Whether it was Dave/Assembler becoming an official member of the Elements crew, Basek sneaking up on stage to pull back "Can't Punish Me", the owners of the Phoenix Landing staying out way past their bedtimes to attend, seeing half the people in the room wearing former anniversary t-shirts spanning a decade, or me betting on when Crook was going to play "The Odyssey", it was a night that pictures just didn't do justice. Although I tried my best!

This was my first time at Beat Research in awhile; I'll be making more of an effort to pencil this open-format night into my schedule more frequently this year. Wayne and Tony have been running it for almost a decade now, so they're definitely doing something right. De Qualia played an interesting selection of techno AND drum & bass, the first time I've heard the latter at Goodlife in ages!

Brenmar absolutely smashed Goodlife to smithereens at Sweet Shop 6. Drawing from a very deep crate that consisted of garage, juke, UK funky, house, crunk hip hop, even R&B, he played for everyone in the room that night. A dancefloor still rammed at 2am was the proof! A first for my photo archive, I actually took pics using a FILM camera: a Lomo Diana Fisheye. Although these are not 5D-quality images by any stretch of the imagination, it was cool to switch things up for a change.

I got there a little late, so unfortunately missed a bit of Legowelt's short-but-sweet live PA set. Showing no fear, this German headliner held nothing back as he switched up tempos, beat structures, even time signatures. It was a set that would have been a tough act for most DJ's to follow, but not Volvox obviously! iPhone shots.

Installment number 2 of Genesis went off without a hitch. Space Jesus served up some Philly steak-and-dubstep sandwiches, while $0$0 Gutter kept the event close to the Vermin Street roots and Shawn Conte played a rare techno set. And of course there was Ian PressPlay, who stole the whole show with some high energy, kick-in-the-pants drum and bass.

My first party of 2012 also happened to be my first time seeing Atlanta-turntablist Klever on the steel wheels. Proving it was worth my while to stop by, the guy played everything from his hometown crunk-hop to house and electro. Even some of signature songs we used to hear every single week when Circus was a weekly in back in 2009, like Hot Pink Delorean's "Party Favour". iPhone shots.

What is 2Pac Rave? If you spent more than 5 minutes in downtown Boston during the last few months of 2011, you probably wondered this yourself every time you saw one of the signs plastered everywhere. Pulling off one of the best guerrilla marketing stunts I've seen for a dance party, 2Pac Rave lived up to the hype. Now that he's been resurrected, wait patiently for the Kanye West and Lil Wayne diss tracks to drop.

Dara returning to Boston with another one of his signature "old school-meets-new school" sets. Traversing through the Shy FX joints of yesteryear to the latest SPY jammies, Dara always manages to prove he is a literal walking encyclopedia when it comes to drum and bass and its history. iPhone shots.

Justin Martin came to Boston last month and obliterated the room he played in. Then his brother came to Boston last night and, wait for it.... obliterated the room he played in. Getting to see both of these guys, along with J.Philip and Claude Von Stroke within the span of just a few months is definitely a privilege. Dirtybird had an astonishing year, and are at the forefront of the Bass Music scene right now. My highlight of the set was the 3-minute Justin Martin "Lezgo" VIP Christian played.

I left Mirrorshades at 1am and promptly headed over to Elements to see Hype, who needs no introduction. Even though I was only in the building for about 40 minutes, it was better than 0 as far as I'm concerned. This time around he came with MC Daddy Earl, who did an awesome job keeping the energy level high and knowing when to let the music do the talking. A lot of people were commenting on Facebook the following day how great of a set it was. The fact I was able to fire off about 40 decent pics in the short time I was there was testament to the energy in the room at the time!

The second installment of Mirrorshades at Goodlife was another success for the crew. The DJ's refined their selection even more than the first one back in October, playing an amazing selection of catchy (and very danceable) songs you rarely hear in the clubs nowadays. Not only was the turnout better than the first one in October, but a decent-sized suit-and-tie crowd (fresh off the heels of their company Christmas parties) passed through to get some dancefloor action.

An event that was only announced several days before it actually happened, I got to give it up to WeNo for bringing Resident Advisor's #2 DJ of 2011 to Felt. Troxler's first appearance to Boston did not disappoint; although there were a few technical difficulties early on, the crowd was very patient, and this was rewarded with two hours of grooving tech house. The energy stayed at a fairly constant level throughout the night, and Sergio and Tamer opened up properly just like they always do.

I missed Joe Nice the last several times he came to Boston, but I never get too bummed because if there's someone who I can always count on to make repeat appearances in this town, it's this guy. Still the ambassador of deep, melodic dubstep, Joe Nice came correct as always with an all-dubplate set of forthcoming tracks, mixed with the occasional obscure bit that never came out and the odd VIP remix that the producer who made it doesn't even have anymore. I only took a few iPhone pics at this one.

Nick Smeed on the come up with his dubstep night at All Asia. Ironically enough, this was not only right across from the CVLS showcase at the Middlesex, but there was also an art showcase going on here as well with miscellaneous vendors and live canvas painting session. Although I'm a little bummed about All Asia closing shop in a couple weeks, it can't stop me from going there a few more times in their final days of business for a last hurrah.

I had the day off, so was able to go out on this Monday to check out the Ars Moriendi Project at the Middlesex Lounge. This was a concept night designed to merge music with the arts. "Ars Moriendi" is a latin translation for "The art of dying", so it was only appropriate that a large display of crafted skulls were on display! CVLS is set up to be a bi-monthly at the Middlesex with differing themes, so expect to see the next installment there in February. Could it be a resurrection theme? Only time will tell.

With work and freelance commitments, it is very difficult for me to get out during the week to support nights like Music Ecology. But not anymore; their Tuesday night has become so successful that not only are people beginning to see it as an institution, but they have kicked off a monthly event at Machine as well. The headliner, KING from Las Vegas, played a multi-genre set that included juke, dubstep, glitch, bass, and then some.

Another WeNo jam to kick off the Thanksgiving break properly. Not even a firedrill that forced everyone in the club onto the streets for a few minutes could deter people leaving to witness Davide Squillace and Matthias Tanzmann lay down two proper hours of feelgood tech house. Ibiza kingpin Karina also joined in on the fun, contributing an all-vinyl showcase of tech house and minimal from yesterday and today.

I had no idea how long it was since I was last at RISE until going through my photo album on here recently. Because it's a mere four blocks away from Splash, I decided to stop there on the way home. Former Bostonian J.Rabbit, who has since made a very significant name for himself in the U.S. dubstep scene, was the headliner upstairs. Missed most of his set unfortunately as I got there late, but everyone was saying he smashed it. Considering the fact he tours and produces with Skrillex, this should come as no surprise.

Justin Martin played his first Boston set in a long time. Shuffling through everything from Chicago house and left-coast breaks from the mid-90s to present-day house-n-bass was no problem for him. The highlight for everyone in the room was clearly when played his own track "Lezgo", universally recognized as one of dance music's biggest anthems of 2011. Tanner Ross played some amazing deeper, jazz-laden house too. I actually decided to try processing the photos I took to a sepia tone, just for a change.

Over the past 12 years, I think I've seen Dieselboy play out more than any other DJ, like, ever. It's gotta be at least 20 times by now, if you count the POTD tours. He plays Elements once a year, and as always, it's to a packed dancefloor. It's rare to see this sort of turnout at drum and bass events these days so certainly not something I take for granted anymore. DSL managed to stay fresh by playing plenty of drumstep and cutting-edge techstep, as well as the occasional dubstep bits to keep the kids happy. Lots of stepping there!

Definitely an event I had to show my support for. Therapy, one of both Providence and New England's biggest clubs, just shut its doors. This was the official last party. People came from all over the northeast to celebrate one last time at a place many called their home away from home on Friday and Saturday nights. The end of an era for sure.

Whoa, I just typed a lot of "1's" there. So Funk made a pretty quick return to Boston after both playing Goodlife earlier this year, and allegedly showing up at a couple random parties here on Halloween. Although he was asked to remove his Yankees hat (I'd comment further if I cared about baseball), he dropped all our favorite booty house anthems while doing his stand-up routine on the mic. Pretty tough to get sick of this dude.

Longtime tech house producer on well-respected label Bpitch Control makes an appearance at Make It New. Easily one of the best sets I've heard this year, up there with Martyn and SBTRKT. Kiki played a slew of dark, minor-key tech and minimal jams earlier on, building up to the bass-driven sounds of Julio Bashmore and Eats Everything later on in the night. These are iPhone snaps; however the gritty lo-fi quality of these pics actually captured the mystique of the night better than with my real camera in my opinion.

A relatively young Goodlife event, Pico Picante puts the spotlight on multi-cultural forms of music not heard everyday. The DJ's upstairs (Reganomics and Max Pearl) stole the show, showcasing everything from Cumbia, Moombahton, and Tropical Bass. The deep house DJ's downstairs were solid too. Didn't have my SLR on me, but grabbed a couple quick snaps with the iPhone.

WeNo has been busy lately, their monthly on 131 Broad (the basement of the former Revolution Rock Bar) being their flagship event. Minimal/techno pioneer Martin Buttrich played the October installment. The room was packed, just like the first two thursday events they threw in August and September.

Red Sky is back...same great house music, same night of the week, new location. This is the first dance-related party I've ever been to at Red Sky. Despite the first snowstorm of the year, a good number of people still came out to sport their halloween attire. Good to see more electronic music nights popping up in the financial district; it's been way too long.

My first visit to District in a long time. I only met Tamer Malki, one of the guys behind Sunday Groove, a few weeks ago. However I could tell instantly that he runs a quality night in the Chinatown district, alongside Sergio Santos. The one year anniversary showcased both Tamer and Sergio on the decks, so it was proper tech house from start to finish. Great turnout for a Sunday night too. I'll be shooting more Sunday Groove events in the near future.

So I thought I would beat the crowd by getting to the Goodlife at 10:30, but boy was I wrong! Apparently, a LOT of people haven't forgotten about Camp Lo. With over 200 people in line and every room at full capacity, I knew right away it wasn't happening. An attempt was made, but after standing 45 minutes without moving an inch, it was hopeless. But as I left I grabbed one pic of the line with the iPhone. Hey why not, right?

Filling a void the Goodlife has had for awhile now, there is a new Thursday night event taking place there. An 80s themed night, Mirrorshades is destined to bring back everything that was good about that decade, from disco balls to rollerskates, to DJ's playing the jams the decade is associated with. They had a solid turnout for the first night. Looking forward to the next one!

His first set in Boston since 2002 brought plenty of people out of the woodwork. In the words of Pete Dev/Null, Joey Beltram played "the most unapologetic techno set" heard in Boston in a very long time. Some of the music may have been considered outdated to the heads, or not enough vocals for the casual fans, but Beltram just did his thing. Max Pearl and Johanns provided the hip hop and reggae upstairs if you needed a breather from the relentless pounding kicks.

Shawn and Dave deserve a trophy or something for being the biggest and most steadfast supporters of drum and bass in this city. Both attend every event where the music is played, and spend plenty of time crafting their own take on the genre without any distress over whether or not it's the most "in vogue" style of music. I was upset I missed their last Elements gig earlier in February, but this made up for it.

With their label Detail Recordings in full swing and a sophomore full-length LP on the way, Lynx and Kemo are back in business. They showed Elements what the future of minimal and liquid drum and bass sounds like, playing music that very few recognized yet still highly enjoyed. Much of it was likely from said upcoming album, which I'm now greatly anticipating.

Just another night in the hood. Bass Oasis at An Tain on Thursdays is tough to get to considering I'm usually in Cambridge, but it's good to see they've got some other events happening there on different nights too.

It was one of those Saturdays where I didn't want to do anything fancy, yet I didn't want to sit around the house either. Solution: SUBduction Saturdays at All Asia. It's been tough for me to get out to the SUBduction nights as of recent since they usually happen on weeknights, so it was good seeing them do a weekend event. Music was provided by Dr. Jeep, Moldy, and Fens.

Another one-off party in the basement of Rev Rock Bar, put together by Sergio Santos and company. It honestly had one of the best "warehouse" or "old school" vibes to it; everything from the dark room to the long hallway in the back of the building you had to walk through gave it an unconventional feel. Tiefschwarz obviously played a stellar set.

This was my first venture out to a Headtunes fiasco, and it was well worth the effort. Trus'Me played everything from lush house to abrasive techno, to a packed Think Tank dancefloor.

Like your cable bill, a CreateSpace jam at Goodlife happens once a month and it's guaranteed to deliver. This time J.Phlip of Dirtybird fame was brought on board, opting to go the journey set route by way of tech house and some bass jams. Kat Fyte also made it back to town to drop some dancehall on the upper deck. I believe the line to their next party (Joey Beltram) has already formed somewhere.

Although I got there a little late, and the show finished at 9 (not 10 as advertised), I was glad I got to see Flying Lotus perform even for 20 minutes. The crowd was definitely feeling his mashed-up soulful downtempo business, using Ableton to its fullest potential. He ended the show with the Stones' "Paint It Black" and the crowd went postal!

The Labor Day edition of The Drop decided to shift gears away from dubstep for a change. An old school rave-themed night, four veteran DJ's took the decks of the Phoenix Landing by storm. Playing entirely vinyl that they used to play at shows well over a decade ago. Every style from house to techno and early 90s rave/breakbeat hardcore were represented properly!

It's sort of like the third part to the trilogy, however on this block Darth Vador doesn't die, Jabba isn't DJ-ing, and Yoda isn't preaching about how the scene was so much better 50 years ago. Although some people over the age of 50 joined the crowd and ended up having more fun than the rest of us youngins! With the likes of Tanner Ross, Randy Deshaies, and Mike Swells at the controls, the Rebel Alliance was in good hands. Again.

Embrace Presents is back from their summer hiatus, starting the school year proper by being the first cats to book Crookers in Boston. This Italian duo delivered, playing a hi-energy set full of dutch house, electro, and even some juke (!!) I decided to shoot just a couple on-stage flashless photos here as there were plenty of other photogs there.

It was on a lot of people's calendars the entire summer, and from the looks of things, few were disappointed with one of New England's first large-scale dance music festivals. Featuring everyone from Modselektor to Booka Shade, DJ Shadow, NERO, Rusko, Steve Aoki, Kaskade, and Steve Lawler, there was plenty of talent to suit everyone's taste. NERO was probably my favorite set, and Lawler played a solid marathon prog house set. Wish I got to check out more of Shadow though.

Aptly titled "Intersection", this party joins together the most traditional forms of house with emerging, cutting-edge sounds that have 2011 stamped all over them, including moohmbaton and what the journalists tend to call "future bass". Tevo played a good number of records that were released before many people in the club that night were even born!

Friction is considered by many as one of drum and bass's most skilled DJ's when it comes to mixing. After seeing him play at Elements last week for the first time, I can safely conclude the story checks out. He was given 4 Pioneer CDJ-2000s to play on, and he seemed to have little trouble using ALL of them at once. WITHOUT making all of songs playing sound like a hot mess! But forget the mixing, Friction's selection was flawless, and Dynamite (of Roni Size/Reprazent fame) got the crowd going and was overall a great MC. Highlight was definitely the "mini-ragga" set in the middle and Jenna G's classic "In Love" played towards the end.

Claude Von Stroke played the best DJ set I've heard from anyone this entire year. Martyn and SBTRKT were close, but couldn't touch the Dirty Bird himself. He had no problems fitting everything from house to bass, dubstep, drum and bass, and experimental downtempo stuff into his 90 minute slot. Not to mention all his classics, like Who's Afraid of Detroit, Vocal Chords, and about 17 different versions of Aundy at the end.

Another rocking Tight Crew party. Big Nazo providing the visuals, stage antics by Ludachrist, amusement park slides and spinning things in the background in case you were bored, and no expense spared in the sound and lighting department is pretty much what you can expect from this production company nowadays. It's great to see Tight Crew being able to pull venues as large as the DCU Center. They're not slowing down any time soon.

I dogged out at the second installment of Dancing on the Block, and so did, eh, the dog in the picture to my left. In the midst of a record-setting weekend that approached 105 degrees, being outdoors probably wasn't the best idea. Drinking beer was a pretty good way to play it safe. Local legends Pete Moss, and KON were amongst the lot of DJ's keeping things grooving.

Following one year of sweet (pun intended) parties at places like Goodlife, Savant Project, and Buskers Lounge, there was just cause for a celebration. North Star graciously opened their doors, and participants were showered with varieties of door prizes, including the 3 C's: champagne, condoms, and cake. With exception to the cab drivers who refused to drive me back to East Boston, I had a blast. Thanks to Kristin Caffray for helping with the photog! She was behind the lens on the first 2/3rds of the pics here.

A mid-summer appearance from one of the masters drum and bass on the dark tip: Dylan. His first set in Boston in many years, Dylan promised to deliver 120 minutes of old school dnb. When most DJ's promise this, we end up hearing played-out techstep classics circa 1998-99. Not Dylan though, he dug a little deeper, delivering amen workouts from the likes of Dillinja, Dom, Paradox, and a variety of others who Crook and Dev/Null weren't even able to identify!

Just shy of CreateSpaceCollab's first anniversary, they manage to bring ghettotech king DJ Funk himself to Boston. His first appearance in the city since the 1990s, the set was FILLED with one-liners (can this guy do stand-up comedy on top of DJ-ing and producing?) My favorite: "What's up Boston, I'm from the 90s and shit. You know ghetto house? I invented it." Nuff said!

I've known about The Drop for quite some time now, but with Sunday always being a tough night to go out I never made it out to one. I decided to put an end to that once and for all. There was a solid crowd this night, most of whom were not letting the beginning-of-the-week blues let them down in any way shape or form. Jared and Josiah have a good thing going here, and I plan to check out The Drop again real soon.

Same place as last year's Dancing on the Block, this party was moved from a Saturday to a Sunday to compensate for the pesky rainstorm that took place on the former of the two days. No worries though, people still showed up, and plenty of quality house music was played from the Midweek Techno gang. Look out for two more installments this summer.

Every single year since 1996, the town of Cambridge has hosted an open street dance party smack dab in the middle of Mass Ave, by their city hall. Oddly enough, I was never even aware of its existence despite their promotion via every local mainstream media outlet. Regardless, I passed through for the last hour, and grabbed a batch of flashless candids. The crowd consisted of people spanning three generations, and the songs the DJ was playing ran a similar timeline.

Eastcoast Underground hosted their first show at Buskers Lounge, thanks to a nice lead by the CreateSpace Collab. Member of latter group Mr. McNeil opened things up, followed by Portland deep house DJ's Chris Gauthier and Ryan Tapia. Long-running producer and Philly native Pete Moss rolled out a 2-hour set of nothing but quality tech and deep house.

Although Intalex has made it to Boston on an almost yearly basis since 2006, this was my first time seeing the man behind Soul:R Recordings and drum and bass classics such as "3am" and "Love and Happiness". Hot off the heels of his debut LP, he kept the quality of the music high the whole night, along with Shawn Conte, who played a perfect complimentary opening set.

BASSIC crew celebrates another birthday. There was a five dollar penalty if you dressed casual (translation: dress up to avoid paying the cover charge). Hence, the flip flop to cuff-link ratio ended up being considerably low. The turnout was perfect: good number of heads, but not so many where you were fighting for attention from the bartenders and dancefloor space.

One third of Sigma, owners of "El Presidente", considered by many drum and bass fans as one of the best tracks of all time, made a Boston debut at Elements. Sigma is highly regarded for not only their production skills, but also DJ-ing as well. Flawless mixing, teases, and double drops were standard fair this night!

After having to work two straight weekends in a row, it was great finally getting back out on the town again. Especially for Soul Clap's heavily anticipated, and long overdue, return to Boston. Having not played here in months (playing in places like Berlin, London, and Rome, who can blame them?) brought plenty of heads out the woodwork. Great to see these guys again on their home turf.

With Tittsworth headlining, how can anyone be disappointed? The dude played everything from dubstep to house, drum & bass, and moombahton. (The latter sound of which, is going to make SERIOUS moves over the upcoming months) All the Banana Peel guys, along with KatFyte, Matt McNeill, and DuPont, kept the place on its toes all night.

The enjoyment of Klute coming to play in Boston, and the enjoyment of Crook and Lenore inviting him to come by every 8-9 months or so, is mutual. With a DOZEN performances at Elements under his belt, he knows how to deliver to the Phoenix crowd. This time around, he leaned heavily towards the techier side of things, and was the best set I've heard from him yet.

The Cinco De Mayo festivities and the Blend Boston debut just so happened to be on the same evening. What better way to celebrate than by running a good chunk of their Corona reserves through my digestive system? The guys behind this night are cool and I thank them for inviting me out to shoot for them. Hope to be back there again soon.

Createspace Collab back with another night at Canal Street's own Buskers Lounge. These guys brought two northeast veterans to the grandstand: Andy K (visiting from the left coast) and Special Pete. These two guys, along with Matt McNeil, played nothing but proper house business from cover to cover.

Returning to work after a week off, I had to stay late on the night of Trentemoller to catch up on stuff and didn't get out until 10pm. That didn't stop me from RUNNING out of the office to Royale as fast as I could to catch even a half hour of this set. Boy am I glad I did. Trentemoller's set was extremely powerful, a little somber in a way, but a perfect way to cap off 10 days of amazing parties in Boston.

As one of the first stops of the Road Warrior Tour, Mary Anne Hobbs touched down for the first time in Boston, with buddies Lorn and Take in tow. As Take mentioned when talking with him: "We don't play dubstep. We don't deal in genres. We just play music we like." And that's exactly what they all did. Mary Anne Hobbs will soon be hosting a show on XM, and you can guarantee she will continue being a tastemaker in dance music for years to come.

Any DJ out there who is looking to up their skills a notch or two needs to watch a set by DJ Kentaro for some inspiration. Especially turntablists. Kentaro became a hot name several years ago due to his insane juggling tricks, and his ability to create rhythms at any tempo with 2 copies of a record. Making drum and bass out of a Gang Starr record? Easy. Dubstep out of a downtempo record? That too. This was a performance, not a DJ set, to be honest. Shuttle's set was great too.

Having been to almost every Silent Disco event since their debut at the first TOGETHER in February 2010, I can assure you this was the best turnout the event has ever had. Hosted at ThinkTank, the dancefloor was packed, yet still quiet as everyone had their headphones on cranked up to 11 with the sounds of Voltran and KC Hallet. No time for talking! Founding member George Gayl paid a visit from San Francisco as well.

Organized by Ari/Volvox for the second year in a row, the Tozen center at Mass Art was jam packed the entire day. The Get Together included art exhibitions, a fashion show, a record fair with well-established local DJ's selling vinyl from their collection, and plenty of vendors pimping their gear. This was a lot of fun.

After five nonstop days of partying, I woke up on Friday at 10. PM. But that didn't stop me from stopping by Goodlife, even if it was only for a little while. Dev/Null, XI, Richard Devine, and Goth Trad absolutely tore the place down. The speakers basically doubled as air conditioners when Goth Trad was on, and Devine played more of a 4x4 (but still bass-heavy) set that was another one of my favorites from the week. Chris from Bassic said this night was the best turnout for any of their parties!

Breakbeat Science cohort DJ Dara has his formula for playing drum and bass set in stone, and he's sticking to it. His balancing act of playing brand new smashers at breakneck speed, turn-of-the-century techstep classics, as well as the occasional rare or slept-on track, has helped ensure his relevance in an ever-changing time period for dance music. With their endless energy, the crowd seemed to agree.

Forget barely even being old enough to get into the club, Maya Jane Coles took control of the entire crowd (at full capacity) the entire time she was behind those CDJs. Easily one of the best sets I saw at TOGETHER 2011, people need to look out for Maya. With multiple tracks in the Beatport Top 100 in both house as well as dubstep, she'll most likely be returning to Boston soon. And in a bigger venue.

Although it was very early in the night and could only catch the first hour or so, the Bass Oasis crew had things going on at An Tain. LOLboys were warming thing up nicely (my second time seeing them perform that day), and Egyptrixxx was called in to bring the African vibe to the other side of the Atlantic.

On Thursday of TOGETHER 2011 I spent almost the entire day not only attending and speaking at daytime panels, as well as checking out some of the Dubspot workshops. The creative economies panel discussed how artistically innovative Boston is as a city, but also how it isn't always nurtured in the right way. Later on that night, Pat and Steve from Dubspot gave some awesome Ableton tips and tricks to anyone willing to listen in. Also caught a bit of LOLboys playing at Best Buy.

Goodlife had quite an instrumental presence in this year's TOGETHER, especially when it came to the dubstep and bass-driven music events that took place. The first of two great parties with Bassic at the helm featured Moldy, DJC, Ramadanman, and Zed Bias. SureFire was also involved in this one. I was only able to see Ramadanman play at the end, but nothing but solid feedback all around for all the DJ's involved.

The Re:Set guys hosted Mister C (of the Shamen) at the Phoenix Landing, someone who VERY rarely makes an appearance here. Playing an all-vinyl set spanning over a decades' of tech-house, he elevated the pace nicely without going overboard. This was a great warm-up that set the tone for the following weekend of TOGETHER events.

Kicking off my fourth day of TOGETHER, I ventured out to my first Brain Trust party in way too long. Wobblesauce opened, and Future Rock took the crowd home. Although I admit to not being very knowledgable about what's hot in the "livetronica" scene, Future Rock was a good starting point for me. I enjoyed their energy, as well as the different tempos their music clocked in at.

Between 1-2am at the SBTRKT show, my Twitter feed was almost entirely filled with updates from people there raving about how ridiculously good his set was. Easily in my top 3, along with Martyn and Doc Martin. The only way to describe it was like watching Jeff Mills play, only with Ableton and a mask.

The Hearthrob reunion is the first official joint Balti, Foxx, and Dev/Null have thrown since it ended last year. Safe to say it didn't feel like a high school reunion either. At least, I don't recall mine having hundreds of black balloons blocking the doorway, making it a big adventure just to try getting into the place!

People always tend to rage hard for Throwed in that 1000-degree sweatbox known as the Middle East Downstairs. Even more so when the Together nametag is on the flyer. It's a good thing brands like VitaminWater is sponsoring, gotta look out for heat exhaustion!

Church (near Fenway) hosted a couple of bands as part of the Together umbrella; highlighting the fact that the scope of these activities are not just dance or electronic music. I wasn't able to catch UK headliners Spectrum, but did manage to watch a bit of Endless Wave, as well as experimental local band Fjords.

Here are some pics I took of several different daytime activities I attended on the second day of Together 2011. These include the panel on bass music at Northeastern, Chris and Jason's workshop on audio mastering at Bristol, and some shots of Dark & Stormy and the Statesmen playing in the lounge.

Following Links Soundclash, I high-tailed it over to Allston to check out Pantha Du Prince at Great Scott. Hendrick was sporting a vast array of MIDI controllers, seamlessly blending bits and pieces of his vast body of work into a flawlessly improvised set. He also had some interesting light-based "accessories" on stage, as well as a guitarist who piled atmospheric sounds on top of the whole mixture.

The minute the final runners stumbled across the finish line at the Boston Marathon was when the Together 2011 festival kicked off. The traffic (finally) cleared up, enabling a good amount of people to make it out to the first day of events for a Monday night. Links was held at TT The Bears, with BlueBoy Productions, Fantastadon, Die Young, and Dev/Null performing live.

My first time at Bass Oasis. Nice little night, one of the few DJ-based ones happening in the financial district. Kat Fyte brought the juke heat, veteran local hip hop DJ Knife played his very first dubstep set publicly, and Rubix ended things with some dnb. Was only there a little while (was tied to the blue line) so only a few pics.

Another massive rager presented by Embrace and the Hot Pink Delorean crew. The last time I saw Breakage was way back in '06 when he was in producing entirely deep, dark drum and bass. He's slowed his style down a bit without watering it down, and he set things up perfectly for Jack Beats. Who, in turn, obviously ripped the Middle East a new one.

Bulgarian house/techno producer KiNK comes correct by including a stop in Boston on his U.S. tour. He played a set that borderlined between live PA and DJ-ing, where he took loops of existing songs but shuffled and sequenced them around using a couple of MIDI controllers and Ableton. Keep your eyes open for this guy, he's making moves.

Statesmen rocked the joint as per their usual routine. Vermin Street and company also coming correct with the lighting, and V.Ka$h with the visuals.

Doc Martin's first Boston appearance since 2005, end of discussion. Next to Martyn's set back in February, the 3-hour marathon journey Doc laid down qualifies for one of the top sets I've seen this year. He touched on all different types of house, new and old, and kicked it O.G. style playing almost entirely vinyl. Createspace Collab's got it going on.

My second time seeing Shortee in March 2011. But she always rocks it, I could probably see her play ten times in a month and hear ten completely different sets. One of the most versatile selectors out there, before even getting into her tablism skills. Didn't grab many pics, I was only there for a little while.

It's tough for me to get out to a Music Ecology jam during the week with work commitments. But as I told Jeremy Professorpious last week, if they happen on a Friday or Saturday, count me in immediately. Case in point: their Phenology party at the Middle East, a show featuring Psylab, Wobblesauce, and Blue Boy Productions that reached capacity. Photos are primarily Psylab here.

Awesome event thrown by the UnheardUV boys showcasing cutting-edge original production in the local area. Doctor Jeep, Kat Fyte, Tactical Lisp, Dabu, and Zion all came correct with their exclusives. Place was very tightly packed. Surprisingly enough, this was the first time I've brought my SLR to shoot over at Savant Project, even though I've been there tons of times over the years!

Made my exit from Silent Disco at 1 am when ThinkTank closed and promptly migrated to Elements, entering the door at 1:05 am. It's been a long time since I've shot pics there, so it was long overdue. The Phoenix IS an irish pub, so they spared no expense in making sure their holiday celebration was executed properly. Assembler and Ross Tiefenthaler played; Crook played AND wore his Celtics shirt too (extra credit for doing it simultaneously).

Even late into the night, the beer-drenched aura of St. Patties Day, what many Bostonians consider a holiday, easily made its way into Think Tank for another round of Silent Disco. But instead of going over the top with "ragers" and "bangers" on the 1's and 2's, Max Pela and Eelko kept things very deep and original, playing music that you could dance OR relax to.

The "Footcrab" guy makes his first appearance in Boston in over two years. Additionally, the Red Bull Music Academy hosted their first Boston event in quite some time in conjunction, with said producer telling us about the method to his mayhem. Addison Groove is certainly an innovator, and it was a pleasure to see him play later on at Bassic in addition to the RBMA workshop.

CreateSpace and Banana Peel combine to bring you their debut party at Goodlife, with the support of Basstown holding it down in the basement. Consider this to be the warm-up to their upcoming party next month where they host Doc Martin on the wheels, his first set in Boston since 2005. Matt McNeil, Doctor Jeep, Matt Rohr, Volvox, Coralcola & Die Young kept heads bouncing from start to end. (NOTE: Photos will not upload for some reason. Tech support has been notified.)

Exactly one year after their first Booty and the Beats party, Tight Crew push the series into its second year in Marlborough. This time, with a much bigger venue to handle all the ravers! Faust and Shortee played their first set in New England in quite some time, along with the likes of Charles Feelgood and Providence's own DJ Venom.

Well that was pretty entertaining. It was a long wait in the blistering cold in front of the Goodlife, but the rager at full capacity unfolding inside the place made it fully justified. I spent some time questioning where all the balloons were coming from, until I found out about the midget clowns who stormed the perimeter. I'm really not making this stuff up, people. Why can't Boston have more parties like this?

Silent Disco returns to Think Tank in Kendall Square for another round of not getting any noise complaints from the neighbors. Not that there were really any neighbors present anyways, as it's all commercial office property to begin with. Voltran had control of the wheels from start to finish.

The left lead last friday was Martyn. The right cross followed just a few days later by 2562. The combination of producers Bassic has been bringing to Boston recently has been dangerous! As opposed to Martyn's lean towards house, 2562 went the techno route. He not only managed to get in some of his Made Up Sound work, along with stuff like Addison Groove & Night Slugs, but Joey Beltram's "Energy Flash" and Jeff Mills' "Alarms" even made appearances!

My fourth time seeing Martyn. 4 completely different sets each time: dnb, dubstep, uk funky/juke/dubstep for the first 3, and this time around, straight up tech and deep house from start to finish. Strong contender for my "Set of 2011" award. The music was so good I honestly couldn't even be bothered to take many pics, so my apologies for only having a couple here.

When Goldie or any other representative from the Metalheadz castle come to town, it is a guarantee that the sounds that come out of the speakers will be the future of your record box six months from now. Goldie does not visit Boston often (the last time being in 2006) so getting a chance to see him play is a privilege. He takes the music he plays more serious than basically anyone, period.

Surprising as it may sound, this was actually my first time at a No Tomorrow party. I'm glad I finally had the chance to go; Vermin Street really knows how to come correct with lighting, sound, visuals, and generally just creating a good atmosphere. I had my 85mm lens with me, so I decided mainly just to shoot candids during the last half hour.

When I first moved to Boston, I remember going to the Elements 6 Year and thinking to myself "wow, 6 years is pretty impressive for a weekly." Well here we are another 6 years on and Bill & Lenore continue to do their thing, consistently delivering quality drum and bass parties, week after week. A party worth the hour-and-a-half it took to dig my car out of the snow to be at.

We always do an annual winter party at my work at a decked out venue with a fly theme. This year The Beehive hosted us, and Philly house/mash-up DJ Sammy Slice donated his skills on the 1-and-2's. As par the course, it was a great turnout and everyone had a blast!

With a tight schedule I haven't been able to get out to many parties in a bit, but when Todd and Andy play out I always try to arrange my schedule to see what kind of tunage they have to bring to the (turn)table. This time around, they worked their way up from dubstep to old school dnb/ragga. One highlight being Crook's comment at the end: "I remember these songs when I used to be a RAVER!"

The annual pants-less party is in it's fourth year in Boston, getting a bit of coverage in local media outlets like the Globe. If you're unfamiliar, you basically ride the T for awhile, with no pants. Then you go to McGreevys afterwards to drink, but still with no pants. Thanks to Katie Emerson for having me out to shoot this! With my pants on, of course =)

Kicking things off correctly, I headed over to Enormous Room to celebrate my first party of 2011. Dubwise hosted local electronic label Lovewave's first anniversary; label founder Steppo played, along side Prism, who also boasts several releases in the label's back catalogue. Photo-wise, I decided to go flashless on most of these pics for a change.

Spent my New Years Eve this year raging with the Revolution Rock Bar crew. It was a burlesque themed party that featured dancing from Liinda from Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce. Jay K on the decks. Everyone there was having a blast! I was expecting people to be out of control considering it was NYE, but things turned out to be pretty chill which was a good thing. (Totally different to the BS debauchery I had to deal with in Allston last year!) These are about a QUARTER of the pics I took. There will be more posted exclusively on Revolutionrockbar.com shortly.

My first time over at Think Tank at Kendall Square. Nice venue! Silent Disco has been hosting events there for a couple months, and is just one of many places they are sure to be throwing parties in 2011. Many thanks to Marita for having me out there to rock photo duty.

I've been to a LOT of the headliner nights at Elements this past year, and I can say with assurance that Adam F's set tied DJ Hype for top spot in my book. He played high-energy stuff from start to end. Didn't get too carried away with dubstep either, strategically placing only a couple 140bpm tracks at select times. Strangely enough, there was no line outside yet it was packed wall to wall inside. Good enough for me.

Another venture out to Wonderbar! SUBduction hosted (I believe) their first party at this popular Allston joint, with Oakland mash-up and experimental DJ NastyNasty at the consoles. 2 hours of Ableton remixing and tweaking for everyone. There was a band booked upstairs (separate party from the SUBduction one) that sounded pretty good too. Grabbed a few pics of them as well.

This was a unique night in the Visions series in the sense that the DJ's they hosted in the basement played some unorthodox styles of music that you don't get to hear on a big system everyday. DEV/NULL opened things up with some breakbeat hardcore, early 90s rave, and even UK Funky & Dutch House. Headliner Donna Summer took the baton and continued, playing bits and pieces of every genre out there above 140bpm.

Banana Peel Records have a new monthly going on over at Savant Project on Mission Hill. This was the second installment, and resident Fens invited myself and Matt McNeil to throw down some 90s deep house tracks. Very chill night overall; my first time at SP in awhile. Snapped a couple pics with my iPhone while I was there.

Nice party over at Wonderbar hosted by The Brain Trust. Not only were there live performers, but it was augmented with artists painting canvases live, along with vendors selling some of their crafts. This party had a nice community-type feel overall. Dubstep and live PA upstairs, and deep house in the basement. Keep your eyes open for more parties from these guys.

Banana Peel, Mike Tran, and Ka$h have been rocking the basement of Revolution Rock Bar for a few weeks now. This was my first time over there, and am definitely glad I made it out. Being just one T-stop from my crib didn't hurt either (I mean, how often are there dance music parties happening in the Financial district/Fanuiel Hall?) I only took a few pics, several with my iPhone...was too busy socializing and stuff.

Another nice tuesday in the 'Hood. Pre-Thanksgiving day holiday celebration, if you will.

I'm probably the oldest person who goes to Throwed, but I really don't give a shit. The crowd there is always hype, week in and week out!

Second time is the charm. Respect due to everyone in True Productions. For every obstacle they encountered, they stood firm to ensure the Asylum Reunion happened. Although my first time there, Lupo's is a nice spot in Providence and perfect for parties of this caliber. My favorite set of the night goes out to Dara playing non-stop jump-up on the 3rd floor. Frydae's throwback-themed set was also solid.

Similar thing as Make it New: Residents at the helm. MC Armanni (of Mental Sharp fame, as well as a member of Photek's Tek Dubz label from several years ago) made a special appearance and offerend up his vocal skills on the microphone.

Residents night in the neighborhood. Although it is easy to confuse Alan Manzi and Boston Music Awards-nominated Die Young as headliners considering the skills in spades these guys possess behind the wheels. Packed crowd was also a plus!

Going out on Monday nights is always tough for me with my day job being my number one priority during the week. However I decided to stop by Sin City up in Lynn for a little bit after I got out of work yesterday. This is a nice little monthly they've had going on for about a year now. Didn't get there until midnight and only shot pics for about 10 minutes, but got a couple cool candids. Sneaker and the Dryer played some good breaks and house; haven't seen them DJ in over a year.

Another Saturday evening in the hood. Basstown proudly hosted up-and-coming house DJ Santiago Caballero in the basement. Caballero was the winner of the DJ mix competition for the Together festival last year, and since then has been playing out and promoting himself whenever possible. His set was very energetic and ferociously worked its way to techno by the time the lights came on at the end. Always nice seeing fresh talent in the spotlight.

Ragga, jump-up, and dubstep are the cards that Digital Soundboy member Benny Page deals in, and at his most recent romp at the Phoenix Landing, he showed his skills in spades across each department. My first time at Elements a bit, but expect to see me there a LOT over the next two months. The upcoming line-up is fire!

I know it's been a minute since I've been at a party. After two weeks in Italy, followed by two very hectic weeks working around the clock at the day gig, it's good to finally get back out again. Although I missed Pinch and Joe Nice in the process, I'm glad I was able to make it out to Bassic on friday to check out Appleblim. His set was heavily geared towards straight house and techno, which was exactly what I expected.

Everyone's favorite binary holiday, 10.10.10, happens only one time a century. Incidentally, this is about as often as Kevin Saunderson plays in Boston. Most know that he's no ordinary producer, he is to dance music as what Grandmaster Flash is to hip hop. He started as a cultivator; now he's a curator, showcasing both the new and the old in his DJ sets. Precisely what he did at the Middlesex.

Abe Duque rarely performs in Boston, but thanks to Basstown's fine taste in dance music they were able to get him out here to perform a 1-hour Ableton/live PA session at Goodlife. With multiple laptops, MIDI controllers, APC's, and Korg Electribes in tow, Duque didn't mess around. From house to techno to acid, the man had it covered. Using a vocoder to mutilate his own vocals over the set was a cool touch!

The LTJ Bukem show finished at 12:30, so I had a chance to go across the street to catch the final minutes of The XX afterparty. Following a live set earlier that day at the Orpheum, Jamie from The XX gathered up a few of his friends and fellow musicians to throw down some future beats at the Middlesex. Cooley G was playing the majority of the time I was there, and went through all sorts of new UK Funky and Dubstep.

The odds of LTJ Bukem and Conrad coming to Boston in October are about as high as the odds of people celebrating Halloween in Salem during said month. It's almost a guarantee they make an appearance around this time of year, and it's an even higher promise that they will deliver a great performance. Bukem is easily one of dnb's most consistent performers; you always know exactly what the style of music he is going to play.

Drum and bass and techno producer Klute lays down another classic set for Boston. Elements is one of his favorite places to play, and many regulars here rate him very highly as a DJ. This explains why he plays at the phoenix at least once (sometimes even twice) each year! Surprisingly this is my first time seeing him since '05. He's currently touring to promote his "Music For Prophet" LP, which I highly recommend.

This party pretty much delivered everything that all the hype said it would do. Bassic brought plenty of dubstep heads out for the sounds of Scuba in the basement. Bootie Boston residents BC and Lenlow kept the dining room packed wall to wall, and Leah V had people dancing on the tables in the front room. Add in a couple of a couple of bachelorette parties floating around from room to room to tie everything together!

I'm going to say straightaway that the few pics I took at this party are far from my best. Pullen's set was so good that it made it very easy to forget I was even sporting an SLR. Within about a half hour it went right back into my backpack and took a back seat to just dancing. We don't get talent like this every day in Boston. The capacity crowd, along with the dozens of people who unfortunately couldn't get in, would probably agree here.

Two trips to Underbar in two days, a new personal record. And for very good reason, as on the second of the two nights, the legendary Lil Louie Vega made a rare appearance in the Bean. I was kicking myself for not going out to see him play last year when Bruno brought him out to Utopia, so this was my redemption. He folded some timeless classics (many his own) into plenty of cutting edge stuff in his set.

Society 2 Party kicks off their weekly at Underbar by hosting the one and only Tommie Sunshine. The Banana Peel Records crew also held their label launch in the side room. Looking forward to catching more parties from these guys at Underbar; that's a spot I need to hit up more frequently.

Planet of the Drums resident & Breakbeat Science founding member DJ Dara is an Elements favorite, making at least one or two appearances on a yearly basis. He boasts one of the most thorough and complete drum and bass record collections out of any DJ in America. Many see Dara as a historian of the music, rarely one to just bust out flavor-of-the month tracks for 2 hours. This time around played late 90s techstep towards the beginning, moving through early 2000s liquid to present-day jump up by the end.

Dubbel Dutch is a name to look out for. He has two credible releases under his belt for Palms Out Sounds, and an immense number of connections from the UK. A true DIY artist, he booked his fall 2010 tour all by himself and will be spreading his music to the masses throughout the upcoming months. The next time he passes through, it will probably be in a much larger scale venue!

Kicking off Labor Day weekend in proper style is Basek, giving us a healthy dose of beardstep, with opening support from Fes.

School is back in session, so the increased attendance at Throwed make it good that the Middle East lets them move it from up to the much larger downstairs section so everyone can get in. The zombie theme was cool, although the chilly 100+ degree weather mixed with the lack of AC in the basement made it pretty tough to not sweat off all that white makeup! I caught Kingdom playing at Zuzu for a minute on the way out; he is in the last photo here.

So I was on hiatus for a few weeks as I had to work one weekend and the second weekend, which was supposed to revolve around Wrecking Ball, unfortunately fell through as many of us know. However I'm back in the groove, and am glad I kicked it back off by checking out Elements, where Outrage showed us how versatile the amen break was, and STILL is, to this very day.

I'm pretty sure that this is the first dance music oriented night I've ever been to that was held amongst the endless sports bars on Canal St. in Boston. This party had a solid lineup of house DJ's, almost everyone in attendance donning roaring 20s attire, and ambient street lighting adjacent to the bar that only a photographer can appreciate =) Watch out for Create-space Collab, for their second party they're already on a roll!

DJ Hype passed through town in June, and a mere 6 weeks later we get to witness the talent of one of the biggest artists right now signed to Hype's label, Playaz. Original Sin is still touring on the strength of his "Grow Your Wings" LP released at the end of 2009, and had plenty of forthcoming pressure from Playaz to show off. I was only there for the last half hour, but from what I could tell, it was high energy from start to finish.

With almost twenty years of releases under his belt on labels such as Warp, Compost, Astralwerks, and Mule, it only comes with the territory that David Moufang knows what the hell he is doing behind a set of turntables. Focusing on the deep, melodic side of tech house, he remains relevant in today's ever-changing landscape of dance, and threw down a great set last night at MiN to a packed crowd.

As sad as many Bostonians are that the legendary Dancing on the Charles parties were, in fact, not happening this year, this was the next best thing that could replace it. Dancing on the Block was organized by many of the promoters involved in the original DOTC series. As the name suggests, it was held in a nice open space near Kendall square instead of the Charles River. Sans the epic view of the city, everything pretty much remained the same!

Yeah I know..."You only took 4 pics? Laaameee!" But hey, 4 is better than none, isn't it? Regardless, big ups to Mike Tran, each and every.

Respect to Alex Russo, The Statesmen, and everyone else involved in the Music Ecology crew for one year of drum and bass and experimental music in Allston! I admit that I haven't had the chance to check out this night yet, and am guilty as charged. After attending and seeing Superfiction rock the place, that will most likely change.

Another proper set from the man behind Bad Company UK!

I didn't show up late for work today, I didn't fall off the boat, I didn't pass out afterwards in front of the New England Aquarium, and I didn't bother any of the pan flute bands nearby. So I guess we can say I did alright. My fifth year of attending this shindig.

New England's favorite rave promotion team is back with another jam. Similar to Booty and the Beats, it was thrown at a central MA area, making it easy for people throughout the northeast to attend. I got there late unfortunately, but indoor/outdoor setup worked great for the location. Props to Tight Crew, the DJ's, the people who drove great distances for showing up...and to my camera for that matter, for braving the dust and humidity like a trooper!

Two drum and bass veterans from vacationland (aka Maine) pay Boston a visit to help promote their well-known upcoming BelTek festival, which is just a few weeks away. Psydways and Stryknyne have made past BelTek pre-game appearances at the phoenix as well.

Ayres passed through and showcased 20 years of hip hop in 120 minutes. Great set, great crowd. Looking forward to their 4-year anniversary next month with Prince Paul.

My fourth time seeing The New Deal, and, not surprisingly, the fourth time they have impressed me. Amazing show, tons of energy. They played a good number of their new tracks which seemed to be very heavily influenced by rock and electro. Plenty of classics too; obviously Deep Sun being one of them, which they weaved in and out of for the whole second set. I decided not to do any portrait shots, and the flash stayed in the car. Place was packed wall to wall, and the 100+ degree temperature down there didn't seem to bother anyone either!

Thunderdome keeps their tradition alive by hosting yet another successful party at the Villa Victoria in south Boston. I unfortunately missed Soul Clap's set, which is a bummer because it will be the last one they are playing in Boston for a long time as they embark on their world tour this summer. Fabric resident Ivan Smagghe kept people going until the lights were turned on and every drop of PBR in the building was consumed.

After two decades in the game, Hype makes his first ever Boston appearance; the first stop on his mini-U.S. tour. Let's just say that his set made people forget about the Celtics' defeat in the championship about 10 minutes before it started REAL quick!

Now THAT was a DJ set. Howells played a marathon set this time around, going from 1am to 6am. When I got in there a little after 1, he was rolling out some melodic deep house. As the crowd started packing in after 2, he built it up flawlessly, weaving his way through progressive and tech house, all the way up to techno-oriented stuff by the time I left at 5. That guy could play a continuous set for days if he desired!

Best. Party. Ever. Don't even know what else to say really! I'll let the pics do the talking instead.

The Phoenix had a decent sized crowd for a sunday night, probably due to the fact that it was a holiday weekend. Nevertheless, Pete Moss (of Ovum records fame) came up from Philly and played a great set consisting of pure house music, both classic and present day. Randy Deshaies and Ryan Obermiller opened and set things up for Pete flawlessly.

The Throwdown is a new theme that the Elements crew are throwing into the rotation four times a year. It consists of a night where 7 DJ's tag and drop their current favorites for the entire night. This edition consisted of Lenore, Crisis, Ross Tiefenthaler, Assembler, Dreadnought, Fes, and myself. Great night, plus the Celtics finished off Lebron and company in the series!

Prior to this party, I had never seen Encanti play live before. Following this party, there is no question that I'll be making sure to keep tabs on this cat. Very talented producer and performer!

Another shindig at the Villa Victoria. Worcester natives DOM hauled their guitars, amps, and drumkits to the party; their set was sandwiched by local favorites Red Foxx, David Day, and Mistaker on the 1s and 2s.

The Silent Disco crew makes their way over to OM Lounge at Harvard Square! Armed with headphones galore, this crowd is capable of anything, which includes (but is not limited to) leaving the bar all at once in attempts to move the party out into the street. And since the noise was kept at a minimum, what was stopping them? The first of what will hopefully be many Silent Disco parties at this venue.

As many locals know, Circus was a proper weekly that went down in Allston for almost two years. The promoters involved saw a big opportunity with the massive rise of electro/fidget/baltimore club music, and used this night to help distribute it properly to the masses. Although it couldn't be held at the place they called their home (Privus), Great Scott let them share the night with bands Royal Bangs and Twin Berlin.

The first Silent Disco of what will hopefully become a series in Boston. A headphones only party, dancers were able to switch between two channels of party music: Dominique and Mike Tran. Definitely the first party I've seen like this in the city. Didn't snap very many pics (got there pretty late).

Having missed Aoki when he rolled through town last year, I was definitely hyped to catch him this time around. Still relatively fresh off the success of tracks such as Warp and I'm In The House in 2009, Aoki delivered, and had no idea the sort of stage antics he was going to pull off until actually seeing them for myself. First time I've ever seen people in the crowd surfing in a blow-up pool! Pics aren't my best as it was very packed in there and didn't want to annoy the shit out of people waving the camera around and stuff.

Now here is someone you don't get to see play in Boston every day. The man who is responsible for helping ignite electronic music culture in the U.S., along with his Rainman-like photographic memory of literally tens of thousands of dance tracks over the last 30 years, graced the decks at Rise. I didn't end up taking a ton of pics as I was too into the music (and staring at all the glowsticks). Special thanks to Tom Galgana, who borrowed my memory card and gave me permission to post a couple of his pics in here as well (the last 5).

The man needs no introduction, you know the drill here. I've personally seen DSL tear it up probably twenty times over the course of the last decade, but a few things made this jam unique from his other local appearances! First off, Jumpin' Jack Frost also happened to be in the building (who gave DSL some props on the mic at the end), and secondly, he toyed with a ton of different genres in his set including dubstep, electro, and bassline house (which I've never seen him do before). Overall it was a rager, and I was only there for the last hour!

After keeping my priorities straight with three straight weekends of working, it was nice to finally get out and about again, kicking the festivities off with Roska's appearance at Enormous Room. This being his first ever gig in Boston, he drew a solid crowd. As he continues to gain fans via his popularity within the ever-evolving UK Funky genre, it's almost a guarantee he will be back in no time.

Story checks out: it hit 70 degrees. Hopefully that's not a teaser. Good weather must bring the good breakers out, as they came in droves here to show off the footwork.

Noisia has not been to Boston in over three years. Martijn from the group had no problems making it clear that they have not fallen off in any way however, with his/their long awaited appearance back in our hometown. This is the first party I have shot in black and white, if you like these pics let me know, I might do more like this in the future.

E-Marce and company brought the party downstairs this time around, and gathered together one of the most sought-after DJ's in the world right now with a few of the most popular locals at the moment. With hundreds of people there even at 10pm, there was no question regarding the success of this. I hopped over to Elements about 15 mins into Luke's set, but Hot Pink Delorean played a great set, which included a slew of new tracks they just polished off which surely will be showcased at next week's WMC.

Dave and Shawn are no strangers to Boston's drum and bass scene, or Elements for that matter. Each boasts several years experience playing not only crowd favorites, but an also increasing number of their own original productions. With the ability to know precisely what works (and what doesn't work), they know how to deliver every time. Particularly in front of a crowd they are the most at home with!

Just a quiet Sunday night on Mass ave in Cambridge, perfect way to wind down from a busy weekend. Unfortunately I got to Dubwise a bit too late and they closed early, but still had a chance to get a few pics and hear the tail end of Dabu's set. This is the first time I have ever used a prime lens at a party (Canon 50mm f/1.8) so apologies for a few of the coming out a little blurry. A little practice will fix that.

1500 RSVP's on Facebook: Check. Line wrapped all the way around the building at 10pm: Check. Top notch lighting in every corner of each room: Check. Female booty shaking contest: Check. DJ Assault attempting stand-up comedy on the mic while juggling 2 copies of Ass & Tittles: Check. Enough candy bracelets for me to actually make me admit feeling awkward not wearing one myself: Check. Praying my car wouldn't get scratched as everyone was parked so tightly in the lot: Check. Yes folks, this was a good one. Nicely done, Tight Crew.

Been a few months since I've been to So Dope's Good Life Odyssey monthly party. I knew I needed to climb aboard the U.S.S. Odyssey and catch up with the Alpha Sector. Under the leadership of Joe Bermudez, as well as the supporting role of Damien Paul, the entire team delivered!

Crisis (of Terravita and Hot Pink Delorean fame) makes a hometown appearance playing drum and bass- something that is becoming more rare with each passing year and the success of his latter house/electro outfit. Although I tried to check out fellow HPD mate Mr. Matt at Throwed down the street, they were at capacity at 10:30 so wasn't able to get in.

After a full week jam-packed with festivities, the first Together fest came to a close with a valentines day laced edition of Thunderdome. Well-known producers Hot Pink Delorean ran through tons of different genres of dance, and Spank Rock closed things off with some hip hop and baltimore club. Plenty of vocal support from the likes of Incite, Virtuoso, and Spank Rock's MC as well.

I'd have to say that out of all the parties I attended for the Together festival, I had the best time at the Rise event. The club was completely rammed the entire time; there was absolutely zero sign of the crowd letting up when I walked out at 5:30. Emjae played some quality minimal and tech house, picking up the pace perfectly for Wolfgang who took the baton and simply ran. And ran. And ran.

"Mega" producer and remixer Sinden makes another appearance in Boston and kept the energy level high at the middle east with his usual selection of baltimore club, fidget, and tech house. Local talents Stacatto, Shuttle, and Soren Jahan warmed up the crowd perfectly!

V Recordings founder Bryan Gee has had a great deal of impact on the evolution of drum and bass music and is instrumental in helping launch the career of artists such as Roni Size, Marky, and DJ Die. As part of the Together festival, he makes his first Boston appearance in over 7 years.

Full house at one of several events hosted in the Middle East's basement for the Together festival. JMP Live brought together (pun intended) a nice cross section of "live-tronica" acts such as Biodiesel as well as DJ's for an eager crowd. I was a bit tired from a busy day at the office; the poor quality of these pics are a result of that. Still had fun regardless.

One of the first events for the Together festival. With a line wrapping around the block outside the Middlesex, many were excited to check out some of the new tunes that rising producers AC Slater and Udachi had in their bag. Playing everything from baltimore club, dubstep, house, even drum and bass and trance, they left no stone unturned when it came to pleasing everyone in that tiny room.

They've been doing it for eleven years, and they make it look so easy. The drum and bass heads in Boston get down to celebrate another year of what has become a weekly tradition for many who like their music faster than 170 bpm.

I took a short hiatus from shooting pics at events as I've been busy apartment hunting. That's all wrapped up now thankfully! Basstown kicked off 2010 on a high note, showcasing not only Cobra Krames but also the a last minute booking by the Beatards. The Beatards have toured with ?uestlove and did an awesome job hyping up the crowd!

So I arrived late, apologetically missing Todd & Steppo's sets, along with I'm sure a bunch of other great ones, but definitely did not miss out on a lot of people enthusiastically waving goodbye to 2009! I weaved in and out of both bars as much as possible but unfortunately wasn't able to catch up with as many people as I had hoped to in the limited time I had to work with. Statesmen and Lenore played some bitchin' jump-up though!

After Throwed wrapped up I walked across the street to the Middlesex to check out Hearthrob. Haven't been there in a minute. Room was packed and residents Baltimoroder, Redfoxx, and Morgan Louis made sure that people were on the floor and not by the bar for the whole night.

Just a little electro tinged pre-holiday celebration at one of the usual Mass Ave stomping grounds. Residents E-Marce and Jay-K at the helm.

Scotty B has been holding the torch of Baltimore Club since it was literally just a Baltimore thing, more than 15 years ago. With it's infectious use of hip hop hooks in a house context, it's only natural that it spread like wildfire, albeit the fact that it took over a decade to do so. Regardless, we got to witness Scotty B play his library of it; which extends FAR beyond just the flavor of the month jams. He played a set consisting of almost two decades of the stuff!

Sick afterhours event!

Tejada is simply a man of consistency. Having witnessed all three sets he played in Boston in 2009, I can safely conform that he knows how to command a dancefloor all while playing entirely unique and obscure music that nobody recognizes yet can't get enough of. Each set he plays is a little different from the next, but the crowd's reaction is always the same. People dancing, smiling faces and hands in the air!

Another thursday night at the Phoenix Landing. Consider it a pre-game for the Fresh party the following week! By the way, if anyone from the Phoenix is reading this, awesome christmas decorations in there as always.

So Dope crew kicks off the month of December with 10 hours of back-to-back partying, starting with Goodlife and DJ Volterra, and ending at Rise with the return of Hyphy Crunk. I didn't end up making it over to rise but was at the party for much of the Goodlife part. It was a nice turnout while at the same time it wasn't overly packed in the basement so there was plenty of room to dance without worrying about spilling drinks on people by accident!

The man behind one of the most popular house labels, Get Physical, came directly from Berlin to show us why he's a tastemaker in the frontier of tech house. He played a 3+ hour marathon set that flowed perfectly; there wasn't a dull moment. When I left at 5, the room was still packed.

One of RAM Records' newest ambassadors, Xample makes his first Boston appearance! Surprisingly, he played very few of his own tracks, in favor of supporting the sound of fellow label-mates Chase & Status, Sub Focus & Noisia! Regardless, he had no problems whatsoever working the crowd, flawlessly weaving jump-up, liquid, techstep, and a few dubstep bits into one very cleanly mixed composition.

Falty DL at the helm in the basement.

I was only there for an hour, but still managed to squeeze in a ton of pics!

Mr. Nice Guy himself returns for yet another Halloween party in Boston. He pretty much has this date locked down in our town, as I think this is the third Halloween in a row he's played here. Regardless, everyone dressed up, got their groove on, and although the pictures may not illustrate it, he wore a hell of a pair of beer goggles during his set!

Another throwdown at the Villa Victoria performing arts center on the south shore. People came decked out in the halloween attire (hell I even dressed up and went as a, er, photographer!) Mistaker was slaying things with some acid when I got there, Robotkid gets another A in the visual category, and Redfoxxx closed things out with some fidget and bassline stuff.

My very short list of top shelf drum and bass headliners who I've never had the opportunity to see perform before has now gotten even shorter. Bukem and Conrad have journeyed to Boston around this time every year, but I haven't checked them out until now. LTJ Bukem's selection is pure class and regardless of what people say about him being fixed to one sub-genre or style of drum and bass, he can still flawlessly build and execute an interesting and energetic set incorporating only liquidfunk/intelligent like it's his job. And wait, it is!

DJ Paparazzi from Cali trekked cross country to drop banger after banger of pretty much any form of music you can bump and grind to imaginable. He kept the place packed the entire night!

This was the first time I've seen Evol play since way back in 2004 when Sin & Cos brought them to Rochester NY when I used to live up there! With all three members bringing up their laptops, an APC, a Mashine, Korg Nanopads, and a Jazzmutant (pretty much any toy a budding producer could want right now) they gave us one of the best Ableton mash-up sessions I've seen recently.

Roguewaves, So Dope, Good Morning Good Night, and C&G merge to host Banger at the Middle East. Another nice joint effort by all involved.

Columbus day weekend 2009 in Allston finished with a bang, and it couldn't be done without the assistance of Dara, Dieselboy, Messinian, and AK1200 who are in the midst of their tenth Planet of the Drums U.S. tour! Oh yeah, it literally finished with a BANG as someone across the street behind Blanchards properly capped off the night with some leftover fireworks from a 4th of July party. There will be about 100 more pics I took from this jam exclusively on truecrew.com.

Just another saturday in the hood with Basstown bringing the monthly back to the Goodlife and all of their resident DJ's in tow. I was downstairs for the entire night so didn't get a chance to check out much of the lounge, but Mistaker and Redfoxx came correct with a healthy dose of French House, followed by Certified Bananas, who were, ahem, simply that: Bananas. Clever joke, eh?

The annual ragga jungle night returns to Elements! Original resident Rando (co-founder of Levitated recordings) paid us a visit from NYC, and LAB Boston boss Nuggs steered the ship and played tons of mid-90s ragga classics. Bomber, Give Me A Dubplate, Massive, Arsonist, R.I.P., the list goes on. The CD decks and laptops took a backseat for vinyl and acetates tonight!

Although I was only there for about an hour, I had a chance to check out a band called Blue Pages. I've only done band photography a couple of times so it was good practice for me; as you can see I didn't do very many pose shots this time around. Mainly just shots of the band to get a better feel for shooting one in action.

Local producer and DJ Sable Gray makes another appearance at the Phoenix Landing. As per usual, he brought with him a laptop hard drive filled with dancefloor friendly liquidfunk rollers, both released as well as forthcoming. To balance things out a bit, he devoted the last 20 minutes of his set playing nothing but classic 90s tracks on Full Cycle courtesy of Roni Size's crew. Nice one.

The last of a series of three parties the Hearthrob crew hosted to celebrate 3 years of dance music on Tuesday nights at the Middlesex in Cambridge. Definitely a treat getting to see one of the top house producers in the world right now in our own backyard; he even admitted at the end of his set that the Middlesex was the smallest room he's played at in over 2 years. We feel honored!

Well I didn't end up finding a clean pair of 3D glasses to wear there so I only ended up getting the "2D" experience, but they probably would've made taking pics way more difficult anyways! Thunderdome came back with a bang from their summer hiatus. In fact, many commented that 3D felt like the closest thing to a real rave in downtown Boston in over a decade, thanks to it's location inside an old church on the South End.

So what do you get when you show up blatantly late and the show ends early (all of 15 minutes after you get there)? A lame photo album that consists of the SIX whole pictures I took for the entire night! Sorry I didn't get there earlier, but these are better than nothing I guess.

John Dahlback played a great 3-hour marathon set that traveled the lands of tech house, techno, electro, minimal, and even some trance towards the end. Certainly not a DJ who chose to play it safe and just stick with one style, Dahlback took things to the next level and took everyone at Rise on a nice journey. Great party!

So it wouldn't be a standard thursday night for me unless I passed through Elements on the way home from Paper. Even though I didn't get there till 1:30, I still managed to bang out a couple pics, drink 2 shots, and hear some fresh liquid joints from C.A.B.L.E. as he wrapped up his very first DJ set in Boston. Not too shabby.

School is in session, but there is still plenty of time before midterms which obviously means packed attendance in various events around Allston such as Paper.

Drum and bass/dubstep DJ and producer Benny Page touches down at Goodlife. Hosted by the Seismic and Bassic crews!

Fresh off the release of his Twelve Steps LP, along side a couple of killer 12" singles on his T&A imprint, Jesse Tittsworth graced Boston with his presence for an absolutely blinding set. Not only did he select the finest in baltimore club and fidget house to play, but also ended up playing straight up drum and bass for almost half his set, pleasantly to everyone's surprise!

Part 5 of Soul Clap's 6-part summer series. Mother Nature couldn't have timed things more perfectly; the rain caused by the incoming hurricane held off right until the party ended at 1 am. The following storm was perfectly foreshadowed by the last song played that night: a remix of Fleetwood Mac's classic "Dreams" (thunder only happens when it's raining)!

Parallax brought his signature THUMP sound for his opening set, followed by an hour of ass-and-tittles bootie house by Assault! This was my first time at Aural Pleasure's Soulstice weekly at Felt, you can definitely expect to see me there more during the upcoming weeks.

Well for the second time in a row I ended up with a SHIT load of blurry pics (sorry guys) but still had a blast; the lineup drew a good crowd of people from both the electro as well as the deep house community. Both Treasure Fingers and Roy Davis Jr. played almost entirely disco house, coming from such different backgrounds it's amazing how similar both their tastes were!

Playing his final set on his Summer '09 US Tour, Optical made his debut at the Phoenix Landing one that many probably won't forget. Sorry about the blurry shots, I had a hard time controlling my trigger finger, must have been all the new Noisia and Subfocus bits he played making me overly energetic!

PAPER returns for their last summer installment at the Ferry. Although I didn't stay for very long (I went to the Phoenix afterwards) and didn't know many people there this time around, I still managed to grab a few action/crowd shots. Roguewaves put on a pretty interesting show, lots of clever stage antics!

Volume Productions is back in action again, kicking off a slew of upcoming events at Therapy with a half-house and half-dnb party, headlined by Bad Boy Bill and Optical. Both got to use the main room's new setup (which, I might add, was kick ass- 5 Pioneer CDJ1000mk3's side by side!) and Optical even played a bonus classic techstep set in the basement.

It's John B, bitches. You know the score. Great tunes, showmanship behind the tables, girls going wild, and a 20-minute house mini set to boot (the longest I've ever heard attempted at Elements!) I think I had the guitar riff of his MJ/Beat It bootleg stuck in my head the entire following day. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Legendary disco/house DJ Harvey touches down in Boston for the very first time. People danced. Nuff said.

B.Rich makes his first Boston appearance since moving several months ago, fully loaded with a bag of brand new forthcoming tracks both from himself as well as fellow producers such as AC Slater and Udachi. Decided to do more action shots than poses here, which lent itself better to the lighting and atmosphere of the room.

Bassic returns to Goodlife for a weekend installment, complete with a renovation of the entire upstairs floor. Ramadanman passed through and decided to surprise everyone with some awesome UK Funky, probably one of the first full sets of it played by a headliner in Boston!

This one is self-explanatory; the event really needs no introduction whatsoever. Those who go to the Phoenix plan their schedule for this jam months in advance. In fact, I'm already pumped for the 2010 edition.

This was the first time I've checked out Paper- I've heard lots of good things about the night over the course of the past 6 months but was never able to make it down for one reason or another. Expectations were high, but boy were they exceeded last night! It's rare I see that much energy in one room; honestly I don't even think the pics will do it justice. Definite shout outs go to anyone involved in this night!

Whether you call him Stylus, Surgical, Drew, or whatever else, you will get the same top track selection no matter how you identify the dude. And obligatory birthday shoutout to the one like "Ableton" Rob!

Warehouse/rave party in central CT that involved 8 production teams, almost 100 different DJ's, and 6 months of planning and promotion! Even though it ended early (that's another topic for another time) I had fun and it always feels good to step outside Boston for a bit and support my neighbors down south.

I was so busy dancing/getting into Farina's set that I really wasn't focused on shooting pics and only brought my camera as an afterthought, but did manage to snap a couple at the tail end. Nice to see house acts getting booked at An Tua Nua, hopefully there will be more to come soon.

Even the dude who pulled the fire alarm causing the firefighters to bust in at the tail end of Matt from Concord Dawn's set (right as the vocals for Morning Light kicked in and people started to go nuts) couldn't put a damper on peoples moods that night. Spirits and energy was high and a great kickstart to the holiday weekend!

Another night down at the phoenix landing watering hole. Crisis demonstrates here that he's still very much on top of his dnb game even though he currently has a TON of other projects going on with Hot Pink Delorean in other genres. Versatility is key!

Damian, Pandai'a, Dabu, C-Dubz, Incyde, and Scotch 1 (sorry if I missed anyone else!)have been serving Boston's quickly growing dubstep needs for two years; here's the pics of their second birthday party at the Goodlife, featuring Starkey from Philly.

It's only fitting that the official first day of summer shares the same date as the first installment of Soul Clap's Dancing on the Charles series. The turnout was great and the rain held off while everyone bidded farewell to Paulo as he moves away from Boston back to France next week.

So Dope crew does it again, this time hosting SPYS from the west coast to play a nice variety of crowd favorites from the past 15 years.

Was cruising the Harvard Ave block in Allston last night; the drunk ass pub crawlers from BU were out in full force (at least the ones who were actually still able to stand up straight!) Basstown had a couple bands at Great Scott; I checked out Dpony's set. Only took a few pics though as my lens only goes up to 55mm so couldn't zoom in too far. Privus followed, the HPD and FTW crews were still recovering from their Roxy jam two days earlier!

Here is this party: >>-------------->>





Here is the meter: >>--------------->>
Nuff said!!

Pulled in to this party at 11:30, saw a line of hundreds of people wrapped around the building. That indicated straight away that this one was going to be a rager. Space Jam was the first larger-scale dance music party in New Hampshire in a long time, and walking into the building was like stepping into a time machine back to '99! I got to use my upgraded lens with image stabilization for the first time here; it was definitely a worthy investment as the sharpness/clarity of many of these pictures came out much better than on my 20d's original kit lens.

Mad props to the guys from Seed who hosted this. The music/views/vibe/weather was proper. Looking forward to more of these this summer. Check the 9-minute video I uploaded to youtube as well.

Swagger Jackers in the house.

Cheers to Damian and Jay K for having me out to shoot! Was another successful installment of their monthly afterhours event at Rise, place was rammed well beyond 4am. The production quality of the event, combined with the great sound and lighting at Rise, made it pretty much unbeatable.

Caught the first set of Biodiesel at the Middle East, and they smashed it! They opened with a 45 minute jam, followed by the second song which was maybe 30 seconds long tops. This contrast got a good reaction from the crowd, as well as the constant tricks the drummer had up his sleeve.

Nuff respect to FTW Productions for one year of great parties at Privus, Goodlife, and the Estate. Turnout was great for the anniversary party last night, Designer Drugs Mr. Matt and David Day on the wheels, and a hype crowd. Hands in the air!!

Place was rammed! But then again, this is DSL we're talking about here.

First weekend of warm weather in Boston for 2009 = me out partying! I went to a lot of miscellaneous places this weekend, here are the pics I took.

One half of the legendary Total Science duo passed through Boston with a CD wallet full of brand new melodic rollers and liquidfunk tunes. The breakdancers being out in full force was just a subtle hint that Spinback was laying down a proper set!

Went to a real rave last night in CT- haven't been to one of those in a minute haha! This jam was in a 2-story building, the bottom of which was an arcade and top was a huge laser tag arena. Tight Crew did an awesome job in regards to decor, lighting, setup, etc.

Another successful Bassic joint. I only had my coolpix on me as an afterthought and hardly took anything at all but did manage to snap a couple random crowd and dj shots.

Ended up taking a ton of pics at both the Middle East and the Phoenix Landing, hope you enjoy!

Another spectacular sunday night throwdown at the Ginormous Room.

Sorry didn't take a lot of pics, was too busy dancing and chatting about old skool hardcore records with Pete Dev/Null haha

One of the best producers in drum & bass touches down in Boston for the second time to promote his forthcoming album.

Look it's DJ TJ!!

I came for the dubstep, and I ended up leaving with a baltimore club fix.

The night Clinto (aka Slonto) visited Boston, took lots of shots and played lots of records. Cuz he's badass like that.

Didn't take a ton of pics, but here's the better ones of the lot.

Even the snowstorm couldn't deter the drum and bass fans from coming out to check out this legendary producer touch down in Boston for the first time in 4 years!

Props to Goodlife for busting out non-stop heart shaped chocolates and frosted cupcakes to keep the dubstep fans wired the whole night!

best house set I've heard since the last time Derrick Carter passed through! My picture-taking quality that night wasn't quite as good though haha...

Elements 10 Year Anniversary at the Phoenix Landing- 1.29.2009