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Get familiar with the evolving landscape of neo-hippie music festival culture as we look to the past to make sense of the present.

22/10/2024

Way up high in Sierra Nevada, channeled the unique flavor of California Soul and expressed the spectrum of the human experience over two mystifying nights of music near the shores of South Lake Tahoe.

The project has exceeded its potential-with an onslaught of deep cuts that hadn’t seen the light of day in 10+ years, nostalgic covers tastefully swirled with modern electronica, and a touching tribute to Mac Miller and CharlestheFirst on the anniversary of Mac’s passing in the place that inspired Charles’ signature/timeless sound.

As the band heads into another sure-to-be-iconic weekend full of surprises in Las Vegas, we revisit what it was about Tahoe that has us utterly transfixed six weeks later.

Available wherever you listen to podcasts 🎧

📸 Brittany Teuber

17/10/2024

Get familiar with the 5am Trio, composed of Sam Andrus (5am), Aaron Harel (ZONE DRUMS) & Keith W (1⁄2 of Wax Future). They are incredibly talented musicians on their own, but together form a group that have occupied a distinct place within the scene, bridging the gap between high fidelity sound design and live instrumentation/improvisation.

We caught up with them ahead of their second 5amily and Friends event in Denver back in the Summer from within the Meow Wolf Green Room. Since then, they’ve had festival appearances, a recently-announced single, “Technology”, and announced their third 5amily and Friends event in NYC along with a debut performance at Red Rocks alongside on March 29th, 2025!

Listen now from the link in the comments ⬇️

25/09/2024

Fifty-five years after the culturally significant Woodstock Music & Art Fair of 1969, the Check Your Vector Tour brought and company for a two-day celebration on the idyllic grounds nestled in Upstate New York.

Bethel’s historical context and sense of place offered a unique lens through which to interpret these powerful sets, highlighting the band’s evolving ability to blend tracks ranging from classic Americana to obscure Electronica in a way that is quintessentially Pretty Lights 🔮✨

Check it out now from the link in the comments 💜

📸: &

20/08/2024

Red Rocks is an iconic venue to see music in, and it is especially meaningful for the evolution of the Pretty Lights project and its impact on Colorado’s electronic music scene. 2024 was no exception, as the band and crew continued to elevate the Pretty Lights experience to New Heights once again.

The PL team pulled out all the stops for their massively triumphant return to the venue, six years in the making. The two-night run was highlighted by memorable bust-outs and iconic sit-ins that showcased the music’s range: a string quartet’s classical interpretations of contemporary tracks, Dominic Lalli’s signature jazz flair added to fan favorites, and a monumental, unprecedented cameo from a contemporary of equally significant influence on the road to retirement, Dave Tipper

Listen to the Red Rocks recap now from the link in the comments ⬇️

On the heels of this memorable weekend, the Check Your Vector tour heads to the hallowed grounds of Bethel, NY, home of the legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969 for what is shaping up to be the destination event of the tour.

We’ll see you at Swirlstock 🌀

📸:

30/05/2024

Hampton, we have lift off. This weekend Pretty Lights returns to the iconic Hampton Coliseum for the first time in nearly a decade to kick off the Check Your Vector tour ✅🚀

Wes and Elizabeth reflect on the last time the Pretty Lights project was in the building as we look forward to the start of a new tour!

Listen now via the link in our comments or wherever you listen to podcasts 🎧

02/02/2024

Get familiar with TF Marz, Co-founder and Creative Director of all:Lo music collective, whose Colorado and Pacific Northwest roots heavily influence his refreshing and distinct take on electronic music that is healthily infused with hip hop and RnB sensibilities.

We dive into the music scene in the PNW, including his iconic sunrise set at the renowned Grove Stage at Shambhala Music Festival, the current state of the electronic music scene, the continuous evolution of all:Lo, and the future of TF Marz
Listen now from the link in our bio!

Listen now from the link in the comments below ⬇️

18/01/2024

Get familiar once again with Greg “thelazershark” Ellis, a highly revered, industry-respected, ruthlessly sarcastic lighting designer who has been responsible for nearly 15 years of breathtaking and dazzling visual displays as innovative as the music it backs. Best known for his work with Pretty Lights, Greg is no stranger to the spotlight, having worked with global names like Banks, 30 Seconds to Mars, Mr. Beast, and even a few major music award shows to boot. Through and through, Greg Ellis remains an artist. Having added a new medium into his arsenal, we talk about his artistic journey and how his works influence one another.

Check out our latest interview with the Lazershark now from the link in the comments below ⬇️

Greg is currently hosting a raffle for the first installment of his “Thank You” series, including original paintings based on the Denver, Dillon, Atlanta, Philly, Brooklyn shows (including custom Lazershark stickers).

The raffles ends on January 20th but you can enter now at: https://www.thephoebuscartel.com/shop

The drawings will be held live on IG on the 21st, then the print drop on the 22nd. Good luck to everyone that plays!

📸:

05/01/2024

Like the city of New Orleans and “the tangled veins of cypress roots that meander this way and that in the swamp” the final sets of the Pretty Lights tour were “interrelated, wrapped around itself in ways that aren’t always obvious.”

Channeling the spirit of Dr. John and New Orleans itself, the Pretty Lights team threw a party befitting for the end of such a historic tour; once again paying massive respects to regional musical legends by swirling the likes of Louis Armstrong, Lil Wayne, and The Meters while also integrating live horns (provided by The Soul Rebels) with the band for the first time since the days of the Analog Future Band.

While we are saddened that the tour has finally ended, we can’t help but look towards the future full of optimism as Pretty Lights continues to appear on prominent music festival lineups. The renaissance tour is over, but the future of Pretty Lights is just about to begin. We’ll see you there!

Listen to the final Passenger Log from the link in our comments ⬇️

📸: Raymond Angelo

30/11/2023

Even the sky is not the limit for the Soundship Spacesystem crew. Using it as their palette, the Pretty Lights crew engaged Skylites to coordinate a light show with 75 drones, on top of having special guests in the VJ booth. This was just one of many unique elements that passengers on the Soundship Spacesystem were treated to during the crew’s mission at The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee.

The Caverns felt reminiscent of episodic festival runs at Telluride and The Gorge between its remote location, a secret set, and special guests both on stage (Adam Deitch) and in the VJ booth (Glass Crane & Psybernautics), creating a truly unique live music experience with a country flair that stands entirely apart from any other stops on tour that left us all saying, “Let's go back to Tennessee”

A link to the Caverns Passenger Log is in the comments below.

Music provided by Pretty Lights Live

Photos provided by Raymond Angelo

22/11/2023

Almost Familiar has officially been swirled 🌀Our Caverns recap will follow San Francisco as we wanted to take advantage of recording San Francisco’s Passenger Log with a very special guest who will likely feel more than almost familiar for those who have followed the pod since the beginning.

Famous San Francisco promoter Bill Graham’s marquee on The Warfield theater for The Grateful Dead’s concert on September 25, 1980 said it all: “THEY’RE NOT THE BEST AT WHAT THEY DO, THEY’RE THE ONLY ONES THAT DO WHAT THEY DO”

Almost Familiar invites prolific live music journalist, Upful Life Podcast host, and friend, B.Getz, to return to the show to muse on whether the same can be said of this iteration of Pretty Lights. We reflect specifically on Derek & Company’s three-night run at The House that Garcia built in San Francisco. We can think of no better guest to help us draw parallels between the Grateful Dead’s legacy, playing, culture and experience, to what is currently happening with Pretty Lights as we continue to explore our podcast’s foundational hypothesis: Is Pretty Lights “almost familiar” to The Grateful Dead?

We are beyond grateful to have collaborated with B on this episode and his SENSATIONAL article that came out recently on Live For Live Music ⚡️🌹

Listen to the SF Passenger Log/read the L4LM piece from the link in the comments below

📸: Marlene Sanchez

07/11/2023

The best Pretty Lights show of all time? The echo chamber was swirling in the aftermath of the Soundship Spacesystem’s leveling of one of its most-visited destinations, Chicago.

Almost Familiar welcomes PLF Chicago representatives, Charlie Charles Char and Kris Wilhelmsen to reflect on the three-night tear celebrating the influential legacies of House music and Pretty Lights’ inaugural album.

In addition to the band constantly outdoing themselves, the visual production took immeasurable strides forward as thelazershark tested the waters with brand new lazers, feasting on all those in their wake 🦈

Listen now: https://linktr.ee/almostfamiliarpod

📸: Teuber Media

18/10/2023

Not even biblical flooding could stop the Soundship Spacesystem tour from docking for an iconic three-day run at the infamous Brooklyn Mirage, whose larger than life production showcased the tantalizing abilities of the entire Pretty Lights team as both band and crew continue to fire on all cylinders: delivering new bust outs, continuously reinterpreting fan-favorites, and inspiring the masses in the city that never sleeps.

While the Pretty Lights renaissance tour has been solid all the way through, it can be argued that nothing’s equivalent, to the New York state of mind 🗽

Link to our Brooklyn recap is in the comments below

📸: Raymond Angelo

29/09/2023

Pretty Lights may be postponed in Brooklyn tonight, but Almost Familiar is fashionably late with our recap of the Philadelphia shows if you're seeking some related content to fill the void.

The Soundship Spacesystem touched down in Philadelphia for three nights of swirling samples from different eras and tasteful tributes to the city of brotherly love. With the successful ex*****on of the band’s first “set sandwich,” the menu is full of limitless potential with a secret sauce that continues to be refined for a one-of-a-kind sensory experience.

Link to the episode in the comments!

11/09/2023

The Swirl Bridge made its way down to the South East as Pretty Lights and the Soundship Spacesystem tour touched down for three awe-inspiring nights in Atlanta’s The Eastern as the band picked up right where they left off in Colorado.

While Atlanta experienced bust-outs, re-imaginations of repeated songs, several new songs that were debuted, the same unmistakable swagger and unstoppable tenacity were fully present as members of the band on stage and production crew off-stage continue to impress after nine remarkable shows.

Listen to the Atlanta Passenger Log now from the link the comments

Photo courtesy of Fabeaux

21/08/2023

The electronic music scene has been in a constant state of reflection and reinvention since its inception, yet one of its most influential pioneers of the new millenia has been dormant over the last five years. Earlier this month, balance was restored as Pretty Lights made a triumphant return across six unforgettable shows as the Soundship Spacesystem tour took flight in Colorado.

Elizabeth and Wesley recall several standout moments from the Mission Ballroom and Dillon Amphitheater runs, which included the debut of new music, spell-binding reinterpretations of fan favorites and first looks of the newly-imagined and highly-immersive Swirl Bridge 🌀🌉

Listen now: https://linktr.ee/almostfamiliarpod

**All music from this episode along with the rest of the Mission and Dillon shows is available for listening at prettylightslive.com

📸 Shannon Shumaker Photography

08/04/2023

Get familiar with Borahm Lee, a pianist and key member of Denver’s music community, known mostly as a member of the formerly Brooklyn-based duo, Break Science and multiple live iterations of the Pretty Lights project. He could have been a doctor or a lawyer, but his love for the piano and jazz derailed those plans at an early age and sent him on the course of becoming a masterful musician who has since performed with the likes of Kanye West, The Fugees, reggae/dub pioneer Lee Scratch Perry (official), members of Lettuce, The Disco Biscuits, Big Gigantic, Manic Focus, and many more.

We chat with Borahm about his life long love affair with music and how it has evolved throughout his career including the recent release of his first solo studio album, Echoic Memory. We reflect on the last decade of electronic music and how some of his collaborative projects have pushed the genre beyond the limitations of one-dimensional performances and where it can be experienced.

We also look towards the future in a mutual excitement with the upcoming Soundship Space System Tour where Borahm will take his rightful place in the Swirl Bridge alongside longtime friend and collaborator, Derek Vincent Smith and his band of vibrational architects, including the return of the Pretty Lights project’s original collaborator, Michal Menert

Link to the episode is in the comments below ⬇️⬇️

03/04/2023

Get familiar with parkbreezy: producer, instrumentalist and co-founder of Denver’s beloved all:Lo Collective, whose compositions are a soulful and melodic exploration of the future with nostalgic glimpses of his past inspirations.

Parker underscores the relationship between sampling and interpretation, its relationship to memory and nostalgia, and how that creates a moment in time that can feel almost familiar.

We talk about the growth of the all:Lo label including his blossoming solo project and his collaborative projects Groovsauce and Morning Coffee alongside label mates and best friends, Thought Process and pheel.

The all:Lo label is a truly a familiar affair, a community love story set in Denver’s iconic Black Box where friends lift each other up while continuing to push the musical envelope. Parkbreezy and the label are playing shows across the nation and curating takeovers this summer at the second annual Secret Dreams and SONIC BLOOM.

This episode is dedicated to the lives and memories of Chuck Morris of Lotus, his son Charley and all those who are no longer with us

31/12/2022

Get familiar with highlights of the 2022 festival season and beyond. Wes and Elizabeth share their own highlights and also conducted a community census to get a sense of what stood out between festivals, events, musicians, mixes, albums, and personal milestones. Trending submissions include Submersion Festival, Daily Bread's latest Bread & Breakfast mix and Mishawaka shows, and newly on some radars are Piri & Tommy Villiers, Cool Customer, and Eliptek, along with unwavering hope for a Pretty Lights return. We’re so grateful to the community members who participated in our inaugural Almost Familiar Unwrapped, and we hope to see you on the dance floor in 2023.

A link to the episode and playlists with listener submissions is in the comments!

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Get familiar with Mr. Bill a staple of the bass music scene and an Ableton wizard whose techno side project Electrocado was released on deadmau5's label, mau5trap. We talk to Bill about Australian wooks, why psytrance never took off in America, what makes a DJ set “live,” and the evolution of American bass music culture and what its legacy might be. We delayed the release of this episode so that we could share some content from Mr Bill's first (socially-distanced) performance since the pandemic at @The Midway SF! Mr. Bill and his team recently participated in a Good Night Out Vancouver workshop and they brought Elizabeth to the event to help spread awareness about consent culture. Is that an Electrocado track we hear in this video? Listen Now: https://linktr.ee/almostfamiliarpo

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Get Familiar

Is Pretty Lights the Phish of EDM? Is it possible to love Dubstep and Bluegrass? Have you ever called someone a wook or been called a wook yourself?Elizabeth Dreeson and Wes Johnson discuss the evolving landscape of what they call "neo-hippie music festival culture." Wes and Elizabeth have witnessed firsthand this emergent subculture's evolution over the last decade and are interested in looking at the past to make better sense of the present.

The music speaks for itself. Wes and Elizabeth are interested in talking to the characters behind the scenes who are responsible for building the community we know and love. Almost Familiar is a podcast by the people and for the people, because it's about the people.