Keeping it Cremey

Dub Frequency (DF) is smacking LA in the face with some cool parties this weekend.

Tonight, Creme De La Creme is at Foundation Room at House of Blues on Sunset. Blaqstarr holds it down, with support from a few friends. I'll be there post T. Mills.


Tomorrow, the dF crew heads downtown to The Standard for a No Shirt, No Shoes curated pool party with musical stylings from Poolside, Futurecop!, Fiero and more! It is their 1st pool party of the summer, so you know it will be banging.

RSVP to the events for FREE entry at www.dubfrequency.com

Theophilus Keeps Culture Collide Cool

Filter Magazine's Culture Collide Festival kicked off cooler than the middle of a freshly opened ice cream sandwich with a good-looking crowd, tasty (and free) hors douvres (sp?) and overpriced Standard drinks. You might never guess it from the beads of sweat dripping off Theophilus London in the above picture, but he was performing.

Mingling with the international crowd from about 10 pm - 2 am, I met some cool visitors from Australia, Caroline and Ben, who knew all about the Australian electro scene and were surprised at my knowledge of Miami Horrors, Cut Copy, Empire of the Sun and others. (I reminded them that they shouldn't be too impressed because they were visiting LA, where the music loving hipsters live).

I ran into Cedar and Mario from A Big City Died, who also marveled at the choice crowd and well executed commencement event, and I even saw a few artists, including Josh from Risers, who open at Spaceland at 9 pm tonight.

The real treat was Theophilus, whose electro hipster-hop music is easy to dance to, pleasing to the ear and honestly, fun to watch. On stage alone, Theophilus played percussion, triggered beats and all the while maintained his cues for singing and/or rapping. He received the largest crowd response and feedback from "Hum Drum Town," the FutureCop produced track that Theophilus is most well known for. The crowd erupted with a few people who knew the lyrics and anyone in close proximity getting their boogie on. The rest of the set was enjoyable but not as recognizable, although some die hards, myself included, were familiar with "Sorry to Interrupt" and a few other cuts.

Its a shame Theophilus isn't performing for more of the crowd at the event because he brought a welcomed change to the mostly indie rock line-up. BUT, he is off to Stockholm to work on some more recording. We wish him well and can only hope that the rest of Culture Collide Festival is as good as opening night :D

Guide to Collide

Filter's Culture Collide Festival officially kicks off tonight at The Standard with an intimate lobby performance from Theophilus London amongst others. But, the true festivities get going in the early evening on Thursday when six different venues open their doors to Filter's festival badge bearers.

You could get confused with all the different options presented to you - so we're giving you a little pointers in this friendly GUIDE TO COLLIDE.

With Echoplex, Echo, 826 and Taix all within legitimate walking distance of one another, it is hard not to gravitate towards the events at those four venues. Thursday offers artists at all 4 with notable performances from Black Lips, City Riots, Kamp! and LexiconDon at Echoplex, CasioKids from Norway at Echo, rising LA act Gamble House at 826 and the European sounds of The Black Atlantic (Netherlands), Gold Lake (Spain), Laleh (Sweden) and Nive Neilsen & The Deer Children (Greenland) at Taix. In audition to the aural pleasureas, Taix also offers some internationally themed happy hours that are likely to please the palate.

However, to draw some of the crowd away from a massive collision of people, Filter made sure the line-ups at Spaceland and Standard were super strong on opening night. I'm heading to Spaceland - which boasts Risers, a young band out of Los Angeles already making a statement with well crafted, somewhat epic songwriting, opening for Finaland's K-X-P and Zebra and Snake. For those with an international appetite for DJs, Standard hosts El Guincho (Spain), The Witness Protection Programme (Ireland) and Sebastian Tellier (France), along with a live performance from Voxhaul Broadcast.

Risers

Friday, your Collision Decisions get a little bit easier as only four venues play host. If you want to go to festival center - you'll have easy access to Klaxons, Land of Talk, The Besnard Lakes, Suuns and Baby Monster at Echoplex if you prefer music from North America. If you love the blokes from over the pond, The Boxer Rebellion, White Lies (Dj set), Amusement Parks on Fire and Witness Protection Programme at Echo is probably for you. Taix hosts artists fromt ehr est of the world - with Battle Circus (New Zealand), City Riot (guide says AUS - not sure if thats Australian or Austrian - reminds me of DUMB & DUMBER - put another shrimp on the barbie, mate!), Harrys Gym (Norway) and L. Stadt (Poland). We'd guide you to those three venues over Spain inspired Spaceland's line-up of El Guincho, Gold Lake, Capsula, The Outline and Two Sheds.

Saturday is the last "venue day" and also the last day of beer gardens and Happy Hours at Taix. I think I'm going to invest some time in the tribes culture by visiting Taix from 2-4 pm to check out the happy hour and special guest performance presented by the Israel Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Wonder if that special guest might be Pink Noise or Monotonix, both Israeli acts performing later at Spaceland where they will be joined by Mariachi El Bronx, The Franks and Jacuzzi Hi-Dive.

Also performing Saturday night are White Lies, Voxhaul Broadcast, Battle Circus + others at Echoplex; Cass McCombs, Laleh, The Black Atlantic at 826LA and Bambi Kino, Capsula, Two Sheds and Hello Saferide at Taix.

Sunday is the culmination, the climax, the entree course - as most of the above mentioned acts pour out into the streets and flood Sunset Blvd. with indie tunes galore. The Toyota Antics sponsored Block Party begins around 2:30 p.m. with Glaciers, followed by The Tender Box and a special guest. Things don't get going with multiple acts until around 5 pm - which leaves enough time to recover from a wild Saturday and poke your head in at the start of the Do Over (only 3 Sundays left after this one).

But, once 5 rolls around - acts multiply - Monotonix, Amusment Parks on Fire and White Lies all take the stage within that hour, followed shortly after by Phantogram, Cass McCombs and The Boxer Rebellion, who headline stage 2. The festival closes out with headline spots from Tokyo Police Club on the Main Stage at 8 and Seal Wolf and Fran Healy's respective acoustic performances at the Church.

Learn more details about Filter Magazine's Culture Collide Festival, including where you can get tickets - by clicking here.