I found an article about Santa Ana’s first SoundDowntown event which took place on Nov. 15. Apparently the event attracted over 3,000 people to downtown Santa Ana! I have enclosed a YouTube clip above featuring one of the acts that performed at this event, the Mexican Institute of Sound.
Here is the article, which is from Filter Magazine:
It was your typical warm Saturday in November for LA: horrible air quality, the orange glow in the distance from the hillside fires, endless traffic from closed off freeways, and a multitude of local/international bands playing in bars, restaurants and venues… the only problem is that this wasn’t LA… but nearby Santa Ana in Orange County.
This day marked the first ever SoundDowntown music festival that brought the likes of 50 local bands and DJs playing in a handful of venues throughout the downtown/arts village area of Santa Ana. And despite the bad luck of fires shutting down most local freeways, the festival was still able to draw over 3000 attendees.
Some highlights came from local Santa Ana acts like DJ duo, Free the Robots, who played a mix of urban contemporary beats fused with classic 40’s jazz sound bites. Some bigger named DJ acts included LA’s DJ Pubes and a guest DJ appearance by street artist, Shepard Fairey. International acts included MIS (Mexican Institute of Sound) and Nortec Collective: Bostich + Fussible both under LA label Nacional Records.
If the DJ show was not your bag, never fear; SoundDowntown had its mix of up-and-coming indie rock bands along with underground leaders. Immediately following the Free the Robot set, the crowd in the high school -esque auditorium at the Yost Theater was treated to the progressive instrumental sounds of Zechs Marquise which to some would sound reminiscent of The Mars Volta. With two of the Marquise members being brothers of Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, this comparison seemed only fitting.
Another highlight of the festival was catching another Mars Volta related project known as Free Moral Agents, brainchild of Mars Volta keyboardist Isaiah Owens. This collective of musicians played in a packed restaurant treating fans to their eclectic sounds of jazz- infused dub-y psychedelic beats. Surprisingly enough, being its inaugural year, SoundDowntown seemed to be very well organized with a nice mix of different music for everyone. It should be interesting to see how this music and arts fest does as a sophomore; if anything, perhaps a few less fires.
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