Colour Vision's got an island vibe

“Paradise ULTD. is essentially about escapism,” Corey James Hurley remarks of his burgeoning label and blog. Hurley, listed on showbills as Colour Vision, knows a thing or two about getting away. The North County native grew up on parties in L.A. and Tijuana, where he developed a taste for dance music.

“We would only really go to Porky’s in TJ, where they played indie dance remixes and new-wave ’80s dance all night,” Hurley recalls. “Eighties music left a lasting impression because it always had this cheesy pop element to it that made dancing so fun. I think a lot of people forget that’s the whole point of DJing and making music, in my opinion — making people smile.”

Educated under local legends such as Andrew Decade, Adam Salter, Gabe Vega, and Eric Diaz, Hurley escaped to Palm Springs in 2013 to take up a residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and, later, Hacienda Cantina.

“I would play slow, groovy future tunes melting in the 108-degree heat while the bar staff served me endless craft tropical drinks,” Hurley says of his year-and-a-half tenure in the desert. “‘Piña Colada’ is my tribute to my time out there.”

Featured on Paradise ULTD.’s debut compilation Night Shades, “Piña Colada” embodies the label’s breezy demeanor with a patient, four-to-the-floor beat and sunny steel drums. The tropical house sound that informs much of the album was popularized by Australian DJ Thomas Jack a few years ago. Hurley, now living in L.A., is a longtime fan of Aussie producers such as Van She, Cut Copy, and Bag Raiders, and at the end of the year he says he’ll be moving to Sydney for at least six months to tour, hold poolside residencies, and collaborate with some of his heroes down under. The first stop on Hurley’s recent Australian tour was Your Paradise Festival, held on a private island in Fiji.

“I performed on a floating club in the middle of crystal-blue waters named Cloud 9 and at the main stage situated directly on the most beautiful beach that I’ve ever seen,” Hurley recounts.

Catch Colour Vision’s island vibe before he departs to Oz at San Diego’s own CRSSD FEST, March 5 and 6 at Waterfront Park.