DJ Solitare @ ZNA Gathering 2024

My July 20 nighttime set from the 2024 edition of ZNA Gathering, in which I opened the Futuristic Reality after party of the festival by playing new music. When considering my participation in the 2024 festival, the curator of the event paid me a great compliment when he said, 'You play new music and make me think I'm listening to the music we love from the 90s.' He asked if I would consider being the bridge between the end of the retro part of the festival and the newer music that makes up the last day, and I gladly accepted as I do think there is a ton of amazing new music out there - it just might be harder to find, and we don't as often hear a full range in DJ sets (the short sets often assigned these days doesn't make it easier). I was due to start at 9pm on July 20 but ended up beginning an hour later due to a scheduling shift, so I played two and a half hours from 10pm to 1230am, in the darkness of night illuminated by glowing UV decor and a full moon reflected in the lake near the dance floor - an incredible sight and energy for the occasion. I had been graciously offered a ton of new music for the event - my 'shortlist' consisted of ten hours of music from the last decade, with several hours of new & unissued tracks provided by producers within days of the event (a then-freshly-produced Prana track being shared with me by Tsuyoshi the day before). With these unreleased stormers by Crop Circles, Prana, OOOD, ROAR, Tromesa, Shisho, and others alongside recent issued but I think overlooked masterpieces from the last decade, I forged what I think is an old-school style set, with a range of styles, longer atmospheric blends along with faster kick-matched transitions, and shifts in tempo. A full tracklist will be shared at a later date. The set was recorded by the engineers at the event in a way that includes some cheers from the crowd at certain points, and there are a couple of 'ZNA' announcements that have been placed over the set in a couple of spots. I'm eternally grateful to the amazing folks at ZNA for their gracious invitations to be part of this incredible gathering and for always scheduling me at times that enable me to provide something different on each occasion.