It is impossible to begin this story without mentioning Jay Dee. Born James Yancey, the influential hip-hop producer also known as J Dilla passed away February 7 in a Los Angeles hospital after years spent battling a rare blood disease. Three days before he died at the age of 32,…
Picture the following on one of the enormous Ultra Music Festival stages: 500 human-size Buddha statues from an ancient temple in Indonesia, some beheaded, some intact. It will happen, at least in two dimensions. In her Aventura studio, Marina Reno, a.k.a. VJ Psyberpixie, double-clicks on one of the frames shot…
Genesis 4:15 — “But the Lord said to him, öNot so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.” Excuse me if I err — those catechism classes were…
Princess Superstar is the DJ and the rapper. In the live arena, the New York-based smart-ass splits her time between spinning alongside Alexander Technique (as the duo DJs Are Not Rockstars) and rocking the mike in front of a full band. Her latest album, My Machine, is a dense conceptual…
We empathize with tourists: If you don’t live in Miami, it is lovely to sit poolside outside a hotel and drink complimentary cocktails from one liquor sponsor or another; to look up at the palms; to wade in the vanishing-edge pool to a throbbing soundtrack of house music. But if…
If you have ever dreamed of crab-scratching a twelve-inch, Remix magazine’s Remix Hotel Miami 2006 may be the ultimate WMC venue for you. For three days, beginning March 22, some of world’s leading music and technology pioneers will turn South Beach’s National Hotel into the largest music technology showcase of…
The thing that might be so attractive about Hot Chip is its perfect mix of diverse styles of music, compounding dance and experimental electronic with soft, tender vocals and well-written lyrics, all providing a wonderful contrast to the recurring hip-hop themes. But Hot Chip possesses not only a unique sound…
It’s practically becoming an annual tradition. A British rapper with dope skills is ushered across the pond. His albums are well reviewed by critics at Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Spin. His songs gain popularity with college radio DJs and podcasters. His is touted to be the new face of hip-hop…
The name says it all: Masters at Work. Since 1991, Little Louie Vega has dropped gem after gem like a careless jewelry thief at Magic Sessions, the Miami Music Conference’s longest-running event. “Sixteen years later we’re still here. What does that tell you?” quips Vega. “It’s a party that has…
For young ravers, Richie Hawtin is a great DJ for supplying rhythms to roll to. With arms spread and glowsticks twirling, the world is lost in his smooth and tripnotic techno beats. But true fans of Hawtin — and his alter ego Plastikman — know his brilliant compositions of ambient…
Twenty years ago, DJ Pierre (real name: Nathaniel Pierre Jones) made the squelch heard ’round the round. Pierre, along with Spanky and Herb J (as Phuture), created the sound called acid by tinkering with a Roland TB-303 bass line machine and placing the high-pitched result atop humid Chicago house. But…
James Holden’s spanking-new album, At the Controls (Resist), is an amalgamation of various genres from the electronic music spectrum. Tracks by the likes of Plastikman and Fennesz flow with complete disregard to their differences in style. Holden’s original productions and remixes have been tinged with almost every type of sound,…
The chronicles of Murk are as eclectic as the duo’s home city. After fifteen years together, several different aliases, countless remixes, international residencies, and hit records, Ralph Falcon and Oscar G hold a Sunday-night residency at Mansion — Made in Miami — a salute to the origin of their success…
Who do that voodoo? Kudu so well. Founded in the Drrrty Drrrty (Atlanta, a.k.a. the A Game) but refined in the Borough of Kings (Brooklyn), Kudu shed all baby fat and jazz-fusion while producing the sinewy full-length, Death of the Party. Kudu — the collaboration of Deantoni Parks and Sylvia…
If you like your downtempo with hand drums, maracas, kalimbas, clanging cowbells, and vocalese, classic soul DJ Tommy Bones’s African, East Indian, and Brazilian-flavor mixes will have you dancing like the possessed. This Connecticut Yankee gone global with releases on King Street, Wave, and most recently Defected cut his teeth…
Miguel Migs’s music is not easy to classify. He hails from Northern California, and hints of the Golden State can be found shining through his productions with chill, soulful beats infused with jazzy horns and an assortment of other influences. Classy deep house tracks have made dance music’s pretty boy…
Following in the almost absurd tradition of Teflon-coated, press-shy android-funk duo Daft Punk, Frenchman Pascal Arbez-Nicolas has maintained an ambiguity in the press as he produces under the name Vitalic. Lurking in the shadows, however, has not diminished the profile of Vitalic’s unrelenting electro-house singles (releases dating from 2001 to…
Part of the appeal of producing music with machines and expensive toys is that instruments and complex beats can be synthesized with the turn of a knob. Yet when a DJ’s live set is more akin to checking e-mail than performing, technology can be a drawback. D:Fuse is bringing the…
House music veteran Frankie Knuckles and rising stars Simon Marlin and Max Reich, a.k.a. the Shapeshifters or Shape UK, are joining forces during WMC to promote their respective new albums. If Knuckles’s 2004 A New Reality is any indicator of what to expect for his new release, fans of house…
Any city whose very existence captures the public imagination becomes an elusive, flickering ideal. Miami has proved to be an especially potent muse, a mirage viewed as an oasis of paparazzi and celebrities, a Latin paradise, a haven of illicit and criminal behavior, and a concrete proving ground for immigrants…
Think of it as career day for DJs. Technology and music pioneers present three days of workshops, demonstrations, and Q&A sessions to enlighten aspiring musicians during Remix magazine’s Remix Hotel Miami 2005. “It’s an extension of what we do at the magazine — focusing on the technical and creative aspects…
Sandy Rivera, the man behind Kings of Tomorrow, epitomizes New Jersey deep. He came to international attention in 2000 with “Finally,” a classic love number featuring the svelte vocals of Julie McKnight. “Finally” was a massive house anthem that was inescapable for months in discotheques around the world and was…
