Yet again!!! Another fascinating year to set forward on an underground electronic music pilgrimage!
For all you techno, electro, house, disco, minimal, tech house, deep house fiends this years line up is just as amazing as the years previous. A majority of the lineup includes a bunch of new talent as well as kings and queens of the industry returning for another year for this celebration. We at WKDU are really excited to see Volvox, Chris Liebing, Seth Troxler, UMFANG, Virgil Abloh, Stacy Pullen, Tale Of Us, Richie Hawtin, Octave One, Nastia, Josh Wink, Golf Clap, Floorplan, DJ Bone,Amelie Lens, and the list goes on!
Dodging the last snow storm of the year in Philly, Being WKDU’s new member I felt it was necessary to take a quick trip to 90 degree and sunny Miami! The first stop after dropping luggage off at the hotel was most definitely the beach. Running into one of my close friends/DJ/Producer Deana Sophia Vera, we started to have our first drinks on the beach and got the run down of what parties to go to and so on. Deana is a local Philly dj whos on the come up making a number of appearances not just in our city but had opened up for major names such as Oliver Heldens, Nicole Moudaber, Walker and Royce, and few others. After making power moves in 2017 she is on her way to success in 2018 making appearances in major party cities domestically. Her style consists of real intimate, sexy, tropical dark deep-house and tech-housy vibes but also not afraid to step into the dark heavy hitting techno world (link below of her latest mix on soundcloud). At some point this spring she will make a guest appearance at WKDU, a date has not been determined yet.
Deana Sophia Vera opening set for Oliver Heldens at Noto in Philadelphia
As the sun came down it was time to get suited and booted for the first event of the night. The first stop was an event called “Techno Taco Tuesday”. This event was beautifully decorated hidden little spot in down town Miami. Although I was disappointed they weren’t serving actual tacos the decorations and the vibe as I entered gave off a traditional west coast desert Mexican cultural feel. Techno infused with Mexican style tribal feels created a warm soothing atmosphere like you were celebrating the day of the dead holiday. MNTRA and DVINA are the promoters/Entertainment groups who set up this event coming all the way from Arizona brining Desert Heart inspired production to Miami music week.
Heading off to the second party, the next destination was Trade Miami. Normally the smart thing is to pre plan your trip and purchase tickets a few days in advance where everything is cheap starting at around 15-30 dollars. In my case, since I am a more of a spur of the moment type of guy I ended up paying 80 bucks for general admission. I was not missing out on legendary Paco Osuna and Carlo Lio back to back show. When I entered I have never seen anything like this in my entire life. Not a single person was on their phone, all eyes were glued to the front, and not one person was not dancing. I had gotten there at 12am and next thing I know, looking at my phone, it was 5am. the combination of music, crowd, sound system, and visuals blew my mind. I was in such an intense state of excitement the 5 hours spent there felt like 5 minutes.
Trade Miami
Day 2
After passing out around 8am I had a rough start to the next day. pretty much waking up around 4pm I had original plans to go to the Axwell day party but decided I shall save my energy eat some good vegan grub and whip around a rental scooter to do some sight seeing and sticker slapping!
For the second night I purchased tickets to Club Space which is ranked in the 95th place according to DJMAG top 100 clubs in the world. This club is by far the biggest I have ever been to consisting of three huge dance floors. One of the rooms which really makes the club iconic is the roof top terrace experiencing very special moments when the sun comes up on the horizon. This club is located in the perfect place in the heart of downtown Miami capturing the first rays after a long night of dancing. The line up for this night consisted of so many amazing artists but the only ones that stood out to me were Josh Wink and Danny Tenaglia. Both Philadelphia and New York City legends! I was fortunate enough to catch Josh right before his set to take a quick pic and send some WKDU love!
My last day in Miami I met up with local Philly DJ/producers Jordano and Capretto, made there appearance for the first time during Miami Music Week doing a back to back set for a small party located smack dab right in the middle of South Beach Miami on Collins avenue. Nexus Radio was hosting a party at the Fire Ice drink house and I was really happy to be able to take a few photos of some familiar Philly faces spreading brotherly love all the way in Miami. These guys are currently working hard in the studio cooking up some potential fire for their come up, so look out for them to be potential headliners at major festivals such as EDC or Electric Zoo.
WKDU supports Jordano+Capretto
Taking a long nap was much needed after this event to later attend the last two parties of my time in Miami. The first one was located in North Beach Miami called Basement. The name speaks for itself literally in the basement of a hotel or a very expensive looking apartment complex. Judging from the folks lined up for the party and the establishment in which it was housed this place looked extra sheik. The main floor consisted of a bowling alley and in the neighboring room was the main dance floor, very small approximately 3000 square feet. It was extremely tight because the word on the street was that Diplo was the special guest after the headliner Hot Since 82. was not really feeling the party the entire time because the sets from both the opener and the headliner sounded very commercial and basic. Extremely disappointed I thought maybe Diplo can change the vibes around. Unfortunately he kept the same flow of the party going. I left 5 minutes into his set to go to the last and final stop for the night the Tree House. This Party was hosted by Dirty Bird records own Billy Kenny. The line up for this was stacked! the particular names that stood out were Weiss, Josh Butler, and Huxley. All kings of house music coming from the UK. Huxley has been on a production frenzy coming out with hit after hit on the house and tech house music charts. Some of my personal favorites in the recent months were “Eastside” and “struttin”! Absolute killer tracks! Josh Butler has also been busy in the studio featuring many new talents to the industry on his Origins record label. Releasing the record labels second Various artist EP on March 30th features an emerging producer Ben Sterling and along side him debuting his first appearance on the label Timmy P.
Canadian native “Snails” will be Performing at The Fillmore Friday night December 15th! You wouldn’t want to miss this if your a huge bass fiend and love grimy trap/dubstep. Philly being one of the stops for his “The Shell Tour” Snails wants to celebrate his success in the release of his new album “The Shell”! About 2 weeks prior to his arrival to our city we got a chance to interview him while he was on the road, just having completed a show in Huston he was more than happy to give us 30 minutes of his time to tell us how he has become what he is today.
WKDU: What was that one track that pretty much blew your name up and paved your way to success?
Snails: Miami 2015 Ultra! Jack U (Skrillex and Diplo duo) played my track I produced with Antiserum called Wild. this track gain recognition and approval from many trap/dubstep fans and led me to working with Skrillex’s Label OWSLA.
WKDU: What are your favorite types of venues to play at?
Snails: playing at clubs is fun because judging by the how the crowd vibes I am more flexible to change my style of play and music selection and experimenting with new things on the fly. On tour and at huge venues like the Fillmore I pretty much have a set plan of what I want to play because for big shows like this I want my fans to experience a story that goes with my music. The sound system, the shell stage, and the visuals is what gives my fans the ultimate experience of my new album.
WKDU: We can see that you really love and have an immense amount of respect for your fans, where does that come from? I know this pretty unusual for a lot of DJs because everyone just wants to do their gig and move on to the next city.
Snails: If it wasn’t for my fans I wouldn’t be where I am at today! On my new album there is actually a track I dedicated to my fans called “The Anthem”, my biggest fans call themselves “The Vomit Squad”! Before my sets I try to walk through the crowd to take photos and just give back with my presents and just say hi on a personal level.
WKDU: What are some pre show rituals?
Snails: I drink tea, and try to watch the crowd during my openers to calm my nerves. even though Iv performed so much and in front of so many people in the past years every show I still get butterflies in my stomach.
WKDU: Tells us about the come up and development of your new album.
Snails: It took about 9 months to finally have it done. with my work I don’t like to rush I like to do every track with no deadline and carefree. this was a very fun project because I worked with tons of different artists ranging from many different genres like rap, metal, reggae, and other dubstep/trap guys who help contribute. I myself have a metal background so this for me was refreshing.
It was under the name Cajmere that he released catchy tunes you have probably heard. Tracks like “Percolator” and “Brighter Days” featuring the Chicago-native house diva vocalist Dajae really put this guy on the map in the early 90’s. Although these tracks were both released in 1991 and 1992, almost 3 decades later, these melodies and vocals still hold up in the club. Already a pioneer and legend of house music, this self made DJ/Producer/Vocalist would create his own label “Cajual” and release tons of great content.
When the 2000’s hit, Cajmere had fully established himself in the house world. He decided to change direction, put on Steam Punk shades and sport a neon-green mohawk. With this, his new hyped-up more flamboyant alter ego was born… Green Velvet! He also created a new Record Label, Relief, with the goal of making fun and care-free dance music. Popular tracks such as “Bigger Than Prince” and “Laser Beams” speak for themselves. He easily shifted away from producing strictly House to embracing Tech House, Techno, and Deep House. Relief Records is consistently releasing great music and frequently appears on Beatport’s Top 100 list. Among Relief’s most notable artists are Shiba San, Huxley, Eats Everything, and Jay Lumen who produce absolute fire! Green Velvet not only focuses on his own label but he is constantly reaching out to work with other labels such as Toolroom, Snatch!, Ministry of sound, and DIRTY BIRD. Back in 2015, he collaborated with DIRTY BIRD’s founder Claude Von Stroke to form the duo, “Get Real”, a truly fantastic project!
Philly is in for a real treat when this man comes through Coda this Friday! Green Velvet is set to premiere a new track featuring Gene Farris under Relief Records called “Lol”. Catching a 3 hour set from this legend is an absolute must for all dance music fanatics of House, Techno, Tech House… pick your poison.
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