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Rave On: Electric Daisy Carnival Still Packs a Day-Glo Punch

Darren Ressler 1 Comment

LA’s annual Electric Daisy Carnival kept true to its eccentric tradition and ensured that this year’s event was larger, louder, and less organized than ever before. If you were one of the 55,000 in attendance who had to stand in lines for three hours of security check as staff went to great lengths to fish out glow sticks and drug paraphernalia before giving up and letting people just walk in, and an hour delay in the set times at most, if not all of the stages, then you earned your right to be there.

Thousands of neon clad concert goers packed the historic Los Angeles Coliseum to catch a glimpse of some of electro music’s biggest. Despite the long lines – supposedly caused my an unexpectedly large turnout – and the absence of the highly anticipated Berlin-based Boys Noize, who missed the show due to an undisclosed illness, fans were still treated to a number of fantastic sets. After a strong start on the main stage on the Coliseum field, Italian DJ Benny Benassi seemed to fizzle towards the end of his set, but his less than stellar finale was quickly forgotten when Moby took the stage. It’s been long enough since everyone’s favorite bald vegan DJ’d a rave in California, some were skeptical about what his performance would bring. Thankfully, his high energy set, coupled with his typical audience interaction and a surprise fireworks show, proved to be the highlight of the night.

There wasn’t a dull moment, the best sets coming from Classixx, Z-Trip, and Shinichi Osawa, who shone at his first U.S. appearance that night.

Some side stage highlights came from the “Cosmic Meadow,” where everyone from Armand Van Helden to Harry Romero got everyone moving, and the “Circuit Field,” where Freestylers and DJ Dan spun the crowd into a frenzy. This year’s underdog was the Bass Pod stage, riddled with trouble (that’s where Boys Noize was to have played) and musical criticism for upstart locals Paparazzi and Le Castle Vania. Despite the negativity, there wasn’t a dull moment, the best sets coming from Classixx, Z-Trip, and Shinichi Osawa, who shone at his first U.S. appearance that night.

The best way to enjoy the event was to roam around. Since most sets overlapped anyway it was worth the walk to catch a glimpse of everyone, and prevented you from getting bored too quickly; most of the sets shared the same elements, so traveling around kept it stimulating. It also invited a chance to run into friends or make new ones, as throngs of teens clad in neon fur, skimpy underwear and craft store bracelets mingled and posed for photos. After all, being seen is what these events are for.

Words: David Bond & Tim McLaughlin

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images by Insomniac

Danny Tenaglia, Three Fans, Coachella

Darren Ressler

Reader Natalie Capuozzo (one of the three lovely ladies in the picture above) checks in with a cool buddy shot taken with Danny Tenaglia at Coachella.

This is Natalie from the picture with Danny. Were you able to take a look at it and possibly get  it in your magazine? If so I would like to know which issue and when so I can pick up a copy for my records.

Exclusive: Portishead Talk New Album, Tour & Coachella

Darren Ressler

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Big Shot has spoken exclusively to Portishead about their new album, Third, which will be released next month. The fourth release from the Bristol based trip-hop pioneers (their third studio album, overall) is a less claustrophobic body of work that sees Beth Gibbons utilize the softer vocal style she perfected with her solo album that perforated their ten-year absence from the music industry. Geoff Barrows and Adrian Utley sat down with us to talk through the eleven-track release that steers away from their previous inclination for samples and ventures into a broader sonic pastiche.

The three-piece act will be joined by a similar lineup of musicians to those who have played with them in the past; however, DJ Andy Smith is not appearing at the live dates. Barrows explains that this is due to the new processes the band utilized. “As we haven’t used many samples with Third, the live shows are more about a band. We all swap around instruments. When the lights go out between songs, we are madly running around trying to prepare for the next one. Swapping snare drums, things like that.”

Barrows is excited by the prospect of coming to the US to play at Coachella. “We’ve never done it before, and yes it’s quite funny that The Verve are the other headliners,” he says. “When they split we had to step into their shoes and fill a number of festival slots they had been booked for. So now, although we never went away really, we are going to play Coachella at the same time as them.’

Portishead have indeed never really gone away. They took a well-earned break after a massive promotional tour for second self-titled album and began recording again in 2004 in Sydney. According to Barrows, the tapes were “okay,” but not considered good enough by the band to be classed as new Portishead material. So it came to pass that now, in 2008, the British band who captured the hearts of millions worldwide in the 1990s, arrive back in a music industry that has changed but will surely welcome them with open arms.

A full length exclusive interview with Barrows and Utley will feature in Issue 23 of Big Shot, where the band discuss their live album, PNYC, the influence of Bristol on their music, the changes in the technology between albums, and the plethora of fan made videos that have cropped up on the Web. OGW

Z-Trip in Kuwait: Trapped in the MySpace Surreal Life

Darren Ressler

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Z-Trip, godfather of the modern mash-up, will follow in the footsteps of Bob Hope by bringing a little bit of America to our soldiers in the Middle East. Unfortunately for the Arizona-based DJ, he appears to be the only non-hasbeen on the bill, which features a lineup that largely looks like the musical equivalent of an episode of The Surreal Life. In this case, the roles of host Dave Coulier and show participants Shannon Tweed, a Baldwin that is not Alec, Willie Aames, and Jessica Simpson will be played by Carlos Mencia, The Pussycat Dolls, Filter, Disturbed, and Jessica Simpson (as herself), respectively. Alternative rock nostalgists and fans of bad comedy, pop, tits, nu metal alike will be in their glory.

How did this lineup come together?

Z-Trip: MySpace approached me about appearing, and they said they really wanted me there. I was on a very short list of DJs, they told me, and I’m one of the first [DJs] who have done this. I oppose the war and I oppose all of the people who got us there, but I am a supporter of the people in the military. I have lots of friends and family there and a lot of friends of family, so that wasn’t a hard decision.

That wasn’t a complicated decision to make for you in the light of your feelings about the war?

I approached Henry Rollins [through Shepard Fairey] and Chuck D because I wanted to talk with other people who had been in the same situation. I grew up listening to [Public Enemy] and rallying behind punk and protest music. I had to call on these people and get their blessing, and find out what their thoughts on me going over there was. They told me that it isn’t about the policies or the people who put us there; it is about the people who are there, and they’re right. They’re totally right. I had to take myself out of my beliefs and head out for them.

What do you perceive your military fanbase is like?

There are plenty of people in the military who knows what I do and plenty of folks who are aspiring DJs. For those who don’t know about me, in any situation like this, if people don’t know me, I just go out there and fucking plan on smashing them over the head with shit I have been mixing. Nine times out of ten that works, especially for those who don’t know what to expect. I think they leave and appreciate it.

I am just hoping to get schooled over there. I want to get over there and learn that this is what goes on there and that its something wholly different from what I expect or whatever. I’m going to be taking a journal over there. I’ll be taking photos. I just want to learn.