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Over the course of the last year, we have all been taken on a variety of magical journeys through unique fusions of music and art. Whether you were sharing the room with a 20 foot gorilla shooting lasers out of its eyes or moving along with gentle flames dancing atop of melting wax, the artists providing the soundtracks to those experiences are too many too list. Magical moments are just that. They shouldn’t be degraded to a preferential top list. We don’t do top lists here. What we do here at SoundPark is a bit different. Our Season Closing will encompass some artists that crafted their own magic over the last year. We invited some of our favorites to come by the Park to answer some questions about what impressed them the most in 2013. They also provided a stunning exclusive mix to accompany you well into 2014.
Our next season closer is someone who has seen releases over No.19, Faceless, Leftroom, Supernature, All Day I Dream, and Innervisions. 2013 was a gigantic year for this talent. Everyone from Dixon, Tale of Us, Audiofly, Matthew Dekay and plenty of others have included Charnis’ work in their mixes. It was by no surprise that Charnis has now become one of the industry’s fastest risers. With releases coming up on No 19 and My Favorite Robot in the first half of 2014, this Los Angeles native has been crafting some impressive momentum and we see no slow-down in sight. Charnis makes his SoundPark debut with a stunning hour long entry that takes you into the deeper side of house and techno. Welcome to the Park.
As an artist, you are lucky enough to fly around the world – from party to party – bringing fans on your own music journey. What was your favorite party you had the chance to play at this year? What made it stand out for you? There have been many great parties so it’s hard to choose just a single party - but one that stands out recently was playing Casa Nostra in Malta. Sean has built an incredible scene that feels like the height of Ibiza season. The crowds are massive and get everything you throw at them. Plus the island is absolutely beautiful; they shot Game of Thrones and Gladiator there. You have to see it to believe it. I encourage everybody to visit Malta!
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On the flip side, all artists are obviously fans themselves too (something many people forget about). Was there a particular party that can be considered your favorite of 2013 as a fan? Innervisions at BPM (2014, I'm cheating) was certainly a highlight. Blue Vanado is the most amazing setting for a party. When the sun came up during Dixon's b2b with Ame, with a huge rainbow arcing over the sky, while we sat on the beach, it was quite special, and of course the music was top notch from the beginning of the party till the end. All Day I Dream at BPM was also pretty magical - Burridge and Dekay back to back was what everybody needed to forget the shit weather.
Call it what you will, but 2013 witnessed an explosion in our industry, with the South American scene growing exponentially and the American scene finally getting taken seriously… among others.
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Looking back on the year, is there anything that stands out to you? Anything that happened you didn’t expect to see? I think it was clear that progressive has become the "it" sound in "Deep House". It's done in a new way, more for adults, but it's reminiscent of Sasha and Digweed circa 2000 days. There's also a resurgence in faster Techno drums, 909s and 808s. This isn’t new of course but it’s the intersection of these two trends are making things quite interesting lately. Also, Life & Death and Innervisions are certainly the labels leading the way and many others are trying to emulate their distinct sounds. And to be frank, this is not something unexpected as it was pretty evident by the end of 2012 that things were moving this direction.
Now if you ask me what the next trend is going to be, I have absolutely no idea!
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One particular thing we noticed in 2013 was the massive insurgence of mega-residencies; from Ibiza to New York it almost seemed like some parties are actually cannibalizing themselves. Do you think this will continue in 2014 or do you think it will be scaled back a bit? I think this will continue because EDM continues to grow which means more and more people get into the underground Deep House and Techno scenes over time. And as the numbers increase, the agencies, festivals, PR companies, etc. all get bigger and grow as businesses. Here in LA, I have the seen the scene explode over the course of my two years being here. There are now three to four major parties to go to on any given weekend night. Sure some parties cannibalize others and not every night is going to do well, but the trend of growth continues to increase and I don't see it changing soon; it’s simply a numbers game.
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Looking forward to 2014, where do you see the underground dance music industry going? How do you think it can continue to evolve and keep itself fresh? I think the very nature of underground music automatically means it's going to continue to evolve and remain fresh. I think the "current sound" I described earlier might get so melodic and accessible that it risks becoming uncool and creating a tidal wave of backlash. I see dance music splintering even more into sub-sub-sub genres. Niches seem to be growing. For instance, tech-house might not be as cool as it was in 2011 but it still has its loyal fanbases across the world.
You had a pretty incredible year to say the least, with releases on labels ranging from Innervisions, No.19, All Day I Dream to Leftroom, what made 2013 different than years past in terms of productivity? I took the plunge! I quit my day job and decided to going full-time as a producer and DJ.
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Enough about the past, let's talk about 2014. Do you have any releases coming up we can look forward to? I have remixes on No.19 and My Favorite Robot on the plate. I also did a remix of my good friend Christian Prommer that I'm quite proud of. There is also a big release that I can't talk about the specifics yet. I’m glad to have amazing collabs with some of my favorite new producers in the pipeline as well. 2014 is going to be a really exciting year.