Test Press SF 2008 Kicks Off!

Thursday January 17th 2008 marked not only the first of four Test Press events that Pyramind will host throughout the year but it was also the very first to be held in the new space at 832 Folsom. Since its inception, Test Press has been held at various venues in San Francisco and now everyone involved with Test Press is glad to have a permanent home.

The evening began with Pyramind Director, Greg Gordon, welcoming all the attendees to the new space and introductions of the Test Press Committee by the night's host and Test Press committee member, Rashida Clendening. The other members of the committee who were recognized were Scott Quick, Jeff Straw and Tyler Stone along with new committee members Darcy Kearney and Chris Horgan. The panelists who judged the tracks then took their places and were introduced. The illustrious group included: Bay Area house producer and DJ Chris Lum, DJ Chris Demestra who has worked on productions with DRC and Ars Nova just to name a few, and Distribution Manager for INgrooves, Martin Cuevas.

The sponsor for the night's festivities was INgrooves . Jonathan Ojeda, Label Relations Manager for INgrooves gave a brief presentation in between track review sessions to explain to the crowd what they do at INgrooves. As a digital media distribution and publishing company they provide various distribution and marketing services via their INgrooves and ONE Digital divisions.

The tracks that were submitted to Test Press ranged from downtempo to house and psychedelic trance. Before listening to each submission, the artist/producer said a few words about their track. One characteristic that all the tracks shared was high quality production value. The judges took notice and their feedback reflected that. The audience also took notice, and their was feedback was noted by the Applause-O-Meter! Martin from INgrooves was impressed enough by Frost-RAVEN and Esoteknic's tracks to speak with them about submitting their tracks for distribution. Not to be overlooked, Frost-RAVEN is a former student and Esoteknic is a current student at Pyramind.

After the track reviews and a short break, refreshments came out and Return to Mono took to the stage. For those who don't know, Return to Mono was one of last year's Test Press winners and their track, Insult to Injury, was featured on the 2007 Epiphyte Records CD/DVD release, Test Press SF. They played a hot live set and it was the perfect way to wrap up the evening.

While the band played on, the judges tallied their scores and the numbers from the Applause-O-Meter! The finalists were announced at the very end of the night. Thanks to all who contributed tracks and made the night a resounding success!



5th Place (tie) :
"Creative Force"

by Esoteknic &
"Need To Get Up "

by Professor Bang


4th Place :
" Summer Sutra "

by Cyber Sutra


3rd Place :
" Tracy's Toy "

by Ed Mazur


2nd Place :
" Useless "

by Elz and Elise


1st Place :
"Morning Haze "

by Frost-RAVEN f/MDFX