If you’re no stranger to these parts, you know we fux with HARD. Let’s rewind three or so years…HARD Haunted Mansion 2008. Soulwax, Justice, DJAM (RIP), Deadmau5, 2ManyDJs, sebastiAn, Boys Noize. The rave that made sense of it all for America. These artists contributed to one of the most monumental concerts I’ve ever been to, if not THE. The culture was alive and well. Not a crowd of people fighting to be in the front, but a crowd of people who were there for the love of this music. Year after year HARD puts on the best Halloween party in the world for many reasons: the vibes, the location, the venue, the artists, the people. All of these have kept me going for the last three years and will keep me going for years to come. This year’s lineup is stacked with HARD classics and the future of legit electro from around the world. Yeah, we’ll be there both days. Here’s our map of where we’re going to be and why you should be there too.
If you want to get the separate playlists we made for each night, go to our facebook! They’re posted in the photos.
The purest concert experience of the year, Hard Haunted is almost here. There’s tons of underrated talent on the bill, but there’s one artist I feel compelled to expose. Stephen Fassano is a Belgian producer and one of the two geniuses behind Aeroplane. Despite their undoubted success, Stephen recently left the disco duo to explore greener pastures. He went on to starting a solo project, The Magician.
Experience the magic at Hard Haunted Mansion on Saturday, Oct. 29th. You’ll find me shufflin’ near the front.
FULL POST
The purest concert experience of the year, Hard Haunted is almost here. There’s tons of underrated talent on the bill, but there’s one artist I feel compelled to expose. Stephen Fassano is a Belgian producer and one of the two geniuses behind Aeroplane. Despite their undoubted success, Stephen recently left the disco duo to explore greener pastures. He went on to starting a solo project, The Magician.
Hard Haunted Mansion is right around the corner and my anticipation tank is overflowing. Big names such as Rusko, Skrillex and Fatboy Slim decorate the bright orange flyer; Gary Richards has done it again. Lots of talent, but to be frank, there’s only one group that’s tickling my balls. Ever since experiencing their incredible documentary, ‘Part Of The Weekend Never Dies’ back in 08’, I’ve been patiently awaiting my opportunity.
Soulwax, an alternative electronic band from Belgium, has been beckoning me like a fresh pie on the windowsill. I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing their 2ManyDJs sets but it’s not the same. What can I say, I’m a sucker for live drums.
Everything they touch is gold. Don’t miss them at HHM on Saturday!
Hard Haunted Mansion is right around the corner and my anticipation tank is overflowing. Big names such as Rusko, Skrillex and Fatboy Slim decorate the bright orange flyer; Gary Richards has done it again. Lots of talent, but to be frank, there’s only one group that’s tickling my balls. Ever since experiencing their incredible documentary, ‘Part Of The Weekend Never Dies’ back in 08’, I’ve been patiently awaiting my opportunity.
Soulwax, an alternative electronic band from Belgium, has been beckoning me like a fresh pie on the windowsill. I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing their 2ManyDJs sets but it’s not the same. What can I say, I’m a sucker for live drums.
Everything they touch is gold. Don’t miss them at HHM on Saturday!
HARD usually likes to wait for one of their preceding concerts before they release future lineups, but I guess the excitement kept Destructo from waiting until HARD Summer. Audiotistic was last night and the floors were showered with flyers for the 4th annual HARD Haunted Mansion!!! Holy sh*t f*ck mother of god they’ve done it again. SOULWAX AND 2MANYDJS MAKE THEIR RETURN TO LA! I can’t let up on these guys. They consistently put together some of the top performances I’ve ever beared witness. This year is stacked with another all star lineup that HARD never leaves us without.
Of these artists, I’m excited to see: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, GOOSE, Skream & Benga, Fatboy Slim, and Tiga. As always I can never get tired of Fake Blood, Laidback Luke, Rusko, Skrillex, and 12th Planet. All in their respected order. It’s going to be another hell of a Halloween. Here we go for round 4!
FULL POST
Thanks phone cameras..
HARD usually likes to wait for one of their preceding concerts before they release future lineups, but I guess the excitement kept Destructo from waiting until HARD Summer. Audiotistic was last night and the floors were showered with flyers for the 4th annual HARD Haunted Mansion!!! Holy sh*t f*ck mother of god they’ve done it again. SOULWAX AND 2MANYDJS MAKE THEIR RETURN TO LA! I can’t let up on these guys. They consistently put together some of the top performances I’ve ever beared witness. This year is stacked with another all star lineup that HARD never leaves us without.
Of these artists, I’m excited to see: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, GOOSE, Skream & Benga, Fatboy Slim, and Tiga. As always I can never get tired of Fake Blood, Laidback Luke, Rusko, Skrillex, and 12th Planet. All in their respected order. It’s going to be another hell of a Halloween. Here we go for round 4!
Finally. Some more local talent that knows their shit. Groove Monsters consists of UCI alumni (zotzotzot) Alex “Yooney Tunes” Yoon and Kyle “Time Machine” Dineen. They have been on the tables individually since ’09 and decided to combine forces June of this year. I’ve been fortunate enough to see these guys perform at a couple local clubs, and it’s a breath of fresh air to hear them throw down tracks that need more airtime. Tracks that force you off your ass and to get into the groove like their name suggests. They hooked me up with an exclusive HARD mix doing just that. The tracklist alone should be enough to woo it into your ears. Yoon shared a blurb on his blog about the track that you can download here. Here’s what he had to say on their second mix:
“This one was definitely a challenge as song selection was limited to only HARD artists. Finding music from as many of them as I could that intertwined well together resulted in soooo much trial and error haha. Especially working on turntables and Serato, it’s all about being diligent and finding that perfect bar to drop the next song to. Our main goal as mix producers is to create a unique mix with seamless flow from start to finish while utilizing variously sounding songs (i.e. AC/DC-Thunderstruck Crookers Remix to Shobaleader One-Cryptic Motion Mr. Oizo Remix). We basically decide what direction we want to go in, whether it be theme or sound-driven, and go about finding those building block songs to tell the story. We really want to expose music that you normally wouldn’t hear very often, but that is also approachable for new electronica ears. Also, I could be wrong, but I feel that most people nowadays don’t give songs a full listen (I know I sometimes don’t). With electro music there are so many layers and so much that progresses in a 6 minute period, that a quick mix wouldn’t have done these songs justice. Many mixes tend to play about 1-1.5 minutes of each song, but we really wanted to give you all a decent listen to each“
Enjoy this shit. Get pumped on the weekend. We’ll see you there!
TRACKLIST
N.E.R.D. – Hot-N-Fun (Boys Noize Remix)
Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)
Busy P – To Protect & Entertain (Crookers Remix)
Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Crookers Remix)
Fake Blood – I Think I Like It
AC/DC – Thunderstruck (Crookers Remix)
AC Slater – Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
Shobaleader One – Cryptic Motion (Mr. Oizo Remix)
SebastiAn – Momy (Erol Alkan Edit)
Mr. Oizo – Lamb’s Garage (Doorly Re-Edit)
Bloody Beetroots feat. Congorock – Rombo
Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – Lemonade
Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
Swedish House Mafia – One (Congorock Remix)
Bloody Beetroots – We Are From Venice (La Serenissima)
Rusko feat. Amber Coffman – Hold On (Sub Focus Remix)
FULL POST
Being a well known and talented DJ nowadays is becoming more of a difficult feat as new artists jump into the scene regularly. Haters from a year ago are aspiring to be the next Tiesto, and we have to deal with it. Experience on the tables is only half the game, though. You have to really know the music. The ins and outs of every beat, of every track and sample, to weave it all together in a way that no one else can to stand out.
Finally. Some more local talent that knows their shit. Groove Monsters consists of UCI alumni (zotzotzot) Alex “Yooney Tunes” Yoon and Kyle “Time Machine” Dineen. They have been on the tables individually since ’09 and decided to combine forces June of this year. I’ve been fortunate enough to see these guys perform at a couple local clubs, and it’s a breath of fresh air to hear them throw down tracks that need more airtime. Tracks that force you off your ass and to get into the groove like their name suggests. They hooked me up with an exclusive HARD mix doing just that. The tracklist alone should be enough to woo it into your ears. Yoon shared a blurb on his blog about the track that you can download here. Here’s what he had to say on their second mix:
“This one was definitely a challenge as song selection was limited to only HARD artists. Finding music from as many of them as I could that intertwined well together resulted in soooo much trial and error haha. Especially working on turntables and Serato, it’s all about being diligent and finding that perfect bar to drop the next song to. Our main goal as mix producers is to create a unique mix with seamless flow from start to finish while utilizing variously sounding songs (i.e. AC/DC-Thunderstruck Crookers Remix to Shobaleader One-Cryptic Motion Mr. Oizo Remix). We basically decide what direction we want to go in, whether it be theme or sound-driven, and go about finding those building block songs to tell the story. We really want to expose music that you normally wouldn’t hear very often, but that is also approachable for new electronica ears. Also, I could be wrong, but I feel that most people nowadays don’t give songs a full listen (I know I sometimes don’t). With electro music there are so many layers and so much that progresses in a 6 minute period, that a quick mix wouldn’t have done these songs justice. Many mixes tend to play about 1-1.5 minutes of each song, but we really wanted to give you all a decent listen to each“
Enjoy this shit. Get pumped on the weekend. We’ll see you there!
TRACKLIST
N.E.R.D. – Hot-N-Fun (Boys Noize Remix)
Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)
Busy P – To Protect & Entertain (Crookers Remix)
Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Crookers Remix)
Fake Blood – I Think I Like It
AC/DC – Thunderstruck (Crookers Remix)
AC Slater – Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix)
Shobaleader One – Cryptic Motion (Mr. Oizo Remix)
SebastiAn – Momy (Erol Alkan Edit)
Mr. Oizo – Lamb’s Garage (Doorly Re-Edit)
Bloody Beetroots feat. Congorock – Rombo
Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – Lemonade
Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
Swedish House Mafia – One (Congorock Remix)
Bloody Beetroots – We Are From Venice (La Serenissima)
Rusko feat. Amber Coffman – Hold On (Sub Focus Remix)
**Past special guest included: sebastiAn, deadmau5, 2 Many DJ’s, Daedalus. Be prepared for an ACTUAL special guest. FYI, Justice has been at the last two Haunted Mansions, but I really don’t wanna get my hopes up…we’ll see!
HARD
FULL POST
Set times are out. Saturday is sold out. Sunday is about to be. Buses are locked in and packed to the brim. In a perfect world where bitches don’t be crazy, money grows on trees, drugs have no negative side effects, and people don’t understand the concept of sadness…my weekend schedule would look something like this:
**Past special guest included: sebastiAn, deadmau5, 2 Many DJ’s, Daedalus. Be prepared for an ACTUAL special guest. FYI, Justice has been at the last two Haunted Mansions, but I really don’t wanna get my hopes up…we’ll see!
Here’s a run down of Night 2. The night I’m most excited for, Halloween, and the night I’d like to put the bus together. If you want to check back up on the Night 1 post…click here.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: A-Trak is the most talented DJ in the world. He’s the only one that could fill DJ AM‘s (RIP) shoes with Travis Barker, and the only person that can really show the world how delightful electronic/disco can really be (via Duck Sauce). A-Trak is an artist in every meaning of the word. Not only does he bring out the freshest, get-off-your-ass-and-dance, hard hitting tracks, he weaves them together with undeniable, award winning DJ skills by mashing the turn tables live. His impeccable song selection and groovy style are sure to impress. Adjectives and explanatory phrases aside, if you like to move it move it…DO NOT MISS THIS. Here’s a video I got of him at Audiotistic this year:
The more I listen to this guy, the more excited I get to see him. He’s making his way onto my Delightful Choice list for the night, because I feel like he would be nothing less than amazing live…as far as song selection and presentation go. He’s got a lot of his own tracks that are actually really good. His originals and remixes dive deep into the depths of the type of dubstep I love, the electronic I love, and a hybrid of the two. He uses a lot of the dubstep wobbles but adds an extra bass between the beats to make it more electro and danceable for some songs. He’s not as accessible as other artists on the bill for enlightened electronic lovers (EELs), but I definitely would recommend him to anyone who is down with dubstep and hard electro. He’s going to be one of the underdog stars of the night. You can quote me.
He’s back to Haunted Mansion yet again. Boys Noize is up in the ranks with sebastiAn for being there at my electronic enlightenment stage. I still remember the first time I heard “Lava Lava.” My life was forever changed. I never heard anything like it. He definitely has a very unique sound, and it comes out during his sets. The first time I was fortunate enough to see him was as I was walking away from Justice‘s set, through DJ AM in the warehouse, to the other outside stage for Boys Noize. All of this was at The Shrine, more on that later. HHM 2008 flashback…Anyhow, he was an absolute treat. He messes around with the records and gets really into it. Very fun to watch. Very creative. If you can manage…DO NOT MISS THIS.
I had been thinking about how badly I wanted to see this guy the night before I saw the bill at HARD Summer. Needless to say, my prayers were answered, and I don’t think I could be more excited. With albums titled “I Created Disco” and “Ready For the Weekend,” you can pretty much bet that his set is going to be a straight dance party throughout the whole performance. He’s definitely proved himself to be one of the better producers, as far as this disco/electro sub-genre goes, with hits like “Acceptable in the 80s,” “Colours,” “You Used To Hold Me,” the list goes on. I’ve had both of his albums and essential mix (that you can get here) on repeat the past few weeks, and I can’t seem to get enough. Just trying to be ready for the weekend, you feel me. And incase you were wondering: he gets all the girls, he gets all the girls…DO NOT MISS THIS.
There You Have It!
I really hope this makes your decision easier. As you can see, this is probably the most excited I’ve been for an event for awhile…I hope we share at least half of that excitement. The Shrine is my favorite place for these big events. It’s got an outdoor section and an indoor section. It doesn’t even get that hot inside, because it’s just so large. Everywhere is pretty accessible, as the place doesn’t get TOO packed and anywhere you stand will give you an acceptable view of the DJs. Check out Deadmau5‘s video from Haunted Mansion 2008 here. Should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Also, HARD has been known to go all out on the special guests. Last year, the special guests for night two were Deadmau5 and 2 Many DJs. You can bet that made for an absolutely insane night. Something tells me that Justice may be one of the specials. Partially because of the fact that they were there for the first two Haunted Mansions and a lot of the talent from their old label (Ed Banger Records) is going to be there. This also includes the owner of the label, Busy P, who just so happens to manage Justice and Daft Punk. I’m just predicting…the only thing that I am 100% about for the night is that it’s going to be a highlight to my concert-going career. If you have any further questions about the event, feel free to hit me up: controlaltdelight@gmail.com
Here’s a run down of Night 2. The night I’m most excited for, Halloween, and the night I’d like to put the bus together. If you want to check back up on the Night 1 post…click here.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: A-Trak is the most talented DJ in the world. He’s the only one that could fill DJ AM‘s (RIP) shoes with Travis Barker, and the only person that can really show the world how delightful electronic/disco can really be (via Duck Sauce). A-Trak is an artist in every meaning of the word. Not only does he bring out the freshest, get-off-your-ass-and-dance, hard hitting tracks, he weaves them together with undeniable, award winning DJ skills by mashing the turn tables live. His impeccable song selection and groovy style are sure to impress. Adjectives and explanatory phrases aside, if you like to move it move it…DO NOT MISS THIS. Here’s a video I got of him at Audiotistic this year:
The more I listen to this guy, the more excited I get to see him. He’s making his way onto my Delightful Choice list for the night, because I feel like he would be nothing less than amazing live…as far as song selection and presentation go. He’s got a lot of his own tracks that are actually really good. His originals and remixes dive deep into the depths of the type of dubstep I love, the electronic I love, and a hybrid of the two. He uses a lot of the dubstep wobbles but adds an extra bass between the beats to make it more electro and danceable for some songs. He’s not as accessible as other artists on the bill for enlightened electronic lovers (EELs), but I definitely would recommend him to anyone who is down with dubstep and hard electro. He’s going to be one of the underdog stars of the night. You can quote me.
He’s back to Haunted Mansion yet again. Boys Noize is up in the ranks with sebastiAn for being there at my electronic enlightenment stage. I still remember the first time I heard “Lava Lava.” My life was forever changed. I never heard anything like it. He definitely has a very unique sound, and it comes out during his sets. The first time I was fortunate enough to see him was as I was walking away from Justice‘s set, through DJ AM in the warehouse, to the other outside stage for Boys Noize. All of this was at The Shrine, more on that later. HHM 2008 flashback…Anyhow, he was an absolute treat. He messes around with the records and gets really into it. Very fun to watch. Very creative. If you can manage…DO NOT MISS THIS.
I had been thinking about how badly I wanted to see this guy the night before I saw the bill at HARD Summer. Needless to say, my prayers were answered, and I don’t think I could be more excited. With albums titled “I Created Disco” and “Ready For the Weekend,” you can pretty much bet that his set is going to be a straight dance party throughout the whole performance. He’s definitely proved himself to be one of the better producers, as far as this disco/electro sub-genre goes, with hits like “Acceptable in the 80s,” “Colours,” “You Used To Hold Me,” the list goes on. I’ve had both of his albums and essential mix (that you can get here) on repeat the past few weeks, and I can’t seem to get enough. Just trying to be ready for the weekend, you feel me. And incase you were wondering: he gets all the girls, he gets all the girls…DO NOT MISS THIS.
There You Have It!
I really hope this makes your decision easier. As you can see, this is probably the most excited I’ve been for an event for awhile…I hope we share at least half of that excitement. The Shrine is my favorite place for these big events. It’s got an outdoor section and an indoor section. It doesn’t even get that hot inside, because it’s just so large. Everywhere is pretty accessible, as the place doesn’t get TOO packed and anywhere you stand will give you an acceptable view of the DJs. Check out Deadmau5‘s video from Haunted Mansion 2008 here. Should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Also, HARD has been known to go all out on the special guests. Last year, the special guests for night two were Deadmau5 and 2 Many DJs. You can bet that made for an absolutely insane night. Something tells me that Justice may be one of the specials. Partially because of the fact that they were there for the first two Haunted Mansions and a lot of the talent from their old label (Ed Banger Records) is going to be there. This also includes the owner of the label, Busy P, who just so happens to manage Justice and Daft Punk. I’m just predicting…the only thing that I am 100% about for the night is that it’s going to be a highlight to my concert-going career. If you have any further questions about the event, feel free to hit me up: controlaltdelight@gmail.com
Set times are out. Saturday is sold out. Sunday is about to be. Buses are locked in and packed to the brim. In a perfect world where bitches don’t be crazy, money grows on trees, drugs have no negative side effects, and people don’t understand the concept of sadness…my weekend schedule would look something like this:
