Left to right: Pangaea,
Ben UFO, Pearson Sound
030 djmag.com
Hessle Audio, the label run by Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea, has just reached its 10th anniversary
milestone. Initially bonding over the infinite possibilities of the embryonic dubstep scene in the midnoughties, the trio soon set off on their own tangents. Launching Hessle Audio together in 2007, their
outsider take on club music has helped reshape the scene during its various twists and turns over the past
decade. The three have very distinct musical identities, yet when they come together as A&Rs or as DJs
something very special happens. As the threesome embark on a tour to mark the label’s 10th birthday, DJ
Mag meets them in South London...
Words: BEN MURPHY Pics: CARSTEN WINDHORST
here’s a lot of people
pushing old drum machines
or reissuing drum machines
now,” says Kevin McAuley,
aka Pangaea, one-third of
the pioneering Hessle
Audio crew. “It feels like
things are being marketed towards making classic
sounds. There’s nostalgia everywhere, ’cause it’s
comforting for people. But dance music should be
forward-thinking.”
Hessle Audio has always looked to the future. This
label, set up by Pangaea, Pearson Sound (David
Kennedy) and Ben UFO (Ben Thomson) has remained
at the vanguard from its very first release 10 years
ago.
While some electronic producers, with their
fetishizing of analogue gear and old school
authenticity, are stuck in a vintage vacuum, Hessle
Audio’s three pioneers — and the artists they’ve
released on their label — have consistently pushed
boundaries. Operating on the fringes of genre,
they’ve changed the course of underground dance
music more than once, indicating new pathways for
dubstep, house, techno and beyond.
In 2017, they’re celebrating a decade of operation
with a big European and US tour. The tour has them
playing back-to-back-to-back all night and represents
a consolidation of the trio’s powers. They’ve become
a main draw without once compromising their
independence or fearless musical aesthetic.
Ben UFO has earned a reputation up there with
the best underground DJs in the world. With no
compulsion to produce tracks (a rarity in today’s
scene), his daring sets travel from grime to techno
to house, indefinable bass music and myriad
experimental oddities besides, all transmuted and
linked together with a unique dancefloor attitude.
Pangaea’s psychotropic productions have been
melting minds since 2007. Atmospheric in the
extreme, spacious and strange, each of his tracks
comes loaded with bass weight. A 2014 Fabric
mix showcased his formidable DJing chops,
while last year’s techno-heavy ‘In Drum Play’ (on
Hessle) demonstrated a remarkable merging of
experimentalism with club nous.
Pearson Sound’s productions are always eagerly
awaited. Foxing expectations with each release, he’s
as comfortable making garage-loaded house (‘Your
Words Matter’, with Midland, released on Aus) as he
is cone-rattling IDM strangeness (‘Gristle’, from his
2015 ‘Pearson Sound’ album) or sinister, cinematic
techno (club hit ‘Thaw Cycle’, on his own Pearson
Sound label).
Though each of the three has their own areas of
musical interest, it’s the convergence of their ideas,
and a belief in pushing forward, that defines Hessle
Audio and makes them stand out.
CHIPPER
DJ Mag meets them one sunny spring morning in
south-east London, near where Ben UFO lives now.
After weekend gigs, they’re remarkably chipper.
Ben tells us about some grime record collections
he bought recently nearby, and we stroll to a quiet
café for the interview. Each of them talks with great
conviction and a natural camaraderie. They speak
frankly on all subjects, from their recollections of how
they started out in dance music, to how they perceive
their label now.
“Our whole thing has been about trying to look
forward, to release new music by new producers, so
we don’t want it to feel too heritage, or too much
like a victory lap,” says Ben of the 10-year milestone.
“We’re releasing stuff and want to have an active year,
that seems like the best way to celebrate it.”
“We’re trying not to turn it into too much of a
heritage thing. Like, 10 years and now it’s all
downhill!” jokes David.
Ever since the label’s start in 2007, Hessle Audio has
been an outlet for cutting-edge electronic beats and
bass. It’s become a go-to, buy-on-sight imprint for
DJs. With each release, a delicate balance between
experimentalism and club heft is struck. Records
that have stood out for their otherness, from TRG’s
techy, smudged garage track ‘Broken Heart’ to
Untold’s weird, sinuous grime cut ‘Anaconda’ via
the percussive what-do-you-call-it beats of Joe’s
‘Claptrap’, have also proven to be invaluable weapons
in any serious DJ’s arsenal, across all genres.
“What we sign has to be something that works in
clubs,” says Kevin. “There’s a lot of music out there
that is headphone music, or interesting electronic
music, I’m certainly feeling that at the moment.
But the first thing I’m listening for is, ‘Will I be able
to use this in a club?’ It doesn’t necessarily have
to be something that is an obvious club tune, but
say Bandshell’s record, ‘Dust March’, for me is such
an amazing track to play in a club, it just sounds
incredible.”
“Joe is definitely on the fringe,” says Ben. “‘Claptrap’,
at the time [it was released in 2010], sounded totally
mad, and completely his own. But at the same time,
everyone played it. People in dubstep and grime
played it, people in the house world played it, pitched
right down. It’s the track we’ve released that’s been
played in the most different contexts, but at the same
time it’s one of the weirdest. That’s the dream, we’ll
be lucky if we find another record like that.”
In the last 10 years, Hessle Audio has released many
early records by future stars, the most notable of
whom, James Blake, now makes quite different
productions for US pop and hip-hop champs
Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. Singles by Blawan,
Objekt and the aforementioned Untold have shone
alongside Pangaea and Pearson Sound’s (formerly
Ramadanman) own releases, and all this has been
achieved without outside interference or troubled by
profit margins.
“We never took that step of employing anyone else,”
Ben says. “We never had anyone to come in and help
with anything, let alone employ a label manager
or anything like that. The only people we’ve had
to satisfy are ourselves. We’re living primarily from
DJing, so we’ve never had to rush ourselves or put
anything out we’re unsure about. We can look back on
the last 10 years and feel really intimately connected
to everything we’ve released.”
DRUM & BASS
Ben, David and Kevin formulated the idea for Hessle
Audio while studying at Leeds University. The first
two, originally from London, bonded with Kevin,
originally from a village near Swindon in the southwest of England, over an appreciation for drum & bass
DJ Bailey’s 1Xtra radio show. Each of them, though,
had quite a different musical background.
Ben’s dance music beginnings were at the deep
end of d&b, which he’d hear at club-nights in a now
defunct London venue. “I was buying drum & bass,
that was when I learnt to mix,” he says. “There were
these little parties going on in East London at a
venue called Herbal, put on by the labels Bassbin and
djmag.com 031
Inperspective. They were Wednesday night parties.
People were interested in dubstep there, too. There
were all these producers like Amit that you used
to see down at the early DMZs as well, so there
was a bit of an overlap. I think that was a general
pattern, where there was a dissatisfaction with the
wider drum & bass scene, and a desire to try to find
something else.”
Kevin, conversely, got into dance music the way
many teenagers first experience it. “I was buying
trance and hard house,” he says. “It was stuff from
HMV. These were, like, £3.99 singles on labels like
Tidy Trax. It was just what I had access to.”
David says of his own route into dance music, “I
was making some grime-style instrumentals and
posting them online, and I seem to remember
someone saying, ‘This isn’t really grime, it sounds
like dubstep’. This must have been late 2005. I was
like, ‘What’s this dubstep thing?’ It was about the
time that there was all this hype that Mary Anne
Hobbs was gonna broadcast a new show in January
2006 [Dubstep Warz on BBC Radio 1]. I listened
to that and got fully stuck in, really. I heard about
dubstep just at the right time, before it got this
exposure. Before grime, I was listening to drum
& bass, some of the more commercial stuff like
Pendulum, and a lot of house and deep house. It
wasn’t until I got into dubstep that I became really
single-minded about one genre.”
Dubstep was the genre that brought the three
together. They became obsessed with its
possibilities, its lack of musical boundaries, and
welcoming though small scene. “It was totally fresh
to me,” Kevin recalls. “Very new and very exciting.
It felt like you could be a part of it in ways you might
find it hard to with other genres. I was producing
bits and bobs before, but it was when this came
along that it felt it was speaking to me. It felt
innovative.”
Pangaea and Pearson Sound were producing
tracks, and all three began doing their own radio
show playing dubstep tracks on respected internet
032 djmag.com
station Sub FM. “Kev and Dave could write a record,
send it round to people who were the biggest DJs
and producers in the scene at the time, and you’d
almost always get a response,” Ben says. “They’d
probably hear it.”
It was the internet, all agree, that had a significant
role to play in the growth of dubstep and its rapid
evolution. “It was a perfect storm, the first scene
to break through the internet,” David says. “Grime
was earlier in that respect and did have some stuff
going on on the web, but it wasn’t until dubstep
came about that the wave of the internet suddenly
became massive. It was maybe the last scene to
exist between those two worlds.”
DUBSTEP
Despite their early involvement in dubstep, the
Hessle Audio three existed outside the inner
sanctum. Having arrived on the scene after it
was becoming established, and with their diverse
influences, they found themselves drawn to tracks
that didn’t necessarily fit the dubstep template of
the time. Inundated with high-quality demos of
stranger stuff that strayed from the norm, they
played those too amidst more traditional material
on their Sub FM show.
“We always wanted to contribute to scenes, to be
part of things,” Ben says. “We wanted to contribute
to dubstep and help shape that music, but because
we weren’t part of that first wave, we were coming
at it from a slightly different angle.”
These different kinds of tracks they’d play on Sub
FM would be the catalyst for starting the label.
“We were getting sent loads of music, stuff like TRG
which sounded very different to what was being
released at the time,” David says. “I thought, ‘This
music doesn’t have a home, we’re being sent it,
unreleased as demos’...
“At the time we started the label, that half-step,
dubstep rhythm was super-dominant. Older garage
roots weren’t being played out or released, so when
TRG came with these retro two-step tracks, updated,
it felt like a good way to make an entrance. Like,
‘OK, this is something unusual and interesting-
sounding, compared to what was prevalent at the
time in the scene’.”
After the first TRG release, ‘Put You Down’, releases
from Pangaea, Untold and Ramadanman (Pearson
Sound) quickly followed. Inspired by the DiY
ethos of Mala’s Digital Mystikz (DMZ) label, Hessle
Audio quickly established its own independent
aesthetic. Some would tag these records, which
incorporated everything from hazy dub techno to
two-step garage, as post-dubstep, but the label
quickly moved on, resisting tags, putting out weird,
wonderful tracks such as Joe’s mechanistic body
slammer ‘Maximum Busy Muscle’, the psychedelic
broken electro of Objekt’s ‘Porcupine’ or the vivid,
colour wheel bleeps of Bruce’s ‘Not Stochastic’. A
greater appreciation for techno is evident in Hessle
Audio’s most recent releases, though certain core
characteristics — heavy bass, hypnotic, unusual
synth sounds and an emphasis on functional
rhythms, however skeletal — tend to define the
label’s output.
Ultimately, the tracks must meet with the approval
of the varied tastes of the three label owners.
“We don’t tend to A&R too heavily, most of the
time people are coming to us with something fully
formed already,” Ben says. “With the Bruce one,
‘Not Stochastic’, that was in the first pack he sent
us. We signed it ’cause I played it on the radio [on
the Rinse FM Hessle Audio show], and Kev happened
to have Rinse on in the kitchen. He sent me a text
saying, ‘What the fuck’s this?’”
BASS-HEAVY
Ben points out that tracks signed to the label
must be functional, but not in a pejorative sense.
“In house and techno, when people talk about
functional club music, it almost has negative
connotations, as though that music has to be
straight or fit narrow parameters, but I think
dubstep shaped the way we think about functional
club music a lot more, ’cause it was music rooted in
soundsystem culture. So it was interesting, brave
music, but it was music primarily to be listened to
incredibly loud. Function to us means something a
bit warmer and a bit nicer.”
Just as Hessle Audio is now known for its
unpredictable — but always thrilling — tangents,
so Ben’s DJ sets mirror the label, challenging clubgoers to keep up with his rhythmic diversions across
styles, and sometimes into abstract territory. “It’s
quite interesting trying to test the limits of what’s
club-appropriate, finding what that line is,” he says.
As part of their on-going tour this year, Hessle
Audio have already played some unusual venues
they’ve not visited before, like Bassiani in Tbilisi,
Georgia (“It was astonishing, such a good venue,”
David says), and are looking forward to playing
Concrete in Paris, Robert Johnson in Offenbach,
Germany, and a festival in Japan called Rainbow
Disco Club. Part of their intention with the tour is to
mix up the kinds of venues they’ll be playing. “We
started the tour in Ramsgate Music Hall, a small
venue which is basically a dark room with a really
good soundsystem. Switching things up. It wouldn’t
be that interesting if we did a regular run of the
usual suspects. It’s the balance of the two that is
important.”
They’ll be tailoring their sets to each venue. While
Tbilisi was primarily techno, other clubs will get a
more bass-heavy approach. “All our interests are
so different, there’s so much variety, that it’s quite
apt to be playing quite a lot of different venues
and different sizes of clubs,” Kevin says. “It’s kind
of what the label’s about. We can play a big techno
club for nine hours straight or we can play Ramsgate
on a Thursday, or on a big reggae soundsystem.”
“The gig that we were going to be doing at the West
India Centre is now at a venue called Freedom Hills
in Leeds,” Ben says. “That’s playing for promoter
Simon Scott, who has been a supporter of ours for
more than 10 years. That’s on the Iration Steppas
soundsystem, I’ve not played on there before, but
it was the sound used for a lot of the early dubstep
parties up in Leeds that we were all at, so the focus
there will be a bit different.
“At some of these shows we’re booking the younger
guys as well and wanting to bring people out and
about with us,” he continues. “It felt like such a big
deal to be playing on the Iration system and I knew
it would be a big deal for some other people too, so
we invited Bruce and Beneath to play. It’s a nice way
to shape what we’re doing.”
The shows are an opportunity for each of the DJs to
explore and combine their personal tastes across
eight- or nine-hour sets, using a mixture of CDJs
and, if the club has a decent set-up, vinyl.
“The best thing about us doing it with the three of
us,” Ben says, “is someone will play something that
sends us off on a tangent, and it helps keep the
whole thing moving. If we were doing those shows
and those venues solo, perhaps it would be a bit
more one-directional, but it’s nice that everything
is in flux when we play together. You don’t know
what’s going to happen next, it’s nice.”
“Eight or nine hours is a long time, so it’s good to
have a rest, go out and see what’s happening in the
crowd,” David says.
TECHNO
The tangential tastes of Ben, Kevin and David, as
often as they converge, have taken them in some
novel directions recently. Pangaea’s excellent
album ‘In Drum Play’, despite occasional nods to
galactic grime and breakbeats, affirmed his drift
towards techno. Like recent releases on his own
HADAL label, ‘In Drum Play’ simmers with inventive
four-four techno tracks. The juddering, metallic
‘Rotor Soap’ sounds like a factory in overdrive, while
the sinuous, double-jointed ‘More Is More To Burn’
pivots on a balletic, entrancing synth figure and
rough kicks.
“What’s the move to techno inspired by?” Kevin
grins conspiratorially. “Dancing in clubs for a long
period of time. It’s like what I was saying before
about hard house and trance, it’s always been in
me, I loved that stuff at 14 or 15, it was so good. It’s
been a thread in my music, even if it’s been spacedout dubstep from the early days. At some point it
came that I was going out more to techno clubs,
Berghain and places like that. I identified more with
that side of music for whatever reason. What I make
djmag.com 033
is always a bit skewed anyway, but I’m thinking more
along those lines.
“There came a point when I was playing more techno,
but I wanted to make stuff I could play in techno sets
as well. It felt very natural to me,” he continues. “The
last few years have been a transition of me trying to
find my way or what I wanted to do, and what I’m
doing now feels like I’m within this Hessle sphere. It’s
related to that, but it’s on my own terms.”
world.
“I feel more pressure just to be a good DJ. Especially
now,” he says. “When I came through, the default
tag-line for the journalist was, ‘This is the guy who
does this thing without having any tunes’, and I guess
people just take that for granted now. But I think
it just led to me taking the focus completely away
from any of that stuff and being as good a DJ as I can
possibly be.”
David, conversely, stepped away from pure club fare
with the release of his debut ‘Pearson Sound’ album
in 2015. Though it featured several dancefloorfocused tracks, it also had downtempo gems like
the atmospheric electronics of ‘Six Congas’ and the
fractured beats of ‘Swill’. This shift towards IDM,
David says, happened intuitively. “I feel like I’ve
always made whatever I wanted,” he tells DJ Mag. “In
2010, say the house tracks I made with Midland or
Appleblim, they might have been unexpected at the
time. I’ve always felt like I don’t have to sit down and
write a dubstep track. “When it came to the album, it
was quite nice how that came about in terms of being
focused on a particular mood or style,” he continues.
“It came together very naturally, which hadn’t really
happened before in terms of wanting to do a bigger
piece of work like that.”
For those thinking he’d abandoned making dance
beats, David quickly countered with bona fide
bangers ‘Thaw Cycle/Freeze Cycle’ and ‘XLB’, two
singles that combined the avant-garde with a
razor-sharp dancefloor sensibility. “The album was
definitely more on the heads-down side of things,
which I guess is partly why since then I’ve released
a few more dancefloor tracks, ‘Thaw Cycle’, ‘XLB’. I
didn’t want to go fully down the self-indulgent IDM
route. I needed to get it out of my system.”
FRINGES
Ben’s focus remains on DJing. Rather than feel
forced to make tracks of his own, he says he must
stay one step ahead in his chosen profession. Proof
of his dedication can be found on his mixes for Fabric
and Rinse — and at his very frequent gigs around the
It’s Hessle Audio’s resistance to conformity, and their
celebration of difference, that really sets them apart.
Coming at dance music from the fringes, the Hessle
Audio crew have gained an advantage, and have
reshaped club culture to their own ends.
“Coming to music as a bit of an outsider is a common
thread [for us],” Ben says. “It’s like coming into
techno as something that was big and established,
for me anyway. Not really knowing very much about
it. Just buying records that I was coming across and
enjoying them, wanting to DJ them. It’s kind of
wicked, you end up making decisions that people that
know that music better wouldn’t come to. It might be
counter-intuitive to people completely immersed in
that music.”
Coming up on Hessle Audio, there’s an incredible new
EP by Bristol’s Batu (who runs the Timedance label)
— lurching from the futuristic sound design, bass and
ambience of ‘Don’t’ to the next-gen Sheffield bleep
of ‘Off Court’. There are also further releases in the
works, but the trio are reluctant to talk about them
just yet. Their game-plan for now is to keep doing
what they’ve always done: looking to the future.
“The ideal is we’ll carry on finding music that doesn’t
make sense anywhere else,” Ben concludes. Amen
to that.
A decade of essential
tunes
TRG ‘Broken Heart’ 2007
On the flipside of the track that
launched the label, ‘Put You Down’,
was this essential cut. When it first
dropped, with its dub-tech clangs,
dislocated two-step beats and lethal
subs, there was nothing else like it.
Pangaea ‘Router’ 2008
With its haunting, mournful vocal
sample (“This is how I feel”), minor
chord stabs, and scuttling garage
beats, ‘Router’ still stands out a mile.
Untold ‘Anaconda’ 2009
A hybrid of grime, dubstep and
skeletal rhythms, the blips, warping
bass and spring-loaded energy of
this oddity made it as deadly as
its namesake, ensuring the track
crossed over into the sets of the most
adventurous techno DJs too.
Ramadanman ‘A Couple More
Years’ 2010
On a diverse EP of next-gen
dancefloor cuts (the ‘Ramadanman’
EP), ‘A Couple More Years’ was the
highlight: a thrilling collision of stopstart breakbeats and grime bass.
Peverelist ‘Dance Till The
Police Come’ 2011
From another forward-thinking
producer originally associated with
dubstep, came this synth-led, ravey
broken techno beast. Invention and
club gold rolled into one.
Objekt ‘Porcupine’ 2012
He’s a key player in today’s
underground dance scene but back in
2012 Objekt was a fairly new name.
‘Porcupine’, with its skittering electro
beats and grand, spacious chords,
broke the mould.
Pev & Kowton ‘Raw Code’ 2013
A stripped-down, dubbed-out, broken
techno missive from two of the best in
business.
Bruce ‘Not Stochastic’ 2014
Like Brion Gysin’s trip-inducing,
stroboscopic Dream Machine on wax,
this swirling piece of electronics
was a key weapon in Hessle Audio’s
armoury.
Pearson Sound ‘Six Congas’
2015
Engrossing IDM from David Kennedy,
stepping away briefly from his
dancefloor material.
Pangaea ‘Lofty Can’ 2016
From the ‘In Drum Play’ album came
this killer percussive piece, cutting up
familiar breakbeats in alien ways.
034 djmag.com
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#
IN THE WORLD
The award-winning nightspot - Zouk Club KL, the capital of the city’s electronic dance music scene is lavishly outfitted
with state of the art lighting and sound equipment. Zouk Club KL is the only standalone nightspot in Malaysia endorsed
by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture as a venue under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA).
The superclub is ranked No.21 in the world on DJ Mag’s Top 100 Clubs list, and its most exclusive venue Imperial was
the first in Malaysia to be inducted into The World’s Finest Clubs, adding yet another trophy to its glittering shelf of
awards. This augurs superbly for the bigger, bolder Zouk Club KL that would yet again usher-in a game-changing era.
WELCOME
TO CLUBLAND - ZOUK CLUB KL
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UNION JACKIN’
With the festival phenomenon showing no
signs of slowing down, there’s something
on offer for everyone in the UK this
season...
SHINDIG WEEKENDER
SOMERSET’S boutique bonanza returns for
another year of funky vibes and family-friendly
fun. Don’t forget to check out DJ Mag’s disco and
house takeover, with Todd Terry, Greg Wilson and
our very own editorial double-act, Carl Loben and
Adam Saville!
Festival season is here once
again, so our crack team of
writers have been chained to
their keyboards to make sure
you don’t miss a thing. Over
the following pages you’ll
find listings for all the best
fests across the world. We’ll
reveal the No.1 festival in the
world, as voted for by you!
And we catch up with the team
behind Southport Weekender
as they celebrate 30 years of
top-notch parties. So grab
your sunnies and glitter (and
your wellies just in case),
and prepare for the most
wonderful time of the year...
Words: BEN HINDLE, ADAM SAVILLE, HELENE STOKES,
DAVE JENKINS, MARTIN GUTTRIDGE-HEWITT
Pics: ALEX RAWSON, JEREMY DEPUTAT, JAKE DAVIS,
BORKEBERLIN PHOTOGRAPHY, JOHN STAPELS, DINO
NINKOVIC, DAN MEDHURST, ROSSUMEDIA, MATT EACHUS,
LAHCEN MELLAL
WHEN? 26th - 28th May
WHERE? Gilcombe Farm, Somerset
PRICE? £99 - £155
HIGHLIGHTS: Dub Pistols, The Sugarhill Gang,
Slipmatt, Shades Of Rhythm, Fabio & Grooverider,
DJ Marky, LTJ Bukem, Todd Terry, Greg Wilson
shindig-events.co.uk
WE ARE FSTVL
ONE of the season’s earliest doses of big name
bookings, We Are FSTVL returns to Upminster to
celebrate five years at the top of the UK festival
game.
WHEN? 26th - 28th May
WHERE? Upminster, Greater London
PRICE? £67.50 - £189.50
HIGHLIGHTS: Carl Cox, Maya Jane Coles, Dizzee
Rascal, Basement Jaxx, Dixon, KiNK, Ricardo
Villalobos, Hannah Wants, Sven Väth
wearefstvl.com
COMMON PEOPLE
ROB Da Bank’s OTHER festival — or festivals, we
should say — brings top talent from across the
musical spectrum, plus tasty treats and oodles of
fun to Oxford and Southampton.
WHEN? 27th - 28th May
WHERE? Southampton Common, Southampton/
South Park, Oxford
PRICE? £33+
HIGHLIGHTS: Goldie, Midland, Moxie, Joy O,
Kornél Kovács, Or:la, Novelist, Redlight, My Nu
Leng
commonpeople.net
LOVE SAVES THE DAY
BRISTOL has long been a hub for forwardthinking UK dance music and soundsystem
culture, and nowhere is that clearer than the
Love Saves The Day line-up. There’s plenty of top
international talent too, but, for us, this is all
about the local heroes!
WHEN? 27th - 28th May
WHERE? Eastville Park, Bristol
PRICE? £39.50 - £95
HIGHLIGHTS: Ricardo Villalobos, Bicep,
Sherwood & Pinch, Craig Richards, Peverelist &
Hodge, Fatima Yamaha, Move D, BadBadNotGood
lovesavestheday.org
RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL
IT’S no secret that Glaswegians love techno,
which is exactly why Riverside Festival boasts
some of the best acts the genre has to offer (and
a healthy helping of top house acts too).
WHEN? 27th - 28th May
WHERE? Riverside Museum, Glasgow
PRICE? £45 - £80
HIGHLIGHTS: Slam, Scuba b2b George
FitzGerald, Detroit Swindle, Nina Kraviz, DJ Koze,
Paula Temple, Jackmaster, Alan Fitzpatrick,
Surgeon (live modular set)
riversidefestivalglasgow.com
djmag.com 037
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
PARKLIFE
NOW pulling in around 75,000 revellers each day,
Manchester’s Parklife has become nothing short
of epic since setting up shop in 2010, and with
consistently impressive line-ups, shows no sign
of stopping.
WHEN? 10th - 11th June
WHERE? Heaton Park, Manchester
PRICE? £59.50 - £119
HIGHLIGHTS: A Tribe Called Quest, Flying Lotus,
Midland, Seth Troxler, The Martinez Brothers,
Wiley, Sampha, Moodymann, The Black Madonna
parklife.uk.com
STRAWBERRIES AND CREEM FESTIVAL
PROOF of what you can do with love of music and
a spot of elbow grease, S&C’s team of passionate,
young promoters bring the best of London’s
thriving grime scene to the quaint, university city
of Cambridge.
We Are FSTVL
AVA FESTIVAL
NORTHERN Ireland’s Audio Visual Arts Festival
and Conference returns to present shows and
talks, with a selection of the finest acts dance
music has to offer.
WHEN? 2nd - 3rd June
WHERE? T13, Belfast
PRICE? £35 - £60
HIGHLIGHTS: Rebekah (hybrid set), Fatima
Yamaha (live), Jeff Mills & Guillaume Marmin
(Close Encounters Of The Fourth Kind collab), Ben
UFO, Bicep, Job Jobse, Denis Sulta, Ejeca
avafestival.com
FIELD DAY
NOW in its 11th year, Field Day is packing serious
heat — like, seriously. With a focus on forwardthinking hip-hop and electronic music, the bill
isn’t just one of the best in London this year, but
the whole of the UK.
WHEN? 3rd June
WHERE? Victoria Park, London
PRICE? £64.50
HIGHLIGHTS: Aphex Twin, ABRA, Flying Lotus,
Death Grips, Fatima Yamaha (live), Nina Kraviz, S
U R V I V E, Overmono, Nicolas Jaar, Lady Leshurr
name techno acts under the M4 motorway for a
good ol’ fashioned, thumping knees-up — see
you at the front!
WHEN? 10th June
WHERE? Boston Manor Park, London
PRICE? £49.50
HIGHLIGHTS: Ben Klock, Adam Beyer, Ida
Engberg, Recondite (live), DJ Tennis, DJ Koze,
Daniel Avery, Planetary Assault Systems (live)
junction2.london
SOUTHPORT WEEKENDER
THE legendary Southport Weekender makes a
grand return after saying goodbye back in 2015,
this time reimagined as a one-day event in
London’s Finsbury Park, but still packing serious
heat on the line-up. Check out our full feature on
page 52.
WHEN? 10th June
WHERE? Finsbury Park, London
PRICE? £40
HIGHLIGHTS: Kerri Chandler, Detroit Swindle,
DJ Jazzy Jeff, Roger Sanchez b2b David Morales,
Derrick Carter, Joey Negro, Culoe De Song
southportweekenderfestival.com
fielddayfestivals.com
DEMON DAYZ
IF Gorillaz’s return hasn’t been the most hotlyanticipated musical event so far this year, we
don’t know what has. And not only are they now
officially back, but they’ve brought a festival with
them too!
WHEN? 10th June
WHERE? Dreamland, Margate
PRICE? £60
HIGHLIGHTS: Gorillaz, more TBA
demondayzfestival.com
JUNCTION 2
JUNCTION 2 returns for year number two,
jamming what seems like half the world’s big
038 djmag.com
Love Saves The Day
WHEN? 17th June
WHERE? Haggis Farm, Cambridge
PRICE? £40
HIGHLIGHTS: Wiley, Shaggy, AJ Tracey, Dimitri
From Paris, Mike Skinner, J Hus, P Money, Logan
Sama b2b Sir Spyro
strawberriesandcreem.com
GLASTONBURY
THE Mac Daddy of UK festivals is back! What can
we say about Glasto that hasn’t been said 1000
times already? If you didn’t get tickets, you’ll
have to wait until 2019 for another chance, as
2018 will be a fallow year to allow the site to
recover.
WHEN? 21st - 25th June
WHERE? Worthy Farm, Somerset
PRICE? SOLD OUT
HIGHLIGHTS: Moderat, Stormzy, Goldfrapp,
Noisia, Sasha & Digweed, Run The Jewels
glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
NOISILY FESTIVAL
FORGET your standard mainstage fodder, Noisily
Festival is all about keeping it underground
music-wise, with an extra emphasis on art,
spiritualism and well-being too. Good for the
mind, body and soul!
WHEN? 6th - 9th July
WHERE? Noseley Hall, Leicestershire
PRICE? £95 - £155
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
HIGHLIGHTS: Michael Mayer, Beardyman, LTJ
Bukem, Congo Natty, Acid Pauli, The Prototypes
noisilyfestival.com
BLUEDOT
SCIENCE and raving go hand-in-hand at
Bluedot festival. Located at the Jodrell Bank
Observatory, the event offers an eclectic lineup, plus activities such as stargazing, films, a
planetarium, and talks from experts in tech,
physics and more.
WHEN? 7th July
WHERE? Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire
PRICE? £40 - £75
HIGHLIGHTS: Orbital, Andrew Weatherall, Mr
Scruff, Vitalic, DJ Yoda (History Of Gaming set),
Kelly Lee Owens, Factory Floor, Rival Consoles
discoverthebluedot.com
COCOON IN THE PARK
SVEN Väth’s Cocoon brand returns to Leeds for
a ninth year, bringing techno titans from across
Europe and local heroes alike.
Boom Town
PRICE? £137.50 - £150
HIGHLIGHTS: Trentemøller, David Rodigan,
Adrian Sherwood, Factory Floor, Jon Hopkins (DJ
set), Jackmaster, Slam, Richy Ahmed
PRICE? £45 - £55
HIGHLIGHTS: D-Train (live), Ultra Naté (live),
David Morales, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Tony Humphries,
Joey Negro, Jellybean Benitez, Nicky Siano
beatherder.co.uk
liverpooldiscofestival.com
cocooninthepark.com
SECRET GARDEN PARTY
NOZSTOCK
FARR FESTIVAL
ONE of the UK’s best-loved festivals, Secret
Garden Party waves farewell in 2017, so expect it
to go out with a bang! Oooh, there seems to be
something in our eye...
WITH a vibe a bit like a hippy commune, Nozstock
combines rolling English countryside, charming
hand-crafted production, and reggae, hip-hop,
drum & bass, ska, psy-trance and the like. Look
out for DJ Mag Bunker-hosted sets at the fest this
year!
WHEN? 8th July
WHERE? Temple Newsham, Leeds
PRICE? £59 - £184
HIGHLIGHTS: Sven Väth, Adam Beyer, Richy
Ahmed, Joseph Capriati, Annie Errez
A discerning selection of house and techno in a
hidden forest in Hertfordshire — how could we
possibly resist? The simple answer is, we can’t.
WHEN? 13th - 15th July
WHERE? Bygrave Woods, Hertfordshire
PRICE? £40 - £99
HIGHLIGHTS: Todd Terje, Helena Hauff, Booka
Shade, NAO, Omar-S, Red Axes (live), Honey
Dijon, Mr. G (live), Submotion Orchestra
farrfestival.co.uk
BEAT-HERDER
WHEN? 20th - 23rd July
WHERE? Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire
PRICE? £190
HIGHLIGHTS: Eats Everything, Jackmaster, Craig
Richards, Honey Soundsystem, House Husband
secretgardenparty.com
LIVERPOOL DISCO FESTIVAL
30 YEARS OF SOUTHPORT WEEKENDER
TUCKED away in the Lancastrian countryside,
Beat-Herder boasts weird and wonderful in equal
supply. A regular haunt for festival dons, Dub
Pistols (they’re back again this year), is proof
enough of the quality on offer.
After a fantastic debut last year, a cluster of
warehouses just outside Liverpool city centre
once again plays home to a plethora of globally
renowned disco and house acts — this year
additionally celebrating Southport Weekender’s
30th birthday!
WHEN? 14th - 16th July
WHERE? Ribble Valley, Lancashire
WHEN? 21st - 23rd July
WHERE? The Baltic Triangle venues, Liverpool
WHEN? 21st - 23rd July
WHERE? Rowden Paddocks, Herefordshire
PRICE? £115 - £125
HIGHLIGHTS: Happy Mondays, Uncle Dugs, Ivy
Lab, Ocean Wisdom, Billy Bunter, Levelz
nozstock.com
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
WE could all probably do with a few more reasons
to be cheerful right now, but thankfully those
folks down in Jersey have us covered — top stuff,
as per!
WHEN? 29th July
WHERE? Coronation Park, St. Helier, Jersey
PRICE? £49 - £59
HIGHLIGHTS: Jenna & The Gs, Denis Sulta,
Mungo’s Hi-Fi, Mollie Collins, Solardo
eventbrite.co.uk
51ST STATE
HAVING sold out every year since debuting in
2015, and looking likely to again this year, it’s
safe to say 51st State has nailed the London
festival game. Although it’s unsurprising really,
considering how many undisputed legends of
house and disco are playing.
WHEN? 5th August
WHERE? Trent Park, London
PRICE? £40 - £75
HIGHLIGHTS: Masters At Work, Dimitri From
Paris, Mad Professor, DJ Sneak, Kenny Dope
51ststatefestival.com
djmag.com 039
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
EASTERN ELECTRICS
RELOCATING to London for 2017, EE boasts
stages from Knee Deep In Sound, Skreamism,
Defected, Rinse and more, but we’re secretly
most excited to see Seth Troxler’s latest promo
vid...
WHEN? 5th August
WHERE? Secret location, London
PRICE? £35
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
easternelectrics.co.uk
VISIONS
OFFERING a bill of super-cool, highly individual
acts you’d seriously struggle to find elsewhere,
Visions brings together music, art, food and
even a dog show, building a creative hub in the
capital’s buzzing London Fields area.
WHEN? 5th August
WHERE? Multiple venues, London Fields, London
PRICE? £40 - £75
HIGHLIGHTS: Sophie, Jenny Hval, Blanck Mass,
Liars, Zebra Katz
visionsfestival.com
FESTIVAL ESSENTIALS
Lost Village
BOOMTOWN
WE struggle to think of any festival that goes
quite as far as Boomtown to create a completely
immersive experience — come on, they literally
build a friggin’ town! Oh, and all that reggae,
drum & bass, house and techno isn’t too bad
either...
WHEN? 10th - 13th August
WHERE? Matterley Estate, Winchester
PRICE? £195
HIGHLIGHTS: Dub Phizix & Strategy, Loefah,
Ben UFO & Mr Scruff & Joy Orbison, Booka Shade,
AJ Tracey, Ziggy Marley, Dusky
boomtownfair.co.uk
GOTTWOOD
WELSH woodland and a dedication to building
a fun, friendly, family-like vibe keeps Gottwood
rammed year after year, and earned the event
Best Boutique Festival at last year’s DJ Mag Best
Of British Awards.
DJ SNEAK
51ST STATE
#1 “Skins, because without skins there is no
smoking the #2 Item.”
#2 “Ganja, because ganja is important for the
party to have feel-good vibes.”
#3 “Sunblock, ‘cause sometimes the sun is out
and most people turn to red lobsters and I feel
like I need sparkly butter!”
WHEN? 11th - 13th August
WHERE? Houghton Hall, Norfolk
PRICE? £140 - £150
Elrow
HIGHLIGHTS: The Black Madonna, Mathew
Jonson (live), Levelz, Ross From Friends (live),
Scuba, Helena Hauff, Harvey Sutherland &
Bermuda, Move D, Red Axes (live)
gottwood.co.uk
HOUGHTON
A music and art festival, set deep in the heart of
the stunning Norfolk countryside, and curated
by Fabric resident and Musical Director Craig
Richards? Yes, yes, yes... take our money!
WHEN? 11th - 13th August
WHERE? Houghton Hall, Norfolk
PRICE? £140 - £150
HIGHLIGHTS: Ricardo Villalobos, Craig Richards,
Nicolas Jaar (DJ set), Sonja Moonear, Andrew
Weatherall, Radioactive Man (live), Calibre
houghtonfestival.co.uk
BOARDMASTERS
THERE’S few places in the UK more beautiful
than the Cornish coast, and coupling that with
a wide range of big name DJs and MCs, and a
chance to ride the country’s best breakers, makes
Boardmasters practically impossible to resist.
WHEN? 12th August
WHERE? Watergate Bay/Fistral Beach, Cornwall
PRICE? £59 - £184
HIGHLIGHTS: Stormzy, DJ Shadow, Armand Van
Helden, Andy C, Patrick Topping, Hannah Wants,
Netsky, Solardo, Theo Kottis, Kurupt FM
boardmasters.co.uk
SUNFALL
RETURNING for a second year, Sunfall once again
splits an unbelievable line-up over a daytime fest
in Brockwell Park and night-time parties at a host
of London’s best venues. Decisions, decisions...
WHEN? 12th August
WHERE? Brockwell Park/multiple venues,
London
PRICE? £50 - £65
HIGHLIGHTS: Helena Hauff, Ben UFO, Peggy
Gou, Romare, Move D, Floating Points, Yussef
Kamaal, Konstantin, The Black Madonna, Madlib
sunfall.co.uk
040 djmag.com
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
WHEN? 7th - 10th September
WHERE? Lulworth Estate, Dorset
PRICE? £170+
HIGHLIGHTS: The xx, A Tribe Called Quest,
Justice, Dizzee Rascal, Little Dragon, Wiley, DJ
Shadow, Andy C, Dusky, Solardo
bestival.net
HOSPITALITY IN THE PARK
AFTER a cracking first year, Hospitality returns
to Finsbury Park bigger and better, this year
teaming up with Fabriclive, Let It Roll, Deep Medi
and more.
Visions
ELROW TOWN LONDON
BARCELONA’S beloved party brand Elrow hits the
UK capital for an open-air one-dayer. Expect top
quality house and techno, more confetti than a
Vegas chapel and all the colours. Seriously, all of
them.
WHEN? 19th August
WHERE? Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
PRICE? £TBA
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
elrowtownlondon.com
CREAMFIELDS
CELEBRATING 20 years in 2017, Creamfields is
nothing short of legendary in the UK festival
scene. This year’s line-up is as epic as ever (five
pages long, in fact), offering EDM superstars and
big name DJs from across the dance spectrum.
WHEN? 24th - 27th August
WHERE? Daresbury, Cheshire
PRICE? £85 - £220
HIGHLIGHTS: Deadmau5 & Eric Prydz (exclusive
live show), Dusky, Armin van Buuren, Laidback
Luke, Andy C, Axwell & Ingrosso, Martin Garrix,
Diplo
creamfields.com
LOST VILLAGE
A host of underground dance music’s best and
brightest, well-being workshops and top-notch
comedy acts, all set in a secluded woodland
location decked out in weird and wonderful
production? Don’t mind if we do!
Northamptonshire
PRICE? £179
HIGHLIGHTS: Clap! Clap!, DJ Storm, DJ Barely
Legal, Soccer96, Oumou Sangare, Zed Bias,
Vaudou Game, Speech Debelle, Kimyan Law,
Foreign Beggars
shamabalafestival.org
SOUTH WEST FOUR
A staple of the London festival calendar, SW4
pulls in the biggest names in mainstream dance
like no other UK event, and packs a healthy
helping of underground talent too.
WHEN? 26th - 27th August
WHERE? Clapham Common, London
PRICE? £55 - £105
HIGHLIGHTS: Maya Jane Coles vs Heidi,
Pendulum, Deadmau5, Eric Prydz, Solomun, High
Contrast, Dusky (live), Fabio & Grooverider b2b
DJ Marky
southwestfour.com
BESTIVAL
IT’S all change for one of the nation’s best-loved
fests this year, as the Isle Of Wight’s Bestival
goes back to its roots design-wise and relocates
to a castle in Dorset. Plus, Rob Da Bank’s taste in
acts is still as impeccable as ever.
WHEN? 23rd September
WHERE? Finsbury Park, London
PRICE? £33 - £43
HIGHLIGHTS: London Elektricity Big Band,
Mala, Mist:I:Cal (Marcus Intalex b2b ST. Files b2b
Calibre), My Nu Leng, Benton, Guv, Khan & Neek,
S.P.Y, Swindle
hospitalityinthepark.london
MINT FESTIVAL
WITH Mint Club, Mint Warehouse and Mint
Festival, there’s no doubt they like to keep things
fresh up in Leeds (sorry, couldn’t resist!), and
consistently solid line-ups suggest 2017 will be
no different.
WHEN? 23rd September
WHERE? The Tetley, Leeds
PRICE? £TBA
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
mintfestival.co.uk
THE SOCIAL FESTIVAL
NO details for this one yet, but having scooped
Best Festival at our 2016 Best Of British Awards,
it’s safe to say Nic Fanciulli’s The Social Festival
guarantees a good time.
WHEN? 29th - 30th September
WHERE? Kent County Showground, Maidstone
PRICE? £45 - £90
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
thesocialfestival.com
Hospitality In The Park
WHEN? 24th - 27th August
WHERE? Private woodland, Lincolnshire
PRICE? £160
HIGHLIGHTS: Moderat, Nina Kraviz, De La Soul,
The Black Madonna, Ben UFO, Midland, Fatima
Yamaha, Leon Vynehall, Call Super, Avalon
Emerson
lostvillagefestival.com
SHAMBALA
PACKING a titillating array of funk, jazz,
Afrobeat, reggae, drum & bass and other dance,
hippy fest Shambala is all about positive vibes,
well-being and dancing ‘til you drop. Spread the
love, people!
WHEN? 24th - 27th August
WHERE? Secret country estate,
djmag.com 041
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
VERY CONTINENTAL
Although the UK is now officially on its
way out of the EU, we’ll still be making
the most of our free movement to enjoy
Europe’s delectable selection of fests…
NUITS SONORES
THE entire city of Lyon transforms into an electric
buzz of creative arts during Nuits Sonores. The
day programme is alive with prize selectors
chosen by guest curators The Black Madonna,
Nina Kraviz and Jon Hopkins, while the night
flexes from grime titans to jazz legends.
WHERE: Multiple venues, Lyon, France
WHEN: 23rd - 28th May
PRICE: €26 - €140
HIGHLIGHTS: Air, Stormzy, Jon Hopkins, Helena
Hauff, Floating Points, Bambounou
Melt!
UVA FESTIVAL
NEW kid on the Spanish festival block founded by
renowned crew Moody Collective, Uva claims to
be the country’s first boutique festival… With an
intimate 500-cap, a connoisseur line-up, all local
food and a rural, historic cliffside location that
makes your eyes fizz, they could be right.
WHERE: Ronda, Spain
WHEN: 2nd - 4th June
PRICE: €100 - €140
HIGHLIGHTS: Antal, San Proper, Trus’Me,
Andrea, Nu Guinea, Moody Collective
eventbrite.com
nuits-sonores.com
WE LOVE GREEN
PRIMAVERA SOUND
WITH a focus firmly fixed on a finer future, We
Love Green has become a Parisian institution for
forward-thinking citizens who share an interest
in sustainable technology and decent music. Over
two days camping in the heart of Paris, expect a
volcano of enlightenment for the mind, ears and,
as it’s France, stomach.
PRIMAVERA is renowned for breaking new artists
in Spain with acts such as LCD Soundsystem
and The xx getting their Spanish break at the
week-long, coast-side event. As such, the line-up
focuses more on bands and alternative/indie,
but there’s a whole stack of innovative electronic
masters to warrant a holiday in Barcelona too.
Call it a pre-Sónar recce mission.
WHERE: Parc del Forum, Barcelona, Spain
WHEN: 31st May – 4th June
PRICE: €175
HIGHLIGHTS: Aphex Twin, Henrik Schwarz, Joy
Orbison, Tycho, Romare, Dixon, Flying Lotus
WHERE: Bois De Vincennes, Paris, France
WHEN: 10th - 11th June
PRICE: £100
HIGHLIGHTS: A Tribe Called Quest, Nicolas
Jaar, Moderat, Action Bronson, Motor City Drum
Ensemble, Richie Hawtin, Flying Lotus, DJ Koze
welovegreen.fr
primaverasound.com
SÓNAR
WORLD CLUB DOME
DEDICATED to music, technology and creativity
since 1994, Sonar has always been focused on
WELCOME to the ‘largest club in the world’. For
three days in June, Frankfurt’s Commerzbank
Arena stadium is transformed into an epic 15
stage, 200 DJ playground with roof cover if it
rains. Now boasting a new Forest Stage area, all
house, techno and EDM tastes are catered for.
WHERE: Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt,
Germany
WHEN: 2nd - 4th June
PRICE: €69 - €199
HIGHLIGHTS: Deadmau5, Martin Garrix, Jauz,
Solomon, Sven Väth, Steve Aoki, Marshmello
worldclubdome.com
042 djmag.com
progress and the innovators behind it. Across its
day and night schedules you’ll find showcases
from some of the very best across every genre.
WHERE: Barcelona, Spain
WHEN: 15th - 17th June
PRICE: €54 - €310
HIGHLIGHTS: Carl Craig presents Versus
Synthesizer Ensemble, Daphni & Hunee, De La
Soul, Eric Prydz, Justice, Nicolas Jaar
sonar.es
SECRET SOLSTICE
ICELAND’S Secret Solstice is genuinely one of a
kind. Hosted during its famous midnight sun and
home to an array of unique party spaces such as
a 5,000-year-old lava tunnel, there’s no other
festival like it. The line-up backs up the hype,
with a strong selection of big names that aren’t
on every other bill this summer.
WHERE: Reykjavik, Iceland
WHEN: 16th - 18th June
PRICE: £165
HIGHLIGHTS: The Prodigy, Chaka Khan, Roots
Manuva, Kerri Chandler, Wolf + Lamb
secretsolstice.is
PARADISE CITY FESTIVAL
A private island with a castle, a 100 percent
solar powered campsite and recycled landscape,
gourmet restaurants, free cardboard tents and an
optional butler service. Oh, and some really tasty
techno across three stages. This festival really
lives up to its name. Take us down…
Way Out West
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
WHERE: Castle Ribaucourt, Perk, Belgium
WHEN: 23rd - 25th June
PRICE: €48 - €85
HIGHLIGHTS: Robag Wruhme, Âme,
Sebastian Mullaert, Acid Pauli, Audion, Jeremy
Underground, Ulf Eriksson
paradisecity.be
AWAKENINGS
A two-day techno feast just west of Amsterdam;
Awakenings celebrates 20 years of, well,
awakening Dutch dance fans in style this year,
as some of the most important names in techno
have been recruited to mark the occasion — 110
important names, to be precise.
WHERE: Spaarnwoude Houtrak, The Netherlands
WHEN: 24th - 25th June
PRICE: €45 - €95
HIGHLIGHTS: Ricardo Villalobos, Maceo Plex,
Chris Liebing, Joseph Capriati, Dave Clarke, Tale
Of Us, Loco Dice, Floorplan
awakeningsfestival.nl
FESTIVAL ESSENTIALS
Paradise City
BALATON SOUNDS
FROM the makers of such blockbusters as Sziget,
we head deep into Hungary to Lake Balaton for
a five-day electronic knees-up. Nothing but the
biggest names are playing at this beautiful beach
location. This year, boat parties feature hosts like
Sasha, Art Department and Max Cooper.
WHERE: Lake Balaton, Hungary
WHEN: 5th - 9th July
PRICE: €210
HIGHLIGHTS: Dave Clarke, Sasha, Max Cooper,
Noisia, Section Boyz, Zeds Dead, Erick Morillo
sziget.hu/balatonsound
EXIT FESTIVAL
A ‘must-do’ for any self-discerning festival
connoisseur; everything about Exit is unique,
from its political roots to its fortress location,
to its sheer 16-stage scale. With a rich musical
range, and a rave that doesn’t wind down until
sun-up, Exit always delivers.
WHERE: Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia
WHEN: 6th - 9th July
PRICE: £27 - £109
HIGHLIGHTS: Faithless (DJ set), Paul
Kalkbrenner, Duke Dumont, Foreign Beggars,
Black Coffee, Hardwell, Solomun b2b Dixon
exitfest.org
DELTA HEAVY
LET IT ROLL
#1 “Phone juicer — Lost my friends for the
entire night when my phone ran out of batteries
at Bestival a few years ago. Absolute vibe killer!
I still had a blast but a festival isn’t quite the
same without your mates!”
#2 “Sleep mask and earplugs — Being a night
owl, it’s always a touch annoying when you
stroll back to your tent at 7am only to be woken
at 10am by an early starting stage powering up.
Keep the hideousness of the morning away
and you can also then save your hearing when
you’ve got your head in a speaker later that
night!”
#3 “As little as possible — Taking as little as
possible means there is less to lose, damage,
less hassle, less responsibility and less to be
‘borrowed’ by everyone else. Less is more.
Except for wet wipes. Those are essential.”
KAPPA FUTURFESTIVAL
ITS legend galvanised by the instantly
recognisable ‘shed’ shots, and praise from the
legends who’ve played there, Kappa FuturFestival
has exploded in just six years. No bells, whistles
or gimmicks here; just two days of the finest
house and techno. Enough said.
PRICE: €140+
HIGHLIGHTS: Bonobo (live), Bicep, Sampha,
Egyptian Lover, Ellen Allien, Daniel Avery
meltfestival.de
GEM FESTIVAL
AT a whole month long, you could be forgiven
for expecting Gem Festival to really break the
bank. Thankfully you’d be wrong. At just €152
for a ticket, €20 per day for accommodation and
around €2 for a beer, it’s a winner in our book.
And that’s before we even get to the line-up...
WHERE: Anaklia, Georgia
WHEN: 14th July - 14th August
PRICE: €152
HIGHLIGHTS: Honey Dijon, The Drifter, Axwell &
Ingrosso, Dubfire, Martin Garrix, Martin Buttrich
gem-fest.com
TOMORROWLAND
A festival of insane proportions, Tomorrowland
is so big it’s now two weekends, boasts 69 arena
hosts, over 1,000 artists, and DJs who would
usually only play late at night open the event —
Carl Cox midday set anyone? Alas, it’s so big it
sold out within 64 minutes.
WHERE: De Schorre, Boom, Belgium
WHEN: 21st - 23rd / 28th - 30th July
PRICE: SOLD OUT
HIGHLIGHTS: Netsky, Martin Garrix, Ben Klock,
Booka Shade, Kerri Chandler, Maya Jane Coles
tomorrowland.com
Gem Festival
WHERE: Parco Dora, Turin, Italy
WHEN: 8th - 9th July
PRICE: €45 - €60
HIGHLIGHTS: Masters At Work, Fatboy Slim, Nina
Kraviz, Carl Cox, Marcel Dettmann, Jackmaster
kappafuturfestival.it
MELT! FESTIVAL
MELT! is a German festival institution. Set in
the old coal mine site of Ferropolis, you can rave
under the romantic, post-industrial shadow
of towering diggers and cranes to a forwardthinking music policy that’s extra fat this year as
the event celebrates its 20th anniversary.
WHERE: Ferropolis, Germany
WHEN: 14th - 16th July
djmag.com 043
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
PRICE: €95
HIGHLIGHTS: Isolée (live), Mano Le Tough, DJ
Tennis, John Talabot, Optimo, Honey Dijon
farragofestival.com
MYSTERYLAND
ESTABLISHED in 1993, Mysteryland is officially
the world’s longest running dance festival, so
they know their way around a line-up or two. This
year is no exception, as over 340 acts play on
stages hosted by the likes of Dave Clarke, Cocoon,
Ram Records, Hospitality, Mad Decent and the
perennial vibe merchants Elrow. It’s no mystery
why this festival has remained a fave for so long.
Kappa FuturFestival
DEKMANTEL
NOW flexing an extra day to celebrate ten
years, Amsterdam’s premier culture hurricane
Dekmantel continues to be one of the most
innovative and extensive arts festivals in Europe,
with lectures, workshops and raves. Day tickets
are already sold out.
WHERE: Amsterdam Bos/Multiple venues,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
WHEN: 2nd - 6th August
PRICE: SOLD OUT / Single concerts from €12.50
HIGHLIGHTS: Steve Reich, Jeff Mills & Tony
Allen, Arca, Ben UFO, Nathan Fake, Joy Orbison,
Omar S, Sun Ra, Karenn (live), Helena Hauff
dekmantelfestival.com
LET IT ROLL
THE longest-running all-drum & bass festival,
Czech Republic’s Let It Roll gets bigger and more
audacious with its production every year. With
a spaceship mainstage, an eye-melting opening
ceremony and a line-up that represents all
colours of the jungle rainbow, this year’s label
arena hosts include Hospital, Ram, Shogun,
Eatbrain, Symmetry, Dispatch and Critical.
WHERE: Milovice Airfield, Prague, Czech Republic
WHEN: 3rd - 5th August
PRICE: £76
HIGHLIGHTS: Andy C, Camo & Krooked, Netsky,
Delta Heavy, Hype b2b Hazard, Icicle, Dimension,
Current Value
letitroll.eu
NEOPOP
AKA: The Art Of Techno Exhibition. Neopop is a
celebration of electronica in all its nascent and
innovative forms as it welcomes generations of
top-notch acts to perform across two stages in its
grand fort-side location in North Portugal. From
DJ Bone to Dixon by way of Kraftwerk 3D, Neopop
continues to represent the true craft.
since 2006 and consistently maintained a size
and left-of-centre remit that relishes in the indie
fringes. Home to a series of talks and workshops,
plus some premium techno, hip-hop, rock and
electronica, OFF is most definitely ON.
WHERE: Katowice, Poland
WHEN: 4th - 6th August
PRICE: £60+
HIGHLIGHTS: Talib Kweli, Jessy Lanza, The Black
Madonna, Swans, PJ Harvey, Circuit Des Yeux,
Carla Bozulich, Daniel Johnston
off-festival.pl
WAY OUT WEST
GOTHENBURG’S gift. Way Out West is more than
just a three-day appreciation of great music in a
park in the centre of Sweden’s hipster capital; as
the festival winds down at night, the clubs wind
up for Stay Out West, a series of parties hosted by
Diplo, Shake070 and many more.
WHERE: Slottsskogen Park, Gothenburg, Sweden
WHEN: 10th - 12th August
PRICE: £140
HIGHLIGHTS: Frank Ocean, Danny Brown, Major
Lazer, The xx, Chance The Rapper, Fatima Yamaha
wayoutwest.se
FARRAGO FESTIVAL
A brand new two-day party in the idyllic grounds
of a 13th century Bavarian castle, limited to 700
people with full focus on discerning house, disco
and techno and fine food and artistic direction
from DJ Tennis. This almost sounds too good to
be true. Get on board; if Farrago smashes it this
year, it will only get bigger.
WHERE: Haarlemermeer, The Netherlands
WHEN: 26th - 27th August
PRICE: €149
HIGHLIGHTS: Deadmau5, Oliver Heldens, Above
& Beyond, Miss Kittin, Eats Everything, Dave
Clarke, Andy C, Camo & Krooked
mysteryland.nl
THE ARK
ALL aboard! The Ark is a unique four-day sonic
voyage across the seven seas (well, the Med) on
a massive cruise liner that’s also home to a two
Michelin Star restaurant, a rock climbing wall,
cinemas and even its own shopping mall. Not that
you’ll have any time for that type of caper; the
line-up is stacked!
WHERE: Barcelona, Spain – Marseilles, France
– Ibiza
WHEN: August 31 – September 3
PRICE: €549+
HIGHLIGHTS: 2ManyDJs, Boys Noize, Cassius,
Roger Sanchez, Stephan Bodzin, Masters At Work,
Henrik Schwarz, KiNK, Chris Liebing
theark.cruises
SUNANDBASS
AN essential date on the calendar for the d&b
community, SUNANDBASS has been a scene
tradition since 2003. Over eight days, the town
of San Teodoro plays host to some of the vibiest
drum & bass parties all year. Serious dubs are
taken, big tunes get broken, progress is made.
WHERE: San Teodoro, Sardinia, Italy
WHEN: 2nd - 9th September
PRICE: £TBA
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
sunandbass.net
WHERE: Schweppermannsburg, Bavaria,
Germany
WHEN: 18th - 19th August
WHERE: Forte de Santiago da Barra, Viana do
Castelo, Portugal
WHEN: 3rd - 5th August
PRICE: €90+
HIGHLIGHTS: Chris Liebing, DJ Stringray, Dax J,
Helena Hauff, Jane Fitz, Dr Rubinstein, Moderat
(live), Maceo Plex, Paula Temple, Planetary
Assault Systems (live)
neopopfestival.com
OFF FESTIVAL
GET OFF on this beauty… A cosy lakeside retreat
due west of Krakow, OFF has been in operation
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Dekmantel
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
LIFE’S A BEACH
If Ibiza is Europe’s clubbing capital,
Croatia has undoubtedly become the
epicentre of continental festival culture.
Offering sun, sea, sand and umpteen boat
parties, it’s easy to see why thousands of
punters return to the Adriatic coast year
after year. Here are the Croatian fests
you can’t afford to miss...
HIDEOUT
TOUGH beats, laid-back surrounds. Hideout
means serious main room action from some of the
biggest names in house, techno and peak-time
bass. Focused on five iconic venues at Zrce Beach
— Papaya, Aquarius, Kalypso, Euphoria and Noa
— partners include Elrow, Do Not Sleep, Diplo &
Friends, and Heidi’s Jackathon. Vibesy.
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag
WHEN: 26th - 30th June
PRICE: £139+
HIGHLIGHTS: Major Lazer Soundsystem,
Stormzy, DJ Koze, Anja Schneider, Bicep, Alan
Fitzpatrick, Hype & Hazard, Mella Dee
hideoutfestival.com
LOVE INTERNATIONAL
FANCY a week in hedonist’s paradise? From its
setting — a natural amphitheatre just a short
stroll from the achingly picturesque town of
Tisno — to expert musical curation, headturning bookings, and an altogether mature
but debauched vibe, Love International only
launched last year but is already contending to
be the one.
WHERE: The Garden, Tisno
WHEN: 28th June - 5th July
PRICE: £125+
HIGHLIGHTS: The Black Madonna, Craig
Richards, Tony Humphries, Call Super, Beautiful
Swimmers, Dan Beaumont, Bill Brewster, Hodge,
Mood II Swing, Paranoid London
loveinternationalfestival.com
046 djmag.com
Soundwave
ELECTRIC ELEPHANT
ONE of the first internationals to open for
business in the Balkans is again forging a new
path this year. Relocating to Obanjan Island
— a dot of land in azure waters dedicated to
hedonistic summertime pursuits, from yoga
to raving — expect EE’s trademark house and
Balearic, but new surprises abound.
spanning hip-hop to R&B. Those disinterested in
booty bass and vocal bombs should probably look
elsewhere. Otherwise, crack on!
WHERE: Obanjan Island, Sibenik
WHEN: 6th July - 9th July
PRICE: £340 (includes accommodation)
HIGHLIGHTS: Joe Goddard (live), Daniel Avery,
Greg Wilson, Norman Jay (MBE), Horse Meat
Disco, Fort Romeau, Sean Johnston, Low Life,
Justin Robertson
Fresh Island
electricelephant.co.uk
LABYRINTH OPEN
FAR from ‘just another’ multi-day sesh lapped
by beautiful blue waves, Labyrinth Open is fresh
for 2017 (suckas), and comes from the crew
responsible for running Antwerp’s infamous
venue, Labyrinth. Taking over a campsite near
Split, expect solid tunes from top selectors
(obvs), but also seminars, speakers and
workshops.
WHERE: Omiš, Dalmatia
WHEN: 8th - 11th July
PRICE: €129
HIGHLIGHTS: Gregor Tresher, Guti (live), Guy J,
Monoloc, Pan-Pot, Ø [Phase] live, Radio Slave,
Stephan Bodzin
labyrinthopen.com
FRESH ISLAND
PROOF that Croatian lunacy comes in many
different forms, Fresh Island forgets typical
four-fours, hoovers and whistles, instead opting
to focus almost exclusively on urban sounds,
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag
WHEN: 11th - 13th July
PRICE: £129+
HIGHLIGHTS: Lady Leshurr, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Giggs,
Sean Paul, French Montana, Rae Sremmurd, Krept
& Konan, Mike Skinner & Murkage presents Tonga
fresh-island.org
AREA 4
NOT just a clever name, Area 4 seizes four clubs,
using each of Zcre Beach’s finest for one of
its four continuous days. The line-up is both
refreshingly varied and resplendent in local
talent — which basically means trap to hip-hop,
electro to EDM, delivered by some truly astute
faces.
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag
WHEN: 17th - 20th July
PRICE: £150+
HIGHLIGHTS: Borgore, Yellow Claw, Stoltenhoff,
The Jillionaire, Alison Wonderland
zrce.com/events/area-4-festival-2017
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
SUNCÉBEAT
SOUTHPORT Weekender, on holiday. The timeless
UK bash spawned this sun-kissed lovechild back
in 2010, and what a summer fling it’s been.
Immediately garnering respect amongst fans
of soulful, chunky beats thanks to pioneering
bookings, this edition will be no different; disco,
house, R&B, techno, and all between.
WHERE: The Garden, Tisno
WHEN: 19th - 26th July
PRICE: £119+
HIGHLIGHTS: Louie Vega, David Morales, DJ
Spen, Doc Martin, Danny Krivit, Peggy Gou,
Rahaan, Antal, Shimza, Sam Divine
suncebeat.com
SOUNDWAVE
ONE of the oldest in Croatia’s ever-growing warm
weather scene, for many Soundwave defines
the party trip ethos. More than a festival — not
least 13 boat sessions scheduled for the ninth
edition this year, amazing local bars, picturesque
scenery and community spirit — this might be the
Adriatic’s most varied ticket.
WHERE: The Garden, Tisno
WHEN: 27th - 31st July
PRICE: £129+
HIGHLIGHTS: IAMDDB, Gilles Peterson, Laura
Mvula, Roy Ayers, Mall Grab, Chaos In The CBD,
Alexander Nut, The Pharcyde, Roni Size, Egyptian
Lover
soundwavecroatia.com
BLACK SHEEP
ONE for the EDM set, when Black Sheep opened
last year it blew expectations out of the water. Or
into the water, depending on how hot and sweaty
they were. The throwdown again descends on
Croatia’s holy quartet — Aquarius, Kalypso, Noa,
and Papaya — meaning big production, and big
choons.
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag
WHEN: 31st July - 3rd August
PRICE: 525HRK
HIGHLIGHTS: DVBBS, Fedde Le Grand, KSHMR,
Nervo, Nicky Romero, Dannic, Tigerlily
blacksheepfestival.com
DEFECTED CROATIA
THE UK’s most prolific and prominent proper
house crew are in the... Garden. Prepare for boat
parties skippered (well, soundtracked at least)
by decade-spanning dons, and a week’s worth of
sunrises at the legendary Barbarella’s open air
nightclub, hosted by some of the freshest players
in the scene.
FESTIVAL TALES
Black Sheep
WHERE: The Garden, Tisno
WHEN: 10th - 15th August
PRICE: £150+
HIGHLIGHTS: Basement Jaxx (DJ set), Kenny
Dope, Eats Everything, Derrick Carter, Sam
Divine, Soul Clap, Nick Curly, Honey Dijon, Luke
Solomon
defected.com/croatia
BARRAKUD
AFTER a fifth instalment in 2016, best described
as ‘proper stomping’, Croatian institution
Barrakud is back for round six. Keeping the
format — a five-day club crawl — whether you
sleep or not is irrelevant, given that intensity
and atmosphere scarcely let up from the off.
Convincing, then you notice the price.
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag, Croatia
WHEN: 14th August - 18th August
PRICE: €13 per day, €27.50 full event
HIGHLIGHTS: Ellen Allien, Paul Kalkbrenner,
Ben Klock, Carl Craig, Maceo Plex, Nina Kraviz,
Solomun, The Martinez Brothers, Adam Beyer,
Mano Le Tough
2016.barrakud.com
SONUS
BASS buttons on, heads down; Time Dance
continues its Croatian legacy with the fifth
instalment of Sonus, bringing heavyweight
techno to idyllic Pag Island. Four days and nights
of relentless, uninterrupted seriousness contrast
the blue skies and gorgeous rays, making for
possibly the best idea Team Mannheim will ever
have.
WHERE: Zrce Beach, Island of Pag
WHEN: 20th - 24th August
SAM DIVINE
DEFECTED CROATIA
“At Defected Croatia last year I played four sets
in four days, it was so sick. I played the beach,
on the mainstage back-to-back with Franky
Rizardo, which was CRAZY, and we did a D-Vine
Sounds boat party. It was a small boat but
totally packed out, maybe a couple of hundred
people all crammed in, with the sun going down.
Halfway through my set the crowd did a sit-down
— I think the track was Djaimin ‘Give You’. When
it dropped everyone was jumping up and down,
such good vibes. The boat was literally rocking!”
PRICE: €179
HIGHLIGHTS: Enzo Siragusa, Jackmaster,
Margaret Dygas, Matador (live), Rhadoo, Ricardo
Villalobos, Vril (live)
sonus-festival.com
OUTLOOK
Hideout
THE biggest soundsystem culture festival in
Europe should be proud of all it’s achieved.
Episode ten looks to be a fittingly loud
anniversary, turning everything up to 11 at the
epic fortress site, whilst the opening concert
— Dizzee Rascal, DJ Shadow and The Outlook
Orchestra — is a real one-off.
WHERE: Fort Punta Christo, Pula
WHEN: 7th - 10th September
PRICE: £130+
HIGHLIGHTS: Chimpo, Madam X, Kenny Ken, Dub
Phizix & Strategy, Pharoahe Monch, D Double E &
Footsie, Paleman, Goldie, Plastician, Randall
outlookfestival.com
djmag.com 047
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
BEST OF THE REST No matter where you are, there’s always
a place to party! Here’s our picks from
across Asia, Africa, South America and the
grand ol’ US of A...
SANDBOX FESTIVAL
IF you’re looking for a mindful experience with
like-minded creatives and music lovers, while you
relax on the beach or get involved in some kiting,
diving, snorkelling etc, then this is perfection. An
organic vibe is the aim, with big names, live acts
and local talent given longer set times.
WHERE: Red Sea Riviera, El Gouna, Egypt
WHEN: 4th - 6th May
PRICE: 2,400 EGP
HIGHLIGHTS: Heidi, Butch, Âme, Mike Servito,
Oliver Schories, The Mole, Kicksy, Zeina, Hisham
Zahran
sandboxfestival.com
MOVEMENT DETROIT
NUZZLED in the heart of Detroit, for many this
is the festival that kick-starts the season. A long
weekend that attracts a respectful and diverse
crowd, ready and hell-bent on soaking up the
techno and housey vibes sure to be lavished on
them by some of the true heroes of the scene.
WHERE: Hart Plaza, Detroit, MI, USA
WHEN: 27th - 29th May
PRICE: $175
HIGHLIGHTS: Carl Craig, Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin,
The Belleville Three, Cassy, Chris Liebing, Josh
Wink, Robert Hood, Larry Heard, Stacey Pullen
movement.us
ULTRA KOREA/SINGAPORE
THE first ever two-pronged Ultra will be taking
place at the same time with the exact same
line-up. With this in mind we’re presuming
048 djmag.com
EDC Las Vegas
helicopters will be involved, although not for
us mere mortals, we’re talking about those big
chief daddio DJs that’ll need to get from Seoul to
Singapore, and vice versa.
HIGHLIGHTS: Paul Woolford, Roman Flügel,
Justin Martin, B.Traits, Quantic, Eli Escobar,
Loefah, Kasra, Project Pablo
WHERE: Olympic Stadium, Seoul / Ultra Park,
Singapore
WHEN: 10th - 11th June
PRICE: 165,000 KRW / $163
HIGHLIGHTS: Tiësto, Sasha & John Digweed,
Dubfire, Nicky Romero, Nic Fanciulli, Tchami,
KSHMR, Steve Angello, Alesso
BURNING MAN
umfkorea.com / ultrasingapore.com
ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL
WOW. This is their 21st birthday! So if you
thought it was going to be spectacular in the first
place, you can add bells to your expectations.
Non-stop music over eight stages, interactive art
installations, huge carnival rides, mobile art cars
and 400,000 like-minded peeps to party with in
beyond-typical Vegas style.
WHERE: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NV, USA
WHEN: 16th - 18th June
PRICE: $355
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
lasvegas.electricdaisycarnival.com
BASS COAST
OK so it’s sold out, but if you are lucky enough
to have acquired a ticket you’ll be in for a treat.
Now onto its ninth edition, at Bass Coast you are
invited to be present with nature. This won’t be
a problem due to its setting in the stunningly
beautiful Nicola Valley.
WHERE: Merritt, British Columbia, Canada
WHEN: 7th- 10th July
PRICE: SOLD OUT
basscoast.ca
WHERE to start? For many this is more than a
festival, it’s pretty much a way of life. It will
take you over, above and beyond your wildest
dreams, a celebration of life experiences. Aiming
to ‘guide, nurture and protect’, this annual event
will probably change your whole outlook.
WHERE: Black Rock Desert, NV, USA
WHEN: 27th August - 4th September
PRICE: SOLD OUT
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
burningman.org
Bass Coast
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
ELECTRIC ZOO
TAKING place on Labor Day weekend since 2009,
EZ have got their formula crafted and honed to
finely-tuned perfection. Expect laser upon laser,
more than 50 DJs and enough fields, pathways
and outdoor action to keep you fully satisfied.
Check out their FAQ for some good sound advice.
WHERE: Randall’s Island Park, New York City, NY,
USA
WHEN: 1st - 3rd September
PRICE: $219.99
HIGHLIGHTS: DJ Snake, Above & Beyond,
Deadmau5 & Eric Prydz, Danny Tenaglia, Henrik
Schwarz, Martin Solveig, Claptone, Sub Focus,
Aly & Fila
electriczoofestival.com
ELECTRIC ISLAND
A concert and picnic series of five events
including a special two-dayer over the Labor
Day long weekend. A Seasons Pass will allow you
access to all of the shows. Expect plenty of fresh
air with the surrounding trees and lush greenery
and heaps of wonderful techno and deep house
to chow down on.
WHERE: Hanlan’s Point, Toronto Islands, Canada
WHEN: 3rd - 4th September
PRICE: $169
HIGHLIGHTS: Line-up TBA
electricisland.to
OASIS
SET in a luxury resort with the staggering Atlas
Mountains gazing down on you, Oasis has two
stages — one with a pool, and an amphitheatre
surrounded by cacti. Daytime vibes are superchilled with yoga, mint tea (or something
stronger) and Moroccan cuisine on the menu.
But when night falls, it’s party time all the way
through to 6am.
WHERE: The Source Music Resort, Marrakech,
Morocco
WHEN: 15th - 17th September
PRICE: €199
HIGHLIGHTS: Solomun, Nicolas Jaar, Richie
Hawtin, Anja Schneider, Daniel Avery, Unes,
Marcellus Pittman, Kornél Kovács
theoasisfest.com
Oasis
IMAGINE FESTIVAL
IMAGINE are proud of the fact that they’re one of
the few independent festivals on the circuit. And
they have spent the past year replenishing and
upgrading. So this time around you can expect
expanded water stations, camping upgrades, nice
shady spots, art, workshops and the return of the
Imagine pool.
WHERE: 22nd - 24th September
WHEN: Atlanta Motor Speedway, GA, USA
PRICE: $125
HIGHLIGHTS: Above & Beyond, Tiësto,
Deadmau5, Pretty Lights, Gorgon City, Flux
Pavilion, Seven Lions, Datsik, Shiba San,
Claptone
imaginefestival.com
WORLD CLUB DOME KOREA
IT’S not all about the super-tastic line-up and
massive productions that will be on display at this
hugely expansive BigCityBeats event — although
they live up to their name. It’s also the eyewatering views along the majestic skyline of the
surrounding green hills and ocean that will surely
entice you in.
WHERE: Incheon Munhak Stadium, Incheon,
South Korea
WHEN: 22nd - 24th September
PRICE: 160,000 KRW+
HIGHLIGHTS: Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, DJ
Snake, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Don Diablo,
Marshmello, Robin Schulz, Sven Väth, Steve Aoki
worldclubdomekorea.com
ULTRA BRAZIL
IT certainly looks like Ultra have got all bases
covered when it comes to worldwide status.
And where better to be than Brazil? This will be
their second year in the hub of South America,
quite simply because last year’s three-dayer was
just awesome. Believe it. It’s being held in the
Sambódromo, after all!
WHERE: Sambódromo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
WHEN: 12th - 14th October
PRICE: R$ 858
HIGHLIGHTS: Armin van Buuren, Sasha & John
Digweed, Aly & Fila
ultrabrasil.com
Electric Island
djmag.com 049
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
THE WORLD’S NUMBER
ONE FESTIVAL... AGAIN!
As voted for by you as part of our
Top 100 Clubs Poll 2016, Ultra
Music Festival has won the title
of ‘The World’s No.1 Festival’ for
the second year in a row!
W
2017 also saw the return of everyone’s favourite
fire-breathing giant spider, Arcadia, hosted by
the new, pioneering, Carl Cox-led RESISTANCE
stage, while the UK’s legendary prog-house duo
Sasha & Digweed made their US reunion and
trance went vintage with Sander Van Doorn’s
P.Haze 3 (Purple Haze) project and the return of
Ferry Corston’s Gouryella. Ultra also launched
its Ultra Passport global loyalty programme,
and there was a complete revamp of its VIP area,
which introduced an oceanfront VIP village, while
the Ultra Live Stream has generated over 18
million views so far.
It’s a festival that’s constantly expanding
and improving — new Ultras have just been
announced in China, India, Australia and Ibiza
too (see pg. 88). Crime fell nearly 50% at the
festival this year, a statistic that has declined
impressively year on year since 2013. So not only
is Ultra awesome for dance music innovation, it’s
also rather safe.
Congratulations on winning the award (once
again!) this year, nobody can say you haven’t
worked your ass off to earn it!
Pics: EDM KEVIN, ALIVE & RUKES
hen half-a-million of you picked your
five favourite clubs earlier this year,
we also asked you to choose the one,
single festival in the world you love
the most. And, once again, the result
is resounding! Ultra Music Festival, the worldconquering festival brand which has invaded
18 countries (and counting!) over the globe
— Croatia through to Korea, Singapore to Spain
— has taken the title again, but we’d honestly say
we’re not surprised.
At the end of March, 165,000 ravers from all over
the world squeezed into the eight city stages of
Bayfront Park in Miami, where 215 of the world’s
most important DJs played over three days —
from EDM megastars like Tiesto, David Guetta
and Martin Garrix to underground techno titans
such as Carl Cox, Dubfire and Joseph Capriati, and
even live hip-hop acts Cypress Hill and Ice Cube.
Ultra Miami, the festival’s flagship, has got game,
and we’re pretty damn sure you will not find a
bigger line-up entirely dedicated to electronic
music out there. But of course you already know
that — that’s why you voted for it!
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FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
l
u
o
s
d
n
a
y
d
o
B
Reuniting for its 30th anniversary at Liverpool
Disco Festival this month and an event in Finsbury
Park in June, Southport Weekender is making a
very much welcomed return! Expect the happiest
crowd to ever grace a dancefloor, tears of joy and
the best disco, house and soul music imaginable...
I
nspired by his time as a DJ at the Caister Soul Weekenders back in the
‘80s, brainchild Alex Lowes helped conjure one of the most warm,
open and unpretentious events in the world when he started UpNorth
Weekender for 700 people in Berwick-upon-Tweed back in 1987. What
was created went on to be more than just a festival. It became a cult
movement for lovers of decent disco, classy soul and proper house music in
the UK — famous DJs all over the world also namecheck it as their favourite
all-time event.
After outgrowing its next location in Blackpool after just three events,
SPREADING THE LOVE...
ER
THE DJS ON SOUTHPORT WEEKEND
Southport Weekender found its spiritual home at Pontins — a charmingly
tacky red-coat holiday village off the coast of Liverpool — where it remained
— occurring twice a year — until moving to Butlins Minehead in 2011,
all the while maintaining the same inclusive party philosophy; a friendly
dancefloor vibe across multiple rooms made up of the same diverse family
of faces — loads that were fresh, and many there since the beginning.
After temporarily closing its doors in 2015, Southport Weekender is
reuniting to celebrate its 30th Anniversary as part of Liverpool Disco
Festival all-dayer on Saturday 6th May, the same weekend on which it used
to traditionally sit. Following that there’s a big reunion in Finsbury Park,
London, as well as the yearly return of Suncebeat, Southport’s Croatian
disco holiday in the sun from 19th to 26th July.
With Kerri Chandler headlining both the latter two events and the likes of
Tony Humphries, Derrick Carter and David Morales — all the usual crop of
high-class house and disco talent (check this month’s Festival Guide for
more details) — dedicated lovers of the “world’s friendliest festival” are
about to get very, very friendly with each other once again!
honoured to be part of the Southport Weekender
event at Finsbury Park in June. This [the reunion]
promises to be an iconic event.”
FRANKIE KNUCKLES (RIP)
PAUL
‘TROUBLE’ ANDERSON
THE SOULFUL HOUSE PIONEER SAYS IT’S SWEET
THE LATE-GREAT GODFATHER OF HOUSE LOVED
IT DEARLY
“SPW has definitely been one of the highlights
of my 40-year career as a DJ. Being invited
to play at such an exclusive event on so many
occasions has always given me the confidence
that I’m doing the right thing, musically. And to
be included amongst the luminaries that make
up the history of SPW makes me feel real special.
Happy anniversary Southport Weekender! Keep
on keepin’ on!”
GRAEME
PARK
THE HACIENDA DON STILL TOTALLY DIGS THE
WEEKENDER
“I played the first ever Southport Weekender
and was a permanent fixture there twice a
year for over a decade. I have some amazing
memories of what was always an up for it crowd
who partied hard from the moment they arrived
in the North-West on the Friday, right up until
they limped home licking their wounds after a
massive weekend of dunked up soulful grooves.
I made friends for life there, so I’m thrilled and
052 djmag.com
Playing on the boat was so special. And the
evening party at Barbarella’s was the closer. I
want to congratulate Southport Weekender on
their 30 years of representing house music.”
“Well, well, well, what can one say who has been
privileged and blessed to perform at many of the
Southport Weekenders, from the beginning to
present day. Other than I am truly grateful and
thankful to all at Southport — in particular Alex,
Jonathan and the punters — for this opportunity.
For so long it’s been a wonderful journey and
one which I cherish and is close to my heart.
Southport holds some of my fondest memories
throughout my DJing career. Long may they
continue. Thanks for the memories.”
DAVID
MORALES
HOUSE MUSIC ROYALTY ALSO THINKS THE
FESTIVAL’S A HIT
“Southport Weekender was always about true
house music. I’ve always enjoyed their events
because it’s always been about the music. I feel
honoured that after all these years I am still
a part of Southport Weekender. My favourite,
of course, is Southport Weekender in Croatia.
GREG
WILSON
THE DISCO RE-EDIT KING AND DJ RATES IT
“Southport is the glue between past and present.
It’s born out of the jazz-funk of distant memory,
but always has its eye on the next phase,
understanding both heritage and the need
to move forward — a balance that’s given the
Weekender such impressive longevity. It’s a living
legend of an event.”
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2017
Roni Size
Kenny Dope & Bob Jones
Jocelyn Brown
Jamelia
Gilles Peterson
David Morales
Dreem Teem & Frankie Knuckles
in a relaxed environment — some you may have
met before, others not, but no-one’s going to get
annoyed when a stranger starts talking nonsense
in your ear at the bar. As a DJ I’ve had some of my
happiest moments playing the music I love to a
crowd who also love it at SPW.”
TONY
HUMPHRIES
THE NYC LEGEND LIKES IT LIKE NO OTHER
“Southport Weekender showcases the highest
standard of soulful artists and DJs. It is one of
the most credible longest running soulful events
in the world of dance music. The prestige of the
event brings a lot of pleasure and pressure both
at the same time — the big stage is serious stuff
and takes a week preparation for a two-hour set.
The best sets are replayed for months and years.”
JOEY
NEGRO
THE RESPECTED UK DISCO DJ RESPECTS IT TOO
“Southport Weekender is a unique event which
can be hard to describe to someone who has
never attended. Of course, a big part of it is
that it is somewhere you hear great new and old
music from right across the dance/soul/jazz
spectrum. However, there is also a definite sense
of community at Southport — it’s a place to have
a good laugh with friendly, like-minded people
Pics: COLIN W
Tony Humphries
MR
SCRUFF
THE KEEP IT UNREAL STALWART UNDERSTANDS
THEY KEEP IT REAL
“I have great memories of Southport Weekender.
Brilliant crowd, great mix of people and a fine mix
of music. I used to really enjoy the Jazz Dance
sessions and the terribly named but musically
sublime Connoisseurs Corner. Growing up
listening to a lot of the music played there in the
‘80s, it was a real honour years later to be able to
play alongside some of the DJs who inspired me
as a youngster.”
OSUNLADE
YORUBA HOUSE MASTER MAINTAINS IT’S MAGIC
“Southport Weekender has been one of the most
important events I’ve had the pleasure of sharing
in my years of music. The quality of music as well
as the family of peers I’ve had moments with and
those I’ve connected with have become some of
the most important ones in my life. It’s amazing
that this vision has been 28 years of quality
music... Congratulations!”
djmag.com 053
MIAMI MUSIC
MARATHON
Miami Music Week saw thousands of electronic music lovers descending
on the Florida city for some intense networking and partying in the
sunshine. The DJ Mag crew were present in full effect — here’s what we
got up to…
Words: ROB MCCALLUM, CARL LOBEN Pics: DADDY'S GOT SWEETS
A
fter relatively painless entry
through customs, action for the
DJ Mag crew begins on Tuesday
evening with Doorly & Friends
at the 1 Hotel Rooftop, which
involves some nifty back-to-back
action with Skream, Kolsch and
Solardo. Then it was all about the DJ Mag Poolside
Session at midday Wednesday. The all-star line-up,
combined with great weather and an immensely upfor it crowd, has The Raleigh Hotel’s outside space
rocking from lunchtime until midnight.
Dutchman Franky Rizardo kicks off proceedings
with some cool deep house before making way for
Lauren Lane. The LA-based spinner lays down some
underground house grooves that begin to get the
crowd moving — those who aren’t batting DJ Mag
beach balls around the pool, that is!
Sam Divine, the Defected affiliate with her own D-Vine
Sounds label, then steps up and switches the sound
a bit more chunky. As boyfriend Hatcha, the dubstep
pioneer, larks around backstage with the DJ Mag
team, Solardo step up next looking relatively dressed
down — for them. With James sporting a dark green
shirt and Mark a grey vest-top with a red and white
chequered pattern on the back, this was a less garish
look for the UK duo — but they let their rolling, rumpshakin’ grooves do the talking, which included a
judiciously selected ‘U Don’t Know Me’ by Armand Van
Helden and their edit of Mylo’s ‘Drop The Pressure’.
Darius Syrossian keeps the sounds on a pumpin’ techy
level, and then US hotshot Billy Kenny gets the crowd
going with a party selection that includes some speed
garage and even a bit of The Prodigy.
mistaking the popularity of this electronic music
phenomenon.
Former Top 100 DJs poll winners Dimitri Vegas & Like
Mike close the night in style, literally smashing it out
of the park. With Chuckle jumping on the mic at one
point to vibe up the crowd and dozens of fans joining
them onstage to party, the atmosphere is explosive
Lauren Lane & Sam Divine
Dannic
LAUREN
LANE
“I think Miami is still
relevant, if you look at all
the talent on all the line-ups
everyone from around the
world is still coming here and
playing. There’s a lot of other
festivals now in North America so maybe some of
the attention and focus has been elsewhere, but I
think people still love to come to Miami — it’s a fun
place to be.”
SAM
DIVINE
“How would I sell Miami
Music Week to someone
that’s never been? It never
changes. You get to hang
out with all your buddies,
the parties are rammed,
the music is hot and the
weather is beautiful. It’s
like Ibiza on steroids!”
DARIUS
SYROSSIAN
“Why do I love coming back
to Miami? I’ve been here
about 10 times to play in
total. I stopped coming as it
seemed to have a bit of a dip
in popularity in recent years,
but lots of people are back
out here, so it seems to be having a resurgence.
There’s so many great artists coming again and the
parties have been incredible. It’s good to see it
back on the map.”
BILLY
KENNY
“What made me want to hit
Miami Music Week this year?
Are you kidding me? Anyone
that’s been here will get
it. It’s sunny as fuck. The
parties. The crowd. If I’m
not back next year I’ll be
very upset.”
Oliver Heldens at the controls
Dannic eschews his regular EDM sound to play a house
set that takes in bouncy, squelchy electro-house and
classics like Shakedown’s ’At Night’, Oliver $’s ‘Pushin’
On’ and a Technotronic ’Pump Up The Jam’ snippet,
getting on the mic himself to vibe up the crowd,
and then March cover star Oliver Heldens begins
dropping some future house bombs that sees the
throng literally roaring. Finishing with his mash-up of
Pig&Dan’s techno missive with Abba’s ‘Voulez Vous’,
it’s a triumphant set from the Dutchman — cementing
his place in the big league.
The backstage guest area is cleared for the arrival
of masked marauder Marshmello. Arriving in a
Lamborghini at the back gate, he’s quickly ushered
onto the stage — to the delight of hundreds of his
adoring fans. Dropping some of his saccharine
trappy bombs, helmet on throughout, his identity
may remain a closely guarded secret but there’s no
djmag.com 055
and our 2017 Miami Poolside Session rounds off in
style.
Could this have been our best Miami party yet?
The Raleigh is a great venue, and the crowd were
amazing. Assorted international DJs like Pete Tong,
Paul Oakenfold and Kevin Sanderson dropped by to
say hello backstage, and the DJ Mag crew headed
off happy into the night. You can catch up with most
of the sets that were streamed live on our Facebook
page.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
SWANKY
After a quick hotel pit-stop, we head off to Basement
for DJ Harvey and Seth Troxler. Situated literally in
the basement of the swanky Miami Beach Edition
hotel, we arrive just as DJ Harvey is leaving the joint.
We try to persuade the legendary figure to jump back
on the decks, but he was done — taking off into the
night.
Moving onto the dancefloor, Seth’s deep in the
mix, spinning tracks including Loni Clark’s ‘Rushing
(Mood II Swing dub)’ and Terrence Parker’s ‘Spiritual
Warfare’. He’s dressed in a leopard-print shirt
in a neon-lit room flanked by leather-clad stage
performers. It all results in a distinctly Studio 54
vibe, with buddies such as Dubfire, D’Julz and Eats
Everything all around to support.
The DJ Mag crew then embark on a crazy mission
downtown to catch the end of Rodrigo Viera’s
Brazilian-themed bash at Level One. Sadly the event
is over by the time we arrive, but instead of going
home we decide to check out a bar round the corner
from Space. And what a find it is!
The Corner is billed online as a “dirty hipster joint”,
but — while there are a fair few beards — it’s really
a car crash of downtown Miami culture. There’s a
friendly but quite wild vibe to it, and we decide it’s
our new favourite bar in the world. Ironically after our
miss earlier in the night, on the decks the resident has
a distinct flavour of DJ Harvey about him, mixing Italo
disco with classic rock, and even Chayell’s ‘Beach’ — a
favourite of Harvey’s in Ibiza last summer.
A couple of drinks later and we decide to check
out Space, where we get the knock-back from the
flamboyant doorman — kind of a cross between Sven
from Berghain and Jake Shears from the Scissor
Sisters — cos one of our crew is wearing flip-flops.
After humorously trying to blag shoes off departing
punters in Claptone masks, we decide to call it a
night.
Thursday, and it’s time for a bit of R&R. One of our
crew raves about Sasha’s amazing poolside set.
Others go to the boat party with Cassy, James Zabiela
and Danny Howells, and manage to get absolutely
soaked by a downpour just as the boat docks and
there are no cabs to be had as the Miami basketball
game is finishing at the same time.We grab some food
and then venture out later to Honey Soundsystem’s
night at FLOYD — downtown again, in between Space
and Heart. In the art deco basement bar, to a mixed
gay crowd, Kim Ann Foxman is laying down some cool
electro-tinged grooves while the San Francisco cratediggers hang out at the bar before spinning.We zip
back to The Corner for a quick fix of its Glastonbury
backstage bar vibes before heading into Heart. We
zoom straight up to the Sci+Tec floor, where nice man
Dubfire turns temporarily into a bartender and fixes
us some strong vodkas from his rider.
One of his proteges, SHADED, is doing a live set — and
it’s awesome. The way the Californian surfer dude
builds it up from a stripped-back affair into supreme
funky tech is exquisite. Watch out for this kid. Kenny
Glasgow takes over, but we’re being called to Paradise
at Space next door.
056 djmag.com
Dubfire serves up
We arrive at Space just in time to catch a great set
from one of our favourite DJs, like, ever — Green
Velvet. And he delivers with aplomb. ‘Flash’ has
the “Cameras ready, prepare to flash” hook filtered
and fucked up like crazy, while ‘La La Land’ —
subsequently stolen from him by Hollywood for the
title of a mediocre musical — is triumphant. Speaking
through his headphones in a warped vocal as the sun
rises over the Space terrace proves to be a highlight
of the week.
Despite DJ Mag editor Carl Loben going on about how
much the Space Terrace has changed since Tenaglia’s
marathon sessions there 15 years ago (something
about car parks?), Jamie Jones expertly lays down
some strange sampladelic weirdness over his sexy
disco-tech as silver-painted dancers cavort on
podiums and lasers dissect the stifling air. Paradise
lays claim to one of the wildest parties of the week.
Paradise was continuing for half of the next day, but
we’re done for the night by dawn.
Seth Troxler at Basement
Cassy
On a blustery day, others from DJ Mag go to tINI & the
Gang on the Biscayne Lady Yacht, while Hector takes
Stacey Pullen, Cassy, D’Julz and more down to The
National Hotel for his Vatos Locos party.
The DJ Mag UK crew reunites again at a rooftop
party on top of the Townhouse Hotel in South
Beach — bumping into Danny Howells again on the
way in — and then head off to Ultra Music Festival.
Entrance to the mega-event is pretty smooth, and we
climb aboard the press boat to grab a drink before
beginning a tour of the site.
The Oasis stage is the first area we come across, and
the tropical house vibes and daisy-age decor supply
an immediate feelgood factor in the sunshine.
Continuing to wander, we run into the Resistance
Megastructure that’s being hosted by a certain chap
by the name of Carl Cox. An enormodrome enclosed
by huge big screens on three sides, Italian don Joseph
Capriati is making the discerning crowd get their
groove on with some of his trademark big-room ‘drop’
Ultra Music Festival in full flow
SOLARDO STORM
SOUTH BEACH
techno. The graphics on the visuals are next-level
computer game amazing — symbolic of Ultra’s high
production values all round — and we’re captivated
for a wee while before continuing our tour of the site.
Surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers, it’s amazing
how Ultra jams so much into the comparatively small
Bayfront Park. The crowd certainly appreciate its
comparative intimacy — the site doesn’t seem any
bigger than SW4 Festival on a portion of Clapham
Common, meaning you can walk anywhere in five
minutes. And people seem to be having the time
of their lives… ‘My mum thinks I’m at work’ reads
one sign held up by a candy raver in front of the
main stage where Tchami — dressed as a vicar — is
detonating EDM/future house bombs, and lots of
ravers have made a real effort to dress in luminous
day-glo attire, funny costumes, outrageous faceprint
or comedy t-shirts.
We spiral around to the Arcadia Spider, a new addition
to Ultra in the past couple of years — programmed
this year by the Resistance crew. Arcadia, of course,
first sprouted legs at Glastonbury, an inspirational
initiative that grew out of the festival’s associated
counter-culture. Influenced by the Mutoid Waste
Company’s way of making sci-fi cyberpunk art out of
recycled materials, the Arcadia Spider is built from
various unwanted Customs & Excise scanning units
and bits of old aeroplanes and has been a focal point
at Glasto for a few years before setting off on tour. It’s
a smart move by Ultra to cherry-pick this wonderful
festival spectacle, and we arrive there just as Maya
Jane Coles takes over from Technasia from up inside
the Spider’s head. Maya — her name flashed up on
the InterContinental Hotel that looms in front of
the high rise behind her — starts quite deep before
ramping it up, and the crowd shriek with delight as
sporadic flame-throwing pyros warm the cheeks.
Then it starts to rain.
What gwan? We thought this was Miami? But rain
has been a significant factor this week, although it
feels tropical as the temperature is still 80-degrees.
Ravers try to take cover under the few trees the park
possesses, but at the main stage trance uber-god
Armin van Buuren has taken the helm — with a huge
flaming ‘A’ behind him — to deliver some emotive yet
banging trance to a full house.
The rest of Ultra is a bit of a blur but involves Carl Cox,
Martin Garrix and some pretty random conversations,
and we head out into the city to catch an Uber to
avoid the crowds right at the end.
TWERKS
Arriving at Richie Hawtin’s PLAYDifferently party
at Space later that night, held to showcase his
groundbreaking new mixer, we discover that Richie
isn’t on until 9am. Victor Calderone is warming up
the Terrace nicely with some hard tech, playing quite
differently to his usual houser affair. We run into Ferry
Corsten and start bantering with him about when we
can expect a Ferry techno set. He counters by doing
some nifty ‘techno fish’ dancing, and then twerks.
FERRY CORSTEN ACTUALLY TWERKS! Who knew? We
dare him to repeat his moves on the Ultra main stage
the following day, and he laughs knowingly…
Inside, Master At Work Louie Vega and house ledge
David Morales are on a freestyle b2b mission,
dropping assorted baile funk and Latin-themed
beatscapes, which makes a refreshing change.
Unfortunately we don’t have time to wait until 9am.
After a fly-by visit to OWSLA’s party at Studio 23,
where Justin James, Joyryde and more play to a
capacity crowd, we move down to HYTE, which offers
arguably the highlight of the night — the promoter’s
production at the Mana Wynwood impeccable as ever.
Behind a wall of lasers, man of the moment Black
Coffee offers a set that demonstrates why the South
African is rapidly establishing himself as one of the
world’s finest selectors, using the Laolu remix of Dele
Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra’s ‘Too Much Information’
as a delirious centre-point. Loco Dice and Luciano
have big boots to fill following, but their impeccable
selection of tribal-tinged big-room tech is the perfect
way to end the night.
Saturday daytime is all about more pool parties.
We head first to Dirtybird at the Delano, where DJ
Mag is live-streaming, and Brit DJ/producer Jesse
Rose is warming up the faithful early doors with
a well-crafted house set. Chatting to him after he
finishes, we can’t believe he’s retiring soon — how
can someone who’s had his level of success give it all
up just like that?
Honey Dijon is up next, and swiftly becomes one of
our new favourite DJs. Flitting between bases in New
York and Berlin, she rocks it — throwing a bit of Prince
and Michael Jackson into the mix for good measure.
Walker & Royce step up and it starts raining. The New
York duo power on, twiddling with the decks under a
waterproof polythene sheet while Claude VonStroke
looks on paternally.
We skip down the road to the Stanton Warriors Punks
pool party at the Albion, immediately encountering
Deekline on the decks dropping breakbeat garage
Despite their continuing runaway success in the
UK — which saw them emerge as winners of the
Best Breakthrough DJs gong at DJ Mag’s Best
Of British awards last year — Solardo emerge as
the surprise package of Miami Music Week 2017.
That isn’t to sell the Manchester duo’s impressive
stature short, but witnessing every party Solardo
play at MMW descend into utter chaos throughout
the seven days they spend in Florida has
cemented their place at dance music’s top table.
As well as bossing our Poolside Sessions party
at The Raleigh, the duo played Jamie Jones’
Paradise, Carl Cox’s Resistance after-party, Claude
VonStroke’s Birdhouse party, Cajual vs Relief with
Green Velvet, Toolroom in Stereo, and Doorly &
Friends. They’re everywhere! We half expect them
to start DJing in the diner we hit after Ultra one
day. Watching the pair go b2b with Green Velvet
on the final night of MMW, it’s hard to believe
their breakthrough came as recently as 2015 with
Ibiza anthem ‘It’s A New Jam’.
“Everything kicked off so quickly for us over the
space of 18 months, it still feels insane to be
here,” James Solardo smiles as he drinks a beer
backstage at the Delano Hotel, shortly after
playing b2b Skream. “The accolades we got at
the end of last year were amazing, and we’ve
been so busy in the UK — but now we want to go
everywhere.”
Judging by the reaction in Miami, what they’re
doing already has gone everywhere. When DJ
Mag walks down a street in Miami Beach after our
Poolside Sessions, the Solardo boys are mobbed
by fans. “It’s incredible,” Mark Solardo laughs.
“We’re just a couple of dicks from Manchester!”
Despite their self-depreciative humour, the
pair feel they’ve hit US dancefloors at a good
time. “There’s a big gap in the US market for the
tech-house sound that’s huge in Europe,” James
Solardo says as he sets down his beer. “In the US
market it hasn’t fully boomed yet. But it will.”
Tracks like ‘Tribesmen’ continue to melt
dancefloors on impact, but DJ Mag unsuccessfully
tries to identify many of the tracks the pair play
through the week at MMW. “The majority of our
sets are made up of unreleased music,” Mark
Solardo explains. “That’s the exciting thing about
tech-house: DJs aren’t just dropping existing
big tunes. People are receptive to hearing new
music, which makes it really exciting for DJs. It’s
great for tech-house as a whole too, as it pushes
the music forward and drives desire from young
producers.”
Forthcoming on Solardo’s SOLA label is an EP from
London-based duo MANT, before the next Solardo
EP drops in May, with material from Leicester-pair
Pax and Yorkshire duo Del-30 also in the pipeline.
djmag.com 057
bombs. We check in with Dom and Mark Stanton, a bit
worse for wear from the night before, and skip around
to some of the stripped-down Punks-style breakbeat
that the Stantons have been pushing on their label
with such dynamism of late.
Hugely talented German DJ/producer Marten Horger
takes over the controls, but we’re being called back
to the Delano for Solardo vs Skream at Dirtybird. The
live-streamed b2b session sends DJ Mag’s socials into
meltdown, the packed-out crowd into rapture, and
the Solardo boys’ domination of Miami Music Week’s
tech-house parties is complete (see box out).
Unfortunately, rain mars Claude VonStroke’s set,
where only a few die-hard faithful remain as a
storm rips into the Delano Hotel’s pool area. He
demonstrates his wicked sense of humour though,
with the timely addition of his own Dirtybird-signed
‘The Rain Break’.
After the party, DJ Mag seeks refuge from the rain
in Sweet Liberty, billed as Miami Beach’s “hippest
haunt”. Once the deluge eases it’s down to one of the
week’s most talked-about parties — Damian Lazarus’
Get Lost.
With its line-up under wraps until just hours before it
kicks off — and reading something like a Christmas
list of underground house and techno when it does
drop — Get Lost has returned to Little River Studios
for the second time in as many years. With set times
unannounced, it’s hard to know where to head at the
event. However, as the name suggests, Get Lost isn’t
about a carefully planned itinerary.
After the outdoor stages come to a close the party is
reduced to two dimly-lit rooms connected by a small
door. The bigger of the two is dominated by a series of
lasers, while the smoke-filled second is packed with
high ceilings. The party is quite simply the closest to
the madness of Circoloco at DC-10 you can get without
hitting the White Isle, but also a colossal event all of
its own.
In the bigger room Black Coffee returns with another
impeccable set of chunky-as-hell house music, before
Jackmaster rolls out a set of techno that feels like it
could register on the Richter scale. Lazarus b2b Art
Department close Get Lost with a fitting set to end
24-hours of partying, utilising mind-bending leftfield
selections including the Supermayer Lost In The
Tiergarten remix of Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Tiergarten’
and I-Robots’ ‘Spacer Woman (Oxtongue Version)’,
before finishing on the classic disco of Chic’s ‘I Want
Your Love’, which sends the crowd into delirious
celebration.
CONFETTI
Sunday. With just one day to go, the remainder of the
DJ Mag crew head over to Maxine’s Bistro and Bar,
opting for another round of Buffalo wings and burger
to recharge before Elrow’s shindig at Mana Wynwood
— which is most likely the coolest location of all of
Miami Music Week’s parties. In a setting surrounded
by graffiti and warehouse complexes, Elrow’s
phenomenal production sees a small but up-for-it
crowd bring the sun down with wAFF, Paco Osuna and
Pan-Pot as well as a lot of inflatables and confetti.
We then move over to E11EVEN hotel in Downtown
for the Resistance after-party, which sees Eats
Everything b2b Jackmaster b2b Nic Fanciulli, Lee
Foss b2b Skream b2b wAFF and more. At the start of
the night Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones are seen on
stage, doubtless celebrating another successful MMW,
while Carl Cox is also later seen sipping champagne
backstage, toasting a successful first year of his
Resistance concept at Ultra — which saw more than
165,000 attendees pass through its production-heavy
stages, and arrests and medical incidents down 50%
on 2016, a trend that’s been steadily decreasing since
2013.
But DJ Mag isn’t quite done. We head back into the
night towards Trade, where the Solardo lads are also
celebrating taking Miami Music Week by storm, this
time b2b with Detlef at Green Velvet’s closing party.
After the trio are finished the Chicago legend steps
up to play a set that rivals his masterclass at Paradise
earlier in the week, dropping a series of his own
productions on one of Miami’s biggest systems, as
well as two unreleased Solardo tracks.
As DJ Mag leaves the party, the trio are being
photographed together at the decks, quaffing
champagne — a fitting way to end a week of intense
parties in Floridian paradise.
wAFF at Elrow
Jackmaster plays Get Lost
LOST & FOUND
DAMIAN LAZARUS
Damian Lazarus is sat backstage at his
marathon Miami Music Week party Get Lost,
draped in an orange and black Aztec print
shawl. Around 12-hours into the 24-hour
shindig, he’s surrounded by the most vibrantly
dressed party people in attendance at MMW.
The stacked line-up sees over 40 artists spin
across its four rooms, including Ellen Allien,
Kenny Glasgow, D’Julz, Jackmaster, Art
Department, wAFF, Thugfucker and, of course,
Lazarus himself.
“It will always be remembered for its pure
hedonistic abandonment, for its diverse
entertainment,” he explains of Get Lost. “We
aim to bring together the best party-heads
from around the world and the best artists in
the global electronic underground for 24 hours
of madness and joy.”
A team of around 50 people put Get Lost
together with Lazarus, and their vision
creates one of the standout parties of Miami
Music Week. “When we discovered Little River
Studios, we knew that this was a place where
we would have the space to create something
very special,” he smiles.
And he’s not wrong. During the daytime,
DJs spin on the outdoor stage in front of
the space’s buildings — which serve as
photography studios for the rest of the year
— before things head inside for the witching
hour. “We want open-minded souls that leave their
ego and baggage at the door,“ Lazarus explains
of the crowd. “All artists are invited by me
personally. Everyone is equal, and everyone
brings their best to the event.”
The only changes Lazarus says he may make
to Get Lost next year is to extend its running
time, which peaks at 26 hours in 2017.
Now in its 12th year, the party has seen
Miami Music Week change to become almost
unrecognisable from when Lazarus first started
Get Lost, but the Crosstown Rebels boss is clear
on his sentiments to any doubters of what
MMW has become.
“America needs a week-long playground for
electronic music, where there are parties
happening at every moment of the day and
night for seven days,” he explains. “Miami has
great weather, an open attitude to raving and
partying and it boasts some amazing clubs,
warehouse spaces, boats and dive bars, where
it is possible to hang out and hear great music
at all times.”
Catching up with Lazarus at the end of the
party, DJ Mag asks him what was special about
this year? “Everybody survived,” he smiles,
before taking off into the sunrise.
058 djmag.com
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“I think techno has more
to do with an attitude
than the instruments
or equipment you
use, so even though
‘Versus’ uses traditional
instruments, it’s still a
techno album.”
CARL CRAIG
060 djmag.com
O RIN
C H THE
E S TZONE
RA
Carl Craig, one of the most important artists in techno, has been working with
an orchestra to breathe new life into some of his back catalogue classics. He
debuted the resulting ‘Versus’ album at DJ Mag HQ the other week, and this
labour of love is about to be unleashed onto the world, along with some live
shows too, featuring six musicians — including Carl himself — all playing
synthesizers. DJ Mag caught up with him on the phone from Miami to hear all
about how this collaborative project came to be realised…
E
Words: RICHARD BROPHY Pics: EMMANUEL RASTOIN & PIERRE TERDJMAN
lectronic music evolves at a rapid pace, but
sometimes the most radical changes happen
slowly. In the case of Carl Craig’s new album,
’Versus’, nearly a decade has gone by since the
initial concept took shape on a stage in Paris.
In spite of this long gestation period, the
Detroit producer’s latest long-player will surely
be one of 2017’s landmark albums. More importantly though, it
marks a significant development for the techno form as it dovetails
seamlessly with classical music.
The origins of ‘Versus’ can be traced back to a one-off live show in
2008, when Craig performed in Paris with Les Siècles Orchestra,
conducted by François-Xavier Roth. Also treading the boards
during that fateful event was Basic Channel founder Moritz von
Oswald and Francesco Tristano, who has worked with Craig on a
variety of releases over the years.
So why did it take so long for Craig, the orchestra and his long-term
collaborator Tristano — who arranged all of the tracks on ‘Versus’
— to put together the album? “We started out working on this a
long, long time ago, it’s been a work in progress for many years,”
Craig explains to DJ Mag over a crackling FaceTime connection the
afternoon after a gig at the Winter Music Conference in Miami.
“There was a lot of preparation involved because we needed so
much time to tweak and perfect it. Also, I wanted the project to be
as perfect as possible before it came out. Working with the orchestra
meant that we could have all the different parts separated. It
allowed for more manipulation than if it was all together in one
room,” he adds.
ROOTS
This approach is a long way from Craig’s roots, and he admits that
working on ‘Versus’ was “a big learning curve. This was the first time
that I had ever done something like this. I have been involved with
projects like The Detroit Experiment, Urban Tribe and Innerzone
Orchestra over the years where I wasn’t working alone, but with
these projects, I was closer to the type of music production that I’m
used to,” he points out.
Unlike those collaborations, ‘Versus’ evolved from a live performance
and not off the back of studio sessions. The tracks that feature on
the album are derived mainly from Craig’s extensive back catalogue
and include classics like ‘At Les’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Domina’, alongside a
series of interludes and, somewhat conspicuously, Tristano’s ‘The
Melody’ track re-imagined by Les Siècles Orchestra. “‘Melody’ is
included because we did it as part of the live performance [in 2008].
Every piece that is on the album was performed live,” Craig tells DJ
Mag.
Originally released in 2008, ‘The Melody’ was also the first Tristano
arrangement that Craig remixed. It started a creative relationship
that has flourished over the intervening years, with the Planet
E owner citing the Luxembourg pianist’s role as being central to
the production of ‘Versus’. “It was important from the beginning
that the project would involve Francesco. He has an intimate
relationship with the orchestra, and I don’t. He has a clear idea of
what a violin can do, and I don’t,” Carl explains.
“He knows how to take the solo from ‘Desire’ and transform it from
a solo originally done using a synth to one with a violin. I’d just
walk in with computer print-outs and say, ‘Hey guys, can we make it
sound like this?’ and that just wouldn’t work (laughs).”
Craig is also refreshingly honest about the recording process and
says that Tristano shielded him from any possible dissent within the
orchestra. “There was tons of tension,” he reveals. “With Francesco
and I it’s always smooth sailing, but when someone comes between
us, that’s when the tension happened.”
Nonetheless, he says that he was willing to be guided by the
orchestra and he had no problem assuming the new role of pupil.
“It was a very new situation for me. I had to let the conductor be the
boss, but I was totally open to that. I have a bit of history following
a conductor, as I was a musician as a kid. I can’t be boss all the time
(laughs), you just gotta swallow your ego and be a follower rather
than a leader. I had no problem with it because it’s really important
for artists to be the pupil and not always the teacher, to learn from
the experiences of others,” he says.
Certainly, his willingness to allow others to take the lead has paid
off. ‘Versus’ is unique in that it maps out a new, seamless fusion
of techno and classical music. On the new version of 2005’s
‘Darkness’, it is impossible to tell where the acoustic elements end
and the electronic components start as Craig and his collaborators
fuse dramatic strings and a mechanical, metallic groove to create a
shimmeringly futuristic new version.
“I get what you’re saying about ‘Darkness’ — the whole album
is that way,” he says. “Part of what I wanted to achieve with
‘Versus’ was to get to the point where you would not be able to
tell the difference between where the traditional instruments and
electronic equipment starts and ends. It didn’t need to be like a
battle between the acoustic and electronic, the opposite was the
case — I wanted it to be seamless.”
djmag.com 061
NEW FORMS
Elsewhere, other Craig classics assume new forms. ‘At
Les’, the beautifully melancholic deep techno track,
which originally appeared on 1997’s ‘More Songs
About Food & Revolutionary Art’ album, features a
four-minute opening section that features strings,
woodwind and flutes building up until rolling drums
and a buzzing bass bring it to a thrilling crescendo.
Similarly on 2004’s ‘Sandstorms’, piano key stabs and
raucous brass give way to a pulsing bass and tough
kicks. “When we performed it [‘At Les’] with the orchestra, it
became this epic piece as opposed to the dreamy piece
that you know from the album,” Carl explains. “A lot
of the original pieces turned into these party tracks
— ‘Sandstorms’ and ‘Domina’ were like that, and I was
happy that they turned out that way. They became the
kind of tracks that you could have on while you are
having a good time,” he says.
One of the underlying principles driving ‘Versus’
is its author’s willingness to re-interpret some of
his benchmark records. However, many people see
tracks like ‘Desire’ and ‘Domina’ representing the
highest watermark in techno, the closest one can
get to perfection. While ‘Desire’ is the subject of a
particularly impressive rework — sensuous strings and
sonorous piano unravelling over a gentle backbeat —
what would Craig say to fans who feel that these tracks
should not have been tampered with?
“Of course everyone has their own opinion and is
entitled to it, but these are my pieces of music, my
tracks,” he says in a slightly defensive tone. “It’s like
when you dress yourself — you don’t need to dress
like when you did when you were a kid, what you wear
needs to grow as you grow and become an adult.”
Carl is at pains to point out that everyone involved in
the project was sensitive towards the heritage and
calibre of the original material involved. “Sometimes
an artist updating their catalogue can sound very
corny, and we were all conscious of not sounding
sounding corny. But by doing these tracks with
Francesco and the orchestra, it meant it felt like we
062 djmag.com
were doing them in a proper, respectful manner,”
Craig feels. “Sometimes this [doing new versions of old songs]
really works out very well,” he points out. “For
example, I was looking recently for the original
version of a song called ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve
Got’. It was originally performed by [soul/R&B
singer-songwriter] William deVaughn and then later
by Massive Attack, but while I was searching for the
original, I found that deVaughn had done a more
recent version and his new spin on it was really cool.”
ORCHESTRAL
While working in a new way, Craig still kept his focus
on existing material. Given that he was performing
and producing in this environment, was he not
tempted to record new material with them? “When
we first performed ‘Versus’ back in 2008, there could
have been pieces written then, but not all of my music
is transferrable to that format. The next ‘Versus’ could
look at that [new material] and it’s certainly in the
back of my mind,” he points out, while explaining that
there were other considerations as to why they didn’t
produce new music.
“At the time when we did the show, I didn’t know if any
recording would be with the same orchestra or with
different performers,” he continues. “I also wanted
to take the project on the road to see how that would
work out. The thing is that working with orchestras is
quite different to touring as a DJ. It requires a lot more
preparation and planning, and many orchestras are
likely to be booked up in advance for two years. We are
definitely going to do live shows for the album and we
have about 10 gigs already planned with just synths
— there may be some orchestral performances,” Carl
says.
‘Versus’ is a long, long way from the Detroit producer’s
roots, but it is also a logical progression both for Craig
and for techno generally. DJ Mag asks him if he feels
that working with classical musicians, conductors and
orchestras means that techno music has developed
into a very ‘grown-up’ form? “You know, techno
has always been typecast as being made just with
drum machines, with 909s and 808s, but that’s only
because the guys who were starting out had no other
devices or equipment available, so that’s what they
used at the time,” he explains.
“I have always used different ways to make music,
from my BFC project, which was mainly sample-based,
to my Psyche project, where I used MIDI,” he adds. “I
think techno has more to do with an attitude than the
instruments or equipment you use, so even though
‘Versus’ uses traditional instruments, it’s still a techno
album.”
Carl also contrasts the proscriptive strictures that
techno is boxed in by with the freeform approach
afforded to other music styles. “Questioning a techno
producer is the same as saying to a band, ‘Well, that
isn’t really a rock album because your musicians are
using a certain type of drum or guitar’. How stupid
would that sound?” he asks, incredulously.
JAZZ
Craig has form when it comes to pushing electronic
music’s boundaries. ‘Bug In The Bassbin’, his 1992
track as Innerzone Orchestra, was one of jungle’s
earliest iterations, and he teased out this sound
further with a series of mind-blowing live shows
later on that decade. This writer has especially fond
memories of watching Innerzone Orchestra perform
as a fully-fledged jazz band in the Detroit tent at
1997’s Tribal Gathering in Luton.
“Innerzone Orchestra — that was a major experiment
for me as an artist,” Craig recalls. “To have these
amazing jazz musicians, people like [UK saxophonist]
Alan Barnes and the drummer Francisco Mora
(formerly of the Sun Ra Arkestra) play with you and
to bring them to a club gig, everything you thought
about techno gets blown away — you are defying
expectations of what techno is about,” he adds.
Given his past experiments, it’s not surprising that he
believes the type of collaboration on ‘Versus’ should
have come about much sooner than it did. “Yeah, I
mean it is something that could have happened much
earlier, especially with [Derrick May’s techno opus]
‘Strings Of Life’,” he says. “It is a shame that it didn’t
happen 30 years ago, but I guess the understanding
wasn’t really there at the time for techno in that world
(of orchestras and classical music). There were some
classical musicians who worked with Aphex Twin at the
time, but ‘Strings Of Life’ didn’t really cross over to a
wider audience until Francesco released his version
[in 2006].”
In more recent times, this kind of collaboration has
become more commonplace. Apart from Craig’s
project, Actress and Jeff Mills have worked with
classical musicians and Goldie has used the Heritage
Orchestra to re-do both ’Timeless’ and his new
forthcoming album ‘The Journey Man’, while at the
more clubby end of the spectrum, Graeme Park and
Mike Pickering have collaborated with an orchestra
to reinterpret big tracks from the legendary Hacienda
club as ‘Hacienda Classical’.
Like Craig, Mills has worked with orchestras for the
best part of a decade. What does Craig make of his
fellow Detroit native’s work in this area? “Jeff is a
visionary; he has been a trail-blazer in the integration
of techno music and classical, but the direction he
headed in is different to mine,” Carl believes.
“Jeff’s approach is one man, one drum machine and
an orchestra, whereas mine is more collaborative. I
think what I do has more of a band attitude, rather
than Jeff’s idea to use a drum machine to work with
an orchestra.”
CONVERTED
Taking this approach is likely to demystify Craig’s
music and introduce it to many, but does he feel there
is also a danger that ‘Versus’ will be preaching to the
converted, e.g. a techno audience?
“I believe there will be a wider audience, there will be
people who will want to see what it is really about. They
might love electronic music but are also curious about
what it sounds like or works like with an orchestra,” he
says, and points out that it may inspire some people to
explore Detroit techno’s rich heritage.
“I hope that it’ll interest people of all types, people
who want to advance themselves musically,” he
continues. “It just depends on how much someone
wants to learn more about it. My hope is that people
who hear ‘Versus’ and like it will do some background
checks, they will go to Wikipedia and Discogs and find
out about Detroit, Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin
Saunderson. They just need to have an inquisitive
mind.”
Craig adds that when he was younger, a thirst
for finding out more also drove him to engage in
extensive research. The key difference back then were
his methods. “When I was young, before the internet
existed, I found out about a lot of music by looking at
the back of B52’s, Parliament or Funkadelic records,”
he says. “You see all the people involved and then as
time goes by, you stumble across a record in a store
and then you remember, ‘Hey this guy, he was on
a Parliament record’. Nowadays, it’s like six degrees
of separation, and you can find out much faster now
than you could in the ‘80s about the ways of these
great musicians. I mean, I didn’t know for the longest
time that Junie Morrison (from Funkadelic and cowriter of ‘One Nation Under A Groove’) was also in the
Ohio Players.”
Presenting his music in this manner will invariably
open it up to a new audience. In the absence of any
new material, ‘Versus’ does focus almost exclusively
on Craig’s work from the ‘90s and early ‘00s — and its
centrepiece comprises classics like ‘Desire’, ‘Domina’
and ‘At Les’. Does he view this period in his own
catalogue and in the wider techno firmament as a
golden period? “No, I don’t think of any of it as a
golden age or period,” he feels. “If you look at Motown,
different people will say that different decades — the
‘50s, the ‘60s or the ‘70s — were the golden periods.
It’s just all great music, and there is still always the
possibility that music is going to explode.”
“Just look at hip-hop. You could say its golden period
was when Run DMC came out, or when Nas was in his
prime, or when A Tribe Called Quest put out ‘Low End
Theory’. I don’t like the idea of saying that one time
is better than another for music because it ages the
person and it ages the music — and I don’t want to fall
into that trap. There is always going to be great music,
and I don’t want to close myself off. There’s nothing
worse than someone saying, ‘This music nowadays
isn’t as good as when I was young’. It’s like, ‘Shut up
you old geezer!’”
Not that there’s anything wrong with getting old.
Having spent the best part of a decade developing a
one-off live performance into an album, Craig has no
plans to take early retirement or fade into obscurity.
While the first and second waves of Detroit techno
producers are in their 40s and 50s, Carl does not see
age as a barrier and draws inspiration from people
who have worked with music their whole lives.
“See, that’s why I respect guys like Clive Davis
(founder of Arista and J Records) and Quincy Jones,
these cats who have been in the industry for so long.
I mean Davis, he was always discovering new artists,
he was 66 at the time when he discovered Alicia Keys.
I respect these industry people who have been around
for years, say someone like Ahmet Eretegun (founder
of Atlantic Records, who signed The Doors). That is the
type of person I would like to be,” Carl says.
‘Versus’ is the latest Carl Craig experiment, and is
highly unlikely to be his last. As he says before he
heads back into the blazing Miami sun: “I am doing
this until the day I die. Even if it’s time for my hearing
to go and I’m deaf, I will find a way to still make music.
That’s just the way it is, I live and breathe what I do.”
•’Versus’ is out 5th May on InFiné
djmag.com 063
As Clark, Christopher Clark produces
rave music at its most euphoric,
vast, oddball and brain-melting.
DJ Mag catches up with the Warp
veteran to discuss Nigel Farage,
Skrillex, and vegetable puree...
Words: FELICITY MARTIN
his is the least glamorous thing to say,”
Christopher Clark says to DJ Mag at an
east London pub, surrounded by city
boys clutching their post-work pints,
“but I really value routine in music.”
It’s a surprising thing to hear from
someone whose work is so tumultuous, majestic and epic.
You imagine the producer bashing away on MPCs in a
cathedral, hands spidering over hardware, rather than
locking himself away at home for hours on end.
We’re here to talk about ‘Death Peak’, Clark’s eighth
studio album that has found a home once more on Warp
Records. In a similar vein to his last full-length, 2014’s
‘Clark’, it’s an LP that sweeps together the beauty of the
natural world, but never takes an eye off the rave. It plays
a bit like a run-through of a night out; the pounding bass
you hear before flinging the doors open, the fluttering
anticipation of what’s to come, the strobe-lit point at
which you lose yourself.
The Warp veteran, who’s been making music for 16 years
now, carved out a punishing writing schedule to make
this album. “In order to make chaotic work, you need a
sense of order in your life,” he suggests. “And music did
that. In school I was very shy and a total escapist — a
dreamer, I guess. I didn’t know what to do, and music
came along and structured my life for me. It did sort of
save me — I won’t go into it, but through some really
grief-stricken times. That’s why I love having a discipline
where you unpick things step by step and don’t get
overwhelmed. It’s weirdly divorced, actually, from my
emotions. Not to sound cold! It’s like a detached third
eye…
“That’s why when I’m writing really dark, aggressive
music I’m usually really happy!” The producer goes on
to describe how music in oppressed countries is often
really joyous (“I always find that quite remarkable”)
and Norwegian black metal (“the music of privileged,
over-weaned, snotty middle class brats, but they made
this really satanic music. Break the bourgeois system,
something like that”) really doom-laden.
NIGEL FARAGE
What does it say about himself, then, that ‘Death Peak’
feels more uplifting than dark? “It was springtime in
Australia when I was writing it,” he says. “Weather is an
influence but it just draws you into the crazy internal
weather of your mind as well, and how up and down it all
djmag.com 065
is.” While the more chaotic sections
of the album were inspired by the
recent political turmoil. “‘Un U.K’ is a
weaponised, anti-Farage anthem,” he
says. “Musically weaponised, I’m not
inciting violence. I wrote that around
Brexit — I was watching it from afar
and it was horrific. I just felt this total
rollercoaster of having your hopes
dashed right at the end. I like the
idea of Nigel Farage being stuck in a
rave, ‘cos it gets really evil at the end.
With loads of Polish people helping
him out or something, like: ‘You
alright, Nigel?’”
Throughout our conversation, Clark
cements his reputation as a bit of a
joker, and that wry smile can be felt
throughout his work. He actually
started making music to make himself
laugh. On album cut ‘Aftermath’
the harpsichord takes centre stage;
an instrument he recently wheeled
out on an edit of Bone Thugs-NHarmony’s ‘Bone, Bone, Bone’,
where he dropped the acapella over
a stabbing beat. At the beginning of
the track, Clark fictionally calls up
the hip-hop group, before playing
the harpsichord at a million miles an
hour, spiralling off into something
that’s utterly bizarre but incredible.
“That’s one of my favourite things
I’ve done!” he laughs. “I think it’s
an acquired taste, maybe… I love
harpsichords because they’re like
sawtooth waves, they’re the original
rave synths. ‘Cos there’s no dynamic,
they’re like comic book villains. But
you can make them sound really
emotional as well, if you destroy them
with tape, which is what I tend to do
to most stuff that’s problematic.”
KANYE WEST
Self-censorship, or sanitising your
work to make it more marketable,
has little appeal to Clark. “There’s
something about having quite
bombastic ideas about what art
should be, but being vulgar about it,
and making it your own by actually
going too far. I think my music
often goes too far — with, like, the
boldness of a melody, then I’ll dial
it back one percent, and I find that’s
often a real sweet-spot. I made
‘Growls Garden’ as a pisstake of a Gary
Numan track, and then I thought:
‘What happens if I put five different
sections of distortion on it?’”
This tendency to distort, or (in his
own words) “Kevin Shields” (from
My Bloody Valentine) a sound is a
compulsion of his. On ‘Hoova’ he took
a “shitty EDM synth” and gave it the
Clark treatment, putting it on tape
and using loads of distortion over it.
“Serum, it’s this synth Kanye uses. I
was like, ‘That would be funny’. It’s
funny watching Kanye in general.
I’m really into unusual combinations
of sounds — I like these really cheap
workstations but I put them on
tape and do musique concrète-style
edits. I love Delia Derbyshire, she’s
a complete hero of mine. So I was
getting these really tech-y sounds
but completely bastardising them,
066 djmag.com
simultaneously trying to cheapen
them but also trying to make them
sound elegant, so you’ve got this
complete cognitive dissonance...”
SKRILLEX
“I like Skrillex drops,” he continues.
“And Noisia I really like. There’s
always a bit in their tracks — I’m not
dissing them — but there’s always a
bit that’s really terrible, before the
drop, and I reckon it’s psychology.
It’s meant to be bad. And then you’re
like, ‘Oh wow!’ It’s like eating... I
can’t think of a food analogy — a shot
of vegetable purée before dessert?”
While EDM may have crept into
this album in a very warped way,
he explains how metal and jungle
were important influences on ‘Un
U.K’: “The bit at the end — the
Nigel Farage drop — for me, that’s
really condensing [metalcore band]
Converge, that sort of aggressive
metal that’s got real analogue
production”, plus artists like Ed Rush
& Nico: “I’m obsessed with that era of
jungle, where it got techy but not too
rigid and still had that sloppiness,
that looseness of hardware and really
grimey, dark production — so aggro,
it’s such a proper London vibe. I
don’t think people would like that
now because the message is quite
confronting, but I love it. To me, it’s
still as fresh as ever.”
His new live set-up is all about
bringing dancing back to dance
music. “It’s like, dance music —
dancers!” he says. “I mean, I know
people have done it before, but there
is a bit of a trend for people to be
behind a big TV — it’s like, why? It
feels like an apology to have this
giant screensaver…”
His wife is choreographer
Melanie Lane, whose work
on the show he describes as
“really blunt, it’s primitive and
a bit childlike… [the dancers]
aren’t doing every track, just
peak moments, and then
everyone will have to put up
with me.”
“It’s such a weird time to
be making music,” Clark
finishes. “With the whole
political situation, there’s
this abundance of fake
news and politicians
protecting their selfimage to the most
psychotic, humourless
degree. I’m quite anti
that — if people don’t
dig it then it’s totally
fine. It’s good that
people listen to what
I’ve got to say. My
music’s pretty weird,
I don’t really expect
everyone to be into
it!”
Safe As House Is
Jaye Ward, Honey Dijon, JD Samson, Mandidextrous and DJ Sprinkles talk
gender identity, safe spaces, privilege and the power of the internet...
Words: JOE ROBERTS Pics: JEF McMAHAN, COMATONSE RECORDINGS,
“T
rans is so hot right
now,” chuckles Jaye
Ward, the Hackneybased DJ whose
lineage of trippy
post-Balearica, weird
electronics and house dubs connects the capital’s
club scene from its late-’80s roots, when she
started playing parties like Club Dog and Tonka,
through to its current wave of underground
parties.
Jaye Ward
Around her neck is a chain carrying the word
‘House’, the music that she says saved her life.
Despite a brief spell taking hormones as a teen,
until seven years ago Jaye was married with
two children, having spent the nineties DJing,
promoting, and working in various record shops
and distribution companies looking, she tells us
with self-deprecating humour, like the archetypal
“Berwick Street bearded disco midget”. Then,
unable to put it off any longer, “I decided to
stop spending money on rotary mixers and buy
hormones instead.” Having just supported Octo
Octa (see page 71) at East London’s Dalston
Superstore for a party celebrating Trans Day
Of Visibility, which takes place annually on
31st March, she sounds bemused to be in a
spotlight on trans people that stretches from
the transitioning of public figures like Chelsea
Manning to the campaigning journalism of Paris
Lees.
“It’s weird,” Jaye reflects. “I’ve been playing
records for 30-odd years and now suddenly I’m
“I decided to stop
spending money on
rotary mixers and buy
hormones instead. It’s
weird, I’ve been playing
records for 30-odd years
and now suddenly I’m
getting booked because
my connections have
intersected with queer
things and with trans
things.”
JAYE WARD
068 djmag.com
getting booked because my connections have
intersected with queer things and with trans
things.”
SAFE SPACES
Trans people are part of the intersectional
bedrock of dance music since its very beginnings.
The focus on clubs as ‘safe spaces’ is being
emphasised again to help protect minorities from
harassment, and as Chicago house DJs relocated
to New York, Honey Dijon points out, they were
once one of the only protected places to meet.
“It was about having safe spaces for queer people
and trans people to be who they are,” she tells us
over the phone, having played the night before
after a vogue battle at Mona in Paris. “[House]
was an art-form created by people of colour, so if
you really want to get into it — gender, race and
sexual orientation all played a part. Clubs were a
place for people to find community and find who
they are without being judged or ridiculed or
persecuted.”
Another New York-based artist, DJ and producer,
JD Samson calls herself “transgender by
definition, because I do not take part in the
binary system of gender expression”, while also
identifying as a woman and lesbian. As part of
the band Le Tigre, whose anthem ‘Deceptacon’
was remixed by LCD Soundsystem, she sought to
create a supportive arena for queer and feminist
activists to dance.
“In the same way, I felt safe at house music
parties in the ‘90s in New York,” she says.
It’s this legacy that JD’s own party Pat continues,
a free event to acknowledge the lack of economic
means of some of its diverse crowd, and which,
she claims, highlights artists who are People Of
Colour, women and trans. At the same time she
points out that some trans people are less wellrepresented than others. “I do think that lesbian
DJs and trans guys have less press within the
scene and I’m not sure why that is,” she admits,
adding that the widespread attention given to
Mandidextrous
JD Samson
NYC Downlow
the issues highlighted by The Black Madonna,
as a flagbearer for equality, is a step in the right
direction.
Glastonbury’s NYC Downlow, meanwhile, is
another LGBT haven that has brought openness
around gender identity closer to a more
mainstream narrative, scoring column inches
in national broadsheets and consumer music
magazines like ours.
CHALLENGING NORMS
London’s free-party acid techno scene is a
world away. Yet it provided a similarly nurturing
environment for Mandidextrous, the DJ, producer
and founder of Amen4Tekno. Building on the
fusing of jungle and techno she says she first
heard from producers such as Dan Fix and Ryan
Wreck Up, this summer she’s taking her own
distinctive Jungletek sound — proving equally
popular with techno and d&b heads — to festivals
such as Glastonbury and Boomtown. Before
transitioning, however, she was playing more
traditional drum & bass in a male-orientated
environment with very few female DJs.
Honey
Dijon
“If I hadn’t dropped out of school and ended up
going to raves every weekend, and I’d stayed in
school and ended up going to the pub with my
friends at the weekend, I think it would have been
very different,” she tells us from her adopted
home of Bristol, praising the support of Chris
Liberator and Rowland The Bastard, two of the
godfathers of acid techno who helped inspire her
and gave encouragement to her very open social
media posts about her experiences.
“For me going through a transition, it was good
to be in surroundings that are very laid back
and liberal in how they see people and approach
life,” she explains, saying that back in her native
Buckinghamshire she experienced violence
during this process, something that — if she saw
the same people at parties — didn’t happen. “I
found it really inspiring. I could be myself.”
Back in February, New York’s MoMa featured a
series of events called Between 0 and 1: Remixing
Gender, Technology and Music, focusing on
topics of “gender nonconforming identities
and electronic music”. As part of this Terre
“[House] was an art-form created by people of colour,
so if you really want to get into it — gender, race and
sexual orientation all played a part. Clubs were a
place for people to find community and find who they
are without being judged or ridiculed or persecuted.”
HONEY DIJON
djmag.com 069
Thaemlitz, also known DJ Sprinkles, performed
tracks from her 2012 ‘Soulnessless’ album
(soon to be followed by a similarly conceptual
work ‘Deproduction’). Her own experiences run
counter to any utopian ideals of clubs as spaces to
escape cultural and economic strictures.
For a start, she says no club has ever affected
her as much as her residency in the “challenging
environment” of Sally’s II, “a predominantly
African-American and Latina transsexual sex
worker bar whose clientele were often non-gay
identified males of various races and economic
classes”, an alternate and usually untold side of
New York’s nightlife narrative.
“Even the signs of friendliness — the ‘bro fists’ coming
at me in the DJ booth — are, from my perspective,
inseparable from other experiences with hetero aggression
and real punches from straight-white guys. It really makes
me uncomfortable, and I’ve mentioned it in the press
many times, yet it happens every fucking time I play, and
people get really upset when you don’t bump back.”
DJ SPRINKLES
Then there’s her reality of mostly being booked
to play for straight-white-male audiences. “Even
the signs of friendliness — the ‘bro fists’ coming
at me in the DJ booth — are, from my perspective,
inseparable from other experiences with hetero
aggression and real punches from straight-white
guys. It really makes me uncomfortable, and
I’ve mentioned it in the press many times, yet it
happens every fucking time I play, and people get
really upset when you don’t bump back.”
Her solution, she says, is to cup their fist in her
palm, placating the gesture without reciprocating
its implied violence.
reactions are totally different,” she says. “None
of this is fun or comfortable for me.”
Terre’s proposed alternative to Trans Day Of
Visibility — itself a counterpoint to Trans Day Of
Remembrance on 20th November, a memorial
to those killed due to the widespread attitudes
of transphobia — is for everyone to be required,
randomly in a non-festive or collective way, to go
about their everyday-day while cross-dressing.
“I believe this kind of experience is one of the
only ways for that majority of people who claim
gender and trans issues have nothing to do with
them to start to comprehend how gender issues
affect everyone, and gain insights into the shame
and harassment inflicted on others, as well as
awakening to the privileges and biases in one’s
daily-life practices.”
Switching the pronouns she uses between ‘he’
and ‘she’, often in the same sentence, and
performing in both male and female drag is
also a tool to draw attention to most people’s
conditioned biases. “I tend to talk and act the
same regardless of my gender appearance, yet the
It’s this shared harassment that means Honey
Dijon sees trans issues as tied up with those
of Black Lives Matter, women’s rights and the
abuse of immigrants. “I never wanted to be
pigeonholed by anything, be it black, be it trans,
be it a woman. These are all some parts of a whole
CONDITIONED BIAS
DJ Sprinkles
070 djmag.com
person. These things dictate my experience,
or how I navigate the worlds, but I find these
conversations are more for other people and not
for me.”
Finally feeling she has “something to say”, this
Autumn sees the release of a debut Honey album
on Classic, featuring Sam Sparro, Joi Cradwell,
Matrixxman and more.
For those seeking common experience and
advice, the internet has finally given minority
groups a voice outside of the mainstream, she
believes, creating global communities invested
with more political power and knowledge than in
the past. Jaye Ward agrees, joking that Tumblr
made her trans. “Now we’re much more contentaware,” she adds, with the assertion that the
music is more interesting to most, especially
younger people, than what’s in her pants.
“Everyone’s a nerd, everyone wants to know what
you’re playing, whether you’re gay, straight,
trans, non-binary, queer, whatever. If you’re shit,
you’re shit. If you’re boring, you’re boring. It
doesn’t matter what the surface is.”
Feeling
better
Shortly after coming out as
transgender, Brooklyn’s Octo
Octa released ‘Where Are We
Going’ on Honey Soundsystem,
an exceptionally classy piano-led
house/techno album on which she
embraces her true identity for the
first time in public. Now ready to
talk openly about her traverses as
a trans DJ, we sat down and got to
know her over Skype...
B
Words: SIRIN KALE
efore we speak over Skype one February
evening, we follow Octo Octa — real
name Maya Bouldry-Morrison — on
Instagram. In one picture BouldryMorrison poses with her pet rabbit.
In another she wears her favourite animal-print shift
dress and looks coyly at the ceiling. In all the photos
she radiates happiness and security — but it wasn’t
always like this for the Brooklyn-based house DJ and
producer.
“I don’t need to code or hide feelings that I had
before,” Bouldry-Morrison explains. We’re talking
about her critically-acclaimed 2013 album ‘Between
Two Selves’. Subsequently, Bouldry-Morrison came out
as trans and began living as a woman. While ‘Between
Two Selves’ hinted at this process of transition, it was
never explicit. “‘Between Two Selves’ was a coded
message about coming out,” she explains, “but I think
at the time I was too scared. I originally wanted to call
that album ‘Trans’, but I wasn’t ready.”
Now, Bouldry-Morrison is ready. And she’s back with
‘Where Are We Going’, a new album full of her signature
piano-led classic house cuts that feel both fresh and
somehow familiar. In standout track ‘Where Are We
Going? Pt. 2’, Bouldry-Morrison repeats the line “do
you feel better?” like a mantra. We ask her if she feels
better now she’s living her true gender identity. “I’m
much more jubilant than I was at the time,” she replies.
“I feel more free and open. But for me, the question ‘do
you feel better?’ isn’t about me personally, but about
all the scary unanswered questions about what the
future will hold now Trump’s been elected.”
The day before we speak, President Trump revoked the
Obama-era transgender bathroom protections in a
stunning blow to America’s transgender community.
For a politically conscious artist like Bouldry-Morrison,
it’s hard not to be disheartened. “I feel like a ton of
people got tricked,” she says, describing Trump voters.
In the course of our wide-ranging hour-long
conversation, we discuss various topics — European
dance music snobbery, Boiler Room sets, cult film
Paris Is Burning. DJ Mag is concerned, we explain
to Bouldry-Morrison, that we’re situating her within
a trans narrative she doesn’t want to be part of.
For plenty of trans artists, their gender identity is
irrelevant to their music — just like many female DJs
bridle at constantly being asked about industry sexism.
“Right now, I don’t really mind talking about being
trans,” she responds, citing DJ Sprinkles’ seminal
album ‘Midtown 120 Blues’ as a major inspiration
for her speaking out. “It was the first album that I
identified with that has an explicitly trans narrative. I
was so hungry for those narratives back then — when I
got them I could hear or see myself in them.”
Now, she feels a responsibility to create new trans
narratives and boost trans visibility within the dance
music community.
Bouldry-Morrison has always been something of an
outsider artist: Entirely self-taught, she plugged away
for years working in a coffee store in New York while
sending out demos to any record label that would
take them. Eventually success came on the 100% Silk
label, but Bouldry-Morrison encountered her share
of haters along the way — some viewed 100% Silk as
amateurish, or not ‘proper’ house music. We ask her
about the backlash. “I feel like a lot of people wanted
to be gatekeepers,” she responds, “and they were
frustrated by a DIY aesthetic coming into their spaces.
They wanted power, and they thought that their taste
was the best taste.”
Talking about ‘Where Are We Going’ (out now on Honey
Soundsystem), we tell Bouldry-Morrison that DJ Mag
felt like we’d heard the album before — in a good
way. (It continues her signature sound of slightly sad,
beautifully arranged piano-led house tracks.) Did she
consider experimenting with a new sound? “I feel like
this is the only thing that comes out!” she laughs.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating, but it makes my brain feel
good.”
Her formula is working: she’s been booked to play at
both Field Maneuvers and Movement festivals this year.
We ask about the challenges of playing to larger crowds
— she strikes us as the sort of artist who’d prefer
smaller, more intimate spaces. “I played Sonar once,”
she explains, “and that was such an enormous space
that was super-fun, but I only looked up once during
my set because I got super freaked out. A room with
200 people? That’s the best.”
So what about her DJing horror stories? After all,
the backlash against the commercialisation of
underground dance music, particularly in the USA,
where the influence of EDM is being more and more
felt, has caused many high-profile artists to lambast
the current state of the scene. “I’ve had one guy
leaning over the booth, yelling at me to borrow a
phone charger,” she laughs.
Now, Bouldry-Morrison is achieving the crossover
appeal that for a while eluded her. We ask about her
fellow label-mates on 100% Silk who were caught up in
the tragic Oakland warehouse fire. Like her, they were
using the DIY scene to cut through in the crowded and
competitive dance music landscape — and they paid for
their hustle, tragically, with their lives.
“Chelsea [Faith Dolan, aka Cherushii, who died in the
fire] played with me a bunch of times, and my friend
Joel was a headliner at that party,” says BouldryMorrison, growing sombre. “I was texting people and
finding out what was going down on the night, and it
was awful.”
For her, the Oakland warehouse fire is a tragic
consequence of the chronic lack of affordable arts
spaces across the USA. “There were a bunch of people
on that bill who weren’t going to do big ticket sales at
a club in the city,” she explains. “But if you have eight
performers and only two have records out, and they’re
all locals, where are you going to play? We need more
funding for DIY spaces so that you can accommodate
parties for 60 people, as opposed to needing to have
500 people show up at your party.”
Despite the tragedy, Bouldry-Morrison is upbeat about
the future. “I played in Denmark a while back with DJ
Sprinkles and we both did interviews afterwards with
groups of kids at this music conference. And I was like,
‘Everything’s great, it’s so wonderful!’”
So what about the future of the scene? “Where the
scene’s heading more generally? I don’t know if it’s the
parties I’ve played lately, but I’ve seen a whole lot of
people dancing.”
And with that, we bid farewell — but we expect to see
much more from Octo Octa in years to come.
djmag.com 071
L
ater this month, Olivier Mateu — aka
Rodriguez Jr — will ascend the stage
at the prestigious Barbican Centre in
London to sing on a track he made 17
years ago. Alongside him will be dance
music legend Sasha, who will be helming a full-scale
symphony orchestra. Presumably, he’s taking the
looming pressure of performing in front of a sold-out
audience of 2000 people for two nights at one of
London’s most famous arts venues very much in his
stride.
“I’m fucking shitting in my pants,” he says, with an
admirable frankness. “I mean, it’s kind of a weird
situation, but you cannot refuse that. So I said ‘OK,
let’s do it!’”
The material Sasha approached him about
performing is from another time. The track ‘Smile’
was penned in 2000, back when Mateu was recording
with Gilles Escoffier, a fellow techno-head from
his hometown of Montpellier, under the name The
Youngsters. Discovered by Laurent Garnier and
Eric Morand, and then signed to their revered F
Communications label, the track was used by Sasha
on his classic 2004 mix album ‘Involver’, and the
concert is going ahead as part of a anniversary
celebration of its release. “Now I must deliver the
stuff,” he goes on. “We’ll see what happens. It’s a lot
of pressure. I mean, I can sing, but I’m not a singer.
Life is about challenges, and this is a good one. It
will be a good story to tell.”
While nostalgia is not his thing (“Nostalgia is
really something that I refuse”), it’s worth noting
that The Youngsters were a pretty big deal, at a
time when F-Com was at its most prolific, with
releases from Garnier himself alongside the likes
of Jori Hulkkonen, St Germain and Scan X. “It was
a fantastic time,” he says. “For me, this is how
everything began. Meeting Laurent Garnier, touring
with him, spending time in the booth with him trying
to understand how he managed to connect with the
crowd. This guy taught me everything I know. He’s a
very important person to me.
“And the label was all different colours, from house
music to techno, y’know, whatever,” he continues.
“For me, that’s how a label should be. Not just about
one style of music, one genre, but being openminded and trying to connect things together.”
Prior to this, as a teenager, he had zestily embroiled
himself in the “huge rave scene” which exploded in
the warehouses, basements, forests and factories
of the south of France in the mid-’90s, and soon
bought a synthesizer.
IMPORTANT
His material with Escoffier as The Youngsters was the
first that they got signed, to a small techno label
called G-Funk, which got noticed by Garnier, who
then asked them to send him some tracks for F-Com.
They sent him about 30 to choose from. When Eric
Morand called up the record shop in Montpellier
where they were both working to tell him the label
was going to put out some of their material, he
thought it was a joke. “I was maybe 22, and I was
like ‘What the fuck are you telling me?!’ But it was
not a joke. When you’re making music, it’s important
to have a reference, and F Communications was my
most important. That, and Warp Music,” he says.
Within weeks, they were touring Asia, South America
and across Europe, often with Garnier, and ended up
releasing two albums for F-Com.
Sadly, when record sales dropped off a cliff around
2006, and despite a few consequent Youngsters
releases on labels like Ralph Lawson’s 20/20 Vision
and Josh Wink’s Ovum, the band “died with the
072 djmag.com
label” when F-Com closed its doors that same year,
a high-profile casualty of the onset of file-sharing
culture. He and Escoffier parted ways.
Mateu met a girl from Belgium and moved to Brussels
(“Like I say, you need a fucking good reason to move
to Brussels,” he says of his somewhat staid adopted
hometown), and re-invented himself as Rodriguez
Jr, the name being a nod to Spanish roots in his
family. He knew Anja Schneider from appearing on
her radio show in Berlin back in the Youngsters days,
and had got on famously well. The year before, she’d
launched her own concern, Mobilee Records with
Ralf Kollmann, so he sent some of this new, deeper,
more house-orientated material under this new
name. She snapped it up for Leena, her new sublabel. It’s been a “beautiful friendship” ever since.
“She was the first person I sent music to as
Rodriguez Jr,” he tells DJ Mag. “She’s been so
helpful with advice, and helped me to develop my
own sound signature. With Anja and with Mobilee,
I have learned how to remove things. Anything
useless. And just focus on the right stuff, the right
elements. It’s kind of a paradox. When you want to
remove things, it takes a lot of time. I really had
to learn how to do that. It’s been a tough process,
actually. It’s the same with drawing or painting. If
you remove things, you have to focus on the core.
There’s nowhere to hide. And that’s definitely a
difficult process.”
Tracks like the breakthrough ‘Princess Guacamole’,
‘Chrysalism’ and ‘Persistence Of Vision’, all on
Mobilee, have cemented him as a buy-on-sight artist
for many. See also his collaborative work on Marc
Romboy’s Systematic. Stepping back from DJing —
he never really made the transition from vinyl to
digital and was happy enough to leave it behind —
he now only plays live sets of his own material.
“It’s how I started, back in the ‘90s,” he says. “Now
people expect me to perform live, so if I show up
with a memory-stick or something like that, people
are going to be disappointed before I even start to
play. That’s not the right way to start a performance.
I love the challenge of playing my own music. When
I play the keyboard — I mean, I’m not a great piano
player — sometimes I make mistakes and fuck it up,
and people can feel that. It’s like a moment, and you
cannot replicate it, somehow. So even the mistakes
are important.”
ROOTS
Up until now, his 2011 album ‘Bittersweet’ was
probably the work that he was most proud of, but
now there’s a new one coming, ‘Baobab’, named
after the striking, prehistoric tree typical of the
African savannah, known for its wide-spreading
root system. That’s what Mateu wants to showcase,
his roots as an electronic artist, which encompass
the likes of Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk through
to French synth legend Jean-Michel Jarre. It’s
a stunner. It flips from dark two-step to firm,
exquisitely — and simply — produced club tracks
with lilting pianos, and, on a few tracks, soulsoothing vocals from his friend Liset Alea, singer
from new-wave revivalists Nouvelle Vague. And while
he’s not into nostalgia, he admits that “from time
to time it’s important to look back, but to use those
moments for growing up”.
Right now, he’s preparing to unveil his new work
to fans, and it’s a nerve-wracking experience. “I’m
feeling excited, but very stressed at the same time,”
he says. “I don’t know how people are going to like
it.”
We think they’ll like it fine.
JUNIOR
Since adopting the name Rodriguez Jr
as a nod to his Spanish roots, the star
of French producer Olivier Mateu —
formerly one-half of the F Com-signed
Youngsters duo — has ascended
sharply. Now signed to Mobilee, he’s
about to drop his stunning second
artist album, ‘Baobab’, which looks
set to catapult him further into the
big league...
Words: BEN ARNOLD
Pic: LUDOVIC DI LORIO
djmag.com 073
REACHING
THE
SUMMIT
Ibiza’s International Music Summit (IMS) is celebrating a decade of workshops, panels and networking — not
forgetting raving — in 2017. From water-cooler moments to fiery debates, progressive discussions and dancing,
it’s one of the industry’s most crucial opportunities to come together and do business, each year marking the
official start of another season of hedonism on the White Isle. Founded by Ben Turner and Danny Whittle — and
with Pete Tong as the face of it — we take an in-depth look at IMS, its history and its future, on the eve of the
10th edition — the conference’s biggest one yet...
Words: KRISTAN J CARYL Pics: PHRANK, TOM HORTON & JAMES ALEXANDER CHAPMAN
T
he sun is starting to appear in the sky
and a little warmth is in the air, which
means many of you will be starting
to daydream about this year’s Ibiza
antics. Before all the hedonism kicks
off proper, though, there is the small
matter of the International Music Summit (IMS),
a three-day event known as “the TED of music
conferences” that takes place at Gran Hotel on
The White Isle from 24th to 26th May, with big
parties each evening at UNESCO World Heritage
site, The Dalt Villa.
Aiming to inspire debate, discussion and
implement progressive change, each year the
number of panels and delegates and attendees
grows and grows, but as 2017 will be the 10th
edition of IMS, there will be an extra air of
celebration about proceedings, not least because
of a series of special back-to-back DJ sets. There
will also be a Legends Dinner to celebrate 50
years of Pacha and the efforts of the man behind
it, Ricardo Urgell, the return of regular panels
such as the Pioneer DJ Award, The Great Annual
Ibiza Debate and a 2017 Business Report, the last
of which estimated that the global dance industry
was worth over six-billion dollars a year.
This year the topics covered via various open
debates, panels, workshops and keynote speeches
will include Health vs Hedonism, Playlists: Spotify
Best Practices, Live Streaming: Facebook Best
Practices, How To Make The Leap To Become An
Arena-Selling Artist, The Latam Electronic Genre
Explosion Evaluated, The Diversity Debate and
Digital Defined with Spotify, YouTube, Facebook
and others.
Taking part in the 10 keynotes to mark the 10 year
anniversary will be heavyweights like New Order’s
Bernard Sumner, Innervisions DJ Dixon, fourtimes Grammy award nominees Masters At Work,
cultural ambassador The Black Madonna and bigwigs from the likes of Native Instruments. In all,
many topics are covered and plenty of knowledge
is shared, and it is that which makes this one
of the most important dates in the calendar for
DJs, label managers, agents and many other
professionals and businesses with a stake in
dance music in 2017.
djmag.com 075
BACK TO BUSINESS
DIPLO v DJ BL3ND
Who can forget the time that Diplo’s
manager started on the manager of US
EDM jock DJ BL3ND?
It happened at IMS Engage in Los Angeles
after Diplo was heading the panel
discussing fake Facebook followers. He
happened to mention that though he is
more popular around the world, he had
around 400,000 followers while DJ BL3ND
had some three million, with many of
them coming from Mexico City, probably
a definite sign that his followers had
been purchased. Diplo went on to say the
stats are questionable given how new DJ
BL3ND was on the scene and how few gigs
he had played around the world. BL3ND’s
manager was not happy and when Diplo’s
manager, Kevin Kusatsu, told him to “shut
up!”, a fight eventually broke out between
managers and was eventually broken up by
IMS officials.
076 djmag.com
Though there are other conferences such as WMC
in Miami and ADE in the Netherlands, IMS is the
one most focused around the business side of
things, and it has been since it was first dreamt
up in 2007, in part inspired by the Music Seminar
in New York in the late eighties. “What started as
80 people in a room with a finale on the tennis
courts of Pike’s Hotel is now a conference with
1500 delegates and a big rave in a Roman castle,”
beams Danny Whittle, IMS co-founder.
“Simon Dunmore from Defected actually had the
original idea,” says Ben Turner, another IMS cofounder and owner of Graphite Media, a music
management and brand services company, who
says it all came about at a time when he was
spending his Fridays at Pacha Ibiza when Pete
Tong was resident and partner Danny was working
there.
“It was such an industry vibe, everyone was
hanging out there, and it just continually came
up that we were frustrated about going to
conferences where there was very little dialogue.
Places like WMC were just elite groups of people
partying in hotel suites. I felt we needed
THE DIVERSITY DEBATE
Last year, once again, the pressing topic of
women in electronic music came up and some
difficult stats were presented by Jackie Antas
of Live Nation.
•In 2014, only 18% of electronic labels include
women on their rosters
•Just one out of 15 of Billboard’s Ones To
Watch were women
•No major music labels have female bosses
Radio 1’s B.Traits added, “Let’s never use the
phrase “female DJ” again — that would be great”,
while Maria May, a senior agent at Creative Artists
Agency, said, “If you have a diverse company, a
diverse roster, you ultimately make more money.
Because the world is a diverse place.”
However, Mood label boss and Intec and
Drumcode associate Nicole Moudaber gave a
frank if not contrary viewpoint, saying that,
“Not a lot of men can do what I do, so maybe
not a lot of women can do what I do too? I don’t
think any man has achieved what I have done in
such a short period of time… I hope I can be an
inspiration, an example to women. But I never
thought it was this massive problem, actually.”
something really business-focused at a time when
dance music was in a down period. We were in
Ibiza, the global capital of partying, but not much
else, so we set about putting a professional face
on the island.”
At the time, the Ibizan government and some
of the local islanders had little regard for dance
music and thought it was all party music with no
substance. Then, suddenly, IMS came along and
brought big brands and global CEOs and showed
the value the music has. “It definitely changed
perceptions on the island,” says Ben. “In an era
when media is so dispersed and information
comes from so many different sources, the issues
that faced us — and the shared knowledge and
shared contacts required to drive things forward
— were all lacking. Things never got discussed in
one place, so we put loads of thought-leaders into
a room in year one.”
Back then, issues ranged from booking artists,
getting paid, and even talks about our own Top
100 DJs poll, which was, according to Ben, “one
of the most explosive panels we ever had!”
THE MAMBO BROTHERS
Born and raised on the White Isle, this pair
have been attending IMS every single year
since it started.
“I was very honoured that they asked me
to speak on a panel at IMS,” says Christian
Anadon, one of the brothers. “I’ve been going
to IMS in Ibiza since it started, so it was like
“Cool, let’s do it”! The panel was about how
things are shaping up and changing in Ibiza.
I was alongside people who have been coming
to Ibiza for many years: Simon Dunmore from
Defected, Ernesto from Music On, Darren
from We Love… We all spoke about our Ibiza
experiences. I spoke about my perspective,
being born and raised in San Antonio, I spoke
about the great future this town has and the
potential it has to grow. It was great, and
host Grego didn’t put us on the spot!
“These kinds of events are really important
for any industry. IMS is growing and growing
because it’s something that was needed in
the music industry. It’s a great opportunity
to meet people face to face that you don’t
have time to see, and to prepare the summer.
You get the chance to meet club owners,
promoters, record labels, social media
companies that you didn’t even know about…
It is really amazing to see whats happened to
music business and the industry in general in
the last 10 years!
“So many things have happened since
the beginning. I forget direct things that
happened because of the conference, but I do
remember meeting with the Facebook team
and it was great to see that they are ravers
like us. We will be around again at IMS 2017,
so send us a fax!”
Nowadays, the core team is still very much the
driving force behind it all. “I do all the stuff
locally on the ground, speaking to local councils,
governments, getting licensing and all that,” says
Whittle, who adds that Pete Tong “is the face of
it all,” and Simeon Friend deals with production,
while Ben deals mainly with content, ideas and
the guests.
ONWARDS & UPWARDS
What makes IMS unique is that all of the partners
are deeply involved in the industry and aim
to share personal issues that face them and
their artists each and every day. As such, the
conference has grown exponentially from year
one and has seen the likes of Coca Cola, Corona,
Pioneer, Nokia and more all appear and help
legitimise the dance industry, and Ben reckons
it still has a lot more room for further growth,
despite newer conferences like IMS China and IMS
Asia Pacific already being on-going concerns, with
news of another new one to be announced for
somewhere in the world at this year’s edition.
“There was a real need to put a professional
side of the industry together, and look what
happened: it’s exploded, and in order to do that
the scene needed to have its house in order,” he
says, before explaining that key to IMS’s success
is the fact that everything happens in one room,
with between three and four hundred delegates
listening in, “like one big water cooler moment.”
Once the conference is over, the discussions have
real and lasting impacts. One of the most notable
things to arise has been the Get Played Get Paid
campaign, while IMS has been having the great
gender debate for almost 10 years now, and
finally the rest of the industry is beginning to
catch up.
Of the challenges, Ben says he still has lots
to achieve and dreams of being able to bring
big names like Quentin Tarrantino or Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg to sister event IMS
Engage in Los Angeles in order to “proudly show
djmag.com 077
ANJA SCHNEIDER
The Mobilee boss is all for the shared
experiences of the IMS
“It was back a little while ago (2013) that I
appeared, but it was a good thing for sure. I was
speaking about women in the industry (surprise,
surprise!) and about ghost production.
Definitely some interesting points were raised. I
was happy we kept a full audience throughout.
“The IMS is very important in my eyes. So
many people work behind the scenes and if
you compare it to other businesses we are still
a very small group of individuals and visionary
people in our own specific way. It’s important
to share experiences and resources. We are still
creating something new and working with lots of
different individuals to create magic. Of course,
there is a lot of competition, but I still have
the feeling that we are all doing it because of a
shared passion for music. This, in turn, is driving
the workflow, the respect and the creativity.
“Of course, learning is all about discovering
something new every day. I love to be
interactive and change my point of view and be
open to listening to other people. Like I said
before, this is a really interesting aspect of our
industry — it’s good to be open-minded to new
synergies and ideas.”
078 djmag.com
how far this music can reach, but also for the
knowledge of these people.”
One of Ben’s proudest moments, he says, was
getting Def Jam co-founder and hip-hop mogul
Russell Simmons to appear by accosting him at
the side of a pool in Miami and striking a deal
there and then.
“The tenth year is an important time to assess,”
Turner muses. “Years have flown by and now we’re
in our forties, so we have to think what we can do
with IMS to help change and educate and bring
the new generation through. The IMS College we
have done in Malta, and will do in the UK, is very
much about schooling the next generation using
all the knowledge from our speakers and the
delegates all being students, whether they are
managers or producers. So there is a big focus on
education.”
Whittle adds that going forward for IMS is not
about expanding and growing too much. “We
want to keep it intimate. We want people to
come and feel they have really played a part and
have spoken to lots of people. Ibiza already has
all the events, so we don’t need more of those,
instead we want to develop the technology side,
so people can tune in and watch from anywhere
in the world, send in Tweets and get involved that
way.”
Turner has one key final thought. “While it’s
important we are industry-facing, I’ll be honest
— it’s also important for the finances to have the
parties. They are a nice way to celebrate the end
of three intense days in a dark room.”
ERICK MORILLO
IMS turned out to be real therapy for the Subliminal
Records boss
“I felt great to be invited to IMS, Pete [Tong] is a very good
friend of mine and when he asked me, I was honoured. IMS
gave me an opportunity to open up about all the years of
drug use that I went through and how it affected my career,
and I felt it all went down fantastically. I did it because I
thought if I could just help one DJ, one person to avoid the
pitfalls and the pressures of the industry, then that would
be a success. It ended up actually touching a lot of people
and I got a lot of compliments about it so I’m really happy
that I did it.
“IMS is very important to dance music in general because
it brings people together, it brings ideas together; it’s the
roundtable of dance music! I like the fact that they bring a
lot of different people from different parts of the business
together — so it’s very good for artists and professionals
who are up and coming as well as people who are already
well-established. I had a number of meetings during IMS
and got a lot of business done. I was in the process of relaunching my label, so it gave me an opportunity to connect
with a lot of producers and put the faces together of the
people who I work with in my industry.”
TRANCE
WORLD
NEWS
Andre Tanneberger, aka ATB, shot
to global prominence nearly two
decades ago with perennial trance
anthem ‘9PM (Till I Come)’. Now
notching up double figures in
terms of album releases, ‘neXt’
sees him embarking on a rare
collab with another producer while
still refusing to play the typical
industry game...
Words: TIM STARK
S
ummer, 1999. Construction on the Millennium
Dome is complete, Prince Edward’s getting
hitched, The Sixth Sense is creeping out to
cinema-goers and a certain ‘9PM’ is, well, pretty much
everywhere. Yup, ATB’s road started in the same way as
many other trance A-listers — with one, big, mighty,
now-borderline-synonymous chart whacker.
Similarities to his fellow late-’90s fraternity don’t
entirely stop there. In the from-there-to-here
trajectory though, Andre Tanneberger’s walked a visibly
different path to your Armins, PvDs and Ferrys.
Over his career duration, he’s resisted many of the
production tropes and profile-boosting rhythms that
have proved popular with his fellow pre-millennial
anthem slingers. He doesn’t have a label stable, nor
stall of budding protégées. Andre isn’t that keen on
production collaborations or b2b sets. Neither does
he appear too fussed if other DJs play/playlist his
records.
For years, an indispensible producer for spinners
from his bloc and beyond, it was only in 2016
that he embarked on his own radio show.
From the outside looking in, you might
think that some delight in being different
to the German. To his contemporaries (the
ostensible ones at least), it’s made him
something of an enigma, while to his
fans perhaps it’s provided an extra line
of cachet. A dark horse, something of
an intentional lone wolf even, he’s by
far the biggest heavy-hitting variable
in trance’s generally well-ordered
calculus.
By and large though, his atypical
M.O. has resulted in the same
outcome as that of his ‘classmates’.
As active as ever, he’s still (like it or
not) classified as a trance DJ, he fills
floors 48 weekends out of the year and is
dependably consistent in the album release
stakes. Resurgent in last October’s Top 100
DJs poll, he was also 2016’s trance-bounce.
With this spring’s release of his new artist album,
we thought we’d have a tête-à-tête about ‘neXt’, find
out how you keep things fresh when your long-player
djmag.com 081
count hits double figures, and dig a little deeper
into Mr Tanneberger’s less than archetypal
approach...
Andre, good to be chatting with you today.
‘neXt’ is your 10th album in a touch under
20 years. 2014’s ‘Contact’ seemed to be the
most notable point at which your production
approach transformed. Do you feel that ‘neXt’
is a natural successor or a progression to that?
Or is this a stylistic gear-change again?
Andre: “For me, every album is a progress — not
only my last one, ‘Contact’. But that’s just my
view. Most important for me is that I want to
develop and follow my own sound, and not run
after trends. So I think ‘neXt’ is another step in
doing that — new collaborations, fresh sounds,
but still ATB.”
Is there a meaning lying behind the title?
“This is my 10th studio album, so I had the idea
to work with the Roman numeral for 10 (X). I also
wanted to express that things continue — and
that my new album is part of that. So that is how
‘neXt’’s title was born.”
After two decades, what aspects of music
production keep you most stimulated and
enthusiastic?
“It’s great to see how technology evolved.
Thinking back, I started on an old Commodore
AMIGA. That’s a sharp comparison to nowadays,
where kids are doing entire productions
— including mastering — on a laptop with
headphones etc. There are so many new
technologies and possibilities popping up. I
wished I could have had those possibilities back
in the day (laughs).”
Having worked on ‘Distant Earth’ and ‘Contact’,
Sean Ryan’s back singing on a third ATB album
— certainly one of the singers you’ve worked
most consistently with over the course. What
makes that relationship special?
“For me, Sean Ryan has one of the most beautiful
voices on the planet. Every time, when I’m
sending him a layout, it takes some time to hear
back from him. He needs to drift into sound. But
when it comes back, it’s always so emotional and
guarantees me goosebumps.”
Mike Schmid (also, trivia-fans, The
Chainsmokers’ keyboardist) has three vocal
turns on ‘neXt’ alone. He’s clearly made an
impression on you, too. What is it in particular
that you feel in his songwriting?
“The first time I heard Mike’s voice on one of my
layouts, I was simply flashed. He has his very own
style of composing and singing and this is very
important for me. I’m always searching for new
vocalists with a significant sound in their voices.
Even when I’m listening to new tracks that Mike
wrote and sang on, I can immediately identify his
work.”
The final quarter of ‘neXt’ shifts away entirely
from vocal collaborations and features your
own solo material. There’s a lot more chilloutthemed and titled music there. From your
artistic perspective, how do these two styles
dovetail?
“The name of my second album was ‘Two Worlds’.
That’s the title that describes my musical taste
best. I’ve always been in love with ambient music
with a lot of emotions. ‘neXt’ is full of melodies
which connect those tunes to the other ones on
the album. I think the track ‘Route 66’ is like a
hybrid of both CDs. So that’s where they resolve.”
082 djmag.com
Looking back at your career, Hamburg’s Kontor
Records is all but synonymous with ATB. It’s
hard to think of an artist from your sector
that’s been with one record label for as long
as you have. What has been the secret to that
career-long artist/label relationship?
“Kontor has been my home since day one. I’ve
known the staff for a long time, and know
them pretty well now. The relationship with
Jens (Thele, Kontor’s founder, MD and Head of
A&R) isn’t really based on business, but on real
friendship and trust. Jens and his team give
me the musical freedom I need to continue my
signature sound since the very beginning. This
is enormously important to me. It keeps me very
creative.”
You’ve always seemed to place yourself outside
of trance’s well-established mainline practices,
largely sidestepping known-name production
collaborations etc. Has this been a conscious,
purposeful decision and if so what lies behind
it?
“Since I’ve been doing music, I’ve collaborated
a lot — but mostly with singers and songwriters.
Not, as you say, that often with other DJs and
producers. If I’m starting a track, there is a
certain point where I have the entire song,
sound, arrangement et al in my head. I just have
to get those things out and into the track. So my
ideas are very accurate, and no one could get
them into the song as I would want them. It’s like
being in my own world.”
Is there maybe an element of refusing to play
‘the trance game’?
“No! I’m absolutely not refusing here! But maybe
that’s because I’m not thinking too much in terms
of genres. If you see my background, starting to
do music back in the early ‘90s, there were no
genres like we have it today. And I always wanted
to be independent from trends and genres.”
OK, but this more independent approach does
play well with your specific audience, I think...
“Yes, I think so too — especially the audience
that follows me since day one. They know that my
shows have a concert feeling, as I’m playing a lot
of my own tracks.”
Saying what we’ve said about collaborations,
Dash Berlin and now (on ‘neXt’) Andrew Rayel
are two notable exceptions. What is it that you
identify with in particular about their sounds?
“After ‘Man On The Run’ (which was a fantastic
tune), I started to watch what Jeff (from Dash
Berlin) and his team came up with. So I had the
feeling that a combination of both sounds could
be great. That’s how it started. The same with
Andrew Rayel. We met at a show in San Jose
and talked about working together. So he sent
the piano melody to ‘Connected’, and it was so
inspiring that I immediately started to work on
this song. In both cases, it was the melody that
got me.”
Following ‘neXt’s release, what are your plans
for the rest of 2017?
“It took me a while to finish ‘neXt’, but I’m not
planning to wait another three years to do the
next album. So I’ll be working on club edits of
many tunes, continuing my ‘neXt World Tour’, and
around the Fall I’ll start working on new songs.”
Finally, ‘9PM’ turns 20 in 2018. Any plans for a
retrospective re-visitation!?
“Well, ‘9PM’ opened many doors, but I’m always
on the run to create new music. So I haven’t
planned any re-release yet. But you never know.
Maybe on the day, it just happens!”
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greg wilson’s
discotheque
archives
Words GREG WILSON Edited by JOSH RAY
CLASSIC
LABEL
PHILADELPHIA
INTERNATIONAL
RECORDS
DURING THE 1960s the popularity
of discotheques, where recorded rather than live music took
precedence, was very much on the rise, with soul labels like
Motown (plus subsidiaries), Stax and Atlantic favoured on the
dancefloor.
Musicians/songwriters Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff set-up
their own Motown-inspired label, Excel, in the mid-‘60s, soon
changing the name to Gamble and making their mark via 1968’s
‘Cowboys To Girls’ by The Intruders, a defining ‘Philly Sound’
release.
They launched Neptune Records in 1969, signing acts including
The O’Jays, The Three Degrees and Billy Paul. However, when
Chess, the label’s parent company, changed hands, Neptune was
a casualty. Gamble and Huff transferred their artists to a new
label in 1971, signing an exclusive deal with Columbia Records,
who were looking to develop their black music output — this was
Philadelphia International, formed in the East Coast’s second
largest city, 80 miles from New York. Gamble and Huff would
also set up a publishing company, Mighty Three Music, with
songwriter/producer/arranger Thom Bell, best-known for his
work with The Delfonics, The Stylisics and The Spinners.
Throughout the next decade Philadelphia International enjoyed
major success, achieving over 170 gold and platinum records.
Playing a crucial role in evolving the disco genre, it was the
leading soul/dance label of the early/mid-‘70s, renowned for
its lush string arrangements, and particularly influential prior
to 1976 when a mutiny of its musicians to New York’s Salsoul
Records marked the end of its golden era.
Most recordings were made at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound
Studios, with a collective of over 30 musicians on hand to work
with the label’s artists. Known as MFSB (Mother Father Sister
Brother), this intoxicating disco orchestra would adorn some
of the greatest dance recordings of the era — apart from the
aforementioned O’Jays and Three Degrees, the label could
boast Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, with lead vocalist Teddy
Pendergrass tearing it up on memorable tracks like 1974’s ‘The
Love I Lost’, and ‘75’s ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.
MFSB’s own releases would include 1973’s ‘TSOP (The Sound Of
Philadelphia)’ — the theme to the seminal TV show Soul Train —
and ‘Love Is The Message’, an anthem on New York’s flourishing
disco scene. Key members included Earl Young, Ronnie Baker
and Norman Harris, the crack rhythm section from Philadelphia
group The Trammps — Young acknowledged as the originator of
the disco style of rock drumming. Vibes player Vincent Montana
Jr. was also crucial, playing on and arranging many tracks.
By the 1980s Philadelphia International’s most successful years
were behind it, the Columbia/CBS distribution deal coming to an
end in 1985.
084 djmag.com
CLASSIC VENUE
THE BLITZ, LONDON
ANGRY AND SOMETIMES nihilistic, the punk scene exploded out of youth culture at a
time of great economic turmoil in the mid-‘70s. However, as the decade progressed
and the situation grew worse, young people in London’s West End decided to reject
squalid, rough-edged punk in lieu of the more opulent and expressive subculture
that came to be known as New Romantic.
Catalysed in the small Blitz club in Covent Garden, this colourful scene offered up
fresh and exciting new ideas and styles, inviting its participants to dress up and be
fabulous, donning outlandish costumes and sporting androgynous looks at a time
when this was considered provocative to mainstream sensibilities.
Having found themselves entangled in the London punk scene, Rusty Egan —
previously the drummer in new wave band Rich Kids, founded by ex-Sex Pistol
Glen Matlock and fronted by Midge Ure pre-Ultravox — along with Welsh-born
provocateur Steven Harrington (aka Steve Strange) had begun hosting ‘Bowie
nights’ on Tuesdays at Billy’s nightclub in Soho, where, apart from David Bowie,
artists like Lou Reed, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk were heavily featured — and
electronic music championed. With Egan soundtracking and Strange hosting, these
nights proved hugely popular and after three months the duo moved operations
to their permanent home at The Blitz, which was conveniently situated near to St
Martin’s art college.
A whole creative culture began to emerge around The Blitz as Egan unleashed a new
wave of British club music — evolving an alternative playlist that the New Romantic
movement would spread across the country during the early-‘80s.
Egan commanded the decks at The Blitz until 1981, further spreading his musical
influence across the city via his King’s Road record shop, The Cage. He became
a central figure in London’s musical development and after his short yet highly
influential tenure at The Blitz, he moved to the impressive Camden Palace in 1982,
continuing to help push club music in an electronic direction.
A number of bands emerged out of The Blitz including Visage, with Strange on vocals
and Egan on drums; Spandau Ballet, who had a number of their early gigs at the
club; and Boy George’s Culture Club. The club’s regulars were known as Blitz Kids and
also included The Face journalist and BBC Radio London DJ Robert Elms, singersongwriter Sade, as well as Chris Sullivan, who’d continue to keep the New Romantic
flame alight in
London as co-owner
of the ultra-hip
Wag Club, formerly
Whisky A Go-Go.
Steve Strange and
three fellow Blitz Kids
famously appeared
alongside David
Bowie in the video to
his 1980 No.1 single,
‘Ashes To Ashes’.
CLASSIC RECORD
JAMES BROWN
‘GET UP I FEEL LIKE
BEING A SEX MACHINE’
CLASSIC DJ
TEE SCOTT
MARC ALLEN SCOTT, better known as Toraino
or Tee Scott, was a significant DJ in New York
during the ‘70s/early-‘80s. He was a remix
pioneer and one of the first DJs to utilise three
turntables and sound effects in nightclubs.
Although he grew up in a musical family, Scott
became a DJ by accident, having previously
worked as a senior clerk for the Bronx Family
Court. He got his first break at Candy Store
in 1972, when, on a night out, he criticised
one of the DJs working there to the owner,
inadvertently resulting in him being offered
an audition, which consequently led to a
regular slot — playing to a mainly white and
Latin audience. Just a few months later he’d
secure a night at the venue where he would
make his name, Better Days, a poorly-lit,
predominantly black gay club in a notoriously
seedy part of midtown Manhattan.
Scott set about establishing Better Days
amongst the leading underground clubs in
‘70s New York. Having studied electronics,
he designed an amplifier and rigged up
the lighting, while — influenced by David
Mancuso’s Loft parties — he convinced
the club to install tweeters and bass
reinforcement, plus his Thorens turntables of
choice.
He built a reputation for his smooth mixing,
acute programming and big, emotional
selections. While many view Larry Levan as the
greatest NYC DJ, Tee Scott was remembered for
being consistently good, with Levan playing
illustration by Pete Fowler
more according to his mood. Scott held his
position towering above the dancefloor at
Better Days until late-1980 when another
legendary remixer, Bruce Forest, took over,
leading the club into a new era.
Following in the footsteps of pioneers Tom
Moulton and Walter Gibbons, Scott turned his
attention to the studio, landing his first remix
for Philadelphia International’s 1979 Edwin
Birdsong single ‘Phiss-Phizz’. His break came
later that year via his take on First Choice’s
‘Love Thang’, whilst, frustratingly, he wasn’t
credited for his mix of Roberta Flack & Donny
Hathaway’s 1980 classic ‘Back Together
Again’, a top three UK hit.
I first noticed the name Tee Scott on the
Arthur Baker-produced 12-inch ‘Happy Days’
by Northend, released on Emergency in 1981.
What was particularly impressive was that my
preferred version, the largely instrumental
flip ‘Tee’s Happy’, incorporated the DJ’s
name in its title, highlighting the newfound
importance of the remixer. During the early‘80s he’d remix a number of underground club
favourites by artists including Sharon Brown,
Junior, Stone The Whatnauts and Whodini.
As the decade unfurled, Scott’s star faded. He
died in 1995 aged 47, having been diagnosed
with cancer at the start of the ‘90s.
ALTHOUGH IT WAS with ‘Cold Sweat’ that James
Brown first unleashed funk upon the world, it was in
1970, with ‘Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine’,
that ‘soul music’s bastard offspring’ arrived in its
fully realised form.
‘The hardest working man in show business’ had
been around since the early-‘50s, first emerging in
Georgia as part of the Gospel Starlighters alongside
friend Bobby Byrd. The band became The Famous
Flames and got their break after coming into contact
with Brown’s idol, Little Richard, who put them onto
his manager and gifted them the title of their first
R&B hit, ‘Please, Please, Please’ (1956), which he’d
scrawled onto a napkin.
His next major hit, ‘Try Me’, came in 1959, hitting
the top spot on the R&B chart, but it was 1963’s
‘Live At The Apollo’ LP that launched James Brown
to a wider audience, reaching No.2 on the US album
chart and illuminating Brown as one of the great live
performers in the process.
The next watershed release, 1965’s ‘Papa’s Got A
Brand New Bag’, was not only his first US top 10
single, but his first British hit — breaking through
after initial support from the mods — whilst ‘I Got
You (I Feel Good)’ and his epic ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s
Man’s World’ (1966) confirmed his place at black
music’s vanguard.
Although dubbed the ‘Godfather Of Soul’, funk
was destined to become the musical style most
associated with James Brown. ‘Cold Sweat’ laid its
1967 blueprint, with further tracks including ‘I Got
The Feelin’, ‘Say It Loud ­— I’m Black And I’m Proud’,
‘Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose’ and ‘Mother Popcorn’
further endorsing this new groove direction during
the decade’s final years.
Having dismissed most of his band at the onset
of the ‘70s, Brown began working with a group of
younger musicians he’d name The J.B.’s. One of
their first recordings was ‘Get Up I Feel Like Being A
Sex Machine’, driven by the killer bass of a brilliant
raw teenager called William ‘Bootsy’ Collins, who,
despite his inexperience, had been — in a bold
stroke of genius — brought to the fore by Brown.
Accentuated by his vocal to-and-fro with long-time
collaborator Bobby Byrd, ‘Sex Machine’ is a triumph
of rhythm — forever vital and urgent. Brown’s
funk formula, ‘the one’, would fuel Funkadelic/
Parliament, with Bootsy Collins and his guitarist
brother Catfish joining forces with George Clinton
following their short but seismic J.B’s stint — the
P-Funk crew also later enlisting the services of James
Brown stalwarts Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker.
www.gregwilson.co.uk
djmag.com 085
WAX LYRICAL
Pic: DANNY SEATON
Terry Francis
TERRY FRANCIS IS A DON. Fabric
resident since 1999 and founder of
mid-’90s London party and label
Wiggle, he’s without doubt one of the
most influential players on the UK techhouse scene.
As well as rocking the inside of Fabric’s
hallowed bricked walls week in, week
out, he’s sometimes overlooked as
a producer — considered more of
a DJ these days. However, he’s put
out a (perhaps) surprisingly long
discography of vinyl releases for labels
like Pirate Radio, Groove Pleasure and
his own imprint, and this month sees
the arrival of his first ever album.
Made up of two classic EPs both
originally released on Hallucination
Limited — ‘Freedom’, released in
2003, and ‘Change’, from 2005 — it’s
cunningly entitled ‘Together’ — two
EPs combined, geddit? — and today
it sounds as fresh as ever, showcasing
his timeless, unctuous deep house
(‘Change’/Rhythm Spirit’ featuring
Ricardo Afonso on vocals) in all its glory
alongside more driving stuff (‘Free’)
and popping warm tech-house grooves
(‘Rosie and Hannah House’).
As relevant now as he was 15 years
ago, Terry Francis is still killing it, so we
wanted a piece of his party history...
Remember your first rave? Please tell
us about it...
“Technically, my first rave was in a barn
out towards Oxford. It was a Kiss FM
party, when Kiss was a pirate station.
Paul ‘Trouble In The Mix’ Anderson
played and a few other old school guys,
but it was Paul that stood out to me. He
was a bit more dirty, in a heads-down
house kind of way. Greenwich On West
London was probably my first rave,
though, not just a dance for a few hours
— I mean a proper rave. It was called
Biology in an old snooker hall. You
know, the kind of place you don’t wear
your best trainers to. These days I go to
some places, and it looks like people are
going to dinner with their parents!”
What was the most crucial record ever
made, in your opinion?
“For me, I’d say the most critical record
I bought was Lonnie Liston Smith
‘Expansions’. It’s an amazing tune that
really captures it all for me. The vibe
of house, funk, boogie and even acid
house, I felt — and still feel — it all
in just that one tune. And it’s such a
positive tune, as well. It’s just a proper
live jam. Simply brilliant to my ears.”
Three tunes that never leave your
bag?
“Second Hand Satellites ‘Orbit 1.3’
(Hallucination Recordings). Just a
timeless record by DJ Three & Sean Q6
with a combination of unique, tripped
out sounds over an undeniable groove.
“Guy Gerber ‘So Close, Far Away’.
Another hypnotic one I always find
a moment for with a proper train-ofthought backing track locking you in for
the whole ride.
“Digital Boogie ‘Afterglow’. Still get the
same reaction even now for this older
classic.”
wrong, or at the very least really over
the top. I’m sure it would be such a
laugh.”
Imagine the world is going to
end tomorrow, what are you going to
do tonight?
“What could you do? I dunno. Most of
my ex-girlfriends don’t talk to me, so
wouldn’t be phoning them or anything
like that. Time to get smashed then!”
Describe what you imagine clubbing
to be like in the year 2300?
“Hopefully, we still have clubs and
places to meet, dance and have fun. The
way the powers that be want everything
so sterile and conformed these
days, I think it would have to be very
underground simply out of necessity. The more I think about that, the more it
sounds exactly the way it ought to be!”
If you could meet anyone — alive or
dead — who would it be and why?
“I’d like to have a beer with Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore. They were a bit
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