Pirate Radio

To a genre that hasn’t traditionally been about live performance, Pirate Radio, Brooklyn’s latest electronic dance music project, is bringing that change - and audiences are responding.

Both Karan Mehra (decks) and Brian Taylor (guitars, keyboards, theremin) bring their musical influences in rock to electronic music in a way that sounds seamless and yet surprises the crowd at the same time. Quickly creating an identity for themselves in the city with their high-energy sets, their trademark sound combines house, trance, progressive and electro with live improvised guitar riffs, solos and effects. Karan favors tracks by Eric Prydz, Above & Beyond, Mat Zo and Zedd, while guitar legends like John Petrucci, Shawn Lane, Zakk Wylde, Brad Paisley and Les Paul heavily influence Brian’s sound.

In the less than seven months since its inception, the act has already performed seven times at five different venues in New York City. Playing just their second show ever at the institutional Pianos in Manhattan, they put on a performance unlike any other that dance music has seen: a four-hour house and trance set in tribute to Pink Floyd, with samples and edits, and live riffs and solos from a number of Pink Floyd classics. By just their sixth show, they were opening for international trance acts Mark Eteson and Jorn Van Deynhoven at one of New York’s biggest clubs, Santos Party House.

Coming up in the rest of 2013: new original Pirate Radio productions, playing at more and diverse local venues, and performances outside New York City.