Rob « Rager Onions

Friday the 13th and Knife Party go together like lamb and tuna fish. Or maybe you like the spaghetti and meatball?

Spring Awakening Music Festival 2014 Day One will certainly be one for the record books. With a headliner like Moby taking to the main stage as the Friday headliner of last year, it’s no wonder that React Presents wanted to step up their game this summer. Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen are no newbies to the EDM scene. For those unaware (where have you been, brah?), the duo formed simultaneously with the impending departure of Pendulum, their former group. Shattering boundaries and synthesizing unmatched beats is no new feat for these electro-house rocking trailblazers, and I can specifically remember the first time I listened to their debut Summer Mix; it practically launched me headfirst into the electronic scene.

Thanks guys.

Since the groups formation, Knife Party has been one of the most imitated acts in all of EDM. Mr. Swire and Mr. McGrillen are so talented that for the first four years of this decade, new artists and producers have aspired to attain a method such as theirs. We had the privilege to see KP on Halloween in Chicago a few years back. Midgets on stilts and chicks in metal bikinis rubbing chainsaws on their private parts; what more could you ask for? The experienced I had watching Knife Party perform will forever be ingrained in my memory as one of the best show I have, and probably will ever see.

This is why popping in at the Knife Party set on Friday at SAMF will be a no brainer.

See you there.

Who: Knife Party

What: Next-level, fast-paced metal influenced electro house

When: 9:00 to 10:00 PM

Where: Equinox Stage

Why: Really? You don’t know?

Over the past two years, we have watched this next label transform from the likes of a promising, transgenre EDM collective with loads of potential into the fierce jungle feline you see before you today.

Monstercat is most certainly where it’s at when discussing labels that have set the tone for the next few years of electronic dance music releases.

How, you ask?

Well, that next part is a bit tricky.

To begin, this Vancouver-based music label has elucidated talents from some of the most unheard of, eclectic groups of musicians in all of dance music. Not only have they championed said undiscovered artists onto the scene, but these new talents have proceeded to swell their fair share of waves in this vastly expanding ocean we affectionately refer to as the “EDM-o-sphere.” A quick glance at the “current roster” on the official Monstercat web page will reveal a staggering number of widely popular producers you may not have necessarily associated with MCat.

7 Minutes Dead, Astronaut, Au5, Braken, Case & Point, Direct, DotEXE, Dzeko & Torres, Droptek, Falcon Funk, Favright, Fractal, Haywyre, Hellburg, Insan3lik3, Krewella, Lets Be Friends, Mr Fijiwiji, Noisestorm, PIXL, Pegboard Nerds, Project 46, Rameses B, Razihel, Rogue, Soulero, Splitbreed, Stephen Walking, Throttle, Tristam, Tut Tut Child, Varien and Vicetone.

(Just to name a few of our favorites.)

However, words will only get us so far. You need to HEAR what we mean.

Without hesitation, the fat cats over at MC have released their 17th compilation LP to date. So far, “Monstercat 017 – Ascension” has garnered attention from every corner of the EDM world, making this their most supported album to date! With a four-hour laundry list of tracks, fantastic production quality throughout, and loads of prodigal EDM producers on top of it all, Monstercat presents to you a release that will only serve to exacerbate their stranglehold on the EDM industry.

Keep it up boys and girls.