Monday Choon: Armin van Buuren feat. Josh Cumbee - Sunny Days (PureNRG Remix)

Its Ultra South Africa week! Come Friday, dance music fans will be in ecstasy as some of the biggest names in Electronic Dance Music will hit the stage, starting off in Cape Town and ending in Johannesburg in the early hours of Sunday morning. In our final artist feature for the build up to the event, we have none other than the legend of Trance music, Armin van Buuren. He is regarded as one of the frontiers for electronic music, getting it more well known in the industry to reach the levels it has now. With his weekly podcast show, A State of Trance, he reaches millions around the world, playing the latest that has been cooking in the Amarda kitchen. With his record label, he has brought through some amazing talents of whom have grown to massive names in the industry now. 

Today's featured track from the Dutch maestro is one of his latest releases which have been given the PureNRG treatment. It's a song he did last year with Josh Cumbee on the vocals call Sunny Days, they even produced a slower version of the track over December titled "Christmas Days" which was really cool. This fast paced remix is one of the popular ones of the track and you can bet your bottom dollar that Armin is going to drop this in his set at Ultra! So get ready for what is going to be an epic event. I personally cannot wait to see Armin again, the last time he was here, his set was nothing short of epic and I expect more of the same this year. 

Monday Choon: Cosmic Gate & Emma Hewitt - Tonight

One of the few legends of trance and iconic duo for decades, Cosmic Gate have been thrilling crowds over the years with their uplifting beats and great electro sounds. Over the years they seemed to have taken a liking to Australian songstress Emma Hewitt and have featured her a lot on their tracks, she's back once again to join them in one of their latest releases, "Tonight" the track was released earlier this year and has been doing pretty well on the club charts. It's a song that's very similar to their previous work with her, a bit more up tempo and trance like. 

Monday Choon: Armin van Buuren - Together (in a State of Trance)

When it comes to trance events, nothing is bigger than Amarda Music's ASOT parties around the world. Every year Armin van Buuren assembles the hottest DJ line ups at various parties around the world to celebrate the next 50 episodes of his popular radio podcast ASOT. Next year see's it reach 700 episodes and Armin has just released the anthem for it. Together (in a state of trance) was played for the first time in episode 690 and is a banger of note. It's going to bring down the house next year at ASOT700.

                  

Ultra 2015

As the days go by, we're creeping ever closer to 2015 and with it brings anticipation of the Ultra 2015. It was with out a doubt the biggest dance festival SA has seen to date and next years show promises to be bigger and better. Last week the organisers released Phase One of the international DJ headliners and just like this year, some big names were announced. Three out of the five are featured in DJ Mag's Top 5 DJ's for 2014 so you know they're not slacking on getting just any DJ to headline the event, here are the 5. 

Hardwell

Number 1 DJ in the world for the second year in a row, he toured SA last year December to sellout crowds around the country and after see him play, I can see why he is ranked at the top. Professional at what he does and creates some great music.

Martin Garrix

One of the stand out DJ's from this years event, Martin Garrix is coming back to rock our crowds. The young disc jockey sensation was recently boosted up the rankings to number 4 in the DJ Mag Top 100 list, a major achievement given his age and time in the industry. 

Armin van Buuren

He is a legend in his own right, with his record label, Amarda Music being one of the biggest in electronic music and his radio show A State Of Trance having gone through the years, just growing bigger and bigger. He has done so much for electronic and trance music, helping younger DJ's come through his ranks and turning them into superstars. I personally can't wait to see his set. 

Axwell Λ Ingrosso

They made up two thirds of the award winning Swedish House Mafia, good friends Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso have teamed up once again and are coming back to our country. I'm sure die hard SHM fans will be happy to see this duo as it is probably the closest thing we will see to the now non existent Mafia.

Some of the local artists that were also announced in the phase one line up include, Goldfish, Protoculture, Pascal & Pearce, Euphonik, Rodger Goode, DJ Kent and Black Coffee. So far that is an incredible line up and there is still more to come! So keep an eye out on this blog for more info related to the upcoming Ultra South Africa. 

Early bird tickets were sold out in a matter of days and public tickets have just gone on sale now, so don't hesitate or they might get sold out! Visit www.ultrasouthafrica.com for more info on ticket purchase or buy them direct from computicket.

Cape Town

Early Bird General: R750 (SOLD OUT)

Early Bird VIP: R1000 (SOLD OUT)

Advance Price General: R850

Advance Price VIP: R1,250

Full Sale Price General: R950

Full Sale Price VIP: R1,500

Johannesburg

Early Bird General: R750 (SOLD OUT)

Early Bird VIP: R1,250 (SOLD OUT)

Advance Price General: R850

Advance Price VIP: R1,500

Full Sale Price General: R950

Full Sale Price VIP: R1,750

Early Bird VVIP: R3,000 (SOLD OUT)

Advance Price VVIP: R3,500

Don't forget to follow @UltraSA on twitter and like Ultra South Africa on Facebook. 

Monday Choon: Audien & Matthew Koma - Serotonin

Audien, not the most popular name in the EDM world but the American DJ has been doing his thing and wowing crowds with his mellow and uplifting beats for a good few years now. Signed onto Armin van Buuren's Amarda label, his played at the ASOT events and has worked with many other DJ's on the label, most notably Arty where he remixed his track "together we are", and his remix of Ummet Ozcan's and Nervo's track was featured a few weeks back. Today he's joined by the guy who's vocals could be found on most electronic dance songs today, Matthew Koma. 

Monday Choon: Baggi Begovic & Team Bastian - Sleep Till I Come Home

I admire the DJ's that start their own record labels to harness future talent. It gives up coming DJs a chance to enter the market with a reputable brand and have their work recognised on a bigger level. Armin has Amarda Records which has done phenomenally well world over and making DJs from all over the world well known, Tiesto's record label "Musical Freedom" is doing the same good work and this weeks featured track comes from there featuing Baggi Begovic and Team Bastian. Enjoy!