Monday Choon - Ultra Countdown: Zedd - Papercut ft. Troye Sivan

In just about 3 weeks, South Africa will be taken over by some of the worlds biggest names in electronic music. We continue our Ultra South Africa Countdown this week with another superstar DJ that will be headlining the countries premier dance music festival, Zedd. The Russian-German DJ is one of two Grammy award winning DJ's that will be playing at Ultra SA 2016 and it will be his first time in the country. 

I am a big fan of Zedd's previous stuff, his collaborations with artists like Matthew Koma, Hayley Williams, Salena Gomez and Foxes did phenomenally well and which ultimately led to his Grammy Award nomination and win. In his most recent work he still finds himself working with artists from around the spectrum, this week's featured track has the vocals of South Africa's very own Troye Sivan. Troye popular for his starring role in the SA movies Spud, based on the popular noval has been concentrating a lot on his singing of late and it's great to see him team up with Zedd on the track papercut. 

                    

Ultra South Africa 2016 - App

Going for Ultra South Africa next year? Got a smart phone? Then it's a no brainer, you NEED the Ultra SA App. Available on Android or iOS devices, the app provides festival goers with the latest news with regards to the event, all their favourite artists that will be at the event as well as a guide to the festival with a map showing points of interest, the different stages as well as line ups with the times. You can even relive moments from previous UItra's. It is a must have, find the links below to the various devices. 

iTunes: UltraSA2016App
Google Play: UltraSA2016App

For more info, visit www.ultrasouthafrica.com 

Ultra South Africa 2016 - Final line up!

                    

The final line up for Ultra South Africa 2016 has been released and it includes some big heavy weights of the industry. Many of the artist that have been announced in phase 2 have already visited SA and played at previous Ultra festivals, so people who missed out before can revel in their presence. 

The festival which takes place in South Africa form the 26th of February till the 28th next year in two of the major cities. Cape Town will play host to the two day event at the Ostrich Farm on the 27th and 28th and Johannesburg, at Nasrec Expo center from the 26th to the 27th of February. 

Some were disappointed with the line up, including myself but one has go to understand that planning an event like this, getting artist to confirm to travel to another end of the world for a few days isn't easy. So I applaud the organisers for securing big names like these and obviously the sets aren't going to be the same as the previous ones. 

Afrojack, Tiesto and Carnage join Skrillex, Zedd, Dash Berlin and Robin Schulz to headline this awesome line up for the 2016 event. Amongst them will be a host of local talent that will keep the crowd entertained during the day on the various stages. Dean Fuel, Euphonik, Goldfish, TimoODV, Pascal & Peace just to name a few. 

Tickets are on sale via the website, www.ultrasouthafrica.com, for more information on camping venues for the Cape Town festival and other info you may need to know, follow the various social media streams on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Ultra South Africa 2016: Phase 1 headliners

Today all day Ultra will be releasing their Phase 1 artist line up for next years 3 day show piece that hits South Africa. With Ultra having already announced that both Cape Town and Johannesburg were going to be two day festivals, excitement levels across the country sky rocketed and with the Phase 1 line due to be announced today, ticket purchasers waited in anticipation to see if their favourite DJ was announced to play next year. Since 7.15am on DJ Fresh's morning show, 5FM have been unveiling the international headliners that will play at next years event. So far, fans have not been disappointed with 3 big names in the industry being announced. 

Anton Igorevich Zaslavki, better known by his stage name Zedd is no stranger to the Ultra Music Festival scene as he's been lighting up the stage in Miami for a while now. Having also performed at Ultra Europe this year, this would be the multi award winning artist first trip to the African continent. Fans may know him by his previous hits, "Find You" featuring Matthew Korma, "Stay the night" featuring Hayley Williams, "Clarity" featuring Foxes and most recently "I want you to know" featuring his love interest, Selena Gomez. The Russian-German producer is sure to wow the crowds next year. 

Another German joins the fray for Ultra South Africa 2016, this time its DJ and producer Robin Schulz. He's been around for a few years now with many remixes of various songs along the years, but it's only recently that he's been getting his solo stuff noticed. His latest single "Sugar" featuring Frencesco Yates has been a firm favourite on the 5FM playlists.

It wasn't that big of a secret that Dash Berlin was coming to SA next year which the Dutch trance DJ letting it slip on his Facebook page that he will be coming to South Africa in February 2016. There was doubt on whether it would be a for a solo tour or with Ultra but now that that speculation has been put to bed, Ultra goers can look forward to him killing it at the festival next year. I'm a firm fan of Dash and his remix of Zedd's Find You is still one of my favourite tracks.

If you haven't heard of them before, you probably heard some of their music as they've been dominating 5FM of recent with their hit single Runaway, better known as U & I. The Swedish electronic duo Galantis made up of Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklow make their Ultra SA debut in 2016 and are bound to rock the crowds with songs from their 2015 album, Pharmacy.

Ultra's second stage has been announced as well today, dubbed "Resistance", fans can catch acts such as American duo the Martinez Brothers, Seth Troxler and SA's very own Black Coffee tearing it up on there.

The last of the International artist headliners has been announced for Phase 1, and its none other than Skrillex! The American producer is no stranger to SA with him having toured the country before to sell out crowds. His style is unique and while many associate it to dubstep, he tends to disagree and calls it a different style of hard electro. Whatever its's called, we like it and you can look forward to it next year Feb!

Don't forget, Advanced Ticket sales open tomorrow and are only available from www.ultrasouthafrica.com. Sign Up and get yours first thing tomorrow, because trust me you do not want to miss out on next years Ultra! You can follow all the updates on their official Twitter  (@UltraSA), Facebook (Ultra South Africa) or Instagram (ultrasouthafrica) accounts. 

Monday Choon: Zedd ft Selena Gomez - I Want You To Know

Never thought that an EDM DJ and a Disney actress would combine and make a good song but these two have! Rumour mill has it that they're dating but we don't really care about Hollywood gossip, we just want good music. This song has been out for a while now and been received well on most radio stations, its borderline commercial but I like it and Selena is hot.

Relive Ultra Music Festival Miami 2014

Probably the most antiscipated event from Ultra other than the music festival is the official release of their aftermovies. With Final Kid in charge of the mammoth task in creating the ultimate experience for fans around the world to relive the event, they have their work cutout with them having to make this years even better than the years before which was mind blowing! They're calling this video "a short movie" with the tag line "United We Dance" and is different from previous after movies with only one track featured in the entire 15 minute duration. Also they feature interviews with the various DJ's and some of the frequent fans that visit the festival. All in all it still is a damn good production, the added insights from the DJ's really give you a sense of what they're going through while performing for the masses and it just makes you want to be there, to experience it all! If theres one thing an Ultra After Movie does, it makes you want to attend the next one and this definitely does that, enjoy!

Monday Choon: Porter Robinson feat. Urban Cone - Lionhearted (Arty Remix)

American electronic music producer, Porter Robinson broke into the international arena with this hit track "language" back in 2012, from there he's enjoyed a good stay on the top with collaborations with MatZo and many other artists, most notably he co-wrote Zedd's hit song "Clarity". His latest release, Lionhearted featuring the vocals of Swedish Indie pop band, Urban Cone and sticking to the multinational theme to the track, Russia's Arty came in to make this explosive remix of the track which has enjoyed phenomenal success. Here's the track to kick off your week!

Monday Choon: Zedd ft. Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant - Find You (Dash Berlin Remix)

Boy oh boy, what a weekend it was in Miami! If you managed to catch some of the live streams you would have seen why UMF Miami is probably the best Music Festival to attend. Every DJ killed it with their sets and I managed to catch a few even though it was in the wee hours of the morning. Zedd was the first DJ I manage to watch, his set on the Mainstage as usual was brilliant, loads of energy and he played a lot of his new stuff. After the set he said he loved the way the crowds sang along to all his songs. Today's choon is a new one from him featuring Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant, the song itself is a great track and sure to get to the top of many charts but I decided to feature Dash Berlins Remix of it. One of the better ones out there. 

Monday Choon: Zedd feat. Hayley Williams - Stay for the night (Zedd & Kevin Drew Remix)

Following his chart topping success with the song Clarity which featured Foxes, Zedd is back with another catchy tune that has vocals done by Paramore's Hayley Williams. Her voice is quite distinct and the perfect match for this song, the original version of the song is quite cool but because it's calm and slow it is more suited for radio listening, hence Zedd decided to team up with Kevin Drew to bring out a slightly faster version of the song for clubs and festival play, I personally think this track is better than the original! Enjoy!

Monday Choon: Zedd ft Foxes - Clarity (W and W Remix)

Its not often you hear a song and it sends you into a pure sense of ecstasy, this song does that for me. Its one of those when you hear it for the first time, you either love it or hate it. The original track from Zedd is not bad but was a bit slow from my liking, Tiesto did a remix and a few other DJ's as well but W&W's remix is just on another level. The production and build ups are just amazing, one really has to appreciate what they've done to the track. It was played at ASOT600 in Mexico and the crowd went wild for it.

Monday Choon: Zedd & Lucky Date Feat. Ellie Goulding – Fall Into The Sky

Russian electronic DJ Zedd most famously known for his incredible remix of Skirllex's breaking a sweat track has teamed up with DJ Lucky date to produce this one along with the vocals are provided by the lovely Ellie Goulding. Its been received well world over and is featured on many of the top dance charts.