DÉ DÉ MOUSE’s turn behind the decks at daydreaming was a non-stop mountain-top dance party incorporating bits of funk and soul, along with his own original material to fill in the gaps.

Though I originally thought it was a strange staging decision (his last Fuji Rock appearance was a prime-time Red Marquee spot), it all became immediately clear once I arrived at the top of the gondola that this was a dance party on a more personal level. A circle of 40-or-so people were huddled up near the decks and grooving their butts off to soulful disco-y tracks which were bookended by chopped up comical vocal samples from movies and TV.

Daft Punk’s “One More Time” appeared early on in its original form until DÉ DÉ MOUSE started teasing the crowd by playing with the levels and eventually morphed it into a whole new animal with horns and distorted bass. Likewise, “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music was playfully remixed as a hip-hop track that was soon deconstructed and blasted apart into a scatterbrained headbanger.

These elements added range to the set but it was DÉ DÉ MOUSE’s original material, namely the bouncy/poppy “Midnight Dew” and the catchy “Milkyway Drive” that proved to become the most memorable moments in the end. DÉ DÉ MOUSE really interacted with the crowd at every chance, coming out from behind the decks to pump everyone up, or lip synching the lyrics with animated facial expressions.

On paper, the set seemed most logical as a late-night Red Marquee jaunt, but somehow with it being on a mountain top in the crisp cool air, it felt like a backyard party with all your next-door neighbors letting it all hang loose.