Headed out this Thursday? We sure hope so, because in between all the film fest hoopla and College Night shenanigans, EOS Lounge is hosting a dance party that is guaranteed to go off. The occasion: Red Bull DJ Master, a “discovery project” that’s pitting three up-and-coming student deejays against each other in a night-long deejay battle. The competition concludes in the wee hours on Thursday night, when audience votes will determine who will be crowned victorious. As for prizes, the winner will receive a trophy, bragging rights, and his very own residency at EOS — a big time first for all three of the competitors.

The Santa Barbara edition of Red Bull DJ Master kicked off in December of 2012 with an online application process that, according to Red Bull student brand manager Katie Heines, brought in over 50 budding candidates. From their web-based mixtapes, Heines and her team whittled the list down to nine semi-finalists, who were then asked to spin live at EOS last week for a team of industry professionals. After two nights of judging, UCSB students Nick Pullman (DJ Name: Mizurah), Tyler Robinson (DJ name: Sarthe), and Jawn Kim, (DJ Name: Optimo) were asked to move on to Thursday’s live audience battle.

“None of them are music majors, which is kind of cool,” said Heines. “They all spin the most popular styles that are hip in the club scene right now. It’s mostly electronic and a little bit of Top 40 mashed up with whatever tracks they’re feeling.”

Heines also noted that Thursday’s competition marks the last round of Red Bull DJ Master ever. (The competition is getting the axe in exchange for a new DJ battle format, which will be hitting colleges sometime later this year.) Still, the gaol will remain the same: to find undiscovered talent and hook them up with some real-world opportunities.

“The whole point of this is it’s a discovery project,” Heines said. “But I was really surprised at how hard it was to pick the top three. They were all on it and brought a ton of people in for the semi-finals. It’s been really impressive so far.”

The final round of Santa Barbara’s Red Bull DJ Master takes place this Thursday, January 31 at EOS Lounge (500 Anacapa St.) at 10 p.m. The event is free to the public, age 21 and over. For more info, call (805) 564-2410.

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