It’s refreshing to see DJs keeping it real in the quickly growing world of electronic dance music.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan – OK, fanatic – of the recently spurred trap movement, or that I don’t love getting down to a great house track. But when you want to remember what music feels like when it’s a bit more intimate, the way music was meant to be, then look no further than Denver artist Elysha Zaide.
Ill-esha (because her friends dubbed her music that ill), will be making her return to Reno on Sept. 3 at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino when she takes the stage with Big Gigantic and Opiuo for a post-Burning Man show that is sure to be probably as music-driven as the playa itself.
While many DJs take a “mix any and all things” approach in their music, Ill-esha believes in a much simpler style that she draws from the very core of her being.
“I have always been a daydreamer; an idealist; a hopeless romantic,” Zaide said. “All things that could be looked at as strengths and weaknesses depending on my perspective. It is what it is, and my music definitely oozes all of those things.”
Zaide draws from emotion by always keeping it fresh. When she’s on stage, she said she likes to pick a beginning and an ending song only, keeping true to her vinyl roots by still mixing everything.
“Everything in between is improvised and extremely sensitive to crowd feedback as well as timing,” she said.
Like most artists, she’s consistently trying to perfect her music through obsessive listening and little tweaks. Drawing a lot of similarities between her live shows and studio sessions, she embraces the jam-based writing that her songs translate into reality.
However, unknown to many, she also dabbles in the world of cinematic music, saying that she has a deep love for classical score and intelligent orchestration. She takes joy in the pulsing sounds that help to change the emotions of a specific moment rather than a constant vibration of music – what she calls the “wall of noise.”
“Silence has an incredible effect,” Zaide said.
Ill-esha wants to connect with not only her listeners but also her peers. Currently, she in working on an EP with ProbCause from Chicago while beginning a produced collective by the name of Black Market Armoire, which include kLL sMTh and sAuce. (stay on the lookout for a free download, soon!)
In the end, as Zaide tries to navigate her way through the world with her emotions through music (and bacon and coffee – she’s still waiting for bacon flavored coffee), her main joy comes out of making people smile: something she believes makes her music worth every moment.
“To feel like I’ve made their day a little bit better even if it’s just for a brief moment,” she said. “I really loved that feeling that I could make not just one person smile, but a whole room of people smile.”
TICKETS FOR BIG GIGANTIC WITH SPECIAL GUESTS OPIUO AND ILL-ESHA AVAILABLE AT: FRESHBAKIN.INTICKETING.COM
