Arise – Colorado’s most Diverse Festival

All of the beautiful attendees of Symbiosis Gathering will begin to flow into Woodward Reservoir when the gates open at 10:00am on Thursday. The music starts up at The Cove at 3:15pm in the afternoon with Neptune. Then Hopscotch plays at 4:30pm. After he ends, I plan to take a quick break to camp to eat and prepare for the night. Outersect plays at 8:30pm and is followed by the Dub Kirtan All-Stars featuring Freq Nasty and David Starfire at 7:30pm. Once they are done at 9:00pm, I suggest heading over to the Pantheon to catch one of my favorite female producers, Dakini. Sol Rising plays right after Dakini at 10:15pm. Then, at 12:30am, it is a choice between Hudson Mohawke at The Cove, or RadioHiro at the Pantheon. If you are into the circus like singing and dancing, then catch Auditory Canvas on the Pantheon at 2:00am to end the night.

After a good night’s sleep, be sure to be up in time to either head to the Empire of Love stage at noon for Yoga of Bass with Freq Nasty and Claire Thompson. Right after that, stick around to listen to Austero, who is part of Sun:monx with Opiuo and plays a mean guitar while mixing beats. Kitty-D drops some hard dubstep at 2:30pm and then Mustard Tiger from Australia brings his unique international sounds at 3:45pm. I will catch a bit of that set before heading to The Cove to catch Plantrae sooth me with his beautiful viola and harmonious melodies. Then I will head back over to the Empire of Love to catch DOV laying it down. At 6:00pm, I face a very tough choice in either staying to catch JPOD play some funky musical mash ups or heading back over to the Pantheon to catch Cheb I Sabbah and his tribal beats. I will probably try to do both. I will definitely not miss Vibesquad when he comes on at 7:15pm at The Cove. Sasha Rose will mesmerize at 8:30pm at the Pantheon. Then, at 9:30pm at The Big Island, is the musical genius Gaudi who has been playing all types of genres of music for the last 33 years. Then after a performance by Vau de Vire Society comes the talents of Matt and Ryan from Love and Light. Ant-ten-nae brings his low, heavy bass at midnight at The Cove. Directly after that set, Adam Freeland comes on at 1:15 am at the Empire of Love. Check out his Symbiosis Mix! I’d recommend leaving a little bit early to head over to Birds of Paradise at 1:45am at the Pantheon. If you enjoy house music, definitely be sure to catch Worthy, J. Phlip, and Christian Martin from 2:45am to 6:30am. If you would rather check out other types of music, then I would suggest catch the Secret Guest at The Cove instead. G Jones and Russ Liquid play right after that so no need to go elsewhere. I will have to leave the stage a little early to go catch international sensation Grouch play some glitchy New Zealand beats at 5:30am at the Juke Shack. Then I will try to jump back over to The Cove to catch local bay area artist Mikhal. Then I will head over to see Shadow FX finishing up his set at the Juke Shack before finally passing out as the sun is coming up.

Jupiter starts the day off at 1:30pm at the Empire of Love. Bluetech will bring a relaxed atmosphere to The Cove at 2:15pm. Staunch, the duo from Australia, will bring it hard to the Empire of Love stage at 4:00pm. Try to leave early to jump over to The Big Island to catch Odezsa get real funky on their instruments. At 5:00pm, there is a festival wide moment of silence that will be something unique that I have never experienced before. After that, one of my recently favorite groups, Polica, bring their soft vocals and funky beats to the stage. At 6:15, Pumpkin plays his jams at the Juke Shack while at 6:30pm, Griff plays some beats out at the Empire of Love. At 7:45pm, Lynx brings her instrumental talents and her beat box skills to The Cove. Then it is time to go gear up for STS9 as they get funky jamming out on their instruments at 9:15pm. They play for 2 hours and 45 minutes and it is going to be an absolutely magical and epic set. It is probably the set that I am looking forward to most during the whole festival. Then either listen to new up and coming female producer Cashmere Cat blow you away with her sounds at The Cove or go catch Trevor Moontribe from Desert Dwellers lay down some impressive beats at Empire of Love. Be sure to try and stay up for Kilowatts at 4:30am and Desert Dwellers at 6:45am at the Pantheon. If you can make it past sunrise, definitely wander over to The Cove to catch Random Rab, whoever the Special Guest is, Sun:monx, Dirtwire, and Sidecar Tommy from 7:30am until 1:30pm respectively. At some point, try to recharge by catching a few hours of sleep.

Gaudi in Dub will be a unique experience on Sunday at 4:15pm at The Cove. This is the first time that I have ever heard of this set and I am really into the old school dub music that Gaudi plays. Sphongle plays right after than and it is one of the sets I am extremely excited for at Symbiosis. Chet Faker starts right after at 7:15pm. Leave that set a little early to catch Janover and Re:sunator at 7:45pm at the Living Room. This will be a particularly interesting set as Janover plays his unique instrument while be accompanied by his beautiful wife up on stage. Mount Kimbie brings their electronic sounds to The Big Island at 9:00pm. Then I will head over to catch a wild and entertaining Michal Menert set before a chill, laid back Emancipator set at The Cove from 10:30pm until 1:00am. I may try to catch the US debut of Iamwhoiamami at The Big Island between those sets if I can swing it. Then head over to the Pantheon for a whole slate of back-to-back good artists. Ott will bring a not to miss performance followed by Bird of Prey at 3:30am. One of my personal favorites, Kalya Scintilla, plays his whompy tribal music at 5:00am. Kaminanda, Thriftworks, and The Human Experience hold down the stage from 6:30am until 10:30am. Then David Block from The Human Experience teams up with Rising Appalachia to bring a never before seen performance to Symbiosis. There are a ton of To Be Announced artists on the schedule throughout the rest of the day as well as a Special Guest playing at 1:15pm at the Panthoen. By the time the music stops, my legs should be feeling like jelly and my soul should be fully rejuvenated. There is so much good music at Symbiosis that it’ll be hard to see it all. But I will definitely try to!

I hope that you have enjoyed my personal walkthrough for my plan out at Symbiosis Gathering. Please know that there is a ton more than what I have here going on at Woodward Reservoir. Check out the schedule for yourself! I hope to see all of you beautiful people out in the symbiotic community of love, learning, music, dance, and wisdom that is Symbiosis.

Here is a beautiful video previewing what it is going to be like at Symbiosis this year:

Then there is this Symbiosis teaser video that is way more outrageous…

Download and listen to these mixes of Symbiosis Gathering:
Symbiosis Gathering Volume 1
Symbiosis Gathering Volume 2
Symbiosis Gathering Volume 3

Please enjoy these Soundcloud playlists that I made for each day at Symbiosis Gathering:

And here is also a Symbiosis sampler playlist made by DJ Playaduster:

I have never been to a Photosynthesis Festival before but I have heard nothing but good things about the festival. So as soon as Michael Manahan, the producer of Photosynthesis, offered me the opportunity to work press for FreioMusic, I jumped right on the chance to attend this unique Pacific Northwest festival. Looking forward to capturing the Photosynthesis experience.

The venue for Photosynthesis Festival is on the most northern beach on the west coast in the US. It takes place on a Makah Indian Reservation at Hobuck Beach Resort in Neah Bay, Washington. This venue sounds amazing and I’m stoked to be able to explore the beautiful scenery by the Washington coast and to be able to get down on the dance floor at Photosynthesis.

The lineup for this festival is absolutely epic. They have Kalya Scintilla, Russ Liquid, Bim Tim, Plantrae, Gaudi, Kaminanda, Aligning Minds, Drumspyder, Justin Martin, Luke Mandala, Splatinum, and tons of other talented artists to entertain you and keep you grooving all weekend long. There are three stages: Mandala Dome Stage, Dream Dome Stage, and Beach Stage.

Here is a FreioMusic playlist that I made previewing most of the artists playing at Photosynthesis Festival this year:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/7696053″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Here are some links containing more information on Photosythesis:
Photosythesis Facebook Page
Musical Artists at Photosynthesis
Fine Arts at Photosynthesis
Workshops at Photosythesis
Vendors at Photosythesis
Hobuck Beach Resort

Want to participate in the festivities? Learn how…