Calling all ninjas and ninjettes from San Diego! Are you a fan of Manila Killa? Do you want to attend a fun pool party? Well here’s your chance to kill two birds with one stone. We’re giving away TWO TICKETS to Manila Killa: Summer Sessions at the beautiful W Hotel in downtown San Diego this Sunday afternoon. TMN is thrilled to announce this giveaway and maintain our continued friendship with the Moving Castle crew.
Manila Killa, who is 1/2 of Hotel Garuda and part of the popular Moving Castle Collective, continues to impress with his ever-changing sound and multi-genre style. Having such diversity in his arsenal, the DC artist guarantees a fun time with quality mixes and slick maneuvers. With local support from Sulvida, Primal and Nicky Valentino, SD is about to get real tropical on Sunday. We’ve prepared a playlist from the talented Manila Killa to get you started for this weekend. We hope to see your lovely faces there, so get your bikinis and board shorts ready as we vibe away to your favorite summer jams!
How to enter the contest
1) “Like” us (The Music Ninja) on facebook here:
2) “Like” the Manila Killa on facebook:
3) Comment below this post with what Manila Killa track you want to hear poolside.
We’re really excited to be teaming up with the Make It Funky collective for the second installment in a series of California showcases highlighting local talent. This time around, we’ll be at Brick & Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco on Saturday bringing yet another myriad of vibes featuring psychedelic indie-rockers Coyote Trickster with support from the soulful Fire and funktastic Color TV. To get you all familiar with our fantastically quirky headliners, we had a unique interview in which we asked the band members–Terence (bass), Paul (guitar), Eric (guitar and vocals) and Huli (drums)–a few questions and then had them finish ten sentences. Get to know the band through their answers and grab your tickets at the link below.
Eric: There was a big group of meilleur casino en ligne france people at Santa Clara [University] that played music together. Kind of an amorphous group of people playing in a cloudy haze, bumping into each other and hearing things out. And then there was a party that came around and the people who were hosting wanted bands to play. So, the big blob full of people that played music together all kind of formed into different bands for the party and one of the bands was Coyote Trickster. That was our first gig. We played with a different drummer then. We moved up to San Francisco after college and then met Huli up here and started playing with him.
Terence: I think once I started playing with Eric–we lived in the same dorm freshman year– and jamming with these guys, I realized it was something I really want to be a huge part of my life. Long story short we ended up living together in a pretty cool space where we can live and play and create. We’re doing what we can and seeing where it goes.
TMN: Tell us a bit about the recording process behind your debut LP.
Paul: We did all the tracking at our house in San Francisco in our garage. I did guitar parts in my closet. Eric put up a bunch of mattresses for a vocal booth. The most disgusting Craigslist mattresses (laughs). We did all that and mixed at Tiny Telephone here in San Francisco and then we got some guy to master it pretty much because we saw he did something for Jerry Garcia.
TMN: Between the soulful vocals, psychedelic elements and jazzy jams, it’s pretty hard to place your music. How do you think about your sound?
Eric: I think we’ve all grown up in an age where genres are so fluid and changing all the time. We never listened to pure rock or pure soul or pure blues—it was always a mixture of all these things together. So, I think we always just search for a groove in all of the songs. They all have to have some kind of rhythm that hooks us and gets people moving. If you see us on stage we’re always bouncing a bit. That’s the core of anything we’re trying to find that works with the band–that kind of groove or rhythm that we all get locked into and excited by. We’re just looking for something that has that appealing background to it and then we’ll combine all the different pieces to fill around that groove.
FINISH THE SENTENCE…
When I was 13, I couldn’t stop listening to…
Huli: Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars by Fatboy Slim
Paul: Led Zeppelin.
Terence: The Fugees.
Eric: I have the worst one out of everyone. I was probably rocking Third Eye Blind—the self titled album. That’s a great album.
The first song I ever made…
Huli: …was called “Healthy Gums” and only used FL Studio presets.
Paul: …was in high school, I don’t know what it was called, a country song with very dirty, sexual innuendo in the lyrics.
Eric: I probably stole from someone else and told people I made it. It was probably like a Good Charlotte chord progression that I slowed down.
It’s our favorite time again friends, as we’ve got another great show put together for the fair city of Denver. The Music Ninja, along with our friends at Souls In Action, are proud to present flag-bearing Melbourne synth-rock & dance troupe Miami Horror and L.A. rising alt-poppers De Lux next Tuesday, May 26, at one of our most cherished and intimate Mile High venues, the Larimer Lounge. Of course, we haven’t just come today to toot our own horn; as always, we wanted to get you Ninjas in on the action as well. We’ll be giving away a pair of free tickets to one lucky winner to join us early next week for what will certainly be a night featuring incredible music, an educated and lively crowd and lots of libations (unless of course you are under the legal US drinking age as this is a 16+ event).
Sasquatch! Music Festival has become an absolute staple of the Pacific Northwest since its inception in 2002. After selling out in 2013, Sasquatch’s founder, Adam Zacks, tried expanding to the two weekend format last year. The second weekend ended up being canceled, though, with the unfortunate consequence of the festival, which had been 4 days previously, being shrunk down to three days. Luckily, Sasquatch! is back in full 4-day form this Memorial Day Weekend and we couldn’t be more excited for what we already know will be the best weekend of the year.
With the rise in popularity of music festivals, differentiation in the space has become increasingly difficult but the Squatch possesses an unrivaled vibe. The endless beauty of the Columbia River Gorge, a spectacle all its own, truly captivates just as much as the music that plays in front of it. With that flawless, picturesque backdrop, everything else just falls into place melting away the normal stresses of music festivals. The campsites are bubbling with inspired energy and the remoteness of Eastern Washington makes for a laid back community of genuine music fans. Even with occasional rain, the weather’s far more favorable than the scorching heat of many summer events.
Atmosphere aside, Sasquatch! has always done a great job of curating a diverse lineup spanning indie rock, hip-hop, EDM and more. On this year’s lineup, you’ll notice many of the typical acts making the festival rounds, but there’s also a plethora of local talent from the Pacific Northwest offering a unique opportunity to catch some exciting up ‘n comers. We’ve rounded up 25 songs, ordered by set times, to help all you ninjas prepare and it’s a playlist as eclectic as the lineup. If you’re looking to make a spontaneous decision this weekend, Sasquatch! will be the best you’ve ever made–you can still grab tickets here.
If you live in the Bay Area, chances are you’ve already been to the California Academy of Sciences either to check out one of their various one-of-a-kind exhibits or for a drink at their weekly Nightlife series, easily one of the best ways to spend a Thursday night in San Francisco. As if an aquarium, planetarium and fully-functioning rainforest weren’t enough to pique your interest, the Academy of Sciences is kicking off its second annual Nightlife LIVE concert series this week, which will transform the museum into a full blown concert venue one Thursday a month through October.
Teaming up with various local promoters and music festivals, Nightlife LIVE has assembled a lineup that features a dynamic collection of both established and up ’n coming artists across genres. The selection of artists are from all over the world, but the Bay Area and west coast are definitely the most well represented with a number of exciting local and regional bands featured. Keeping in the spirt of science, the outdoor stage setup promises to be an experience all its own with an immersive installation from Domestic Data Streams that will use real-time data from the audience to source a piece of digital art. Aside from the attractions inside the museum, there will also be several mini-exhibits from various organizations along other activities at each show. To prepare for this Thursday’s opening and get all our ninjas up to speed, we’ve broken down the acts performing at each show below. You can find some more info and buy tickets here.
Machinedrum’s complex, atmospheric take on drum ’n bass music couldn’t be a better way to open an event series honoring science. With a full live setup, he’ll be bringing his latest album, Vapor City, to life cover to cover. While Machinedrum’s sure to take us on a sonic journey, LA-based producer B. Bravo, who will be opening, should get the dance floor moving with his funk-influenced electronic jams.Continue reading →
This year will mark the second year of Mysteryland’s extension over to American soil after the festival broke ground last year on the legendary ground of Bethel Woods, NY – the same site where Woodstock took place in 1969. During its inaugural year, Mysteryland boasted a lineup headlined by Steve Aoki, Kaskade, Nicky Romero, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Moby, and many more along with showing the world that their line up would be one of the most diverse to date. Outside the bass heavy “The Boat,” Vinyl Only stage, and underground-drenched Spiegeltent, Mysteryland made it known that their festival was more than just music but a culture and arts festival as well. Just weeks away from the kick off of round two, their lineup for 2015 illustrates that Mysteryland USA intends to make this year their biggest on yet and just catalog another testament to their evolving perception of the electronic dance music landscape.
We’re already getting our logistics in place and bags packed to make the trek into the upper section of the state of New York with Memorial Day quickly approaching on the calendar, and to be honest, its incredibly difficult to say where we will be spending our time at the festival due to the breadth of talent across all stages. The underground’s most revered pioneers – Maceo Plex, Josh Wink, and Richie Hawtin – will be opening the Campus Circus on Friday along with A-Trak, GTA, and Tropakillaz, which is a tenacious opening lineup. For Saturday, Empire of the Sun, Kygo, and Porter Robinson earn the headlining duties, but with Madeon and Robin Schulz warming up the Main Stage, it is sure to be one for the books. On the last day, Diplo and Dillon Francis – two of the biggest clowns in dance music – will be the spectacles for everyone to end the night with. For those looking to stray from the main stage, the beauty of Mysteryland’s lineup this year is that everyone is bound to find somewhere and something they like whether they’ve heard of them before or not.
Like I said before, we haven’t even begun to plan out where to go because of the schedule conflicts that are about to arise with all the incredible talent at this year’s festival. Outside of the festival’s talent, its going to be a weekend of creative expression, self-discovery, and meeting new festival friends that we honestly can’t wait for. To get yourself in the Mysteryland mindset, check out the TMN Mysteryland USA playlist we have crafted to get yourself even more excited for your Memorial Day this year at the Bethel Woods farm. We pieced together an encompassing playlist featuring Porter Robinson, Maceo Plex, Griz, Anna Lunoe, and more to give you a full picture and precursor to what is about to occur at Mysteryland USA. Also, if you’re looking for last minute tickets, grab them here before the festival begins on May 22nd.
Once a year, the best and brightest names in Techno, House (and its many iterations) and Disko converge on the city of Detroit for underground dance’s own version of a 3-day Happy Hour, and also one of the most important festivals within dance music’s rich history: the Movement Electronic Music Festival. This year’s lineup continues to set the bar globally for dance tastemakers, and with the full unveiling of their ‘Phase 2’ lineup, it’s clear to see how over the years Movement has been globally recognized for its unique talent curation and programming, showcasing artists from a wide-spectrum of up-and-comers, local luminaries, pioneers and trailblazers, and also the reason so many true dance fans treasure Movement above all other multi-day parties. Featuring some of today’s most notable names in dance music including Disclosure, KiNK (Live), Dixon, Soul Clap, Dog Blood, MK, Hot Since 82, Maya Jane Coles, Ten Walls (Live), Route 94, Tuskegee (Seth Troxler & The Martinez Brothers), Classixx, Eats Everything, Maceo Plex & GRiZ to some of dance music’s literal genre architects, namely Kerri Chandler, Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May; and some incredibly choice lyricism from the likes of Danny Brown, Method Man, and People Under the Stairs, Movement 2015 looks to be the finest installment in its illustrious history.
We’ll be sending at least one Music Ninja on assignment for this one (expect a full TMN review after Movement’s conclusion) and we can’t wait to join our many friends as well. Tickets for the entire three-day excursion are still available for only $150.00, with single day GA clocking in at $65.00 which you can purchase here. Check out Movement’s latest promo video, featuring Movement Detroit 2015 artist and Techno icon Carl Craig, as he talks about what makes Detroit a destination for those working to become something and waxes poetic about his special connection to Hart Plaza and enjoy our anticipatory and comprehensive playlist below, curated by our crotchety old resident voice of house and techno. We’ll be seeing you soon Detroit.
