Day 1

SOULECTION // Q NIGHTCLUB

Remember back in the cassette tape days, when recording songs off the radio was the only way to compile artists you liked in one format? Last night’s Soulection showcase was a walk down mixtape memory lane, dropping classic crowd pleasers such as Bell Biv DeVoe’s Poison and an unexpected guilty-pleasure: Daniel Bedingfield, “Gotta Get Thru This.” The insane amount of talent it took to integrate heavy heaters and old school jams was driving everyone out of their minds. The party vibes were strong, and the place was full of smiles and shouts, and it was like stepping into a music video.

NICOLAS JAAR // THE SHOWBOX

The musical intelligence of Nicolas Jaar is off the charts. Whether you’re listening with your mind or your hips, it’s obvious that what you are hearing is brilliant. He opened his set with the sounds of an art auctioneer, rattling off prices in the 80 million dollar range, and it was clear that he was making a statement about the value of art and the modern divide between the haves and the have nots. In fact, as a conscious listener you want to know the origins of every sample, even if it is in a different language, because with Nicolas, everything is so purposeful. With his genius understanding of music theory and culture, he is reinventing dance music that is invulnerable to scrutiny.

RAICA + COLDBREW COLLECTIVE  // RE-BAR

It’s strange to call technology organic, but Raica and Coldbrew Collective used their analog controller as extensions of their biological forms. The music breathed and the visuals grew. Rather than picturesque landscapes, they showed true nature: evolution, survival, life and death. The beauty of their improvisational performance is that it was very conversational, meaning each artist introduced a subject and the others responded with their own thoughts and theories. Although they were speaking in tongues of beats and pixels, the audience understood what they were saying.

Photography: Kevin Dofredo, Ella Ordona, Stephen Reigns
Writing: Robin Guilfoil, Janice Ibarra