Dance
The producers of four independent California festivals are offering a limited edition ticket that provides general admission access to the 2025 edition of each event.
Dubbed the “indepenDANCE Pass” the ticket is on offer for $599, approximately $1,400 less expensive than the cost of buying four separate tickets to each festival. A total of 100 indepenDANCE Passes are currently available, with profits split evenly between each event.
The passes are part of a campaign to bring attention to the state of independent music festivals, which have struggled following the pandemic due to rising costs of goods and services. The founders of each of the four festivals involved with the IndepenDANCE Pass recently gathered for a longform conversation about the state of the independent side of the festival industry.
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“Independent festivals have always been about community, and now we’re taking that to the next level,” Same Same But Different co-founder and CEO Brad Sweet says during the talk. “We pour everything we have into creating spaces where people can truly connect, dance freely, and experience something real, and now we’re uniting to create something bigger than any one festival, a collective that strengthens the entire scene and gives our community more access, more connection, and more unforgettable experiences across the festival season. By coming together, we’re making sure independent festivals don’t just survive, but evolve and flourish for years to come.”
Featuring dance, funk, global music and more, Joshua Tree Music Festival happens both this May 15-18 and October 9-12 (the pass is good for just one of the events) in Joshua Tree, Calif. Happening in Lake Perris, Calif. this Sept. 26-28, Same Same But Different has previously featured artists including Griz, Big Gigantic, Polo & Pan and Louis the Child, with the 2025 lineup to be announced in the coming months.
Meanwhile the longstanding house and techno festival Desert Hearts 2025 happens July 3-7 in Flagstaff, Ariz. The electronic-oriented Northern Nights, which has this year partnered with Dirtybird Campout, happens Cook’s Valley Campground in Northern California on July 18-20, with the lineup also to be announced in the coming months.
25 years ago this month, Miami’s Club Space first opened its doors. In the decades since, it’s become not just a citywide institution, but a national and international destination that’s risen, then risen again, in tandem with the explosion of underground electronic music.
Created by Miami native Luis Puig in 2000 and now operated by a trio of friends and business partners who’ve long been embedded in the city’s dance scene, Club Space now hosts roughly 600 annual events, drawing tens of thousands of party people for the both the music and the all-night into morning experience that the club, which possesses a 24 hour license, famously offers. Parties can, and do, go on for days.
This week is not only the Club Space’s anniversary, but its busiest week of the year, with thousands of dance industry folks and genre fans flocking to town for Miami Music Week, a confluence of parties, showcases and gatherings. Starting today (March 25), Club Space will feature a flurry of producers and party brands including Hugel’s Make the Girls Dance, Fisher’s Catch & Release, HARD, Cloonee, The Martinez Brothers and Loco Dice and many, many more.
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In tandem with the revelry, here Puig, the current co-owners and other essential Club Space employees tell the story of the venue, in their own words.
I. Origins
Puig started bartending and DJing in Miami nightclubs as a teenager. Eventually, he operated clubs in South Beach, but the competitive market and a yearning for another type of venue later brought him to downtown Miami, a move that would affect the future of nightclubs in the city and ultimately reverberate throughout dance music culture.
Puig: The experience I got from DJing and bartending was watching people and what they liked. That was fused with my travels to all the big clubs in New York — Ice Palace 57, New York, New York, Paradise Garage. Then in 1981, I went to Ibiza. That just took it to another level. I was 21 years old [and going], “Wow, this is something else.” The clubs didn’t close, they just stayed open. From that experience and from all those years of clubbing and DJing and working at nightclubs, it gave me an idea what would make a great club.
I had my blueprints and architectural plans [with me in Ibiza] and one night I was invited to dinner at Roman Polanski’s house there. [Pacha Ibiza] founder Ricardo Urgell was there, and after dinner I spread the plans over the table and went through it like, “This is where DJ booth is. This is how big the dance floor will be. This where I’m putting the bar. Everybody’s doing VIP clubs on the Beach, but this is going to be for locals, and it’s going to have a patio.”
There were like, eight people sitting at the dinner table having drinks and looking at the plans. I remember Ricardo just passed his hand to the left, and said, “Esto va a ser un gran éxito.” This is going to be a great success. If I would have never built a club, I would have been happy just with his blessing. It was a pretty amazing night for me.
Years later, in 1999, Puig located a promising building in Miami’s Park West neighborhood, then an unsavory part of downtown.
Puig: The whole area was abandoned. The landlords had nobody to rent to. [The area I wanted] was basically three warehouses and a parking lot. I walked in and there were three homeless people living on the floor, s— everywhere. It was horrible. I mean, rats, everything.
Longtime Space bartender Sean Ospina: I mean, back in the dy downtown was scary. I’d be scared walking down the street.
Puig: The walls of the building were missing. There were pieces of roof missing. But I just saw a club. I was 39 at the time and said, “It’s now or never,” and I started building it. I paid $7 a square foot, for almost 20,000 square feet. I’d been paying $30 a square foot on the Beach. I started selling everything I had to raise money for the club. I sold my car. I had money put away. I borrowed money. I think we put together the original Space for about half a million dollars.
Knowing it’d be hard to compete with the South Beach clubs, Puig decided his venue would be an after hours, designed to draw the thousands of partiers forced to leave the city’s many clubs at closing time, but who didn’t want to go home. To make that happen, first a few laws had to be changed.
Puig: In Miami, there are areas where you can stay open until 3:00 or 5:00 a.m. Anyone can do those. That’s easy. The 24-hour thing was unheard of outside of Vegas. But I knew if I was going to make any money, I’d have to get all these people to come at 4 or 5 a.m., and the only way to do that was to sell liquor after hours.
The director of the Downtown Development Association got a hold of me through my lawyer and requested a meeting. She helped me so much, because she knew that first the club comes, then people get comfortable with the area — then the next thing you know, some guy opens a pizza shop and then something else opens up. Nightclubs are like the seed to start entertainment districts.
Current Space co-owner David Sinopoli: Louis paved the way for us. That guy bulldozed and changed the laws.
Puig: My lawyer and I came up with the 24-hour district thing. Convincing the city took some lobbying, because they didn’t understand why anybody would want to be drinking at seven in the morning. Like, what kind of animals are drinking and dancing at 7 a.m.? It took about three months of lobbying and talking to commissioners. Then it went to vote, and they all voted for making this two-by-two block segment dedicated as a 24-hour entertainment district where you could sell liquor for 24 hours. Game-changer.
Louis Puig during a Space remodel
Courtesy of Space
After construction was completed, Space opened on March 24, 2000, during Miami Music Week.
Puig: My marketing director said, “Bro, just call it Club Space, because there’s all this space inside it.” The opening night was Danny Tenaglia, the king of clubs. He was the most respected DJ in the industry. Every DJ wanted to hear what Danny was playing, because he could play for hours and not repeat a record. That first party just kept going and going. Overnight, everybody started talking about this crazy club that didn’t shut down. All the DJs started calling, because if Danny was playing there, they all wanted to play there.
We were only open on Saturdays for the first two or three years. We’d start getting busy around three or four in the morning, enough to open up all the rooms. When we first opened, there was the Red Room and the Blue Room. The Blue Room would would play trance; Paul van Dyk, Tiësto, all the big trance DJs, then the Red Room would play house. Our resident was Oscar G, a legend. Then I opened the hip-hop room, and it became very popular, because the hip-hoppers didn’t have anywhere to go for after hours.
Longtime Space employee and current general manager Lisa Mion: When I started at Space I was a waitress in the hip-hop room. It was a tiny room with two tiny VIP tables on each side. That place was filled to the brim all the time.
Puig: The last room to open didn’t open until four months after everything else, and that was the patio.
II. The Patio!
Also referred to as The Terrace, this outdoor area is one of Club Space’s most popular and defining features, allowing guests to enjoy the music as the sun rises. Initially open air, this upper floor of the venue now has a transparent, retractable roof to protect people on the dancefloor from the elements while still letting the sunlight in.
Puig: In the early years, people would go peek out at the patio then run back inside. The question was, how do you get people who’ve been partying all night to come into the light and and keep partying, besides giving them sunglasses?
I knew everybody liked Ibiza, so we did an Ibiza party. Back then Ibiza was mostly farms, except for the clubs. So we went and got chickens, dogs, pigs and bunnies. We had a goat. We bought bales of hay. We all wore overalls with farmer hats and gave away popsicles and melons. [All the employees] went outside to the patio so no one could find us. If you wanted to hang out with us or get a free drink, you had to come see us. We gave away free sunglasses. That was the first patio party. Within two months, pictures started going around and people were preparing to be in the light, and it became the thing. [British DJ] Steve Lawler] became the king of the patio.
Ospina: Back in the early days, we didn’t have a roof on the terrace, so people were exposed to the elements. It could be cold, or super hot, or raining. People didn’t care — they were on the terrace for the music and the vibe.
Puig: It was open-air for the first two or three years. One of those years, during Miami Music Week, it was like, 10 in the morning and raining like it’s never rained before. There were about six inches of water on the terrace, and the awning started getting full of water and stretching. We thought the whole thing was going to fall on top of people and kill them. It was this huge balloon of water. We thought we were going to have to close.
We had bamboo trees on the patio back then, so my manager took a knife, tied it to a bamboo shaft that he broke from one of the trees and started poking holes in the belly of the beast. It became a shower, all these little waterfalls everywhere. Everybody’s just digging it and running around and playing in the water. Then out of nowhere, Sasha shows up and wants to play. So he gets on, and then Sharam from Deep Dish gets on. They weren’t hired to play, they just wanted to. People are going bananas. DJs are showing up. Everybody’s calling everybody. It doesn’t stop raining, people are jumping in the water like kids. That, to me, was epic.
Louis Puig at Space
Courtesy of Space
III. Space Is the Place
Puig: I mean, look, I run a pretty tight ship. I would say we started turning a profit within the first six months. And once it really got going, it just just got bigger and bigger. Everybody on the Beach was trying to shut me down. My big competition would call bomb scares. They would tell their clients that it was an after hours for drug abuse people. Luckily, we hired police to work the front door and when the other police would get there, they would say, “There’s nothing going on.”
Longtime Space doorman Alan Tibaldeo: The perfect Space guest is done to the nines, giving a look — comfortable, but giving. They know who’s playing and what time to be there. They have their ticket and they’re ready to go dance.
Puig: A few years in, half a million people were going through the door of Space every year. But it started getting busy right away. The Music Conference [the year after we opened] was huge, because now everybody knew about Space, and everybody knew there was a room for them to play where they didn’t have to turn of the music at 5:00 in the morning.
Mion: Miami Music Week is what we all wait for. It’s like the hurrah, the big boom of the year for us.
Puig: Some of my worst nights were during Miami Music Week, because you had every club owner, every actor, every famous DJ in the world, and they all wanted to get in for free. They all wanted to drink for free. They all demanded to be in VIP or worse, the DJ booth. I mean, those are the nights that we would turn off our phones and hide. I would actually go to my office and lock myself in.
Ospina: How many drinks do I serve on a really busy night like that? I don’t know. It’s a lot of drinks.
IV. “The Boys”
Puig: By 2012, I had gotten married and my wife was pregnant with our second son. The phone was ringing at all times of the night with people trying to get into the club. I wanted to have a happy marriage and see my kids on Sundays. I thought, “You know what? I did everything I wanted to do here. What more am I going to do?” I decided to sell.
In late 2013, Puig sold Space to Roman Jones and Justin Levine of Opium Group, who operated the venue for three years before selling it to Coloma Kaboomsky, Davide Danese and David Sinopoli, three locals who’d been cutting their teeth in Miami’s club and festival scene for years. Sinopoli was co-founder of the city’s III Points Festival, while Danese and Kaboomsky had been throwing parties at local venues under their Link Miami Rebels brand. The trio took over Club Space in late 2016.
Puig: The [Opium Group] people I sold to didn’t really operate the club the way I would. They were trying to run Space like the clubs in South Beach, and that didn’t really work out for them. So the owners reached out to “the boys,” as I call them — Davide, Coloma and David. I couldn’t be more satisfied than to have them taking care of my baby. It’s like sending your kid off to college and knowing they’re in the right hands.
David Sinopoli, Coloma Kaboomsky and Davide Danese
Brenda Brooks
Sinopoli: Justin [Levine] was at a point in his career where he wanted to kind of be done with Miami nightlife, and for us it was simply right place, right time.
Danese: The three of us had a strong following in the Miami music scene, and many years of strong relationships with underground artists that were about to become major players in the international electronic music scene. So when it was offered to us, it was perfect. It was just plug-and=play.
Kaboomsky: We had been scouting Space for a while, and it was really at a low point. The bookings were all over the place. There were very few people going to the venue. We did a pop-up with Art Department in August of 2016, and it felt like the venue came alive again. Everyone was buzzing about how the place was so phenomenal, but the week before, nobody wanted to go there, so that first night was just such a strong proof of concept.
Danese: For me, the first four months were very difficult. It was our first Music Week [in 2017] that really made me feel like we had it, because every single night was phenomenal and all led into a 36-hour closing party with The Martinez Brothers, Jamie Jones and Joseph Capriati. It felt like we could finally welcome our crowd to a place that was fully ours — that looked like us, that felt like us, where we controlled everything from the door to the bars and, most importantly, the music direction. It felt like the community came together that [week] and from then on, it was almost easy.
Kaboomsky: A lot of these [international party brands] were previously doing these high-risk pop ups in random places [around town]. A lot of what we were doing was saying “Hey guys, you can trust us. This is going to be a turnkey thing for your brand, and we can focus on marketing and presenting it the way it should be presented, versus you trying to figure out where to put port-a-potties.”
Danese: The employees loved how we changed the security, we changed the bars, we changed the strong, heavy energy they used to have.
Kaboomsky: [When we came in] it was also really important for Space to be safe for women, because at the end of the day, guys are going to follow women. We can book great DJs, but if we want to build a culture, women need to be safe. A lot of the security changes were focused on making sure women feel safe holding a drink in their hand, making sure there’s no fighting.
I think the music programming also had a lot to do with it. Some of the first weeks in the club that weren’t big DJs were a cleansing. They were these very underground bookings, nothing that had ever been at Space before. It was this beautiful music, more feminine, more downtempo. A lot of the crowd that was coming before for the high, tribal energy came and were like, “Oh, we’re never coming back.”
Sinopoli: We were also kind of evangelistic about converting people to the after-hours. At the same time, Davide and Coloma were converting me to the after-hours, because I wasn’t from that world. Davide would basically force me to come. He’s like, “You need to see your f–king club in the morning, man. It’s an incredible thing.” I found that if you spend a couple mornings there, or do the night-into-the-morning thing, it becomes an itch. It’s unlike anything you can you can experience at any other nightclub.
In 2019, Club Space partnered with Insomniac Events, with the dance events company acquiring an ownership stake in the venue. Upon the announcement, Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella said that Danese, Kaboomsky andSinopoli would still be “running the show and together we will set the bar for entertainment in Miami.” Since 2016, Danese, Kaboomsky, Sinopoli and their sprawling team have made changes to make the club more comfortable for early morning attendees, offering coffee at the bar, introducing a breakfast menu and allowing guests to order takeout right to the dancefloor.
Doorman Alan Tibaldeo
Courtesy of Space
Tibaldeo: People will arrive at 11:00 at night, and it’s like, go home, take a nap and come back, because you’re too early. The club is really to experience daybreak, if you want the whole enchilada. The best time to arrive is probably around 5:00 a.m.
Mion: The sunrise is the most magical moment we have here.
Kaboomsky: One of the biggest misses, and I see it all the time, is when somebody goes to the club and they don’t make it to sunrise. It’s tragic.
V. Sleep & Lack Thereof
The club’s possession of the 24-hour license that allows for these moments also means that parties can and do go on for days — making it so that considerations must be made for approaching a night, and day, at the Club Space properly.
Puig: Danny [Tenaglia] created the format. He would do these marathon sets, and it became the thing.
Tibaldeo: The big weekends go forever, it’s usually Sunday to Tuesday. There are nights that can go 24, 25, 26 hours.
Danese: People plan on being there for 12, 15 hours. They can spend an entire day with us.
Kaboomsky: People have outfit changes.
Tibaldeo: I have outfit changes, for sure.
Kaboomsky: I had a friend who was at the club, then took a meeting in New York and then came back to the same party.
Ospina: It takes me at least two days to decompress after a shift. After a weekend is done, I come home and I’m like a hermit. I’ll be in my room for two days. Back in the day, we would do marathon shifts. We could be behind the bar for 20 or 25 hours. We don’t do that now; they won’t let us. Now at the most it’s 15-hour shifts.
Mion: The the hours are probably the most challenging, because sometimes we don’t sleep much. For me, [working at] Space is like having a baby. The baby needs to eat. Like a new parent, you’re never going to sleep much. I don’t drink, I’m vegan, I don’t partake in anything; I don’t even drink caffeine. People ask me all the time, “How do you stay up 30 hours?” It’s because I love my job. I care for it like I would if it was my child.
Space employee and longtime colleague of “the boys” Lucas Zaglul: We always keep in touch to see, who’s coming in at what hour? It’s like, “I’m going in the morning,” and Coloma will be like, “Cool, I’ll go early in the night and take over.” I was once at the club for 20 hours, totally delirious. It’s hard to go past 12 hours when you’re in there working and having to deal with stuff. That’s when it’s like, “Okay, I have to go home.”
VI: It’s Solomun!
The esteemed Bosnian-German producer first played Space during Art Basel 2017, becoming a favorite of the venue while also becoming known for sets that have lasted a full 24 hours.
Kaboomsky: The first Solomun marathon was super important. It was a moment of like, “Damn, we could actually do this,” where before [those long sets] were just something we wanted to do. No one had done marathons that long in the club before. There had been 12 hour marathons, but not 25.
Ospina: When Solomun plays, I don’t know what it is, but you feel the energy in the air. I usually don’t pay attention to the music — because I’m working and focused on what I’m doing — but with him I’ll always be like, “Wow, this is really good.”
Mion: Solomun, oh my goodness. When we have Solomun nights, those are the highlights. You know when you’re there and then you’re [dancing] and you don’t know why? He’s that kind of vibe. When we have Solomun we’re all very excited, The whole staff, management. I want to say that the whole building is on fire when we know Solomun is coming.
Zaglul: Most times when Solomun comes, I’m like, “I want to see how long I can hear Solomun play,” and then I can’t even stay for half his set. The guy’s just built differently than the rest of us. Midway through I’ll go home and take a disco nap and come back.
Solomun plays The Terrace at Club Space
Courtesy of Space
VII: The Portal
Along with all the music, Space has also become a community hub, hosting events like pet adoptions and a free weekly yoga class, evolutions as the club also welcomes new generations of dance fans.
Tibladeo: I mean, now I’m addressing people’s kids and grandkids at the door. I get phone calls from parents who are like, “Hey heads up, my daughter’s coming. She’s on her way to dental school and this is her last hurrah.”
Zaglul: With our community programming, we figure out how to get people from all walks of life to come to Space and see how magical this place is. Our biggest one to date is our 420 Space Yoga. It’s a yoga class we do for free every Saturday for everybody in Miami or anybody who comes to visit. At first people were like, “We’re not going to do yoga on the floor of the club.” We had to start sharing videos of us cleaning right after the party and bleaching the floors.
Sinopoli: When Davide is in Ibiza, he’ll [sometimes] text me at some crazy time, like, “This guy just said we have the best club in the world.” It still floors us to hear s–t like that, but we keep each other accountable in staying grounded and controlling the ego things that come from this job. You can’t get lost in the soft sauce, because the second you do that, you lose track of what’s actually important, and that’s the experience, the programming, the community, the operation, the staff.
Danese: We’re kind of scared of giving ourselves the importance that maybe other people can see from the outside, like when they tell you you’re running the best club in the world, for me it’s almost scary.
Sinopoli: The main thing we’re doing is maintaining a portal. This thing has been open since 2000 and there’s been different custodians maintaining it along the way. Like any portal, if you don’t take care of it, it can become a different type of energy. Clubs are very life-changing for people, so how we maintain this portal for them to be able to have those life-changing moments is a massive responsibility that the three of us understand more than we understand what club we are in the world. That responsibility alone is enough to fill up our plate.
Puig: I know the boys are going to keep it going. I think this thing has legs. I mean, listen, Space is as close to heaven as you’re ever gonna get.
Longtime music manager Andrew Goldstone has joined the team at Milk & Honey as head of electronic music, the company’s CEO and founder Lucas Keller announced today (March 24).
With him, Goldstone brings manager Taren Smith along with clients including the dance/electronic artists Kream and Sullivan King.
Goldstone’s long history the electronic music space includes a run at the venerable dance label Astralwerks, where he signed artists including Fatboy Slim. He created his own imprint, F-111 at Warner Brothers before joining Ministry of Sound. After attending law school and serving at a legal firm, he left law and joined the team at Red Light Management, where he worked with dance icon Tiësto and others. Later at YMU, he worked with artists including 3lau, Lloyiso and Sullivan King.
“I’m thrilled to join a management company that’s so clearly focused on the breadth of electronic music,” Goldstone says. “Milk & Honey understands and provides what artists and managers need to thrive in today’s environment.”
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Smith has worked as a manager in the electronic space for more than a decade at companies including YMU and more. In 2022 she was on Billboard’s list of the top women executives in music. She will serve as manager in Milk & Honey’s electronic music department.
Goldstone and Smith will report to Milk & Honey’s head of artist management Dave Frank, along with Keller. The hirings mark Milk & Honey now having electronic music managers at its offices in Los Aneles, New York and London.
“Today is truly a full circle moment for me,” says Frank. “I first worked with Andrew in 2013 and now a decade later I’m thrilled to bring him and Taren Smith to Milk & Honey. Andrew and Taren’s deep and nuanced understanding of the electronic music industry and the artists that drive it is an invaluable asset for Milk & Honey’s continued growth.”
“We’ve been growing our global electronic music management business over the last nine years now and have plans to double our investment this year,” says Keller. “We predict that the genre will have another large acceleration over the coming years, and we’re building one of the best global infrastructures to support it. Milk & Honey clients will be at a huge advantage to have Andrew Goldstone, a seasoned vet in the space, at the helm.”
Milk & Honey’s existing electronic music management clients include Dutch star Oliver Heldens and his Hi-Lo alias, Italian stalwart Benny Benassi and British producer Joel Corry and underground phenoms including J. Worra, Massano and Chris Avantgarde. The company also represents Ian Asher, KAS:ST, Wuki and more in the artist space.
The company says its cross-genre clients will collectively play over 1,500 shows in 2025, with Keller citing the company’s 15-person creative team and A&R access as keys to its ongoing success. Founded by Keller in 2014, Milk & Honey is a global music management and sports agency. Its clients, which include artists, songwriters, producers and more, received a collective 19 nominations at the 2025 Grammys.
The company’s sports clients include Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and wide receiver Courtland Sutton of the Denver Broncos. The firm entered the sports world three years ago with Jake Presser and Rawleigh Williams alongside Dave Frank and Alex Harrow.
03/24/2025
This week we’re unfurling the dancefloor’s 100 most essential tracks, with 20 jams per day.
By 
Andrea Domanick, Andrew Unterberger, Elias Leight, Eric Renner Brown, Jason Lipshutz, Joe Lynch, Kat Bein, Katie Bain, Krystal Rodriguez, Lily Moayeri, Melinda Newman, Thomas Smith, Zel McCarthy
03/24/2025
Grimes was recently diagnosed with both ADHD and autism, the singer revealed in a lengthy X post sharing her thoughts on childhood learning disabilities.
While calling out what she sees as a social media “subculture” of “extreme infohazards” posing as helpful online mental health resources, the “Oblivion” artist wrote, “Got diagnosed w adhd/ autism this year and realized I’m prob dyslexic which is why I can’t spell at all without spellcheck.”
“I feel like, had we known this when I was a child I would have worked so much less hard, been on drugs, and so many of the weird obsessions and motivations I had would have been seen as pathological,” she continued. “I could have written off certain things that were very hard for me but I’m glad I over came them.”
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Noting that she thinks too many people are “self-diagnosing” mental health conditions, Grimes added, “My adhd symptoms were infinitely worse when I wasn’t an avid reader. An adhd account trying to pathologize one of the best things a child can do to help with adhd (and also become an auto didact and knowledgeable person etc etc) is so dark … I think the nature of this uninformed social media mental health subculture is rly a big concern.”
The Mayo Clinic defines ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, as a condition marked by difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors, while autism spectrum disorder is listed as a condition “related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others.”
The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 8.4% of children and 2.5% of adults have ADHD, while the CDC says that about 1 in 36 children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder.
Grimes hasn’t released an album since 2020’s Miss Anthropocene, which reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200. She has, however, dropped a string of singles and collaborations in the years since, including her most recent track “Idgaf” — a recovered unreleased demo that the Canadian musician finally added to streaming services in February.
Around the same time as the new track dropped, Grimes once again addressed how ex partner Elon Musk brought their 4-year-old son, X, with him to the White House earlier that month. “I would really like people to stop posting images of my kid everywhere,” she told TIME in a Feb. 24 feature of the highly publicized ordeal. “I think fame is something you should consent to. Obviously, things will just be what they are.”
This week in dance music: Beatport cited a 25% revenue increase in Mexico over the past year, along with plans to expand in the country, Zeds Dead, David Guetta and GT_Ofice made moves on the dance charts, The Dare tried to crowdsurf at a gig in Bristol and it did not go well, FKA told the story of how North West ended up making a cameo on Eusexua and we caught up with Flying Lotus on the occasion of his new film and the score he made for it.
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And these, of course, are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Fisher, “Stay”
The Australian star drops his first release of 2025 with “Stay,” a bright, warm gospel house/meets tech house singalong apt for these first few days of spring. The track samples Exile’s 1978 classic “Kiss You All Over” (a song that fans of Happy Gilmore will quickly recognize) and bumps along brightly before an abrupt end. Fans of the Fish can get more all summer long, with the producer playing fests including EDC Las Vegas and Electric Forest along with his residency at the new club [UNVRS] in Ibiza. His own event, Fisher’s Out 2 Lunch, happens for the second time this May in his native Gold Coast of Australia.
Above & Beyond with Zoe Johnston, “Quicksand (Don’t Go)”
The gentlemen of Above & Beyond, along with frequent and longtime collaborator Zoe Johnston, have always specialized in a style of music that makes you dance as it also makes you cry. Their latest “Quicksand (Don’t Go)” is more of the same in the best way, with the gently propulsive, highly emotive anthem and slowly building anthem contemplating concepts of love, loss and longing over nearly six minutes. The song is the lead single from A&B’s newly announced sixth studio album Bigger Than All of Us, coming July 18 on their own Anjunabeats label. Ahead of that, the trio will play major festivals including Ultra in Miami next week and Coachella next month.
DK Holographic, “Aries”
Detroit’s DJ Holographic drops her debut album House In the Dark, with each of the 12 songs named for each of the 12 zodiac signs. Given that Aries season starts today, it’s apt that “Aries” opens the album, with the song encapsulating a driving and kaleidoscopic electro production that the producer occasionally strips down to just the kick drum and a glowing bells before building it all back up. “Through healing practices like shadow work, astrology, and more, I’ve found a profound sense of arrival while writing House in the Dark,” the producer says in a statement. “I’ve stepped into who I’ve always wanted to be as a creative and so much more.” Whatever your sign, there’s something for you on this dazzling LP.
Loco Dice & The Martinez Brothers, “Juice”
It’s a meeting of the minds on “Juice,” with Loco Dice partnering with fellow club kings The Martinez Brothers for the tight, hypnotic and predictably cool tech house track. The collaboration, from Dice’s forthcoming album Purple Jam, is one of myriad upcoming get-togethers for producers, with the three guys closing out Space together at the tail end of Miami Music Week on March 27 and then going b2b at Coachella next month as part of the festival’s freshly announced Quasar Stage lineup.
Dom Dolla feat. Daya, “Dreamin (Anyma Remix)”
Dom Dolla’s slinky February release “Dreamin” gets the Anyma treatment via a new remix from the latter producer. Under his watch, the song becomes bigger, darker and tougher, with the producer’s melodic techno fingerprints all over the edit and the approach altogether creating an eerie juxtaposition against the “sunny days/ it’s such a pretty place/ I see your smiling face” lyrics.
Booka Shade, “Broken Glass”
German mainstays Booka Shade release the latest in the duo’s long list of studio albums today, with For Real opening with the sumptuous “Broken Glass.” Containing none of the harshness its title might indicate, the track is laden with bongos, strings and bird calls, altogether falling squarely into the deep, vibey and contemplative realm where so much Booka Shade music has existed for more than 20 years now.
In addition to a visionary oeuvre melding jazz, electronica, hip-hop and beyond, Flying Lotus has been quietly building a film/TV career over the last decade. For the 2021 anime Yasuke, he not only scored the series but executive produced, providing plot and character concepts for the series. Prior to that, you may have missed his directorial debut, Kuso, a 2017 body horror flick starring Hannibal Buress; hell, even if you saw it, you might not have known he was involved, as the director was credited simply as “Steve” (his real name is Steven Ellison) on the project.
Now, on his second feature-length film, Ash (out now in theaters and eventually on Shudder), he’s fully aligning his artistic pursuits under his Grammy-winning moniker. Flying Lotus is the director, executive producer and composer of Ash – plus, he acts in the film, alongside stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul, as one of the crew members on a blood-soaked mission to set up life on an alien world in a future where earth has become unlivable (hard to imagine, right?). Melding surreal science fiction, slasher, whodunnit and psychological suspense, Ash is a tightly executed thriller that also grapples with some weighty question: Is there a future for humans on other worlds? What happens when you can’t trust your senses? Is it worth sacrificing the truth just to survive?
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The direction is assured and economical when it needs to be while also evoking Kubrick and Nolan in its more disorienting moments. Speaking to Flying Lotus days ahead of the film’s release, it’s strange to learn that the music, of all things, seems to have given FlyLo the most trouble on Ash. In fact, he wrote an entirely different score for the movie that he decided didn’t work, forcing him to start over in the post-production process.
While we may hear parts of that other score eventually (more on that later), the music that does accompany Ash perfectly suits the action, mining the relentless terror of John Carpenter’s music in some scenes, the majesty of Vangelis in others and even the expressive soundscapes of Jean-Michel Jarre.
From learning his post-production “superpower” to the shot from a famous horror movie he cops to lifting, here’s what Flying Lotus had to say about his new project.
Directing a movie is a huge undertaking and accomplishment, so congrats. How did you come to this project?
The people who I worked with on Kuso — that put it out and helped me get distribution for it, XYZ films — they’ve been kind of repping me ever since. We’ve been trying to find a good project to work on — you know, gently. They would send me material and oftentimes it was just not right for me. When this one came around, after I had just done Yasuke, they were like, “Hey, are you interested in this? We’ve been trying to get this thing going for a while.” And I was like, “Guys, how could you not have sent this my way before? It’s totally up my alley!” It’s got all the things that I’m after, and it’s also one of those things where I would also hate to see someone else do it and not do a great job with it. So I got in the mix and just started coming up with some ideas and drawing pictures and throwing them back and forth. They got into it with me and I’m really grateful.
When you signed on for this, was it just a given you would do the score, too?
It was more so like, “Hey, you’re also thinking of doing that, right?” I’m pretty sure people were thinking that was going to happen.
What was it that attracted you to this story? What about the script made you think you had to do this?
It struck me out the gate. It had all the signs that directors talk about. You couldn’t put the script down; you started coming up with images in your mind; and like I said, you just start seeing someone else direct it and not doing a good job with it, and [that idea] frustrates you to the point where you’re like, “You know what? I got to do this.” I love the genre, and I love the idea of doing a film that was a bit more commercial leaning, but where I still have room to experiment and play. It was the perfect thing for me. It’s so hard to make a movie; I wouldn’t just jump on any gig just because it’s an opportunity.
The script is interesting, because when it starts out, you think you have it figured, but as the movie progresses, so much more is unraveled.
Yeah, man, it was a lot of fun. It also reminded me of some of my favorite survival horror games. I think it’ll resonate with all the gamers, hopefully. That’s where I come from with this for sure — a lot of first person-y things and lot of video game references. A lot of people ask me about cinematic references, but I always lean more on games and play a lot of video games when I’m working on a movie: Resident Evil, playing Silent Hill, the old ones, over and over. A lot of the indie horror games, too. I started borrowing more from that world because it felt like a road less traveled.
So the first film you directed was credited to Steve, but this one is credited to Flying Lotus. Why?
I guess it’s just taking ownership of the name. They even asked if I wanted to call it “a film by Steven Ellison” or whatever. And I was just like, “I gotta ride it. I’m Flying Lotus, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, man.” It’s time to just let it be what it is at this point.
As a composer, when did you start coming up with musical ideas for this. While reading the script?
Absolutely, right out the gate. I had this crazy, cosmic concept for the music. It was something I started chipping away at from the very beginning. I really wanted to get this new sound: I was pitching to the producers, I was playing it to people, sharing it. When we got to the edit room, none of it worked. It was a totally different sound than it needed to be. It was music for another movie, basically, that wasn’t the movie that was being presented to me. I learned a huge lesson there. I think if I would have gone along with that original idea it would have still been interesting but would have been very wrong for the movie. I learned to listen to the movie and let the movie show you what it’s supposed to be, and to remember to take that step away from it. I think some people get this vision and they’ll just stick with it to the end. Sometimes you need to be able to adapt to the work that is on the timeline.
What was that other soundtrack like? What sonic reference point would you compare it to?
I really don’t like to talk about it, because I’d still like to do it at some point, but I’ll just say that, as a reference point, I was going to do something more like [Miles Davis’] Bitches Brew. It’d be a little different, but it just didn’t go.
How quickly did you figure out the score that ended up in Ash?
It took a while to figure out, but thankfully, I have a lot of reference points from different films. Right out the gate, we had to throw a temp in the movie, so I was able to play with what I thought it needed to sound like for a little while. And while we were in the edit I would sometimes write a queue for something, because I didn’t want to have the temp in that moment. I did the majority of the work when I was in New Zealand finishing post-production on the movie.
Does it feel like different parts of your brain, the composing, directing, editing?
It is now becoming part of my directing process, because I have more confidence in what I can do in the edit while I’m shooting. The editing part of the process, the post, is honestly where I come to life. As someone who sits in front of Ableton all day, it’s real close, editing a film and doing sound design and all that. It’s right there. That’s my superpower zone, the post.
What is it like to act alongside people you’re also directing?
It’s really nerve-racking. But the beauty of this movie was we all ended up doing our scenes on day one together. In a way, we were all nervous; we all had the jitters and were trying to feel each other out. And that was actually what the scene needed — it was a way for us to start building for the greater movie. To put myself in that position, I was able to empathize better with what the actors are feeling, because I know what it’s like to be on the other side of it.
What was it like directing Aaron Paul? Are you a Breaking Bad fan?
I’m just an Aaron Paul fan. He’s a such a great actor and a great human. He was super, super essential in the process. Just his energy on set and how he would lift the crew and the cast. He’s just an incredible human.
Without giving anything away, I will say there was a particular scene where the score really evoked John Carpenter – that relentless, repetitive, terrifying electronic sound.
That makes me happy. Some of those weird dissonant chords, there’s some of that in there for sure. I was thinking of him so much in the process. One of the movies that I did watch over and over right before production was the original Halloween. I even lifted a shot from that movie — if you’ve seen Halloween, you’ll know the shot. I was trying to get in his spirit toward the end, because he did a lot of his soundtracks alone with very minimal equipment and not a lot of time. When I was in New Zealand, I tried to think like him. I even hit him up: we talked a bit, and he was just so cool, man. He gave me some pointers, we were talking sh-t. But yeah, he was super influential. Vangelis was super inspiring. Akira Yamaoka from the Silent Hill series was super inspiring. I listened to the Cliff Martinez soundtrack from [the 2002] Solaris. I listened to a bunch of Berlin techno, really dark techno. And Angelo Badalamenti, there’s some of him in there.
Speaking of Angelo, you worked with David Lynch on “Fire Is Coming” in 2019. Do you take any particular inspiration from his directing style?
One thing I’ve learned is to be more confident in the unknown and the surreal and how a thing feels versus what a thing means. And not having to always explain a thing or why. Giving people some mysteries to chew on for a little while.
What was the hardest scene to direct?
Dude, my worst day on set was the medbot, the extraction medbot scene. I didn’t know if it was going to work. The whole movie depends on that sequence working out. There was a lot of faith that had to be put into the CG element of it, and we had no time. And that was also the day Aaron was done filming, so he was like, “Alright, that’s the last thing I got, right? I’m out of here.” It was that feeling of, “Oh, Aaron, no, don’t go!” [laughs] Then feeling like, “Dude, I don’t know if we got it with this medbot thing.” But now I have a bit more confidence in the post process and the things that that can be achieved.
Well, it’s tough to direct or act in a scene where CGI makes up a big portion of it.
To be honest, because we’re a small movie, I was just worried that our FX team wouldn’t be able to pull it off in a realistic way. Just because I didn’t know! So I was really, really nervous about that. Had a little freak out, but came back, got it done. But there’s some really great FX stuff there. I was just blown away when I saw that. That’s my favorite stuff that they put together.
And of course, it’s a small budget. But the scene absolutely does work.
It was a lot of love and a lot of support from people who had heard of my music and wanted to try a project that would be a little different. It’s nice to go a little crazy.
FKA Twigs‘ “Childlike Things” technically took the longest of all the songs on her album Eusexua to complete, with the finishing touch ending up being North West‘s serendipitous feature on the track.
In a video posted to Instagram Thursday (March 20), the British singer-songwriter told the story of how the firstborn daughter of Kim Kardashian and Ye (formerly Kanye West) ended up on the album, which dropped in January. On “Childlike Things,” the 11-year-old raps in both English and Japanese, spitting over Twigs’ electronic dance beat, “Hello, my name is North/ From California to Tokyo/ Jesus the King/ Praise God/ Jesus is the only true God.”
According to Twigs, it all started when she was in the studio sans North and found herself blurting out long-forgotten lyrics — “I’ve got supersonic powers that are polyphonic/ Like a chocolate teapot, melt ’em down and burn ’em up” — that the Gloucestershire native composed when she was a kid. They ended up becoming the foundation for a track that was decades in the making, but she quickly realized that she needed to bring in a collaborator who could match and enhance that “childlike energy” she was tapping into.
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“It [needed] someone who has that tenacity, who has that strong point of view that you have when you’re 11,” Twigs told followers while doing her makeup for the day. “Then I saw an interview with North West, and she was so confident. It suddenly occurred to me that I would’ve loved to have a friend like North who could speak up for themselves.”
“I was like, ‘OK, it has to be North, she has to put her point of view on the song,’” she added. “She came and wrote about her faith, which I think is really powerful.”
“Childlike Things” ended up being one of 11 tracks on Eusexua, which debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 — Twigs’ highest peak on the chart to date. North had previously worked with her dad on Vultures 1‘s “Talking” and Vultures 2‘s “Bomb.”
Most recently, the pre-teen appeared on Ye’s “Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine,” which also features a recording of a phone conversation between the rapper and Diddy, who is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and more. (Kardashian reportedly did not approve of the song and expressed in alleged text messages posted by Ye that she’d attempted to block the release by trying to trademark North’s name, per TMZ.)
In her video, Twigs ended by remarking how “Childlike Things” came together across decades, starting before North was even born. “The crazy thing is that I wrote the song when I was 12, 13; she wrote the song when she was 11,” the musician said. “This is a collaboration that has taken decades to come to fruition. North helped make this song come to life after so many years, and for that I’m so grateful.”
Watch Twigs tell the story of how North ended up on Eusexua below.
Billboard’s Dance Moves roundup serves as a guide to the biggest movers and shakers across Billboard’s many dance charts — new No. 1s, new top 10s, first-timers and more.
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This week (on charts dated March 22, 2025), Zeds Dead, Lady Gaga, GT_Ofice, David Guetta and others achieve new milestones. Check out key movers below.
Zeds Dead
The Canadian electronic duo hits Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart for the first time in nearly a decade thanks to its new album, Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness. Released March 7 via the act’s Deadbeats label, the set debuts at No. 14 with 4,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. its opening week, according to Luminate. The pair last appeared on the chart in November 2016 with its No. 6-peaking Northern Lights. Zeds Dead has charted four additional projects on the ranking, including the top 10 Somewhere Else (No. 4 peak, 2014).
Plus, Zeds Dead’s “One of These Mornings” reenters the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart at No. 21, boosted by the new album’s release. The track debuted at its No. 15 high in February, becoming the pair’s highest charting entry. – XANDER ZELLNER
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Lady Gaga
As previously reported, the superstar has a monster week on Billboard’s charts thanks to her new album, MAYHEM. The set soars in at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Dance Albums charts with 219,000 units. It becomes her seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and her record-breaking eighth leader on Top Dance Albums, as she passes Louie DeVito for the most in the chart’s 24-year history. Notably, her 2008 debut, The Fame, has spent a record 193 weeks at No. 1.
Gaga also charts nine songs from MAYHEM on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart, including seven in the top 10. “Abracadabra” rules the ranking for a fourth week. –X.Z.
GT_Ofice
GT_Ofice earns his first leader on a Billboard chart as “Someone Else” ascends a spot to No. 1 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay. The DJ-producer (real name Caine Sheppard; the first three letters of his moniker stand for “good times only”) has charted four songs — all self-released– dating to 2023, reaching a previous No. 26 peak with “Every Thought of You” (with ALWZ SNNY). He also hit No. 30 with his other sole-billed entry, “Never Together.”
“Someone Else” is receiving support on stations including Pulse Radio in San Francisco (more than 850 plays to date, according to Mediabase), Pulse 87 (Hudson Valley, N.Y.; 600 plays) and Revolution 93.5 (Miami; 550 plays). “Dance radio has helped introduce me to listeners who might not be in the club or festival scene,” GT_Ofice says. “I generally mix poppy vocals with dance pop beats. My sound is just a little different.” –GARY TRUST
David Guetta & Sia
Both artists return to the top 10 of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs with their new collaboration, “Beautiful People.” Released March 7, the song debuts at No. 8 with 1.2 million U.S. official streams earns in its opening week. It earns Guetta his 26th career top 10, the second-most in the chart’s history, after Kygo’s 27, and Sia her sixth. It’s also Guetta’s record-extending 94th overall entry. The song concurrently starts at No. 30 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay.
“Beautiful People” marks the latest charted collaboration between Guetta and Sia. The pair previously appeared together on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (which began in 2013) with “She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)” (No. 8 peak in 2013); “Bang My Head,” also with Fetty Wap (No. 5, 2016); “Flames” (No. 9, 2018); “Let’s Love” (No. 9, 2020); and “Floating Through Space” (No. 11, 2021). They first linked up for the smash “Titanium,” which hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011. –X.Z.
Frank Walker & Alexander Stewart
The pair’s single “Crossfire” rises 13-10 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, reaching the top 10 thanks to a 9% gain in spins. Walker adds his fourth top 10 and first since “I Go Dancing” (with Ella Henderson), which spent a week at No. 1 in 2023. Stewart scores his second top 10, and overall entry, after his team-up with Two Friends, “Wrong Way,” which spent a week at No. 1 in November. –X.Z.
L.A.’s nightlife just got a major upgrade. During its grand-opening weekend, Zouk Group and sbe officially launched Zouk Los Angeles, a 16,500-square-foot venue in West Hollywood (643 N. La Cienega Blvd.), bringing world-class DJs, top-tier production and unmatched energy to the city’s club scene. The weekend kicked off Thursday (March 13) with an exclusive VIP […]