The second edition of the Day For Night festival takes place in just a few short days. Toting a lineup of the future, including a bit of everything for everyone, this gathering isn’t just centered around music. Art installations including one from Björk Digital – a five-room digital experience and DJ set are what separate and set apart this from other experiences assembled in Texas and other regions of the United States. While this gamble could have gone horribly astray, the talent buyers for this still fledgling event have done an A plus job in curating a massively diverse group of artists for a city that is on the up and up in bringing quality, non top 40/stadium tour musicians and attracting a majority of their attendees from outside Houston; 75% to be exact.
Topping the lineup this year in the electronic music division are heavy weights Aphex Twin, Kaskade, Odesza and Nick Murphy (Chet Faker). All outstanding in their own right, especially with being able to land Aphex Twin’s first US tour date in 23 years. However, I want to dig deeper into the booking sheet to find the gems others skim over.
Let’s begin with Squarepusher. Toting a legacy that has to be viewed across a few decades, techno, drum and bass, acid house, and jazz are just but a few of the influencing sounds that has shaped his productions. With Squarepusher being only but one of a few aliases the UK recording artist Tom Jenkinson channels his creative influences through, it all came together for him in 2004 with his first of many full-length releases Ultravisitor burst onto the scene with a slew of international support. His latest album, Damogen Furies, was supported by Pitchfork and NME whiling reaching No. 8 on the Billboard US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
Night Drive are a local band from Austin, co-founded by Rodney Connell and Brandon Duhon that have made a name for themselves from remixes and covers of Radiohead, Arcade Fire and Goldroom while still captivating their audiences with originals like their latest single “Rise and Fall”, which dropped back in November. Their productions comprise both ends of the spectrum, favoring material that would be well suited for a night drive; moody enough while keeping the energy at just the right level to keep you awake.
Having been fairly quiet since the release of Garden of Delete last year, only posting an uplifiting remix of Four Tet’s “Evening Side”, the experimental moniker Oneohtrix Point Never of Massachusetts-born and Brooklyn-raised Daniel Lopatin has garnered quite the following of the past decade; constantly utilizing new gear, patch setups and other oddball avenues of creating off-the-wall sounds. Day For Night is lucky to have snagged such a prominent figure in electronic music.
The creative collective out of Los Angeles, Soulection, has been making waves since 2011 as the unusual music startup that found the sound of tomorrow. Having a radio show, Soulection Radio, on Beats 1 hosted by Joe Kay, is broadcasted to millions of people in over 100 countries weekly coicentally is one of a handful of programs on the network that is not hosted by already-established recording artist or longtime radio personality. This speaks volume about their dedication and drive to inspire change in the music industry that so oftens is put by the wayside as soon as success presents itself.
Last but not least, Tycho, which is by far this writers most anticipated act, has expanded the sound and team since his original Dive LP debuted in 2011. Adding on Zac Brown (guitars, bass), whom toured with Scott Hansen, the OG member, extensively on the tour immediately following the LP release and drummer Rory O’Connor for the second LP for Ghostly International – Awake, the dynamic took on a completely different feel.
“After the tour, I decided that I wanted to capture the more energetic, driven sound of the live show on the next album,” Hansen said. They took to the hills of Santa Cruz where “It crystallized the vision of how the drums would come to the forefront on this record.” Carrying that energy through to their latest LP Epoch, which made its way to the sonic airwaves in September, will be the focal point of the performance seen on Saturday.
Tickets are still available for this multi-faceted festival. Houston has a lot to give, especially this time of year when the temperature is mild and enjoyable for the next few months. The food is phenomenal too. Just ask Anthony Bourdain. Make that last minute decision and snag some.
