After weeks of rumors surrounding a Daft Punk cameo at The Weeknd‘s Super Bowl LV halftime show, a leaked tracklist seems to have confirmed an appearance by the legendary duo.
According to a report by GQ México, who shared a tweet that contains a purported tracklist for The Weeknd’s halftime performance, Daft Punk could make an appearance alongside Ariana Grande and Kendrick Lamar.
It’s important to note that The Weeknd recently announced a new compilation called The Highlights, which dons an identical tracklist. However, the timing of the album’s February 5th release—two days before the Super Bowl—looks like a prescient signal of his plans to perform the record in full at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.
At the time of this article’s publication, the NFL has yet to confirm the authenticity of the tracklist. If it’s real, The Weeknd is primed to perform a staggering 18 songs live.
Tech house fans will undoubtedly have heard of VNSSA by now. The LA-based producer has been bubbling up for years since bursting on the scene through her marquee collaborations with Walker & Royce. She has released tunes through Black Book Records, Dirtybird, Higher Ground, and Insomniac (to name just a few), and now, VNSSA is adding one more label to her resume with her debut on Techne.
“Cuz of the Beat” is a tech house burner infused with acid riffs and a punchy bass line that rolls throughout. As her career continues to build momentum, VNSSA’s first 2021 single could signal the start of a breakout year for the rising producing. Dancing Astronaut caught up with VNSSA to chat about the new tune, her future plans, and how techno has changed in the absence of clubs.
What impact do you think the temporary closure of clubs has had on techno and tech house production over the past year? Has the lack of live shows impacted how you produce your music at all?
VNSSA: “I think it’s had a huge impact, but not necessarily in a negative way. When I’m producing a track, part of me is thinking where this track is going to be played, and most of the time the answer to that question is the club. But with clubs being closed right now, it’s kind of allowed me and a lot of producers to step out of our comfort zones. Instead of making just club tracks, I found myself experimenting in all different genres.”
You already have a few hits under your belt, what did you learn from some of your early successes?
VNSSA: “I learned that you need to fail before you succeed. Failure is what helps you hone your craft and it’s necessary in order for you to grow, not just as a musician, but as an individual as well. If anyone out there is telling you that they haven’t failed, then they also haven’t succeeded.”
You’ve been tearing up livestreams over the past year; do you write your tracks with your DJ sets in mind?
VNSSA: “Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. I guess it just depends. I definitely wrote ‘3am’ for livestreams. It’s about dancing by yourself in your living room at 3:00 a.m., which is what I did for a lot of 2020.”
What bit of advice would you give to young DJs or producers who are looking to get to where you are?
VNSSA: “I would say collaborate as much as you can. I’ve learned so much by working with other producers and many have become some of my best friends. And also, don’t give up. Never give up.”
Who is one underrated artist we should be watching?
VNSSA: “I wouldn’t necessarily say underrated, but it’s gotta be Steve Darko. He’s an amazing producer and puts so much ingenuity into everything he releases. He’s got an album coming out soon and it’s amazing. 10/10 would recommend.”
As we (hopefully) go back to live shows in 2021, what are your goals and ambitions for the year? Do you have any big plans that you can share with us?
VNSSA: “I definitely plan on releasing tons of new music, and I have a lot of really big shows planned. Hopefully. Only time will tell. That’s one thing I learned in 2020; all bets are off.”
The Smashing Pumpkins have finished their forthcoming ‘Machina II’ reissue based on its original conception, frontman Billy Corgan has confirmed.
The band released their fifth album ‘Machina/The Machines Of God’ in February 2000 and followed it up that September with ‘Machina II/The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music’ as a free internet download. The move was a compromise based on Virgin Record’s refusal to allow the band to release the two records together, owing to poor sales of previous album ‘Adore’.
Now, Corgan has revealed that ‘Machina II’ has been reworked to represent the band’s original idea. He told RADIO.COM’s New Arrivals: “[‘Machina II’] was written to be kind of like a musical, but because it was never finished, it was like shooting a movie that wasn’t fully edited.”
Only 25 physical copies were made of ‘Machina II’ at the time of its release in 2000, with owners encouraged to upload the songs onto the internet.
Corgan continued: “‘Machina I’ was like one edit of the footage, and ‘Machina II’ was some of the leftover footage – but there was even more stuff leftover. So, this was my attempt, 20 years later, to kind of finish the movie and in the process of trying to finish the movie, realising the movie can never be finished.”
He added that ‘Machina II’ will be “in the 80 track range”.
Additionally, Corgan said that he’s also busy trying to finish the “rock opera” sequel album to ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’. Last October, Corgan told fans that the new, 33-track album would complete a trilogy.
“It’s kind of a rock opera,” he said in a video clip at the time, adding: “We feel like in many ways this completes the circle on everything we started and weren’t able to finish at that time, so we’re very excited about [it].”
Corgan stressed that, as with the respective 1995 and 2000 albums, the new record would have a “conceptual base involving a single character”, and that fans would find out who the new character is “soon”.
He added to RADIO.COM in this month’s (January) interview: “Mostly I’m focused on finishing this new record that we’re working on.
“It’s a ton of work, so that’s my job right now,” he said.
As we’re all anxiously awaiting the release of Porter Robinson’s next Nurture single, “Look At The Sky,” he’s also given fans a perfect gift — the release date of the album.
Nurture will drop on April 23.
The pre-order (for vinyl, CD, digital, and streaming) is now live and available here.
i have a surprise announcement — on top of Look at the Sky coming out today, i can also finally tell you the album release date: Nurture will drop on April 23rd (of 2021!!)
Perhaps the world’s most popular toy, LEGO bricks have captivated the imaginations of children and professional builders for decades. The illustrious brand has spawned video game creations, television series, and interactive figures. Now, LEGO is set to move into the world of augmented reality with its new VIDIYO sets.
In partnership with Universal Music Group, LEGO has created a new series of sets that will allow users to create custom music videos. VIDIYO centers around a mobile app that will record the brick sets, which include special 2×2 components called BeatBits that interact visually with the app. The augmented reality technology allows the user to create custom visuals and effects within their own video creations.
As for the music, EDM superstar Marshmello will be included among the app’s expansive library of offerings. Mello adds LEGO to his impressive list of collaborators, which also includes properties like Minecraft and Fortnite. Other confirmed VIDIYO artist features include Mabel, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Imagine Dragons, but with the UMG partnership, the list of potential features is virtually endless.
Fans can create custom Marshmello music videos via LEGO’s VIDIYO beginning March 1st, when the sets are officially released. For more information, visit LEGO’s official website.
Venerated dance producer Tommie Sunshine always seems to have a good remix up his sleeve, his latest coming by way of a team up with On Deck working on John Roberts’ club-ready 2020 track, “Freaks.” The original work, a co-production alongside Junior Sanchez, is a misty, oscillating house cut with a solid vocal backbone, that gets flipped into a hypnotic setlist weapon. Sunshine and On Deck’s remix chops the original’s vocals into sputtering melodic accents, making for a high-octane remix that’s equally suited for a packed dancefloor as it is a sweaty spin studio. Turning up the energy by more than just a notch, the pair of producers lay a swinging, vintage electro-house spin on Roberts’ “Freaks,” baking in steep builds and percussive breaks to polish off the modifications on the track.
Tommie Sunshine and On Deck’s new remix leads a pack of unique spins on “Freaks” including new takes from Ant LaRock and Harry Romero on the way. Listen to Tommie Sunshine and On Deck’s new “Freaks” remix below, out now via John Roberts’ imprint, X-Bop.
Musician and YouTuber Anthony “Bones” Reid has been sharing his unique take on songs by the likes of Nirvana and The Cure which he plays on a yangqin, a type of hammered dulcimer.
Reid performs under the moniker ‘Horns Of Pan’, describing his playing technique in the following manner: “Bonesy loops his voice, guitar, beat-boxed percussion and kaoss pad effects, building them smoothly into fat beats and harmonic discordant rhythms. Woven in are ethereal Mongolian overtones, and the shimmering loveliness of the yangqin.
“With cover songs from pop to metal, and original music from euphoric soundscapes to catchy cacophony, this music is intended as a blessing and a warning – a gifted message of love but also horror. To find a true and healthy middle ground you need to first witness all of the extremes. To find balance in your life you must first hear the horns of pan.”
Reid has shared covers of Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box’, The Cure’s ‘Close To Me’ and Tool‘s ‘Lateralus’ since June 2019, and you can see a selection of his yangqin covers below.
Earlier this week producer Steve Albini reflected on offering Nirvana his production services for free ahead of the recording of their album ‘In Utero’ in 1993 – if the band could beat him at a game of pool first.
I remember how people talked about how disco died with the 70s when I was growing up. Some attribute this decline to the overall changes in music fads going into the 80s. Others point to the riot sparked during the Disco Demolition Night of 1979 at the Chicago White Sox stadium. The event, hosted by radio DJ and rock-fanatic Steve Dahl, showcased a pile of disco records that were planned to be blown up as a middle finger to the then massively successful genre and its listeners. The afternoon turned into a full-on riot as 50,000 rock fans and disco fans clashed and police dispersed the chaos.
But since then, disco has continued to exist through the evolution of house music and its full blown revitalization in nu-disco. From Franky Knuckles to Daft Punk to Duck Sauce to Dua Lipa, disco survived. It not only survived, it thrived. This resolve that disco has had on the world is exemplified in all of the genre’s glory on “Ubiquity”; a collaboration between Ali Love and Nicky Night Time while featuring Breakbot.
“Ubiquity” is the culmination of three musicians from different stretches of the globe hashing out a monumental disco track. Nicky Night Time’s buttery smooth drum and guitar frame fuses phenomenally with the funky bass and ecstatic vocals from Ali Love. The finishing touches provided by Breakbot are these interstellar strings and horns.
What makes “Ubiquity” so special is due to a couple of factors.
For one, the track is infectiously catchy and a bit of a dance-inducer. Second, it was produced by three guys producing in their respective homes in Australia, London, and Los Angeles. Finally, it feels like more than a timeless disco song. Part of what places this song above other cuts is its unabashed flair and eccentricity. In short, “Ubiquity” is a collaborative earworm that showcases not only that disco is NOT dead, but that disco will never die.
Make sure to check out “Ubiquity” from Ali Love, Nicky Night Time and Breakbot out now on Sweat it Out Records and Music To Dance To Records.
The bar for DJ streams and performances has always been high, but since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these heights have become quite literal. We’ve seen artists take to the skies via hot air balloons or atop massive skyscrapers, but this next daring feat may take the top the prize for the wildest set ever.
Enter the Mobile Music Krew, a pair of DJs who are truly pushing the boundaries with a goal to mix the hottest tracks from the most epic locations. One of their latest adventures saw member Your Dad trek his portable deck up the entire Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park, Utah. If hiking the trail, which is rated one of the most dangerous hikes in the United States, wasn’t impressive enough, did we mention he was mixing the entire time? Throughout the roughly two and a half-hour video, you can watch him thrown down an impressive set of jazz and melodic house music.
Since launching their YouTube channel earlier this year, Mobile Music Krew has taken their portable DJ skills to Las Vegas, the edge of a cliff in Snow Canyon, Utah, and even played a set while in a 168hp RZR 1000 Turbo all-terrain vehicle.
You can watch the full video from Angels Landing below.
Considering how disheartening of a year 2020 proved to be, Tomorrowland not only closed the door on a year to omit, but ushered in a new calendar with their unforgettable New Year’s Eve virtual festival follow-up. Universally lauded for their world class aftermovie theatrics, the Belgian brand now revisits the evening of 31.12.2020 with a heart-stopping summary of arguably the most unique midnight countdown that this generation may ever experience.
Airing out a tracklist entranced with David Guetta and MORTEN‘s Future Rave reimagining of “Let’s Love” as well as MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy’s “Paradise,” Ytram and Citadelle’s “Alive,” and eight others, Tomorrowland put forth an exhilarating 12-minute recap that can only do so much justice to how truly unparalleled the night was. Tomorrowland’s successive digital event on New Year’s Eve, hosted through their newly minted NAOS platform, brought out 25 of dance music’s premiere talents, including Martin Garrix, Charlotte de Witte, and Tchami, across four different virtual structures in 27 specified timezone adaptations around the world. With Tomorrowland Winter’s 2021 edition having been cancelled for a second consecutive year and the outlook on Tomorrowland’s mainstay event up in the air, there remains little uncertainty as to whether or not Tomorrowland will revisit their new digital entertainment venue in the coming months.
Watch Tomorrowland’s 31.12.2020 aftermovie in full below.
Featured image: Tomorrowland
Tags: aftermovie, David Guetta, Martin garrix, tomorrowland, tomorrowland nye
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