Ben Annand Music

Here is the second half of my set from Minneapolis on Sunday April 12th! I will make the full 3+ hour Journey available in a few weeks on Dayfunk's SoundCloud - but for now I wanted to put the peak part of my set up on my own SoundCloud - because it's time for something fresh there :) This is my favorite party I've played this year due to the high energy, diverse crowd of several hundred dancers that turned out on a beautiful day in Minneapolis If you are in MSP be sure and check out this awesome event which takes place at Eat Street crossing, generally on the 3rd Sunday of the month - next up with Lori Branch on May 17th. Minneapolis is a special city and within that, Dayfunkers are a special group of people that really get down. Huge thanks to Nick and Liz for bringing me out & allowing me the extended 3 hour set. Having a long set definitely allowed me to take this crowd on a journey - I chose my vocals carefully to honor a city that has put up such a beautiful resistance. Hope you enjoy it! **Mix Cover photo and slide 3 by Jade Patrick. Other Photos by Farah Frayeh

Here's my first mix of 2026! Dropped it a couple weeks ago at Shift's Playhouse at Pachi Pachi Except for a little section between 40 minutes and 60 minutes, the music was all brand new to me. Like so brand new that I downloaded it right before I went to the party. Having new music makes it fun for the DJ ;) Shifta's Playhouse had a disco theme, and that's not a main style for me, but I wanted to lean that way so that is reflected in my selections. Pachi pachi is a super fun little place you should definitely check for food drinks and dance whenever you are in Vegas. Many thanks for Tony Gadachy, Brendan Powers and the Pachi team for making me the first repeat headliner at this fantastic new venue, and to DJ Shifta for hosting the night <3 Will let ya know soon when I will be back ;)

What an amazing party Off the Grid Campout 2025 was! I think my Sunday evening set there was my best flow of the year <3 My set started a bit weird as I lost a lot of the crowd right away, without a style change or much reason.   Sometimes people see a DJ changeover as a good break time so I did not take it personally though it's still not the direction we like to see things go lol. Fortunately I stuck to my game plan musically and didn't go experimental to try to crowd please.  I hear about how DJs should be flexible and adapt to the crowd but that can go either way tbh.  It also takes strength to stick to your concept instead of overthinking it. 21 or so minutes in, from about when the super funky bassline from Huxley's track - "Monie," kicked in, I had the dance floor back. About 10 minutes later I mixed smoothly into Skiziz's remix of Deee Lite's Call Me. 'Why don't you get call waiting or something' - that dated reference always cracks me up. Playing either a remix or a familiar track is a rarity for me, but it worked of course.   I was super happy with the flow all around, and especially from the moments described above,  to the end of my set here.  The dance floor responded too -  fully locked in and ultimately doubling from when I first took over.  After my set, with my deck duties done, I finally got to let loose! I popped about the party having way too much fun til 5am when it was time to go. Huge thank you to Mikey Made, Jovie, and the OTG team for a spectacular experience, to Jiramanat, Zach and ChinoSound for dialing audio in just right as usual, and to Conscious United to welcoming this Oregon orphan into their amazing camp! <3

One of my most powerful sets in so many ways, though totally beatless - this was the second time ever I played a fully ambient set live, and is the first one I've recorded and released! Taking place approximately 5:30-7:00am Saturday morning at Tropical 27-Year Hot Tub Oasis Retreat, this is actually the second part of my complete set, which started at 4:30am and spent 1 hour winding down from 132 BPM to 110 BPM before going ambient - the point at which is where this offering begins <3 If you are looking for some music to put you to sleep, this is the first set I've ever released that was designed to to just that. It's also great for yoga or atmosphere. In loving memory of Jared <3

Thanks to DoLab - Jesse, Dede, Megan and all for producing another amazing festival that I'm so honored to be regular at, and to the Junkyard- Patricio and Chino for the amazing stage and sound! Edit July 16 - Track List just added! A million thanks for the artists represented here for their dedication to making interesting electronic music in a world with limited interest in that. There are those of us that care! 1 - State Of Mind - Andromo (@andromo) 2 - Burning - Zetbee (@zetbee-1) 3 - Versace - Jorick Croes, Enrico Chirchiello (@jorickcroes, @enrico-chirchiello) 4 - Special For Me (Extended Mix) - Michel De Hey (@michel-de-hey) 5 - Space System - Nick Dare (@nickdare) 6 - Bonjour Tokyo - M.ono (@m-ono) 7 - Gorgeous (Oscar Barila Remix) - Oscar Barila, Vasily Umanets (@oscarbarila, @vsiliyumanets) 8 - I Can't Lose You (Pete Moss Remix) - Mo'Cream (@petemosstracks, @mocreamproductions) 9 - Control (Gorge & Nick Curly Remix) - Hank (@gorge, @nickcurly, @hankkorsan) 10 - Grow (Joel Mull Remix)- Paul Brtschitsch, Malte, Mrrod (@joelmull, @paulbrtschitschofficial) 11 - MOOG Hero - Joel Mull (@joelmull) 12 - A Feeling (Instrumental) - Jasper Street Co., Nicole Moudaber (@jasperstreetco, @nicolemoudaber) 13 - La Petite Faveur (Fsk24 Remix) - DJ W!ld (@chris-carrier-841295497, @djwild) 14 - Cami's House - Hector Couto (@hectorcouto) 15 - New World - Tuccillo (@tuccillo) 16 - Celestiarp - Vini Pistori (@vinipistori) 17 - Indignation - Kevin Yost (@kevinyost) 18 - Nothing 2 Me - Jorick Croes, ØN.THE.RUN (@jorickcroes) 19 - So Good - Supernova, Thomas Newson (@supernova, @thomasnewson) 20 - Daydream (Extended) - Archie Hamilton, Sadie Walker (@archiehamiltonmusic, @sadiewalkerband) 21 - Urban House (Leo Portela Remix) - Luis Caballero (@leoportela, @luis-caballero) 22 - Frunky (Ray Okpara Remix) - Berami (@rayokpara) 23 - What U Need (Marco Grandi remix) - Moe Turk (@marco-grandi, @djmoeturk) There are just a couple of parties that I play enough times to make a completely specific set for each time, and make it my absolute best. One is Lightning in a Bottle, which I'm not a resident of but have played 7 of the last 8 fests. I've prepared for many different time slots at LIB, always looking at this large and spectacular festival as one where people primarily want to dance and have fun. So I ramp up my funk and vocals (usually playful but i did have one protest lyric in this year's - you can't miss it).   I lean on the uplifting side, spend a lot of time choosing music and organizing a playlist so i can play appropriately for my time slot and come back thinking it was one of the best sets I've ever played.   Something that was different for me this year is I took a year and a half off from buying new music prior to LIB in order to reporganize my collection, which now spans 30 years. Sometimes it's better to understand better what you already have before adding to a massive music collection. But I never intended my break to be that long!  It just kept going.  And I had a couple of hard drive farts in the middle which didn't help.   But anyway,  I started buying music again about two months ahead of LIB because I wanted to play an all new music set,  and I also wanted to to  take the time to understand the new music very well. The problem with playing all new music at a gig is that I don't always take the time to understand it well enough to know if it's as good as the music I already have.  It's fun because it's new... but is it really adding something? So this time I really took the time to select tracks - I was picky AF!   This time I spent a lot of time also to play with my tracks, mix them in different ways and really try to only include tracks that were blowing my mind, so that I could give that to the dance floor. Also spent a lot of time on tagging producers in this description - hope it helps you to discover some great new artists and music!

Re-releasing a vinyl mix from 22 years ago today as a Tropical Throwback, and modern day mixtape giveaway for the upcoming Be My Tropical Valentine Party in Hawthorne, CA on 2-22-25. Along with the digital mixtape here, free late-night smoothies are back at Tropical! Tickets are sliding scale $5-$20 at: tinyurl.com/BMTV2025

With a heavy heart for my friends affected by fires in Los Angeles this week, I release my set from just a week ago when we started the year with hope and optimism at Subtract and Moon Kitty's super fun shindig to open 2025.  First of all, big thanks to Treavor and Anton for having me.  It was so, so fun to play this party.  I knew close to half of the people there, had many great conversations and much fun dancing after.  Moontribe DJs are no joke!  So much talent :). Sarkis was great too!  I was happy with my set and am excited to share it. I lived in various parts of LA for 36 of the 38 years between 1980 and 2018. It is not the world's most beautiful city by any means, but I always tell my friends not from there how special and thriving the underground music scene has always been in LA.  It's a city where you have to know someone to have a good time I think -  one of the least digestible cities as a tourist. But all it takes, or ever took, is to experience one good LA underground event and a whole world opens up to you.  If you are bored in LA, it's no fault of the music scene.  For me this one event was 1995's Big Wig Thumper at what was then called the Orange Showgrounds.  Though technically my 3rd rave, the other two were in 1991 when I was just about to graduate high school, and appreciated it but wasn't really ready for it.  Let's just say I hadn't found my dancing shoes yet. But in 95, I was ready and I never looked back.  I've thrown a hundred parties and DJed hundreds in LA since.   This is a hard mix description to write because my favorite US city is in flames.  Many of my friends have lost their homes, and several venues I've hosted Tropical at have been destroyed.  It feels inappropriate to promote events there with the fires raging, and I've struggled to even post this mix. But... it is music.  And music can only help.   I am here to help in other ways too!  I'm not in LA, but super connected so reach out if you need help.  Also have space in my home in Oregon for friends who want to get away to clean air for a bit. Hoping for safety for my friends, squashing of fires asap, and then hopefully a hard look at how prepared we are for fires like this, and how we can improve on that <3

This is my personal favorite set I played at Burning Man 2024 due to it's uniqueness and the vibes of the camp. It wasn't a huge crowd but it was contained nicely and people were down for the musical journey with me :). Musically it's varied and pretty hard to put into a genre but leans techno with some bubbly, melodic, progressive, and ravey energies Thanks much to Jack Donevan for having me play, I had a blast! Hope you enjoy, and hope to see you on the Playa in 2025!

This second set release come from my Home Camp, Deaf Granny's Kitchen This was the best camp! So glad I stayed here ❤️. We had one of the best sound systems on the Playa thanks to @Antontumas Danley power. And 90% of the camp was deaf. What a unique experience! It was really inspiring and interesting for me as a 15-year English Second Language teacher, to have this experience. It was at times like living in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language, which I have also done. Enhanced the feeling of Burning Man being like a different planet Certainly motivating me to make ASL my 3rd language. The universality of it is very appealing. But for this time being in the DGK camp where most could understand each other but not me was an extra trippy time, and I had to rely a lot on my smile and workarounds when more detailed communication was important. Beyind that, everyone was super sweet and the camp was very well organized. Shade was plentiful and it did not hurt at all to hsve one of the best sounds systems on playa there. Kitchen was on point. It was a pleasure to keep the camp caffeinated. I'll be back in 2025 and will be hosting a night here as well! Also be sure and check my first BM 2024 set from Vomiting Sparrows the day before: https://soundcloud.com/ben-annand/bm2024-1

I’m excited to release my first set from Burning Man 2024! What a wild ride it was! Vomiting Sparrows camp was just 2 ‘blocks’ away from the camp I stayed - Deaf Granny’s Kitchen . So I decided to walk over Halfway there, crossing 8:00 and B, the street had been watered down and I slipped in mud and ate shit. Laughing, I picked myself up properly playafied and continued to Vomiting Sparrows at 8:30. I found Holly and Chuck quickly, and they were super friendly and hospitable, feeding me tacos and drinks. Yes, it was Tutu Taco Tuesday there, and yes I wore a Tutu, and yes I ate some great Tacos. Now I am one to take themes very seriously, and so my set featured lots of Spanish vocals and latin vibes to match the tacos. And yes the camp was reality called Vomiting Sparrows, but no, I did not vomit :) I don’t take themes that seriously! This set was played 1-2pm and was on the slower deeper side but with plenty of soul and funk. It was one of my favorites I played in BRC this year, and also one of my favorite crowds. Hope you enjoy! Please like and Repost if you do! Selfie with my friend Keisuke Shingu, who played after me <3

It was so great to be back at Full Moon Gathering to celebrate 31-Year Anniversary! 26 of those years I have been an active Moontribe resident DJ, but it had been almost 2 years since my last visit. Living in Oregon makes things difficult, the stars have to align just right... and they did! This is one of my favorite sets I've played! I dug hard through my music, taking advantage of a months-long process of organizing and labeling my entire music collection. Many thanks to the artist for producing the beautifully hypnotic tracks I wove together on this mix! Without you, there is no mix, and there are no DJs <3 1 - Tribal Dance Pt. 2 - Einzelkind, Christian Burkhardt 2 - Little Helper 403-2 - Butane, Greg Ah Ree 3 - Stars Flames During The Apocalypse (Rmx) - Highest Sound Levels 4 - Vorsprung durch Hektik - Extrawelt 5 - Frog on the Run (Extrawelt plane Remix) - Fuzzion 6 - Old Giants - K-Fel 7 - Algodonles Blue Sky - Circulation 8 - Crunch n Munch - Twist3d 9 - Ceza - Clone Kent, kallin 10 - Minimal Habit (Damolh33 Remix) - Miguel Serrano 11 - Mathematical Symbols (Al Bradley's 3am Deep Remix) - Al Bradley, Swaab 12 - Go Home and Get It (Alexi Delano Remix) - Majak, Diego Knows 13 - Neverhood - Dip 14 - Levitation (Monarc Remix) - Christopher Hermann 15 - Ambition - Milos Pesovic 16 - Twilight - Robert Babicz 17 - Rotational Orbit - Spiros Kaloumenos 18 - The Tunnel (Under the World) - Staffan Linzatti 19 - Kreatur (Hd Substance Remix) - Deepnaut 20 - Reset (DJ Emerson Remix) - Diego Negretti 21 - Dot - Noaria, Asio 22 - Early 69 - Damolh33 23 - Slob (Nick Curly Remix) - Zoo Brazil 24 - Stage 49 - Epi Centrum 25 - Nurk - James Ruskin 26 - Mr Machine - Carl Finlow 27 - Hydrogen - Hallow 28 - Space Owl - Paul Ritch 29 - Lyd - D. Diggler 30 - Lunar Phase 04 - ZRK 31 - EGO - Danniie 32 - Reality Surpasses Fiction (Cari Lekebusch Remix) - Nima Khak 33 - Bizarrism - Jonathan Calvo 34 - Disidrose - Daniel Sbert 35 - Underrated - Dani Sbert 36 - Simulation (DJ Dextro Remix) - A.Paul 37 - Beats And Pieces 24 - HD Substance 38 - Pattern 001 - Hollen 39 - Andromeda - DJ M.A.X 40 - Miner - Orion, Cari Lekebusch 41 - Dimension - Dani Sbert 42 - Machines (A.Paul Remix) - Cave Djz 43 - Cruise Control - Paul Ritch 44 - Not There (Chris Liebing Remix) - Anfisa Letyago 45 - Lava - Daniel Sbert 46 - Riddle feat. Claudio PRC - Claudio PRC, Blazej Malinowski Photo credits: Corazon Landeros

This set from 04-14-24 really exemplifies my deep house curation and mixing style.  For 6 months I've been digging through my collection, resisting the urge to buy new music and instead learning my 29-year music collection better. Over that time, I went back through and labeled thousands of tracks by energy and feeling and created playlists from there.  The overall energy of this mix is uplifting and dreamy, starting and ending more vocal. You won't know many, or perhaps any, of the tracks. The tracks were mixed on CDJ 3000s. Never synced, never looped, never wasting time with filters and effects with just one track playing. Fully concentrated on blending two tracks together beautifully with subtle EQ-ing only. It's so weird, I was thinking this was the best I'd ever done with my levels on a live mix, perhaps because I was being a good boy, carefully watching the decibel meter at Mars Bar :) I added the fade in and out in Logic and gave it a light mastering in LANDR. There I got a message that my mix was lacking in dynamic range - meaning there might not be enough difference between the high and low levels of the mix - which on a live DJ mix, I am taking as a compliment 100% :) Ok enough geeky DJ talk... As always, I'd love to know what you think in comments <3 Huge thanks to Chris Phleck and Ryan Stubbs (Duserock) and the Watch Our Step crew for bringing me to San Francisco, it's such a fun and friendly crowd. Another big thanks to David Kiely of Mars Bar for providing a safe and lovely space for people to dance. Final thanks to Anne Plehn for the great photo capture! IG: anneplehn

My most varied and ambitious set to date! Hope you enjoy AnnandEdance - I put a lot of thought, time and energy into this interpretation of Ecstatic Dance. From 0 bpm to 67 winding up to 126 and then back to stillness Ambient - Downtempo - House - Techno - Broken Beat - Progressive - House - Ambient It's an extended journey just over 3 hours so longer then normal Ecstatic Dance formet. And more 4/4 than most Edance but there is broken house and downtempo and evena Drum and Bass track in the mix Mahalo to Simon Smith, Paul Sykes, and Garden Temple for the opportunity!

And now for something completely different! 132 BPM Progressive-leaning techno mix :) I wasn't expecting to be left at quite this fast a tempo but I'm glad I was :) Only my Moontribe mixes tend to get over 130 like this, so it was a rare chance to spread my wings. Deseract puts on a really cool party and the space, sound, lighting, and deco were all on point here. It felt super underground and all my friends had a great time here. Hope you like the mix! I'd love to play more sets like this :)

This is one of my best set recordings so how come I never released it? Only because I had released a set with similar vibes right before playing. This was a really fun winter party - in fact I had a rather sketchy drive home to Eugene in a snowstorm... Been meaning to put this one out there for a while. In 2024, I'm dedicated to putting out more mixes so here ya go!

Something a little different for ya.  Me at my moodiest.  In more recent years I apply tags to my tracks of different vibes so that I can organize my massive music collection better.  One of the biggest categories is 'Moody.'   Of course a lot of people going out on Friday and Saturday night to my gigs are out to celebrate, so this category doesn't get as much play live as more funky upbeat rhythms.  As such it's somewhat underrepresented on my Soundcloud. Well not anymore :). I'm dedicated to releasing more sets this year and I see this one as the start of a series.  Welcome to Ben Annand Moody AF :).  The opener of this series is an opening set I played on a Sunday night from 9-11pm. It's actually just the first hour, 9-10.  It's ok to be moody when people are settling in :). It was also November just after the time change and loss of light... the beginning of the moody season in Eugene :) An opening set is always interesting musically (or should be) because you get to start from scratch, and set the tone for the whole night.  So it's always a set that should be played with intention. In this particular case, I was in a sensitive space because I had taken some really nasty criticism from the organizer of an event recently before.  I won't go into detail but it was very tactlessly and cruelly delivered.  So of course that affected my headspace both in terms of insecurity, and in terms of wanting to deliver a great set since I didn't entirely disagree with the criticism so much as I was hurt by the tone from a supposed friend. So why am I telling you this?  Because this set is moody as fuck!  It opens with a lush vocal track that really spoke to me when my marriage suddenly went up into smoke. I find this track really intense so I haven't played it much but at home.   The mix stays deep and moody, gradually building energy then wavering then building.  It's super trippy, a little dark/melancholy for me, but still house and totally danceable of course :) So with all that said, I hope you enjoy this one and I will keep em coming!

Recorded live midnight to 2am at Tropical's 25-Year Anniversary in Santa Monica I need to out more sets out, here's a start <3 Tropical celebrates NYE in a hilltop mansion in LA, and is also preparing for April's total solar eclipse in Mazatlan, Mexico. Holla if you need info :)

Excited to release my set from LIB 20-Year Anniversary!  Every LIB experience for me seems to top the last.   This year was special as I hosted Camp Tropical for the first time and had my daughter, Cerise, there for the first time since 2019.  And it was LIB's 20th year, and a brilliant one! Huge thank you to the Flemming Brothers - Jesse, Dede and Josh and team for producing the Fest, to Patricio Motta for producing the Junkyard Stage I played on, and to Todd Anisman for the ChinoSound! I always put a lot of effort into my LIB sets, and this year no exception but with the extra challenge of extra responsibility x 2 - organizing a Tropical group camp, and caring for my daughter, who made a few visits to the DJ booth during this set as well. Honestly I did feel a little less focused that normal up there and wasn't sure how I was going to feel about my set when I got the recording.  I'm a harsh self-critic but I actually love this mix as much as any of the 6 others I've played at this lovely fest :) Many thanks to the brilliantly talented producers whose tracks I mixed - here is the complete listing, tagged, so you can check their work <3 1. @Undo - Aliens Go Home 2. @Matthias-tanzmann, @francisco-allendes - Disco Mike 3. @Ddigglerofficial - Sunset 4. @Le_bigz (Big Al) - Smiling in the Sand (@tim-barnett-5 [Tim Tonal] Remix) 5  @A_los_martires (Cienfuegos) - Around You (@col-lawton-d90 Dub Remix) 6. @Okain - Locked 7. @Mihai-popoviciu-1 - Emotion 8. @Dinyadalonzo - Can't You See (@jameshopkinsuk Remix) 9. @kevinmckay, Notelle, Eppers - On My Own (@Joe-vanditti & Kevin McKay Extended Remix) 10  @Tuccillo - It's Not Over   11. @Francisdesimone - Efdies (@Kevinmckay Extended Remix) 12. @Djqmusic, @Finnmccorry - Speedy Gs 13  @Ralphsession - Rize (@homeroespinosa Remix) 14. @Petebandit-f2f - Computer's Creativity 15. @Milos-pesovic - Pam Pam (@Juan-dragster-viveros Remix) 16. @Format-b-2, @Royrosenfeld - Human Dynamo 17. @Paulcpaolomartini (Paul C, Paolo Martini) - Modulator I definitely play with a certain aesthetic at LIB, which is to honor the crossing of the underground and mainstream in my own way.  I describe this set as banging and uplifting, with carefully chosen vocals.  I mean a festival is a celebration, and this just year 2 out of the pandemic I'm definitely favoring uplifting over dark.   Ok, I do favor that generally, but same time I am processing some darkness over the past 2 years as I've experienced huge losses.  Last year's LIB I was processing the recent demise of my marriage, while this year I was processing the loss of my mom last September. Recently in our West Coast underground music community we have lost some very special people and there's been a lot of sadness over that, especially this past week.   One of the very best tools for processing loss is of course music and dance - I hope this set brings you light and joy in these challenging times <3 Please give this set a listen, a like, and a repost if the spirit moves you. Your comments are always welcomed, and usually answered <3

I had a short but sweet time at Bug Out Campout 4: Garden of Dreams on day 8 and 9 of my Spring Break roadtrip with my daughter, Cerise. This set went down at midnight on a pretty frigid desert night, did my best to warm people up with some break and then some techno. Ok, fine, there's. little house in there too :). Something for everyone, hope you enjoy! Overall one of my faster sets, starting at 130bpm and creeping up to 132 by the end. Many thanks to hosts Neil Bombshelta Black, Jason Deyarmin and Julia Daemia Styczynski for putting together a lovely event ♡ Definite highlight having Cerise bopping around to my breaks - she really has quite the dance moves! She got cold tho and came and chilled for the rest of my set in back of the DJ booth while I moved more into techno. Speaking of DJ booth, it was on point and I could hear great! Sound system was proper for 1000, and decor and visuals were great too. A lot of care was our into this little party, which of course is close to my heart ♡ Bug Out was intimate and fun! I wish I had more time there but the time I was there I got to connect with some friends and some new people, all good vibes 🙂 I hope to be back next year and stay longer- but it also worked perfectly in this Spring Break adventure this time tbh.

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

2019 was quite a year for DJing in retrospect, wasn't it? This was one of my best sets and experiences, it was previously released on @Innerflight Soundcloud. What's different now? WAV quality and downloads enabled. And being one of my best sets and crowd energies it belongs on my Soundcloud too. I will have a brand new 2021 mix coming out soon, hopefully from Live at Subtract this weekend :) Mark your calendars for Cascadia NW Fest July 22, 2022 weekend - one of THE best locations for outdoors at the masonic park near Granite Falls an hour north of Seattle! Can't wait to hear me til then? I really just started taking gigs post-vax in June, here's what's coming up next few months, so far July 31 Los Angeles, CA at Subtract with Doc Martin outdoors in Sylmar - https://subtractmusic.com/doc Aug 13 Seattle, WA at Deep n Bass / Monkey Loft - https://www.facebook.com/events/505752507377500 Aug 14 Boise, ID at Flip the Switch / Lounge at the End of the Universe - https://www.facebook.com/events/228464475805052 Sep 19 San Francisco at the Real Deal Party Feel at The EndUp - https://www.facebook.com/events/4644850988965410 Oct 27-31 Tropical Oasis Retreat Palm Springs - message me Tracklist: 1- Gotten (Cele Remix) Loui Fernandez, Pedro Rodriguez 2 -Bespoke (Julien Chaptal Remix)- Mauro Picotto, Riccardo Ferri 3 - Let Me Take You - Carlo Riviera 4 - Kong Pot (Hollen Remix) - DJ Simi, Irregular Synth 5 - Sick Of You - Alex Mine 6 - The Vibe - Hector Romero, Francesco Tarantini 7 - Unknown Places (Stacey Pullen Remix) - Einzelkind, Christian Burkhardt 8 - Perdidos - Dondememe 9 - Eyes (Mollono.Bass Remix) - Toby Dreher 10 - Little Helper 187-3 - Loui Fernandez 11 - Second Lick - Nick Curly 12 - Mathematical Symbols (Al Bradley's 3am Deep Remix) - Al Bradley, Swaab 13 - Love to Love You Baby (Christian Burkhardt Mix) - Tom Tom Club 14 - Gridlock - L.K. 15 - Peak - Patrick Kunkel 16 - Ambivalent (Ethno Less Dub) - Stan Kolev 17 - Dark Streets of Berlin - Ben Champell 18 - Keep Running (Timid Boy & Acumen Remix) - Mancerow 19 - Gorrenzo (Mihai Popoviciu Remix) - Alex Under 20 - The Groove (Kozin & Monoheart Remix) - Dani Sbert 21 - Living The Night (Paride Saraceni Remix) - Uto Karem 22 - Spyhopping (Kai Limberger Remix) - Kriece 23 - Environmental Product - Paranoid Jack, Robb G 24 - Dusty Roads (Butch Remix) - Sante

In my new studio mix series I want to offer some mixes in different genres, and with a little different feel than you might get from a live mix. I've been exploring tracks I don't play out much or else in a long time, that are not necessary dance-driven but more interesting conceptually... This first mix is a techno mix which starts gently and escalates quickly before coming back down to a nice close. It would be a lot to ask a dance floor to have this much change in energy but this isn't for the dance floor necessarily It's more a reflection of the chaos all of us feel in our lives right now. I've done a few LiveStreams, all house, and really been dying to play some techno. This set even started as a livestream, but had some tech issues so I just played for my wife an I, and opened up a bit more musically than I probably would have if live Anyway, hope you are well out there wherever you are! And hope you enjoy the mix!

Loved this party and this set weaving underground house and techno for my friends in Los Angeles! Some of my best mixing between the two genres, overall it was techno but also brought some house elements and a few classics for this Lover's Ball around Valentine's Day. Speaking of classics, I played four 90s tracks and the old-schoolers defintely recognized Mateo and Matos' Release the Rhythm as one of them... but not so much the others I'd say :) Can you name them before I drop the track list at 1000 listens? A special prize awaits :) Spring festival season is upon us! Here's what I have confirmed: March 18-22 Altus Festival, Lake Tahoe May 20-25 Lightning in Bottle, Bakersfield Aquatic Center June 12-14 Hyperspace Festival, Apple Valley, CA June 19-21 Esthetic Evolution, Twin Springs, ID

I'm on a techno kick in January and good timing because it's been a while since I put out an intense one like this on Soundcloud. When I lived in Socal, Moontribe was the place I could play like this :) But can't make that much anymore. I never would have thought I could get away with this set in Sacramento. But the Lost in Groove team has cultivated something special there. And it was full moon! Sacratechno! Proof is in the pudding If you cultivate a crowd with good underground music they will grow to love it Be it house or techno or whatever You just have to do it, don't pander to what you think people want It might take a little time But it's worth it Thank you Lost in Groove for the bomb party!!

If you ever wondered what a vocal house set from me would sound like... here ya go! It's a bit fast, due to where I was left off and how well that was working I did not change ;) This set is from the genre, "FUN" - was played live at the FUNderware party at the historic Eagle House in Eureka days ago :) Playing a closing set after Jphlip starting in the wee hours of the morning seemed one of the larger challenges I could take on. Why do I say that? Well we know that Dirtybird is such a popular brand that in smaller towns it's some people's whole concept of house music. It's funky, it's dirty, breakyi, fun to dance to. And J-Phlip always was my fave Dirtybird DJ. But not so easy to follow with another style. Thinking of what from my arsenal would work I decided to explore my more vocal, funky side of house and see what happened. I got really into this, pulling tracks from the past decade or so that fit the mood I wanted to create. Spent a lot of time on the playlist and I'm glad I did. Cause here's what happened... I even went on a half-hour late, at 4am, which really worried me. But the dancers did not look tired :) So I danced a bit more to Jphlip and Marjo on the 2 x 4, promised that we did not have to end on time at 5. I got into my set rt away and people were vibing. About 5:15 someone showed me their watch, said it was getting late or something (I can't understand much behind the booth). I thought maybe it was someone from the venue, but then the dude walked onto the floor and started dancing which was confusing. But it was getting a bit thin so I decided to wind up my set at it's original 1.5 hour length and stop at 5:30 Either the dancers smelled this, or they just really liked where the flow was going, but they just kept coming back to the dance floor I got to my final track and the floor was full. Nobody was telling me to stop. I got to about 1.5 minutes left in the track and decided to mix out. You can here this in the mix at 1 hour 34 minutes in. You will notice I made the executive decision to play another hour :) . I was really having fun with the music and happy to continue. Eventually I did outlast the dance floor, and wrapped it up. Oh, also towards the end there was some dude who either was trying to get on the decks , or else to get me to play a track from his usb. Let it be known the answer is always no. If you are not on the lineup you don't play. Period. And I have plenty of my own music, I don't need random extras. Thanks. So I guess another part of going til the dance floor couldn't handle it anymore was actually protecting the dance floor against some rando trying to get on the decks at the end. Happy to defend dance floor integrity anytime :)

Well well well It's my 100th mix released on Soundcloud and damned if it's not my favorite! I worked unusually hard on this set for 3 reasons - (1) I wanted to play mostly new music and that takes more time to understand and prepare (2) the multitude of great djs on the We Are All One lineup ignited my fire to stand out (3) the massive effort to detail by the organizers on the event made me want to give something comparably special in my music. The result is something I'm truly proud of! I've been adventurous with music lately and this mix is a textured journey including a lot of tripped-out minimal house and techno with some progressive and breakbeat elements. There is a lot of melody which is tricky to work with. By the way, I don’t use “mix in key” and there’s a long explanation why but basically I learned to mix by ear and I often prefer a tripped out (though not quite dissonant) sound when mixing which can’t be achieved mathematically by always having everything perfect, but rather is obtained by careful experimentation and auditioning ;) For similar reasons I never use the sync button - electronic music is mathematical in many ways but it’s also programmed with swing so it doesn’t sound monotonous because too exact is not exciting. Mostly the argument against sync is that it makes things too easy or is ‘cheating’ - but my reason is actually about the sound produced which I find too clean and sterile. I blogged about this before. There’s a portion of this set that’s mixed on 3 decks! First time in years :) Made me want to get a third CDJ at home to challenge myself more. Huge thank you to MJ, Gambit, Justin, and the Soul State crew for bringing this group of DJs and dancers together and taking care of us so well in a very memorable first-year festival. So enjoy the ride, and be sure and look out for We Are All One 2020! More immediately if you're looking to start 2020 with optimism, hope, and of course amazing location, production, and music, please join us outdoors near LA for Tropical Synergy 2020 New Year's Gathering: https://tinyurl.com/NYE2020LA If you love this mix, please do any of the following to support genre-bending underground music: - Repost this mix on Soundcloud (#1 most helpful! and so easy!) - Add this mix to your Soundcloud favorites and playlists - Comment on Soundcloud where it really hits ya - Share this mix externally on Facebook, or wherever you like Please check out my other mixes on Soundcloud and my other links: https://www.facebook.com/benannandmusic/ -- My Facebook Artist page is where I publish my written blog - Modern DJ Musings (MDJM) - every Thursday at 11:11am. Topic #36 comes out tomorrow. https://benannandmusic.com -- My web site houses the MDJM archive as well as my bio, booking request and press kit, music, photos, and link out to Tropical's site, all on the top navigation https://tinyurl.com/MDJMvideo -- My You Tube channel recently launched a video version of Modern Dj Musings which uses screen recordings to walk viewers through many aspects of my process for buying and organizing music, navigating social media efficiently, etc. Warm gratitude from the bottom of my <3 Ben

One of my faves I've put out, this set keeps the energy pushing through house and techno vibes in the range of 123-125bpm. *Track List added 11-22-19 after 1000 listens - A thousand thank-yous to the artists below for making my job possible. Making unique music takes skill and dedication and there would be no djs without producers like you! 1. Sumsi (Evren Ulusoys One In A Million Mix) - Albena Flores 2. DubLife (Alexkid Dub Mix) - Riva Starr, Horace Andy 3. Jericho (Guido Schneider Remix) - M.A. 4. Last One - Mihai Popoviciu 5. Agent Keys - M.ono 6. Mobile - Dema, Alex Mine 7. Road To Casablanca - Nima Gorji, Shoxy 8. Slave Of Love (Agaric Remix) - Quenum 9. Don't Stop - Gorge 10. Underhook - Okain 11. Balearica (FT Big System Mix)- Francesco Tarantini, Domy Beradino 12. Sick Of You - Alex Mine 13. Bassboom (Play The Game Remix) - Rene Sandoval 14. Breath Deeply feat. Moto - Dan Curtin 15. Black Coffee - Gorge, Markus Homm 16. Brick - Don Ruijgrok 17. Chinese Row (Sven Tasnadi Remix) - Avance, Daniele Travali 18. Clear Scene - Danilo Schneider 19. Cosmik Shoes - Vortex 20. Definition (David Labeij Remix) - Piemont 21. Escalate (Sybel Less Is More Mix) - Natalino Nunes 22. Fly (Nathan Parker Remix) - Cari Lekebusch, Zoe Xenia 23. Feel(Feat. Desney Baley) (Matthias Tanzmann Remix) - Luna City Express, Desney Baley 24. Forage - Jon Delerious 25. Unicorns Lost In Space - Oscar Barila 26. Ya'll Feel That? - Homero Espinosa 27. Day's With You - Lula Circus 28. Love Capsule Deluxe (Deep Space Dub Mix) - Fresh & Low The mix features a lot of new music at the beginning and end, plus a few personal favorites in the middle since I hadn't played Phoenix in a decade. What sets it apart for me is the interesting melodic interactions which provide dramatic tension I really felt the love here from the Dvina crew - not everybody appreciates the subtlety of a set that relies on interesting mixing over obvious drops but i definitely feel like people got it here and it was a true pleasure to visit <3 Please know the best thing you can do for this mix if you love it is repost it. Comments are great too, will do my best to answer all. October 2019 Schedule 4- Eugene 11- Los Angeles 18- Eugene 25 - Seattle 31- Las Vegas Please visit fb.com/benannandmusic for latest gig info

This brand new but sometimes nostalgic mix is tech-house/techno/tribal with a dash of breakbeat in the middle - hope you enjoy the flow! Updated with track list Nov 13, 2019: 1 Helios (Pete Bones Mix) - TR20 2 Love to Love You Baby (Christian Burkhardt Mix) - Tom Tom Club 3 Gridlock - L.K. 4 Peak - Patrick Kunkel 5 Is Mine - Dani Sbert 6 Roll Over (Dani Sbert Remix) - FAC3OFF 7 Reachin - Mark Broom 8 A New World - Delta Funktionen Remix - Nemanja Nikolic 9 Environmental Product - Paranoid Jack, Robb G 10 Dusty Roads (Butch Remix) - Sante 11 Gorrenzo (Mihai Popoviciu Remix) - Alex Under 12 Mathematical Symbols (Al Bradley's 3am Deep Remix) - Al Bradley, Swaab 13 Gotten (Cele Remix) - Loui Fernandez, Pedro Rodriguez 14 rDNA (Vers 2) - Utku Dalmaz 15 Little Helper 187-3 - Loui Fernandez 16 They Made Me Do It - Chicola, Sahar Z 17 The Greater Of Two Evils - Quarion 18 Space Bells (Pete Bones' Foghorn Leghorn Mix) - Pete Bones & Daniel Allen 19 Dark Streets of Berlin - Ben Champell 20 Strange (Chicola Remix) - Tim Penner 21 Unknown Places (Stacey Pullen Remix) - Einzelkind, Christian Burkhardt 22 Ambivalent (Ethno Less Dub)- Stan Kolev You don't miss LA when you fly through the smog layer and hit traffic - you miss LA when you wear your smile and feet out dancing to amazing music with friends. Such a beautiful reunion of the old-school moontribe djs and dancers, thank you Treavor for putting it all together! It was a proper return and I was touched to hear I am also missed in Los Angeles ♡ This weekend I'm headed up north for Gorg O Mish in Vancouver BC Friday night and then Cascadia Saturday night. Never a dull moment!

Excited to share my set from the Woogie stage at this year’s Lightning in a bottle festival! I hope you enjoy the flow <3 Big thanks to Jesse, Megan, and the LIB team for having me for a 4th straight year at LIB, and first on the lovely Woogie stage! For future dj bookings please contact Melissa Cotugno at Listed Bookings - [email protected] I can’t thank the artists enough for the making the tracks I mixed for dancers here! So the least I can do is give credit where credit it due! 1 Sleya (VieL Remix) -- Tibor Dragan 2 Who Are You (Viel Remix) -- Leah Kremer 3 Bowline (Gabriel I & Jamin Hernandez Remix) -- Alinep 4 Stanna guld -- Pete Moss, Jenna Lee, Jay Hill 5 Satellite -- TVA, le visionnaire 6 For The Time Being (feat. Erlend Oye) (Burnski Remix) -- Phonique 7 Eridanus (Debal Sommer Remix) -- Yvel & Tristan 8 Lost In The Pads (Emiliano Martini Remix) -- Jonzz 9 Desinence (DJ Le Roi Remix) -- DZeta N' Basile 10 From the Soul -- The Messenger 11 To The Clouds (Soul Minority Remix) -- Stan Kolev 12 All Night Long (Steve Mag Remix) -- Sinan Kaya 13 Flux -- Mihai Popoviciu 14 Elektron Dreaming -- Andromo & Chris Fortier 15 Starlight -- Jiggy (IT) 16 Salty Banana -- Lauhaus 17 Tres -- Carlo 18 Tribal Dance Pt. 2 -- Einzelkind, Christian Burkhardt 19 Unknown Places -- Einzelkind, Christian Burkhardt 20 Unnamed 3 (Christian Burkhardt Remix) -- Darius Syrossian 21 Access To Joy (Luca Doobie Remix) -- Martelli 22 Kiss the Sun and Lick the Rainbow (Oscar Barila Remix) -- Robot Needs Oil 23 Changes -- Jiggy (IT) 24 Warning -- Andrade 25 Masquerade (Sebastian Davidson Remix) --J ohan Ilves, Migova 26 Snow Globe -- The Shaker 27 Allure -- Frag Madden 28 Into My Heart -- Vincenzo 29 Tunnels -- Basic Soul Unit 30 Glow (Subsky Remix) -- Scope (Ric McClelland) 31 Made of Skin feat. Ellen Sunde (Adrian Barron Square City Remix) -- Volksfreude, Ellen Sunde 32 The Void (Sami Wentz Remix -- Richard Empire 33 Wire -- Big Al, Bigz 34 Feel My Love -- Susumu Yokota

This chill yoga set is the second festival collaboration of yoga teacher Jessica Annand and dj Ben Annand <3 Recorded 9am-1015am to the Yoga Sol stage at Lightning in a Bottle 2019 Thursday, May 9th This class was titled "Vinyasa Flow with My Shadow' - a title originally intended pre-Eclipse at August 2017's 'Oregon Eclipse Global Gathering' When our class was moved from pre to post-eclipse the concept changed so we resurrected the concept for our first collab at Lightning in a Bottle Festival. (find the Oregon eclipse set here: @ben-annand/annand-oregon-eclipse-yoga-set-downtempo) Special thanks to Martin Dragonfly, Jesse Fleming, and the LIB team! Track listing coming soon :)

A little story about this musical foray, my first vinyl set in some 4 year :) Twas my last as resident of the city of LA, my home base my entire dj career :) And perhaps yet even more topical... It was the 20-Year Anniversary of Tropical! So you see it was a special mix! All music is from 95 to 2006. Great tracks sure are timeless! To ignore them would be spineless So in this particular musical trip Expect some pops, scratches and skips these were favorite tracks back in the day - And that means they got heavy play! Set posted December 27, 2018 Set recorded September 29, 2019 at Malibu Dream House Dedicated to the memory of a special place lost in the Woolsey Fire (RIP 11/10/18) Tropical 20-year Event Photos: https://www.facebook.com/pg/tropicalevents/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2304736432874517

What did we do before Soundcloud existed? Well we started with mixtapes, then moved to mix cds for a while. Things started going digital around 2005/2006, and there was a gap before Soundcloud was founded in 2007 and of course took some time to become standard for djs posting live sets. In that little interim we had a bulletin boards called 4Four. It was here that my mix post of a set I did for Frisky Radio in early 2007 caught the attention of Labyrinth Festival in Japan, and I was asked to play this exceptionally good event for the first time in September 2007. It was the top dj experience of my life! Maybe the top dance experience too, I really represented out there. I was honored to be asked back in 2008. Things were a little different with the weather very wet; this was the last year at the Gunma location. As well, I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed a day or 2 before flying and I was a mess. I did pull it together for this set, though I will say it was not easy! This is a unique set due to timing, around the same time music availability was transitioning from vinyl to digital, there corresponded an explosion of music in a previously neglected genre, minimal techno. For me, the minimal revolution went way too far, and often wasn’t groovy enough for me, but there was a sweet spot of funky, trippy minimal music which I explore in this set from 2008. I too, was transitioning from vinyl to digital at this time, and that showed in my mixing setup, which was 2 technics turntables, a first-generation serato interface, and my mac powerbook. A few years later when my laptop died, I bought and switched over to CJ2000s. Labyrinth is one of the top underground festivals in the world, it sells out of 2000 tickets in one day every year. It was the kind of party famous djs made plans to attend even if they weren’t playing that year, and you know that’s rare! The experience re-set the bar for outdoor parties for me, and has been an inspiration for Tropical, though on a smaller scale, ever since. If you ever get the opportunity to go, take it! https://www.facebook.com/mindgamesjapan/ www.mindgames.jp

Shasta Gathering was one of the best dj experiences for me, starting back in 2004. My set that year was 4am-530am, and I drove with 6 really good friends straight there. Got on the decks right away, just my friends on the dancefloor. Kept playing through sunrise, other people kept coming out to the dancefloor Kept playing. Stopped right about noon. My first 8-hour set. This is the following year! It went about 8 hours as well, I have about 5.5 recorded. This is the first half. In these days I recorded straight to CD, each block is 1 hour 20 minutes and not seamless. I faded between the 2 combined recordings here. Will release part two next week!

My fave set of the 4 I played at Burning Man this year, this journey varies in style between techno, progressive, broken beat, tech house and tribal house! *Photo credit: Jacob Avanzato Track list: 1 Mathematical Symbols (@albradley3am Deep Remix) - AlBradley, @Swaab 2 Inward (Dub Mix) - @stankolevofficial 3 Dark Streets of Berlin - @ben_champell 4 Relapse - Dani Sbert (@dj_dani_s) 5 Gridlock - L.K. (@lk-rec) 6 Equinox - @Noaria 7 Revolutions Per Minute - @spiroskaloumenos 8 Reportage Sur Moto - @nima-khak 9 Neontrance - Tigerskin (@dub-taylor) 10 The End Of Logic (@carstenfietz & Tobias Schmitt (@acrylnimbus)Remix) - @briananeurysm 11 kullog (original mix) @damolh33 12 Divergent - @aga-a-k-a-aziz 13 Born Evil - @daviddurango 14 Heart Departent - miro-pajic 15 Juicy Chew - @martineyerer 16 The Hidden Track - @jesseroseofficial, Dave Taylor, Put It On 17 8th Of A Snake - @pbrstreetgang 18 Another Zone - @folicstate 19 Dry Wet - @sinisa-lukic 20 Up to You - (@giuseppecennamo Remix) - @mannafromsky 21 Crutch (@petedafeet Warehouse Edit) - Recruit 22 Hula Hoop (@guido-schneider-3's Break That Brain Remix)- @evelinefink 23 Breath Deeply feat. Moto - @dan-curtin 24 Ambition - Dani Sbert (@dj_dani_s) 25 There's enough for all of us feat. @michael_franti (@soinagawaofficial 12" remix) - @hardage 26 Deep South - Rossano De Luxe 27 Muuvin (@chriswood & @meat Muuvin & Groovin Remix) - @djleroi 28 Resolution (@alberto-ruiz & @alexander-laurell-1 Remix) - Dani Sbert (@dj_dani_s) This set was supposed to take place between 1 and 2am on Thursday night but was extended an extra hour - must have been dong something right ;) Honk if you want more of this on the playa! Or maybe don't honk if you're driving, but would sure appreciate Resposts, Shares, Comments, and Favorites. I am on tour now, please send a pm or email me benannand at gmail dot com to inquire about an appearance in your city! Sept 14 One Tribe Moon vibe, San Francisco Sept 21 Family Function/ Los Angeles, CA Sept 23 Apparitions Festival, Baja, Mexico Sept 29 Tropical 20-Year Malibu Mansion Oasis, Malibu, CA Oct 7 Sunday Night Mass, Burlington, VT Oct 13 Soul State 2-Year, Tropical 20 Year Tour, Las Vegas Oct 19 Tropical 20 Year Tour, Seattle Oct 21 Tropical 20 Year Tour, Eugene Oct 27 Tropical 20 Year Tour, Vancouver + more tba, get in touch for more info!

Many thanks to the artists below for making beautiful music spanning 22 years, allowing me to wind this flow in front of the Feather River at the beach stage at Sunset Campout, and big love to @dj-Galen, @Solarsf and J-bird for having me there! Also thanks to Robin Russell for the great photo! instagram.com/robinrussellsf 1 Light - @Patlac, Afra (2018) 2 Escape - @Moti-Brothers (2016) 3 26 (@Addex Remix) - La Rose (2014) 4 No Rush (@Matt-Prehn Remix) - @RichardEmpire (2014) 5 Come Get I feat. 6LDA - BRS (2000) 6 Lost In The Loft - Weekender (1998) 7 Bluenote - @DJ-Rasoul (1999) 8 Someone To Love (Mister J's Luv Cutz Remix) - @DemonRitchie (2004) 9 Someone To Love (Original Mix) - @DemonRitchie (2004) 10 Petalpushing - @MiguelMigs1 (2000) 11 Piso 30 (@G_Spice Remix) - @DjWady (2011) 12 The Fisherman (@David-Devilla & @Elisabeth-Aivar Remix) - @ZaVen (2016) 13 Better Day (Original Vocal Mix) - Presence (1997) 14 Equis Costa (Pete Moss Remix) - Fantasna (2012) 15 Silverlights (Flavour Mix) - @PhunkDiggaz (1998) 16 Dream Come True (@RainerWeichhold & Matt Keyl Remix) - @FrankDonner, @Mnaasner (2013) 17 Chicken Wind (@ChrisWood & @Meat Remix) - @JulesandMoss (2014) 18 Marana (Original Mix) - @Supernova (2011) 19 Day's With You - @LulaCircus (2011) 20 I Like To - @Sven-Tasnadi (2015) 21 That's Life - @JamesDexter (2018) 22 303 Nasty Groove - Joyce Muniz (@Joytoy) (2013) 23 Heart and Soul (@Addex Remix) - @IliasKatelanos (2012) 24 House - BRS (2001) 25 Makes You Want Me (@AlBradley3am Deep Remix) - Carlo @MrGambino (2013) 26 Aquatic Journey - @HellyLarson (2016) 27 Whispers - @PhunkDiggaz (1998)

Live from Moontribe's spectacular 25-Year Anniversary celebration at Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, june 28, 2018 It's not perfect... but it is psychedelic ;) Follow Moontribe Collective on Soundcloud: @moontribe_collective

After a 3.5 hour techno set which ended at 8:30am at Gorg-O-Mish Afterhours in Vancouver, B.C., 400 miles of driving including 2 naps at rest stops... I played this fabulous deep house set at the Hifi Music Lounge in Eugene, Oregon 11:45pm-2amm :) I am fully dedicated to music now and even though the travel was crazy, I really wanted to play in this fair town that one day I expect to call home. It is a special atmosphere there and I know the energy would be right for whatever I chose to play, in this case I was really fiending to play house music and had made up my mind on that. Spent a good bit of time putting the folder of music together for this and overall wanted to bring more vocals than I usually play so be forewarned... Don't expect to hear a lot of obvious ones though, I tend to play obscured vocals open to interpretation like the other layers of the music. At the same time this mix has many more clearly understandable vocals than usual for me. It is a slow builder, you will notice it does get bumping there towards the end, Would love any comments, of course always remember if you like a mix, the nicest thing you can do for the artist is simply to repost it <3 * Photo by Carpe Kairos Photography IG: @carpekairosphotography FB: https://www.facebook.com/CarpeKairosPhotography/

In the middle of summer tour 2017 which included some many great festivals and outdoor events, the stand-out Dj experience for me was right here at a sweaty underground called Gorg-O-Mish in Vancouver, Canada. When it comes right down to it, a small room with the right energy can become one of the most focused dance experiences... Super high quality recordings were done in house, one mic-ed up to capture crowd noise, so I did include some of this energy towards the beginning and end. I will be back at Gorg-O-Mish on Saturday, June 2nd, and am releasing this mix to support the gig. Gorg is located at 695 Smithe St, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 2C9 This is part one of the 3-hour+ mix, part two released on @rainforestmusic this week: http://www.rainforestmusic.net/?p=podcast-75 Enjoy!

Proudly presenting my new favorite techno mix, live under the March 31 full moon 1am-230am. Track List added July 2, 2018 1 Argos (Takashi Watanabe Remix)- Mari Mattham 2 Time And Again - Deepbass 3 Solar Wind - K-Fel 4 Stellar - Steve Parker 5 Floating In The Cloud Of Venus - Steve Parker 6 Marbled - Gian Paolo Mantovani 7 Floating In The Cloud Of Venus - Steve Parker 8 Haze - Mladen Tomic 9 Utopia 2 (Tex Ture Remix) - Za__Paradigma 10 Ejakulation - Jesper Dahlback, Nima Khak, Swedish Naan Boys 11 Obvious - Damolh33 12 Statik - Dani Sbert 13 White - Noaria 14 Twin - Bastet 15 Camden Rock - Shin Nishimura 16 The Night We Call It the Day - Chicola 17 Highlands (Patrick Zigon Remix) - Bardia Salour 18 xet 2 (original mix) - Damolh33 19 Rod (Pjotr G & Dubiosity Remix) - Steve Parker 20 Satellite - TKNO 21 Manethon - Sebastopol 22 Senpu - Rennie Foster 23 Feel It (Sian 's Numb Remix) - Sebrok, Tassilo I had not played a nighttime fullmoon in about 3 years and wanted to supply something really special. For some reason most of the interesting new music I've found lately is techno, so I felt well-stocked for this event I got a little more experimental on the mixing to make the mix extra-trippy, check the transition around 10mins for example Hope you enjoy this rather intense mix from me. As always, play it loud! Recommend you download it for a higher-quality listening experience ;) And please do me the favor of reposting this set so it can see maximum exposure here on Soundcloud <3 Bookings contact [email protected] and cc: [email protected] if out of Southern California area

At long last, my first-ever downtempo set, created for Jessica Annand’s yoga class at Oregon Eclipse 2017 Global Gathering August 22, 2017 Infinite thanks to Symbiosis Gathering for the opportunity, and the artists below for creating the music I wove together with intention of coming out of darkness post-Eclipse at the spectacular Oregon Eclipse Global Gathering Aug 2017 :) Special dedication to @HellyLarson who passed 5 days before this set was played and who produced so many of my favorite tracks including my wife's favorite - Wide Road - which appears here as track number 10. 1 Tibetan Sound Bowls - @KaruneshOfficial 2 Diving Dancer (Sofa Session Deep Mix) - @Klartraum 3 Seasons Change - @KevinYost 4 Don't Mind Me - @Sinan-Kaya 5 Eyes Of Gold - @KevinYost, @Guy Monk 6 Lavender Mist (@Luna-City-Express Downbeat Remix) - @MartinezOfficial 7 Ornithine - @StephenJKroosOfficial 8 Swordfish - LunchBox 9 Interlude - @Microstar-Music-Germany 10 Wide Road - @HellyLarson 11 Space Time Delta - @NadjaLind This set was played the morning after the eclipse, providing an uplifting soundscape specifically to Jessica Annand's yoga class, great for your yoga practice or any time you need your music to chill you out a bit. Musically this mix is a blend of ambient and downtempo, maybe some would call parts of it house lol but it does peak out at 100bpm so definitely completely different from anything I have released before If you are a yoga teacher note that there is a bonus 15 minutes of chimes for savasana at the end There were some technical issues with the live recording so this is a redo mixed in my home studio on 2 CDJ2000s on March 6, 2018 I am excited to begin releasing more studio mixes now that I work full-time from home, please stay tuned! I'm also on tour this Spring! Please check my Artist page for tour dates: https://www.facebook.com/pg/benannandmusic/events

I offer my closing set from Tropical Oasis Retreat Kauai as an artistic expression given from perfectly within my element, with zero prep and purely emotion, intuition and experience guiding the flow <3 Please repost if you <3 this set! 1 Full Moon - Onofrio Conte 2 Mooca (Javier Orduña Remix) - Garance 3 In&out - Aga 4 Chinese Row (Sven Tasnadi Remix) AVANCE, Daniele Travali 5 Maleika - Gorge 6 Breath Deeply feat. Moto - Dan Curtin 7 Moogy - Polder, Lauhaus, David Labeij 8 Edgy Dream - Tom Clark 9 Julia Bursts - Pete Bones 10 Perpetual Beginner - Earth Deuley 11 Mobile - Dema, Alex Mine 12 Transitions (Gorge Remix) - Toygun 13 Musica - DJ Mouse 14 Voces de Africa - Von Georgi, Nick Hollyster 15 Let Me Take You - Carlo Riviera 16 The Love Story Teller (Sascha Dive's Dark Energy Dub) Davide Squillace 17 Crutch (Pete Dafeet Warehouse Edit) - Recruit 18 Chuggernaut - Sean Collier 19 Into The Garage - Davide Cali 20 Savannah - Indira Paganotto 21 Nothing Personal - Meeshoo 22 Closer (Da Sunlounge Dub) - Mood II Swing, Carol Sylvan 23 Killing Krazy - Addex - Killing Krazy 24 Dreams Are Blue - Nick Dare 25 Just for You - T.Garcia 26 Nalingi Yo (Luv Boutique Remix) - Nicolas Bassi 27 Paint On Desh (David Labeij Remix) - Nick Daring 28 Bustin' Loose - Special Interest 29 Compromise feat. Zoë Xenia - ACUMEN, Zoe Xenia 30 Cat String Theory - Aziz Other great sets from Tropical Oasis Retreat Kauai are coming out weekly on Wednesdays on the Tropical Soundcloud, please follow the page here: @tropicalhouse I am thrilled to announce I am now a full-time dj, and so very excited to finally be able to put my full time and energy into music! I will be working extra hard (and having extra fun!) bringing my best to a growing calendar of fun party happenings in 2018 :) Please get in touch on social if you want to help bring me to your city soon! *Photo Credit, MikeyBLoveslife