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) 

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)

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!