Relentless Beats DJ Competition: Phase 1 Overview

The Relentless Beats Mixer took place on Thursday, August 20th. The main event of the night was a mixing competition for local artists called “15 minutes of Fame”, where each artist played the best they could for 15 minutes in order to make it into the next round of the competition, where the winner will be chosen to open the main stage at Global Dance Festival this Fall. Plenty of local artists and their friends came out to support their efforts in winning and many others attended to interview for the Relentless Beats team. Many people have entered into the process of becoming a member of our street team and seeing the enthusiasm of the young people wanting to get involved in the music industry was awesome.

Now, onto the actual competition. A ton of people entered the preliminary online mix contest and out of those people, the following local artists that were chosen played on Thursday:

Blossom, Cormac, DJ Dark Mark, DJ’in Smooth, DJ Robby Robb, DJ Touri Harsh, Eddie Romero, Jeff Underdown, Joeyyy, Matt Murdock, Muzhak, Phenix, GoodTime Miller, ShadeZ, Silent J, TONELOW and Tyco.

The music on Thursday ranged from big room bangers to chill house and even a little hardcore. After five hours of competing, five finalists were chosen to move onto the next round.

Relentless Beats DJ Competition Finalists (in no particular order)

DJ’in Smooth– DJ’in Smooth had the most memorable set of the night because of the cool glowing foam rods he threw out into the audience and his wide variety of song choices. Overall, he played bass and trap remixes of popular songs that most people in the crowd knew. The songs he played (mostly remixed) ranged from “Nigg*s in Paris”, Daft Punk’s “One More Time”, “Mosh Pit” by Flosstradamus, “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi and “I Can’t Stop” by Flux Pavilion. The set was definitely geared towards the 15 minute competition so I’m really excited to see what he will bring to the next one!

Joeyyy– Joey’s set started off with some sick underground beats and moved into a bit more of a main-stage feel. My favorite moments from his set were when he played “Do you think you’re better off alone” by Alice DJ and when he threw in a little hardcore at the end of his set. Overall, he was super high energy and I enjoyed his set from beginning to end. He threw in a ton of surprises that the crowd responded to really well and he kept everyone on their toes while still mixing everything in carefully (not just dropping random tracks in, there was an obvious train of thought going on).

DJ Dark Mark– The most prominent thing about DJ Dark Mark was his large amount of supporters at the competition. He mixed between some Zeds Dead, Bass Music and Dubstep. The crowd was really feeling his set even though he was one of the last people to play and it was getting really late. He brought the energy back into a room of people slowly getting tired because of the time.

GoodTime Miller– GoodTime Miller had the coolest, craziest fans at the event. I think I saw two or three totems with his name on them and a large group that came to the front of the stage for his set. His mixing skills were probably the best of the night (in my opinion) and he had great stage presence. He played a few popular songs with nasty trap and dubstep mixed in. It was really impressive how well he mixed together several different genres. Expect to be hearing his name more and more in the local scene soon.

Silent J– The only thing I wrote down in my notes app about Silent J’s set was “impressive quick mixing bass house”. In only 15 minutes, he mixed together a ton of hot bass beats without cutting into and out of songs too quickly. He definitely knew his cue points and practiced this set a lot before the event. The reason I didn’t write much about this set wasn’t because it was boring, but because I was so focused on listening to the precise mixing magic happening on stage. Overall the set was great and I’m excited to see what Silent J has to bring to the table next.

Those artists all brought their A game and I think that three more artists (my personal favorite sets) deserve an honorable mention in this article. It was really hard to narrow this list down to three DJ’s since there was so much good talent out at the Monarch that night but these artists definitely stood out the most.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Blossom- Blossom was the only female DJ of the night. She spun a really clean bass/ deep house set with sort of a Mija-like style of song choices. She was pretty conservative in her song choices and had a very professional sounding style of mixing as well as a great stage presence (and she’s beautiful!). Her pink hair wasn’t the only thing that stood out to me during her set. She let her music speak for herself. Although you won’t be able to see her at the next round, you can check her out at other local shows she is scheduled to be playing which should all be posted on her Facebook fan page. If you want to hear her set from the competition, it’s up on her SoundCloud.

TONELOW- Although Tonelow was an alternate, he came prepared to the DJ competition with a really, really good set. Tonelow was the last set of the night so unfortunately a lot of people had already left and weren’t able to hear his set. For those of you that missed it, his set was extremely clean and well executed. I honestly don’t think I heard one mistake in his entire set (and most artists of the night had at least one). His song choices were all unique bass house songs that most people probably haven’t heard before. He got up on stage, let the music speak for himself and left. There was no extra fluff or yelling or leaving the DJ booth during his set. He was extremely professional and I hope to see him at more shows in the future. Outside of the competition, Tonelow is a very accomplished producer and is someone to keep an ear out for in the future. If you’re interested in checking out his SoundCloud page, it’s linked here.

Cormac- Cormac, like TONELOW, was also an alternate but got an opportunity to play in the middle of the competition due to some extra time in between the other artists. He came prepared with a chill set full of nu-disco and deep house. The thing that stood out to me the most about his set was his use of his own original tracks, which was very unique compared to the rest of the sets at the competition where many people had similar song selections, in between several sets of main-stage music and trap, his set was like a breath of fresh air for those that are partial to 125BPM. Expect to be seeing Cormac’s name more and more in the future around Phoenix as he quickly rises in the local scene. Check out his SoundCloud here.

If you’d like to see the 5 finalists battle it out in the DJ booth for the opportunity to open the main stage of Global Dance Festival, be sure to keep an eye on the Relentless Beats website for the announcement of when the next competition will be. Until then, be sure to check out the finalist’s Facebook pages and SoundClouds so you can get familiar with their music and figure out who you’d like to cheer for at the next competition if you don’t already have a favorite.