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This week in dance music: Kylie Minogue and Charli XCX both ruled the dance charts in Australia and the U.K., (respectively!) Producer Sama’ Abdulhadi called out the Harris/Walz campaign for using her image in an ad without her consent (“I don’t endorse any U.S. political party,” Abdulhadi wrote.) EMPIRE president Tina Davis spoke about Shaboozey and major labels during the keynote at ADE 2024. (“Even though you might doubt yourself, just try anyway,” she said while reflecting on the early days of her career.)
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Meanwhile, Avant Gardner hired a new CEO, Decentraland announced the lineup for their upcoming virtual fest, we spoke with John Summit and his manager about their touring strategy ahead of the duo’s appearance at Billboard’s Touring Conference next month in Los Angeles and we chatted with Anna Lunoe upon the release of her debut album, Pearl.
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And beyond that, amid another absolutely bananas busy week for dance music releases, these are the best new tracks of the week.
Disclosure, “Arachnids”
Almost five months after releasing the bright (and viral) singalong “She’s Gone, Dance On,” the Lawrence brother follow-up with another single that sounds absolutely nothing like that other one. Out on Warehouse Project Records, “Arachnids” is one for the afterhours, with crisp, syncopated percussion creating a foundation for waves of synth and a warm, inventive breakdown composed primarily of duduk.
Guy Lawrence writes that making the track “felt like an ever evolving, creative puzzle of sound design and groove exploration,” adding that “the project came together over many months of tweaking and adjusting. For me, this is kind of like a diary entry of where my production and mixing skills are currently at in 2024.” He continues by acknowledging that the song is “not gonna be one you can sing along to this time I’m afraid” — although it’s highly likely Disclosure fans will find other head-bobbing ways to enjoy this one. — KATIE BAIN
Jai Wolf & Aluna, “Water Sign”
In the two years that Jai Wolf spent writing his second album, he realized he’d actually written not one but two LPs. “I went through some of the most turbulent moments of my life while writing this record,” Wolf shared on Instagram, “and instead of fighting against the storm, I let it shepherd me to new ground.” That new ground begins with his sophomore LP, The Red Eye Home (due out on November 15 via Mom+Pop), and its lead single, “Water Sign” with Aluna. Dropped fittingly during Scorpio season—but also for the sensitive Cancers and Pisces out there— it’s both dreamy and brooding, as Aluna sings of love written in the stars over a drop that crashes gently like ocean waves. — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ
Steve Angello, “Hooligans”
With his new single “Hooligans,” Steve Angello delivers a new anthem for cannonballing into the weekend. The producer and Swedish House Mafia member here presents a rave/tech house hybrid that’s delightfully untamed and designed to fill big rooms, from the hip-gyrating drums and roller-coaster builds to the unhinged siren synths (the latter inducing an immediate, pupil-dilating flashback to late-aught electro anthem “Warp 1.9”). “Hooligans” is his third solo single this year, following “ME” and “Skip” (and also, tangentially, following a rare solo release from fellow Mafioso Sebastian Ingrosso last week.) Angello, who earlier this year launched a new weekly program on SiriusXM, is set to perform at the Brooklyn Mirage tonight (October 25). — K.R.
Franc Moody, “Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road”
“I’m a fish out of water / I’m a pineapple on a sea of dough,” begin Franc Moody on their latest single, “Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road” (and yes, shots fired at you pineapple pizza-eaters). The U.K. duo give the state of sorely sticking out a funky and light-hearted soundtrack, complete with a prim, strings-filled introduction, reverberating woodblock hits, and neon-streaked synths, as they work to get back to their authentic state. “Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road” arrives alongside news of a new album, Chewing the Fat (out March 7 via Night Time Stories).
“Armed with mellotrons, drum machines and other crazy synths we delved into a psychedelic and acid driven soundscape with a hint of British seaside crag,” say Franc Moody. “The song explores adventure, decadence and a feeling of getting in over your head; of being enchanted by powerful forces. Lost in a moment before coming to one’s senses and realizing the things that really ground us.” — K.R.
Elderbook, Another Touch
There’s a far deeper story than the standard dance refrain to “put your f–king hands up” on Another Touch, the third album from English producer Elderbrook. He himself calls the album “a journey of self-discovery,” saying the project starts “with someone who has lost themselves so completely they barely recognize the person in the mirror. Everything is shallow and inconsistent in their life so as to protect them from anything which might hold some true meaning. As the album unfolds so too does the story of our ‘hero’ who finds new ways to think about, and reflect on their life, and the lessons learned along the way.”
To that end, the Vintage Culture collab “Run,” which arrives at the album’s halfway point, also seems like the metaphorical turning point for this story arc, with the buoyant production giving a sense of spiritual uplift and forward momentum. The rest of the album, out on Mine Recordings, features collabs with Shimza, Nimino, Carlita, Shakehips and George Fitzgerald. — K.B.
e-Dancer, “Melodica”
Kevin Saunderson resurrects his longstanding e-Dancer alias, with his producer son Dantiez joining him on the project. The producer advises that “Melodica” marks “the start of a new era of e-Dancer, and of Detroit techno,” a lofty statement that Saunderson, who literally co-invented techno, and his scion seem more than capable of executing on. The track is out on the e-Dance/One House imprint. — K.B.
DJ Seinfeld, “Hopecore”
“I’ve been assembling sounds and writing out ideas for my next album, and I wanted to give out a teaser of what that process has been sounding like,” writes DJ Seinfeld of his new single “Hopecore.” If it is indeed any real indication, we’re in for a euphoric ride to trance town. “Hopecore” is exactly how its title sounds: light, bright and ethereal; with soft guitar licks, swirling chords and airy vocals calling for a lighter to “burn this whole thing down.” It’s a crystalline club track rendered in pastels, yet one that will absolutely bang on a proper sound system. DJ Seinfeld recently announced a new North American tour which is set to launch in January 2025. — K.R.
Paul van Dyk, “For An Angel (Öwnboss Remix)”
It’s a holy day for trance heads, with Paul van Dyk’s genre-defining “For an Angel” celebrating its 30-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, the 1994 classic has gotten a series of remixes, including one by Brazilian producer Öwnboss, who punches up the original, adding some weight and size to the etheric original. The remix collection is available as a special exclusive double-vinyl, which includes van Dyk’s own “E-Werk Club Mix.”
Of the anniversary, the German legend observes that “It is fascinating how ‘For an Angel’ still touches so many hearts after all these years,” he adds. “Across generations, young and old, all around the world. Whether it was in 1999 in front of 1.5 million dancing people at the Love Parade or last week in the Berlin Cathedral as an ambient arrangement, the magic of the track seems to grow even more intense over time.” — K.B.
It’s a Tuesday morning in Australia, and Anna Lunoe has a sizable day ahead. Speaking to Billboard over Zoom from her home studio in Sydney, where post-it notes adorn the white walls, Lunoe is prepping for her set tonight at Accor Stadium, where she’s opening for The Weeknd.
Right now she’s going over her setlist — Ice Spice and Central Cee’s “Did It First,” Azealia Banks’ “New Bottega” — and other tracks that will, as she says, “tell the whole story of the intertwining between hip-hop and dance.” These opening sets are also a reunion for Lunoe, who first opened for The Weeknd in 2013 on his Kiss Land Tour.
Call it all another entry on a long list of accomplishments. In 2012, Lunoe moved to Los Angeles from Australia to pursue music and, amid the crescendo of the U.S. dance music boom, swiftly carved out a career as an in-demand producer and DJ. Four years later, she became the first woman to play a solo set on the mainstage at Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, and in 2017 she played Coachella while pregnant, a revelation in a time when women, much less mothers, were even more dramatically underrepresented on dance lineups. She’s played every major global festival, and her list of releases is long, varied and well-listened to.
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But it’s only now, four years after moving back to Australia, that Lunoe is releasing her debut album, Pearl. Out Friday (Oct. 25) on NLV Records, the label from Lunoe’s longtime friend Nina Las Vegas, the 13 tracks embody the style and verve Lunoe has long been known for, working in big ideas about life and motherhood and work and the meaning of it all over productions both driving and delicate.
“I’ve never desired to exist hugely outside of the dance community,” she says. “I think this is a beautiful place. You see things go off, once they cross over into this bigger space, and you can’t always understand what happens out there. But in here, I love this world we’re in.”
Here, Lunoe talks about the album, and why she’s releasing it now.
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
I am sitting in my home studio in Sydney, in Australia, and it’s a beautiful day, and I have a really big day today. I’m playing with The Weeknd tonight, so I have all my gear around me and a big list of what to do, and I’ve got to work out what to wear.
2. What’s the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
I discovered my local CD shop when I was like, five. I used to beg my parents to go there. My parents would have these long lunches at the local cafes with their friends, and I’d get bored, and the CD shop was just next door, so I’d always go next door and literally pester the lady to listen to all different songs. They used to have these little stations where you could listen to music. I remember buying TLC‘s “Creep” on CD single, and the way I felt when I first heard, I think it’s like a synth or guitar sound, that opens it. It was just like, “Oh my god.” That was mind-blowing.
3. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid, and what do they think of what you do now?
My parents both created their own worlds, in their own way. My dad was in bands, then he [worked in nightclubs, and then he was in the food innovation industry. He’s a bit of an inventor, a really interesting character. So he fully supports and understands the need to forge your own path in life, which was cool. My mom created a fashion label for pregnant women, which was groundbreaking for her time, because there weren’t maternity clothes back then here in Australia.
Although they understand the kind of build your own life situation, I think my mom was always wanting me to have stability. She was always like, “Get a job at a bank.” Every time I called her, I’d go, “Mom, guess what!” She’d go, “You got a job at a bank!” It’d be like, “No mom, not this time.”
4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
There’s this really cool label called Perks & Mini, which is shortened to P.A.M. I still wear it to this day. It’s the coolest label. It’s out of Melbourne, and I flew to Melbourne for a gig, and I went to the P.A.M. store, and I bought what I thought was a pretty impractical purchase. It was a duffle bag with this awesome alien print. I thought it would fall apart as soon as I started using it, and because it was white I thought it would get dirty. I was like, “This is a stupid purchase, but I just really want it. It’s so fun.” I still have it to this day! It’s still an action. It was a good purchase. It was an absolute investment.
5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into dance music, what would you give them?
The first thing that popped into my head was Rooty by Basement Jaxx. It’s a good example of a fun record with incredible references and great pop writing that anyone can relate to, and did it’s own thing and didn’t feel formulaic at all.
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
Embarrassingly, my album songs. I was listening through them this morning.
7. You’ve been making music for a long time. Why is now the right time for your first album?
I’m finally getting to the point where I have the skills and understanding of myself as an artist, that I can make sense of my writing impulse as it pertains to the world I exist in as a DJ, a producer and someone who spends their life in clubs. I started writing, and what I wrote were more song based things. They weren’t necessarily built for the sonic world I exist in as a DJ. It took a long time to bridge those.
8. What changed?
It’s felt like dance music has met me in the middle, too. Dance music’s had this incredible arc in the last five years, or the last 15 years for sure. But in the last five years we’ve seen a lot more sincerity, a lot more real stories being told in the club space, and it made it easier for me. Suddenly there were songs that I could make sense of that I’d [made 10 years ago], or that I’ve always loved but couldn’t work out how they belonged in this space. Now it feels like they belong.
So I think it’s a case of my skill set meeting me here, dance music meeting me here, and honestly, probably the fact that I moved back to Australia and I’m not on tour as much as I used to be. I used to play non-stop. I never stopped touring, ever. Now I get a bit more downtime from being on the road, and that’s given me more space to hone my creativity and my production skills, too.
9. As you’re saying, you moved back to Australia after many years L.A. in 2020. How did that move change your career strategy? Obviously Australia has its own thriving scene, but how do you control your career while being further away from a lot of places, and the U.S. especially?
It’s been really challenging. I made the decision for my kids and my family. It definitely wasn’t a career decision. It was like, “This is what I need to do for my family, to be closer to my parents as they’re getting older,” all that stuff. The career stuff has just been… I don’t think I had control over it. I speak to that in the album as well. There’s songs that reference how it feels to be on the other side of that and to think, “What did I do? Did I just throw everything away, or a part of myself away?”
10. That sounds challenging. How have you navigated it?
I struggled with it a lot, because I spent many years building what I built, and I made a decision in a moment of crisis with a newborn, premature baby and a pandemic and my parents. I made that decision because I had to. I wasn’t thinking about my career at that time. At the same time, I believe that there’s more to life than just doing everything for your career, and that you have to do what’s right for everyone else.
So I don’t regret it, but it definitely meant there was a big spanner in the works in how things were laid out, and I had to adapt. But I also think that things don’t happen for nothing, and you have to look for the meaning in things that happen and look for the reason why this might happen to me and why I did this and what I can do now and look for the best possible road forward from where I’m at.
11. From a very outside perspective, what I see is that you being further away gives things that you do a celebratory feel. Like, “She’s back playing Coachella! She’s back playing in L.A.!” It seems like every time you come here and do something, it’s a moment. Does that feel true to you?
Oh I hope so. I would love that, because it’s such a moment for me. Me coming back to California and the States and the reception that I get, nothing will fill that hole like those cities. Those cities built me. I lived there for like, a third of my life. It’s such a big part of me.
I’m in this situation where now my heart is split in two, because I want to be with my family, but I also want to be in a place where I feel like my music resonates. And it’s also my friends, my community, all that stuff. It is such a big deal for me, and so I hope it feels like a big deal for everyone else too, because that’s what keeps me coming back, and for as long as people will meet me there, I’ll meet them there.
12. Pearl is out on NLV Records, the label from Nina Las Vegas. You and Nina have been very close friends for a long time. Did it just make sense to put the album out on her label?
It’s hard to to work out what might have happened under different circumstances. Coming back here and starting to release on NLV seemed so natural. It just seemed like I was home. Things were changing so fast in those years; I suddenly would have a song that I wanted to release, and Nina is my best friend, and she has this great label. I talk to her every day about what’s going on in my career. So she was like, “Oh, yeah, I can put it out for you.”
13. I imagine there are a lot of advantages to working with your best friend, yeah?
Now I can’t imagine working in a different way, because I have so much control over what I do. I’m not waiting for anyone to approve or give permission on what I do. Don’t get me wrong, me and Nina sometimes go at it about release dates and what we want to do next, in the best way possible, because that’s how we are. We’re sisters. But it feels like there’s no gatekeepers in front of me. Not that I ever felt that. I’ve always released with indie dance labels for the most part, in the last 10 years anyway.
But it just feels particularly aligned when the person is kind of part of your brain. I trust her opinion, and I trust where her head’s at. If she says, “this is cool, we should get this out straight away,” I trust her, because she’s someone who I built this whole thing with. We built it together.
14. What does success for the album look like for you?
I really don’t expect huge amounts to change after the album. I’m proud of of what I created. I think it’s a great jump off point for the next chapter, whatever that may be. I guess what success means to me is my community hearing it, and hearing me and meeting me there. I’ve never desired to exist hugely outside of the dance community. I think this is a beautiful place. You see things go off, once they cross over into this bigger space, and you can’t always understand what happens out there. But in here, I love this world we’re in.
15. Speaking of crossover stars, you’re opening for The Weeknd tonight. What kind of prep goes into a show like that?
This Weeknd situation is so unusual, to have been invited into an artist’s world all those years ago. We were playing 3,000 to 8,000 capacity rooms back then, and now tonight, 72,000. His arc is phenomenal, and I feel grateful to have been invited back into their sphere.
I feel comfortable, because I feel like I understand enough about myself and about their camp to know what to bring to the table and what I can offer. So I’m just looking to do the best job of that and just set things up for the evening ahead. I prepared thoroughly for this, because it is outside of my usual dance realm. But because I’ve done it in the past, I trust my instinct that if I do the prep and if I look at all the reference points and work out what I think I want to present, I trust that I will make the right decision.
16. Your two kids are sampled on your album track “Let’s Go Home.” To what extent do they understand what you do?
My daughter describes me as a “DJ -er.” I don’t correct her, because that’s cute. She knows that I have fun clothes. She likes all my different fun clothes that I wear when I’m DJing, and she always asks if she can have them when she’s older… I don’t post them a lot because I just love keeping them kind of separate and that part of me separate. I don’t put it on them. I just want to focus on them and their experience.
17. What are your proudest moments of your career so far?
I’m proud of myself for moving to America when I did, because I really had no business being that brave. But I think that was brave in hindsight, because I did not know anybody. Obviously there’s the big moments, like the EDC moments and the big pregnancy announcement. Those moments were huge. But there was so many moments that were quiet, when no one was there to cheer me on and I had to keep going, even when things went wrong or things were really hard. I’m proud of all those late night, on my own, being scared and still pushing through moments.
18. What are you proud of now?
Like you said, now it’s harder for me to make moments happen being further away and having kids and family, so I’m proud every time I am able to contribute meaningfully to this genre, whether it’s being part of a big show, or being a part of a mix, or a song that says and does what I want it to say and do. They’re all big achievements for me now. That’s something I’m proud of — that I’m continuing to do it and trying to balance it all.
19. What’s been the best business decision you’ve made?
To be as multifaceted as possible. Having a diverse skill set, whether it be radio or being able to play every genre from disco, to downtempo, to more commercial, to house, to techno, to underground and building a skill set where I can meaningfully speak and contribute in all these different genres. Plus doing my own vocals, and interviewing other artists, and my podcast. Being able to provide all these different services to music has been the thing that’s kept me moving forward, when one avenue fades away.
20. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?
Remember to stay focused on what is going outwards. It’s very easy to get caught up on the behind the scenes things, and the little things. But you should always remember to think about what’s actually going out to people and make sure you’re focusing enough energy on what’s going out to people, not just seeing yourself with what’s happening behind the scenes.
As the pandemic was waning, John Summit, an emerging Chicago DJ whose music had blown up online during lockdown, had a plan to translate that internet presence to real life. “Our strategy was to be everywhere,” says Summit’s manager, Holt Harmon. “Like, omnipresent.”
In 2021 and early 2022, Summit and his team canvassed North American nightclubs as they reopened, showing promoters (and themselves) that Summit’s online hype could turn into in-person fun. In May 2021, he sold out a 500-capacity venue in Tempe, Ariz., in just 12 seconds.
The team then transitioned from clubs to 2,000-capacity rooms, investing profits into production for stage rigs. “We were smart with how we were living at the time,” Harmon says. “I did everything from a kitchen table with my business partner, and John was working from his parents’ house.”
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Since then, Summit has sold out headlining sets at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium and Madison Square Garden in New York, with a three-night stint at L.A.’s Kia Forum set for mid-November. The large-venue bookings function as part of a three-pronged touring plan for Summit, which also includes his intimate Experts Only shows at clubs and festival sets as Everything Always, Summit’s duo project alongside Australian producer Dom Dolla.
The hybrid approach allows for different creative opportunities: Experts Only parties, for instance, offer no-frills production and let Summit stay close to his audience and test new music. They’re also easy to take on the road, often in destination venues like The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn. (“My goal is Experts Only Alps,” says Summit, who named the party, and his label, after his love of skiing. “That would be f–king sick.”)
Arena and stadium sets, meanwhile, satisfy massive audiences, including fans who might just be getting into electronic music through Summit’s accessible style of progressive house. And Everything Always lets two artists unite to play “bigger, more impactful things than if it was [them] separately,” Harmon says, such as the duo’s Coachella performance in April. “People ask how we keep cycling through markets year after year,” says Harmon, who is also co-founder and CEO of management firm Metatone. “It’s that we can come through as three different forms.”
The plan is to do it again internationally. With 50% of Summit’s 2025 touring happening overseas, Harmon says “the future of John Summit is a global business.” Now, Summit’s biggest sets require a crew of 180 and cost approximately $1.5 million to produce. But despite the growth, the essential goal remains the same as it was in the early days. “I’m still working from the kitchen table,” Summit says, “but it’s my own kitchen table now.”
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Decentralized Music Festival is returning next month, with the virtual event focusing entirely on electronic music for the first time in its four year history.
Happening Nov. 20-23, the lineup for the free event features future bass star San Holo, experimental artist Mat Zo, Canadian bass producer Whipped Cream and fellow bass mainstay Nghtmre along with a flurry of rising producers, including many from the global Decentralized community. See the complete 2024 lineup below.
Decentralized Music Festival is a product of Decentralized, an immersive digital world built using blockchain technology and owned and operated by its users through crypto technology, which differentiates it from corporate metaverses like Fortnite.
Decentralized launched its music festival in 2021 amid the pandemic. Originally called Metaverse Music Festival, in its first three years the event hosted artists including Deadmau5, 3LAU, RAC, Alison Wonderland, Ozzy Osbourne, Dillon Francis and Soulja Boy. A representative for the event says that the event drew roughly 50,000 unique attendees in 2021 and 2022. (In 2023, a smaller version of the event focusing on Decentraland community-based artists took place while the platform was being revamped.)
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“Our theme this year, ‘space traveler,’ speaks to this sense of discovery and exploration,” head producer at Decentralized and Decentralized Music Festival Bay Backner tells Billboard. “We also see Decentraland as a “third space” for music experience. It bridges the community fans find at live EDM festivals, like Tomorrowland and Ultra, with the accessibility and immediacy of streaming music at home. It is as easy to enter from your computer, but you’re simultaneously sharing an important, creative, transient experience with others from around the world. And importantly, Decentraland Music Festival is free and open to all.”
Decentralized has users in 159 countries, who, in addition to the music, can check out Decentralized Music Festival offerings like live talks on AI, the future of electronic music and “label round tables” hosted by dance imprints including Monstercat, Coop Records, Hospital Records and more.
“During the pandemic, I started a virtual events company where we were fortunate enough to put on shows with a relatively high degree of production value, and miraculously we were able to provide fees to the artists and staff involved,” Mat Zo tells Billboard. “After the pandemic ended, that fizzled out and I thought virtual events were a thing of the past. So when I was asked to perform at a virtual event this year, I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I’m glad someone managed to take the concept further and make it work in a post pandemic context. I have a deep appreciation for the amount of work that goes into these events, and I’m extremely grateful to be a part of one.”
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Palestinian DJ Sama’ Abdulhadi says she “did not approve” the use of her image in a new ad from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
In a statement posted Tuesday (Oct. 22) to social media, the techno producer wrote that “the use of this footage was unauthorized and done without my consent. The use of this footage implies that I endorse Vice President Harris’s presidential candidacy, which is totally and utterly false; it is deeply offensive to my social, moral and political beliefs and is misleading political advertising by VP Harris’s presidential campaign.”
The commercial in question is titled “Detroit vs. Trump” and was released amid heavy campaigning by Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the 2024 swing state. The ad contains footage of Adulhadi performing at Detroit’s annual Movement festival this past May.
“For the avoidance of doubt,” Abdulhadi’s statement continues, “I do not endorse nor have I ever endorsed, Vice President Harris, and I am taking the necessary legal steps to ensure that this video is promptly retracted, to dispel any notion of an association between myself and VP Harris’ campaign for the U.S. presidency.” In the caption, she writes that “I am Sama’ Abdulhadi, and I did not approve this message! I don’t endorse any US political party.”
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Abdulhadi’s statement comes amid continued criticism of the Harris campaign by many Muslim and Arab Americans, given the Biden administration’s support of Israel amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. This conflict is estimated to have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since the war began last October.
The New York Times reports that in an effort to win the votes of Arab and Muslim voters, the Harris campaign has “launched Facebook ads targeting Muslims, created WhatsApp channels and distributed fact sheets with Ms. Harris’s most forceful statements on the war in Gaza. And in private meetings in living rooms and basements across the country, including in the battleground states of Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, campaign workers are trying to reach voters who say they may stay home, vote third party or even vote for former President Donald J. Trump because of the Biden administration’s policies in the Middle East.”
Green Party candidate Jill Stein commented on Abdulhadi’s post, writing, “Wow…unbelievable.”
Speaking at the Amsterdam Dance Event last week in the Dutch capital, Abdulhadi spoke on her position as a Palestinian artist. “The resistance is doing what the people in the Arab world and what the young people in universities are doing,” she said. “The people’s movement is the thing that is now pushing me to do things, and that’s why I’m still DJing. I would have literally quit the industry a year ago if it wasn’t for for that; if it wasn’t for the crowds that I’m getting now. Every gig I do now is a protest.”
With two weeks to go until Election Day on Nov. 5, many other artists are rallying around the vice president. Eminem is scheduled to make a rare public appearance Tuesday night at a Detroit rally for Harris, where he will reportedly introduce former president Barack Obama at the event supporting the VP and Walz.
Kylie Minogue has done it all during her gold-dusted 45-year career. But even with two Grammys on the shelf and her mantle as the best-selling female artist ever from her native Australia, Kylie as a few “what-ifs?” in the closet.
She revealed one in a new chat with Audacy Check In, telling host Mike Adam that at one point she almost recorded one of Britney Spears’ most iconic songs. “Yeah, there’s a little song called ‘Toxic’ that was headed my way, and I was like, ‘Toxic? I don’t know if I want a song called Toxic’…,” said Minogue of the dance banger from Spears’ fourth album, 2003’s In the Zone. “As it’s turned out, it was meant to be a Britney Spears song, I can’t imagine it being anything else.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Minogue was asked to name which other vocalists she would tap if asked to put together an all-star “We Are the World”-type song. “It might be a girl group,” she said before rattling off a list that included Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus and Madonna.
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Minogue also talked about pulling the set list together for her upcoming first U.S. tour in more than a dozen years, promising that she’ll hit songs from this month’s Tension II, as well as its 2023 predecessor Tension, 2002’s Disco and 2018’s Golden, and, of course, her 1987 breakthrough smash cover of “Locomotion.”
The 56-year-old singer who has tapped into a musical fountain of youth that has kept her relevant for decades — see her 2023 global dance hit “Padam Padam” — also delved into the changes she’s seen for women in the music industry.
“It’s very encouraging that I’m proof, I’m sat here. Now we bring up the age topic, but I think it’s at least with a positive spin on it,” she said. “It wasn’t that many years ago that I felt I was in quite awkward positions where people would question me to my face in an interview, ‘When are you too old to be a woman in this business?’ Firstly — rude, but secondly — I don’t know. I guess I’ve always had women in the industry that I’ve looked up to, I didn’t really think about their age at the time.”
Minogue recalled “obsessing” over fellow Aussie singer Olivia Newton-John as a grade schooler, as well well as disco diva Donna Summer, before moving on to worshipping Whitney Houston, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper as a teen. “I guess there wasn’t such an age gap between my teenage years and their years,” she said. “But I don’t know what happened where it was suddenly deemed distasteful or, I don’t know. But thankfully, it is becoming, certainly, for the younger generation… they’ve just got new minds and open minds.”
Watch Minogue on the Audacy Check In below.
This week in dance music: Fred again.. spoke with Nardwuar, and Rüfüs du Sol spoke with us. Charli XCX continued her winning streak by releasing a remix with Kesha and seeing Brat reach the apex of the U.K. album charts after last week’s release of Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat. The managing director of the Amsterdam Dance Event ran down his top event picks for the conference happening this week in the Dutch capital, SoundCloud announced that electronic music fans are the platform’s most engaged, organizers of Breakaway Music Festival said the touring dance festival is expanding to six new markets next year, we ran down the 40 most played tracks at Pacha Ibiza this season and also debuted exclusive CRSSD fall 2024 sets from Idris Elba, Tinlicker, Confidence Man and Kerala Dust.
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And in the realm of marquee album releases, Kelly Lee Owens dropped her fourth studio LP Dreamstate, The Blessed Madonna put her out her major label debut Godspeed and LP Giobbi delivered her shimmering second album, Dotr.
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To all that, we add even more. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Kaleena Zanders, Glorified
After releasing the EP’s other three songs over the last few months, Kaleena Zanders rounds out the project with the release of its title track, “Glorified.” A bright blend of disco and soul, the song — like much of Zanders’ work — features her power-lunged vocals as the sonic and spiritual centerpiece. The corresponding video also manages to be simultaneously sexy and adorable. The artist is on tour with DJ Susan through the end of the year, with upcoming shows in Austin, Brookly and Denver. Glorified is out via Helix Records.
Confidence Man, 3am (La La La)
The prevailing response to the Australian act’s third album has thus far been a general adoration for and excitement about the way its dozen tracks capture the bright sound and breezy spirit of the ’90s rave world. Indeed there’s a lot of candy raving warehouse vibes — a sonic and fashion aesthetic that’s been very on trend in the current dance scene and which Conidence Man does with moxie across the project. But things get particularly interesting on “Sicko,” which take a sharp turn from the Deee-Lite references and swerves into darker, druggier, more sexed-up influences of Depeche Mode and INXS, with the group’s Aidan Moore) eventually admitting “I”m such a sicko” as the song again shifts gears into ambient, after-hours territory. 3am (La La La) is out on Casablanca Records.
Mau P, “Merther”
The Dutch producer samples Ini Kamoze’s essential 1984 single “World a Reggae (Out in the Street They Call It Murder)”, and effectively whips it into a tech house song, chopping up Kamoze’s vocals into a stuttering beat and going fully on the nose by adding a few siren sounds. It works so well that Solomun and Michael Bibi have been rinsing it in their sets lately.
Mau P says that after testing the track out on the road for a long time, “it’s sick that I get to put this out with the legendary sample from Ini Kamoze’s ‘World A Music.’ I didn’t think this would be remotely possible a few years ago, but here we are. My fans have also been asking for this one nonstop, so I’m happy they don’t have to keep listening to ripped versions online and can finally get the full finished version.” The track marks Mau P’s first release on Defected Records.
Sebastian Ingrosso, “Flood”
Of Swedish House Mafia’s three members, Sebastian Ingrosso puts out the least solo work, so anything new from him will naturally pique curiosity. His just-out single “Flood” delivers, with the 4:32-long track — a luxuriously long song in the world of two-minute tracks made for TikTok — unfolding across three movements, building from slinky IDM to an theatrically leaning vocal isolation into a peaktime heater. “It’s been a very long time since I worked on something of my own that represents who I have become since then,” Ingrosso wrote on social media. “I am on a journey of traveling inwards, and this is one of the many stories I hope to tell.”
Polo & Pan, “Nenuphar”
Polo & Pan’s output has always conjured a mood of lounging poolside in a silk robe in St. Tropez with a cocktail in your hand and not a care in the world. And so it goes on the French duo’s latest, “Nenuphar.” The track was recorded in Mexico City, with accompaniment by the Mexico-based all-female multi-genre collective I.M YONI (Independent Musicians of Yoni, who add a silky vocals over the layers of percussion and strings. “Nenuphar” is out on Hamburger Records.
Honey Dijon, “Finding My Way”
Honey Dijon and Ben Westbeech come together for the new “Finding My Way,” which comes from the latest edition of !K7’s enduring DJ Kicks series. Melding gospel vocals about searching for peace with a slowly unrolling house production (and a flute solo) the track has all the warmth and cool that have made Honey a global star for ages. “I’m a huge fan of research,” she says of her DJ Kicks compilation, “So putting this compilation together was basically going into my dancefloor experience and finding gems I wanted to present to people that they may not have been familiar with or that they didn’t even know existed.”
Charli XCXxc’s Brat has finally topped the U.K.’s Official Albums Charts, four months after its original release. The release of remix album Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat, which had star turns from Ariana Grande, The 1975, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas and more, gave a well-timed boost to the original record to […]
CRSSD started closing out the 2024 festival season when it brought the event’s fall edition back to its longtime home at Bayfront Park in San Diego on Sept. 28-29.
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Now in its ninth year, the lineup for this autumnal iteration of CRSSD included Disclosure, Gesaffelstein, Blond:ish, Four Tet, Boris Brejcha, Skream and many others. Produced by FNGRS CRSSD, the event has been a mainstay on the Southern California dance festival circuit since its launch in 2015 and is attended by roughly 15,000 fans per day.
Whether you where there or simply wish you were there, open up your ears to four hours of exclusive music from the festival from Idris Elba, Kerala Dust, Tinlicker and Confidence Man.
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Idris Elba
The DJ/producer/actor/noted good-looking person played 75 minutes of driving house, tech house, Afrobeat and more, with key selections including his take on Inner City’s 1998 classic “Good Life,” an extended mix of Mau P’s essential “Gimme Dat Bounce,” The Bucketheads’ ever-ravey 1995 hit “The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)” and of course, his own 2023 Solardo collab “Big Talk,” an extended edit of which ends the set.
Kerala Dust
The London-based foursome played a jammy and frequently psychedelic set that leaned heavy into live instrumentation, with the performance’s frequent guitar solos and a generally mystic mood bringing desert ambience to the waterfront fest.
Tinlicker
The Dutch duo wove progressive house and melodic techno into grandly cinematic soundscapes, with the set going to an especially hypnotic place at its climax. If you were there, you were likely dancing with your eyes closed and maybe tearing up a little.
Confidence Man
The Australian foursome are simply just A+ party starters, whipping up a breezy, blissful set heavy on energy and big singalong moments. The group — Grace Stephenson and Aidan Moore along with producers Lewis Stephenson and Sam Hales — packed a lot of heat into a tight 45 minute set, building to a euphoric place and giving classic ’90s U.K. rave vibes throughout.
Kaskade‘s wife, Naomi Raddon, has filed for divorce from the electronic music producer after nearly 28 years of marriage. A petition filed on October 16 in Los Angeles and reviewed by Billboard cites irreconcilable differences as the grounds for divorce. The couple married in August of 1996, with the filing listing July 22, 2024 as […]
