Some see Charlie Sheen as the go-to guy for an insane party. Derek Vincent Smith might have something to say about that.

As Smith, a Colorado-born producer and DJ, makes his way to the Columbia in the form of Pretty Lights, near-by ravers rejoice. The reason? Pretty Lights doesn’t just put on a show, he brings a party unlike no other and invites everyone to join.

“Pretty lights can set a mood,” student A.J. Grathwohl says. “They say, ‘we’re here and it’s time to rage!’”

His music is one with a high-octane energy that is made from raw emotion. The sounds he creates reverberate through the walls, to the floors and into your veins. You don’t just listen to the music — you _experience_ it.

Smith laces his tracks and his interaction with the crowd. His keen ability to mix an assortment of thunderous broken beats with warm yet assertive synth textures creates an atmosphere many strive to achieve. He is also not just a man behind a computer pressing buttons, either. Using a stage stacked with blindingly fluorescent lights and colored fog, Smith does his part by actively engaging with the audience. This is the separation that Pretty Lights puts on others in his genre. While others might put on a good concert, Lights creates one super-sized house party.

Pretty Lights’ visit to Columbia comes by way of his proclaimed “Illumination Tour” to help support an upcoming album that he plans to release soon. Fans will be eager to catch a live glimpse of Lights’ newly released single, “I Know the Truth,” a song that is a concept backtrack to his latest album, “Passing By Behind Your Eyes”, released in 2009 as a free download at the Pretty Lights official website.

“With the track ‘I Know The Truth,’ I wanted to try to fuse the emotion of dark 60?s soul music with the energy of raw bass heavy dub-step,” Smith says in a news release.

“Passing By Behind Your Eyes” helped Smith venture to new musical heights.

It received 4.7 stars by Amazon Music and is highly regarded as Pretty Lights’ best album to date in the minds of his passionate fan base. While it continues to have the energy that has helped Smith stand out, it also touches on some slower, mellower sounds creating a nice progression from track to track. Smith successfully integrates a mixture of old-school samples from different genres, including hip-hop, jazz and soul, with futuristic tones creating a sound only Smith could envision.

“The way Pretty Lights is able to mix two things that normally wouldn’t go together is the main reason I’m such a fan,” freshman Jake Duckworth says. “No one does it better.”

Although the main purpose of this tour is to promote his unreleased album, you would be amiss if you thought Smith wouldn’t be blasting out past hits. A good portion of the set will consist of the aforementioned “Passing By Behind Your Eyes”, as well as other beloved tracks that make up Pretty Lights’ past. We all love good music, and we all love a good party, so why not experience both at the same time? Pretty Lights assures a show that will appease an appetite for raging. An event even a Charlie Sheen type would approve.