Bowling may seem an odd choice for an extra-curricular WMC outing given Miami’s reputation for glamour and hedonism, but not so for the lovable mess of misfits at San Francisco’s tech funk label Dirtybird. A sacrosanct safe haven for eclectic personalities and sounds, the label is known for being just as forward-thinking as it is, well, fun. On WMC Wednesday, a local Lucky Strike became ground zero for the label artists and lucky attendees aboard the MOX Bus, which featured such daily “takeovers” by various labels throughout the week.
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We recently heard that at DJ Mag’s Best of British Awards, the crowned Best DJ winner Eats Everything had various equipment stolen — preventing him from even DJing that evening. Eats Everything (Daniel Pierce) lost a bag that included several precious USB sticks with records no one else had plus 100 of hours of work for his touring. In a stroke of luck, we’ve now learned DJ Mag received the contents of Eats’s property at their HQ and an anonymous note that read “It was an accident, Sorry! Merry Christmas.” Quite the relief.
via Pulse Radio
Defected Records announced earlier today that it will no longer be hosting “Defected In The House” nights at the famed Pacha in Ibiza. In a statement from label founder Simon Dunmore, he explains that the “current House music renaissance meant 2012 was [their] most successful summer” in the seven-year residency at the club, but “continuing a tried and trusted formula would have been the easiest option but…our achievements last summer give us a great platform to look at the new opportunities available to us.”
Defected had a huge year: they picked up awards for Best British label from DJ Mag, the track of the year award for Pirupa‘s megahit “Party Non-Stop,” as well as the producer of the year award for Solomun (one of the label’s features at their Pacha nights). We’re curious to see what this means next for the label and its presence in Ibiza. What is refreshing, however, is knowing the despite huge leaps in popularity of dance music on the international scene, major players like Defected are not sitting stagnant and solely pursuing money-making endeavors because it is easy and has worked in the past.
Last month, DJ Mag unveiled their annual top 100 rankings, and the 2012 list of DJs was full of surprises. The most notable being an apparent changing of the guard, with Avicii cracking the top 3 — slots that have been designated to the same dominating powers for the past several years. While Avicii — who has been held responsible for the commercialized trajectory of EDM — may not have been the unanimous vote among dance music fans, his influence among the genre, and the world in general, has been unavoidable.
Many people throw around Avicii’s name when cracking mainstream jokes, but — like it or not — the man has become one of the most popular and influential icons of the scene. Whether or not you agree with his #3 ranking, the people have spoken and the numbers show that he has earned that spot. Here are the 7 reasons why Avicii was ranked as an elite figure in 2012.
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Norwegian producer Ørjan Nilsen is out with his latest single “Copperfield” on Armin van Buuren’s Armind Recordings. If his popularity wasn’t already apparent fro m the success of other recent releases like “Viking,” “Endymion,” and his Armin collab “Belter,” Ørjan also snagged a #32 spot on this year’s DJ Mag poll. “Copperfield” is a ravey trance track with a chunky bassline and an old school topline. It’s obvious Ørjan draws influence from Armin’s sound (the track was also featured on A State of Trance back in October), but also toes the line between trance and a more tech house feel. Listen and purchase after the break.
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Out of the loop this week? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Take a minute to check out our top ten releases and news stories from this week in dance music.
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The results from the DJ Mag Top 100 awards are finally in, and after being thrown from the top spot by David Guetta last year, Armin Van Buuren has once again reclaimed the title as the World’s #1 DJ, making it his fifth time winning the competition. Tiesto took the number two spot, followed by Avicii at number three, David Guetta at four, and Deadmau5 at five. Armin says “it was great that David got it last year, to show dance music is evolving and … still exciting,” but adds that “being number one again feels fantastic… I’m so thankful for it.” Hardwell, Dash Berlin, Above and Beyond, Afrojack, and Skrillex round out the top 10.
Nicky Romero is the highest new entrant on the chart this year, debuting at an impressive number 17 ahead of Sander Van Doorn at 18 and Alesso at 20. Porter Robinson had the highest climb, jumping to number 40, while Knife Party entered this year at 33. Netsky is the sole drum & bass DJ to make the chart at number 96, and longtime mainstays such as Sasha and Fatboy Slim did not even make the cut.
While the results of the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll are often debated, they do serve as a good indicator of trends in the scene. There is a lot of young new talent to make the list this year, and a lot of the past heavyweights continue to slip in the rankings. The full top 100 list can be found below.
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The DJ Mag Top 100 awards will take place on Friday October 19th at the Amsterdam Convention Factory, smack dab in the middle of the world’s largest music conference / festival, Amsterdam Dance Event. Another party will take place simultaneously at London’s Ministry of Sound, where the world’s (new?) number 1 DJ will play a second set of the night. Artists like Arty and Hardwell will support in Amsterdam, while Thomas Gold and Markus Schulz will be in London.
Luckily for stateside voters, DJ Mag will be throwing parties in the US as well: Mansion Miami on October 24th, Lavo New York on October 25th, Marquee Vegas on October 27th, LA on the 28th. The world’s new number one DJ will be playing at all three shows stateside — we’ll let you know who it is as soon as we do! Ticket purchase links below.
Via: DJ Mag
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Today marks the final day of voting for the DJ Mag Top 100 poll. In spite of the fact that this poll is misrepresented and holds little to no value, it doesn’t hurt to pay tribute to the DJs we love and have become devoted to. For most of us, our standpoints are based on a number of things. Whether it be the music releases we follow everyday, the live performances we witness every weekend, the very own cities we live in, or perhaps the people we associate ourselves with; DJs become our favorite based on personal sentiment. This doesn’t make one person’s opinion better than the other, or make someone right and wrong. We all live different lives, and appreciate music in different ways. So, with that being said, I present to you my five favorite DJs of the moment.
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DJ Mag made a very bold move late last week when it began releasing the names of cheaters in its Top 100 DJs poll, but the first victim of the scandal is not taking the allegations lightly. Miss Diamond has taken to her Blogspot page to “take the initiative to correct what is currently being said about me.”
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