Eighteen years is a milestone in any lifetime, but one The Gallery club night is especially proud of. What initially started off at Turnmills for a one-off gathering of just 50 people and is now based at Ministry of Sound, The Gallery continues to enjoy the pace of London clubbing. Next month, to celebrate its 18th anniversary, the brand releases three CDs which not only reflect its legacy, but its pivotal role in helping to shape the future of electronic music.
Digitalism will hit the United States this May for a string of shows across the country, bringing their live set to nine cities – with a kickoff performance in San Francisco on May 7th and a closing stop in Los Angeles on the 17th. The Hamburg duo will return to their rock-influenced roots for this tour as they bring a brand new live set to North America.
Coming straight out of Manchester, UK is NB Audio – a brand new label set up to cater for a cross section of electronic music. With a barrage of well-versed and experienced heads behind it, this first release comes from fellow Manchester residents Snap Shot – a new alias of Mark XTC (Da Intalex) and Microcosm (North Base) – two producers with a wealth of bass-heavy knowhow between them.
‘Blackout’ is the first single to be released from Wretch 32’s forthcoming third studio album. Premiered on MistaJam’s Radio 1Xtra show and as Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record’ on Radio 1, the track was produced by emerging talent Knox Brown who hails from Birmingham and created the record in his bedroom studio.
Contemporary and legendary female vocalists alike have graced this commemorative 20 Years Essentials edition of Divas on King Street and just the very mention of some of their names brings glory and glamour into the spotlight. Legendary female house music singers like Barbara Tucker, Michelle Weeks, Kimara Lovelace, Linda Clifford, Ultra Nate, Dawn Tallman, Stephanie Cooke, and their contemporary counterparts Monique Bingham, Tiombe Lockhart, Gaelle Adisson, Heather Johnson, and others have at one point or another raised hands and spirits on some of the world's best dance floors with their songs.
In perfect time for the summer, Ministry of Sound release some sunshine reggae vibes from UK home grown talent Liam Bailey, with 'When Will They Learn'. With huge features for super producers ‘Chase & Status’ on their 2011 hit, ‘Blind Faith’ and Radio 1 backed single ‘Big Man’, Liam’s next venture is a potential big tune.
Pacha Ibiza recently announced the launch of its new weekly event, Insane, kicking off on Friday May 24 with John Digweed and Fritz Kalkbrenner as residents. As well as its two residents (John Digweed will play 12 dates, and Fritz Kalkbrenner, eight dates), Insane will feature sets from DJs such as X-Press 2, Fabricʼs Terry Francis, Visionquestʼs Lee Curtiss, Monika Kruse, UNER, Nic Fancuilli, H.O.S.H, Pleasurekraft, Oliver$ and Steve Lawler.
It’s been over 20 years since Orbital teamed up with Mike Hazell to form Golden Girls and release one of the undisputable club classics of the ecstasy generation – ‘Kinetic’. The riff is so recognisable and always raises a cheer. It has been remixed numerous times over the years as each new generation gets to hear it for the first time with a slightly new flavour to make that riff sound so right in DJs’ current sets.
Los Hermanos Cubanos, aka The Cuban Brothers, are all set to release their new album 'Yo Bonita' on May 6 via Jam City Records. The album features the band's hottest tracks; from funk and soul right through to hip-hop and jazz, with special guest appearances from Mica Paris, Kurtis Blow, Tenor Fly, Abdominal, Omar and KT Tunstall.
Soma Records present a compilation of tracks from the last year, mixed by Gary Beck in what is his first ever commercially available mix CD.After the successful 20th anniversary celebrations, Soma continued with their output right through 2012, forging ahead with new and old artists alike. 2012 saw the debut album from Gary himself that immediately made its mark on the techno world, demonstrating his talent as not just a techno producer but as an artist.
This summer, Pete Tong kicks off his most ambitious party yet as he begins a new chapter with the launch of Le Grand Bazaar every Friday at Ushuaïa, Ibiza. With full line-ups still to be announced, so far Pete’s revealed he’ll be joined by the likes of Hot Natured (debut Ibiza live performance), Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox and many more.
After a successful 2012 pool season, Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Insomniac – the producer of music festivals such as the Electric Daisy Carnival - recently announced the return of Wet Wonderland. This daytime party launches April 27 with Avicii and will take place every Saturday, poolside at Marquee Dayclub.
Slovenien born Valentino Kanzyani has been one of Cadenza’s secret weapons over the last 12 months, already building a solid profile with the first two installments of his ‘Love & Gratiude’ series. And now he delivers the third, and final, part of this musical trilogy, with a double pack vinyl release, and a continuous mixed CD by Valentino himself, featuring almost all of the compositions released on the series.
Four years since his last EP release and Josh Wink is back with ‘Balls’ on Ovum. Since his album release in 2009 with ‘When A Banana Was Just A Banana’, Josh Wink has been heavily touring and working on building a new studio, and enjoying the birth of his baby son. After taking some time out to enjoy fatherhood, he finally got into his brand new studio towards the end of 2012 and the outcome was ‘Balls’.
Leftfoot are the curates of Birmingham’s urban festival, Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul, bestowed with the honour of opening up proceedings on Friday July 5 in the leafy splendor of Moseley Park. Headliner Bonobo takes centre stage, with his latest opus, ‘The North Borders’, just released to nice feedback.
In about six weeks time, on Saturday May 25, Defected’s Ibiza 2013 season kicks off in style with Dennis Ferrer, Yousef, FCL accompanied by ‘It’s You’ vocalist Lady Linn and Simon Dunmore. After a top performance at the label’s New Year’s Eve party and, more recently, at London’s Ministry of Sound, Dennis Ferrer is their chosen headliner to start the season in Ibiza with a bang.
Creamfields recently announced a host of new acts to their line-up for this year’s festival including Duke Dumont, Mark Knight, Chris Lake, Michael Woods, T Williams, Doorly, Stefano Noferini, Just Blaze, Danny Howard, Claptone, Albin Myers, DJ Fusion, DJ Punish, P Money, Scrufizzer, Linguistics, SP:MC, SGT Pokes, Stamina MC and many more.
Jamie Watts aka KiloWatts has a long tenure and impressive body of work contributed to the Harmonious Discord imprint. He has been an integral component to the shaping of its sound over the years and first appeared on the HD label with a glitched out breaky contribution on its fifth release in early 2004. Since then he has been featured in three artist EPs, two remixes, and one sampler contribution.
After the success of the 2012 edition, Kappa FuturFestival – Torino Summer Music Festival, returns this summer on July 13 and 14 at Parco Dora, Torino and will host some of the best national and international artists in electronic music. The event will be held during two days on two different stages, from midday till midnight, to celebrate contemporary music culture in an open-air, daytime festival dedicated to electronic music in a post industrial park space in Torino.
In a top year of releases for Toolroom Records, label leader Mark Knight gets set to release his new track ‘Your Love’ (formerly ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’). Twice nominated in this year’s International Dance Music Awards, Mark Knight uses crisp percussion, a big bassline and a cheeky nod to a pop princess to bring a new take to some classic sounds.
Empire Of The Sun recently unveiled the cover art and track-listing for their second album ‘Ice On The Dune’, which is released on Monday June 17. ‘Alive’, the first single to be released from the album is exclusively available as an instant grat on iTunes from today, with the full bundle available on Sunday June 16.
London’s The Electric in Brixton is bringing a club show to the city for one night only as dance legends Faithless, featuring Maxi Jazz and Sister Bliss, will DJ and play a live PA with many others on May 31. This is Faithless' first UK show since 2011 although recently they played at the US festival Ultra.
Loco Dice recently announced the next chapter in his love affair with the White Isle with a new residency that will witness a return to Ibiza’s heyday via a series of outdoor daytime parties at one of the island’s leading venues; Ushuaïa Ibiza. Starting on the June 6 and running every Thursday to the end of September 2013; Loco Dice – Used + Abused - sees one of electronic music’s leading figures curate a new experience that not only pays homage to his 15 year journey on the island, but is representative of where he is artistically in the present.
Just ahead of his second studio LP, ‘Eight Bit Ocean’, James Teej delivers the ‘Liking Your Disorder’ single, backed with a remix from Timo Maas, for Sasha’s Last Night on Earth imprint. Having first appeared on Last Night On Earth with the ‘Bring On The Night’ collaboration with Sasha, the prospect of a Teej LP on the label has been rumoured but before that, ‘Liking Your Disorder’ is here to whet the appetite.
The Emperor Machine returns with his first new release in almost four years, ‘Like a Machine’ backed with a remix from Andrew Weatherall. Andy Meecham AKA The Emperor Machine really needs little introduction, having been at the forefront of electronic music for well over 20 years now. His musical history as Bizarre Inc, Sir Drew and Chicken Lips charts the changing face of dance music over the last two decades but it is perhaps as The Emperor Machine that he has found his most experimental and innovative outlet.
Defected In The House brings a heavyweight line-up to Bomba Ibiza for Saturday nights, while Defected presents DFTD introduces a new concept to Ushuaia Tower with a free party on Mondays for the 2013 Ibiza season. The first of two new venues to open this summer is Bomba Ibiza (which we featured earlier in the week), with Defected In The House parties taking place each week from May 25 to September 28.
DJ of the year for MixMag and awarded best producer in the DJ Awards, Mladen Solomun has been developing a multitude of facets such as promoter, club owner, radio broadcaster and as the owner of the record labels Diynamic and 2DIY4. Now it’s recently been announced that Solomun will be taking over Sundays at Pacha with a new concept aimed at continuously changing the sounds of Ibiza.
Jonny White’s No.19 Music teams up with UK duo Jakkin’ Rabbit for some house music featuring vocals from the legendary Robert Owens and the act’s own Danny Kane. Birmingham’s Danny Kane is an accomplished producer and multi instrumentalist who has worked with the likes of UB40, Chaka Khan, Bobby Womack and Shara Nelson, and now as part of Jakkin’ Rabbit with partner Marc Spence.
The London-based Smiley Fingers imprint returns with ‘Toxic Picnic’ by Dave Seaman & Andy Chatterley, backed with a Pezzner remix. Smiley Fingers is now over 80 releases deep and its back catalogue boasts works from some of the industries heavy-hitters, from Richie Hawtin and Steve Lawler through to Steve Bug and Gabriel Ananda as well as rising stars such as Italy’s Rick Sanders.
Groove Armada’s Andy Cato has announced a photographic exhibition at The Book Club in London to mark the release of his new solo album, ‘Times & Places’, forthcoming on Apollo Records. The exhibition will open on Thursday April 25 with a private view followed by a public event featuring DJ sets from Andy Cato and Geddes.
Electric Daisy Carnival, the world-famous electronic music event, will be heading to London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday July 202013 for one of the biggest shows to hit the UK this summer, featuring some of electronic music’s biggest and most globally recognised talent, including headliners Tiësto and AVICII, as well as Steve Angello, Alesso, Hardwell, Madeon and many more, across one main stage and three arenas.
Cream Ibiza returns to Amnesia with a roster of artists set amongst possibly some of the best production on the planet. As one of Ibiza’s longest running and most successful parties, the line-up for this year’s season sees the return of heavyweight headliners Calvin Harris, Above & Beyond, Paul Van Dyk and Laidback Luke.
The International Music Summit recently announced that Diplo and Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom, will join IMS Engage’s series of un-moderated conversations at this month’s event in W Hotel, Hollywood. IMS Engage is a one-day series of conversations, consisting of eight pairs of speakers who will address the growing influence and prominence of electronic music in America and beyond.
As One In The Park will be the first credible large-scale gay festival in London for over a decade, putting the capital in line with other major European cities. Victoria Park is firmly established as a prime festival site, already playing host to events including Field Day. As One In The Park is the day after Field Day and will be using their infrastructure and production crew.
Without light, there is no dark. And without lows, there are no highs. UK producer Ashley Wallbridge has taken an old Chinese philosophy and applied it to his latest production, coming full circle to reveal both the lighter and darker sides of progressive house with his new track 'Yin-Yang,' out April 15 on Gareth Emery’s Garuda Music.
To commemorate the impact of Cosmic Gate’s most successful album to-date, Black Hole Recordings have built ‘Wake Your Mind’ – The Deluxe Edition, to deliver the ultimate W.Y.M. experience, featuring tracks and remixes from Ferry Corsten, W&W, Orjan Nilsen, Omnia and others and a full span of multimedia aspects.
Danish DJ/producer Kasper Bjørke had a busy 2012, the highlight of which was releasing his 'Fool' album. Setting off 2013 in a similar vein, Kasper releases a remix package of one of ‘Fool’s highlights – ‘Sunrise’. The original is an emotive disco pop track featuring the talents of Jacob Bellens. The fourth single from the album and third featuring Bellens, Bjørke has clearly developed an affinity for the songwriting and vocal skills of the I Got You On Tape and Murder front man.
The Black Ghosts are back with ‘Forgetfulness’, one of the highlights from their last album remixed by Fake Blood, Maribou State and Sona Vabos. The Black Ghosts burst on to the scene back in 2006 with a string of singles that captured their unique fusion of folk tinged songwriting and edgy electronic production. The brainchild of songwriter/vocalist and Simon ‘Skywave’ Lord and production wizard Theo ‘Fake Blood’ Keating, the Black Ghosts have gone on to become a highly respected act with two album releases under their collective belt.