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Nina Las Vegas - Substitute

Nina Las Vegas is currently one of my favorite artists, and it's not just her excellent EPs and DJ sets that I love. Not too long ago she left her longtime gig on Triple J radio to start her own record label, NLV Records. So far she's put out some http://dlvr.it/Lnnkk4

Oh No, Jessy Lanza Gives Us The 411 On Her New Hyperdub Album

I talked to Jessy Lanza about her new album Oh No, due on Hyperdub on May 13th. She filled me in on traveling with longtime collaborators Junior Boys, dealing with anxiety as a musician, and why she loves touring in the United States so much. Nina Ulloa: I actually saw http://dlvr.it/Kqjbkg

Talkin’ Ship with Destructo: We talk to Gary Richards about HOLYSHIP!, the Ship2Ship tour and the exposure of women in edm music. Sterling Hedges: How was January’s Holy Ship? Gary Richards: It was pretty awesome man. It’s always a lot of fun down there, but it takes a lot out of you http://dlvr.it/KMPC9q

West Coast Fix's Top 5 Acts of HARD Summer

This past weekend, HARD Summer came and took over the Fairplex in Pomona, California. It was their largest and most successful festival yet. By increasing its capacity from 40,000 to a whopping 65,000 festival-goers a day, Hard Summer not only asserted itself as the electronic dance music event http://dlvr.it/BmXw7S

West Coast Fix's HARD Summer Playlist

In just two short weeks, HARD Summer will be opening their gates for the biggest running of the festival to date. For its eighth anniversary, LA’s premiere electronic music festival will be welcoming over 90 artists spread across five stages for two days of stellar music at the Fairplex http://dlvr.it/BfHhb6

West Coast Fix's Summer Daze Playlist

Summer is nearly over, but that doesn’t mean that the warm days and long nights of kicking back and enjoying a drink are over. There’s something about these summer months that put a huge smile on my face, whether it’s the crisp air, beautiful sunshine, or lethargy http://dlvr.it/Bcrq5x

Get A Heavy Dose of Summer with Golden Coast's Remix of "Boys"

My, how tropical house has changed in the past year. The genre, championed by Kygo and Thomas Jack, was subject to plenty of supporters and criticizers, but I don’t think anyone could have imagined how big tropical house would become in just a short year. There’s something special http://dlvr.it/BYlW8H

#summer

CRWNS Is Championing New Orleans' Promising Dance Music Scene

America has some of the most vibrant music scenes in the world. Every state, city, and town has their own unique music culture, whether it’s the booming country scene in Nashville, the dynamic nightlife culture of New York City, or the burgeoning dance music scene on the West Coast. http://dlvr.it/BYDNX2

ZZ Ward's Got Some Serious Spunk, And It Shows In Her Music

You may know of ZZ Ward from her hugely successful debut album, Til The Casket Drops, from 2012, which had tracks featured in TV shows like Pretty Little Liars and The View, but if you’re just hearing her name for the first time, you better read up about her http://dlvr.it/BVKRGz

Mr. Belt & Wezol and Freejak - Somebody to Love

It’s time to power up the DeLorean and hop in, because we’re going on a journey to the past. So many producers in dance music are focused on what the next big sound or trend is, but Mr. Belt and Wezol seem to have found their niche by http://dlvr.it/BTDShX

Christofi Gives Baby Bash's "Baby, I'm Back" A Future House Facelift

While countries like Sweden, the Netherlands, and even Australia are considered meccas of dance music, another unexpected region of the world has been on a steady rise to claim the title as the dance music capital... the West Coast of the United States. There’s no scene anywhere else in http://dlvr.it/BSqQ2V

#los angeles

Kick Back This 4th of July With Thero's Newest Remix

With temperatures slowly rising and summer officially upon us there’s nothing better in the world than kicking back by the pool, cold drink in hand, listening to some awesome music. While there’s no such thing as bad music when you're enjoying yourself, there’s just something about the http://dlvr.it/BPw3Sq

Shadow Child & Ben Pearce - Nothing Ever Hurts

Shadow Child has been a fixture in my iTunes library since I came across his Rinse FM podcasts as a young teenager in 2012, just discovering the wonders of dance music — and boy, am I glad that I did. Shadow Child basically laid the foundation for my love of dance http://dlvr.it/BP8lN2

Talking Salad with Destructo

With the Ship2Ship shows coming up in Phoenix, San Francsico, Chicago, and LA and the second Holy Ship voyage in February, we talked to triple threat DJ, producer, and festival founder Gary Richards aka Destructo. We discussed booking HARD Summer, the state of electronic music festivals, and his latest EP West Coast. Sterling Hedges: I saw that you were doing a 5:30 to 8:30 AM set on January's Holy Ship, how did it go? Gary Richards: It was awesome man. I use to do this club back in the day called the Sermon, we would start at six in the morning. It’s fun to play a sunrise set. The Sermon was in LA, and at 6 AM in LA bars can start serving alcohol again. So we would start at 6 in the morning and have a line out the door of people from the UK and people who just wanted to keep partying. *the February voyage is sold out but join the wait here http://holyship.com/ So you’ve come a long way from ‘Magical Mickey's Holy Water Adventure,’ in 1991 (the first major event he put on). How does it feel nearly 24 years later to be responsible for one of, if not the biggest, EDM festivals in the western hemisphere? It’s pretty crazy. I thought back then it was going to be this big and then it never happened so I thought "maybe I’m just fucking crazy". For me, HARD always has this genuine feel to it. Particularly how you emphasize introducing a young audience to artists that essentially helped mold the EDM structure of today, like A-trak, Justice, and Busy P in 2007. How are you still able provide a platform for newer artists that wouldn’t get to play a show of this scale? When I started a lot of them were just new, there wasn’t even a balance. I was just like fuck it, let’s book N.E.R.D, Bloody Beetroots, and MSTRKRFT. It was just stuff that I thought was cool. Now though it’s turned into having a balance of big names at the top, trying to get like 100,000 people, but I'm always most excited about the bottom third — all the new shit that’s coming up. I feel like thats what HARD has always been about, taking some unknown guy and taking him all the way to the top. If you take a look at some of our old posters the last name on there is Dillon Francis or Zedd, now those dudes are at the top. The thing about electronic music is it’s about discovery and finding the next thing. I do that through the festival. HARD provided me a platform to see bands like Justice and Crystal Castles. Effectively, that opened me up completely to, not just different genres, but the idea of possibilities in electronic music. This seems to be ingrained in HARD shows since their conception. How intentional was the emphasis on pushing what is seen as “EDM”? It’s totally intentional, mixing in Justice or Crystal Castles with names like James Murphy, Bootsy Collins, and Giorgio Moroder. I feel like it’s all good music and has a common theme, HARD is a platform to bring it all together. I just wanted it to be different and not just the same ol' five names at the top every time. I wanted to put Boys Noize at the top, why not, fuck it he’s awesome; like 2manydjs, Soulwax, and Erol Alkan. It doesn't always have to be like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. My life in the music business was always the main staples like Justin Timberlake or Madonna, and I have nothing against all them, but it's not like there are lanes for weird shit like Squarepusher. I mean, kids are cool now, they aren't like “we just like punk rock cause we skateboard”. It's like: “we like punk rock but we are also down with fucking Dr. Dre and fucking techno”. I’ve always been like that, I liked metal, rock, techno, everything. This is a place to mix it all together but do it in a way that makes sense and keep it party. We dont want any snoozers up there putting people to sleep, but we still want quality music. So it's still kind of hard to do, to get that kind of energy and then still keep it credible. I think a lot of people nowadays are beginning to marginalize EDM as mainstream. What are some ways you are trying to prevent people from having that stigma? Well I'm not really trying to prevent it. I’m just trying to keep what we do not so EDM mainstream. You know I hate the word EDM, to me its just electronic music. I’m just booking what I’m booking trying to keep HARD fresh and different. As for EDM going mainstream, it is what it is, there's nothing wrong with it. It’s not exactly what we do, but it's great that shit is so big. What happens is people hear it and they want more. Then they might go to a festival and then might stumble into some other area. Tthen all of a sudden they hear The Martinez Brothers. Like, “what the fuck was that, who are The Martinez Brothers!?”. Then they get into that, then they see Seth Troxler. All of a sudden your life gets consumed by this shit. I feel like I could be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person who has listened to the most fucking techno music on planet earth. I listen to it so much its just crazy. It gets to the point where my brain is about to explode and then I’ll just put on Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here.” Then i can go back to it again but I just have a very high threshold of hearing doosh doosh doosh. I could hear that forever, its like my heartbeat. I’m always listening to hear what can I play in my set, what’s the new style, what's the new production idea. I’m like a student trying to get as much knowledge as I can, and you can never get it all. What informs your decision to book artists, like last year Flying Lotus and Mr. Oizo, and this year Sophie. They are kind of off the grid or seen as strange. Is it just what you are feeling and what you like? Yea, thats just what I do. I say HARD is like a salad and to make a good salad you have to have a good balance. The right amount of olive oil, vinegar, tomato, garlic, lettuce, onion, olives. You don’t want your whole salad to be fucking lettuce. There are five different areas and you want to make each have a specific theme or vibe. I always say my job at HARD, well one of them, is DJing the DJs. They have their sets and I have mine when I play, but I put all them next to each other to make one big giant fucking set which makes the whole day. I have a pretty good handle on what they play and what they are doing and how to make it all work together, that’s why our festival is really cohesive. I’ve played so many festivals where they got me on the drum & bass stage. I just flew 15 hours and I’m fucking playing to two people by the porta potties. This is not where I’m suppose to be. I think a lot of people when they promote they see a name and think, “if i put this name on here I’m gonna sell tickets”. I look at it from different angles. I look at it by set time, by the poster, and what makes this look like a fun fucking thing that I would want to go to. I used to pretend like they wanted me to do an electronic soundtrack for a movie and I’d make a playlist with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin, and I would make these soundtracks for myself. It’s the same exact fucking thing except I actually get to book it. I can actually move the needle and make a difference. So is that what you find more alluring about DJing compared to managing and production, or is it all a cohesive thing for you? They all go hand and hand, but definitely if I had my choice DJing is my favorite. I like to take people on a ride and play shit they may not have heard before. It’s so cool to see the reaction of the crowd if you do a good job, or sometimes if not. I’ve definitely had a few flops in my day. They put me in some weird situations like the Academy Awards party. I’m gonna play deep house and they are like, “do you have any Pitbull?” Sorry, you got the wrong guy. Your interest in hip hop is really comes through in your West Coast EP. Could you touch on how recruiting legends like Too $hort, Kurupt, and Warren G, and newer artists like Problem, YG, and Ty Dolla $ign echo the importance of embracing the past but still embracing the future? I dont really know how it came about but it just came perfectly. I definitely orchestrated it but it wasn’t planned that way. It started like, “I’m going to make a house song with hip hop vocals”, and that was the first song “West Coast”. Then I thought, “why don’t I try to get a real rapper instead of just sampling?” That's when YG turned up, he introduced me to Ty Dolla $ign. Somehow I hooked up with Kurupt and then it all came together. I feel like its my homage to where I lived and where I went to high school. I grew up in LA listening to west coast rap, then I went to underground warehouse parties and raves and shit. I thought, “how can i take those two things and blend them together?” I feel like it was very important for me. Too $hort, Kurupt and Warren G... just getting a photo with them was good enough. But being in the studio, let alone making a tune. I think I got lucky, got hooked up with the right people and was able to put it together like that. Once again it feels balanced, it’s the west coast salad with the gangsta twist. Listen here https://soundcloud.com/destructohard/sets/west-coast-ep-1 http://dlvr.it/8KxKpF

Adi Ulmansky - Chinatown / Save Me From Myself

Adi Ulmansky has been a recurring fixture on our site, dating back to the interview we did with her. Her songs are so on-point, and her she's such a talented singer, rapper, and producer; we just have to share. Adi has released a couple of new songs that show some serious maturation, pushing into future R&B and bass territory. "Save Me From Myself" is a very personal song, and it's refreshing to hear her openness. "Chinatown" has no vocals, and shows experimentation and risk-taking that definitely paid off. http://dlvr.it/7MwNhJ

#tel aviv

Mirror Talk's WCF Fall Playlist

The next playlist in our new reocurring artist playlist series for all seasons comes from Mirror Talk. Mirror Talk is a four piece band from Los Angeles. They recently released a new track called "1997", which has some serious 80s throwback vibes. Enjoy their fall playlist, which is full of sexy electronic slow jams. They also made some pretty sweet cover art. http://dlvr.it/7JCtLR

#los angeles

Elliphant Interview: Bringing Humanity to Pop Music

I interviewed Swedish artist Elliphant (aka Ellinor Olovsdotter) earlier this year, when her Look Like You Love It EP had just been released. Her latest EP One More has just been released. Our first phone call was thwarted by technological difficulties, but our second call was a success. Elliphant started off by saying that something as simple as a phone call amazed her, the meeting of nature and technology, and the control that humans have. This statement is pretty indicative of Elliphant's demeanor. She seems takes nothing for granted and constantly learns from and is inspired by her surroundings. This mindset is apparent in her music, which spans multiple styles and genres, and pulls from many influences. Her bold voice ties her music together. None of her songs are lackluster, she always has something to say. Elliphant is currently touring with Charli XCX and Femme, a killer lineup of strong women that's pretty damn exciting. Your Look Like You Love It EP features a lot of heavier sounds juxtaposed with some pretty delicate moments. When you approached your EP did you have a specific sound in mind? I know there's a romantic picture that you go in and you make an album or you make an EP, but that's not really how it works. I've made lots of songs these past two years. I've been releasing, in Europe and in Sweden, like 20 songs these past two years. If people would have heard those songs, which haven't been released here because of bureaucracy, it's actually not a new side of myself. The way I released my first EP, it's almost like I did it all over again. But this time I have backup, I have people behind me. These songs were a selection of many, many songs. It was a selection that I thought could represent myself for the DJ world. This is not an EP that I released for radio or anything like that. This was for my DJs. I thought it was important to put at least one element of something physical, so I put "Everything 4 U" on there for something personal. I think Elliphant has four musical personalities. The one that you see on Look Like You Love It is one side. It's very bassy and all over the place, very serious but still very jokey. There's a lot of fun on this one. But it's still serious at the same time. You brought up your four different worlds, what are your other three worlds? I would say that "Booty Killah" is a little bit in the same world as "Tekkno Scene" and maybe even "Revolusion". Then I have another side that's like the song "Look Like You Love It" on the EP, the title track. I have a side that's always reaching out to.... ahhh what's the name... like.... I don't want to say it but like the 90s. These white rappers... like punk-rap (I assume she means the Beastie Boys). A side that's like "nyah, nyah", this punk-rap side. "Ciant Hear It" is very similar to "Look Like You Love It" and some other songs that I've done before. Then I have another side that is very hippie and and poppy. It's where I would put "Live Till I Die". Some singles that I have for the future will be in that world. It's not beautiful singing but it's still very full of melodies and very structured. It's very free, very hippie, and 1960s versus 2014. The fourth one is R&B, where I try and sing pretty. Where I'm very inspired by Aaliyah and TLC and that 90s R&B world. It's where I'd put "Down On Life" and "Could It Be". The album that you're currently working on, is it an equal mix of these four? There will be an EP before the album (the One More EP). I'll have some time to make the crossover. For the album it's my goal to have a very defined balance between these four worlds. Everything is connected, usually through the message and the provocative teenager inside of me jumping up and down. There is something keeping everything together but it's pretty hazy. Has working with Diplo and Dr. Luke helped you? Do you think they've pushed you? If I was a very musically involved person and knew what I was getting myself into when I jumped into this project I probably would have reacted differently to all these amazing, professional, superstar people that are working on my project now. I came into it very clueless. Dr. Luke, I had no idea who he was when I first started working with him. To me he's very genuine and a very creatively brave businessman. It's very hard to find a person that has that child alive inside, is very creative, and at the same time knows what he is doing business-wise. To have him backing me and my project is a big security and a very good base for me. He's very supportive of my act and he's not there to distract or destroy it. It's helping me get more balance in some of the songs. I really wanted this whole experience to be a lesson. What I can learn from him is nothing I could ever learn from any of my bedroom producer homeboys that I usually work with. It's a very good contrast for me and I wouldn't trade it for the world. You've said that you approach pop music with a no-bullshit attitude, as opposed to what a lot of pop music is today. What else are you hoping to convey, what inspires you to write music? I think it really comes down to people. With my music I want to present a good example of a human being because that's what I think an artist should do. My vision is to make good music and present myself as a real person. One of the biggest strengths that I have as a person on earth is that I've reached a point where I can detach myself from the social world somehow. If someone could expose themselves in front of the world, look stupid, say the wrong thing, make a bad choice, or just be human, it could be me. I don't care what people think at all. Of course I get nervous sometimes, of course I get scared sometimes, but in the long run I've found a place in myself that makes me a good example... Not when it comes to becoming the future wife of a president or some record in the system, but to people that are falling out of the system. I can be a good example to them. To be crazy but good at the same time, to be dirty but fresh at the same time. You can make different choices from day to day. You don't have to follow all the rules of the school system or the systems that are built to supposedly help build you up and make you stronger, but realize that it's actually destroying people more than pushing them in good directions. I think that's my goal with this whole thing. When it comes to people I just want to be a good "bad" example. When it comes to sharing and what I want to do for the world, it's going to be the biggest part of this whole project... I see this as my biggest challenge — to reach money and manpower to do something for the world. I don't have a childhood dream of "oh, I'm going to run around with tigers", that's not how I work. I want to look at more like, what work is necessary? When I have money to give and when I can do something I will look for it. Where the world needs me, I will do that. That's why I'm here. That's really what I care about the most. I know you've traveled a lot. Do you think that has helped shape this vision and worldview? Yeah, I think I'm very fortunate. I've been able to have some kind of world perspective. I had a fortunate situation even though I come from a very broken home, a very broke home, and a struggling place. I still had the fortune of being a child and growing up spending two winters in Asia when I was six and seven years old. I always wanted to travel and I started traveling really early. For all people I think it's very important to make a journey. It doesn't really matter where you go, it can be really far away and it can be really close. I think something that's always been a tradition throughout history is a first journey for a human. You're going to have to spend it alone in the forest or out there in the wild to be able to face yourself and who you are. I think that's a very important piece in human development and life. I did that, I was lucky enough to do that. I think the system, the lifestyle, is not in that direction right now. Even if there's traveling, it's more traveling through work and business. For me, it's about leaving your world where everybody knows who you are and exploring your personality when you're growing up or when you're becoming a real person. It's cool to explore yourself. It's meant the world to me. Now when you travel it's a lot of business, promo, and playing shows. Do you still have those discoveries? Yeah, I do. I was in Bucharest, Romania recently. That was a really cool experience because it's a very closed country and people are really struggling there to get artists to play shows. Politically, it felt very powerful to go there and do my kind of music in front of these people that really hunger for it. I get to see much more, in hotels and nights staring into the cities. Usually when I'd travel I'd go to some weird suburb or up in the mountains. The kind of travel I do now makes me really see the cities. I usually go see the big things in the city if I've never been there. This kind of traveling actually makes me a little bit more of a tourist. Traveling before was like lifestyle traveling. I didn't really care about anything, I went everywhere. I could've easily gone to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, just because I'm not so interested. I'm more interested in sitting in a cold outside space, drinking beer, talking to people. That's who I am. When you play live you have a raw power and energy. Do you feel like playing shows gives you a release? Yeah, it's very hard for me to control myself on stage. I've been able to do it a couple of times. The stage experience is very new to me. My biggest problem is probably that I'm totally exploding instantly. I just have full power energy through the whole hour. There's not really a good buildup for the show because I can't hold on. When it comes down to it I can't, because I can't control myself. It's usually a very raw, naked meeting between me and my fans. It feels like I have sex with my fans. Afterwards it feels like you have no idea what happened, but you can feel the situation in the moment. You don't really know what to do, there's no book for it. You have to be impulsive and use the love you've got. Usually I'm very worn out afterwards. I'm empty, because I gave everything I've got. http://dlvr.it/7FTKzC

#stockholm

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