Happy Monday! We’re coming back strong after a short Thanksgiving break with news on Insomniac’s new White Wonderland New Year’s Eve event, Soulwax’s Under the Covers Vol. 1, an Erol Alkan Q&A, and Visionquest’s greatest dance act of all time. More info after the jump.
Insomniac is releasing the details for “White Wonderland”
From Pasquale Rotella’s Twitter: “#WhiteWonderland NYE details will be announced after the weekend as well as a special announcement later in the week about #Beyond2012.” All that has been said about White Wonderland is that it is 21+ and that the venue is about 35 minutes from downtown LA.
For the last few years we have been touring as 2manydjs with a show called ‘Under The Covers’ where a giant screen behind us shows the animated sleeves of the respective songs. There used to be a time when DJ’s would put up the sleeve of the record they were playing on display behind them, and we basically brought a ridiculously exaggerated and expensive version of that idea on tour with us. We compiled some of the best animations here with some local ones we did for specific countries like japan/brazil/france/italy/turkey/etc. This hour is the first of two parts that are possibly the closest thing to a 2manydjs festival set here on RSWX.
I had an image of the sun sinking into the sea as I made the track. I tend to work that way in general, trying to form a narrative for myself to trace over musically.
A good example of a record which can be smart and smash any festival to pieces. Simple but not stupid, possibly one of the best club records of the last few years.
I tend to not play records I regret, apart from my own unfinished, work-in-progress tracks. But the regret is usually a good sign as it means the track’s definitely not finished and needs to be looked at.
Visionquest, the DJ collective made up of Lee Curtiss, Shaun Reeves, Seth Troxler and Ryan Crosson have had an incredible 2011 taking in residency’s everywhere from Ibiza to Berlin.
Three out of four members of the quartet were in London last week and Mixmag caught up with them to find out who’s got their vote in the Greatest Dance act of All Time poll. Find out who they picked below.
We made it through the first half of the week! By now, I hope all of you are fully recovered from the weekend and are eager read up on the stories of Rusko’s new album, Kaskade’s aiming to expand the world of dance music, I Love Techno 2011, Zedd’s new video, and coverage of HARD Haunted Mansion. I have a tune for you to jump start your day with, so check it out and read more after the jump.
“Bro-step is sort of my fault,” said hyperactive bass fiend Rusko back in February, before proceeding to bemoan the current state-of-affairs within the scene. “Everybody’s taken it too far,” he told BBC 1. “It’s not about playing the hardest tracks for an hour and a half.”
Fast forward to this week, and the outspoken producer’s position remains unchanged. So much so that his upcoming album – scheduled for a January 2012 release – is set to be a direct reaction to the bro-step boom.
“I turned in my new album three days ago,” he told SPIN backstage at HARD Haunted Mansion in L.A. “It’s completely a reaction to the masculine, dance-floor orientated, distorted mess that is the current state of dubstep. I made 14 tracks with 14 vocalists – songs with choruses that you can sing along to, rather than for DJs to play. It’s the biggest statement I could make, really.”
While Rusko’s certainly dead-on when he mentions his part in championing dubstep’s bastard spawn, the album sounds intriguing. In a typical Tweet from a couple of weeks back, he mused: “Does every new dubstep producer have EXACTLY the same drum-kit and massive presets? Because it sure does sound like it.” Time to bring your A-game, Rusko…
Kaskade may be one of the leading DJs in dance music today – but he wants to be even bigger. ”I felt empowered by the fact the scene is so huge now and so many people are paying attention,” he tells Rolling Stone. “It made me feel like, ‘This is the time for me to try something new. I don’t have to collaborate with the Black Eyed Peas. I can do something that’s unique and special to my sound.’ I’ve always kind of gone on my own path and I don’t follow the trend right now.”
Last week, Kaskade (real name: Ryan Raddon) released a double CD, Fire and Ice, that he calls the culmination of his 10 years on the scene. “It was a big undertaking to do a double disc. I think that’s why I feel like, ‘Man, a decade later this is where I’m at,’” the 40-year-old says. “It’s been a wild ride. I feel like as an artist I’ve changed and grown over the last 10 years and doing the Fire and Ice concept gave me a lot more room as an artist to stretch out.”
As a result, he’s brought in some unexpected collaborators, like Neon Trees. “I dig what those guys were doing and I remixed ‘Animal’ a year and a half ago,” he says. Plus, it turns out they had a mutual connection: Bass player Branden Campbell is married to a college friend of Raddon’s. “We hung out, I got to meet Tyler [Glenn] and we had a lot of mutual friends, so it was cool. And I just wanted to be able to do something that was fun and unique and fit with their sound and my sound, but wasn’t as obvious.”
Another guest is current collaboration queen of the moment Skylar Grey, but Kaskade says her radio success with the likes of Eminem and Dr. Dre had nothing to do with why he wanted to work with her. “I immediately gravitated towards her voice and her writing style,” he says. “She could’ve been my neighbor and I would’ve been like, ‘Man, this girl’s got an amazing voice. I need to work with this person.”
The album hit Number Four on the iTunes albums chart last week. “I don’t want to make a record that can only be listened to at two a.m. I wanted it to say more, to be musical, to stand up on its own so somebody who might not know about dance music or might not listen to it all the time would still be able to put it on and be like, ‘Man, this whole thing is interesting.’”
The I Love Techno festival returns to Ghent, Belgium on Saturday, November 12 for its 17th edition. As always, it promises to be an action-packed extravaganza featuring the finest in techno, electro, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass: Boys Noize, Paul Kalkbrenner, Len Faki, Carl Craig (as 69), Laurent Garnier, Steve Aoki, Digitalism, Skream vs. Benga, Chase & Status, Cassius… the list goes on.
Three dudes in black wearing burlap masks break into a closed-door warehouse party. The bass burbles and burps. Inside they find themselves surrounded by a sea of ladies unlike any you’ve (read: we’ve) seen before. They are not there to socialize. Instead, they grab the bearded don in the corner and take him for a ride. The bass remains impolite, they’re all headed somewhere outside of town, it’s all a little unclear. So (sort of) goes the new visual for “Shave It”, a dubstep-ish cut from German electro-house producer (and recent Skrillex signee) Zedd.
We finally made it through the week and our Halloween festivities are upon us. I have some great content for you to indulge in this morning that includes the RE:GENERATION tracks, an Escape From Wonderland preview & set times, AraabMuzik’s tour with EDM support, a 12th Planet interview, a trailer of a Soulwax video project, and a video of Afrojack playing classical music. Be entertained after the jump…
RE:GENERATION Tracks
The RE:GENERATION documentary is directed by Amir Bar Lev (The Pat Tillman Story, My Child Can Paint That) and commissioned by Hyundai Veloster. Five chosen producer/DJs of today embark on a musical odyssey to create tracks inspired by one of five traditional musical genres: Jazz, R&B, Country, Classical and Rock. The pairings include Skrillex with The Doors, DJ Premier with the Berklee Symphony Orchestra, Mark Ronson with Erykah Badu, The Crystal Method with Martha Reeves, and Pretty Lights with Leann Rimes and Ralph Stanley.
Pretty Lights’ “Wayfaring Stranger” featuring LeAnn Rimes and Dr. Ralph Stanley
Skrillex’s new Rock remix for RE:GENERATION featuring Members of The Doors
DJ Premier’s new Classical remix for RE:GENERATION featuring Nas and the Berklee Symphony Orchestra
Mark Ronson’s new Jazz remix for RE:GENERATION featuring Erykah Badu, Trombone Shorty, Mos Def, Zigaboo Modeliste, and Members of The Dap Kings
The Crystal Method’s new R&B remix for RE:GENERATION featuring Martha Reeves and the Funk Brothers
Escape From Wonderland Sneak Preview + Set Times
Insomniac always has excellent production and their first Halloween festival is no exception. This sneak preview video showcases the transformation of the NOS Event Center for a frightful night of electronic music and Halloween debauchery. The set times were finally announced yesterday, so be sure to make your schedule prior to the event to make your night flow smoothly.
AraabMuzik Announces Tour w/ an EDM Supporting lineup
Coming off a wave of CMJ buzz, AraabMuzik will tour North America in support of June’s BNM’d Electronic Dream, in October and November. The dates include shows with SBTRKT, MSTRKRFT, and other folks who are not as fond of capital letters/don’t hate vowels as much.
Also, as Fools Gold points out, there is also now a new version of AraabMuzik’s previously posted remix of the Big Pink‘s “Stay Gold”, featuring added rhymes from Danny Brown. Check out the dates and track, plus a promo video for the tour, below.
AraabMuzik:
10-27 Atlanta, GA – King Plow *
10-28 Asheville, NC – Moogfest 2011
10-29 Chicago, IL – Congress Theater ^%$
10-30 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer #
10-31 Manhattan, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
11-01 Providence, RI – The Met *
11-02 Boston, MA – Royale #
11-03 Toronto, Ontario – The Hoxton #
11-04 Buffalo, NY – Sound Lab *
11-05 St. Louis, MO – 2720 Cherokee *
11-06 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
11-09 Phoenix, AZ – Bar Smith
11-10 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
11-11 Los Angeles, CA – Skybar
11-13 Hollywood, CA, – Drai’s Hollywood @ The W
11-16 Portland, OR – Bossanova
11-17 Seattle, WA, – Crocodile
11-18 San Francisco, CA – 103 Harriet
11-19 Vancouver, British Columbia – Electric Owl
* with Melo-X
^ with MSTRKRFT
% with Wolfgang Gartner
$ with Laidback Luke
# with SBTRKT
Electronica superstar Skrillex owes a certain debt to John Dadzie.
In this week’s issue of the New Times, I explored the “poster boy of dubstep” and his meteoric rise to fame over the past year. And while Skrillex’s phenomenal reinvention as an EDM maestro came about through his own tireless efforts, the bespectacled artist was helped along the way by Dadzie, who’s better know by his nom de guerre 12th Planet.
He’s been kicking around the world of electronic music for more than a decade, starting out as drum ‘n’ bass selecta and later becoming one of the influential pioneers of dubstep in America.
Dadzie’s coming to the Marquee Theater in Tempe this weekend as a part of Skrillex’s massive Mothership Tour and Up on the Sun got a chance to speak with him via telephone.
You were one of the earliest adopters of dubstep in the U.S., correct? Yeah, totally. There were those guys that came before me, like Joe Nice and Dave Q over in New York and Baltimore. Those guys were already like established in the scene, but I think I got to play a lot of the markets that dubstep was never in. Going to like Boise, Oklahoma, and Little Rock. I think I was one of the first people to go to those places and play dubstep like four five years ago.
When was the first time you’ve played Phoenix? I think my first gig in Phoenix under the name 12th Planet was at this place with a gay bar on the bottom and an upstairs lounge on the second floor.
You mean Homme Lounge with cats like Ultrablack? Yeah. That was in like 2007. That was before they even called themselves Ultrablack. I knew Sluggo [Nick Suddarth] and Adroit [Bryan Marek] from doing drum ‘n’ bass stuff before. It was setup by their friend Cruz, who was definitely one of the first person to start booking dubstep stuff out there. And then Frank Mendez started doing some dubstep shows on this patio of this place he worked at, and from there, it helped lead to where it is now.
What was your first reaction to dubstep? It reminded me a lot of drum ‘n’ bass. Before I did dubstep I was producing and touring as a drum ‘n’ bass artist. When I went to England, I always noticed there was this second room with some weird music, and there were guys like Slaughter Mob and Skream and Zed Bias making it. I didn’t think it was gonna sound like it does today. It was like a fresh take. I was getting over drum ‘n’ bass at the time because it didn’t really evolve. There was this certain point, around like 2006 or 2007 that nothing really sounded different. It was like the same records were being made over and over and over. No one was really pushing the envelope forward.
When did you become a dubstep convert? After the Dubstep Warz mix that Mary Anne Hobbs did with like Mala, Skream, Benga, Hatcha and all these names that are pivotal to what dubstep sounds like now was all on one mix. Then it all started to make sense. It really hooked me and I started working on the music. I met up with my partner Drew Best [of L.A.'s influential SMOG night] and he was starting to throw dubstep shows. He was gonna do his first show and he asked me if I wanted to play, but I had to go on tour in Germany. So I recommended guys like Nick Argon and Matty G, and the rest is history.
Dubstep has been constantly evolving since its early days in both the U.S. and U.K.? Once it got popular around the world, everyone’s had their own take on it. A lot of it has to do with producers getting over making drum ‘n’ bass and took their experience into dubstep, which caused everyone to step their game up. It wasn’t just a minimal sound anymore, it was a maximum effort. To make a dubstep song now you have to spend some time on the craft. A lot new techniques have been learned since then.
This trailer directed by Saam Farahmand was inspired to create a unique interpretation of the ethos behind the project. The result is a breathtaking film that perfectly encapsulates the audio visual obsession of Radio Soulwax.
Never fear Bay-area dirty dancers, Dim Mak has expanded to the streets of San Francisco with Obey The Kitty, a new Wednesday night event @ VESSEL. To kick off the Halloween week, Dim Mak is proud to present LA RIOTS to the decks, along with our very own BONES. This event will sell out so jump on getting your tickets now, and make sure to get there early!
I have your mid-week GDD™ Morning Update and it is a heavy one. Today’s stories include Kaskade’s Fire & Ice, Hard Haunted Mansion 2011, Beatport & digital distribution, and Pukkelpop 2012. Read up and get in the know after the jump!
Kaskade Fire & Ice Album Preview From The Studio
Kaskade’s upcoming album, Fire and Ice, is set to drop in just under a week, and buzz on the web is heating up ahead of the dual disc release. A new video posted on the mega DJ’s YouTube page reveals some of the behind-the-scenes action that went into making the Fire and the Ice — exposing the origin of his unlikely collaboration with Skrillex as well as some insight into the vocalists he selected for the album. Yes, this video is essentially five minutes of torture if you’re a Kaskade-aholic, but at least we’re making the wait a little less boring.
It’s also our duty to inform you that despite the text in the video, the official album release has been moved up to October 24th (this coming Monday). We hear the shift comes from — get this — the Coldplay album release scheduled for Tuesday. Yeah, we don’t get it either (though the Fedde Le Grand remix to “Paradise” is pretty awesome).
Heavy techno. Blistering dubstep. Bone-rattling house. If it’s got a pulse — no matter how jacked and jagged — it’s got a home at HARD Haunted Mansion, the two-night dance festival hitting downtown Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall on Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29 (with a cross-coastal pre-party at Terminal 5 in New York this Saturday). The event, now in its fourth year, is decidedly anti-trance.
“I’m not into Tiësto and all that,” says Gary Richards, a.k.a. DJ Destructo, 40, who founded HARD in 2007 as an alternative to So Cal’s exploding rave scene. “I did glow-sticks and pacifiers when I was 20. We have a more rock attitude. I’d be down to have Eddie Van Halen come out and bust the rough shit.”
Unlikely, but with Haunted headliner Skrillex collaborating with Korn on their new album, the sentiment isn’t that far off. HARD lives up to its name, booking acts like Odd Future, M.I.A., and Sleigh Bells at its other fests and tours around the country, and rounding out this year’s Halloween lineup with heavy-hitters like big beat legend Fatboy Slim, dubstep star Rusko, and live dance-punk quartet Soulwax.
Haunted Mansion’s two stages (one inside the historic venue, one outside) support a total of 10,000 fans per night, and it’s sold out every time, in part due to the promoter’s tradition of breaking new acts. Ask Richards who he’s excited to see this time and he’s likely to rattle off the entire bottom half of the bill.
There’s SBTRKT, the rising Londoner whose wobbly beats are equal parts spooky and soulful. There’s the amped mutant house of the U.K.’s L-Vis 1990 and the disco-addled digitalisms of L.A.’s Oliver. Also, a pair of hotly tipped Belgian acts — the positively thrashing Goose four-piece, and electro-house wiz the Magician — plus Skream + Benga, a pair of producers whose minimal bass music helped launch dubstep.
“When I book these shows, I book them like a DJ,” says Richards, who also performs on Saturday. “It’s not, ‘What’s going to sell me the most tickets?’ It’s, ‘What’s going to make for a great night?’ “
It doesn’t hurt that competition is flagging. Insomniac, the company behind the Electric Daisy Carnival (arguably the most recognizable rave brand in the world), is throwing a similar event on October 29, but following endless EDC controversy, the promoter has all but vacated L.A. proper. Instead, Escape From Wonderland is going down an hour east in San Bernardino, and the 14th annual Monster Massive (an All Hallow’s Eve collaboration between Insomniac and a third promoter, Go Ventures) has been cancelled. (While Electric Daisy Carnival has left Los Angeles, seemingly permanently, for Las Vegas, and Monster Massive has indeed been cancelled, Insomniac still maintains an impressive presence within the City of Los Angeles. Though events like Escape From Wonderland (massives, raves, festivals) mostly take place in San Bernardino, Insomniac still promotes concerts regularly at venues like the Music Box and the Palladium, entertaining “at the very least, 8,000 Angeleno Electronic Dance Music lovers each month,” according to the company.)
Richards had his own brush with bad press in 2009 with his other flagship event, HARD Summer — a few hundred gate crashers rushed the balconies of the Forum, a South L.A. arena, then began jumping into the crowd below causing Inglewood police to dispatch a riot squad — but he says he’s learned his lesson. After the festival moved to a park and ramped up security (police dogs, double fences, helicopter patrol), one Los Angeles Times headline read, “Hard Summer … The Safest place on Earth?”
The improvements — namely, HARD’s willingness to work extensively with police and fire for months in advance of to avoid future disasters — have paid off. HARD Summer will go to two days next year after expanding from two stages to four this past August and tripling attendance from to 30 thousand. Richards also bans glow sticks, backpacks and “furry shit” from his events, which are typically 18 and over.
“My goal going into HARD was, ‘Let’s try to do something where people think of electronic music and they think about good music instead of Ecstasy,” he says. “I’m not interested in throwing a party for young kids to take drugs at. We do our best to try to keep it about the music.”
Well, mostly. After Haunted Mansion, Richards is shifting gears in order to prepare for HARD’s most ambitious event yet: Holy Ship!, a three-night around-the-clock party on a cruise ship bound for the Bahamas, leaving January 5 from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Skrillex is on board (literally) for that one too.
Friday
HARD Stage
6:35-7:25 – Annie Mac
7:30-8:30 – SBTRKT
8:40-9:40 – Laidback Luke
9:50-11:05 – 2ManyDjs
11:20-12:35 – Fatboy Slim
12:50-1:50 – Rusko
Soulwax’s Pioneering Free App & Online A/V Project, US Tour
Electronic music pioneers & internationally renowned DJs, Soulwax, recently unveiled ‘RADIO SOULWAX’ – A pioneering Online & App driven audiovisual project. The project consists of 24 themed 1 hour-long mixes, each of which has a corresponding video. The visuals are crafted, inspired and lovingly animated using the imagery from the sleeves of the very records that shape each mix. A couple of mixes will be released each month until the completion of the 24 hours. Most importantly, it is free online to all, marking a new era in mixtape culture, home music consumption, direct to fan distribution and in the sharing of these experiences via new technology. Over 200,000 people have downloaded the free app and the site has received millions of hits. The first 16 hours are already available at www.radiosoulwax.com
In celebration of RADIO SOULWAX: David & Stephan Dewaele AKA 2ManyDJs/Soulwax have announced a US tour including the HARD Haunted Mansion. 2ManyDjs will bring Radio Soulwax to life during the HARD show and will be mixing the tracks and images simultaneously. Anyone who can’t make it to the shows have Radio Soulwax as a new way to experience their unique record collections & musical exploration in the privacy of your own home, head or iPad.
RADIO SOULWAX has been over 2 & half years in development. It has evolved and morphed from a simple original idea to a full multi–sensory media experience. Do not be confused or put off by the use of the term ‘Radio’ here as music is but one side to this experience. Together with the projects artistic director Fergus Purcell they have also created a unique accompanying visual channel to boot, which would be just as much Music TV as it is radio – if such a thing still existed in 2011.
At times the visuals themselves have even driven, informed and helped re-imagine the audio parts you’ll hear simultaneously. It is an integral part of the unique charm of RADIO SOULWAX and one, which is often the hardest to get across. Here, fans of animation, comedy, art or even god forbid, seventies sleeve nudity may well be tickled too. Musical train-spotters will also be in heaven! But here, each and every one of these painstakingly produced hours is fun, different and geared to trigger individual reactions unique to the viewer, listener, consumer etc.
RADIO SOULWAX is fun, chaotic and best of all – it is free. Due to copyright & publishing legalities – the content of the mixes broadcast cannot and will never be sold, which considering the time, money and love spent personally developing this project is utterly unique in itself, especially during this new age of the music industry.
In addition to the live online feed – Radio Soulwax is available to stream and download via a fully interactive iPhone/iPad/Android application. This can be downloaded from the Apple App store for iPad & iPhone & Google App store for Android and will allow users greater freedom to listen away from the broadcast schedule online.
For lovers of fun, music, art, technology, film, chaos or curiosity…RADIO SOULWAXis live at: www.radiosoulwax.com
Soulwax/ 2ManyDJs US Tour
10/28 Los Angeles, Ca @ Shrine Auditorium (2ManyDJs LIVE!)
10/29 Los Angeles, Ca @ Shrine Auditorium (Soulwax set)
10/31 San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom (2ManyDJs set)
11/2 New York,NY @ Webster Hall (Soulwax set)
Spotify might be staring at a huge problem: disaffected – and highly-vocal – indies. But for all of those considering an out, there seem to be just as many that want in. And thanks to a recently-sealed partnership, electronica-focused Beatport is about to deliver lots of those labels and artists right to Spotify’s doorstep.
Last week, Digital Music News reported that Beatport was planning a major expansion into digital distribution, based on tips from several sources. On Tuesday afternoon, Beatport not only confirmed that expansion, but also confirmed a distribution partner list that includes Spotify, Rdio, iTunes, Stompy and beatport.com itself.
That means an infusion of new DJ and electronica content for everyone in the network, with others soon-to-be-announced. Beatport is widely considered the top download destination for DJ and electronica content.
The distribution company will be called Baseware, with a focus on emerging artists, producers, and labels. The Baseware site is now live at basewaredistribution.com, and a big splash will be happening at the Amsterdam Dance Event on Thursday. ”Beatport represents some of the finest electronic dance music, artists and labels in the world, so we’re thrilled to partner with Baseware to be able to offer this exceptional content to Spotify’s millions of users all over the world,” said Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer of Spotify.
Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival has announced that it will return in 2012, despite losses incurred after a fatal stage collapse at this year’s fest. The 2012 edition will run from August 16-18, with its usual eight stages.
To offer restitution to those festivalgoers whose 2011 festival experience was cut short, Pukkelpop is offering food and drink vouchers good for the next three Pukkelpop festivals to those who purchased their festival tickets online this year. Info on that process can be found here. However, the festival organizers encourage fans to “support the existence of the Pukkelpop festival” by not redeeming their vouchers, or only using part of the value.
If you missed the launch party last week @ our new downtown venue ICON, don’t worry because our VERSUS party brings you an incredible lineup this Thursday. GDD, Danceism and IntoTheAM proudly bring you the LA debut of France’s CANBLASTER, along with the drummer from Soulwax known as ONE MAN PARTY, and Potty Mouth/Fool’s Gold local hero TJR. Supporting the headlining trio will be UhOhDisco’s Goj!ra, Danceism’s Ben Oprstu and yours truly, ///BONES ready to break in the brand new venue proper. This night is gonna get massive, so we’ve extended the hours of this week’s party till 3AM.
RSVP @ DANCEiSM.com (go to linked page and look on the RIGHT side)
LOCATION:
@ ICON LA Ultra Lounge 1248 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles CA 90015 (across the street from the Staples Center!)
INFO: ► Thursday June 9th ► 9:00pm-3:00am ► 21+ ► $5 beers and $7 cocktails ALL NIGHT! ► MORE INFO HERE
TUNEAGE: To get you pumped for the festivities Thursday, One Man Party from Soulwax has compiled his “DRIVING TO WORK DJ MIX” that will have you fist pumping your windshield and/or computer screen, so dirty dance with caution!
Also, DANCEiSM’s wild child Ben Oprstu has released his new EP ‘Sprout’ absolutely for FREE. Make sure you check out ‘Tooty Flooty’, it’s my fav and it is BIG. Sprout EP by benoprstu
