Clear Channel Launches Evolution 93.5 Miami with Pete Tong in the Mix

Pete Tong

Amid Miami’s preparation for Ultra Music Festival/Winter Music Conference/Miami Music Week an interesting event happened yesterday: new dance-music radio station Evolution 93.5 Miami went on the air. Charged with the task of playing dance music 24/7, the station features a playlist featuring tracks by the likes of Skrillex, David Guetta and all the usual suspects. BBC Radio 1 DJ Peter Tong has been named the station’s ambassador DJ, and he will be at the helm two parties with guests on March 16 and 22 at The Surfcomber Hotel to mark the station’s birth.

Beginning March 25, Evolution 93.5 Miami will air his a four-hour long daily show All Gone Pete Tong featuring Pete’s Essential New Tune of the Week, as well as the hottest tracks from the global Top 100 chart on Beatport.

Obligatory press release gush from Alex Tear, vice president of programming and operations for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Miami: “It’s an exciting time in Miami when an entire radio station can dedicate All Things Dance programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week!” Miami is one of the hottest cities to experience dance music – and now that Evolution 93.5 Miami is here with EDM tastemaker Pete Tong, the party won’t stop.”

Obligatory press release gush from Pete Tong: “I’ve been coming to Miami for over fifteen years to DJ and attend March’s Winter Music Conference and Ultra Week. It’s one of the most important dates in the DJ year, and the City of Miami has always been a special and progressive market for dance music. To be launching the second Evolution terrestrial station in Miami in March is amazing, and a real highlight of my career. I can’t wait for us to begin broadcasting Evolution and All Gone Pete Tong to this special city on a daily basis.”

The station can also be heard online on iHeartRadio.

Ben Watt Shutters Buzzin’ Fly Label, Bloomsbury Book Due in 2014

ben watt everything but the girl buzzin fly

DJ/producer Ben Watt has made a surprise announcement on his label Buzzin’ Fly’s website. In advance of the imprint’s upcoming 10-year anniversary collection Buzzin’ Fly Anthology, Volume 1, 2003-2004‘ out digitally on April 22, Watt is closing the revered house label and will concentrate on his Romany and Tom book project for Bloomsbury due in 2014 and BBC 6Music 6Mix.

“I loved every minute,” wrote Ben Watt, “but all good things come to an end. It simply feels like the right moment. Buzzin’ Fly was born out of my commitment to the culture of DJing and helping young artists, but these days I am edging away from it towards other challenges – a new book I’m writing, research for another one, and a long-planned solo music project.

“At heart I have always been a creative person – whether as a writer or musician – as opposed to a business person, and after ten years in clubs and in the office I need time again to focus fully on my own stuff rather than other people’s.

“It feels appropriate to stop now in our tenth year and leave the label with, I hope, a strong reputation for what it has managed to achieve, rather than to continue with a muted presence. Someone asked why I couldn’t hand over the reins to someone else, but I don’t think it would ever have been the same. In the meantime, I hope my ongoing show for BBC 6Music’s 6Mix can still be a distilled showcase for some of the great music I come across. You never know, there might even be another imprint one day.”

Strange Feeling Records will remain a vehicle for Watt’s better half Tracey Thorn to release her work on.

Grimes Gives Free Music Production Lesson

Grimes

Canadian electro artist Grimes has posted a step-by-step lesson on how to to produce music for almost free. “I guess you’ll need a computer… so that might be expensive,” she prefaces. “BUT if ur reading this you probably have one.” Grimes goes on to reveal that her favorite production program is Abelton Live, though she has an affinity for GarageBand since she used to record her third album, Visions. After walking her virtual students through a few rudimentary basics of of Ableton Live, she also offers some advice on selecting and recording microphones. Grimes closes the tutorial by stating that she’s not a production expert but will answer questions from those in need of more information. She concluded: “i can try to go into it but im not super expert at this stuff cuz i figure it out as i go along.”

Read Grimes’ full lesson here.

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy Files $93K Lawsuit Against DFA Records Label Partner

james-murphy

According to DFA.info former LCD Soundsystem/DFA Records co-founder James Murphy (pictured) has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Civil Supreme Court against DFA Records co-founder Tim Goldsworthy. Murphy is seeking nearly $100,000 from Goldsworthy for allegedly failing to perform services he was paid for, owing outstanding loans, improperly using the company credit card and making unauthorized withdrawals from its bank accounts.
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