Popularity of DJs, including Skrillex, increasing

 

Sonny Moore, a 23-year-old electronic music producer — better known as “Skrillex” — is not only nominated for five Grammy awards this year, but is also the first DJ to ever be nominated in the Best New Artist category.

Most people refer to Skrillex’s style of music as dubstep. Both dubstep and electronic house music have become increasingly popular among young adults over the past few years, providing listeners with an explosion of sound and escape from reality.

Sara Freed said this nomination represents a shift in society’s musical culture.

“There’s definitely a changing trend in music from being based on an artist performing original [music] to artists mixing others’ work,” Freed (sophomore-health and human development) said.

Freed added she mainly listens to dubstep-style music at the gym during her workouts to pump her up and keep her motivated.

Former Interfraternity Council President Dan Florencio also counts himself as a dubstep fan. To him, it is incredible to see someone so young have such a significant impact on the mainstream music scene.

“It shows that he’s leading the charge for dubstep to be mainstream,” Florencio (senior-philosophy) said. “The Grammy nod means a lot for other DJs as well. It’s a win for the whole type of music.”

Skrillex is not the only DJ receiving a warm welcome from the public. Swedish DJ Avicii, who performed at Penn State in November to a packed Bryce Jordan Center, has also gained mainstream success and has acquired a loyal fan base.

The increased interest in electronic music is due to the accessibility of technology and social media outlets, Associate Professor of Music Technology Mark Ballora said. Applications on iPhones and Macs like GarageBand now allow individuals to create their own electronic beats and mixes, Ballora said.

He added that electronic music has a certain other “worldliness” to it because of the way it sounds compared to traditional acoustic music.

“We are part of a world with social media and mobile devices,” Ballora said. “I can imagine [this genre] got a new audience because of [these outlets].”

Skrillex is continuing to record, and he recently released his fourth EP, “Bangarang”, which contains seven tracks that sample music from The Doors and features collaborations with Sirah and other artists.
Skrillex never lacks originality and he provides a variety of sounds on each track, Florencio said.
“He’s got a song for every mood and the way he samples songs is exceptional,” Florencio said.

Electronic dance music hits a groove

Will 2012 be the year for electronic dance music?

With dubstep artist Skrillex nabbing five Grammy Award nominations and superstar DJ deadmau5 landing three, all indicators say yes.

“Skrillex is a purely electronic artist, and getting a best-new-artist nomination is Grammy’s way of acknowledging the rise of EDM (electronic dance music),” says Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at Billboard. The awards “have overlooked EDM artists in the past, like David Guetta and Moby. Skrillex is the face of all EDM at the Grammys.”

Who is Skrillex? With his eerie, spine-tingling samples and grinding bass lines, 23-year-old Sonny Moore — a diminutive, bespectacled Los Angeles-based DJ and producer — is the undeniable leader of dubstep.

“What makes this an incredible achievement is that he has been so successful by being off the radar,” Caulfield says. “Sure, kids know who he is, dance fans know him.” But when the awards show rolls around Feb. 12, “your average music fan won’t have the foggiest idea who he is.”

EDM is having its moment, says electronica pioneer Moby, who broke through to mainstream audiences in 1999 with album Play, which sold 3 million copies.

“For pop stars, their main currency is youth and the record label. For rock stars, their currency is songwriting and their ability to play live,” Moby says. “Electronic music artists are only as good as the last record they played, and their ability to play other people’s records. Luckily, there are a lot of good records out there.”

Last summer yielded a bumper crop of electronic dance festivals, from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, which pulled in 250,000 attendees, to Live Nation-backed IDentity, the first electronica touring festival, which made 20 stops. Dozens more such fests are slated for 2012.

“If you go to a rock concert, there are four people standing onstage playing songs that sound nice,” Moby says. “You go see Skrillex or deadmau5 live, and there’s a huge production value, the lights, the sound. It’s hard not to be impressed.”

The audience for such spectacles is almost certain to get bigger.

“Pop music has become so aggressively uptempo, when people go to search for more of this kind of music, they’re discovering this whole world that exists,” Caulfield says.

BBC Talk To Skrillex In LA

The Beeb head to Los Angeles to interview Sonny Moore aka Skrillex in his creative environment at home.

HARD's Gary Richards Captains One Holy Ship!

For the past half decade L.A.'s HARDfest brand has been behind some of the most riotously wondrous shows on the West Coast and beyond. Now the electronic music events activator is taking to the sea with a few dozen of its very favorite racket-makers, among them Fatboy Slim, A-Trak, Diplo and Skrillex. The voyage is called HOLY SHIP!, and it kicks off Thursday night at Revolution Live. Niteside got with HARD's Gary Richards and had him fill us in on all the action.

What the hell's a Holy Ship and why should we ship out on it? People know us for the HARD Summer and HARD Haunted Mansion festivals, and for a few years I've had the idea of doing a HARD Cruise. Take the acts I book at the festivals -- i.e. Diplo and Skrillex and a lot of the up-and-comers -- and use a giant cruise ship as the venue for the festival.

The name HOLY SHIP! started as a joke, but we all grew to love it. Europeans know that MSC (based out of Italy) is one of the top five cruise fleets in the world, and the Poesia is one of their largest ships. It has a tennis court and gym and spa and sushi bar and the list goes on.  When you really educate people with what we're doing in music and vacation, their eyes pop out of their head. That's why the name HOLY SHIP! just fits.

Who have you got to top this maiden voyage? One of my all-time favorite musicians in the world, Fatboy Slim, is a big draw for me and anyone that partied over the years. Diplo and A-Trak are like the two guys that have really been HARD superstars since early on. I like that you have kids in college or whatever just finding out about them now because they fell in love with a Major Lazer song or a Duck Sauce song; then they come and see these guys in front of an audience. As a DJ, they just own it. A-Trak and Steve Aoki and a few others (Jason Bentley, Gina Turner, Rory Phillips) were all at my first HARD event ever in 2007. That was a crazy night, and right now I feel like I did right before that, like this party is going to be insane.

We also have Rusko, who I first brought to the states in 2009 for his live USA debut.  He's known for really launching dubstep, and I've toured with  him around the country. He's such an awesome performer. Then I got a little lucky with Skrillex. When I started hanging with Sonny a year or so ago, he was really excited that deadmau5 had even listened to his song, nevertheless that he was going to put it out on his label Mau5trap. He told me then he'd been in the audience at my show at HARD Haunted Mansion and always wanted to play it. We made that happen this October, and now Skrillex is like the biggest phenomenon in music in the past year.

That's not all though, right? We have over 40 different bands and DJs performing, plus all their musician friends are on board because it's the vacation of the century. There's four different parties going at any given time and you can hop between them all at your leisure. It's a cruise ship, so you can eat all day for free  and never make your bed because the cleaning crew will come and tidy your cabin. It's a resort that travels to the Bahamas (and a private island) with a whole HARD music festival aboard.

Isn't there also a pre-cruise kickoff? Yeah, we found people are coming in the night before and booking hotels, so we found the best venue in Ft. Lauderdale and we're going to do a whole night of pre-partying there. Major Lazer tops the bill, but we're using two rooms simultaneously and there's a half dozen artists playing.

Will your alter ego Destructo be making an appearance either on board or before the embarking? Yes, I'm going to play both. I've been working on the pre-party set and I think I'm just going to go all out from the get-go. On the boat I'm probably going to do one set that's really grooving, pool party style music like I used to play on vinyl in the summers in L.A., and maybe another set of my newer, mental stuff I've been producing and DJing.

I don't know for sure, one of the things about being a DJ (or being a performer in any capacity) is reacting to what the audience is feeling.

If you had to recommend one item for each Holy Shipmate to bring along, what would it be? Sunscreen.

Anything else we know about Gary Richards before you go-go? "Make it happen" -- those are words to live by.

The Holy Ship! kickoff party takes place Thursday January 5 at Revolution Live. Holy Ship! disembarks Friday January 6. More information about both can be found here.

Into the trance zone

They gave psychedelic trance a fresh sound — triggered it with a new electronic buzz, gave it a dose of heavy metal licks and offered a generous fill of hypnotic arrangements. Twice ranked among world’s 10 Best DJs, the Israel-bred, LA — based duo, Amit Duvdev Duvdevani and Erez Eisen are Infected Mushroom! The duo was in the country to perform at the Sunburn Festival.

The band’s latest offering, Legend of the Black Shawarma sounds more intense, boasting of a strong heavy metal influence. “The album definitely pushes a heavy rock sound, but there are also traces of our typical psychedelic riffs and infectious melodies. We were very happy to collaborate with some of our inspirations such as Perry Farrell and Jonathan Davis. We’re extremely happy with the album’s outcome,” says Erez. Both artistes claim to have been influenced by artistes like Metallica, Pantera and Primus. “Our current favourite electronic artistes are Skrillex, Nero, Feed Me, Randy Seidman, Eitan ‘Fatali’ Carmi,” says Erez.

The first of four singles, Pink Nightmares hit the market early last year. “Pink Nightmares turned out to be a hit, but it started out as a nightmare — it was a bad dream one of our daughters had. When we first performed the tune at Coachella this past year, the dance tent went mental. We recently finished a music video for the single, quite dark and psychedelic,” he adds.

Talking about the latest album, due to release in 2012, Erez says, “We are very excited. The album will be a little less ‘rock-and-roll’ and a little more dance-oriented. You will hear our signature sound applied to a contemporary scene. I don’t want to ‘toot our own horn’ but, for example, dubstep has spread like wildfire and we think our interpretation is strong. What you will hear on the album will make you say ‘oh! this is what it sounds like when dubstep is done well’.”

Back home, in Israel, the duo has a huge fan following. “Many people tell us that they can hear the Middle-Eastern influence in our sounds. I guess this is proof that we are from where we are”, he says, adding, “Over the years, we have spent a lot of time in India, so it is a very special place for us. When we travel to India, we look forward to hanging out with good people. In terms of graciousness, generosity, kindness, warmth — the people of India are second to none.”

deadmau5 to go all the way live in Las Vegas

For deadmau5, there's a world of difference between being a DJ and an electronic dance music (EDM) producer.

"If you want to be called an artist, then you should produce your own music," says the 30-year-old Canadian, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman. "EDM artists need to move away from being human iPods."

If there's any question by now, he prefers to be an electronic music artist. "If people come to a deadmau5 show, I want them to hear deadmau5 music. Just like if I go to a Motley Crue show, I don't want to hear them playing Warrant covers. An artist just can't aspire to being the world's greatest player of other people's music."

If that sounds a little demanding, deadmau5 has the clout to be. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has dubbed Jan. 2 "deadmau5 Day," which marks the beginning of the EDM star's exclusive partnership with Wynn Las Vegas. Zimmerman, wearing one of his signature mouseheads, will burrow in Sin City through 2012, playing at XS and Encore nightclubs for an as-yet-undetermined number of shows.

If he can continue to attract crowds at mainstream and larger venues (he's done stadium shows in San Diego and Toronto), he stands to be the new face of EDM.

"The thing about electronic music is that it's more about the music and production than the individual," says electronica pioneer Moby. "Generally, (EDM artists) are not the most distinctive-looking people. They're nerdy guys who like to make music on their computers. deadmau5 has that very distinctive mouse head. And his shows have a big production value."

He's also up for three Grammy Awards: dance/electronica album (4x4=12), dance recording (Raise Your Weapon, with Greta Svabo Bech) and remix (Foo Fighters' Rope). "I didn't even know that there were that many categories for EDM!" he says.

His nominations weren't the only surprise. "Boom! Five nominations for (EDM artist) Skrillex. His nominations are a win for us all."

More important, what will he wear on the red carpet? "A couple of years ago, I was nominated for a remix and wore a T-shirt that said, 'Your ad here,' " he says with a laugh. "I'm going to do something like that, fake ad, fake company kind of thing."

This summer, deadmau5 became the first EDM artist to headline an all-genre music festival when he topped the bill at Lollapalooza. 4x4=12 spent 54 weeks on Billboard's album chart and peaked at No. 2 on the dance/electronic chart, with 250,000 copies sold to date.

"EDM is the new pop music. It's not just landing on the map, it's developing and growing and being leached into the mainstream," he says. "But that's just how it goes. It's the circle of life. Just because EDM has become popular doesn't mean that it's going to suck, it just means more people are listening to it."

Electronic dance music hits its stride

Uptempo hits by the likes of Skrillex and deadmau5 make their mark on modern music

Will 2012 be the year for electronic dance music?

With dubstep artist Skrillex nabbing five Grammy Award nominations and superstar DJ deadmau5 landing three, all indicators say yes.

“Skrillex is a purely electronic artist, and getting a best-new-artist nomination is Grammy’s way of acknowledging the rise of EDM (electronic dance music),” says Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at Billboard. The awards “have overlooked EDM artists in the past, like David Guetta and Moby. Skrillex is the face of all EDM at the Grammys.”

Who is Skrillex? With his eerie, spine-tingling samples and grinding bass lines, 23-year-old Sonny Moore — a diminutive, bespectacled Los Angeles-based DJ and producer — is the undeniable leader of dubstep.

“What makes this an incredible achievement is that he has been so successful by being off the radar,” Caulfield says. “Sure, kids know who he is, dance fans know him.” But when the awards show rolls around Feb. 12, “your average music fan won’t have the foggiest idea who he is.”

EDM is having its moment, says electronica pioneer Moby, who broke through to mainstream audiences in 1999 with album Play, which sold 3 million copies.

“For pop stars, their main currency is youth and the record label. For rock stars, their currency is songwriting and their ability to play live,” Moby says. “Electronic music artists are only as good as the last record they played, and their ability to play other people’s records. Luckily, there are a lot of good records out there.”

Last summer yielded a bumper crop of electronic dance festivals, from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, which pulled in 250,000 attendees, to Live Nation-backed IDentity, the first electronica touring festival, which made 20 stops. Dozens more such fests are slated for 2012.

“If you go to a rock concert, there are four people standing onstage playing songs that sound nice,” Moby says. “You go see Skrillex or deadmau5 live, and there’s a huge production value, the lights, the sound. It’s hard not to be impressed.”

The audience for such spectacles is almost certain to get bigger.

“Pop music has become so aggressively uptempo, when people go to search for more of this kind of music, they’re discovering this whole world that exists,” Caulfield says.

DJ Premier, Erykah Badu, Crystal Method, and Skrillex

Better late than never. With the holidays its been really hectic. I finally got around to going through my CF cards and worked on these pics. Hyundai and Antenna magazine invited me out to check out their Remix Lab event in DTLA. It was another intimate setting at a great venue that used to be an old bank. As part of their week long event series, I was able to check out the “Re:Generation” event that started with a roundtable discussion with a few key guests. A couple Hyundai project cars were also on display one featuring a full 3D TV in the trunk and another with a complete DJ set-up. Also on display was a gallery displaying “collaborations” between brands, artists, designers, and more. Pretty interesting stuff and great to see brands supporting our culture and recognizing this generation of consumers.

The highlight of the evening was the DJ performances from the legendary DJ Premier, Crystal Method, Skrillex and even singer Erykah Badu got behind the tables for a set.

Kaskade continues to break down walls between electronica, pop

DJ Ryan Raddon's shows have become an international destination — he has two New Year's Eve gigs — even as he tries to put July's Hollywood Boulevard debacle behind him.

As Kaskade, Ryan Raddon is at the forefront of an electronica wave that's sweeping pop music and upending underground dance culture. But after a year when he did almost everything right as a DJ and producer, he's still trying to shake the one concert that went wrong.

The San Clemente-based artist was among the biggest stories in dance music this year, reportedly commanding up to six figures per gig and conquering the global circuit with a double album, "Fire & Ice," that redefined his near-decade-long career and landed in the Billboard Top 20 (with its iTunes release hitting No. 4 on those charts). DJ Times deemed him the best DJ in the world, and he headlined global festivals, including the groundbreaking IDentity dance tour. He'll cap the year with two headlining New Year's Eve performances, jetting between sets at the White Wonderland rave in Anaheim and at Marquee in Las Vegas, the site of his popular year-long monthly club residency.

But in July, at the L.A. premiere of a documentary film on the Electric Daisy Carnival, things went awry. Raddon tweeted that he would be spinning atop an ad-hoc mobile stage on Hollywood Boulevard. Promised "ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!!," thousands of fans swamped the street, leading to a confrontation with police, a shutdown of the boulevard and the media calling it a "riot." Fearful theater chains canceled subsequent screenings of the film, and a public debate flared anew about whether dance music attracts a volatile audience.

For an artist who prides himself on clean living and a relentless work ethic, it was a low moment that, he believes, missed the point of his music.

"It was disappointing on so many levels," he said. Raddon admits that he "didn't anticipate the draw. But it was a bummer how it got played in the media. I always get angry when people make dance music out to be something cheap, where they think it's all about drugs or no one would come."

That such a mishap didn't faze his career is a testament to his demand as a DJ and to the rising tide of dance music worldwide. This coming year may be when Kaskade obliterates the last walls between orthodox rave music and mainstream pop. And despite the Hollywood incident, it might also be the year he helps change the genre's decadent reputation into something more wholesome and maybe even spiritual.

As his recent album title suggests, Raddon's career as Kaskade has been defined by seemingly incompatible elements. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, Raddon was brought up in the Mormon faith, attending Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, where he refrained from the stereotypical dance-culture staples of drugs and drinking. He traveled to Japan for a Mormon mission and speaks fluent Japanese.

After school, he began releasing singles upon taking a job with the San Francisco dance label Om and released his first full-length in 2003, putting out albums roughly every two years and moving to the influential Ultra label in 2006. As he entered the top flight of global DJs, however, the 40-year-old snowboarder and married father of three kept strong ties to his faith. He cites the atmosphere and emotion of religious music as one of his chief influences as a dance producer.

"There are real similarities. Listening to music is such an uplifting, spiritual thing," Raddon said. "It's far-fetched to some, I understand that. But the way dance music brings people together, it's not a big stretch from hymns."

Incantatory, melodic vocals are what sets his tracks apart from the morass of dance peers. Pop has thoroughly accepted dance music sounds, and artists like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga (Raddon has remixed for both) have deployed them for huge hits. But the reverse has been slower to take hold — orthodox dance producers usually structure songs around micromanaged samples and long-simmering bass drops rather than verses and choruses.

Raddon's sound has been arcing in a songwriterly direction for years, and on "Fire & Ice," he fully settled into a template where he uses the inventiveness of dance and the hit-making aspects of pop.

He collaborated with rising artists as disparate as the ADD-dubstep producer Skrillex, peacocking rock band Neon Trees and the Eminem and Dr. Dre vocalist Skylar Grey, alongside dance-scene singers like Haley Gibby and Becky Jean Williams. His forthcoming single, "Room for Happiness," rides big washes of synths and Grey's whispered encouragement — "Don't be fooled by your emptiness, there's so much more room for happiness." "Lessons in Love" has the seductive sonic energy needed on a packed dance floor but with the lyrical self-doubt of an angsty rock band.

"In the beginning, I was so hung up on production, tweaking perfect sounds and spending hours getting the right snare drum," Raddon said. "Now I'd rather be involved in a song where the words and melody mean more. It took Lady Gaga to really put a light on that, where you can have artistry in a fun dance song. She made the underground pay attention."

That growing underground may be the biggest development in the live music business.

Dance music has long been the default mode of European pop, and in the last few years American stars have caught up sonically. But the more interesting aspect might be the sweep of festivals like Electric Daisy (which played in Las Vegas this year to bigger daily crowds than Coachella) and young artists like Skrillex and Deadmau5, who became amphitheater-filling stars. Kaskade's Marquee residency heralded not just a major artist growing his reputation but an entire business model in which dance music is a self-sufficient entertainment attraction in the U.S.

"He was a top priority for us to join the DNA of what Marquee was all about," said Jason Strauss, co-founder of Strategic Hospitality Group, which manages Marquee and other popular Las Vegas and New York clubs including Tao, Avenue and Lavo.

Marquee, which opened in January, invested $3 million in an LED screen to showcase visuals for Kaskade's sets, which regularly sold out its 3,000-guest capacity and became an international destination.

Strauss notes the sex appeal of a Kaskade set, citing his singles' sultry vocals and his "fierce female fan loyalty." Promoters know that where the women go, money follows. Thus, Raddon can now reportedly demand up to $200,000 a night for tour dates, which require few of the logistical trappings and financial outlays of a touring rock band.

But what about that mission? Dance music is America's most important new sound and scene, but it's also still battling a rowdy reputation. The kind it might take a God-fearing, bass-dropping teetotaler to undo.

"It's still shocking to me to see this acceptance," he says of electronica's popularity. "I love this music so much, and I didn't think this day was coming."

Seattle Shakeup: How Sub Pop Changed Again In 2011

Here's a scenario: You come home for Christmas, call up your old punk rock buddies, and find out they're really into hip-hop and dance music now. Catching up, you pretend to understand words like "chillwave" and "dubstep," taking their word for it that those are, in fact, real things.

That's what's going on right now with Seattle's Sub Pop Records, known for bringing fringe rock music to the masses for over 20 years.

The label kicked off grunge in the '90s, signing Seattle bands Nirvana and Soundgarden before anyone outside the city knew about them and followed that by popularizing indie rock in the aughts, developing the genre from snarky and gnarly in the '90s to soft and smart today, where it sits as one of the dominant sounds on pop radio.

Opposed to genre-reliable labels like Daptone Records or Hyperdub, where you know you're going to get revival-style soul music or electronic underground sounds, Sub Pop has a history of flipping the script. For example, it followed a string of indie rock hits with a flurry of records by comedy acts, including Flight of the Conchords and David Cross.

But Sub Pop's musical releases have always leaned toward rock which made it surprising that they spent 2011 putting out rap and dance music by Shabazz Palaces, Niki & the Dove and Washed Out. The trend will continue in 2012. In March, the label will release outre hip-hop albums from new signees THEESatisfaction (Awe Naturale) and Spoek Mathambo (Father Creeper).

The old Sub Pop was about guitars and amps. The new one is about samplers and software.

What's the deal?

The short answer is the new music is good. Shabazz Palaces lit up critics' best of 2011 lists with its far-out album Black Up. To get the long answer, I spoke with Tony Kiewel, head of the label's A&R department (artists and repertoire, which signs new bands) and vice president Megan Jasper.

Kiewel sits in on the third floor of the downtown Seattle building where Sub Pop is located, his cubicle walls thumb-tacked with a personal photo of Elliott Smith and a sign that says "must be interesting / must not be a dick."

Asked about other A&R prejudices besides those two, he says homophobia is a staff-wide turn-off, as are bands who feel like trend-followers or "are doing it to get paid or get free drinks."

"And we tend to skew toward things with strong lyrics. The Postal Service, the Shins, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine all great lyricists, in my opinion."

Around the corner in a glass-walled office, Jasper says Kiewel has a gift for knowing what's "next" in music. He joined Sub Pop in 2000 and his first big success story was the duo Postal Service indie rock singer Ben Gibbard and electronic producer Dntel whose crossover sound is still being copied by major label acts like Owl City.

One imagines A&Rs lurking in nightclubs like baseball scouts at ball fields, but they mainly surf the Internet, discovering music by the 21st century version of word of mouth. Kiewel has a list of music blogs bookmarked in his web browser. One of his favorites is ravensingstheblues.blogspot.com, focusing on psychedelic and garage rock styles which Sub Pop employees generally love, if the staff top ten lists on subpop.com are any indication.

Kiewel learned about his most recent signee South African rapper/DJ/graphic artist Spoek Mathambo last year through a semi-private email list which includes the general manager of Domino Records and several music writers, based out of New York City.

Kiewel leads an eight-person A&R team at Sub Pop, but new acts are chosen by committee. Per the politics of the office, ownership is out. Nobody is allowed to refer to an act as "my artist."

If Kiewel's personal tastes are leaning a little "poppier" these days, so are Sue Busch and Stuart Meyer's A&R team members responsible for bringing in Fleet Foxes (whose neo-folk album "Helplessness Blues" was Sub Pop's biggest record this year, and one of the year's highest-selling vinyl releases in any genre), Niki & the Dove and Washed Out. Kiewel thinks the A&R team might lean a little more pop than it used to because it is operating without Andy Kotowicz, a "deep reservoir of cultural knowledge" and Sub Pop pillar who died last year in a freak car accident. Kotowicz championed Seattle's Shabazz Palaces, whose "Black Up" can be described as "a difficult listen," as well as noisy bands like Wolf Eyes.

Kiewel has a loose definition of "pop," describing Swedish electro-goth act Niki & the Dove like a sommelier: "super poppy, which I love, and I also get a huge Kate Bush hit."

Another thing informing Kiewel's A&R decisions: he wants to see more intelligent political discourse in the world. That's why he brought in the comedy albums by Cross, who raged against the Bush II era, and partly what piques his interest in Shabazz Palaces and fellow Seattle act THEESatisfaction, who address race and identity politics in their music. Kiewel was listening a lot to '60s/'70s protest singer Phil Ochs when he found out about Mathambo, and heard something of Ochs' spirit in Mathambo's raps criticizing Boer culture and the African National Congress in South Africa.

As far as predicting the "now" in pop music, Sub Pop was on the money with Fleet Foxes, whose folk-pop sound is popular in the underground and mainstream. Shabazz Palaces was a win, too and characteristically and weirdly enough, both acts are from Sub Pop's backyard in Seattle.

Sub Pop has long signed local bands, though its focus is worldwide, and over the last decade, the city has changed a lot. Generally, the move has been for the sleeker and more glossy. It's still a woodsy place, but with more skyscrapers and sonic diversity in its underground scene. Grunge rock was spiritually connected to the area's formerly thriving logging industry. Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction sound like technology, like Microsoft. The label's new sound is also influenced by the world in general, in thrall to the mega-raves of popular DJs like Skrillex with everyone appreciating electronic-music values more than they used to (production, engineering, sonic sculpture), a product of the proliferation of earbuds and Apple's model doing a decent job with low-end frequencies. Home recording software is easy to get. Kids want to be DJs more than before. The shape of "singer-songwriter" has changed.

"I know a lot of people who feel like what is happening in the electronic world is far more exciting than what's happening in the rock world," Jasper says. "But for me, I can't say it matters one way or another or that it even means anything. To us it's a roster, and it's music. It's not grunge music, it's not folk music, it's not electronic music."

But Sub Pop's interest in the genre puts it in good company with labels around the world who are looking for the sound of tomorrow in electronic music.

London's 4AD is known for putting out legendary, arty, angry rock like Sub Pop. Their Nirvana would be the Pixies, for example. But this year, 4AD got involved with acts associated with the British dance music dubstep, signing Zomby and Joker, from London and Bristol. By the same token, Domino Recordings, which started out in the '90s, like Sub Pop, with a heavy rock bias, is now known for releasing records by Animal Collective and Four Tet, acts who appeal to an indie audience but construct songs out of repetitive rhythms and overlayed samples.

Sometimes, the branching out can be clumsy. In electronic music, artists develop at light speed, and the producer you love today might make horrible music tomorrow. Many of the trends in electronic music are based on finding new sounds or taking something to "the next level," but those trends can turn to parody quickly. And while rock is an album thing, electronic music has traditionally been about 12" singles. All this was at play in the case of Joker, who stood out in front of the pack with his early recordings, but whose album for 4AD ended up blending in.

There seemed to be a bit of this cultural confusion when Sub Pop signed Washed Out, from Georgia, who helped invent the chillwave genre in the last few years a hip-hop-y take on ambient synth grooves that scans as indie pop to many fans. It's a genre that might have some DNA in the Postal Service record, with its wistful moods and bedroom-produced indie/electronic music. Ten years later, those energies swirl in Toro Y Moi and Washed Out's tunes, which come in digital file format but often seem to be wafting out of a cassette. Washed Out's album for Sub Pop wasn't bad, but the hazy, slacker feel of chillwave doesn't do well with the pressure of a full album Within and Without is a good record caught between trying to be stoned and relaxed but also proper synth pop.

Kiewel says every act is on Sub Pop because employees are feeling that music, not because the label is trying to align itself with any momentum or movement.

On the surface, an artistically-adventurous/black-pride aesthetic ties together Shabazz Palaces, Mathambo and THEESatisfaction. And Jasper says yes, that is what's next for Sub Pop. But whether that's what's next for the world outside Sub Pop, she doesn't know. It's not a movement, to her, but individual acts with unique perspectives.

Kiewel says indie rock is too white, and so is Sub Pop, frankly, but what can you do about it? He insists that Sub Pop is not trying to color correct its roster, and even with Mathambo, a South African musician who makes rap influenced both by traditional sounds as well as dubstep and electronic music, genres get crossed.

"His record was very dubstep and electro, but we had a conversation that blew my mind when he said he was recently getting turned on to Red House Painters, stuff that seemed outside his sphere and in my sphere, and the general Sub Pop sphere. And he was becoming really excited about stuff like the Stooges. He was like, 'It was only a couple years ago I started getting into all this white-people music.'"

"And I was like, 'Cool .... I don't know what that means, exactly, to you. I don't know what that means in South Africa."

Kiewel says, "I think the public has perceived these radical shifts in sound [at Sub Pop] which there have been. But we've always tried to maintain a certain balance. Even in the grunge days there was [acoustic band] the Walkabouts."

Jasper cites the same example, and offers that pioneering indie rock band Sebadoh was not seen as logically following Nirvana in the '90s, when Sub Pop released its music. People get locked into their conception of Sub Pop notice nearly every writer who touched Shabazz Palaces calls it "Sub Pop's first hip-hop album," when in fact there was a rap group in the '90s, The Evil Tambourines, and a distribution deal with Conception Records, a hip-hop label, around the same time. But luckily for music in general, its employees aren't overly attached to a certain perspective. Jasper admits she doesn't have the gift of knowing what's next in music, and is happy to cede control to Kiewel, with his fusion-oriented palette and shrewdness in sourcing information. She started out as an intern and has historically been anti- any and all genre tags, especially "grunge."

She says the face of Sub Pop is always changing, and pet projects of its employees seem to line up with "the economy, or politics or whatever force is currently having an impact."

"I like to think about [Sub Pop] like a history book, where we can document what is beginning to happen in music. And then that is probably also a reflection of what is happening culturally."

Feature: Jam band evolution

You can learn a lot about a music festival by which artists get the large-font treatment. When the Rothbury Festival first hit western Michigan in 2008, most of the biggest, boldest names were what you might expect from a neo-hippie gathering — Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band.

A closer look revealed new influences creeping into the jam-band festival circuit. Hip-hop, indie rock and ska — Snoop Dogg, even — peppered the playbill, but perhaps the most surprising development was the inclusion of electronics-infused acts like Galactic, Disco Biscuits and STS9. Even a few DJs made the cut.

By the time Rothbury returned in 2011, it had been rechristened the Electric Forest Festival and DJs Tiesto, Bassnectar and Pretty Lights dominated the marquee. A scene once defined by endless guitar solos was now fully infiltrated by those who unleash throbbing digital bass with the push of a button.

“The DJ/electronic scene and the jam scene … it’s almost like joining forces, and they’re making a super scene now,” said Rob Chafin, drummer for Ohio “psychedelic dance rock” band The Werks.

It’s a brave new world, and on New Year’s Eve many aspects of it will converge in Columbus.

The Werks and Ohio-born “live electronics” jammers Papadosio — both were on the Electric Forest bill this year — will co-headline the LC this Friday and Saturday in a flurry of traditional rock instruments comingling with laptops and synthesizers. On the second night, a lineup of DJs will join the band. Among them is rising Columbus DJ/VJ duo roeVy, who made a splash in September at The Werks’ camping-centric Werk Out festival in Bellefontaine.

While the Grateful Dead logo isn’t that different from roeVy’s demonic robot masks, this is not a development most people anticipated. Skrillex and The String Cheese Incident seem like strange bedfellows.

Yet there they are side by side on many a festival lineup, with bands like Papadosio and The Werks bridging the gap.

Papadosio, now based in Asheville, North Carolina, formed in 2006 from jam sessions at Ohio University hippie haven O’Hooley’s. They began as a straightforward classic-rock jam band, but electronics seeped in quickly.

“The genre is so huge that it kind of envelops every style,” Papadosio guitarist Anthony Thogmartin said. “When Billy [Brouse] showed up, he had an analog synthesizer, and that was what we jammed with. The computer happened on stage maybe three months into playing.”

The Werks, founded in the Dayton jam-band scene around the same time, experienced a similar progression: “We’re definitely more electronic sounding than we used to be,” Chafin said.

Credit the proliferation of music festivals in part for the merging of movements. From Tennessee’s 80,000-strong Bonnaroo down to the Werk Out festival, which drew 1,500 this year, large outdoor events are acting as a Petri dish for new music discovery. Not only are DJs and live electronic bands in the mix; funk and bluegrass are resurgent, too. In such an open-minded (and sometimes drug-fueled) environment, anything goes.

Colin Garchar is a walking manifestation of the new-school festival scene: A white college student in a hemp necklace who attends Umphrey’s McGee concerts, vibes out to Pretty Lights’ psychedelic DJ sets and participates in freestyle cyphers with Columbus rap royalty. When the ball drops this New Year’s Eve, so will “Apocalypse Inc. Vs. Pretty Lights - Future Science,” an online album of Pretty Lights rap remixes by Garchar’s hip-hop group, Apocalypse Inc., featuring contributions from Garchar’s mentor, Copywrite, and Los Angeles underground hip-hop star Element.

Garchar, who hands out demos at Bonnaroo every year and performed there in 2009, sees the project as a chance to continue breaking down walls.

“Basically what I’m trying to do is just bring people together with this album,” Garchar said. “If we’re not being progressive when we’re making music, then what are we doing?”

Jam bands consuming other styles isn’t a new phenomenon.

“The jam band thing has always been an amalgam of a bunch of things,” said Eric Lanese, drummer for Ekoostik Hookah, which has been touring since 1991 and hosting its semi-annual Hookahville festivals since 1994. “After a while, people’s tastes change.”

Hookah, which will play its annual New Year’s Eve show at Newport Music Hall this Saturday, has been around long enough to see lots of permutations of the jam band scene. And Lanese knows his history well enough to know that what’s going on at festivals now has been happening in spurts since the ’60s.

“Bill Graham was putting bands together on the same stage way back when,” Lanese said. “I think Buddy Rich opened for The Grateful Dead.”

The progression isn’t always smooth. Garchar, for one, can’t stand dubstep DJs. And Papadosio’s Thogmartin knows lots of musicians who get upset when DJs double their crowd. But in a genre geared toward blasting through genre walls to discover new experiences, the tide doesn’t seem to be turning away from DJs and jam bands coexisting. Bands like The Werks and Papadosio are happy to keep exploring the gap as long as there are new surprises to be found.

“We’re going to try until we can’t do it anymore,” Thogmartin said, “to continue to be the wild-card band.”

EDM’s Breakthrough Artists of 2011

2011 was a huge year for dance music. The dance music community saw a massive boom in interest, and the number of EDM fans–in America in particular–has spiked dramatically. This, of course, is great news for the community, and even better news for the artists. Many artists have emerged as some of the best in the game this year. Some of them were virtually unknown before 2011. Some of them were artists who were already established within the EDM community, but after a massive year in 2011, have achieved stadium status and mainstream popularity. Here is my list of the artists for whom 2011 served as a pivotal year in their journey to the top. 

Deniz Koyu 

When I first heard Deniz Koyu’s “Tung!” and “Hydra” this summer, there was no doubt in my mind that this man was going places. Sure enough, I was not alone in my sentiments, and 2011 saw some of the biggest names in the industry incorporating Koyu’s music into their sets. Later in the year, Koyu released his hits “Hydra” and his remix of James Blunt’s “Dangerous” with Johan Wedel, both of which were some of the most successful tracks of the fall 2011 season. Be on the lookout for big things in 2012 from Deniz Koyu. 

Quintino & Sandro Silva

Both of these artists are, well, ‘epic’ in their own right, but when the two producers came together to create a track, they produced one of the biggest hits of the year. “Epic” is an absolute banger, winning the hearts of fans worldwide. It even got to #1 on the iTunes overall charts in Holland. Music festival Tomorrowland put out an after-movie of the festival that went viral, featuring many songs, including “Epic”. The song has certainly generated a lot of attention this year, and its success is a testament to the great artists who produced it. 

Nervo 

Nervo is Olivia and Miriam Nervo, twin models, DJs, and producers. The duo has achieved worldwide fame and success, with 2011 being a huge year for their musical careers. Along with venerated EDM artists Afrojack, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, they produced the official Tomorrowland anthem, “The Way We See The World,” and toured around the United States for Identity Festival this year.

Nicky Romero

Nicky Romero is starting to become a household name after a massive year in 2011. With hits like “Camorra”, “Bootcamp”, “Beta” with Hardwell, and most recently “Toulouse”, Romero is becoming one of the most popular acts in the EDM scene. His remix of Green Velvet’s “Flash” was heard in almost every prominent DJ’s sets at EDC this summer, and David Guetta cited him as the top breakout performer of 2011 when he was named #1 DJ in the world by DJ Mag’s annual poll.

Porter Robinson

Everyone’s favorite high school aged producer, Porter Robinson, had a huge year. He quickly skyrocketed to fame, and by early 2011, he was known as one of the biggest DJs in the world. He released a massive EP entitled “Spitfire”, and even accompanied music legend Tiesto on his College Invasion Tour, drawing in huge crowds. I expect that more huge things are on the horizon for this talented young producer.

Avicii 

The Swedish sensation became one of the most beloved acts in dance music. At least one of his big room progressive house hits are heard in practically every major DJ set, and he is an absolute fan favorite. His song “Levels” is arguably the single biggest dance music song of 2011, and has been remixed by numerous artists; it was even sampled by Flo Rida for his song “Good Feeling.” Avicii is unstoppable.

Skrillex 

Skillex is largely responsible for the popularization of dance music, and has helped to bridge the gap between dance music and the mainstream. Seemingly overnight, he went from relatively unknown to one of the world’s most popular artists in 2011. From my 12 year old sister, to seasoned veteran dance music fans, it seems as though everyone is a Skrillex fan. Skrillex recently received an unprecedented five Grammy nominations, a huge feat for a dance music artist. Skrillex is undoubtedly a pioneer, and has made valuable contributions to the world of music.

2012 Skrillex Tickets: New Year’s Eve, NYC & L.A.

Coming of a year in which he exploded onto the electronic music scene, Skrillex will attempt to take is stardom to new heights in 2012. He has already announced two multi-night runs in both New York and Los Angeles that will see him performing at a different venue each night out. The Grammy Award-winning DJ will also be throwing a New Year’s Eve party in Milwaukee at the Eagles Ballroom on December 31, 2011. Anyone who has ever attended a Skrillex Concert will tell you that the show is like nothing they have ever experienced, which is one of the main reasons for his surge in popularity: the live performance. If you plan on seeing Sonny John Moore (that’s his real name) producing beats in-person in 2012, you can get your Skrillex Tickets for every show currently schedule right here at BroadRippleTickets.com.

Sonny Moore was formerly the frontman for the emo band From First to Last, which he left in 2007 to pursue his solo electronic music project. Now known as Skrillex, Moore has seen a steady rise in popularity in the past five years, and totally exploded into the mainstream in 2011. His album Scary Monster and Nice Sprites earned him five Grammy Award nominations, and with each live performance his audience grew, to the point he was selling out venues in a matter of minutes. 2012 doesn’t figure to be any different, and in fact Skrillex may even reach Deadmau5 level of popularity if he continues cranking out hit songs in the new year. If you want to see him perform on NYE, or in New York or Los Angeles (or anywhere else Moore may be DJing), get your Skrillex Concert Tickets as soon as possible, as these will be some of the most in demand Concert Tickets of 2012.

Trippy Skrillex

A girl who looks like Skrillex

Caspa, Writer and more San Diego concerts

TV Girl, Mord Fustang and The Fire Eaters are just some of the acts we’re stoked about this week

Wednesday, Dec. 21

PLAN A: Caspa, Photek @ Voyeur. Back when Skrillex was still a singer in a screamo band, London producer Caspa brought dubstep to its heaviest heights with “Rubber Chicken,” a ghostly track released in 2006 that’s guided by a woozy, wobbling, ridiculously over-sized subsonic bass line. Plenty of artists have tried to top that track in the years since—making some seriously shitty music in the process—but there’s still nothing quite like it. PLAN B: Stevie & The Hi- Stax @ Bar Pink. When he’s singing with local funk favorites The Styletones, singer Steve Harris gets sweaty and wild. But with his band Stevie & The Hi-Stax, he tends to slow things down a bit, singing in a throaty croon to focus more on his soulful side. BACKUP PLAN: Flat Wheeler, New York Taxi, Drew Smith, Carson White @ Tin Can Ale House.

Thursday, Dec. 22

PLAN A: TV Girl, Tropical Popsicle, Clockart, Kynan @ Soda Bar. Sample-happy indie-pop group TV Girl recently dropped a characteristically catchy new single in September, “Girls Like Me,” that finds them striking a balance between heartwarming ’60s pop and hard-edged hip-hop. Tropical Popsicle, meanwhile, have been getting lots of buzz (on these pages, in particular) for their gloomy synths, hypnotic riffs and alluring, smoke-machine-aided live show. PLAN B: The Widows, Stephen Rey & The Slicks, Low Volts, Marsupials @ The Casbah. Local rockers The Widows don’t play any fancy solos or dress up in funny costumes, they just throw down loud, fast, no-frills rock ’n’ roll. Stephen Rey & The Slicks sound a bit more old-fashioned, what with their crooning vocals and twanging guitar licks, but they’re just as rockin’. BACKUP PLAN: Jahkobeats, Lion Sound System, Apex Realm, Gene Flow, Vegan Flytrap @ Kava Lounge.

Friday, Dec. 23

PLAN A: Writer, Miniature Tree, Ditches @ Soda Bar. I’m always excited to see Writer, a great local duo that’s crafted a weird, enthralling type of urban folk. This is one of their last live shows before they shove off for New York City in January, and they’ll probably end up getting a record deal, so catch them while you can. PLAN B: Clepto, Abject, The Scoundrels, DJ Tu Camote @ Shakedown Bar. Clepto’s members originally hail from Cyprus and Canada, but the band formed in Saudi Arabia.

And if you listen closely to their ass-kicking punk-metal, you can make out occasional snippets of Arabic melody along with their head-banging riffs and grinding rhythms. BACKUP PLAN: Cash’d Out, The Palominos, DJ Gonzo @ Belly Up.

Saturday, Dec. 24

PLAN A: Mord Fustang @ Voyeur. Had enough eggnog and cookies for the night? Work it off at this dance party, featuring Estonia’s version of Jamuel Saxon: DJ / producer Mord Fustang. He might not have the same hipster appeal, but his electro-house bangers have all the randy energy of a cybernetic pleasure bot. PLAN B: Exile on Kettner Blvd. @ The Casbah. Keeping with an annual Christmas tradition, a bunch of local musicians will jam while Santa climbs down chimneys. See Page 14 for details.

Sunday, Dec. 25

PLAN A: DJ Groundfloor, David Afterlife, Blancnoire @ El Dorado. At one of the only shows happening on Christmas night, these electronic dance music DJs will spread holiday cheer with a veritable Santa’s bag of club-ready remixes and oonce-oonce beats.

BACKUP PLAN: Tribe of Kings @ U-31.

Monday, Dec. 26

PLAN A: The Fire Eaters @ Bar Pink. Featuring members of the soul-music brain trust that is The Styletones (see Wednesday), The Fire Eaters specialize in instrumental soul-jazz jams that would’ve fit well in a scene from Shaft. With their smoky organ, wah-wah guitar and in-the-pocket drums, they’re dark, funky and damn sexy. BACKUP PLAN: Gran Sasso, Black Dragon River, The Plastic Revolution @ The Casbah.

Tuesday, Dec. 27

PLAN A: Nero (DJ set), Headshake & Osal8, Organized Grime @ House of Blues.

Named after the bloodthirsty Roman emperor, London dubstep duo Nero specialize in all things fist-pumping and epic. Indeed, Nero himself might’ve even chosen the mix planned for tonight as the soundtrack to a rousing gladiator vs. lion match at the Colosseum. PLAN B: Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven @ Belly Up. As per holiday tradition, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven songwriter David Lowery will stop by for a two-set extravaganza featuring classics like “Euro-Trash Girl” and “Take the Skinheads Bowling.” BACKUP PLAN: Thieves of the American Dream, Movus, Four Kings @ Soda Bar.

Concert review: Skrillex at The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City

His masterful production and unrelenting performance made for a mind-melting spectacle this past Friday night; with video.

Skrillex's Friday night show at The Ritz Ybor selling out three-and-a-half months in advance probably signifies some sort of music apocalypse to some. How a whiny screamo star-turned-electronic dance music poster boy can do this and not, say, an artist who sings and plays a "real" instrument, seems blasphemously baffling.

It probably doesn't help that he nabbed five Grammy nominations, a Spin cover, and a hefty handful of major radio station airplay all over the past few months. If there was anything resembling a massive revolution in popular American music this year, it was the burgeoning wave of dubstep-driven electronic dance music with Skrillex, board and all, surfing atop the whole damn thing.

Friday night wholly justified this sentiment. Entering the massive circus of fans ranging from shirtless muscley bros (a first time sight at the Ritz), to hyper-colored ballerinas, you could tell the main draw (besides the actual music) is the weird little subculture it's spawned.

The drugs, the costumes, the glowsticks, the sweaty camaraderie of it all; it's like entering a whole new neon reality far removed from every day life.

And that's before Skrillex even hit the stage. Flanked by two towering groups of pillars resembling a hybrid between the Emerald City and the set of Total Recall, Skrillex took the helm and didn't let go for a powerful 90 minutes.

For the most part, his catalogue relies heavily on remixes of other well-known tracks with a handful of his own (dude only has three EPs) thrown in for good measure. Tracks like his remix of Avicii's "Levels" or La Roux's "In for the Kill" all take a completely formulaic and predictable trajectory (what dubstep remixes don't?) but, goddamn, it's so hard not to get caught up in the Pavlovian response to the pulse-pounding energy of it all.

This married with the visual feast exploding around Skrillex's booth made for a pretty jaw-dropping spectacle. The massive screen behind it bounced from one visual to another with a C3PO-looking avatar popping up every once and a while. About halfway through the set, I realized this figure was mirroring all of Skrillex's movements by way of the tight Tron suit he was sporting. Can this be standard for, like, every DJ set, ever?

Not that he fell back on all the visual stuff. He puts on a show himself; calling out the crowd, bouncing back and forth, flailing with his godawful hairstyle like some maniacal primate. As one-dimensional as his music can sometimes be on record, live is a different story. House, dub, reggae, even a curveball verse from Biggie's "Hypnotize" and Fatman Scoop's "Be Faithful" made their way into the mix.

Coupled with a few unrecorded tracks and the more (read: insanely) popular ones like opener "Rock n' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)," "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" and his remix of Benny Benassi's "Cinema," the set showed a respectable amount of diversity and influence for a DJ who get such a one-note rep sometimes.

By the end, I left the Ritz much more impressed than I expected to be. Skrillex's masterful production and unrelenting performance made for a mind-melting spectacle that easily co-signed his worth as the top guy in the game right now. Here's to wishing Skrillex doesn't get to big for his designer britches and comes back to Ritz just once more before he explodes into superstardom.

Some video highlights from the show:

Famous DJs fill the house in Atlantic City's electronic dance clubs

ATLANTIC CITY — A single spotlight lit a path through the artificial fog of Mixx nightclub to the DJ booth where Tijs Michiel Verwest stood, his glittery headphones shimmering in the blue glow.

Behind him, massive screens flashing in sync with the pounding bass displayed his better-known stage name: Tiesto.

It was the second of two sold-out shows at Borgata earlier this month by the Dutch producer, who’s most often found globe-trotting to play packed stadiums.

“This is the closest we’re ever going to get to Tiesto,” said Paul Castro, of Atlantic City, a resident DJ at the club who was equally enthralled as he watched from the second level.

The show capped a year that brought a lineup of world-class DJs to Atlantic City as the popularity of electronic dance music surges in the U.S.

“There are so many people who are really embracing it that never did before,” said Gregg Coyle, director of nightlife for Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.

Seeing this trend, Borgata started its “I Love House” music series earlier this year, “house” being the most popular style of electronic music’s countless sub-genres.

So far, the promotions featured a variety of premier electronic artists, including Tiesto, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Laidback Luke, ATB, A-Trak, Dirty South and more.

Every show in the series has sold out. Tickets for Tiesto’s performances, which were $75 each in advance, were selling online for more than twice that amount.

But Borgata hasn’t been alone in bringing the world’s best disk jockeys to its nightlife scene this year.

In May, Calvin Harris headlined a 14-hour, 30-act electronic party at The Pool at Harrah’s Resort. Harris produced Rihanna’s hit single “We Found Love,” a song that currently tops Billboard’s Top 100 chart.

In July, Skrillex, a DJ and producer recently nominated for five Grammy awards including best new artist, performed at the House of Blues.

And on Wednesday, The Pool also brought in Roger Sanchez, a Grammy-winning and internationally renowned DJ and house producer for its “Official House Beach Bash.”

For many of these artists, it was their first time in Atlantic City. Only a handful of internationally famous DJs played here prior to 2011, including Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk and Carl Cox.

Mixing live

The shows, whether in a concert hall or a nightclub, are more than the artists plugging in their iPods and loading a playlist.

The best can seamlessly mix the music live, controlling the speed and pitch, adding distortions and filters, and selecting songs based on the energy of the crowd.

People in the industry attribute its recent success to a variety of factors, leading among them a continued collaboration between electronic artists such as David Guetta and mainstream pop acts like The Black Eyed Peas and Usher.

Whatever the cause, the ability of popular DJs to draw crowds to their live shows is undeniable.

Example: Tiesto’s newest music video, “Maximal Crazy,” shows him performing at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas this summer, a festival of electronic DJs with an attendance of 230,000 people over three days.

He also regularly performs in the summer at Privilege in Ibiza, Spain, the largest nightclub in the world, with a capacity of 10,000.

By comparison, the capacity at Borgata’s Event Center is 3,200. At Mixx it’s 732.“

As it relates to our customer base, these guys are extremely loyal,” Coyle said. “They buy tickets way in advance, and they get here first in line even if they have tickets. They’re so passionate about what they do.”

Howard Weiss, the regional director of nightlife operations, strategy and development for Caesars’ eastern division, said that means some of the biggest names in the business can be expensive to book. Some DJs making $40,000 a night last year are charging twice that now, while the biggest make $150,000 or more for a performance.

From his perspective, Atlantic City is actually just now catching up to the scene’s meteoric rise.
“In Vegas about five years ago, it was popping in and out, but it really started taking off in 2010,” he said. “This past year really showed it could be steady.”

Always plugged in

Of course, that hasn’t stopped smaller clubs throughout the city from fueling their dancing floor with house music. Lesser-known DJs are armed with many of the same hits and remixes, and they work them into their sets on a nightly basis.

This summer, The Chelsea Hotel worked with the Philadelphia-based promotion company Art of Electronica to debut “Delicious Sundays,” a weekly daytime party around its fifth story rooftop pool with regionally-known house DJs.

“It used to be more underground, but I see it actually taking over different clubs and getting larger,” Chelsea nightlife manager Darryl Logan said about the genre. “No doubt about it.

”The hotel’s C5 nightclub also debuted “Euro Night” on Sundays this past summer, featuring electronic music that’s big with foreign crowds.

Similarly, Dusk nightclub at Caesars has made house music a focus of the “Global Fridays” promotion it began in 2010. On Tuesday, Dec. 20, singer John Martin will appear at the club and perform “Save the World,” the Grammy-nominated hit song he recorded with the DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia.

Logan said the crowds that usually fill electronic shows are out-of-towners, coming from New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which Coyle and Weiss said is largely true of their shows as well.

Todd Rodeghiero, who co-founded Art of Electronica last year, said the city can easily attract electronic music fans from those cities if they market events the right way.

“Atlantic City stays open all night, and you have a lot more to do after the show,” he said. “At some point, New York shuts down, whether you want it to or not.”

Rodeghiero and Coyle both said they have big acts planned for 2012, but declined to name names.“

I think 2012’s going to be the strongest year ever,” said Weiss, who predicted that the new clubs at the Revel casino will focus on the house music market.

DJ Paul Castro agreed. In August, he opened at Mixx for Kaskade, who was recently voted America’s best DJ in a contest sponsored by Pioneer DJ.

Castro started DJing in 1991, and he’s been a fan of house music for a long time. Lately, he said he’s been getting a better crowd response from house than a lot of the mashed-up hip-hop and pop that dominated DJs’ playlists for years.

“I think this music has a lot more energy,” Castro said, “and I think America is ready for it.”

Borgore is doing whatever he wants

Opinion on dubstep is pretty sharply divided. Chances are you either love it or hate it, and possibly just don't get it.

The popular wisdom is that America hasn't quite grasped on yet -- even though Skrillex was just recognized by the Grammy committee -- and that dubstep is far more popular overseas. Borgore disagrees.

“Dubstep in America is huge. The only place dubstep is not big is, funny enough, England,” he said. “Kids just don't come to shows. You need to put every single motherfucker from dubstep on the bill to get 2,000 people [at a show]. America is a huge market. Denver specifically is huge, it's insane.”

He's right, the electro music in general is blowing up in Colorado. Within pockets of resistance, one of the big complaints is that it all sounds the same. But Borgore comes from a somewhat unique background as a pianist, saxophonist, death metal drummer and beat boxer. If you give the music a serious listen, you can hear the influences.

“It feels like everyone's releasing the same tune. All the DJs are coming from house or electro,” he said. “[But] I think there's a bunch of, like, musicians in dubstep right now where you can tell by a song, this is him, this is him, and I hope I'm one of them.”

Part of the draw is Borgore's fuck-all attitude. His label's website calls him a “provocation addict” and adds, “The aim is to bring you the music that the guys & girls at national radio love but can't broadcast.” His Facebook lists just one influence: fine porn. Really though, you need to see him in person to get the full effect.

“Me as an artist, I'm a hard horse to leash,” he said. “I'm just doing whatever the fuck I want.”

Let this video speak for itself.

Live: Skrillex @ Warehouse Project

Skrillex may have been dubbed the most hated man in dubstep, but there are nearly 2000 people in Manchester alone who’d disagree following this performance. 
  

Skrillex
Warehouse Project
1^st December
5 stars

Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex, has had a wide range of publicity this year. He was, at one point, named by a collect few, as the ‘most hated man in dubstep’ but more recently was nominated for the BBC Sound of 2011 award and his first European tour has been extremely popular with every date selling out.

While Feed Me, the direct support to Skrillex, performed a good setlist, much of tonight’s crowd are still stood at the bar, killing time before Moore graces the stage. The Hertfordshire DJ doesn’t let it bother him though by performing stage dives, generating a little more interest.

As Skrillex’s infamous Macbook is lit up and the lights go down, he opens the set with a remix of Avicii’s ‘Levels’. Stood up there, he resembles a child that’s had a sugar rush and who is bouncing off the walls. The crowd go just crazy. Two extreme highlights of his setlist made up predominantly of remixes are Benny Benassi’s ‘Cinema’ and La Roux’s ‘In for the Kill’.

While the setlist is mainly made up of remixes, a few of Skrillex’s own songs are thrown in, including ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’ and ‘My Name is Skrillex’. ‘Rock n Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)’ proves that he is not just a glorified remixer and the lights are absolutely amazing, along with the accompanying video played throughout the song.

Everything about tonight is simply amazing from the setlist to the light show. While people will continue to hate on Skrillex, likely for the rest of his career, it is unjustified. So what if he is the most hated man in dubstep? After tonight there are over 1800 people who’d disagree with you in Manchester alone.

Skrillex Remixes Avicii’s “Levels”

What do you get when you take two of the biggest names in the world of dance music, and combine them with the biggest dance music anthem of 2011?:  Skrillex’s remix of Avicii’s “Levels,” a song of absolutely titanic proportions. “Levels” is undisputedly THE dance music song of the year. It has been remixed by some of the biggest names in the world of music. “Levels,” which features a vocal snippet from Etta James’ 1962 classic, “Something’s Got a Hold On Me,” has helped to bridge the gap between the world of dance music and the mainstream when Flo Rida sampled it in his song “Good Feeling.” This song has been played all over mainstream radio, and even in special television presentations such as NFL games.

With the recent release of Skrillex’s remix of the anthem, “Levels” is more wildly popular than ever. As somewhat of an ambassador to dance music, Skrillex is largely responsible for the popularization of dubstep and dance music in general. Skrillex infuses the euphoric progressive house banger with a hefty dose of dubstep. He adds some refreshing filth to the tune, and his re-imagination of the original is wildly creative and teeming with innovation. I have to say that Skrillex’s “Levels” remix is definitely one of his finest- it is quite possibly the very best song he has ever produced. The mark of a good remixer and producer is the ability to take an already phenomenal song and place a unique spin on it, creating a product that is arguably just as good as the original. Skrillex masters this feat with flying colors. Be on the lookout for big things from both Skrillex and Avicii; 2011 has been an absolutely huge year for both of these talented DJs and producers, and I can only anticipate that the best is yet to come.

Check out Skrillex’s “Levels” remix here! What are your thoughts?