The Lost Lands Music Festival would be the culprit for this utterly brilliant debauchery as it ascends on Legend Valley in Thornville starting September 29^th and ending October 1^st. The buzz has been running rampant since the lineup was dropped a little ways back, and for very good reason.

Bassheads worldwide are salivating at the very thought of the very existence of this once-in-a-lifetime dream gathering of arguably the biggest names in bass music today. The madman behind the festival is none other than one of the supreme members of bass royalty, Excision. What he is doing with the inaugural Lost Lands is something we do not see very often in music festivals; a completely unique concept that caters not to the wallets of the wealthy, but to the appetite of the very fans this festival will be recruiting.

You can feel the bass pulsating through your core with every name listed on the lineup: Zeds Dead, 12^th Planet, Snails, Destroid, Ghastly, Illenium, Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Protohype, Rezz; add in an Excision b2b Datsik set, 500,000 watts of bass, and 3 days of the Paradox at the mainstage, and a sense of surreal ecstasy takes over your senses. The list goes on and on to the point you do not believe an event like this is even real. 

Oh, but it is. And it will be glorious.

And yes, there will be camping.

And yes, you will need neck-braces. So, so many neck-braces.

Excision himself sent out a message stating: “I reached out to all the artists as we booked them and explained this is a dubstep/bass music festival, we can’t all play the same s***. We all have dope tracks we’ve produced so let’s play more of our originals and cut out the ‘hits’ that everyone plays. SO hopefully they actually respect that request. We’ll see!”.

Something you do not see everyday from just about any festival coordinator on this planet, helping to make Lost Lands one of the most memorable occasions for all who attend. And we all have to appreciate, respect, and thank Excision for going outside of the norm and putting this whole event together because something like this does not happen often and this is going to be such a treat for the fans and artists alike.

Bow down to our bass lord and savior of the year 2017, Excision.

Click here for tickets

Click here for more information on Lost Lands

5 years ago this month, the man known as Skrillex unleashed the “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” EP onto an unsuspecting public, and the world hasn’t been the same since. This EP introduced many people to the musical genius that is Sonny Moore and for the first time introduced dubstep to the masses. 

To many before this EP, dubstep was not enjoyable and too intense on the eardrums. However, this historic EP brought a new relatable, enjoyable, and magnificent dubstep style to the table. This EP was also the first major release for Skrillex and subsequently started a meteoric ascent to the top of the EDM universe.

The title track, “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”, has become a classic amongst most all EDM followers. It is one of the most recognizable tracks ever released, due in most part to the infamous “yes, oh my god!” line, and is not only still dropped regularly at many shows and festivals, but is also still revered and loved all across the globe despite so much play time. This track is legendary and is a true summarization of Skrillex’s musical genius from the melodic opening to the face-melting drop, it shows the infinite range he possesses.

The following tracks are equally as impressive as the title track. “Rock and Roll” is a fun upbeat track that is equal parts melodic and hard hitting as well, with a repeated phrase of “hello again, to all my friends, together we can play some rock and roll” that sticks with you hours after hearing it. There’s the song “Kill Everybody” which features eerie and spine-chilling vocals that transition into what has become Skrillex’s signature sounds in the drop.

Rounding out the original tracks on this EP are the rap-infused “Scatta”, the light and airy “All I Ask Of You”, and “With You, Friends”, which seems to borrow a page out of Deadmau5’s playbook with an epic lengthy and soothing buildup to a fun drop toward the end.

The EP also features a few remixes from then-up-and-coming names. There’s an up-tempo and hard-hitting “Kill Everybody” remix from Bare Noize, and two “Scary Monsters” remixes; one from Noisa, and the other from a now-familiar name: Zedd. His remix truly shines on this EP and masterfully infuses some of his more house-inspired sounds to the heavy dubstep signature to create a hydrating and cleansing sound unlike anything else on the EP.

As for life after this iconic EP, the rest as they say is history. Skrillex has gone on to become one of the most well-known figures not only in EDM but in music as a whole, and continues to amaze with his unique sounds. He has since released a couple of wildly successful EP’s and albums both solo (“Bangarang” and “Recess”) and in joint efforts (Jack U), as well as a bevy of exalted tracks both on his own and producing for other acts across all genres.

5 years ago, the EDM landscape changed forever and a new king was exalted. Skrillex broke new ground with his “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” EP, and continues to do just that with everything he does. He has become an icon, an enigma, and a legend in just 5 short years, and as we have seen the best is yet to come.

“Scary Monsters” changed the game, and Skrillex has taken the reigns as the quarterback of it.

That artist is Dillon Francis. Francis, on the verge of turning just 28 in October, seems like he has done no wrong in 2015 and has gone from pleasant festival surprise to must-hear must-see performance. He has collaborated with some of the biggest name in the industry (Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix) as well as keeping some joint projects in a more underground tone (Brandon Urie, Lily Elise, James Hersey) to showcase his insane musical range like no one has ever seen or heard before.

The first time I had ever heard of the IDGAFOS kingpin was back in 2013 at BUKU in New Orleans. Back then the cool part about Francis was he was mostly a word-of-mouth act; as in, you heard from other people at the festival how good this guy is and you have to go see him. The exact phrase directed toward me was “dude, you have to go see this guy, his sets are insane”. So, myself and my friends stumbled over to his stage and laid witness to what was indeed an insane set that not only captivated us but had us yearning for more from this mystery mastermind.

Fast-forward to late 2014 and the man put out his first full length album, Money Sucks Friends Rule, that at one point perched itself high up as the #1 dance album in the U.S. on iTunes (just the title alone speaks to the pure nature of Francis). And that recognition has been well-deserved. Francis, despite a newfound mainstream success and rapidly growing popularity, has stuck to his guns and is still holding true to what made him one of the most beloved acts not only amongst the EDM community, but amongst the DJ community as well. Anyone who has followed him on SnapChat or Instagram over the years has become familiar with his hilarious antics (drunk cooking, “I’m a DJ”, cribs) as well as his plethora of alter egos (Hanzel, Becky, Greg) and his lighthearted way of looking at life as a DJ and in general. Plain and simple, the guy loves what he does and has a lot of fun doing it, and you can tell it is a genuine and pure love he has for the music, his fellow producers, and his increasingly loyal fan base.

The success of the debut album trickled into 2015 as the popularity grew with each week and with each set and more recognition to his unique blend of sounds and genres became more apparent. His style has been quite all over the place since I first saw him over two years ago, ranging from trap-centric songs such as “Bootleg Fireworks”, to house anthems such as “When We Were Young”, to multi-genre songs like “Love In The Middle of A Firefight”, but this year the mainstream world finally got a strong taste of his bread and butter and where he got his start: moombahton. This style, described as a fusion of house and reggaeton, is where Dillon is most comfortable and possibly most successful. Moombahton stayed primarily underground for a while, but Francis took a risk (like more aspiring artists should do) and unleashed a pure moombahton EP beast on the world simply titled “This Mixtape Is Fire”. This EP, mirroring his debut album, skyrocketed to number one on the iTunes dance charts and still hangs around in that area to this very day. He successfully brought one of the coolest sounds in dance music to the forefront, and is now playing moombahton on main stages at some of the biggest festivals in the world.

However, beyond his recorded music, Dillon Francis is one of the strongest live performers going today. My fandom for him grew not with each song release, but with each performance I got to see live (now totaling 5 times). I have never seen someone not only crush a live performance time and time again without fail, but to do it with a wildly different set each time. Nor have I ever seen someone with the cojones to end his set with a Whitney Houston song or throw in some Backstreet Boys for good measure. His sets are always electric, high energy, and get you moving and your heart pumping like you just ran the Boston Marathon. His song choice, mixes, and interaction with the crowd is incredible, and it seems he is really coming into his own and honing his craft with each show or festival he plays.

2015 has been all about the 27-year old fun-loving producer from California. You can hear his music in the mainstream light of TV commercials, on the radio, at sporting events; you name it, Dillon Francis can be heard at it. Yet astonishingly, he is still somewhat of a word of mouth underground festival all-star that everyone loves. There are some artists in the world that do not let you in on anything personal, or any of their musical processes, or any sort of insight on their daily lives. Dillon is not that artist; he lets you hear new songs as they’re being made, shows his random shenanigans with some stars that make you star struck just watching as he messes around with them naturally and comfortably, and even takes time to thank his followers and fans for their undying support. How can you not love a guy who shows so much love for what he does? You can just tell he loves what he does and genuinely appreciates everything he is earning right now and is living it up to the fullest. And who can blame him. This is your year Dillon, enjoy it. I know we surely will.