Competing with the Reading and Leeds festival
the weekend of August 24-25 is this year’s South West Four festival,
one for the ravers and bassheads, taking place in London’s Clapham
Common and sporting a lineup of epic proportions including Armin Van
Buuren, Carl Cox and Paul Van Dyke.
With weekend tickets priced at £100 and day tickets at a reasonable
£50, South West Four is sure to rival the vast array of London’s dance
festivals this year – Found, High Definition, We Are FSTVL and Field Day
all having impressed the city thus far.
2013 is South West Four’s tenth anniversary and has been dubbed by Carl
Cox the ‘crowning glory’ of London’s clubbing calendar – it is
certainly not one to miss for Londoners and clubbers.
Sunday 25 August will see Sunday West bring their 5th
birthday bash to Noting Hill Carnival. It is a 13 hour all day event
featuring the likes of Audiojack and Bushwacka, both massive names in
dance music.
The event takes place at the Garden, Latimer Road and will host an
all-day jerk BBQ, completely appropriate to Notting Hill’s carnival
traditions.
The event’s music policy spans the latest and greatest acts of house,
techno and garage. Victor Simonelli, Rufus and Scot Garcia also feature
on the bill, making for a day of fat beats for all the ravers at Notting
Hill.
Saturday 24 August will
see Camden’s KOKO play host to Hot Wuk’s latest and greatest Heatwave
event, kicking off Notting Hill Carnival with a heavy dose of dancehall
riddims.
Hot Wuk will be bringing a full carnival stage show featuring Notting
Hill dancers on road and a custom-built party truck complete with the whistles, horns and flags which have been synonymous with Notting Hill for years.
The lineup includes bashment heroes The Heatwave along with a host of
other names certified to get the crowd pumped: Zi Zi Scandal, Element
Dance, CDML Crew and Gina G the Energy Goddess.
With £10 first release tickets still available here, don’t miss your chance to catch the Heatwave this summer.
Field Day's was always set to be one of the biggest London has seen so far, with a line-up forged from the crème de la crème
of emerging musical talents, and improvments to the sound and lighting
quality, since last year saw many complaints concerning underwhelming
audio.
With beloved indie rockers Animal Collective facing off against
trapstep superstars TNGHT for the biggest crowd at Field Day’s
headlining slot, the event was sure to please bassheads and rock fans
alike. The sun was shining and the crowd was dressed to kill - it was
clear that Field Day 2013 had arrived at East London’s Victoria Park on
25th May.
The Bugged Out! tent was rammed from start to finish, housing some of the biggest names in EDM.
Proceedings in the tent nicely started off with a promising set from
East London regular: Kiwi, whose minimalistic house was a fresh and
welcoming beginning to the day. A moderate crowd turned into a raving,
lunatic mass for midday act Seth Troxler, whose deep house joined forces
with the blazing sun to create an Ibiza-style party that had vested
house-heads fist pumping like it was two in the morning rather than the
afternoon.
Meanwhile at the Laneway Stage, Chvrches were bringing their sparkling
indie-pop to a huge crowd which grew significantly for Kurt Vile,
proving his status as an emerging rock God, aspiring to the likes of Tom Petty
and Neil Young. King Krule was another male crooner who grabbed the
attention of many this Field Day, and indeed over the past year, his
striking appearance combining with his gorgeously husky vocals and
refreshingly organic sounding blues rock to create a snowballing indie
sensation.
How to Dress Well, despite some unfortunate technical issues, succeeded
in communicating the complex, multi-layered sound of his soulful
R&B - not a microphone in the world could ruin Tom Krell’s
plaintive lament. Ben Pearce and Waze & Odyssey rocked the
Desperados Factory to the tune of free desperados whilst Clean Bandit
had the crowd jumping like they only can in a dark, sweaty, packed-out
tent.
It was a touch call between the headliners, but TNGHT get our vote as
the act that best rocked the headliner slot in a true Field Day fashion,
with a high-tech stage show ablaze with dry ice and flashing LEDs.
Lunice in particular was on top form when it came to hyping up the
crowd. Overall this year’s Field Day was arguably the best yet, with the
weather and the lineup both impossible to argue with. Another success
story added to its history, Field Day looks set to get better and
better.
Booka Shade is a German house duo made up of Walter Merziger
and Arno Kammermeier. Though already four albums in, Booka Shade have retained
the sense of underground authenticity and mystery which saw their name become a
reference point for German house and techno.
The true charm of Booka Shade lies in their ability to work
massive crowds at diverse parties the world over whilst staying true to the
spirit and sound of minimalistic German techno, a notoriously repetitive, niche
sound. Whilst Resident Advisor called their single ‘Body Language’ “one of the
biggest releases of the year”, ‘In White Rooms’ is a perfect example of
tech-house deep enough to see you well past 6am.
With regular tour dates worldwide, Booka Shade are an act to
catch soon if you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon.
Released earlier this year on Moda Black, ‘Leave Me’ is EDM
magic – dark, hypnotic house injected with a heady, glittering dose of
glamorous funk, punctuated by ethnic drum samples and growling,
whispering vocals almost reminiscent of some of Azari & III.
Maya Jane Coles – Everything
This latest release from deep house goddess Maya Jane Coles is indeed
everything we’ve come to expect from her relentlessly quality output.
This time featuring the ethereal vocals of the predictably Swedish Karin
Park, ‘Everything’ is dark, feminine, mysterious and a promising step for the producer and DJ.
Disclosure – When a Fire Starts to Burn
This opening track from Disclosure’s massive debut album Settle
may not be the deep Disclosure of the days of ‘Control’ and perhaps not
o the taste of fans of the duo’s earlier work but it does display them
doing what they seem to do best, very well – producing party-starting,
vibrant EDM pop.
Bonobo – Cirrus
The first single from Bonobo’s fifth album The North Borders,
‘Cirrus’ is a good description of the album as a whole, albeit being one
of the more danceable parts of it. It is as soothing and pure-sounding
as the album art suggests, chiming percussion and tingling synth lines
sounding as organic and sophisticated as house music gets.
Major Lazer’s sophomore effort, Free the Universe, is as
jam-packed with mega-tunes as their influential first release, proving
that ‘Lazer remain the go-to lads for bashment for bassheads. The LP
hurtles through genres whilst somehow making the connections seem
obvious. It also develops the boys’ hallmark sound - rave music as
bass-heavy and house-inspired as it is sun-drenched, always coloured by a
Jamaican influence.
‘Watch Out for This [Bumaye]’, featuring Busy Signal, the Flexican and
FS Green, is a prime example of the moombahton that the duo dabble in,
sounding more Caribbean than Major Lazer have ever sounded and
positively reeking of Notting Hill – one track guaranteed to set any
carnival on fire. ‘Get Free’, one of the leading singles of the album,
is a slow-burning, dub-influenced dancehall track with ethereal, almost
psychedelic synths which have had hipsters grinding across dancefloors
since its release earlier this year. ‘Jah No Partial’ is undoubtedly a
standout track, a towering dubstep anthem which speeds through trance
and jungle parts more fluidly than most other fusion acts can.
Free the Universe is a relentless party animal which goes and
goes. It refuses to be played in the background and insists on being
played at full volume to giant crowds all through hot summer nights. In
2011 Major Lazer replaced the influence of Switch with the talents of
producers/DJs Jillionaire and Walshy Fire, of Black Chiney – thus far,
it appears to be a collaboration which is going swimmingly.
Glaswegian Lewis Roberts, aka Koreless, produces fragile and beautiful
electronic music more in line with the soulful, emotive electronica of Purity Ring than
most ‘dubstep’ you’ll have heard this year. Koreless takes a larger
step away from traditional dubstep than most of the ‘post-dubstep’ acts
around right now but is just subby enough to remain tied to the genre.
His 2013 EP Yugen is undoubtedly his most substantial and
accomplished release to date and the perfect place to start listening to
Koreless. The EP is composed of ambient electronica which is the
perfect soundtrack to sunsets and sunrises, the last hours of late
nights, star-watching and hypothetical arthouse sci-fi films.
With gigs coming up all around the world
this summer, a mainstay of festivals the country and world over, it has
become clear that TEED has become one of the leading figures in dance
music, beloved by indie kids and EDM-heads alike. Blurring genres more
successfully than most other electronic music artists can dream of, TEED’s infectious mix of house, garage, techno and indie is sure to be the sound of summer 2013.
The producer and DJ’s real name is
Orlando Higginbottom, a name which probably had some influence on the
eccentricity which now guides the artist’s eclectic, highly individual
production and onstage persona – the immaculately made dinosaur-themed
wardrobe he flaunts in performances alone is worth the admission price.
With dancers dressed as dinos and unfalteringly brilliant visuals and
live shows, TEED has earned our stamp of approval.
As well as producing a hugely successful 2012 album, Trouble,
TEED has remixed tracks by the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and
Professor Green. He also features regularly on both Annie Mac's and Nick
Grimshaw's Radio 1 shows.
‘Household Goods’, ‘Garden’ and ‘Your
Love’ are amongst the most overplayed and remixed tracks of indie-dance
anthems, soundtracking more hip club nights and TV and radio shows and
commercials than we can keep count of. I can’t wait for the next TEED
release to undergo the now-customary leak into every corner of pop
culture and infect our lives with TEED’s unique and euphoric dino-dance
sound.
Islington’s Indian Veg Bhelpoori House is known across the UK and in
tourist guides as the go-to place for vegetarian fans of Asian cuisine.
Inconspicuously tucked away in Chapel Market, its modest exterior belies
the internationally renowned, unforgettable restaurant within.
Indian Veg Bhelpoori House, as a vegetarian restaurant, is one of the
few restaurants in the UK with a set of ethics visitors can truly trust
in. Even in the vegetarian and vegan scene in UK cuisine, Indian Veg
Bhelpoori House is known for its militant vegetarianism – its walls are
plastered from floor to ceiling (and beyond) with vegetarian protest
posters, wall hangs, charts and placards detailing the benefits of
vegetarianism and the problems with meat-eating.
Certain critics have called this aspect of the experience ‘intrusive’
and ‘too much’. To them, I say –if being forced to confront the full
truth of the restaurant’s food policy is uncomfortable for you then you
should go back to McDonald’s where you belong.
Indian Veg is wheelchair accessible
and appropriate for all ages with a low noise level and a casual vibe
which is inviting at any time of the day or night. With an all-you-can
eat buffet available for under £5, the Indian Veg crowd varies from
students to families to the loyal regulars and locals.
Overall, Indian Veg Bhelpoori House is the most inclusive, top quality
and heartfelt food experience I have had the fortune to have in London,
the UK or indeed anywhere in the world. In direct contrast to the
high-end, exorbitantly priced restaurants which populate London and are
frequented by the cast of Made in Chelsea, Indian Veg Bhelpoori House is
a provider of excellent cuisine with a soul in the place of a price
tag.
Shadow Child has been the name on the tongues of house enthusiasts
since last year when he released his debut EP via the legendary
Dirtybird. The EP’s lead track ‘String Thing’ has been a fixture of DJ
sets the world round, being spun by the likes of Eats Everything and
Claude Vonstroke.
The UK-based house DJ and producer is Simon Neale, who has turned a
side-project into a rapidly snowballing house phenomenon – you’ll be
hard-pressed to miss the sound of Shadow Child’s seductive deep house
this summer, whether you’re tuning into the airwaves or club-hopping
around London or Ibiza.
Together returns for their third season in this extravaganza of the
world’ hottest electronic acts gathering under the roof of one of
Ibiza’s biggest clubs, Amnesia.
The Amnesia opening party will take place on June 18 and feature a
high-calibre lineup including mainman of American dubstep, Skrillex and
DnB masters Chase & Status.
Guaranteed to blow the roof off superclub Amnesia, the Together opening party is certainly one to keep in your diary.
Ibiza enthusiasts can look forward to fifteen more roadblock events from Together over the summer.
Line-up:
Main Room:
Chase & Status
Pendulum
Zombie Kids
Terrace:
Skrillex
Major Lazer
Dismantle
Pukka Up DJs
Ibizan Heat DJs
Once again Bugged Out! are bringing their dancefloor-ready brand of
electro to host club XOYO on July 6 for a long, sweaty night of
tech-house madness.
Bugged Out! Nights have featured everyone from Daft Punk, Green Velvet,
The Chemical Brothers, Miss Kittin, Ellen Allien, Tiga to Vitalic over
the years. They have also put some acclaimed compilations out by Erol
Alkan, Damian Lazarus and Miss Kittin.
Andrew Weatherall will be returning to XOYO for the first time since
the venue underwent its refurbishment and playing back to back with
Weatherall will be Daniel Avery, who Weatherall tipped for greatest in
Time Out last year. Joining them is rising East London producer Kiwi and
room 2 is hosted by Dalston disco upstarts ReviveHER. More guests are
TBA.
The third studio album by American indie band Vampire Weekend, released on the 14th, Modern Vampires of the City
appears to be their most innovative and surprising release to date.
Having abandoned their trademark African-tribe-cum-Oxford-graduate
sound, this latest outing from the foursome is experimental, original
and as urban and complex as the New York City which appears on the album
art.
Haiku Salut – Tricolore
Haiku Salut – aka Gemma, Louise and Sophie from the Derbyshire Dales -
are the latest product of London label How Does it Feel to be Loved?.
Their debut album, Tricolore, is full of the most spine-tingling instrumental music we’ve hears since Sigur Ros. For fans of Yann Tierson and early Mum.
Temples – Shelter Song
Temples are a neo-psych duo from Kettering who look like the Beatles
and make music that sounds like a cross between the Monkees and the
Beach Boys. A more modern comparison may be the Shins. In every case,
Temples’ 2012 release ‘Shelter Song’ is the soundtrack to a sunny,
trippy, messy summer.
Coves – Cast a Shadow
Coves’ vintage, psychedelic sound will appeal to fans of the Kills and Primal Scream just as much as it will to blissed-out Jefferson Airplane fans who want to live in the 60s. Cast a Shadow,
their 2012 EP, is Coves at their best, mostly due to the
Black-Lips-esque lo-fi production and the haunting, reverberating sound
of Beck Wood’s low, resounding vocals.
The popular event, which for the first time this year will take place
in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London as opposed to
its previous home in Hyde Park, will see Jay Z and Justin Timberlake make their only UK festival appearances of the summer.
Timberlake will play on Friday July 12th, along with Snoop Dogg,
Trey Songz, John Legend, Miguel and Frank Ocean. Jay Z will perform on
Saturday July 13th, along with Emeli Sande, Rita Ora, Kendrick Lamar,
Miguel, DJ Fresh and Calvin Harris.
Steve Homer from Wireless organisers Live Nation said: "Wireless
Festival has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2005,
we’re incredibly excited to take it to its new home, London’s iconic
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and are delighted to secure Justin
Timberlake and welcome back Jay Z."
Line up: Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Emeli Sande, Calvin Harris, Macklemore, Jessie Ware, A Tribe Called Quest
For more information and tickets check out their website.
Owing to the recent news of tabloid
darling Paris Hilton’s upcoming house album I’ve decided to have a
retrospective look at her DJing career thus far. It includes a stint at
the 2012 Pop Music Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a video of which I’ve kindly included below.
Her set saw an inundation of
commercial dance numbers and one particularly spectacular blunder when
she announced that the next track would be her new song with Afrojack,
‘Last Night’, and proceeded to play Rihanna whilst singing her track
over the top. Was it an attempt to cover up the mistake? Or did she not
notice that she was singing to the wrong tune? Perhaps we’ll never know. Maybe considering the extent of
Paris' DJing skills it was wise that someone else stepped in to do the
majority of mixing for her.
It has been confirmed that Paris Hilton has signed to Cash Money and will be releasing a ‘house’ album.
Birdman’s label Cash Money also includes R&B titans Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.
Hilton spoke to Showbiz411, saying: "This is a lot different than my first album, it’s really going to be house music”.
There’s no doubt we’re all wondering exactly what Hilton’s definition of ‘house music’ involves but unfortunately we’re about to find out.
Disclosure have unveiled the latest tune
to join their torrent of hits and it comes in the form of a remix by
Bicep of their most recent chart-smashing tune ‘You & Me’ (featuring
Eliza Doolittle).
The remix is on loop here in the
Guestlist office combining the house-producing genius of two of the
biggest house and garage duos to come our way this decade. South London
brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, aka Disclosure, are releasing their
debut album Settle this June.
Bicep, DJ duo from Ireland, have revamped
the tune with a pounding 4/4 beat and serious synth overtones. House
fans can rejoice in this collision of two house titans in what is sure
to be one of the biggest remixes this summer.
Jacques Greene fans have been delivered
their latest fix in the form of ‘On Your Side’, a teaser track from his
forthcoming three-track EP of the same name.
The Canadian producer has collaborated
with Chicago R&B producer How to Dress Well on the track, which
features How to Dress Well’s trademark plaintive vocals. The track is
set to be released on LuckMe on June 3.
Green played Field Day on Saturday 25 May in London’s Victoria Park.
This July 5 Tetra State are running a launch party at Southwark’s Crucifix Lane, bringing an intensive lineup of deep, techno and disco to the warehouse venue. Topping the bill will be a special guest selected from the star-studded label Hot Creations, home to house legends MK, Jamie Jones and Lee Foss.
Also adding to the no-nonsense music policy will be Him_Self_Her (Crosstown Rebels),
Tough Love (Love Not Money/Cream Couture) and resident DJ Syncretic with more acts TBA.
The rave is undoubtedly one for the straight-through crew, banging on from 10 o clock till 7 in the morning. With early bird tickets already sold out, general release is priced at a meagre £10 and limited £10 tickets will be available on the door.
I had a chat with veteran French electro artist Vitalic, aka Pascal Arbez, to discuss the inspiration behind Vitalic, kitchen appliances, his latest album and his plans for the future.
So what are you working on now, do you have any plans for a new album?
I think it’s a bit early; I just released the previous one. I’m working
on the shows, improving the shows. The last one was so recent, from
about a year ago. I’m going around doing some shows for now and I’m not
thinking about my next album yet. I’ve still got the previous album in
my mind.
You play everywhere… Where have you been this year?
I’ve been around the world. I went to Europe first, then Japan and the USA. I think my favourite places to play are Spain, and France of course.
What are you listening to right now? Any up and coming artists you think we should all know about?
I recommend Funf, good rock music.
How did you feel about people’s reaction to your last album, ‘Rave Age’, were you happy with how it was received?
At first yeah. I mean I knew that I wanted to do something different to
my last album and that I would lose some fans in the process but
overall I think the reaction was OK. I think some people didn’t
understand it.
The vocals in your last album are quite prominent, was that element something you aimed to develop in the LP?
I didn’t make any plans really – there was nothing in the plan. I just
started writing music and whatever felt natural was what went into the
LP. A lot of production went into the vocals; we used different vocoder
sounds and did a lot of recording.
I love the video for ‘Fade Away, what was the inspiration behind that?
The video wasn’t my idea; it was all down to the director, Romain
Chassaing. I love the video though I think he had great inspiration for
it and I love the storyline and the drama.
How do you describe your sound to people? Do you consider yourself an EDM or maybe an electro house artist?
I describe myself as rave-disco.
What has been your favourite album this year?
Disco stuff from Germany.
Have you listened to Random Access Memories? Opinion on that seems pretty divided –what’s your take?
I had a really quick listen through it but unfortunately I haven’t had a
chance to listen to it carefully yet. I loved the single ‘Get Lucky’
though. I was really crazy about it when it was released. I want to
really take the time to listen to it.
Who are your all-time favourite artists?
Giorgio Moroder is my favourite artist overall.
I once read that ‘Vitalic’ is a Russian first name? What’s your connection to Russia?
It is a Russian first name. When I was a student I learnt Russian as a
language and I started to travel in Russia and Ukraine when I was 16. I
used to go to these countries for holidays; I found it was really exotic
and really different to my own culture, where people are living in
poverty. I find it a very inspiring culture.
If you were stranded on a desert island and could choose only 3 items to bring with you, what would they be? Phones not allowed.
I’d bring a computer to make music at least, my Polaroid camera and…my Kenwood.
You can listen to music from Vitalic's last album and DJ sets here.
On Saturday 6 July Vauxhall’s Fire will
be hosting some of the hottest names in house for FunkinYou’s next event
at this 9 and a 1/2 hour party hotly tipped to blow up your weekend.#
FunkinYou held their last event at Koko
in Camden and have stepped their party up a notch by moving it to this
techno/D&B fortress.
Running all night till 7.30am the bash
sees headliner Tube & Berger dominate room 1 after being warmed up
by sets by heavyweight DJs Hot Since 82 and Finnebassen, two acts who
have practically become household names in the last year.
Fire’s F1 sound system and dark, sweaty
environment will be sure to encourage the messiness set to ensue across
its 3 rooms. Tickets are priced at £10 first release, £15 second and £20
third.
With Radio 1 legend Annie Mac citing Settle as the album she can’t turn off, Disclosure’s debut is already the roaring success that well-established house producers have spent years trying to create.
Disclosure, aka South London brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, compared
Settle to Daft Punk’s music ‘in the sense that it's a vocal album’.
Howard said: ‘There aren't many dance albums with full vocals. We don't
really know why. You need the vocals to capture your tune and lift it
now and again’.
Released yesterday, the album features the singles
which smashed the charts this year – ‘Latch’, a collaboration with Sam
Smith, 'White Noise' featuring Aluna Francis of Alunageorge and 'You
& Me' featuring Eliza Doolittle.
Settle also sees the boys collaborating with labelmate Jessie
Ware again on ‘Confess To Me’. Ware first worked with Disclosure when
they remixed her single 'Running' in 2012. Jamie Woon, London Grammar
and newcomers Ed Mac and Sasha Keable also feature.
The album’s tracklisting is as follows:
1. 'Intro' 2. 'When A Fire Starts To Burn' 3. 'Latch' (feat. Sam Smith) 4. 'F For You' 5. 'White Noise' (feat. AlunaGeorge) 6. 'Defeated No More' (feat. Ed Mac) 7. 'Voices' (feat. Sasha Keable) 8. 'Second Chance' 9. 'You & Me' (feat. Eliza Doolittle) 10. 'January' (feat. Jamie Woon) 11. 'Confess To Me' (feat. Jessie Ware) 12. 'Help Me Lose My Mind' (feat. London Grammar)
Disclosure have also announced details of a UK tour set to take place this November.
They will play:
Bristol, O2 Academy (November 16)
Leeds O2 Academy (18)
Newcastle O2 Academy (19)
Sheffield O2 Academy (23)
Nottingham Rock City (24)
Brighton The Dome (25)
Birmingham O2 Academy (27)
London O2 Academy Brixton (28)
Watch the music video for Disclosure and Eliza Doolittle's 'You & Me' below:
Infamously potty-mouthed ex-Oasis member Liam Gallagher has turned his
acerbic wit on Daft Punk’s latest single ‘Get Lucky’, claiming "I'd
write that in a fucking hour. I don't know what the fuss is about, you
know what I mean?"
The Beady Eye frontman spoke to the Sun, shooting down Daft Punk’s
four-week number 1 smash hit. He also claimed to have a problem with the
duo’s robot costumes: "I am not going to have people wear disguises.
Take your fucking helmet off. Let's see what you look like sans helmet,
whatever you're called.”
Gold Panda peddles in the kind of genre-defying electronic music which
has critics wracking their brains for a way to categorise it. It
arguably fits best into the post-dubstep label which artists like Mount
Kimbie helped expand and define but is just as linked to indie, techno,
chill and glitch.
The London born DJ and producer’s originality is mainly due to the
Eastern element of his work. From his DJ moniker right down to the
samples in tracks and the history of Gold Panda’s development, the
artist has a uniquely oriental vibe and sound.
Derwin ‘Gold Panda’ Panda (his given but presumably fake surname) grew
up in and around London but studied at London’s SOAS – the School of
Oriental and African Studies for the non-Londoners among us – and went
on to live in Japan. His fascination with the Far East and Asia
permeates his album art and music, especially in tracks such as ‘Same
Dream China’ and ‘India Lately’.
I love the minimalist, chillwave sound that accompanies the oriental twangs and cymbals present throughout Lucky Shiner, Panda’s debut album and his latest one – Half of Where You Live.
Not only are both LPs intellectual delicacies, referencing IDM
throughout, they are as danceable as any club-oriented release we’ve
heard this year.
This choice picking from Half of Where You Live is blissed out dancefloor magic.
On Saturday 29 June 2013, High Definition Festival will take place at
Forest Farm, Ilford, Essex.
This year’s festival will build on the
success of the past two years, which have established High Definition as
a destination for acts and fans alike, bringing some of the biggest
names in dance music together for a spectacular all-day event in East
London.
High Definition will be a huge party for lovers of dance-music, its
eclectic lineup ranging from house and techno to dubstep and drum and
bass. Its acts will include massive names such as Maya Jane Coles, whose
2010 hit ‘What They Say’ secure her name as one of the leading ladies
of house music. Labrinth is headlining the main stage, his set
guaranteed to finish the night with a bang.
Line Up: Labrinth, Katy B, Ms Dynamite, Shy FX, Joker,
Maya Jane Coles, Lee Foss, Hot Since 82, Eats Everything, Bicep, Gorgon
City, General Levy
For more information and tickets check out their website.
Simon Green (also known as Bonobo) released his fifth album on May 21
and it has been the soundtrack to our summer, we're sure its influence
will continue to echo throughout the UK. The album is a noticeable
departure from Green’s fourth release Black Sands but without any shocking changes of direction – the transition feels smooth and will please both old and new fans of Bonobo.
North Borders’ production is ever so slightly slicker than
we’ve seen before in Bonobo, with sparkling synths resounding away in
the background of some of the warmest sounding house released this year.
High profile guest musician Erykah Badu provides the best collaboration
on the album in ‘Heaven for the Sinner’, Badu’s timeless vocals the
perfect accompaniment to Bonobo’s cavernous and soulful sound.
At times recalling James Blake and Four Tet the album encapsulates the
depth and elegance of the post-dubstep, post-dancefloor sound which has
emerged out of electronic music in the past few years. It may be
described as safe by some, and by others perhaps compared to more
experimental efforts such as Mount Kimbie’s Cold Spring Faultless Youth. However North Borders
is described well by its album art – a mysterious and beautiful place
resounding with gentle beats and a charm that lies in their slow-moving
subtlety.
Taking place over the 26 and 27 July, there’s a reason Global Gathering
was named Best Dance Event at the UK Festival Awards 2012 – it always
has incredible dance line-ups. Global Gathering has long since
established itself as the UK's most cutting edge and forward thinking
electronic music festival brand.
In 2012 the likes of Tinie Tempah, Skrillex, Knife Party, Magnetic Man,
Afrojack and Annie Mac got the place jumping. This year the lineup is
populated with dance megastars Example, Katy B, Annie Mac and Netsky.
More than any other electronic music festival Global Gathering combines
awe-inspiring music with a super honed and slick production operation,
bringing experience and innovations from the international festival
circuit to the UK, for a truly unique festival experience every year.
Line Up: Plan B, Disclosure, Rudimental, Major Look, Example, Katy B, Annie Mac and Netsky. More TBA.
For more information and tickets check out their website
Marc ‘MK’ Kinchen made a name for himself as the producer and DJ behind
the hit singles ‘Always’ and ‘Love Changes’ in 1993 and 1994. He then
went on to record the underground club classic ‘Burning’. In 2002,
Kinchen became the in-house producer for the actor and singer Will
Smith, as well as producing for the rest of the Smith family - Willow
and Jaden.
As one of the leading house producers of his generation, MK’s mixes can
be heard in almost every corner of the global house scene and beyond –
even superficial listeners whose furthest knowledge of house is the UK
top 40 will recognize his work.
The American house producer is responsible for the iconic remix of
Nightcrawler’s ‘Push the Feeling On’ which is known to most as the basis
of Pitbull's international hit record, ‘Hotel Room’. This is the tip of
the iceberg – MK has remixed and been sampled by artists as diverse as
Lana Del Ray, Dev, Enrique Iglesias, Ellie Goulding, Crosstown Rebels,
Jamie Jones, Lee Foss and Tricky.
MK’s legacy continues to grow - he’ll be taking over the Ibiza
superclubs this summer and you can be sure to catch his classic house
sound – wherever you are - spun out at any half-decent club near you.
As the third Ritual event to grace the dancefloor of state-of-the-art
West London venue Under the Bridge, this party upped its game once again
to bring together a lineup of some of the hottest names in UK
electronic music, featuring X-Press 2, Hot Since 82, Prins Thomas, Lumi
and Balou & JDP.
Since Ritual London’s residency began at Chelsea’s Under the Bridge in
February it has been a beacon of quality underground nightlife in a
usually mainstream area renowned for its glamorous crowd and
style-over-substance events. Ritual’s genre-bending music policy spans a
wide scope of electronic music whilst keeping a sharp focus on both the
cutting-edge and the well-established side of EDM talent, resulting in
an East London-style party on the west side of town.
The swanky, 500 capacity club is relatively new and located underneath
Chelsea Football Club's stadium, featuring high-end sound and a large
LED screen behind the stage for visuals. The club’s superior sound and
visuals were impossible to ignore throughout the night with the unique
LED screen providing an impressive backdrop to the stage and elevating
the clubbing experience to near-festival proportions in terms of
overwhelming, intricate staging.
Topping the lineup for the night, Ritual saw legendary dance music
duo X-Press 2 take to the decks. The club culture royalty and house
music pioneers proved that they remain as popular and influential today
as they were in the 90s, when they first broke the scene, during their
euphoric, headlining set. Norwegian ‘space-disco’ DJ and record producer Prins
Thomas also appeared on the bill, a purveyor of hypnotic, blissed-out
beats, with Balou & JDP and live electronic act Lumi on warm-up
duty, spinning their signature pounding, techno sound earlier on in the
night.
Widely regarded as one of the hottest figures in the UK dance scene
right now, Hot Since 82 brought his infectious, dancefloor-smashing
brand of deep house to the lineup. The Leeds-based DJ and producer was
at the top of his game, dropping banger after banger, with the night
reaching an apex of house-induced frenzy at ‘Leave Me’, the recent Moda
Black single featuring Habischman.
Ritual at Under the Bridge looks set to become a mainstay of the UK
dance scene, having proven itself to be a truly unique and exciting
clubbing experience.
