The third annual Sacramento Electronic Music Festival swarmed into Harlow’s and the Momo Lounge this weekend. From Thursday to Saturday, tremendous pulsating music attracted an overwhelming crowd to Midtown. Three nights of great music brought over three dozen premier entertainers to the stages. The festival had been in the works for months, and the promoters worked feverishly to bring a great lineup of electronic artists for each evening. Co-creators Adam Saake and Clay Nutting brought together great talent to perform this year. Although Thursday night’s crowd started off small, it grew quite rapidly as the evening progressed. Doors to the venue opened at 7 p.m. and performers took

Sacramento is coming alive this weekend for St. Patrick's Day! To build upon the great round-up of events included in this article, here are a few more to consider for this Saturday. Block Parties & Pub Parties: -St. Paddy's R Street Pub Crawl: R Street Corridor (14th-15th Streets), Sat Noon-1am Come celebrate St. Paddy's Day at your favorite R District bars: R15 Bar, Ace of Spades, Burgers & Brew, and the Shady Lady. Enjoy a performance by The Cheeseballs, drink specials, and Irish grub at all locations. -St. Paddy's in The Sutter District: The Sutter District, Sat Noon-1am Come celebrate St. Patrick's Day at your favorite Sutter District bars: Ink Eats & Drinks, Blue Cue, BarWest, Mon

 Have you ever been a part of a great crowd at an epic rock show? The kind of crowd that becomes a living, breathing, thing? A sea of buzzing, sweaty, frenzied humanity, urging and inspiring it's champions to take their playing to theretofore undiscovered heights?  The kind of crowd that makes band members to look at each other in a mixture of awe, appreciation and pure joy? Man, it's fun to be a part of one of those crowds. Now, imagine the opposite of that. Friday night, downtown's all ages concert venue, The Refuge, played host to a pretty darn good rock show. The Northgate Project, The Common Men, The Generals, Dusty Brown and Eight Four Seven gave it their all, but unfortunately t

The Sacramento Electronic Music Festival (SEMF) 2011 held at the Townhouse Lounge on 21st Street had its third day of local, regional and international talent showcased on Saturday night. I showed up a little early and was greeted by Adam Saake organizer of the event. Adam, Clay Nutting and Tais Arises did an extraordinary job of putting on this 3 day event. (Adam Saake said let there be SEMF) Both floors of the Townhouse were used for SEMF. Each floor had DJ and lighting stations and a bar was fully equipped on both floors as well. Tais Arises was on hand as well announcing acts and getting the crowd into the show. I attended the show on Saturday and heard good things about the Thursd

Day 2 of the second annual Sacramento Electronic Music Festival continued at the Townhouse Lounge on Friday, featuring performances by Little Foxes, Boss Magic, Melee Beats and FAVORS, among others. The three-night festival showcases local and international electronic-centric artists, and the SEMF vision is "to continue to foster a supportive music community while attracting world-class talent to Sacramento, not just at the annual festival, but throughout the year." Friday night Roger Carpio and Shaun Slaughter were among the DJs who held court nonstop on the first floor with a wide range of music (New Order, The xx, Crystal Castles) and kept the sexy people of Townhouse sweaty all night

If you cruise on over to Daedelus’ website and check out his list of upcoming shows, the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival is not listed. No cause for panic - he will indeed be there. Plus, the absence of events like an SEMF in the world of “formal” event lists is actually pretty common. What is worth taking notice of is the events that are listed. A trio of gigs in New York and Washington D.C. alongside Lotus, followed by a buffet of shindigs across the pond at various clubs and festivals. Oh yeah, there’s one other gig on the Daedelus page that isn’t listed – it’s some little gathering down in the desert we keep hearing about? While he would have to be considered the most widely k

 Sacramento band The New Humans celebrated the release of its debut EP, “Avalanche,” with a high-energy show at Townhouse on Saturday. “Avalanche” comes out later than expected, after the band experienced a futile lead singer search (synth man Scott Simpson eventually took on vocal duties) and scrapped six months’ worth of recording, but these past hurdles were not apparent at the show. After a quick warmup set by Favors downstairs and a rare performance by Dusty Brown side project Little Foxes upstairs, Simpson wasted no time going crazy onstage and setting the tone for the rest of the night. The New Humans also includes Robbie LaCasse (bass), Mike Steez (drums) and Cole Cuchna (keys).

Attending the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival (SEMF) EP release party for Dusty Brown held Saturday at 9 p.m. at The Townhouse Lounge meant  I had to be prepared for a one-of-a-kind experience.  When I  walked into the dimly lit lounge there was house, techno and hip-hop music blasting over the speakers and a chalk board that displayed the bands performing for the night.  The talent for the event featured TAIS, Melee Beats and headliner Dusty Brown. The clandestine lounge has two floors. DJ Rockbottom spun hip-hop music on the first floor and DJ MooOkie spun music for the crowd on the top main floor. The variety of onstage talent and DJs gave everyone something to listen to. “I’m e

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.

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 le