ABOUT US
A Global Media Outlet
Electric State Radio Worldwide
Uniting the World Through Music
The Electric State is a collective of electronic music lovers, and our innovative history runs all the way back to 1990. What we bring to our listeners is more than just music… it’s a personalized experience from our hearts to yours. Submerge yourself in the Electric State community where all are welcome!
The founder of Electric State Radio, Joseph Villa’s EDM roots link back to the early 1990s when he was a key member of a rave group called Global Underworld Network and World Evolution (WE). Other members of Global Underworld included Branden Powers, Chris Howland, and Nicholas Luckinbill, today of Insomniac.
The internet was booming in 1990. The unparalleled connectivity offered by this new frontier fueled the conglomeration of several counterculture groups in San Diego, CA. Street artists, urban music artists, DJs, tech nerds, hackers, and free-spirited hippies came together to spawn the creation of the rave and music festival culture we know and love today.
Staff Bio - Joseph Villa
The founder of Electric State Radio, Joseph Villa’s EDM roots link back to the early 1990s when he was a key member of a rave group called Global Underworld Network and World Evolution (WE). Other members of Global Underworld included Branden Powers, Chris Howland, and Nicholas Luckinbill, today of Insomniac.
The internet was booming in 1990. The unparalleled connectivity offered by this new frontier fueled the conglomeration of several counterculture groups in San Diego, CA. Street artists, urban music artists, DJs, tech nerds, hackers, and free-spirited hippies came together to spawn the creation of the rave and music festival culture we know and love today.
Denizens of these groups, including the members of Global Underworld, converged at a location called the Loft located on 6th and Broadway in San Diego, CA. The Loft had a cultlike feel where everyone shared a devotion to several key tenets: peace, love, harmony, health, spirituality, and caring for one another and the world we live in. They were also united by their passion for electronic music, though they had no idea the impact they would have in laying the foundation for today’s EDM scene.
Pre-1993, Global Underworld had orchestrated several smaller raves in private, secret warehouse locations, including Universary, Lilly Put, Wild Kingdom, Eden, and Opium. Buoyed by those raves’ popularity, the group decided to dream bigger. They threw an outdoor rave and music festival in the early 1990s in Mexico, the first event of its kind. It was a resounding success that shaped the destiny of EDM and the rave scene across the world.
Global Underworld Network was responsible for creating the spiritual, fantasy-oriented atmosphere that characterizes EDM festivals today. Their largest and most notable outdoor music festival was called Narnia, which was covered by MTV and Spin Magazine and drew thousands of rave-goers to Southern California. From the early 1990s to mid-1997, Narnia was the biggest outdoor rave festival in the nation, maybe the entire world.
Despite their success, Global took a big hit in 1996. It turned out that the landowner who had leased the space for that year’s Narnia rave didn’t actually own the land, and the festival ended up canceled. The last Narnia was thrown the following year at Snow Summit in Big Bear, CA. It was a success, but the group broke up shortly after.
Joseph went on to other ventures, including founding Electric State Radio. Branden moved to Las Vegas and made a name for himself as an entertainment director for Hard Rock and Caesars Palace. Nick carried on with Los Angeles-based EDM producer and Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella, staying true to the foundation set by the Loft community in the early 1990s.
Electric State is very thankful to Pasquale and Nick, who have kept this remarkable movement and community alive all these years. Joseph would also like to honor and give credit to all those street teams, artists, hippies, tech crews, DJs, and everyone else who was involved in promoting and celebrating EDM and rave culture in those early days.
We hope you enjoy Electric State Radio and Media because it’s not just another radio outlet: it’s something a bit more special, made for the EDM festival community by someone who was there at the beginning.
Hunter Whitfield, aka HuntHux, is an East Coast transplant living on the West Coast in San Diego, CA. As a music producer, recording artist, event curator and a die hard fan, Hux wears multiple hats in the SoCal music industry. Hux is our very own Electric State Radio show host and you will see him conducting interviews at festivals + live events throughout the coming years.
His favorite electronic music genre is bass and in his free time he loves to be at the beach surfing. Make sure to follow him on all social channels, @HuntHux
Love Language = Music. For as long as he can remember, Casey has been collecting and sharing music with those he comes in contact.
Casey manages Electric State’s new business development and the day to day operations that come with operating a media company and record label.
In Casey’s free-time he enjoys creating music under the alias “KC Francis“.
Kevin Wild is a multi-talented musician, DJ, and producer known for his electrifying performances and innovative approach to music production. With a career spanning over a decade, Kevin has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene. He has released music on some of the biggest labels in the industry, including Dim Mak, Mad Decent, and Ultra Records, and has performed at festivals around the world, including Coachella, Tomorrowland, and Electric Daisy Carnival.
Joel Perez-Alexander AKA 51 Fifty was born in Chicago and raised in Las Vegas. After living most of his life in two prominent cities for electronic music it inevitably became his life.
Joel grew up playing guitar and always knew he would be a musician in some capacity. His whimsical and versatile ear for all styles of music pushes him as an artist liaison, dj and music producer in San Diego.
TAFARI is the creative director of electric state as well as the founder and designer of his brand TAFARI WORLD. His mission is to inspire creativity and believes that no matter the form or medium of art, we all have the ability to tap into our creative frequency. Throughout his journey as an artist, he has found his main source of inspiration from his passion for music.
With a diverse range of instrumental skills, music production, audio engineering, and event production, Chase has made significant contributions both onstage and behind the scenes. Co-producing tracks played at renowned venues like Sound Nightclub, Coachella, and CRSSD, he showcases his dedication to the electronic music realm.
As an Artist Relations specialist at Electric State, he channels his passion into cultivating meaningful connections. Music is not only his inspiration but also the foundation for cherished relationships that make Electric State his true musical home.
