The Sacramento Electronic Music Festival (SEMF) is a multi-day electronic music festival held in Sacramento that mixed national touring electronic acts with local Sacramento-area talent.[1][2] It was organized by Submerge Magazine's Adam Saake and his crew, with Submerge serving as the festival's media sponsor.[1] The festival was created "to highlight Sacramento's local artists as well as bring internationally known acts to the area," confirming its dual local/national programming mission stated in its own promotional materials.[3][1]
At a glance
- Organized by Submerge's Adam Saake, with Clay Nutting of Concerts for Charity involved in the 2012 edition.[1] Saake also operated the event through the co-organizer entity "Unseen Heroes," with sponsorship inquiries directed to info@unseen-heroes.com.[4]
- 2012 was the festival's third annual edition, placing its first edition around 2010.[5][6] The inaugural 2010 edition attracted press coverage from the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento News & Review, Submerge Magazine (cover story), San Francisco Magazine, and KDVS radio.[4]
- The 2011 edition was held at Townhouse and was described as "the hottest ticket in town that weekend."[1][7] The Townhouse Lounge venue featured two full bars, a main stage, a side stage, two levels, and vendor space.[4]
- The 2012 edition ran May 3–5 across Harlow's and Momo Lounge, with three-day passes at $30 and single-day tickets at $13.[1]
- The 4th annual (2013) edition ran May 28 – June 1, 2013, opening with a free show at LowBrau and continuing at Assembly and a secret location.[8]
- Programming deliberately balanced "national and local talent."[1]
What it is
SEMF is a Sacramento-based electronic music festival spanning multiple days and venues, programmed around a "round robin" of overlapping sets so that attendees moved between rooms and stages throughout each night.[5] It was billed as a showcase that paired touring electronic, beat-scene, and hip-hop artists with Sacramento ("916") local performers, with coverage repeatedly framing the local talent as a point of civic pride.[5][1] Submerge Magazine acted as the festival's media sponsor and one of its principal organizers.[1]
History and editions
The 2012 festival was explicitly called the "third annual" SEMF, which dates the inaugural edition to roughly 2010.[5][6] According to the SEMF 2011 sponsorship deck (published by organizer Unseen Heroes), the 2010 inaugural edition drew press coverage from the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento News & Review, Submerge Magazine (cover story), San Francisco Magazine, and KDVS radio, among other outlets.[4] The January 27–29, 2011 dates referenced in that same sponsorship deck are for the second-year event, confirming the first edition took place in 2010.[4]
The prior (2011) edition was held at the Townhouse and, per Submerge, drew a line down the block and was "the hottest ticket in town that weekend."[1] The Townhouse Lounge venue offered two full bars, a main stage, a side stage, two levels, and vendor space.[4] The 2011 edition included a set by local band Sister Crayon.[7] By the close of the 2012 edition, Submerge declared that "in only its third year, the SEMF is official."[6]
The 2012 edition was a three-day festival held May 3–5, 2012, at Harlow's and Momo Lounge (MoMo's), with sets also running on the patio for DJ performances.[1][5] Three-day passes were sold for $30 and individual day tickets for $13.[1]
The 4th annual (2013) edition ran May 28 – June 1, 2013. It opened May 28 with a free performance by Tobias Wilner at LowBrau, with main festival nights at Assembly on Thursday and Friday (May 30–31) and a secret location on Saturday (June 1).[8] The 2013 lineup included PicturePlane, RAC (Remix Artist Collective), EPROM, DJ Whores, Sister Crayon, and Little Foxes alongside headliner Tobias Wilner.[8]
Organizers
The festival was led by Submerge's Adam Saake and his crew; the 2012 edition also involved Clay Nutting of Concerts for Charity.[1] Submerge Magazine was the recurring media sponsor and promoted the event in its pages.[1] The organizer entity behind SEMF was called "Unseen Heroes" — the 2011 sponsorship deck lists Adam Saake (adamdavidsaake@gmail.com) as the general info contact and info@unseen-heroes.com as the sponsorship contact.[4]
Notable acts and programming
The 2011 edition (at Townhouse) included a set by local band Sister Crayon.[7]
The 2012 lineup was a large mix of national and local artists. Confirmed and announced acts included Death Grips, Shlohmo, Mux Mool, Lorn, DJ Nobody, Salva, Dibia$e (Dibiase), B. Bravo, Starship Connection, Giraffage, Raleigh Moncrief, Dusty Brown, Yalls, Doom Bird, Favors, Little Foxes, James & Evander, Dolor, Adoptahighway, and Chachi Jones, among others.[1]
Day 1 (Thursday, May 3, 2012) at Harlow's served as an unofficial preview tied to the Los Angeles/San Francisco beat night Low End Theory, featuring "low end theorists" Lorn, Dibia$e, Jonwayne, and DJ Nobody — artists associated with the L.A. weekly at The Airliner.[5] The night also spotlighted local performers Paper Pistols, Doom Bird, and Dusty Brown; Submerge singled out Dusty Brown's set (drawing on his This City Is Killing Me EP) and the elusive beat-maker Satellites, who performed using a Monome.[5]
Mux Mool (Brian Lindgren) was featured on Day 2 (Friday, May 4) at Harlow's, touring behind his album Planet High School (released Feb. 7, 2012, on Ghostly International).[2]
Day 3 (Saturday, May 5, 2012) coincided with Cinco de Mayo and a full moon. Death Grips were scheduled for a roughly midnight slot but did not appear, a no-show tied to the cancellation of their world tour.[6] The night still featured Shlohmo's headlining set, plus performances from Salva, James and Evander, Raleigh Moncrief, and The Master System (whose Brian Breneman closed by mashing the Beastie Boys' "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" over Death Grips' "Guillotine").[6]
The 2013 edition featured Tobias Wilner as headliner alongside PicturePlane, RAC (Remix Artist Collective), EPROM, DJ Whores, Sister Crayon, and Little Foxes.[8]
Local status
SEMF is itself a Sacramento institution — a hometown festival organized by Sacramento's Submerge Magazine and staged at Sacramento venues (Townhouse, Harlow's, Momo Lounge, LowBrau, Assembly).[1][5] Submerge described the local electronica talent as instilling "the 916 pride in our festival," underscoring its homegrown identity even while booking national headliners.[5]