Because Miami is a black hole of traffic nightmares (especially this weekend) and I’m so very Miami myself that tardiness is a way of life, I arrive late to my scheduled interview with Miike Snow at this year’s Ultra Music Festival. Luckily, the Swedish-American indie pop trio do some scheduling…
This year, Miami’s Ultra Music Festival turns 18-years-old. Which means, under Ultra’s new age restrictions, it can finally attend itself (while smoking a cigarette). And the festival’s maturity is starting to show. Day one of Ultra was largely a smooth success. Even Mother Nature cooperated (which didn’t happen during last…
With the success of their recent record, Another Eternity, Canadian masters of “future pop,” Purity Ring, find themselves the masters of their own destiny. With their first record, Shrines, everything, from production to recording, was handled by the duo of Megan James (vocals) and Corin Roddick (instrumentals), mostly via the…
With Ultra Miami exactly one week away, now is a good time to start planning your festival schedule. Check out the full UMF 2016 lineup and set times below. Friday, March 18 Main Stage 11:00 p.m. MArtin GArrix 9:55 p.m. DJ Snake 8:50 p.m. Armin van Buuren 7:45 p.m. Kaskade…
So you didn’t get a ticket to Ultra Miami this year? We’re sorry to hear that. But you’ll still be able to experience UMF 2016 from afar. This year, like last year and the year before that, Ultra will be live streaming the action across the interwebs. Live from from an…
In a few short years, EDM vocalist Vassy has found unexpected international acclaim in unlikely places. She’s had songs appear on shows like Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy. The song she did with David Guetta and Showtek, “Bad,” reached number one on charts from Finland to South Korea and back…
Any Miamian who has so much as thought about being in a band probably knows the name Oski Gonzalez. The Miami local has been putting on shows since he was 15. He booked bands for Tobacco Road since 2006 and is single-handedly responsible for some of the best local shows…
Many like to segment dance music and compartmentalize artists, but often times that’s the difference between producers and fans. “I don’t know what the fuck deep house is,” Danish artist Kölsch told us from his home in Copenhagen. “I guess I know what the definitions of the of the different…
Every year in March, over 70,000 fans, musical acts, 50-plus food vendors and dozens of merchandise exhibitors converge on Sun Life Stadium in the City of Miami Gardens for Jazz in the Gardens. This year marks the eleventh edition of the show, and boasts a lineup including Usher, Charlie Wilson,…
Four years ago, Patrick Topping was just another dude from England wandering the South Beach strip, hopping from party to party, getting his mind totally blown by Miami Music Week, Winter Music Conference, and the hundreds of satellite parties around the city. This year, he’s back to play Ultra Music…
Laidback Luke is wearing a black flat-top Nike hat. His bedroom, or at least the part of it visible on Skype, is decorated in all black and white. It makes sense this guy likes South Beach. He basically sleeps in a room that looks like the Cadillac Hotel. He’s with…
About three-quarters of the way through the show, Rihanna took a moment in between songs to thank her band and crew. Pointing towards the ceiling, she gave a shout out to the folks working the lights. “They haven’t taken a shit for two hours,” she explained with a smirk. The…
For the last month of 2013, Pete Tong kept a secret that might’ve made his mother cry. In November, he’d answered a call from his manager regarding what Tong calls a “bizarre” proposal. After nearly 40 years in the music industry, the legendary British DJ and radio host was invited…
Matriphagy; noun: A condition in which the young cannibalize their creator to survive. It’s a practice common among crab spiders, whose mothers sacrifice themselves to trigger the predatory instinct. The younger generation doesn’t kill in bad blood. Overwhelming, the parent is necessary for growth, the only way to fulfill the…
If you ask most people to list three things the world needs less of, they’ll likely say war, disease, and spiders. In fact, arachnophobia is one of the most common fears in America. It’s practically stamped into our psyche. At some point in mankind’s evolutionary past, getting caught in an…
DJ Khaled’s career has always been a bit of an anomaly. From the outside, his rise to fame has been a confusing ordeal that is both fun to watch and hard to explain. And over the last year, his success on Snapchat has allowed him to reach a national fame…
At the age of 15, Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman listened to garage music on pirate radio and got around London with the help of a couple fake IDs. They went to a lot of raves — the old school, hardcore kinds — and listened to early Orbital and Prodigy…
If all you do during Miami Music Week is chase marquee names from party to party, you’re doing it wrong. At its core, this week has always been about discovering new acts and sounds. The days of Daft Punk spinning at local clubs and poolside are certainly over (yes, that…
With throngs of spring breakers set to invade the 305 for nonstop partying this Miami Music Week, it’s hard not to be in awe of how quickly dance music has been commodified. The genre is now also a lifestyle that can be sold by energy drinks and liquor brands. Then…
So you’re going to Ultra this year. Maybe you’re a first-timer, or perhaps you’re a veteran. Maybe you’re going for the music, or maybe you’re going for the atmosphere. The point is, you’re going. And so are somewhere north of 50,000 other people. When you get that many bodies together…
It was bound to happen eventually. The fact that it took Miami this long to invent a champagne machine gun is actually quite surprising considering that both items played an essential role in the formation of this great city. But it’s finally here. And it can be yours for only…
Paul van Dyk’s annual visit to Miami will not happen this year. The German trance legend fell 20-feet off the main stage during his February 27 set at A State of Trance 750 in Utrecht, Holland. He was airlifted to an Amsterdam hospital where he was treated for a concussion…
