i had a blast — Still recovering. I think i slept for almost 20 hours. Everyone’s set was great. I especially enjoyed Dreamsequence — he caught me off guard when he said that he needed turntables for his set. Old school goa is so rarely played these days. Tim Clark was a total surprise… I was blown away. Dan Efex was completely badass — always a pleasure having him down. Underfoot’s set was pristine. I am always amazed whenever i hear him play, and i think it’s awesome that it worked out for him to come. The Gnomes of Destruction were just completely nutty! Holy shit, glad you guys hit a new bpm record — really looking forward to having you back down my way in July. Professor X is always ALWAYS a treat — his energy and track selection seems to be growing exponentially. I wish he still lived in the Midwest, for sure. Hopefully we can get him back out here at least one more time this year. The teardown set was definitely deja vu. And I really loved the Suomi that GeaL dished up. It was perfect. For the other room, The industrial guys really blew me away. I know that a lot of you guys don’t really care for it all THAT much, but to me it’s a nice change of pace. There are a lot of similar elements within the music that I have respect for. Psych0tron and Whiterabbit were great. I tried my best to check it out for as long as I could. Their tracks and mixing really define why I have a soft spot for industrial all together. Not to mention that they are cool as hell to talk to. I really look forward to working with them again. DJ Geist was the one who played the DnB set, and i thought that it was a perfect touch. Not too aggressive, but a good transitional set form the industrial to chill. Nick Synergy absolutely blew me away. He has got to be one of the most diverse and talented people I;ve ever had the pleasure of working with. I wish you guys could have heard him at the pre-party Friday night. Equally badass. Toki and Energon’s sets were great too — Never really heard Derek play chill before, but i thought it was fantastic. Daniel’s chill sets never disappoint me. I really wish i could have stayed in the chill room longer. The turnout was a little low, definitely due to graduation and the holiday yesterday, but it didn’t matter. The lineup was amazing, the deco was fantastic, and everything went very smoothly. I am glad that we were able to get the guys who are blacklisted out in a hurry — thanks for bringing that to my attention, Allison. Hopefully they won’t ever show up at anything else again. I tried my best to make it very clear to them why they are and what could consequently happen if they ever show up to any of "our" events again. As for the venue, i think that it is impossible to have a "true" two room psy/chill party there just because of the room placement. The sound in the chill room was painfully loud as to be not drowned out by the psy room. It was a little uncomfortable. But when you got in to the psy room, the volume wasn’t THAT loud.. .it was just right. Multi genre events involving most of EDM are hard for me to do, so I am thinking about what to do there in the future… Perhaps just a one room setup, which is not a bad thing either. Derek and Carli’s deco setup was awesome… You guys are full of surprises, aren’t you? Huge thanks to Scott and the Smoker’s Den staff for the hookahs (sorry about the rain!), thanks to the Wicked Wicks fire troupe for spinning (sorry you guys REALLY got soaked), and above all, thanks again to Rory and Dan for all the help they provided throughout the night. THANK YOU to everyone for coming, for being respectful, for showing support. Let’s put our heads together and see what we can arrange to do there in the fall. With how everything went, I can honestly take a step back from the big picture and say that SMALLER PARTIES ARE SIMPLY THE BEST. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, that certainly came up fast!

Survivor Syndrome is this Saturday, with a pre-party kicking off at the Smoker’s Den on Friday night!  

It brings me great joy to annouce the additions to the event: Nick Synergy from Phoenix and VJ Mason Dixon from Chicago.  This is definitely going to be more than just another "psytrance party"… this is more of a reunion with old friends. We haven’t had the pleasure of throwing it down with Professor X, Dan Efex, Nick Synergy or Underfoot in nearly 8 months — Hard to believe that so much time has passed since Earthdance 2007.  The addition of the majority of the Madison crew really seals the deal with me.  Not to mention the excellent local and regional talent that will be helping us create something great in a place where great things are few and far between.

I sincerely hope that everyone who had the opportunity to join us at Separation Anxiety feel compelled to join us once again for the last indoor event until the fall.  2008 is shaping up to be a great year!

See you all on Saturday!

Looking to be a killer one, guys!  Really looking forward to seeing all you crazies again.  Hard to believe that it’s been over a YEAR since I have been to one of your gatherings.  

At any rate, I’m going to rest up, get out from under the weather, and represent.  Boom! 

 

We’ll be receiving the prints tomorrow!  Be on the lookout for them around the Midwest. 

 

After settling in with the success of the last Psychedelic Session, I am interested in creating a new chill-out night at the Smoker’s Den.  This will focus heavily on ambient, atmospheric, PsyDM, dub, reggae, Psymbient, drone, etc.  Any local and regional DJs who are interested in participating are encouraged to contact me.   Target launch is mid-May.

 

Securing the next available date after Separation Anxiety, Eo Somnium invites you back for Survivor Guilt, coming May 10th 2008 in Urbana, IL.

 

Details TBA. 

First and foremost, i want to extend thanks to Dan and Rory at the IMC for all of their indispensable help throughout the evening.  They were definitely on top of things the entire evening.  I absolutely have to attribute the quality of this party to those two before anything else.  

Sound:  The industrial room was kept at a lower level because we had a problem with the breakers, but i think that overall it was just about right.  The psytrance room I thought was a little too loud — I think we were pushing 120db throughout the night.  It’s a good thing that Dan was handing out earplugs to everyone who wanted them, but at the same time that’s kind of scary.  :-D  My ears were ringing for hours afterwards.  Huge props again to Rory for the kick ass sound in the psytrance room, and to PMLA for the sound in the second room.  Special thanks to Scott Rexroat for hooking Justin up with a killer sound system — i can’t wait to hear that at capacity.

Deco / Visuals / Lasers: DAMN.  Derek and Carly definitely pulled this one off.  You guys are absolutely fantastic.  Looking forward to what we can accomplish together.  The visuals were a nice touch, although they weren’t that thought out - rather an afterthought.  Since we had no visual artists booked i think we did okay.  Having the projector next to the stage worked out very well.  I am not sure how we could do it any better for future events.  Timmy’s laser was mind-bending.  I sincerely hope it was worth the long drive to be there and set it up.  You are seriously one of the best I have ever worked with in that department.  

Artists:  WOW!~!~  I was glad that Mr. Roboto got to play a real extended DJ set.  You have come such a long way since you started doing this, and your energy was reciprocated from the crowd the entire time.  Definitely a kick-ass performance.  Can’t wait until you start doing live PA.  Aktif, as always, FUCKING BONKERS.  I absolutely love having you on the decks — not only is your track selection and mixing pristine, but you seriously bring out the stompin’ hot business in everyone.  If that makes sense.  Primordial Ooze absolutely blew my mind.  I was so glad that this event was easy for me to work to the point that i actually got to be on the dance floor the majority of the time for your set.  You guys are definitely my regional favorite.  100% badass.  Ascension, you’ve come a long way too.  Your set really captivated a lot of people that were there.  When I was talking to people there, they found it very hard to believe that you’ve only been playing for 6 months.  Keep it up man.  You’re on the right track for sure.  Abe, Chris, and Nick: Stellar performance.  I am very glad that it worked out for you guys to play together.  We were unsure of how late we were going to be able to have the music go since I had never done an event there, and I think that all ended very well.  You guys have so much energy on stage and you really kept the few who were still dancing going until the bitter end.  I am looking forward to working with you guys again in the future.

The second room:  I think that the compatibility between industrial and psy still remains to be seen, or at least clarified a bit.  The industrial room didn’t have nearly as many people as the psy room did, and it’s impossible to attribute that to the industrial scene supporting the event or the format of it.  There were a LOT of people there that i know of personally who are not into the psy scene and are the "industrial" crowd that actually stayed in the psytrance room the entire time.  What I think is that a lot of people came for the industrial and stayed for the psytrance, which is what I was hoping for from the get-go.  In that sense, I think we turned a lot of good people on to this scene –  All in all, the people who are from the industrial crowd were just as easy to work with as the trancers were.  I think that in the future, we should attempt a budget for the industrial room to book a headliner or two (suggestions please) and see how that goes.  The people who are into the industrial genre seem to have a very tight connection with their music much like we do.  In my experience DJing at The Smoker’s Den, the industrial crowd always seems to thoroughly enjoy psytrance over any sort of electronic music.  Converting the room to psychill at 5am was too late.  If we do the cross-genre event format in the future, we will likely end the industrial around 2 or 3 am and give much more time devoted to chill out.  

vending:  Thank you, Scott!  I regret that we couldn;t have a hookah bar at this one, but if we do this again at this venue when the weather is a little warmer, we will have something set up in the outdoor area where the smoker’s gathered.  I think that would work out great.  As always The Smoker’s Den did a fantastic job, and it was extremely beneficial to have their staff present.  

Attendees: WOW!  The group that attended was so easy-going, friendly, enthusiastic.  There was so much energy everywhere.  Thank you to most everyone for being respectful of the smoking policy, the front door being closed after midnight, and for overall being well behaved.  There was no incidents worth mentioning.  We didn’t have to reject entry to anyone, nor did we have to make anyone leave.  The party officially sold out, too.  It was so great seeing everyone again having such a good time - old faces and new.  Thanks so much for everyone’s help with the cleanup too!  It was a breeze.  It was because of everyone there and how well everyone handled themselves that really makes me love what I do.  As a promoter, my responsibilities only go so far - the rest of how an event goes and is made up is directly related to those that attend.  I personally attribute the crowd’s behavior / energy to more than 70% of how an event is made up.  You all deserve a round of applause.  Together we are unstoppable. 

I have very few complaints.  The only one that is even worth mentioning is GLASS BOTTLES.  I sincerely hope and appreciate that everyone will hold this policy in high regard next time around.  I think that this policy should be respected with any and every party too — not just mine.  

Thanks so much again to everyone.  As the "head" of this event, I can easily say that this was the most laid-back and easiest event I have ever put on.  

That’s all I’ve got, folks.  The sequel is already in the works, and I am hoping to announce details by the end of this week.

See you next time.  

Still recovering and decompressing. Heh — got some pics posted in the gallery - be sure to check them out. Full review pending - Thanks again for everyone’s support with this event.

Thanks go out to everyone who purchased a pre-sale and supports this event!

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone out tonight! 

Join Zero SiX and DJ HaLØn at The Smoker’s Den tonight for the Spearation Anxiety pre-party.  Industrial and Darkpsy until 2am.  No cover, 18+, $2 hookah tips.