Mental note: Don’t call Calvin Harris a sell out.
Mental note: Don’t call Calvin Harris a sell out.
Calvin Harris may be the richest DJ in the world according to Forbes, pulling in double each year what Kanye West makes (indeed, Harris pockets US$300,000 a night at his residency at Las Vegas’s Hakkasan), but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to unkind words from a heckler.
As a video picked up by Mixjunkies shows, Harris lost his cool at a show at LIV Miami (a show he’d been particularly “excited” about, according to his Twitter feed). When a lady in the crowd heckled him, he stopped the music – his tune Feel So Close – and jumped on the mic to let the heckler speak her piece. The playful exchange quickly turned awkward when the heckler asked for “something original” – “that tune was an original by me, it’s my song,” Harris responded, before losing his cool: “Why do you come to a fucking Calvin Harris show where Calvin Harris is DJing and don’t want to hear a fucking Calvin Harris record, you dumb fucking bitch.”
The heckler was escorted from the club and Calvin got on with his set – before flying out the next day to play a (reportedly excellent) early show in Calgary, Canada, then jetting into Las Vegas for his Hakkasan residency later that night and backing it up with a set at Made in America in Philadelphia on the Sunday. He’ll be keeping up that typically-busy schedule until November, when the hitmaker touches down in Australia for the mega 2013 Stereosonic tour.
The lesson? DJs should probably avoid the microphone – and never, ever give the mic to the crowd.
Posted by Nick Jarvis (via In The Mix)
DJ Fabian (XS Nightclub) on Club Killers Radio.
Club Killers presents House of Dreamz: Wicked Wonderland this Friday night inside the Yost Theater!
DJ Obscene returns to Club Killers Radio.
Steve Aoki throws cake 80 feet & hits kid in wheelchair in face.
Robin Thicke, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots Perform ‘Blurred Lines’ With Classroom Instruments.
Selena Gomez goes EDM with new album.
Selena Gomez goes EDM with new album.
So, apparently, if the current style of pop music and dubstep were to consummate, what Selena Gomez calls “baby dubstep” would be produced. Selena Gomez will be releasing her new EDM based album, Stars Dance, on July 24.
She had previously described the album as having a strong Skrillex influence (of course toned down). She showed it off at a listening party on Monday. Teasers of 11 tracks were released shortly after and curiosity struck me having heard how she described the album. Before I discuss my opinion of the work, I’ll say that the EDM influence does truly exist in this album. Whatever “baby dubstep” is, it paints a strangely accurate picture of this album to a small degree.
When I say this, I’m referring to the court of public opinion of what EDM and dubstep is right now. Basically, you can hear the Skrillex in it. Personally, when I think dubstep, thumping tunes from UK artist’s Caspa and Doctor P come to mind. Whatever genre you want to call it, Selena’s team knows how to market. Sex, EDM, and the catchy aspects of today’s top 40 tracks are all great individual ways to make money…okay that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean. Combine all three and you’re sure to be a hit.
Step one: transition from Disney Channel to the sexual nature of her most recent movie Spring Breakers, step 2: wobbly synths, step 3: easy to remember female vocals, and step 4: profit. It’s a formula that both Selena Gomez and I believe will work. I may not love the album, you may not love the album, critics will probably hate the album, but people will buy it. In a world where Paris Hilton has an Ibiza residence, the potential success of this album should not be doubted. The content of the vocals is astonishingly bad in my eyes, but people like me are not the target audience. I will say, however, that her voice itself is not bad. I feel like if you gave her someone who could write and someone who could produce better beats, some type of mediocre EDM could come out of it. Afrojack seems like a logical choice considering he gave up any sense of respect he had in the industry with his production of Paris Hilton’s album and his future collaboration with Nick Cannon (can’t wait!).
If this album teaches us anything, it’s to not be surprised by any future so called “celebrity” jumping into the EDM game. Maybe there’s a bubble, maybe there’s not, but it doesn’t look to be bursting anytime soon. This is the industry that is growing faster than any other. As an artist, if you want to make money and make money now, EDM is the path to success. When you listen below, hate on the quality all you want, but understand the marketing behind it is brilliant.
Teaser “Save The Day” (1 of 11 tracks on album)
Posted by Tyler EDMT (via EDM Tunes)
16 drops in 54 seconds: Swedish duo’s Beatport 100 mash-up goes viral
My Son The DJ: Laidback Luke
Steve Angello on DJing without headphones: “It’s not that hard”
Steve Angello on DJing without headphones: “It’s not that hard”
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“The thing is, I lost my hearing in my left ear two years ago,” says Swedish House Mafia alum Steve Angello to the room at the EDMbiz conference in Las Vegas last year. He’d just been asked about the YouTube upload titled, Steve Angello – How To Fake Your Fans, which showed him DJing without headphones at Dance Valley in The Netherlands. “I couldn’t hear for almost a month and thought I was going deaf,” he went on. “I’m always in planes working with my headphones on really loud. So I taught myself how to DJ without headphones.”
In the recent episode for his Size TV video series, the Swede returns to the topic that stirred up so much controversy. He continues to tour with his self-taught method. “If you’re a guitarist, you can play tight,” he tells the camera in a quiet moment. “If you’re a drummer, you play tight. The only thing you’ve gotta do as a DJ is to press that button at the same beat as the other track, which is not the hardest thing in the world, because people do it every day. You just gotta be synched. The CD player tells you which BPM your record is. If you know that one track is 125 and the other is 128, you just put the pitch three BPMs up. Then you’re good to go. It’s not that hard if you know your records, and it’s definitely not hard if you re-edit all your records so you know the exact timing of things.”
While his SHM mates Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell have struck up a new collaborative project, Departures, Angello is busy forging his own path. After a mainstage slot inside the Owl at EDC Las Vegas, his Summer Love tour is now focused on Europe, building up to Tomorrowland in Belgium. He’s also presenting a Size Matters tent at select festivals with his label protégés. “If you think about it, people don’t even dance anymore,” he muses in the video on the new wave of EDM fans. “They’re jumping. And that’s awesome. But there’s a gap where [funkier music] used to be.”
The Size TV episode peaks with Angello’s set at Green Valley in Brazil, where the DJ has been known to play some marathon sets in the past. His record is 11-and-a-half hours in 2010. As he told inthemix of the hallowed club: “When I’m in Brazil, I do 11-hour sets. That’s what I really love to do. Last time I was at Green Valley, I broke the record for playing the longest: I think I started at 1am and stopped at 2pm the next day.” Watch the Size TV Episode Six below.
Posted by Jack Tegoning (via In The Mix)
Lawsuit against EDC promoter Pasquale Rotella thrown out.
Lawsuit against EDC promoter Pasquale Rotella thrown out.
The L.A. Coliseum Commission will regroup next week to consider its options after a local judge basically threw out its civil lawsuit against rave promoters who organized parties at the Coliseum and its sister venue, the L.A. Sports Arena.
The suit named promoters Pasquale Rotella of Insomniac and Reza Gerami of Go Ventures as well as ex-Coliseum events manager Todd DeStefano, accusing them of bilking the public venues out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in an alleged kickback scheme that had, the suit says, promoters paying DeStefano under the table. Parts of the suit were thrown out last year. And now L.A. Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green threw out the filing’s remaining seven claims. But … the judge said the Coliseum Commission, the public body that runs the venues, could amend its complaint by July 31, according to Law360.
Coliseum general manager John Sandbrook told the LA Weekly the Coliseum Commission plans to discuss what to do during its next meeting. “There is no comment until discussion with the Coliseum Commission next Wednesday,” he said.
It could be good news for rave promoters essentially kicked out of the venues after it was discovered that DeStefano was allegedly taking payments from them for his managerial expertise, cash that the suits says should have gone to the Coliseum. The promoters and DeStefano are still under criminal indictment for basically the same allegations. The three deny the allegations and say the payments were for legit, freelance services DeStefano performed on his own time.
The indictment, including allegations of conspiracy, embezzlement and bribery, accuses the promoters of plying DeStefano with cash with the understanding that their parties would go on unmolested by Coliseum officials at the venues. Following this Coliseum raves scandal in 2010 and 2011 the festivals were shut out of the public venues. With USC taking over management of the Coliseum it doesn’t look like they’ll return, but in a recent tweet Rotella said he wouldn’t rule out a Southern California comeback at another venue.
His wildly successful Electric Daisy Carnival moved from the Coliseum to Las Vegas in 2011 and has since seen 100,000-a-day crowds for three days at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway each June.
Posted by Dennis Romero (via LA Weekly)
Afrojack plays Deadmau5 at his own game & wins.
Afrojack plays Deadmau5 at his own game & wins.
After listening to Afrojack speak at EDMbiz 2013 one thing became very clear to me. Do not mess with Afrojack. Nick van de Wall, had no problem cleverly and hilariously shutting down bad questions and comments, to the amusement of the attendees. Obviously Deadmau5 wasn’t there, but it looks like he’ll learn this the hard way.
Deadmau5 and Afrojack got into it on Twitter earlier over differing opinions on production and tastes. Deadmau5 was quick to slam van de Wall’s recent work and opinions on popular EDM. Afrojack‘s response was basically along the lines of “everyone gets their own taste, if they like it so what?” Deadmau5 didn’t take kindly to this and criticized the Dutchman who had literally just finished praising the controversial Canadian’s musical prowess as one of the best. Strange way to say thank you.
It doesn’t look like Deadmau5 will be getting the last laugh in this situation though. Afrojack just posted a track called something_ to his Soundcloud, clearly poking fun at Deadmau5‘s signature sound. Something_ is all sorts of progressive badness, out of key and poorly timed. It builds into an awful, ear-shattering big room turd before dropping into a completely different Dutch breakdown out of nowhere, which is equally as awful.
Most of Afrojack‘s fans didn’t quite understand the message and seemed to be upset, but I like to think we get it. The title, the plucked progressive pretentiousness, random drop, and genre ‘unclassified as of now’, all point to Afrojack putting out probably one of the best troll pieces in EDM to date. Seriously, other artists need to take notes, instead of taking to Twitter, take it to the studio if you have beef. Laughs are guaranteed, check out the piece bellow. Well played Afrojack, well played.
Posted by Brett Edgerly (via YourEdm)
CK EDIT: Still don’t forgive you for that whole Paris Hilton thing though*