Photo Cred: belTRON

With the success of Hard and Insomniac, low-key shows are about as rare as a stylish mullet. Nevertheless, once in a blue moon an inconspicuous event will emerge. Radius Fest took over San Diego last weekend with a two-night extravaganza at one of the sickest venues I’ve ever had the pleasure of shuffling in, the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Headliners included trance prodigy ‘Wippenberg’ and house legend ‘Avicii’. Our buddies in DJ Slander hooked it up with backstage passes for Friday. The Duo that is Derek and Scott destroyed the side stage with a solid set. Lots of fresh tracks on their tables, including Michael Wood’s ‘First Aid’ and Wolfgang Gartner’s ‘Space Junk’.

Radius had two picturesque stages of madness. The side stage took over the museum lobby; guests were welcomed with strobes, lasers and the Apollo 9 Command Module. The main stage was at the heart of the museum, directly underneath a massive 20,000-pound aircraft. To top it all off, the backdrop behind the decks was an AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter. ^^

Wippenberg (aka Olaf Dieckmann) is a German DJ and Producer. He’s toured the world and has been tearing up the trance scene for the past decade. Wippenberg opened for Avicii and I can honestly say, it was amazing. Sure, it wasn’t loud builds, heavy drops and constant jumping; but, that’s not what it’s about. As my taste for house music has grown over the years, I’ve never truly appreciated trance. I think the subtlety is what threw me off. That is, until I got my hands on Cosmic Gate’s Essential Mix. Speechless.

Wippenberg – Pong <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Wippenberg – Phoenix <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Avicii took over the decks and the crowd erupted. Probably the loudest any museum has ever gotten. Opening with Pryda’s ‘Glimma’, I knew I was in for a magnificent set. I’ve already witnessed Avicii in all his glory at Electric Daisy Carnival 10’, but he wasn’t spectacular. Since then, Avicii has produced some mind-blowing tracks such as ‘My Feelings For  You’ and ‘Penguin’, rightfully earning super stardom. This time around, Avicii delivered one of the greatest sets my feet have ever had the gratification of shuffling to. Avicii, tack så mycket!

Phonat – Set Me Free (Avicii Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Armin Van Buuren Ft Laura V – Drowning (Avicii Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Pryda – Glimma <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

All in all it was an impressive lineup at an epic venue, everything I wanted and more. Radius Fest was one for the history books!

– Chronic Mncher

Bonus

Cosmic Gate BBC Essential Mix 2/12/2011

Also, snag an exclusive DJ Slander mix here

Adventure Club is a salacious w0mp duo from Montreal, Canada. In a world where dubstep has malformed from beauty to beast, Adventure Club is sticking to the roots. In my opinion, dubstep is dreadfully shifting. The entire genre has distorted from beautiful and hypnotic wobbly synths to face melting filthy grunge. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy a good facial liquefying every once in a while. However, if you close your eyes and board the basstrain, youll realize dubstep is so much more than just w0mp w0mp w0mp. Adventure Club is doing it RIGHT.

Brand New – Daisy (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Temper Trap – Love Lost (Adventure Club Dubstep) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

– Chronic Mncher

Weekend W0mp

Foreigner – Cold As Ice (Specimen A Remix)
Chase & Status – Eastern Jam
Rusko – Mr. Chips
Millions Like Us – The Forgotten

When he’s taking a break from obliterating the galaxy of alliance scum, Darth & Vader produces hearth throbbing, jaw dropping, and ear satisfying w0mp. I’m not sure what they’re feeding those kids in Brazil but hot damn… these bass lines are chunkier than Campbell’s cheddar and bacon bits. The force is strong with this one.

DJ Maxsie & Alex Speaker – Hey Yo (Darth & Vader Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Freefire – Dataloss (Darth & Vader Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Darth & Vader vs FTampa – LukeSkyTampa <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Don’t underestimate the power of the dark side ^^
– Chronic Mncher

Ever heard of Estonia? It’s somewhere around Finland… I think. Geography was never my strong subject.
Mord Fustang is fresh on the scene. This Estonian dropped his first two tracks just this last month. The first one, “The Electric Dream”, sounds like something off of Wolfgang Gartner’s assembly line. Gorgeous feel good synths that pack a lot on the low-end frequencies. The second, “Super Meat Freeze”, has an interesting name… something that Dada would typically employ. This track is a bit w0mpier than the first but still sticks true to their glitchy electro house feel. Look out for Mord Fustang in 2011, he’s makin Estonia proud.

Mord Fustang – The Electric Dream <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Mord Fustang – Super Meat Freeze <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Filthy Bonus

Butch Clancy – Russian Lullaby <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

– Chronic Mncher

On the int3rwebz, it seams that… writers expose new music, in general, to applause. Occasionally, new music doesn’t merit praise. In fact, sometimes an anticipated piece of work deserves criticism.

In this case, Betatraxx’s new EP, “X”, is just shwatever.

In my opinion, only the first song out of six on Betatraxx’s new EP is half decent. The other 5 are squabbly excuses of traveling sound waves.

Betatraxx – Relic

– Chronic Mncher

Ranucci & Pelusi are two unsigned artists working under the alias Promise Land. I spent a fair portion of my morning trying to dig up some scoop; sadly, I couldn’t find a name, an influence… shit, all i know is that they’re Italian. I concluded the leaning tower of pisa is less mysterious. Regardless of their anonymity, Ranucci & Pelusi know how to get down and dirty. Once the Internet gets a hold of their 305 mix, Promise Land will blow up faster than marshmallows in a microwave.

Promise Land – Wrong <- ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Promise Land – Heaven (Miami 305 Mix) by Promise Land
^ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ^

– Chronic Mncher

J. Rabbit, a prominent dubstep producer from the Bronx, earned his peculiar alias from his strong resemblance to Rabbit from the cult classic film, ‘Super Troopers’. Just last week, Rabbit dropped his remix of ‘Chubby Decker’; its so filthy not even ShamWow could clean it.

Rrrump – Chubby Decker (J.Rabbit Remix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
J. Rabbit – Sexy Party <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

– Chronic Mncher