Last week, Damian Lazarus’ global Rebel Rave tour stopped by SRB in Brooklyn and alongside Verboten, created a ten hour party experience lasting well into the morning hours. The night featured Culprit label owners Droog, recent Essential Mix inductee Amirali, the Infinity Ink duo, one half of Art Department, and rising underground talent Subb-an. The stacked lineup drew in hundreds of fans and packed out the miniature warehouse space for hours upon hours of the best techno and house music around. With beefed up sound and visual effects, the party will resonate as a memorable occasion for New York house heads. I had the chance to sit down with Lazarus later in the week to discuss his label, the world tour, and some special surprises he has planned for this year’s Beyond Wonderland festival.
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Highly-regarded Canadian label No. 19 Music is out this week with the third installment of their Social Experiment album series. Following up Soul Clap’s boogie-down selections from February 2011, Art Department dive head first into the terrific world of spacey house and out-there dance floor techno. Members Kenny Glasgow and Jonny White had been doing their thing quite well before merging into Art Department under Crosstown Rebels in 2009. Now, with several years as a duo — performing both live with Jonny’s vocals and in DJ sets — the pair are very much established among the underground’s titanic talent.
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Insomniac Events has revealed the 2013 lineup for this year’s Beyond Wonderland, and it features an all encompassing lineup from the entire dance music spectrum. The festivals new location is set at San Manuel Amphitheater in Southern California and will host a multistage setup with some of the biggest names in dance music. Superstar acts like Afrojack and Steve Angello share the same bill with underground phenoms like Damian Lazarus, Maceo Plex, and Art Department. No matter your musical pallet, this festival has a DJ for everyone. Tickets are on sale, so get them while they last.
Purchase: Tickets
Full lineup after the break.
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The underground had a big year in the US in 2012 and we only felt it appropriate to highlight some of these amazing artists independently from potentially bigger or more commercial artists in the dance music world today. We considered the year these artists have had in terms of production, live sets, and overall influence. We also generally picked artists we love and admire; artists we feel are extremely important to pushing electronic music forward. This list of 25 names includes legends and young guns alike, but we can assure you that every single one of these artists is incredibly talented and is well worth a listen or a trip to a club for a live set. Picking up where we left off yesterday, we will continue the countdown with our picks from #15 to the #6 spot.
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