The days are getting shorter, the meals are getting heartier and people all over Silicon Valley are getting ready to settle in for a long winter’s nap. While food and booze will certainly help send you off to slumberland, most physicians these days say vigorous exercise is the best way to ensure a night of restful sleep.
Why not get all three?
Eat, drink and get merry on the dance floor this Wednesday and Friday at the 11th annual Give Thanks electronic dance music festival. This year’s party will feature some of the biggest names ever to rock the Give Thanks stage.
Wednesday night’s lineup is headed by Australian electro house and dubstep duo Knife Party, while Friday’s bill is topped by British trance veteran Oakenfold.
Initially formed as a side project, Knife Party eventually became the full-time venture of producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, who first began playing music together in the drum and bass trio Pendulum.
The Knife Party moniker—taken from a Deftones song of the same name—hints at the group’s preferred sonic palate. Swire and McGrillen straddle the line between EDM party starters and heavy metal shredders with rapid-fire distorted synths and heavy drops. Recently, the pair collaborated with pioneering guitarist and Rage Against The Machine co-founder Tom Morello on “Battle Sirens”—a stomping, electric guitar-infused one-off single.
If day one of Give Thanks looks to a pair of EDM upstarts, the second day of the festival looks back to rave royalty. Oakenfold began his career in the late 1970s, spinning soul records in bars around London.
Over time he migrated from simply playing music on two turntables, to remixing the music of popular hip-hop, dance and alternative rock artists. From there he began producing his own music and in 2002 released his debut studio album, Bunkka. To date, the record has moved over a million units and is recognized for pioneering the melding of trance textures with pop songwriting conventions.
Give Thanks
Nov 23 & 25, 9pm, $35-$60
City National Civic, San Jose
