I have this fantasy of flying to London and finding an underground garage show in which it’s just a DJ, the turn tables, and a massive crowd. Everyone is partying in this rundown basement or warehouse that’s very exclusive and unknown. Think the opening scene of Craig David’s “Fill Me In” video. But with garage or 2-step or drum n base music.
With that said, I was beyond thrilled when my sister referred me to Disclosure, a young duo from London whose music is a revitalized spin on garage. Howard and Guy Lawrence are brothers and they’re just 16 and 19 years old. Yet they create music well beyond their years and do a good friggin job of it. They gained buzz about two years ago in the UK and have been hailed as “garage’s fountain of youth”. Check them out.
International Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe released her newest album MJK today. In true Haifa fashion, the promo is glamorous, bold, and very showy. Her newest album is slated to be the soundtrack of the summer within the Middle East. Although not the most talented of singers, Haifa is quite savvy when it comes to marketing her brand and engaging her fans. You might recognize her hit “Yama Layali” with DJ/producer David Vendetta.
Digital LAB is on a role right now. His music has been played on legendary Pete Tong‘s BBC Radio 1. His remixes were featured on Kaskade‘s chart topping album dance.love. He’s headlined the prestigious Marquee nightclub in Las Vegas and played with the likes of NERVO during Miami Music Week. Signed to Vicious Recordings, Digital LAB is a force to watch out for in electronic music.
1. How did you get into electronic music and becoming a DJ/Producer?
I used to be really into rock music in high school – was in a band and everything. I started listening to trance my last year of high school and thought, “Hey this is great, I would love to create stuff like this.” I literally just did a Yahoo search on how to make trance and boom, Fruity Loops Demo popped up. So I downloaded it and off I went. After a few years of [producing trance] I moved over to only producing house music and after that the DJing just came along with it. These days you have to do both. You can’t just do one or the other. It’s about being marketed as an “artist”.
2. Your remixes were featured on Kaskade’s album dance.love for the songs “Call Out” and “Everyday”. How did you get involved in working and performing with Kaskade?
“Everyday” was kind of my breakout track. After it released, a lot of people started playing it (Kaskade, Swedish House Mafia, etc.) and with that came a lot of attention to me. I still think it’s one of my best tracks that I’ve ever done. Kaskade found me through a mutual friend of ours, Angger Dimas. He asked Angger for my AIM and then just hit me up and told me how much he loved the “Everyday” remix and that he wanted me to remix one of his singles for his upcoming album. I loved the vocals on “Call Out” and instantly wanted to mix that one. Kaskade played [my remix] in a lot of live shows and so we released it. It’s an honor still to this day to remix any of Ryan’s (Kaskade’s) material. I just finished a remix for his track “Llove” on his recent album so look out for that. He is still a major inspiration in my music.
3. You recently played some amazing shows during Miami Music Week including gigs at Amnesia and Electric Beach. What was your experience at Miami Music Week like? What was your favorite moment?
MMW is such a huge week for DJs. Until maybe last year it was always all about seeing my favorite DJs perform. Now I get to experience it as an actual artist and play alongside the DJs who I’ve grown to love. The entire week was insane! I played Electric Beach as well as the Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike Smash the House party at Mokai. I also played alongside NERVO. The highlight and my favorite moment would have to be playing Amnesia Miami. It was just such a huge gig. There were so many people and everyone was so into the music! Just a perfect night and perfect show.
Digital Lab spinning at Marquee in Las Vegas.
4. How did you come up with the name Digital LAB?
Haha I always get asked this question and it’s not a really exciting story. I kinda just came up with it one day and thought it sounded cool and catchy. Well, at least to me.
5. Talk about some of your upcoming projects and shows.
Right now I’m working on a bunch of singles and a few remixes for my label Vicious Records. I’ll hopefully be starting my first album in the next few months and have it released by the end of the year. I just finished another remix for Kaskade’s song “Llove” which should be out soon and I’m working on a collaboration with Those Usual Suspects (from the track “Walking Alone” with Dirty South). For shows, I just played Nocturnal Wonderland Texas on April 27th and then I flew over to Vegas and played my own headlining night at Marquee nightclub on April 28th. I’ll also be playing Boonstock Festival in Canada along some huge artists like Avicii, Afrojack and more. My agent is amazing and we have some huge shows planned for the future!
6. Musically, who or what would you say is your biggest influence?
Kaskade has been one of my biggest influences for a long time. A lot of my DJ friends influence my music because they are all just amazing musical minds – Tommy Trash, Max Vangeli, Sandro Silva, and Angger Dimas. Tiesto also influenced me a lot in my earlier years when I first got into EDM and was producing trance.
Digital Lab playing at Amnesia nightclub in Miami.
7. Your remixes have been featured on multiple record labels including Spinnin, Dim Mak, Vicious and MixMash. How do you choose which songs you want to mix?
Usually, they approach me or my management and then I’ll take a listen to the original and/or the vocal and see if I can make something amazing with it. If I’m not feeling it, I won’t take it on. I’ve learned to be a bit picky to make sure all the music I put out is quality you know? Other times if a friend sends me a song they are working on and I love it, I’ll ask them to send me parts to do a mix. This happened with Pedro Henriques’ latest single “Spread the Love”. I heard the demo and I was like “Dude, this is amazing. Send me parts now I need to remix this”. I think I finished that mix in one night.
Miami has a spark to it especially during the month of March when music lovers make their pilgrimage for The Winter Music Conference and Ultra Music Festival. Even if you weren’t lucky enough to go to Ultra, the blessings of modern technology allowed for the massive festival to be live streamed onto their Youtube channel. Thousands tuned in worldwide to UMF TV and tweeted furiously to #UMFTV as they watched their favorite electronic acts take the decks.
This year seemed to stamp EDM’s current dominance in music. The Queen of Pop Madonna even gave the EDM community her blessing when she introduced Swedish DJ Avicii to the main stage. 165,000 people attended Ultra this year, the festival’s largest attendance to date. David Guetta summed it up perfectly when he announced, “Do you realize what’s going on in the world — and in America especially? Our music is taking over and it’s crazy!” Yes. Electronic dance music has taken over America.
(Source: mtvhive.com)
I tuned into watch the legendary Carl Cox spin his set. Before all the hoopla of today’s EDM scene, Carl Cox has been spinning since the mid-1980s. He’s had shows on KISS FM, was a monthly resident for BBC One’s Essential Mix, and his mixes have been broadcasted live from Ibiza’s Club Space. Today he heads two record companies, plays soldout shows around the world, and has his own tent at Ultra. As usual he delivered classic house and progressive which further cemented why he is such an iconic DJ and producer.
Tracklisting:
01. Vozmediano – Ritual De Fe (Edit)
02. ID – ID
03. Bushwacka – West Side! (ID Remix)
04. ID – ID
05. ID – ID
06. Mr G – Got That Swing
07. Nicole Moudaber – Feline
08. Gabriel Ben – Beat The Drums
09. Joe Brunning – Now Let Me See You Work
10. ID – ID
11. ID – ID
12. DJ Chuckie – Let The Bass Kick (ID Remix)
13. ID - ID
14. Tim Deluxe – Transformation
15. Paul Ross & Oscar Cano Feat. Esther Bauman – Mama Yo Quiero Saber (Elio Riso Remix)
Saturday Hardwell brought it. This year was the first time the Dutch DJ played at Ultra. He certainly made quite the debut. He ripped the decks offering the one of the most magnificent mixes I have ever heard: “N***** in Paris” by Kanye West and Jay-Z mixed with “Walking on a Dream” by Empire of the Sun. All brilliantly laid over a house beat. Definitely a favorite at Ultra.
01. Hardwell — Spaceman [Revealed]
02. Bingo Players — Rattle [Hysteria]
03. Hardwell — Cobra [Revealed] w/ Nero — Promises (Acappella) [MTA]
04. Sidney Samson -Get Low w/ — Sending My Love (Acappella) [Wall]
05. Faithless — Insomnia (Dannic Bootleg) (19min)
06. Sporty-O & Whiskey Pete — Heard Of Us (PeaceTreaty Remix) [Illeven:eleven] w/ Empire Of The Sun — Walking On A Dream (Acappella) [EMI] w/ Jay-Z & Kanye West — Niggas In Paris [Roc Nation]
07. Dyro & Rene Kuppens — Raid [Revealed] (27min30sec)
08. Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit [Geffen] w/ Tommy Trash — Cascade [PinkStar]
09. Tiësto & Hardwell — Zero 76 [Musical Freedom]
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers — By The Way [Warner] w/ Chuckie — Who Is Ready To Jump (Dada Life Remix) [Big Beat] w/ Ferry Corsten — Punk (Arty ‘Rock-N-Rolla’ Remix) [Flashover]
11. Jordy Dazz ID (44min)
12. Tiësto — Maximal Crazy [Musical Freedom]
13. Knife Party — Internet Friends [AEI] (Hardwell Edit)
Up next was Laidback Luke on the main stage. Another favorite of Ultra, he spun house and electro and gave the audience a tiny little taste of hip-hop. Laidback Luke has a way of remixing a song and just transforming it to the I was totally thrilled that he brought Wynter Gordon out to sing “Speak Up” and “Dirty Talk”.
01. Savoy & Heather Bright – We Are The Sun (Laidback Luke Remix)
02. Avicii vs. Nicky Romero – Nicktim
03. Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound [EMI] w/ Laidback Luke feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn – Timebomb (Acappella) [Mixmash]
04. Rihanna – Man Down [The Island Def Jam] w/ La Fuente – Bang Bang [Mixmash]
05. iSquare – Hey Sexy Lady (Laidback Luke Remix) [Interscope] w/ Laidback Luke & Steve Aoki feat. Lil Jon – Turbulence (Acappella) [Mixmash]
06. Sandro Silva & Quintino – Epic [Musical Freedom]
07. Dada Life – Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker [So Much Dada] w/ Congorock – Babylon (Steve Angello Edit) [Fool's Gold]
08. Sato Goldschlag feat. Wynter Gordon – Hey Mr. Mister (Laidback Luke Remix)
09. Laidback Luke feat. Wynter Gordon – Speak Up [Mixmash] (Live Vocals)
10. Wynter Gordon – Dirty Talk (Laidback Luke Remix) [Big Beat] (Live Vocals)
11. ID (29min45sec)
12. MSTRKRFT feat. John Legend – Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix)
13. ID (33min15sec) w/ Congorock – Monolith [Ultra]
14. The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army [XL] w/ Swedish House Mafia – One [Virgin] w/ Benny Benassi – Satisfaction [You] w/ Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas In Paris [Roc Nation]
15. Snap! – The Power [Anzilotti & Munzing]
16. DMX – Party Up (Up In Here) [Def Jam] w/ ID (44min)
17. Laidback Luke & Steve Aoki feat. Lil Jon – Turbulence [Dim Mak]
18. Chuckie, Laidback Luke & Martin Solveig – 1234 [White]
19. Chuckie – Who Is Ready To Jump [Big Beat] w/ Bassjackers – Mush, Mush [Musical Freedom]
20. Benny Benassi feat. Gary Go – Cinema (Laidback Luke Remix) [Ultra]
David Guetta graced the main stage as one of Ultra’s closing acts. A driving forces behind EDM’s American invasion, Guetta made sure everyone was aware of his influence. He started out his set with his breathtaking single, “Titanium” (Alesso Remix) which featured Sia’s strong vocals. Sprinkled throughout his set were his slew of crossover pop hits such as “When Love Takes Over”, “Without You”, “Turn Me On”…the songs which dominate the radio. He affirmed that he was the man of the moment when he dropped “I’m David Guetta Bitch”, reminding everyone that he was the one to elevate electronic music in America.
(Source: dancingastronaut.com)
(Source: Miami New Times Blog)
01. David Guetta feat. Sia – Titanium (Alesso Remix) [F*** Me I'm Famous]
02. Jack Back feat. David Guetta, Nicky Romero & Sia – Wild One Two (Edit) [Big Beat]
03. Afrojack & Shermanology – Can’t Stop Me [Wall]
04. David Guetta & Nicky Romero – Metropolis
05. Nicky Romero – Generation 303 [Musical Freedom] w/ David Guetta feat. Akon – Sexy Bitch (Acappella) [EMI]
06. Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound [EMI] w/ Example – Changed The Way You Kiss Me (Acappella) [Ministry Of Sound]
07. Sidney Samson – Get Low
08. Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie – Moombah (Afrojack Remix) [Dirty Dutch] w/ David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland – When Love Takes Over [EMI] w/ Daft Punk – Aerodynamic [Virgin]
09. Nicky Romero – ID
10. Avicii – Levels [Le7els / Universal] w/ Gotye feat. Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know (Acappella) [Universal]
11. David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi – Memories (FMIF Remix) [EMI]
12. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj – Turn Me On (Michael Calfan Remix) [F*** Me I'm Famous]
13. David Guetta feat. Usher – Without You [F*** Me I'm Famous]
And then Armin van Buuren takes the decks. I basically had a heart attack. Maybe that’s a bit extreme but his set was just so electrifying. The king of trance closed out Ultra with massive fireworks and some jaw-dropping trance mixes.
01. Omnia & Ira – The Fusion (Armin van Buuren’s Intro Edit)
02. Cosmic Gate & Emma Hewitt – Be Your Sound
03. Armin van Buuren vs. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Not Giving Up On Love (Dash Berlin 4AM Mix)
04. The Killers – Mr Brightside (Marco V Treatment)
05. W&W – Impact (MaRLo Remix)
06. Gaia – J’ai Envie De Toi
07. Armin van Buuren & Orjan Nilsen – Belter
08. Ferry Corsten vs. Armin van Buuren – Brute (Armin’s Illegal Drum Edit)
09. Gareth Emery feat. Christina Novelli – Concrete Angel (John O’Callaghan Remix)
10. Dakota vs. Marcel Woods – Advanced Sleepwalkers (Armin van Buuren Mashup)
11. John O’Callaghan – Stresstest (John Askew Remix) (AvB Edit)
12. Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon den Adel vs. John O’Callaghan – In & Out Of A Raw Deal (Armin van Buuren Mashup)
This summer, Kaskade will make the freaks come out all across the U.S. His tour spans every corner of the States so clear your calendars and get ready for some stunning music.
Fri. 5/25 - TBA
Sat. 5/26 – Cosmo Ballroom Las Vegas, NV
Sun. 5/27 – TBA
Fri. 6/15 - MCU Park New York, NY
Sat. 6/16 - Olympia Theatre Montreal, QC
Sun. 6/17 - CE Centre Ottawa, ON
Tue. 6/19 – Bogart’s Cincinnati, OH
Wed. 6/20 – House of Blues Cleveland, OH
Fri. 6/22 – DCU Exhibition Hall Worcester, MA
Sat. 6/23 – Festival Stage at Comcast Hartford, CT
Tue. 6/26 – Music Farm Charleston, SC
Thu. 6/28 – Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing Philadelphia, PA
Fri. 6/29 – 1st Mariner Arena Baltimore, MD
Sat. 6/30 – Boonstock Festival Gibbons, AB
Sun. 7/1 – TBA
Wed. 7/11 – Fillmore Charlotte, NC
Thu. 7/12 – Tabernacle Atlanta, GA
Fri. 7/13 - Ford Exposition Hall Tampa, FL
Sat. 7/14 – Klipsch Amphitheatre at Bayfront Park Miami, FL
Mon. 7/16 - Limelight Nashville, TN
Wed. 7/18 - Uptown Theater Kansas City, MO
Thu. 7/19 – Diamond Ballroom Oklahoma City, OK
Fri. 7/20 – Bayou Music Center Houston, TX
Sat. 7/21 – Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie Dallas, TX
Mon. 7/23 – Cowboys San Antonio, TX
Tue. 7/24 - Buchanan’s Event Center El Paso, TX
Wed. 7/25 - Sunshine Theater Albuquerque, NM
Thu. 7/26 - Rialto Tucson, AZ
Fri. 7/27 - TBA
Mon. 7/30 – Belly Up Aspen, CO
Wed. 8/1 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre Denver, CO
Fri. 8/3 - Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN
Sat. 8/4 Fillmore Detroit, MI
Sun. 8/5 – TBA
Tue. 8/7 – Knitting Factory Spokane, WA
Wed. 8/8 – Memorial Auditorium Sacramento, CA
Thu. 8/9 - Roseland Ballroom Portland, OR
Fri. 8/10 – WaMu Theater Seattle, WA
Sat. 8/11 – PNE Forum Vancouver, BC Sun. 8/12 9one9 Victoria, BC
This isn’t your typical electro disco. Don’t expect to come to a Major Lazer or Diplo show and get a dose of just pure electronic music. It’ll be a mix of house, electro, reggae, dancehall, hip-hop…a salad of beats if you will. Anyway, Major Lazer is on tour this spring in the UK and throughout Europe. Check out the promo vid and tour dates:
April 18 Manchester,UK – HMV Ritz
April 19 London, UK – O2 Sheperds Bush Empire
April 20 Birmingham, UK – HMV Institute
April 21 Bristol, UK – Motion
April 22 Glasgow, UK – O2 ABC
July 7th Kinross, Scotland – T in The Park
August 16th Magaluf, Mallorca – Mallorca Rocks Hotel
August 17th San Antonio, Spain – Ibiza Rocks Hotel
August 25th Cheshire, UK – Creamfields 2012
