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Archive Jan 20, 2014
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LA CANVAS got the ultimate VIP experience hanging out and getting down at Desert Hearts ’15. Not only were the vibes and love on point all weekend long, but we got the chance to catch up with two of our favorite artists who played this year, Atish & Deep Jesus, who gave us the low down their fave moments and sets from this years festival.
LA CANVAS: What were some of the most uplifting moments of the fest for you?
ATISH: Getting that chance to play sunrise Sunday morning was something really special for me. Every DJ has their own take on how to play a sunrise and the moments leading up to it. I personally like to play gorgeous, emotional, melodic, hopefully not cheesy music that speaks to the soul. Music that makes people feel good. I was smiling the whole time during me set, I saw lots of smiles on the dance floor, and the crowd and I were just vibing off each other’s energy, which was really uplifting to me and everyone else who stuck it through to 7am. In a word, we felt synchronicity, which is really my ultimate goal as a DJ.
LAC: Three favorite sets?
A: Rodriguez Jr absolutely blew me away. He was already one of my top 3 favorite producers in the world, so I had high hopes going in, and he just knocked it out of the park with his live act. I think he may have played best set I’ve heard in the last 12 months.Ben Annand was totally on point with his Saturday daytime set. Ben’s a veteran DJ so he was busting out these old school west-coast house records that most of us newer generation DJs don’t have access to or know where to begin. Those records he played were from an era where it wasn’t out of bounds for house music to make you feel good in that way, which couldn’t have been any better for his daytime timeslot. I was inspired to go home and dig.I have a tie for third, between Justin Campbell and Bells + Whistles. I’d been wanting to catch Justin for quite some time now and he was totally on point. Bells + Whistles have just been on fire as of late, and they were slotted after Rodriguez Jr. Rodriguez Jr is a tough act to follow, but they nailed it so with class and style.
LAC: What elements if any gave you a note of growth with the fest?
A: The obvious one is the dance floor was fuller the entire time, perhaps too full at points. But from a DJ perspective, it means no matter what your timeslot, you don’t have to stress about playing to an empty floor, which is really nice. For a bunch of acts, it was impossible to get in the DJ booth backstage due to overcrowding. This is by no means a complaint – I actually think this is a good thing since it’s a subtle reminder to why we’re here. We are part of this scene because we love music, so we should spend most of our time hanging out where the music is designed to be heard: on the floor.
LAC: What do you have going on next, and will you play again at DH?
A: The next two months are pretty exciting since I’m playing Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, and Cityfox in New York – 3 really huge gigs for me, then just finalizing dates for a summer Europe tour with Hoj. It’s pretty crazy how lucky I’ve been with good things coming my way as of late, so I’m just trying to have as much fun as I can and meet as many awesome people as I can throughout this whole journey. I was recently added to the Desert Hearts family as one of their resident DJs, which means you’ll be hearing me at most if not all the future Desert Hearts festivals, which I couldn’t be happier about. I’m just so happy to be a small part of what these guys are doing, and I couldn’t be prouder of everything they’ve accomplished.
And now, Deep Jesus:
LA CANVAS: What were some of the most uplifting moments of the fest for you?
DEEP JESUS: Some uplifting moments for me from our Spring Festival… There are to many to say but the one that really stood out was when all the Desert Hearts boys closed out the festival and played long past we were supposed to. It’s pretty rare to have 5 different DJs from different walks of life with different sounds come together and be able to all go back to back and create the energy that was the closing set. Super uplifting feeling!
LAC: Three favorite sets?
DJ: My three favorite sets… the top one in my opinion was our good friend DiNK! He is literally labeled as the “track master” because he has soooo much good music but never has the ideal opportunity to share it. We decided it was time for him to have that opportunity and when we had him play saturday afternoon he just completely crushed the dance floor and set the vibe for the rest of the Desert Hearts Block. Next up is another underdog by the name of Justin Campbell. He opened before Marbs and I and couldn’t have set us up better. It was amazing to see such a talented individual with such a big crowd being responsive to his vibe. Well deserved. Last but not least, Rodriguez Jr. was one of my favorites, and that should be pretty self explanatory.
LAC: What elements if any gave you a note of growth with the fest?
DJ: The main element that I took note about the growth of our festival is the fact that it practically ran itself. Friday night a few of us were talking and we honestly felt like we were a little in over our heads. The dance floor was already jam packed and we heard there was a 2 hour line to get in. But through all the dust everything worked out flawlessly. There was no major incidences or negative situations. Everyone came, danced, loved, and because of the community the festival completely ran itself. A very spectacular sight…
LAC: What’s next for you and DH, I heard it’s going to set off in DC + Brooklyn.
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