this past labor day weekend, i continued the self-induced tradition (for the 4th time) of attending the annual sun city music festival (aka scmf) in my hometown, el paso, texas. scmf is a two-day electronic music festival promoted by our own local smg events, who partners up with edm-event honcho disco donnie. scmf attracts hundreds of people to ascarate park, where three stages rise from the dirt (and by dirt, i literally mean dirt … lots of it) to host world-renowned djs covering multiple sub-genres of the combobulation that the “edm” genre is. from that dark techno and the uplifting trance, to the bass-heavy trap and mainstage-edmness people go insane for, scmf has something for everyone. note: skip the mumbojumbo and get to the video down below … i’ll be judging you if you do, though.

this year was particularly special because it was the first time in the four-year history of the local festival that there would be a “trance stage,” also dubbed as the bass dunes stage. the “el paso trance family” (yes, this is a thing) was extremely excited to receive in our city all-the-way-from-egypt aly & fila, verstatile and tall-as-hell arnej, oh-face-enthusiast orjan nilsen, armin’s protege andrew rayel, the trance god paul van dyk and my personal favorite baby unicorns above & beyond. other acts also included in the line up were carnage, headhunterz, spektre, loco dice, dubfire, martin garrix, tiësto, david guetta, showtek, among others. besides the bass dunes stage, we were graced with the underground sounds of the beatport stage; while the main stage held home for some of the bigger acts.

for people who aren’t into dance/electronic music, sometimes it’s hard to understand why people are so passionate about these type of events. we go all out, with outfits, tons of kandi, flags and self-made totems (usually some sort of funny, pop-culture-reference sign attached to a pool noodle thingy; utilized to help friends find each other in massive crowds). there’s something very special about finally hearing that song you’ve been replaying over and over live, while standing the middle a huge crowd; running into people you’ve met perhaps in a electronic-music-related facebook group or someone you hold a inter-retweet relationship with; even just stomping your little feet on that dirt, it’s a very particular experience.

it was day 4 post-festival and i still had eyelash glue stuck to my eyelashes. also, i’m pretty sure there is glitter on my face that has become a permanent asset to my face. i especially loved trying to get the dirt out of unmentionable places. here is a little baby recap of the experience (no, not the experience about the dirt). it’s extremely hard to squish two-days’ worth of moments into a three-minute video, but what the hell, i tried my hardest. also, i couldn’t get my damn point-and-shoot to work, so i had to shoot with my iphone camera; hence, the shitty quality. anyway, here goes nothing.

see ya later, little baby unicorns ❤