synth GIVE ME SHELTER! PORTER ROBINSON & MADEON’S NEW TOUR IS INSANE!
inside look! Food Travel 5th Floor!
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Fall 2016Fall Edition 2016
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next on synth Sam Blacky unbound
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Edm essentials
Letter from editor
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Good vibes all around
masthead Published by ThomasCouryDesigns
Editor Thomas Coury
Creative director Shannon Hale Manageing Editor Daniella Chila Art Director Thomas Coury Photo Editor David Crow
SYNTH A Modern Music Experience
www.Synth.com
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Editors
Letter
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Welcome to SYNTH magazine!
My name is Thomas Coury, I was born and raised in Las Vegas Nevada where the party scene nevers stops. The art of music has always been a exteme passion of mine. SYNTH magazine is not your everday electronic music magazine, but the best and most current publication. We strive to have the top produers and DJ’s featured in our monthly issue. The cover story this month “Unbound” is a personal favortie of mine showcasing the brillant minds of Porter Robinson and Madeon as they are taking on their new tour “Shelter”. As 2017 approaches I wish everyone reading a Happy New Year!
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Drop Cuisine • Travel • 5th floor
TOP 10 FESTIVAL FOOD OPTIONS 1. Korean Tacos 2. Honey Fried Chicken 3. Vegtable Dumplings 4. Pork Riblets
PALATE TINGLING FESTIVAL FOOD More bite for your buck at music festvals! BY: THOMAS COURY
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ow, stomach rumbling, move toward Milepost 90 and Charlie`s Family Restaurant, where they are getting into the festive spirit by offering a free soft drink with every order of a hamburger and fries. If by Milepost 126 you have not turned into a human grease spot, you might want to stop at the Dunkin` Donuts, where they will serve you ``The Road Runner Special: a bowl of delicious soup, bread and butter or crackers, regular size coffee, your choice of donut--$1.59.`` Ah, but there`s even more. Amoco says, ``During Food Festival we will check oil and clean windshields at Self Serve Islands between 9:30 a.m. and
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5. Spicy Siracha Burger 6. Garlic Truffle Fries 7. Deep Fried Oreos
6 p.m.``. That`s generous of Amoco. But I suspect they`re doing it because so many travelers might be doubled over in pain. I don`t know why any state would want to call attention to the kind of food that is served along toll roads and interstate highways. This is the worst food served in any country not suffering from famine. It has even led some theologians to develop a new theory about the existence of hell. They believe that hell could be a series of interstate food and motel stops and that sinners will spend eternity going from one grease joint to another--and being forced to eat everything on their plates.
8. BBQ Chicken Sliders 9. Footlong Corndog 10. Peporoni Pizza
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Cuisine • Travel • 5th floor Drop EVEN GOD COULDN’T STOP THE RAVE AT TOMORROWLAND! BY: JEMAYEL KHAWAJA
Tomorrowland was
launched ten years ago as the younger, smaller sibling of Mysteryland, ID&T’s flagship festival enterprise in the Netherlands. Since then, the fantastic gothic spectacular in a town called Boom, Belgium has grown into the largest dance festival in the world. The sleepy village town has a population of 16,096, but swelled over tenfold to just under 200,000 as ravers from over 100 countries poured in for this year’s edition, July 24-26. Driving into town, you wouldn’t even know there was a festival going on. ID&T have nestled their logistics in so comfortably between Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent that that there’s no traffic bottleneck from any direction, but as you’re funneled through the medieval town square, the anticipation begins to bubble. Upon entry, the sheer scope of the place is overwhelming. There are 14 official stages, a few more unannounced, and seas of people in every direction crossing bridges over lakes adorned with massive, neon lilies and the maws of outlandish
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beasts cresting from the water and shooting flames into the air. But even early on, an ominous canopy of puffy clouds served as a warning of what was to come. The main stage this year was a cartoonish, gothic cathedral, the kind of
place a villain in a Disney movie would live. Water cannons arose to the beat in see-through tubes and fireworks and streamers shot out from its lofty crown with a reckless frequency. Tomorrowland is, definitely, the world’s festival, and to appeal to so many ilks requires appealing
to common denominators, namely a lopsided focus on big room. The festival maintains a rigid adherence to the sounds that made it, but in doing so totally ignores Twee-DM acts like Disclosure and Flume that merge dance aesthetic with an indie mindset, always operating a couple years behind the cutting edge. Further, the consistency of Tomorrowland’s production aesthetic has solidified their position within the collective dance conscious, but by this point, the candy-colored fairytale vibes and flat-backed stages have dated. The event is monumental, but therein lays the issue. Unless its programming wises up, it threatens to become a monument, looking back at the past instead of forward. In the annals of of human convergence, Tomorrowland could have a chapter of its own. Nowhere else in the world in the history of man have so many people converged so consistently in the name of dance music. This year, as ravers battled against the elements, one thing became very clear -- Even God himself can’t stop the rave.
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WINDOWS: PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARLOS DIAZ
Cuisine • Travel • 5th floor WINDOWS INTO THE SURREAL “Madder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” Time magazine wrote of its cover subject in 1934.[1] Coco Chanel once dismissed her rival as “that Italian artist who makes clothes.” (To Schiaparelli, Chanel was simply “that milliner.”)[2] Indeed, Schiaparelli—“Schiap” to friends—stood out among her peers as a true nonconformist, using clothing as a medium to express her unique ideas. In the Synth
BY: HAMISH BOWLES
thirties, her peak creative period, her salon overflowed with the wild, the whimsical, and even the ridiculous. Many of her madcap designs could be pulled off only by a woman of great substance and style: Gold ruffles sprouted from the fingers of chameleon-green suede gloves; a pale-blue satin evening gown—modeled by Madame Crespi in Vogue—had a stiff overskirt of Rhodophane (a transparent, glasslike modern material); a smart black suit jacket had red lips for pockets. Handbags, in the form
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PHOTOCREDIT PORTRAIT: IRVING PENN
“Rose Marie, I Love You”; others fastened with padlocks. Monkey fur and zippers (newfangled in the thirties) were everywhere. love of trompe l’oeil can be traced to the faux-bow sweater that kick-started Schiaparelli’s career and brought her quirky style to the masses. “Dare to be different,”[7] is the advice she offered to women. Pace-setters and rule-breakers waved that flag through the sixties, the seventies, and beyond.
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3.
Ever lose your keys or wallet at a festival? Tile is the “find my iphone” to that problem.simply attach and connectt to the tile app $25
A little chapstick is always a good thing to keep around in a fanny pack or backpack. $2
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Camebak’s are a great way to stay hydrated and have accesible water while on the go. The comfort of it being a back pack and also having stoage is a plus! $49
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edm essentials 5.
personal designed dust masks are a must have if you want to be able to breathe after the longs days and nights of dancing around in the dirt. $20
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Light up LED shoes are definitley the new hot trend for the festival goers and rave scene.
$60
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The classic aviator Ray-Ban look has always been in style and has helped millons protect their eyes from thd sun. youll need them for those long days in the field! $89
7. The JBL pulse bluetooh speaker is the perfect way to get the pre game started or help cope with you post ffestival depression. $49
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A poloroid Camera is a perfect way to catch all those great memories with old and new friends. Plus they print out and are ready in minutes! $59
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You cant forget the glowsticks! a top rave essential in keeping the party going and honestly their so fun! $5
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A portable phone charger could end up being a life saver! We all know how hopless we feel when disconected from the world now. $29
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Unbound 16
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defying the musical boundaries Synth
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Porter Robinson DEFYING THE MUSICAL BOUNDARIES! It’s a brilliant collaborative effort by two of dance music’s most respected artists. The Shelter Live Tour was announced last month on the heels of the release of an über-catchy co-produced track of the same name by Porter Robinson and Madeon. With “Shelter” as it’s teaser, the concept pairs the complementary styles of both artists’ recently successful live tours/debut studio albums (Porter’s Worlds and Madeon’s Adventure) and the equally deep back catalogues they boast across a spectrum of electronic genres and tempos. At just 24 and 22 respectively, both Porter (of Chapel Hill, NC) and Madeon
(Nantes, France) have garnered stellar reputations beyond their years and deeply devoted fan bases. The buzz surrounding this tour came as no surprise. Shelter, which I had the opportunity to catch this weekend at Houston’s Revention Hall, exceeded the hype. It’s a celebration of not only two prodigies hitting their stride as seasoned artists, but two contemporaries and friends sharing a musical symmetry. The 75 minute multisensory spectacle is supported by massive floor to ceiling paneling which makes the immersive visuals work of longtime Porter collaborator Ghostdad larger
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BY: THOMAS COURY
than life. The two talents occupy instrumental setups on either end of the stage, with the focus of the show shifting back and forth, giving equal respect to the strengths and styles of each. Several of Shelter’s most poignant moments come as the duo take turns singing one another’s lyrics, which feels like two greats paying homage. The chemistry between them is incendiary. As such, new life is breathed into both bodies of work, to the delight of fans long captivated by the careers of these two luminaries.
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“From the start,
we wanted everyone to appreciate this experience as something that was temporary ,once in a lifetime! We want the whole thing to feel like a blink, one single song, one single tour, and then it’s over.
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Madeon The world of electronic dance music—that expansive genre now heard everywhere from the radio to nightclubs to bar mitzvahs to the Grammys— has produced its share of stars lately. These superstar DJs are known to command six-figure performance fees, travel to gigs on private planes and date pop stars. But their ranks mostly consist of night-life veterans who have been on the scene for years and often have spouses and children—who are, at the very least, of legal drinking age in most countries. There is one notable exception: Hugo Leclercq, the teenage French electronic-music Synth
producer better known by his stage name, Madeon. At 17, he’s played prominent sets at some of the world’s premiere music festivals, released a video that has racked up more than 10 million YouTube views and seduced the blogosphere. The video, “Pop Culture,” a lowbudget production in which only Mr. Leclercq’s hands are visible, launched him to prominence last summer. The video’s simple introduction—a screen reads “Here are 39 songs I like”—belies the ambition of the project: a threeminute song created from splitsecond bits of 39 different songs.
It’s the musical version of a photo mosaic where catchy clips of songs like Madonna’s “Hung Up” give way to the overall effect. But Mr. Leclercq set out to make a statement. A few hours before his recent set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, he said that today’s DJ performances lack the inherent theatrics of seeing a rock star strum a guitar or play drums in person. “The actual DJ performance is a bit underwhelming, from a performance aspect,” Mr. Leclercq said. “Electronic-music production is really boring.
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MEET SAM BLACK: model DJ rapper
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Sam b Model Sam Black isn’t just a pretty face. A hot model by day, she goes from posing for the camera to running turntables and mixing tunes at night. The DJ, rapper, and model began behind the scenes in the music industry. Her college degree in marketing helped land her gigs in music and entertainment management.
that make you wanna rage and #$%~ someone at the same time!” she told Locale Magazine.
“No rest for the wicked”
Sam lived in Australia for six years working in music management positions, booking acts and managing tours. While working with musicians, she decided to give DJing a try. She played her first set to about 3,000 people before returning stateside to continue her career.
With music and modeling, Sam’s life can be pretty hectic. The Cult Collective said of her, “Sam is a master of the #sidehustle—working at all hours to not just chase her dreams, but make them her bitch.” Sam admits that her lifestyle is pretty easy to manage because modeling happens mostly by day and DJing mostly by night, but those can make for very long days. She told Locale Magazine that one of her most hectic days was during a two-day shoot for Aeropostale’s summer campaign where she DJ’d the launch party for Wildfox Couture a vintage inspired clothing company in between. “No rest for the wicked,” Sam said.
Sam relocated to Los Angeles, where she took lessons on DJing and toyed around on the controls in Guitar Center. She spins fun, infectious tunes that you can’t help but bounce around to. “My music is a mix of vibes that makes you feel like you’re on drugs—cruisy, happy-go-lucky, smiley ones and
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She’s even known to grab the mic and spit some lines. Sam said she “knows every lyric to every song I’ve ever heard and have always rapped over them,” according to an interview with Galore magazine. Sam also joined forces with her friend and fellow musician Coco Hara as the collaborative Boystown to release a short EP.
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NEXT
MONTH
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will be brining you the new hype on what went down all over the globe on NYE! In addition we are glad to annonce that we will feature our very own sit down interview with Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex) as our cover story! YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT!
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