Sept 23-24, 2011: Nocturnal Wonderland at the NOS Events Center.

This is a new time and we are a new generation of music listeners, not just on the west coast but quickly all across the US. Electronic music really began to take hold as a prominent genre in the 90’s with the emergence of names such as Daft Punk and Fedde Le Grand pioneering the way, and has exploded onto the entire musical frontier over the past few years with newer artists such as Kaskade and Avicii being played in clubs, radios, and iPods everywhere.  Insomniac, the company that presented EDC earlier this year for an epic 3-day weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, returned to their roots in this year’s Nocturnal Wonderland, in which the latter 3 of the 4 DJs already mentioned showcased their skills, along with many more. This event was a dazzling union between the organizers at Insomniac, the world-class DJs performing, and the beautiful people who came from far and wide to not just hear their favorite music, but to experience it live and with a firm message from the DJ standing in front of them. The organizers of Nocturnal strive to provide more than just a musical environment when they plan out a magical weekend like this past one at Nocturnal, and they delivered, as the 30,000 who attended can attest. From the most advanced in lighting technology that harmonized beautifully with the various sets played by the DJs, to the sheer scale of the venue complete with carnival rides and colorfully festive people, it felt as if you were actually in a nocturnal wonderland.

Kaskade – Far and away one of the most successful and straight talented DJ’s in the world, American-born Kaskade killed it in the closing spot for the Nocturnal weekend. He has an ability of mixing diverging forms of electronic music, as his own style of music evolved from trance beats with singers to a unique style of harder house beats with vocalists that has most probably had a palpable effect on the genre worldwide. His mix of Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites was highlight of Saturday night for me, with a soothing, enriching buildup followed by nothing short of a bass-heavy house banger with a nice touch of dubstep sound, for the perfectly Kaskade-esque artistic mix of two distinct electronic styles. As a DJ, Kaskade has expressed a sincere love for LA and its electronic music listening community, and he stopped nothing short of on top of his turntable setup, breaking a glitter-and-balloon piñata with a massive blue stick to express that as he closed to Caspa’s remix of his own I Remember, showing his appreciation and love for music regardless of artist.

Avicii – I first heard Swedish-born Avicii in January of this year while studying in Sweden, and can say I fell in love with his happy, uplifting yet energizing style of music from the very first song I heard, Bromance (not actually the song in the link below). He delivered time and again with hits such as Penguin (which has been remixed heavily by various artists) Enough is Enough and of course, Levels, a song I heard and loved every time it was dropped, which happened multiple times throughout the weekend. In comparison to his performance at EDC, I was pleased to find distinction in the performances, both of which were class.

Gareth Emery – English born Gareth Emery has been on a steady rise ever since he popped onto the scene in the early 2000’s, but in just the past few years has evolved his music into a form of trance that had drawn attention and adoration worldwide, largely due to the broadcast on his own radio show The Gareth Emery Podcast. His recently released album Garuda 2 was on full display at Nocturnal this weekend, with hits such as Into the Light and Mansion bringing down the house. Classics such as Sanctuary (barely a year old, yet one listen will tell you it’s a classic) and his exceptionally good taste in trance/house music (Above & Beyond is never a bad choice) made for an exciting set.

Arty – Arty to me is the new kid on the block that is completely tearing it down for the Anjunabeats label. His own style of focused trance/house is not only distinct, but almost takes you for a ride (at Nocturnal, it could literally for a ride!). One only has to look as far as the song title for a description to hits such as Rush, Anphonic, and Around the World (watch link below), three of my favorites. He also displayed a variety of musical creativity by mixing in songs such as Maximal Crazy by Tiesto and The Island by Pendulum. All in all, he was one of the artists I was really looking forward to and I loved what I heard from him.

Sebastian Ingrosso – one of the trio that is Swedish House Mafia, Sebastian Ingrosso brought his own style to his set. He shares a love of mine, which is bass, and he supplied it hard, heavy, and rumbling throughout. One of the hallmarks of a good live show is how the lights were able to align with the music, and Ingrosso controlled the crowd in a unique way with the goods he brought to the table.

Cosmic Gate ft. Emma Hewitt – Cosmic Gate brought something else that no other DJ brought to Nocturnal – a live singer to accompany the beats that were made with it. A unique harmony between a beautiful voice and thumping electronic beat brings a universal sound to the music, and songs such as Waiting and Be Your Sound were huge crowd pleasers.

Fedde le Grand – One of the original DJ’s from the late 1990’s, Dutch-born Fedde Le Grand closed Friday night in a style befitting his stylish name (or does it just sound French?). But to those who think he’s a old gunner looking for a comeback, should know his recently dropped So Much Love hit #1 on Beatport (nothing at all to sneeze at, look at the link below for a great video) and more importantly was the highlight and conclusion of my Friday night. His hard-hitting house beats kept the crowd bouncing well into the night, and at 2 am it felt like the night was only beginning.

For those of you looking for the next music-carnival experience, Insomniac is sure to deliver this Halloween on the followup, Escape from Wonderland, with confirmed DJ’s such as Afrojack, Jochen Miller, Benny Benassi, and Steve Angello surely ready to do the job come October 29^th.

–DJ Sky