Lightning in a Bottle took place this year from May 27th-30th in Silverado, California. This was the second year where it was held at Oak Canyon Ranch. The layout of the festival was improved dramatically to allow campers easy access to the three immense stages. Last year one of the biggest issues was going up and down the mountain to reach the main camp area and stages. This year it seemed like The Do Lab figured out all the little kinks out and made for one of the greatest events I’ve ever attended.

Right when you drive into the venue an incredible force and vibe takes you. The community unites for this giant gathering of music, art, workshops, and more. People from all over the world unites and creates a small city made up of tents, RVs, renegade sound, shaded areas, grills, and beautiful people. There are three main stage areas that host some of the biggest and rising stars of underground music.

The Wookie stage is one of the first stages you see as you enter the festival looking for camp ground. It was an incredible sight to see. I heard the stage was rocking a FunktionOne sound system but to be honest I stayed clear of that stage. The Wookie stage is generally known for playing House music and too be honest I’m not a huge fan and there was way too much going on to even step onto that dance floor but it definitely was going off every time I came back to camp.

The Lightning stage is where the a lot of the big boys played. The area was massive with an enormous amount of room. This clearly was the main stage area. The production value on this stage was incredible with stunning pyrotechnics during Kraddy’s set. They also brought in giant LED screens for big acts like Pretty Lights and Mimosa. The vibe during the day was more of relaxed journey. I had great memories listening to Invisible Allies during the day on Sunday. I will say many of the opening bands were quite disappointing such as Metal Mother which almost made me wonder what was going on or if this all was just a sound check. The biggest crowd I saw was during Pretty Lights. The place was slammed and had to resort to going backstage to catch his set. Despite Pretty Lights set crashing and having dead air for about 2 minutes kids were still ready to party. Mimosa surprised me with his set as he is known for raging out and playing heavy popular brostep he kept it quite tame and one of the best sets I’ve seen from Tigran. It’s always a surprise though to see such a talented producer not play all originals or even more than 4-5 for hour and half set.

The Bamboo stage is practically where I lived. All my favorites and close friends were playing in this area. The first act I caught at LIB 2011 was Sex Pixels. They won the slot for the mixtape contest and wanted to see who these guys were considering I couldn’t find anything about them on the internet. Turns out they are a duo act and played mainly house music which I thought was odd they were placed on the Bamboo stage vs the Wookie stage considering the style of music they played. Going back to my initial shock of openers were Pussy Monster. I almost felt embarrassed for them as it was one of the worst sets I’ve seen on a major stage. Granted I don’t expect to love everyone but I was just shocked to see such a booking for the opening slot. The rest of the week-end everything I caught on the Bamboo stage was absolutely breath taking for the most part. The vibe and feel of the music being played in this area was clearly geared to more of my style and taste. Friday night NastyNasty stole the show for me. There was nothing that was going to top his set. Having a full 90 minute journey by Jasper was heaven. The way he flowed and broke his set into 30min pieces from dubstep to slow jams to 808 hiphop beats made his set my personal favorite of the entire week-end. A few of my friends also played on the Bamboo stage such as: Stephan Jacobs, Goldrush, Gladkill, ill-esha, Love & Light, Mimi Page, and Joey Mousepad. All of them did such an incredible job up there! Other notable acts were Emancipator, Phutureprimitive, Lynx, and Paper Diamond (which I only heard about and upset I missed Alex’s set).

Lightning in a Bottle doesn’t only cater to the people who are interested in the music but many other things. Many of the workshops I heard were incredible. The art and live painting going on all around the festivals created a real unique experience. Thousands of people dancing, hoola hooping, spinning fire, and sharing each others presence makes this festival one of the better communities to be around. All the vendors and food was excellent. I couldn’t get over how tasty the pizza was. Everything was done with thought and consideration. I never ventured up the mountain this year as it was something I didn’t need to relive. I heard it was gorgeous up there this year but I decided to pass and stay close to camp and others things going on.

Lightning in a Bottle truly encompasses everything you’d want in a festival. It changed my life for the better going last year and this year was nothing short of amazing. The community and people make this festival. The line up may change every year but what doesn’t change is the passion, love, and dedication put into everyone who is involved including you.

Grassroots California is a small indie company that sells custom hats. They have been gaining popularity in the underground bass community as they have a strong presence at music festivals. If you’re into festivals such as Wakarusa, Nocturnal, Emissions, SXSW, WMC, etc… you’ve probably seen quite a few of these hats.

I’m a huge supporter of the company as they help bring light to many artist and sports teams. They are well known for spoof hats for many popular teams. They have a special music line that features big names like Pretty Lights, Lotus, Big Gigantic, Fresh2Death, and many more. I personally sport the Miami Dubphins hat. I’ll be adding quite a few to my collection in the near future and have even been in talks with them for special Afro Monk hat for 2012.

Be sure to check out their website that features not only hats but accessories, t-shirts, pins, and more. Also if you’re out at any of the music festivals you’ll probably see a vending booth. Be sure to know your hat size before you head over there. I promise you that you’ll be wanting to buy at least a few and chances are they might be limited to a certain size since they’ve been gaining such popularity.

Also be on the look out for the possibility of a Grassroots record label…
Much respect and love goes out to the Grassroots California crew!

BUY: Grassroots California

I use to rock this Fugees ready or not remix a whole bunch. Almost played it out too much but I absolutely loved it. Konekta hit me up that he had a special VIP remix he wanted to share with everyone and figured we just give it away as an exclusive. This was supposed to be my Black Friday give away but things have been hectic.

He recently hit me up yesterday to share with me that Devi and he are teaming up on a collab project, Free Crush.  It’s great to hear a couple working together on something. On that note another producer that you all know if you read this blog and his girlfriend are working on a DJ/VJ collab. Yeah get ready for that announcement later in 2011…

Now enjoy this FREE exclusive of both Fugee’s Ready or Not Remixes

DOWNLOAD:
Konekta – Ready or Not VIP Remix
Konekta – Ready or Not Remix

Art Outside is a festival outside of Austin, TX. This year will be its 6th year going. The easiest way to describe Art Outside is a miniature Texas Burning Man. It’s a 3 day camping festival with tons of creative inspiring people. This year the event features over 300 artists, musicians, performers, and workshops. It’s large collection of people just coming together to share what they have to offer to the world.

There are world class performances, magical art installations, and unique artist from all around. Guests are encouraged to interact and share their passion and creativity for all that we call art.

This will be the first year I attend as I have just moved to Dallas, Texas in the past two weeks. I’m really looking forward to taking this adventure. It seems like a great place to meet likeminded artist and inspiring people. I took a trip to Austin to meet the infamous Psymbionic who runs the only Glitch-Hop weekly in all of Texas probably. He will be doing a set at Art Outside and has welcomed me to join his friends at his camp. I’m looking forward to seeing the Octophonic sound stage featuring a eight speakers & 360 degree sound stage.

Another random thing that I’m curious to see is the life size mouse trap. It apparently is a huge replica of the board game. There is also a 2 ton acme-esque safe dropping from a 30 foot crane which is probably a sight to see.

Other random things to know about the festival are that there will be food vendors for breakfast, lunch, and dinner which will be vegan/raw friendly. There will be free filtered water areas. If you drink it’s a BYOB event so bring your own!

When: Friday through Sunday, October 22 – 24, 2010
Where: Apache Pass, 9112 N. FM 908, Rockdale, TX
How: $80 3-day Pass including Camping.

Music Highlights: Blockhead, Random Rab, Heyoka, Psymbionic, Brede, God-Des and She, Spoonfed Tribe, Brownout!, and more. Full lineup

Visual Artist Highlights: Jennifer Chenowith, George Kraus, Casey Warr, The Sound Cave Roadshow, Art of Such-N-Such, MT Pockets Traveling Midway of Curiosities and Delights, Michael Christian and Joe Santandrea. Full lineup

Here is a promo video for the event to give you a small taste of what is in store. It seems like Texas has quite the special event going on here. I can’t think of anything like this back home in Florida.

Moritz Waldemeyer and Creative Recreation have teamed up to create these fresh LED sneakers. This takes the whole LA Lights to another level. I can’t help but think of these on the dancefloor or out at a festival late at night. I’m wondering how long a charge last for them or if they have to be plugged in. LOL. Either way these are some next level dance floor business.

Francesca Castagnacci kept it real simple with a fiber optic cable look when it came to the two heels above. They don’t look too over the top and yet still have an appealing desire with the LED light. Talk about classy fancy shoes for women who like to show of and call attention to their shoes. Figure if you going to drop serious cash on fashion they’ll definitely get noticed.

Rodarte’s Illuminated Heels are another pair of heels I found that totally rock LEDs. These have much more of a classy playful feel to them. You have to hand it to them that they didn’t go too over the top but added the LEDs with finesse. The lights don’t take away from the original design and feel of the heels. The video above shows off some of the Rodarte’s 2010 line and features the Illuminated Heels at the end.

The jacket comes in three different colorways as you see here below!
Visit their web shop and browse through their clothes: Galagowear

Your Local Dealer is a Swedish clothing brand that was brought to life by the shop Top Street Wear in Stockholm, they are mainly focusing on Street and Urban wear.

Much of their stuff is a bit to much “Hip Hop” for me personally, like pants with embroideries all over and the such of clothes you can see on you favorite Hip Hop star but recently they released four pairs of jeans that I really fell in love with, they call them just simply “basic jeans”. The jeans are made of raw black denim and the difference is the seams which are in different colors, you get khaki, green, purple and my favorite turquoise. I dig the striped down design and the contrast that the seams bring forth, the price is aslo really fair when it comes to these kind of clothes here in Sweden.
Don’t forget to check out their track jackets as well, they are also real nice.

Top Street Wear is one of Swedens biggest online shop when it comes to urban fashion and they ship worldwide so don’t hesitate to look through their site and see if you find something you like.

Your Local Dealer @ Topstreetwear.com
(The pictures are used with permission from the owner)

The Dark Arts line, whose imagery tends toward the shadowy end of the aesthetic spectrum, features work by fine artists and graphic designers Lauren Bahr, Andy Gilmore, and Danny Scales. The line’s initial roster will continue to grow, as new shirts will be added periodically throughout the coming year.”

The dark feeling of the t-shirts is something I really love cause I’m a sucker for skulls and other dark imagery”. As Ghostly wrote the t-shirt are from a limited batch so act fast if you want a shirt.

And of course don’t miss out on their musical release, they’ve got some real good artist on their roster.
For those who own a iPhone they’ve got a real nice app for you aswell.

See the clothing line here!