Providing the environment for a musical star to become recognized is vastly different than the art being created. It requires an awareness and ability honed rather than instinctual, not that there isn’t some “gut approach” involved. When New York DJ Party Thieves (aka Jared McFarlin) was invited to appear at Montreal’s massive Ile Soniq Music Festival, his Manager Josh Windt enlisted Jordan Kasedy to ensure that the appearance would be the ideal catalyst of next level status that it should be. Windt was aware of Kasedy’s work with Ile Soniq, Heineken Escapade, Villa Paradizo, Final Fantasy, etc., and wanted to attach the same expertise to his client’s Ile Soniq experience. Jordan oversaw every aspect from the pyrotechnics all the way through to Social media, brand affiliations, and sponsors. The 60,000 plus attendees at Ile Soniq Music Festival were thrilled by performances yet oblivious to the work of masters like Jordan Kasedy behind the scenes.
The Ile Soniq Music Festival attracts attendees from all over the world. Premier musical acts like The Chainsmokers, Diplo, DJ Snake, Party Thieves, and numerous others have performed there. From EDM to Metal, this Montreal festival is known for its positivity and exceptional cutting edge acts. With tens of millions of streams, Party Thieves has been recognized by renowned names in the music world like RL Grime, Skrillex, and Diplo. This NY DJ is also known for his contributions of a percentage of his sales to causes like the Anti-Gun Violence campaign. Blending Hip-Hop, Hardstyle, and Future Bass melodies with a social awareness has quickly gained him legions of fans known as the Theft Army in addition to making Party Thieves (PT) a major attraction on the international music scene. Jordan Kasedy’s experience producing massive events gave this artist the assurance that he would have the epic production value that would wow the audience. Simultaneously, Jordan’s work as a digital content producer allowed her to manifest the online “awareness” of the moment. Establishing an exciting yet safe moment is much more difficult than the magic seen during the performance. Jordan informs, “With rotating lights and Co2 going off as well as other pyrotechnics, it can be very dangerous to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Every step someone takes on stage needed to be directed by me in order to capture proper content and maintain a safe environment for the people working. You really want to create an easy-going experience for the artist as best as you can. The artist needs to be extremely focused and organized before their set but they also need a sort of relaxing ambiance. It’s all a part of what I do.”
Maintaining an atmosphere in which the artist is free to think of nothing but the performance takes the kind of preparation and tenacity that would crush most people. Kasedy concedes that it is an exhausting time. What’s the big payoff for her? For Jordan, it’s reviewing the footage from the media team she orchestrated. She affirms, “After the Party Thieves performance at Ile Soniq, he and I sat down with the photographer and videographer. It was a moment to just sit back, relax, and marvel at how great everything looked from the audience’s vantage. It gives everyone involved perspective. When you’re so caught up in creating or emoting for other people, it’s hard to get ‘outside of yourself’ and see things the way they do. When I work with an artist and see them light up as they understand just how great they did…that’s a very special moment for me.” As Party Thieves himself states, “Jordan is tiny but mighty. I swear, she’s like five-feet tall but handles her work bigger than most guys in the industry. Not only that, but she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. She’s strict, on top of everything from A to Z and a blast to have around. As an artist you have so much going on, especially for a major festival such as ILE SONIQ. You really need someone who is on top of their game like Jordan.”
Summer 2019 finds Jordan Kasedy working on the Ever After Music Festival which includes headliners such as Illenium and Excision, as well as Osheaga 2019 with Childish Gambino (Grammy and VMA award-winner), Hozier (Billboard Music Award-Winner_, and Juno award-winner Kaytranada.