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Marbs & Evan Casey

Marbs & Evan Casey

Photo: Myles Heidenreich/2nd Nature Photography

News
Marbs On Desert Hearts Black, City Hearts, Dubfire marbs-talks-new-techno-sublabel-desert-hearts-black-las-city-hearts-looking-dubfire

Marbs Talks New Techno Sublabel Desert Hearts Black, L.A.'s City Hearts, Looking Up To Dubfire & More

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Along with his best friends, the San Diego-bred DJ/producer is helping keep dance music, dancefloors and DJ booths fun
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 17, 2019 - 10:31 am

Meet Marbs, one of the five founding members of Desert Hearts, an ever-growing electronic music label/collective that throws ridiculously fun parties and festivals. He is the resident deep house/dark techno aficionado of the welcoming core crew of lifelong friends. This summer, along with another close friend (and a DH regular), Evan Casey, he launched a brand-new "darker sounds" sublabel, Desert Hearts Black.

Just seven years ago, Mikey Lion, Marbs, Porky, Lee Reynolds and Kristoff McKay held their first DH Festival in the Mojave, a very cold and minimalist party that longtime members of their community refer to as "Frozen Hearts." While they've all helped Desert Hearts grow momentously since its humble beginnings—enhancing the fest each iteration, launching the main record label in 2014 and the sublabel this August, taking City Hearts events across the country and building a loyal fan base—the core of it has never changed.

"As long as we focus on the people and creating a place where incredibly talented, creative people want to come together and connect, then I think the things we create will be in flow with that," Marbs recently told us over the phone. Read on to learn more about their inspirational story, his kick-off collab release on Desert Hearts Black, what's in store for the major November City Hearts Festival in Downtown L.A. (happening on Nov. 9 and 10) and more.

Next month you guys are bringing back City Hearts Festival to L.A. What are you most looking forward to with this iteration of the event?

I'm most looking forward to us doing new things and expanding the City Hearts experience. The whole idea for the City Hearts Festival is to bring that similar experience as the [flagship] festival at Los Coyotes to an urban setting that's more accessible for our direct community. Los Angeles is probably our strongest market, and the location is literally across the street from the train station so for people who are coming from San Diego or Santa Barbara or even farther north, they can hop on the train and as soon as they get off the train at Union Station they walk about 50 feet and they're at the party.

We really want to start doing this all over the nation and eventually the world, bringing the festival experience to other settings throughout the whole country and all the markets that we've been building with the tour. That's the main goal of the tour, to build our communities in large sections around the world and once those get strong enough for us to be able to do festivals in those locations. So this is a really exciting moment for us because we're finally taking the steps to get to that in place and L.A. is the first place that we want to do it.

Also, we've started working with this wonderful human being who goes by BlakeShine. She works with Dirtybird and Electric Forest and specializes in immersive experiences, where you might not even know you're in a theatrical space, it might just look like it's part of the festival and all of a sudden people in character will start interacting with you. They won't break character and will lure you into this experience and take you into this space. She has a lot of surprises for City Hearts Festival. She did the Forgotten Fort at Desert Hearts [spring 2019] Festival, so it's building off of that.

It really took you out of the festival and made you feel like you were at a theater or circus and they had all kinds of comedy, performances and interactive experiences. That I'm really looking forward to, because another thing with City Hearts Festival is we want to push the experience of festivals to a new place. There's so much saturation, especially in Los Angeles right now, with all the different events and festivals and DJ nights and there's something every day. To break that mold, we are really trying to think of ways to differentiate and create and build off of our community experience. We think that happens with immersive experiences, more art, more interactivity. All the things that we love in the Desert Hearts Festival, we're trying to bring in to our urban events as well.

The people that are going to keep people interested are the ones that are going to really be focusing on the experience and the community, and that's something we've always held close to the heart.

I love that. It reminds me a lot of the conversation with the Meow Wolf founders. I think it's really cool for the future of event experiences.

We love the Meow Wolf team, we want to work more closely with them. We played their Taos Vortex festival this year and we would love to work more with them.

And then with expanding City Hearts Fest, do you have a shortlist of where you guys want to go?

Just like with most of the stuff we do, we kind of want to go with the flow. The first one makes sense in L.A., that's where our strongest community hub is, even though we started in San Diego. We'd love to do New York, I think that's on the horizon. And Denver; we've really resonated with Colorado over the last however many years we've toured over there, it's really grown every single time we go there. So working towards maybe doing one there. San Francisco is a definite, we've already done a block party with the Great Northern club. So to do more stuff like that and build off of it, that's kind of the whole idea behind the City Hearts experience. Then onward, to Mexico, and we're starting to dip our toes into Europe so hopefully on the horizon we'll see it over there as well.

Just like in life, the more you pay attention to the little things and the more people you meet and all that, the more experience you get so that's what we're trying to bring. And it's not a V.I.P. [experience] or anything, it's more like trying to spark everyone's curiosity and get people exploring a little bit more.

What will the Desert Hearts Black experience at the City Hearts L.A. look and feel like?

Since it's mostly a day event, it'll go into the night, but not late. We're doing a special thing this event that we've never done before where instead of the core four—me, Mikey, Lee and Porky—playing individual sets, we've paired off with our favorite people that we've been working with over the years. So we're going to go back-to-back with some of our favorite DJs, which we'll announce later. And for the first time, we'll have a special Desert Heart Blacks set. While there isn't a whole block, there will be sections of the day that people will get to experience the deeper, more melodic side that we are diving into with Desert Hearts Black.

Going into the future, we've been talking about Desert Hearts Black holding a space for the after parties after a Desert Hearts day festival or day party. It's not something we have planned right now, but it's something we're talking about as a cool structure for how these two will be symbiotic with each other in a single bite.

It's only been a few months since you and Evan Casey officially launched Desert Hearts Black and dropped the debut release, the Torus EP. How has it felt for you so far?

It's been incredible. None of us anticipated the response. We believed in our music, of course, and we were so proud of the Torus EP, but for it to hit number one on overall releases on Beatport was something I wasn't imagining I would see yet in my career. It was a really amazing day when that happened and it really opened our eyes that we're on the right path and that trusting our hearts is going really well. And then the second release we put out is from Arude, Apophenia. It's getting played by people like [Berlin techno DJ/producer] Kevin de Vrise at Afterlife [events], which is just crazy.

It's really cool to see the response on this side of our Desert Hearts umbrella really flourishing and taking off. We have some cool releases lined up, we're really excited, and we're scheduled all the way through February or March of 2020. We're thankful for the people that are willing to work with us on this thing, especially with it being such a new off-branch of Desert Hearts.

A lot of people who resonate with the Desert Hearts experience and are part of the community are talented musicians and producers, but maybe what they produce didn't quite fit on our Desert Hearts Records primary label, as it's tech house and house focused. Now have this outlet that's giving the community a platform to express themselves in the community with the music that they make, like melodic house and techno or deep house or psychedelic more chill, down tempo stuff. We've seen a good response of people feeling like they have a place and a voice that they can creatively speak through now for Desert Hearts which is really, really cool.

Well holy shit... TORUS EP is now the #1 release on all of @beatport. Incredible.

My first #1!!! Shout out to my amazing collaborators @MarbsDH and @EvanCaseyMusic. pic.twitter.com/I65rgjnMKZ

— Rinzen (@rinzenmusic) August 14, 2019

Do you feel like everything with the Black label is moving faster than you imagined, or is exceeding your hopes so far?

A hundred percent. When we first had the idea of Desert Hearts Black, I was talking to my management like, "Well, if this thing goes well, let's talk about tour dates." Everyone was like, "Let's get there when we get there. Let's first get the label launched and set up. But the second we launched the label, the first EP went to number one and people came to us for tour dates.

We just played in Seattle and Portland this last weekend, both shows were incredible. They were small rooms but there were 300 people at each or so; a really good vibe, everyone smiling and dancing real hard and appreciative. It was the whole Desert Hearts vibe but curated to the sound that we're trying to push with Desert Hearts Black and I think that was another huge sign that we're on the right track and we're doing this in the right way. It means a lot.

We're going to Denver for Halloween, there's a Desert Hearts Black takeover, it has support from Charlotte DeWitte and Solardo and we're doing the side room. It's going to be a massive show, we also have some other dates that I can't announce yet that are really exciting so it's off and running.

"One of my favorite things from the beginning to now with Desert Hearts, has been traveling around with my best friends. We started as DJs before we ever had the festival or anything, we just wanted to play the music that we loved with the people that we loved."

Reflecting on the success so far, what are you most excited right now with the future of Desert Hearts Black?

One of my favorite things, from the beginning to now with Desert Hearts, has been traveling around with my best friends. We started as DJs before we ever had the festival or anything, we just wanted to play the music that we loved with the people that we loved. That's where all of this came from. I've never been on the road with Evan, who is one of my best friends, and neither with Mike [Rinzen], and to do that this last weekend was a really cool thing.

I'm very blessed and very humbled by all of this. I'm also looking forward to all of the music that's coming in. It's cool to be in a place now in the American market where melodic house and techno is being more digested on dancefloors. Compared to tech house which, five, six years ago was still being introduced and was still pretty underground as far as the places that we were touring. Now tech house is the norm. And now melodic house is opening a space for these other genres to come through, for people that are looking for a different experience but something similar, are getting hooked by it. I'm excited to see how that scene grows and where we're going to sit in that scene.

Read: Jan Blomqvist Talks Playing Coachella, Berlin Techno & Covering The Rolling Stones

What do you think the state of electronic or dance music feels like right now?

When I first started DJing and was going on Beatport, the stuff on the front page was not tech house. It was a lot of EDM and it was a whole different place. I think it's a direct reflection of what the market is because it's what people are buying. Now, all of the front page is tech house. So it shows that that genre has really taken a huge hold on the market, but what you're also seeing is new genres popping up. Melodic house and techno wasn't even a genre on Beatport a couple of years ago but now it is and it's doing really well. So 10 years from now, who knows what's going to be on the front page, but I do know that music is an organism that's constantly evolving. Everyone that loves music is always looking for that new music that they haven't heard yet that makes them feel the way that they do when they hear music that they love.

"Everyone that loves music is always looking for that new music that they haven't heard yet that makes them feel the way that they do when they hear music that they love."

Do you feel like the Torus EP is sort of the thesis statement of Desert Hearts Black?

Totally. The idea of Desert Hearts Black came from the synergy between the three of us [Marbs, Evan Casey and Rinzen] making that EP. When we first started the first track, we were just getting in the studio to try and make music together and see what happens, we had never done it before, all three of us. "Torus" [the title track] was made in two or three sessions and we were blown away at how stoked we were on that track and we were like, "We've got to keep to it."

We busted out two more tracks in another handful of sessions and I got that the sound doesn't really fit on Desert Hearts records but it's totally into the Desert Hearts festival experience. It would fit perfectly at the late hours of the festival and so the idea of creating the label came from that. I was like, "Well maybe I'll ask the boys what they think about a sister side label. I was a little nervous bringing it up to them because I didn't want it to sound like it was separation or anything like that. I just wanted it to be building off of what we had already done. Everyone was like "F**k yeah, you should definitely do that!"

It was totally received well and it meant a lot to me to have the support from the group. So that's when we decided the EP is a perfect statement of what we want Desert Hearts Black to push. We don't want it to be limited to that [sound] because it's very progressive, it's completely in the melodic house and techno sound. Desert Hearts Black is more going to be a range, you'll see it in the next couple of weeks as [releases] come out. It's supposed to reflect the experience you have at the Desert Hearts festival in the late hours into the mornings. So some of those sunrise sets that get really trippy and weird and tribal, maybe a little bit more eclectic, there's going to be releases that hit that note. If you sit it next to Torus it's going to sound like two totally different sounds.

That's what we want, we want to hit all of the other sounds that Desert Hearts community loves that maybe don't have a place on the primary label and that way between the two labels we hit the full spectrum of what people enjoy at the festival.



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All the feels this Friday with @dale_howard new EP now out on @desertheartsrecords (link in bio) + the crew is in the UK right now gearing up for @egg_club_london tomorrow! And we’ve got another badass album from the DH festival up on our Facebook shot by the talented @gettiny #tagyourfriends

A post shared by DESERT HEARTS (@deserthearts) on Jun 14, 2019 at 12:54pm PDT

For the uninitiated, how would you explain Desert Hearts and then Desert Hearts Black?

Desert Hearts has always been about love, acceptance, being yourself, radical expression, radical inclusion, a lot of the things we've learned from Burning Man. To know that whether you're coming by yourself for the first time or with a group for the first time, that this is a safe place for you to express yourself and be your true self and enjoy some really good music along the way. To build off of that, Desert Hearts Black is that same space for people that resonate maybe with more moody, dark, progressive music. And because that music is a little bit more journey-driven, it makes people go a little deeper.

We want people to have the same experience that they have at any Desert Hearts event, the feeling of acceptance and love and smiles everywhere and the freedom to express themselves how they want. If that means being decked out in black or being however you want to be, that is a space for you and it's just as much Desert Hearts as anything else, and we want people to feel that way no matter what.

As you know, there's the stereotype of the "real techno DJ"; he wears all black, he's a guy, he's very serious and not dancing. What's your view on that idea? I'm going to say that you are one of the people doing your part to break the mold and keep the dancefloor fun.

I think it really matters what space you're having an experience in. In the European techno market, there's so much good music and so many people doing it, that it's so competitive. I feel like maybe that's where that culture comes from. Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with techno because of Ritchie Hawtin and because of all these incredible people that normally are very stoic. I mean you'll see Ritchie loosen up a little bit and have a smile here and there but for the most part it's pretty serious.

One person I love to say as an example that does it right is Dubfire. Ali [Shirazinia a.k.a. Dubfire] plays the same music as all those guys, but when you see him behind the booth he's having fun, he's interacting with people in there. He's having fun but still active and DJing very heavily, not just playing a track and f**king around. He's really taking in the experience around him and that's something I know we do at Desert Hearts. Just look at the booth and see how the mayhem in there.

We have a joke: in their rider most DJs will say, "No people in the booth." They need their space. We're the opposite. We feel really weird when there's no one in there with us. It's really what we want to push as far as this melodic house and techno project, and the experience on the dancefloor and in the booth. We want it to be like Ali and how he represents himself, it might sound harder and a little bit more serious, but we want people to be having fun.

In our mind, if you're enjoying the music it shouldn't make any difference on how you are expressing your enjoyment of it. And so we want to push that and we want to push not taking things so seriously. We're all here just trying to have fun, play and make music, and have a cool experience. As we learned from Burning Man, to take these experiences home, to treat people the way that you are treated. The music that's playing shouldn't change how you treat people at these experiences or throughout every day of your life.

"We have a joke: in their rider most DJs will say, 'No people in the booth.' They need their space. We're the opposite. We feel really weird when there's no one in there with us."

I love that we've been seeing more diversity, especially with gender, in the international techno and house space. It's nice to see more variety because when people are like, "No, DJs do this," it's like, "Well what about this guy? What about this woman?"

It is for sure. Just like with anything in life—I say that a lot but everything's connected—the more labels and constraints we put on anything, the worse it is. The less freedom there is, less creative expression there is. So all of the labels and constraints that we put on DJs; how they should act or what they should play or what the right experience is, it doesn't matter. It should be a matter of flow and experience and however that magnet connects people and brings them in.

If I'm a goofy techno DJ and there's a serious techno DJ, that serious techno DJ is going to attract the people that like that experience and that's great for them. Good for it. I'm going to express myself the way that I do and the people that resonate with that are going to come, like a magnet. There's no need for the labels, just let everyone do what they want. Some things are going to do better than others. Some are going to get fizzled out and some are going to flourish and it's just about going with the flow and letting people do what they want to do.

Yes! Desert Hearts has grown so much in just seven years. What do you think is the biggest thing that keeps you true to the core values of House, Techno & Love, and that inclusive experience that you were talking about?

It's 100% the community and the people, that's the biggest backbone of this whole thing; our focus on people being who they truly want to be and expressing themselves the way they want. We could play good music all day, we can bring the best sound, but without the community and the people that come to these events, it would not be anything like what it is. This whole thing's a big ship—with me, Mikey, Lee and Porks are driving the thing—it's not going to work without all the people working. It's not going to do anything, it'll just be four guys on a boat. I could be Djing in my room to a wall, playing the best music that anyone's ever heard or we could be doing what we're doing with the people that we're doing it with. That's the whole thing.

If as long as we focus on the people and creating a place where incredible talented, creative people want to come together and connect, then I think the things we create will be in flow with that. And so we get signs and we have ideas for new projects, and as long as the intention of those projects is to build that community, everything has always been successful. From the beginning of us saying we just want to get out of the bars and go to the desert, we want to go and have an experience with our friends and play the music that we love and that's it, no other constraints. The whole idea was to create an experience for the people that we love and for us and I think that's why it just snowballed; the first one was 300 [people], the next one was 1000, the next one was 2000. I think it will keep everything glued together as long as we keep doing that.

When did you first start DJing and making music? Did you have a professional "Plan B"?

I got into DJing about 10, 12 years ago and started doing it at bars about nine, 10 years ago. Music production came much later. I've been producing music for the last five years. Now I'm in a place where I'm comfortable releasing my music, so it's been a long road to get to that point. Back when I first started to DJ, I was helping my father with his repair and maintenance construction business. He does commercial repairs for places like Home Depot, JC Penney, big corporate accounts. I started off swinging the hammer, fixing tile and drywall and dealing with electrical and plumbing and stuff. I worked my way up to managing construction jobs, being an account manager for Home Depot through his business and helping him with some of the behind the scenes stuff.

I was working with that, 40 hours a week when I was DJing shows on the weekends, when we were doing our jungle parties. We used to throw these little bar parties in San Diego called "Jungle" that we'd bring a bunch of palm fronds and plants and make the whole booth look like a little jungle and play tech house and take over little dive bars. That's what we were doing before we went to Burning Man and decided we wanted to start doing stuff out in the desert.

I actually had that job through the first two years of Desert Hearts, so it was hard. It was what I had to be doing as far as being sustainable as an adult, paying the bills and living on my own but also trying to chase my dream. I was burning the candle at both ends; I wasn't sleeping much, I was going into work after doing shows until 4 a.m. But it was a great experience because it really taught me how to follow your dream and to work really hard in the beginnings of that phase. When I finally decided I was going to stop working for my father's business, it was a hard decision. I was very happy to help my dad with his business that he grew from an idea that he had when he was 16.

I'll never forget looking my dad in the eyes and saying, "Look, I don't think this is for me, I'm going to go do this Desert Hearts thing and throw parties." He looked right back at me and supported me and said okay, but you could see in his eyes, he was like, "You crazy f**k."

But he was so supportive and we brought him and my mom out to Desert Hearts a couple of years later when it was at Los Coyotes and was really growing and flourishing. I will never forget that, because it was them finally realizing that I didn't quit that job to go DJ, but that I really created something really special with four of my best friends. That was the day I feel like everything shifted for me.



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I really can’t express how much I love this man right here. He’s taught me so much about life, the importance of working hard, to love unconditionally, to treat people with kindness, that family comes first, to be honorable, to be loyal... everything that makes me the person I am today. Without this man I would have never had the foundation that led me to the life that I live today. Dad, you’re one of a kind and I love you so much for all that you are and do. Thank you for always pushing me and being an inspiration to everyone around you. I hope you have a wonderful birthday today because you more than deserve it, you’ve earned it. I wish I was with you and the family today, but I’m thankful that I get to see you as often as I do. Enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll see you in a few weeks

A post shared by Marbs (@marbsdh) on Oct 1, 2019 at 11:58am PDT

 
You can catch Marbs and the DH crew keeping it fun at a healthy handful of lit events over the next few months, including a few big fests: their City Hearts Festival in Downtown L.A., Nov. 9–10, Your Paradise Fiji (on Malolo Lailai island in Fiji!), Dec. 6–12, and Holy Ship! Wrecked in Punta Cana, D.R., Jan. 22-26, 2020. 

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Your Paradise Fiji 2018

Your Paradise Fiji 2018

Photo: Joel Tinker

News
Your Paradise Fiji: Öona Dahl, Luttrell, More your-paradise-fiji-%C3%B6ona-dahl-luttrell-mija-blaze-more-will-bring-lush-vibes

Your Paradise Fiji: Öona Dahl, Luttrell, Mija, The Blaze & More Will Bring The Lush Vibes

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With curated parties from house music labels Anjunadeep, Night Bass and Desert Hearts alongside—and on—a crystal blue ocean, this music festival does things a little differently
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jun 5, 2019 - 6:06 pm

The 2019 music festival lineups have been rolling out at steady pace since late last year, and honestly, we're okay with it, because most of them sound pretty darn fun. Your Paradise Fiji, an intimate electronic music festival with arguably the lushest backdrop of them all on Malolo Lailai island in Fiji, is no exception.

The event, now in its sixth year, recently announced the stellar roster of artists booked for their Dec. 6–12 fest, which includes U.K. funky house outfit Gorgon City, up-and-coming Parisian duo The Blaze, Australian bass music heavyweight What So Not, experimental house producer Mija, Aussie deep house trio Crooked Colours.

Our 2019 line up has landed!
See you in Fiji @atrak @GorgonCity @terrorreid @TheBlaze_Prod @WhatSoNot @CosmosMidnight @FrankyRizardo @MackyGee @hi_mija @Noisia_nl @Weiss_UK @crooked_colours @bag_raiders @NyxenMusic @nightbass @Anjunadeep @DesertHearts pic.twitter.com/i8RM6weVaf

— Your Paradise Fiji (@YourParadiseExp) June 4, 2019

The beloved Anjunadeep label (part of Above & Beyond's Anjunabeats) is hosting one of three takeovers on the tropical island, bringing the finest selects from their roster, including trippy dream house queen Öona Dahl, San Francisco's resident lush vibe master Luttrell and Finnish deep house purveyor Yotto.

The San Diego-born underground house and good times masters known as Desert Hearts will also be bringing the party with another takeover experience, featuring co-founders Mikey Lion, Lee Reynolds and Marbs.

Your Paradise Fiji is limited to 600 attendees, with all of the various ticket options include a stay at the festival's resort home, which activities like paddle boarding, coral snorkeling and more available to help guests soak up the gorgeous ambience.  

Tickets are on sale now; visit the fest's website for more info on the different packages, as well as the complete lineup.

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CRSSD Festival Spring 2019

CRSSD Festival Spring 2019

Photo: Felicia Garcia

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CRSSD Fall: Hot Chip, Yaeji, Kaskade, FISHER, More crssd-fest-fall-2019-hot-chip-yaeji-kaskade-fisher-portugal-man-more

CRSSD Fest Fall 2019: Hot Chip, Yaeji, Kaskade, FISHER, Portugal. The Man & More

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KAYTRANADA, Richie Hawtin, Amelie Lens, Eli & Fur, MK, Shiba San and Walker & Royce are among some of the other artists bringing fire to the bi-annual San Diego festival
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
May 29, 2019 - 7:35 pm

Today, CRSSD Festival announced its phase one fall lineup, which includes GRAMMY winners Portugal. The Man, GRAMMY nominees Hot Chip, FISHER, and Kaskade. Beloved beats maestros Yaeji and KAYTRANADA, techno heavy-hitters Richie Hawtin and Amelie Lens and house music favorites MK and Eli & Fur will also perform at the event, which returns to its scenic oceanside home at Waterfront Park in San Diego, Calif. on Sept. 28–29.

The starting roster for Fall ‘19!

We are ready for the floor with @portugaltheman, @Hot_Chip, @kaskade (Redux), @richiehawtin, @amelielens, @followthefishtv, @kraeji, @MarcKinchen + so many more!
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Tickets open Tuesday, June 11th at 11AM PT https://t.co/UIUpTGOTov pic.twitter.com/9O5RqsXeVb

— CRSSD festival (@crssdfest) May 29, 2019

Since its launch in spring 2015, the bi-annual fest has earned a reputation as being one of the California's top electronic music events, bringing a solid mix of rising and established talent in the house, techno, electro-pop worlds.

This year, dance music legend and festival favorite Kaskade will be tapering down his EDC-level production for a special edition of his Redux show, where he offers deep cuts and a more intimate club-inspired vibe. Dirtybird Records labelmates and tech house performers Shiba San and Walker & Royce will be playing a collab B2B set, while Chicago underground house trailblazers Derrick Carter and Mark Farina will also be doing a B2B show.

In addition to the beautiful California coast music festival experience CRSSD offers, they also take over San Diego with "CRSSD By Day" and "After Dark" parties that will keep the world-class dance music bumping all day and night.

Tickets go on sale Tues., June 11. More info, including the complete phase one lineup, can be found on CRSSD's site.

Your 2019 Guide To The Best Summer/Spring Music Festivals

Maceo Plex

Maceo Plex

Photo: Ruben Schmitz

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How Will Coronavirus Shift Electronic Music? how-will-coronavirus-shift-electronic-music-maceo-plex-paul-van-dyk-luttrell-mikey-lion

How Will Coronavirus Shift Electronic Music? Maceo Plex, Paul Van Dyk, Luttrell, Mikey Lion & DJ Manager Max Leader Weigh In

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"Now, the silver lining could be that people are going to make some amazing music coming out of this. When you don't have the pressure of making a hit track for the club, you usually make something more interesting," Maceo Plex predicts
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Mar 26, 2020 - 12:06 pm

Amidst all the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, one certainty is this will affect everyone in some way, and it already has had huge effects on all who work in the music industry. As major music events like Coachella, Ultra, SXSW, Glastonbury, Time Warp and many more continue to be canceled or postponed, as well as upcoming tour and club dates, many artists, managers, promoters and the crew members are facing gravely reduced or non-existent income over the next few months and possibly beyond.

We reached out to four globe-trotting DJ/producers—Barcelona's Maceo Plex (Ellum Audio), Los Angeles' Mikey Lion (Desert Hearts), San Francisco's Luttrell (Anjunadeep) and Berlin's Paul Van Dyk (Vandit Records)—and London/New York-based DJ manager Max Leader to learn how the pandemic is directly affecting them and those they work with. While this crisis is radically shifting their plans this year, they all see silver linings, especially in the sense of unity felt in the dance music community and, increasingly, humanity as a whole.

Love Lockdown: GRAMMY.com Staff Playlists To Get You Through The COVID-19 Quarantine

The Show Might Go On

Longtime (he's been in it since '90s raves) underground legend Maceo Plex, a.k.a. Miami-born Eric Estornel, was set to headline Ultra, Movement (which was recently rescheduled from May to September) and Time Warp plus a bunch of major club dates over the next few months. He underscores that this is going to be hard for everyone as they all scrambles to readjust, reschedule and recover losses, and thus will likely reshape the electronic music industry as a whole.

"It's not just DJs it's musicians, bands, anybody that their job is to congregate people together to hear music is affected. That can be promoters, DJs, they all have the same story, club owners, everybody's pretty much screwed. It does give you a sense of unity because everyone's in it together," the Ellum Audio label head told us over the phone late last week.

Chip In Now: Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

Leader has been in the industry for years, formerly as a promoter and currently, for the past 18 years, as a manager of a roster of major DJs. He also paints the picture of a challenging year for everyone planning and playing events in 2020, highlighting just how many dates and dollars have already been lost.

"The bread and butter for my artists and for me is in live shows. My clients tend to do anywhere from six to 12 shows a month and we work three to six months in advance. So, what happened two weeks ago, was the cancellation or attempt to reschedule the gigs, between one to three months from that moment to three months ahead," he explained during a phone chat last week. "And the promoters that were booking for three to six months from that point, were not booking anymore because they didn't know what was going on, which means that you're already at nine months of no shows. So, if you start looking at nine to 12 months, it means in the space of two weeks, you're suddenly 12 months away from receiving any income from touring."

Canceling even just a few shows could be financially crushing to promoters, as well as the clubs and everyone else who works for them. "Also, these promoters, some of them are weekly promoters, some of them are monthly promoters, and they try to honor deals. Now you lose one show for artists of the caliber that I work with, you could lose $25,000, $30,000. If you lose that amount two or three times in a row, you could be out of business," Leader noted.

For Estornel, van Dyk and Leader, their long, successful careers have put them in a place where they are currently okay financially. Of course, dipping too far into savings is stressful, as is not having an income stream to share with your team. "I'm already going into savings, because of having to cancel the ongoing business," Leader added. "I would say that my business is 90 percent gigs, so I have effectively lost 90 percent of my business right now. And it happened immediately. It happened overnight."

Estronel was set to debut his new M^3 live show in Los Angeles on March 14, which, as he put it, ended up being "the first weekend that no events were happening pretty much anywhere." Two days before the event, California banned all gatherings over 250 people (now restrictions are even tighter) in the interest of public health and safety.

"I was waiting, too. I'm not a promoter, but I was promoting [M^3] pretty much in conjunction with Factory 93, so I already had the production and all the equipment and everything paid for. So that's why it's super important to reschedule. But, at the same time, I think Factory 93 was giving money back to whoever wanted it. I don't know how they were doing it, but I had to pay for a lot of that production out of my pocket. It was already there and I was like, 'Well, f**k it. Let's do this stream.' That wasn't anywhere near what we were going to have planned for the holograms and all kinds of crazy stuff, but at least we used some of the cool lights. So those can kind of come together quickly."

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A post shared by Factory 93 (@thefactory93)

Both van Dyk and Luttrell had major tours slated this year in support of their 2020 albums—the German trance legend's 10th album, Guiding Light, drops on April 17, while the S.F. deep house hero's sophomore LP, Lucky Ones, came out on March 13. Of course, with global spring dates, both tours have been put on hold.

Luttrell was also set to make his Coachella stage debut in April, which will now have to wait until October. "It's affected it quite a bit thus far. I have an album tour that was set to begin April 2. Now everything is being pushed back a few months to end of July through August. Feeling good about getting most of the shows rescheduled at least!" he shared over email.

For Mikey Lion and his Desert Hearts crew (the label/party maestro squad he leads and co-founded in 2012 in San Diego), their flagship "72+ hours of nonstop house and techno" festival was slated for April 23-26, but luckily they were able to find new dates pretty quickly. Some of the other festivals the crew were booked to play have also been affected, including at Lighting in a Bottle, whose 2020 edition was canceled, and Vujaday in Barbados, which was postponed to November. Desert Hearts is also beloved for the fun club nights and block parties they throw in a bunch of different cities. Those will have to wait this year as well.

"We postponed the festival to Oct. 22 to 26, 2020. Luckily our fest is in a really good place right now to come back because we were able to find a make-up date quickly and we didn't have too many deposits out there right now because we were monitoring the whole situation," Lion explained over the phone. He noted how this is not necessarily the case for other independent festivals and events, and that could have far-reaching negative effects in the industry. "I think that that's probably the biggest problem that all the other festivals are going through right now, is that if you're an independent festival that's not backed by Live Nation, AEG or some other big financial backer, you're using your ticket money to secure the acts that you're having, all the equipment, everything. You have so many deposits out there. Then we have this totally unforeseen disease that's coming through and everyone's having to cancel, and then all of a sudden all the fans are looking for refunds and those festivals don't have the money to be paying their fans back because it's all tied up, it creates this really hectic ecosystem where the fans think that they're getting ripped off and festivals can't do anything about it."

For all the events and festivals that are able to successfully reschedule and bring the majority of their lineup with them, that is a big relief, but of course a year's worth of events can't all happen in the fall and winter, especially outdoor events in colder climates. And who will get to play in the more limited event pool? Probably the bigger DJs, for the most part, with less slots for local opening acts—and less money for everyone overall. It is hard to predict exactly how hard the crisis will strike the global economy, but it has already done damage, with many hourly or gig workers currently out of work. For most people, the less income they make, the less money they will spend on going out, festival tickets and travel, so it becomes harder to get people to clubs and festivals.

"The festivals are already rescheduling and they're not going to be able to pay the same," Estornel noted. "So DJs fees are definitely going to go down in general. Which is kind of a trickle-down effect; the bigger DJs will have to charge less and some of the smaller DJs' fees will then obviously go down as well. Then resident DJs that live in that city might not even play at all. Or if they do, for very cheap, because the promoters are not going to be able to charge the same entrance at the same ticket price or entrance at their clubs or whatever because people are not going to have any money,

"Rescheduling events, in my case, because of the fact that I'm in a position to headline, I get to reschedule first before others. I feel bad for all the other people that are, to promoters, maybe second or third tier artists that aren't getting rescheduled right away… I'm in a position where I can't complain because I can reschedule. But then again, I can't because I'm booked. I was booked up for the rest of the year."

Estornel also underscores that festivals moving towards later dates is going to cut into the bottom line of clubs, as everyone is now competing for a limited window of dates and likely a smaller pool of attendees with any money to spend on nights out. "A lot of these festivals are moving to those [later] months and they're going to take up a lot of the weekends that clubs function really well in those parts. So economically, it looks pretty crazy," he explained.

Leader echoed both of these points, that there are a limited number of dates for events and DJs to fill for the rest of the year and smaller pool of money for everyone. He is also cautious about predicting that events will be back up and running before at least a few months off. He notes recent conversations he's had with promoters, those who are looking ahead to book fall/winter dates—no one can pay deposits right now. Everyone is pretty much just trying to stay afloat at this point.

"The conversation that I do have with bigger promoters is, 'Okay, we're looking at the last two weekends in October, the first two in November, the New Year's Eve, we're looking to fill these holes. This is who I want from your roster on that. However, obviously we can't contract this right now. We obviously can't pay any deposits for it right now," Leader said.

Livestream Nation

van Dyk explains how not being able to travel to his sold-out Moscow show on March 13 led him to play via livestream to the packed venue in Russia from an empty club in Berlin. From that experience, he decided to launch a weekly livestream series from the club, which he's calling PC Music Night. He and fellow German DJ/producer Chris Bekker have shared two livestreams so far, much to the delight of trance and progressive house fans around the world.

"I was supposed to play in Moscow last weekend and because they have restrictions of people from Germany flying into Russia because of the Coronavirus and you have to go into quarantine," van Dyk explained. "What do people do when their shows are canceled and something cannot happen? Well we use the latest technology. We came up with the idea of me going into an empty club here in Berlin, have everything set up and then stream my performance from Berlin live to Moscow. It obviously is not the same as me being there because, it's difficult to interact. I had a little monitor so I was able to see what's going on in the venue in Moscow, but it was one way to sort of cope with the grim times and the possibilities that there are right now. and we came up with an idea from that streaming experience."

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Since both the epic Paul van Dyk and Maceo Plex sets aired on March 13 and 14, respectively, many DJs and artists have understandably jumped on the livestream wagon, craving a way to continue to share their music with the world and engage with their fans. It's safe to say that music livestream offerings are a bit oversaturated at the moment, but it has been fun to see the different ways artists and their fanbases have been engaging with them. For Estornel, he's aiming to think outside of the box when it comes to interacting with his fans during quarantine times:

"Everything's flooded with DJs doing streams. So now I'm thinking of new ideas… something more interesting. Somewhere between nerdy, like a studio talk but musical where you could dance to it. Hopefully we'll do something for these months, until things get back to normal."

Since we spoke last week, Lion and the Desert Hearts squad have started a new daily livestream series that's very on-brand with their colorful, playful vibes. Stepping out of the box a bit, the eclectic offerings include Q&A on Mondays with Lion, cooking lessons with his brother and labelmate Porky on Tuesday, yoga on Wednesdays and DJ sets from the squad on Sundays.

https://twitter.com/DesertHearts/status/1242143134353477633

Introducing #DHtv, our way of keeping this beautiful community connected through these strange and interesting times, daily at 5:30 PST with a little something for everybody. Let's have some fun shall we? ✌️ pic.twitter.com/kTWMzulD5C

— DESERT HEARTS (@DesertHearts) March 23, 2020

It's About Time For Unity!

While not being able to interact with others "irl" is difficult for all of us, connecting online, especially over music, can be especially powerful during these times of isolation. van Dyk witnessed this during his first PC Music Night livestream, where he encouraged fans to send track requests and special shout-outs in the comments.

"Chris Bekker and myself played for five hours for free for everyone who wanted to join, just simply to put a smile on people's faces, for people to connect. There was so much interaction going on from people from the U.S. talking to people from Italy, from Italy talking to people in South America. It's like they were all interconnecting. There was a sense of community, a sense of being there for each other. That is the essence of what we are trying to do with this DJ set."

The Berlin legend underscored the importance of staying in touch with others while we are apart, as during times of global distress, we all need comfort and support. "It's those little things to still be there for each other. I don't really like the term social distancing because what we have to do is stay physically apart from each other. But if anything, we should be socially closer and support each other. I think this is what we can do, and this is what we should do in crazy times like this."

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Seeing as the coronavirus crisis really does affect everyone, van Dyk sees this as an opportunity to put aside our differences and practice real empathy and growth. "In these times right now, I think we can all interconnect. At the end, of the day it doesn't really matter if you're a Trump supporter or if you support Sanders. At the end of the day, it's about the species, us as humans. Everyone is affected by it. We have to be there for each other. And that's about actually putting the human first, putting the real us first and therefore being there for each other," he added.

Lion pointed to the surprising and rather atypical unity we're seeing here in the States between Democrats and Republicans as they try to address the crisis is something to be celebrated. It could also have policy implications that change our lives for the better going forward.

"I think that things like universal healthcare and ideas like universal basic income are at the forefront right now of things we're realizing would be a massive help. It's crazy to see Republicans even embracing those things right now because of the situation that we're in. I don't think they would ever come to grips with and accept it unless they're seeing it affect them," Lion stated. "Hopefully we start getting some relief for people that are really struggling right now."

"I think that people are going to come out of this much more understanding of other people's situations and we are all in this together," he added. "I think that we're going to start seeing a lot more compassion from people in the world."

Luttrell echoed their messages, in sharing what gives him the most hope right now: "I feel like a big crisis like this—especially one that affects the world all at once—gives us an opportunity to come together and become closer as humans on this planet."

In the midst of trying to reschedule, reorganize and roll with the waves of the world, everyone we spoke to has already felt unity across the electronic music scene and the larger music and events industry. As Lion noted, many artists have been understanding about returning deposits for canceled events, given the circumstances, even though money will not really be coming in for a bit. At the end of the day, everyone in entertainment is more or less in the same boat right now.

"For the most part, I think that agencies and the artists are being really cool with getting back to the deposits in a lot of circumstances because I think everyone gets it, that we're all in this together," Lion said. "People are definitely working together on it. At the same time, that's money coming out from the artists and all of our foreseeable calendar just got completely wiped out, basically. I don't have any income coming, none of the other Desert Heart guys do, and we don't know how long this is going to last.

"It's a really harrowing experience, and it's not just the artists that are going through it, it's the managers, the agents, all the photographers and videographers, security, bartenders, all the logistics people to build teams. The list goes on and on and that's just the music industry. You know, the entire entertainment industry is getting absolutely battered right now. Think about Las Vegas, it's a city of almost 700,000 people and their entire ecosystem is based on entertainment. That entire city's pretty much out of work right now, I'd imagine."

Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region

For van Dyk, it is important to him to be able to personally esure his regular team is financially stable during this time. "It requires us being socially aware of our surroundings, of the people who need help and then actually do something. I'm committed to do this in this way, and therefore I don't think my crew needs to be too worried about it."



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Here's a fantastic new video that we've made for you, I hope you enjoy it.⁣ ⁣ When I wrote this song and named this album, I never expected it would be released during a time like this. However, instead of dwelling on the obvious and unfortunate irony of it all, I'm trying to make a conscious decision to continue reminding myself just how fortunate I am.⁣ ⁣ I make music. I’m not putting myself in danger every day like the medical professionals and everyone still out there working to keep our society running - like the head of the CDC, or the people keeping grocery stores stocked and functional - but I do hope that what I have to offer can help bring joy to people feeling stressed, overwhelmed, scared or hopeless right now.⁣ ⁣ If you’re stuck inside like the rest of us, put this music video on and dance around in your apartment, or lay in your bed holding your phone watching it, whatever you feel like. If you have one, get your dog all riled up. Give them lots of belly rubs and laugh at them zooming around the house to the music. Imagine how happy dogs are right now? Their favorite people are home all day. They’ll never disappear for hours on end (which to them probably seems like days). Dogs are possibly the most stoked they’ve ever been in history. Sadly, I don’t have a dog cause my landlord doesn’t allow them, but thinking of all the dogs out there living their best life with their favorite humans that are stuck at home right now makes me really happy.

A post shared by Luttrell (@ericluttrell) on Mar 25, 2020 at 12:20pm PDT

To Release Or Not To Release?

As van Dyk put it, music is a necessity in most people's lives, especially those who make it. Music plays an important part in all of our daily lives, and right now feels like a time where many of us are turning to music to escape or to dive into our feelings. "I'm a musician. To me, music is an essential of part of my life. When I'm sad I'm listening to music. When I'm happy, I'm listening to music. When I'm somewhat in between, I'm still listening to music. It's my passion. Therefore, music is something that's essential, from my perspective, in everyone's life," the German artist said.

"Right now, everyone has endless time on their hands," Lion added. "People are digging, people are paying attention, everyone's at their computer. It is a good time to get stuff into people's hands and really try to affect people in a positive way. Music's absolutely one of the best ways to do it."

"To me, music is an essential of part of my life. When I'm sad I'm listening to music. When I'm happy, I'm listening to music. When I'm somewhat in between, I'm still listening to music. It's my passion." – Paul van Dyk

Perhaps it's a great time to put out an uplifting track or music video, but what about releasing an album or club cuts? While many in the industry seem to be encouraging fans to support their favorite artists with online album and merch sales, other entities, like Amazon and even some artists themselves, have decided now is not necessary a good time to release projects. If you can't tour in support of the release, will the financial investment in the project be worth it?

For electronic artists specifically, who support and promote each others' new, often then-unreleased, records by playing them at their DJ sets around the world, the hype and release cycle just had a big wrench thrown through it. Additionally, if most of the DJs of the world are hunkering down in their home studios right now, which tracks and albums will cut through the noise when everything is dropped in a few months?

Leader's comments speak to this, and the "hustle," as he put it, that will ensue to get the gigs and have your music heard this year.

"You can definitely plan ahead in terms of what you're releasing to the world. Everyone is assuming that come July, August, this will die down. I personally am not having conversations besides with the most optimistic of promoters about shows, pre-October, right now. And really, most of the conversations are 'Well, let's see what the next couple weeks unfolds for us,' so you're not really banking on anything there. But in terms of products or music being released, and social media, building your fan base, and working on consultancy jobs or working with brands, there's still some business out there that can be done. It's a hustle."

"One thing that I am thinking is that all these DJs who usually are gigging Friday, Saturday and Sunday, home on Monday, recovering on Tuesday, making music on Wednesday, and then getting ready to tour again on Thursday, are finally having long periods of time to actually make music. And so, I think what we'll find is a plethora of music coming out at the same time, which has an effect on the developing artists," Leader continued. "Even if I'm looking in October [for their release], I think the market is going to be really excited about the [bigger] producer who's finally released some new material because they had four, five months off the road."

https://twitter.com/DesertHearts/status/1242553564070723585

If you have the means, we encourage you to support the artists you love through this trying time ❤️

— DESERT HEARTS (@DesertHearts) March 24, 2020

Estornel and Lion also spoke to releasing tracks during the age of COVID-19:

"You don't sell music to dance to or to DJ to when nobody can go out and dance," Estornel explained. "They're not really selling that much music. You have all these artists that had their releases planned and it's like if you postpone the schedule, then their music doesn't come out until way later, when that music's old, basically."

"You can't really go test out new tracks now. I feel like the entire record label promo system right now is just worthless, because how are people even going to go try out your tracks or get feedback on stuff?" Lion says. "I've been seeing a lot of artists go to moving all their stuff over to Bandcamp because it's a much more direct peer-to-peer system over there than having a middle man like Apple Music or Beatport. I'm actually running through and getting our Bandcamp set up today."

Read: Musicians Earn $4.3 Million From Bandcamp With Nearly 800,000 Items Sold On Friday

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A post shared by Maceo Plex (@maceoplex)

Creativity & The Future Of Dance Music

Regardless of artists' personal stances on releasing new music now, it's likely many of them will be using the ample free time to work on music in some way. 

"The city where I live, San Francisco is now on lockdown," Luttrell said. "I won't be traveling outside my apartment much the next few weeks. I'll take it as an opportunity to focus on having more interaction with fans online and come up with fun ways to promote different songs on the album... I'm already working on a bunch of new songs that will eventually be the next album, so I feel like there's going to be a lot of time to make that really special. A lot of those songs will have been written during this lock down in S.F., so maybe I'll use the weirdness of it all as some sort of inspiration."

Similarly, van Dyk also feels new music will come out of this experience for him. "I finished my new album," he said. "I was ready to be out on the road in the world to play my music in front of my audience. So it's a bit of a strange timing for me, but I constantly make music and so, I'm pretty sure whatever extra time I have at hands now, some music will come out of it."

Leader also sees these times as a creative challenge and powerful reset for his work. "I think that everyone's playing from a level playground now. You know, everyone is suffering, and in a way, we're all in it together for that reason. And I'm optimistic by nature. I believe that this will end, and we will get back to business, and that it allowed me to really think outside the box in terms of my business. If you're in an intense job like I'm sure you have, you're going a million miles an hour, and you always wish you had a second to breathe, this is giving us that second."

Quarantine Diaries: Beach Slang's James Alex Is Making Mixtapes & Watching "Yellow Submarine" With His Kids

Estornel, who has a young son, acknowledges the challenge of working from home if you have kids that are now out of school. Yet he is embracing the creative exploration that may likely come from the reduced pressure he and other DJs are inevitably facing to make the next club banger. 

"Now, the silver lining could be that people are going to make some amazing music coming out of this. When you don't have the pressure of making a hit track for the club, you usually make something more interesting," Estornel said. "So maybe something new will come out of this, but for the most part it also kind of depresses people because if things are kind of bad out there and you're making dance music and nobody's dancing. It's like, f**k. You don't feel inspired. It's tough.

Maceo Plex added, "I feel less pressure to make a bomb kind of, because there's no reason to right now. In the past, the reason why I have any kind of a bigger name is for all the music that I made that I wasn't worrying about making a bomb. I was just trying to make something that was cool and creative, or pretty or just different sounding tracks. Those ended up becoming bombs. So, I mean, it's kind of good. Creatively, I don't have that pressure. So I might have a bomb after this, I don't know. I'd rather not think about it."

Regardless of whether or not the world is gifted any glittering Maceo Plex bombs over the next month, electronic music will be shifting. With a halt as drastic as this, there is no way things will remain exactly the same when we return to the dancefloor. He sees parallels to the disco backlash in the late-70s that, while harrowing, directly led to the emergence of house music and thriving underground scenes in Chicago, New York City and beyond. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens.

"I think this may be the biggest blow to clubbing since the disco backlash back in the late-'70s, early 80s when everybody was for just a moment it was like this media-driven burning of disco records and stuff." Maceo Plex said. "Since then, clubbing got bigger and better and dance music got way more popular over the past 30, 40 years. I think this is kind of like a reset. I'm hopeful we're going to come out of this strong. Nothing can really stop people from listening to dance music and dancing. …We'll be fine, in other words. It's just that it's going to take a couple of years to get back to the size of festivals that we were used to for a little while. They're kind of almost ridiculous at this point; 100,000 people festivals and stuff like that. I don't feel bad for them as much but because they've made so much money, but EDM, this is probably going to be such a huge blow to commercial EDM music more so than underground music."

"I think underground dance music's going to get big. It's going to get bigger, in a way. It's going to see a Renaissance," Estornel concluded. "Whatever happens, the dance music community is in for a wild ride, with new faces and sounds likely emerging over the coming years."

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Maceo Plex & Carl Cox at RESISTANCE Ibiza 2018

Maceo Plex B2B Carl Cox at RESISTANCE Ibiza 2018

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Ultra RESISTANCE 2020: Maceo Plex, Carl Cox, More ultra-miami-2020-resistance-lineup-maceo-plex-b2b-carl-cox-amelie-lens-anna-dubfire

Ultra Miami 2020 RESISTANCE Lineup: Maceo Plex B2B Carl Cox, Amelie Lens, ANNA, Dubfire, Richie Hawtin & More

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Ultra Music Fest's dark and moody house-techno offering is preparing for another lit year, with The Martinez Brothers, CamelPhat, Cirez D, Nicole Moudaber, Tale Of Us and many others also slated to throw down
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Dec 19, 2019 - 5:29 pm

Today, Ultra Music Festival revealed more exciting details for its upcoming 2020 flagship Miami event: the phase one lineup for its darker house and techno RESISTANCE offerings. Longtime underground icon Carl Cox will be performing three times, including a first-time B3B set with The Martinez Brothers and Jamie Jones, as well a B2B with "Mutant Disco" king Maceo Plex; their first North American joint DJ set.

Drumcode founder Adam Beyer and Cirez D, the darker techno alias of Eric Prydz, are also slated to bring the B2B fire to RESISTANCE Miami 2020. Also on deck for collab sets are GRAMMY-winning house legend Dubfire, rising techno queen Nicole Moudaber and longtime Spanish club staple Paco Osuna. Another Spanish legend, Dennis Cruz will pair up with rising U.K. act Michael Bibi to represent European tech-house.

https://twitter.com/CamelPhat/status/1207750142243287042

MIAMI 2020... 🤯🇺🇸 https://t.co/NJIbl4mGV0

— CAMELPHAT (@CamelPhat) December 19, 2019

Techno heavy-hitters Richie Hawtin, Tale Of Us, Amelie Lens, ANNA and Pan-Pot will also bring their explosive, warehouse-filling DJ sets to RESISTANCE. On the more housey side of electronic music rainbow, the lineup features past GRAMMY-nominees CamelPhat, along with Ukranian duo ARTBAT, British pair Gorgon City, Manchester duo Solardo and Tunisia's Dice Corleone a.k.a. Loco Dice.

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Previously announced Ultra Miami acts include Gesaffelstein, GRAMMY winners Flume and Zedd, past GRAMMY nominees Above & Beyond and Armin Van Buuren, and many more. Additional acts will continue to be revealed for both the main Ultra stages as well as RESISTANCE as the festival approaches, with a handful of major surprises being unleashed at the event itself (Swedish House Mafia famously surprise-reunited after a five-year break at Ultra 2018).

The 22nd edition of the beloved electronic music festival will return to its longtime home at Bayfront Park, after changing locations in 2019, March 20-22, 2020. This year's event saw a much-buzzed-about second iteration of RESISTANCE at the fest, after the Ultra united their growing house and techno offerings as RESISTANCE in 2018 and brought many of the DJs on this year's lineup to Ibiza and other hotspots over the past few years. (You can check out Maceo Plex and Carl Cox's epic 2018 RESISTANCE Ibiza B2B in the above video.)

Tickets for Ultra Miami are on sale now; visit their website for more info and the complete phase one lineup.

Gershon Kingsley, Electronic Music Pioneer And Composer, Dies at 97

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