Las Vegas Weekly

Moda at Lolita’s is full of fresh sounds … and confetti

Mixing in: Mikey Francis and Pedi Amiri switch it up at Moda.

Photo: Mikey McNulty

A glittergasm happened on the stairs, as if Rip Taylor himself had confetti-bombed the place. Lightknife’s self-coined “audio aphrodisia” boomed from the second-floor patio of Lolita’s as the first night of Moda kicked off November 17.

Lightknife (aka local DJ Pedi Amiri), Pantherface (better known to Vegas music fans as Afghan Raiders’ Mikey Francis) and Digital Boy (Luca Pretolesi) say the fresh Wednesday night event is primed to offer attendees the newest of the new in electronic music—and we don’t mean the same 4/4 pop remixes you’re hearing all over the city.

“None of us are promoters and we’re not really looking to run it in that way,” Amiri says of Moda, which has neither cover nor dress code and features $5 vodka Red Bulls. “We just wanted a spot where we can go and play the music that we love and take out the pressures of what everyone else is trying to do, like hit a certain quota in bar and bottle sales.”

Taking up part of Lolita’s outdoor patio and a small back room, Moda functions as its own entity, complete with a separate entrance at the top of heavily sparkled stairs. “One of the promises we always get with nights is, ‘Yeah! We’re going to play whatever we want!’” Francis says. “Then the owners get fussy and it ends up having to be Top 40 music. But [at Lolita’s] if that kind of clientele comes through, they have the main room, and if they want to go there, they can—simple. The people who don’t want to hear that stuff can come hang out with us.”

Along with rotating guest DJs, Amiri and Francis will premiere their own original productions on occasion. “I’ve always been about trying to expose people to new music,” Francis says. There’s no telling what direction the night will take during Moda’s eight-week run. “At the risk of sounding cliché, we’re not commercial,” Amiri says. “We want to play the music that goes with the mood, whatever genre or style that is, however hard or soft or groovy or funky. We just wanted to do something that was really great and fun. If it works? Awesome. If it doesn’t work, then it was a great run.”

Update, 12/8/10: Moda will be moving to Vanguard Lounge downtown starting December 15.