[Ascension]

Since I'm not gonna sleep I figured I'd write a review.  Such a good party with the most diverse music i've heard at a party in a while.  First I want to say thank you to Tyler and PMLA for setting this up.  Great job on keeping this awesome venue and keeping everything running so smoothly from setup to tear down.  Having the fire pit outside and room for fire spinning was awesome!

DJs were rockin it all night.  TimClark- I am glad I got to hear you!  Your skill as a dj shows even though you haven't been around psy for too long.  I'm sure if more people were there they would have dug your set.  DreamSequence, way to bring the phat bassy goa!  That was some excellent vinyl mastery.  Can't say anything bad about a set when the dj gets down on the floor and stomps it out!  DNX laid it on thick and hard.  I couldn't get away from the dancefloor!  Underfoot brought on an awesome , high energy set that kept the stomp goan.  Gnomes of Destruction was definitely my favorite set of the night.  Everything I expected from you guys and way more.  It's awesome to see djs that aren't afraid to mess around with the knobs and buttons to create their own unique blend of music.  At the end of the shroud of darkness was a 271 bpm LIFTOFF!  Your love for fast paced dark psy shows in your stage performances.  The Professor definitely sent everyone to psychedelic detention.  The punishment, stomp until you can't feel your legs!  Both your first and ending sets were awesome, perfect progression and the energy level never dropped.  Geal threw down some wonderful suomisaundi that fit perfectly into his morning spot.  Great tracks to bring on the sunrise!  I caught parts of everyone's sets in the chill/edm room and I liked what I heard.  Geist was spinning some sweet dnb.  I also want to say thank you to Derek and Carli for helping with setup and doing the decorations.  It was great to meet Tim Clark, Pauldo and Brad.  Thanks again to everyone for yet another awesome journey through psychedelic euphoria.

[Robyo]

I don't think I'll ever appreciate industrial…

Not sure who the DJ was, but the drum & bass vinyl set was awesome!

Other highlites: Dan EFX (tearing it up, as usual), Gnomes of Destruction (having way too much fun up there), Nick Synergy (blissbul beats), Toki (eclectic excursions), Energon (excellent closing chill set).

Excellent space, deco, and vibe. Kind of small attendance (80 something), but definitely a good time.

Thanks Tyler!

[Sudo Make Install]

i had a blast —

Still recovering.  I think i slept for almost 20 hours. 

Everyone's set was great.  I especially enjoyed Dreamsequence — he caught me off guard when he said that he needed turntables for his set.  Old school goa is so rarely played these days.  Tim Clark was a total surprise… I was blown away.  Dan Efex was completely badass — always a pleasure having him down.  Underfoot's set was pristine.  I am always amazed whenever i hear him play, and i think it's awesome that it worked out for him to come.  The Gnomes of Destruction were just completely nutty!  Holy shit, glad you guys hit a new bpm record — really looking forward to having you back down my way in July.  Professor X is always ALWAYS a treat — his energy and track selection seems to be growing exponentially.  I wish he still lived in the Midwest, for sure.  Hopefully we can get him back out here at least one more time this year.  The teardown set was definitely deja vu.  🙂 And I really loved the Suomi that GeaL dished up.  It was perfect. 

For the other room, The industrial guys really blew me away.  I know that a lot of you guys don't really care for it all THAT much, but to me it's a nice change of pace.  There are a lot of similar elements within the music that I have respect for.  Psych0tron and Whiterabbit were great.  I tried my best to check it out for as long as I could.  Their tracks and mixing really define why I have a soft spot for industrial all together.  Not to mention that they are cool as hell to talk to.  I really look forward to working with them again.  DJ Geist was the one who played the DnB set, and i thought that it was a perfect touch.  Not too aggressive, but a good transitional set form the industrial to chill.  Nick Synergy absolutely blew me away.  He has got to be one of the most diverse and talented people I;ve ever had the pleasure of working with.  I wish you guys could have heard him at the pre-party Friday night.  Equally badass.  Toki and Energon's sets were great too — Never really heard Derek play chill before, but i thought it was fantastic.  Daniel's chill sets never disappoint me.  I really wish i could have stayed in the chill room longer.

The turnout was a little low, definitely due to graduation and the holiday yesterday, but it didn't matter.  The lineup was amazing, the deco was fantastic, and everything went very smoothly.

I am glad that we were able to get the guys who are blacklisted out in a hurry — thanks for bringing that to my attention, Allison.  Hopefully they won't ever show up at anything else again.  I tried my best to make it very clear to them why they are and what could consequently happen if they ever show up to any of “our” events again. 

As for the venue, i think that it is impossible to have a “true” two room psy/chill party there just because of the room placement.  The sound in the chill room was painfully loud as to be not drowned out by the psy room.  It was a little uncomfortable.  But when you got in to the psy room, the volume wasn't THAT loud.. .it was just right.  Multi genre events involving most of EDM are hard for me to do, so I am thinking about what to do there in the future… Perhaps just a one room setup, which is not a bad thing either.

Derek and Carli's deco setup was awesome… You guys are full of surprises, aren't you?

Huge thanks to Scott and the Smoker's Den staff for the hookahs (sorry about the rain!), thanks to the Wicked Wicks fire troupe for spinning (sorry you guys REALLY got soaked), and above all, thanks again to Rory and Dan for all the help they provided throughout the night.

THANK YOU to everyone for coming, for being respectful, for showing support.  Let's put our heads together and see what we can arrange to do there in the fall.  🙂

With how everything went, I can honestly take a step back from the big picture and say that SMALLER PARTIES ARE SIMPLY THE BEST. 

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ascension]

I think if a party gets thrown there at the right time with the right inputs it would be killer.  I know of a number of people that were at the last one, but not at this (and vice versa), so the potential to draw large numbers is there.  Maybe see if a big name dj/producer is touring the US/North America in the fall/winter and grab em for a night.  If not, there are plenty of NorAm djs that would fit the bill nicely.

[dj GeaL]

SMALLER PARTIES ARE SIMPLY THE BEST. 

Quality > Quantity

I'll write more when i have a chance, kinda busy at work right now…but i had a fucking great time 🙂

[acidity]

You definitely missed out on atleast 15-20 ppl from Iowa who are bogged down this week for the finals.

But good to see that it worked out again, that venue is neat.

But dont worry, will see you all at Sacred Earth 🙂

[Pauldo]

I had a great time!  Everyone was super cool to talk with.  Prob spent the most time talking to industrial peeps who I think fit in with our crowd.  Good people.  Nice to meet new friends Ascension and Nick Syn.  I got to see old friends Dreamsequence and Geist.  I can still dance to the industrial so I really don't mind it.  Spent most time dancing to Geist's DnB set.  It's been awhile since I've gotten my dance on to DnB.  D and C really put a lot of work into.  Much appreciated.  Lot's of couches in the place…ZZZZZZZZ. 

[Raven.Nights]

Phew, I'm still so exhausted I took the day off.  The night was pure madness.  I had so much fun this weekend.  The music was killer all night, I am an Industrial fan too so I was especially giddy to have that around.  Psych0tron and White Rabbit live up here in madison so it was cool to have them out for you guys.

Dan Efex and Underfoot work so well together.  Both sets were amazing and I hope underfoot realizes how much I really enjoy his sets, that track that he threw down with the anonymous sample in it was freaking great, and Alison pointed out that nearly everyone on the dancefloor had their eyes closed for the majority of the set, it was that easy to get into that Trance-state during his set…

Then Ben and I got to warp a few minds  ;D

After that I was so exauhsted that I needed to sit down for a while 🙂

Unfortunately I had to leave realtively early so I really couldn't catch Adam lay down some Suomi *cough-need a Suomi mix for the site-cough* but I hope to hear it soon.  

It was awesome having all the Gnomes back together again (minus the ones abroad and such) and seeing all of us having a great time was awesome.

Special thanks go out to Daniel for letting ben and I use his Midi box.  Life saver man, life saver.

Alison, regardless that each time we travel to a party we somehow get lost, I can't say that there is a better traveling partner.

Tyler, thanks for letting Ben and I do this for you guy's, a few kinks were worked out, and I have a feeling that Sacred Earth will be fucking spectacular.

[Ascension]

Andy- I thought “God is not a DJ” sounded so awesome at the tempo you had it at btw :).  The highest I've gotten that up to is only about 150bpm.

[underfoot]

Thanks to ZeroSix for dragging me out of my armadillo hole to be with you guys, if only for a few hours.  I only wish I could have remained upright and energetic the whole time!  Travel really takes it out of you…

Did my heart some serious good to see Ben and Andy really getting into their act, and GeaL, who has undoubtably come the furthest in ability and scope.  Forces to be reckoned with, all.  

Dan Efex was, as always, in his element.  The overall progression and technical consistency of his sets always leaves me feeling fanboyish and unworthy.

Also had a really good time waxing nostalgic/philosophic with Nick Synergy.  The guy really, REALLY knows his music.  And he's not the least bit snooty about it!  “Gentlemanly” is the word I'd use.  

re : industrial // Without the new wave movement and other industrial predecessors, we would have no goa/psy, so I feel the merger of the two under one roof makes sense.  What's more, all the industrial DJs present were beatmatching, which you don't see a lot of in that culture.  I know the music was appreciated by Alison and me, at least.  But you could tell from the respective dancefloors that the psyheads are definitely more devout!

Have fun at Sacred Earth!  Pour out a 40 oz for me.

[MKPrime]

Had an awsome time.  Wasn't sure that I wanted to make the hour drive after I got out of work a little after mid-night, but it was def worth it.  Had a great time listening in both rooms, and stepping out to smoke hookahs and watch Wicked Wicks spin fire in the downpour.  Every set I heard was a pleasure to listen to.  I especially enjoyed the first half of Nick Synergy, Ben and Andy, Toki, Underfoot, and Brad's sets.

Tyler kudos on another amazing party.  Every time I look at the lineups I think how can this be better then last time, and as always you've outdone yourself.  Great venue, I agree with the comments on the 2 stage set-up.  I believe me and you talked a little in the morning about how loud the chill stage had to be set up just to be heard over the psy stage.

Lights, Deco, Sound and Visuals were all very well put together.  I enjoyed all of the live video mixing in the psy room.

I know not too many people made it into Bloomington at the Smoker's Den for the pre-party, but I'd like to thank both Brad and Nick for throwing down on Friday night.  With not too many people around I still really enjoyed listening to the shorter sets you each played.

Thanks everyone involved, and see ya at the next one!

[Ascension]

Ooh I forgot to thank Mason for the sweet visuals and explaining what his equipment did.  ;D

[Energon]

Ow…. I am sore from head to toe.
Thanks, Tyler, for having us come out to decorate the place and having me close out the chill stage. That was probably the most work we've put into decorating an event. Everything didn't turn out exactly as intended (apparently tapestry paint needs to be about 10 times thicker to glow brightly, my first attempt at painting a tapestry… the “flame effect” on the trees was a bit lackluster) but it all worked out in the end. Thanks Kevin, for helping out with my wire tree. Much thanks to SunRa for sending out tapestries for us to use… FANTASTIC STUFF!!! The Alex Grey-esque flame tapestry MADE the psy stage, IMO. Mason Dixon's visuals were top-shelf, as expected 🙂

Musically everything was pretty solid. I heard great sets from Nick Synergy, Tim Clark, Underfoot (yes, you too, great stuff  ;D) and Dan Efex was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I only caught bits and pieces of everyone else… the 30 minutes of GoD that I heard before passing out and the tail end of Professor X's morning set were awesome.

Just like the last event we had there I didn't get to listen to any of the industrial being played. I like the music just fine and I agree that there's some crossover with psy timbre-wise… but when there's psytrance being played in the next room it's no competition. Psytrance always w1ns… always 🙂

As for the attendance factor… like Ritesh pointed out Iowa City finals contributed, as well as grad weekend for U of I. Several locals I spoke with said they were done with school and heading home on Sunday. My guess is that a lot of ppl had already gone home. So while the May 10th was an ill-fated date I also learned that Separation Anxiety was on  PERFECT date. Apparently U of I has an “unofficial St Patricks day” the weekend before the real St Patricks day. Tons of people come from out of town which likely contributed to the high attendance on March 8th. Lesson learned, make sure we book that venue for Mar '09.
… and all that being said, I love smaller parties as well  ;D

Finally, its always a pleasure to see everyone from across the region… see new faces and old. After years of hearing your mixes online it was great to put a face and personality to the names of Underfoot and Nick Synergy 🙂

I'm 100% serious about having a psy Halloween party there. Book it, Tyler… or we will, hehehe. Oct 31st is on a Friday this year…  ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D

Who wants to hear a set by Lord Voldemort??? muhahahaha!

[psilopsyben]

I like halloween parties…….

Man, I am still tired.  I had so much fun at that party.  I was a bit drunk, but hey, as Dan said, I'm a Wisconsin boy, thats what I do.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to cut loose with you guys.  I haven't cut loose in a long time.  I almost danced out of my shoes.  Literally, they are coming off of the soles in a few spots.  Everyones sets were great, the building was amazing, it was a nice, cozy party.  I missed a lot of people that couldn't come, but it was nice having room to dance. 

I had so much fun playing our first official dark GoD set.  We are working to improve some things and hope to take the Midwest by storm this summer. 

Thank you to Tyler and all else who were involved, all who came, and all the new people that I met.  You guys really made my night.  I look forward to seeing you all again at Sacred Earth.  Did anyone takes pics?  I would really love to see some.

8)

[Sudo Make Install]

Did anyone takes pics?  I would really love to see some.

+1

PLEASE!!!!

[Author]

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