Brownies & Lemonade Celebrates 10 Years With Its B&L 10 For 10 Megamix

Kingpin party brand Brownies & Lemonade has been making waves within the dance music scene for 10 years. To celebrate its 10-year anniversary, Los Angeles’ premier party people are releasing B&L 10 for 10 Megamix.

The megamix, dropping today, Friday, December 23, is a collection of 10 exclusive mixes from 10 artists that are 10 minutes in length, which is being compiled into a 100-minute megamix. The mix features artists representing Brownies & Lemonade’s past, present and future. Artists who are on the megamix that showcase this include Jai Wolf, Louis the Child, Madeon, Alison Wonderland and GRiZ. Jai Wolf and Louis the Child represent Brownies & Lemonade’s SoundCloud era while Madeon, Alison Wonderland and GRiZ show artists the brand has been working with in recent years. Finally, ISOxo presents what Brownies & Lemonade sees as the future of dance music. To accompany the megamix, Sydney Jones has created manga-style drawings of each artist.

Throughout its 10th year, the brand has been hosting secret pop-up shows such as Alison Wonderland playing in a laundromat, Whethan performing at an abandoned zoo in Griffith Park and San Holo spinning in an elevator.

“The main focus this year was doing pop-up events that harken back to our original renegade Brownies & Lemonade spirit of non-traditional venues and interesting locations,” says Brownies & Lemonade creative director Chad Kenney. “These pop-ups were leading up to the culmination of this. We did 10 of them and they were a secret celebration of our 10 years. But now at the end of it, we wanted to give our fans something nice for all the years around the holidays.”

In spite of the massive stage takeovers at major festivals, hosting its own festival and throwing legit parties, Brownies & Lemonade retains an underground feel, which is best seen in its pop-up events. According to Kenney, this is done by making the events as accessible as possible, which draws in A-list artists as it reminds them of their smaller community-oriented parties that they saw in their up-and-coming days. Kenney adds that Skrillex, Allison Wonderland and Zeds Dead have attested to this.

When working on festivals and larger events, he says Brownies & Lemonade strives to keep a forward-looking lineup that is different from what most would see at a typical big stage at festivals.

“[We] showcase what we think the next wave [is], along with some of the most innovative artists that are currently doing,” Kenney adds.

An example of this is seen at New York’s Electric Zoo where the event series headlined G Jones and EPROM at the Brownies & Lemonade stage takeover as well as showcased the resurging genre drum’n’bass with artists like Netsky. A recent festival Brownies & Lemonade presented its talented lineup is Your Paradise in Fiji.

Brownies & Lemonade was initially created at the University of California, Los Angeles by Kush Fernando and Jose Guzman. It was mainly house parties known for their wild spirit, and after graduation, Fernando and Guzman wanted to keep the party going. The events initially began as local talent low-budget showcases, primarily for hip-hop music and deejays. The parties varied from day events to pop-ups and club nights. These post-college parties were when Brownies & Lemonade officially started in 2012, during the same time that Kenney joined the brand. The 2012 events began what is now seen as Brownies & Lemonade’s current form.

“From 2012 until now, it’s been 10 years of us really being one of the best, I would say, showcases for electronic music—the next wave for Los Angeles [as it’s] always being on the cutting edge for dance music, and that’s one of the things that we’ve been really proud of,” Kenney says. Indeed, Brownies & Lemonade proves to be among the best in its class.

As for the event brand’s key to success, Kenney says it’s being aware of changing times, the next big artists and what’s important for the generations to come.

“I think that it’s a combination of both having a finger on the pulse of what we think is coming up but also recognizing what is really current and deserves its shine at this moment,” Kenney says. “When you book things that require selling a lot of tickets, of course, you’re always going to have to acknowledge what’s current. But I think it’s a nice balancing act and complimentary to the current stars of today alongside the rising ones. That has always been throughout the 10 years of Brownies & Lemonade—the ethos of what we do.”