JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Stardust’s and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter’s 49th birthday.
Category: EDM
BLEUFEU is a Québec City-based event organizer and show promoter that presents festive and inspiring events, including the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), Toboggan — New Year’s Eve Celebrations and St-Roch XP, as well as hundreds of shows throughout the year at Impérial Bell and a new venue, which will be opening soon.
The BLEUFEU team recently announced the lineup for this year’s Toboggan — New Year’s Eve Celebrations, presented by SiriusXM. Held in the Grande Allée District, in the heart of the gorgeous and historic provincial capital, this year’s edition will take place between December 28, 2023 – December 31, 2023.
2023’s Toboggan gains a new election with the addition of a new stage at Place George V, the SiriusXM Cube, which will host festive electronic music nights between December 28, 2023 – December 30, 2023. The SiriusXM Cube is a must-faced stage that will allow attendees to see that stage’s performances from three sides, starting each day at 5:00pm.
December 28, 2023 will see Canadian duo Loud Luxury headlining, returning after headlining back in 2019. Montréal-based sensation GLOWZI and Québec-based DJ Derrick will complete the SiriusXM Cube’s first night.
December 29, 2023 will see French multi-platinum selling artist DJ Klingande, who has been a mainstay at the world’s major EDM festivals headlining. Montréal-born, Franco-Congolese, Afro House artist DJ Karaba and rising artist Millimetrik will complete the SiriusXM Cube’s second night.
December 30, 2023 will see Montréal-based electronic music pioneer High Klassified capping off the SiriusXM Cube’s final night.
The traditional New Year’s Eve show, which will take place at Place de l’Assemblée-Nationale between 8:00pm-12:30am will be headlined by Italian Grammy-nominated production outfit Meduza will bring in 2024 with a euphoric EDM set. Québecois artist La Diable à Cinq, Les Louanges and Mike Demero will complete the night’s wild party.
On-site, visitors can also enjoy the Winter Village, which will feature heated areas under tents and relaxation spaces to enhance the experience, starting at 1:00PM each day. (Believe me, from what I understand, those heated areas will be prime real estate for an outdoor festival in Québec in late December!)
And this is all 100% free for visitors to enjoy, making Toboggan a great destination to celebrate the last days of 2023.
“New Year’s celebrations hold a special place in the hearts of the people of Quebec. We are very pleased to offer these four festive evenings free of charge to the entire population in the heart of our beautiful city,” BLEUFEU’s CEO Nicolas Racine says. “With each new edition, we aim to establish Toboggan as a must-attend event and showcase the potential of Quebec as the ultimate Nordic destination,” he adds.
“We are excited about the new stage at Place George V. It was high time to equip the event with a stage setup and production worthy of the EDM festival it has become. Performances by artists such as Loud Luxury or Klingande will take on a whole new dimension,” explains Louis Bellavance, VP Content and Artistic Direction at BLEUFEU.
Lastly, as a festival, Toboggan is environmentally conscious and seeks to reduce its ecological footprint. Among their many actions taken, the festival will soon be carbon-neutral, with the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the event being offset through Planetair. They also produce sustainable mobility through its communication campaigns, Additionally, the festival will warm attendees in an environmentally conscious fashion, by using eco-friendly logs in its outdoor fireplaces.
The festival also has come up with a Good Festivalgoer Guide, which is available on their homepage, and offers festival goers a series of green actions that they can do to minimize the ecological impact of their visit.
New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Returns with Sultry “Speed Dial”
Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez.
The Miami-based DJ recently stepped out into the spotlight as a producer and artist, and he manages to continue the genre-blending approach to his own original music with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta.
Last month, the South Florida-based DJ released “Blind,” a song build around a slick production featuring glistening synths, skittering beats and a soulful vocal melody paired with twitter and woofer rattling house music-inspired drops. Throughout, the song’s vocalist tells a story of two people, who just can’t seem to see the love that they have right in front of them. The result is a remarkably crowd-pleasing, club friendly bop that seamlessly meshes elements of Billboard Top 40 pop and EDM.
Diamondz’ third single “Speed Dial” is a sultry, radio friendly club banger built around a pop-tinged production reminiscent of The Weeknd, built around skittering trap beats, atmospheric and twinkling synths and a yearning vocal melody. “Speed Dial” is the sort of mood-setting song that you’d hope would be playing when you’re trying to holler at that pretty young thing at the bar or the club.
It’s a nod to those late nights, leaving the party or the club and you get that call or text from someone you caught a vibe with,” the Miami-based producer explains. “The airy pads capture the aura of that late night drive to meet up while the allure of the dancing synth line captures the energy and feeling you get when you first link with that new person…the proverbial butterflies!”
New Audio: Sentiom Shares Lush, Crowd-Pleasing “No Limits”
Travis Stewart is a sound designer, composer and electronic music producer, best known as Sentiom. Stewart has spent the past two-plus decades composing music for film scores as a teenager, and gradually moved towards electronic music as one half of the EDM duo Paragon Axis, an outfit whose material has amassed almost one million streams across different streaming platforms. With Sentiom, Stewart crafts lush and melodic techno/deep house that frequently sees him pairing organic melodies with aggressive synthesizer work and driving bass.
Stewart’s latest single, the sleek, dance floor friendly “No Limits” is built around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering 808s, a relentless motorik-like groove and his penchant for rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with a sultry pop starlet vocal sample. The result is a song that seems to channel Robyn and Little Boots with a similar crowd-pleasing accessibility.
New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Shares Crowd-Pleasing Bop “Blind”
Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and emerging electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez.
The Miami-based DJ recently stepped out into the spotlight as a producer, and he manages to continue the genre-blending approach to his own original music with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta.
His second and latest single “Blind” is built around a slick production featuring glistening synths, skittering beats, a soulful vocal melody and a twitter and woofer rattling house drops. Throughout, the song’s vocalist tells a story of two people, who just can’t seem to see the love that they have right in front of them. The result is a remarkably crowd-pleasing, club friendly bop that seamlessly meshes elements of Billboard Top 40 pop and EDM.
New Audio: London’s Finesse Shares a Summery Club Banger
Finesse is an emerging London-based electronic music producer and artist, who has a passion for creating energetic, uplifting EDM and house with a melodic vibe that can simultaneously help you chill out — and make you dance.
His debut single “So Alone” is a summery club friendly banger built around a deep house-inspired production featuring glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and a soulful vocal sample paired with an incredibly catchy hook. The result is a song that strikes me as sounding like a mix of Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa, Larry Levan, and 90s dance pop.
New Video: Woolley Shares Retro-Futuristic Banger “Funky Noises”
Patrice Woolley is a Monégasque-born multidisciplinary artist. After completing his studies, he spent a few years as a decorator in his native Monaco but then relocated to Nice, where he experimented with Art Deco. and then became a decorator/scenographer — and then a finally a theater manager for Galabru, Lagerfeld, Gilbert and others. He then steps out into the spotlight as an actor, with a a decade-long stint at Nice’s Théâtre du Fou.
Woolley eventually relocated to Paris, where he worked a decorator, stage manager, actor, draftsman actor and painter. He spent some time as a decorator at the Monte Carlo Opera when it was in Paris, and was a temp at the French School of Press officers (EPAP3), where he taught design and editing courses.
Back in 2019, the Monégasque-born multidisciplinary artist releases his full-length debut, SILLIS, a pop/rock effort under the moniker Woolley. His sophomore album PULSATIONS MIND’S features the swaggering”Funky Noises,” banger built around buzzing synth oscillations and tweeter and woofer rattling thump that sounds like a synthesis of Tweekend-era The Crystal Method, Out of the Black-era Boys Noize and Daft Punk.
Fittingly, the video by Woolley features a collection of dancing robots, explosive lights and more.
New Audio: Berlin’s Rozarc Shares Shimmering Club Banger
Sinan Özgur Koç is a Berlin-based, Turkish electronic music producer and artist, drummer and sound engineer, best known as Rozarc. Koç has grown up with a diverse array of music influencing his own work ranging from Bjork, Amon Tobin, and Nine Inch Nails to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kyuss among others. But as an electronic music producer and artist, his work is influenced by techno, tech-house. industrial, synth wave, downtempo, glitch and IDM while paired with sound design ideas moulded with narrative and cinematic structures.
The Berlin-based producer and artist first emerged into the electronic music scene with his debut EP, 2019’s five-song Odds Are Tough, which saw him quickly establishing a forward-thinking, genre and style-defying sound and approach to his productions while being remarkably harmonious. Koç’s full-length debut, last year’s 12-song Flamacue was released to quite a bit of attention with the album being showcased in FAZEmag, The Groove Cartel, The Further, Zero Music Magazine, R+, Roadie Music, Zone Nights, Electronica.org.uk, and a list of others.
Built around layers of fluttering and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, twinkling keys and skittering beats, the remarkably cinematic album track “Sand Grains” seems like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” — but with a club friendly accessibility.
New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda’s “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi
Cyril Thévenard is a Dijon, France-born, classically trained flute player, and highly regarded electronic music producer and artist. Initially influenced by French touch, Thévenard becomes a DJ and plays at raves under the moniker Hermetic Unity.
Thévenard started releasing material as John Lord Fonda in 1997 with the release of that year’s Vulcan through Choice Records. After gaining experience on the turntables, the Dijon-born electronic music producer and artist, signed with Citizen Records, who released 2004’s VoltAge. 2005 saw the release of Erase My Anger EP, followed by Debaser, which featured a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”
2009’s Composite compilation, included some live versions of tracks. 2011 was a busy year: He started the year with the Bang The Fire! EP and closed out the year with Supersonique. Thévenard then disappeared from the scene for the next decade, reappearing with the release of 2021’s Walk Again, which featured “Together Again,” a club banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and euphoria-inducing hooks.
Recently Grenoble, France-born and based electronic music producer and artist Endrik Schroeder remixed “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi turning it into an Italo Disco banger, along the lines of From Here to Eternity-era Giorgio Moroder with a contemporary EDM sheen — but while retaining the song’s original, mysterious air.
New Audio: Allegories Releases a Left Field Banger
Allegories was a long-dormant experimental noise duo that reappeared in 2014 as an electro pop unit that experimented with genre, meshing eclectic soundscapes with pop inclinations. Gathering further, inspiration from DJ’ing house and hip-hop nights, the act began to create electronic music that often shifts between the mainstream and underground spectrum.
The duo’s latest single “Pray” is a feverish left field take on dance music, centered around `shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats, euphoria-inducing hooks and pitch shifted vocals that sonically is a slick synthesis of Evil Heat era Primal Scream and Sound of Silver era LCD Soundsystem. Or in other words, it’s a bizarre yet winning mix of menace, irony and sincerity within a club banger.
“‘Pray’ feels like a tree grown out of a seed of house music, but its leaves are wild and varied,” the mysterious duo explain. “Sometimes you let gravity take over a composition; you start one way but over time music evolves naturally. At the same time, “Pray” doesn’t function in an uncomplicated fashion. It was written and recorded over many years and each new iteration added conflicting emotional layers. A menagerie of feelings. Owing as much to the overtly sincere as it does the misleading insincere. “
Throwback: Black History Month: Nile Rodgers
Today is the 16th day of February — and the 16th day Black History Month. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles with the hopes that these artists can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience.
As the month goes on, I hope that you’ll be reminded of these urgently important facts:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
Nile Rodgers has written, cowritten and/or produced some of the biggest and most beloved dance floor and pop hits of the past 50 years while working with a who’s who list of artists across a diverse and eclectic array of artists. I’d guarantee that Rodgers has worked with an artist you love on a song you love. And as a result, his sound and approach has been instrumental in your life.
Matteo Longbois is an emerging, 20-something, Honfluer, Normandy, France-based electronic music producer and electronic music artist. He can trace the origins of his love for electronic music to when his father played David Guetta‘s 2006 Sensation White Festival set for him. Since then, Longbois has created his own original music, influenced by Daft Punk, Paul Kalkbrenner, Lauant Garnier (a.k.a. Chance) and Todd Terry among others.
Clocking in at a little under three minutes, Longbois’ latest single, the minimalist “Techno Medicament” is centered around hypnotic repetitions of dense synth arpeggio layers, tweeter and woofer rattling polyrhythmic thump. Sonically, the song strikes me as a sleek and energetic synthesis of Kraftwerk and The Chemical Brothers‘ “Star Guitar.” Interestingly, as Longbois explains the song is influenced by several different electronic music styles and genres including minimalist techno, IDM and house. Ideally, the song was created as a a way to escape one’s troubles after a hard day’s/night’s work.
James Fisher is a Chicago-based electronic music producer, best known as ALIGN. With ALIGN, Fisher has developed a reputation for crafting thought-provoking music for the everyday listener meant to be the soundtrack for your daily commute or a night out with friends. So far he has appeared alongside some of the brightest and biggest names of contemporary indie electro pop and EDM including Louis The Child, Illlenium, Autograf, Hayden James, Thomas Jack, SNBRN, GTA and a list of others. Adding to a growing profile, “All In Our Eyes,” a 2018 collaboration with fellow Chicagoan Mielo landed at #1 on the Hype Machine Charts.
Fisher released two singles earlier this year “Second Thoughts” and “Reflections” through well-esteemed electronic music tastemaker label Lowly Palace and a remix of PINES‘ hit single “Tell Me” for Kygo’s Palm Tree Records. Capping off a big year, Fisher’s last ALIGN single of 2020 “When I’m With You” finds him collaborating with vocalist Martina Lynn. Centered around ambient and textured synth arpeggios, skittering beats., and Lynn’s achingly vulnerable, sultry vocals, the upbeat confection “When I’m With You” manages to be both club and radio friendly. But underneath the slick studio polish, the song is a sweet declaration of longing and desire by a narrator, who has stumbled upon the true love that we all wish we have — the sort in which you can find sustenance and comfort in your lover’s presence and arms.
“I started writing this track by using some guitar plucks and experimenting with a soundscape,” the Chicago-based ALIGN says. “I wanted to create an ambient moment, then transition into more of a rhythmic beat. That soundscape became something that I could write chords on top of and develop a beat and melodies. I loved where it was going, but I knew it needed somebody’s story to accompany it. Martina seemed like the perfect fit for the vibe of this track.”
“When I first heard the track, I was immediately intrigued to start writing and creating a melody for it because it was an upbeat, EDM type track that I wasn’t used to working with and I was up for the challenge,” Martina Lynn recalls. “My manager, Jeremy Gentry and I spent so much time writing, rewriting and recording all via video call, which was such a challenging, vulnerable process but it was so rewarding. When it comes to the actual writing process, we were both drawn to the idea of creating a healthy and happy story of love for the track, because those seem so rare lately. I think everyone can relate to the idea of only being able to think of one person when it comes to love and being in love and wanting them because of the comfort they bring.”
Mariatti · Patches
Andrea Mariatti is a 26 year old,Turin, Italy-born and-based electronic music producer, electronic music artist and DJ, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he turned 12. Around that time, he had started creating and making music from his laptop. Mariatti’s music career started in earnest when he was 15: he started releasing albums under the name Andrea Dub. Some of the young producer and DJ’s work was played by a number of DJs across the European Union.
After completing high school, Mariatti studied at SAE Institute, Milan, eventually earning a degree in Audio Production and Creative Music Industry, which helped him pushed the boundaries of his sound and technical limits. Over the past few yers, Mariatti has been rather busy: three years ago, he returned to his hometown, where he built a studio, so he could work on music every day.
Two years ago, the up-and-coming Italian produced signed with NBM Music Agency, who helped him sign with Deadmau5′s mau5trap Records, who released music from his latest musical projects Thin King and his latest solo project Mariatti. Additionally, he founded Recall, a live events brand whose mission is to create and foster a community of passionate people about electronic music with his friend and colleague HolyU.
Now, as you may recall, Mariatti has also released a batch of new material that included the trance house meets New Jack Swing-like “Other Vibes” and the lush, Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa-like “Variable Speed of Life.” Mariatti’s latest single “Patches” is a lushly melodic yet brash banger centered around layers of shimmering and wobbling synth arpeggios, stuttering beats placed with an expansive, seemingly free-flowing song structure. Subtly recalling Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, Factory Floor and others, the track may arguably be the most mesmerizing of the Italian producer’s growing catalog.
“‘Patches’ is the most melodic and evolving arrangement I went through,” Mariatti says. “The process of this song came from only one synthesizer: Korg MS-20; every single sound you hear is made by that astonishing machine.”
Mariatti · Other Vibes
Mariatti · Variable Speed Of Life
Andrea Mariatti is a young, emerging Italian electronic music producer, electronic music artist and DJ, who can trace the origins of his music career back to when he was 12. He started creating and making music from his laptop. By the time Mariatti turned 15, he was releasing albums under the name Andrea Dub — and building upon a growing profile, some of his work was played by a number of DJs across the European Union.
After high school, the young Italian producer studied at SAE Institute, Milan, eventually earning a degree in Audio Production and Creative Music Industry, which helped him pushed the boundaries of his technical limits. The last couple of years have been pretty busy for Mariatti: three years ago, he returned to his hometown, where he built a studio, so he could work on music every day.
Two years ago, the up-and-coming Italian produced signed with NBM Music Agency, who helped him sign with Deadmau5′s mau5trap Records, who released music from his latest musical projects Thin King and his latest solo project Mariatti. Additionally, he founded Recall, a live events brand whose mission is to create and foster a community of passionate people about electronic music with his friend and colleague HolyU. Mariatti has also been busy working on new material, including his two latest singles — “Other Vibes” and “Variable Speed of Life.”
“Other Vibes” is slickly produced bit of trance-inducing house, centered around wobbling and arpeggiated synths, skittering beats, vocoder’ed and distorted vocals and an infectious hook — and while being a forward-looking yet crafted bit of electronic music that subtly nods at New Jack Swing, the track as the Italian producer explains in press notes is dedicated to Recall’s motto, with a focus “on the continuous research of inspiration from the sounds and the people, who enjoy the craft.” “Variable Speed of Life” is a straightforward yet brash club banger centered around a lush production featuring layers of shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats, twinkling and atmospheric electronics. Sonically, the track reminds me of Octo Octa and 100% Silk Records.
”Variable Speed Of Life’ is my second independent release and its title came from the quarantine experience: for the first time in our lives we got more aware about the flow of time and it’s importance,” Mariatti says.