Our resident VJs for Surya Dub are KONTACT.

They do awesome work.

Private Message me if you would like some contact info.

Heroic Robot will be at Anu tonight if you want to check out their stuff. Don't forget to provide some deets about your party if you want em though! :)

Heroic Robot were on fire at Faktion last night too!
:-) thanks! I dunno, I wasn't really feeling it. I did try out some new stuff though. It'd be really cool if I could get some feedback on what people liked!

I'd like to see visuals become as much of a focus as the music- it really turns a party from a bunch of people dancing in a darkened room into, well, a transcendent experience :)

So, let's discuss it here. Techno snobs, artists and consumers: what do you like in visuals? have you seen anything that made you go "wow"? What can we do that you think would be cool? What can we do to make you party harder? have more fun? What makes you smile, dance and enjoy more?

That's really what it's all about for me- I'll do anything that makes people happier. I guess it's the old raver in me, but I really miss the days when someone at any given party had some crazy raver toy to demonstrate. Let's do that stuff again, it was cool :)

I really like to do stuff that pushes the boundaries of what's even possible, the VJ scene is really stale. Let's shake things up a bit, something awesome might fall out.

You should see my deaf friends going for it... it's AWESOME.

The really nice thing about VJing is that you can easily have two or more people going at the same time and they won't interfere with each other :-)

I'd love to do a thing where a whole bunch of VJs just get together, hang out and blast some visuals... I'm pretty sure Matt (the other half of Heroic Robot) would be up for it too.

I think you're taking that to an extreme. I love great visuals too. When done right, they can totally elevate the mood and really make a party memorable -- agreed with you there. But at the end of the day the techno/electronic scene is fundamentally about the music. I've never been to a really memorable party with awesome visuals and mediocre music. But I've been to a lot of INCREDIBLE parties with killer music that had no visuals at all.

To put it in perspective, your arguments could be applied to free beer. If a DJ trainwrecks, but there's free beer, people will stick around. No free beer, people leave. People hesitating at the door, but you tell them there's free beer inside? In they come. Does free beer make a great party? Maybe, but not a great *techno* party. I know a lot of people who will always pick the party with better music over the one with better visuals (or free beer, literally).

Speaking of parties with trainwrecking DJs and crowds lost in the lasers -- anyone know when Paul Oakenfold's going to be in town?

Yeah, it's in the works. My goal is to create a forum for inexperienced and experienced VJ's/visual artists (or just people interested in the art) to come hang out, jam, share ideas and hopefully move forward with the genre. I'm hoping for a chill no-one-is-better-than-anyone collaborative vibe.

Details will follow in the coming weeks.

Of course I'm taking it to an extreme. It's called hyperbole, and it's used in composition to make a point. Yes, it's about the music, as it's a techno party. but every DJ makes mistakes, that's part of actually doing it right there. My point is that great parties are an experience, and anything that elevates that experience is more than simple addition. Sure, I've been to killer parties without visuals. Alex Under, Agaric, Amber, Fumiya Tanaka, Drumcell, Nikola Batala, Alland Byallo, Craig Kuna, Forest Green, Fanon Flowers, Octave One, any number of DJs/Producers who can spin out hours of kickass music. At least half of whom have spun to nearly empty rooms in recent years because not enough people gave it a chance.

Sure they will, if you're happy with the same people coming to your party every time, until they move on in life and your party dies a slow death. If a party is going to survive, and more importantly, if new DJs and parties are ever going to make it, this scene needs to get new people, who may not know about the music yet. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my friends, and people with a like interest in great music usually become my friends, but of the 20+ parties I hit every month, the overwhelming majority of them are 80% other DJs, promoters and their friends. If great music's all you want, plenty of us have apartments with good sound systems we can just have people over at.

And yeah, I think free beer is more than a complement, too. It's also more expensive than great VJs, on the order of $500 or more an hour depending on the size of the venue.

And there'd be great music if people didn't take drugs there, too. Want to suggest people actually give that up?

he's coming actually, just saw it on one of the flyers Hil's been delivering.

Anyway, yes, you're correct. visuals aren't essential to a great party. They're much more important than that.

I sometimes like visuals with my music. yes its true.

I sometimes like complete darkness with my music. yes its true.

Hugs all around

yeah, reciprocated hug, I still believe in the PLUR. :)

I think we're all looking to make things better, too. And yes, music is the heart of any EDM party. I just think a party is much more than the sum of its parts. Taking the art of the music and the art of the visuals, increases the potential way beyond what great music alone or great art alone can do.

visuals are GRATE!

music is SOOPER GRATE!

darkness is GRATE!

hugs are really REALLY GRATE.

The heat in my apartment comes out of a grate. Which is grate.

Enough fighting and argument.

Here's something I made. http://www.youtube.com/v/ef_NsTqk3S4&hl=en It may be relevant to your interests.