In two days the Electric Daisy Carnival will descend on Citi Field in Queens, bringing with it a lineup featuring some of the best names in techno and tech house. In celebration of New York’s embrace of the darker side of dance music, Marquee New York and M-nus will be hosting an exclusive afterparty with the legendary Richie Hawtin on Friday, May 17th. With support from New York residents Sleepy & Boo, the revered techno legend will bring his technical expertise and artful production talents to New York City’s newest and most extravagant club.
Best of Instagram is a feature from Dancing Astronaut that showcases our favorite pictures from our favorite DJs on Instagram each week. This week, we feature gems from Steve Angello, Afrojack, and Diplo.
This morning’s mix is a living testament to dance music’s capacity to unite and uplift. Bridges for Music is an innovative nonprofit that employs electronic music to effect positive social change in disadvantaged areas by bridging divides, inspiring individuals and promoting public awareness. The organization recently brought minimal techno icon Richie Hawtin to the South African townships of Soweto and Langa to conduct workshops and perform live alongside homegrown talents like Black Coffee.
Hawtin describes the following mix as a series of fragments from each of his DJ sets in the Rainbow Nation as an “attempt to capture the feeling and direction of the night, giving those who were there a reminder of the events they experienced while giving those who were not present a fragmented distortion of what they missed.” Despite such distortion, it’s clear that those not in attendance missed a number of incredible and forward-thinking events from both musical and conceptual standpoints. Bridges for Music has also brought such varied acts as Luciano, Skrillex, and 12th Planet to participate in its South African programs, so expect no shortage of socially-conscious sounds to come.
After two days of scorching sun, the earlier part of our third day in Indio was spent much the same way – glued to the tents where Paul Kalkbrenner, Paul Oakenfold, Hardwell, Eric Prydz, Joris Voorn, James Blake, Pretty Lights, Maya Jane Coles, Loco Dice, Jamie Jones, and Richie Hawtin would deliver some of the days stand out performances. As the day wore on the wind picked up, transforming the polo grounds into a massive dust storm, tearing through the campsites with a vengeance.
Coachella’s Saturday lineup presented a new host of conflicts, while the Sahara and Yuma tents remained stacked with impressive talent, elsewhere in the festival some of most remixed indie bands in dance music were also performing. The Sahara Tent hosted Baauer, Kill The Noise, Bingo Players, Fedde Le Grand, Moby, while Yuma created refuge for fans of 2 Bears and Julio Bashmore. Rather than stay confined to the two dance music tents as promised, we explored the Polo grounds.
Best of Instagram is a feature from Dancing Astronaut that showcases our favorite pictures from our favorite DJs on Instagram each week. This week, we feature gems from Kaskade, Skrillex, Seth Troxler, and more.
You’ve seen photographs online after parties that were absolutely bananas. Most likely, you’ve also seen the ones taking those photos, or you’ve seen the flash, and the one responsible has vanished. Camera in hand, I’m one of the many dark figures running through nightclubs, squeezing through groups of people packed in like sardines, trying constantly to find the best spot to capture that one moment when the pyrotechnics erupt and the crowd goes wild. Often times, these seemingly endless treks across clubs are fruitless, and we feel compelled to move again…and again…to chase the perfect shot. It’s always a challenge; every venue is different in its own unique ways. Having just wrapped up photographing some incredible shows during Miami Music Week 2013, here are some of the ways I’ve learned to navigate the insanity that has become EDM photography on the ground and on assignment.
It’s tough being a Canadian sometimes. While bustling with fresh talent, our producers are frequently mistaken for our neighbours to the south. Of course, we are often too polite to cause a scene but it’s due time that we shine a light on our accomplished artists and let the world know we hamper more musical scope than just the Biebs. Canada has a vast EDM scene comparable, if not better, to metropolitans in the US, and we are mighty proud of it.
As opposed to beach or desert festivals, we have outdoor blizzard raves fit with ice sculptures and snow huts, like Igloofest in Montreal and Brrrrr! Winter Music Festival in Toronto. Frankly, if you’re not putting on neon snowpants and toques to go rave in the snow, you’re doing it wrong. We also enjoy getting lost in dense Canadian forests at Shambhala and celebrating our Nation’s birthday at Escapade. Our clubs like Flames Central in Calgary are named after hockey teams, and we are home to the one and only EDMonton. The Guvernment Toronto is constantly hailed by DJs for having the best crowds, while Celebrities Vancouver is in one of the best cities in the world. We grew up on MuchDance compilation albums and Rick Campanelli interviews. Last but not least, we have developed a fair amount of respected producers, the frontrunners listed below.
Best of Instagram is a feature from Dancing Astronaut that showcases our favorite pictures from our favorite DJs on Instagram each week. This week, we feature gems from Junior Sanchez, Seth Troxler, A-Trak and more.
The news that Richie Hawtin and Deadmau5 would be performing a back-to-back set following their panel traveled rather quickly. It’s not often that the two take the stage together and it was without a doubt one of the most talked about moments of SXSW. Although an official high quality video from the event has yet to hit the web, one lucky attendee was kind enough to upload an 11-minute snippet of their performance. It isn’t much, but it does give us a glimpse into their techno takedown.
