The Time Warp curated party on the beautiful blue shores of Zrce Beach in Croatia has dropped a solid phase 1 lineup for Sonus Festival 2016, which will take place for five days and five nights from August 21 to 25 across three clubs. Read more
It’s been a busy 2016 for Richie Hawtin already, with DJ sets at BPM and Los Angeles, along with the news that ENTER will not return to Ibiza this summer. The technology aficionado continues to make headlines with the announcement of ‘Play Differently‘ – a collaborative partnership with Allen & Heath and Audiotonix.
The news was announced at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, with Hawtin stating that “the ethos of Play Differently is to create products that will magnify the individuality and expand the creativity of today’s generation of electronic music artists, producers and DJs . We hope to encourage and inspire creatives to PLAY differently.”
Play Differently has apparently been in development for two years, and with gear mogul Allen & Heath in the mix (no pun intended), Play Differently will certainly be one of the major talking points of NAMM. Stay up to date with more information as more is revealed regarding the vague, yet exciting concept from Richie Hawtin.
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Memorial Weekend is sure to be memorable in the Motor City this year. Not only have our jaws dropped, Paxahau has dropped a massive phase 1 lineup for its tenth anniversary edition of Movement Detroit 2016. The outdoor festival will run from May 28 to 30 at downtown Detroit’s Hart Plaza, with glorious afterparties running through the entire weekend at the city’s club hotspots. Upcoming details to be announced soon. Read more
Photo Courtesy of: aLIVE Coverage for TheBPMFestival.com
The BPM Festival has come and gone, and many are left with the fond memories provided by the spectacular location and music from Playa del Carmen. From the vast showcases to all the world renowned artists, there was a musical experience for anyone regardless of ones taste in underground music. Many had the pleasure of journeying to Mexico for BPM to experience this in real time, but the vast majority are left to live vicariously through Be-at.tv or wait for the recorded sets to go live online.
With BPM 2016 officially in the books, we’ve compiled a playlist of as many sets from the festival as possible. Have a listen to some of our favorites below, and check out the BPM playlist for over 128 hours of grooves from 80 artists.
To be honest – there’s no bad setting to witness Apollonia in action, but BPM yields particularly excellent results.
An eclectic range of house and techno was the name of the game when Satoshi Tomiie took to the decks at Groove Garden
FM tones, 303 basslines, lush chord stabs, and of course plenty of groove – Kim Ann Foxman had it all at the Pets Recordings Showcase
Experiencing the Cadenza boss at BPM is about authentic as it gets. Although his set at Avalon Hollywood wasn’t half bad either…
Deep tech house in it’s purest form is what Hito provided the dance floor for the iconic Vatos Locos party
It’s always a treat to see what Kanzyani pulls out of his record bag. BPM was no exception as the Slovenian was in top form at Trust
Between the Ovum head-honcho and Queen of the Jackathon, this is a BPM back-to-back that you’ll want to listen to
Canadian techno producer WESKA is making his return to Sian’s famed Octopus Recording imprint with a four track EP entitled Despierta. Set to be released on February 1st, the latest project from the Toronto native encompasses dark bass lines and sultry sounds for a selection of dance-floor-ready tracks.
“I’m happy with the way the “Despierta” EP came out. Every track offers a slightly different perspective on a single idea. I was thinking about how someone would feel if they were sitting in the middle of a storm, watching it develop around them, waiting for it to erupt. That feeling of an impending darkness, but one that you welcome rather than fear – that’s what I was going for.” – WESKA
The perfect example comes with “Despierta”, an eight-minute-thirteen-second track filled with undulating basslines and echoing vocals throughout. The build-up increases, as powerful percussions give way to a techno crescendo right past minute five. The EP’s second track “Third Eye” is a must-have for any DJ of this genre. It hits hard after a melodic journey of pulsating techno, with a drop set to have the staunchest of techno fans dancing.
With “The Alley of Lars”, WESKA has given us a track better suited for the after-hours. Deep and sultry, it emanates from a dark corner with the perfect groove for warehouse setting as sunrise sets in. Last, but not least, the EP’s bonus track “Friction” is filled with chord progressions and the type of strong bass line that stirs up emotions.
Be on the look out for the release on February 1st through Octopus Recordings. Meantime you can enjoy a preview of “Friction” below.
WESKA: | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud
Last year the music community was exposed to Exhibitionist 2 – a three-part music and documentary series from Jeff Mills. Part 1 and 2 were released in July and September 2015, respectively, and featured exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Wizard in action, along with new studio productions from Mills.
Part 3 of the Exhibitionist Series is now here as we’ve entered the New Year, completing the project in true artistic fashion. Part 3 features a live recording of Jeff Mills in Leiden, and serves as a concrete example of the hard work that Jeff puts in day in day out working towards his creative vision of futuristic techno and philosophy. Read more
Techno and house fans in North America have been waiting in anticipation for Movement Electronic Music Festival to drop its Phase I line-up, set to come out on Jan 20th.
The Detroit festival is celebrating 10 years of operations this coming Memorial Day Weekend and began teasing its fans with clues on social media hinting at some of the artists we can expect to see in May. They essentially announced the first-ever Movement appearance of German techno group, Kratfwerk, while the subsequent two were more obvious indications that Hart Plaza will play host to the Movement debuts of both Get Real (Claude vonStroke & Green Velvet) and Caribou.
Then, last night, a reportedly leaked image of the festival’s Phase I line-up began to circulate on various social media channels, igniting speculations as to the acts that the festival’s promoters Paxahau will be announcing this coming Wednesday. Whether accurate or not, the leak included the aforementioned three artists, making it believable to the many who saw and shared the picture.
Adding further fuel to the fire today, Drumcode head-honcho Adam Beyer posted the same line-up (which he is featured in) on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Although the Swedish producer removed the image since, this solidified the already effervescent internet chatter from fans convinced that it may truly be the line-up coming out next week.
While we don’t know for sure, it has surely left us waiting for a confirmation. But for that, we might just have to wait until Jan 20th.
With the upcoming Klockworks #17 release under his belt, the talented Berlin producer Heiko Laux showcases his deep and intriguing techno sound on Ben Klock’s renowned imprint. Heiko is the mastermind behind the forward-thinking Kanzleramt label. Since establishing the label in 1994, Heiko continues to make waves in electronic music with an exploration of diverse genres and complex audio environments. Read more
After 2 and a half years at Sound Nightclub, LA’s iconic weekly party, the one & only Monday Social, has announced it will be moving a few blocks down Hollywood Blvd to Project Club LA for it’s grand re-opening next Monday January 18th.
Monday Social said farewell to their residency at Sound this week and they did it right with a special set from Doorly & friends: MK, Justin Jay and Low Steppa. The club was packed with Monday Social fans paying their tributes. Read more
In July last year, when the much-adored and iconic Berlin label 50Weapons announced it was saying goodbye after ten years, we had to give it the tribute it deserved by highlighting our favorite releases over the years.
The imprint, founded and run by duo Modeselektor, provided a home for artists such as Marcel Dettmann, Truncate, Cosmin TRG and Laurent Garnier just to name a few. In the last few months the label has been touring Europe on a final tour spanning key cities of the old continent that will end with a several dates in their home country of Germany. Following this, they will be landing on this side of the pond for a short three-date North American tour to bid a final farewell to their fans.
The trip will begin at Igloofest in Montreal on Feb 4th, where Modeselektor will play alongside Truncate, Benjamin Damage and Shed, as well as perform a special set with Siriusmo as Siriusmodeselektor. Next up, the four acts will be hosted by Brooklyn’s Output on the 5th before visiting the iconic Smart Bar in Chicago for a grand finale on Saturday 6th of February. On this final stop, Modeselektor and Shed will be treating the crowd with a special all-night-long set.
