Widespread Panic Headlining North Coast Music Festival 2015
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This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
North Coast Music Festival (NCMF) is thrilled to announce WIDESPREAD PANIC as the surprise headliner for this year’s festival! The legendary Southern rock jam band has remained in Pollstar’s Top 50 Tours of the Year for the past decade, and continues to be one of the most relevant touring entities on the live music scene after almost 30 years. 2015 marks a special year for the band as they announced the release of their first studio album in five years. This spring WP embarks on a highly anticipated nationwide tour in celebration of their first studio release since Dirty Side Down in 2010.
For more information on NCMF visit here.
[RH Photos] North Coast Music Festival 2014 Recap
This post was originally published by our affiliates at Chicago Music. Photos by Alex Lapenia and Jesse Pizano of Three Card Photography. Recap by Kevin Baker.
North Coast Music Festival 2014 took over Chicago Union Park last weekend as thousands of people came to see some of the world’s best EDM and hip hop acts perform their greatest hits. Labor Day weekend set the perfect stage for festival goers as the 5th Annual North Coast was looking to be a big success. Friday was a beautiful day as the sun came out from the cloudy skies to drench the stages waiting for the likes of Keys N Krates, ProbCause, Showtek, Alesso, Bassnectar, and many more to perform. Saturday and Sunday continued the party with performances from Adventure Club, Nicky Romero, STS9, Talib Kweli, Little Dragon and Kid Cudi on Saturday, and Porn and Chicken, Riff Raff, Ookay, Zeds Dead, and Snoop Dogg closing on Sunday.
North Coast Music Festival 2014 was a huge success, and we look forward to seeing what 2015 has in store. If you missed out this year, make sure you get your tickets early for next year’s festival, as North Coast Music Festival will only get bigger and bigger. Read on as we share our recap from North Coast Music Festival 2014.
[NCMF Interview] Keys n Krates
This post was originally published by our affiliates at Chicago Music.
With North Coast Music Festival 2014 beginning tomorrow, we'll be providing all types of coverage from the Chicago festival's fifth anniversary. This interview with EDM group Keys n Krates comes from our partner Three Card Photography's very own Jesse Pizano. Read on to familiarize yourselves with Keys n Krates, the amazing year they've been having, what to expect from their live set this weekend, and what's on the group's plate following North Coast Music Festival 2014!
You guys are about to hit the stage at North Coast Music Festival. How are you guys feeling?
Matisse: Great! Chicago is one of our favourite places to play and North Coast is such a great festival.
How has the year been treating you guys so far?
Flo: Pretty incredible. We've really seen our fan base grow exponentially over the last six months and it's been pretty surreal to be honest.
For those that have never heard of Keys N Krates, can you describe your sound?
Tune: Weird rap beats that evoke emotion but still make ya wanna have a dance party. Lots of emotional chord progressions, pitched up vocal samples, synths, weird chopped up samples and bangin rap drums.
What track off of your new EP, Every Nite, took the longest to make?
Tune: "Understand Why" took a long time. We did three to four different actual versions of the tune with at least five mix downs per version. It was a nightmare, but we are stoked on the final version we came up with.
Top Artists to See at North Coast Music Festival 2014
Preview written by Alex Lapenia and Jesse Pizano of Three Card Photography. Post was originally published by our affiliates at Chicago Music.
Summer is coming to an end on Labor Day weekend, and with that comes the end of summer’s official music festival season. I’d like to share a few reasons why you should join the thousands of people who will descend upon Union Park located in Chicago for the fifth anniversary celebration of North Coast Music Festival, summer’s official last stand. Whether you are into hip hop, dance music, or electronica, North Coast has music for everyone to enjoy. With Bassnectar as heavy bass hitters, Snoop Dogg and Kid Cudi bringing hip hop vibes, and STS9 as one of the headliners, the lineup of artist features an impressive spread of acts, with a wide variety of DJs and producers including Zeds Dead, electro soul GRiZ, dub-step sensation Adventure Club, and house’s finest talent Dada Life, Wolfgang Gartner, Showtek, and W&W. There will be some amazing indie bands Little Dragon, Future Island, Wild Belle, and Dr. Dog, as well as more hip hop sounds from Riff Raff, Action Bronson and Chicago locals Probcause and Sabu. Some acts I am most excited for are EDM headliners Alesso and Nikky Romero who are sure to be hot. With 50 more acts over the three-day festival, this without a doubt is going to be the most fun weekend of the summer. See you at North Coast! Read on as we go into more detail about who we're excited to see at NCMF this weekend.
2014 Music Festivals Announcement Round Up
Music festivals in America and abroad are beginning to hit critical mass. It's our generation's sign of approval to any artist if they find themselves on a bevy of festival lineups come summer, they're doing something right. Perhaps the most prevalent "music for the people" approach in the industry, festivals allow acts both large and small great opportunities for exposure and listeners the chance to attempt to take it all in. The spring/summer of 2014 is shaping up to be one of the largest festival seasons in recent memory and event organizers have wasted no time announcing jam-packed lineups that look more like an iTunes playlist than a real concert experience. We gathered together lineups from festivals from coast to coast and even beyond to give you the most full, in-depth guide to diving into festival season, check them all out on the following pages.
[Album] Death Grips: "Government Plates"
Death Grips just continue to do things the way they see fit. The off-kilter hip-hop/punk band that left fans waiting at North Coast Music Festival earlier this year dropped their latest release, a free album titled "Government Plates" that originally premiered on the band's website, thirdworlds.net, before being taken down. I have to admit, I don't fully get Death Grips yet and their antics and seeming disregard for fans has turned me off thus far, but maybe this latest album will help dispel that. The 11-track project comes complete with videos for each song, a somewhat forward-thinking idea that acts as a sort of overload of Death Grips media all at once. Can you handle all of it? Find out by watching/listening below. Check for download HERE.
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[Interview] North Coast Music Festival 2013: Jesse Miller of Lotus
Photos by Bobby Reys
Lotus has carried the flag for their own genre for awhile now. "Jamtronica", the band's signature blend of electronic elements paired with a creatively unique jam band aesthetic that has kept them at the forefront of both genres for close to 15 years now. Lotus' ability to master a wide range of disciplines musically has allowed the Indiana-based group to constantly tinker with it's sound and evolve the band's dynamic. Lotus is a fully adaptable animal, with the ability to go from rock to dance to hip hop all in one rocking set and, largely without vocal aid. I had a chance to catch Lotus frontman Jesse Miller while backstage at The Last Stand Stage, check out the interview below.
Jake: Welcome to Chicago, what are the feelings about playing at North Coast and what do you all have in store?
Jesse: Our set is always interesting. At a festival, I feel like Lotus tends to stretch things out so ours sometimes we have to take it down to this package but this is a young crowd at this festival so I'm sure we're going to keep it on the dance tip. So we're planning on dancing and rocking out.
Jake: I know you all have a new album coming out as well that is tailored more towards a hip-hop aspect?
Jesse: Yeah, Monks. It's more of just a project for the album. We actually had started working on a track with Mr. Lif in maybe like 2011, maybe even a little bit before and we were working on it while we were working on other tracks and we didn't really feel ike we had a great place for it, we didn't want to drop it in the middle of another album and have it feel like it was this totally different thing so we were going to release it as a single but then started doing a few more and then we got Lyrics Born on for a track and Gift of Gab on there. So we just sort of built it out and said "Ok, what can we do with this" and then we ended up going back through it and weaving in the whole story, recorded some instrumentals and the whole project really came together really organically.
[RH Interview] North Coast Music Festival: Jesse Miller of Lotus
Photos by Bobby Reys
Lotus has carried the flag for their own genre for awhile now. "Jamtronica", the band's signature blend of electronic elements paired with a creatively unique jam band aesthetic that has kept them at the forefront of both genres for close to 15 years now. Lotus' ability to master a wide range of disciplines musically has allowed the Indiana-based group to constantly tinker with it's sound and evolve the band's dynamic. Lotus is a fully adaptable animal, with the ability to go from rock to dance to hip hop all in one rocking set and, largely without vocal aid. I had a chance to catch Lotus frontman Jesse Miller while backstage at The Last Stand Stage, check out the interview below.
Jake: Welcome to Chicago, what are the feelings about playing at North Coast and what do you all have in store?
Jesse: Our set is always interesting. At a festival, I feel like Lotus tends to stretch things out so ours sometimes we have to take it down to this package but this is a young crowd at this festival so I'm sure we're going to keep it on the dance tip. So we're planning on dancing and rocking out.
Jake: I know you all have a new album coming out as well that is tailored more towards a hip-hop aspect?
Jesse: Yeah, Monks. It's more of just a project for the album. We actually had started working on a track with Mr. Lif in maybe like 2011, maybe even a little bit before and we were working on it while we were working on other tracks and we didn't really feel ike we had a great place for it, we didn't want to drop it in the middle of another album and have it feel like it was this totally different thing so we were going to release it as a single but then started doing a few more and then we got Lyrics Born on for a track and Gift of Gab on there. So we just sort of built it out and said "Ok, what can we do with this" and then we ended up going back through it and weaving in the whole story, recorded some instrumentals and the whole project really came together really organically.