Tag Archives: featured

Day one October 30, 2017. Contemplating in a graveyard because I find myself being featured on the television show called “Now and Then” as I will write down in log my first day recalling escape 2017.

First foremost I would like to thank insomniac for the opportunity to cover this event and interview DJs. It was really the most profound experience I have had yet to date and I will re-iterate by thanking them because they really are the best party thrower’s in the world.My name is 3MiloE and this is my Escape 2017 experience.

Logged October 30th, 2017

The purpose of this project is to really capture the feeling of both the artist and the party goer. I will be updating this project daily posting photos interviews and my personal experience interviewing partygoers as well updating daily as time goes along so you can track my project and the progress of this project from beginning to end . Readers can thoroughly enjoy themselves and go through my story day by day rather than having to wait to finish the entire project. I hope you will re-live my experience, with me as I put it down in this article and capture my own experience throughout this wild weekend which was a esape 2017.

9:23 a.m. Tuesday, Halloween, October 31, 2017, my friends back yard,

Please allow me to get sidetracked for a second because the main focus of this work, is to derive meaning from this entire stream of consciousness that I experienced during Escape. Although it’s hard to describe. People think it’s about that music, people think about the drugs, people think it’s about the lights, people think it’s about dressing up. It’s really about what each individual takes away from it.

The first night I spent the night interviewing the DJs but the second night I interviewed the crowd. It was interesting to find out what really makes everything tick. I’ve been part of the crowd before but I have never been behind stage I wanted to ask the artist questions I wanted to know, not necessarily what people wanted to know or the public. I like to call myself a Renaissance man of EDM, I produce, I spin, I promote, I write articles, I go to festivals and, now I interview famous DJs.

Right now it is 9:20 in the morning Halloween October 31, 2017 I have just woken up at my friends house I am having a coffee before he wakes up. I am logging in my daily time thinking about who really is my audience reading this? Should I really bring the hard data? Which I feel to some extent this festival world needs.

I am going to write the story of Escape down in this text, the feelings of the artists, the feelings of myself, feelings of the crowd. With the prime directive of answering this questions, “what did we all take away from this experience. DJs, medical staff, festival workers, party goers, the producers; all changed in some way by this experience. Did people take home something with them, that had only been discovered at Escape 2017? Do they have the feeling that I have?
The feeling that artists cried when they were on stage, was the feeling that was described by general mission, and party goers and that’s the feeling I got when I was experiencing the story doing the interviews, being in the crowd, but most of all I am wondering what feeling the world or the audience will take away from this text…

Nov 2, 2017

Currently stressed about life. I really have to Now prioritize, strategize and work the hardest I’ve ever worked in my entire life. I am going to be real with you all . I am a psychology student, in the midst of his first year in my master’s program.

Now let me set the scene…”

I have recently lost my entire hard drive on my computer only a couple weeks before the festival and half way through my first session at school . And that was a Trumatic experience for me. I lost about two years worth of content on my computer including photos and all the music I have produced up until that point and my homework… Songs I had spent hours working on, lost to nothingness, save a few originals on SoundCloud. Here is my November 2nd reflection.

As my mind grows, so does my ambition and curiosity…

I have a lot of work to do, I am really stressed, but I know what I have to do and nothing can stop me from conquering my dragons! I must ride this dragon of psychology and become a master! As well as pursue my passions as an active EDM enthusiast, I feel it is my duty , to push my intellectual capacities and apply them to both my fields of research and study. One being electronic music and the other being psychology. It is my master plan, to blend the two together for my master’s thesis.

Ok Ok! I realized I have just been posting thoughts, so here is some real deal pics to satisfy you guys before I get to the juiciest part of my experience…. THE DJ INTERVIEWS…My associate and I are Dictating the interviews now!!!

Da Tweekaz love TheHardData! Thanks for reading guys!!!

November 3^rd 2017,

It is the evening of November 3^rd 2017 and I just witnessed a lecture by Fanny Brewster, a renowned psychologist who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Psychoanalyst. Her lecture was on a female Architype. I feel so connected with women, and that may sound strange coming from a man in 2017… but I truly believe, that women are underrepresented in our society.

I took my mother, as a guest, to this lecture at Pacifica, which is the University I attend for my master’s program in psychology. My time there tonight let me reflect upon how I have been thinking a lot about women lately… and the important role they play in my life. I am reflecting now, upon how important music is to me, and that there are not a lot of females in the industry. For example, I can only name two female headliners at Escape. Rezz, and of course Missk8! I feel that Rezz is channeling female power through anonymity. Rezz captures female form without giving it a physical manifestation of beauty, empowering the ideal of a woman and showing the world that a woman can headline without people acknowledging her physical appearance, the beauty lies underneath the trippy glasses. Thank you Rezz!

Similarly, empowering women is Missk8. Missk8 however, harnesses her power by shocking people with her beauty and applying it to high energy music that expresses emotions like anger and exposes aggression within people. These emotions are not often thought of as beautiful, but when Missk8 blasts her music on stage… you tend to re-evaluate things. Her beauty, and figure, has a shock, or wow factor to it. Because hard style is aggressive and angry in a lot of cases, culturally thought of as negative feelings, misunderstood, misinterpreted or misrepresented feelings, and that is not often thought of as beautiful, but Missk8 embodies the beauty that lies within the music, underneath the surface.

(LATEST UPDATE) November 15, 2017

I just established my space at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I even tagged it in my social media! I affectionately call it my office. It’s a small room in the library! It’s so perfect and quiet. I recently have been reading this book called, “Addressing Cultural Complexities in Practice Third Edition Assessment Diagnosis, and Therapy, by Pamela A. Hays. I find myself using it as a tool for self-analysis and a way of recognizing biases, within myself, that would potentially prevent me from connecting empathetically with those I seek to form therapeutic relationships with.

The reason I am bringing up this literature… is because, the literature is telling me a lot about my own self-identity. When I go to a massive rave like Escape, I can see every type of person imaginable; even those previously inconceivable.

Everyone’s inhibitions were lowered, acceptance of others was heightened. This lead to a mass exchange of culture, ideas, empathy and feelings! As a result of these socially perceived barriers, that are perceptively stronger outside of a festival setting, were almost demolished, due to the ambiance of the festival. The magnitude and scale of this social exchange goes unparalleled in modern society. It takes years, sometimes lifetimes to tear down the walls of ego and judgement that lie between us and the “other”. At festivals people differ in age, sex, gender, ethnicity, social class, religious beliefs…

A party goer dresses as the pope and Jesus Christ; a strong and symbolic representation of a cultural Archetype,

economic status, regard for authority, culture, and physical attractiveness. Yet all of us were concentrated in close proximity and feeling some of the most intense feelings that some of us will have had ever experienced in our entire lives.

In life, there is racism, intolerance, prejudice, bias, privilege and misunderstanding. As a psychologist, it is my job to understand these aspects of the human psyche, and therein my own. I must be aware of all these aspects of human life in order to be sensitive and understanding with the people I interact with. And so, with this log I would like to emphasize cultural awareness and sensitivity because we are part of this world. Each culture contributes its unique sounds, adopted by electronic music. The beats, and timing differ from country to country, culture to culture, and person to person… coming from, and spreading to, all over. There are people from all over the world, representing their unique cultures, as individuals, at these festivals. Be aware that we all need to respect and honor each other. That is the premise of the readings I found in Pamela A. Hays’ book, and the theme of this log is to reflect upon your own culture, relative to everyone else’s culture, and bring about a better perspective than the days before that time of great reflection… Happy travels- 3MiloE

I never wore color until after Escape 2017

Articles

Что такое Musicoin?

November 8, 2017 Harhor

Musicoin – это цифровая валюта, созданная для получения вознаграждения за прослушивание музыки. Каждый раз, когда слушатель проигрывает песню в глобальной экосистеме Musicoin, создатель песни получает заработок практически в реальном времени. В то же время это ничего не стоит слушателю. Статья, которую вы читаете, призвана объяснить, как такое возможно и содержит размышления о возможном развитии системы для артистов, фанатов и предпринимателей со всего мира. Musicoin начался как способ высветить проблемы современной глобальной музыкальной индустрии. Всего три корпорации владеют 80% музыкального рынка: Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group и Universal Music Group. Из-за своего влияния они имеют тенденцию диктовать, кто будет побеждать, а кто проиграет в мировой экосистеме. Новички и даже состоявшиеся музыканты могут пострадать от сложившейся ситуации. К примеру, множество артистов жалуются на низкие выплаты роялти, которые они получают от стриминговых веб-сервисов вроде Spotify и Pandora. Более того, авторские права и лицензии настолько сложны, что средний артист едва может отследить те суммы, которые он может получить.

Musicoin-ppp — PPP контракт (Pay Per Play) системы Musicoin позволяет осуществлять мгновенные платежи артисту, и эти платежи могут быть легко разделены между всеми участниками группы и другими важными для музыкальной экосистемы людьми.

Такое решение проблемы в системе Musicoin возможно благодаря использованию технологии блокчейн и смарт-контрактов. Компьютеры всего мира связываются друг с другом для создания цифровой валюты Musicoins (далее MC) и отслеживания каждой транзакции. Создание валюты и системы реестра последовательно и называется “блокчейн”, так как все компьютеры вместе генерируют “блоки” транзакций один за другим. Внутри этих транзакций записаны ордера на проведение одного или нескольких платежей. Эти платёжные ордера называются смарт-контракты или умные контракты, так как они логически исполняют выплату согласно программному коду, который в них заложен.

Если говорить простым языком, как только музыкант загружает песню в систему Musicoin, за каждое прослушивание он получает 1 MC. И если это группа музыкантов, с которыми надо поделиться наградой, система разделяет 1 MC соответственно контракту. Всё это происходит за считанные секунды с помощью блокчейна Musicoin.

Musicoin PPP 2 — Схематическое изображение PPP системы Musicoin.

Так сколько же стоит MC? Есть зависимость. Как и у других цифровых валют, MC торгуется на открытых рынках и его стоимость постоянно меняется. Временами 1 MC стоил больше 4-х центов (в долларах США). На этом уровне Musicoin выплачивал артисту за прослушивание гораздо больше, чем любой другой мейнстримовый веб-сайт. Но с любым успехом приходят и трудности. Стало ясно, что если цена MC будет продолжать расти, то никто попросту не будет слушать музыку. Люди будут копить MC в надежде на будущий рост. В действительности так и происходило при цене в 3 цента. После этого основатель Musicoin Исаак Мао (Isaac Mao) начал разрабатывать инновационную стратегию для будущего.

Исаак приобрёл известность в Китае как один из первых сетевых блоггеров и защитник свободы в Интернете. В начале 21-го века он придумал теорию и назвал её “Sharism” (суть заключается в девизе «чем больше вы делитесь, тем больше получаете»), подчеркнув важность и необходимость делиться информацией в информационную эпоху.

И хотя Sharism изначально был основной идеей первого воплощения Musicoin в феврале 2017-го, теперь он будет ещё больше, чем прежде, влиять на систему Musicoin в ответ на возникающие проблемы. Так было предложено новое, хоть и довольно спорное дополнение к блокчейну: UBI или “Универсальный Базовый Доход” (“Universal Basic Income”).

Изначально спорность UBI заключалась в том, что всё выглядело как социалистическая программа, прикрученная к блокчейну. Многие сторонники криптовалют по сути либертарианцы, а потому всё, что создаёт систему всеобщего благосостояния, например UBI, вызывало немало удивления. Тем не менее если присмотреться, оказывается, что это гораздо более изобретательно, чем устаревшие монетарные политики.

Во-первых, UBI решило проблему удержания людьми монет MC путём изменения способа вознаграждения для артистов. Отныне одно проигрывание стоит не 1 MC, а то количество MC, которое по стоимости равно 2-м центам USD (хотя данное количество может меняться, это всё равно больше, чем предлагают другие стриминг сервисы). Таким образом, прослушивание музыки будет приносить стабильный доход, а сторонники MC будут наблюдать увеличение капитала вместе с расширением и ростом всей системы.

Musicoin UBI — Эта схема UBI показывает как поток MC решит возникающие проблемы с глобальной музыкальной индустрией.

Во-вторых, любое прослушивание в системе Musicoin становится безплатным для слушателя. Музыканты получают вознаграждение из фонда, выделенного компьютерными вычислениями, как это было описано выше. Компьютеры проводят транзакции и одновременно создают новые монеты, это называется “майнингом”. Теперь майнеры платят артистам, тогда как для слушателя всё остаётся безплатным. Больше, чем просто социальная программа, система UBI делает майнеров Musicoin прямыми конкурентами Universal, Sony и Warner. Но кто все эти майнеры? Майнером может быть любой, у кого есть компьютер и современная видеокарта. Фактически любой геймер легко может “копать” MC. Так, обычные люди со всего мира майнят MC и таким образом помогают строить систему, которая поощряет артистов и слушателей совершенно новым способом. Если вы хотите узнать больше про майнинг MC – посмотрите это хорошее видео (здесь и далее на англ.).

Немного больше про майнинг рассказано в этом видео.

Тем не менее система UBI – это лишь начало. На конец 2018-го намечен новый поворот: Proof of Sharing (Доказательство распространения. Хотя оно возможно будет переименовано в Proof of Play – Доказательство прослушивания, об этом можно посмотреть здесь). В этой системе те пользователи, которые активно делятся контентом, помогают майнить MC. Если хотите узнать, как всё устроено в деталях, можете прочитать их “Белую бумагу” – в этом документе полностью обрисовано устройство платформы и все её параметры. Будущее платформы в долгосрочной перспективе описано в “Дорожной карте”.

Существуют и другие цифровые валюты, нацеленные на решение проблем глобальной музыкальной индустрии, но Musicoin значительно отличается от них. В первую очередь Musicoin работает на собственном блокчейне, тогда как остальные используют разработки других криптовалют, которые проводят массу прочих транзакций помимо собственно музыки. Потенциально это делает Musicoin более быстрым и способным к охвату многочисленных пользователей в будущем. Другой важный факт – это первая стриминговая система на технологии блокчейн, используемая одинаковым образом как артистом, так и слушателем. Будучи таковой, она первой успешно справится как с реальными мировыми проблемами, так и с модными тенденциями. По сути, Musicoin уже проверен в бою и протестирован в приложении к реальному миру.

Вот несколько ранних этапов развития Musicoin, которые помогли сформировать его эволюцию и адаптацию:

Musicoin стал первым стриминговым сервисом на блокчейне, который смог публично привлечь музыкантов и слушателей.
Musicoin присоединяется к Enterprise Ethereum Alliance – организации, состоящей из почти 500 компаний.
Формируется The Musicoin Alliance: к нему присоединяются поставщики товаров и сервисов для помощи в промоушене и утверждении Musicoin.
The Hard Data и Musicoin Pilot Program успешно раздают MC среди активных пользователей за музыкально-ориентированные продукты и сервисы: авторские статьи, фотографии, возможность приобретать футболки и подписки на журнал с помощью MC.
Первый в мире блокчейн DJ-микс “Rock the Blockchain” был выпущен на Musioin.org.

Будущее Musicoin стремительно реализуется. В будущем мы сможем увидеть систему Muscoin, встроенную в коммерческие продукты, такие как колонки или наушники. Интернет-радиостанции начнут транслировать Musicoin, так что артист получит вознаграждение за каждого слушателя. Веб-приложения будут легко использовать ссылки и трансляции на Musicoin. Вскоре вы будете иметь возможность купить билеты на мероприятия с Musicoin, футболки групп и весь спектр товаров и услуг, которые обычно считаются частью музыкального мира. В целом система повлияет таким образом, что артисты смогут вести достойную жизнь вместе со своими фанатами по всему миру, наслаждаясь своим творчеством. Становлению этого по-настоящему способствует Musicoin.

Постскриптум: пара вещей, о которых стоит упомянуть – у Musicoin есть эксклюзивный “укорачиватель” ссылок для Musicoin.org, http://jam.dj; также запущен новый веб-сайт, администрирующий политику dj-миксов: http://musicoin.dj.

Справедливости ради надо признаться (если это ещё не стало очевидным) – The Hard Data являются большими фанатами Musicoin. Мы пользуемся им для оплаты труда авторов и принимаем для продажи футболок и подписок на журнал. Musicoin помогает нам финансировать создание контента на theharddata.com. Так что мы действительно заинтересованы, когда речь заходит о Musicoin. В общем, вряд ли вы найдёте лучшую музыкально-ориентированную цифровую валюту. Призываем вас убедится в этом самим, если вы нам не верите.

Перевод: Harhor

Ред. : Cikada

Articles, Deadly Buda

What is Musicoin?

November 2, 2017 DJ Deadly Buda 1 Comment

Musicoin is a digital currency designed for the compensation and consumption of music. Every time a listener plays a song anywhere in the global Musicoin ecosystem, the song’s creators are paid in near real-time. The listening however, does not cost listeners anything. This article will explain how this is possible and speculate on Musicoin’s possible ramifications for music artists, fans and business people around the world.

Musicoin began as a way to address the problems associated with the current global music industry. Three corporations, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group own over 80% of the global market. Because of their power, they tend to dictate who the winners and losers are – and will be – in the global music ecosystem. New and even established musicians can suffer because of this situation. For example, many artists have complained about low royalty payments they received from streaming websites such as Spotify and Pandora. Furthermore, music copyrights and licensing are so complicated that it is difficult for the average artist to keep track of what monies they might be entitled to.

The Musicoin PPP Contract enables quick payments to artists and can be easily split with band members and other important people in the music ecosystem.

The Musicoin solution to this problem is achieved primarily with the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts. Computers around the world communicate with each other to create a digital currency called Musicoins, and then keeps track of all their transactions. This currency creation and ledger system is sequential and often referred to as a “blockchain” because the computers are processing “blocks” of transactions one after the other. Within those transactions are orders to distribute payments to one or several entities. Those payment orders are called “smart contracts” because they logically execute payment orders based on how they are programmed.

So in plain English, once a musician uploaded their song into the Musicoin system, every time their song got played they were paid 1 Musicoin. And if the musician had band members he or she needed to split the profits with, the Musicoin would get split accordingly. This all happened in seconds via the Musicoin blockchain.

An elaborated view of the Musicoin PPP pay-per-play system.

So how much is a Musicoin worth? It depends. Like other digital currencies, Musicoins are traded on the open market and its value fluctuates by the minute. At times, Musicoins have been worth over 4 cents (in United States Dollars). At over 4 cents per play, Musicoin was paying artists a much higher per-stream rate than any mainstream music websites.

But with any success comes challenges. It was quickly realized that if the price of Musicoins kept climbing, no one would play music. People would hoard Musicoins hoping they would be more valuable. In fact, some were already doing that when they were worth 3 cents. So, Musicoin’s primary founder, Isaac Mao, started developing innovative strategies for the future.

Isaac had gained notoriety in China for being one of its first web-bloggers, and an advocate of internet freedom. In the early 21^st century he had developed a theory called “Sharism” that emphasized the importance and necessity of sharing information in the information age. Though Sharism was already an idea that underlined Musicoin’s early incarnation of February 2017, it would now influence the Musicoin system more so than before in response to the new challenges. A controversial new implementation to the blockchain was proposed: UBI or “Universal Basic Income.”

UBI was initially controversial as it sounded like a Socialist program implemented on the blockchain. Many proponents of digital currencies are very Libertarian in outlook, and anything that resembles a welfare system, or a “Universal Basic Income” for everyone raised a lot of eyebrows. However, a closer look at UBI revealed it was far more ingenious than out-dated monetary policies.

UBI solved the problem of Musicoin hoarding first by changing the reward to the artist. One play of their song was no longer 1 Musicoin, but an amount of Musicoin equal to roughly 2 cents USD (however, that amount can fluctuate so that it would always be more than what other music streaming services pay). In this way, music plays would emit a stable reward, and people holding onto Musicoins will likely see their investment grow as the system gains wider adoption.

Musicoin's UBI schematic demonstrates how the flow of Musicoins will be set to solve ongoing problems with the global music industry. — Musicoin’s UBI schematic demonstrates how the flow of Musicoins will be set to solve ongoing problems with the global music industry.

Next, all plays on the Musicoin system became free for the listener. The musicians are paid from a fund allocated by the computers processing the Musicoin transactions as described earlier in this article. When the computers process Musicoin transactions and make new Musicoins it is referred to as “mining”. So now, the miners of Musicoin pay the artists while the public listens for free. Far from being a social program, the UBI system arguably makes the Musicoin miners direct competitors with Universal, Sony and Warner. And who are those miners? They could be anyone with a computer and a modern graphics card. Virtually any gamer could easily mine Musicoin. So, normal people all over the world mining Musicoin are helping build a system that rewards artists and listeners in a whole new fashion. If you want to learn more about Musicoin mining, here is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5-6PXfH7gw

I speak a little bit about the wider implications of UBI in this video:

The UBI system is only the beginning though. Slated for late 2018, Musicoin will introduce a new wrinkle: Proof of Sharing (though it may be renamed to “Proof of Play” as seen in this video). In this system, users actively sharing content will help mine Musicoins. For the nuts and bolts about how the Musicoin system works, read their “White Paper” which is a document outlining Musicoin’s platform design and specifications. Musicoin’s long-term vision can be found in its Roadmap document.

There are other digital currencies aimed at addressing the problems of the global music industry, but Musicoin differs from them in significant ways. Most notably is that Musicoin runs its own blockchain system, whereas other solutions ride on top of other digital currency solutions that process many different types of transactions besides just music. This makes Musicoin potentially faster and able to scale easier to a larger population of users. The other important fact is that Musicoin was the first functioning music streaming service powered by blockchain technology that could be used by artist and listener alike. Being such, it has been the first to successfully deal with real world problems and fashion solutions. In essence, Musicoin is battle tested in real-world applications.

Here are some early Musicoin milestones that have helped shape its evolution and adoption:

Musicoin becomes the first functioning music streaming service powered by blockchain technology that can publicly accommodate musicians and listeners.
Musicoin joins the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, an organization made up of Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and academics dedicated to smart contract technology.
The Musicoin Alliance forms, as providers of goods and services join in an effort to promote the adoption of Musicoin.
The Hard Data and Musicoin Pilot Program successfully put Musicoin in the hands of active users for music-related goods and services, namely article writing, photography, and the ability to purchase t-shirts and printed magazine subscriptions with Musicoin.
The world’s first DJ mix powered with blockchain technology, “Rock the Blockchain” is released on Musicoin.org.

The future of Musicoin is rapidly coming to fruition. In the future we could see the Musicoin system embedded in commercial products such as speakers and headphones. Internet radio stations could stream Musicoin so that artists are paid for each listener. Web applications would easily allow the implementation of Musicoin links and streams. Soon, you may be able to buy tickets to events with Musicoin, band t-shirts, and a whole raft of goods and services normally associated with the music world. The overall effect of the Musicoin system could be artists making a decent living from fans the world over enjoying their music, and this is the world that Musicoin is helping to make.

The Musicoin view of the future and important milestones towards which it is headed.

Post script: a couple things worth mentioning is that Musicoin has an exlusive URL-shortener for Musicoin.org links, http://jam.dj and a new website administering dj mix policy for the Musicoin system has been launched, http://musicoin.dj

Also, fair disclosure in case its not obvious, The Hard Data is a big fan of Musicoin. We use it to pay our contributors, and accept it for t-shirts and magazine subscriptions. Musicoin helps fund content creation on theharddata.com. So, we are really biased when it comes to the topic of Musicoin. That said, we don’t think you will find a better music-focused digital currency and urge you to look for yourself if you don’t believe us.

Articles, Reviews

Escape: Psycho Circus 2017 Early Report: Less Twerking at Basscon Stage than others, thank goodness.

October 28, 2017 DJ Deadly Buda

Insomniac’s Escape line-up this year featured the Basscon stage. Ok, that makes sense. Unbelievably, in years past that has not been the case. But how can you have Halloween without scary hardcore techno and hardstyle I ask you? So fittingly, The Hard Data was out in full force Friday bringing you the goods. We got excellent interviews last night with Angerfist and Miss K8, Coone, DJ Isaac, Pulsatorz, Crisis Era and Da Tweekaz just for starters. You can look forward to those interviews hitting the print mag and online in the next week.

Getting to the site early is always a treat. You can walk around without stress and the vibe is nice. Since it opened at 4pm, it was daylight out and we got to get a good look at what Insomniac did with the NOS Events Center this year. It is super decked-out! The past events at NOS lately have mostly centered on the two big indoor areas, but here, they erected tents for the different brands, had a haunted maze, carnival rides… it’s the best I’ve seen the NOS look in a while.

There’s a good crowd here but not so packed it is annoying. One thing that occurs to me as an old school raver going back to the early 90s, is that Insomniac’s Events, even though owned by Live Nation, still retain that old school feel that I used to get playing at big chaos events in Victorville or wherever. All it is is more polished and professional. Say what you want about Insomniac but if anyone is going to represent the true rave vibe nationwide, they are the ones to do it. As an old schooler, I can logically see the history and how it all leads up to today. So, yes, Insomniac buys ads in THD, and we’re therefore a little biased, but I stand by my statement here and I don’t think many can challenge it even considering my bias.

Now getting back to the present… Escape is about Halloween, but frankly the raver crowd looks mostly the same as usual except most have put fake blood on themselves in strategic areas. We bopped around most areas Friday night and knocked out the aforementioned interviews in between dancing at the Basscon stage. Angerfist and Miss K8 knocked it out! Angerfist was playing a lot of his new tracks and there were some frenchcore flavored ones that ripped! Also the interviews this time were really good as you will read in the future. For whatever reason, the artists really brought up some good, interesting info last night.

One thing I noticed this event was that there is way less twerking at the Basscon stage than others. Thank you! I have to say, that I feel kind of sorry for especially the girls doing this. I mean, seeing them bend over and rub their butts on guys and think it’s a dance is pretty gross. And I don’t admire the guys on the receiving end either. I mean, do you really want your girlfriend rotating her butt for all to see? If she does that for you, dude, you probably aren’t the only one. It just looks full-on sad. I know most of these girls think its popular and a “thing to do” but in the end result it makes you look like more of animal than a person with feelings and aspirations. I know its probably not going anywhere soon, but it was nice to see less twerking at the Basscon stage.

Since its 95 degrees in the day, I can’t blame anyone for wearing no more than a bathing suit to these festivals, but you know the rave scene traditionally has been an “Escape” from mainstream culture and never really embraced the over-sexed to the point of exhaustion bent of mainstream culture. Hopefully we will see that feeling come back, because if we are all just concentrating on what’s down below, we can get distracted from rising higher, and really fulfilling our potential. I’m not saying be a prude, but it is the love of our culture that truly brings us together in a positive manner so that we can form truly satisfying relationships.

So now I’m going back into the festival. This is Deadly Buda reminding you, “The rhythm is life and death!”

Escape: Psycho Circus 2017 Early Report: Less Twerking at Basscon Stage than others, thank goodness.

Getting to the site early is always a treat. You can walk around without stress and the vibe is nice. Since it opened at 4pm, it was daylight out and we got to get a good look at what Insomniac did with the NOS Events Center this year. It is super decked-out! The past events at NOS lately have mostly centered on the two big indoor areas, but here, they erected tents for the different brands, had a haunted maze, carnival rides… it’s the best I’ve seen the NOS look in a while.

So now I’m going back into the festival. This is Deadly Buda reminding you, “The rhythm is life and death!”

Interviews

Interview with Thumpa

October 27, 2017 3MiloE

Where are you from? What is the music scene like in the area you are from?
I am from Lichfield in the UK. The UK is very influential in all aspects of dance music from drum & bass to house to garage to UK / happy hardcore, gabber and more, we have a deep history of rave music!

How did you come up with your DJ name?
My friends came up with the name as I ‘stomped my feet behind the decks like the rabbit from Bambi’ when I DJ’ed. 20 years later it is still my DJ name!

What animal best personifies your music and why?
See above haha!

What are you trying to convey with your music?
I have always enjoyed progressing a set, whatever style I play I always want to end in a different place to where I started, I think it is very important to take the crowd on some kind of journey and open their ears to something different whether it is brand new, classic, underplayed and underappreciated or just something totally different. I like to get faster and harder as the set goes on.

Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
I have never been interested in being ‘on stage’, I just love DJ’ing and the excitement of DJ’ing comes from sharing the music and finding a dancefloor that loves the music as much as me, I do not make music and do not care about a DJ logo or photoshoots or any of that stuff, just give me decks and a crowd and a set longer than 60 minutes! I am old skool, I just love mixing and seeing a crowd go crazy.

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist?
Playing at Westfest (the UK’s biggest indoor party) was pretty special, seeing thousands of people in the crowd. I have been lucky enough to play in USA, Japan, Canada and all over Europe but Japan was pretty cool, people coming up to me with CDs from my label and asking me to sign them was insane!

What was the first song or album that you remember listening to?
I remember it clearly, I was in my bedroom in 1996 and DJ Vibes played at a big festival here in the UK called Tribal Gathering, BBC Radio One broadcasted his set and he played ‘My Little Fantasy’ by 4 Tune Fairytales, it was a huge moment for me as I had never heard that kind of sound before. 21 years later I still love it!

What are your major influences?
I do not make music but as a DJ I have been heavily influenced by Brisk, Vibes, Sharkey, Slipmatt, The DJ Producer, HMS, Scorpio, Kenny Ken, Nicky Blackmarket. My favourite artists and labels are Ruffneck, Chosen Few, Coolman Records, Tellurian & Cenobite, The Destroyer, Hellfish & Deathchant, Noisekick, Drokz, Akira, Catscan, DJ Promo and Predator.

Where do you see yoursrlf in a year from now?
Hopefully playing at something big in Holland, now I have played there a few times I just want to play there every week!

djthumpa@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/thedjthumpa
www.soundcloud.com/rebuild_music