Damn Too Future back at it again with the sick lineup.

Goroka, the tribal gathering and cultural event indigenous to Papua New Guinea, is one of the longest and largest running global tribal gatherings. It is an annual festival that is held around the country’s Independence Day, September 16th. Thousands of global tribes gather to “keep the Spirit alive”. Interesting enough, this was the theme of Friday’s show, which was a first for the Too Future events. Never before has there been a particular theme for a show. I was very interested to see how this would all play out.

Above: Artist Ava Hoyer painting her subject, captured by Steph MacDonald.

Right as I walked in, the Goroka vibes were flowing. DrmBt was displaying his intricate, tribal-inspired project mapping on to the walls. One of my favorite local multimedia artists, Keith Smith aka @Afrokilla, was starting his very own 1-D live painting. Other artists were demonstrating their tribal interpretations through live body-painting. I was delightfully intrigued; the Goroka theme was well-represented by these different art installations alone.

https://soundcloud.com/edamame/silverlining

(Press play as you read about Edamame below)

The first set the night was Canvas-Chicago native Edamame, who was playing when I had first walked in around 9:30 pm. His sounds of soft melodic instrumentals mixed with tribal percussion samples set up the mood for the night quite nicely. As the sold-out crowd began to shift in, Edamame had me feeling as if I had stepped forth on to a gondola gliding down the Amazon River.

Above: Edamame performing, captured by Steph MacDonald.

Next up was the Sky Society B2B Equator Club set. Equator Club contributed to the Goroka theme by playing some African influenced dance music as well as some of his new tracks (you can find them up on his Soundcloud page here). Sky Society complimented the vibe with his own tribal melodic tunes. Together, Sky Society and Equator Club shifted the mood into a more future–beats, hiphop-esque feel in preparation for the headliners.

Above: Sky Society standing next to Equator Club mixing, captured by Steph MacDonald.

The first headliner that played was Soulection’s The Whooligan. Not only is he a DJ on the Soulection roster, he is Soulection‘s Director of Worldwide Bookings and Strategic Partnerships – pretty cool in my book considering Soulection is my all-time favorite label. The Whooligan‘s set was as if you were sitting in a live recording session of the Soulection Radio Show (minus the Joe Kay voiceovers). Instead, you were hearing voice overs from The Whooligan himself, Julio Galvez.  A real crowd pleaser, Galvez knew exactly how to keep the crowd dancing and vibing through his set. Fans claimed it was their favorite live Soulection set to do date. Props, Julio.

Above: The Whooligan performing live, captured by Steph MacDonald.

The final set of the night was HW&W‘s Gravez. He stole the hearts of many when he played a very special tribute to our dearly beloved Chicago hometown legend, Kanye West. Attendees told me he was their favorite set of the night. Between playing original songs and his very own fantastic remixes (which I have attached a few in the link below), the young Atlanta native Gravez truly displayed his talent of infusing futuristic sounds with today’s R&B and hip-hop.

https://soundcloud.com/gravez/sets/remixes

(Gravez ‘s Move That Dope Remix is my favorite) ^

A special thanks to In The Loop Productions and Canvas for putting on such a specular event.  The line-up, location, atmosphere and even the crowd, was on extremely on point. One of the best parties of the year, and I can not wait for more!