Kick off your 2012 summer festival season at the 2nd Annual Uphoria Festival at Kaplan Farm in Millerton, NY, brought to you by CruTopia. The 3-day event is being held on the same farm grounds as Lespeshtival – music goes from Thursday afternoon until early morning on Sunday, as 50+ national, regional, and local acts are scheduled to perform on 3+ stages!
With light shows from visual artists VJ Andrenochrome, Takyon, and Dutch Masterson Designs, fire performances by Eternal Lotus Collective, interactive art installations, live painters and guest speakers, Uphoria will be an unforgettable 4-day journey of consciousness, community, music, and art. If you want to volunteer or have an inquiry, send an e-mail to: experienceuphoria@gmail.co
Tickets are currently $95 – they will go up on April 29! There will also be 100 Saturday Only tickets for $50 – being released soon. Full schedule will be released on May 5!
3 HOURS from BOSTON
2.5 HOURS from NYC
Alex Russo and Chris Narainen of Blue Boy Productions and Deej of CruTopia have answered a few questions about Uphoria:
“Experience it” is the slogan for Uphoria. What’s the “it” that makes this festival different from any other?
Chris: We’ve known Deej – the man behind the festival – for a long time. We played the first one, which was Deej Fest, and then we played the last two – Drift Down Get Down, Uphoria 2011 – after that. Since we started, the community has been growing, more people are being added to the line-up, so that’s fun to see.
Alex: Care-free family atmosphere and a line-up that’s seriously tapped into the best of the Northeast’s live music scene.
Deej: It is innovative and evolving, ever growing and adapting. It is inspiring. It is moments of spontaneous creativity and unfettered happiness. It is a new friend or a new favorite band. All I can say is it is Uphoria, so get out and experience it!
What are some improvements from last years Uphoria?
Chris: It’s a different place – last year it was in Maine, but this year it’s in NY, same place as the first Deej Fest, one of our favorite festival venues. This year the line-up is much bigger, Dopapod, Giant Panda Guerilla Dubsquad, Normal Instruments.
Deej: We’re off and running with the 2012 Mayan theme this year, and are extremely excited to put our stage design ideas into action. Rather than a dance tent with 2 mainstages, we’re getting creative with “The Barn” at Kaplan. We will have 2 indoor mainstages and a DJ booth inside the 40×100 barn, as well as an interactive art lounge in the foyer room. There will also be an outdoor stage running during the day. We’re calling it our “Shaman” stage and it’s stacked with some incredible talent!
No alcohol permitted! How did this work out at Lespeshtival?
Deej: I think that the “No Alcohol” policy evokes an elevated sense of awareness and consciousness from the participants. Several venues have started regulating alcohol within the venue grounds. Believe me, I’ve pounded back quite a few beers at the gate in recent years at Camp Bisco or The Big Up, wherever. But, I’m sure there will be grievances about it. So in response I would say, there are 100 other festivals you could go to this summer to get shitfaced, Uphoria 2012 is oriented around the music and the community.
Any special plans for BBP?
Chris: We’ve got the album release party with OPIUO coming up a few days before the festival. We’ll play the whole new album at Uphoria, a few songs of which we’ve only played live once or twice.
Alex: New tunes, old tunes, spontaneous DJ sets?
Who should people be looking out for at Uphoria this year?
Chris: There’s going to be lots of visual artists – VJ Andrenochrome. Overall, the line-up is very well thought-out and the music will be non-stop.
Alex: Zebbler Encanti Experience, The Manhattan Project, lespecial, Psylab, Jeff Bujak, Binary Bits, Durians, Ian Stewart…there’s too many to name!
Deej: I received a message from Zebbler the other day with news that he’s developing some new visual gems for Uphoria. We’ll be releasing the time schedules on May 5, which will really show the diversity of the bill. We’ve also got some secret sets thrown in there, but shhh, don’t say anything!
Your festival staple?
Chris: Drumsticks.
Alex: IPA and subwoofers.
Deej: A pair of cheap sunglasses. Rain or shine…
[cincopa AoOAu4KpTA72]
[Photos by Fan de Gonzalo of Electrogenic]
Besides Uphoria just adding Sonic Spank, Grimace Federation, and Mikey Likes iT, they have a line-up of over 50 of the Northeast’s well-established and up-and-coming electronic DJs, producers, and jam bands starting with…
I’m convinced that Dopapod is constantly touring. While working at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA two years ago, they must have brought a solid crowd through at least 4 times in 6 months. These guys get down into some comfortably dark and edgy reggae. “They exist at the crossroads of full throttle intensity, deep pocket groove, intricate technicality, and limitless experimentation.”
GPGD show recordings have been “downloaded over 160,000 times from taper-friendly websites such as archive.org.” [JamBase] I first listened to them years ago when they released the album, “Slow Down”, a roots reggae enlightenment. “Their spontaneous approach to a live performance, along with instrumental excursion, comes as no surprise, considering the band has played 500 shows in the past three years alone.” [Reggae Movement]
Normal Instruments is the brainchild of Mike Carter, guitarist and singer from the Boston-based band, The Indobox, featuring a cast of musicians and friends from other New England bands including Jules Jenssen of The Indobox and HiGHER ORGANiX, Matt Beckett from Cosmic Dust Bunnies, and Jeff Bujak. They sold out Wonder Bar at their second show ever – a Wobble Wednesday in February of 2011…
HiGHER ORGRANiX and VJ: DUTCH MASTERSON DESIGNS
Their Facebook Bio says: “fatty, heavy panty droppers”, but you might also know them as the boys that hosted The Big Up Music Festival at Sunnyview Farm in Ghent, NY. What better way to celebrate “the summer that there was no Big Up” than by starting it at Uphoria with Jules Jenssen on drums, Brian Ross on bass, and Clayton Squire on guitar!
Higher Organix : The Big Up 2011 from Dutch Masterson Designs.
Speakerbot is a new face to the festival circuit not to be messed with! The upsurge in a demand for disco in the electronic music scene has turned this NJ-based DJ into a hot commodity. Check the rest of his Soundcloud for more disco, house, and techno beats.
Another Boston favorite, lespecial just finished touring with Space Jesus and BBP on The Brothership Connection Tour. They’ve played the past three CruTopia festivals and will once again be bringing “aggressive dance music to turn heads before the apocalypse” in just a few weeks!
CYBORG TRIO VIDEO FROM UPHORIA 2011
BLUE BOY PRODUCTIONS & VISUALS FROM UPHORIA 2011
CruTopia .listen.adapt.evolve. : http://www.crutopiamusic.com/
Newly Added: Sonic Spank, Grimace Federation, Mikey Likes iT, BASEK
+PLUS+
