Vhcle Magazine set the mood for their Launch Design and Music festival with a swanky location and a variety of tunes Saturday evening at the Greens Hotel on Del Paso Boulevard.

The festival was a celebration of design and the arts, as well as a way for Vhcle to brand itself in the Sacramento community, according to Michael Hargis, an architectural designer and coordinator of the event.

The Greens hotel is mother nature-meets-urban design. Hargis described the hotel as “1950s mid-century modern.”

Upon entering the hotel, brown and green hues meet the eyes and lights hang from the ceiling. Walking through the bar and lounge area, it was possible to see local vendors set up shop. A door led outside into the courtyard and a converted parking lot with lines still visible on the asphalt.

People lazed under the misting canopies, listened to music and explored the hotel’s features.

Each room corresponds to a letter of the alphabet in order. Giant, red letters hang from the ceiling just outside the rooms.

The flashiness of the lettering system is matched by the interior design. Bright, rich colors painted on the walls contrast well with the black furniture.

The aesthetic and overall explorative experience being at a gem in the Del Paso neighborhood was a vibe Vhcle was going for.

“Being a fan of Del Paso and understanding that there was originally a vision for the arts in this area, I wanted to tap into that,” Hargis said.

The big open courtyard allowed ample room for a main stage where great musical acts from Sacramento and beyond could be heard.

For Hargis, choosing the musical acts was not a difficult process.

“I've always loved digitally produced music and to have music that speaks to me was a natural fit,” Hargis said.

First on the bill was local family trio Dusty Brown. Dusty and Jessica Brown are brother and sister. Zac Brown joined the group 2 years ago and is their cousin.

The crowd was in its infant stages, with only a few people sprinkled around the beer garden and courtyard. The music had a fusion of eerie industrial beats and guitar riffs that are neutralized with Jessica Brown’s ethereal vocals.

Hailing from San Francisco, Tycho took the stage after Dusty Brown. By this time in the evening, the sun was on its way to setting, and the crowd grew bigger.

The transition into Tycho maintained a similar unique fusion of eerie sounds and echoing beats, though sans vocals. Scott Hansen, the brains of Tycho, was performing on his equipment with two backdrops projected with the same custom video feed he compiled himself.

Hargis had in mind the “progression of the evening” and chose Wallpaper to go on after Tycho to lighten the mood.

“Scott's sophisticated, and Wallpaper is really fun,” Hargis said, commenting on their musical styles.

All the way from the Bay, Wallpaper is the pet project of musician Eric Frederic.

“I listen to a lot of Funk and R&B like Parliament and Sly and the Family Stone as well as 90s rap,” Frederic said.

These genres have influenced his writing and beat churning to create an electronic sound backed by drummer Arjun Singh.

Ricky Reed is the band’s vocalist and has a personality on stage that brought an equal amount of laughter as dancing from the crowd.

Ricky has a lot of qualities that exemplify some of the worst parts of people, he's sort of really into this consumer culture, the me-culture,” Frederic said.

The Ricky Reed spectacle did induce the crowd into such frenzy that people started climbing on top of the stage and combined runway to dance.

“This event is really surprising because when I first saw that it was on Del Paso, I was like, ‘Are you sure we should be playing this?’ I've never seen this hotel before; it looks really nice, really posh,” Singh said.

Wallpaper whips out serious dance tracks inspired by funk with lyrics that glorify unusual things like fast food chains in the song, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.”

“I do a lot of the writing of the stuff that (Ricky) sings, but I couldn't actually get up on stage and say the things that that man says—not in a million years,” Frederic said.

The progression of musical acts continued throughout the night, and the crowd matured to about 500 people anticipating the L.A. Riots performance.

L.A. Riots is DJ Jo’B and Daniel LeDisko.

LeDisko has been a part of the electronic music scene since the 1990s. “I feel like at around the time that we got our start was really ground-zero for this electro-crossover movement that's going on now,” he said.

They got their start in April 2007 and received major label interest after remixing “Low Life” by the Scanners for Steve Aoki.

“We've done remixes for Weezer, we’re the new title track off Kylie Minogue's new album, Boombox, Method Man, E-40, NASA, Chris Cornell, Timbaland and the Ting Tings,” LeDisko said.

“Now people are starting to see the potential of electronic music, and it can really be the next big thing,” he said.

L.A. Riots performed with Crystal Method June 16 at Harlow’s and expressed his gratitude for the accommodations of the staff. “Everybody involved in that place was one of the best experiences I had on that tour,” he said.

As for the Launch festival, “It's a new thing for me like a fashion show, bands—Wallpaper,” he said.

After another stage-swarming crowd was delighted with music from L.A. Riots, the night ended with the stylings of project Dances With White Girls turning out beats for a crowd of young hipsters who danced with enough strength after seven hours of performances.

The name Dances With White Girls plays on the politics of race and appropriation as displayed in “Dances with Wolves,” featuring Kevin Costner, according to the musician named Frog.

Chiara Hunter, a student and Musician from Melbourne, Australia, reflected on her experience at the Launch festival. “This is my first taste of culture in Sacramento, and if this is what its like, then it's f------ cool. I’m down!”

Nineteen-year-old Dawit, a student at American River College, said he was excited about the event catering to all ages. “This event so far has been one of the most exciting and spontaneous, because of the amount of random actions that’s going on tonight.”

Hargis reflected on the mission of this event aside from launching the Vhcle image. “Sacramento has its own personality apart from the big cities. I think Sacramento is craving something different and cool,” he said.

Singh mentioned that “a scene is really defined by the people who are behind it booking acts, bringing bands to places that maybe wouldn't book them on their own.”

Launch Design and Music festival was an endeavor on behalf of Vhcle to unite the community, and organizers hope incorporating the music scene into their concept becomes part of an annual tradition.
 

For a list of full artists, click this link

For more information, click the following:
Vhcle
Greens Hotel
Dusty Brown
Tycho
Wallpaper
Dances With White Girls
L.A. Riots

Wallpaper photo credit: Sonia Lucyga