Author: Kathy Vitkus

Recap: Ultra Music Festival – Weekend 2, Day 1 [Gallery]

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Ultranauts UMF 15

Spring is in the air (officially) but Miami is already red hot with the start of Ultra Music Festival weekend two.

A brisk walk along the South Beach boardwalk and I caught the end of W&W’s set at the swanky, exclusive SiriusXM Music Lounge/Motorola Music Lounge at the W Hotel in Miami Beach. A step in any direction and one runs into Bobina or Chad Cisneros of Tritonal — literally because the place is the Miami Beach hot spot of the day and is packed! This year’s lounge boasted, “…invited guests get to rock out to Sol Republic headphones and create their own custom pair while they enjoy Corzo Tequila cocktails in a lush outdoor private oasis.” Armin van Buuren performed on the courtyard stage promoting his forthcoming album Intense. Unfortunately there was no time for a complimentary Corzo drink because Ultra Weekend Two day one was already in full swing.

Catching a cab ride is the challenge of the weekend but once inside out of the rain it’s a scenic and relatively quick ride over the Venetian Causeway to Ultra Music Festival, the media check-in and the yacht media tent at Bayfront Park. Martin Solveig was hanging in the wings backstage prepping for his set just a few minutes away. Grabbing a quick posed shot of Mr. Solveig I then made my way to situate myself in the pit for his performance. He played a captivating, well-received set including his smash hit “The Night Out” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” all in a massive downpour.

Nicky Romero, who is quickly rising to the well-deserving title of epitome of the superstar DJ, played the Ultra Worldwide Stage to an overflowing crowd. His productions, remixes, live performances are all flawless. He entertained with the crowd-reeling “Sparks,” the promotion for this year’s Ultra Music Festival.

Boys Noize was off the hook at the Live Stage DJing from a skull prop deck with red glowing eyes. He feverishly dropped “Yeah,” “Lemonade,” “Jeffer” and “My Head” to a crazed audience.

Bloody Beetroots followed with a live set including their crowd-pleaser “Dimmakmmunication.”

Quintino closed out the Jacked stage with a special appearance off-and-on by R3hab and thrilled the crowd with the UMF hit “Pursuit Of Happiness.”

Rather than contend with the mass exodus catching a cab to South Beach, Club Therapy in Miami with High Contrast seemed like the better bet. The MC introduced with, “Who’s ready to blast off for High Contrast?!” and the remainder of the night was an ecstatic blur although I know he did drop “Show Me Love.” A few tracks in Camo & Krooked’s set including a sampling of Beastie Boys “Hey Ladies” and an intensified remix of “We Are Your Friends,” it was time to call it a day and head back to South Beach to be re-energized for the remainder of UMF weekend.

Images by Kathy Vitkus

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WMC Recap: Dim Mak Pool Party + Club Space with Bassjackers and Ferry Corsten

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Dim Mak Pool Party

Thursday it was all about the Dim Mak Pool Party with Steve Aoki and friends at the Raleigh Hotel Pool. His “friends” included DJ Carnage who greeted with a dubstep version of “Save The World.” Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike offered up a mix rendition of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” into Daft Punk’s “One More Time.” Sidney Sampson delivered spot-on blends of electro house, progress house and dubstep.

Dim Mak’s head honcho Aoki set it off with his Afrojack collaboration “No Beef.” It made sense because the surprise guest Afrojack was actually in the booth manning the decks at the moment. Aoki dropped another crowd pleaser with Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness.”

steve aoki insta2The sets were slathered with water blasts, cryogenics, champagne sprays, crowd rafting and cake — lots and lots of cake. Aoki aggressively burrowed into an oversized sheet cake, mixing it up before offering teaser samplings to front-row fans. With the crowd roaring anticipation to be one of his welcome victims, Aoki heaved the massive cake to the first few rows of willing fans to more uproarious applause and encouraging. All the while he played Borgore “Decisions” or commonly and affectionately referred to as the “Bitches Love Cake.” He spun for maybe 30 minutes then rode in a raft with a buddy. He sprayed the crowd with champagne and went running around for another half hour while the crowd ate it all up (literally). The tracks magically transitioned and one had to wonder how this is possible and who’s manning the decks. Sometimes it was electro house veteran Benny Benassi, sometimes Afrojack and occasionally Aoki. It was a spontaneous team effort. Aoki introduced a new dub-inspired track he said he wrote with Flux Pavillion so that’s one to watch for.

Electro-house DJ/producer Felix Cartel took to the decks in a massive way dishing out energetic and thumping tracks right from the start. He played his own, winning “No Sleep” and wound down with one of many remixes of “Clarity.” He wasted no time instigating the crowd and keeping them engaged even after his follow-up to his Dim Mak boss’s antics. Mr. Cartel also should be another on everyone’s one-to-continue-to-watch list.

The night closed out (or was just getting started) with a cab ride over to Miami’s Club Space for an opening, heaping, lively, earful from Bassjackers. Each and every track was just as kicking as the previous. Note-to-self, look into Bassjackers mixes or podcasts. He dropped a remix of the fun-loving, vocoder-laden “Easy” from dynamo’s Porter Robinson & Mat Zo. When he dropped a remix of “Maximal Crazy” it seemed a subliminal reference to the substantial crowd, ambiguous winding lines and hysteria to get into the venue tonight.

Ferry Corsten followed up with one of his winning archives “Rock Your Body Rock,” last year’s captivating “Check It Out” and his melodic “Live Forever.” Menno de Jong and Giuseppe Ottavianni were also on hand mingling with the A-list VIP’s.

Tritonal was in house rounding out the lineup and celebrating posting the following on Facebook, “Let’s all wish my best friend and awesome partner, David Reed, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Let’s rock this party dude!!” A perfect example of DJ’s partying in true style.

Images by Kathy Vitkus

WMC Night Out with A-Trak, Boys Noize, Skrillex, Felix da Housecat

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Boys Noize and Felix da Housecat

Wednesday of Miami Music Week launched with what was promoted as a “We’re All Friends! 8 hours and 8 labels Beach Party” featuring A-Trak, Boys Noize, Skrillex, the electro disco-house sounds of Bromance and more. When a promoter and artist manager e-mails you and asks, “Can I really not tempt you to the pool party tomorrow?” and it’s featured poolside at the lovely South Beach Raleigh Hotel, with this lineup, how could you pass. A 45-minute downpour only added to the intensity of the crowd’s passion especially when it was an all-hands-on-deck moment literally as almost all of the featured artists gathered on the stage for a few rounds of tracks.

An impromptu interview with Chicago house great Felix da Housecat gave some insight to his cherished EDM roots and what EDM artist he’s feeling these days as a rising star in the business. Spoiler alert: his response was Boys Noize who minutes later spontaneously appeared at the poolside lounge interview sight where the two proceeded to offer their mutual appreciation for each other’s contribution and influence on the scene.

Skrillex

Concerned about missing the minimal timeslot of the multi-faceted South African duo of Dominic Peters and David Poole (better known as Goldfish), the mad dash across the street to the Gale Hotel rooftop presented a pleasant surprise result. Goldfish’s set was delayed due to the earlier downpour and they were just now setting up for their timeslot. Once settled their creative utilization of an electric up-right bass, saxophone, keyboards, flute, the Roland MC 909 sequencer/synth and vocals created an upbeat, funky, jazz, African-influenced dance music so pleasantly and surprisingly unique. Massive imagery spanning the façade of a nearby midrise projecting the artistic, cult, martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the multi-colored sky from the post-storm setting sun, and the aroma of the jerk chicken and rice available at the rooftop event offered the perfect elements to the outdoor set.

Goldfish

Midweek Miami nightlife was in true form as always during Miami Music Week presenting an eclectic palette of choices from the drum ‘n’ bass of Andy C, Goldie and Ed Rush & Optical at Therapy to the Kyau & Albert and Dennis Sheperd event at Club Euforia. LA’s DJ Kristina Sky, DJ duo Myon & Shane54 and Anjunadeep’s DJ Jaytech were on hand at Euforia to show support, network and mingle with fans. Jaytech was honored to hear Kyau & Albert play his recent smash hit “Stranger” offering a lip-synch rendition from the VIP. Closing time at 4am at Euforia on this particular night was still not an indication that the Miami nightlife was over and that fans were turning in for the night any time soon.

Images by Kathy Vitkus

Counting Down the Hours to UMF 15 with Mord Fustang and Morgan Page

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Mord Fustang

The thrill of Miami and South Beach were just as we left it last year. Some who’d been in town since the beginning of Weekend 1 of the Ultra Music Festival were already feeling the effects of their party insomnia pattern. As a refresher on this Tuesday arrival the recommendation is Oh! Mexico on Espanola Way. Menu item musts are the (best) guacamole (ever) and any meal that comes with their smoky charra beans.

Kyau & Albert hosted a meet-and-greet in Miami Beach on a houseboat called, of course, Living The Dream. Euphonic’s own Marc Marberg was also on hand charming fans, popping champagne, and exemplifying the DJ life talking of hopping over to his upcoming gig at Mute at Lima in Washington, DC and then returning to Miami by the week’s end to round out his weekend. Fans cherished the engaging conversation, the music provided by Ronski Speed’s Euphonic Sessions and the beautiful sunset over the Miami Beach sky on the boat’s open deck.

Across town the day wrapped with the sounds of W&W at Mansion who closed their set with a hit still fresh on everyone’s lips (literally,) Zedd’s latest heart-wrenching beauty “Clarity,” the crowd crooning and swooning to every word. Cosmic Gate’s Stefan “Bossi” Bossems was mingling in VIP and capturing the crowd mayhem on his iPhone while Morgan Page dished out John Dahlback’s “Embrace Me,” and his own “The Longest Road” and “Fight For You.”

Morgan Page DJ booth

The $15 bottle of Heineken charge (ouch) was offset when Morgan Page announced, “Give it up for Mord Fustang.” The electro-house producer and DJ from Estonia delivered with the energy and enthusiasm of a true showstopper and EDM fans should keep him securely on their continue-to-watch list. As I stood in the balcony, watching the aerial performers, the jagged font “Mord Fustang” prominently displayed on the massive venue screens, the fog, the movement of the crowd and feeling the building intensity I simply thought, “Oh this is getting good. This is getting really, really good.” The crowd frenzied to tracks like Martin Solveig’s “Spend The Night Out” and the new track “Anaconda” by Wolfgang Gartner and it seems many fans came to Mansion specifically for Mord Fustang and left that night with pure euphoria.

Mord Fustang Miami

Trekking back to the hotel at 4am down Washington Boulevard it’s refreshing to still be able to nab a hearty pizza slice as a “midnight snack” before getting a good night’s rest of 3-4 hours and enthusiastically doing all over the next day.

Images by Kathy Vitkus