ONE week from today Friday Feb 10th, Chapel Arts gets transformed into the ultimate getaway from the norm of our everyday life. Picture the craziest visuals that one might see at a rave. Cocktail waitresses airbrushed head to toe. A provocative interactive art exhibit featuring censored nude photographs. Some of the finest burlesque performers this city has to offer and not to mention live music featuring: SUPERMALE, (all the way from Norway) YOUNG LIARS & FACTS. Also if your really feeling frisky that night there will be a kissing booth documented by Winnie’s own photographer Tomas Uribé. And if all of this wasn’t enough to entice you I will also be playing some chongo/goth beats later on in the evening.
This wicked event is brought to you by de la lune and sponsored by ION Magazine, Motha’s Magik and NUMA Models. On a more serious note this event is actually a benefit for The Heart and Stroke Foundation so don’t feel bad about spending your hard earned $$. Heart disease and stroke take 1 in 3 Canadians before their time. Join, act, share, donate. Together, we can make death wait. Buy your tickets now online or at Zulu, Red Cat and Beatstreet. This is surely one event not to be missed. See you all there! <3
Check out this video of SPREAD held at Chapel Arts last year, video by Eric Weisner.
Good morning! It’s the first weekend of February and Billboard has a treat for all of us electronic music lovers with their latest issue “Dance Dance Evolution.” It’s crazy how far it has come in the US. Anyway, I have news featuring Electric Forest, Sasquatch Music Festival, Steve Aoki, Burning Man, Orbital, Miike Snow, High Contrast, Nicolas Jaar, & Bon Iver. Please read on after the jump.
Electric Forest 2012 Initial Lineup
Electric Forest has announced this year’s initial festival lineup. The electronic/jam festival will return to Rothbury, Michigan from June 28 – July 1.
Hosts String Cheese Incident will perform three headlining shows throughout the weekend. Other acts slated to appear include: Bassnectar, STS9, Thievery Corporation, Girl Talk, Ghostland Observatory, The Travelin’ McCourys featuring Keller Williams, Big Gigantic, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, EOTO, Reggie Watts, Gary Clark Jr., Big Freedia, The Infamous Stringdusters and many more.
Electric Forest 2012 will also introduce a series of special curated events. Partners such as as ESL Music, Dim Mak, Check Yo Ponytail and Paxahau, will host events at the Tripolee, Forest and Wagon Wheel stages throughout the weekend. Visit the festival’s official site for details as they become available.
The Sasquatch! Music Festival, which takes place at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28) has announced its lineup.
Artists include Bon Iver, the newly solo Jack White, Beck, St. Vincent, the Shins, Spiritualized, Zola Jesus, Shabazz Palaces, tUnE-yArDs, Araabmuzik, Wild Flag, “Portlandia” (Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen), Girl Talk, Dum Dum Girls, Cass McCombs, Feist, Sbtrkt, Kurt Vile, Explosions in the Sky, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Mogwai, the War On Drugs, the Walkmen, the Roots, Beirut, Shearwater, M. Ward, Little Dragon, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mark Lanegan, Purity Ring, THEESatisfaction, Star Slinger, SBTRKT, Metric, Active Child, Tenacious D, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and many more.
Among the festival’s comedy acts are Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Todd Barry, and more.
Steve Aoki Bigs Up Skrillex and Calls for Linkin Park Collab
Some of you may love him, most of you probably hate him, but whatever your opinion on Steve Aoki, you certainly can’t deny that he’s absolutely massive right now. And that’s why his comments in a recent interview are pretty interesting. Or just downright funny. We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
The man behind Dim Mak and the DJ famous for shoving cake in the faces of club kids has revealed his thoughts on Skrillex and his game changing entrance into dance music.
Aoki said: “Three or four years ago, you wouldn’t have heard of an artist growing as fast as Skrillex did. Skrillex is the perfect example of an artist that redefined a genre and created their own genre by producing a number of remixes and making it real.”
Although his new album features collaborations with Lil’ John, Chiddy Bang and Kid Cudi, Aoki is hungry for more hook-ups. “I’d still like to work with Zack de La Rocha, Chester from Linkin Park, Hayley Williams from Paramore, Jay-Z,” he said.
So there you have it. Skrillex is the epitome of how things should be done. And look forward to the possibility of a Aoki and Linkin Park jam. Read the full interview here.
Burners fired up over Burning Man 2012 ticket lottery
“Is it the end of Burning Man as we know it?” That’s how one US media outlet is reporting on a rocky week for the festival. If you’ve been planning a 2012 adventure to the mythical gathering in the Black Rock Desert, you’re probably across the fraught situation.
A fleet of longtime ‘Burners’ have taken to social media to slam the festival’s new lottery system, which they claim has put tickets in the hands of scalpers. From the registration period in December and January, 43,000 people were selected from a ballot to buy tickets – not all of them true believers, it would seem. Already online auction sites have tickets for sale for well above the regular price. The next chance for all those who missed out comes on 28 March, when 10,000 extra tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. A capacity of 58,000 people has been approved for 2012, and a new permit is pushing for 70,000 by 2016.
On April 3 in the U.S. and April 1 everywhere else, UK dance duo Orbital return with their first album in eight years, Wonky. The album features collaborations with Lady Leshurr on the title track, and Zola Jesus‘ Nika Rosa Danilova on “New France”. Head to Pitchfork for the exclusive stream.
Swedish pop outfit Miike Snow have unveiled the music video for “Paddling Out”, the first single from their sophomore LP Happy To You. In the clip, a man awakes on the floor of his house and enjoys some milk. Cue the Twilight Zone curveball, and he’s actually aboard an alien ship, where he’s attacked with lasers and given plastic surgery. He hates his new look (think Marilyn Manson meets Rocky Dennis from Mask), so he dances his sadness away. Thankfully, his mutant existence is short-lived as the ship crashes to Earth just seconds later. It’s like watching six different TV shows or movies at once, but with a beat you can dance to. Watch it below.
Nicolas Jaar: “Commercial Dance Is The Epitome of Capitalism” + New Video
In a recent interview Nicolas Jaar said commercial dance music in the US is the “epitome of capitalism”, linking the fact that people stay out listening to dance music for longer, upping the sales of booze.
He said: “I think it’s all tied to the fact that, if you go to a rock concert and you see a band play, you have a couple of beers, and then hang out for an hour and a half and then you leave. If you go see David Guetta or a DJ you’re gonna go to a club, drink five drinks, then get drunk and buy even more and stay for seven hours. So in the end it’s a better business.”
“I think to a certain extent the main idea of the music industry, at least in America, is to push what sells and this crazy trance-pop music is not only selling but also helping the economy. In a way it’s the epitome of capitalism having reached its peak in music.”
But Mixmag’s star of 2011, who also produced one of the best albums of last year, seems to think it can’t get any worse. “Now all pop is trance and I’ve no idea where we can go from here because it feels like we’re at a summit. It feels like it can’t get any harder, it can’t get any faster and it can’t get any cheesier.”
Also, Check out his new video for “Materials” below.
Bon Iver Turned Down Playing the Grammys, “We Kind of Said ‘Fuck You’ a Little Bit”
In an interview with Billboard, Justin Vernon said that Bon Iver was indeed offered to play the Grammys– but only if the band collaborated with another artist. And so as not to compromise their music, they declined.
Vernon told Billboard, ”We wanted to play our music, but we were told that we couldn’t play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else. And we just felt like it was such a large stage. We’re getting nominated for this record that we made, me and Brian [Joseph] and a bunch of our fucking friends, and we were given accolades for it. And all of a sudden we were being asked to play music that had nothing to do with that. We kind of said ‘fuck you’ a little bit and they sort of acted like they wanted us to play, but I don’t think they wanted us to play.”
Vernon described the proposed collaborators as “awesome people” and “people that [he] would love to play a song with.” But, he said, “fuckin’ rock n’ roll should not be decided by people that have that job. Rock n’ roll should be the fucking people with guitars around their backs. And their friends. And their managers.”
Commenting on the band’s Grammys commercial spot, Vernon said, “There’s a big misunderstanding– I don’t want to sell music. But if people are going to be selling music, and they want to sell our music without disturbing the medium of what it actually is, we want to fucking do that. I want people to hear the music that we make. I don’t want to do it in any shitty way.”
As you may recall, it’s not the first time Vernon has voiced his opinion on the Grammys, which air February 12.
This week we welcome the Burn The Fire family to CONTROL at the Avalon in Hollywood for a full label showcase. Chris Gaspar and Manuel Luquin, or Cold Blank, head up the label located right here in Los Angeles where they harbor talent from up and coming Electro sensations such as LAZRtag, DJ Arcade, Paradigm, and Prototyperaptor. Should be a loud one folks…
Also, make sure to check out DJ Dodger Stadium (Jerome of LOL Boys + Samo Sound Boy) over in the Honey Lounge if you feel like taking a break from the main stage.
Please send names to RSVP@gottadancedirty.com to be on our discount guestlist for the night. All names must be submitted by 5:30PM on Friday.
Happy Wednesday! I have a wealth of great news for you today including articles, videos, and music. Please read on after the jump to see what’s happening in the electronic music world.
Skrillex, Caspa, 12th Planet Perform At CYP2 Party In L.A.
Deadmau5, Rihanna to perform at Grammy-week benefit gig
Deadmau5, Rihanna, Calvin Harris and Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia have teamed for a special one-off benefit show at the House of Blues on Grammy night.
Roc Nation and the Three Six Zero Group are partnering for the Feb. 12 charity show, which also includes Scottish House music DJ-producer Chris Lake and electronic producer Michael Woods. Rihanna is also slated to hit the Grammy stage with Coldplay earlier that night.
Proceeds for the show will go to the Children’s Orthopaedic Center and the Mark Taper–Johnny Mercer Artists Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Tickets will set you back $1,000 (it’s for a good cause!) and go on sale Tuesday at 5 p.m. via Live Nation.
Swedish House Mafia join the pop ranks on will.i.am’s album
While for many he’ll always be dance music’s super-villain, chart menace will.i.am isn’t about to fade away. Instead, the Black Eyed Peas producer is readying his fourth solo album – the excruciatingly-titled #willpower – and you can bet it’ll be more I Gotta Feeling than Bridging the Gap.
In a recent interview with Capital FM, will.i.am also mentioned that he’s recruited the 2012 Future Music Festival headliners for an appearance: “”I have a song with Alicia Keys,” he told the station, “me, Alicia, and Swedish House Mafia.” We wouldn’t be surprised if Wolfgang Gartner also shows up somewhere, following his 2011 collab with will.i.am, Forever.
Britain’s Premiere Dubstep Duo Nero Launches Headlining “Second Reality” U.S. Tour in March, Plus Appearances at Coachella
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Having already introduced their special brand of melodic dance mayhem to North American electronic music fans with roof-raising DJ sets at nightclubs in December, London’s premiere dubstep duo Nero is gearing up for a triumphant return to the U.S. in March for their headlining “Second Reality” live tour, as well as eagerly awaited appearances at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in April. Nero will also launch their exclusive 2012 DJ residency at Surrender and XS Nightclubs, located at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, performing first at Surrender between the weeks at Coachella.
Tickets for the “Second Reality” tour will be available to Nero fan club members via a pre-sale happening now at http://us.thisisnero.com/tickets/ Those who purchase tickets will each receive an immediate digital download of Nero’s debut album Welcome Reality along with an exclusive laminate that unlocks additional digital content. The fan pre-sale runs now through February 3rd.
Nero is British-born producers, remixers, DJs, and artists Dan Stephens and Joe Ray, who arejoined by dynamo singer Alana Watson for their live concerts, which find them performing high atop a custom-built booth consisting of ghetto blasters, retro TV’s, old amps, and an arcade machine centerpiece.
Nero is touring in support of Welcome Reality, which was released to rave reviews by Cherrytree/Interscope Records in December. With its thunderous bass, hail of house rhythms, lightning flashes of rave synths, and showers of guitar, the album “pulls dubstep toward the arena-pop spotlight without leaving its shadows behind,” as the New York Times put it in its review, while Billboard noted that Nero “comes off like a dubstep-powered pop band.”
Released in the U.K. in August, Welcome Reality debuted at No. 1 and rapidly earned Gold status, fueled by its singles “Innocence,” Guilt,” “Promises” (which also stormed straight to the top of the UK charts) and “Me and You,” which was the most played record onRadio 1for three weeks in a row and is now the first U.S. single from the album. Nero’s indie/dubstep hybrid smash Me and You Remix EP is also currently available digitally, and features a brand-new remix of ”Me And You” by Steve Angello of Swedish House Mafia,and a Skrillex remix of ”Promises” (previously unavailable in the U.S.)that has racked up more than 10 million plays on YouTube.
Check out the video trailer for HARD Summer 2012 here featuring “Promises” (Skrillex & Nero Remix) and Nero’s Dan Stephens.
With nominations from BBC’s Sound of 2011, XFM’s Sound of 2011, and Music Week’s Top 15, Nero also won 2010′s Beatport Award for Best Dubstep Act and Best Dubstep Track for ”Act Like You Know.” The duo have performed at all the major UK music festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading, and Wireless, and still found the time to produce remixes for The Streets, La Roux, deadmau5, N*E*R*D and Daft Punk.
After claiming the top slot of the Label category in Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards, Los Angeles beat guru Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder imprint have shared a sampler of free tunes from its growing roster of artists. The 12-track compilation includes music from Lapalux, Martyn, Samiyam, Tokimonsta, The Gaslamp Killer, Teebs, Matthewdavid, Mono/Poly, and more, and can be downloaded at no cost, here.
The lineup has been revealed for the seventh edition of Get Lost, Crosstown Rebels’ annual party during Miami Winter Music Conference.
As usual, the party will bring together a good chunk of the Crosstown Rebels family for an extended session at Electric Pickle, one of Miami’s most intimate and underground clubs. In addition to mysteriously noted “special guests,” the lineup includes label staples like Subb-an, Maceo Plex, Art Department, jozif and label boss Damian Lazarus. Hot Creations artists Clive Henry and Richy Ahmed will DJ as well, along with Shaun Reeves of Visionquest and fabric resident Craig Richards. Live performances come from Dan Berkson & James What and Amirali. Breakthrough UK act Eats Everything is also confirmed. The party kicks off early in the morning and runs until midnight, engulfing all three of the downtown club’s dance floors.
Tickets to Get Lost Miami 7th Session are available here on RA.
Liaison Artists, Embrace, Safe and Beatsme have teamed up for an all day party in Miami called The Last Resort.
The event should fill at least part of the Sunday School-shaped hole in this year’s schedule. Taking place on the final Sunday of WMC, it will host DJs and live acts all day and night at Villa 221, a multi-purpose venue in downtown Miami. More than a dozen names have been confirmed, including Maya Jane Coles, Soul Clap, Magda, Maceo Plex and DJ Three. Visionquest and Wolf + Lamb are on the bill as well, along with some of the newer artists that have appeared on their labels: PillowTalk, Footprintz and Aquarius Heaven, all playing live. Lee Curtiss will play live too. The whole things runs from 7:00 AM until well past sundown.
Tickets to The Last Resort are available here on RA.
Crystal Castles: Third Album (Finally) In The Works
Good news, fellow Crystal Castles fans—the gloomy electronic duo are reportedly preparing to begin work on their next studio album, their first since 2010′s fantastic self-titled album. (Not to be confused with, you know, their 2008 eponymous debut. I’m not a betting man by nature, but I’d say it’s safe to presume that their next album could potentially be titled Crystal Castles… possibly maybe.)
In a new interview with the NME, producer/multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath reveals that he and singer Alice Glass are headed to Croatia this next month to begin work on the next batch of songs. “We never do meaningless,” he boasts. “Every song we write is bleak. We don’t want anything else.” (via Pitchfork)
Sounds like the Crystal Castles I remember, all right.
Kath promises the untitled (it’s definitely gonna be called Crystal Castles though, you wait and see) album will drop “sometime” this summer. Start smearing mascara all over your face now.
Rave Promoters’ Alleged Under-the-Table Cash Payments to Union Hands at L.A. Coliseum Probed by FBI — Source
The FBI is looking into allegations that millions of dollars in under-the-table cash payments were made by rave promoters and other exhibitors to union hands working events at the troubled L.A. Coliseumand its sister venue, the Sports Arena.
FBI agents in recent weeks have contacted rave organizers as part of its investigation, the Weekly learned today.
This comes as the Los Angeles Times reported that …
… U.S. Department of Labor was investigating the alleged cash payoffs.
The Weekly broke the story that as much as $2.5 million in cash — sans taxes and benefits — had been paid to International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) stagehands at the L.A. Coliseum and Sports Arena in recent years. We filed California Public Information Act requests regarding the matter last year.
The under-the-table remittance reports inspired the publicly run Coliseum to pile on new accusations to a civil lawsuit against its former top managers and the rave promoters, who allegedly engaged in a conspiracy of side payments and benefits that enriched them at the taxpayers’ expense.
One source, however, alleged to us that the alleged cash payments to union hands, which the Times says was done via $100 bills in suitcases, was a shakedown of exhibitors by a union boss.
Others, however, have painted the union as a victim, noting that benefits and tax liabilities have been lost if these allegations are true. City Controller Wendy Greuel told us previously that “IATSE clearly followed the rules on so many levels.”
Deanne Amaden, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor, told the Weekly that …
… this is one of these situations where we can neither confirm nor deny we’re doing an investigation.
The Times says the payments were for stagehands who worked …
… rave concerts, Cinco de Mayo performances, a mixed martial arts production and a Lakers NBA championship celebration, among other Coliseum bookings.
Minnesota has been one of my favorite dubstep producers for some time now and it’s to no surprise that he’s killing it, as always. Check out this new remix he put out for free last night.
“UTOPIA: 2nd Annual Festival of Women in Digital Culture CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF WOMEN DIGITAL ARTISTS: Media artists, mobile technology, gaming, video + VJs, electronic music (DJs and producers), hackers, writers, educators, and you! Utopia, presented by W2, is NOW accepting submissions for its 2nd annual festival and showcase of women in digital culture.”
DATE: March 3 – 10, 2012
LOCATION: W2 Media Cafe
For more info on how to apply click here.
Previous artists include: Peaches, Blondtron, Betti Ford, Isis (formerly of Thunderheist) and many more.
If you’re an avid reader of GDD™ then first of all, thank you. Secondly, you might remember our recap of the Marquee Las Vegas One Year Anniversary party from the beginning of January. The kind folks at Marquee treated head honcho Jonah Berry and myself to one of the best dinners I’ve ever had, an informative and insightful panel discussion with Marquee resident Tim Bergling, aka AVICII, and one of the brains behind Marquee, Jason Strauss. The video above is just a quick recap (with a special guest cameo by Jonah and myself at 0:33!) with excellent footage from the festivities, where AVICII really had the place going wild.
With pool season just around the corner (launching sometime in April) one can only imagine how the summer is going to shape up at one of the best new venues in the World. Check dates for the Nightclub below, and stay tuned for more news about Marquee in the near future.
Check out all current dates for Marquee Nightclub after the jump!
Marquee Nightclub Upcoming Dates:
January 20 Markus Schulz
January 21 Above & Beyond
January 23 DJ Vice
January 27 Sander van Doorn
January 28 Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano
January 30 Lema
February 3 Gabriel & Dresden
February 4 Kaskade
February 6 Eric DLux
February 10 Chuckie
February 11 ATB
February 13 Party Rock Mondays: Redfoo of LMFAO
February 17 Gareth Emery, Jochen Miller
February 18 Benny Benassi
February 20 DJ Vice
February 24 Ferry Corsten, Nicky Romero
February 25 Hardwell, EDX
February 27 Nicky Romero, Eric DLux
March 02 Cosmic Gate, Glenn Morrison
March 03 Erick Morillo, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano
March 05 Lema
March 09 Dash Berlin, EDX
March 10 Cedric Gervais, Sh!t Show, Rebecca & Fiona
March 12 Chuckie, DJ Vice
March 16 Dirty South
March 17 Kaskade
March 19 Eric DLux
March 23 ATB
March 26 Party Rock Mondays: Redfoo of LMFAO
March 30 Benny Benassi
March 31 Paul Oakenfold
