There’s lots of Ultra-related news to get to today… First up, the festival has announced its dates for 2014, but also of note is that Swedish House Mafia, who famously handed in their wings at this year’s UMF, have got some surprises up their collective sleeves. Read on to see what they’ve got brewing.
As the newest and youngest member of the dirtybird crew, 20-year-old Justin Jay proudly reps his SoCal roots, bringing LA’s laid-back vibes into perfect harmony with dirtybird’s trademark groovy funk. After winning a DJ Mag competition at the tender age of 18, Jay released his first track ever on dirtybird in 2010, and in the past three years his stature has only grown. Now, with his Static EP burning up the deep-house charts, we checked in with him to talk NorCal/SoCal beef and having two Justins on one label.
If you happened to attend the dirtybird Players BBQ during this year’s Winter Music Conference in Miami, you were likely treated to Breach’s “Jack” during a very special B2B set with label bosses Claude Vonstroke and Justin Martin. After the second I want your body/Everybody wants your body /So let’s jack line, everyone, myself included, was shouting the lyrics and acting them out—in a rather suggestive manner. And when Laidback Luke played it during his set at Ultra Music Festival, the song became the unofficial anthem for the music week.
Whether it’s the memorable bassline, or the even more memorable lyric, “Jack,” which made its way into our Top 10 just days after its release, is just one of those tracks that has “instant classic” stamped all over it. We caught up with the Brit behind the song, Ben Westbeech (aka Breach), who is currently posted up in the Netherlands, to talk about making hits, studio tricks, and the dream that inspired the infamous “Jack.”
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Really, who out there doesn’t like Daft Punk? If our Facebook page is any indication, the French duo is pretty much the only brand in dance music that everyone can agree on. So, with that challenge, one writer recently went in search of people who don’t like them—click on through to see what he found.
Like most things we look forward to in life, Miami Music Week and Ultra Music Festival have already come and gone, tipping off the start of festival season in a massive fashion. Despite the fact that MMW and Winter Music Conference alone could make for the ultimate week-long vacation of a lifetime, this year UMF took on the daunting task of placing over 200 artists into two weekends, and more than pulled it off. Although it would be entirely impossible to mention every killer party and every set of the entire week, we’ve highlighted a number of top experiences at Ultra and MMW that made the trip an unforgettable one.
In the spirit of choosing a big track for Miami, I can’t help but gravitate towards the Dirtybird Players comp—and Kill Frenzy’s and Nick Monaco’s “Black Girls White Girls,” in particular. Why? One, it’s just juicily awesome. And two, this track, with its many different movements, will pretty much slot into any set.
The roundup is just jammed with news today. Whether it’s Claude VonStroke talking about his early encounters with “Harlem Shake,” videos from Adana Twins and Franko Ovalles, a trap tutorial from Dubspot, or tracks from your favorite artists downrezzed to MIDI, it’s high time you click through and get hip to a veritable treasure trove of electronic music goings-on.
We’re extremely excited to announce that Eats Everything will be coming to our Berlin office for a Beatport Live stream on Friday, March 8.
Justin Martin and Eats Everything have been making a splash on Dirtybird label for a while now, but last year’s successful solo releases, BBC Radio 1 Essential mixes, and non-stop touring schedules accompanied by a summer residency in Ibiza have just further cemented their—and their label’s—place amongst dance music’s finest.
