DUBBYstep

We all know and love Avicii’s hit, ‘Levels.’

Now, catch it in reverse.   Well, almost in reverse.  The vocals aren’t backwards.  But, what if they were?  Maybe they’d produce some Satanic message?

Thanks to George Monev for remixing…eh…reversing the track.

Spring Awakening is coming to Soldier Field in June and Skrillex and Afrojack will be there to headline.  DUBBYstep first reported rumblings of this festival a few weeks back and then again last night.

Well, folks, now it’s a reality.

The 2-day festival on June 16-17  was announced late last night by React Presents.  Moby, Flux Pavilion, Laidback Luke, Wolfgang Gartner, Diplo, A-Trak, Ferry Corsten, Markus Schulz, Arty, Claude VonStroke, Derrick Carter, Destructo, Dillon Francis, Downlink, Felix Cartal, Gabriel And Dresden, Green Velvet, Hardwell, Joachim Garraud, Kill The Noise, Lance Herbstrong, Midnight Conspiracy, Morgan Page, Nathan Scott, Nervo, and Nobody Beats The Drum will join Skrillex and Afrojack.

Another wave of artists will be announced in the near future.  Get your two day passes right here.

We here at DUBBYstep are led to believe that you all may want to stay up past your usual bed time tonight as you could be in store for a VERY nice surprise.  Keep an eye out for GROUPON to sell the first round of tickets starting at midnight tonight.  You heard it here first.  Get ‘em while they’re hot (and cheap).

Cypress Hill and Rusko are collaborating to release an LP in April, according to Rolling Stone.  The blend of hip-hop and dubstep will be called Cypress X Rusko.

DUBBYstep featured a hip-hop/dub song by Wick-It the Instigator a few weeks back and this is further evidence that more genres of music continue to welcome dub with open arms.

Cypress Hill and Rusko will team up for their first live performance at the Smoke Out Festival in San Bernardino, California on March 3rd.

Their first single is called, ‘Roll It, Light It,’ and can be found below.  The energy is definitely there.

DUBBYstep Live Music Contributor, Phil Pace, takes us on the journey through HOLY SHIP 2012.  The pre-sale for the 2013 show already sold out.  For more information, check out their official website for next January’s festival. 

“HOLY F-ing SHIP!”  This was a common expression heard amongst the crowd and the microphone from the artists throughout the journey.  From the moment everyone stepped foot outside their car or cab to reveal what seemed to be the overly luxurious for the occasion MSC Poesia cruise ship, excitement filled the air… and the sea.

The lines to get onto the ship were filled with smiling faces and some still tired ones left over from the HOLY SHIP Pre-Party hosted by Mad Decent Records. Diplo, one of the busiest men in music today, headlined as his side project, Major Lazer.  All of the fellow “maiden voyagers” as we proudly referred to ourselves as, were already busy trying to meet one another to boast and brag about how amazing the next three days would be.

As we pulled out of the port sometime after sundown on Friday, January 6th, Diplo hopped on the decks and appropriately played a sample of Enya’s “Sail Away” right before dropping into some crunchy electro.  Another commonly used line throughout the weekend was brought up right then as two fans dressed as jellyfish walked passed me saying, “Imagine what other ships think of us right now!”

Diplo playing 'Sail Away' as the HOLY SHIP departs

First night main sets included Skrillex, Rusko, Laidback Luke and French electronic sensation Gesaffelstein to name a few.  Each DJ supported/pushed the next to bring more energy and creativity  until the night truly reached its peak during an intimate, yet incredibly energy filled set by Zedd in the ‘Zebra Bar’ from 2:30-4 AM.  While some people turned it in after this I casually stumbled onto the pool deck for one more drink, which quickly turned into five more when Skrillex made a casual appearance to hang out and send some love back to the fellow maiden voyagers. Yeah, that was cool.

Skrillex in the elevator with fellow maiden voyagers

Day two came to a screeching halt somewhere too close to land on a sand bar in Port Lucaya, Bahamas. My favorite quote from that minor bump in the road or sea in our case, came from a 32-year-old businessman.  Dressed as a pirate for HOLY SHIP’s  “Pirate Day” the businessman cheerfully stated, “I’ve been on cloud 12 since we hit the sand bar!”  So, the second day on this beautiful ship in the middle of the Bahamas continued to be all I could ask for and then some, including the music.

Tug boats attempt to break the MSC Poesia free from the sand bar. It took 14 hours for five tug boats to free the ship

Highlights from day two’s lineup include “Pool Deck” sets by A-trak, Destructo, Steve Aoki, Skrillex, Tommy Lee & DJ Aero.  Then things moved inside starting off with a performance by burlesque goddess Dita Von Teese.  Paris Social Club hosted an evening in the “Teatro Theatre” showcasing Brodinski, Gesaffelstein and Club Cheval.  However, despite my efforts to be in more than one place at a time, I had to choose and ended up in the “S32 Disco” for Justin Martin and then Gina Turner.  At 3:00 am, Justin Martin put on a set for the ages. Even Skrillex and Dave Nada showed up right next to me on the dance floor to show support for one of the few tech-house producers/DJs on a ship full of dub-step & electro acts.   To see a moment where guys who play such different genres within EDM show love, support, and enjoyment for one another’s talents and progression in a constantly growing industry had to be the highlight of the night for me.

Justin Martin performs. Laidback Luke dances in costume for 'Pirate Day'

Day three greets you with some aches and pains from the past two days of jumping and screaming for 8-10 hours a night, but the utter joy and excitement of disembarking HOLY SHIP to get your feet wet during a private island party keeps you going.  The party starts at 10:00 am and runs until 3:00 pm when you get back on the ship to recover for a couple hours and do it one more time on the way back to Port Everglades, FLA.  The “Private Beach Boutique Party” featured sets by Dave Nada, Dillon Francis, Diplo and was wrapped up by whom some of the other artists refer to as the “godfather” of the entire EDM scene, Fatboy Slim.  Being the veteran that he is, Fatboy slowed things down for John Paul Young’s “Love is in the Air”, and it truly was.  People splashed around in the ocean, gave the floating rubber ducky a friendly push, and even a giant conga line formed weaving in and out of the shipwrecked bar/stage up on the beach.

Private Island Party with the MSC Poesia in the background

Love was in the air and people were ready to close out the weekend with a bang!  Back onboard, HOLY SHIP awaited sets on the Pool Deck by Brodinski, Justin Martin, Gina Turner and Laidback Luke; who I must congratulate once more on turning HOLY SHIP into an engagement party after proposing to then girlfriend, Gina Turner.  After the party moved inside from the pool deck, the options included a Fool’s Gold Rap Party, Zedd among others in the Disco, and mystery sets in the theatre.  I ended up choosing the theater and played witness to an extremely intimate set by Steve Aoki and then Tommy Lee & DJ Aero in which female singer Sofi made a special performance.

Sofi makes a special appearance on the final night

Overall, there could not have been a better way to start off the new year for an EDM fan than to be on the maiden voyage HOLY SHIP 2012.  If the next one is anything like the first, you can count on seeing me wandering HOLY SHIP dressed up in my black and red striped pirate pants again.  The entire experience was very personal with the artists, and the opportunities to meet them or at least catch a picture and handshake in passing were numerous.  I also believe the artists had an exceptionally positive experience getting to play with friends.  A couple days after arriving back state-side Skrillex sent out a tweet re-ittirating the fact that HOLY SHIP is a major player in the festival scene, “Holy ship was the craziest thing to happen in EDM period”.

Rusko showcases the intimacy of the festival as he shaves the head of a fan

Enjoy the recap video below…..

Axwell’s remix of ‘In My Mind’ is rising on the Beatport chart.

The Swedish DJ has done it again with this track.  It is beautifully fun with an energetic build into a fairly standard Axwell drop. Yes, fairly standard.  But, that doesn’t mean it’s not tight.  It’s definitely tight.

‘In My Mind’ is now number two on Beatport’s latest chart, trailing the latest David Guetta hit,’Wild One Two.’  The song premiered on 1.30.11 and can be bought here. 

http://youtu.be/UD8hfUxEQ2c

The 2012 Grammy Awards spoke volumes to the growth of EDM in the American music scene. Our boy Skrillex, for one, managed to take home three of the five awards he was nominated for including, Best Dance Recording, Best Remixed Recording (Non Classical), and Best Dance/Electronica Record. Not bad. Equally as significant as the recognition Skrillex received was the fact that the Best Dance/Electronica Record category, itself, was dominated by some of electronics biggest names. A category that has been practically reserved for pop icons such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce and J Lo over the past decade, now found its nominee spots filled by Deadmau5, Duck Sauce, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta and Avicii. These awards, amidst live performances by Deadmau5 and Guetta, not only made this years Grammys the most entertaining year in recent memory for us here at DUBBYstep, but it was demonstrative of the progress EDM has made in becoming a recognized genre in the professional music scene.

(Skrillex accepting one of his three awards before the CBS telecast via billboard.com)

Now I’ve arrived at the point of this article where I have to be a bit of a buzz kill and qualify what I have written so far… I have to say that I was surprised EDM didn’t completely steal the show. I mean consider the Deadmau5 performance with Foo Fighters. I saw the iconic mouse heads in the crowd and I could hear the roar of the crowd when the curtain dropped to reveal Deadmau5 standing high in his cube; he stole the show. The audience was there for him.

(Foo Fighters and Deadmau5 share the stage outside the Staples Center via TV.com)

The same, however, did not seem to be true of EDM’s presence at the Grammys as a whole.

Consider for a moment, the fact that David Guetta appeared in just one of the two live performances his music was featured in. This performance, like that of Deadmau5 later in the evening, took place in a tent outside the Staples Center. The other–the one that actually took place on the main stage–had little to do with electronic music beyond the actual track and a gigantic pyramid of LED cubes that served as props for a Chris Brown dance number. The same can be said for Rihanna’s performance of ‘We Found Love’–was Calvin Harris even invited to the Grammys? If I have yet to make my point, think one last time about the number of mentions or amount of face time given to Skrillex over the course of the nearly 4 hour production…the man was nominated for 5 awards, won 3, and if you weren’t looking for him you would have missed him.

The result of all of this on Sunday night was the feeling that while electronic music may gave gained significant traction in the music world, the social world just isn’t ready to accept it.  It will be interesting to see if any of this changes in the months following the release of Re:Generation tomorrow night.

DUBBYstep is gearing up for the Snowball Music Festival in Vail Valley.  It’s only a few weeks away.

One of the artists that I’m most excited to see is Rusko, who will be playing the first night.  I witnessed Rusko during a day set a few years back at Lollapalooza but there’s a 100% chance his show with the mountains as a backdrop will be better than his hour set at Perry’s Stage in Chicago.

The English Dubstep producer and DJ has been on the scene since 2006 and two of his more popular tracks are really catching my attention.

This morning, I’m listening to his 2012 hit, ‘Somebody to Love,’ and the 2010 Sub Focus remix of his track ft. Amber Coffman, ‘Hold On.’

Catch both below and enjoy the beautiful vocals that flow into some smooth dub.

Dave Grohl still isn’t making it exactly clear how he feels about EDM.  As DUBBYstep reported last week, the Foo Fighters played with Deadmau5 in last night’s Grammy Awards.  This was surprising news, especially after he made what sounded like anti-EDM comments at Lollapalooza.  All day I was left wondering if this was Grohl’s choice or if the show’s producer made the two acts collaborate during the electronic portion of the show that was held at a club outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the night, Grohl decided to take some jabs at the EDM community in his Best Rock Album acceptance speech.

‘This is a great honour, because this record was a special record for our band. Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood and rather than use all of the fanciest computers that money can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine…

To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.

“It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].’

The irony is that LMFAO cut off the speech after quite some time.

Around two hours later, Grohl’s Foo Fighters played for the second time in the night.  They went into ‘Rope’ on the left side of the club’s stage as a curtain hid Joel Zimmerman’s cube on the right side.  The juxtaposition of the two acts when the curtain disappeared was odd.  Grohl was headbanging on ground level while Deadmau5 was grooving in his mouse head above the Los Angeles crowd.  Grohl’s stage was ghostly white.  Zimmerman’s a blood red.  And the crowd?  All pro-mau5.  Grohl was being drowned out.  Then, Deadmau5 introduced grungy dub and ‘Raise Your Weapns’ to parents around the country when the Foo Fighters left the stage.  The camera zoomed in on Grohl, who appeared to be having a good time, headbanging and focused in the crowd.

Check it out for yourself at the 7:45 mark of the video below. Does Dave Grohl honestly like this music or did he realize the camera was on him?  EDM continues to make more of a mainstream presence and it will be interesting to see what the biggest night in music does for this genre in the future.

http://youtu.be/qJ9LoQVy40M

Skrillex is on the board.

The American DJ’s take on ‘Cinema’ by Benny Benassi ft. Gary Go just won the Grammy for Best Remixed Recording.

This could be the beginning of a successful night for Skrillex, who was nominated for five Grammy’s.  The biggest nod is his Best New Artist nomination.

DUBBYstep will be sure to keep you updated. For now, enjoy his winning track.