Now this is how you close out a festival!
Category Archives: drum & bass
CONCERT RECAP | Fall Out Boy w/ Special Guest: Clinton Sparks – 5/13/13 | Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI
This past Monday in Madison, WI, we attended the Fall Out Boy concert featuring special guest Clinton Sparks. The concert was part of the Yahoo! On The Road free tour, which is visiting 27 cities with 20 music acts and 10 comedians. Going into the show, we were fairly perplexed by the artist pairing, but it turned out quite refreshing having the variety of the two contrasting acts. It was like eating a serving of sushi for dinner and then having a serving of steak–freaking awesome! We have to give a big RTM shoutout to the Yahoo! On The Road team for organizing and throwing such a well-organized and incredibly successful event.
When we arrived at the theatre (about ten minutes prior to the doors opening), the line to enter the venue stretched to the end of the block and wrapped around the corner. The crowd appeared to be fairly younger, late teens to early twenties, and it was noticeable that they were there mainly to see Fall Out Boy. However, Clinton Sparks was the perfect offset act to energize the crowd while simultaneously providing a non-alternative/punk rock experience. The diehard Fall Out Boy fans were slightly slow to embrace Clinton Sparks, until he dropped one of the few tracks that could rouse almost anyone in Madison from youth to alum to student to bum–a remix of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” After that, the crowd warmed up and Clinton unveiled an exclusive preview of his collaboration with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis which is set to drop in the next few weeks.
Following Clinton Sparks, Fall Out Boy took the stage with an uproar of applause. Even without having had an album release in five years, these guys were not forgotten by their fans, not even slightly. It was really neat seeing the dedication and appreciation of their fanbase, and the band reflected the same feelings back to their fans. We were really impressed at how amazing Fall Out Boy sounded live. They were as on key live as they are on all their recordings. The song selection was great–the band played basically an even mix of new and old songs–ranging from tracks off their new album Save Rock And Roll such as “The Phoenix” and “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” to their “classic” hits “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy.” Check out a very crude video of “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” below. The 2006 high school senior in us was beside himself.
This Yahoo! On The Road tour is absolutely amazing. Please try to check out a show near you. The remaining tour dates have ridiculous lineups, including acts by Imagine Dragons & Owl City (happening tonight, 5/15 in St. Louis, MO), The Lumineers, Dispatch, Fun., Empire of the Sun, John Legend, Gossip, Nick Rutherford, DJ Michelle Pesce, and many more.
View the complete tour schedule and details.
ARTIST FEATURE | REED – Philadelphia | Electro R&B
Our latest artist feature is on REED, a Philadelphia-based electro R&B DJ/vocalist. His songs are a tremendous blend of vocals and beats, but with a unique unison because he’s creating originals of both. Plus he writes the lyrics, thus presenting a completely organic creation. REED started releasing original songs and covers in May 2012 and a few months later linked up with a couple producers who helped him rework his two demos, “Basis” and “AA.” (Both songs can be found in the SoundCloud players in this post) After reworking the two tracks, he submitted them to Chicago radio station 103.5 KISS FM. The station liked what they heard and decided to interview him this Friday, April 19th at 9pm CST on the Special K Radio Show. If you get a chance, tune in and learn more about this talented amateur musician while he’s live on air. For now, REED is working on his summer album with another producer–an album we’ll be waiting for.
Be sure to visit REED’s SoundCloud page for all his music!
DANCE | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis f/ Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us (Kaskade Remix)”
What better way to start Monday morning than with a Kaskade remix to Macklemore’s latest chart topper. Kaskade doesn’t depart too far from the original, but seemingly just slows it down a bit and adding a little more drum and bass.
Download: Can’t Hold Us (Kaskade Remix)
ARTIST FEATURE | Kaosa – Las Vegas | EDM Duo
Kaosa, pronounced kay-oh-zah, is the name for DJ duo Daniel Escobedo & Sean Davis from Las Vegas. Self-proclaimed geeks, their group name Kaosa originated from a Sith name generator (reminds us of Childish Gambino originating from a Wu-Tang name generator). The group formed in late 2011, branching the producing skills of Escobedo’s knowledge of dubstep with Davis’ knowledge of progressive house.
We love the intensity of Kaosa’s songs and listeners can really hear how the two individuals specializing in dubstep and progressive house came together to collaborate and create a hybrid mixture. Think Skrillex but with a somewhat more youthful and bright light (aka Dutch progressive). Discovering their four tracks on SoundCloud, we instantly downloaded them all and reached out to see who these wizards were.
Here’s what Daniel had to say about the group:
Name origin: Kaosa is a combination of the words Chaos & Sera (planets from Gears of War). We stumbled across the name by the use of a Sith-Name-Generator that we found online. We’re geeks and nobody had taken the name.
How Kaosa Formed: We previously went by the name “BETA.” People were struggling to locate our music, which was detrimental to our exposure. There were many variations of the name already established on Beatport so we decided to change to Kaosa. Kaosa was more than just a name change. It was the excuse we needed to revamp our style and shift directions. “Time Stands Still” was the very product of such changes. From that point on, the decision was made that we would focus on high energy productions that contained elements of all the genres of EDM that we loved.
How We Started With Music: Prior to BETA and Kaosa, I was in a hardcore band. However, the band lacked focus and drive and catapulted the urge to leave and focus on a solo career. Both Sean and I had always held a particular interest in electronic music so the transition to EDM came naturally.
Sean, prior to the formation of the duo, spent a year or two with a guitar and always had an infatuation with music. Only when Sean put down the guitar and picked up a home stereo with a crossfader, and some FX of course, did he realize that this was his real passion.
Influences: Avicii, Hardwell, Alesso, Axwell, Darude, Zomboy, Skrillex, Pegboard Nerds, Flux Pavillion, Rusko, Rogue, and Scooter, of course.
Accomplishments: Nine months after the inception of BETA, pre-Kaosa, we played our first show which led to securing our first five-track EP with Into The Am Records. Four months later we talked with Dirty Duck and released our first single, “Time Stands Still.” Kaosa has more stuff in the works for the near future, however we cannot discuss that information as of yet.
Dream Events: EDC, Ultra, TommorowLand, Veldt Festival, Coachella, etc.
Future Plans & Events: The sky is the limit. We have only scratched the surface of the industry and have a long journey ahead. For the time being, Kaosa is focusing on releases and live events to promote our name and sounds.
Be sure to check out and follow Kaosa’s SoundCloud page for future updates and sounds from this shining up-and-coming duo! Kaosa is currently competing in a Beatport remix competition for Zomboy’s “Here to Stay” featuring Lady Chann. Go vote for their remix here.
Help support these guys and purchase their single “Time Stands Still” on Beatport here.
