time for a road trip

bay 2 breakers

so i missed it again this year... Sundays up in the bay... gotta plan accordingly. what an awesome float this is. how about next time less naked mens, MORE HOTT SHAVED WOMEN, and MORE DAFT PUNK!!!

why does LA do this to me?

edit: I DIDN'T KNOW TODAY WAS APRIL FOOL'S DAY. read comments please.

i get a BB IM last night from Mark when i was sleeping.

"Justice!!!!!!!!!!b!!!"

WTF does that mean, i thought. couldn't be happening...

earlier in the evening i learned that some friends decided to try and get tickets at The Echo for the sold out Cut Copy show. they were successful. i get this email from Mark this morning:

"DUDE KRIS!! The show was f'n amazing last night! Classixx opened it up
but you'll never guess what happened near the end of Cut Copy's set!!

...they announced they had some special guests and freaking Justice came
out and dropped a sick remix of Lights & Music!!!!!!! Damn son, you
shoulda been there! Do you think you can find that mp3 or is it too new?
I got a video of it but it's kinda crappy because we were dancing so hard..
HAHA"

troubling for a couple reasons. Cut Copy are dope performers. seeing them for free in San Diego with a small crowd was not only fun and memorable, but it also reminded me of how lame the scene down here is. the music scene. sure i love north park, our sweet venues, but can you really compare SD to say LA / SF / NY? hardly.

last week i had a discussion with someone here where i work at (UCSD). she was contemplating going to the cut copy show up there in LA from SD. not sure if she made it. but what struck me most was her comment about moving to LA b/c "of the music scene".

and i get this from Dylan:

"Dylan: this was the best cut copy show i've been to
my legs are freaking sore from constant jumping"

i've tasted it before having lived in the OC for many years... got plenty of weekday live indie shows and made it to work the next day semi-tired. now for me to see cut copy with a super secret surprise guest like JUSTICE i have to sacrifice myself... or get the hell out of dodge?!

The Presets... Australian... are playing at the El Rey tonight. no question that show will go off. hmmm...

i'll hopefully get a video from last night's debauchery up soon.

/end rant

-belTRON

stuff i'm feeling at the moment

boys noize, herve (aka count of monte cristo), sinden, switch, crookers, los lonely boys (jk), deadmau5

coachella 2008 live sets

here's a few sets i found:

portishead | the racounters | aphex twin | fatboy slim | justice | boys noize | kavinsky | does it offend you, yeah?

via Coachella board and largeheartedboy:

aphex twin | holy fuck | metric

-belTRON

cut copy in san diego

caught wind of this just a few days before CUT COPY performed for the Red Bull Air Races new artist night! the best part about it was that it was FREE. and although it was all ages, there were 2 sweet 21 and up sections. they were serving up absinthe, red bull (obviously), effen vodka, etc. and one of my high school friends, Rodney, was bartending! definitely a memorable show, from what i could barely remember. i can, at least, live through these videos. Thursday May 1st, 2008.

cut copy - out there on ice:


cut copy - lights & music (2 parts):
 

-belTRON

coachella 2008 day three

probably my favorite of all 3 days. we were all excited to see Justice, Chromeo, and Simian Mobile Disco perform. the sahara tent at night was super packed but we got in on a good spot early on. earlier in the day white Kid Sister was up in the Gobi Tent with DJ A-Trak, we got to meet Mikey from The Cool Kids! he rocks!

deadmau5 from Toronto tore it up. and regarding his mouse head get-up... t'awesome! Sunday April 27th, 2008.

deadmau5 (2 parts):
 

daft punk - harder, better, faster, stronger (deadmau5 remix):


does it offend you, yeah? - we are rockstars:


dj a-trak - doubling up boys noize's my head (para one remix):


dj a-trak - diplo's fired from work into kanye's stronger (a-trak remix):


throughout the rest of the night we pretty much camped a spot out in the huge sahara tent. Modeselektor, SMD, Chromeo, and Justice were left on the bill.

modeselektor - sucker pin (2 parts):
 

simian mobile disco - hustler:


chromeo - needy girl:


... and here's how all our nights ended (with a few lost brain cells). JUSTICE. they were live! pretty much beat their SF Concourse performance and we had a way better view this time. these Frenchies know how to kill it!!

justice (6 parts):
 
 
 

justice vs. simian - we are your friends:


†


-belTRON

coachella 2008 day two

us AzN's found a vietnamese pho joint out in Palm Desert and we couldn't resist. so mitch and i started this day kind of late. haha.



we made it a point to be there for Boys Noize no matter what... for... you know... our faces to melt. Boys Noize gets a lot of play in my ride and i took a lot of video clips. day two was memorable. Saturday April 26th, 2008.

boys noize (8 parts):
 
 
 
 

yelle - un cause des garcons (tepr remix):


in this video, J-Teeny tells us to move on over to the other tent to catch Calvin Harris's performance. sadly, we don't remember ever watching him.


Prince was pretty cool. his rendition of creep was interesting.

prince - 1999:



prince - creep:


-belTRON

coachella 2008 day one

the start of my favorite coachella ever! well this year wasn't too exciting as far as headliners go, but the djs and acts from around the way combined with close friends really made this weekend fun fun fun! and the weather this year couldn't have been any better. i usually get multiple sun burns from being out in the desert for long periods of time, but this year after 3 days... not a single one! i guess i've learned from prior years (2005 & 2007). missed a lot of good performances during the early hours, but when you're at coach you have to make sacrifices. on to some performances... Friday April 25th, 2008.

a highlight for the day. Cut Copy!! we pretty much looove this song. the boys noize remix of it is a plus.

cut copy - lights & music:


diplo sets off the sahara tent...

diplo - hands up thumbs down represent that b-town:


delvin & darko of spank rock:


amanda blank of spank rock:


the head MC of Spank Rock did not perform. Amanda Blank pointed out that he was sick. that was sad for us so we, and a good portion of the tent crowd, left. the rest of the night was a blur. =X

-belTRON

m.i.a. @ 4th & b

Maya set it off!! the place was packed and as soon as she stepped on stage everyone was dancing and singing along. very lively which is something rare to see from a crowd in San Diego. it got hot in there real fast and they were shooting water guns on the audience from the stage. a friend near the front said that they weren't using water. they were spraying VODKA!! now M.I.A. definitely knows how to party!

M.I.A. - bamboo banga:


M.I.A. - boyz:


M.I.A. - amazon (diplo mix):


M.I.A. - paper planes:


-belTRON

daft punk - together + music sounds better with you + one more time

part of the Daft Punk encore for Vegoose last year. i apologize for the video quality this time around. this was, i believe, a newly added part to their Alive 2007 tour set. Music Sounds Better With You is one of my all-time favorite tracks. it's by Stardust which was one of Thomas Bangalter's side projects. more info can be found here. this was also the last show of the U.S. tour so i had to buy a shirt! Saturday October 27th, 2007.



-belTRON

digitalism @ the el rey

took a trip up north to Hollywood on a weekday to catch these Germans at the El Rey. they were awesome. it's beautiful to see these guys just sing and play insturments instead of seeing the usual dj routine. i love music that Digitalism, SMD, Justice, and Boys Noize put out. the El Rey, the Wiltern, and the Troubadour are probably my favorite intimate LA venues for live shows. Tuesday April 1st, 2008.

digitalism - idealistic:


digitalism - pogo:


-belTRON

dj qbert - rock the bells

speaking of djs i've admired, here's DJ Qbert at the La Mesa Guitar Center down here in San Diego. Monday November 5th, 2007.



-belTRON

m.i.a. - bamboo banga

so we're at Vegoose in Las Vegas waiting all day for the headliner Daft Punk to come on on Saturday night. janelle and a friend that works for Spin mag asks if i want backstage access for M.I.A. why not, right?

so friggin' worth it. Saturday October 27th, 2007.



patron anyone?



-belTRON

dj mehdi - klaxons + justice

a little clip from the fool's gold tour in LA feat. DJ A-Trak, DJ Medhi, Kavinsky, Kid Sister, and Peanut Butter Wolf. Friday October 19th, 2007.



-belTRON

justice vs. simian - we are your friends

this was my 3rd time catching Justice. i was really blown away at this one- the best one i had seen to that date. they had it all- the lights, the hard sounds, a mixup of their own music this time- really impressive. they really set the bar high for dj performances right next to Daft Punk, of course. Thursday March 27th, 2008.



-belTRON

diplo in SF

my first time seeing Diplo live. at first i wasn't too keen on the whole M.I.A. tip and Diplo being "seriously the best dj in the world" as my friends jake and roger put it a few years ago. back then i was into a lot of indie rock and to me the best dj's were still those turntablists i truly respected like DJ Qbert, D-Styles, A-Trak, Craze, X-Ecutioners, Beat Junkies, etc. etc. then at some point a year or 2 ago, i was turned on to bmore beats and baile funk. M.I.A. and Diplo caught my attention and get my fullest respect. myspace music tour with Fancy + Diplo + Justice. San Francisco Concourse. Thursday March 27th, 2008.

diplo - robot rock + harder better faster stronger:


diplo - hands up thumbs down represent that b-town:


-belTRON

radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5

Radiohead is soon coming to California this summer and i plan to be at as many of those shows as possible (if my work and health permits me). here's the set opener for their show at the embarcadero in San Diego. Monday June 26th, 2006.


-belTRON

daft punk - around the world

ok i'll admit it. i used to do a lot of raving back in the old days (circa 2000-?). we all did. we went to UC Irvine. us kids back then were really trying to find ourselves at school and then partying the rest of the time.

i remember Armand Van Helden dropping Daft Punk's One More Time at the LA Sports Arena for Monster Massive 2000. it was a halloween rave and everyone was pretty much in costume. imagine that... us kids dancing the night away to a huge Daft Punk hit. this led to to a huge album called Discovery blah blah blah.

fast forward to LA Sports Arena on Saturday July 21st, 2007. my first experience with Daft Punk on their Alive tour. two words: AMA-ZING.



-belTRON

a slight rehash

SHOW PROS. not to be confused with this operation or this one, we are a group of friends who primarily reside in san diego, orange county, los angeles, and san francisco, and WE LOVE LIVE MUSIC.

"i like electro. i like it retro. i like it ghetto. house and techno." - green velvet (shake and pop)

i feel like posting some videos now.

-belTRON