“Grapevine” – Lane 8 feat. Elderbrook Elderbrook’s tender vocals float gently above Lane 8’s bustling instrumentation on “Grapevine.” The song’s sentimental character is a result of a personal backstory. “Back when I was living in San Francisco after college, I used to regularly take road trips down to LA to visit friends (and usually go to a lot of raves),” Lane 8 wrote on Instagram. “I had a good job but I felt unfulfilled, and those trips came to provide meaning to my life as I started to figure out my purpose. part of the drive to LA is the infamous grapevine, which is where the chorus and title of this song come from. Whatever was going on in my life at that moment, passing through the grapevine was a time to process the past, regrets and disappointment, but also a moment where ...
It was exactly 20 years ago that Eminem famously proclaimed, “Nobody listens to techno,” but in 2022 the the worlds of hip-hop and electronic music are becoming more intertwined by the day. The latest narrative comes straight out of Slim Shady’s hometown of Detroit. Joining a group of legendary techno artists at a recent red carpet event, chart-topping rapper and Detroit native Big Sean laid the groundwork for what could result in a groundbreaking collaboration with pioneering DJ and producer Juan Atkins. “I’ve got some ideas,” Sean told Atkins as they exchanged numbers, according to the Detroit Free Press. Having just finished the screening of God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines, a documentary exploring techno’s earliest innovators out of Motor City, ...
SLANDER, is that you? The barnstorming bass music duo have taken an unexpected dip into techno, keeping fans on their toes before the forthcoming release of their long-awaited debut album, Thrive. SLANDER’s new single, “Before Dawn,” speaks to the still moments of darkness before light creeps in. From the moment the track begins, listeners are taken down an eerie and unfamiliar soundscape fitted with industrial kick drums and a ferocious bassline. SLANDER have no remorse as the arrangement relentlessly chugs forward before making way for an entrancing break. Here, soothing piano chords percolate through the mix in dreamlike fashion, instilling the sense of serenity that embodies darkness before it’s transmuted into light. And just like the earth’s d...
One of techno music’s modern day icons, Charlotte de Witte, has landed herself in a page in the EDM history book. The renowned Belgian DJ and electronic music producer has become the first woman and techno artist to close out the iconic Mainstage of Tomorrowland, the world’s largest EDM festival. It was a hometown triumph for de Witte, who was born in Ghent, Belgium. de Witte has performed at Tomorrowland every year since 2017. This year, she was one of 600 artists who took the stage at the festival. Artists like Nicky Romero, Eric Prydz and Martin Garrix lit up the night sky and paraded festival-goers with a barrage of festival-driven anthems prior to de Witte’s historic closing DJ set. Watch de Witte’s full 2022 Tomorrowland performance below. Scroll to...
Ukrainians are organizing under the banner of techno music to help expedite the rebuild of what was recently lost amid Russian occupation. The country’s nightlife sector has remained shuttered since Russia’s invasion on February 24th. Cleaning up the war-torn country has been no small task, but Ukraine’s youth have risen to the challenge in part by bonding over the common thread of dance music. In Yahidne, raves are coming to the daylight by way of a unifying “clean-up rave.” According to the Associated Press, participants donning shovels scoop debris onto tractor trucks as a live DJ spins atop ammunition crates. Volunteers take breaks from the cleanup to dance and savor the fleeting moments of freedom. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles Yahidne is a...
“Leave no trace.” So said the intimate gathering of roughly 100 Ethereum developers who descended upon the Catacombs of Paris for an illegal techno rave. Amid a tumultuous macroeconomic backdrop and $2 trillion crash for the cryptocurrency industry at large, attendees entered the 65-foot deep caverns, which are said to be lined with the skeletal remains of millions of plague victims, effectively making it the world’s largest grave. Crypto developers recently congregated in Paris for the annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC), the largest European-based Ethereum summit, where 2,000 gathered for three days. A subset of developers visited the grim, centuries-old attraction, which was not associated with the conference. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles...
Radical self-expression, extreme self-reliance, pronounced counterculture, thumping music and one-of-a-kind art installations—there’s a lot that makes Burning Man special. But for those who can’t make the quest to Nevada’s Black Rock desert, Mayan Warrior offers a taste of the experience outside the playa. Mayan Warrior, a collective of artists, craftsmen, photographers, designers, technologists and architects from Mexico City and Northern California, is behind one of Burning Man’s hottest art cars, a colossal custom truck that blends Mayan and Huichol art with modern technology. 2022 marks the collective’s 10th anniversary, and the art car is on tour in the U.S. to celebrate. On its most recent tour stop, Mayan Warrior held a doubleheader in New York, where the striking art car took...
“It Knows” – Sven Lochenhoer Sven Lochenhoer’s It Knows EP is a nod to the 2005 origins of Dirtybird: left-field, wonky house music. Crafted for the club, the titular track blends piano melodies, warped chords and warm basslines. “It Was Misunderstood” – Tal Fussman Innervisions’ Secret Weapons series is chock full of dancefloor-smashing house and techno curated by label heads Dixon and Âme. The 14th edition arrives armed with “It Was Misunderstood,” a particularly lethal tune by Tal Fussman. “Majboor” – SIDD Sampling a famous Noor Jehan song on “Majboor,” SIDD continues his streak of tech house with a Pakistani touch. An Urdu word that translates to being compelled and helpless, “Majboor” is a fitting title for the track, which was written when SIDD had to quarantin...
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
Promising the experience of “techno at its purest form,” Emotions Festival will kick off its inaugural edition in Kampia, Cyprus next Saturday from June 25-26th. Featuring a 24-hour, sunset-to-sunset performance schedule, the event will welcome Dasha Rush, Amandra, Luigi Tozzi and Vera Logdanidi for special DJ sets inspired by “every color of the emotional rainbow,” organizers wrote. Located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus is also home to electronic music events like Living Color Festival and Farm Project. Emotions promises to set itself apart with its unique nature setting and spirited mission statement. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles “Music, its creation & expression, is driven by emotions and translated into memories of that ...