DAILY 05/15
15May2013

Wavefront Music Festival Launches DJ Invitational, Vote Now!

wavefrontmusicfestival2013

The weather has finally started shaping up here in Chicago and with that comes more street and music festivals than we could ever hope for. One I’m looking forward to in particular is the Wavefront Music Festival on Montrose Beach. Last year we couldn’t make it due to it being the same weekend as Electric Forest, but this year we’re blessed with the opportunity. Back to back weekends of music festivals? Sounds perfect.

Before we dive in and start hitting you with previews of each festival, we wanted to update you on a special competition happening for the Wavefront Music Festival – the DJ Invitational. My good friend Noah Saltz is battling other artists for the top spot which is an opportunity to receive an official spot on the festival lineup.

Between now and Sunday, May 19th at 11:59PM, the top 5 vote getters who were not selected as winners will have one last chance to have their fans vote. The votes will be tallied and the final four – the top 2 vote getters and top 2 judges’ picks – will perform Friday, May 24th at 10pm at Castle to determine which 2 DJs will play at WavefrontL. The winners will be chosen based on style, technique, music selection, crowd interaction and crowd reaction. The 3rd and 4th runners up do NOT go home empty handed. Each contestant to make the Final Four will receive a 3-Day General Admission pass to Chicago’s first and only electronic music festival on the beach!

Please do us a favor and vote for our friend Noah Saltz, his track “Skyway”, and we’ll see everyone on the beach! Just connect with your Facebook account to vote and then click the ‘heart’ button on the bottom left of the page to submit your vote.

Posted by

Categories: Electronic, News & AnnouncementsView Comments

 

DAILY 05/09
09May2013

Duke Dumont Releases “Need U (100%)” In North America, Goes On Tour

London-based Producer Duke Dumont has been creating serious buzz abroad and a recent partnership with Win Records along with leading independent U.S. record label Downtown Records, he presents us with his hit single “Need U (100%)” featuring A*M*E and MNEK. Everyone over in the U.K. has been blessed with this massive record for a few months now as its been sitting at #1 on the Top 100 chart for weeks now. Duke has been given support and appeared in everything from Spin, Paper, NME, even a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

“Duke Dumont’s ‘Need U 100%’ is the first of what I feel audiences have been looking for these last few years,” says Sean Glass, founder of Win Records. ‘EDM’ exploded, now deep house is doing its thing, but what will really cross this music over are songs. ‘Need U 100%’ takes actual verse-chorus-verse structure, including a killer hook, and applies all the best sounds of deep house and garage right now. Throw in some classic disco flair and Duke Dumont is right alongside Daft Punk in the best dance producers out there right now.”

Embarking on a North American tour this week, you can expect Duke to supply you with some serious house anthems, so without further delay, I suggest you watch the video above and then hit the jump to see if he’s coming to a city near you.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: Duke Dumont, Electronic, News & AnnouncementsView Comments

 

DAILY 04/18
18Apr2013

Zeds Dead Release Spring 2013 Mix

Zeds Dead had quite a 2012 and this year is shaping up to be another wild ride for the duo as they gear up for a nine stop European leg of their huge 32-date world tour. Commencing at Paris’ legendary Social Club on April 25th, fans will be able to see them all across Europe until they wrap things up at the Mad Decent party at Komplex 457 in Zurich on May 8th. To turn your Winter frowns upside down they’ve put together one hell of a Spring mix featuring music from AraabMuzik, Zinc, Wilkinson, Sander van Doorn, Major Lazer and Biggie among others. They also give you a taste of their new remix of Nina Simone’s iconic record “Don’t Let Me Be Alone”.

Hit the jump for the complete tracklist along with the European dates of their tour. Ok, enough with the pleasantries, lets get into that grimy shit.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: Electronic, Zeds DeadView Comments

 

DAILY 04/16
16Apr2013

Alesso Sells Out Congress Theater, Doesn’t Disappoint (Review)

IMG_0431

Alessandro Lindblad, more commonly known as Alesso made his way to Chicago this past weekend to perform in front of a ‘sold out’ crowd at Congress Theater. After being name ‘one of 2011′s hottest artists, it was enough for MTV to name him an EDM artist to watch in 2012. With 2013 fully kicked off and as festival has just begun, Alesso is proving himself to be one of the finest progressive house DJ’s – just ask any of his fans. With his most recent hits “Years” featuring Matthew Koma as well as his remix to One Republic’s “If I Lose Myself”, Alesso is solidifying his presence in the dance music world and he’s only going to become bigger thanks to the love he’s constantly shown by other DJ’s including Avicii, members of Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto, and many more.

After a long hiatus from Congress, the crew was rounded up and the birthday of one of our good homies was celebrated properly with a trip to see Alesso on Friday April 12th. We arrived around 10:30pm, just in time to catch Adventure Club and witness the madness that has become all too common outside of Congress. With a line wrapping around the corner and people shivering due to the cold April weather, we made our way inside. A huge rush of nostalgia hit me as I walked in, with waves of flashbacks from previous shows littering my brain. It was good to be back. Another plus side to the Congress hiatus is that over the course of however many months, they’ve been doing some renovations and I must say, things are starting to look better and that includes security. Don’t get my wrong, it’s still security, but I didn’t feel as though I was dealing with the TSA when I got there.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: Alesso, Aperture, ElectronicView Comments

 

DAILY 04/05
05Apr2013

Ultra Music Festival Conquers Miami To Celebrate Their 15th Anniversary (Review)

The 15th anniversary of the Ultra Music Festival has sadly come to a close but with every new beginning comes an end – that end happens to be the most successful Ultra year to date. Spanning over 2 weekends, Bayfront Park in Miami was graced by over 300,000 visitors from across the world and over 10,000,000 fans tuned in online to catch the excitement. Yes, you read that correctly – 10 million people. It’s a great feeling to know I was able to experience it all firsthand but now that I’ve popped my Ultra cherry, I know what I would do differently next year and I’m here to pass those tips along to you. So without further delay, lets take a look at what made this years Ultra so special.

If you’ve never been to Ultra you have no idea, even the slightest idea what it’s like. 7 stages all going at one time, hundreds of thousands of EDM fans wandering around from stage to stage enjoying the worlds best DJ’s and an atmosphere like no other. The word organized chaos comes to mind. Due to the million different things happening at any given time in Miami, our Ultra experience kicked off around 6pm every day. We opted to take advantage of the various pool parties happening on South Beach during the day which consisted of multiple visits to the invite-only Redbull Guest House. The Guest House featured performances each day from John Talabot, Jamie XX, and an OWSLA Records party which boasted performances from Skrillex, Alvin Risk, Blood Diamond and a few others. Keep this is mind when you decide to plan a trip to Miami. It’s very overwhelming at times and schedule conflicts are bound to occur.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: Aperture, Electronic, Ultra Music FestivalView Comments

 

DAILY 03/20
20Mar2013

IMF Presents: Ultra Music Festival – Weekend 2 (Guide)

UMF-20131

Over 300,000 electronic music fans descended upon beautiful Miami Florida this past week to enjoy the first weekend of the 15th anniversary of the Ultra Music Festival and now another 300,000 fans anxiously await departure for a sold-out weekend number two – ourselves included. What’s it like sitting at the office days before you’re about to hop on a plane to enjoy one of the worlds greatest music festivals you ask? One word: hectic. We could be like the other guys and simply just fly down to Miami, go with the flow, and see what happens, but we’re not like those other guys. We want to give you guys an inside glimpse into all of the happenings going on in Miami which is why we’re giving you event previews, guides, interviews with artists, and much more.

Read: IMF Presents: Miami Music Week (Guide).

Now that you’re in ‘the know’ with all of the things happening outside of the Ultra Music Festival, lets dive right in and take a look at all of the things happening within the festival at the gorgeous Bayfront Park. For those of you who have been before, think of this simply as a refresher, and for those of you who are about to enjoy your first Ultra experience, let us guide you so you don’t end up making out with a tree on camera like this girl did last year. She clearly forgot to read the IMF 2012 guide. Don’t make the same mistake she did.

Without further delay, lets get down to business.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: Electronic, News & Announcements, Ultra Music FestivalView Comments

 

DAILY 03/18
18Mar2013

Social Experiment Miami (Event)

Social-Experiment-flyer

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Miami Music Week is in full effect and with the completion of weekend 1 of the Ultra Music Festival, we’re going to begin to prepare you for the madness that is week 2. First things first, make sure you read our Miami Music Week guide – this will update you on our picks of some of the top parties. Second, stay tuned to IMF because as the week goes by, we’ll be releasing some exclusive content with event previews, interviews, and much more.

Kicking things off today, we give you Social Experiment Miami presented by BPM Festival, No.19, SAFE, The Modern Love Affair, and Jazz J Spinder. It will feature headliners Art Department, Canadian techno/house Legend Kenny Glasgow and Canada’s fastest rising star and No.19 label owner – Jonny White. They’re joined by the legendary DJ Sneak, Deniz Kurtel, Juan Maclean, Tone Of Arc, Shaun Reeves, My Favorite Robot, Nitin, Droog, Clayton Steele, and Jakkin Rabbita all under the Cafeina Wynwood Lounge (297 NW 23rd Street) at 10pm. The party goes until 5am for those of you who have no need for sleep and you can pickup tickets here.

Interested in hearing a little bit more of what you’ll be seeing live? Check out the soundcloud player below for a Spring 2013 Sampler mix from No. 19 records. Grab your tickets, your dancing shoes, and we’ll see you at Cafeina Wynwood Lounge on Friday!

Posted by

Categories: Electronic, News & AnnouncementsView Comments

 

DAILY 03/15
15Mar2013

dirtybird Players Tour To Hit Miami For WMC

db_players_tour_flyer

Words by lightly fanciful.

If there is one event that I am most looking forward to most outside of the Ultra Music Festival it has to be the dirtybird Players event taking place at Villa 221 on Thursday of Miami Music Week. The dirtybird family has been blessing my ears and my rear end with the best booty bass, deep house, tech house, future dubstep, and musical genres that haven’t even been invented – yet for quite some time and I am ready to finally get to attend one of their infamous dirtybird BBQs. There will be burgers, there will be house, and there will be hip hop. The OG dirtybird family will be joined by hip-hop innovators De La Soul and it is sure to be a pairing not to miss. Pretty much it is my idea of what heaven would sound and taste like.

I would hope that by now dirtybird needs no introduction, but for those of you who have been living under a rock let me get you up to speed. The label started from a simple desire of transforming the tired vocal house sounds of San Francisco and giving the people a free party to attend at Golden Gate Park. The inaugural party did not have many in attendance, but it was only a matter of time before the word of something special spread. The founders Claude Von Stroke, Worthy, and the Martin Brothers, grew the event until there was not enough burgers to go around and the park could no longer accommodate the throngs of people looking for a party with a smile. A couple of years later the label was formed and from there our ears have been continually blessed with the innovative sounds coming out of the dirtybird heavy hitters that include Claude Von Stroke, Justin Martin, Leroy Peppers, J.Philip, and Worthy.

If you can’t catch the tour in Miami they will be making a few other stops around the globe before the labels first summer residency in Ibiza. If you can’t make any of those tour dates try to refrain your urge to cry. The players have also released a two part compilation to hold you over until they are back in your neck of the woods. dirtybird Players Part 1 and dirtybird Players Part 2 are out on Beatport so fire up the grill, make yourself a burger, and pretend you are in Miami with us while you bump these killer compilations. For a sample of what you can expect, check out some of my booty bumpin picks after the jump.

Read More

Posted by

Categories: dirtybird, Electronic, Event, News & AnnouncementsView Comments