Saturday, November 10, 2012

I Love Techno

I <3 Techno, Europe's largest indoor festival, in Gent Belgium was the destination for my trip mid-November musical adventure. Boasting an incredible lineup, my expectations was high.



Upon arrival at the expo center, the 35.000 people was dealt with very efficient with nearly no queue time anywhere. The place was huge with a gigantic central hall (with and embedded scene in the middle of it) and large rooms in each corner with each their genre.

The amazing lineup (see picture to the right) in the five giant rooms of the Gent Expo Center meant you had to choose between the giant EDM buffet. As the place was huge, you wouldn't like to spend a lot of time walking between the halls, so we opted for at first stop in the dubstep hall, with Netsky, Flux Pavilion, Excision, Zeds Dead, Camo & Krooked and more.


Flux Pavilion

We headed straight for the huge dubstep room to catch Flux Pavilion, one of my long time UK dubstep favorites. I've seen him before at a small venue in Copenhagen with Feed Me and at UMF last year in Miami back to back with fellow Circus Records associate DJ/producer Doctor P. We managed to catch a couple of his great tracks like I Can't Stop and Hold Me Close before we had to head for the Blue Room for some progressive house.

Hold Me Close 

Bass Cannon
 

Dada Life

The Swedish nut-jobs Dada Life, as I last saw on UMF 2012 in Miami, is always good for a party complete with singalong rave anthems, blow up bananas and champaign popping. Only one half of the duo was present but he did his best. It's clear, that they are not the best DJ's on earth technically, but they sure know how to party. Don't forget to subscribe to their podcasts on iTunes.

Dada Life - Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker 

Dada Life - Feed The Dada 


A-trak

Canadian born and former world 5 x DJ world champion (he won the first at age 15!), owner of Fools Gold Records and one half of Duck Sauce played a great set, not only with the usual prog house suspects (like Dada Life plays), but with regular house and even some disco elements. The contrast to Dada Life was immense. It was clear that we were dealing with a top skilled DJ and not just "button pushing party monkeys. Don't get me wrong, I love Dada Life for their music and their party skills, but they are not brilliant DJ's on a technical level.

A-Trak & Tommy Trash - Tuna Melt

A-Trak & Dillon Francis - Money Makin'
 

Major Lazer

Now this is where the party got started! The Major Lazer crew, including Diplo and the Jiollionaire and the decks, plus two dancers and a hype man didn't waste any time and kicked off the party with their own brilliant tracks intermixed with dancehall, moombah, trap, quirky sound bits, samples and vintage records. I saw them in Copenhagen in the fall, so I expected a show complete with CO2 cannons and Zorbing and they didn't disappoint.

Original Don (feat. The Partysquad)

Hold The Line feat. Mr. Lexx & Santigold
 

Nero 

Nero is definitely in my personal top 3 and as I haven't seen them live yet, I was really looking forward to finally seeing them in action. Like no others, they produce a very atmospheric and melancholic soundscape you can dream away into. Nero was for me to peak of the festival playing a set of dubstep, electro house and drum 'n bass with their own stuff mixed with other great tracks from Knife Party etc..
I'm really looking forward to their new album during 2013 and hopefully they will magically appear in on the UMF 2013 lineup in March.

Won't You (Be There)

Must Be The Feeling (Flux Pavilion & Nero Remix) 



Sunday, October 14, 2012

London clubbing

The underground bass and the mainstream club scenes are both legendary in London. So I went there a weekend in October for a bit of clubbing.




On the Friday, I went to Fabric located in the East End of central London, a huge nightclubs with several rooms, plenty of bars and places to chill, renowned for showcasing underground DJ talents. On this particular Friday night, RAM records hosted a showcase event for all its artists, packed with drum 'n bass, dubstep and electro talent. Although dominated by the ginger "bloke-steppers" I came acquainted with at Milton Keynes Bowl, I quite liked the place. Very effectively and professionally run, clearly not foreign to handling massive crowds.

In the main room, drum 'n bass champ Andy C pulled a 6-hour set topped of with his huge remix of the otherwise brilliant Major Lazer track Get Free and people went nuts. I left the everlasting Andy C marathon set to check out one of my darlings; Delta Heavy, in Room 2. I stayed for their whole show and was well pleased as they played most of my dubstep and electro favorites of the moment including their own stuff. Please also check out their excellent 45 minutes dubstep/electro SW4 2012 mix below.

Major Lazer - Get Free (Andy C Remix) 

Nero - Must Be The Feeling (Delta Heavy Remix)

Delta Heavy x SW4 2012 Mix


Saturday, we went for the Dirty Dutch party at the legendary Ministry of Sound club at The Gallery, located on the south bank near Waterloo. Weekend after weekend, this placed is packed with long queues in front and features all the biggest names of the game. Just within a month, superstars like Steve Angello, Kaskade, Gareth Emery, Porter Robinson and Laidback Luke played MoS. A truly awe inspiring place.

Chuckie and Zane Lowe headline the party, but the Dirty Dutch front runner Chuckie, was second to none and delivered a fantastic set. The Dirty Dutch sound is within the electro house genre and has been very influential and the characteristic saw tooth bassline drops has been spread wideline the last year or so.

Zane Lowe closed the party after Chuckies amazing performance and we enjoyed the entire show from the VIP balcony with a great view over the crowd and great service in the bar. What an amazing night - I can't wait to go back there ASAP!


Chuckie - Who Is Ready To Jump (Chuckie Jump Around Bootleg)

Dada Life - Rolling Stones T-Shirt (Chuckie Remix)
 
Chuckie & Promise Land ft. Amanda Wilson - Breaking Up 



Friday, August 31, 2012

Tons of bass

It's been a crazy end to the summer in terms of musical adventure. I've tried to sum it all up below with a selection of tracks representing some of the many concerts I've been attending. There's just been so much good music to be heard and great shows to see lately in Copenhagen. It's a very positive development and I've really had trouble keeping up with it all. But here it goes...


Major Lazer @ Vega

 

In beautiful Vega with support from the local bass collective Yo Fok, in this case the always great, local king of bass Copyflex and Yo Felles (Julius Sylvest, Eloq and Dixone) 'longside with dutch moombah legend Munchi, who was still in the country after a Moombah party at KB18 the weekend before.

Major Lazer delivered a very varied and high energy show with emphasis on show, complete with dancers, "crowd orbing", CO2 cannons, hypemen and double DJ's, of course the man him self Diplo and his partner in crime the Jillionaire. The bass blew us all away!

If you haven't seen the video for Original Don, check it out below, it's very strange and quite brilliant.



Major Lazer - Get free (Dixone's get f#*king raving mix)


Diplo Afterparty @ Pumpehuset

 

After the show in Vega, I went to the Diplo afterparty with Yo Felles, Linkoban, Munchi b2b with Julius Sylvest and of course Diplo. There was a jungle theme going on with girls dressed up in skimpy leopard costumes an such - very nice :)



Yo Felles - The Anthem 


I was very happy to meet and have a little chat with both Diplo and Munchi. Diplo was quite drunk and very keen on getting some hot girls that flashed him during his set back stage, but Munchi was indeed very pleasant and seemed not only as a gifted musician but also like a very nice and positive person whom you would like to hang around. Check out his mix with Trap-A-Holics below:

Munchi x Trap-A-Holics - Trap Bubbling Mixtape (Mix by DJ Nappy)


Dillon Francis @ Rust

 

The good knight of Moombah, Sir Dillon Francis, visited Copenhagen for the first time. As you might know from a previous post, I've had the pleasure of seeing him both at the intimate and cozy Annie Mac stage by the waterfront at Ultra in Miami in March and in a small night club in Gothenburg, where I also got to had a chat with the Moombahton front runner. He ripped the small Rust nightclub apart with a great mix of moombah, electro house, trap and dubstep. Pretty much everything with bass in varied tempoes. Below you'll find one of his never tracks that has been making havoc in moombah and trap sets everywhere (trap is the new black, I will probably elaborate on it in a later post).

Dillon Francis - Masta Blasta (THE REBIRTH) 


Bassnectar @ Rust

 

The day after Dillon Francis it was time for some genuine American bro-step by US superstar Bassnectar. The show went down in the same place as the night before (well done Rust for your bookings lately!), the small and cozy Rust Nightclub. The place was packed with US expats in the usual tank tops and cap outfit, but none the less, Lorin (=Bassnectar) put on quite a show and did not disappoint the many American fans in the crowd, or me for that matter. Check out his short and downloadable "European" mixtape below and get ready to get your face melted.

Bassnectar's European Vacation Mix 


Thank you for the music @ Pumpehuset

 

This has to be the weirdest party I've attended this late summer. Copyflex and the Yo Fok crew was also behind this one, but this time it was a part of a small "world music" festival called "Thank you for the music" and they had invited a guy guy from Cairo called Karica, that Åsmund (Copyflex) had meet in Egypt. He didn't understand a word of English and apparently, it was his first time outside Egypt. I'm not quite sure what to call it. He was rapping/toasting in Arabic over some dubious kind of bass music played by his DJ. But really it wasn't the music the entertained med, it was his immense raw energy and party mentality the kept me hypnotized. In just ten minutes on the stage, he took to the floor and pretty much danced with the crowd, while "singing" for the rest of his set. I was so much fun and very cool to experience a different and Arabian take on bass music.




Steve Aoki @ Spectrum Scandinavia

 

After his show at Ambassadeur in Stockholm, the good people of Spectrum Scandinavia, the floating nightclub in the old ferry, managed to get the mega star DJ Steve Aoki to Copenhagen. At Ultra in Miami I was a bit disappointed with him as he pretty much just hit play and goof around most of his set, as it is his trademark, throwing cakes and crowding surfing on rubber inflatables. This time however, he actually played a nice set with tons of new stuff, but no Aoki sow without the cakes and the inflatables, but this time it was a more balanced mix between goofing around and actual dj'ing. Check out his epic track Ladi Dadi with Winter Gordon remixed by the one and only Tommy Trash. One one my all time favorites dreamy house tracks.

Ladi Dadi (Tommy Trash Remix) 


Hypster @ Babel

 

I'd like to introduce you guys to an upcoming name in the electro house scene. He's called Hypster, from the party island of Ibiza, and he was playing at the Save A Lollipop event at Babel in Malmoe, hosted and arranged by Pierre Zalas from the Matchstick Men, who always seems to surprise me with amazing acts in the old church, now nightclub on the other side of the Øresund channel, just 20 minutes from Copenhagen, in southern Sweden. Check out more of his heavy electro sound here.


Science Project (Hypster Remix) 



Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Sound of Summer

It has been an incredible summer with tons of great musical adventures and loads of brilliant music. This is a recap of some of the events I have been attending during June and July and a selection of a few of the tracks that has made it into my personal summer soundtrack.



Swedish House Mafia @ Milton Keynes Bowl, UK


Once upon a time, three skilled DJ's from Stockholm, started playing together. Someone named them, as a joke I guess, the Swedish House Mafia, as they have Italian sounding names and of course began to rule the house scene. The name got stuck and soon they would rise to the biggest band in house music, playing hundreds of concerts around the globe for massive crowds at the largest festivals in the US and Europe, at Madison Square Garden in NYC, at their own festival Masquerade Motel at both Miami and Ibiza and lately, the 65.000 people strong Milton Keynes Bowl north of London.

SHM announced their last tour together this summer, finishing of with triple stadium shows in Stockholm in November, which sold out 3x100.000 tickets in 3x1 hour. So Milton Keynes was the final chance for me and my GoLive party companions to experience SHM at their last ever show in UK.

Milton Keynes Bowl was wet an muddy, as it had rained for days before the big day. It was a regular mudfest complete with wellies, extremely drunk ginger "broke-steppers", Liverpool Lads and Manchester Mamas. In comparison Miami raver chicks dress funny and cute, (many) British raver chicks just look slutty and unattractive. Where as the US kids are tripping on Molly and glow sticks, British youth are just getting drunk beyond recognition and throwing themselves in the mud. We opted for the VIP package, which was nice, as we didn't have to stand in the endless queues for drinks or toilet facilities, not to mention a great after party in the VIP area after the main event had closed.

Anyway, at Milton Keynes, SHM where supported by local Example, french wonder kid Madeon, rising star and Ingrosso protegé Alesso, superstar Calvin Harris and legendary Pete Tong from BBC Radio 1. Quite a strong lineup. I've collected a few tracks in relation to this below:

Calvin Harris & Example - We'll Be Coming Back (R3hab EDC NYC Remix)

Madeon - Icarus (Original Mix) 

Alesso feat. Matthew Koma - Years (Original Vocal Mix)

Even though they are breaking up, their name will still have some sense to it going forward, as the trio each have their own labels (Axwell has Axtone, Ingrosso has Refune and Angello has Size), promoting new producers and bands. You might recognize Alesso, Deniz Koyu, Dirty South, Otto Knows (Refune), Hard Rock Sofa, Thomas Gold, Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl, Michael Calfan (Axtone), AN21, Qulinez, Max Vangeli, Third Party, Tim Mason (Size Records). The trio will probably continue to spit our monster hits individually like they did with "In My Mind" and "Quasar" on Axtone, "Calling" and "Resurrection" on Refune, and "Troll" and "Feel" on Size, and keep on dominating the progressive charts for years to come.


Albin Myers @ Babel Malmoe, Sweden


Early June, I went to the club Babel in Malmoe, Sweden, to check out Stockholm house talent Albin Myers. I've said it before, and I'm happy to say it again, I LOVE THAT PLACE, it's the only place in the Oresund region with a very unique electro and progressive house profile (thanks to dedicated people like Pierre Zalas of the Matchstick Men). They are able to attract quite a few of my favorite EDM acts (like Tommy Trash). In comparison, Copenhagen nightlife is very dominated by deep and tech house, which is nice to chill out and lounge to once in a while, but for a truly insane and mind blowing dance party, I need electro or progressive house, and Babel delivers every time!

Albin Myers - The Beast (Original Mix)

Albin Myers - Hells Bells (Original Mix) 

Albin Myers - Bumbaclot (Original Mix) 


Dirtyloud @ Rust Copenhagen, Denmark


On a summer Thursday in July, when everybody had escaped the rain in Sourhern Europe, Brazilian Dirtyloud came to town and played a small but enthusiastic crowd at Rust. It was pure electro madness, switching back and forth from moombah and electro house to drum n' bass and dubstep. Beautiful!

  Dirtyloud - Needle feat. Sirreal (Original Mix
 
Porter Robinson feat. Amba Shepherd - Vandalism (Dirtyloud Remix)




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Summerburst in Stockholm

My GoLive VIP party crew and I went to Stockholm for the Summerburst Festival last weekend, with headliners like Tiesto, David Guetta, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso as well as Calvin Harris, Alesso, Nicky Romero and plenty of other house-hold names.


Summerburst day 1


We arrived at the old Olympic stadium from 1912 in the northern part of Stockholm. Plenty of people both inside and outside the main arena were already having a ball. There was a second stage with smaller/more niche names and a silent disco (which will never ever catch on if you ask me). The two VIP areas were at the sides of the arena, and we were on the one right from the stage, the Blue VIP.

Thomas Gold from Munich was playing the main stage as we entered. I really love his newest track Sing2me on Axtone, check it out in this funky remix below(couldn't find a clean version).

Kaskade vs Thomas Gold - Sing2me in the Rain

It was all good and soon after, dutch hope Nicky Romero took over.


Nicky Romero
Last time I saw him, was when he had the doubtful honor of opening one of the stages at UMF day 1 back in March in Miami. Meanwhile, he did an amazing 2-hour Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 for Pete Tong, so expectations was high, and he delivered a good strong set, which he started of with the Avicii collab track "Fuck School". Below you'll find some of his best and latest tracks for you to enjoy.

Nicky Romero - Toulouse (Tommy Trash Remix)

Nicky Romero & ZROQ - WTF?!

David Guetta & Nicky Romero - Metropolis

Alesso
Next up was local boy and Ingrosso protegé, Alesso. He's been schooled by the House Don Ingrosse himself and he did not disappoint us. Check out the video and a couple of tracks below.



Keane - Silenced By The Night (Alesso Remix)

Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso - Calling 'Lose My Mind'


Albin Myers
We went outside outside the stadium area to have a little breather and visit the smaller second stage, where Albin Myers was playing. He canceled my otherwise much needed rest as I couldn't stop moving to his excellent "Hells Bells".

Albin Myers - HELLS BELLS EP - Mini Mix


Axwell
As we went back to the VIP area in front of the main stage, people were getting ready for Axwell. Personally I had very high expectations for this set, since he blew my mind at the Axtone party at Amnesia Miami during the MMW. He mostly played "family-tracks", as a true House Don, i.e. tracks from his own Axtone label (like Hard Rock Sofa, Henrik B, Michael Calfan and Thomas Gold), SHM tracks and other house banger and great mashups like the ever so popular Swedish House Mafia "One" with the lyrics from the normally very annoying Gotye song "Somebody That I Use To Know". My hopes and expectations was fulfilled and he delivered and truly great set.

Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl ft. Georgi Kay - In My Mind (Axwell Mix)

Axwell - Heart Is King

SHM and Laidback Luke - Leave The World Behind (Original Mix)

We did not really care for Tiesto, so we left the venue after a long but great day.


Summerburst day 2


We forced ourselves out of bed and of to the festival in the pouring rain, to see our own Danish DJ hero Morten Breum playing as one of the first in the afternoon.We had to show our support of course, and we made it through central Stockholm without getting completely soaked.


Morten Breum
In front of the main stage, there were a select crowd of maybe a 100 loyal (probably all Danish) fans, complete with wellies and sponsor-raincovers dancing in the rain and supporting Morten Breum. We hung out on the covered stands on the right to the stage, trying to keep dry as we enjoyed Breums moderate set. It must have been hard to give it your all under those circumstances but he gave it a brave shot.

Morten Breum - On It (Original Mix)


Nause
Locals Nause went on afterwards and the local swedes seemed to love them. I haven't really digged them before, but hats of for their high energy performance around 4 PM while it was still drizzling.

We left to get some non festival food at a nearby pizzeria that also served cocktails (?!), so we fueled up with plenty of both and went back to see Calvin Harris.

Nause - Mellow (Original Mix)


Calvin Harris
The sympathetic Scotsman Calvin Harris, was making sure all 24.000 understood that he was indeed not British, as the Swedish national football team lost to England that very same evening. He played a really nice set, including his super hits like Bounce feat. Kelis, Feel so Close and We Found Love with Rihanna, which all clearly states his recent entry into super stardom.

Rihanna & Calvin Harris - We Found Love (R3hab's XS Remix)
 
Calvin Harris Feat. Ne-Yo - Let's Go (Calvin Harris Remix)



Sebastian Ingrosso
He must have played the best set I've ever heard anyone play anywhere, that was simply legendary! A perfect blend of family-tracks from Refune (his own label), Axtone (Axwell's label), Size (Steve Angello's label) and SHM (Virgin), intertwined with mashups, remixes and some of the best recent progressive house tracks (like Walking Alone and Bong - see below) and of course, a strong finish (along with Axwell, who came on stage) with the anthem Save the World all mashed up with the groundbreaking Knife Party remix. Check out the complete set list here. It looks pretty darn close to his set from EDC New York a month ago, and you can listen back  to it in it's entirety or download it on Soundcloud right here. DO IT!



Dirty South and Those Usual Suspects feat. Erik Hecht - Walking Alone

Deniz Koyu - Bong (Original Mix)

We left just after Ingrosso's epic set, as we preferred to go change and get early to the afterparty at Ambassadeur, instead of hanging out to the end and be tortured by the so-called worlds best DJ David Guetta. Day 2 was excellent despite a bit of rain in the afternoon, even more brilliant than day 1.

If you want to see (much) more from the festival, check out this 3-hour long broadcast by the Swedish national TV network SVT here.


The afterparty

The afterparty at Ambassadeur with Morten Breum was absolutely amazing. Danish superstar DJ Breum played one of his best sets (that I have ever witnessed) and the surroundings in the high end nightclub was excellent, sporting a quality sound system, nice lights, beautiful and happy people, the notorious long Stockholm queues outside, lounges and VIP sections and of course lots of (very expensive) alcohol in the 50 foot long bar served in classic Swedish 6 cl. triple drinks. Breum finished strong with his new banger "86 degrees" that got everybody moving (as Larva did for that matter) - so go get it here - NOW!

As we left the club, we bumped into Morten Breum and his manager Nima K and had a little chat as we strolled towards our respective downtown hotels. Check out all the official pics from the party here.


Despite my usual practice on this blog, I've chosen to complement this one with some pictures and video courtesy of stureplan.se and SVT, as my shitty and shaken iPhone shots just doesn't always cut it.


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Distorted and Trashed

Another exciting week for electronic music lovers in Copenhagen has passed. It started off with the Electronic Carneval, kept going with Distortion and ended up in Malmø, the Swedish "suburb" to Copenhagen.


Distortion is a very unique and all free street festival that goes on in Copenhagen every May with over 300.000 people partying in the streets of Copenhagen during 5 days in different neighborhoods everyday and a massive final party/rave on the Saturday, and a chill out lounge thing on the Sunday for those who just can't get enough. Numerous names are playing during the festival, mostly electronic acts though, and several spontaneous and unofficial pop-up parties and flash raves everywhere around the city joins in along with the street host parties by local shops, bars etc. around the city. It truly is a special thing, I don't think there's anything else like this anywhere else on the planet.




Wednesday, I went to Vor Frue Plads in central Copenhagen right between the Cathedral and the University in the old Latin quarter of Copenhagen. Danish top DJ Rune RK was hosting the event, he played a very nice set himself, and got people moving, but he had brought in the legendary UK DJ Pete Tong, you might know from the BBC Radio 1 show the Essential Mix on Friday nights. He will also appear at the Swedish House Mafia one-day event at Milton Keynes Bowl north of London in July, which I'm also going to see. The two of them put on a hell of a show and got the couple of thousand party people moving constantly.


Niggaz in Paris - Rune RK Undercover Remix


ENUR - Calabria (feat. Natasja) (under his pseudonym ENUR = Rune backwards)


Thursday i went to check out Frederik Olufsen aka The Frederik, the local Danish newcomer on mau5trap, I saw him at the epic Mau5trap closing party at Amnesia during the Miami Music Week, along with Foreign Beggars, Moguai, Feed Me and the master himself, Deadmau5. This time he rocked the Skt. Hans square on the multicultural borough of Nørrebro in Copenhagen with hard hitting dubstep and electro sound. It was quite nice, but nothing like the party at Amnesia Miami, but then again, nothing really can compare to that. One thing is for sure, I'm going to keep a close eye on the young Mr. Olufsen in the future, which seems very promising for the young Danish dubstep producer.

The Frederik - Delirium


Morten Breum, the no. 1 danish superstar DJ, played on the second night at Distortion in front of maybe a thousand people, at a closed down gas station on outer Nørrebro. Among many great tracks, like his newest release Larva, he played the banger "Epic" by Sandro Silva and Quintino. What a sick tune! Btw, he's got a new one coming up on called 86 degrees, sounds very promising.


Sandro Silva & Quintino - Epic (Original Mix)

After the Morten Breum show we, went to the nearby after party, that included three stages, of which we firstly was impressed with a very high energy and high tempo ghetto house set by Chicago house legend DJ Funk. Afterwards, italien DJ/producer Davide Squillace hypnotized us from the second second, with his deep house set.


Even though Distortion was just getting started in Copenhagen, I decided not to follow the party masses to the next borough of Copenhagen, but instead, I went abroad on the Friday evening, to our neighboring baby sister city of Malmø in Sweden, to see Tommy Trash at Babel. I saw Tommy in Miami during Ultra Music Festival, and he really impressed me, so I was very excited to see him again, this time in my own back yard. 

Babel, the old church turned nightclub in central Malmø and the only place in the Øresund region (the water between Denmark and Sweden), with a very clear electro profile, had brought in headliner Tommy Trash, the Australian DJ and excellent remixer/producer, who came down to Malmø after his appearance at Summerburst Gothenburg. His performance was nothing short of excellent. Very good energy, throwing his signature long curly hair all around the place and mixing in both his on tracks, like Cascade below, and several of his amazing remixes. I was so fortunate that I got to greet and thank him for the show afterwards. Another amazing night at Babel and a spectacular week with tons of great music and lovely people!

Tommy Trash - Cascade (Original Mix)

Pnau – Unite Us (Tommy Trash Remix)

 
A final thought
For some reason, most of the (better) nightclubs in Copenhagen are playing deep house, and as you might have figured out already, that's really not my thing. I mean it's OK to chill out to, but it doesn't turn on my party mode like the progressive or electro stuff does. I really appreciate coming over there once in a while to experience the great names they are getting in. The good people around Babel are always taking good care of me and my party people, so a big thanks to Peffe (Babel), Mattias (Department of Music) and Pierre (Save a Lollipop and Matchstick Men). Thank you guys!


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Moombah is the new black

OK, so here's the low down on Moombahton, the new black in EDM, that's taking all the hype from dubstep these days. It's around 108-110 bpm (dubstep is around 70, progressive house around 128), so it's slower than house music but faster than dubstep. I shares the same sound library as electro and even dubstep (often called moombahcore in that respect). It's got a very seductive almost latin vibe to it, that makes you want to move and oh, girls look super hot when dancing to moombah, so it's highly club friendly and thus, every respectable DJ has a moombah section in their set today.

The legend goes, that Dave Nada, one half of Nadastrom, was mixing the Afrojack remix of Moombah by Silvio Ecomo and Chuckie mixed with a slower reggaeton track, so it all ended up around the 108/110 bpm, and people seems to respond rather well to that. Since, noted artists like Skrillex, Knife Party, Diplo and the good sir Francis Dillon, to name a few, has been putting out moombah tracks.

Dillon Francis, in particular, has been the frontrunner for the new subgenre, and was the first to get the top spot on the Beatport top 5 release chart back in February 2012. I was so lucky to see Dillon Francis at UMF in Miami back in March, and was instantly smitten both by the subgenre as such and by Mr. Dillon Francis as a performer and artist. While Fatboy Slim and Justice were playing at the main stage, in front of 100.000 strong crowd, Dillon rocked the small, almost tiny, Annie Mac stage in the far end corner, right by the water, under the palm trees, with soothing sounds of moombah making the 200 or so dedicated moombah fans move in the evening heat. I can safely say, that this set was among my personal top 3 of the UMF, competing against mega-stars like Skrillex, Avicii, Armin van Buuren and Afrojack etc..

That was why I didn't hesitate a second taking the drive from Copenhagen to Gothenburg last weekend, when I saw he was playing a nightclub up there (thank you Siavosh!). He played a very varied set, not only moombah, like in Miami, but included hit tracks from every electro subgenre and we had a blast in the back popping the bubbles and dancing the night away. We were so lucky to meet him after the show and thank him for both the shows in Miami and that great night in Gothenburg. Very nice guy, I must say, who also likes to rock the suit and tie, as he said. :)

Please find a couple of my favorite moombah tracks below and enjoy!

Angger Dimas - Kitchen (Original Mix)

Valentino Khan & Will Bailey - Rukus 

Clockwork - Hulk (Dillon Francis Remix) 

Nadastrom - i!! 


Bonus info
Kairo Kingdom, a brand spanking new electro group from Frankfurt, Germany, came out of nowhere this spring in 2012 on the Lazy Rich label Big Fish. So far they have released five tracks in different subgenres, from electro house/complextro (Crazy Rock), to glitch hop (One Two), drum n' bass/dubstep (Dead Sound), moombah (Boombox) to dirty dutch electro (Das Knarz). Each a very solid attempt in the respective subgenres. Especially One Two does it for me, I got it pretty much on repeat on the iPhone these days. They deserved a spot in this post, not only because of them jumping on the moombah-wagon and fitting the theme of this Journal, but simply because of their excellent display of versatility and the well produced music. There are the Swiss army knife of electro. They refuse to be categorized. Just like my beloved Knife Party did a year or so ago when they took my heart by storm (new EP Rage Valley out May 28th btw!). So go check them out on their Soundcloud and be the first of your friends to buy that shit afterwards!

Kairo Kingdom - One Two

Kairo Kingdom - BoomBox

Kairo Kingdom - Crazy Rock


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

May Madness

My beloved hometown of Copenhagen offered a handful of truly world class EDM artist in just 6 days. Here's a walk-through of the four concerts I attended in that insane first week of May.

 
Feed Me - Sunday April 29th

We casually walked in to the old steam driven pump station from 1858, now resurrected as a mid-size venue, when the young mau5keteer Feed Me from London played his slamming One Click Headshot from the new smaller stage on the first floor. He had obviously started early, as it was a school day the day after, so we missed the first half hour. We probably were about 200 dubstep lovers that had made it to the old water works building in central Copenhagen that Sunday evening. None the less, people were going nuts to the hard electro and dubsteppy tunes from Feed Me. I even saw people surfing the small crowd. Feed Me was clearly impressed by our late Sunday enthusiasm and twetted : "Shows like that are what DJing is all about. Copenhagen out of nowhere, it's turned into messiness".

He played a lot of his own stuff like Whiskers, One Click Headshot, Trichitillomania from his latest EP as well as his old hit Cloudburn and a lot of other good stuff including quite a few moobahton tracks, that seems to be the new black among EDM DJ's.

I wrote about Feed Me back in February where you can also check out his latest EP. Below you can enjoy his banger One Click Headshot from that EP.

Feed Me - One Click Headshot


Flux Pavilion - Sunday April 29th

While Feed Me moved to the left of the stage to enjoy a bottle of Jack D with his entourage, Flux Pavilion teared the place apart with his bass heavy UK style dubstep. People went absolutely nuts and security had to get on the stage to keep the crowd of it.

He'd also play a few moombah tracks but kept it pretty dubstep in general playing his own tracks like Hold Me Close, I Can't Stop, the Superbad track with his Circus buddy Doctor P and of course Bass Cannon the made the place crumble in bass related spasms. Flux Pavilion truly rocked the spot and was a notch over Feed Me in crowd control and performance.

Bass Cannon kill it that Sunday, see it in the video and check out some of his other great tracks below.



Flux Pavilion

Flux Pavilion and Feed Me at Pumpehuset gets 4 out of 6 stars.


Porter Robinson - Thursday May 3rd

OK, first show of the crazy first weekend of May, with young gun Porter Robinson at the place called Rust in the multicultural borough of Copenhagen called Nørrebro. Rust was originally created in the 80's as a campaign headquarter and café by some anti nuclear power activists and has later served as a nightclub and urban music venue. The place was pretty packed at the main floor and I would guess there were around 300 guests that night. The 20 year old American, now signed on the Skrillex label OWSLA, started out pretty hard and kept the tempo up playing great electro house-, some moombah- and a few dubstep tracks. The small dancefloor in front of the low and small stage was packed and security had to step in to prevent people from getting hurt in the chaos.

He played a couple of his own tracks, like Unison, as well as the Knife Party remix, both making the crowd very exited. He did a very cool set with high energy and variation and the crowd loved him, and so did I.

Porter Robinson gets 5 out of 6 stars.

Check out the video below from when he played the Unison remix by Knife Party and his latest track Language.



Porter Robinson - Language


Avicii - Friday May 4th

Around 8000 people turned up at historic Forum, the large exhibition and concert hall, that was actually blown up during the German occupation back in 1943, to see the sensation from our blue and yellow neighbors to the east. They sure had a hell of a party on the large Forum indoor floor. Warm up was from local DJ's Kongsted and the duo TooManyLeftHands. Personally I enjoyed the first half the most, where he played a handful og my favorites like Ingrosso and Alesso's Calling, In My Mind by Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl, a really nice mashup of Antidote and Greyhound by SHM and of course the neoclassic Levels mixed with that horrible Gotye song to keep it "fresh" I guess. Never the less, Avicii blew up the spot once again since WW2, with his monster hit Levels that made people scream and go absolutely insane. The VIP section turned me down quite a bit, there wasn't really anything VIP or Deluxe about it and it was filled with steroid pumped and heavily tattooed drug dealer types, that made it a bit hard to enjoy the show.

Avicii (and the sloppy production) gets 3 out of 6 stars.

I've included a video from the show and his latest unreleased collab with Nicky Romero below.



Avicii - Fuck School (feat. Nicky Romero)


Skrillex - Saturday May 5th

9000 people of all ages and subcultures had shown up, from tweens and business school graduates to parents with children and old fucks like myself. Skrillex has a broad appeal it seems. Warmup was some nice drum n' bass from Netsky but it was clear that everybody just waited to get to see the LA freakshow.

Most of his set was identical with what he played at UMF Miami in March, but there was, for me, one major difference. He played maybe five or six Knife Party tracks! He didn't in Miami, probably because Knife Party played the next day on the same stage, but it made all the difference for me as I both got to enjoy Skrillex own tracks and remixes as well as the greatest tracks from my beloved Knife Party. Of course he also played all his own stuff like Breakn' A Sweat, Devils Den, Ruffneck, First of the Year, Kill Everybody and the new Make It Bun Dem and several of his great remixes like his In for the Kill remix, the Promises remix, the Levels remix and of course the outstanding Cinema remix.

I found it one of the best concerts I've attended in Copenhagen maybe ever and would not hesitate to give it top marks, if it wasn't for the effective but somewhat aggressive security guys plowing through the crowd scouting for sinners to "arrest".

Skrillex gets 5 out of 6 stars.

Below you'll find a video of when he closed hos set playing Cinema in front of a sea of lighters and cell phones and his latest track with Damian Marley "Make It Bun Dem".



Skrillex & Damian Marley - MAKE IT BUN DEM