By Saturday evening the skies were finally clear. The storm that started Thursday night and dumped a fair share of snow on the Denver metro area had passed. Now, not only was it the heart of the weekend, but people finally had the chance to go out again after staying holed up to get away from the bad weather. The best remedy for cabin fever was at the Summit Music Hall, as Lipgloss, TheHundred and Girls & Boys Denver presented a dance party perfect for releasing the extra energy people stored away while waiting for the weather to clear.


The night began with a trio of local support. CLUB COLD duo London Dungeon, Lipgloss/Girls & Boys Denver founder boyhollow, and TheHundred founder option4 traded DJ sets to warm up the night. All three acts rotated thirty minute long sets all the way up until it was time for the headliner, making sure to keep the music flowing but varied so that the dance party would never reach a lull. The rotation approach gave each act a chance to play two sets - one for the early crowd and one when the venue got packed much tighter.

London Dungeon

London Dungeon, the duo of Van Kalsing and Thrashton Kutcher, kicked off the night and kept it going later with a house music set. They played a variety of house music styles, trending toward the deeper side of the genre at times, to get the crowd into the dancing mood. Their early set welcomed the early crowd, as people began to file toward the dance floor right away. Their later set maintained the energy that the opening acts were steadily building up until the main event.

boyhollow

Experienced DJ boyhollow unleashed an eclectic variety of electronic music on the crowd in his sets that really hyped the crowd. Despite the limitations of working with divided, shorter sets, he managed to work in classic disco, indie dance, house and even a few doses of electro bangers. Although he mixed music from all over the place, his mix never seemed haphazard thanks to boyhollow's ability to maintain a steady, seamless flow from one song to another.

option4

Smooth house aficionado option4 not only brought out very danceable, crowd-pleasing grooves during his sets, he also brought with him an energetic stage presence that constantly fed energy to the dance hungry crowd. His set consisted mainly of mid-tempo house that put dancers in a good mood, and he transferred positive energy to the crowd not only through his music but also through his demeanor. He got the audience to dance along, put their hands in the air, and go crazy at all the right moments, getting the crowd charged for the final act to come.

Passion Pit DJ Set

Finally, it was time for the DJ set the crowd had been waiting for. A couple members of the acclaimed electropop group Passion Pit were in house, and they were ready to share a dance-inducing DJ set of their own. Passion Pit bassist Jeff Apruzzese and drummer Nate Donmoyer were in house to represent the band. Jeff Apruzzese quickly took charge of the wheels of steel, churning out a house music set that kept the Summit Music Hall dance floor crowded all the way to the night's end.

Passion Pit DJ Set

Passion Pit is known for their intricately arranged brand of electropop with a unique sound derived from its synth heavy footprint, but the Passion Pit DJ set definitely explored electronic music outside of those boundaries. Electing to reveal a few influential dance tracks and personal Passion Pit party favorites, the set featured a lot of tracks that came from throughout the umbrella of house music. The set did sneak in a few of Passion Pit's original tunes, but the focus on this night was an expression of the band's house music appreciation through a steady, seamless mix.

option4, Jeff Apruzzese, Nate Donmoyer and boyhollow

The crowd responded well to all acts the entire night. The venue began to fill early and stay packed late as the spirited crowd came to dance, enjoy great mixes, and just generally have a good time. The non-stop DJ mix format meant the action never died down, and allowed people to cycle in and out of the heart of the crowd at their leisure. The constant variety of music leading up to the headliner kept the song selection interesting and kept the dance floor bubbling all night long. Having a show put on by the minds that throw some of Denver's best weekly and monthly parties assured that the crowd was in good hands, and by the end of the night any lingering notions of cabin fever had been melted away.

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page to stay up to date.

Stow away those snow boots and pull out those dancing shoes because it's Saturday night so that means it's time to hit the dance floor. Lipgloss, TheHundred and Girls & Boys Denver - three of the freshest dance parties in the city - have teamed up to present a dance night so hot it will melt all your cold weather cares away. For fans of electronic dance music, this night should definitely deliver.


The party is headlined by members of the indie electro-pop/synth outfit Passion Pit. This band is known for performing intricately designed indie elctronic pop masterpieces with a unique footprint but enthralling ability to work crowds into a sweaty dance fest. So what happens when they put together a DJ set? Expect to hear an eclectic mix that will keep the dance floor crowded, as Passion Pit puts together a mix featuring originals, remixes and influences. They could play just about anything, but here's a Miike Snow remix of "The Reeling" to whet your appetite.



When boyhollow isn't busy running his weekly parties at Lipgloss and Shag Lounge, planning the next Girls & Boys Denver event, or opening for big acts that come to town, he's busy putting together a sweet party to present. This is one of those nights, but boyhollow isn't one to just stay behind the scenes. He may have put this party together, but that doesn't mean he won't contribute to it. Expect to hear boyhollow's trademark versatile sound, where he can stream together a number of genres into a very danceable mix to elicit the most crowd response. Check out his opening set for the last Denver MSTRKRFT show.



London Dungeon is quickly becoming one of Denver's busiest dance music DJ duos, thanks to their hard work ethic and ability to string together amazing live mixes. Van Kalsing and Thrashton Kutcher should be at it again tonight, playing off of their dynamic to put together a mix that will encompasses a number of house music genres. Check out their weather appropriate mix titled "The First Snow".



As the founder of one of Denver's hottest new monthly parties, TheHundred, option4 has demonstrated he knows what it takes to bring people a phenomenal club night. On a weekly basis, he also resides at Lipgloss, feeding the crowd a steady diet of groovy house that keeps audiences coming back for more. Tonight, he should be at it again, delivering dance-inducing house music like only option4 can. Check out his remix of Exosphere's "Violet Winter".


The Summit Music Hall doors open at 8:30PM and the show starts at about 9:00PM. The show is all ages and tickets are $20. Tickets and more information are available online here.

This event at City Hall was just one of the plentiful events happening all over and around the Denver area on New Year's Eve last Saturday night - a testament to the strength and vibrance of the local music scene. With that in mind, there really was no wrong answer to how to spend the evening, as people made whatever choices and decisions that would best suit their individual needs. I can say for sure though, that the choice I made definitely worked out great for me, as I was able to ring in the new year with great music and great friends.

boyhollow

The night was presented by Lipgloss founder boyhollow, and thus he and the local support for the night (London Dungeon and Shannon von Kelly) played out music in a familiar way - the three names rotated DJ sets every half hour up until just before midnight, in the same manner that DJs will play at the Friday night weekly party at La Rumba, Lipgloss.

boyhollow, Thrashton Kutcher & Van Kalsing (London Dungeon), Shannon von Kelly

All three names kept the night going with seamless mixes drawing from a variety of music - mostly indie dance, some rock, and bits of electro, but a variety of other styles were also heard. And as the event promised, the evening's party was a no dubstep, no continuous banger zone, meaning the premise of the night was to just come and have fun to music without anything getting too obnoxious - it was a great alternative to many of the other offerings that were going on around town, and it meant the great crowd that came to party that night were also all on the same page.

Reuben Wu (of Ladytron)

After the countdown came and it officially became the new year, the headliner came out to do his bidding on the DJ decks. Ladytron's Reuben Wu came into the booth and began to lay down a a very danceable DJ set that kept the party going and also hinted to what kind of music Ladytron themselves may enjoy. He picked up the energy that the openers built up and sent up soaring by mixing in some high energy dance tracks. I always love when I get to see someone in a band throw down a DJ set, because it offers a sort of window into their musical mind, and some, like Reuben Wu really do understand the art of DJing and can mix a set very well.

The entire NYE DJ crew

Some people may wonder why many enjoy going to see DJ sets, after all, they are just playing other people's music, right? That may be true, but there is a lot more to it that makes DJs who do it right much more than just a human jukebox and thus a bit of an artist themselves. No, I don't consider DJs rock stars - rock stars are rock stars and DJs are DJs, but much like a rock star DJs have to understand how certain music will cause a crowd to react, and DJs must understand the relationship between songs to achieve and create a certain musical flow. In essence, I believe good DJs are really just some of the biggest fans of music - they are ones who will constantly be keeping their ears open and trying to figure out how to reassemble scattered pieces of music into something whole. That's the reason why I can have just as much fun watching a DJ set as I can a live musician, since as long as they are good at their craft, the end effect is just the same.


Saturday night's party at City Hall had just what I needed to have a great time ringing in the new year. Not only was the music great and the people behind providing it did so very well, but it was a night spent with a room packed full of like-minded, fun-loving friends, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate a holiday than among people like that. If you were there that night, I'm sure you felt similarly, and if you weren't there, I hope wherever you were you could say the same thing. As long as you can say that, no matter where you were you had to have had a great time. Happy new year to you all, and I hope 2012 is your best year yet!

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page and stay up to date.

Another holiday weekend has come and gone and the year is about to come to a close. It's time to start solidifying plans to celebrate the oncoming of a brand new year. What better way to ring in the new year than with a music event? As usual, there is are many options to do so here in Denver, which makes it a bit difficult to choose just one. You could check out Gauntlet Hair at the Larimer Lounge if you are into indie rock. If you are into funk, there is Dumpstaphunk/Orgone at Cervantes' or Bop Skizzum at Moe's Original. If you are into electronic dance music (EDM) and want to dance into the new year, there are a host of options for that as well, which is why I'll be heading to City Hall.


There are a number of EDM based events for New Year's Eve, but most seem to have a connection to a certain sub-genre that pervasively took the EDM world by storm especially over the past year - dubstep. Now, if you are into dubstep, that's fine. Personally, I think the genre has become a bit over-saturated, so I was happy to see that Denver's own boyhollow was presenting a New Year's Eve non-dubstep party.

The night will be headlined with a DJ set from Reuben Wu, one of the members of the English electropop band Ladytron. He will be joined by Denver locals London Dungeon, Shannon von Kelly and of course boyhollow. Together they will be mixing indie, electro, '80s, rock, house and more, so although EDM will be prevalent it will not be strictly electronic dance music. It'll be the perfect party full of variety for those with a multitude of music tastes, and a great way to ring in the new year.

Tickets start at $20 and will be higher the night of the show, so get your tickets early and save! The show is 18+ and it begins at 9:00PM. You can purchase tickets online here.

One of the latest and greatest things to happen to the Denver dance scene took place this past weekend and it had all the right ingredients to make for an epic dance party. Lipgloss founder boyhollow brought to town a party that's already taken New York and Chicago by storm: Girls & Boys. The first Girls & Boys Denver party included eight impressive DJ acts - four locals and four imports - and a spellbinding light show. There was non-stop music going on the entire night, and it made for a marathon dance fest for those that could handle it.

Fidget Factory

It wasn't enough for Girls & Boys Denver to feature some big national and international DJ names, it had to start with local representation. The party began early and I missed the DJ set from opener Spencer Flower, but I still got to see three more local purveyors of dance. I arrived shortly after eight o'clock, and local DJ duo Fidget Factory was up on stage throwing down a heavy electro mix. Fidget Factory's mixing style uses hard electro beats, splashes of womp, and clever dashes of remixed and mashed up songs. I like how in between a section of electro songs, they brought out a remix of Kelis' "Milkshake" mashed up with an instrumental of The Game's "How We Do", making a song that was pure club on so many levels. They got the early crowd's heart rate racing and served as a good warm up for the hours of dance still ahead.

London Dungeon

Next on stage was another local DJ two-piece, London Dungeon. London Dungeon started throwing down a mix that had more nu-disco house and dance-funk, getting everyone into a smooth groove. It was a good transition from the earlier set, because if they kept the intensity just as high as the previous act it probably would have wore out the crowd. Instead, their set was at the perfect mid-tempo, bringing back retro '70s and '80s dance sounds wrapped around modern dance textures. I really liked their song selection, giving everything a sort of retro feel, even with newer songs like YACHT's "Dystopia" and CSS's "Hit's Me Like A Rock" - the remixes they played were hot. After a nice discotheque session, London Dungeon handed the decks over to one more local maestro.

boyhollow

Not only did he present the show, but boyhollow had to throw down a set as well. It's obvious boyhollow has a passion for making people dance when he's so heavily involved in the parties he presents. For this evening, boyhollow threw down a mix in his characteristic eclectic style, drawing from music across genres to propagate more dance energy to the floor. Showing an ability to carefully and steadily build up crowd energy, boyhollow started with milder mid-tempo house tracks like Cassius' "The Sound of Violence" and built up the intensity until he was slamming the crowd with a little womp and hard electro like Skream's remix of "In For The Kill" by La Roux.

Paul Anthony

Paul Anthony took over the reigns next, the first imported artist of the show. He brought his Chicago house experience and Dirty Fabric record label swagger to the dance floor. Lately, Paul Anthony has been churning out electro jams and remixes one after the other, and he brought much of his production work to the decks Saturday night. Using just CD tables and a mixer, Paul Anthony brought face melting electro and hard house to the hapless Denver crowd. My favorite track had to be the remix of Laid Back's "White Horse" he threw down.

By this point of the night, people were starting to file in and take up the dance floor, and that's just when things started to get visually interesting as well. Girls & Boys Denver featured a laser display that continued to get more elaborate and amazing as the night went on. It started with a few lasers during boyhollow's and Paul Anthony's set, impressive but not much beyond the standard fare, but once the international acts of the Kitsuné Club Night Tour started to throw down, the laser light show got absolutely ridiculous.

Database

Brazilian DJ duo Database went up on stage next, bringing a crazy blend of electro house - crazy because they remix so many songs that are from outside of the electro realm. They upped the tempo and started to get the crowd sweating as people tried to keep up with one hard mix after the other. My favorite tracks were their electro mix of Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You", bringing an old favorite back to life with a bang, and they included an electro favorite of mine, "Neon Nights" by MSTRKRFT. When Database was on stage, the party was definitely in full effect, and it only continued to get better from there.

BeatauCue

BeatauCue took the stage next, bringing their French electro house sound to Denver. They take hard electro to a new level using crazy tweaked and glitchy sounds, hard thumping bass, and souped up tempos to get dancers going wild. Their sound worked perfectly with the laser display, each high pitched burst hitting my ear drums just as synchronized flashes of colored light dazzled my eyes. They kept their set high energy, but the song that stood out was the song "Close" from their Falcon Punch EP.

RAC

From there it was up to headliners RAC to finish the night and smack the audiences' ears with songs remixed and re-imagined in creative ways. Using two laptops and an array of Ableton controllers, the remix duo impressively laid down a fluid mix of songs they manipulated for the crowd live. They reached deep into their bag of tricks, pulling out songs from across genres and giving them the dance floor treatment. They remixed Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, CSS, Mr. Oizo, Simian Mobile Disco, Kele, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and many, many more. The RAC injected more of their dancey tunes as opposed to some of their indie rock reconstructions, but they felt out what the crowd wanted and delivered the high energy set people were seeking.

The first Girls & Boys Denver party was a great introduction on what to expect for the future. Anytime you see an upcoming Girls & Boys Denver event, expect it to be a non-stop dance fest featuring great talent and sweet visuals. They will bring in the best skilled DJs from around town, and then supplement that with huge talent from around the world. The first party was incredibly fun, thanks to the great music and atmosphere. There were not as many people there as I would have liked to have seen, but the dance floor was still going hard the entire night and it was a good showing for such a new event. If you missed out on the first one, don't worry, this party is bound to come back. But get on it, because this party is only going to get bigger and better each time and you won't want to be left out.

See more pictures from this show in the Facebook photo album. Like the Concerted Effort page to stay up to date.