Posted by: Derek

Whew! So, two weeks back and I still can’t stop thinking about Miami. It was a heck of alotta content packed into a week, and a great deal of awesomeness was had.

The folks I went with and I were lucky enough to have been invited to a private party at legendary mix engineer Tom Lord-Alge’s house, where both BT and Alex MORPH were performing. First off — WTF? This is totally the sort of thing that happens at a private party out there…sounds like a joke almost but it was complete awesome reality.

We all know BT, but lemme introduce you to Alex MORPH if you don’t know him.

He’s actually one of the most consistent and solid remixers in the trance scene, a killer artist and DJ, and…has an inexplicable love of trucker hats. Yup, he’s basically never seen without them - and true to form he was wearing one out this day as well.

Since they were broadcasting the audio from the event on XM, some kind soul saved the stream into a file, and I’ve found it to share with y’all. It’s fun stuff - back and forth between progressive house and flowy trance. Perfect for watching the sun go down over the bay!

Enjoy the set here, and look farther below for the bonus video!

Alex M.O.R.P.H - Live at Global Frequency 2011 (right click and save-as to download)

For extra WTF factor, he was joined by two gogos in white feather outfits that were rocking their stuff on stage — this was a pretty interesting juxtaposition with pounding progressive tracks played by a dude in redneck duds (see bonus video below!!).

BONUS! Here’s a short clip of what the scene was like:

Alex MORPH at SeaToSun Global Frequency Miami 2011 from Derek Ryan on Vimeo.

Posted by: Derek

whoa, what a ride…

As mentioned in my [last podcast post] I just got back from Miami Music Week, and hot damn that was alot of awesome.
Industry parties, pool parties, things happening at all hours, craziness all around.

Given that nearly the entire dance music community was there it was a great place to meet friends, listen to some amazing tunes at arms-length from legendary spinners, and bask in the sun and the beats coming from every direction (even Wallgreens had a DJ!).

roger sanchez - yup, he's right there.

Besides new connections and great memories though, one of the most incredible things I took away from the experience was the power of dance music as a uniting and unifying force for all sorts of people. This was present on every dancefloor in town, where the vibe was just ALIVE in some indescribable way, from the small events to the huge warehouses. However, the largest events seemed to showcase it the most - Above & Beyond’s Anjunabeats Ice Palace event was incredible, and the biggest of them all - Ultra Music Festival - trumped all reason.

Ultra is insane.
According to the figures, this year was attended by over 100,000 peeps.

ultramainstage

The amount of people there should be absolute chaos, and if you look at the aftermath photos it still was to some extent.

However, nothing speaks to the human spirit like 70,000 people in sync with the DJ and each other in an undulating, bouncing, flowing tide.

Though every stage at Ultra shared this, the tent (or blimp hanger I should say) shared by Carl Cox and then A State Of Trance 500 was off the charts.

Absolutely nothing like it - look in any direction and thousands of people are experiencing what you are, bobbing to Carl Cox’s impeccable rhythmic melange, or completely losing it to Gareth Emery throw down Forbidden City.

The crowning moment for me had to be when Ferry Corsten threw down Beautiful - and the message hit home, leaving the entire arena crying, laughing, jumping, and sweating their hearts out. Very meta in a way, as one of the (minimal) lyrics to this tune is “Let the music carry us together” — it did, and in a way impossible through any other medium.

I’ll have to get a video from somewhere of this slice of time — it was absolutely incredible - will post if I find.

If you’re interested in seeing more pix of what Miami is like during music week, check out my album on Facebook.
And if we’re not friended on there, add me for chrissakes ^_^.

Bienvenido a Miami!

PS - I had the awesome chance to spin on one of the smaller Ultra stages! it was epic. and very miami. see below:

Posted by: Jay

Have you ever been to Burning Man?  If so have you ever tired to describe it someone?  It’s really, really tough.  Instead of wasting pages trying I’m gonna take a different approach this year.  2010 was probably my best Burn ever, and a lot of that had to do with the music.  There was this great diversity that you seldom here on the playa.  Electro over here, breaks over there, jungle (yes, I said jungle!  We saw Aphrodite), trance, dub-step, and even Hip Hop!  I heard more Hip Hop this year than I did in all my previous years combined.  This is a good thing.

For my podcast this week I’m gonna take you on an aural tour of Burning Man 2010.  Every song on this set I either heard in Black Rock City, played in Black Rock City, or was inspired by, yeah, you got it, my most recent trip to Black Rock City.  After the jump I’ll have the full track list and where I heard/played the songs.

If you were at Burning Man this year what did you think?  Did you enjoy the music?  Any sets particularly stand out for you?  I hope that this set might bring you back there, if just for an hour.  If it’s not working on it’s own feel free to cover yourself in dust, sit under a heat lamp, pee in a jug, do lots of drugs and set something on fire.  Always does the trick for me (^-^)v

DJ Jay - White Out (right click and “Save as…” to download)

\*/ - And remember “like it” throw up some stars or leave us a comment if you like.  We love hearing from you!

Tracklist, Backstories and Photos:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

As many of you know, I’m living down here in Bolivia these days.  Being a big fan of music and dancing, whenever I’m in a new place I love to check out there night clubs.  You can learn a lot about a society from their nightclub culture; things like what kind of music they listen to, what time the club gets full, how long the peeps stay out, the interaction between the sexes, the type of dancing, the clothes, etc… These all give you hints into the culture as a whole.

Bolivia is a poor country (the second poorest in Latin America after Haiti) so the clubs are not extravagant, but they’re not hella ghetto either.  What they lack in flash they make up for in energy and musical variety  I don’t know if I’ve ever heard such a crazy range of music played than I do at the clubs out here!  It’s nuts, they’ll go from Latin pop, to reggaeton, to US pop, to hip hop, to traditional Bolivian music to house in the span of the night.  And somehow the DJs manage to blend all of these styles smoothly.  I am continually impressed!

Music, photos, videos and impressions from a trip out to “Club Lujos” in Cochabamba after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

So I see you’re not at Burning Man.  Yeah, me neither.  Extra tough for me this year as my camp, Pancake Playhouse, is having a sort of renaissance.  Well whatever, we have each other rite??  You know what, I’m making this the official non-Burning Man party spot!  I’ll bring you something every day so that we might make it through the week together.  And you leave some comments or some stars to let me know that at least some of you are “not at Burning Man” with me.  Deal??

So, in our First 100 Days of Beats pool everyone who voted wanted to hear more breaks.  I am a loyal servant of you brilliant readers so here you go, three hot new breaks tracks!  And to complete the BM experience I’ve included some photos and instructions.

Here’s what we’re gonna do:

1. Go get some dirt, the dryer the better, and mix with flower.  Get half naked and cover yourself in it.
2. Get really drunk/high (You know, if getting high were legal).
3. Sit in the direct sun/under a heat lamp.
4. Listen to this music really loud, look at the photos and pretend we’re at Burning Man… roaming aimlessly from dance camp to dance camp, hopping art cars and running from animal control and dirty hippies.   Ohh no, a shirt cocker!  You got any extra glow?

Our first track comes thanks to brilliant reader “b” who turned us on to the Stanton Warriors official unofficial blog Boomtown.  It’s the Warriors remix of LCD Soundsystems’s “DiscoInfiltrator” and it’s fucking sick:

“DiscoInfiltrator” - LCD Soundsystem - StantonWarriors Remix

Next up a hot little joint I fond on Beatport the other day.  Viro, Rob Analyze  or FarAce teamed up for a pretty sweet breaks/indie dace breaks track here.  “Stop that! You don’t even know me like that.”

“Time &  Time” - Viro & Rob Analyze - FarAce Remix

Buy this track and more from FarAce, Rob Analyze, and Viro

Finally a funky breaks track from newcomer Justin Mason.  Hey, Cor hasn’t cornered the entire funky breaks market around here, OK*?  Love the voice sample! * And he’s at Burning Man anyway, so he’ll never know!  Bwaaahahahahaha!

“Backdoor Kicker” - Justin Mason

Buy it on beatport.

So whatdayathink?  Which track is your fav?  Are you bumbed about not going to Burning Man or are you over it/have no interest?  Here are the photos, view using “PicLens” to listen and view photos at the same time.  Clicking on the photos will close the music player.  Enjoy!

[View with PicLens]

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