Their goal was to combine pneumatic synths, springy electronic grooves, and yearning vocal melodies into a futuristic house and pop hybrid. But the trio of Tyrone Lindqvist (vocals/guitar), Jon George (keyboards), and James Hunt (drums) opted for a different path. Never forget the dog.When the members of Sydney, Australia’s RÜFÜS DU SOL (then RÜFÜS) first got together in 2010, EDM was conquering the festival circuit, deep house was overtaking the underground, and techno was turning to the dark side. Somehow managed to get a lovely lady to marry him, and with her have two daughters. He's taught one or two classes a semester in the journalism and mass communications department at Cal State Long Beach since 2006. Earned his first newspaper paycheck at the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, fled the Midwest for Los Angeles Daily News and finally ended up at the Orange County Register. Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. with degrees in English and Communications. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life. ‘WYD Now?’ singer Sadie Jean talks heartbreak and reaching millions on TikTok and Spotifyħ performers to see at Southern California casinos in Februaryīad Bunny brings World’s Hottest Tour to San Diego, Inglewood San Francisco: Which city has had the best bands? Hard Summer Music Festival returns to San Bernardino, expands to three days The duo of James Lyell and Hugo Gruzman are more in line with the traditional producer-DJ model of EDM.īut while they spent their time behind their gear, the show added a bit of visual appeal with regular guest vocalists Owl Eyes, the stage name of singer Brooke Addamo, and Dustin Tebbutt.įlight Facilities’ new album “Forever” was released on Friday, and songs from it such as “The Ghost” and “Heavy” were among the highlights of the set, as were older songs such as “Clair de Lune” and “Crave You.” Related Articles Many fans started to leave when the band left the stage after “Innerbloom,” but most rushed back when the encore opened with “Next To Me,” one more simple, hopeful lyric and another irresistible groove.įlight Facilities, which played for about 50 minutes before Rüfüs Du Sol, was equally popular with the fans who got there in time to hear them. Most people on the floor or in the seats danced throughout, with later highlights including songs such as “Treat You Better,” which got one of the loudest responses of the night, “See You Again,” and “Alive.” It’s only been a week since the crush of the crowd at Travis Scott’s Astroworld show in Houston led to the deaths of nine people. The open field in front of the stage was crowded but not in an uncomfortable way. Lindqvist came out from behind his keyboards to play guitar on this one, and singer Curtis Harding, who is featured on the track, stepped out to sing his part live before confetti blasts punctuated the finish. “Surrender,” the song off the new album, was equally uplifting in sound and spirit. “Make It Happen” opened with the recorded voices of a children’s choir from the new album before the chorus of “Love can change it all / Love can make it happen” added a touch of Beatles-like positivity to the number. The music builds slowly, the sound growing bigger with each verse and chorus, while the lyrics take a simple hook and repeat them until they’re mantra-like for the dancing crowd.Īs the show progressed, other highlights arrived. Songs such as “You Were Right” or “On My Knees,” both of them early highlights on Friday, are good examples of the Rüfüs Du Sol method. Yes, there’s a ton of electronics in the music they make, but they look and play more like a rock band than DJs and producers in the EDM genre. Unlike many electronic dance music artists, such as fellow Australians Flight Facilities, who opened the show, Rüfüs Du Sol doesn’t perform behind banks of computers and sequencers and other digital gear. Rüfüs Du Sol gets tagged as an alternative dance act, which it is – people do dance to them – but that’s also a bit of misdirection, too.