Cazzette
Heat Ultra Lounge
February 7th, 2013
Last night, the Swedish duo Cazzette brought their signature self proclaimed “dubhouse” sound to Heat Ultra Lounge in Anaheim. Legally known as Sebastien Furrer and Alexander Björklund, Cazzette appeared on the dance music scene out of practically nowhere in the summer of 2011 thanks to the brains of producer Ash Pournouri from At Night Management who is also responsible for discovering Avicii. They are currently on their Eject Tour to promote part three of their debut album available exclusively on Spotify (the first major debut issued exclusively to a streaming music site). This special Thursday night EDM event had the likes of OC Weekly favorites Minaya & Vikus opening up thanks to powerhouse promoters Giant.
OC house music favorites Daniel Minaya and Shane Vikus
threw down a sick 75-minute set which incorporated lots of tech
house like Trent Cantrelle's “Naturally” to remixes of classic house
anthems like Fragma's “Toca Miracle.” They did a stellar job at hyping
up the crowd with enough unknown dance beats and well known vocals like
“Pump up the Jam” to make the crowd want to dance.
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There's something about old school 90s house tracks that perfectly spliced with today's progressive sounds make people on the dance floor go nuts and Minaya & Vikus have mastered that craft. They're high-energy and effortless stage presence proved that you don't have to play all of the bangers at high bpms to warm up the crowd. As early as 11pm the dance floor was completely packed with EDM enthusiasts, fans, friends and club goers wanting to let loose and feeling the groove.
Once Cazzette made way towards the main stage to take over however, the enthusiasm in the crowd grew exponentially. The small main room dance floor and close proximity to the DJ booth made this an intimate affair with a contagious atmosphere. The Swedish DJs first came on the scene with giant cassette tape masks, but they have sense proved that their talents exceed today's gimmicks and they are DJ selectors on their own right. Mask less they played to a small yet packed crowd (in their short couple of years they have played every major festival such as Creamfields, Ultra, EDC and Tomorrowland) with no crazy lasers, confetti or fog filled machines. Instead they relied on their ability to read the crowd, track selection and personal remixes or originals to make the entire room shake.
The duo was innovative and a good break from the usual mainstream and unimaginative sets we have seen as of late. Starting off with the always energetic “Here We Go” by Hard Rock Sofa & Swanky Tunes, Cazzette took us on a journey of our favorite songs, tracks we have never heard and up and coming hits and new singles as if we were listening to a mix tape or cassette. Their modern take on electro house which incorporates heavy basslines and a lot of dub kept things fresh and literally had us dancing for almost two hours. They made perfect use of the Funktion One sound system showcasing their eclectic tastes, love for melodic vocals and filthy dubstep drops. They played everything from Tujamo & Plastik Funk's “Who,” their single “Beam Me Up” to the RL Grime remix of “Satisfaction.” Gimmick or not we can't wait for festival season to start so we can hopefully catch them with their cassette tape masks on.
Personal Bias: Not a big fan of electro but these guys really impressed me with their original productions and stage presence after only a couple of years in the EDM world.
The Crowd: The cool thing about dance music is that it unites all kinds of people together and since we don't frequent Heat to often it was definitely a big mix of all kinds of races, sexes, ages and etc.
Overheard in the Crowd: You couldn't really hear anything over that amazing Funktion One, but we did see a lot of really really drunk people including someone disco napping in the VIP tables. (We took a picture and tweeted it to A-Trak of course)
Random Notebook Dump: Even the security guards were getting down towards the end to the trap remix of “Mercy.”
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