Concert Review: Far East Movement bedazzles crowd

Photo property of Stereo Live

     Sunday night is where you're supposed to rest up for the upcoming work week. But when the LA-based pop group Far East Movement invaded Stereo Live yesterday, there was no way you can tell it was a Sunday.

     Before Far East Movement came on there were three opening acts that performed at the venue. The one that stood out was a guy named Elroy Boogie. His opening song was the Lion King song when the sun is rising throughout the animal kingdom, which blew my mind. He also played Daft Punk's "One More Time" in Spanish, Flosstradamous's remix of Major Lazer's "Original Don," and SBTRKT's "Wildfire." The crowd was getting into what Elroy was playing as he was mixing up the genres of EDM and bringing different moods throughout his set. No doubt, this guy was the best opening act I've seen at Stereo.



DJ Virman and Kev Nish raising the roof during the first
half of the Far East Movement show.

     Then Far East Movement hit the stage. When their set began, it was only DJ Virman and Kev Nish on the DJ booth. They were jacked up and instantly got the crowd going. The were playing some of the popular songs to play at concerts such as Dada Life's remix of Kaskade's "Llove" and Showtek's "Cannonball." Since the event said they were going to do a DJ set, I was assuming that it was just going to be DJ Virman and Kev Nish to orchestrate the show. But 30 minutes into the set, that all changed.



Kev Nish, along with Prohgress and J-Splif in the
background, singing "Like A G6" for the crowd.

     As soon as they cut the music for a quick pause, the other half of Far East Movment - J-Splif and Prohgress - showed up and turned the DJ set into a live performance. All four guys were present on the stage performing their notable songs: "Like A G6," "Rocketeer," "Turn Up The Love" and "Rattle" (with the Bingo Players). They escalated the crowd's mood while they were all on stage and interacting with the fans. At one point, Kev Nish leaped from the stage and into the audience singing "Rattle" and jamming with the crowd.



Prohgress, shown above, spraying
champagne into the crowd while
performing "Rattle."

     After the half hour of Far East Movement performing their essential hits, they all left except for DJ Vermin and he kept to turn up the music. From time to time, members of the LA-based group interacted with fans and came to take pictures with the fans. For the people who only paid $11 when Stereo Live first announced that the group was going to be there, they got their money's worth. It was overall a VIP experience that people pay hundreds of dollars for. The beats were loud, the group was nothing less from hype and the crowd's reaction towards Far East Movement's performance was a superb one.




4 out of 5

Next Post: Memory Lane - Sun City Music Festival - Day 1.
Upcoming posts: Memory Lane - Sun City Music Festival - Day 2; Memory Lane - Something Wicked; Album Review: Intense - Armin Van Buuren.

   


 

Memory Lane: Knife Party 03/24/2012

     After the success of the Calvin Harris show, I definitely wanted a part of this EDM movement so I looked to see what other shows were coming up. Then I see this group called Knife Party. I didn't know who these guys were and the venue's website didn't say much other than they were from Australia. I didn't know what intrigued me about these guys but I had a feeling that his was a good show. Little did I know, that this show would change the game of EDM.

     I got to Stereo Live and the supporting acts were pretty good. One of them was a guy called Oscillator Z that played mostly dubstep in his set. I wasn't very big into dubstep back then but I grew into a liking of it later on at another festival (but that's another story). He played mostly his own material, which was pretty decent. The next guy was Surain, which played a couple of notable tracks in the beginning like "Promises" Calvin Harris remix and "Animal Rights" by Deadmau5. After that, he lost the crowd and they were already getting restless for Knife Party.

     After the opening acts did their sets, it was time for Knife Party. As soon as the Australian duo emerged from the backstage, the audience went berserk as the venue was taken over with screams and the smell of marijuana. They opened the set with their intro theme song called "Rage Valley" which was full of raw intensity and angst. I felt goose bumps after hearing that song. I also had a feeling that this song was going to be huge enough for other acts to play it.

    During Knife Party's set, it got a bit rowdy as people started to lightly push one another. But it was nothing that I could handle. They also played their songs from their 100% No Modern Talking EP: "High Five," "Internet Friends," "Destroy Them With Lasers," and "Tourniquet." When they played "Internet Friends," they played the regular version and then they added a dubstep version into their set - which the crowd expressed with screams. They also played Skrillex's newest singles, at the time, "Breakin' A Sweat" featuring the Doors and "The Devil's Den" featuring Wolfgang Gartner.

     Sadly, after all I listened to at Knife Party's set, I left early because I had to be in College Station the next day. But while I was there, it was full of pure loudness covered with mesmerizing sounds. After the show, I grew a real liking into Knife Party and their combination of electro house and dubstep incorporated into their music. This was another good call on my part by going to see Knife Party. A week after, I knew that they performed in Miami for Ultra 2012 and downloaded their link for their live set - which was just approximately as close as it was from their live set at Houston just days before.

Next Post: Far East Movement concert review
Posts to Come: Memory Lane: Sun City Music Festival - Days 1 & 2; Memory Lane: Something Wicked; Album Review: Armin Van Buuren - Intense 

Concert Review: Steve Aoki's Short Set Dissapoints Fans

Property of Stereo Live

    Thursday night was supposed to be a huge night for Steve Aoki and the EDM of Houston fans as he was going to put on a spectacular show. Everything was going great until 1:15 a.m. Friday morning, approximately 45 into Aoki's electrifying set, he sadly announced that the show had to stop early due to the Fire Marshall's request. The crowd was outraged.

    Even from the time he was on, playing some of his big hits like "Turbulence," Singularity," and "Warp," it was full of raw intensity. But as disappointing as a short set, he didn't get to play his "Pursuit of Happiness" remix and the "Ladi Dadi" remix by Tommy Trash. As the music stopped and the murmurs of disbelief delivered by the audience, Aoki tried with all his heart to make it right by doing the rest of his props - the infamous cake throw and the champagne drizzle to the audience. No matter how many cakes he had or how many champagne bottles he had to waste, it didn't make up for a short show that people invested in since the tickets went on sale last month.

Steve Aoki tying to make things right with
the fans after a short set Thursday night.

    Fans shouldn't be blaming the police or the fire departments or Aoki himself, they should blame Stereo Live for overselling tickets and under-planning the event. It seemed that Stereo Live wanted to capitalize the opportunity to sell as much tickets as they can because of the big name in EDM and how to plan the event later. I can't tell what would happen when Armin Van Buuren shows up next week at Stereo - another big EDM artist. It's obvious that Stereo won't give the people their money back for the short set of Aoki, but they could make it right - if they wanted to.

A fan receiving her request by Aoki with
her sign saying, "Cake Me."

    Overall, it was good while it lasted but everyone will always remember that Steve Aoki's set was short and thus ruined the vibe of the whole audience. A huge disappointment on the behalf of the promoters and people who run Stereo Live. The unsung hero of the night was hands down Aoki. He did what he could and had to make that painstaking announcement for the safety of the fans. He's a real class act. Hopefully Houston gets to see him soon - maybe at Something Wicked 2013?



2 out of 5

Posts to Come: Far East Movement DJ set concert review; Back to Memory Lane: Knife Party 03/2012 and Sun City Music Festival 2012.

Album Review: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

It was spread like wildfire when EDM's worst kept secret was finally revealed that Daft Punk's new album Random Access Memories was going to be available via stream for a limited time. It was announced on iTunes due to third party websites leaking the album throughout the internet. Those who were able to pre-order the album online were given the opportunity to hear the album in its entirety on iTunes. I'm happy to announce that I happened to be able to stream the highly-anticipated album and to give an honest review about all the hype around Random Access Memories.

When you go through the legendary albums that Daft Punk has made over their career, Homework, Discovery and Human After All, you say to yourself, "Their next album has to be harder, better, faster, stronger than the previous three!" Sadly, this isn't the case. For all the EDM fans that are used to the raw heavy beats that dubstep provides you and the club anthems that House music want you to lose yourself in, you'll be disappointed. Random Access Memories features a 13-track album that focuses heavily on their disco funk roots that they've incorporated in their music since they started.

The album starts off with "Give Life Back To Music" which sets the tone to the album right away. This isn't Tiesto's Club Life compilations or Skrillex's More Monsters and More Sprites, this is the roots from where dance music came from - the genre of disco - and Daft Punk wants whoever is listening to know that. Throughout the album, songs like "The Game of Love," "Instant Crush," and "Lose Yourself to Dance" intensifies the direction this album is going with catchy melodic lyrics, flamboyant synthesizers, and smooth R&B influenced beats to compliment one another. Other songs like "Giorgio by Moroder," "Motherboard" and "Contact" showed more of the experimental side of Daft Punk with outspoken drum solos and crisp synths to either enhance or reduce the momentum that the song provided.

Throughout the pop-driven album, it seemed that some of these songs were pushed to have lyrics in the song such as "The Game of Love," "Within," and "Instant Crush." It's odd for Daft Punk songs to featured a heavy dose amount of lyrics. But in Random Access Memories, just about every song has lyrics in the album. Unlike their debut album Homework, "Teachers" is the only song on that album with more than a sound bite of the song title. Another factor that shifted the way the album's direction went was the heavy amount of collaborations with different artists such as Pharell Williams and Nile Rodgers. Figuring the way EDM has evolved since the late 90's, through many producers collaborating with one another or other music genres. Daft Punk went with the side of EDM as far as having other artists to collaborate with in order to appeal to the people who listen to EDM now and not 15 years ago.

Although Random Access Memories doesn't live up to the hype of their previous albums, this album shows that Daft Punk can do whatever they want and whenever they want and still be loved for who they are. This is one of these albums that you can play in front of your parents and they'll be instantly reminded of Saturday Night Fever, the Bee-Gees, George Clinton and the Parliament, and Barry White - all mashed up together. We don't know if RAM might become the fourth head of Daft Punk's Mt. Rushmore, but one thing is for sure - Daft Punk is back from hiatus and roaring once again.

4 out of 5

Upcoming Blogs: Steve Aoki and Far East Movement concert reviews and Trip Down Memory Lane: Knife Party 03/2012 and Sun City Music Festival 2012.

Concert Review: One More Time - Daft Punk Tribute Band

Photo Property of Stereo Live

As the day draws closer and close to the highly-anticipated Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories, the French duo has nonetheless caused the Houston area to be excited about the tribute band that made its way to Houston this past weekend at Stereo Live. The band named their group after one of Daft Punk's most prestigious songs on their catalog, One More Time.

After a 30 minute delay, most likely due to technical difficulties, One More Time took the stage. The stage was built as a homage to Daft Punk's 2007 Alive tour with a replica version of their infamous lighted pyramid. The tribute band started off with the "Robot Rock/Oh Yeah" mash up from Daft Punk's live album, Alive 2007, which lifted up the crowd off their feet. They went on to play the classics from the three albums such as "Television Rules The Nation," "Technologic," "Crescendos," "Da Funk," and "Aerodynamics." They also played songs from their Tron: Legacy with "Derezzed" and "The Grid," which got no significant reaction from the crowd.

At some points of the show, for instance when they played "Technologic," there were times when the music wasn't overriding the lyrics. Other times, there was a lack of bass that the speakers failed to produce for the show. All of these fallacies with Stereo Live's sound system made it seemed like they couldn't produce the crisp sound that this act needed to sound at its best. But nothing stopped the crowd from having a good time.

Photo Taken by Roland Ruiz

 

The tribute band went to by playing Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" featuring Pharell Williams. After a brief intermission, they came back on to play "One More Time" to close out the show and the crowd applauded with cheerful joy all around. Overall, it was a good show but they could of been at a better venue with a better sound system to perform at. Nonetheless it was a great time for One More Time to come when Daft Punk fever has spread around every EDM fan in Houston.

3.5 out of 5

Next: Daft Punk's new album Random Access Memories reviewed by yours truly.
Posts To Come: Steve Aoki and Far East Movement concert reviews

at Stereo Live.

Album Review: Justice - All Arena Access (Live)

This week Justice released their second live album, All Access Arena, recorded at a show in Les Arenes De Nimas during their 2012 world tour. I saw these guys at the House of Blues back in October of last year and their live album made me relive the raucous concert. Each song listed on the live album were the exact same song that I remembered Justice played in Houston. For those of you who missed Justice in their 2012 tour, this is as close as you're going to get to their insane live performance.

The live album consists songs from their heavy electronic 2007 album, Cross, and their progressive rock influenced 2011 album, Audio, Video, Disco, only for Justice to collaborate their well-known hits such as "D.A.N.C.E," "Phantom (I & II)," "Civilization," "Audio, Video, Disco," and "Helix." For Justice being a part of the EDM genre, they didn't feel like a typical EDM show. The sound and production for this album was so amazing, it felt like an actual rock concert. There was no way that any other EDM act can produce the kind of sound. The way they transition from one song to the next song ("Genesis" to "Helix" and "Stress" to "Waters of Nazereth") was magical - Daft Punk's Alive magical.

Taken by Roland Ruiz (HOB Oct. 28, 2012)

One part of the live album that raised a couple of exclamation points to me was when they started to combine the vocals for "D.A.N.C.E" and mashed it with the intro for Jay-Z's "On To The Next One." I would say the track that surprised me the most in this album was "On 'n' On." The song was played at a good time, after the crowd asked for an encore, and it set the mood toward the end of the album. It was slow, melodic and it built up the crowd up for the final song "Phantom Pt. II." It was the song to get your lighters out and wave them slowly back and forth. Before this album, I wasn't a big fan of "On 'n' On" at the time when Audio, Video, Disco was released. Now, I have a new appreciation for that song because of this live album.

All in all, Justice's All Access Arena album is a real as you're going to get as far as a live act from this French duo. They are a premier act in the EDM scene and there's nobody like them.

5 out of 5 Stars

First EDM concert: Calvin Harris 01/21/2012

Picture Above Property of Stereo Live

After getting into the electronic dance music scene for some time now, it was time to actually start seeing some live shows. I noticed, about a month in advance, that Calvin Harris was coming to Houston at Stereo Live and he was my favorite DJ at the time so what a way to start out my EDM concert experience with the Irish composer coming to town.

I remember it was the time when his hit "We Found Love" with Rihanna went number one in the pop charts. He also had some other singles out including "Awooga" and "Feels So Close" that were getting some playing time in the radio. But what made me fall in love with his music was his second album Ready For The Weekend. What separated him from the other producers I was listening to is how he incorporated his own lyrics into his own music - it was unique. It was sad to hear how he announced a year before he released his third album, 18 Months, that he wasn't going to use his vocals in his music anymore and focus on producing. Nonetheless, I felt that this show was going to set the tone for the future of Calvin Harris.

I arrived at the venue as soon as they opened the doors, but little that I knew Calvin Harris wasn't going to perform until midnight. I saw the previous acts that were opening for Calvin and they were great. I didn't know who was the first guy. Most likely he was a local DJ that occasionally plays at the venue. The other guy that was on before was Burns. I never heard of him until I went to see Calvin Harris and he plays some exceptional tunes that had me grooving. Some of the songs he played was "Epilogue," "Turbo," and "Heartbeats." I looked him up the next morning and bought his compilation album This is Burns 001 - European Sex Music. It was overall a good buy from iTunes: $5.99 for 38 tracks including two continuous mixes collaborating the whole album.

Picture Taken by Roland Ruiz

After Burns finished his great set, Calvin was next and he was nothing less than outstanding. He started off his set with "I'm Not Alone" and "You Used To Hold Me," two instant tracks that set the mood for the crowd. He went on to play some Swedish House Mafia tracks, "Save The World" and "Antidote," which the crowd responded heavily by singing along. He also played his newer hits at the time that were mentioned above earlier. Overall, Calvin Harris didn't disappoint. He was interactive with the crowd, his background and layouts of the stage was satisfactory, and his set list was out of this world.

I knew after this night, seeing my favorite DJ perform, that this wouldn't be my last EDM concert. I knew by interacting with people in the crowd and knowing they're here for the same reason that I'm here that I wanted to be a part of this music scene. This concert got me to get out of my shell of shyness and just get out there and have a great time.