It’s that time of the year again, when Los Angeles turns into one giant costume party. The Supermen and Draculas come out after dark, the Barbies multiply by the hour. One of the great things about living in a big city like LA is that there’s no end of great shows to dance through it all. It’s almost a given that any artist going on tour will make LA one of the stops, and Halloween weekend is when the city’s calendar gets truly ridiculous.
Out of the plethora of parties happening this year, two stood out to me. Same venue, two totally different vibes. Let’s dive in.
THE PLACE UNDER THE BRIDGE
If you made it to Skyline Festival at the end of February, you already know Ace*Mission Studios. After years of bouncing around downtown, from ROW DTLA to Expo Park to Grand Park, Insomniac’s house-and-techno festival landed here for its fifth edition, and as I wrote at the time, it felt like Skyline had finally found its forever home. The complex sits in Boyle Heights, just east of Downtown LA by the industrial-feel Arts District, inside a former beverage distribution hub that’s been reborn as production soundstages and creative offices.
The real star, though, is the Sixth Street Viaduct looming over the lot. Raving under a bridge never gets old. The organizer behind both nights is Factory 93, who even had its’ own stage during this year’s’ and next year’s Skyline Festival.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30: ANOTR
The first night belongs to ANOTR (read “another”), the Dutch duo from Amsterdam made up of Jesse van der Heijden and Oguzhan Guney, who had their hit “Talk to You“, the disco house track that’s been all over social media right now.
Their records usually lean toward chill, summer, beach-day house, the kind that will definitely satisfy all the Supermen, Draculas and Barbies on the dancefloor. However, if you listen to one of their sets, you’ll notice they seemingly mix bright, happy songs with tracks that go hard, and that push and pull is exactly what keeps a crowd moving for hours.
This sold-out show is part of their Withness album tour, named after their third studio album, and these two don’t skimp on production. If they bring out anything like what they did at London’s Alexandra Palace in September (they uploaded the full stream from the second night), expect rows and rows of glowing globes that light up and dance with you, floating up and down in every direction, with their logo blown up in big, bright, round letters while they play. Under the Sixth Street Bridge, that kind of show should flood the night before Halloween with color.
Then again, this is Halloween weekend, so who knows what they’ll bring to the table. Maybe those globes turn into floating jack-o’-lanterns, maybe the duo shows up dressed as each other. Either way, it’ll be a feast for the senses. Support comes from Miami selector Jesse Perez, the man behind Mr. Nice Guy Records, and LA’s own Xica Soul, with music from 6 p.m. to midnight. ANOTR’s weekend doesn’t stop there, either: they’re also on the bill for CircoLoco’s Halloween party in Brooklyn on Saturday.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31: BRUNELLO’S MELLOW CIRCUS
On Halloween night itself, the complex flips to host a completely different kind of party, this time inside Mission 4, one of the spaces within Ace*Mission. The title is cryptic in a good way: “Factory 93 presents Brunello’s Mellow Circus.”
Mellow Circus Records founder Brunello has had quite the run. He played at Portola last month, where his hypnotic set in the Warehouse cast a spell over the whole room. That came on the heels of sets at CRSSD, Lightning in a Bottle and EDC Mexico, plus an open-air Mellow Circus takeover of The Ruins at Knockdown Center in New York in September. Has he risen to the top of his game? If he isn’t there yet, he’s climbing fast.
Mellow Circus is both the label he launched in 2023 and the entire world he’s built around his music. He has described his own music as “dark circus,” while others tend to call it groovy, hypnotic and playful. The label’s own notes on his “Puppet Show” EP promise a “quirky, progressive, groovy, and fun spirit,” which is about right when you listen to one of his tracks. You’re transported to a different realm, somewhere between a carnival funhouse and a hypnotist’s stage. He even has an EP called “Costumes,” so if anyone was built for a Halloween booking, it’s him.
With that in mind, it could be anything goes. There might be a haunted carnival, a few creepy clowns working the crowd, or just Brunello on stage hypnotizing you for hours before you snap back to reality on Sunday, still wearing your vampire cape. Paris producer Bambounou, whose first two albums came out on Modeselektor’s 50Weapons label, and Jax Carter round out the bill from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Like ANOTR’s night, it’s sold out.
ONE VENUE, TWO SPELLS
What I love about this pairing is how much range it shows from one promoter in one place. Friday is all sunshine: paper-cut hills, glowing orbs and disco strings under an open sky. Saturday is the carnival after dark, a little sinister, a lot hypnotic, and probably full of clowns. Both are exactly the kind of night that has made this stretch of Boyle Heights, east of the Arts District, such a magnet for LA’s dance music crowd.
So pick your costume, pick your night (or don’t, and do both), and see you on the dancefloor.
ANOTR | Friday, October 30, 6 p.m. to midnight | Ace*Mission Studios (under the 6th St Bridge), 516 S Mission Rd, Los Angeles | 21+ | Sold out. Info at insomniac.com.
Factory 93 presents Brunello’s Mellow Circus | Saturday, October 31, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. | Ace*Mission Studios, Mission 4, Los Angeles | 21+ | Sold out. Info at insomniac.com.
CONNECT WITH
Factory 93: Website
Ace*Mission Studios: Website
ANOTR: Instagram | SoundCloud
Brunello: Instagram | Beatport
Insomniac: Website | Instagram