Nightmare Festival: Five Can’t-Miss Friday Night Sets
–Written by Kevin Madert
Nightmare Festival – the East Coast’s premiere Halloween event – is already underway, and whether you’re already on site, heading out from your hotel rooms, or still en route, we’ve got the inside scoop on who’s sets you’d better catch. Whether you’re a fan of in-your-face dub, trippy trap, melodic bass, or dark and deep house, the Friday night lineup has something you’ll be glad to hear.
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Frequency of the Week No. 5: Cloud D
–Written by Reed Eisenhauer
Traveling to the mile high state of Colorado has always been on my bucket list, and I managed to cross it off this past September. While already well aware of the breathtaking scenery, affable locals and (of course) the legal recreational cannabis, what really stood out to me during my visit was the oversaturation of the music scene – not only in Denver but throughout the state as a whole. While shuffling through local magazines and newsletters I came across handfuls of jam-packed venue calendars. There were easily 4-5 different musical acts performing in various locations every day of the week. To put it bluntly, Colorado natives are musically spoiled in the best way possible.
Show Preview: DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
Written by: Mike Hogan
Imagine what you could learn by searching through your favorite artist’s personal record collection. You could discover all the subtle nuances in their musical identity; you’d pick out their favorites by the worn corners on the album sleeves, and know which ones were gathering dust, still wearing their price tag. You could figure out which inserts they poured over as if they were studying for a test, and which ones were simply discarded. Someone’s music collection tells a lot about who they are, it can speak volumes about who they were and who they are by chronicling their own personal journey through musical history.
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Review: Phaeleh Gives Back with “Somnus”
–Reviewed by Mike Hogan
I’ve always been very impressed with how Phaeleh could accomplish so much using so little. All of his tracks are so minimalistic, yet so full. Take “Here Comes the Sun” off his 2013 full length, Tides, the majority of the song is just a drum track, a very simple bass line, vocals, and some very subtle atmospherics layered way in the back of the track. But it never feels like that little. It seems like a complete, complex track, one that actually feels a lot more whole than most other tracks out there.
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In Case You Missed It: Jazzsteppa’s Hyper-Eclectic “Hyper Nomads”
–Written by Kevin Madert
Hi all. This is the first in a recurring series we’re calling “In Case You Missed It,” where we’ll feature non-new music we feel went unnoticed, as well as music that may have been somewhat popular but has since faded from the consciousness of the general population. Alert us to any music you feel fits this description by emailing contact@thealternatefrequency.com; we love to hear music for the first time and we’re certainly not infallible.
If you put a couple of dudes on Mars with some production equipment, some Red Bull, a twelve-piece brass section and a sheet of LSD, you may just recreate the conditions I imagine were necessary to concoct an album as sporadic and multi-faceted as Jazzsteppa’s “Hyper Nomads.”
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