Downtown Los Angeles | Saturday, April 11, 2026
Even from the door at Darkside Ascension – a position I rarely fill after years behind the scenes, but did with humility as I re-enter the scene as a sober supporter rather than the Soulestial leader I’ve often been in the past – I could hear and feel the thick vibes of an event that has elevated to a new level.
The marriage of Shadow Wulf with Pulse California was long overdue. While the absence of Armando Kroma, Aaron Jacobs, and Josh Kwon is always felt (and Terrakroma’s El Gudo & Soulestial’s Mike Thomas smiling from the astral plane), the high manic energy of Andrew Kroma from Terrakroma is the proper spark to ignite a night paying homage to those that helped build this community, while the B2B closing set by two parallel brothers from another mother dimension – Paradigm & Psilovybe – marched us on into the ironically bright future of this movement.
Pulse’s careful curation throughout the years with Shadow Wulf’s particular precision proved to be exactly what we have been waiting for – PsyTrance welcomed back into the fold where Techno has lately dominated with PsyTech as the new hungry daughter of two powerhouse genres.
The flair and flavor of psytech is ambitious and honestly, a breath of fresh air to a scene that has felt stagnant and broken for years. In a moment of old-school wisdom, OG psy-wizard Yuli Fershtat aka Perfect Stranger asked that his set not be recorded because it was destined to be enchanting and ephemeral. You had to be there to feel the pulse of what was happening in real time.
And the classically-trained musical synthesizer Jossie Telch was the perfect accent to this psychedelic dish served spicy and succinct while most of LA was out in the desert forgetting that culinary aural enlightenment is not found in snapshots and instagram reels, but in sonic storylines that percolate and undulate across the dancefloor.
The two communities coming together felt effortless. Techno and psy-trance holding hands while other genres and promoters scramble behind them trying to figure out how to work with each other. What better way to showcase this than transitioning from Crescendoll back-to-backing with fellow label-mate Drew Blyther who made the pilgrimage to his second home in LA into Jossie Telch – both Jossie & Erin (Shadow Wulf & Darkside mystic mastermind Crescendoll) celebrating birthdays the same week.
For the first time in nearly six years, Crescendoll & Drew Blyther played side by side, their set providing the balance between two sounds. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this new niche but blossoming environment.
The production – from Avery Lasers‘ meticulously synchronized light show to Subtract‘s perfectly-tuned sound; from Outfits & Oddities‘ delightfully weird warehouse to the mixture of high art, live painting, and Harmonic Light‘s quantum light painting; from Psylotus’ stage deco to the bonkers but beautiful crowd…
It’s nights like this that remind me why I do this and why people still come out and dance. No war, no untimely loss of friends, no post-capitalist meltdown, no AI-overtaking world can keep us from connecting with each other through the beautiful art of sound.
Congratulations Darkside, you’ve lit the fire we’ve all been waiting for.
Photos by Dan Burton Photography – @danburton_photography
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