Philly DJ and producer, , brought his signature brand of dance music to an invite-only show at on Friday night. Called “Shoe Shine,” the party was hosted by Nike and Snowboard magazine and was one of a handful of special events assembled for this week’s annual Snowsports Industries America tradeshow (#SIA11 on Twitter, yo).
This year’s collection of acts is/was perhaps one of the strongest in the trade show’s history. Thatap to say besides Diplo (a respected and sought after producer in his own right), Friday’s music landscape also included other acts like and about a hundred-or-so other parties and special events around LoDo.
In the tradition of one-off Air Force Ones, Jordans, and other limited kicks Nike releases to its sneaker cult, the same special treatment was given to the Snow Show crowd’s preferred footwear: the snowboard boot. Set atop pedestals and decorated a-la album art from Willie Nelson, Neil Young, A Tribe Called Quest and a handful of other classics, these 11 pairs of boots got the paparazzi treatment as partiers’ smartphones snapped wildly.
A quick glance around the venue showed a disproportionate gender ratio — one that was, well, highly skewed towards dudes. But after Denver’s DJ Mu$a’s needles dropped, many resorted to “when in ‘Brome’” behavior, and the head-nodding began. If you were a 7th grader in 1996, Mu$a’s selection was right up your alley as he spun records from hip-hop’s second golden era; Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones” seemed especially at home with this crowd.
45 minutes later, a much more bookish-looking than his Tweets would suggest Diplo came on stage and began poking around his decks. If you caught his Denver set last spring touring behind side project Major Lazer (where “daggers” flew and lazers dominated the atmospherics) this set was subdued by comparison. Sporting black rimmed glasses and a nondescript t-shirt, Diplo looked less international DJ star and more jet-lagged Denverite. Right from the start, the bros and ten or eleven ladies in the crowd (no kidding!) spat beer, ice and jumped wildly arm-in-arm to “Black & Yellow,” “Pon De Floor” and the ubiquitous “Teach Me How To Dougie.” It wasn’t all hip-pop though, and thankfully Diplo shared moments of the Baltimore club-Brazilian-808 funk hybrid that is his signature. A moshworthy moment began when he dropped “In For The Kill,” a joint from one of summer 2010’s best mixtapes, the Major Lazer x La Roux mash-up, “Lazerproof.”
I hear Diplo took his stage name from a dinosaur species, but it could just as well be short for “diplomatic;” his sets always give equal footing to the sounds and styles of a ton of international cultures.
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Craig Randall is a Boulder-based writer and PR pro with an identity crisis. He credits both “Let Me Love You Down” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” as life-changing tracks. Check out .
