Lost in the kaleidoscopic wonderland of Resonate 2024, attendees journeyed through a psychedelic odyssey of swirling melodies and trippy rhythms.

April 4th to 6th, 2024

by Adam Mitchell

The third Resonate Suwannee Music Festival, beautifully festooned with five performances of Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9), multiple performances by world-famous party performers, Ott, Mark Farina and many more, is a family-friendly bacchanalia found in Florida’s much endeared Spirit of Suwannee Music Park; a place all should be fortunate enough to experience.  Three day’s fun-filled and fantastical events reviewed by one glowing attendee below.

Despite an overwhelming satisfying time, the entire community felt the crack-down on music at camp needs to change.  Regardless of this after-hours buzzkill, few could stomach thoughts of skipping next year’s Resonate, phenomenal as this and each one is.

Thursday Schedule:

First show of Resonate, Sauce Pocket took to the Amphitheater.

Following some post set up brews w fellow campers, some funkified jazz rocked the crowd at SP. Drums thundered lightning quick as horns swarmed about.  Deluge of keys and strings grew to flood the dancefloor with swaying feet and buoyant ears, soaking it all up. Calypso’s vibe of appropriation be damned, these musicians sailed with sounds ripped from every era & culture worth remembrance. Inviting the throaty, evocative voice of the incomparable Femme Fatale, Jessica Jones, she brought us all to move under the afternoon sun like it was midnight’s last dance… Riley O’Brien, their drummer, then proposed to his beloved as the band played most supportively.  After such sweet nuptial success, SP got spacey & weird. Indeed, Resonate‘s 1st act, Sauce Pocket, was loving magic indeed.

Next, Sub-Id at the Porch Stage

Bassy, synthy-beats: enough to have me resort to protection of ear plugs, undeniable high amplitude emanations from the dynamic duo. Disco glitch funked us up. Sparse shade pressed the party close to the stage, and others further back to dance and vibe as they viewed festival merchants about. As the sun seemed to overwhelm some, thankful for paramedic presence to get them up and dancing soon again. Old school drum & bass snazzed up like Japanese animation did to old school cartoons, Sub-Id was well worth catching.

Missing Sneezy at the Amphitheater to catch late arriving crew at camp, there are always necessary costs for ‘Expert’ Festival Family Reunions!

Our expanded camp collective marched onto Mark Farina at the Porch Stage!

Shade of late day brought splendorous festival fashions to light before the emergence of nighttime antics, all to the smooth dancing vibes of MF. Taking some of us back decades, steeping richly as tea in his delectable Mushroom Jazz. Keys danced a Chef’s kiss over the beefy beats & deep-ass cuts he mixed. Sweet Lord Sweet Chariot, how he let us ride! After sliding into some new, innovative synth vibes, steered us into a nuevo cover of Pink Floyd’s/Time/NIN’s/Closer. He bridges so softly, “they are cushions’ a new friend & 1st time Suwannee’r aptly spoke in a whisper of awe.

With last light of day, LeSpecial was great to bring in dark appetizers for the night to come at the Amphitheater stage.  Compared to smooth vibes of Mark Farina just before, LeSpecial brought their uncompromising metal spin to the Resonate party.

Meshuggah t-shirt awaited LeSpecial to start along my side, sweet as MF’s closer was to leave behind me.  Beginning their highly anticipated set with ‘Raise’, grabbing hearts and bodies assembled before. Theophonic arisings as this worshiped/unholy trinity set their 1st to bed, as the audience fomented enthusiastically. If MF gave cushions, LeSpecial brought hellishly heaven-launched hammers, a devilish delight to headbangers among us. Dirge-like metal worthy last march to Ragnarok. Playing with how they filled the heavy measures of ‘The Vessel’, the crowd was all aboard LeSpecial’s delightful maelstrom of noise. Mashup, of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ metal-made-dance with Darude’s classic ‘Sandstorm’: LeSpecial’s incredible ‘EnterSandstorm’. Fruit Wolf Dance into a medley of RAM’s, ‘Bulls on Parade’ into LeSpecial’s own, ‘They Live.’ It all sounded like horror John Carpenter must dream of  Moshpit & stage-tossed panties on all guitars played. Metal Ballads live strong with LeSpecial, and all animals within us were now unleashed for the three nights ahead.

As the 1st night officially began, Sunsquabi took to the Porch Stage. Peeling off for some spiced chai & a savory samosa before joining the fullest-yet crowd of Resonate‘s 1st night,  Sunsquabi took the stage. Jamtastic grooves, sliding up & down. As the night progressed, Subsquabi wove tighter, darker and sexier sounds. Special props to the ‘7ft True Fan’, on his knees on the front center rail so that the great crowd behind could also see the band play. This prayerfully kneeling giant among fans banged & shook his head as others rocked their bodies in time to the music.  Guitar ascended over a grand horizon of keys over percussions loftily adrift. Lights grew red as paces and pulses surged on the dancefloor.

Taking break towards end of Sunsquabi to see if lost friends may be found, I discovered gentle refuge at the ‘Art Village’ where steel drum sounds soothed.  Unreasonably exhausted, I was thankful for soft spaces within earshot to lay down, stretch & chill in the ambiance of the healing spaces.  Bass still felt in body, eyes filled with stagelight, with peaceful distance from over-stimulation.  Circus performers, 3-d light mapping, art and much was found here so that no sense of loss could be felt throughout the weekend.

After brief reprieve, catching  Papadosio  at the Amphitheater to continue the party!

Ending the main stage performances, Papadosio showed- though many smaller crewed groups and individuals fill the playbil- Papadosio showed the breadth musicians as the five assembled of Papadosio could perform.  No other act in the world brings what Papadosio does. Getting snazzy & weird, then to rapid spacey D&B as their set was just setting in… simultaneous ‘ohhhs’ of delight from delicate keys, drums and guitar soared. Boards of Canada “Roygbiv’ was covered most tenderly by Papadosio.

Though missing earlier performances of Pheops, Thought Process and Mindex in the Music Hall, after the outdoor performances came to a close, I was able to catch some great performances by both, Zach Uelmer & K+ Lab on the initial night of Resonate.

Zach Uelmer brought a killer set to the rising thermometer of sauna-like dancers inside the Music Hall.   Compared to the 40-degree ambiance outdoors, Zach got things smoking inside.

Fun, weird innovations across decades upon decades of recorded music. The cap on entrants, though bothersome while in line, made a nice club-like ambiance. Zach Uelmer made the whole audience (& himself) dance so passionately, the dancebeats seemed weaponized enough to cause fervor.

Ending the first night’s scheduled performances,  K+Lab turned the heat up in the Music Hall.

Final act of Resonate‘s 1st night, taking stage just prior to 1am, K+Lab brought scratchy p-funkish spin on everything, and boy… That Boy Needs Therapy/frontier psychiatry cover went off the dubby rails; covers so chopped’n’screwed, your ear was no more certain of what familiar thing it stepped upon than a skeleton who lost his bones stumbling through a cypress swamp. Due to body heat rising in approaching volcanic conditions, plus fatigue & desire to beat the crowd, I headed back to camp with nearly 30-minutes left of K+Lab’s set. The high bpm demands for bodies remaining much justified my retreat… or your writer reveals too many signs of age!

… Somehow, I mustered/was musterable enough to get to the ‘Renegade Set’ by Sauce Pocket at the Bird Sanctuary, then onto rampant shennanganism at camp until dawn creeped to rise, racing to bed in violent fits of laughter before sun caught us in the act.

Friday Schedule:

Missed due to slow, laughter filled time at camp, both, Ben Clonch and Friends & LPT’s music could be heard winding through the shaded moss, trees, and smiling festival faves, could be heard from their performances at the Amphitheatre State.

First show our camp-bound laughter found freedom to attend was Afrobeta at the Porch Stage.

Joining a bday-celebrating friend, Angela, to her favorite local Miami band, we caught the Cuban husband & wife couple, Afrobeta.  She brought her haunting, melodious vocals over her beau’s ceaselessly intriguing sounds, ‘better halves’ hard to parse from the polyphonic partners. Complex, honestly introspective, relatable lyrics were a pleasure to sway & sing along to.  “It feels good to make noise,” Cuci Amadour exclaimed from the mike! With classically recognized fundamentals blurring with highly inventive, stompable dance beats, Afrobeta is great fun to see.

K+Lab at the Porch Stage.

After some self-care at camp and some pittance of recovery the night before, Onto K+Lab’s second set.   After the rager they brought to the Music Hall the night before, many in the bold afternoon heat still found ways to enjoy their sick jams throughout. I listened to the end of K+Lab with friends in the shade.  Though the large field used in Hulaween was not needed for the smaller crowd of Resonate, for a more private escape close to everything, the open field was a great place to chill & watch the sky with friends.

Ghost-Note at the Amphitheater.

As some friends adventured the late day sun on a bike ride, I joined the fun crowd gathering as Ghost Note as they expertly introduced their jazzy expertise for us to enjoy. Tasty grooves gratified revelers seeming insatiable for all the good things waiting as the 2nd night of Resonate began. Closing with tight fast funk which had to be rewound three times to be done proper- 1x nasty, 1x stanky & 1x funky!

Mark Farina’s 2nd & last set at the Porch Stage

Incredible, setting so many to dance with such joy, humor & bodily appeal. None could avoid contributing to the art we all came to be a part of, as Mark Farina superbly conducted, we dancers at his disposal… a hilarious wardrobe-malfunction with a friend’s hat- impossible to successfully repair the microcircuitry with raver lights under dusk looming darker with each giggle- we had to return to camp.  Laughter locked us down, away from music, but incapable of missing a thing as we watched Spirit Lake start to shine under the sunset.

The New Mastersounds at the Amphitheater.

A long-held favorite of Jam Cruisers (& those who know), they lead fan-fueled, absolute banger of a set, filled with singing, dancing, and joyous funk!  We returned to the party just in time to feel like another exuberant bubble bursting from celebratory champagne, as this night’s cork just popped off.

OTT then began his 1st of 2 sets at the Porch Stage.

Ever the professional, like an expert surgeon, Ott cut in & out without leaving so much as a stitch.  Seamless between songs: millisecond perfection.  Unbelievable, considering how insanely unconventional his hallmark weird glitchy sounds from other dimensions strike ears and writhing bodies alike on the dancefloor.  As with near all Ott sets, time-travel made me wish this swift hour lasted several more…

Sound Tribe Sector-9 (STS9)’s 1st of 5 weekend sets at the Amphitheater

Beatific set took our breath away, silencing the crowd with ascendant beginnings, tender stirrings, delicately blended to evolve into wildly rageable sounds. STS9’s first set was well worth the Resonate-wide attendees’ rapt attentions. Stay tuned for SFL Insider’s ‘STS9 deep dive’ Resonate review by JB coming soon!

While long-adored Chromeo’s DJ set at the Porch Stage obviously drew a crowd for thoroughly danceable reasons, I left the party at Chromeo to catch a newer artist I’ve recently discovered, Kr3ture for my much anticipated first time in the Music Hall… only to turn around, due to too subdued and disjointed a set, back into Chromeo’s snuggalacious sounds.

Somewhat buzzkilled from a disappointing Kr3ture performance (though much loving all their recordings I’ve heard), when in need of a break, refuge spaces of Resonate’s Art Village allowed docile recovery within earshot of everything.   Ralf ‘the Elph’ Edge (my nickname for this Gnomish wonder) took us through his geometric visions via a videogame he engineered.  He can be found at #GeoVisualCreations.

Sadly, I missed, both the incredible Megan Hamilton and the appropriately named Side-Trackd at the Music Hall as we got side-tracked at camp, getting necessary fuel for the night ahead, changing wardrobes & cleaning up from a full day and night prior, before seizing the night yet ahead.

Back up to partying potential just in time to catch STS9’s Chromalight set, filled with new music at the Amphitheater… so beauteous throughout, few words may suffice for the empyrean awe so felt.  Spirits abound lifted in heavenly directions throughout their set.  Beyond being a ‘home’ to so many of us, STS9’s sonic sermon brought (even atheists among us) back to our ‘holiest of holy’ Church under the live oak, Spanish moss, smoke-effects, laser lights, and transcendent music in Spririt of Suwanee’s veritable womb: the Amphitheater Stage.

Sacred though some sound seem: OMfnG… the late-night Dimond Saints at the Music Hall!

An absurd, highly anticipated duo grabbed the dancers in the music hall like no act yet, the final act of Friday’s incredible night. In the swamp-like body heat, many barely textiled dancers would take breaks in the 40-degree air outside, steam rising like passions before Dimond Saints joy-fueled offering to their near foaming & quite rabid fans. Salacious movements dripped as sweat.  Lovely, liquid-like-ladies flowed, blood pressures and carnal appetites increasing all around.  The floor, slick in sweat, faces slathered with smiles, sins socially sent in the purest ways our Ids could ever… Dimond Saints for a party you’ll never forget/live down!

No Renegade set this night.  I walked aimlessly/without arriving at initial aims, with new friend, the fantastically mustached & phenomenally fashioned, Issac.  Many friendly camps were visited while losing my own- always at home- reuniting for late night grub & playful parties back at ‘my’ intended camp.

Stasi-like enforcers of ‘no camp music’ (just ‘doing their jobs,’ as all soldiers of tyranny) shut so much fun down without necessity.  Little pebble-like wifi speakers and even a cell phone’s speaker playing music were intolerable violations none could understand or justify.  Indeed, this is one certain thing to eliminate from future festivals at Spirit of Suwanee.  Don’t stop but the most unreasonable of parties!

Saturday Schedule:

Vlad The Inhaler at the Amphitheater

Some rushed after leisured/crunchy waking, while others of us worked hard to muster after them. Melodic instrumentals transitioning to phenomenal head-bangable surf-rock vibes. Vlad the Inhaler was a Great way to start our day!

Shuffling our booties on down to Booty Boo, at the Porch Stage

Great day dance set, Booty Boo was weird & definitely ratchet enough to wake us for more excitement to come.   Standing to the shade to the right of stage, alternating between dancing and sitting down to chat with others, play giant tick-tack-’whoa’, examining the artists among us, and bathe in the unmatched vibe Resonate set out at Suwanee.

An afternoon delight indeed, long-beloved Dumpstaphunk then took to the Amphitheater Stage.

In the groove from 1st go:  Talking Heads cover amazed those it swayed, when going back ‘Home’ to their classics at the stage this author fell in love with Dumpstaphunk over 2 decades prior. This long-standing favorite of Suwannee festivals surely made some 1st time Suwanee attendees fall in love with them for the rest of their lives too. Home gets bigger & better every year at Suwanee reunions.

Humandala at the Porch Stage was missed for some recovery time.

As I wandered back to lick my wonderous wounds, 3rd day faces- festival weary as they were- looked so freaking-ineffably lovely & joyous in the bright afternoon sun.   When asked what my favorite sight of Resonate was, this was my answer: all the smiling people!

After grub and dusting off, back to catch STS9 Axe The Cables set at the Amphitheater.

An epiphanic, incredible beginning to their third set of the weekend, raising us higher to heaven with every beat, note, and moment of their glorious and functionally sacred set. STS9 seems sweet mortar tp bond our Resonate community together: a Family we all can feel belonging to.   This was STS9’s most lovely set of the weekend, imo, though their final act drove things higher in other directions too.

Moontricks soulful bluegrass/world-dance music at the Porch Stage was a much-loved vocal act I caught a bit before sunset.

Despite coming from Canada, Moontricks brought swampy southern sounds to the last hour of warm Florida sunlight.  Corn-mash stomping & bassy-hip bopping, we sang to songs long/new listened to for this groovy 1st timer to the Resonate stage. Moontricks offered welcome sounds to return to!

After a meal necessary for the act to follow, on to catch the phenomenal Cimafunk at the Amphitheater.

“Funky dance party is all I needed to hear,” an eager 1st hearer said of Cimafunk, arriving before soundcheck was through. As Moontricks finished their last song, the crowd flooded the Amphitheater with torrents of anticipation for their show. Despite being over 25+ minutes late to begin due to prolonged soundcheck, vital vocals & other audio levels still needed to be adjusted before things really took flight. Once righted, their unusual/traditional way to end their show had a good chunk of gorgeous fans on stage with the band, shaking their bodies like an inseparable part of the percussionists.  With better sound-technician results, their show would have been much better throughout.  Still, a Cimafunk show is one always lucky to catch!

Maddy O’Neal at the Porch Stage.

Bringing a heavy, hard-jamming set for us to boogie down to before down-throttling us towards a smoothly shifting evening ahead.

Tycho at the Amphitheater.

Earlier soundtech delays from Cimafunk continued to postpone the Amphitheater for the night.  That said, Tycho’s beautiful slope expanded to bloom upon our ears, bodies vibrating to bass hum growing within. Their 1st show in 9 months, though apologizing for “a few hiccups” following their 1st 2 songs, the crowd lovingly devoured each and every evocative note. After some beloved classics, Tycho’s latest single took things in a more active, danceable yet thoughtful style they are so recognized for. Continuing with the danceable vibe, the attendees opened their bodies up from cocoons of inner reflections. Sharing brand new songs from their upcoming Fall album, provocative surging caused well timed movements among the dances stirring within us. A perfect closer from Tycho as we went onward & upward to interplanetary disco space… and the otherworldly Ott ahead!

OTT at the Porch Stage for his second and final performance of Resonate’24.

Ott seemed to start playing with alien chandeliers, vibing us to dimensions beyond. Across time (of his set) & space (of the crowd) hips swayed across our universe. Tying our hips & spines into & out of knots’ near out-of-body, into Ott-erly other worlds. DMT elves came out from the wormwood-work to dance all around, as with no act before.  Ending his set on our final evening, the fitting “Queen of All Everything,” his beauteous ‘sacred big ship’ to set  hips slowly swaying away.  While Ott then thanked us profusely, he bemoaned having only 4 minutes remaining in his set when “all [his] songs are 8-minutes long.”  Old favorite as Bob Marley is, I took this last track Ott played  to seize opportunity to head to STS9’s Amphitheater set early.

STS9, final set at the Amphitheater

STS9 began their final, bittersweet set acridly- and with a bite- before smoothly parking in a peaceful place. Taking listeners within & without, their expansive set began to erupt towards its second half. So much energy, emotional and physical bound up & expended this weekend came to a head. Sounds seemed to clean our ears as well as our overfilling souls. Stirring up some D&B vibes with panache, before tucking us in with a loving good night, this final scheduled performance of Resonate’24, STS9 ensured we would wake of dreams of attending soon again.

Reality can disappoint, most especially those of us with severe FOMO.  Regrettably, this final day of Resonate, I didn’t make it to the Music Hall even once.  The acts I mourn to have missed there are the lovely down-tempo grooves of Late Night Radio, the snazzy, soulful, jazzophile/dance innovations of Austen Van Der Bleek, the dark, lovely-wubby trip-glitch of Skiz, the joyfully bright vocal dance vibes of Future Joy, and the cryptic, trans-dimensional jams of Koan Sound.

After the music, new great friend, Eddie, took liberty of using Ralph ‘the Elf’s steel drum, attracting scores to the previously empty meditation orb with his sensitive side…  before he apologized for utilizing Ralph’s drum & quickly being exiled with me via his beautifully obnoxious side and our convulsing rhino-like giggles.  We were great for this area right up until we most gloriously weren’t!  Laughter took us away as if on clouds, into the night.

Ending night at camp with a fire, skipping out on a personally impossible legend of a 10-minute walk to the Bird Sanctuary to catch Renegade sets by both, Koan Sound and Sauce Pocket, simply to soak up time with the family-crew we’ve loved for years.  No time to chew sour sandwiches of sorrow, snacking on sweetness of spiritual diabetes inducing friends.

Our camp’s wild and amazingly memorable night ended just prior to sunrise… for the most part.

A few brief hours of attempted rest, and back up Sunday to enjoy some rushed & some more leisured goodbyes, eating together, taking final photos & socializing with those among us still basking the glow only found under the Spanish moss at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, as Resonate’24 came to its dream-like end.

Resonate is, at its core, beyond all the words we may use to describe its splendor upon our hearts and lives.  If reading some of this inspires you to join Spirit of Suwannee for Resonate (a beautiful ‘baby-Hulaween’) next year, we will all be more fortunate for it. Resonate 2024, continues to echo an exuberance for life for all who attend.

Introducing a Friend to STS9: A Musical Journey at Spirit of the Suwanee!

by JB Lawrence

At this point in my life, having seen so many shows and having had so many unique experiences along the way, the thing that brings me the most joy is introducing a new friend to music they otherwise wouldn’t hear. And what better place to do it than in the towering oaks and drooping moss of The Spirit of the Suwanee. And what better band than STS9. My only hope was that she might get to experience even a tenth of what I’ve gone through with them over the years.

Their first set on Friday, they came out swinging with a19 minute long ‘Peoples’ jam, from their 2005 studio release, Artifact. Myself, my peoples, and the virgin ears of my new friend were awestruck from moment one. Even the ever divisive ‘Walk to the Light’, with its subjectively corny vocal sample was received with an open heart by myself and even the most cynical fans among us. They finished the set with a funk fest gone fonky in ‘Monkey Music’. The guitarist Hunter Brown’s opening guitar lick always reminded me of joyful primates swinging from tree to tree. So, the crowd reciprocated with swinging and swaying here and there, only stopping when they called it a set.

Their “Chromalight” set which followed was all new material. The only note I took about this set was right before they started playing. I just wrote down what I had involuntarily blurted out loud to no one in particular, “New music makes me nervous”. I then explained to my friend that because I love them so much and I have such high hopes for their future, I put a lot of stock into newer music. But we also noticed the few people around us that heard me, that had no context laughing hysterically at such a silly comment. It sounds like something someone with a head full of acid might say… but ya know? Who’s t’say? This set was mesmerizing. It was spacious and wide open and mostly happy major key bliss. At one point, my new friend teared up, and I might’ve fallen in love a little bit. But that’s neither here nor there. They closed with a higher energy tune, their first single from the upcoming album, ‘Searchlight’ which was a lovely way to end their first night.

For over a decade now STS9 has done the occasional acoustic set. The first time I saw them, all 5 band members had computers on stage with them, so you can imagine how far they’ve come and the journey that longtime fans have been on all this time. I love that they played earlier in the day on Saturday while it was still sunny out. Their dulcet tones meshed with the hot sun and sweaty bodies like honey blending into warm tea, creating a rich, immersive experience that lingered in the air and energized the crowd. They didn’t get too rowdy, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they played so many typical electric bangers unplugged!? ‘Get Loud’ is a song usually played with many many different samples throughout and I think it suffers ultimately when they play it acoustically, but the band can basically do no wrong by me. They could all start playing Fisher Price toys instead of real instruments and I’d just watch and remark… ‘‘How brave!’’.

The final STS9 set of the weekend started with a song that has been mostly shelved for the better part of the last decade and I mean, I never really missed it but they played with conviction and inspiration. From there, they started the sample of Alan Watts that has always preceded ‘Totem’. For a band that doesn’t sing, they certainly manage to make you feel an awful lot. And they carefully craft each sample to speak for them. “I want YOU!” Watts says as they drop into a groovy and sexy ‘Totem>modular’, really highlighting Hunter on guitar and later Phipps on his modular synthesizer rig. The rest of the set was a high energy shred fest. Zack and Alana (drums and bass respectively) guided the 5 of them but Hunter and Phipps (on keys) really took ahold towards the latter half of the set and came but inches from setting the forest on fire. The band has been leveling up time and time again as of late and this was no different. They are curating each of their destination shows specifically for the city their in and I’m really grateful to have been in Live Oak, Florida to have experienced this specific pot of soup they cooked for us.

After a really great Resonate last year, this year had a pretty high bar set and they jumped clean over it. The people, the friends are the ones that make these boutique festivals so special nowadays for me. But when the music is that good everything else typically tends to fall into place. I’ll be there with bells on next year regardless of the supporting acts as long as STS9 is headlining. And if you’re wondering, I’m thinking of either taping some tiny little Christmas bells to a sweater all tuned to the key of C, or either a dumbbell. I guess the main thing I’m trying to say is go to Resonate next year and bring bells.