Ben Annand Music

If you don't like house with vocals swipe left lol. This set for House Music Fridays so my musical direction was clear. So again, if you don't like my vocals you can kiss my *ss- just kidding you can check back for my Studio Mix at the end of March which will be minimal techno with a side of breaks :)

Big thanks to Matthew Brian for having me at House Music Fridays which was a super vibing night.

A note on technique. Vocal tracks are tricky and often have a lot of melody on top of the vocals so not the easiest to mix together. For that reason, and others I made two playlists and alternated between more vocal, melodic tracks, and are stripped-down mixing tracks (some of these also have vocals). This creates the effect of coming out of vocals kind of bumping, then back into vocals which I personally love.

I hope you enjoy this mix! Next up for me, this weekend on the beach in El Salvador for Playa Mizata, next weekend in Northern CA (Humboldt County)for Electric Jungle at the Jam Arcata, and end of the month at Bug Out Campout 4 in Southern CA (Mojave Desert)

Just updated my schedule in my Soundcloud Bio, and will add a track listing crediting the artists her very soon <3

Here's to new beginnings!  This mix - titled 'Strength" is part 1 of a 12-part monthly themed studio mix series that I've committed to releasing this year.

I mixed this set in October 2022, when I began feeling my strength again, in my amazing DJ Lounge in Eugene, Oregon.

The picture was taken on January 1st, 2023 at Bucerias beach near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

2022 was a huge challenge for me.  The best things about it were my DJ career thriving post-pandemic, my daughter of course, and other than those, just getting through it.

The hardest things were that it was the first year devoid of hope for my marriage yet still living in the same apartment together the entire year, and that it was the year my mother passed - and those things were HEAVY.  

Hence the need for strength.  Dating for the first time after 15 years was a shitshow, and by summer what I already knew started to sink in hard - focusing on my daughter was a way better idea.  When my mom became very ill, it drove this point home further.

Just as I was starting to feel some strength, my mom lost the last bit she had left.  At first I relapsed badly into bad habits. She passed suddenly while I was preparing to come out to Connecticut, and I felt tremendous guilt when I didn't make it out to be with her at the end.

Although I took my mom's passing really hard, it was the catalyst for change I needed. 

I went from mid-September through the end of the year alcohol-free. I've had a few drinks in January but don't think I'll ever have a drinking habit like I did before.  I gave up herb early November and haven't looked back.  

I gave up these 'vices' without judgement but in the name of health, clarity, and productivity.  I wanted to stop getting in the way of myself and achieve my true potential.  I wanted to feel my strength again.

2023 will be a crazy year for me.  It's the 25th year of my party, Tropical, and the last one.  No one wants me to end it, and so this also takes strength.  I've given a lot through this event - in many ways too much.  

Of course I'm going a little nuts with it to the finale but I'm also showing restraint.  I want to respect the party and give it the finish it deserves, but I have much else to do and know all too well it gets it the way of really being able to focus on other things.

My DJ career is a constant hustle, and is back to being my main source of income.  That's not actually my vision but you also have to respect what's working. My venue booking business is growing slowly, largely because I'm limited by the other things. but I know it's my most sustainable future.

This is the last year I will work this hard.  It's the end of a decade I knew I would work really hard, and I want to respect the deadline I set to take a chill pill and be focused on other things including self-care, and my daughter. I'm still going to work real hard after 2023, but more efficiently and with more help. And without the burden and risk of organizing events.

I started a bit early last Fall with increased self-care, sleep, and focus on Cerise - but with the onset of 2023 I'm also feeling the crunch of so many projects and goals.  Still I feel more balance than I used to. And that is also strength.

Well I can go on forever but I'm going to cut myself off.  I haven't said a word about the music on this mix this time, but that's ok, it speaks for itself.

I hope you enjoy the mix, and find strength in yourself this year and beyond!

Track list coming soon <3

PLEASE JOIN US FOR LIB 20 YEAR ON SALE NOW at libestival.com.

Many thanks to @Rithma for the beautiful mastering job!

Lightning in a Botttle 2022 was my first big festival after the pandemic and it was HUGE - more than 30,000 people. I played Thursday night and there were only 3 stages going and already 18,000 people there. This set was played on the Junkyard stage to I don't know maybe 1500-2000 people - a secondary stage became pretty main, and the mains of course were nuts at this fest.

I knew exactly where was going with this set, coming out of the pandemic with pure unbridled euphoric house vibe on the edge of underground and mainstream. People were freaking out, it was so so so lovely there I can't even tell ya ♡♡♡

Incredible experience and before I go any further let me thank Jesse and Dede Flemming for throwing the whole shebang, and Patricio for curating the Junkyard stage formerly known as Favela Bar.

DJing is an art, or it should be. I'm not just transitioning tracks, I am almost always playing with tracks together with very short gaps in between. I spend far more time in the mix of two tracks than out.

DJing is also a performance, particularly at a festival, and to be honest I'm way more natural musically than as a performer. I think the most important thing is how a mix sounds listening back - lots of the more 'showy' sets I can't get through live let alone listen to later.

BUT PERFORMANCE IS STILL IMPORTANT! People want to see the DJ having fun, and that's not always natural for me.

LIB has been a great confidence builder for me, my sets have steadily improved and my DJ energy even more :) It's become home for me and I have a really nice following there after 5 years straight.

Much credit to the amazing sounding DJ booth provided by Todd Anisman of ChinoSound - who became Tropical's sound guru right after the first tome I played in 2016 - I felt my groove and put on at least a decent show along with a really nice house set.

MUCH LOVE TO THE ARTISTS FOR THE TRACKS I WOVE TOGETHER - I hope you also listen and enjoy my art ♡♡♡

Credit where credit's due, and bite my style all you want, it's super flattering and more importantly gives exposure to artists who likely get less than they deserve.

Special shout out to Kevin McKay who I've been following since 90s Glasgow Underground - always one if my fave vinyl labels - for the peak moment in the middle of this set when the crowd absolutely exploded for 'Move Your Body'.

And another to Christian Burkhardt for appearing the most in my track list - I guess you know who my favorite producer is lately :).

But really, really, all these tracks and artists are super great, please look up and support

Track List LIB 2022: Artist - Track (remixer)

1 - Mosta - Paeonia (Lauhaus Remix)

2 - Milos Pesovic - Don’t Scream

3 - Lauhaus, Maria Franca - Physical

4 - Giorgio Moroder - Our Love (Christian Burkhardt Rmx)

5 - James Dexter, Artslaves - Play On

6 - Chris Wood, Meat, Christian Burkhardt, BMW - Music

7 - Jorjick Croes, Kenny Kelly - Alma & Cuerpo (Shawn Jackson Rmx)

8 - Chris Wood, Meat, Christian Burkhardt, BMW - Super Sync

9 - Christian Burkhardt - In Today’s World

10 - LouLou Players - She Calls (Extended Mix)

11 - Chris Di Perri - For You Homie

12 - Milos Pesovic, Greck B - Head (Saul Antolín Remix)

13 - Alan Fitzpatrick, Reset Robot - Phantom

14 - Adelphi Music Factory - My People (Love Can Live Forever - (Mark Broom 4am Dub (Extended))

15 - Kevin McKay - Move Your Body (Elevation) (Kevin's Extended ViP)

16 - Christian Burkhardt - Enough

17 - Gerd - 12 Minutes She Danced With an Alien (Jaris Voorn Ruff Mix)

18 - Cristian Merino - Peace, Freedom

19 - Dennis Quin - Are Fundamental

20 - MANT - Subconscious (James Dexter Rmx)

21 - Rob Pearson - Better (Rob Pearson Rmx)

22 - Riggs - Sleight of Hand

One of my most emotional mixes, this set was recorded Live at Subtract open Air party just outside of LA (Valley) in an absolutely chaotic time for me. Two days after my only lover of 16 years and wife of 12 told me she didn’t love me anymore and I went to LA with my daughter to process it. It was also my first time back in LA since moving from there in 2019, and first time seeing/staying with my family since the pandemic. Unsurprisingly I had trouble keeping myself together in these circumstances.

So suffice to say there are a lot of feelings in this set. It would have actually been yet moodier but there was a hiccup on start time at this party that changed my set (2nd in order and rt before Doc Martin) from early-ish to peak. But it is still an emotional journey, at least for me :)

It's my break-up set, and those can be powerful. I'll never forget DJ Heather's at Tropical 2-Year Anniversary in LA in 2000. It was raw and full of feels and one of my favorites, but I didn't get approval to release, I think it was too personal.

I like to play with the mix of dark and light generally - being a positive person and eternal optimist I overall lean towards light. This set of course a unique moment in time for me. It starts more moody and breaks through into the light, also reflecting a transition from more techy opener Bellhop to housier Doc Martin, and a balance of hosts Subtract and Sublevel. Yeah, I think about all these things :)

It felt so good to be in LA at the party, seeing friends I hadn’t seen in years, feeling supported and loved! In a euphoric moment towards the end I actually caught air behind the decks - not too often my feet leave the ground back there the way I mix, but Armando Kroma thankfully caught this on camera. It was the hopeful part of summer 2021 for events and everyone was feeling it - soon after Delta variant kinda wiped things out again.

So why didn’t I release this set earlier? I actually tried. I had it mastered by Brian Saitzyk, but tbh for about 10 minutes in the middle my attention to my levels was poor in all the emotion and excitement and I pushed the pioneer mixer a bit so there’s a bit of crunchiness that can’t really be mastered out.

So then I re-recorded it. I don’t like to do this, I like the way I mix live better, as well as for the live set really to be the live set. But sound quality is a factor so I did the re-record. But then never released it. I also was planning to push the set so the Delta V perhaps another reason I paused on set release...

Maybe too much time just went by. Maybe it was too emotional for me as turmoil in my life continued. Things worsened in my marriage, poly definitely did not work, dating after 15 years and a pandemic neither easy nor the focus I really wanted. I made a lot of progress getting my groove back and enjoying my life in 2022 until my mom became ill very suddenly June 2022 and passed in September.

Anyway here we are, I am releasing things, moving on in my life and starting to feel my fire again.

As such I am releasing this set! This is the original live version lightly mastered for overall levels by Brian Saitzyk. If the audio quality is compromised some for emotion that’s an accurate reflection of my state anyway, and it’s really just a little fuzzy in a small part of the set anyway. So, live and raw it is!

Big thanks to Anton for bringing me, Brian Saitzyk for mastering, Mikey B for commiserating with me, Doc Martin and Andrew Bellhop for playing great sets before and after me, and all my friends for uplifting me (literally this time!), and Armando for catching that moment I broke through into pure joy <3

Here is part one of the infamous Moontribe 29-year kimono set that I previously may have made some waves about - this part is on the house side but trippy for the desert...

This set had many challenges. I made a great playlist for it from my entire collection, did everything except export to usb, and then my logic board failed the next day. Bye bye playlist!

So I rebuilt, as we do. But with limited time my rebuild was limited to the last year of music, as well as some brand new music. On top of that, I had convinced myself that my sets at Teleport and Moontribe were at exactly the same time - 10pm to midnight. I think I told like 30 people this too :) And of course I made my playlists - even the old one that disappeared - based on the 10-12 time frame

Sunday morning I look at the directions email and my set is listed at 6:00-8:30pm. I thought it had maybe been changed on me then checked my message thread and I’ve just totally made up the 10-12 thing :)

Point is that close to summer solstice 6:00-8:30 is a daytime set into sunrise while 10-12 is night-time ascending energy - they are drastically different energetically.

So I made another new fricken 29-Year playlist based on my music of the past year, daytime into sunset. I decided both ahead of time, and on the dance floor, that this Moontribe needed some trippy desert house music so that was the first hour.

You can find the second part of this set - which is more minimal/trippy/breakbeat - one track down or at this link:

https://soundcloud.com/ben-annand/ben-annand-moontribe-29-year-june-2022-part-2

Thank you Rithers for the lovely mastering job!

I was back at Full Moon in August last week! Waiting for that recording :)

Coming up this week

August 19/20 United Undivided, Denver, CO

August 22 Space Taco Tuesdays, Pomona, CA

August 26/27 Utopia Festival, Salem, OR

My Full Moon 29-Year Story

Alright alright I’ve got a new set for you and it’s part two of the infamous Moontribe 29-year kimono set that I previously may have made some waves about but hey, Tropical is my party, waves and kimonos for the win!

Why am I posting part two first? A few reasons, some background first. This set had many challenges. I made a great playlist for it from my entire collection, did everything except export to usb, and then my logic board failed the next day. Bye bye playlist!

So I rebuilt, as we do. But with limited time my rebuild was limited to the last year of music, as well as some brand new music. On top of that, I had convinced myself that my sets at Teleport and Moontribe were at exactly the same time - 10pm to midnight. I think I told like 30 people this too :) And of course I made my playlists - even the old one that disappeared - based on the 10-12 time frame

Sunday morning I look at the directions email and my set is listed at 6:00-8:30pm. I thought it had maybe been changed on me then checked my message thread and I’ve just totally made up the 10-12 thing :)

Point is that close to summer solstice 6:00-8:30 is a daytime set into sunrise while 10-12 is night-time ascending energy - they are drastically different energetically.

So I made another new fricken 29-Year playlist based on my music of the past year, daytime into sunset. I decided both ahead of time and on the dance floor that this Moontribe needed some trippy desert house music so that was the first hour.

I’m releasing this second half first, because it’s a little more along the lines that I had intended my set to be, and more diverse musically as it ranges from minimal to techno to tribal to broken beat and a bit progressive. It’s the more unique half and more distinct from what I already have posted on Soundcloud too.

I will release the first half next Thursday, and then they will also flow together in correct order fro my Tracks section :)

Thank you Rithers for the lovely mastering job!

I think I’ll be back at Full Moon in August, not 100% sure though - here is what I can officially announce is coming up:

July 22 Stone Junction Bar, Garberville, CA

July 24 Eudream Campout, Oakridge, OR

August 5 Dubtribe, Garth and Ben Annand, Los Angeles, CA

August 10 Dance Klassique, San Diego, CA

August 19/20 United Undivided, Denver, CO

August 22 Space Taco Tuesdays, Pomona, CA

August 26/27 Utopia Festival, Salem, OR

My return to Moontribe after 4 years! Hey it ain't so easy to pull off living in Oregon... but good news, my venue booking business has me in California at least once a month so far this year :)

Anyway, it was great to be back! For a March Full Moon this was a little more intimate than I was expecting - still a few hundred people there on a beautiful Thursday night though!

Musically this is on the faster,(130bpm) harder end of my range. I did also slip in some breakbeats at the beginning and in the middle.

A lot of people haven't heard me play this style, and I always get a couple surprised comments when I play like this. It's good to keep people on their toes!

I'll post the track list soon, but it takes a minute, and I wanted to get this up before it gets late :)

I had a really great time here, and I danced for hours. It was the first time I'd been in front of a huge system since the pandemic, sounded so good out there!

Hope to be back for more soon :)

Like many friends, I'm missing Matthew Parkey from the physical world today.

The soul of the desert, Matthew was always friendly and inclusive. Always. At a time when I felt I was told to be playing this way or that in the desert, he allowed me to be free. At a time when I was not feeling included, he made me feel home.

His events, to me, were the first notable series of desert events outside of fmg. They were not perfectly organized by any means but they were definitely organized with love by one of the most loving people I knew, and I think that's what stuck with most of us. He was definitely a visionary, and in more recent years he spent much of his time making music.

I always deal with pain and loss with music, so this evening I will release my set from one of Matthew's events, Beora, in Oct 2014. I think it's my favorite set I played for him.

This set is a nighttime set despite the picture, one of the few sets I started with an ambient track but it's definitely techno from 2 minutes in

Rest in power Matthew Parkey, I wlll be looking for your light when I gaze up at the Moon and Stars <3

*Picture by Jess Monster

Live at the intimate HOHM NYE 2022 in Eugene, OR At BNF Kombucha and Jun

Recorded 230am-345am between Luke Mandala and Bizio

Was such a fun night, happy 2022 everyone!

This set played at the historic EndUp in San Francisco for the Real Deal Party Feel by Listed, Living, and the Grass is Green

It was a party full of feels! TYSM Gunita, Nikita, and everyone who made it happen. DJs have the easy job at a party, but your work is not unnoticed.

Playing a dj set in between two live acts - Moniker and all-time fave Dubtribe - I wanted to bring the energy up in an appropriate way, bringing some vocal energy and funkiness but also winding back down before Dubtribe.

Of course I could do zero of this without the amazing artists who created these gems I blended.

As time goes by I'm down to pretty much zero sympathy for DJs who hide their track lists because they thinking someone will bite their style - sorry but if you think that way I doubt your style is very worth biting. Other people made the tracks, give them the credit they deserve. Mixing is an art - but don't be ridiculous :)

Bite me all you want it, I take it as a compliment and we both know it won't make you Ben Annand :)

TRACK LISTING

1 Circles - Evren Furtuna

2 Nipia Feat Moggli (Mihai Popoviciu Remix) Nicolas Duvoisin

3 You Can't Take It - Col Lawton

4 All Around Us - Reverse Logic

5 Sad To Think - Pete Moss, Onur Ozman

6 Blue Turtle (Lauhaus Remix) - Nicolas Duvoisin

7 Coconuts - Lauhaus, Mario Franca

8 Ludovic - Leonardo Gonnelli, James Dexter

9 Sacred Essence - Tenna

10 You Trip Me Out On 2 - Chris Simmonds, Private Funk

11 Hola - Christian Burkhardt

12 Don't Look At Me - Duwayne Motley, Col Lawton

13 Escalateher (feat. Hive71) (Terry Francis Dirty Boy Rerub) - Hive71, Jake Beautyman

14 House Brause (Toman Remix) - Christian Burkhardt

15 London Nights (Burnski Remix) - Dokta

16 The Step Up (Burnski Remix) - Rossko (UK)

17 You - Franck Roger

18 Miso Happy (Col Lawton Remix) - Bobby Breezy, Scottie Soul

19 How It Was - X brazas

20 Hopeless (JT Donaldson Remix) - Dirtytwo

See you next time San Francisco!

Get those tracks, I'll have all-new music next time I see ya anyway :)

Next up for Ben Annand

Tropical 23-Year Anniversary PNW in Portland at Epicenter warehouse OUTSIDE area, October 1st, 2021

Tix: https://tinyurl.com/trop23pdx