Afro Monk

Radiohead has a new album if you don’t live under a rock. I’ve seen so much fuss around it but hadn’t listened to it. I actually thought it was another free album but guess not. I did find this youtube stream of the album though so felt like I should post it.

What I found interesting was Thom’s office chart. There’s some Burial, Nosaj Thing, Jamie XX, and Untold in the mix there. Def cool to see that some of his listening material. Thom Yorke is one of those guys that you can’t help but respect. I never thought people didn’t like Radiohead but regardless if you do you’ve got to respect what they’ve done. Personally they are def in my top 10 favorite bands ever. I just did a full listen and to be honest it’s alright but nothing spectacular but better than most stuff out there.

Definitely check it out. Lotus Flower is by far the best track off of it.

Lightning in a Bottle 2010 was THE Greatest experience in my life so this maybe extremely bias =)

LIB is a festival that goes on for three days in Irvine, California. The location is outside of civilization so majority of people who attend camp for the week-end. Luckily I have such great friends I was able to fly in with just clothes and a sleeping bag. As soon as you drive into the parking lot you’ll realize how serious this thing is. People of all ages, colors, shapes, and mindsets are flooding in, carrying essential supplies. Once you’ve entered the parking lot you’re great with a spectacular view of the lake with mountains surrounding it. Shuttles await you as you carry your needs to the line. Shuttles take you to all the four camp sites. I was surprised how efficient the shuttles were considering most people were taking a crap load of things. Thankfully a few friends had already arrived earlier Thursday to setup camp. Arriving early and picking out a good campsite is key! You’ll be coming back from the festival at night and a close location when it’s pitch dark helps!

The music couldn’t have been any better. The Do Lab out did themselves with the line up this year! The main highlights of the festival without looking at the line up are: Nosaj Thing, Stephan Jacobs, MartyParty, Mimosa, Vibesquad, Lucent Dossier, Jupit3r, Daddy Kev & Nobody, Eliot Lipp, Heyoka, & Daedelus. I’d go into detail of each of these magnificent performances but this post would end up being pages upon pages long. Please ask for any input out of these. It was asked numerous times who was my favorite of the festival. I’ve thought long and hard and decided that I came up with my favorite, NOSAJ THING! The man was completely live the whole time and on point. The music was absolutely amazing incorporating many of his own tracks with many others. The amount of skill and talent was clearly shown. He had no shame to hold back and tweak and glitch everything on the fly. After Nosaj I’d probably say it was Stephan Jacobs, MartyParty, and Mimosa. You might notice that I never mentioned The Glitch Mob in all this… I might just have an entire post about what I thought of the NEW Glitch Mob. Another name I didn’t mention was Kraddy. The reason for this was because since he was on the first night and much later on I ended up making a serious mistake of not wearing warm clothes since it was so furiously hot during the day. The cruelest joke of the trip was how insanely hot it was during the day and beyond a comfort level of cold at night. I ended up missing half of Kraddy’s set because I had to go to camp to change.

The experience of camping was something completely new to me. I had never gone camping in my life. I have to admit I was quite intimidated by going to a festival alone and be outside camping. Thank God I had one of the best group of people around me. If you are new to festivals I highly recommend going with someone who has been or has experience. Be warned there are TONS of hippies which can be a good or bad thing depending how you look at it. I was raised in very comfortable living situation and too be honest camping wasn’t that bad. Many even say camping at a festival isn’t really camping at all. Keep in mind that many festivals are in the dessert or remote locations so it can get insanely hot and become unbearably cold at night within a couple hours. The major experience of camping was in the community of people around you. It’s a very hospital environment where everyone is sharing and looking out for each other. Having a solid group makes a huge difference. It’s almost a barter system. I’ll tell you I spent so much less money than I could have imagined. Most of the money I spent went into buying food that I didn’t really have to have and merch. Having free running water all over the festival helps tremendously. The Do Lab clearly made camping quite easy. The one catch that everyone couldn’t help but notice was the whole leave the camp ground as if we were never there. It’s a great mentality to have BUT there weren’t enough trash cans. You would think that there would be more so this was possible. It truly surprised me how much people cared about this when it came to leaving the camp grounds. You would find people walking around with trash bags cleaning up.

The last thing I want to talk about is the amount of stores and shops available. The amount of art and merch areas was impressive. You could find all sort of fun exotic clothes and memorabilia at the festival. Everyone around was expressing themselves in the way they dressed, danced, or even communicated. A conversation came up on how some people go completely all out and look insane. We concluded that it might just be us that the joke is on and those people who do go all out truly get it. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t mind the beautiful outfits that people were wearing but you have to wonder where all the these people hide during regular life.

All in all the festival was the greatest experience of my life and I’m hooked! Everyone speaks of Burning Man but considering I’m in Miami and work during the week it won’t be possible. Lightning in a Bottle is a perfect festival to start. It’s a long week-end and it’s not as harsh conditions as some of the other festivals out there. The music is absolutely top notch and so are all the performances. Festivals is a great place to meet new people who share your same interest and taste. Let’s not forget the amount of partying and networking that goes on. Thank You The Do Lab! Lightning in a Bottle changed my life.

Another thing I’d like to mention is that there are camps specialized for families and quite camp. This is to all the people camping around us who kept complaining about us staying up all night talking and making noise. If you have kids in your camp and actually want to sleep when it’s night time… GO TO THE SPECIFIC CAMP FOR THAT! =D

If you are looking for photos or have any photos feel free to post them on the Flickr group:
Lightning in a Bottle 2010 Photos

Here is a great video that was posted that has some photos of the festival this year:

Bwomp Camp Memories:
HOOOOTTTT SAAAKKKIIII
The Apparatus
Spacedust
Jesus
Nibbler
Pirate Flag
Mirror Shot
Skirt Beetle
Vagina Crystal Necklace
It will find you
That EP better be coming out soon
BAACCOOOONNNN
Heat Exhaustion
Stupid Ugly Girls
Go
Space Hawk
Atari
Bachard
Spaghetti

This is something that has really blown me away. I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the guys behind this project. I lost all the stuff I had written down for this but this is just a teaser of what these guys are working on. My hat goes off to them for all the hard work they putting into this. Things like this help push music to another level creating another layer of experience the body takes in while out in a club besides the sense of hearing.

I think this is the appropriate time to post this because tomorrow Nosaj Thing will be preforming with his new visual experiment as well. Big up to the New Zealand crew for this! I lost the URL to the project but I’ll be updating you all on this project as it progresses.

Check out some more stuff from the NZ gang at: Speed of Sound

I’m a real visual person and apparently so is Nosaj Thing.
This is a little video tour of some of the work this soon to be legend has done…

This is what happens when you add unbelievable visuals to one of the sickest DJs around.
This is just a test run.. He’ll start taking this idea with him and implementing it in his live shows.

This is what happens when you add a sick designer, cool shoes, & Nosaj Thing work on music

This is how it should ALWAYS be done… Vinyl baby!

This is what this guy does when he throws down live… Always sick to see a live act.

Another live performance…

Official video for one of this more popular tracks Aquarium…

Save the best for last…. THIS IS JAW DROPPING… Some of the biggest names just tearing it UP.
What a nice setup… one day… one day…

Now here’s a Download for YOU!
He just released this new track for an upcoming compilation being released…
Nosaj Thing – FWD