POTENTIALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT SUMMIT AND BUSINESS CONGREGATION TO DATE IN REGARDS TO ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC (“EDM”) IS TAKING PLACE 22-24 MAY IN IBIZA, SPAIN BY THE INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SUMMIT (“IMS”).

Pete Tong, IMS founder, cultural icon, and legendary Producer/DJ describes IMS as “a three day summit at the Ibiza Gran Hotel focused on the world of electronic dance music. Five hundred delegates from around the world fly in to network, create, converse, and exchange music, ideas and debate the issues that affect the business of EDM.”

As many dance music fans, music industry executives, and DJ/Producers are aware, the recent entrance of Wall Street capital by SFX Entertainment (“SFX”) is perhaps the most important moment — in regards to artistry as well as business — in the history of electronic dance music. Billboard Magazine ranked in its December 2012 issue, Mr. Robert Sillerman’s (the Founder, Executive Chairman, and CEO of SFX) entrance into the dance music industry as EDM’s most important moment of 2012. Mr. Sillerman and SFX are well represented at IMS Ibiza 2013’s summits, with Mr. Shelly Finkel, SFX’s Head of Acquisitions, cited on IMS’ website as a lead panelist.

The entertainment industry has a long and storied history based in purity and independence, which is then fundamentally changed and affected by institutionalized – or, Wall Street and big business — capital. Understanding this history and its chronic and recurring effects in all of entertainment’s realms seems fundamental — not only to dance music, but all entertainment industries. History has repeatedly revealed the effects of power and control on artistry and its distribution.

In its purest form, the critical debate is about supply and demand, and the nature of oligopolies, monopolies, and power in the hands of few.

To date, SFX has already announced the acquisitions of Disco Productions, Beatport, ID&T (the largest dance event promoter in the world, Tomorrowland, Sensation, Sensation White, Sensation Black, Mysteryland, Energy, Thunderdome, Dirty Dutch, Welcome To The Future, Amazone Project, and TIKTAK), Dayglow Productions (which stages over 125 events annually), Huka Entertainment, as well as Opium Group and Miami Marketing Group the owner/operators of most major clubs/distribution channels in Miami – the U.S.’s primary dance music market driver (owners of Mansion, SET, Mokai, Cameo, and Opium at the Seminole Hard Rock, and LIV, Story, and Arkadia, respectively). SFX has attempted the acquisition of over 50 additional dance music related entities globally, including Insomniac Events. Mr. Sillerman states that he expects to deploy $1.0 billion in his EDM-related acquisition efforts.

SFX and Mr. Sillerman’s acquisitions give him meaningful influence in the industry, and according to his own statement, he is just warming up. He states, “Beatport gives us direct contact with the D.J.’s and lets us see what’s popular and what’s not. Most important, it gives us a massive platform for everything related to E.D.M.”

Mr. Sillerman’s past is well documented, and understanding history — as is always the case — is paramount to anyone that truly cares about dance music, artistry. Fans and industry professionals should recall the negative effects of power and control throughout music’s history. Per Mixjunkies.com:

“In the 1990s, Robert Sillerman created a nationwide network of concert promoters. He spent a little over $1 billion to make this happen. He then sold the company to Clear Channel Entertainment for $4.4 billion. Those promoters laid the basis for what is Live Nation in this day and age. And as we all know Live Nation is putting a strangle-hold on many aspects of the music industry. In the late 2000s, Live Nation started buying out major music venues and signing artists to 360 Deals. A 360 Deal is when a company pays the artist a large lump sum and then they re-coup that money from all of the artists revenue streams. Because of these deals taking place, Live Nation wouldn’t allow artists not signed with them to play the venues. With them having control of the venues, they could control the ticket prices and add all those little fees that make you want to rip your hair out.”

Additionally, Mr. Sillerman’s SFX isn’t the only entity attempting to acquire and control the electronic dance music industry. In 2012, Live Nation purchased Cream Holdings Limited, which produces dance music events in the U.K. and Australia, HARD Events, a leading electronic music concert promoter and festival operator. The Chicago Tribune reported, “Live Nation has eyes on another continent, Asia.” Finally, on May 2nd 2013, Live Nation announced its purchase of 50% of Insomniac Events.

Despite the recurrence of big business and institutionalized capital’s homogenizing effects on the music industry, historically, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) has turned a blind eye toward executing upon its mandate:

“The United States International Trade Commission is an independent, quasijudicial Federal agency with broad investigative responsibilities on matters of trade. “The ITC provides “the President, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and Congress with independent, quality analysis, information, and support on matters relating to tariffs and international trade and competitiveness; and (3) maintain the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. In so doing, the Commission serves the public by implementing U.S. law and contributing to the development of sound and informed U.S. trade policy.”

Mr. John Langdon, Chairman of Massive Enterprises (“Massive”) and member of the Producer/DJ band Kalm Kaoz (aka SlingR), was interviewed by The Huffington Post, an influential dance music media source in the U.S with 15 million unique page views per month, and published a passionate dissertation written by Mr. Langdon, which laid out a comprehensive dialogue on the current and future economic state of dance music, with constructive consideration to the fans, artists, Wall Street, institutionalized business, and SFX.

Mr. Langdon has over 23 years of middle-market private equity experience on Wall Street, and most recently was Managing Director of the $2.8 billion private equity fund Platinum Equity, as co-head of PLMM, Platinum Equity’s lower middle market investment group.

Mr. Langdon states that Massive Enterprises, “through the love of music, the universal language, we hope to support and be a value-adding solutions provider to the independent artist and dance music industry as well as fund the Hexagon House,” a charity formed by Mr. Langdon to “save twelve souls per year that would otherwise be lost.”

In addition to the Hexagon House, Massive Enterprises’ five other subsidiaries, Massive Merchandising, Massive Festival Management,Massive Decks Recordings, Massive Advisors, and Massive DynaSystems, provide various services to support, nurture, and facilitate the continued growth and success of the dance music industry and its participants — from Producer/DJs to festival operators. Massive provides what it terms “iBranding,” unique and proprietary merchandising solutions, coupled with highly proprietary sourcing relationships and lowest-cost U.S. festival properties. Importantly, Massive “provides an atypical, balanced approach to the record label/artist contract structure.” Massive also provides lean operations and financing consulting services, coupled with money management services for the artist. Lastly, utilizing hi-tech, Massive promotes the free flow of music, information, and love in the community.

Also included on IMS’ panels are Patrick Moxey (Virgin Records, Ultra Records, President of Sony Music’s Dance/Electronic Music division, Ted Cohen (Managing Partner, TAG Strategic, formerly with EMI, Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone, Chrysalis and Rhapsody), Pete Tong (producer/DJ, BBC Radio 1), Bob Lefsetz (author of “The Lefsetz Letter”), Jean Michel Jarre (French composer, performer, music producer and designer), Sven Vath (German Producer/DJ), Nile Rodgers (musician, composer and guitarist), and Ben Turner (owner of Graphite, an artist management/brand-music agency).

Mr. Langdon is one of few voices currently articulating the debate openly and transparently, in a manner that is approachable by various constituencies – fans, artists, and businesses. He has an uncommon combination of Wall Street standing and knowledge, along with a deep passion, love and concern for what he terms his “beloved house music.” The editorial on Mr. Langdon and his economic treatise became one of the most shared and downloaded pieces in Huffington Post’s Entertainment Section while also being picked up by other media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, The Street, and BPM Mag. As of today, according to the International Music Summit website, the panel has representation from artist managers, agents, DJ/producers, as well as SFX, and Mr. Langdon comments, “I hope that my experience on Wall Street combined with my love of dance music, may be a constructive addition to the dialogue at such an important moment in dance music history.”

Massive’s management team, Ms. Jennifer Lai, CEO of Massive, and Mr. Nathan Filby, Creative Director of Massive and fellow member of Kalm Kaoz, along with Mr. Langdon, will be attending IMS in Ibiza as delegates. By attending as audience members, fans, and delegates, they hope to represent the independent artists, engage the panel as citizens of electronic dance music, raise questions, and hope to bring clarity and balance to the panel. “Independence takes many forms,” Mr. Langdon states, “Massive Enterprises and Kalm Kaoz will be there – you’ll spot us easily…

fists in the air, we love house music!

www.internationalmusicsummit.com

www.kalmkaoz.com
www.facebook.com/kalmkaoz
www.massive-enterprises.com

Daft Punk are predicted to break Oasis‘ record for the fastest selling album in UK chart history.

The band’s new album ‘Random Access Memories’ is expected to beat the record currently held by 1997′s ‘Be Here Now’, with bookies Paddy Power cutting the odds dramatically on the French duo’s chances, according to Music Week. ‘Be Here Now’ sold 650,000 in its first week of sales, but ‘Random Access Memories’ has already scored the highest number of pre-sales for any dance album ever on Amazon. Paddy Power are giving 4/5 odds on the record outselling Oasis. The album is released tomorrow (May 17).

The LP has 7/1 odds of becoming the best-selling album in UK chart history by 2015.

A Paddy Power spokesperson said: “They might not have a catchy moniker like the ‘Beliebers’, but fans don’t come much more passionate and excitable than Daft Punk enthusiasts so we’re expecting big things for the French DJs next week. We only hope that the success doesn’t go straight to their helmets.” Despite saying that they will not be touring the record, Paddy Power has odds of 5/2 on a world tour being announced by the end of the year.

Daft Punk are set for a fourth straight week at the top of the Official UK Singles Chart with their track ‘Get Lucky’, which has now sold more than 500,000 copies. The song has spent the past three weeks at Number One, and has already sold 49,000 copies since Sunday (May 12). The track is easily the French act’s biggest selling UK single, overtaking their 2000 Number Two hit ‘One More Time’.
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/daft-punk/70347#G2gHYsusSXIWg793.99

Artist Chemical X unveils “The Ecstasy of Art” showcase at Art Republic Soho.

The mysterious artist, who designed the iconic Ministry of Sound logo over 20 years ago, will exhibit two pieces of artwork — made up of over 12,000 multi-coloured ecstasy tablets — at the Art Republic Gallery in London.

“Chemical X is not trying to challenge authority with his art, he challenges the perception that people have of social drug taking through the press propaganda that shapes the public’s attitude,” says Marc Woodhouse, a spokesman for the artist. “These need to be viewed as works of art as they stop being drugs from the point at which that are permanently sealed into the pieces.”

‘Love & Death’ is a six-foot high skull-and-crossbones with an asking price of £100,000, while ‘Taste The Rainbow’ is a multi-colored, Skittles-referencing piece priced at £75,000. Along with the large pieces, Chemical X will be selling limited edition prints of other (Second) Summer of Love icons, such as Shaun Ryder and Bez of the Happy Mondays.

The exhibition opens with a private viewing this Thursday at ArtRepublic Soho, 42 New Compton Street, London WC2H 8DA and runs for a week.

Swedish House Mafia may have called it quits less than two months ago, but a cryptic website has many wondering if a film is due to be released tomorrow.

For the past few days, Sebastian Ingrosso has been dropping enigmatic links via his Twitter to an equally enigmatic website, Leave The World Behind, which apparently appears to be a homepage for a documentary of the same name.

As of right now, there isn’t much in the way of information on the page, just a pair of incredibly short teaser videos, some behind the scenes photos, and some information on the dance project Lune, who are involved with the film as well.

While speculation is running rampant that the documentary/ website will be a means for the band to reunite, the title of the film suggests that it will more than likely be a retrospective look at the group and their decision to call it quits.

Check out the webpage for yourself and some of the videos below to see if you can decipher any clues as to what it might mean.

Film or no film, we reckon at least they’ll end up DJing together in Ibiza.

Three house heroes—Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak and Mark Farina—team up for a back-to-back-to-back set.

Chicago house vets Derrick Carter, Mark Farina and DJ Sneak have all gone their separate ways—Carter is still in Chi-town, while Sneak lives in Toronto and Farina has called San Fran home for years—but the three share a heritage of Windy City–style jacking rhythms that define them to this day. Last summer, the old friends played their first-ever three-way tag-team set at Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival—and on Friday, May 17, the triumverate will be re-creating that date with a back-to-back-to-back set at Highline Ballroom. TONY managed to catch up with the house heroes via a multiline phone chat to talk about the upcoming gig.

Time Out New York: Having all three of you on the phone at once makes me feel like I’m at a veteran-Chicago-DJ convention.
Derrick Carter: It’s amazing that you were able to get us all at the same time.

Time Out New York: Yes, I feel like that’s accomplishment in itself, and that we could call it quits right now.
Derrick Carter: Okay—peace out!

Time Out New York: Wait a minute—while I have you all, we might as well chat. You guys go back quite a bit, don’t you?
DJ Sneak: Yeah, especially Mark and Derrick.
Derrick Carter: Mark and I have known each other for about 25 or 26 years, and we’ve known Sneak for at least 20. So we go way the heck back. I’m gonna curse—we go way the fuck back.

Time Out New York: Curse all you want.
Derrick Carter: Yeah, it’s not TV—fuck that! [Laughs]

Time Out New York: I’m guessing that you guys have all played on the same bill before.
Mark Farina: Yeah, many times.

Time Out New York: But the Tomorrowland festival was the first time you had done a back-to-back-to-back set?
DJ Sneak: Indeed, and it was superfun. I think the best thing about it was that we actually didn’t have a plan. I asked Derrick and Mark, “What are we gonna do?” And they said, “We’re just gonna play.” That’s exactly what happened, and it turned out to be a great experience.
Mark Farina: And it’s a good thing we didn’t die in a tragic boat accident.

Time Out New York: What do you mean?
Mark Farina: To get to our stage, we had to cross this green lake, and we had to take a boat. And it was a little boat!
DJ Sneak: Black people don’t like boats.
Derrick Carter: This black people don’t like boats, anyway.

Time Out New York: Luckily, the boat didn’t sink or anything, and you “wove together the entire history of house over two magical hours,” according to the press release.
Derrick Carter: Oh, my goodness—did we?
DJ Sneak: I think we just played whatever, man. We just had fun. And it was actually three hours, by the way.
Derrick Carter: I don’t want to overstate anything, but we all know what we can do. And we can do it pretty well. It’s kind of like jazz: We can just start riffing. Being that we each have well-storied musical backgrounds, it’s easy just to pick up where the last person leaves off; the next person comes in, and—boom!—he’ll just do his thing. It’s challenging, but it’s fun to hear. It’s good music, and people seem to get a kick out of it.

Time Out New York: Were you bumping into each other at all?
DJ Sneak: Not exactly. But we didn’t have three separate setups; there were just two setups, so we were doing a lot of jumping on and off.
Mark Farina: I liked rotating like that. It was kind of like Double Dutch!
DJ Sneak: It was a straight gang bang. I don’t know how else to put it.

Time Out New York: We’ll be looking for a gang-bang situation when you’re playing here in NYC.
DJ Sneak: It sounds kind of dirty.
Derrick Carter: We’re gonna run a train on y’all! [Laughs]

Time Out New York: The New York gig will be the first time that you’ve done this since Tomorrowland. Since you’ve had time to think about it, will there be any preplanning involved this time around?
DJ Sneak: That’s what other DJs do. We just freestyle, you know?
Derrick Carter: Yeah, man—who has time to plan stuff? There’s kids, I have seven dogs.… I’m not gonna plan nothin’. You just get on, and you just bang.

Time Out New York: Derrick, I knew you were a dog guy—but I didn’t know you had seven of them!
Derrick Carter: Oh, my goodness. I have two French bulldogs, two miniature pinschers, a Brussels griffon, a hairless Chinese crested and an English bull terrier that is licking my face right now!

Time Out New York: Sneak, you have two kids, right?
DJ Sneak: That’s right, a boy and a girl. And two Chihuahuas.
Derrick Carter: There you go.

Time Out New York: And you, Mark?
Mark Farina: Yeah, I have a son who’s almost three, and a Yorkie who’s following me around right now.
Derrick Carter: Pumpkin!
DJ Sneak: We’re family folks here, man.
Derrick Carter: We’ve got responsibilities! It’s definitely helped us flesh out as people, instead of just being party monsters. There are people who depend on us. We’re not doing this just to be cool or the latest thing. This is what we do.

Time Out New York: One thing I’ve always admired about all three of you is the way that you’ve all stayed true to your sounds. Not that you play the same exact music you did 20 years ago, but you’ve certainly managed to stay away from any short-lived trends over your careers.
DJ Sneak: We know that those things come and go, but we all think that our style and our music lives forever. We can go back 20 years, or we can push ahead another 20 years, and it’s still gonna be us.

Time Out New York: Does the fact that you’ve all stuck with your styles over the years make it easier to play together?
DJ Sneak: I think knowing your partner and trusting your partner is the main thing. I mean, I would leave my kids and my dogs with these guys, and that’s saying a lot. When you have that kind of trust, you don’t really have to think about things too much.

Time Out New York: I don’t think I really have to ask you this—especially you, Sneak, given what happened in Miami—but has there ever been any temptation to go for the bucks and jump on the EDM bandwagon?
DJ Sneak: The whole EDM thing is kind of silly, because I think the three of us—especially Mark and Derrick—opened a lot of doors for what’s going on today. I don’t know, man–it’s just a trend, but we’re here forever. That stuff just comes and goes. It’s great that something is happening in America because something needs to happen, but at the same time, you shouldn’t be ignorant about the prior 25 years and the work that people have put into this in America.
Derrick Carter: I’m not going to turn my back on what I’ve been doing since I was, like, 11, just to see a bunch of 20-year-olds jump around. I mean, I’ve been seeing 20-year-olds jump around since before I was 20! And besides, there’s no bandwagon big enough for me to jump on.
Mark Farina: Yeah, we just do what we do. If our style somehow gets encompassed into that, then so be it. But it doesn’t really matter to us.

Time Out New York: I guess the hope is that at least a small percentage of kids who are into EDM will take the time to find out more about the music and its history.
DJ Sneak: If some kids are waking up to that, cool. The Internet allows them to go back and research, so if they want to know what happened before, they can go back and listen. Whatever, man—EDM is just a word. Or three letters, really!
Derrick Carter: I don’t even like those three letters. They sound stupid! It’s like, “I have EDM—I’m itchin’!”

Time Out New York: As you said before, you guys have all played on the same bill—but have you ever done so in New York?
Mark Farina: I don’t think so, not even back in the rave days.

Time Out New York: Perhaps you can whip out some rave-era classics!
Derrick Carter: One of the things that I like about what Mark and Sneak and I do is that, to some degree, it has a timeless element to it. There’s a taste that we’ve built up over the years, and there are lots of gems that fit into that. I’ve always said a DJ’s value comes from their collection. When you’ve been playing for well over two decades, you have a fairly extensive musical knowledge you can draw from. I’ll play stuff from 1990, and kids will come up to me and say, “What the hell was that?” I’ll tell them that this literally came out when they were born, and they’ll bug out like they can’t believe tracks like that existed then. A song like “Move It” by Rhythim Is Rhythim sounds fresh, but it came out in 1988. I was still in school myself when I got that one!

Time Out New York: Do you feel it’s part of your job to turn kids on to music like that?
DJ Sneak: Yeah, you can turn on a lot of kids to stuff like that. I just had the Martinez Brothers for a few days in the studio, and was picking their brains, like, “How far do you guys really go?” And they were like, “Yeah, play us a lot of stuff that we don’t already have!” So I was playing stuff on my computer, like, “Check this one! Check that one!” They were kind of freaking out. There was one Ralphi Rosario track, and I told them that he was one of my biggest influences in 1988. They only knew him from something that came out maybe ten years ago, so I ended up opening this whole folder of Ralphi Rosario stuff circa ’88 or ’89. They ended up leaving with a hard drive full of shit!

Time Out New York: The Martinez Brothers are obviously a special case, but I’ve found that when young clubbers hear the old stuff, they’re usually into it.
DJ Sneak: Yeah, they can definitely relate to it. That relates to what Derrick was saying about our collections. Mark has so many records, and Derrick, you have what—like three houses full? We all come from he same generation, when you would go and shop at record stores and share information. There’d be something that Mark or Derrick would be playing, they’d tell me what it was, and then I’d go and dig for that record.
Derrick Carter: I wouldn’t always share information! Sometimes I wouldn’t tell you what something was until after the party, and then I might let you know what it was, just to see the look on your face.
DJ Sneak: Well, back then I was on a different tip. I was on a Bad Boy Bill tip, you know what I’m sayin’? But in ’91. I went to a loft party where the DJ was Julio Bishop—Mark and Derrick will know who I’m talking about—and then I was hearing Mark and Derrick, and Spencer and Lego and Traxx and all those guys, and I was like, “Wow.” And after that, I just started shopping the same places that they did. We basically just wanted to know what Mark and Derrick were playing.

Time Out New York: And here you are, years later, all playing together.
DJ Sneak: I don’t know about the other guys…but for me, it’s a beautiful thing. I feel very blessed to be in the company of these two gentlemen. It’s a new thing, but in some ways, it’s an old thing, too. I’m gonna shut up now and let Mark talk!
Mark Farina: Well, I was playing until 3:30 last night. I’m tired! But I will say this: Just coming from Chicago, I think you kind of learn to play all kinds of housey genres early on. We’ll play vocal tracks, we’ll play beat tracks, we’ll play acid tracks, we’ll play a cappellas.… We all kind of have the same interpretation of house. House is such a vague term nowadays, but I like to think that our vision of house is a kind of proper, old-school-meets-new-school one.
Derrick Carter: We come from an era when you could get away with murder. If it’s hot, you play it—as long as you get an emotional response, it’s good.
DJ Sneak: If Derrick wanted to play a Ricky Martin vocal over a track, he could. Everybody would be like, “Damn, that’s Ricky Martin. But it sounds really dope.”
Derrick Carter: “Shock the Monkey”—that’s the one! You play that out of context, and people will freak out a bit, because it doesn’t fit in the narrow confines of what people think house is. But you rock your influences; you show your colors.

Time Out New York: And that’s what house music is supposed to be, right?
Derrick Carter: That’s what it’s always been, man! “Shock the Monkey” and Ricky Martin.

Verboten: Derrick Carter + DJ Sneak + Mark Farina is at Highline Ballroom Friday, May 17.

Follow Bruce Tantum on Twitter: @BruceTantum

Having multiple names as a dance music producer is common practice, with different monikers being used for different sounds and styles. Being consistently booked at the biggest US festivals as both names that you use, though? That is anything but common.

Eric Estornel will find himself playing peak-time festival slots at Richie Hawtin’s ENTER stage at EDC this weekend, and then at the Beatport stage at Movement in Detroit the weekend after.

Having just released his wildly successful DJ Kicks installment, we caught up with one of the undergrounds finest to chat briefly about his monikers and the US festival scene in general.

On Friday June 17, you will play Richie Hawtin’s ENTER stage at Electric Daisy Carnival in New York alongside acts like Seth Troxler and Damian Lazarus. How will this set differ from a typical Maceo Plex club set?
I think all my sets differ depending on the mood of the party and what mood I’m in. I love to bang it out as much as I love to get deep, but it’s all about how much of the crowd’s imagination I can capture. If they seem into it, I’ll do some definite traveling. What I do know is that I gotta be on my A-game because it’s a great line-up.

And a week later you will be play at Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit as Maetrik. What are the underlying differences in a Maetrik set versus a Maceo Plex set?
When I play as Maetrik I get super dark and intense. Not just in your face techno, but a certain intensity to the set that is much more sinister. I’ve been playing as Maetrik for a lot longer than Maceo Plex, so I feel right at home dropping sci-fi stuff on that ass.

Your recent DJ Kicks mix has been brought up a lot recently, with critical acclaim from almost all critics. Your personal touches on some of the classic tracks was an ambitious undertaking. Will some of these tracks make it into your festival sets?
Yeah I’ll probably play a couple of the tracks from the DJ Kicks. I made those edits not just to update the original track and make it more playable in 2013 and beyond, but also because they’re truly tracks I love to play anyways. Luckily all artists were into the idea of letting me edit and remix their tracks, and I’m happy to be able to drop them in my sets.

Do you think the US festival scene is catching up to Europe? The bookings at the aforementioned festivals seem to reflect an uptick in underground popularity.
I don’t think it can be considered “behind” the European scene, it’s just basically a smaller underground scene. The commercial stuff is huge, but the underground is much smaller and therefore the budgets for bigger acts is lower. This in turn means a bit less parties, but I think my American homies are well aware of what good music is coming out of Europe and elsewhere, they just need the budgets to get it out to the States. I think at some special parties the type of soul and futuristic sounds I can drop in the USA can sometimes far exceed the music people are dancing to in Europe and vice versa. Electric Daisy Carnival and Movement are doing a good job of bridging the gap between the massive European scene and the American dance scene.

Any artists in particular at EDC or MEMF to look out for?
Too many great artists to mention. I think it’s not just about who’s playing at these events, it’s about the experience and the amazing moments to look out for and appreciate while it’s happening.

Are there any surprises from you planned this year?
Full return of Maetrik!

Maceo Plex plays at Electric Daisy Carnival in New York on May 17, 2013

Maetrik plays at Movement in Detroit on May 27, 2013

Harley Streten is one of those perfect examples of how quickly an artist can rise to prominence in today’s music scene. It’s kind of mind-boggling to consider that his debut album was only released in November last year, and he’s now arguably Australia’s biggest electronic music talent. Hell, before the ‘Flume LP’ even dropped there was the kind of buzz surrounding it usually reserved for revered artists who have been in the game for decades. The proof was clearly in the pudding; the album has been both a critical and commercial success, shooting to the #2 position on the ARIA charts in its first week of release, and going gold just a couple of months later.

Now, the world is his oyster. Following a successful tour of the USA earlier this year – where he hung out with the likes of Skrillex, Boys Noize and Steve Aoki no less – Flume has now just wrapped up his national ‘Infinity Prism’ tour, selling out huge venues across the country. It was during the latter end of this tour that we caught up for a chat with Streten, finding a guy not caught up in the whirlwind of his success, but just your average 21 year-old…who counts Steve Aoki as a fanboy.

Pulse: Hey Harley, whereabouts are we speaking to you from? Flume: I’m in Adelaide right now in my hotel room. I just ordered some room service.

I know you’re currently in the midst of your national Prism tour but I just want to cast your mind back to your recent tour of the States. How was the reception to your music over there? The tour was sold out so it went really well. It was nice because it kind of felt like 6 or 9 months ago here in Australia. [In the U.S] I was doing around 500 capacity size rooms, some bigger, some a little smaller, and it was nice because the people that were there were really in the know. Whereas being back in Australia now, it’s really nice to be able to play to the big crowds, but at the same time the kids don’t know the music as much and some of the smaller tracks don’t hit as hard. But over in the U.S. because it’s all a lot of dudes and music geeks, a lot of the smaller stuff kind of goes off.

There’s such a massive buzz surrounding electronic music over there at the moment. Did you get sense of that whilst you were traveling around? Yeah, totally. I saw Afrojack’s head in the sky trailing behind a plane. There were planes in Miami hauling around big adverts for clubs in Miami – you could tell who was playing just by looking at the sky. It was ridiculous.

And you had some time off whilst in Miami for the WMC, right? Did you get to catch any DJs or live acts while you were there? Well I ended up running into Skrillex, Diplo, Boys Noize and all those EDM dudes. Sonny (Skrillex) and Alex (Boys Noize) took me out on the town one night in Miami and introduced me to a bunch of people, which was really cool. They’re actually big fans of my music. Steve Aoki is like my fanboy, he actually came up to me and was like a big fan, which was really funny. It was such a strange thing to happen because I see these guys as astronomically huge in their own right, so to have them as kind of fans around me is kind of funny! So yeah, it was really cool.

Listening to Skrillex’s music, you think you’ve got an idea of what he likes to listen to, but from what I’ve read and seen of him, he’s actually very knowledgeable in lots of different types of electronic music. Yeah, I know he’s a big Aphex Twin fan and into a lot of weird electronic music.

Did you guys talk about maybe making some music together? Not so much. We kind of showed each other a bunch of stuff, but we didn’t get to hang out for ages. I did get into the studio with Boys Noize for a bit and we just had a play around. I’m not sure if anything will come out of it or not, but it’s possible. I also ended up showing Sonny all my What So Not stuff – my other project – and he’s super into that. We just basically signed with his label Olswa over in the U.S.

Wow, that’s great. So your album has recently been released in the States on the Mom + Pop label. What was the intention behind going with an indie label in the USA over a major? Major labels are not very flexible, we really didn’t want to go with any majors. I guess what they were offering which the indies couldn’t was large amounts of cash, but what they couldn’t offer which the indies could was flexibility and being able to turn things around quickly. They [Mom + Pop] really get where we’re coming from which is a really important thing. I think having the right kind of vibe with a label means they’ll know what’s right, what’s not, and who to market to. Also lots of big labels try and lock you into these massive long-term deals, like five albums or something, and we didn’t want a bar of that. We were like “two albums max” and none of the majors were feeling that.

Have you considered making a move overseas, perhaps to the USA or the UK? Or are you happy doing your thing in Australia for now? I’m happy where I am right now. For me a holiday right now is just going home and playing tennis with my mates and just not doing a huge amount. I’ve done a lot of traveling, so I’m looking forward to getting home and write some new music. So no plans to move overseas – I don’t really see that happening for quite a while. I guess I’d only do it now unless it was really important for the music. Who knows, maybe in a few years that will change.

You just mentioned writing new music. Have you been dropping that track you wrote with Chet Faker at a beach house earlier this year during your current tour? Yeah we’ve been playing that one at the end of the set, and Chet comes out on stage to do it. It’s called ‘Drop The Game’.

Are you planning to release that one at some point? Yes. I’m not totally sure on dates, but it will definitely be this year. We’ve got a bunch of other stuff we’ve been doing as well.

And you’ve written some new tracks in just the past month or so too – I think I saw a post on your facebook a few weeks back which read, “Just written the biggest banger since Hyperparadise.” That’s a remix I’m working on, it should be out in not too long as well, so keep your ear to the ground.

And you’ve been working on some more house music type stuff too? Yeah, how do you know this?

I have my ways! No just kidding mate, I read it somewhere. Yeah so I’ve been working on another remix, it’s not finished yet, but it’s way more housey than some of my previous stuff.

Where have you been getting inspiration from for writing that kind of stuff? Well dance music has always kind of been my roots. Around 2009 dance music wasn’t really doing it for me so I got deeper in the Flying Lotus, J Dilla, kind of world. But now I feel like there’s lots of good dance music coming out. Duke Dumont – I feel like he’s bringing dance music back a bit, as well as Julio Bashmore. There’s a handful of dudes who I’m starting to get into again, and it’s this house music that’s really nice.

Photos: Patrick Stevenson

Since you started playing live, has seeing how crowds react and respond to your music changed the way you now approach making music? No, not at all. I just write music however I want to – I don’t like to limit myself. I write what I feel.

So can fill us in a little bit about the concept of the Infinity Prism? How does it work on stage? It kind of works and interacts with the music. I guess…it’s kind of difficult to explain. You’ll just have to get to a show and check it out!

Are there any plans in the future to expand your live set up? Do you envision yourself one day playing with a live band? Possibly. The logistics of it are a lot bigger, but it’s definitely a possibility. I’m just waiting and seeing how this tour goes and what the next album sounds like, because that will probably affect that kind of decision a lot.

There’s a lot of opportunities for electronic producers to DJ these days. Have you thought about getting out there and DJing a bit in your downtime? I don’t have any downtime man! If I do, it’s when I write new music, and if I’m not writing new music I’m doing What So Not, which is DJing.

Oh, can you just hang on two seconds? My food has arrived.

Sure.
……………

OK, I’m back.

What did you order? Ah, butter chicken, jasmine rice, and a coca-cola on the side.

Nice. Well I’d better let you eat your dinner, but just one last question before you go. What’s happening for the rest of this year? I’ve got five weeks off after this tour to write music, which is the first time I’d had some time off in a while. So I guess it’s not really time off, but you know how it is. Then back off to the U.S., back off to Europe, and then back to Australia for some more time off, so it looks like I’m going to get some writing done.

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The city synonymous with slick poolside day parties is heating up again this summer and kicking off some new and well-known favorite events.

Wet Los Angeles gears up for its upcoming Memorial Day Weekend day party at the refined Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood with deep house legends Miguel Migs and Lisa Shaw May 27.

Close by, the Stylus Pool Party at the infamous Standard Hotel rooftop is already in full swing with appearances from the Dirtybird crew including Christian Martin last month.

Another hot event set to return at the Standard this summer is Afternoon Delight. Hosted by Adam Auburn, it begins on June 23 and continues deep into summer with additional dates in July, August and September.

The newest party to hit La La Land is appropriately named Sun Kissed and can be found on the other side of town on the outdoor deck of Zengo in Santa Monica. Appealing to the brunch crowd with beach-side views, line-ups are expected to host local talent playing the hottest deep house tracks. Dates and full line-ups to be announced soon.

At 50 years of age, Carl Cox remains a techno provocateur on all counts. From scaling the globe’s biggest festivals and the UK charts over the years, he’s had an iconic reign over dance music, one which began by fueling London’s rave culture decades ago. Since then, he’s racked up four albums, countless singles, and even more nights behind the decks—all with that unmistakeably winning smile. With no plans to retire and a strong second wind behind his Intec imprint, Cox’s sense of preservation is not only one for the history books, but an inherently relevant case study in keeping your cool in the face of universal adoration.

Back on track for 2013 with fresh Ibiza plans and the return of his Pure Inteccompilation series, Cox pulled up a chair with Beatport News in London to talk bringing Intec back from the dead, his consistent run on the White Isle, and taking America on his own terms.

The road to tonight’s launch for Pure Intec 2 hasn’t exactly been a quiet one. How are you feeling about the way things have panned out so far?

What has overwhelmed me about 2013 is the extent of these amazing parties I am playing at across the globe. I played Greece for the first time the other week and it really hit home the worldwide basis we have in this industry now—it is unbelievable. Ultra Music Festival was incredible, as to be expected. That was the first time we have seen it employ a two-week sell-out spree, and the satisfaction of playing it was intense. Generally, I love the energy and the quality of music emerging at the moment and am thrilled to see Intec making such great leaps and bounds at the same time.

Last month marked the return of Pure Intec, this time including label head and British peer Jon Rundell. What drove you to bring the compilation back after such a long gap?

Over the years we have found that we have so much quality new material coming to us that we simply don’t have time to formally release it all. This was the perfect opportunity for us to showcase diverse and deserving talent that we may have otherwise not been able to cater to. From my perspective, it is a great way to steer what is to come from us in terms of sound and talent scope. I am no stranger to the format and there was a huge amount of remixes off the back of my All Roads Lead to the Dance Floor album, so this time it felt like a simple statement for us: Here are two discs of music mixed by the guys behind Intec. Jon’s CD was about new acts and the diversity he brings on the dancefloor, whilst mine catered to those incredible interpretations people had made of my album material. Some people will complain about the format, but I love how the vibe of us as DJs comes together through this body of work. Fans wanted something as a collection and it was good to utilize the talent and technology available to give it to them.

Likewise, a lot of fans were relieved to see you bring Intec back from the dead back in 2010. To what do we owe the second wind?

To be honest, we bought Intec back for the fans. All the music I was playing in my sets consisted of Intec demos, some of which were just phenomenal. It was criminal not to do something with them. One day I turned to Jon and said, “Why aren’t we signing this stuff?!” The harsh reality there is [that there's] no real money in it—most labels these days are a labor of love. It does however offer a great musical spotlight and we have had a great time of it back in the swing of things.

Your presence on the US circuit seems to have grown vast, yet without any signs of compromise. Has catering to that market been as seamless as you make it look?

The US emphasis seems to have been about making dance music a commercial entity. They deal success in numbers, big festivals, and strong branding, but they sometimes miss the element of quality. The American market is reduced to this umbrella term of “EDM,” whereas Europe has this huge name for underground quality and so much of it. Most importantly, people still want to hear it. For the majority of the US events I cater to, I bring my own arena, which allows me to control the sound and attitude whilst driving through my side of the coin. People love how we work the rooms and it is a very positive niche for me—if you want me, you have to have my very talented friends also. It’s my way or the highway, but the concept is working incredibly well as a result of that.

Away from the festival circuit, Ibiza has remained a home from home for you for more than two decades. Given that you seem to have been one of the few DJs not to make a radical change to your White Isle get-up, how do you feel as we approach the summer clubbing season?

If you look at what is happening at places like Bomba and Sankeys this season, the diversity is huge this year; there is definitely an overarching underground stamina to the place. To me, it is as vibrant as ever. Space is one of those places holding the fort, and I personally feel attached to the DNA of its success. I have been going to Ibiza since 1985 and first started playing in 1991. Between then and 2001 I hopped between various different clubs, but never found myself until Space. At that point there wasn’t a night-time element to balance; it was the place to go on a Sunday for day-clubbing. When they invested in the night-clubbing, it had to be something completely new. To an extent, a lot of us put our balls on the line with the Tuesday residencies, but we have never looked back. I am honored and proud that it is still this huge entity on the island. As time has passed, it has become paramount for us to run our night as incredibly as possible to match their fantastic team. Ibiza looks sure to prevail with guys like that still active.

Between taking techno to the charts and keeping your cool past the age of 50, what has been the most challenging aspect of your career to date?

The sheer longevity of my career has always been a challenge. In ’91, I became one of the first techno DJs to enter the top 40 with “I Want You (Forever).” As we are all now well aware, hitting the pop market invariably has its rise and fall. But here we are in 2013. I am still as popular as I have ever been and there is a sense of maintenance in the whole thing. It is hard work balancing the music, media, and normal life, but to date it keeps on working. Every party is still treated like the first, whatever the scenario. Some people say I make it look easy. It definitely isn’t. But that being said, here I am still loving it and feeling good about everything. There is no retirement in sight just yet.

Are their any overarching career landmarks or achievements remaining for you, or is maintenance and preservation of Intec and yourself the key focus from here onwards?

If I am honest, no, there is nothing left in terms of definitive highlights. Obviously, I would love to see Intec run entirely on its own steam and become its own unique entity. With the current potential of its DJs, music, and for branded tours being as it is, for me it is just lovely to see both aspects of the label working alongside my own career. I am confident that sooner or later it will not need a figurehead to spotlight the sheer quality of the music. The dream is a powerhouse led by new DJs and cutting-edge music.

**Check out five essential Carl Cox tracks here.