Elektro’s Party Recap! SnowGlobe Kick-Off Fete

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Written By Lina Abascal

One of San Francisco's largest venues, 103 Harriet/1015 Folsom packed it's three dance floors full of Bay Area bass fanatics in anticipation of upcoming Snowglobe Music festival, this New Year's in South Lake Tahoe. Live painting exhibits attracted crowds in dark corners of the main room and on the balcony near one of the many bars, while a booth was set up for easy purchasing of Snow Globe tickets.

Early in the evening a sizable crowd watched duo Quitter (composed of NastyNasty and and So What) drop glitchy beats as crowd members secured good spots to watch delicately adorable LA-based female DJ, TOKiMONSTA. The duo shouted out to the crowd in a distorted microphone from behind their old school Toshiba laptop. The Low End Theory veteran began her set by sweetly warning the crowd not to worry, and that she would "start off slow, and take it up from there." Doing just that, she grooved from behind her controller while smiling at the audience, and ended her set by remixing Dr. Dre's "Xxplosive" pleasing a hip-hop loving crowd.

The predominately dude-filled main stage nodded along to beats while in the smaller front room, clubwear clad girls danced to their favorite Bay Area hyphy rap tracks from high school spun by local DJ, Ryury. Burning Man attendees dressed creatively as snow bunnies and queens danced to local acts upstairs in a dimly lit, red room. Wolf Bitch and Ana Sia joined TOKiMONSTA in adding a much needed female presence in the electronic world and party lineup. Unlike TOKiMONSTA, Ana Sia immediately shook the main stage with heavy bass amping up the crowd as the party carried into the early morning, and at some points, causing the crowd to open into a circle towards the front for exhibitionists to show off their experimental dance moves.

Nearing 1 am, the club was at  peak capacity, and despite an awesome mix blending "Cat Daddy," "Africa" by Toto, and "Don't Lose Your Head," by Dials in the front room, nearly everyone rushed to the main stage to catch headliner, Big Gigantic's set. On a large stage across from the main stage DJ booth, live drumming and vocals blended into their unique live electronic sound to serenade the crowd.

The jam packed lineup and 4 am closing time allowed the committed crowd  to truly practice their hardcore partying skills before Snowglobe.

Stay tuned for Elektro's exclusive interview with SnowGlobe founder, Chad Donnelly.

Photographs by Mishka Ustinov