HARD Summer: 2013 Review

Two days under the sizzling Los Angeles sun, turned to chilly nights filled with dancing, good vibes and a phenomenally unique lineup, HARD Summer definitely lived up to its sold out hype. Whether it was the array of delicious (and reasonably priced) foods available,  the supreme but not over-the-top lighting and effects, or the stacked lineup - Hardfest and Live Nation definitely delivered with this year's HARD Summer music festival.

We at EPIC had the privilege of attending such an unexampled, yet simple-goaled festival. Here's what we thought about the atmosphere, production and of course the music.

Saturday:

Starting at noon, festival goers flocked through the streets of Chinatown in LA to swiftly arrive at the gates of the city's State Historic Park in time to see the openers of what was to be an amazing weekend ahead. With such an impressive lineup both days, you couldn't go wrong with who you chose to watch.

Keys N' Krates absolutely set off the crowd with their totally live performance. Transmitting amazing energy, they have the ability to read the crowd really well.

Blowing up in the past few months, of course Disclosure drew a huge crowd to their set at the Underground stage, and for good reason. They played the entire set live while flawlessly mixing track after track, making people melt right out of their clothes. TNGHT, made up of Lunice and Hudson Mohawk played a monumental set composed of raw trap music that is unlike the lot of alarm-esque trap that's being played out at festivals nowadays. A-Trak and Armand Van Helden, the legends Duck Sauce, threw down a funky set that had the crowd at the HARD stage dancing uncontrollably, stirring up dust as they shuffled their feet. People filtered out of the crowd wearing duck beaks while still getting down and grooving to the sound.

Winding down night one, we caught the end of Alex Metric's set at the Underground stage. He played a funky edit of popular jam "Jack" by Breach, it was on point. Then we lost ourselves to duo Oliver's dance inducing nu-disco meets 808 bass house performance. It was definitely a perfect ending to night one.

Sunday:

Making sure to arrive early, we went straight to the HARDER stage to catch gLAdiator throw down an intense trap set filled with new releases off their upcoming EP as well as old favorites. Then dipping to the main stage, Cashmere Cat was dropping some baby-makin' melodic trap that set the mood for the day just right.

Jumping from trap to house, we enjoyed some of French Fries' set as he displayed various sounds throughout, letting us know that tech house is here to stay. Still feeling funky, we mobbed to the Summer stage to catch the beginning of Brodinski's two hour set. With cigarette in mouth and head bobbing to the beat, he mixed track after track with great precision that the entire crowd seemed to be moving in unison, all bearing smiles on their faces. Replacing Azeilia Banks because of her cancelation, ETC!ETC! who was more than stoked to be there, twonked out with the crowd during his entire set. Clockwork, whose set got pushed back an hour, dropped the hardest big room set at the festival - it was definitely one of our favorites of the weekend. There was no crowd as turnt up as Flosstradamus, they had the entire crowd twerking, as usual. The Floss boys even got on stage with Dillon Francis to sing Curt (1/2 of Floss) happy birthday. Those who said moombahton was dead were proved very wrong Sunday night with D. Francis' unforgettable set that topped our list as favorite of the festival. His mix of moombah, trap, glitch was the cherry on top of an already perfect festival. Claude VonStroke threw down a deep, funky house set. Justice dropped some heavy electro at the Summer stage. But we of course closed out the festival with Bassnectar. He threw down an insane glitch-hop meets drum 'n' bass meets hip hop set that had the entire crowd wearing their bass faces and gyrating on, under and all over each other. That crowd got grimey in honor of the last hour of this immense event.

Overall, Hardfest is totally unlike bigger the music festival and the experience it provides, but that isn't a bad thing. HARD Summer didn't have massive decorations on its stages, it didn't have art installments or sexy clowns running around the festival, but it more focused on the whole reason we as festival goers attend these events in the first place - the music.

Instead of charging a pretty penny for glitz and glam, at this festival you were paying to get the experience of crossing so many skilled artists off your bucket list. Whether the talent was deep underground or a little bit mainstream, they all had one thing in common, they all went HARD. Until next year.