PETE TONG
The highly anticpated Black Tie Rave on Feb. 28 featuring Swedish House Mafia on their 'One Last Tour' has already proved to be hugely successful. The first round of tickets were auctioned off in December and with under a third of the tickets sold, an incredible amount of $437,000 was raised for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund in support of hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
The masterful, world famous, phenomenon that is Swedish House Mafia, has just announced the full reveal of support for their U.S. 'One Last Tour' dates and naturally, they did it big. With 12 of their 16 U.S. shows already sold out and what will be an eventful and historic finale performance at Ultra Music Festival, the attendees will have quite an unforgettable SHM experience.
The acts included are Pete Tong and Armand Van Helden who will make an appearance at the MSG and Barclays Center in NYC as well as AN21 & Max Vangeli, and Otto Knows. The highly anticipated Black Tie Rave will see Pete Tong again as well as Carl Kennedy while the West Coast is in for a treat with the solid Masquerade Motel line up featuring Alesso, Mat Zo, Third Party, Zedd, Nero, Clockwork, and Style Of Eye.
When early December descends upon us, yes we remember that the holidays are just around the corner, but music and art lovers alike have their own little holiday to anticipate: Miami Art Basel. In 2011, there was a record attendance of 50,000 (up from 40,000 just one year earlier) so it's clear that the annual exhibition is flourishing. The roster of music fueled events that hit Miami each year are adding up and it's no surprise that a new music festival is in the works to correspond with Art Basel. Alex Omes and Emi Guerra of GO BIG Productions are adding yet another musical force to their agenda with the introduction of the first annual UR1 Music Festival in Miami.
We’ve heard quite a few announcements of genre-crossing festival’s lately, with Jay-Z’s Made in America and the ever-evolving Lollapalooza. And while I’m definitely a fan of shaking up a festival lineup with a hip-hop artist or two, never in my wildest dreams would I pair EDM with classic rock - a move BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong has boldly made with his “Rocktronic Ibiza123” festival.
Held July 1-3 (as per the name) in the EDM capital of the world, the festival will blend together a band of unlikely couples; picture Elton John with Axwell, Lenny Kravitz with David Guetta, and Sting with Tiesto. Other acts include Basement Jaxx, Tinie Tempah, Pnau, Luciano and Labrinth. Ticket and price information have yet to be released.
Electronic music concert-production conglomerate Insomniac is facing dark days, with the indictment of the company’s CEO Pasquale Rotella on charges of bribery, conspiracy, embezzlement, and conflict of interest. However, Insomniac representatives say the upcoming Electric Daisy Carnivals, taking place May 19-20 at MetLife Stadium and June 8-10 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will live on.
Rotella was among six defendants named in the case, stemming from shady work contracts at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Rotella has not pleaded guilty, but co-defendant Patrick Lynch, who managed the Coliseum for 17 years, announced his guilty plea last week - making him eligible to testify against Rotella.
EDC had enjoyed the Coliseum for years as its host, but following the overdose death of a 15-year-old girl in 2010 outside of the concert, the festival relocated to Las Vegas for 2011 where roughly 80,000 people were in attendance daily.
The end of EDC would not only mean disappointed ravers, but also a detriment to the city of Las Vegas, which saw a $130 million increase to the southern Nevada economy, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
House music industry key players are rallying in support of Rotella, taking their message to twitter with the hashtag “#FreePasqualeRotella.” Kaskade tweeted the message when the news of Rotella’s arrest first broke, and the hashtag spread like wildfire in the scene, garnishing tweets from electronic duo The Crystal Method and fans around the country.
According to a Billboard article, BBC radio host Pete Tong was heard backstage at his party at the Surfcomber Hotel saying, “I hope for the sake of the scene that it turns out OK. He's a great guy, and a major contributor to what is happening here in America, and why it's happening the way it is."
Anticipation has a funny way of heightening an event: both through its capacity to incite a slow-building crescendo of fervor, and in its ability to massively inflate one’s expectations. In the case of Ultra Fest, the hype is certainly warranted—as this monumentally epic musical endeavor deserves an equally salacious array of festivities. It’s a natural compliment—the proverbial jelly to the fest's peanut butter—and for those whose musical and carnal appetites remain unsatiated, there is a cornucopia of bashes (both musical and decadent) that correspond with the inaugural day of Ultra Fest.
The internationally known turn-table genius, label owner, and disc jockey A-Trak has been at the top of his game since the age of 15 where he won the 1997 DMC World DJ Championship. That was only the beginning for the beat scratching artist who most currently was hand selected by none other than Kanye West to be his exclusive tour DJ. From stadium performances to intimate nightclub DJ sets, A-Trak is considered an electronic music icon who's record label Fool's Gold can be held responsible for launching careers for artists such as Kid Cudi and Kid Sister.
Every fall, the CMJ Music Marathon in New York is responsible for thrusting some of the hottest independent acts in music into the spotlight of the Big Apple. Various venues throughout the city will be taking part in CMJ this weekend, so it's going to be pretty hard to pass by your local music hall without hearing the buzz of new sounds emanating through every doorway. With a series of panels and discussions on modern music and technology, the marathon is just as much a showcase of new bands as it is a celebration of the digital age that allows said artists to climb the ranks of exposure with a few clicks.
After teasing a major announcement on their official website, Swedish House Mafia have revealed that they're bringing their chart-topping beats to the grandest stage of them all - New York City's Madison Square Garden. The house supergroup will be making music history by being the first dance act to headline the legendary venue.
SHM is set to ignite the Big Apple on Dec. 16th, and Pete Tong will announce the big news this afternoon on his Radio One program at 4:20 p.m. EST. Tickets will go on sale through Ticketmaster and Live Nation next friday, Sept. 30th. There will be a 24-hour presale on the group's Facebook page on Sept. 29th starting at 10 a.m. However, SHM originals, the fans that have been around since the group's first NYC show in February 2010, will get first dibs on the tickets, with a special presale running from 10 a.m. on Sept. 28th to 10 a.m. on Sept. 30th.
Coming off the recent release of his Balance 019 mix CD, progressive house artist Henry Size will tour North America. Praised by the house giants such as John Digweed and Pete Tong, Henry's own podcast "The Labryinth" demonstrates his rising fame and his ability to integrate a variety of DJing techniques, using Ableton Live, Access Virus TI synth, and even at times, an iPod Touch.
But, despite this newer technologies in his recent podcasts, Henry's unique soundscapes and textures derive from his love of analogue sound, something mising in today's digital world. For his recent productions on the Balance Mix, he uses four track recorders, vinyl, reprocessing and re-editing. Each track has been honed and refined before it's mixed into the compliation. His DJ sets carry a similar respect for the older style of playing music: attuned, meticulous and technical, Henry is able to move between the various sub-genres of electronic music, from tech and deep house, to tribal and techno. To download his free remix of Radiohead's Codex, click here.
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