The Steezoid Broadcasts #6 - Endless summer

This is a mix dedicated to the summer we all wish would never end, with 20 neo-classic progressive house hits from the last couple of years, intended to make you want to dance through those warm summer nights until the sun rises on a cloud of happiness.



Tracklist is on the Soundcloud page, just click the link.

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.

The Russians are coming!

The Russians are coming, and the spearhead of the Russian Invasion is made up by Hard Rock Sofa and Swanky Tunes, both from Smolensk Russia, releasing progressive house banger together and individually and remixing almost everybody else. Praised by superstar DJ's like Tiesto, David Guetta, Sandern Van Doorn and Swedish House Mafia, the success of the red EDM army seems to be inevitable.


Recently, Hard Rock Sofa released "Quasar" on Axtone, the label of Axwell from SHM. Swanky Tunes has released a couple of tunes on Sebastian Ingrosso's (also SHM) label Refune. The red blitz attack seems to be helped along by their Swedish friends.

I've includes some nice tracks from the Russians below, and the video of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" Swanky Tunes & Hard Rock Sofa did together, a cover version of Iggy Pop and the Stooges original, including mesmerizing guitar riffs samples, frantic synths and UK style "train-spotting-like-drug-addict" vocals. Sick video also, see below.

Bonus info: Hard Rock Sofa does a very nice monthly podcast mix with all the greatest progressive house tracks from that month. Follow this link to check out the latest February 2012 mix





Hard Rock Sofa - Quasar (Radio Edit)

R3hab & Swanky Tunes - Sending My Love (Hard Rock Sofa Remix)

Swanky Tunes, Matisse & Sadko - The Legend (Original Mix)

Swanky Tunes - Their law (Original Mix

My 2011 progressive house top 5

Tough category, many amazing progressive tracks out in 2011. Avicii, Morten Breum, Hardwell and Nicky Romero could also easily fit in the chart . But this is where I settled, my top 5 for the best progressive house tracks for 2011.

1. Ingrosso/Alesso - Calling (Instrumental mix)
2. Michael Calfan - Resurrection (Axwell's Recut Club Version)
3. Joe Garston - The Promise
4. Michael Woods - First Aid
5. Tim Mason - Anima

Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso - Calling

Michael Calfan - Resurrection (Axwell's Recut Club Version)

Joe Garston – The Promise

Michael Woods - First Aid

Tim Mason - Anima

The Swedish Era

These days, the Swedes seems to have come up with the most effective and successful recipe for progressive house tracks with mass appeal.

Swedish House Mafia and Avicii/Tim Berg (no introduction needed) are among the current superstars, playing their monster hits for crampacked stadiums around the world. SHM sold out Madison Square Garden in under 10 minutes(!). A new generation is one the rise though, with names like Dada Life, Alesso, AN21, Adrian Lux, John Dahlbäck ready to join the game.

This summer, I'm going with GoLive Travel (who else?), to the 2-day festival Summerburst in beautiful Stockholm, besides Axwell and Ingrosso (from SHM), I´m looking forward to see Alesso and hopefully more of the young swedish EDM talent.

Check out two of my swedish favorites for the moment below:

Dada Life - Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker (Instrumental) 
 
Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso - Calling (Original Instrumental Mix)