The breadth of DJ-producer Uros Umek’s achievements during the course of his two-decade career simply cannot be overstated. Not only did he help kick-start the local electronic dance music scene in his native Slovenia after the fall of the Iron Curtain but he went on to conquer the global techno…

Just like rock ‘n’ roll, once used by the counterculture to liberate minds and stick it to The Man before selling out to MTV, electronic dance music was also once a music of spiritual liberation and transcendence. Then it became “EDM” and commercial Top 40 radio fodder. This was back…

One of the things that US electronic music fans have to envy the most about the UK scene is its diversity of sounds. For decades, it’s been a creative hotbed for all sorts of experimental styles and hybrids, from jungle and drum ‘n’ bass to UK garage, grime, dubstep, and…

He might be a relative newcomer to the international dance music scene, but Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (AKA Orlando Higginbottom) certainly landed with a meteoric bang. Trouble, his critically acclaimed 2012 debut artist album, was an iTunes and DJ Mag pick for Electronic Album of the Year. It would also…

New Zealand production duo Mt. Eden (AKA Harley Rayner and Jesse Cooper) are perfectly emblematic of the sensational overnight success today’s young EDM stars enjoy thanks to viral online exposure. Take 2009 breakthrough hit, “Sierra Leone,” which received tens of millions of YouTube views before it even got an official…

Some people go to the club expecting cheap, vapid entertainment. You know, Top 40 sing-alongs they can remember the lyrics to even after that sixth vodka and Red Bull. But others go to the club expecting a musical education. And underground house and techno lovers looking to get schooled couldn’t…

Nicole Moudaber is a veritable cultural force, a fearless revolutionary. She was organizing the very first electronic dance music parties that the Lebanese capital of Beirut saw in the years following its horrific civil war. It was a dangerous time for anyone, let alone a woman pushing a Western music…

Miami, meet Dude Skywalker, a trio that’s “time-traveled from the year 3046 to bring you dance music of the future.” “Upon arrival in this dimension, we dropped our first tune, ‘To the Floor,’ which blew up virtually overnight with support from local DJs, an array of Internet blogs, and lots…

Be a music snob and hate on dubstep all you want — some of us here in the 305 live for that sick bass drop, bro. There’s a reason why Miami has always been the City of Bass. And few locals know that better than Juan BassHead. It’s why he’s…

Virtuoso is one phrase that comes to mind to describe Recloose, AKA Matthew Chicoine. Also, master turntablist (not a credential you hear much in this era of laptop “DJs”), multi-instrumentalist producer, band leader, and even music academician molding the minds of electronic dance music’s next generation of DJ-producers. Of course,…

Back in December, we here at Crossfade had a chat with Ben UFO about his Hessle Audio label’s roots in the U.K.’s early underground dubstep scene. Well, David Kennedy (AKA Pearson Sound and Ramadanman) is another Hessle cofounder, not to mention the label’s foremost producer. And he boasts a forward-thinking…

There are few locals that Miami electro-pop darlings Afrobeta haven’t converted into undying fans during their years on the scene. Of course, though, chanteuse Cuci Amador’s sweet Latin freestyle vocals are decidedly feminine and dance-y. So any bro looking for a more aggro masculine sound should definitely check out the…

DJ Sneak (AKA Carlos Sosa) doesn’t need an introduction if you know house music. Sneak has been running around bragging that he’s a house gangster for a while now. And that’s a pretty bold claim. What is a house gangster though? Isn’t that a term more fitting of violence-glorifying rap…

The Río de la Plata (or River Plate) is a 140 mile-wide estuary that separates Argentina and Uruguay. It’s also the place of confluence for the diverse folk music styles Latin Grammy Award-winning Argentinian-Uruguayan collective Bajofondo began blending into their idiosyncratic Rioplantense electronic world fusion in the early 2000s. “What…

The international electronic dance music scene in 2013 is deeply divided. On one hand, you have the fans of “EDM” or generic, commercial dance-pop designed for festivals and stadium arenas. And on the other hand, you have the underground electronic dance music snobs, bitching and moaning because their precious subculture…

BBC Radio 1 DJ and chief global EDM tastemaker Pete Tong’s All Gone: Miami compilation series has become a definite staple of WMC and Miami Music Week. The double-disc mix album, with a disc each mixed by Tong and a guest artist, serves as a yearly snapshot of the international…

As the name suggests, it’s quite a melting pot of international artists at the Foreign Exchange party. Among other countries, there’s Mexico, represented by Balcazar & Sordo, Venezuela by Fur Coat, Spain by El_Txef_A, and Italy by Lula Circus. But the artist who’s scoring the most frequent-flier miles on his…

Forward-thinking EDM nerds (we here at Crossfade included) are totally geeking out about the Hotflush label’s exclusive Winter Music Conference 2013 showcase at the Electric Pickle on March 23. And one of the artists we’re most psyched to see is U.K. DJ/producer George FitzGerald, making his Miami debut. Like his…