DJ MAG LA 13

EDITORIAL Proyect Leader B A N Directors Nicolás Barlaro Editor Hernán Pandelo

COMERCIAL Institutional Relationships Ariana Ramos Sales & Advertising Leo Jurjevich Event Production Ezequiel Dafont Operations Santiago Camaño

DESIGN Director Alejandro Ramos Layout Sergio Aguirre

TRANSLATION Grosman Traducciones Special thanks to: Agustin Clark, Bobby Bassett, Cristina Serrano, Gabo Semlich, Nicolas Basaure, Rodrigo Mendez, Roxana Carreras, Thais Bello & Zach Kurfirst.

CONTACT US

info@djmagla.com

We arrived in Miami as a new license a couple of years ago with the magazine when the Winter Music Conference seemed to be lost between parties and young people in search of only dance music beats. We experienced the resurrection of one of the most important tools that electronic music has had since its birth.

This week that takes place every March in the cosmopolitan city is the lighthouse that guides us for the rest of the year and, this time, we go even further, accompanying our friends from the Kimpton EPIC Hotel for their pool party series that this year will present to some of the greatest talents the city of Miami has ever seen in an unmatched environment.

WMC is back, celebrating its 35th anniversary as the longest-running conference of its kind and we couldn’t be happier of being able to experience it. This annual gathering helped give birth to an entire industry 35 years ago and now its back with a renewed sense of purpose and direction.

We talked to legend David Morales about his relationship with the city and Prok | Fitch also remembered some moments during WMC. We have chosen who should not be missed if you are around and we even suggest music from some of our favorite artists.

This is a small homage to this beloved week and a portion of everything we do in Latin America. We are proud to bring it to you.

HERNÁN PANDELO Main Editor

CONTENT

WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE SPECIAL EDITION

FEATURES 22 DO NOT MISS

8 acts to see at Miami’s Epic Pool parties…

24 MIAMI PLAYLISTS

Our favorite pics for Miami.

26 MIAMI MEMORIES: PROK | FITCH

The duo share their favorite Miami memories.

28 THE TEAM BEHIND

We spoke with the group of people in charge of the Epic Pool Parties during WMC.

30 DAVID MORALES TALKS ABOUT

08 COMIN’ UP Romina Cohn, DJ Fronter, Jay de Lys, Festivals in 2019, Andrew Weatherall, Bushwacka in the Hot Seat, Max Cooper takes ten, Josh Wink’s Game Changer, Get To Know Matchy, Pretty Pink and Deraout…

45 ON THE FLOOR

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Claptone in Rosario, Double or Nothing in Mute Mar del Plata, Day Zero in Tulum.

52 TECH Fedde Le Grand in the Studio, Loopmasters 5 , Guti & Djebali pivotal equipments…

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MIAMI

We spoke to iconic David Morales about his feelings on this beloved city.

32 JOCKEY JOURNAL: MIND AGAINST

The travel story of the duo throughout Latin America.

36 TRACK BY TRACK

Claude VonStroke crumbles his new studio album “Freaks & Beaks”.

38 ALL LIFE LONG

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Mathame started the year in the best way possible.

40 FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE

Two years into his move to Europe, Santiago Garcia is living the dream.

58 LUCKY SEVEN: SIDNEY CHARLES

Heavy House Society owner reveal us the tracks that affected him the most.

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COMIN’ UP

NEWS FOLLOW US ON SPOTIFY! DAILY UPDATED PLAYLISTS WITH THE BEST IN DANCE MUSIC…

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complicated morning, the traffic doesn’t allow you to reach a schedule, coffee spills over the seat of your car and everyone asks why you haven’t arrived yet. Sun is shining and the playlist with the best house songs of the decade created by DJ Mag Latinoamérica helps you overcome the setbacks and arrive at the meeting with your best smile.

We create the best playlists so you can enjoy electronic music in your favorite environment. The best of today and the past in a community that grows in the best way possible. Anticipate your favorite events with our custom playlists, get lost in the sounds we hear in the office and much more...

LATIN FLAVOR AROUND THE WORLD

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rgentinean DJ and producer ROMINA COHN released his latest effort together with Eduardo de la Calle in Cocoon Recordings. The song, titled “Im Losing My Mind” is included on the “Dots And Pearls Vol. 6” compilation along tracks from Adan Twins, Fabe and Michael Klein.

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FRONTER from Colombia lands in Hot Creations for the first time, teaming up with Italian native Fabio Neural on the “Brr Baby Brr EP”, a threetrack release with a contemporary house affair that shows the natural chemistry between the two.

WHO PLAYED THE MOST FESTIVALS IN 2019?

LOST FREQUENCIES, CHARLOTTE DE WITTE AND DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE WERE THE TOP THREE PERFORMERS…

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esticket has shared its festival analytics for 2019, including the DJs who played the most festivals last year. Topping the list with 49 performances was Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies, who performed on the main stage of Tomorrowland last year, as well as festivals like AMF and EDC China. Fellow Belgian artist, techno DJ Charlotte de Witte, also played the hallowed mainstage of Tomorrowland

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p & coming producer JAY DE LYS from Argentina has been experimenting unprecedented growth last year after releasing music in Saved Records. “Bling Bling”, a collaboration with Italian producer Agar, catched Loco Dice’s attention and ended up being one of his favorite songs of the year. Finally, it came out this January via elrow Music.

TOP 5 49 LOST FREQUENCIES 39 CHARLOTTE DE WITTE

festival in 2019, as well as hosting her own KNTXT stage, and clocked up 39 festival performances across the year.

Last year’s DJ Mag Top 100 DJ poll winners Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike also appeared in the top five, with 30 appearences, ahead of Amelie Lens and Martin Garrix, who tallied 28 and 26 festival performances respectively.

30 DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE

28 AMELIE LENS

26 MARTIN GARRIX

COMIN’ UP

RIP ANDREW WEATHERALL

Genius is an over-used term, but it is undeniably apt when applied to Andrew Weatherall...

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ne of the most respected, important and influential DJ/producers in our scene, Andrew Weatherall, has passed away. The tragic news was confirmed by his management in the afternoon of Monday 17th February in a short statement. He was 56.

A wry, sardonic character with a wicked sense of humour, Andrew was a legend of the underground scene. Uncompromising, pioneering, and a true alternative visionary, his influence on modern-day music cannot be underestimated.

Brought up in Windsor in Berkshire, west of London, Weatherall was a music fiend from the off. Thrown out of school, he was influenced by punk and post-punk and started playing in bands in his teenage years. When the acid house wave hit the UK in the late 80s he was at the centre of it, acerbically chronicling the nascent scene via the Boy’s Own fanzine and DJing at early London acid house club-nights like Shoom, Spectrum and The Trip.

Weatherall soon got into production, sitting in on sessions with Manchester hell-raisers the Happy Mondays, before getting the gig producing tracks on the new album by Primal Scream. A largely ignored Scottish indie band at that point, Primal Scream had taken to accompanying Weatherall on assorted DJ excursions, and when he remixed one of their songs into the dubbed-out, exultant ’Loaded’

— prefixing the track with a “We wanna get loaded and have a good time” sample from 1966 Peter Fonda movie The Wild Angels — it became massive in the clubs as much of the nation’s youth partied every weekend.

His work on ‘Screamadelica’ was simply magnificent: his dubby, blissed-out takes on tracks like ‘Come Together’ and ‘Higher Than The Sun’ captured the UK’s post-E zeitgeist immaculately, and led to the album topping most end-of-year Best Of lists on release in 1991. It won the first ever Mercury Music Prize in 1992, and is still cited as one of the finest albums ever — in any genre.

As the most celebrated producer and remixer in the scene at the time (his work with My Bloody Valentine, One Dove and Saint Etienne was also justifiably lauded), Weatherall could’ve cashed in at this point — but instead took a left-of-centre turn. He set up Sabres Of Paradise with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns (later both of The Aloof) — most memorably producing astounding chill-out cut ‘Smokebelch II’ that came out on Warp, followed by albums ‘Sabresonic’, ‘Haunted Dancehall’ and ‘Versus’ — and also set up a label and club-night using the Sabres name.

At Sabresonic he chiefly span techno and electro, providing a platform for talent from the emerging techno movement and a futuristic soundtrack for the more discerning London clubber.

A DJs’ DJ, Weatherall was frequently spoken about in hushed terms by the scene’s cognoscenti as, pretty much, the Ultimate Don. Mixing up cosmic dub, skewed electro, trippy techno, raucous rockabilly and anything else he goddamn fancied, a Weatherall DJ set was always an out-there journey.

Over the years Weatherall was also a prolific lino-print artist; was artist in residence for book publishers Faber & Faber; was terminally a champion of many underground, leftfield artists; and one of the funniest and most down-to-earth people in the business. Genius is an overused term, but it is undeniably apt when applied to Andrew.

Only last week he announced details of his new, low-slung spacey dub release, ‘Unknown Plunderer’, and was looking forward to a fruitful year which was to include DJ dates under the A Love From Outer Space brand.

Andrew was treated in Whipps Cross hospital in east London for a blocked artery, but sadly died on the morning of the 17th of February of a pulmonary embolism when the blood clot reached his heart. “His death was swift and peaceful,” according to the statement from his management company. The dance scene was united in grief at the passing of one of the absolute legends in the game.

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COMIN’ UP HOT SEAT We throw a few curveball questions the way of...

BUSHWACKA!

Is it true that when you started your residency at The End, people didn’t even know what style of music Plank was?

“When the club opened in 1995, I was a big fan of James Lavelle, Mo’ Wax and the whole emerging trip-hop thing. My creative urge was to create music that was like trip-hop, but was fast enough to dance to in the parties I was playing. A lot of stuff I used to make was around 140bpm, so it wasn’t drum & bass or jungle speed, but it wasn’t house speed. Because it was in the same era of tech-house, there was some kind of parallel that could be drawn. People would ask what to call it and I didn’t know either.”

You’ve had a few years to ponder. What would you call it now?

“I would call it tech-breaks, if I had to sub-divide another genre. I’ll be quite candid, the nu-school breaks thing died very quickly for me, which I found really sad because I had bigger aspirations for it. I was expecting it to evolve in a different way, but the music seemed to regress. There were a couple of years when there was what I would call ammunition, a box full of really fat records, but the soul started to be stripped away quite quickly and it just fizzled out.

That’s how I perceived it. It was also quite a closed group, it didn’t really grow. I went back to my acid house roots after that.”

It also made breakbeat of any description a dirty word, until the last few years…

“Yeah, I agree.”

Your son Oliver is following in your footsteps.

Given how the music industry has changed, what advice would you give?

“It’s good that the breaky, electro stuff is happening again,” says Matthew B, aka Bushwacka!, on the resurgence of a distinctly UK sound that he had no small part in defining.

From working the smoke machines at Ratpack warehouse parties in 1988, aged just 16, via cutting his teeth working in studios alongside greats such as former Yello manager Ian Tregoning, he became one of the most prolific forces in the tech-house scene and beyond. Bushwacka! was an engineer for Mr C’s Plink Plonk label, released records under an array of monikers and partnerships, and worked alongside Layo in a DJ/production team that had a residency at The End, toured the world and wrote massive hits like 2002’s ‘Love Story’.

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There’s also been a surge of interest in his labels Oblong and Plank — the latter of which showcased the distinctive breakbeat sound he pioneered around the turn of the millennium. Following reissues on Luca C’s Dacha label and Mint Condition, cherrypicking productions from this era, he’s now re-launching both. With Plank a home for his new breakbeat productions and Oblong lining up fresh productions from 100 Hz, there is plenty in the pipeline, while recent DJ gigs include Glastonbury and Zoo Project in Ibiza.

Back in London after a number of years living in Ibiza, we spoke to Bushwacka! about trip-hop, nu-school breaks and playing the social media game.

“He came over the other day and we were talking about this very thing. As a 25-year-old, one of the things he doesn’t like is how important social media is to be perceived as getting anywhere. Layo and I categorically turned our noses up at social media when it became a thing while we were really successful. The whole idea of asking people to be our fans on Facebook seemed ridiculous. We didn’t want to promote or market it. Five years later, all the people that embraced it had hundreds of thousands of followers and we were sitting there going, ‘What’s Twitter?’ When that was explained to us, we said, ‘Fuck that! So you just send out tweets all day?’ We were real Neanderthals, somewhat to our detriment.

“Now I try to play the game and post stuff that has relevance to my music career. Sometimes I find it has a destructive effect on my creativity. But sometimes I really enjoy it, for example when I share something like a memory of DJing in the lounge at The End and I read people’s comments on what that music meant to them. Then it’s such a wonderful platform to share that stuff.

“For my son just starting out, it can feel like a real impasse. But he’s got so much talent, it’s about finding the right group of people to nurture him and take him to the next level.”

COMIN’ UP TAKE TEN

MAX COOPER

A master of both audio and visual aesthetics, Max Cooper names the weird and wonderful tracks that inspired his musical vision...

01. FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON ‘Papa New Guinea’ “One of my first exposures to beautiful rave-influenced ambient electronic experiments as part of the ‘Lifeforms’ album. It was a signpost for what could be done.”

02. PHILIP GLASS ‘Glassworks Opening’ “Loopy hypnotic piano, almost like techno, and part of the first ‘minimal’ genre — long before electronic music created its own.

This also led me onto [the documentary] Koyaanisqatsi, which was a huge influence on my visual projects.”

03. LUSINE ‘Two Dots’ “Another musical eye-opening with this seminal work from one of my most consistently favourite producers over the years. Such lush synth-work and playfulness with the stabs and use of micro-elements, a rich palette and groove which I’ve aspired to.”

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ax Cooper is best known for emotive soundscapes that translate both on and off the dancefloor, and is defined as an artist consistently pushing the boundaries of sound and vision within his work. His third studio album, ‘One Billion Sparks’, was inspired by a month of solitude in a secluded part of Wales far from the constraints of everyday life.

The outcome is twelve pensive tracks with plenty of nostalgia; all intricately woven into visual art to elaborate the story. Aside from his recent trip to the idyllic countryside, we asked Max to reveal ten of his most influential tracks of all time...

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04. VAETXH ‘Unfolding Mechanism’ “I’d always loved the UK electronica/glitch stuff going back to the Warp classics, but when I heard this in my studio it was pushing everything forward, particularly on the psychoacoustics work which had often been ignored by older experimentalists. Rob Clouth’s work continues to blow my mind with every new track.”

05. LEFTFIELD ‘Melt’ “A firm lesson in the reach of electronic music with the ‘Leftism’ album, one of the best ever for me, and still sounding fresh 28 years later.”

06. THE FLASHBULB ‘Undiscovered Colours’ “One of my first obsessive favourites in the realm of

cinematic classical meets micro-electronica. This, amongst others like ‘Rossz Csillag...’ [by Venetian Snares], lead me onto collaborations and experiments with classical musicians which were really productive.”

07. FUCK BUTTONS ‘Stalker’ “So huge, this blew my mind. The pace and development was a big lesson for me too, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing this out to unsuspecting audiences at DJ gigs. Most minds are blown, and there’s always a funny few moments seeing the people for who it’s all a bit too much — apologies for that!”

08. TRENTEMØLLER ‘Take Me Into Your Skin’ “So much human expression and fine detailing work in this, which became a major influence for my work, and the end of many a DJ set for me.”

09. AUTECHRE ‘Nine’ “An inspirational production duo forging out on their own path for more than three decades, and a moment of extreme beauty in this particular track. Many lessons in how to apply purity for greatest effect in their work. Choose the vibe and push that to the extreme, removing any fluff that most producers would add to fit into this or that genre.”

10. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ‘Desperado’ “Catchy chords, loads of feeling, groove, anticipation, destroys it every single time without fail. It was a drum & bass track that captured everything I wanted, and I still sneak it in there for unsuspecting techno audiences whenever I can.”

COMIN’ UP

Game Changer Seminal cuts that altered dance music forever

JOSH WINK

‘HIGHER STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS’ (STRICTLY RHYTHM)

Occasionally a track comes along that by itself encapsulates an entire genre. Josh Wink’s ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’ is just such a track. But instead of defining the scene in his hometown in America, it created one on the other side of the Atlantic. DJ Mag finds out why...

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n today’s globalised music scene, it’s usually impossible to tell where a track has been recorded. But back in the mid’90s, the geography of sounds could be so distinct that cities, such as Chicago, Detroit, Manchester and London, took on the status of genres rather than places.

Back then, artists seemed to naturally connect with their regional sound. But not Josh Wink. Born and bred in Philadelphia, disco’s birthplace, Wink’s acidic breakbeat hurricane, ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’, sounded like a London basement had crash-landed on Chicago’s warehouse quarter, neither of which were places Wink had lived.

Joshua Winkleman, as he was once known, began his musical career as a precocious wannabe DJ in Philadelphia, long before he could legally enter a nightclub.

“I started when I was 13,” he says. “A friend was a radio and mobile DJ. So I started my career being taught how to pack [sound systems into] a car.”

For the next two years, Wink learnt to operate turntables, and acquired a deep knowledge of dance music. “I began getting exposed to record shops in Philadelphia,” Wink says. “I was too young for disco when it was really big, but I began to appreciate the brilliance of the sound of Vince Montana and Larry Gold. So I began collecting. I was also influenced by synthesisers and new wave music from the UK and Germany: OMD, Depeche Mode, Section 25, New Order, Can and Kraftwerk. And by hip-hop — New York was the focus globally, but at the time, the best DJs were in Philadelphia. I was going to block parties with Cash Money, and saw a new style of turntablism evolve.”

Taking a job to help fund his record collecting,

he met another b-boy. “I was delivering packages, and Blake was working for the same company. It turned out he was also a DJ. He gave me a different musical knowledge, and got me into clubs. In America, you have to be 21 to get into nightclubs. But he knew the bouncers, so would sneak me in.”

Wink’s entry into clubbing came at exactly the right moment for the arrival of acid house.

“The most influential night was on Wednesdays, the first acid scene in Philly,” he says. “Acid was the first genre that made me want to make music. I thought, ‘Why not start making my own music, rather than just playing other people’s?’.” I then met King [Britt], who was a record buyer at Tower Records. He had some equipment, so I got some too, and we started writing music in his bedroom. Then we all moved into a house together: me, King, djmagla.com

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COMIN’ UP

Grover Washington Jnr and Blake.

“King had connections with A&R people through Tower Records,” he continues, “so he sent a couple of demos to Gladys [Pizarro] at Strictly Rhythm, and she signed our first record in 1989.”

King and Wink carried on working together, but when King’s other project, daisy age rappers Digable Planets, landed a tour, Wink started working solo and began beefing up his studio.

“I had an S950 Atari sampler, Roland R5 drum machine, Roland 808 and 909, Juno 106, a Sequential Circuits Pro1, Oberheim Xpander and rack effects,” he remembers.

It was on this equipment that Wink created the first version of ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’, which was originally recorded as a downtempo tune. “It was signed by Strictly Rhythm as part 16

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of an ambient compilation album called ‘Deep And Slow’. It was like 98bpm.”

‘Deep And Slow’ was conceived during a period when Strictly Rhythm had decided to diversify their sound by releasing more genres than just NYC house.

“They wanted to do something else,” says Wink. But they also needed a single from the LP. “As I was becoming more prominent, Strictly said, ‘Why don’t we do a remix of your track to promote the album?’ And that’s how the ‘Tweaking Acid Funk Mix’ came about.”

Since recording the original track, Wink had acquired a 303 from a second-hand store, “for something like $75”. Going back to the studio, he added a super-sized acid bassline to

COMIN’ UP

“I was chosen to be on Top Of The Pops, but I turned it down. I said, ‘I make music for clubs, not TV shows’.” - Josh WINK the remix. This he combined with an equally powerful breakbeat loop. It was like nothing Strictly had released before, and they duly rejected it.

“They wanted me to re-do it, because the squelchy acid sounds were too loud for their mastering engineer. But I refused. I thought that it made the track.”

With hindsight, it’s not surprising a New York label hadn’t immediately taken to the new version. Doing the remix had given Wink the chance to experiment with new music he’d been listening to on DJ trips to London.

“I was very influenced by Chicago acid — DJ Pierre, Spanky, Mr Fingers, and the UK had taken Chicago’s sound and made it their own,” Wink says. “So what the UK did became influential on me, and I got into what is now known as UK hardcore, then jungle and drum & bass. The UK breakbeat sound.

“I became friends with Reinforced Records’ Marc Mac and Dego [of 4hero]. They invited me to play the garage and house room at drum & bass clubs.

So I played at places like AWOL. I’d get £75, and my decks would be next to the bathroom. But I’d do it, because I wanted to play music combined with drum & bass — it opened crazy doors.”

Given the chance to experiment on a remix by Strictly, a track influenced by London breakbeat seemed the logical next step. Adding a 303 was also a natural development from his earlier influences.

“I’m told there’s a debate about whether I used a 303 for that squelchy bass. To be clear, there are two 303 lines.”

It might have confused the Strictly office in New York, but the remix dropped in London at exactly the right moment, just as acts such as The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Fatboy Slim were laying the foundations for the rise of the superstar DJ. “The first time I met Norman Cook, he said thank you for opening the door for everything,” Josh says.

Strictly soon became involved in UK license discussions. Following his 4hero connections, Wink wanted to license with Talkin’ Loud, “but Manifesto made it happen with Strictly Rhythm, I had no control over that.” He also had little control over the subsequent remixes. “The song spoke for itself as far as I was concerned — it was crossing boundaries before the remixes. Combining Chicago with UK breakbeats.”

Despite growing from an underground scene, the single charted twice in the UK in one year.

“I think it’s the only time an instrumental track has done that. I was also chosen to be on Top Of The Pops, but I turned it down. The record label said, ‘This is a once in a life-time opportunity’. I said, ‘I make music for clubs, not TV shows’. Everything was organic. I’d DJ with friends like Phil Asher, stay on his couch and play with him at The Wag, getting drinks as pay… playing the Rocket or Paradise, and being part of that culture. There was an innocence.”

It’s an innocence and attitude that Wink thinks today’s scene is losing.

“I’m fortunate to have made songs that define certain points in some people’s lives,” Wink says. “It’s nice to have that in today’s scene.

When you see the shelf life of records today, your track can be charted, but still only last two weeks. All musicians have to be on the road to make a living today. You can’t survive on sales alone. There’s no balance between touring and being in the studio. It’s a problem for musicians. But I still have a passion for making music and DJing. I want to be about love, spontaneity and creativity.” BEN OSBORNE

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COMIN’ UP GET TO KNOW

MATCHY FROM: BERLIN, GERMANY FANS OF: TALE OF US, MACEO PLEX, SOLOMUN THREE TRACKS: IRREVERSIBLE, ESCAPE REALITY, CONJUNCTION NEXT GIG: BURNING MAN FESTIVAL MATCHY personifies modern, deep and dynamic techno and house. With a profound sense and a highly empathic absorption, MATCHY sprinkled continuously sales charts and leading playlists with dozens of significant releases with different projects over the past years. His productions are characterized by a driving bass line, a lot of energy and catchy melodies, which will be stuck in your head.

MATCHY is part of his music and vice versa. And exactly this passion makes his tracks so unique.

“I believe music is a universal language, which can be understood and above all felt across the whole world. Music is very closely connected with emotions: there is music for basically every feeling you can have. No matter if you’re happy 18

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or sad, there’s always a song that will fit your current emotional state”, so MATCHY tells.

MATCHY’s enormous output settled down in the release catalogues at some of the foremost labels in the electronic music scene within the last years, including Suara, Stil vor Talent and his new home base Rebellion der Traumer from Berlin. Above all he is part of the best sellers on Beatport. His highly acclaimed track “Irreversible”, released on famous Katermukke is still the most sold progressive house track since its release in July 2019 and Top 5 of the whole year. It has been dominating the Top 10 Beatport charts for months. No doubt -this guy seems to be unstoppable. Alongside more than 10 contributions on the Katermukke label, MATCHY placed an incomparable stamp on the imprints music.

The DJ and producer is also well known for his synergetic collaborations and thrilling remixes with famous acts from all over the world.

Numerous gigs in many acclaimed European, North and South American clubs and festivals

like Sonar Festival in Spain highlight his qualities and authentic passion as an outstanding artist. Unforgettable above all is his set recorded in Bogotá at the Baum Club, which is internationally acclaimed. “Personally, I prefer making people happy. That’s what I actually love about music and making electronic music – it’s connecting people from different countries and cultures, giving people some space and freedom to escape from their everyday lives. Just enjoying the moment, feeling the music and dancing simply like they want to”, MATCHY tells.

Recently, MATCHY played on the Cloud at Art Basel in Miami and inspired the crowd with an intense and melodically driving mix. Besides his many gigs in clubs around the world, MATCHY will also be performing at the legendary Burning Man Festival in 2020. As if this high-flyer didn’t have enough to do, he is planning the next steps. “Besides the gigs and the studio I’m working on launching my own label called BEYOND NOW soon and I’m working on a live set for the festival season”, MATCHY tells full of energy. An act to follow closely!

COMIN’ UP GET TO KNOW

PRETTY PINK FROM: LEIPZIG, GERMANY FANS OF: MOGUAI, ADANA TWINS, CAMELPHAT THREE TRACKS: FAIRYTALE, SWEET DREAMS (PRETTY PINK REMIX), PAIN KILLER NEXT GIG: TOMORROWLAND BELGIUM Risen from deep and dark woods in the middle of Germany, Pretty Pink made her way through the steaming and raging international club zone to manifest her belief into the most intimate basement raves and the biggest festival stages. Her unique performances cultivated a great following across Europe and continue to broaden the horizons of dance music. Through a regular stream of high quality mixes in her radio show ‘DEEP WOODS’ she has begun to turn heads in underground circles. Within the span of two years, it landed on 30 leading radio slots worldwide and reached 1 million streams via her socials.

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After playing alongside respectable tastemakers at a myriad of revered venues in her homeland her loyal fan base and bookings began to skyrocket. Pretty Pink has garnered a devoted fan base across the globe through her diverse productions, radioshow and stirring live shows, which launch listeners on an unforgettable musical journey. On stage she is known for her galvanizing performances as she continues to impress crowds with her dynamic natural ease, serenity and expertise.

Shifting her focus toward production, Pretty Pink has amply proved her serious talent in the studio as well as behind the decks. Whilst Pretty Pinks DJ sets are very energetic, she also manifests her wandering soul on the producer side. Pretty’s own music has provided her with the chance to reveal a kinetic combination of deep melodic & tech house, driven beats and natural energetic melodic compositions paired often with her own vocals. Her tracks and remixes, released on labels like Suara, Armada Deep and major labels

like Sony, Universal or Warner are hailed around the world. Beyond that, Pretty Pink’s tracks are regularly smashing the Beatport Top 10 charts and streaming playlists.

Forming tracks to uncommercial club anthems was her mission, which allowed her unique signature sound to make remixes for Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies and more. Besides her upcoming releases like “Pain Killer” on her own Label Wanderlust and a remix of “Sweet Dreams” on Found Frequencies, studio sessions, ongoing radio show, her record label and performances all over Europe like at Tomorrowland Belgium she is planning her next tour through the USA in 2020. ”Tomorrowland Festival is truly unique and brings together so many different people from all over the world to celebrate peacefully together in a magical place. So I am very proud to be able to contribute a small part and play a set. And I am also very excited about my USA tour”, Pretty Pink tells. Hopefully, she will find time for a following tour through Latin America.

COMIN’ UP GET TO KNOW

DERAOUT FROM: MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA FOR FANS OF: BEN SIMS, MARK BROOM Y SPEEDY J. THREE TRACKS: MURDER WAS THE HAZE, CLONED, DXD 1.0 Deraout was still under-age when he wanted to go see a DJ do his job for the first time in Medellin. That was the sublime moment when he fell in love with the art of DJing. “I saw someone mixing speed garage with Chicago house and Detroit techno in a couple of Technics turntables.

I liked it so much that, that same day, I decided that I wanted to be a DJ like him”, he recalls, assuring that he’s been a music lover and a dancer since he was young.

From there, this young man from Medellín understood that part of his life was going to be close to music. To dance music, more specifically.

“To live just by DJing is not possible for me yet but, for almost ten years, music has been my livelihood in general. We are promoters, we have our MUTE Club and we have parties everywhere we can”, he tells us about the struggle of a Latin American artist in a nation like Colombia, where the country’s possibilities and support for dance music are not as strong as in other countries from Europe and North America.

Many positive and negative things have happened in his career although, for him, the best is that people can continue dancing to his DJ sets and enjoying his productions. That makes him happy, either when he plays in other places or in MUTE, a club where he is a resident and where he supports the local circuit of established and emerging artists. “Now we need more time to establish the Colombian scene in a solid way, but it is clear that we are in one of the best moments of dance music,” he reflects about

the amount of international artists arriving in the country and the few that leave Colombia to take their sound to different parts of the world.

“Internationally, in the last two years, I’ve been playing a lot in the States, and both my latest releases and my sets at important Colombian festivals have increased the interest of other countries in my music.”

For the future, there are many good and new things for the DJ and producer. “There are several collaborations with friendly producers such as DJ Emerson from Germany, Stoi_k from the United States and Deadwalkman from Colombia.

In addition, I am planning to do my first tour in Europe, which is something I am working on now”, he adds, hoping that everything will happen smoothly while he tries to show a little bit more about what artists do in Medellin’s techno scene.

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DO NOT MISS 8 Acts to see at Miami’s Epic Pool Parties…

Epic Pool Parties are indeed epic. This year they roll out from Tuesday March 17th to Sunday March 22nd at Kimpton Epic Hotel for six consecutive days. Amnesia, Do Not Sleep, Repopulate Mars and more will showcase the very best international names from the world of house and techno such as Lee Foss, Huxley, Detlef, Mar T, Sidney Charles, Ilario Alicante and more. Here are eight acts you need to catch at this year’s series.

SKREAM

SIDNEY CHARLES

THE LONDON PARTY BOY IS THE BEST YOU CAN GET IF YOU WANT A GOOD OLD TEAR UP. HE DROPS BANGERS OLD AND NEW, IS HAPPY TO TAKE RISKS, DOESN’T CARE ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK, AND IS ALL ABOUT LAYING DOWN A SICK SET THAT WILL GET YOU LOST IN THE MOMENT. DISCO, TECHNO, BASS, WHATEVER, EXPECT ANYTHING AND YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED.

IT’S NOT OFTEN A DJ CAN STAMP THEIR AUTHORITY ON A GENRE SO MUCH THAT IT GETS ITS OWN LABEL, BUT SIDNEY CHARLES IS ONE. HIS TAKE ON HOUSE MUSIC IS KNOWN AMONGST FANS AS THE SYDNEY SOUND: IT’S ONE BUILT ON HEAVY LOW ENDS, THE IMMEDIATE IMPACT OF CHUNKY DRUMS, CAVERNOUS LOW FREQUENCIES AND HARD HITTING RHYTHMS THAT CONNECT DIRECTLY WITH YOUR BODY.

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MK THE DETROIT BORN LEGEND IS A REAL HOUSE PIONEER. HIS 90S DUB MIXES WERE MUCH TREASURED AND THESE DAYS HE HAS EVOLVED INTO A DJ WHO BRINGS FEEL GOOD VIBES AND AUTHENTIC HOUSE GROOVES ALL NIGHT LONG. HE ALSO KNOWS HOW TO FILL THE FLOOR WITH CLASSICS AND BE PLAYFUL ALONG THE WAY SO MAKE SURE YOU GET INVOLVED.

MASON COLLECTIVE

KINGS OF HOUSE

RECENTLY MARKED OUT AS ONES TO WATCH BY SOLARDO, MASON COLLECTIVE ARE BLOWING UP IN 2020. THE TRIO OF DJS AND PRODUCERS HAIL FROM MANCHESTER AND NEXT TO THEIR ROBUST CLUB TRACKS, THEY ALSO PROMOTE THEIR OWN HUGELY POPULAR AND ALWAYS SOLD OUT MVSON EVENTS. DO NOT MISS.

THE HOUSE MASTERS ALWAYS BRING THEIR VERY BEST. THEY HAVE DECADES OF KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN THEM AND CAN DO DEEP, SOULFUL, HARD, HAPPY, WHATEVER. THIS TIME OUT, LOUIE VEGA AND DAVID MORALES GO B2B FOR SIX HOURS SO EXPECT A FULL AND WIDE RANGE OF SOUNDS.

HUXLEY THIS UK ARTIST HAS BEEN TURNING OUT HIGH CLASS HOUSE, BASS AND GARAGE FUSIONS FOR TIME. HE’S A REAL UNDERGROUND HIT MAKER WHO KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES TO GET A FLOOR FULL. HE HAS DJ’ED ALL OVER THE WORLD ON EVERY TYPE OF STAGE YOU CAN IMAGE AND SO HAS ALL THE SKILLS REQUIRED IN HIS ARSENAL TO MAKE A REAL IMPACT.

MAR-T THIS SPANIARD IS A LONG TIME IBIZA LEGEND AND EMBEDDED INTO AMNESIA FOLKLORE. HE WILL BRING WITH HIM SOME OF THE SUNSHINE OF THE BALEARIC ISLES AND INSTILS HIS HOUSE GROOVES WITH SOME OF THAT GOODNESS. IT SHOULD MAKE PERFECT SENSE UNDER THE WARM RAYS IN MIAMI.

DESERT HEARTS DESERT HEARTS ARE ONE OF A KIND, THEY HAVE BEEN PAVING THEIR WAY THROUGH THE US CLUB SCENE FOR QUITE SOME TIME, APPLYING THAT NO RULES ETHOS OF CUTTING LOOSE WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD. STARTING OUT AS A 200 CAPACITY EVENT IT’S NOW GROWN INTO A GLOBALLY RENOWNED BRAND WITH A FESTIVAL OF THEIR OWN AND A RECORD LABEL. EXPECT NOTHING BUT GOOD VIBES AT THEIR EPIC POOL PARTY. djmagla.com

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EPIC PLAYLISTS! Epic Pool Parties are just around the corner.

For five days you can party at Kimpton Epic Hotel in the sun kissed paradise that is Miami with good looking people, and world class DJs. Parties include those with brands like Amnesia, Do Not Sleep, Repopulate Mars. We focus on Skream, Sidney Charles and Ilario Alicante sounds.

This are our favorite choices!

SIDNEY CHARLES

SKREAM “MIDNIGHT REQUEST LINE” A DUBSTEP CLASSIC AND HEFT LOW END THAT ALWAYS HITS THE SPOT.

“RUTTEN” A LESSER KNOWN ONE OF SKREAM’S DEBUT ALBUM WITH A SICK FLUTE LINE AND FINE SPOKEN WORD SAMPLE FROM HOWARD MARKS, THE DOPE DEALING KING.

“PUSSY POP” ONE FROM SKREAM’S TECH HOUSE ARCHIVE THAT IS ALL ABOUT MAKING A BIG IMPACT.

“OTTO’S CHANT” A MORE RECENT COLLAB WITH MICHAEL BIBI THAT IS PURE AND SWEATY TECH HOUSE.

“YOU KNOW, RIGHT? / MINOR SMOOTH” “STRIPPED TEASE” ONE FROM HIS 2015 ALBUM ‘HOUSE LESSONS’ THAT

PLENTY OF GARAGE SWING MAKES THIS ONE A REAL STANDOUT FROM HIS POST DUBSTEP ERA.

ALWAYS STOOD OUT FOR ITS RUGGED DRUMS.

“FNK HRD” THIS IS SIDNEY CHARLES’S MOST RECENT OFFERING AND SHOWS A SUBTLE EVOLUTION IN HIS ALWAYS SLICK

ILARIO ALICANTE

SOUND.

“FIGURE OF RA”

“SUB SOCIETY”

A 2017 MINI CLASSIC ON DRUMCODE THAT BRINGS THE GROOVE.

CHARLES ESTABLISHED HIS OWN HEAVY HOUSE SOCIETY LABEL WITH THIS ONE AND WITH ITS ROCK SOLID DRUMS AND DEFT, SOULFUL DETAILS.

“WINDOW ON THE HERBERT REMIX)”

“UN SUEÑO RARO”

HERBERT ALWAYS BRING THE QUALITY WITH DEEP DRUMS AND DEFT DETAILS MAKING THIS A REAL AFTER PARTY CLASSIC.

THE ONE THAT STARED IT ALL WAY BACK IN 2011 AND

“AWAKENED”

STILL A GOOD ONE.

BLOW A BIGGER, MORE TECHNO LEANING TUNE IN CAHOOTS WITH PAL SANTE FOR THE MIGHTY SCI+TEC.

WORLD

(MATTHEW

A BIG, HEFTY, ROLLING, HARD HITTING TECH TUNE ON THE ONE AND ONLY DRUMCODE.

“COCOON” ALICANTE’S LAST OUTING ON THE COCOON LABEL THAT HELPED ESTABLISH HIM.

“UNBALANCED 1 FEATURING TOM DICICCO” ACIIIIIIIIIIIIID! 24

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MIAMI MEMORIES: PROK | FITCH AHEAD OF THEIR MIAMI SHOWCASE THIS WMC, PROK | FITCH SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE MIAMI MEMORIES. In the past few years, Prok | Fitch have cemented their position as one of the most respected DJ and production outfits in electronic music. Prolific and talented, they established themselves on some respected labels and collaborated with some big names of the scene. With a vast experience of how to enjoy Miami, we ask them some of their favorite memories for WMC. “Loco Dice’s marathon parties at Space have always successfully managed to destroy us after a week of partying. Once we get in there, we never leave! Always miss our flight home and end up spending more time on the dancefloor in 24 hours than we do in a year!”

“We’ve been doing shows with our mate Green Velvet for quite a few years now. There’s one in particular that stands out amongst all the others and it was about three years ago at Trade. Solardo, Camelphat, Latmun, Detlef, Dajae, us and Green Velvet were all crammed into this tiny DJ booth for about five hours with a case of tequila having a free for all. I don’t remember ever having witnessed a vibe like that in a club during MMW.”

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“After a pool party, we invited a few people back to our hotel room to keep the party going... Before we know it, there’s 30 people in our room, another 30 in the corridor and a few cameo appearances from fellow DJ’s. Loads of people came out their rooms and got involved and we somehow managed to keep it going till 2 pm the next day before security shut it down.”

“On one of our first trips to WMC, we went to a legendary Beatport pool party at the National Hotel. There was a quite a few of us and needless to say the beers and vodkas were flying down. We spotted an ice bucket filled with beers and when the bartender turned his back we started helping ourselves to one beer at a time. As the day went on, we started getting a little

bolder and one beer at a time soon turned into a six pack at a time. We then heard a rumour from a reliable source that Beatport were about to give away the new Pacemaker -a new DJ gadget worth hundreds of dollars-, to one lucky person in the crowd that could jump the highest.

Out of nowhere, James left ridiculously high towering feet above everyone else and bagging the prize, turned out be a very fruitful and enjoyable day. Thanks, Beatport!”

“The first time we did Ultra Music Festival brings back some very fond memories. It’s a festival we’d always wanted to play and it was a truly amazing experience across the board. From what we can remember!”

THE TEAM BEHIND DJ Mag Latinoamérica talks with the group of people in charge of the Epic Pool Parties during WMC.

“

So the Epic actually recruited us to come on board”,

Cowan’s story is attached to Mia i for a long time. Besides the

the promotion team behind the Epic Pool Parties starts

fact that his grandfather built the Shelborne in the late 1930s,

telling us the story. Born by the partnership of legendary

he discovered WMC in 1992 and then started doing events in

promoter Jonathan Cowan and the heads of Electric Ibiza, one of

1994 at Groovejet, were he was musical director and DJ there

dance music’s most prolific agencies, this experienced team has

untill the 2000. “WMC is one of the most important conferences

managed to raise some eyebrows, combining forces to program

in the world of dance music. From its start where people would

some of the biggest DJs and brands with lots of success.

trade vinyl around the Fountainblue pool to its growth that eventually led to the Ultra Music festival I’d have to say it’s the

The same year that the Shelborne Beach Resort was sold, where

most important conference in the history of dance music”, he

Jonathan Cowan conducted the WMC DJ Mag series -which were

analyses about the conference he knows very well.

for many people the real hub for the Winter Music Conference-, Electric Ibiza came to life with Lisa Barraclough and Neil Evans as

After a long way in the scene, this three promoters with lots

the leaders. It was 2014, Barraclough was the head of marketing

of knowledge in the scene ended up taking charge of the

for one of the biggest dance brands in the industry and Evans

pool parties from the Kimpton Epic Hotel, a picturesque hotel

was already one of Ibiza’s most prolific event promoters. This

placed in the 270 of the Biscayne Boulevard, in the main heart

society leaded both to develop a forward-thinking agency that

of Miami City. It was Kristian Carro from the Epic Hotel who was

remains ahead of the curve and, from that moment on, they

familiar with Cowan and his events that approached the whole

achieved so much in just six years: besides this joint venture in

team to start working last year. “The Epic liked that we were

WMC, they launched a global partnership with the Ibiza Rocks

not just promoters but understood the hotel business as well”,

Group, expand into Dubai with their Cuckoo Land events, and

they recall while going deep about the pros of working in such

continue to develop the Do Not Sleep brand across the globe

an amazing space. Framed as the official opening party for

with a string of international tours and events.

MMW, they produced several of the most talked-about events

during the week as the team worked with respected industry-

really only want to see the big names and the big brands and

leading brands including Defected, Cocoon, Claptone’s ‘The

that’s what we really want to deliver to our customers.”

Masquerade’ and many others. This will be the second year for the team at the helm.

For this year’s week, they have developed a diverse program that has something to please everyone. “From opening day

Placed at the heart of the city, location works an important

with the legendary kings of house, to iconic brands like

rol and its one of the key points that make the difference.

Cocoon, newcomers like Desert Hearts, and ending the week

“It’s amazing to have the water backdrop on one side while

with the legends who are DJ Jazzy Jeff and Questlove, every

having the neon city lights to the other side as the sun goes

day is special”, the team agrees.

down. It helps to create an energy that is unmatched at every other property in town”, the team confirms. Adding the fact

For the rest of the year, future shine bright for Electric

that all this happens on a pool deck placed on the 16th floor

Ibiza. The team announced a brand new partnership that is

and you have an energy that is unmatched at every other

easily their biggest move yet: asked by the iconic Amnesia

property in town. Also, to be inside a hotel is something,

nightclub to join the team, Electric Ibiza will now play a

in their own words, “fantastic”. Besides the fact this is an

key role in forging one of the island’s best-known legacies

amazing 5 stars hotel surrounded by luxury, it allows party

as they assist in the talent-buying, event programming and

goers the ability to check in and literally just hit down to go

outside communications of the venue as part of a brand new

to the event and that’s for sure a great luxury.

team for 2020. Together with that, they just launched a new publishing company to facilitate the growth of their artists,

Epic Pool Parties have now a very diverse and very educated

labels and clients away from the nightclubs too.

crowd when it comes to music. Of course, you must be 21 years old or older but then, they have something for everyone

You can expect to see the Electric Ibiza brand continue to

of all ages. “You’ll find sophistication and beautiful people

grow in every area with more artists, events and opportunities

but more important, fantastic music and artists”, they add.

cementing them as one of Ibiza’s best success stories. But

They want their guests to feel instantly that they are having

first, Miami is on the horizon and it looks like it will be Epic…

a good time. Their aim seems to be pretty clear: “To produce the best events possible with top notch talent while giving the patron the best experience possible.”

Of course, it’s not an easy task. Winter Music Conference is the most iconic conference that dance music had in all its history and there is a lot of people trying to do their very best to win a spot. “I think, in general, it would be pretty difficult but within this team we have produced some of the most legendary events Miami has ever seen. That said, we found that the doors reopened pretty quickly”, Cowan adds before highlighting last year’s unannounced appearances of both Diplo and David Guetta. “The scene is so big now people

WHAT TO DO AT AN EPIC POOL PARTY Dance Laugh Smile Have fun Enjoy a few cocktails

HOUSE KING DAVID MORALES TALKS ABOUT MIAMI David Morales & Louie Vega are two true heroes of the scene and Miami have a particular place in their hearts. Before their opening six hour performance at the Epic Kimpton Hotel for the first of six pool parties during WMC, we spoke to iconic David Morales about his feelings on this beloved city.

A

fter headlining events at The National for years, 2019 saw the legendary DJ David Morales performing at the majestic pool located in the 16th floor of the Kimpton Epic Hotel. “Last year they asked us to do it at the Epic and we’ve worked many times before with Jonathan Cowan when he was over at the Shelborne, you know? I have held a lot of my events over the years, so, it was easy for me”, David tells us. After that first event went well, he and Louie Vega were asked to come back for this year as the opening slot of the whole week. “It should be even better than last year just because last year was this transitional moment for WMC. I really think that this year will be much better. I can already see it’s much better organized now, and, hopefully it will get back on the tracks.”

What can you say about WMC and its story?

“It was all about the DJs, sound systems, lighting, studio panels and it kind of got lost along the way. I mean, I remember when it first started… There wasn’t that many events. I’ve been going there for over 30 years and I’ve been playing every year for 30 years at WMC. I’ve always had an event. So, it’s an honor to be part of one of the opening ceremonial parties per se, and it’s our evening! I’m really looking forward to it.”

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How have you seen it adapt over the past few years?

“I think it’s making a comeback, it’s fair to say that. Like I said, last year was a transitional year because some new owners/partners bought in; which is good because the organization of the past got lost a little along the way. You have to keep up with the times, you have to evolve along the way and you certainly have to inject new blood. You have to have a brain in the game, just like a football coach: he isn’t playing the game but he’s managing the players and for me that is what WMC needed. You have to have a vision! It’s like starting a small party and then that small party grows into a festival, you alone can no longer micro-manage that festival. You have to hire people along the way to help you create that vision and support that vision and that is where the Winter Music Conference lost its way. I mean, I’ve had to adapt to social media, which means I have to hire someone to deal with my social media because I can’t be bothered; but I know it has to be done! I realize it had to be done but I just don’t have the patience to do it, so I had to delegate! You see all these big DJs these days have a team behind them, so remember, there is a whole bunch of us from the early 90’s era who didn’t have a team. We were just about being there and doing our own thing, you know? It wasn’t what it is today. It wasn’t about all the attention that the DJs get these days but I’m very very happy to be one of the originators. I think it was smart

that they brought in new partners because I think that is the only way it is going to evolve. Otherwise it was just old debris almost dust, if you understand me. And that is a shame because what started as part of American culture, expanded to a global audience that I don’t think they were even ready for, and this is what it was and they, the coordinators, we’re not prepared.”

So, would you say that mainstream genres of music have taken it a little?

“It’s never been about showcases or anything like that. No, it was never about that. It was the organization that was the problem. Because more and more people kept coming, that wasn’t the problem. How do you think it all got started, at first? It was a lot of DJs, then people caught on that a lot of parties were happening so, summer it’s only for a week.”

“WMC has the potential to be far better than it was before.”

So how long do you think this transitional phase will take to get back to full strength?

“I don’t think it will be that long at all. We are living in a world of social media, it’s so easy to get on board these days, you have that machine to do the hard work so, in that sense, you can’t go wrong.

You see, because I’ve been around such a long time I’ve been there since its birth until it fell down on its knees and, for me, it’s like getting up on one knee now. I know the people behind this and I wish them the best; and I believe if its restructure is done right, it will be massive. It has the potential to be far better than it was before. To succeed you have to raise the level of the content, you have to raise the level of the panels… You cannot discuss the same old same old.

Everything has to be intelligent. It has to be fresh and new. In fact, it has to follow the lines of the IMS, just in Miami! You know, you have keynote speakers, the conference has to be primarily informative… It has to follow the lines of the ADE but in America.”

Do you think those events might have hindered the WMC a little?

“Miami is Miami! Miami has its own vibe. I don’t think that Miami has to play any catch-up because Miami already has the people. IMS doesn’t do the same amount of people that Miami does in Miami Music Week, not at all! It’s not even close! First of all, Ibiza is a pain in the ass to get to and it’s expensive! When it comes to America, you have Canada and you have people coming from Europe. It’s far easier for most people to get to Miami than Ibiza, and there are more hotels. It’s more of a metropolitan city, which is more exciting in a sense. There are more hotel parties, more pool parties, there’s beach parties… It’s like there are so many events and then when you throw in the Ultra Music Festival on top of that shit, then forget about it! You are talking about 300,000 people coming daily to Miami just for the music!”

Just to wrap, do you have any key memories, funny stories or anecdotes you can share?

“Funny stories! I’m old! I got short term memory loss! As far as great parties go over the years, there have been way too many to single a couple out. I go back to 1987. Ok, I got funny stories but I can’t talk about those funny stories! All I can say is: there have been so many great nights and I wish WMC all the very best and I will always aim to be a part, in any way I can.”

PARTNER IN CRIME Louie Vega adds some words about the incoming week…

EPIC “Epic has become a hot event series in Miami because of the choice of lineups, there are always DJs who are out there worldwide touring and making music consistently who bring their talent to the forefront at the Epic Pool parties.”

“It’s also a great place to hang out with a wonderful pool and views of the Bay in Miami. The label brands and DJs are ready to give you their best with great music and entertainment. Epic Pool parties, always a place where you can hear your favorite DJ or artist!”

WMC “I see the WMC getting bigger and bigger and more international. As you can see from last year to this year, the seasoned artists, music industry people, DJs and new talent have grown substantially and are being much more involved with WMC.” “The new talent and generation are here, and the ones behind WMC now are doing a great job putting together interesting panels and creating many more opportunities for labels, executives, artists, DJs and promoters to be involved.

It just goes up from here. You can see a different already with the lineup of who’s coming to speak!” djmagla.com

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JOCKEY JOURNAL e world’s The on-the-road diary of th top DJs treading the globe

MIND AGAINST

at the The Fognini Brothers have been ne, with sce no tech odic mel forefront of the r the ove all fans ght deli t tha s production Before le. edu sch world and an extensive tour ed call s ord Rec a new release in Afterlife on Latin “Walking Away”, they descended e kindly America this January and they hav our with s agreed to share their memorie ung in War to m Tulu in readers. From Afterlife w! belo y stor ir the Brazil, check out

08 JAN, ZAMNA - TULUM

friends, special. We get to see so many Playing Afterlife events is always familiar faces and core fans. 2nd stage, deep into the jungle. The This year we were playing the so we felt comfortable to take the people on a production was great as usual ally do playing a bigger stage. deeper journey than we’d norm ed around past our set to enjoy the party, team.

Atmosphere was lovely so we stay t are close to us and the Afterlife hanging around with people tha

OTE DIVING 10 JAN, TULUM, BEACH AND CEN

surrounding nature really s off around shows in Tulum, the , it can hardly get better.

We always try to keep a few day is amazing feeling weightless deep , fantastic experience and great a different perspective.

We went on a our first Cenote dive from under the surface, seeing thingsrally hanged out a lot on the ceful, so we natu pea and nice very are ches bea was coming next The Tulum to charge batteries before what sand while around, much needed

11 JAN, MAITENCILLO, CHILE

ging us to to Santiago, we jump in a car brin After a long flight from Cancun que Sonico Festival. the sea side, in Maitencillo for Bos partner and it always feels great playing The promote, Kabir, is a long timemany times, it was nice to change a bit. his events. After doing Santiago king, which definitely influenced our set. gig a lot The landscapes there are breathta usual so we enjoyed playing this The crowd as very welcoming as

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13 JAN, OTOMI TEMPLE, MEXICO

but exciting for what’s n we land in Mexico City, a bit tired It is now Monday January 13 whe to be invited again by coming.

Lyon, France, we had the pleasure A year after our first Cercle set in special location, near CDMX. Phil and Derek to perform a very looking temple, built some years ago in honor of the Otomi Centro Ceremonial Otomi, a crazy tic place was a bit intimidating but things worked out great. community. Playing in such a mys aming even reached new records while we were playing, From what we understood, the stre challenging to get a stable internet connection, location nice feeling, especially since it wasns. was +3000M high in the mountaiso we were freezing clod by the time we finished playing.

We didn’t know that by the way, Cercle crew who keep improving and reaching new heights Hands down to the hard working Monday after Monday

ENTINA 22 JAN, MAR DEL PLATA, ARG s. at it for an intense round of show ing After a week off in NYC, we’re back play time first very our ally actu Mar Del Plate came first. It was we usually tour the country a lot. there, despite the fact ute doors open since the weather Stress was high until the very minbut it all worked nicely, party sold air… wasn’t good and the event open d party overall as usual in Argentina. out, very goo chance to work with a crew of We were also happy to have the friends. promoters who also are long time

24 JAN, CAMPINAS, BRAZIL

ly one of a kind in e to Sao Paulo. This club is real Back at Caos in Campinas, clos er industrial warehouse.

Brazil, since the venue is a formshoulders since we were playing all night long.

The pressure was 100% on our t the club was full until the very end, more than What a great feeling to see tha 10 hours after the 1st track. we’re doing a tour of all night long shows all It’s been now 2 years in a row een September and December but this year we accross the world, usually betwe we really wanted Brazil to be part of this tour. pushed until late January sinc That 1st show didn’t disappoint.

25 JAN, ITAJAI, BRAZIL to Warung right on time k flight to Navegantes and we getnight long marathon set.

A couple of hours of sleep, quic all to start another t admit that fident about the show but we mus’s main room. con ty pret were we , ned ope r ung War at e By the time doo alon orm perf to e ble to agre at first, it was a little bit of a gample expectations are high, since most travel from far to oor.

The capacity is quite big and peo experience this fantastic dancefl to bit frustrated not a felt even and by pass time ’t see the That gig was pure bliss, we didn sun start to rise and the lights penetrate the dance floor, could last forever be able to play longer. When the we genuinely wish those moments t long tour than nigh all our e been any better way to end In general, there couldn’t not hav favorite club in the world, surrounded by so many friends here, at our djmagla.com

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TRACK BY TRACK

Claude VonStroke crumbles his new studio album “Freaks & Beaks”.

O

ut last february 21st, “Freaks & Beaks” is the new album by the iconic American producer Claude VonStroke born as Barclay Crewnshay. Dirtybird’s main boss is back in the LP format for the fourth time to celebrate 15 years of his evergrowing record label.

Together with the release of the album, VonStroke will throw two dozen-plus parties, three festivals (including the famous Dirtybird Campout), host his traveling Dirtybird BBQ series in major cities across the US, publish a coffee table book, release a seasonal clothing line, stage art shows and produce a fly on the wall docu series. We sat down to understand what’s been the focus for each of the songs on this one.

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WARMING UP THE BASS MACHINES 2

SESSION A

“Is about getting ready, getting prepared, plugging everything in, having everything go wrong, fixing it, walking in, getting set, like making sure everything is actually working. It’s all about setting up the machines to get the project going. It’s also the sequel to ‘Warming up the Bass Machines 1’, which is the very first track on the first album that I made 15 years ago.”

“I was highly influenced by this label called Keinemusik when making ‘Session A’. Especially, this producer called &Me, who has played at Dirtybird campout a couple of times. He has this very distinct style. It’s like tribal and african but also very techy. Clean mixdowns with lots of bottom end. ‘Session A’ builds and builds.

It’s very, very vibey the whole time partially because most of the drums were played by live drummers at a session we recorded last year, (called Session A!). I think even though I was going for the &ME vibe I definitely gave it my own Claude VonStroke feeling, a little bit more gritty.”

FREAKS DON’T FAIL ME NOW “My son Jasper does the vocal, and I chopped it up like old Detroit ghetto tech style. The track is asking the listener if they are going to commit themselves to the party. Can you let your freak flag fly? Can you let go for the night and rock it on the dancefloor? This track is also a combination of many Dirtybird styles of music. Its many genres all jammed into one --- its techno, its ghetto tech, its bass music, it has deep house chords. It’s all these things that don’t necessarily go together wrapped into a thing that works in the club.”

FLUBBLEBUDDY “This is like the weird tracks that I used to look for in the record shops back in SF back in 2006. I used to buy all these weird vinyls from Germany, like by Wighnomy Brothers and Roman Flugel.

At that time the popular sound in San Francisco was very soft and lame in my opinion. So when I heard all these strange and fun records from Germany I was trying to imagine: ‘who is going to parties where they’re playing these records?’ Because those parties must be absolutely insane! This track is also about coming together and being with your friends. It’s all about the hugs, the high fives, the handshakes, talking to the fans, interacting with people, taking photos. ‘Hellllo, Buuuddddy’”

YOUNGBLOOD “On every album I always make something super deep and melodic. Youngblood is that track. I made this with my studio engineer, Wyatt Marshall. I’ve been making deep tracks for 15 years and they always fly under the radar, but they stay relevant longer because they’re more pretty and they’re not obvious and they take a long time to build. This track is also my first adventure into modular synthesis. Wyatt got me to build a little modular rig and it’s all over this record.”

FRANKIE GOES TO BOLLYWOOD “Is literally a tribute to this producer in Paris called Frankie. Back in 2005 this guy was able to make these tracks that had the most swingy house grooves. I always wanted to make something that sounded like him but with my own flavor on top. The vocal on this record is just an accident. I kept saying it was a Frankie Record which made me think of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but when I sang the hook I sang Frankie Goes to Bollywood just for a joke.”

WADDADAY “This one is like an old school house loop. I made this track with ZDS my great friend from the UK, and he did most of the beat. I added a lot of the flavor like the vocal and the breakdown and all of that bit. This is a club track that a DJ can mix in forever like the very old track Din Daa Daa by George Kranz all the way from 1983.

The chant is super fun over anything. It’s kind of like a beat tool that an old school house DJ would work into a set.”

THESE NOTES IN THIS ORDER “It’s like a throwback to like Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, old school rave music... There is a whole era of tracks that have these high pitched, chopped up vocals that sound like this, like the old track Renegade Master by Wildchild. It sounds like all the music I used to try to do in my bedroom on my sampler when I was 12 years old. I also tried to add a level of grimey UK bass and techno synths.”

ALL MY PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE “A super banger. This is a typical hard Claude VonStroke bassline track. The only difference is that this one feels more raw and uncontrolled as it was made almost entirely on the modular synth rig. This track gets a big reaction in the club. There are three drops in the breakdown that you don’t even realize are happening while you are dancing. Mood-wise, ‘All my People in the House’ is the one where I get to see the people in pure ecstasy enjoying themselves.

It’s hands in the air, going for it all the way vibes.”

ALPLINE ARPLINE “‘Alpline Arpline’ is based on an arpeggio and an Arp which is an old synthesizer from the 70s. I made 4 chords and I turned them into a series of notes and then I filtered and changed the sounds in the loop maybe 15 different ways. I did not make the song on an actual Arp but I made it on an analogue synthesizer called a Prophet 6. The ambient sounds are recorded live from Downtown LA. This is a cinematic end piece to the album.”

BIRTHDAY MESSAGES “This is a bonus track I made based off of my radio show. We ran a voicemail line for 8 or 9 weeks and fans could call in and say whatever they wanted about Dirtybird’s 15 year birthday or how they feel about me or anything. I had to cut down about 6 hours of messages into the final version. I think it turned out really funny but it’s definitely a track just for super fans.”

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ALL LIFE LONG

Mathame started the year in the best way possible. We talked to the duo of brothers, now at the top of their game.

The Giovanelli brothers answer our questions kindly during

“It was totally natural. We both grew up surrounded by

a plane flight, a common setting since they burst into the

remnants of a rock radio, active in Italy in mid 80s. We both

electronic music scene. As usual, they are on their way to a

fell in love with music and we started trying to do it, using

gig, and they squeeze in a little time in their busy schedules

literally anything from coke can to old samplers to last module

to talk to us.

reverb or complex soft patch, in a very funny and natural way.

Matteo and Amedeo have a 12-year age difference and for the

Same blood don’t lie.”

last seven years have shared an audio project that is going

How is it to have your own project with your brother? How

from strength to strength. Under Afterlife, the label owned

is your relationship?

by Tale of Us, their melodic techno sounds have transcended

“I think the best adjective is challenging because every day

genre boundaries and turned them into one of the most

there is a heat for something, finding the right synthesis from

exciting acts in electronic music in recent years, something

different tastes, minds, experiencing a social engineering

they keep proving with each new release.

work out every WhatsApp message sent.”

How these two brothers that have 12 years of difference

Tell us about your father’s radio and your memories about

ended up creating this dance music duo?

what was the music you grew up with.

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“When his radio was shut down Matteo was 1, too little to

‘the mentors’ in narrative, you know? Someone that takes you

remember. By the way my father still has letters from radio fan

and tells you the technique, the secrets, taking care of you till

and thousands of vinyl and old tapes, still living because every

you are ready to fight your fears.”

day we know we can count on that kind of treasure, finding

And how do you see 2020? You must be in a different

gem, sampling, just listen, is something really valuable. From

position than 2 years ago… This is like a new stage in your

old country classic to latest new wave, everything was every

career and possibilities must be way wider?

day at home, it was magical.”

“Maybe is the time to fight the fears, what do you say?”

When did dance music come to your life?

How was that process until you tried to create a career in dance music?

“Matteo discover dance music hanging with friends into clubs. He was surprised about how this music communicates

“Lot of great producers are going out the dance scenario because they feel everything is already said... We don’t think this. There’s a lot to do!”

with people’s body and brain at the same time. From there we

What are your plans with it?

approached music composition and analog equipment, it was

“We have music release ready to drop in the first six month,

the early 2000, an age without YouTube or tutorial or anything

that’s all we can say and –oh!- we come back to LA soon -really

so Matteo started building his imaginary while Amedeo training

the most beautiful city in the world, where we will want to

classical with Violin. When Amedeo grew 15 he went to clubs

live one day.”

and he was ready to spin vinyl... Then... you know.”

What’s dance music for you?

Fast-forward until now and future looks bright… 2019 was

“Something that needs a book to explain in words but you can

an amazing year for you… How was it?

understand with a single photo.”

“Intense, unbelievable, magical.”

How do you see the scene nowadays?

What was the best? Which are the things you highlight?

“Stuck. Lot of great producers are going out the dance scenario

“There are so many but special mentions to the performances

because they feel everything is already said... We don’t think

at Untold, Tomorrowland and Cercle.”

this. There’s a lot to do!”

Why do you think you had such an amazing year? What

What’s sharing for this new decade? What do you think will

happened?

perish and what will stand?

“Because of music, nothing else we guess. There’s no secret

“All the fake copy and paste acts and music will expire because

recipe, just trying to do the most honest music you can. This

it is inconsistent, a total lack of interest, because it is not

will touch the soul of the people and with the right mindset

true. I think what will stand is just what is original and simple.

you can go very far.”

That’s the classic rule.”

Afterlife has been very important in your growth… How

And what about your career? Where do you want to go with

good is to be able to grow with the support of such an

it? What about South America? Seems you’ve had a great

amazing phenomenon?

time during your last visit. What do you remember?

“Of course, Afterlife has a key role in all of our journey.

“It was the most unbelievable tour ever. What is still banging

After all these years, Afterlife is like a family but from the

in our brain is the incredible amount of energy and love from

very beginning there was something resonating between us,

people. The venue? Amazing. Was an honor to play in such big

especially Tale Of Us and Mind Against. I’m speaking about

and legendary clubs and I can say we hope to have delivered

sensibilities, taste, music vision, aesthetic... They were like

with music at least half of the love we have taken.” djmagla.com

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FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE TWO YEARS INTO HIS MOVE TO EUROPE, SANTIAGO GARCÍA IS LIVING THE DREAM.

Words: HERNÁN PANDELO

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“

I never settle in one city but I keep coming back to Spain,” says Santiago when we discuss the fundamental shift that led him to settle down in the Old Continent. Dividing his days between Valencia and Ibiza and travelling more and more around the world, Argentine artist Santiago García cemented his position in 2019 as one of the strongest acts in melodic techno at the international level.

It’s been more than a year since he left Argentina to move to Spain in search of professional growth. “In South America I couldn’t grow,” he sums up. After all, his goal was to play not only in his area but also to go out into the world. His Spanish citizenship was key to set out on a new path, and setting camp in a European city in the end helped his career to take off. “I didn’t really hesitate to come over and settle down here, where I can take cheaper flights and be closer to the market that consumes my sound the most.”

The strategy paid off in the end, and García is going from strength to strength. “I’m trying to process somehow all the things that are happening to me,” he reflects. He has managed to seize the opportunities that arose. The satisfaction he feels when he visits new cities and when his music is picked up by labels he likes, he says, is something that exceeds his expectations – yet it did not happen overnight.

His link to electronic music goes a long way back. Music of different genres was played in his house: his mother was into Brazilian and Arabic records; his father liked all kinds of rock music, from Pink Floyd to the Beatles, Leon Gieco and Sabina. His father was friends with Gustavo Cerati, and young Santiago used to go to the famed musician’s house. “As he built his studio, I began to take an interest in music in general,” he reminisces. First he took guitar lessons; later, when he turned 12, he took to electronic music. “I remember the albums of the summer of 2002. Artists such as Kaskade, Eric Prydz, Depeche Mode and Cerati, who also delved in electronic. One thing that fascinated me from a very early age was to listen for different sounds and how to create them. And I wasn’t interested in just electronic but in music and creation in general,” he says. By 2008, progressive house appeared in his life and he started to follow in the footsteps of local idol Hernán Cattaneo. “He really supported me in my early years. When he selected one of my songs for his famous album ‘Master Series’ under Renaissance in 2012, it was a turning point and I was ushered into the electronic music industry,” he claims.

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He took odd jobs as he made music: he sold records, DJ and sound equipment, and he even worked for the family company for a while. “It wasn’t too long ago that I decided to make music as a full-time activity,” he says with honesty. It will soon be two years since he decided to leave his native country and, in his own words, “it wasn’t an easy decision at all.”

Already in early 2019 the ball started to roll for him, with shows in Miami, music on reputed labels and an interesting visit to Ibiza. “A lot of things happened in 2019,” he says with pride. His debut on Innervisions, the label founded by Âme and Dixon; songs in platforms owned by famed artists such as Adana Twins, and remixes for artists he really likes were some of the year highlights, as was making the Beatport Top 10 charts for several genres. He also made great strides in his DJ role. “An important move was being booked for a residency in SAGA, the event produced by the Bedouin duo. We played together in Ibiza, Tulum and New York. I manage to have a busy schedule, which is important but also a challenge, as flying to one part of the world one day and to another the next day isn’t easy and you need to be prepared,” he says.

He is a rising star and his music has been used by some of melodic techno’s heavyweights. Just as Argentina’s Cattaneo helped him by selecting one of his songs nearly 10 years ago, at present DJs of the likes of Dixon, Âme and Tale of Us play his music and raise his status within the scene. “When these DJs, who are some of the biggest names in electronic music today, play your music, the impact is very high,” he says, discussing some of the artists that pull the strings in an increasingly cosmopolitan, ever-changing scene.

“Right now electronic music is on top,” he says with certainty, going deeper in his analysis. “I think over the past year, it has evolved a lot. Trends are impossible to predict,” he says, adding: “I always do what I like and I try not to take notice of what’s coming next. I was lucky in that I’d been working on a sound that later became popular, but that doesn’t always happen.”

Good fortune, knowledge and practice were key factors for Santiago to cement his career in a hectic 2019. “I have knocked on many doors but they really paid attention to me when there was real interest in the music. I never wanted to show up somewhere with nothing good to offer. Music was, is and will be the best means to establish relations with the major players. The journey is long but also rewarding in the end,” he admits.

Moving forward, he is slated to release tracks under wellreputed platforms. Innervisions, Multinotes, Moblack and Human by Default are a few of the labels that will publish music by the Argentine producer. A live show is one of his goals for the next few months, as well as several projects with other artists. “Perhaps I’ll found a record label later on,” he envisions. As things stand, everything seems possible.

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ON THE FLOOR

ROSARIO, ARGENTINA

Words: RODRIGO MENDEZ / Pictures: GIULIANA REYNA

THE CLAPTONE ENIGMA AND HIS NEVER-ENDING DANCE The German DJ/producer raised the roof of Rosario’s Metropolitano club. DJ Mag Latin America was there to take it all in.

N

o-one knows what goes on between the man in the golden long-nosed mask and the audience dancing wildly at his feet like there is no tomorrow.

It’s 5 am and the large venue is a melting pot of young and adult clubbers in their thousands, shaking their hips and laughing with their eyes closed, wrapped in a frenzy that has gone on for more than two hours.

Everybody is dancing. There is something that the DJ transmits that goes beyond what happens in traditional electronic parties. It is a mystery – just like Claptone’s true identity. He is delighting the crowd wearing a mask, black clothes and white gloves. His name is a puzzle piece, as is what he does with the audience.

The music genre he plays is hard to classify: deep house according to specialists, but on this Rosario night he spikes it with tech, techno and other sundry subgenres combining catchy melodies and bouncy beats. People shake their bespectacled heads to the groove and don’t do much talking: this dance is best enjoyed without speaking. Some are feeling the heat so they head out to the patio for some air, and those who rode for hundreds of kilometres to get to this Flag Memorial city clench their teeth and keep swaying. No-one knows who Claptone is but his party speaks a universal language: dancing in reverie till dawn.

It is clear that the staff with Lado B, the producing company running the event, cares about people regardless of the market borders and its implications. The Metropolitano’s large main room features luxurious chandeliers, hydration stations handing out free water, massage stations for clubbers and comfy sofas at the back of the room for those who feel exhausted after all the dancing. Pushing his way through the mosh dance, a water vendor is carrying a crate of bottles on his shoulder, just like a soda vendor in a football stadium, and the thirsty ravers produce wrinkled banknotes from their pockets as if each bottle was the last Coke in the desert. It is a very welcome and original service: it lets people get their fill of cold water without the need to move or to elbow their way through the impenetrable mass of people on the floor.

the masked DJ stands on top of the decks and waves an Argentine flag in the air to bid goodbye – a harsh reminder that now we will all go back to our ordinary lives. In them, there are no enigmatic characters of unrevealed identity that can make thousands of people feel transfixed. Claptone is a shooting star that burns up and disintegrates in every show, the proof that music needs no egos or names.

The mystery deepens when Claptone plays reggaeton/cumbia tracks – such as his take on Major Lazer’s and J Balvin’s hit “Que Calor”– and no-one in the audience complains about this rather borderline proposal. On the contrary, these sounds are even more mesmerising and they drive the audience into total frenzy. A few minutes later,

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ON THE FLOOR

MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA

DOUBLE O JANUARY 4TH TALE OF US Certainly, Mar del Plata is the hot spot of the Argentine summer. On the first weekend of 2020, the lively seashore town was packed with tourists swarming the beach and youngsters looking to have a good time.

Thousands of them converged at Mute, the beach club that houses the most popular events of the Buenos Aires Atlantic Coast, where Tale Of Us played to a crowd of 10,000, officially kicking off a series of Saturday events featuring major international names of the likes of Sasha, John Digweed, Above & Beyond, Claptone, Cuartero and Kolombo.

The large outdoor venue looked impressive with huge HD screens set above a colossal stage. The other limits restricting the dancefloor were the ocean and the VIP balconies. In the middle was a large stretch of sand ready to receive revellers until sunrise.

At 1 am, up-and-coming Argentinian artist Mariano Mellino took the stage. With his signature progressive house sounds, Mellino did what is expected of a warmup act, with 46

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a set that was infused by the sound that characterizes the Italian duo, to set the tone for what was to come later. The local DJ and producer’s participation was a welcome addition to the lineup that was announced just a few days before the event, and was a pleasant surprise for many that had already bought a ticket. The crowd showed appreciation by cheering, smiling and dancing throughout the show.

As Saturday shot for the 30-degree mark in the afternoon, Mar del Plata’s beaches and streets proved the city’s capabilities as a strong and sought-after tourist destination year after year. In the evening, Mute was swarming with young revellers. The place was so packed that many got lost in the sea of dancing people and had to shed light on their water bottles with the flashlight of their mobiles to cast a signal for their friends. They were techno-style torches in the night, like emergency flares.

At 2.30 am Tale Of Us got behind the decks and soon the audio volume was pumped up to piercing levels, which wasn’t a problem as there are no neighbours around. With an avalanche of Afterlife sounds, the Italian

We went to Mute Mar del Plata on the first two weekends of January… duo played the best of their well-known repertoire, with dynamic, bouncy, danceable music, interspersing it with inspired lapses characterized by sharp futuristic melodies. The response of the audience was an intense dance session, and the prevailing feeling was that everybody found just what they were looking for. You were close to calling it a perfect night.

The reason it was not perfect was that at around 4.30 am it poured down with rain, which put a damper on the event. The sound quality was not as good anymore, and because there was no shelter for the rain, many decided to leave the premises. But not all…

After a long hour of steady drizzle, it finally let up, and the result was that at sunset, there were fewer people but the same delightful techno music playing. Tale Of Us kicked off the 2020 season in style.

ON THE FLOOR

R N OT H I N G JANUARY 11TH JOHN DIGWEED

Plata beaches, where the trending topic on Sunday was the positive feelings sparked by the show given by these two icons of British electronic music.

Some say Sasha is the father of progressive house. Others say John Digweed is the highest embodiment of the genre. What is out of the question is that together they are explosive. This was clear to a crowd of around 13 thousand on Saturday January 11 in Mar del Plata, where the DJ duo displayed their arsenal of energetic music in what was the second large-scale show in Mute, the beach club that attracted large crowds of revellers in the summer of 2020.

Sasha charmed the crowd with a smooth shift between music genres, mixing vocals, kicks and distortions for good measure.

Digweed charged with well-defined electronic riffs loaded with piercing grooves that could have made a statue dance. The result was a hypnotic show, enhanced once more by an imposing stage set a few metres from the ocean, where flashes of light were reflected from the structures of a colossal scaffolding.

With Juan Power’s “Crescendo,” Digweed and Sasha opened an unforgettable set that went beyond progressive and delved into techno, making up a danceable offer that surprised the crowd with its rhythm and effectiveness.

“This is the fourth time I’ve seen them together and it’s the show I’ve liked the most,” said a young girl to a 30-something friend on their way out of the sandy venue.

That was the unanimous opinion throughout the event and even later, on the Mar del

Tracks such as Affkt’ “Boom,” Guy Gerber’s “Stoppage Time” and Speaking Minds’ Blue Days worked as shots straight to the hearts of the ravers that made the pilgrimage up to Mute from different parts of the Buenos Aires province and even from the rest of the country. No-one wanted to miss out on the back-to-back set of these two legends of electronic music, who have been making mix albums and playing in mind-blowing international tours for 25 years.

SASHA &

It was a new church of joyful believers in good music that congregated in Mar del Plata. At the climatic points in the ceremony, hundreds of faithfuls raised their hands to the sky palm to palm, as if immersed in a prayer to give thanks for the night they had just experienced. The gods waved goodbye from behind the turntables in a friendly manner. The church of Sasha and Digweed had celebrated Mass again.

Words: RODRIGO MENDEZ Pictures: WALTER PAZ

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ON THE FLOOR

TULUM, MEXICO

Words: SERGIO YANKELEVICH / Pictures: JULIAN CASSADY & JULIANA BERNSTEIN

STARTING FROM ZERO

We travelled to Tulum to experience the amazing experience Day Zero has to offer…

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nce more, we had the opportunity to attend one of the most important events held in Tulum every year: Day Zero, the brainchild of legendary DJ, producer and label owner Damian Lazarus. This time, the date was Friday January 10 and the place chosen was the same as in the last edition: Dos Ojos, one of many natural cenotes that can be found in the middle of the jungle. It was an unbeatable setting for what Tulum means and for the ethos of a party that grows in scale with every new edition.

Getting there was a similar experience to last year’s. We leave the car in a town called Chemuyil, 5 kilometres from the event, and get on one of the busses that take you to the festival. A lot of people from various nationalities ride with us, anxious to get to an event that offers more than an ordinary electronic music party. There is a large number of busses, maybe twice as many as last year. Apparently, the organizers have learned from the previous edition and you get there more smoothly. It would be a bummer if you missed out on your favourite DJ because you had to wait for the bus a long way away. Luckily, that doesn’t happen.

When we reach the grounds, we glance around and see two stages: the

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mainstage and another one dubbed The Club featuring a few surprising acts, such as techno music artists. Clearly, the response of the audience confirms it was a smart move from the organizers.

Once inside, we see food stalls and clothes shops. Walking alongside concert-goers, people dressed up as Mayans walk around the grounds and surprise the audience with various skills. There is more of this in the theatre area, full of live performances.

Here, the live music combines with visuals, making it the most experimental and relaxed area.

The place is crowded, as was to be expected since they announced the tickets were sold out. We hear some people paid a whopping 500 dollars for a ticket. We walk along one of the relax areas, where people sit and chill amid all the intensity, and we feel we are characters in a story in the middle of the jungle. We call it A Mayan Tale.

On the mainstage, Black Coffee ends his set and Bedouin gets behind the decks. We listen to his set for quite a while: his music is the perfect match for the setting. It is worth our while to listen and to take in our surroundings.

We go into musing mode. It is a good moment to start anew, as the name Day Zero suggests. At this point we kick off this very promising 2020.

A little before 4 am, we head to The Club to listen to Art Department, but we get distracted on the way, as it’s full of music and lights. We come across a cenote called Go Get Lost. It is small and you cannot get down to the water but you can enter the caves.

Not too shabby for us.

Art Department ends his set and is followed by Ae:ther, who starts preparing everything he needs for his live show.

We walk back to see Luciano on the mainstage. His music is so magical

ON THE FLOOR

MORE ON TULUM HERNÁN CATTANEO @ TABOO The Argentine idol would be playing in one of the nicest beach clubs in Tulum. What could be better than to see Hernán Cattaneo on a sandy beach? It’s a perfect venue for him, just a few meters from the Caribbean Sea. His gig did not disappoint: he managed to select the proper combination of tracks for the setting. For three hours, the owner of Sudbeat played the music he is now synonymous with: progressive, melodies and occasional vocals. It was an excellent sunset on a white sand paradise. The closing act was Magdalena, the event’s hostess, who played until 11 pm.

SOLOMUN & MACEO PLEX @ TEMPLO XUNANHA

that he becomes one of the night’s protagonists, perhaps only upstaged by the event master, Lazarus, later on.

The day breaks and there are not too many acrobats in sight anymore. Huge dolls are floating on the dancefloor.

At times, the whole jungle and the cenote are filled with smoke of different colours. A magical moment! The sunlight tries to sneak between the branches to listen to the music of the master Damian Lazarus, who has curated this festival for more than 15 years and has a very good sense of where to go.

The owner of Crosstown Rebels delights the revellers playing several genres.

He is the soul of the party and his set goes on for about three hours. For

the close, which will last even longer, Luciano shares the decks and the backto-back set fills the crowd with energy.

We feed off that energy while we can.

Once more, we start from zero.

Solomun has taken her Shadows party to the middle of the jungle in Tulum. It was held in a large venue by the side of the road, with just one stage, the same as the original party of the same name that has taken place in Ibiza for a few years. It was a very crowded event attended by many who wanted to see two of the big names in clubland today. Maceo played from 9 to 11 pm, then Solomun took over until 3 am and after that they played together until night turned into day, proving they get along like two peas in a pod.

BEDOUIN @ PAPAYA PROJECT Arguably, there is no better place to hold a Saga party than Papaya Playa Project. The atmosphere is heavy on Bedouine style: hanging lamps, candles, body-painted people, acrobats using fire, the stage and the ocean. Your feet on the sand at night, and the moon shining over everything. A perfect night to enjoy the Saga sounds. After Argentina’s Santiago García’s and Matthew Dekay’s sets, we enjoyed Bedouin’s extended set, which went on until the sun rose above the ocean.

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TECH NEWS

Words: MICK WILSON

LE GRAND TOUR Fedde Le Grand beams us aboard his “Starship Enterprise”

J

okingly referring to his own sound as “something house”, DJ Mag Tech shares a laugh with Fedde Le Grand for this month’s In the Studio feature, learning “something” more about this DJ/producer…

Fedde Le Grand has been producing electronic music for quite a while. His seminal 2006 breakthrough electroclash smash ‘Put Your Hands Up for Detroit’ still gets him a lot of attention; however, beyond this dancefloor stormer the DJ/ producer has been steadily crafting productions that cross over a range of genres, while still keeping the dancefloor vibe alive. He fuses together elements of modern electronic dance music, while keeping true to his own identity.

His Darklight Sessions radio show, and Darklight label, is a perfect test bed for the new music he’s championing and features the ‘across the board’ sounds that we’ve come to expect from Fedde’s DJ sets and productions.

In this month’s In the Studio DJ Mag Tech caught up with Fedde to get an insight into his studio, his career and production processes and what’s keeping him busy throughout 2019.

Fedde, we always ask this question to everyone we pull into the hot seat, as a way for DJs and producers to get an understanding of the different and varying paths that someone can take to get into music production. So, how did it happen for you?

“Actually, in my early DJ days I did a performance with a drummer. He played a digital drum set while I was DJing. After this act fell apart, I got left with the drum kit. I 52

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hooked the module up to my computer and started reading and learning about producing.

That was my route into production.”

Was the drum kit the first bit of studio gear that you acquired?

“Actually, besides the drum kit the first thing I actually went on to buy was an Akai sampler.”

Your studio looks pretty slick. Tell us about some of the kit...

“Well my studio has changed a lot from when I first started out. At the centre I have my computer, which I have actually just switched to a laptop with a docking system, and the rest, for this particular space is mainly about acoustics and speakers. I have builtin customised speakers and a desk for my keyboard and monitor. The only thing I still have from my original studio are my Yamaha NS10 monitors — I couldn’t go without them — a mic and an external compressor.”

You mentioned that for this particular space you’ve focused on the acoustics and the speakers.

“I’ve had many different studios over the years, from self-built to pre-fab, but my current studio was built by someone who is specialised in building acoustic spaces. So this space, it looks like the Starship Enterprise, but that’s all for the acoustics and ensuring that we got the best acoustic environment and the sound from the room.”

What equipment are you using when it comes to recording?

“I mainly do everything in the box, except vocals of course. I’ve used a Talkbox for a few tracks. I record vocals with a Røde NT2 mic and then it goes through my Avalon compressor.

But everything else I do in the box. I started out with almost only hardware, but with all the travelling it’s a must to be able to do everything in your computer, and this method of production works for me.”

TECH NEWS

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04 03 06 05 01

In terms of doing it in the box, what are your favourite bits of software, from synths to effects units?

“It always changes a little as new things are always developing. But synth-wise, I still love Xfer’s Serum synth and I think DS Audio’s Thorn sounds pretty good. I love all my Fabfilter stuff and Melda is amazing too, although I wish I had more time to get into Melda a little deeper.”

How do you approach the production process?

What’s your workflow?

“To be honest, it’s a little different every time. For me it really depends on what inspires me. Could be a sample, could be a melody stuck in my head or just that I’m looking for something particular for a live set. It all depends greatly on where my idea comes from. Usually it starts with chords or a melody and then I go from there.”

How long has it taken you to hone your skills in terms of your production?

“It is not something that I feel I’m at the end game [of], I feel like I’m still just trying to perfect my skills and there is always more to learn. But I guess that’s why the production game is never dull.”

Why is it important to ensure that your tracks are produced properly and have good dynamics and sonic range?

“I think the production process of dance music has been so perfect already over the years, that you’re kind of always trying to hit that sweet spot where you hit that right balance and everything in the frequency spectrum is represented correctly and in the right amount.”

What inspires you to produce?

“Could be anything really; a tune I hear, a melody that forms in my head first, a groove or if I’m

looking for a sample, a new sound from a synth.

Really, anything.”

You’ve had a pretty busy year, as per normal — what will be keeping you busy in terms of studio work for the remainder of the year?

“Mainly I will be producing tracks for my set. Then every now and then when I can get my hand on an amazing vocal, I’ll be doing more of a pop production either for myself or someone else.”

It’s always nice to give something back to the music-making community; can you please outline one production tip for making good electronic music?

“Treat it like cooking. You can start with a recipe that already exists, but the trick is to make it your own dish by adding new flavours you like and leave out things you think are not tasteful and then create your own concoction in the end.”

FEDDE LE GRAND’S ESSENTIAL KIT 01. Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 Keyboard 02. Yamaha NS 10 Speakers 03. Dangerous Music Monitor ST 04. Avalon Compressor 05. Apogee Ensemble Soundcard 06. Rode NT2 Microphone

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TECH NEWS

FIVE STAR Version 5 of Loopmasters’ Loopcloud software opens up more creative avenues

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n what would seem a very short space of time, Loopmasters have released a new version of their Loopcloud sample management software. In fact, over the last few updates it has moved away from a basic cloud-based sample management resource into more of a fully featured creative tool in its own right. The new version 5 update is more than just a maintenance release and finds the software being totally rebuilt, offering even more features than it did before.

Loopcloud comes in two parts, the main standalone software and the plugin that works within your DAW of choice and links your DAW to the app. The plugin allows users to audition and play samples from their hard-drive, cloud locker or any of Loopmasters’ back catalogue perfectly in time and in key with the production they are working on.

A great way for producers to work out ideas quickly with a minimum of fuss. Loopcloud has become more of a creative tool than just something that would be used for management/administration purposes. Version 5 has really turned this simple idea into a creative behemoth and shows that Loopmasters are looking to the future.

Version 5 has been given a completely refreshed look — the main browser window offers up information on sample packs and samples available and is a lot cleaner to navigate and use. We prefer this fresher look as it makes for a better user experience. At the bottom of the browser window is the sample edit section that features a host of parameters that can be tweaked in order for producers to tailor their samples as to how they want them.

The editing suite is what would be expected: Users can use a selection of tools to cut up samples, trim, move, reverse, replace and really go to town on re-working a sample

PRODUCER TIPS

into something unique for their productions. The FX Edit function give users a suite of FX that they can use on their samples or creations, again really simple to use and offers fast results. The more we play with Loopcloud the more we realise that this is something that has to be part of your production arsenal and process – it is a real game-changer in the sample world. To do the sort of thing that Loopcloud does in the past, we would have had to use our DAWs to be able to work out ideas, but this can now all be done within Loopcloud. Project preparation is so easy. We were happy to spend time tinkering with samples using the tools in order to work on potential ideas for future tracks. Loopcloud 5 is something that is great to use while killing time on the commute, or in a hotel room, travelling to gigs etc. It gives users the chance to sketch out ideas without having to go into full production mode.

Loopcloud 5 is now based around a subscription model. In the free version of the app users have access to only two track edit slots and can access up to five free samples per day, while the subscription premium version unlocks all eight tracks for users to use and offers three tiers of subscription: Artist; Studio and Professional. Each tier offers up additional elements to the package like FX, more samples and cloud storage and points that can be redeemed against Loopmasters’ sample packs.

The fact that users can also use Loopcloud 5 as an eight-track composition tool is incredible — samples can be loaded up into the eight track slots (depending on your subscription level) and tweaked and worked on to your heart’s content.

In such a short space of time Loopcloud has matured into a beast of an application, which we would highly recommend to anyone who is in the electronic music production business.

DAVID GTRONIC

“Nowadays, with all the advanced technology that we have, it’s so much easier to have access to many audio plug-ins, in which we can recreate the sound from an old mixing desk or tube compressor to process the sounds and improve the overall mix. Lately, I have been using most of the UAD plug-ins to mix down my tracks. These plug-ins for me have changed the way I mix in a big way. For example, just by adding the ‘UAD Neve 88RS’ equalszer on individual channels like the kick-drum, snare, bass group, hats and even vocals you can boost the frequencies and really bring out the colour in a way that resembles an analogue sound. At the end of the day, it’s just a digital plug-in but if you compare it to the original analogue machine, it’s very similar. Other plug-ins from UAD I frequently use are the UAD Pultec EQP to boost the brightness in the hats and bring out the claps as well. The UAD Studer A800 is great to give the mix some analogue distortion. For a producer that doesn’t have a large capital to spend on very expensive analogue machines, the UAD plug-ins are a great way to still get an analogue colour on your final mix.”

AT A GLANCE LOOPMASTERS VERSION 5 loopcloud.com

Build Quality

8.0

Ease Of Use

9.0

Features

9.0 8.0

Value For Money Sound Quality

N/A

HYPE

Loopcloud 5 is now a complete creative tool all of its own.

GRIPE

No built-in MIDI features as of yet.

The guys at Loopmasters have really excelled themselves with this one.

Loopcloud V5 is a really useful creative tool that has to be part of anyone’s production workflow.

8.2

FOUR TO THE FLOOR Universal Audio has announced a new soundcard, the Apollo X4 Thunderbolt 3 Audio Interface, to sit with its existing product range.

The new desktop audio interface is basically an expanded version of their popular Twin soundcard. The new unit features four mic inputs/ line ins, four outputs and two main monitor outs, with the ability for users to expand this further to eight channels of additional digital I/O via Optical ADAT/SPDIF input and output. The soundcard also features two front-panel Hi-Z instrument inputs, two headphones outs, as well as UAD Realtime Analog Classics Plus plug-in bundle featuring the Teletronix LA2A, 1176, and Fairchild 670 compressors, including Pultec EQs, UA 610-B Tube Preamp and EQ, and more.

The Apollo X4 is perfect for DJs, producers who need more connection options for their studio set-up and continues with the excellent sound conversion quality found on the other members of the Apollo audio interface family. uaudio.com

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TECH NEWS

DJEBALI & GUTI “ALMOST FINISHED” Guti and Djebali created the new studio album “Almost Finished”. We got into their studio to see which is the pivotal equipment that made this possible…

SH101 & SH09 “Basslines and sub bass! These are unbeatable machines. We used these two on almost every track.

You can get a real subby sound like you’ll hear on ‘Pillow Fight Me’, or a funkier vibe like ‘Today’s Vibe’.”

TR909 SEQUENTIX CIRCKLON SEQUENCER “This is the heart of the studio. It sequences every synth and drum machines. We love it, you can do absolutely anything that comes to mind.”

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“The classic! You can’t touch the sound of a real 909! We used this mainly for claps, snare and high hats.”

TECH NEWS MOOG VOYAGER “This little baby was mainly used by Guti to jam on while I was getting stuck into the recording process.

We’d just listen to his jam and take the parts we love! You can hear the result of this process on our ‘Recreational Drugs’ track.”

8RAW8 “This is an 808 clone. We used it a lot to add little grooves to almost all the tracks, mainly high hats and open high hats but also some snares, claps and shakers.”

YAMAHA MONTAGE “Guti’s favourite synth for pads, you can hear it on the opening track ‘Almost Finished’, among others.”

EVENTIDE (H3000, ORVILLE & SOFTWARE) “We love this brand and use it a lot for all the different kinds of effects you can hear throughout the album. It brings character to sounds, you can make them wider or get pretty weird depending on what you want. You can really twist up sounds.”

AMEK ANALOG MIXER “We mainly used it to colour the sound with the pre amps. It’s a warm analog mixing desk so it gives a sense of unity and cohesion to all the tracks, even if they have different styles.”

PROTOOLS & ALBELTON “We used Protools to edit all the tracks. It’s the best program sound-wise and easy to use with audio! The initial ideas were made with Ableton Live, which is unbeatable when it comes to creativity. You can get ideas real down really quick with this program.”

COUPLES OF MACBOOK FOR IDEAS “We always had a Mac or two, separate from the main one. This was a critical part of the creative process because it meant each one of us could work on ideas, while the other was doing other tasks.”

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SIDNEY CHARLES It’s not often a DJ can stamp their authority on a genre so much that it gets its own label, but Sidney Charles is one. His take on house music is known amongst fans as The Sidney Sound: it’s one built on heavy low ends, the immediate impact of chunky drums, cavernous low frequencies and hard hitting rhythms that connect directly with your body. Over the last ten years or so, this is exactly what has helped establish Sidney as one of house’s most vital players.

These days based in the laidback and sunny climate of Portugal, where he has time to surf, relax and more room to think about his work than in the hustle and bustle of Berlin, he is continuing to mature as an artist. Heavy House Society is his new label, one that will deal in heavy, forward looking, rhythm orientated house music. With a background as an A&R at Avotre a few years ago, Sidney will bring those skills to the new label as his love of unearthing hot new talents continues.

With that in mind, we went to see which are the tracks that shaped his life and career…

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THE TRACK THAT REMINDS YOU OF YOUR CHILDHOOD? “‘Things We Do For Love’ from Horace Brown.

When I was younger I was really into R&B and hip hop of the 90s. I simply love the beat with that famous gitar sample from James Brown (Blues and Pants). Still listening to that track with so many memories!”

THE FIRST RECORD THAT YOU EVER BOUGHT? “The LP of A Tribe Called Quest, ‘Low End Theory’. Its untill today one of my favorite hip hop albums. The mixing of that track was simply evolutionary to that time. Never before have the low frequencies been so punch and present in any other hip hop album before.

Just love the ruff and jazziness of that LP.”

WHAT’S AN ALBUM (OR ARTIST) THAT YOU’RE CURRENTLY INTO? “LTJ Bukem… I’m really into that old school drum & bass sound with lucid, liquid and deep themes. I listen a lot to the ‘Logical Progression’ compilations at the moment. It’s just amazing to listen to that kind of sound to chill or run around the city with headphones on and just enjoy. This music makes the all day struggles seem less honest for some reason. I also love the influence of house music in here.”

WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO THAT ISN’T DANCE MUSIC? “I listen to jazz, hip hop and experimental music.”

THE RECORD IN YOUR COLLECTION THAT YOU MOST TREASURE? “A hand signed copy of ‘The Black Album’ by Prince. My mum used to be a music journalist for a newspaper in Hamburg, Germany where I grew up. She was sent music –vinyl- to write reviews. One of them was ‘The Black Album’.

She interviewed Prince back in the days for one of her reports about him performing in Hamburg and during that time she was pregnant with me. She had that vinyl handsigned and now its in my possession and Im keeping it at a very safe place.”

THE TRACK THAT’S GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU CRY? “I don’t really have a track like that but maybe it’s ‘Archangel’ from Burial.”

YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE TRACK OF ALL TIME? “It’s ‘You’re In My System’ from Kerri Chandler and Jerome Sydenham.”