Beats, beards and booze filled the Townhouse Lounge Saturday as the Sacramento Electronica Music Festival wrapped up its third and final night.

The Sacramento Electronica Music Festival ran Thursday, Jan. 28 to Saturday, Jan. 30 offering a chance to check out Sacramento's vibrant electronica scene as well as experience something unique.

Adam Saake, the event's organizer, said the event was born out of a desire to bring Sacramento's electronica musicians together. Saake knew many of the electronica artists in the area, but none of them ever played together.

"The dots weren't connected, and there was never any electronica bill," Saake said. "We could do a really dope electronica festival."

Saake said the show started as a night concert, but as interest grew, so did the plans.

"It snowballed into this amazing thing," he said. Eventually, 17 electronica artists and seven DJs were lined up to deliver the first Sacramento Electronica Music Festival.

The event took place at the Townhouse Lounge, a two-story venue on 21st Street with DJs and a dance floor on the first floor and a live music room on the second floor. It was a fun night and a great introduction to the Sacramento electronic music scene.

Many people were on the dance floor downstairs, dancing to the beats created by various local DJs, including DJs Muppetblast, Crush Delight and I@N. Droning rhythms, throbbing bass and drum loops echoed through the room while pulsating strobe lights matched the beats and seemed to wrap around the whole area. It was very much like a club experience, and many on the dance floor were dancing, holding drinks and enjoying themselves.

Most of the people at the Townhouse Lounge were upstairs watching the live musicians. The majority of the audience consisted of 20-somethings who looked like they just walked out of a Midtown coffee shop, complete with tight jeans, big scarves, wool caps and bushy beards on the men. More than half were holding drinks, and although many gatherers were young, there were a few older couples enjoying themselves.

The packed crowd responded to the music in varying ways. Some people just stood and bobbed their heads, while some were sitting down with their eyes closed. One guy even spent the first hour or so painting on a canvas on the wall, ultimately creating a striking image of a woman's head moving to the side, her hair floating behind her.

Both the music and lights upstairs were usually less intense and created a comparatively more relaxed experience, one which focused almost solely on the live music.

The live music itself was unique and varied, showcasing the various takes on electronica Sacramento has to offer. Seventeen musicians, including CityState, MochiPet, The New Humans, Night Night, Sister Crayon, Tycho and Dusty Brown all contributed to the event with different styles.

Some of the live acts consisted of one guy and a computer, while others had full bands with added electronic elements. The music ranged from peaceful and atmospheric to droning and loud, as well as everything in between.

Homo Erectus, for example, played music that was all about heavy beats and growling vocals. The two musicians wore unicorn masks and pranced around on stage, which made for a very strange performance. Night Night took the stage next and used his laptop computer to add video game samples to a calm rhythm, which made for a more relaxing experience. It was a very different setting from a typical rock concert, which was highlighted when Dana Gumbiner, the man behind Night Night, encouraged the audience to sit on the ground, look up at the ceiling, or do whatever they wanted.

"Don't feel like you have to look at the guy on stage. Besides, I'm just checking e-mail," said Gumbiner while he was on stage.

After his set, Gumbiner said that his live performances combine sequenced beats with live improv sections. "It's kind of like controlled chaos," Gumbiner said.

Gumbiner also said he was impressed with the whole event, the artists and their performances. "It seems pretty clear from tonight that there's a lot of talent here in Sacramento," he said.

The event was a hit with the city as well.

Saake said that more than 1,000 people showed up throughout the whole weekend, including more than 500 on Saturday night alone.

"It was a gigantic success," Saake said. "I'm overjoyed and thrilled, but mostly I'm really, really impressed with Sacramento for coming out and supporting the local electronica scene."

Donald Bell, a writer for consumer technology website Cnet.com, used to play with former Sacramento electronica band Command Collective as Chachi Jones around five years ago. Bell traveled from the Bay Area to see Saturday's show and said he was impressed with the turnout.

"Five years ago, the turnout for this kind of show was maybe a third of this," Bell said. "Maybe we were ahead of our time."

Saake said he was very encouraged by the turnout and said that many people asked if there was going to be another electronica music festival next year.

"Definitely next year, we're going to do another one," he said, filled with excitement. "Sacramento was finally ready for this."