Ultra Music Festival 2018

Photo: Sergi Alexander/Getty Images

News

Ultra Music Festival Moves To Bigger, Better Location In Miami For 2019 Event

Facebook Twitter Email
The dance music event will celebrate its 21st year in its new home in Virginia Key
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 16, 2018 - 5:52 pm

On Nov. 15 Ultra Music Festival announced their flagship festival will officially move to a new, larger location in Miami, Virginia Key, following approval from the City of Miami. The 21st edition of the huge electronic dance music event will take place on March 29-31, 2019, following Winter Music Conference and to close out Miami Music Week.

Virginia Key is an 863-acre freeway-accessible island in Miami home to the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium Flex Park, the festival's new event space. Ultra explains the new ocean-side location is significantly larger than their former venue at Bayfront Park, located in downtown Miami. The new, bigger space has allowed Ultra to increase their attendee capacity and offer more tickets than in prior years, as well as extending the event end time until 2:00 a.m. each day.

"We are excited to announce that the City of Miami has agreed to a deal to relocate Ultra Music Festival to the beautiful and historic Virginia Key," Ultra said in a statement. "The new venue will allow the festival to evolve into its new, larger home, ultimately creating a more enjoyable experience for all festival attendees. We look forward to a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with our partners at the City of Miami and Historic Virginia Key Beach Park as we commemorate keeping Ultra in the City of Miami."
 
Ultra also acknowledged the "cultural and historic significance" of Virginia Key Beach, which was a safe gathering place for Miami's black population during the dark times of segregation, and has committed to honor the location's history and take care of its natural environment. The partnership with Ultra and the city will allow around $20 million to be set aside for the county's first African American Museum.

Emilio Gonzalez, Miami City Manager, said the agreement "keeps this world-renowned event in our global city, while providing operating funds for a long-desired African American History Museum at Historic Virginia Key Beach."

Ultra Music Festival began in 1999 in Miami when now-President/CEO Russell Faibisch threw the first event with the late Alex Omes. It began as a celebratory event in March the weekend following Winter Music Conference, as many world-renowned DJs and producers from around the world were already in town for the conference. As both events grew and the festival gained more and more loyal fans and performers, Ultra grew to offer spin-off festivals worldwide, under the Ultra Worldwide brand.

The company announced last year that they had purchased the conference, streamlining all events as part of Miami Music Week. The revamped conference, traditionally geared towards those working in electronic music, will now include two segments: an educational segment for music consumers to learn about the industry in addition to one aimed at industry professionals.

More info and tickets for Ultra Music Festival are available on their website.

Envision Festival 2019 Is Dance Floor Ready: Bedouin, Griz, Tycho, Lee Burridge & More

The Chemical Brothers

The Chemical Brothers

Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

News

The Chemical Brothers Want To Help You "Free Yourself" With New Album, World Tour

Facebook Twitter Email
Following the release of a new instant-classic single, the GRAMMY-winning electronic duo announce an upcoming ninth studio album, plus their first U.S. tour since 2015
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 19, 2018 - 4:51 pm

British producers Tim Rowlands and Ed Simons have been making groundbreaking electronic music hits since the '90s as The Chemical Brothers. They're back this year with new music that will bring the world more industrial bangers not heard since their 2015 GRAMMY-nominated album, Born In The Echoes. They have announced their upcoming ninth album, No Geography, due out in 2019, and will also be embarking on a limited-run world tour, that will bring their music to a U.S. audience for the first time since 2015.

On Nov. 19 the group revealed the new album's release date is currently slated for "Spring 2019," and their latest track, "Free Yourself," released on Nov. 14 with a robot-filled video, has been confirmed to be its lead single. The group also announced their North American tour dates that will begin in Mexico City on May 12, followed by two shows in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco. No further U.S. dates are currently set, although the duo will be performing five dates in their home country of the U.K. in November.

The U.S. shows will feature support from house and techno legend, DJ/producer The Black Madonna. Additionally, plenty of lasers and futuristic visuals can be expected. In the statement on their website they noted that tour visuals will be led Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall, who have collaborated with them on prior tours and videos, including bringing huge, laser-shooting robots to life on stage.

On the theme of robots, "Free Yourself" is a dancefloor ready track, with robotic female vocals asking listeners to simply "free yourself…dance." A variation of those words plays over a consistent, driving beat evocative of a laser show that builds up over the song. The single points to what are sure to be some more futuristic classics on the upcoming album. Additionally, there's no doubt that this song would sound pretty amazing performed live and supplemented with lasers and a big LED screen, as The Chemical Brothers typically offer in their shows.

The duo has been hugely influential in the electronic music scene over the years. They are one of the pivotal groups that came out of the '90s U.K.-centric industrial house "big beat" sound that included other major acts including GRAMMY-winner Fatboy Slim and GRAMMY-nominated group The Prodigy. The duo's 1997 sophomore album Dig Your Own Hole earned them their first GRAMMY nod for Best Alternative Music Performance and first win for its classic single "Block Rocking Beats" at the 40th GRAMMY Awards. Interestingly enough, the single won for Best Rock Instrumental Performance that year, signaling the cutting-edge nature of the genre-crossing sounds they were producing at the time. Their music continues to inspire the next generation of electronic artists, with many citing them as major influences, like German DJ and producer Boys Noize.

More info on the 2019 tour is available on The Chemical Brothers' website.

Ultra Music Festival Moves To Bigger, Better Location In Miami For 2019 Event

Annie Mac

Annie Mac

Photo: Simone Joyner/WireImage/Getty Images

News

How Music Streaming Algorithms Hinder Female Artists

Facebook Twitter Email
Music events, popular playlists and even entire genres tend to skew heavily towards male artists—music streaming platform's algorithms may be partially to blame
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 7, 2018 - 5:06 pm

It's always a special moment when a festival lineup you've been anticipating is finally announced, yet so often it's tinged when your see it and have to ask: Wait, where are all the women? We've known that live music events don't book enough women for some time now, so why hasn't the gender gap shifted more?

As Tshepo Mokoena recently highlighted in her Noisey op-ed, music streaming platforms are partly at fault as not only do their popular playlists favor male artists, research shows their algorithms do as well, consequently promoting a continued gender imbalance. As men continue to be more heavily promoted to listeners and receive more streams, many festivals, especially those run by the streaming companies, will continue to keep booking more men. Algorithms are not going to help the music industry have better gender equality until the humans lead the way.

As streaming continues to shift music consumption, Spotify continues to play a major role in how music listeners, especially younger ones (55% users are between ages 18-34), discover new music and artists. Mokoena highlights the sparsity of women on some of Spotify's most popular playlists, including RapCaviar, often seen as a list of who's hot in hip-hop in the U.S., where only 10.8 percent of artists featured from May 2016 to December 2017 were female. While female rappers may historically be a minority, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott have paved the way for next generation of rappers like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B to set new records and break the mold for what a rapper looks and sounds like. There are, of course, plenty of other talented female rappers currently making waves, like Northern California's Saweetie and London's Stefflon Don, yet looking at playlists like RapCaviar, you wouldn't know that. At the time this was written Cardi B and Minaj are the only females on the playlist.

As Mokoena points out, Spotify's algorithms may partially be to blame for the continued unequal representation of female artists in music, yet so are people. She points to Liz Pelly's experiment for Baffler, where she set up a test Spotify account and listened only to popular playlists, including RapCaviar and others (like Today's Top Hits and New Music Friday, which also featured more male artists) to see what music the service would suggest for her, which were more male-heavy playlists. As Spotify explained, they choose music experts and cultural ambassadors to curate many of their playlists. As people continue to making gender-skewed playlists, algorithms will follow their lead. In Mokoena's words; "That's not just a coincidence – algorithms reflect the culture in which they're developed."

Inevitably, Spotify charts and data from other steaming services and social networks play into which artists get booked at festivals, which are slowly starting to address gender inequality. Earlier this year 100 music festivals and conferences globally pledged to fight the gender gap by creating a 50/50 gender balance on their lineups by 2022 with the UK-based Keychange initiative. This is a step in the right direction, especially given Pitchfork's 2017 findings that showed that of 23 music festival lineups in 2017, including their own Pitchfork Music Festival, only 14 percent of acts booked were female.

At this year's Coachella Beyoncé made history as the first ever black female to headline the popular festival since its inception 19 years ago, a baffling fact. Queen Bey was actually slated to headline in 2017, yet dropped out due to her pregnancy and was replaced by Lady Gaga, who was the first solo female headliner at the event in 10 years, since Bjork in 2007. According to Paper, the festival increased its female artist presence from 25 percent of performers in 2017 to 33 in 2018, the year many dubbed as "Beychella."

Mokoena looks at the lineups for two upcoming music festivals she deems important to UK music and compares them: Spotify's Who We Be Live in London, a grime and rap focused event inspired by the streaming service's playlist of the same name that serves as somewhat of a UK version of RapCaviar and not surprisingly has a male-heavy lineup, and Annie Mac's AMP Lost & Found in Malta, an electronic music focused event whose lineup features a more impressive offering of female artists.

Mac is an important figure in dance music being an influential DJ who has hosted popular BBC Radio 1 shows since 2004 that have helped put many younger DJs and producers on the map. She is personally making sure that her festival reflects the true diversity of the electronic genre.   Mac clearly understands her role as an influential women in dance music and took it seriously when booking talent for the festival.

"There's so much brilliant female talent in electronic music at the moment that it's a no-brainer to be able to make as much of an equal gender split as possible with a dance music festival, she told Noisey. "I'm so excited to see all these brilliant new girls that we've booked play, like CC:DISCO!, DEBONAIR, Emerald and then obviously the more established DJs like Shanti Celeste and SAOIRSE up to Honey Dijon and Peggy Gou. It's a joy to be able to put it all that talent in one place."

Electronic music is another heavily male-dominated genre, so it is important to have women like her who are aware of the challenges of being a female in the industry and able to use their influence to shine a light on other talented women in their field and expose more music fans to a more diverse artist offering. Lost and Found's 2019 lineup, which includes Mac and another female DJ, The Black Madonna, as a headliner is not a 50/50 gender split, but is one of the more impressive, diverse offerings for any electronic music festivals of late and is a big step in the right direction

All in all, if how we consume music is still being shaped by underlying cultural biases and what other people are listening to via streaming algorithms, then we as human beings have to create an environment that advocates for women in music and celebrates and promotes them as artists, just as we have always done for men.

Which Women Musicians Do You Think Are The Most Influential Of This Century?

Swedish House Mafia at the GRAMMY Awards, 2013

Swedish House Mafia

Photo: Steve Granitz/Getty Images

News

Swedish House Mafia Shock Ultra 2018 As Surprise Headliner

Facebook Twitter Email
The legendary trio resurfaced as Ultra 2018's surprise closing headliner, their first official gig together in five years
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Mar 26, 2018 - 12:18 pm

The five years since Swedish House Mafia closed out Ultra Music Festival 2013 – capping off the final show date of their "One Last Tour" and closing the chapter on what was ostensibly to be their final show together as SHM – have seen vast changes in the landscape of dance music.

Much of the melodic, up-tempo and trance-inspired sounds of progressive house that once universally dominated festival mainstages have been largely replaced by aggressive breaks, dissonant chopped vocals and hard bass drops more akin to turn-up trap music and American dubstep. "Raging" has fully replaced "raving," as some of us might say about the current state of the scene.

So when rumors of an SHM reunion began to quietly circulate about the industry over the past months, then more fervently throughout Miami over the past week as Miami Music Week and Ultra Music Festival 2018 began to kick into high gear, there were certainly questions of how the group's sound would stack up for a new generation of festival goers in an era when the sound of a scene can evolve dramatically in just five years.

Swedish House Mafia's Miami poster campaign, 2018

Posters teasing SHM's return on the streets of Miami
Photo: Nate Hertweck/Recording Academy

But as fans walking the streets of Miami this past weekend began to notice sly posters incorporating SHM's trademark three circles artwork interpolated with a variety of major brand logos, it became increasingly clear how much rising excitement there was among the gathered crowds over the possibility of seeing Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello once again standing next to each other onstage under the banner of Swedish House Mafia.

And on Sunday night, as the lights came up on the mainstage after an extended production break setting up the unbelievable displays of high-definition video, lasers and choreographed pyrotechnics, all doubts were washed away.

In an unbelievably high-energy set weaving through every major hit from SHM's remarkably deep catalogue, alongside key productions from all three members' solo careers, the trio also managed to deliver a lesson in deep-cut big room house that festivalgoers will very rarely see on modern mainstages.

From updated  renditions of classic SHM tunes like "Leave The World Behind" to a surprising nod to trap music courtesy of a bombastic new remix of the Knife Party-collab track "Antidote," the boys showed that they may have gone their separate ways over the past years, but they certainly have not gone away. In the hours following their closing set – complete with huge sing-alongs of their GRAMMY-nominated tracks "Save The World" and "Don't You Worry Child" and a final encore of the Pharrell Williams-featuring "One (Your Name)" – social media was afire with tweets and posts from DJs and fans around the world lauding the return of the sound of progressive house, and soon #SwedishHouseMafia was one of the top global trending topics on Twitter.

As Axwell proudly announced during the opening chords of "Save The World": "This is not just about Swedish House Mafia getting back together. This is three friends who have not seen each other in five years! …It's Swedish House Mafia for life this time!"

Getting The Latest Music News Just Got Easier. Introducing: GRAMMY Bot. Find it On KIK and Facebook Messenger

The Do LaB stage at Coachella 2019

The Do LaB stage at Coachella 2019

Photo: Aaron Glassman/courtesy of Do LaB

News

Elderbook, Dance Spirit, KMLN & Justin Jay Discuss The Magic Of The Do LaB At Coachella

Facebook Twitter Email
"Their vibe there is all about family feelings, colorful, playful and most of all inclusive," KMLN said of the special festival space
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Apr 20, 2019 - 12:46 pm

It is undeniably difficult to keep track of every artist on the Coachella lineup or the seemingly endless surprises that take place over the two-weekend event, as the fest is absolutely packed with talent and special moments. The whole desert experience is extemely well-curated, and the production value is unparalleled, so Coachella's long-term partnership with the festival and event experts at Do LaB, who create a festival-within-a-festival experience with the Do Lab stage, makes perfect sense.

Every Coachella, the Do LaB brings their colorful, fun vibes—which can also be found at their annual springtime Lighting in a Bottle fest—with their own expertly curated desert oasis experience. Their stage offers an always-stacked electronic music focused lineup, along with surprise guests that are revealed last-minute via their Twitter account and text message alerts.

Do LaB loves bringing stellar, unexpected collabs (Pete Tong and Guy Gerber linked up for a surprise B2B set during Weekend 1 this year), as well as bringing back old friends playing the larger fest (Bob Moses and RÜFÜS DU SOL stopped by to close out Weekend 1 at the stage, and Sofi Tukker hopped on for a surprise DJ set last night.). If that's not enough to get you on the road to Indio, Calif,. right now, the bumping sound system under a colorful, geometric shade structure, and playful moments brought to you by squirt guns are also pretty compelling.

We asked British GRAMMY-nominated electronic singer/producer Elderbook, who played at the Do LaB Weekend 1, along with L.A.-based dreamy-house duo Dance Spirit, Berlin-based cosmic-house duo KMLN (pronounced chameleon) and L.A.-native house music and live band blending master Justin Jay, the three of whom will be bringing the vibes this weekend, for an insider/artist's perspective of what makes Do LaB so special.

If you're at the fest, you'll want to make sure and catch Justin Jay today, Saturday, at 5:15 p.m. at the Do LaB, as well as KMLN on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., followed by Dance Spirit at 4:45 p.m., all of whom will be bringing their joyful energy, great jams and sunny vibes.

The Do LaB at Coachella 2019

The Do LaB at Coachella 2019 | Photo: Gina Joy/courtesy of Do LaB

You'll be playing the Do LaB stage this weekend, what are you most looking forward to about it?

Dance Spirit: There is so much to look forward to—the vibe, the amazing sound system, the people who are up for a trippy dance, and by the looks of it, the weather. Not to mention being able to listen to dozens of other world class musicians with our friends. The thing we are looking forward to about this set is being able to showcase and share our latest and greatest productions. 

KMLN: Do LaB is comprised of some of our closest family for over 15 years, it was only a matter of time that we could collaborate on their shapeshifting stage that sits right in the middle of the Coachella grounds. We're most excited to see everyone, it's like a homecoming for us as we've spent most of the last few years touring elsewhere in the world. It's been amazing and we're so blessed to get to experience the world but sometimes you miss you closest friends, and at the Do LaB there's lots of them.

Justin Jay: Throughout my times here at Coachella, even as the stage has evolved, the Do LaB has always been one of my favorite parts of Coachella. And my senior year of college, I played the Do LaB and, dude, I had friends on stage with water guns and, a chunk of high school friends here and chunk of college friends here, and it just felt like I was surrounded by homies. I'm just excited to be back in that environment, and the artists they curate; it's just a great experience.

You played at the Do LaB stage last weekend, what was your favorite part about it?

Elderbrook: Coachella was amazing. It's something I think every artist wants to play and I feel lucky to have been able to myself. My favorite part about it was testing out some new material that I've wanted to do for ages. I think it went down okay! 

What would you like to share with the Weekend 2 crew about your set?

Dance Spirit: We always craft and play original music and material and we've been jamming out in the studio writing new grooves and moods that we think will be appropriate for the festival.

KMLN: Regarding the vibe to expect, well, it's a daytime set [on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.] so we'll be bringing our brightest, most playful and adventurous chameleon colors. 

How would you describe the vibe and energy at the Do LaB stage?

D.S.: We've not only played the Do Lab stage before, but also their Lightning in a Bottle and Woogie Weekend as well. They have always strived for a top quality production, and most importantly, their attention to the sound. It is booming and comfortable and a producer/engineer, it is a real joy to be able to play on [their sound system]. 

The mood is always fun and always on. It's is a shaded structure and when it gets hot enough they water down the crowd with giant squirt gun hoses. Overall, it's super vibey and fun. Their reputation brings in the right kind of heads, but also attracts new ones as well. I think they did a great job curating the stage this year, and we are honored to be asked back.

KMLN: Their vibe there is all about family feelings, colorful, playful and most of all inclusive. [We] really enjoy the variety they offer with their lineups each year. And the water guns. 

Elderbrook: The energy of the crowd was great. It was the first day of Coachella 2019 so everyone was full of energy. I love playing festivals but this was a new level!

J.J.: It's just a great, great time, you know? Water guns, bubbles, friends…And [you meet new people and] you're like, "Ah, we can be friends too." That's cool.

You've played Lightning in a Bottle before too; do you feel like the Do Lab stage is like a mini version of that within the larger Coachella vibe?

D.S.: That is a great question.  I would have to say that LiB is its own unique festival considering the fact that it is a varied curation of many genres over three or four stages. We have always played the Woogie stage at LiB and it is always a switched on dance party—so I would say that the Do LaB stage has more of the Woogie/Favela Bar vibe. The LiB festival goes further into musical territory in my opinion.

As far as context at Coachella, I would assume that the Do LaB experience is for people who are excited for the lineup or others who are looking for something new. An enticing dance floor is always more experiential and is more welcoming of participation than a pop music/band area. You [can] go to listen to a band, but at Do LaB you go to feel it and let it move you. In the end, we will let the Instagram influencers decide [laughs].

KMLN: It's true, we've played LiB five years as KMLN and we're pretty sure we've had the honor to play every one of their stages. This seemed like a good year to take a break from that and join the little LiB that is the Do LaB stage at Coachella. The main difference is at Coachella you're missing all the beautiful art, workshops, games and the adventures you can have finding strange little nooks of delightful surprises that makes LiB so special. 

Elderbrook: Yes, definitely! The whole experience of the stage and the art behind it definitely reminds me of LiB. 

What does it mean to you to be a part of Do Lab's curated Coachella experience?

D.S.: [It's] an opportunity that we are grateful for and it has motivated an intense amount of creativity in a short amount of time. Needless to say, we are excited, and dare we say one more time, excited to play on that sound system!

KMLN: It's so exciting and an honor to be playing on the same grounds as so many legends of music history. We love Do LaB so much and wanna grow old with them

Elderbrook: It means so much. Like I said, playing Coachella is so many musicians dream and to be part of it just felt amazing. Hopefully I’ll one day return!

RÜFÜS DU SOL Are Ready To Go "Underwater" At Coachella