Gigamesh aka Matthew Thomas Masurka is the first artist on this list from the "Midwest". Gigamesh is from 1/2 of the twin cities, the half with the Mall Of America (and home of my absolute favorite pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack - yes totally shameless promotion). Matthew comes to Temecula with a pretty impressive pedigree. This dude is a multi-platinum selling DJ and producer. Not many people have not heard Mike Posner's "Cooler Than Me". Yeah, Gigamesh produced that schnizz along with that song you wish you could get out of your head, "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People which won them a Billboard Award and got them a grammy nom (another shameless plug-this time for my friend Meghan Tonjes for her phenom acoustic rework of 'Kicks). But back to Gigamesh. He's got balls of steel for remixing the heavyweights like Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson and Radiohead. His music is definitely for dancing and has deep pop roots.
I found the tracks I listened to just plain fun. Listen we all know that Pumped Up Kicks can get annoying as hell cuz you can't get it out of your head but you know why? It has huge, honkin' hooks. Gigamesh's own work is the same...five minute long hooks that get stuck in your head, get your body moving and will find you still dancing to the song as it plays in your brain an hour later. I wanna swing by his stage just to be part of a good old fashion dance party.
Giraffage does have an official site besides the Facebook link here but the background is rather intense and there's really not much there. But we digress. Giraffage is Charlie Yin representing the Bay Area. A DJ who likes to take his samples from the pop world, he records on Alpha Pup Records. He's kind of a man of few words. Charlie has a number of social network presences but not a wiki. Guess that gives me a reason to try to book some press time with him.
This DJ likes to "warp" sound from the tracks I listened to. For me its definitely more techno/electronica than pop. Tracks feel like explorations of what one can do with computers and decks. It's not unpleasant but mixes patterns. Before you can get settled into one the piece will change up and take a side road. It is more soundscape-y and even meditational. It feels morning music to coffee to.
gLAdiator are Dani Goodman and Ian Johnson from "LA" of course. They list their genres as trap, bass and turn up. There is definitely an urban background to their tracks but with a trippy alter ego. Oh but then in comes the rap. Some of the tracks on their Soundcloud point to some good dance-offs or could soundtrack a decent cardio workout. I can see them drawing an audience that has a love of hip-hop. However, if repetitive agitates you, this might not be your cup of tea. This maybe another artist I need to come back to in a different state of mind. Right now it is just not resonating with me. By the way, you'll have to go to Soundcloud to listen to these guys as they are not on Spotify.
So safe travels to those going to Coachella this weekend. Do NOT forget to check out my friends DoLab and Lucent Dossier while your there. Look these artists and all the others up on Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud. Also some of these folks are on tmblr, Pinterest, Youtube and Vine.
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