Miami
Winter Music Conference,
Miami Beach, Florida, USA
The Miami WMC is a huge 5 day music festival
held every year in Miami Florida, where all the latest and
upcoming new tunes are played to a massive audience.
Miami WMC Review...
And so my journey to Miami began on a
lovely Tuesday afternoon. After what seemed like the longest
layover in Jacksonville history, we finally reach Fort Lauderdale.
A few friends and I managed to haul down a town car for the
trip to South Beach. 45 minutes later we're on 10th and Collins
at The Essex hotel. Decent prices, but not so decent hotel.
On to other bigger and better things. The only event that
seemed to pique our interest that evening was James Holden's
Border Community party at Bed. A couple of $14 dollar cocktails
later, we make our way there. The night was being thrown by
New York-based promoters Made Event. I had some problems getting
in, but the lovely Helen from Bed and Betty Kang took care
of us right away. What seemed to be a trend at most of the
clubs I visited was the Integral Sound system. Very crisp
and clean, with bass that you felt in your chest. Mistress
Barbara was manning the decks as we arrived, she's an incredible
Russian techno DJ. I think the highlight of the night was
her dropping Trentemoller's 'Moan' with vocals by Ane Trolle.
You could almost hear the entire club singing word for word.
By the time Mr. Holden came on, the club was quite packed.
He started off rather slow, but it seemed like everybody was
loving his signature clicky sound. Second great track of the
night dropped by James was Cobble Stone Jazz 'Dump Truck,'
an absolute smasher. Not a bad beginning to the week.
First thing on the plate for Wednesday
was the Onbeat.com launch party at the Miami Resort and Spa.
A friend and I arrived around 2 to the sounds of Donald Glaude.
Maybe it was just me, but I felt like the wind would blow
me away to Cuba that day. I couldn't enjoy Donald's set and
left shortly after arriving to make my Tiesto interview. I'm
quite thankful that I left when I did, walking down Collins
I ran into Radio 1 front man Pete Tong. He was kind enough
to chat for a minute and to take a button picture. DJ Ron
and I arrived at Setai Hotel for our Tiesto interview, we
were greeted by the gracious Catherine of Funky Dumpling.
Waiting for Tiesto to wrap up his last interview I couldn't
help but notice the beauty of Setai, very eloquent and beautifully
decorated. Cutting to the chase, the interview went better
then expected. Tiesto was more then humble, can't wait for
the new album 'Elements of Life'.
My party had a tough time deciding between Steve Lawler's
Viva or Danny Howell's 9 hour marathon set Wednesday night.
We decided on Danny at Pawn Shop. One of the most infamous
parties at last years conference, we knew we were in for a
treat. Pawn Shop by far is my new favorite venue in Miami.
Everything seemed so out of place in the club, but some how
it came together and worked very well. The DJ booth and the
bus alone are two reasons to visit Pawn Shop. A who's who
of industry people were present, DJ Demi, Desyn Masiello,
Charles Feelgood, and Omid 16 B were just a few of the faces
that I spotted in the crowd. 6 hours of Danny's mayhem took
the wind out of our sails and we were out for the night.
Thursday was definitely the most event-filled day. Rain,
rain, go away seemed to be the theme for Thursday, moreso
then any other day during the week. Lines are inevitable during
conference, but organizers should have some sort of structure
to make it run smoothly for everyone. With that being said,
I didn't have any luck with Andy Smith, Mstrkrft, and Justice
at The Raleigh Hotel. Luckily, right across the street is
The Catalina Hotel/Spy Lounge. DJ Zak Davis and Proxxy hosted
for the second year Essential Breaks featuring Jen Lasher,
Rogue Element, Hostage, General Midi, and many others of the
biggest breakbeat artists in Miami. A few hours of breaks
later I made my way to the Inter Continental Hotel downtown
where the One + One yacht party with James Zabiela and Nic
Fanciulli took off. First of all I would like to thank everyone
involved with this party. It was the event of the conference
for me.
Walking on to the yacht, everyone was greeted with a new
drink line that was being released in the UK in a few weeks,
some how the name escapes me right now. DJ Kos warmed up the
crowd quite properly. If I remember correctly, Art of Tone's
'Praise' played in the background while we took off. 3 hours
of cruising the Biscayne Bay with James and Nic working their
magic, plus the Miami skyline in the background seemed like
a scene from the movies. The ending was almost bittersweet,
I can honestly say that I did not want to get off the boat.
I managed my way back to the Essential Breaks party to see
BT hanging out while Real Time Hand Motion played. And so
the night was upon us once again. Easily one of the most anticipated
parties of the conference, the Berlin-based Get Physical Music
showcase, was held at Studio A. The fine folks at Phuture
Miami let us right in after we managed to get caught in the
downpour that hit as soon as we got out of the cab. Heidi,
Claude Von Stroke, Jesse Rose, Booka Shade (live) and M.A.N.D.Y
were on the bill for the evening. Without going into too many
other details, hearing Booka Shade play 'Mandarine Girls'
live had to have been one of my greatest moments during the
week.
Friday was probably the day I was least looking forward to.
The day began with a trip downtown for Ultra Music Festival.
I made my way over to the press will call which was located
behind the main stage. Without any problems I received my
press and photo passes. The usual goods were setup, food vendors,
expensive water, big stages, and a multitude of screaming
fans. Thousands and thousands of people were present at the
Onbeat Arena where the Deep Dish duo were playing. Sharam
of course played a new remix of Party All The Time, I enjoyed
it much better then the original mix.
Back over on the main stage Shiny Toy Guys, an indie/electronic/rock
band from Los Angeles, were performing. I'm not too familiar
with their work with the exception of a track called 'Le Disko'
that Tommie Sunshine had remixed. I'm not sure if the crowd
was into it or they were just amazed that a rock band was
playing at Ultra. A few songs later and I was on the move
again. The next stop was the New Times tent. Nashvillian Adam
Wright, winner of a local DJ contest, was on the decks. Great
track selection with scratching over a heavy UK, progressive
breakbeat set from the youngster. I'm a huge Cure fan, but
I thought most of the crowd grew tired of them, mainly due
to the extended set they played. 'Out of this World', 'Push',
and 'The Big Hand' were just a few of the tracks I remembered
hearing.
Friday night presented us with many choices, we opted to
start with the Photo Records party at Blue. Photo Records
is a house label based out of Nashville with releases from
the likes of Jake Childs, Slater Hogan, John Larner, Jonene
and many others. The night featured Mindub, Busy & Spoon,
Chuck Daniels, Jay West and Ricardo Rae to name a few of the
artists. Singer Allison Joyce graced the mic for a few songs
with Ricardo Rae, her voice filled up the small venue and
went ever so well over house music. If you ever get a chance
to see this talented singer, do not miss her. And once again
we were off to our next stop at Bed. The night featured German's
Loco Dice, Martin Buttrich (live), and Steve Bug- a who's
who in the techno scene. Musically, Friday night had to be
the most appealing to my current tastes. I did not recognize
one track that any of the guys played. In my opinion that
is a big part of WMC, hearing tracks that will not be heard
for months, or ever, for that matter. A who's who of dance
music was also present in the house. The likes of Sharam,
Richie Hawtin, Lee Burridge, and D. Ramirez were all getting
down to the Germans.
Back at the hotel around 6 am I managed to lay around until
mid afternoon until it was off to Ultra again. Saturday proved
that it was the biggest challenge to get a cab out of South
Beach to downtown. I waited around for a good half an hour
or so for a taxi. All the while running late as can be for
a Carl Cox photo shoot which I missed by the way, thanks Miami
cab drivers. Day 2 of Ultra presented a much stronger line
up then the previous day. The day was a wash out practically,
I managed to catch M.A.N.D.Y and Marco Bailey at the Amnesia
Ibiza Electro - Techno stage before the rain started. I couldn't
handle being in the rain anymore and left. Walking out of
Ultra it was a complete mud fest, eager fans still danced
away.
Saturday night we finally managed to have a proper sit down
meal at an Italian joint on Ocean. The food was decent, but
for the price it could've been a lot better. Walking down
Ocean we found a place that was serving half-price drinks.
This practice is mostly unheard of in South Beach, I believe
the place is called Oceans Ten. After many cocktails later
and a cab ride once again to downtown, I was at Studio A for
the Downtown Riot party with Mstrkrft, Tommie Sunshine, Princess
Superstar and many others. Our Canadian heroes Al P and JFK,
also known as Mstrkrft, were on when we arrived. Imagine Daft
Punk, only in a lighter version. The boys played quite a few
of their tracks from their album 'The Look.' The godlike Tommie
Sunshine was up next, towering over the DJ booth. Sunshine
pounded away with a very dirty, dance rock, electro set. We
managed to spot the one and only Tiga dancing away as well.
Sunday almost seemed like it didn't happen. I was having
trouble staying awake, completely out of energy and going
on about 5 hours of sleep. My salvation for the day was a
Cuban joint on 8th and Collins one of the best and least expensive
meals I had during the week. After doing some shopping, I
was off to Oceans Ten again for half-priced drinks. A few
cocktails later and I'm making my way to the Little Mountain
Recordings party at Shine which is located in the Shelborne
Beach Resort. Thanks to the Taylor Singer and the people at
Chaotica we got right in with hardly a wait. Talent for the
night included none other then LMR main man Sander Kleinenberg,
Trent Cantrelle, Rene Amez and Chuck Lepley. In short, Rene
Amez stole the show with a very dirty tech house set. Highlight
of the night was Rene dropping the classic Faithless 'Insomnia.'
The capacity venue nearly exploded. Sander came on sometime
after 3 with a special DVJ set, the visuals and the lyrics
to the music synched perfectly. I ran out of gas about 45
minutes into Sander's set and left.
Overall another successful conference minus the rain. Big
tunes for the week were Bobby Peru 'Erotic Discourse,' the
Eric Prydz remix of 'Proper Education,' Trentemoller's 'Moan,'
Robin S 'Show me love' 2007 version, Claude Von Stroke 'Whistler,'
and Tiefschwarz 'Ghost Track' Radio Slave remix. Until the
next episode, peace, love and beats.
