The worlds of electronic music and heavy metal intersect every so often. Korn’s 2011 album The Path of Totality featured production by Skrillex, Noisia and Excision, and even Slipknot’s DJ Sid Wilson has done work in the genre. Now comes news that former LCD Soundsystem honcho/current DFA Records boss James Murphy has been convinced ex-Sepultura drummer Iggor Cavalera to form “a metal version of the White Stripes” with his brother Max.
Cavalera has been helming the emerging Brazilian electro-rock act MixHell with his wife Laima Leyton, and Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother Max, the guitar player and lead singer who helped him found Sepultura in the early 1980s. (Max also fronts Soulfly who just released a new album, Savages.)
Speaking with The Guardian, Iggor explained, “James Murphy approached me with the record idea, but eventually suggested some others. To start with, he wants only the two of us in the studio, like a metal version of the White Stripes. He also wants nothing but the two of us on stage. He basically asked me to get rid of the rest of the band. Cavalera Conspiracy has four members and two records. Murphy asked us to start from scratch as a duo. According to him, ‘this will come to be the heaviest record of our careers.’ He promised me that.”
Duos in metal are rare (especially ones produced by a DJ/producer like Murphy), but if anyone has the bravura to pull it off it’s unquestionably the Cavalera brothers.
Who brings together three stages, 20 artists ranging from Black Joe Lewis to Pretty Lights to Gareth Emery to Vampire Weekend, 11 hours of non-stop music, 50,000 fans across 40 acres, all with a price tag of free? That would be Virgin mega mogul and founder, Richard Branson.
Sir Richard scored another win with his annual Virgin FreeFest that has fans in the know vying for the too-good-to-be-true, two-ticket limit at the very second they become available depleting the supply in record time year after year. Virgin Mobile’s good-spirited concept has fans exercising their sense of appreciation with positive energy, good vibes and a resulting contribution of over $1 million in donation over the last five years. Virgin Mobile USA’s agenda is to direct its profits from VIP sales, donations and revenue from the iconic Ferris wheel ride to operate RE*Generation House which is a transitional living facility for Washington, D.C.’s homeless youth.
Increasingly outgrowing their former nook the Dance Forest was relocated this year. It kicked off with New York’s Ghost Beach who offered, “We’re happy we started off with you guys,” then made the obligatory yet comical, “We’re going to play new songs blah, blah, blah.” Their initial sound conjured up a little Lenny Kravitz meets The Flaming Lips. They moved on to “Miracle” which SoundCloud and their Facebook calls Tropical Grit Pop, a fitting descriptive matching singer Josh Ocean’s Hawaiian shirt and his thrash dancing.
The ladies made a grand entrance at the West Stage launching the platinum-haired, creamy-skinned, John Lennon spectacled, Madonna-esque Sky Ferreira with her industrial style fashion complimenting her sultry and smoky melodies. She was contrasted by her follow up, the clean-cut, conservatively dressed, angelic voiced Chvrches whose minimalistic threesome on-stage delivered some of the biggest sounds while garnering some of the loudest reaction from the crowd.
Manufactured Superstars opened with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” and that they did. The Dance Forest crowd didn’t let up when Congorock took the decks and delivered tracks like W & W’s “Lift Off!” just as the day’s promised rain began.
The relentless rain didn’t hamper a dense West Stage crowd from seeing Kaskade who thanked the drenched revelers for sticking it out with him. He of course wowed them with “Move For Me” and also the festival favorite, one of the many versions of Empire Of The Sun’s “Alive” also played later by Madeon.
Any skepticism based on the recent controversial display with Miley Cyrus about Robin Thicke was instantly diminished the moment he darted on the stage. He propelled from stage right impeccably dressed with his jacket trailing in motion, his blinding smile, his aviator sunglasses, his gleaming streams of sweat and his non-stop showmanship. His entourage included a drummer who couldn’t stay in his seat, two smartly dressed tandem guitarists and three striking, choreographed female backups. A thunderous crowd of screaming females expressed wanting him and drop-mouthed males who wanted to be him. Mr. Thicke stole the show as one fan aptly described him as a cross between Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake.
The downpour escalated as the Madeon crowd at the Dance Forest interpreted the weather conditions and the unstable mud as some sort of bonus, special effects. Gareth Emery stood side stage, protected from the elements to witness the energy and expertise of the phenom artist.
Vampire Weekend closed out the packed Pavilion Stage arena to an adoring and grateful crowd who were comforted to be under the protection of the pavilion overhang. Surrounding crowds scattered in all directions to reach the destination and shelter of their vehicles as the festival slowed to a close.
It was a surreal day of music, mushroom-shaped golf carts, swings who’s swinging action generated a spray of water from the rider, a torrential downpour, water-damaged cell phones, fluorescent, fur-covered teeter totters, #FreeFest to post your favorite festival moments, a free-spirited camaraderie and an overall feelgood experience. The Virgin FreeFest motto of “Let Free Ring” continues to ring so true.
Back in May we premiered the Extended Instrumental of Rituel’s “Club Zanzibar,” a track where Christophe Monier (The Micronauts) and Thomas Regnault (Dew Town Mayor) pay homage to the same-named New Jersey house music institution that featured legendary deep sets by masters such as Tony Humphries and Kenny Carpenter on the decks.
Rituel return with a music video directed by Ruta Pu and Urte Janus of Terrible Twins, an emerging duo based in the UK who shot the video this summer in abandoned factories in their native Lithuania.
“The video tells a universal story,” they explain. “Five mysterious characters head to a secret place in the wild, to carry out a ritual. The enigmatic world in which they evolve shows the ruins of an industrial civilization where nature reclaimed its rights. The ritual takes the form of various dances, all with the same goal: enjoy, reach a state of trance, forget your ego, unite, love.”
Rituel’s Deux Remix EP is released October 25 via Micronautics.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, Netherlands-based Spinnin’ Records put their collective feet in their mouths when they posted an image of a Pioneer CD-J that had been altered to resemble a gas burner. The caption cringingly read: “Pioneer finally developed a CD-J for women.” The label’s post on Facebook and Twitter instantly drew the ire of anyone with a modicum of commonsense. After all, how could a record label post something so insensitive to women?
After the post went viral, Spinnin’ Records issued an apology on Twitter and Facebook.
We noticed that some people got offended by the picture & caption we tweeted yesterday. 1/4 — Spinnin’ Records (@SpinninRecords) September 14, 2013
As a record label that works with both male & female DJs & artists, it was of course never our intention to offend anyone. 2/4 — Spinnin’ Records (@SpinninRecords) September 14, 2013
And definitely not women in specific. 3/4 — Spinnin’ Records (@SpinninRecords) September 14, 2013
Therefore, we would like to apologize to those we have unintentionally offended with the tweet. 4/4 — Spinnin’ Records (@SpinninRecords) September 14, 2013
While the echos of public outrage continue to linger, the label have gone back to business, championing their brand of dance music on social media and not paying the firestorm any mind despite the incident being picked up by mainstream sites such as The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail and Buzzfeed.
The label has yet to delete the offending post, something which social media crisis managers typically suggest as the proper course of action in a situation like this.
For now it’s safe to say the Dutch label will focus on music, leaving comedy in the hands of professionals. However that didn’t stop them from posting this gem:
