LANTERN FESTIVAL
Featuring the sounds of:

Saturday Night
April 26th 2008

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

_*ReFormat*_
www.spon1080.com/reformat

Detroit Bar
843 W. 19th St.
Costa Mesa CA 92627

9pm - 2am | 21+ | $10 or $15 after 12am

DJ Lineup & Info
________________________________

Room 1 = 2 Mixers, 4 Turntables, 4 CDJs
________________________________

+ JP + Brian Thomas + Rhines
+ J-Sun + Kadeejah Streets
+ Mark Zabala + divaDanielle
________________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3seKeKh5Jzc (small clip but better audio quality than others)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7343833.stm
http://londonist.com/2008/04/rickmob_when_in.php

Excerpt from the Londonist...
---------------
What is Rickmob? First of all, you need to know Rick Astley... Then you need to know the bizarre but sometimes hilarious phenomenon of Rickrolling on the internet. And then refresh your knowledge about flashmobs and the variations upon a meme.

Here is the interface I used to teach my Electronic Music Class at OrangeKamp this weekend.

Ishkur's Chronological EDM (Electronic Dance Music) Guide with samples of styles

And here's WAY more resources.

History and Overview of Electronic Music
EDM Genres

There's a few books l recommend:
Generation Ecstacy
Altered State
Rave Culture, an insider's overview
Rave America: New School Dancescapes

And there are movies like:
Better Living Through Circuitry
Modulations: Cinema for the Ear
Intellect: Techno House Progressive

Let's not forget magazines like Lotus, Fix, XLR8R, MixMag, DJMag, etc...

http://www.xlr8r.com
http://www.bpmmagazine.net
http://www.urb.com
http://www.remixmag.com
http://www.futuremusicmag.com
http://www.releasemagazine.net
http://www.bigshotmag.com
http://www.djtimes.com
http://www.djzone.net
http://www.groovesmag.com
http://www.m8magazine.com
http://www.sonikonline.com

Oh. and I spoke about influential drum machines and synths. The 808, 909 and 303 mostly... and certain drum breaks that were used in early jungle like the Amen Brother and Funky Drummer.

Amen Break minidocumentary

It's been awhile since I've recorded one of my mixes, so check out Robofunk Alpha!

It's a bit of the techfunk electro goodness.

Stream it
Download it
Rate it

and if you really like it...
Share it!
Click inside the box
Hit CTRL+A to select all the text
Hit CTRL+C to copy
and then paste it somewhere!

Listen to this new mix by Mark Zabala!<br /> <a href="http://waxdj.com/play.php?band_id=18&song_id=13447&mode=song_hifi">Stream it</a><br /> <a href="http://waxdj.com/download.php?band_id=18&song_id=13447&mode=song_hifi">Download it</a><br /> <a href="http://waxdj.com/rating.php?mode=rate_song&band_id=18&song_id=13447&template=moss_rate_song.tpl">Rate it</a><br /> and if you really like it...<br /> <a href="http://www.ninjaskillz.net/forums/music/share-robofunk-alpha">Share it! </a>

Please let me know what you think!

Ampere - Frontsteps [ Klang Gymnastik ]
DJ Roog & Greg - Uber (D. Ramirez Remix) [Toolroom Trax ]
Hook N Sling & Kid Kenobi - The Bump [ Hussle Black ]
The Bulgarian - Loop Poop [ Second Session ]
Umek - Scat Head - Original Mix [ Earresistible Musick ]
Sex in Dallas - Digital Memory (Aysam Remix) [ Record Makers ]
KPAXX & Jacek Zamojski - Hypnotone (Zimbardo Remix) [ Adjust Recordings ]
Cirez D - Knockout (John Dahlback Remix) [ Mouseville]
Electrixx - Destruction [ KarateMusik ]
Electrixx - Second Lesson [ KarateMusik ]
Meat Katie, D.Ramirez - Stop The Revolution feat. Odissi
Tiga - Move My Body (Only4Erolmix) [Different]
Mark Knight & Richard Dinsdale - Crunch [Toolroom]
Pavliga and Denis Binokl - No More Fucking Electro feat Dynamite [ BugEyed Records ]

It is a scary, scary place filled with technology, music, robots, ninjas, unicorns, rainbows, anime, and sustainable developement.