Sonic Bloom has delivered heart-pounding, aesthetically satisfying, and spiritually enlightening festivals in Colorado’s majestic wildlife for the past half-decade. The festival combines amateur and world-renowned DJs with performing and visual artists to present the ultimate campout experience. Audiences at Sonic Bloom are encouraged to discover their own creativity and to transcend limitations of existence. This spring, Sonic Bloom brought this spirit to San Francisco’s 103 Harriett for a pre-party anticipating the latest SB incarnation in late June. Though nature went as far as the trees outside the city club and professional artists were absent, the audience found its own way to creative innovation.
The assorted crowd made their way through what, on first blush, appeared to be another mainstream San Franciscan club decorated with corny neon lights. However, the desolate foyer was no reflection of the main room. Psychedelic lights accentuated the controversially clad audience. Males swung their hips in long, cloth skirts and the girls’ gold armbands and intimidating silver studs enhanced their rhythmically flailing arms. Audience members became performers using yard long lights to entertain the dance floor as the appropriately obscure sounds of
Jamie Janover,
Love & Light, and the Bay Area’s
An-ten-nae acted on their own as outlets for expression..... (continued on
http://www.theuntz.com/Sonic-Bloom-Pre-Party-103-Harriet-San-Francisco-CA-05.20.11).
.... As the music director of 103 Harriet’s home 1015 Folsom, Adam Ohana, better known as An-ten-nae, clearly prepared to follow the eccentric sounds and banging performances of Janover and Love & Light. He has become one of San Francisco’s most notable DJs after proving his ability to “transcend the constraints of music rigidity and transmit bass heavy, crunked out beats of the highest order” (www.last.fm), defying sound boundaries and producing dubstep, electronica, and, his self-defined, Acid Crunk. At Sonic Bloom, Ohana’s female filled booth and cool confidence maintained this reputation as his monstrous and flawlessly transitioned beats melted faces. He had accumulated an obvious following in the Bay Area. His grin grew from toothy to cheeky with the crowd’s every roar and fight to the front. The crowd musically, emotionally, and physically explored the highest highs and lowest lows. An-ten-nae took the night through a roller-coaster of reggae, high-energy electronic, grimy dubstep, hip-hop, psychedelic, trance, alternative, hard-hitting, euphoric, and hints of drum and bass beats all while continually entertaining the stage’s scantily dressed ladies. An-ten-nae delivered a distinctive set that would send vibrations through the crowd’s chests one moment and turn around and send the club into a euphoric daze, would produce dirty beats and then lift spirits with sexy dance tracks. Many DJ’s who attempt this schizophrenic organization send their audiences into an uncomfortable fight to make sense of the night. However, An-ten-nae pulled off the cliffhangers, transitions, and drops of his unyielding set with precision. He left no thirst unquenched as he dropped his sought-after “Hold the Line,” “It’s Bigger Than Acid Crunk,” and “Left Coast Stomp” tracks along with remixes of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” and even Rusko/Amber Coffman/Subfocus’s notorious “Hold On.”
An-ten-nae, Love & Light, and Janover all humbly thanked the audience after their performances. It was refreshing to see original and creative music born from a mutual appreciation from both the DJs and the audience. The stage has been set, and the bar raised to immeasurable heights for the real Sonic Bloom in less than a month.
