Corey Sizemore and Richie Panic are the minds behind Lights Down Low, a California dance music institution that parties hard, but feels harder. Lights Down Low have featured guests on the caliber of Simian Mobile Disco, Optimo, Four Tet, and Jackmaster, and they only want to reach higher. Sizemore & Panic's music intuition has a polished finish that is unprecedented in the world of DJ’s that seem to formulate out of thin air. Their artistry sets the bar high, but even that isn’t enough for them. They has no limits. They have no boundaries. Just music and dancing. Their new _secret_ project will be featured on Oct. 13 and 14, an ode to, well we actually don’t know, but I’ll give you one word to describe it. Wild. We talk to Sizemore and Panic, the men behind the record spins. A duo who brings people together through the dance music cultural spectrum to rave, and rave right."
**In your opinion, what defines a great electronic track? A great performance?**
A great electronic track is an assemblage of auditory curation and machinery mutation that hits you on all frequencies. It's a sonic solution meant to hypnotize the body and free the mind or vice versa. A great DJ performance is when you forget the DJ is even there, as layer after layer of sound move you and remove you from the simple reality.
**How is your DJing style characterized by the Bay Area? How has the scene changed in the 10 years that you’ve been throwing these events?**
The Bay Area used to be the playground and laboratory of freaks, weirdos, druggies, academics, misfits, and experimental futurists. So put all that together in a blender and you get a starting point for what was happening in sweaty basements, forest floors, and freaky warehouses. Now it is a boring shopping mall where moneied nerds ride around on one wheeled skateboards. So we left. And so did almost everyone else cool.
**How much do you rely on the crowd for your energy as a performer? How does that audience/performer dynamic change in smaller vs. larger spaces?**
It's actual electrical impulses being transmitted from DJ to dancer and back again. If there was no emotional expansion or no dopamine blasts from this type of performance we would all be happily DJing in our rooms facing a poster of Kate Moss on the wall. In a smaller space you get in closer, you see the face, the dilated pupils, the sweat, it's a more personal intensity. In a larger capacity it can be a bit harder to catch fire but with that many humans feeling themselves and giving over to a large scale primal happening, the vibrations are unmistakeable.
**How do you maintain a long career in a genre that goes through so many transformations? How do you stay current?**
Everyone has worn a regrettable t-shirt or gotten hooked on that one sound that turned out to be "uncool" in time. No matter the genre there are good songs, bad songs, and great songs. As long as you are playing what moves YOU first and foremost the tides of trend will ebb and flow and you will always be there, covered in BLANK foam playing music for the masses and their asses.
**In your 10 years of experience, have you developed a formula for the perfect event? Rules to live by?**
Every event is a brand new creature that has to be molded, modded, and built from the ground up. Anything organic is never perfect but you can get close.
Work with you people you LIKE, be nice to everyone except for assholes, drink water, and think about the humanity in other people.
**Where do you hope to take Lights Down Low?**
Into the wild ass future and deliver a wild ass time.
**Can you give us a hint about the secret project? What can we expect On October 13th and 14th?**
The Secret Project is a wonderful concept. Top tier DJs delivering the goods in the heart of beautiful Los Angeles. It's new so I think we should all find a good friend, head in, and see what happens. By the 15th it won't be a such a secret anymore...
For more go to [secretproject.com](https://www.secretproject.com/)
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Interview by BJ Panda Bear
Photo courtesy of Artist works
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