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2013 was...
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| theqlogic87 |
| an AMAZING year for trance! For the Psychedelic scene and the 'epic' trance scene. Just wow. I really do feel 2014 is gonna have even better quality now that all these Avicii house producers are finally, and slowly, moving away from that sound. Not to mention dubstep influenced trance has seemed to STOP.. finally, Trap.. I haven't heard no trance dj's play Trap.. yet. But hey, good vibes all over the trance scenes. |
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| PivotTechno |
| fingeronthemotheringpulseyo |
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| Zharen |
Trance fairies and spirit hands all pon da floor
ALL PON DA FLOOR |
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| Zombie0915 |
The parties were alright, the prices skyrocketed as ticket master completed their takeover of the american scene, but nobody seems to give a about spending daddies money.
Vegas and Miami are hard to enjoy without being a trust fund baby (or coke dealer), the smaller cities are good times though. I find it hard to comment on the music without attaching it to the actual happenings in the places where the music is performed. Nobody likes an armchair raver, if you're gonna have a musical opinion, go see it in person.
The crowds are a lot tamer and uptight compared to prior years but the staff seemed to be more respectful and less thug. At least in these parts the beaded people wear has gotten crazy, I've always seen the kandi bracelets but those beaded gas masks and wristbands and giant melted plastic medallions are nuts. Molly is a lot easier to come by, I'm sure lots of it is fake but people seem to be openly selling it, everyone obviously rolling in the crowd. There was a lull in such behavior in the mid 2000's but it is back in full force.
In the states EDM has become entirely incorporated for better or worse. I can spend 50 bucks in a hiphop club and feel like a baller, drunk off my ass and tipping everyone generously, in an electronic venue I'd be lucky if 50 bucks even gets me in the door. I find I really only have the dosh to justify monthly outings instead of every week like I used to. Vegas and Miami have become these huge black holes sucking in all the international talent, reducing the American tours of the internationals to only the largest of cities and vastly raising the transportation costs of those who would want to see them. I ended up seeing a lot of drum and bass this year because that was all that was happening locally.
The music seems to have the same impact on the crowds as it ever has, if not more. I've accumulated a number of excellent compilation albums, I have few complaints. There are already a bunch of interesting releases lined up for the next couple months so things should be fun. I might even get to see a few trancers live before the weather warms up and they end up back in ing vegas again. |
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| theqlogic87 |
| UnWorldly, you're spot on when it comes to the money side of things. Things are wayy to expensive. Unfortunately things are just going to get even more expensive as dj's keep getting more glorified. D&B nights usually are 50% cheaper reason being D&B dj's don't get the attention they deserve, in the states specifically. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| You’ll generally find prices are a lot more reasonable if you stop going to events. |
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| Zombie0915 |
I don't quite think you understand, nearly every local weekly and promoter group has been acquired by disco donnie or sfx (and both of those companies are just shells of ticket master), the local weeklies were pretty much bought out and shut down entirely. At this point around here if you want to go out it has to be one of these livenation things. It doesn't matter if you are seeing Armin or Four Tet, it's all through ing livenation now.
I'm sure there are pockets of fun in NY or something, but that is 9 hours away. The affordability of evenings that far away matters little if we have to get an airplane ticket to see it. There used to be all sorts of local stuff happening in the bars or outside in the forest, but it is all gone, swallowed up by the festival industry. All the do it yourself party throwers work for the industry now, it is kind of impressive how the investors pulled this off. It is either events or no events, at least as far as dance music and DJ's and nightclubs are concerned. |
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| OrangestO |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
You’ll generally find prices are a lot more reasonable if you stop going to events. |
This.
If you want flashy lights and commercial acts, you're going to pay flashy prices and commercial costs.
I saw Oliver Deutchmann for $5 this weekend. You can't beat that.
Oh, and it was a PROPER set. Out-ing-standing. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zombie0915
I don't quite think you understand, nearly every local weekly and promoter group has been acquired by disco donnie or sfx (and both of those companies are just shells of ticket master), the local weeklies were pretty much bought out and shut down entirely. At this point around here if you want to go out it has to be one of these livenation things. It doesn't matter if you are seeing Armin or Four Tet, it's all through ing livenation now.
I'm sure there are pockets of fun in NY or something, but that is 9 hours away. The affordability of evenings that far away matters little if we have to get an airplane ticket to see it. There used to be all sorts of local stuff happening in the bars or outside in the forest, but it is all gone, swallowed up by the festival industry. All the do it yourself party throwers work for the industry now, it is kind of impressive how the investors pulled this off. It is either events or no events, at least as far as dance music and DJ's and nightclubs are concerned. |
So are there literally no smaller events in Washington DC putting on locals or smaller circuit DJs? Four Tet is a more “credible” name but he’s not really the kind of name I’d associate with great parties, more the kind of guy who would cram a medium sized venue with hipsters who don’t really dance and still probably pay premium prices. While you can, of course, have an amazing time seeing an international DJ at a largish (but not completely corporate) event, these are fraught with unreliability in my experience. It’s the parties and promoters who aren’t making any money whatsoever that tend to provide the most fun even when commercialism has run riot across the rest of the scene, and I’m surprised that big companies would bother interfering with operations that small and unprofitable. |
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| Watts |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zombie0915
I don't quite think you understand, nearly every local weekly and promoter group has been acquired by disco donnie or sfx (and both of those companies are just shells of ticket master), the local weeklies were pretty much bought out and shut down entirely. At this point around here if you want to go out it has to be one of these livenation things. It doesn't matter if you are seeing Armin or Four Tet, it's all through ing livenation now.
I'm sure there are pockets of fun in NY or something, but that is 9 hours away. The affordability of evenings that far away matters little if we have to get an airplane ticket to see it. There used to be all sorts of local stuff happening in the bars or outside in the forest, but it is all gone, swallowed up by the festival industry. All the do it yourself party throwers work for the industry now, it is kind of impressive how the investors pulled this off. It is either events or no events, at least as far as dance music and DJ's and nightclubs are concerned. |
Are mnmlife and Buzz Life still doing anything? There's always Richmond if you are willing to drive.
Edit: there's also U Street Lounge if you're avoiding the Panorama stuff. |
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| Zombie0915 |
I really ought to update my profile, DC is about 6 hours north of me now, I still have family up there though.
I think Buzz is pretty much dead, the last starscape a few years ago got busted by the cops quite dramatically, they might still do that cruise ship thing annually but that is it as far as I've heard. Is U-street the place nextdoor to the kinkos, without any sort of sign over the door? I remember about 4 years ago I went to some place that was completely unlabeled from the outside and it was amazing, but I got tanked, left with a girl and forgot where it was. The guy that posted the event to the forums disappeared.
I'm sure there are small fun things happening somewhere, it'd be impossible to say there are zero noncommercialized things going on but good has gotten really hard to find. There are always the things people throw at their houses when it is warm outside, but to even get connected to those people you have to meet them at the superclubs. I'm not super upset about the whole thing, the topic was 2013 though and for me this was the biggest difference between 2013 and previous years, prices have sky rocketed for the sophisticated and tasteless alike.
What generally seems to be happening is the small promoters are getting swallowed up by the commercial ones and nobody is showing up to replace them. My favorite local weekly closed its doors this past summer; the general conversation about it was happy, they framed it like the scene had gotten so big that they needed a bigger room. Of course the bigger room has a new name, new music, new prices, and no familiar faces in the crowd. They bought out what looks like an old honkey-tonk and raved the out of it, fuzzy boots and 15 dollar drink specials everywhere. I think the small things get taken down because they want to herd everyone into the big room scene, the companies are no longer content to let everyone spread out into their own interests. I have to admit it is kind of smart of them to do it, the powers of human social engineering can be amazing at times.
The solution is simple, we have to make more money |
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