Snowball Music Festival 2013 Lineup Announcement

Snowball Music Festival is returning for its third year, but it will not be returning to the Vail Valley. Instead it is heading to Winter Park, Colorado March 8-10. With the new location comes a new line-up. The big headliners are Pretty Lights, STS9, Big Gigantic, and Kendrick Lamar, and there are many other great artists heading to Colorado in March. The lineup is a great combination of electronic, hip hop and other jams, doing a nice job of diversifying the type of music, and giving people a well-rounded music experience. Having a festival in the mountains in the middle of winter creates such a unique experience compared to summer festivals. The outfits alone vary from multicolored one-piece ski suits, fur jackets, to full on costumes, to anything that looks unique and keeps you warm simultaneously, and of course there are many Spirit Hoods peeking through the crowds. The cold weather motivates you to keep dancing in order to keep yourself warm. All in all its an awesome time. If you find yourself heading to Snowball this year, make sure you check out the following artists.

The Floozies are two brothers from Kansas who combine electronic beats with rap and funky jams to create a unique soulful flavor that will instantly get you dancing. Be sure to check them out and download all of their music for free at http://flooziesduo.com

Robotic Pirate Monkey describe themselves as “the party pillaging electronic trio that fuses eclectic samples from the past with cutting edge sound design to create something totally fresh and fun to get down to.” And I could not think of a better description. Making a name in the Colorado electronic music scene, these boys have toured with Zeds Dead, Big Gigantic, Gramatik, Savoy and Krewella. They first got their name on the scene with their remix of Dolly Parton’s Jolene which they remixed live at the first annual Snowball with Pretty Lights, causing it to quickly become everyone’s favorite track. Be sure to check them out and download all of their music for free on their website http://roboticpiratemonkey.com

Michal Menert was the first artist signed to Pretty Lights Music label after growing up with Derek Vincent Smith in Colorado. His soulful electronic beats really catch your heart, and as you watch him perform you can see that he is really into the music and putting it all together. It is such a beautiful and melodic sound that just gets you excited. PLM describes his music as “a fusion of yesterday’s elements with tomorrow’s ideas.” He uses his unique musical background, originally hailing from Poland, to create fresh new beats. Be sure to check out his website http://michalmenert.com

Crizzly combines his crunkstep beats with Lil Flip’s rhymes to create an exciting show that is an instant dance party. His top song of the summer was Chain Hang Low which plays along to the tune of Do Your Ears Hang Low but about your gold chain but adds some heavy beats and new sounds to create his own musical genre of ‘crunkstep’. You can get his music on his website http://crizzly.net

Zion I is a hip hop duo from Oakland, CA consisting of DJ AmpLive and MC Zumbi. These two have been bringing the freshest beats since 1997, some of their bests songs are Silly Puddy, Fingerpaint, Caged Bird, and Coastin. If you love hip hop you have to go see these guys, you wont be disapointed. Their live shows are so full of energy you can help but to dance and sing along. With a new album called Shadow Boxing, featuring other great artists such as Collie Buddz, Bassnectar, The Grouch, andEligh, this duo will put on an epic performance with their wide variety of songs, old and new. http://www.zionicrew.com

Robert Randolph uses his unique style of playing the sliding steel guitar with the funky blues ofThe Family Band to create this soulful jam that gets the crowd going. Robert’s guitar style is so fascinating and beautiful, he was named one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The band’s music is so much fun combining the blues with funk to create such a fun style. www.robertrandolph.net

Flosstradamus hails from Chicago bringing grimey rap onto the electronic scene. Remixing songs for Major Lazer, Lil John, The Cool Kids, Bloc Party, Usher, Kid Sister, and A-Trak, these two have really come hard onto the trap scene. www.facebook.com/flossstradamus

Krewella is an electronic trio from Chicago consisting of sisters Jahan and Yasmine and their close friend Rainman. Gaining momentum in the EDM scene with their hard rocking songs Killin It, One Minute, Alive, as well as collaborations with Skrillex on Breath, Adventure Club on Rise and Fall, and Knife Party on Fire Hive. These three will throw down harder than you expect and pleasantly surprise you with their fun live act and heavy banger beats. www.facebook.com/krewella

Grizmatik is the combination of Griz and Gramatik, as they describe they have “teamed up to show you how to weaponize the Uranium and cause Electro Soul devastation.” Mixing Griz’s saxophone wielding beats, and Gramatik’s souldful guitar sounds and heavy dubstep, these two have created a heavy soulful new dubstep sound that will have you eagerly waiting for the explosive drop. Their heavy banger that has really brought the attention to their collaboration is Digital Liberation is Mad Freedom, which is a twist of Griz’s album Mad Liberation and Gramatik’s album Digital Freedom. Check out each producer’s respective websites www.gramatik.net and www.mynameisgriz.com

HEADLINERS

Pretty Lights aka Derek Vincent Smith is a producer from Colorado. Already one of the top electronic music artists in the EDM scene today, DVS puts on a spectacular performance. With an amazing light show consisting of skyline looking LED towers and spectacular lasers. Pretty Lights combines hip hop beats with vintage funk and soul samples. With eight albums since 2006, as well as some singles released in the past few years, there are so many songs to choose from, and every single one is amazing in its own unique way. Describing hims style as “electro organic cutting-edge party rocking beats that fill venues with energy and emotion and send dance floors into frenzies.” And that is exactly what he does, each live performance is an experience that you will never forget, once you see Pretty Lights, you are instantly drawn in. Go to http://prettylightsmusic.com to download all his music for free, as well as check out other artists on the Pretty Lights Music Label including other Snowball acts such as Michal Menert and Gramatik.

Soundtribe Sector 9 (STS9) is an instrumental electronic rock group, combing funk, blues, drum & bass, and even some hip hop to blend into a fun psychedelic dance experience. Raging since 1998, this Atlanta based group has released 11 albums and two remixed albums on their record label 1320 Records. Their live performances are full of excitement and spectacular lights. They might even continue their theme of the Mayan apocalypse with their Mayan Temple LED stage light setup. Their heavy guitar sounds and soulful bass mix with beautiful keyboards and electronic beats that cause you to simply groove to every song they perform. They have a new album coming out soon, so be sure to check out their website for upcoming news and music http://sts9.com/

Big Gigantic combines the drums, the saxophone, and electronic beats to create their own musical blend of EDM, even with some awesome rap remixes such as Kanye West’s Get Em High, Wiz Khalifa’s Black & Yellow, and their most famous I Need A Dolla. Coming from Boulder, Colorado, Dominic Lalli plays the saxophone as well has handles the producing on the computer and Jeremy Salken plays the drums. Every show they play draws more and more energy from the crowd, it will be such an experience to see them headline Snowball this year. Download all their music for free on their website http://biggigantic.net

Kendrick Lamar is a hip hop artist hailing from Compton, California who is greatly influenced by Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls,Jay-Z and Nas and who at 25 has already worked with the greats such as Dr. Dre, Game, Drake, Young Jeezy, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, and Lil Wayne. His California roots add so much to his hip hop beats, he will put on such an awesome performance. Following Snoop Dogg’s performance last year, Kendrick Lamar will be the big rap name on the lineup this year. www.kendricklamar.com

This year is looking out to be a great year for Snowball Music Festival. The headliners as well as the other artists are going to make it a magical weekend. A festival in the snow is such a fun experience that you don’t want to miss out on. Be sure to bundle up, put on something brightly colored, or even a fun costume, and get out there and dance!