You see, when you get hundreds of great DJs together in a city like Miami, something wonderful and magical happens in a certain place that you would normally never find me -- clubs. With these DJs in town, clubs suddenly have access to some of the best DJs around who play some of the greatest music you will ever hear. I've picked out a few shows that I really enjoyed and thought would be worth sharing.
One of the first shows I attended featured the duo of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak. Together, known as Duck Sauce. These guys complemented each other's style perfectly. Their set began with a solid beat that you could feel and easily move your body to. It featured the typical funky house music with a kick of groovy disco and just a dash of hard hitting bass. I felt like there was a little bit of back and forth between the two DJ's styles but the songs were mixed together so well it was hard to tell. The rest of the night kept the theme of electronic house with alternating DJ's. I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would considering I'm not the biggest house fan.
Another show I attended featured Annie Mac and DJ Mehdi. Annie Mac has a show on BBC Radio 1 which makes her pretty much a big deal. The bar was set high, and she did not fail to disappoint. The mixes between songs and genres that she had in her set kept the audience thoroughly energized and entertained. She didn't leave a song on for too long or too little- she somehow always found the perfect balance that kept the movement of the entire set moving fluidly. Furthermore, she managed to get sounds from house to dub step to disco to mix together in a way that kept everything from getting boring or too repetitive. I think I love her.
Below is video of her dub step segment found on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTpESylHMwo
DJ Mehdi is a personal favorite of mine so I was pretty excited to see him live. His performance did not fail to disappoint me either. He ended up trading off between some other DJs throughout the night but when I did catch him tearing up the boards, it was typical Mehdi. He had the fantastic funky hip hop with some great clean sounding synths that kept an amazing upbeat feeling that I've grown so fond of.
Below is a video from youtube of a portion of his set:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOHYuSMS2Xs
Despite the fact that I didn't get to attend the almighty ULTRA Music Festival, I still was able to have an amazing time being blasted by electronic music from fantastic DJs. But most importantly, I was exposed to an entirely new atmosphere that you just can't get in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. Seeing DJs of this caliber live is something that has to be done by an electronic fan at least once in their life. To see the energy that a good DJ can bring out of a crowd is amazing, to feel the 25 ft speaker bass humming through your body is face melting, and to be a part of the entire movement of energy that flows through the entire venue from DJ to music to audience back to DJ is almost spiritual. That's something you just can't get from those white iPod ear-buds.
Man, bummer you couldnt go to ultra, but, in all honesty, Ultra was only created because of a huge business conference that takes place in Miami at the same time: WMC (Winter Music Conference). Most djs are there for business reasons, but, it becomes the number one hotspot for electronic music in the world, for a week.
ReplyDeleteThe parties (outside of ultra) are the main attraction for many people, although it can get expensive quickly.
You mention you are not really into going to clubs. Why not? As an electronic music fan, there is certainly a fairly underground scene here in the triangle. Much of it is dubstep, tech house or minimal based, but the djs (while they may not be world class producers like Tiesto and Co') are dedicated to their craft, and usually quite good.
Many worldclass "Djs" are really famous because of their skills in the production studio... not their skills on the decks. While it is definitely an experience to go watch them spin their newest album, and new hits from their labels, it might as well be anyone up there doing it (from a skill perspective).
Then again, some acts (Deadmau5, INfected Mushroom, major lazer, and many more worldclass djs) are just amazing, from both a technical, and emotional perspective.
Better luck next year mate!
so one of my buddy's went down for ultra as well as some music conference in Miami and got to kick it with Tommy Lee and Deadmau5. Turns out he's been talking to deadmau5 online for awhile and they've grown quite fond if each other. Anyways I bring up Tommy Lee and Deadmau5 cause he was telling me that they're collaborating and will be performing together at Cochella. So look out for that man. should be an interesting combination and a kick ass show. and there's your random gossip of the day. you're welcome. rubles
ReplyDeleteYeah, deadmau5 is half of the duo FML, which is his project with tommy lee. They performed together at ULTRA but.... deadmau5 lost all but 1 of his channels on his mixer for a bit... so things were kind of week apparently.
ReplyDeleteThey've thrown up some pretty sweet dubstep teasers on their soundcloud. Interesting sounds from the mau5.
I'm sorry you didn't make it in, but it still sounds like you had an awesome time!
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