Silent Disco Blog
Thanks for taking interest in our blog. Here we write about news, events and other interesting information related to silent disco and Silent Storm.
Silent Storm Featured on NBC’s 1st Look 0
The last episode of NBC’s 1st Look, which aired after Saturday Night Live over the weekend, was entitled Dance Phenomenon. One of the segments dove into the silent disco concept and featured Silent Storm Sound System. NBC dropped by our latest event at Palihouse in West Hollywood to get an inside look at Silent Storm’s silent disco experience. Check it out!
Video not playing? Watch it on NBC.
DJs Domonique Porter and Jason Game brought the dance floor energy with electro / techno / house on the Blue and Red channels, while classics by Frank Sinatra and Django Reindhardt slowed it down on the Green channel for those who preferred to go back in time and ballroom dance in the beautiful Palihouse lobby — all while maintaining a volume suitable for conversation and relaxation for the hotel guests.
Watch the other segments of 1st Look’s Dance Phenomenon episode.
1st Silent Disco in the Dominican Republic 0
Guest post by Maria Batlle
Founder & Chair of The Muse Seek Project
On May 2nd 2015, in the middle of a white sand beach called Juanillo, located in Punta Cana -Dominican Republic-, an unexpected storm arrived, a storm that made people dance all day long, one called Silent Storm.
The Muse Seek Project -an organization that breaks barriers between music and Deaf children- partnered with music event company ShaveUrLegz; and with the sponsorship of The Muse Seek Project’s supporters SubPac -technology that transfers low frequencies to the body creating a new physical experience of music- and LSTN Headphones -for every pair of headphones sold, LSTN helps restore hearing to a person in need- the first Silent Disco happened in the Dominican Republic at the Juanillo Beach Music Festival.
This was a very special and unique Silent Disco because it honored music equality, it was divided in two different scenarios: during the day it was specially for Deaf students, their parents and teachers; and during the night it was part of an epic music festival.
In the Dominican Republic it is said that people have the rhythm inside of them, people grow up dancing and singing, there’s music everywhere you go, therefore when you bring a new way to enjoy music in a place like this, it’s a big impact.
“This was so exciting! When I saw the turntables I thought the DJ was going to play the music very loud or something, but there was this huge silence and yet we could all feel the music so loud with SubPac; I want to do it again!” expressed one of the Deaf students about the Silent Disco.
During the night, the Silent Disco presented local DJs such as MKNI, a Dominican celebrated DJ/producer. MKNI brought to the Silent Disco a handful of his own productions; there’s no doubt that Mkni’s tracks are synonymous for high quality, high impact, and sheer joy.
When people put on the SubPac to feel the music, immediately they would close their eyes and smile; some grabbed their heads and screamed: Whoaaaaaaa!!!!
In a country where there is always summer, Silent Storm is the only storm that we would love to have all year long.
Pharrell Williams Happy Without Music 0
By now, if you haven’t had Pharrell Williams’ Happy stuck in your head, you’ve probably been hibernating — and recently a new refreshing spin on the popular music video has been released: a version without the music. Along with being quite entertaining to watch, it bears a striking similarity to what our silent disco events sound like to onlookers. Check out what we mean:
Did you catch the Blurred Lines cameo?
Here’s the original:
Elderly in Nursing Home React to Music | Alive Inside Documentary 0
This excerpt from the Alive Inside documentary is a beautiful and touching example of how powerful music is to the human soul.
For more on how Music and Memory helps elderly residents and facility patients, to volunteer or to donate iPods, visit MusicandMemory.org and get free resources on the project, volunteer an iPod drive and find a local facility you can help.
More of Henry:
Music & Memory on Facebook
Alive Inside Documentary on Facebook
Here are some more clips from this wonderful movie:
Bright Eyes – “First Day Of My Life” 0
We dig this track and love the video. Very sweet. And reminds us of how we feel when we experience music through headphones together at silent disco events.
Silent Disco at SF Zoo: Noc'tails 2013
Some fun facts:
“First Day of My Life” is a single from the album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning by the American band Bright Eyes, released on March 21, 2005. The song reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart and number 21 on the UK Indie Chart in 2009. The video was directed by John Cameron Mitchell.
The song was listed at #266 on Pitchfork Media’s “Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s”.
It was used in the 2007 film Elvis and Anabelle. It was also featured in the episode of NBC’s Chuck (Season 4 Episode 23) titled “Chuck Versus the Last Details”. It was also used in a 2012 Zillow commercial.
James Cordon selected this song as one of his favorite on Radio 4′s “Desert Island Discs”.
Virgin Media Shorts, DSTRKT 13′s Silent Disco 0
DISTRKT 13 joined one of 800+ entries into Virgin Media Shorts 2013 and it’s brilliant. Before you continue reading, watch this:
From July 22nd to the 28th, the eligible film that generates the most Twitter buzz between these days will become the Lucky 13 shortlist entry. Vote for this sharp and stunning piece of art on Twitter by stating the title of this film, “Silent Disco”, followed by the hashtag #VMShortsVote in your post. Its that simple and Twitter hashtags are the only way to vote for Lucky 13 this year.
DSTRKT 13 is a production company for film, theatre and music. It represents a collective of like-minded individuals who join together to share their vision, talent and energy, in order to reach out and tell stories and is founded by Mark J. Rigby. In their words: “As one, our abilities have no limits.”
Here’s Rigby’s first Twitter post about the video’s release:
The @DSTRKT13 team made a film for @VMShorts. It’s called #SILENTDISCO. Please support us by ‘liking’ & ‘sharing’ RT http://t.co/sNDsfVzW4L
— Mark Rigby (@MarkRiggers) July 23, 2013
The song featured in the film is by the talented Dominique Tipper. Dominique’s shout out:
My song Superstar has been used in another short for @VMShorts ‘Silent Disco’ please vote for it here http://t.co/e0wCCpO9Ov its awesome!
— Dominique Tipper (@Mi55Tipper) July 27, 2013
It’s true, we may be a bit bias, but we absolutely LOVE this film. It reminds us of the magical space we are transported into during our Silent Storm events – a place which connects us all to join in on the experience of musical connection. Yet the paradoxical connection between those with headphones and those without exemplifies the immense dichotomy that exists. Needless to reiterate, we’re in LOVE with this piece. Let’s vote “Silent Disco” by DSTRKT 13 to the top!
Charlotte’s Silent Disco Fridays Are Back 0
June is upon us which means our Charlotte Partners, Full House Productions, are kicking off their Silent Disco Fridays Series at Pavilion at EpiCentre!
Tony Arzadon
Friday, June 7
DJ Tony Arzadon
Tony Arzadon knows dance music. Whether it’s infusing listeners with his sexy house – electronic beats , or stimulating the masses with his never-before-heard live DJ sets; Tony delivers an experience that dares comparison.
Since entering the game at age 16, Tony has shaped his reputation from countless hours behind the decks, behind the keyboards, and in front of the studio monitor. His commanding sounds receive regular airplay on SiriusXM satellite radio and other radio stations, while his energetic DJ performances cement residencies throughout the country and appearances across the globe.
Tony’s overwhelming dedication to repeatedly challenge his creative boundaries has made waves within the industry—and with the people who support it. He has released an arsenal of tracks that has hit the Top 10 charts on Beatport. His most recent, ” Moments ” Feat Nikki Kay and “Rip It Up” Courtesy of Juicy Music and a few remixes on Blackhole Recordings /Magik Muzik . With his residencies in Vegas at XS , Encore Beachclub , Surrender ,Wet Republic and Playhouse in LA , Tony partnered up with Redbull North America that help expand a new audience in extreme sports and events. He has become a growing catalyst towards reshaping the dance music scene into something unparalleled, and more electrifying than ever before. Source: Skamartist.com
Tina T
Friday, June 14
DJ Tina T
Voted Las Vegas’s “Best Female DJ” 2010, 2011 & 2012.
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, DJ Tina T headed out to Los Angeles after graduating from Washington State University, she made her first impression in Los Angeles becoming a finalist in the DJ battle hosted by the #1 hip-hop radio station POWER 106 FM, and the world famous Big Boy in the Morning Show. But it was her victory as LA Weekly’s first ever DJ Spin Off battle that Tina T took home the gold. After moving to Las Vegas in 2008, Tina quickly gained recognition in some of the most high profile clubs in the country.
With over 15 years of dues paid, Tina T has been able to seamlessly merge her underground hip hop and turntablist background with the fast pace of mainstream pop, and the forward movement of the EDM scene. Her versatility and open format style of mixing top 40, hip hop, 80’s Rock, house, and electro has allowed Tina’s musical style to be defined simply by the audience she is playing for. This would explain why she has rocked crowds in some of the hottest night clubs all over the world including the Bahamas, Philippines, Canada, Singapore and Mexico. She has toured all over the United States with such companies as Red Bull, Etnies, DC Shoes, Reebok, Skull Candy, Starbucks, Activision, Teen Vogue and The Dew Action Sports. Tina T has held down residencies at some of the most famous Las Vegas night clubs including Prive, Tao, Voodoo and Tao Beach, with headlining performances at Lavo, Pure, Rain, and Tabu. She’s also DJ’d exclusive VIP private parties for the likes of Jessica Simpson, Rachel Roy, Rob Dyrdek, Lil Jon, and has shared the stage with artists: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Ludacris, Run DMC, Billy Idol, Lady GaGa, Too Short, Black Eyed Peas, Sir Mix A Lot, Will I Am, DJ AM and Steve Aoki.
Tina has been featured in commercials for Red Bull, Verizon, DJ Hero and Seagate. She has appeared on MTV’s The Hills, E! News, The Travel Channel, Fuel TV and is currently a top 12 finalist in season 3 of Master Of The Mix on VH1. Along with her image and brand being plastered all over, the pairing of Tina’s skill behind the turntables, her flawless music programming, along with her overall persona, has proved her success thus far.
Currently, DJ Tina T is holding down her Friday night residency at Marquee Nightclub in The Cosmopolitan Of Las Vegas. She is also preparing for the fourth year of her passion project called “Camp Spin-Off”. Founded by Tina in 2010, it is the only sleep away summer camp for teens that teaches them how to DJ and produce music: www.campspinoff.com. Source: djtinat.com
DJ DREX
Friday, June 21
(More info coming soon)
Kyle Biddy vs. Boy Beats World
Friday, June 28
DJ Kyle Biddy
Channel A: Kyle Biddy
Kyle Biddy went from intimate bar settings to playing some of the Charlotte’s largest live music and nightlife venues such as Phoenix, Halo, Neighborhood Theatre and The Fillmore Charlotte. He represents both class and energetic artistry. Kyle first started developing music by making mixed CD’s and experimental mash ups that soon led to his passion for electronic dance music. In 2011, Kyle began circulating in the Charlotte music scene, where he met his future brother-in-arms and fellow DJ, Boy Beats World. Working hard to evolve his career, he landed a local monthly in the Charlotte seen but the pieces finally came together once Kyle was introduced to management and entertainment group, Kidnice Entertainment. Kidnice quickly moved forward with Kyle and developed Gets F*cking Weird in partnership. This event is known as one of North Carolina’s most creative electronic parties. The highly innovative and weird event put Kyle on the appropriate platform to be a competitive name in the regional electronic market. Kyle has now opened for notable names including Kenneth Thomas, Bro Safari, Alvin Risk and Two Fresh. All of these openings in under a year.
Kyle’s influences are Laidback Luke, Chuckie, and Knife Party and he defines his sound as Electro House with a sprinkle of Progressive. Source: KidniceEntertainment.com
DJ Boy Beats World
Channel B: Boy Beats World
The energetic sounds and creative performances of Raleigh native, Boy Beats World, are distinctive within the booming genre of EDM. Ryan Hart, began his music career as an indie-artist within the live music realm. 11 years past and his approach to music took a turn when the 27 year old found electronic music. Now his potent productions and intense on-stage aura have become the perfect formula to building his name as an electronic DJ since moving to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2011. After landing a popular local monthly, he linked up with Giovani Gonzalez, founder of Kidnice Entertainment. Together they now throw one of North Carolina’s most creative regional EDM parties – Gets F*cking Weird. This large party quickly led to opening for the likes of Alvin Risk, Bro Safari, and Two Fresh in major venues such as Neighborhood Theatre and The Fillmore. GF*W also landed BBW a spot on the Kidnice management roster.
Ryan’s influences are Dillon Francis, Alvin Risk, Girl Talk, The Flaming Lips, The Mars Volta, and Radiohead and he defines his sound as wtfpwnedpewwpewwownageomgbbqsauce. Source: KidniceEntertainment.com
Compliments through HUGE Headphones. Need We Say More? 0
Okay, maybe just a little more: We love this concept by Soul Pancake (you know, the guys behind the hilariously cute Kid President). Need a refresher? Here’s Mr. Kid President himself:
We can CRY about it or we can DANCE about it.
(Note: this video starts at 1:53. Rewind to beginning to watch the full Kid President Pep Talk)
Now that you’ve been pep-talked, without further adieu, here are the awesomely heart-warming Street Compliments through some incredibly HUGE headphones:
Since we already found our little cat headphones, we’re off to go find us some HUGE headphones so we can keep giving the world a reason to DANCE.
Caption contest in the comments below. Go!
Daft Punk Alive Fan DVD Full Version 0
With Daft Punk’s new album infusing immense excitement and running the rumor mill amuck, we’d like to share one of our absolute favorite Daft Punk videos. The most intriguing part about this Daft Punk film is that Daft Punk actually had little to do with it’s production, with the exception of performing an incredible, otherworldly performance in Paris, France, of course.
Quick background about this video:
On June 14th 2007, French Electro Music duo Daft Punk made a one night only live show appearance at the “Palais Omnisports de Bercy” in Paris, 10 years after the last one in the city. 20,000 fans were there for this historic show, with almost 20,000 digital cameras and cell phones recording live. This artwork is a result of the combination of the 200 best videos created by more than 40 digital cameras selected from the crowd.
Turn up your headphones, hit full screen and brace yourself for the full version of the Daft Punk Alive Tour Fan DVD.
We continue to anxiously await Daft Punk’s new album and, moreover, their highly anticipated U.S. tour. Neither of which can come soon enough.
BONUS
Daft Punk gets the New Orleans treatment by Madd Wikkid: Brasst Funk!
Please note: for some reason the player below starts at 1:49. Click on the beginning of the green audio waveform in the player to start at the beginning. To get the full tracks, click the ‘buy tracks’ button.
Silent Disco New Orleans 0
Our New Orleans-based partners, Silent Disco PluggediN, was recently featured on the local news. Below is the full video as well as the transcript.
Silent Disco
Originally posted on 2/1/13 on Fox 8 WVUE New Orleans (www.fox8live.com) | by Nicondra Norwood
FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports
New Orleans, La. -
Since the Walkman hit the streets we have all seen private dance parties at bus stops or in the grocery store, but some New Orleanians are taking that experience to another level. Fox 8 looked at what it looks like when the whole party is dancing to the music in their own silent disco. Record spinning, Pop-locking, head bobbing and hip shaking are everything you expect to see at a dance party, but the biggest thing you hear appears to be missing, but it isn’t really missing at all.
Al “Go-DJ Dat Boi” Mitchell said, “When they get here it’s like wow. That’s their first words.” Mathew Lacey said, “It’s different. It’s an experience.” Naomi Galatas said, “I’m really having a good time. It’s a little chilly, but it’s good fresh air and it’s good music so it’s fun.” Under a moonlit sky, the courtyard of a Marigny club became a Silent Disco. So it’s not exactly “silent,” but if you want to know what people are dancing to you have to either rely on some relayed performances or rent the wireless headphones that will allow you to switch between the two DJ sources and control the volume.
Then it’s off to the dance floor. The night we visit the selections are Hip Hop and Reggae followed by top 40. DJ Dat Boi CEO of Silent Disco Plugged-In explains, “It’s two DJs, two mc’s, 4 DJs if you want. The Silent Disco ends up being like three parties in one. You can listen to two different kinds of music or just take the headphones off and talk. First timer, Galatas, thinks that is one of the best features. She said, “It’s totally different because it’s not as loud. You can actually speak to someone. Take your headphones off and communicate with another person. In clubs, downtown and all those areas you can’t really talk.”
Matthew Lacey has attended before. Lacey said, “They are all playing, all at the same time you know and whoever you’re digging at the moment you can listen to.” He does miss some things about a traditional speaker system. He said, “The vibrations from the bass, everyone feeling the same thing at the same time.” He still thinks it’s fun. “It’s good every now and then. Change is good,” He said.
Galatas heard about the headphone parties, “They had been telling me that they were going to be doing a silent disco in New Orleans and I was like yeah right, but they did.” These types of parties started popping up a few years ago in different spots around the globe. Investor Terrence Magee helped bring the technology to New Orleans. Magee said, “We saw a party. It was on you tube. I was just browsing.”
That sparked an idea with DJ Dat Boi, “It started from me doing a lot of events and you could get called out 10:30 (p.m.) probably about an hour after the event started from noise pollution sound ordinance.” So there is a practical side. DJ Dat Boi said, “I’ve been DJ-ing the Dragon’s Den and a few other spots around this area for about six or seven years now and the biggest problem was noise ordinance. This is a business area, but you know we still have residential that stay around here and it presents a problem anything after 12 o’clock.” With the music corralled in headphones DJ Dat Boi said, “You can go all night and you’re not disturbing nobody.”
Magee said once they saw the You Tube events, “We decided to call the company and see if we could represent the company for the south region and it was a go.” There are several other companies that will come into the area and set up the experience for private parties, but Silent Disco Plugged-In hosts this monthly event in addition to that service.
One more advantage to the headsets, “If you look at the diversity in the crowd you have a little bit of everybody,” said DJ Dat Boi. Unlike a club with multiple rooms or levels, everyone can be in the same space. He said, “You have Reggae fans, you have Hip-Hop fans, you have Techno, you have Dub Step all in one room appreciating different types of genres of music. This (the headphones) allows you to incorporate all in one.” If nothing else, it makes for great people watching. DJ Dat Boi said, “When you take the headphones off, you actually see how everybody takes in the music. That’s what I love the most, taking the headphones off,” a priceless experience. It cost about five dollars to rent the headphones. If you want to check out future events, you can find Silent Disco Plugged-In on Facebook and Twitter.
Sephora’s Silent Disco Holiday Party 0
In 2012, Sephora invited Silent Storm to bring silent disco to their company holiday party in San Francisco. The silent disco featured Dave Bailey (aka DJ Sol). We were lucky enough to have his entire live set recorded that night. The night featured quite a diverse soundtrack, which has been split into 3 parts below for your listening pleasure.
DJ Sol got the party started with some house and breaks:
Then phased into some Electronica and Dubstep in the 2nd hour:
Towards the end of the night, guests were feeling Hip-hop and other Top 40 club hits:
DJ Sol has been DJing for over 15 years professionally spinning clubs, private parties and weddings locally and across the globe. He’s been a resident DJ at many clubs in San Francisco over the years and is currently a resident at both Mighty and Chambers Eat + Drink. He also DJs with the Space Cowboys at all their biggest events.
Here are links to some of his mixes (mostly within the electronic/house/funk/breaks genre):
- http://soundcloud.com/solsound
- http://soundcloud.com/spacecowboys/sol-gsa
- http://www.solsoundmusic.com/djsolmixes.html
Big thanks to Sephora for sharing their holiday celebration with us!
