An Underground Affair: Rumspringa Event Review and Interview with True Family Unit Productions

Every weekend I thumb through a barrage of social media invites for various club events and EDM concerts, deciding carefully which flown-in headliner suits my fancy for the weekend. Last Friday night, I decided to sift through my normal news feed frontrunners to find an event a little more hush-hush and a lot more underground.  Not quite an after hours and not quite a rave, the True Family Unit 22nd anniversary loft party “Rumspringa” became the destination for the evening.

Rumspringa

Rumspringa

Rumspringa

Rumspringa

With no address posted on the internet, my companions and I obtained the coordinates from a friend and ventured to the near west-side destination, the ‘Hoyne loft’. After walking up four seemingly endless flights of stairs, we paid our cover and walked through the clandestine entrance. I immediately seemed to be experiencing a flashback, as the lighting setup paid homage to the visual rave experience of yesteryear. A single multi-colored laser projected vibrant animations of dancing figures, geometric patterns, and malevolent shapeshifting creatures onto the soot-streaked wall. On opposite sides of the laser setup, projectors blasted random, chaotic images and animations onto white screens.  Props with smaller, more subtle lighting effects were scattered about the venue to support the main visual barrage. Despite my brief distraction with the omnipresent retinal candy, my ears began to focus on the resonating beats.

Brian Brovelli aka Dj Turbotic

Brian Brovelli aka Dj Turbotic

While I unfortunately arrived too late to see opener Lyrek, I walked into Brian Brovelli and Danny Diggable tag teaming to warm up the diverse crowd with some funky house and techno.  Halfway into their set, the crowd sang along about how their life got turned upside down when Boogie Vice’s “Bel-Air rmx” blared from the speakers. Next, Mega Mike and Layer laid down a low-frequency bass dubstep set; the speakers punished the loft with the rolling basslines. Afterwards, Microdot and Eddy Riot returned to the audience a lethal dose of aggressive techno. The tag team theme ended at 2am when Alex Kislov stepped up to the decks and riled the crowd up with solid house tracks; even a few throwback tracks made it into his set such as Technotronic’s “Pump Up The Jam” remix. Amy Unland continued on the trajectory that Alex had started as she had the honor of opening for the legendary house producer and DJ, Paul Johnson.

Paul Johnson - date unknown

Paul Johnson – date unknown

With famous tracks like “Get Get Down” and “Follow this Beat”, Chicago native Paul Johnson has been a staple in the rave and club scene for 30 years and continues to erupt the dance floor every time he approaches the mixer. Paul Johnson continued his trend of underground promenade puppeteering at Rumspringa; even the wallflower attendees in the loft converged to the dance floor to participate in the house-driven madness. As the dawn began to finally peer over the brick window sills, Adonis Childs closed the night out with his patented eclectic mix of techno. Before everyone knew it, the lights came on and the collective squint of the party-goers signaled an end to an exhaustingly successful night. After the party dust settled, I was finally able to sit down with Adonis to ask him a few questions about True Family Unit and all other things music related.

Shawn B: Rumspringa was the 22nd anniversary of True Family Unit. How did it all start?

Adonis C:  True Family Unit started out as New Sun Records when Brian Brovelli and myself hung out during high school and started doing punk shows in Dekalb. We started dabbling in electronic music and changed the name to True Love Family Unit in late 1994. Eventually it was all live electronic music, using drum machines and other equipment to do college parties. I started DJing in 1997 around the time we met Brian Balli. The three of us changed the name to True Family Unit and threw our first big party ‘Divine’ in 1999 at a roller rink in DeKalb. Since then we have grown in size and members have come in and out, but the love still remains the same.

Shawn B: What do you strive for when you throw a party?

Adonis C: To get like-minded people together and show them the new music of our crew and to show people the underground

Shawn B: What’s your favorite party that you threw?

Adonis C: Our “Pride” party series that we used to throw on pride parade weekend. We had house divas come in like Dajae. The crowd was out of control. It was awesome.

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Pride Flyer – 2002

Shawn B: What are some of the key things you like about ‘underground’ parties?

Adonis C: The music and the freedom. All the bad elements of the EDM scene are missing. The vibe is heavy and the parties are more about the music instead of the hype of commercialism. Underground parties are about the music and the growth of the dance scene and culture, not about the deterioration of dance music to make a buck.

Shawn B: Of all the ups and downs of the underground scene in the past 20 years, what do you still see as remaining the same?

Adonis C: The vibe still remains the same and the music is still underground. Chicago will always have elements of house and techno, where the beats have that urban feel to them. In my eyes, the Midwest is the mecca of dance music!

Shawn B: Thanks for your time Adonis. When can we expect the next party?

Adonis C: Peace, Love, and Music 69 on February 14th. It will showcase Danny the Wildchild, Orville Kline, myself and Mr. Bobby, Amy Unland, and a lot more. Check it out!

For the latest information on True Family Unit check out their Facebook page.

For the latest music from True Family Unit check out their Soundcloud page

Masquerade Loft Party Feat. Tone Of Arc (LIVE) – Dustin Sheridan – HXH

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Reverse Events and Paradox Media Group have joined forces to produce a Masquerade Ball like no other – and the always spellbinding San Francisco based duo Tone Of Arc is set to soundtrack this one of a kind evening. Fresh from their Touch of Class showcase performance at the BPM Festival in Playa Del Carmen, Tone Of Arc flies out to regale the Midwest with an intimate live performance at an undisclosed loft space in true Chicago underground form. Along with a slew of local suspects, including afterhours icon Dustin Sheridan and the teamup of Tech/Funky House DJs HouseWork and HappyGhost (HXH), this is one Masquerade Ball that you don’t want to miss!

In addition to the musical journey, the Masquerade Ball will feature numerous independent artistic performances, breathtaking 18th century décor, and a hypnotizing video and light show that is sure to dazzle your senses. Don’t have a mask? No problem! The first 100 maskless attendees, including all ticket holders, will receive a complimentary mask to commemorate the engagement. Last but not least, keep your eyes peeled for some surprise guests as the organizers have often hinted at for previous shows in the past.

“When we got together with Derrick and Zoe to put this show together, we knew right away that we were going to go all out! I am personally a fan of Tone Of Arc and their music just hits me right in the gut. The way the Masquerade Ball came together is exactly how I would have imagined it in order to do the live show justice.” – Andrew DalPino, Reverse Events Managing Partner

“Coming one full year for Paradox is one thing that we kind of just fell into one event after the other. With our humble beginnings of booking a lot of artists from New York with the help of Gil Kuruneri from NOSi music to having Stefny Winter from montreal and Jubilee from DC getting Tone of Arc headline our 1 year anniversary is a great feeling of progression for us. We know where we are “now” and what we need to do, to be where we “need” to be tomorrow. Teaming up with Andrew & Yegor is just the beginning of what the possibilities can be.” – Usuf Khan, Paradox Media Group, Managing Director

“When we decided to do this event, I knew it was going to be lots of fun because it’s so much different than the events we’ve thrown thus far. The theme, the decor, and the production really brings out the full experience of the Tone of Arc live performance.” – Yegor Kiyenko, Reverse Events Managing Partner

>>>>>>>>>>FOR TICKETS FOLLOW THIS LINK<<<<<<<<<<

About Tone Of Arc

Derrick Boyd (a.k.a. Dead Seal) and partner/vocalist Zoe Presnick have been making music for most of their lives. Boyd has been a recording junkie since his teenage years and has created a volume of more than a two hundred songs and tracks which he jokingly refers to as the “Dead Seal Scrolls.” Together with Zoe, Tone Of Arc become possessed with a wide range of musical expression, bringing a glimpse of real musicality to the underground Tech House and Indie House scene. Tone Of Arc’s deep and emotional sound penetrates into the depths of your soul and their powerful stage presence, drawn from old school cats like Iggy Pop, The Clash, and Bowie, makes their live performance truly a unique spectacle. In short, Tone of Arc refers to the sound of the laws of creation, a name born from the wonder of the sound that holds all things in the universe together.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/TONE-of-ARC/206988806053907
https://soundcloud.com/toneofarc
http://instagram.com/toneofarc

About Reverse Events

Already creating a huge buzz in the Chicago scene after less than a year of being in business, Reverse Events has big plans for 2015 including the introduction of bigger and better shows, new venues, and the expansion of their flagship TECH(NO) event series. As an independent promoter/organizer, Reverse focuses on creating immersive end to end experiences that are unique every time.

Links:

http://reverseevents.com
http://facebook.com/reverseevents
http://twitter.com/reverseevents
http://youtube.com/user/reverseevents
http://instagram.com/reverseevents

About Paradox

Paradox is a just a normal organization run by a group of radio controlled monkeys who think something needs to be done rather than just existing. We are a philosophy evolved on the roots of absolute ambiguity and indulgence in the art form. Paradox is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible. Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself.

Links:

https://facebook.com/paradoxmediagroup
https://youtube.com/user/paradoxteevee
http://instagram.com/paradoxmediagroup