If you haven’t left campus recently and aren’t Facebook friends with any of the coolest people in Pittsburgh, you might not be aware that VIA is happening this week.

“VIA? What the hell is that?” you may ask. Allow me to explain. Back in 2010, a couple of Pittsburgh friends decided that it was time for the city to have its own cutting-edge music and new media arts festival. Since then, VIA has presented collaborative performances, installations, mobile projects, lectures, and workshops through a yearly festival, as well as sporadic events throughout the year.

While you may be familiar with Electric Zoo, Movement, Mutek, Coachella, or some other big-name music festival, VIA is a little more unique. According to the VIA website, this event focuses on enabling Pittsburgh as a “nexus for young artists working at the borders of music, art, and technology.” This year’s festival brings a variety of artists you may not have heard of, such as Moodymann, Tiger & Woods, Nadastrom, Girl Unit, Julia Holter, and Andy Stott, to name a few. Even your esteemed author isn’t familiar with every band in attendance.

What I can tell you is this: If you’re truly interested in the intersection of sight and sound and like to get your groove on, VIA is the place to be. VIA has already gained all sorts of international acclaim and press for its festivals in the past, and has secured the top spot for a U.S. festival on Resident Advisor’s Top October Festivals list.

This is not an advertisement for VIA; rather, it is an unsolicited endorsement from your campus radio station. Like any festival, there are mistakes as a result of too much experimentation or poor foresight, but it looks like VIA has learned a lot from its two first years and has planned a wide variety of music. Get ready for some deep house, bedroom pop, cold wave, Moombahton, dub techno, UK Bass, nu disco, and so much more.

(Originally published in The Tartan)

During the summer, superstar EDM DJ deadmau5 caused a bit of controversy when he wrote a Tumblr post that called out fellow DJs (and himself) for the lack of skill involved in DJing. He wrote, “I think given about one hour of instruction, anyone with minimal knowledge of ableton and music tech in general could DO what im doing at a deadmau5 concert.”

As one might expect, throngs of DJs lashed out at deadmau5 for his oversimplification of their performances. While aspects like song selection are undoubtedly important when DJing, the more relevant point deadmau5 brought up is the lack of improvisation in the EDM world.

Most major EDM DJs show up to a venue not only with their DJ equipment, but also with a massive light and sometimes fireworks show — shows that are planned out, moment by moment. Although the DJ may be twisting knobs, triggering effects, running loops, and making dramatic gestures, these movements are all pre-planned.

I’m not saying lights and fireworks are a bad thing, but when it comes to the point when an artist lets his live act dictate his musical performance, I have a problem with it. Deadmau5 and most other EDM DJs are like pop stars who lip sync their shows because actually singing would interfere with their dancing.

The creative tools that modern DJs have at their disposal are endless, and part of being a DJ is reaching beyond your comfort zone. Don’t plan out your sets track by track and don’t script out your knob turning. There are scores of DJs who follow this, still have fancy flashing lights, and still lead the crowd into a dancing fury.

So go home and start DJing. You’ll be a professional within the hour — unless it really isn’t as easy as the man with a flashing mouse head makes it out to be.

(Originally published in The Tartan)

Electronic music can be viewed in a lot of ways. Sometimes it seems cheap and synthetic. Sometimes things like dubstep culture seem to threaten the integrity of the alternative and indie scenes, where bands are constantly struggling to make music their careers. However, once in a while, electronic music can fuse perfectly with alternative music. The result: an album that is creative, innovative, and very well thought out. Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit has done just that with his new release Gossamer.

Although known for his signature falsetto vocals, Angelakos writes and programs all of the parts for Passion Pit. He is a one-man-band of sorts and the group’s debut album, Manners, gained popularity very quickly within the alternative scene. Angelakos was faced with the large task of avoiding the “sophomore slump” with his follow up, Gossamer. And he nailed it.

From start to finish, Gossamer is pure gold. The opening track and lead single “Take A Walk” blasts the listener with catchy synths and well-orchestrated dynamics. The second track, “I’ll Be Alright,” is programming genius, strategically using vocal squeaks and heavy distorted keyboards to brighten up the somber, self loathing tone of the lyrics.

The album carries on with “Carried Away,” this album’s “Little Secrets” equivalent, and “Constant Conversations,” which is an interesting, catchy R&B (yeah… really) track.

The rest of the album is not at the same level as these first four tracks, but that does not mean the songs don’t hold their own. The rest of the songs are still catchy and fun with very real lyrical content.

The album outlines Angelakos’ struggle with bipolar disorder, which turned into drug use and strain on his engagement with his fiancée. He tells all on the closing track, “Where We Belong,” which outlines a failed suicide attempt. The lyrics on this album are all very personal and very genuine and add a lot of personality to an electronic album. Personally, I think this is going to be one of the most important, groundbreaking alternative releases of the year.