Funky. Loungy. Jazzy. Organic. Soulful. The entire atmosphere of the calm but bustling Midnight Coffee Roasting is electrified with lo-fi jazz and techno house music on a chilled Sunday morning.
On March 2nd, the coffee bar hosted their first “coffee club” event spotlighting DJ house music collectives, Funk Facility and Fantasia Music. Five DJs from both collectives collabed together to bring Midtown’s Midnight Coffee Roasting a jazzy, funky ambiance from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as casual coffee-goers enjoyed their breakfasts and drinks.
As people weaved their way to 1401 S. Virginia St., the “loungy” tunes and afternoon low-tempo beats could be heard out of the large window of Midnight Coffee where the DJs set up their large speakers, low-hanging plants, laptops, portable turntables and DJ mixers. The long window and music set-up overlooked the outside rooftop and porch.
34-year-old graphic designer Christian Reichle arrived at the day party greeting friends, DJs and co-workers after ordering food and relishing in the groovy house atmosphere. Reichle is a part of the Biggest Little Tribe music organization (BLT), which prides itself in working with DJ collectives like Fantasia and Funk Facility to plan local house music events.
“We play all over the place like Lo Bar, Dead Ringer, which is our most common venue, and we helped at opening weekend for AleWorX and The Alpine,” Reichle said. “We are looking for more events like this – these day time events are fun because we get a different crowd and we get to expose ourselves and what we are to different people.”
This event was one of the first venues for Funk Facility and Fantasia to really break away from common nighttime club culture. Reichle explained that house music is becoming increasingly popular for those outside of the DJ nighttime culture and that no matter what the time of day is, people like to dance and they enjoy house music a lot more than they would think.
Straying away from classic upbeat party music DJs spin during night shows, this afternoon vibe called for more “chill, loungy energy” that allows people to enjoy their conversations, relax on the rooftop, but also gets people on their feet and grooving with the beat.
Even the baristas crushing out drinks and food alike would bob their head to the beat or bounce on their toes throughout the early afternoon. The five DJs were taking turns spinning their tunes, and when they weren’t on the mixer, they were interacting and dancing with people coming in and out of the coffee bar. One DJ, Joelle Burkhardt, grooved to the house music wearing squared orange-tinted glasses with a striking salmon pink long sleeve and headphones that were worn over her large cheetah-print bucket hat.
“This is the first kick-off event at Midnight,” Burkhardt said. “I love the earlier brunch vibe and I think people are ready for something different.”
The energy within that small space was addictive. You couldn’t help but jam along with the music and engage with the community through good cups of coffee. As the music played, more people started taking the stairs to the rooftop, ordering brunch and immersing themselves into the music. One of the biggest priorities for DJs is to keep the energy alive, and that could be taxing, especially within the afternoon music scene where it can be difficult to really gage what people are looking for.
“When I choose tracks, it just comes to seeing the crows and figuring out what songs fit together the best,” 33-year-old DJ Tony Sandoval, the founder of Funk Facility, said.
“You got to keep the flow going, have seamless transitions, and not try to disrupt the changes too much,” he said. The goal for these brunch vibes is to find the “in-between of tech house and something more funky lo-fi. It’s a harder sell since you don’t know what people generally want.”
Sandoval founded Funk Facility around five years ago during COVID. He had always enjoyed the rave, DJ music scene in Southern California as a teenager and was determined to work in the professional setting of music mixing and show production in Reno.
“I just wanted to bring disco house and punk music to Reno,” Sandoval said. “This funk disco house, it’s a facility of funk, but we are also facilitating the funk. If you look at the Funk Facility logo, it’s like two ‘Fs’ in a little building, or a facility.”
For this collaboration, the two DJ organizations brought their differing genres together to create a three hour free performance, and they plan to continue the new event every week with Midnight Coffee. One of Fantasia’s DJs, Luke Cylke, wearing a neon-detailed jacket layered in bright greens and oranges, described the genres of the two collectives and how he organizes a set list for crowds.
“I like to do 7 to 14 songs in an hour for a set,” Cylke said. “So about 20 to 30 songs on a setlist and I select from the list what the crowds would like, whether that’s low-tempo or party-like.” As for the genres, “Fantasia is a bit more organic, with live instruments like bongos. Funk Facility is funky, jazzy, with saxophone and piano riffs.”
BLT also recently helped with the third annual Heart Beat of Reno Festival in the Brewery District, hosting 57 local DJs throughout an entire weekend with over 450 attendees.
“It’s rewarding for us to be able to sell out a festival in town with just local talent, it’s very special,” Reichle said. “I love it and we like to throw a good party… our whole thing is to meet people, and I feel like this [music scene] is important to share.”
Reporting, audiogram and photography by Samantha Wagner