Ultra Music Festival Announces Packed 2014 Lineup
Ultra Music Festival is the annual Electronic Dance Music super-festival that is easily the largest such event, outside of EDC Las Vegas and Tomorrowland/world. For the sixteenth installment of the neon-splattered mega-rave, organizers went a bit, H.A.M. The first phase of 2014's installment of Ultra Music Festival includes a who's who of artists in the EDM world, including the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Afrojack, Kaskade, Avicii, Krewella and MixMag's No. 1 DJ in the world, Hardwell, who top a packed list.
An interesting tweak at Ultra Music Festival is the split between a DJ and Live lineup. The live lineup has grown and this year includes M.I.A, MGMT, Cut/Copy, Empire of the Sun and Pusha T. I've written about a lot of festivals with over the top lineups, but Ultra may have pushed the envelope another step forward, it's hard to imagine there could be more phases of artist added. The full list of performers can be found below, it may take you a minute to digest the entire situation.
The festival will take place March 28-30 at Bayfront Park in Miami. While VIP tickets have sold out, you can still drop a cool $399.95 for General Admission tix here. Check out a recap video of last year's Ultra and the full list of performers, below.
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[Video] Gramatik Announces 2014 Winter Tour
Gramatik is one of the funkiest EDM producers in the game right now, and yesterday announced plans to head back out on the road in 2014. The Slovenian-born DJ made the announcement alongside a video from his recent sold-out show in Athens, Greece as part of his 2013 Age of Reason Tour. Gramatik will be in Chicago around New Year's Eve for a pair of dates at Concord Music Hall and The Auditorium Theatre on the 30 & 31 respectively before taking off to Canada to begin his tour in Drake's hometown of Toronto on January 16. Established one of the more gifted producers in EDM, Gramatik's compositions can get fans worked into a frenzy or set the mood for a perfect wavy, chill afternoon. Ringing in the new year with his music wouldn't be such a bad way to start 2014. Tickets went on sale for the general public earlier today, so make sure to pick yours up here, for the New Year's Eve shows put on by REACT Presents, kick it here. Scroll your way down for the Greece video, his latest track, "Obviously" with Cherub and ExMag and a full list of tour dates.
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12/30/13 @ Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL
12/31/13 @ Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
1/16/14 @ The Hoxton, Toronto, ON
1/17/14 @ Imperial, Quebec City, QC
1/18/14 @ Telus, Montreal, QC
1/19/14 @ Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME
1/21/14 @ Output, Brooklyn, NY
1/22/12 @ Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA
1/23/14 @ Toad's Place, New Haven, CT
1/24/14 @ Lupo's, Providence, RI
1/25/14 @ Best Buy Theater, New York City, NY
Disclosure: "Latch" (DJ Premier Remix)
It's fun watching acts come up. Disclosure has been on the elevator all year and today got a bit of a cherry on top of their dessert of a 2013 as the legendary DJ Premier dropped a remix to their track, "Latch" today. Premier adds his own unique sound to the single, infusing his eclectic taste of R&B-influenced aesthetics to achieve something that feels maybe a bit more full than the original, like a thick woman in snow pants. Anyway, anything Premier gets his hands on is certain to get the Midas treatment and turn to gold, and building on Disclosure's already distinct sound and structure he does just that here. Check out the remix to "Latch" here below, alongside another recent Disclosure remix to hit the web, this one by Kaytranda for the track "January".
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Kenna & RJD2: "Imitation is Suicide" (Chapter 3)
Kenna has been on a marathon of music over the past four months as he has worked on his Imiation is Suicide music series which saw the blossoming artist team up with several acts, including Childish Gambino, who he recorded the track "Relations" with. For the past couple weeks we have been teasing the third chapter in Kenna's series as he has worked with DJ-juggernaut RJD2. Today, they released their three-song EP that serves as the final installment of what has been one of the more interesting and open-minded series of music releases to come about recently. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance", Kenna set out to pull from a multitude of different mediums and genres to create his eclectic mix of sounds across 12 brand new, original tracks that act as a lead-up to his upcoming full-length album due out in 2014. One of the beautiful thing about the Internet and the world we live in today is that collaborations like these can happen so seamlessly, at the benefit of everyone who gets to listen. Take some time out of your day to groove along with D2 and Kenna, stream below.
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[Video] Disclosure: "Apollo"
Disclosure has been on a run lately, dropping tracks that appeal to a wide swath of the public and continuing to garner praise for their recent release, Settle, which has been finding itself atop year-end lists and allegedly has a follow-up remix album, slated for a December 17 release and featuring Larry Heard and Kaytranada. Today, the duo dropped a visual for their song "Apollo", which is a bit different and interesting to say the least. The track is a dance music staple for sure, with snarling drums, well-placed vocal samples and a gritty, steady bass line that will keep the party moving. The visual complements the dim, hazy feel of the track perfectly. Check out the track below for now, and keep it locked to RH for the latest Disclosure news coming soon.
RJD2, STS & Khari Mateen: “See You Leave” (Insane Warrior Remix)
As end of the year lists continue to roll out from all over the internet, I have yet to see RJD2's More Is Than Isn't LP pop up on many people's favorites of 2013. Perhaps it was that this was the year I finally caught RJ do his thing live, but with each listen, his latest offering seems to hook me in more and more. Since the projects release in October, there have been a steady stream of off-shoots, one-offs and remixes. Today, Okayplayer premiered RJD2's collaboration remix with STS and Khair Mateen for the track "See You Leave". The track bears RJD2's alter-ego, "Insane Warrior" for the gritty intro that can leave your ears shaking while frequent collaborators STS and Mateen prove they know where the other will be heading with any track as they add their own unique elements to make the re-done version come together in full. Check out the track below, with upcoming tour dates, and cop More Is Than Isn't available now on iTunes.
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Tour Dates:
Wed. Dec. 4 Miami, FL @ Bardot Miami
Thu. Dec. 12 San Francisco, CA @ 1015 Folsom
Fri. Dec. 13 Santa Cruz, C @ The Catalyst Club
Fri. Jan. 31 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Fri. Feb. 21 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Sun. Feb. 23 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club – DNA
[Video] Daft Punk: "Instant Crush" (feat. Julian Casablancas)
Daft Punk has been slowly rolling out visuals for their 2013 hit album Random Access Memories. Today, the pair dropped the latest, a video for "Instant Crush" featuring The Strokes' Julian Casablancas. The video has a very Flashdance feel to it that mimics the 80s synth vibes of the track and follows Casablancas on a sort of museum love story that is thwarted by the moving of one of the statues. Plenty of spotlights, bad haircuts and leather jackets and torn jeans to go around.
Ever see a Daft Punk performance, video, commercial or the like and wonder what the hell is under those helmets? The dance music DJs protective head gear has evolved over the years in dramatic fashion and Electronic Dance Music publication MixMag has all the answers you could ever want about the iconic coverings that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are almost perpetually seen wearing. Some of the notes from the video include mentions that Homem-Christo's helmet is made by the same people who invented the Jumbotron. Pretty heavy stuff. Check out both videos here below.
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REACT Presents Announces Spring Awakening Dates
REACT Presents has been making a name for itself for awhile now as the premier Dance Music show promotor/organizer in the Midwest. Having brought Kaskade to Chicago's Navy Pier, Danny Brown and GRiZ to Chicago and Detroit for Halloween, as well as a smattering of shows across Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, all alongside the flagship events of the year: Spring Awakening, North Coast and Summer Set Music & Camping Festival.
The team at REACT recently dropped the official dates for this year's Spring Awakening Festival, which is set to take place June 14, 15 and 16th of next year at its annual home of Soldier Field. SAMF is unlike any other EDM/Dance Music-based festival in the country. With an urban backdrop of Chicago and the amenities of holding the festival at the home of the Bears, the fest is consistently buzzing with energy from the the beginning of the first day through to the last act on Day 3.
At noon on December 2, Early Bird 3-Day passes went on sale for $99 and were gobbled up in a matter of minutes. Keep it posted to RH and React for more details on tickets and head over to their website for perfect holiday gifts for that EDM love child in your life, here. Also, as a way to warm up from this December cold, check out the recap video of this year's SAMF.
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