Meet the underground talent of CRSSD Fest: Anna Lunoe
CRSSD‘s 7th edition is a special one —it marks the official third birthday of the festival. Hosted at its usual location at the picturesque Waterfront Park in San Diego, the semi-annual event certainly hasn’t faltered in its lineup curation, inviting the likes of Cirez D, Empire of the Sun, Henry Saiz, and Tchami onto its bill across March 3 & 4. Dancing Astronaut joins organizers in digging a little deeper into its roster to unearth its top underrated performers to find out their backstories thus far.
Dance music’s most animated Aussie and a new mother, Anna Lunoe, is showing no signs of ware. Pursuing a life-long devotion to the art of DJing, Lunoe has secured titles like Ministry of Sound AU’s first female mix curator, and launched her own wildly successful and synergistic brand, HYPERHOUSE.
Around the time she moved to the states in 2012, Lunoe shed her strictly underground stature after her future-funky Nu Disco track with Flume, “I Met You,” entranced listeners, racking up millions of plays on Youtube and Spotify.
Her HYPERHOUSE venture emerged as a weekly radio show on Apple Music‘s Beats 1, which has featured the likes of Jamie XX, Dillon Francis, Mija, and countless more electronic talents. The movement soon matured into not only a live series in LA, but a massive tour circuit–featuring like-minded comrades such as Rezz and San Holo–and label, for which Lunoe provided the very first release in 2017: sprightly future house hit, “Godzilla.”
CRSSD Fest will be Lunoe’s first show in the Golden State since the birth of her young one She returns to the festival after her 2015 debut, again ready to take The Palms Stage for ransom. Lunoe spills her earliest DJ memories, her take on the state of the US electronic scene, and her must-sees from the upcoming CRSSD lineup.
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What catalyzed your love for dance music?
Difficult to pinpoint exactly. From a very young age music was the way I related to friends and family. I’m the youngest of four and talking about music was a way I could relate to my older siblings. I made sure I always knew about the cool artists. I would even learn the words to the songs. It seemed like the cool thing to do. My curiosity got triggered. I started making radio mixtapes when I was about seven, hosting my own mixtapes on my cassette recorder.
From there, I learned about raving when I was in my early teens probably because of a video clip I saw late at night on music tv. I was always intoxicated by the idea that music can rally a whole generation. I still am.
What was your first label release? Would you still play it?
It was a disco banger called “Love Ting,” around the time of Duck Sauce. I made it with Wax Motif, and yes, it still bangs.
Describe the moment or event that made you realize that you were meant to be a full-time DJ.
One of my first gigs. I was so nervous, and I remember this cool blog at the time wrote a review and it was like “She mixed x, with x and x?! I mean, why can’t all DJs be this good?!” I loved DJing from the jump, but I always secretly feared that I really sucked until then.
What’s your opinion of the dance scene in the US right now?
In so many ways it’s an incredible industry, becoming more grown up and diverse by the day. But I do think we need some big innovators freshening things up a bit right now to stop the sounds from feeling stale. Feels like the headliners have been the same for a few years now.
What are you looking forward to most about CRSSD Fest?
This will be my first Californian show since taking the time off to have the baby, so I am so excited to play for my home crowd. I’m always changing my set, so nothing new about that, but it will probably be a new feel and sound than what people saw me play last. But I always gotta’ get my tracks in there too though.
Where are your favorite places to play in the world, and why?
Can’t possibly answer. Too hard. My memory doesn’t work like that.
What are the biggest things in your pipeline at the moment?
I’m sitting on some eggs for sure. Not sure when they will hatch though.
If you could recommend three artists to catch from the lineup, who would you pick?
Honey Dijon, DJDS and me.