Skrillex

A Guy Called Gerald Channels DJ Sneak and Rips Deadmau5, Calls Him A “Rat Head F@#k”

Darren Ressler 1 Comment

We recently took Deadmau5 to task for the negative comments he made in his recent Rolling Stone cover story. In the article, Joel “Deadmau5” Zimmerman called Madonna a “grandma” and mocked David Guetta and Skrillex’s mixing skills. Legendary DJ/producer A Guy Called Gerald, who is perhaps best known for his classic “Voodoo Ray,” decided he had enough of Zimmerman’s comments and put a firey post on his blog today. “I agree there are loads of people like you who do fake it,” Gerald wrote. “It is easy with the software you are using. Don’t worry we are going to find ways of stopping you. You greedy rat head fuck.”

Recently DJ Sneak called out Swedish House Mafia (RIP) and entered into a Twitter war with Steve Angello over his distaste for their allegedly playing mix CDs during their DJ sets. Could we be seeing more of dance music’s old guard going after younger, more commercially successful young guns? Read Gerald’s full blog post below.

I know who you are. You are some record company or failed journalist asshole left over from the last century who is jealous of the way electronic music is working in this brave fast new century. The only button you and people like you are interested in pushing is a nuke for the Palestinians. You come into our system that we have nurtured for the last 25 years, trick hardworking people into giving you their money, con honest promoters, take large sums of money out of the system and then spit back into our faces that YOU are tricking everyone.

I agree there are loads of people like you who do fake it. It is easy with the software you are using. Don’t worry we are going to find ways of stopping you. You greedy rat head fuck.

Editorial: Deadmau5 Ate Rolling Stone’s Cheese

Darren Ressler Leave a Comment

With a small coterie of electronic music artists breaking through into the mainstream in the past two years, it’s interesting to observe how the media is scrambling to wrap their heads around and capitalize on the gargantuan global fan base of a few select acts. Try as they might, often times their coverage isn’t on target. In March, for example, Forbes launched a DJ column about the best DJs in the world written by an expert in “workplace trends and culture shifts.” The problem is that some of the DJs interviewed weren’t exactly the best in the world, and the questions were, well, lame.

Now Rolling Stone bellies up to the trough with their Dance Madness! (their exclamation mark, not ours) issue, featuring Joel “deadmau5” Zimmerman on the cover and interviews with Skrillex and Swedish House Mafia. In a genre where big personalities and bold opinions are rare among its artists, putting Zimmerman, a live wire who is infamous for his online rants about pop collaborations and his distaste for Ultra Music Festival, on the cover was a no-brainer for RS‘s editors.

But at what cost did Zimmerman pay for this career milestone?

Today we’re reading about how Zimmerman attacked Madonna (again) in the cover story over the silly drug innuendos she made at Ultra Music Festival.

Zimmerman told RS: “You want to be ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ and ‘funky grandma.’ Fine. It’s not my place to say you’re irrelevant. [But] if you’re gonna come into my world, at least do it with a little more dignity. I understand she has millions more fans, and is way more successful than I’ll ever be. But it’s like talking about slavery at a [bleeping] blues concert. It’s inappropriate.”

David Guetta‘s DJ sets were also in Zimmerman’s crosshairs in the article. “David Guetta has two iPods and a mixer and he just plays tracks,” Zimmerman said in the article. “Like, ‘Here’s one with Akon, check it out!’”

Zimmerman even scrutinized Skrillex’s mixing abilities: “Even Skrillex isn’t doing anything too technical. He has a laptop and a MIDI recorder, and he’s just playing his [bleep].”

“There’s… button-pushers getting paid half a million [per show],” Zimmerman said. “And not to say I’m not a button-pusher. I’m just pushing a lot more buttons.”

For someone who uses his blog to present himself as a pragmatist on the side of what’s right, was it really necessary for Zimmerman to be negative, criticize his peers and an aging pop star whose influence will go on forever? Didn’t he see that he was put on the cover because of his penchant for spewing venom, which RS seems to gleefully relish. Ask yourself why Swedish House Mafia, an equally popular global phenomenon, weren’t on the magazine’s cover. Well, could you imagine Axwell taking another DJ to task in an interview? If you know anything about Axwell, you’ll know that’s a rhetorical question.

As someone who is intimate with dance culture, Joel Zimmerman must know the ’90s rave term PLUR (Peace Love Unity Respect). He ought to practice it more often.

HARD Summer Lineup Announced

Darren Ressler Leave a Comment

The fifth annual HARD Summer, taking place at downtown’s Los Angeles State Historic Park August 3-4, 2012, has announced its lineup. The two-day blowout — HARD’s first in its five-year history — include lots of big-name acts. Bloc Party, Boys Noize and Miike Snow headline Friday night (August 3) and Skrillex, Nero and The Bloody Beetroots share the top slot on Saturday night (August 4). Over 50 acts spanning a wealth of dance floor styles — a disparate list including Little Dragon, Breakbot, Araabmuzik, Joey Beltram and Nick Thayer — round out the bill. Check out the lineup below.

Friday, August 3:
Bloc Party, Boys Noize, Miike Snow (Live), Chromeo (DJ Set), Little Dragon, Magnetic Man, Erol Alkan, Bootsy Collins & The Funk Unity Band, Fake Blood, Gesaffelstein (Live), Breakbot, Buraka Som Sistema, Araabmuzik, Joey Beltram, Craze, Alex Metric, Surkin, John Talabot (DJ Set), Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Riton, Oliver, Jokers Of The Scene, Light Year, Nick Catchdubs, Jim-E Stack, Mr. Muthafuckin’ Exquire, Brenmar, Baio, Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team

Saturday, August 4:
Skrillex, Nero (Live), Bloody Beetroots (DJ Set), Squarepusher, A-Trak, James Murphy (Dj Set), Datsik, 12th Planet, Zedd, Dillon Francis, Brodinski, Claude Vonstroke, Birdy Nam Nam, Justin Martin, Gaslamp Killer, Trolley Snatcha, Destructo, Alvin Risk, Zombie Disco Squad, DJ Antention, Codes, Huoratron, Kill Frenzy, Smims & Belle, Jason Bentley, Lunice, Nick Thayer, Amtrac, The Starship Connection

Ultra Music Festival 2012: Day Two [Recap]

Kathy Vitkus Leave a Comment

My fourth day in South Beach began with a refreshing and rejuvenating swim in the ocean while it seemed the rest of the world was still asleep. Stopped for an omelet brunch at the Ocean Drive Cardozo patio, indulged in a little people watching, and fended off the vendors selling everything from Caribbean cigars to hand-crafted, realistic-looking grasshoppers made from palm leaves.

I walked back again to the W Hotel for the final day of the cherished Belve Music Lounge party. pparently it was more cherished today since the epic guest at yesterday’s Belve event was electronic dance music front man Tiesto and the word was out. The line meandered to the parking and in front of the curiosity that was the Deadmau5 Sol Republic Soldier Shuttle.

Once inside the Belve, Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano were delivering Empire of the Sun’s “Walking On A Dream” amid the throngs of doublefisting revelers enjoying their complimentary Belvedere concoctions like the Lemonade Powermix. Sander van Doorn revisited his appearance from last year and played Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl “In My Mind” featuring Georgi Kay (Axwell Mix) which simply epitomized the sentimentality in mood and lyrics of our farewell last day at the Belve Lounge.

Back at day 2 of Ultra Music Festival, Laidback Luke inspired hands held high in double ‘L’ as is tradition or maybe for the fact that he was blasting Avicii “Levels.” DJ Chuckie hopped up onto the decks to further fire up the crowd as Fatboy Slim “Praise You” went into Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”

I hurriedfrom the main stage to the live stage although that’s an inaccurate choice of words considering the incredibly dense crowd but I made it in order to catch the fun-loving and quirky Metronomy. Their robotic jerks of motion and quizzical stare melded so well with the lyrics and peculiar beats of “The Bay,” “Heartbreaker,” and “She Wants.”

Unfortunately technical difficulties with onstage equipment prevented M83 from taking the stage for more than 45 minutes past their 8:00pm start time. At 8:35 the crowd’s chants of “M-8-3” almost seemed to do wonders. The appeasement of M83’s appearance to the packed crowd didn’t last long since they only played two tracks kicking off with their powerhouse hit “Midnight City,” which even endured a three-second glitch of silence mid-song. What a shame since the band’s unique sound via animated use of multiple trigger pads and synthesizers is both visually and aurally stimulating and we definitely would have all loved to have seen so much more. They band scurried off with a similar frustration of the disappointed fans in attendance but promised to return.

Meanwhile at the UMF Brasil tent Andy C proved that drum n bass is alive and more than well and that the packed fans still know to, “Put your fuckin hands up,” on cue.

Approaching the main stage the signature crucifix of Justice could be seen from hundreds of yards away as the echoes of the Schoolhouse Rock styled “D.A.N.C.E.” reverberated.

Today’s featured artist, Avicii, on the main stage unfortunately competed with the very worthy 2manydjs on the live stage but the thrill of witnessing Madonna introduce Avicii and then join him in the booth was quite the impressive, rockstar spectacle. Not be outdone, Skrillex later snuck from behind the performing DJ to fanatically wave as if in a brief moment and in gest to steal Avicii’s thunder although no harm done. Avicii wowed with “Fade Into Darkness” and Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” as a possible tribute to his predecessors without missing a beat and almost oblivious to the antics going on behind him.

Day 3 of Ultra, the final Ultra of 2012, is all that’s left and I can’t help sing the lyrics from “Save This Moment” by John O’Callghan, “…save this moment. I don’t wanna stop it now. I don’t want for this to end.”

Images by Kathy Vitkus

Read our recap of UMF 2012 day one here.