Monday Choon: Alesso, Sentinel, Sick Individuals - Upside Down

Many say he should have been the fourth member of the Swedish House Mafia but, for me, Alesso brings a different dynamic to house music and while he may hail from Sweden as well, he has managed to build his own legacy in the electronic music industry, so much so that he is one of the most requested DJ's for major festivals. His remix of Nadia Ali's pressure still remains one of my all time favourite songs, today's featured track from Alesso has been featured on a number of his sets at festivals over the past year, and it's finally been released. "Upside Down" see's him team up with Sentinel and Sick Individuals, and they have produced a banger that has already had crowds at festivals off their feet, so you know its good. 

Monday Choon: Swedish House Mafia - Wait So Long

 

The Swedish trio are back and after some epic performances across Europe of the Summer festival period, none more epic than their set at Tomorrowland. The latest offering from them which has featured on their set lists as this one "Wait So Long" even though was released in June has still been doing incredibly well across the globe. It's definitely a certified banger and one we will be hearing more frequently. 

Monday Choon: Swedish House Mafia & Alicia Keys - Finally

 

The Swedish trio broke many hearts when they announced they were breaking up back in 2013, even though there were many reasons for their parting I think the time apart did them some good for when they eventually got back together in 2018. Yes, the genre had changed massively in those 5 years but with each of them concentrating on their solo projects and Axwell and Ingrosso also doing their duo stints are festivals, the come back was bigger than the set back as they say. Today's featured song goes to prove that. The trio always had a knack of attracting a-list talent for their tracks, from Tinnie Tempah to Pharell, all those tracks were instant hits and with "Finally", a song appropriately named as it took almost 2 years to make, featuring the vocals of Grammy winning singer Alicia, the track is fresh but has that distinct SHM feel to it. With the background featuring a strong piano which leads into house beats and a variety of synths which all builds up to the  bassline drop, along with the chorus of the track just gives you that Ibiza feel to it. 

Monday Choon: Swedish House Mafia - Ray of Solar

The Swedish trio have been playing to packed out crowds across the US and Europe in the past few months all whilst teasing the release of their latest track "Ray of Solar".  Finally after weeks of sneak peeks, the track is finally out and it certainly delivers in true SHM style! The track takes you on a nostalgic journey of the past, present and what we can expect in the future from them. The levels to the track is amazing with the layers of different electronic sounds, coupled with that invigorating bass line just provides momentum for it as it goes along. It definitely has the hardcore SHM excited and with good reason, lets hope this is just a taste of more to come. 

Monday Choon: Swedish House Mafia ft. The Weeknd - Moth To A Flame

The legendary Scandinavian electronic music DJ trio, Swedish House Mafia have released another single, this time teaming up with award winning musician, The Weeknd. The track, A Moth To A Flame was released late October and has already been quite a hit around the globe with it already receiving close to 4 Million views on YouTube to date. The track has that unique SHM sound to it with the unmistakable voice of the The Weeknd just elevating this track to another level. When great artist combine to share their talents and create a track, you really get something special and that is exactly what this track is, whether or not there is more music planned by them is yet to be seen but this track really has us frothing for more from this collaboration. 

Monday Choon: Axwell /\ Ingrosso - Dancing Alone ft. RØMANS

While everyone waits with bated breath for Swedish House Mafia to release some new music, it seems we have to wait a little while long but that won't be such a bad thing if the duo Axwell /\ Ingrosso release fire tracks like this! Dropped just last week is their latest single featuring Romans, titled "Dancing Alone", the cover art alone will leaving you wondering, with a picture of a young Paris Hilton posing for the pic, all dressed up in her rave gear, doubt she danced alone that night though! The track harks onto their original work with many of the electronic synths and beats in the opening a clear reminder of their music back then, the vocals come in and brings in the modern aspect of the track and just carries itself well throughout. It's a steady progression to a fuse with old and new, it's extremely catchy and one that you're going to be hearing a lot. 

Monday Choon: Swedish House Mafia are back!

ITS WAS TIME

There was plenty of speculation in the build up to the 20th Anniversary of Ultra Music Festival and finally, last night, closing of the weekend, it happened. Swedish House Mafia are back and from what we saw last night/ early morning, it seems they're here to stay. Axwell mentioned during their set that they've missed performing with one another and all three are friends, so it seems like Axwell and Ingrosso have settled their differences with Steve Angello and this is for the better of House music. The trio took the world by storm in 2008 till their eventual break-up in 2013 which saw them go their own way until last night. They've produced music that not only united people from various genre's of electronic music but also people simple never took interest in it all. So in spirit of this reunion, we don't have a single song for you today but the entire set from Ultra Music Festival Miami of Swedish House Mafia which featured a lot of their old music but with some great mash-ups and remixes. 

Monday Choon: Axwell & Shapov - Belong

Axel Christofer Hedfors, most of us know him as Axwell, one of the former members of the Scandinavian trio, Swedish House Mafia and has been doing really well since. He and the other member of SHM Sebastian Ingrosso came together to form Axwell Ingrosso who've been hitting the globe with great success these past few years. Axwell has now embarked on some solo projects, one of which is today's featured track. He's teamed up with Russian DJ Shapov, formerly part of Hard Rock Sofa for the track belong. It's blends in their two styles quite well and seems to be one of the popular tracks around a the moment. 

Monday Choon: Axwell Ingrosso - This time

For those who attended Ultra South Africa earlier this year, you would know this song very well. Even though it took a while for the team to set up the stage for these two Swedish producers, it was well worth it in the end. Axwell and Ingrosso killed it and even I had my doubts about them closing the show but I had to eat humble pie and accept that the organisers knew what they were doing when they had them close off an memorable day. Their track "This Time" has been out for a while but it's received a fresh mix from the two and some lyrics from Pusha-T, and the end result is fantastic.

                       
               

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: Steve Angello, Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman - Payback

While many didn't know how life will go on with out Swedish House Mafia, one former member cerntainly didn't wait for this to happen as he is the only one making a name for himself on the dance music scene since then and thats Steve Angello. He always wanted to prove that he was more than just a guy who spun decks but also a damn good producer too. His previous track we featured on the Bucket, SLVR with Sadko was proof that he's certainly still out to make a name for himself and he follows on the success with that, in his latest hit Payback featuring Dimitri Vangelis and Wyman. The video is taken from his live set at Creamfields, earlier this year. Enjoy!

Monday Choon: Lune - Leave the world behind (Ludovika Bootleg)

Its been little over a year since the world bid it's goodbyes to the Swedish House Mafia, with their last performance at Ultra 2013 bringing an end to their One Last Tour. Since then we've seen new DJ's emerge from the ranks to take the world of electronic dance music by storm but still the sounds produced by the Swedish trio seem timeless. One of my all time favourite tracks from them is "Leave the world behind", released in 2009, it was the song that put them on the mark for greatness. It has emerged that they will be releasing a movie soon, entitled Leave the world behind with Lune doing the cover of the song. It's a different take to the orginal, giving it a very eerie feeling but at the same time done brilliantly well. Today we feature the Ludovika bootleg but watch the original video as well which features the former members.