Spring Awakening is set to return to Chicago’s Soldier Field this June, building on last year’s success and covering not two but three days, all while holding its own amongst the city’s packed summer festival schedule. With big names like Calvin Harris, Paul Oakenfold, and Boys Noize and 100-some other top acts besides, we’ve compiled the artists we simply can’t miss to help you solve the quandary of so many artists, so little time.
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In celebration of hitting 100,000 Facebook fans, trap music pioneers Flosstradamus, have served up a free download of “Assquake.” A track you may recognize from BANNED 2, the duo transform Big Sean’s verse from “Mercy” into a hi-hat laden floor shaker, capable of turning even the smallest behinds into full-blown Richter-scale shaking fatties. Add this one to your collection today for free.
With the Nomads EP, Flosstradmus and DJ Sliink’s sample-laden big room trap style provides theme music for an 808 generation. “Can you count, suckers? I say the future is ours, if you can count!” Paying homage to cult-classic in cinema, “CROWD CTRL” excerpts the opening sequence to The Warriors. The 1979 Sol Yurick adaptation follows the misadventures of lost youth in the neon underground of New York City. If that doesn’t embody Flosstradamus’s contra-branded verboten temperament, I don’t know what does. Floss and Sliink further placate rowdy ruffians of the Millennial Generation with “Test Me” and UZ’s own cradle-rocking rendition. Can you dig it?
Purchase: iTunes
Early next week, BBC Radio 1 will be exploring the history and importance of the 808, 303, and 909 drum machines for their Stories program. The show will highlight the instrumental role these tools played in the development of hip-hop, house, techno, and their many accompanying subgenres. DJ Premier, Richie Hawtin, Seth Troxler, The 2 Bears, Flosstradamus and Pete Tong among others will join host Kutski for this edition of Stories. BBC Radio 1 has shared some snippets from the show, which is set to air on March 11th at 9PM. Check out the previews below and be sure to tune in for what will likely be an important history lesson.
Hundreds of DJs, seven stages, two weekends. Where do you start? Who do you see and who do you skip? Dancing Astronaut has you covered. We’ve filled you in on the acts you can’t ignore for Weekend One, spearheaded by dubstep and deep house-heavy rosters. The second weekend, however, sees another two genres at the forefront along with some of the biggest names in popular dance music. From the whopping trance offerings to the invigorating trap overture, to the best in progressive and electro, here are the stages you can’t ignore at Ultra Weekend Two.
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It can go without saying that no genre took the dance music world by storm in 2012 like trap music. Combining the swagger of hip-hop with the sub-bass of dubstep while sprinkling in tings of booty bounce and breakbeat, trap easily exploded onto the dance music scene with help from TNGHT, Baauer and Flosstradamus. A new sound in electronic music, trap is no new feat for the hip-hop world — with its strong history in southern styles such as Houston hip-hop and Dirty South. Aided by rising producers, the bridge between hip-hop and electronic music crumbled in 2012, creating a new bass genre for dance music and a new life for rap — proving “hip-hop is not dead.”AEI Media took note of trap’s new power and created the All Trap Music compilation featuring some of the biggest trap productions from 2012.
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Six months ago, the original B⚠NNED mixtape drunkenly walked into the home of every EDM enthusiast, toppled on the couch, and professed it was there to stay. We don’t know how hospitable you were, but we know that beautiful tipsy mess of 1/32 hi-hats and 808s is still buzzing in your ears. Home invaders, Flosstradamus, can be thanked for spearheading a trend that has led us to confusing Beatport genres, festival trap, and the ubiquitous “Damn son, where’d you find this?“ sample. We aren’t complaining. The genre’s obnoxious and imprudent rise is endearing. Like the first, B⚠NNED 2 tosses aside any harbored disdain we had for hip hop and adds a bit of nostalgia to our bump and grind. For 34 minutes, Flosstradamus will burglarize your ears and steal your legs. All you have to do is unlock the door.
Free download (via The Pirate Bay) and tracklist after the break.
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Best of the Rest is a daily feature from Dancing Astronaut that recaps the most important posts of the day as well as the stuff we didn’t get to. With the rapidity that dance music news and releases come out it’s difficult for us to hit everything — we hope BOTR serves as a catch-all. Make sure to check it out at the end of each day to ensure you don’t miss anything!
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Today is Thanksgiving. It’s a time to give thanks for good health, good friends, good family, and, of course, good music. We thought we’d take the time to pay tribute to our favorite parts of dance music culture on this day of thanks, not only for the guys who slave over turntables while we get to party, but for the dance music scene in general and its constantly expanding fanbase. This one’s for the EDM acts that put their heart and soul into it, the clubs that go all out every night of the week, and the people who live and breathe house music. It’s the least we can do.
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After appearing on the cover of XXL’s Freshman 2012 issue, Iggy Azaela has spent the last year developing her new hip-hop persona . Met by quick critics for her lack of cred, the Australian blonde-bombshell has taken the year to prove that it is her witty lyrics and surprisingly badass flow that legitimize her music. As a precursor to her debut album due out in 2013 on Grand Hustle Records, Azalea released the Trap Gold mixtape. The mixtape features production help from the likes of Diplo and FKi while Juicy J lends the only vocal feature on “Flexin & Finnesin.”
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