Austin is no stranger to music events that appeal to unique facets of the city’s music scene. One niche that has yet to be tapped into, however, is the electronic dance music (EDM) scene. This is about to change with a new event that will launch this Halloween at ACL Live. On Sixth Street you can barely move among the masses, but at Soundsystem Fest, get ready to dance the night away.
Soundsystem Fest brings together top electronic music artists and stellar production to create a one-of-a-kind sensory experience. From lights and lasers to smoke and sound, designers and producers are working hard to make sure that Halloween in Austin is never the same.
“This show is going to blow minds,” said Jon Pleeter of ICM Partners, who is producing the event.
The atmosphere being just as important as the music, The Moody Theater will undergo a complete makeover for Halloween night. The experience and cutting edge set design have been carefully orchestrated by top designers in the field, who’s clients include household electronic names like Daft Punk, Kaskade and Deadmau5.
The acts span from an international to a local level, with British Grammy-award-winning house trio Dirty Vegas and Australian duo Flight Facilities, along with special sets from several local artists. American DJ duo Classixx and remix artist RAC add even more star power to the stellar lineup.
Her Campus Texas had the privilege of speaking with the founder and principal artist of RAC, Remix Artist Collective, André Allen Anjos. Soundsystem Fest will be Andre’s first time back in Austin since playing a few shows during South by Southwest.
“I mean I love South by but, it’s very chaotic,” he said.
André is ready to join DJs like Classixx and Flight Facilities.
“It’s a pretty cool lineup too, I’m pretty excited to play with a lot of those people,” Andre said.
Remix Artist Collective is made up of three international members who collaborate on dance-pop remixes of of artists spanning many genres, from Edward Sharpe and U2, to Lana Del Rey and Foster the People. Distance has proven to be difficult in maintaining a completely collaborative process, so André does much of the remixing
himself.
“It kind of started out in the very beginning, the goal was to have everybody collaborate on everything, but very quickly within the first day we realized that it’s very difficult to pull that off, and to pull it off well,” he said. “We all do remixes under one name, but they’re all kind of individual remixes.”
André’s first break into the remix world came with his mix of The Shins’ “Sleeping Lessons” when he was just a sophomore in college.
“At the time I was looking for internships. I was looking for a lot of stuff and I wasn’t really getting anywhere,” he said. “So, I found this free time and started doing something I really enjoyed and it kind of worked out. The best advice I have for people at that point is really that it’s kind of the best time to start something.”
In addition to remixes, RAC now has an album of original material in the works. If the successful release of their first single “Hollywood,” featuring vocals by Penguin Prison is at all indicative of what fans can expect, then consider us excited.
“I would love to talk about who I got on the album but I can’t,” he said. “They [the label] won’t let me but, there’s some pretty awesome people in there. I’m just ready to be done and put that out. It’s exciting.“
While RAC’s popularity is largely due to Internet circulation and many of their 200+ remixes are available for free online, a compilation album of their best remixes, entitled RAC Chapter 1, will give fans a go-to collection of some of RAC’s top work. RAC Chapter 1 will be released on iTunes on November 6. A few of their most
popular remixes on the album include Two Door Cinema Club, The Temper Trap and Ra Ra Riot.
Don’t miss RAC at Soundsystem Fest on October 31.
Her Campus Texas is giving away a pair of tickets to Soundsystem Fest on October 31. Don’t miss the event that all your friends will be talking about for weeks to come. Tickets can also be purchased through ACL Live.
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Photo credit: Jon Duenas