Living in Finland, on the north-east edge of the EU, I have the chance to travel to my eastern neighbour Russia easily and I have been doing so since 2010 playing gigs there in various places. Acidcorefest.Moscowedition was held between 23rd and 24th of September and it was my second gig in Moscow. Acidcorefest has its roots in Russia’s culture capital St. Petersburg and the concept was now visiting in the country’s business capital.
Contrary to what the name suggests, these fests have very little to do with the acidcore subgenre itself. The fests are more like a celebration of the diverse underground hardcore techno styles and breakcore and speedcore representing both local talents as well as interesting international artists. The mainstream hardcore scene hasn’t been completely excluded from the equation either, but what became clear to me from the very beginning was that this party was not going to limit itself in terms of speed and intensity.
Acid Blood dancefloor
The party venue was Aglomerat Club, a building that used to be a cinema in the Soviet times and had been recently refurbished into a techno club. The interior was like an abandoned warehouse, so the event definitely had the feel of a proper underground rave. I initially thought that the event would be split between 2 nights, but it was actually a 15 hour party from 9PM till 1PM! 46 artists and dj’s were on the lineup for 2 dancefloors: Acid Blood, which was the main stage, and Acid Jam, the “chillout”.
Since my first visits in the country I have noticed that Russians like their core music fast and this night was no exception as people went totally mad from the chaotic distorted breaks and bassdrums starting to run around the dancefloor. Mashup style hardcore and breakcore seemed to be especially popular, but many dj’s also played more darker tones of crossbreed, dnb as well as more minimal, but very effective oldschool sounding hardcore. So I said that the Acid Jam dancefloor was the chillout, and it kind of was when jungle and hardtek dj’s were playing, but many times I would enter there and intense as fuck breakcore and hardcore comparable to the main stage was blasted there as well.
KlitoriX playing at Acid Blood stage
Definite crowd favorites of the evening were the hardcore/breakcore artists Klitorix from Spain and M1dlet from Lithuania, whom I especially remember of his speedcore releases in the past. Local favorites were especially the Action Agenda duo and the metal, core and dnb fusing Sa†an, who has received wider international fame in recent years for his music and shows. A more bizarre local speciality and exception of the night was XS Project, a duo producing pumping house and hard bass – styles popular among squatting Slavs in tracksuits. For me personally, the most interesting set of the night was by Quinta Essentia who delivered straightforward, relentless and at times quite hypnotic hardcore beats. After her Extremest, a touring artist from Scotland, played some mashupcore madness of varying tempos. There were still survivors left when it was my turn to play my shamancore music as Teknoaidi before 8 in the morning. The shamancore shaking rituals went down very well and the crowd demanded me to play some extra.
It was a pleasure meeting many old and new people, fellow international artists from Europe and I was also surprised to meet Jüps from as far away as Seattle who was travelling and visiting parties in Europe and Russia. It was unfortunate that the party could have had more visitors.. Gotta give the organizers lots of respect for taking the risk to put this party together! In a time where the powers that be are creating apparent divisions between people, music is a great way to step out of the geopolitical games and bond us together.
You are going to love this article. Neil Strauss gave me that tip during his “Running a Virus Scan on Your Mental Operating System” talk at the Fourth Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference. You want to prepare someone’s mind for a good time, but if you throw a “neg” in there, i.e. like something kind of negative or cautionary… they’ll reflexively go on the defensive. So, I had to lead in this piece like I just did before I tell you about shooting stem cells into your junk.
“Biohacking” is a computer hackers’ approach to health and fitness, medicine and the biological sciences undertaken by individuals and private groups of various sizes. This conference was hosted by arguably America’s only biohacking superstar, Dave Asprey. You may have drunk the coffee he’s popularized (grass-fed butter and high-grade MCT oil blended in organic, mold-free coffee), listened to his podcasts documenting his use of various supplements, hyperbaric and cryogenic chambers, light therapy… the list goes on and on. Basically, Dave Asprey has marketed himself as a human guinea pig. If he survives his experiments, he blogs, podcasts and ultimately, hopefully, comes up with a well-designed consumer product at the end. Thus came the Bulletproof Biohacking Conference, where ostensibly Asprey obscures some of the grosser bits of biohacking with a hastily constructed conference dividing wall and proceeds to present its bleeding edge to a few thousand mavericks ready to join in the fun. You want the best intravenous combo vitamin shot you’ll probably ever get? It’s just behind the curtain, mate.
Jim Welch tries the CVAC at the Bulletproof Biohacking Conference 2016
Since the goal of most biohacking is to be more youthful, healthy and live longer, it sort of rules out that somewhat comforting, “someday I’ll die and all this annoying shit will be over” feeling that is a big part of most people’s lives. The crowd at this conference was having none of that. It was a good-looking crowd of Millennials and Gen Xer’s trying to squeeze out the good things in life promised to them, in the midst of a global economic system set-up against them.
On its surface, the three-day conference would seem to be mostly about athletic high performance, stem cell injections, and cutting edge vitamin supplements. However, relationship advice was Saturday main-stage material. It became clearly apparent to me: If you aren’t quite ready to die, you gotta hook up and reproduce. It really is so simple I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about it before.
Thus, suspiciously repentant author of the classic pick-up book, “The Game”, Neil Strauss, stole the show Saturday as he lectured a crowd of over-caffeinated, wannabe overachievers convinced they still haven’t experienced the perfect 30 minute orgasm. He rolled out a few zingers that would impress even the most well-adjusted, successfully self-medicated self-help junkies and then he dropped the bomb. I’m doing a disservice to his overall message by encapsulating it as, “get out of your own way you egotistical, self-absorbed, accidental narcissist” because it truly was more complex than that. Patiently, he simply and deftly explained with hasty chalk diagrams the formation of neural networks necessary for your survival and how they shape and perhaps aid or stymie your relationships in the present moment. It was quite good.
After Strauss’s talk, he was promptly mobbed by attendees clamoring for more. As he attempted to walk around the conference, it was like Socrates being followed by Plato and the Gang. Well, except that half of the dialogue was initiated by smokin’ hot “bulletproof betties” eager to pick the brain of the “master of The Game.”
Seeing no other way out, Strauss improvised a relationship salon under some shade trees outside the conference hall. There, he had the opportunity to concentrate on some attendees’ vexing problems.
Neil Strauss gives an impromptu relationship salon at the 4th Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference 2016
For example: what if you were a member of a Northern California techno-music cult looking for “womb donors” at the Biohacking Conference and were having only limited success finding sign-ups? Even though, they would be featured on a forthcoming reality TV show marketed by the cult? After stroking his beard, looking at the ground for a pregnant pause that seemed an eternity, Strauss looked up and said, “Having a baby for a reality TV show is probably the worst reason I could possibly think of to have a child.”
Next up was John Gray, Mr. “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” himself. If you’ve read his book or seen his schtick during a PBS pledge drive, you know it’s a good time. He rolled out all the choice bits featured in his now 30-year old classic seminar lecture. He even did the bit where he examines an attendee’s purse as evidence of his theories. Frankly, for as entertaining as it was, it was sort of dated. He ended up going about 15 minutes over his allotted speaking time because he couldn’t pass up the sure-fire pizazz he’s developed over the years. If you were new to it, I know it was fun. But if you’ve been seeing this guy since the days of the Phil Donahue Show, you weren’t really learning anything new. Basically at the end he said, “Read my new book.” Every attendee did get a copy of his, “The Mars and Venus Diet and Exercise Solution” book for free though, so ultimately you have to give him props for delivering solid goods that you could roll with.
Stem cells were main stage material this year. Amazing developments were touted and prospects for healing a variety of physical discomforts and injuries look promising. Asprey then showed a video of himself getting injections in almost every area of his body, even his junk! He claimed it even made his equipment 20% bigger. That got a lot of attention. I just hope that Ron Jeremy doesn’t find out about this and ends up giving a presentation at next year’s conference. All joking aside, the stem cell info really was amazing and I definitely recommend non-attendees check out some of the more recent Bulletproof podcasts on the subject.
The other big deal this year was oxaloacetate, a nutrient that is great for clearing brain fog or calming the mental chatter when you’ve had too many cups of coffee. Bulletproof was giving out samples of their new product “Ketoprime” that featured this stuff, and it did the trick. I was drinking coffee non-stop during the conference and the Ketoprime definitely took the edge off quick. It should be available in coming months. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some good oxaloacetate, get Bulletproof’s “Aging Formula” which does roughly the same thing but not so abruptly and over the course of your day.
Actually, I almost spilled my early morning cup of coffee when the best relationship moment of the conference happened. Longtime Bulletproofer Jonathan Brnak proposed marriage to Hideko Elizondo right on stage as Jonathan was touting the benefits of his involvement with the Bulletproof lifestyle. What initially seemed like a run-of-the-mill conference infomercial quickly morphed into, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this is freaking happening!” It’s awesome to see relationships blossom, especially in the midst of the burgeoning Bulletproof eco-system that I’ve been lucky enough to see sprout up in my hometown of Santa Monica.
And, whereas Jonathan definitely had help from his Bulletproof homies pulling this off, Hideko had no idea it was going down before it happened. It was truly awesome and I was proud to tell my friends at the conference I knew them both. If it wasn’t for Jonathan and Hideko, I wouldn’t have learned about Bulletproof. It was they, as former managers of the vanguard Santa Monica Bulletproof store, who suffered through my numerous questions, skepticism and frequent stretching of the coffee re-fill policy. So big-ups to Jonathan and Hideko! Here’s a video of how it happened…
By: Brandon “CabZ” Caballero Follow me on Twitter at @BrandonCabZ
Fresh Entertainment is no stranger to bringing the Harder Styles to their fans. Over the years, they have hosted countless parties featuring some of the leading artists in hard dance music, and can boast multiple international DJ premiers in the USA. On Saturday September 17, 2016, Fresh struck Los Angeles with their third installment of Hardstyle Arena, this time with a RAW twist to their lineup! Hosted by MC Sik-Wit-It, Hardstyle Arena: Raw and Disorder featured westcoast talents Keiji and Dyverse, Italian Hardstyle legend Tatanka (LA premier), and Dutch artists Endymion, and Crypsis (US premier).
One of the things I admire about Fresh is their willingness to take chances, as well as listen to their fans. This was best demonstrated by booking the first headliner of the night, Keiji, who after being nominated by fans in a Facebook poll, was selected to be apart of the lineup. Keiji brought a great warm-up vibe to the crowd and really played a great set, I look forward to many great things to come from Keiji in the future!
Following Keiji was LA duo Dyverse. Dyverse joined forces with host MC Sik-Wit-It to create the anthem for the show, aptly named Raw and Disorder. As Dyverse finished up their set Union was abuzz with what was to come, and the energy in the crowd pointed to a good night to come. The massive sound system had been getting louder, and Fresh’s upgraded laser systems had kicked on, hypnotizing the sold out crowd. In typical Fresh fashion, go-go dancers took the stage throughout the night wearing burlesque costumes and sending sparks flying off their bodies with metal grinders! One final detail that didn’t go unnoticed to myself was a massive a banner announcing HARDSTYLE ARENA hanging over the crowd.
Following Dyverse, the Italian Hardstyle legend Tatanka took to the stage for his much anticipated first LA performance. Tatanka had previously played in the US at Las Vegas’s EDC in 2014, but due to unfortunate circumstances had a shortened set. Tatanka was determined to deliver and was active on social media with fans prior to the show, asking which of his tracks fans would like to hear him play. He dropped a diverse track selection of classics, including Afrika and Shine Again, and gradually mixed in more and more raw tracks, such as Wild Motherfuckers – Wild Wild West. Raw and Disorder was in full effect. Up next, Endymion brought their Nightbreed flavor to the crowd reigning down screeches and kick rolls teasing both their Hardstyle fans and even working some hardcore into their set, Gladiator being the highlight of their set for myself.
Last up for the night was the Main MF himself, Crypsis, making his USA premier! Crypsis has been due to the US for years now in my opinion, and I think his set proves why. He brought the Minus is More sound to the US and definitely left the crowd in Disorder, closing with Break Down Low Minus Militia hardcore edit.
Overall Fresh delivered an all-star lineup, and created an environment filled with passionate Hardstyle fans, banging beats, and good vibes. I had the opportunity to speak with Fresh’s Operations and Marketing Coordinator, Sherief Zakher, who had this to say to about the night: “We just want to say thank you so much to all the fans, because of you, Hardstyle Arena was an amazing night filled with great vibes, love, and banging beats! We always say ‘join the movement’ and you guys are the movement. Thank you so much for your passion and energy!”
If you couldn’t make it to Hardstyle Arena, or you just need to re-dose on your hardstyle, Fresh has you covered with their upcoming show October 15th with the 2nd Los Angeles installment of Keeping the Rave Alive– featuring Mark Breeze, Kutski, Zany, and another US premier artist, Dr. Rude. Even more exciting news from Fresh, be on the lookout for their Winterfresh show on December 3rd where they announced at the end of Hardstyle Arena will feature DJ Thera (US Premier) and Partyraiser.
Another interview featuring long time member of AZ Hardcore Junkie and played AZHC XX – Arizona Hardcore’s 20 year celebration last weekend. Talking about the future of hardcore in America.
