Andrew Mason describes the experience of spinning vinyl records — as opposed to playing MP3s — in deeply reverential terms. “It’s the thrill of the needle on the groove and hearing the noise of the record and then the song starts. It’s this visceral thing,” says Mason, also known as…
We are certainly not the Oscars or the Grammys. Heaven knows there’s no budget for fancy statues — or pretty girls to stand behind the podium holding them, for that matter. But we do like to give praise where it is due, and there are lots of cool happenings set…
Okay, so Winter Music Conference might not start officially until Tuesday. But Miami will make any excuse to party a little bit extra. And if you’re from out of town and here for the conference, you’re likely similarly swingin’. No worries — besides the city’s usual debauchery, the special events…
Kids are going crazy out in Los Angeles. Every month it seems a new opus emerges from the region: Aloe Blacc’s Shine Through, Georgia Anne Muldrow’s Olesi: Fragments of Earth, Daedelus’s Denies the Day’s Demise, Ta’Raach’s The Fevers, and Flying Lotus’s 1983. These recordings don’t reinvent the rules of soul,…
New Yorker Shauna Slevin is a veteran label manager and house music hustler, but she has a slightly strange scheduling stipulation when booking international trips for the Martinez Brothers. European gigs are limited to Saturday nights as the guys have a prior commitment on Fridays: high school. Apparently, playing at…
Just when electroclash was becoming a punch line and dance music threatened to turn moribund again, along came Ed Banger Records to give it another swift kick in the ass. Postmodern and ice-cool, the label’s signature sound is equal parts electro-tech-house, hip-hop swagger, and punk-rock attitude and distortion. Its biggest…
I’m an electronic-folk-soul-jazz-singer, or something in between,” writes Clara Hill. The German singer communicates via e-mail, but her warmth and enthusiasm shine through the text. Hill’s most recent album, All I Can Provide (released on Jazzanova’s imprint Sonar Kollektiv near the end of last year), is a delight. It finds…
Before beginning, a brief warning: Above & Beyond, the nom de plume for producers Jonathan Grant, Paavo Siljamäki, and Tony McGuinness, makes airy trance. And no, this isn’t the kind of borderline-trance Kompakt techno that hipsters like. This is the kind of sickly-sweet trance that makes hipsters grit their teeth…
He has produced songs for — and become friends with — Afrika Bambaataa. He lives around the corner from Snoop Dogg. But Überzone’s Tim Wiles is not a hip-hop star by any stretch of the imagination. You won’t find him rocking the latest platinum chain. He has no entourage, unless…
When the hip-hop movement was born, it was the beat heard around the world. Apparently Stockholm caught the buzz and a young Swede, now known as Mad Mats (Mats Carlsson), was obsessively listening to the tunes and practicing his street dancing. “I was the king of windmills,” he says. Fast-forward…
David Guetta drew international attention as the impresario (along with his wife, Cathy) behind the glamorous, VIP-clogged Fuck Me I’m Famous. First launched at Pacha Ibiza, it is now an internationally recognized brand for hedonistic, Studio 54-style shenanigans. Guetta’s career as a producer and DJ spans more than two decades,…
New York’s Def Mix is the dynamic production company helmed by Judy Weinstein, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Satoshi Tomiie, and Hector Romero. An anchor of the entire house music scene, Def Mix celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2007, kicking off a year of parties with Def Mix 20 at Shine…
Philadelphia rapper/producer Omar “Jneiro Jarel” Gilyard first gained attention after collaborations with future soul powerhouse Rich Medina. On Jarel’s 2005 album, Three Piece Puzzle, his first to receive widescale distribution, he evolved into an avatar of the electronic/hip-hop/soul style, an emerging trend expounded by artists such as the late J…
Berlin-based DJ/producer Dixon (born Steffen Berkhahn and occasionally also known under the alias Wahoo) is best known for working with that city’s renowned record label Sonar Kollektiv, for which he compiled several singles and mix CDs (including the acclaimed Off Limits series). He will soon release the eclectic mix Body…
Give Heidi a break and let her DJ set at the Get Physical party speak for itself. Don’t judge her for being from Richie Hawtin’s hometown of Windsor, Canada, or for being the latest girl to give the German techno scene the gift of a hot track (though Vejer is…
Most years it’s New York DJ Danny Tenaglia who performs marathon DJ sets at WMC. But this time around it’s going to be another Danny — Howells, from Hastings, England — who will rock the party for the long haul when he plays a nine-hour set at Pawn Shop Lounge…
Polish-born, Detroit-reared, and Berlin-residing DJ/producer Magda (ne Magda Hojnacka) is quite often found spinning at the same events as mentor Richie Hawtin and is signed to his M_Nus (pronounced minus) label. She is also quite possibly the only DJ to have ever had both a tea mug and a T-shirt…
King Britt’s fifteen-year-plus musical career is an astonishingly diverse one. The Philly producer’s career began with a partnership with Josh Wink, cranking out hits for Strictly Rhythm and Wink’s Ovum imprint. It peaked as a neo-soul pioneer who DJed for Digable Planets and issued a well-received 1997 debut, When the…
People talk about Conference — no modifier — as if it is a holiday on par with, say, Christmas or Halloween. Indeed the event, now in its 21st year, is just that monolithic in the minds of electronic music aficionados and the DJs, nightclub owners, liquor purveyors, electronics providers, and…
The Winter Music Conference and M3 Summit are a dance-music lover’s yearly dream, a paradise of sound for even the most jaded ex-clubbers. It almost takes extra resolve to not be completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of creativity that splashes over the city as artists from throughout the U.S…
WMC is about three things: the actual conference (meaning WMC and M3), partying to the sounds of your favorite DJs, and discovering artists you’ve never heard before. The last goal can be an elusive one, especially when it comes to sifting through party lineups packed with dozens of turntable jocks…
“Global Gathering Miami is a test vessel,” says Nick McCabe, coproducer of the event. “This first year, we may not even make a profit; we just want to put on such a great show, create such a great experience, that it will spread nationwide.” Indeed this event is a very…
