Last month, we had the chance to go up to North for a new festival called The Big Surreal in Big Sur California (hence the clever name). The trek to get to this venue was not easy nor was it in any way safe considering you had to drive down a sketchy dirt path and climb rugged hills just to get there. After successfully overcoming the obstacles in front of us, we eventually made it to the top of the mountain and made ourselves at home with nature. What better way to spend 3 blissful days in the loving arms of mother nature with a bunch of people who love music and art? Talk about a dream if you ask us.
Initially, we were invited to this festival by producer/DJ and a new TMN favorite, Jeff Sontag. Ever since the release of his latest EP, 4.22, we instantly fell in love with his style of production and his ability to make us absolutely lose all sense of reality with both his voice and music. Jeff had the opportunity to play at The Big Surreal and we ended up catching his set on the final day of the festival. We were interested in seeing how he curated his live shows and if he incorporated more natural elements to his DJ sets. To our surprise, Jeff blew us all away with his stunning performance and swooned us all into a state of celestial bliss. Despite being scheduled during the hottest part of the day, Jeff didn’t let the heat get to him or anyone else for that matter. Throwing down a deep and intimate set, Jeff took his set to the next level by singing live while simultaneously DJing – something we don’t see too often in today’s dance music scene.
We here at TMN are stoked to be premiering his live set from Big Surreal and are very excited to be sharing it with all of you today. After receiving this video from Jeff last week, we couldn’t help but say yes to this premiere opportunity because it was a blast to watch the entire thing from start to finish. It was refreshing to have a moment of nostalgia after attending this festival in the flesh, and now that it’s documented we can re-visit this experience whenever we please. The footage captures the essence of the festival in this Go Pro style film and makes us feel as if we are just vibing out with a bunch of our friends in a breathtaking setting to get us away from reality for a bit.
We are very excited to see what this young artist has up his sleeve in the future. Jeff wanted to make that all of you ninjas could re-live the magic of his intimate set by making it available for free download. Now you can vibe out the Sontag way wherever you please – talk about neat. So take an hour out of your day and press play for this one because you’ll be in the stars for the rest of your afternoon.
