Desert Hearts mantra is “House. Techno. Love.”. Yet, a quick glance at their past lineups and label catalog demonstrate a strong prevalence of house with a light sprinkling of techno.
This is not surprising given the arid roots of Desert Hearts. The now-worldwide collective began as an outdoor party deep in Mojave desert, hosting no more than 200 people. Not to say that techno can’t exist at a function like that, but it’s not where one would expect to hear the throbbing, drum-heavy sounds of Kangking Ray or Tommy Four Seven.
That kind of techno belongs in the warehouse, and that’s exactly where Desert Heats brethren Marbs and Evan Casey introduced the new Desert Hearts sublabel, Desert Hearts Black.
Along with the sublabel’s debut EP, Torus — which also featured the DH frequenter Rinzen — Marbs and Evan hosted a (not so) secret party in LA to celebrate the new branch of the Desert Hearts oeuvre while making a statement that Desert Hearts Black was taking the “Techno” part of “House. Techno. Love.” quite seriously.
What ensued was one of the best-produced warehouse parties LA has seen in recent memory. The crew managed to maintain the inclusivity of Desert Hearts in a completely different environment. Take a glimpse at the photos below to get a taste of what went down.
Photo credit: 2nd Nature Photo
