It's been about a year since Norwegian DJ Kygo first made his name on the EDM scene with his fresh new sound that was dubbed "tropical house" which was a fusion of electronic, house and the sounds of the Caribbean. He killed it on the Ultra Main stage and soon thereafter had much success world over. Fast forward a year later and he released a new track with Disney Superstar turn actress and singer, the gorgeous Selena Gomez. The track "It aint me" enjoyed some time in most of the charts but it got a special remix treatment from Tiesto which he featured on his AFTR:HRS compilation. Yes, I know, another track taken from that set, if I could I'd feature the whole damn thing on here, it is seriously that good and I can foresee many other tracks from there being released as singles.
The weekend after the Durban July is always a struggle, partying in the nations warmest city during winter is always a blast but I use the term "warm" very loosely as the temps were much higher than the other cities but still bitterly cold! It's time to kick off the new week with a slightly chilled and mellow track from Florian Paetzold, called "Easy". The German DJ from Osterwieck isn't that well known but he has worked with some big names in the business by remixing tracks by Jyau & Albert,
Micar and PHIL to name a few. Released via Spinnin records, Easy is doing pretty well on the Beatport charts and the official music video just dropped last week.
After proving to be a raving success at last years Miami Ultra Music Festival, organisers of the event have decided to take the Resistance stage world wide with Ultra Europe getting to experience it and now its the turn of South Africa! What is resistance all about though? As we all know there is a qide variety of Electronic music and whilsts the mainstream might be House, Trance and Dance music, there are loads of underground electronic music producers out there whom are making some damn good music which is far from the almost commercialised EDM we're used to hearing.
What can one expect at Resistance? Unique deep house, techno underground beats by some of the best in the business. Some of the headliners to the Ultra SA 2016 Resistance stage are, Seth Troxler, The Martinez Brothers and South Africa's very own Black Coffee who just yesterday was announced as one of the performing artists at this years Coachella Festival. It's going to be different but as seen in Miami, it could be one of the better stages to be at, so don't keep yourself stuck at Mainstage.
Don't forget, those attending the Cape Town event can now purchase camping tickets for the venue, starting off at R100 for General Camping (requires you to bring your own tent) and R2595 for Premium Camping (tent, beds provided).
Follow Ultra South African on their various social media streams and subscribe to their newsletter so stay up to date with the latest news for the festival which is drawing ever closer.
Chris Lake is house music DK/ Producer from Scotland but now resides in London and L.A. He first shot onto to the scene with his bootleg remixes, none more famous than "Sweet Dreams" but the Eurythmics. He is well known in SA for his hit single "Changes" featuring Laura V. Today's choon is something different but follows his line of chilled house music vibes.
Firstly apologies for abandoning my blog for quite a while, with the mixture of work stress and holiday commitments it was difficult to do so. Anyway I'm back! and during that time so much has happened! So its time I filled you in! As you all know, after missing out on ASOT500, there was no way I was missing out on seeing Deadmau5 live in SA! I was so amped, I got tickets for 2 shows! Already promising a friend I'd take them to the Cape Town show, tickets were booked and on the plane I went to the land of the mountain! But before I start, let me show you what the guy did in London just a few days before he flew into SA. It was a promo for Nokia's new Lumia phone range and the location was at the Millbank tower along the river Thames. Words cannot describe the awesomeness...
If that didn't leave you speechless, then I don't know what will! Seeing that video just amped South African fans more and more to see his show. At a press conference held at St Eve's on Camps Bay, Deadmau5 told reporters that he can judge how good his show was by seeing the number of glow sticks left behind. Of course armed with such valuable information, it was off to buy glow sticks! Found a pack of 50 at the local China Mall, that should have been good enough. Now if you don't know, CT has a huge twitter population so finding the drinking hole everyone was meeting at before the show wasnt that difficult. While there I bumped into many twitter peeps, names @MrCPT@CapeTown_chick@Crystalita_xxx@thatWallace@yeswecrann@StephanieBe@StaceFace248@MishtotheD and many many more!
After filling our belly's with many of the liquids they had on offer, it was of to the CTICC! The venue of the concert, wasn't that easy though, had to walk back to Clock Tower, mission our way to the ICC and drive up 4 floors to park the car, then walk the whole damn ICC only to be told we have to enter from the outside... anyway we made it in, got some souvenirs, got some drinks and it was Deadmau5 time!
Soon as the clock strike 10pm, the curtains drop to unveil the cube! It was there that the legend DJ would mesmerise crowds for the rest of the night with his major hits. The cube itself comprises of 4 parts, the main podium which he operates from and 3 other pieces that are on the sides and 1 of which floats above him. All of which have LED out layer so with the lighting and various graphics being displayed, it made it one damn good visual spectacle!
There were some issues with the sound which cut out at times, I didn't really know as every time it did, he would come up onto the stage and sort of wave to us, so it seemed like it was part of the show until I heard after the concert that there was problems with the arcing of the cables. He himself wasn't please and made his feelings heard on twitter. The show itself was amazing but it wasn't his best and you could see with the problems he had, he couldn't really do what he wanted to do.
Soon as the clock struck 12, it was all over. Sad to see him leave but it was off to the after party at Opium Night Club. Most of the crowd from the show spilled over here as they allowed free entrance to anyone with an armband from the show. Partied the into the early hours of the morning with some of Cape Towns finest then it was off to the airport to catch my flight back to Durbs!
the cube
As luck would have it, I had a British Airways business class ticket and who was sitting a few rows in front of me? Deadmau5 himself! along with his entourage which included his girlfriend (HAWT!). The whole flight I couldn't contain my excitement, trying to get glimpses of him so as soon as we landed in Durban I ran to make contact with the master. By the tone of his voice, I could see he wasn't keen, and his t-shirt saying "no pictures" was there to confirm it. Well I cant blame the guy, lack of sleep and the kak chow on the plane does get to one. Eventually managed to get a pic of him as there were some fans waiting at the arrivals terminal.
Headed home from the airport, freshened up and it was off to Gateway for Deadmau5 unhooked! Met up with the Gorilla media crew at the offices at the Wavehouse for some predrinks and brag about the past days events then it was time to see the legend take the stage again. He didn't have the cube for this show and it was indeed much smaller but the venue was outdoors and as weather gods would have it in Durban, it was raining. Never the less, the Durban crowd partied the night away getting soaked in the process! Deadmau5 was on fire, his show in CT was more of a crowd pleaser with him sticking to the favourites and hardly much mixing, in Durban it was the total opposite. The guy was in a trance and there isn't any other way to describe it as him going "off".
wavehouse
The show was insane! so much so he played 30 minutes more than allocated, he loved it! He even tweeted that he didn't want to stop because he was having so much fun but due to the time restrictions of the venue he had to eventually come off stage. The main hit for both shows was of course the monster tune "strobe". It sent the crowds are both venues into pandemonium. After witnessing 2 very different shows I must admit, this guy seriously deserves the praises he gets. He is a machine and I'd pay to see him again and again. 2 Cities, 2 Shows, 1 deadmau5, Priceless experience.
