Dance
Page: 40
Pennsylvania’s Elements Festival will be back for 2024 with a lineup of more than 100 dance acts including future bass star Illenium, a redux set from Kaskade, psychedelic bass powerhouse Liquid Stranger, the ever vibey Bob Moses, house fav BLOND:ISH, along with Slander, Barclay Crenshaw, Wreckno and many more. See the complete phase one lineup below.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The camping festival happens August 9-11 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, roughly two hours from both Philadelphia and New York City. Tickets are on sale now.
The music will take place across four stages (each named after, naturally, an element), with the festival also offering art cars, theme camps, interactive performances, large-scale art installations and a wellness lineup featuring yoga, aromatherapy, dance, comedy, sound baths and workshops.
The independently operated Elements was founded by Brett Herman and Timothy Monkiewicz, with the first edition taking place in Brooklyn in 2013 before moving to another rural Pennsylvania location and ultimately landing in Long Pond.
“The genesis of Elements has always been to constantly evolve, becoming more grand, more weird, and more wild each year,” Herman says in a statement. “Fans can expect a number of revamped accommodation offerings and more opportunities to participate and become immersed in the experience.”
Elements Music & Arts Festival 2024: Phase One Lineup
5am TrioAhadadreamAusteriaAzzeccaBarclay CrenshawBlanke: ÆON MODEBLOND:ISHBob MosesBoogie TBoogie T.RioCanablissChris Lake b2b ClooneeCloZeeCool CustomerDimensionDisco LinesDr. FreschEli FolaExcisionIlleniumINZOIt’s murphJustin MartinKaskade (Redux)Lee ReynoldsLespecialLightcodeLiquid StrangerLSDREAMMarbsMarvel YearsMatrodaMikey LionOf The TreesPorkyRome in SilverSakaSlanderSlander Presents: Before DawnSpace WizardSub FocusSullivan King b2b KayzoSunSquabiTape BThe FlooziesTownship RebellionTroyBoiTVBOOVNSSA b2b NalaWalker & RoyceWrecknoZingara
After years of of the dance community firing off hot takes on how the Grammys’ dance/electronic fields didn’t quite get the nominees — and occasionally the winners — right, the realm has been uniquely quiet since the close of the ceremony on Sunday.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This general calm (minus a few predictable naysayers) suggests a mutual agreement that the 2024 Grammys finally, more or less, nailed dance/electronic music.
This success is largely due to the best pop dance recording award, newly introduced in 2024 to honor dance music that crosses over with pop, while also freeing up space in the dance/electronic recording category for more traditional thump-thump, womp-womp, boot-and-cats dance/electronic music.(Albeit more traditional dance/electronic music that’s still, most often, very commercially popular.)
You couldn’t have come up with two more apt figureheads for these factions than Kylie Minogue and Skrillex, with the former winning the pop dance Grammy for her culture-penetrating “Padam Padam” and the latter winning for his widely beloved bass bomb “Rumble,” a collaboration with U.K. grime MC Flowdan and Fred again.., who both also received awards for the win.
It is, of course, difficult to say what the nominee field would have looked like this year if pop dance hadn’t been introduced, but it’s almost certain it wouldn’t have represented the both sonic ends of the dance/electronic world thoroughly. (Racial and gender representation is a different matter: Flowdan was the only person of color nominated in the fields and Romy was the only female producer, encapsulating the dance category’s persistent issue with nominating mostly straight, white men. This issue was particularly acute in 2024, given the big four categories were dominated by women, including three winning queer women.)
Without the extra space provided to dance with the new category, it’s possible the dance/electronic recording category’s most left-of-center nominee, Aphex Twin’s “Blackbox Life Record 21F”, wouldn’t have made the cut. Or maybe only one David Guetta song instead of two would have been nominated.
It’s also possible that “Padam Padam” might have beat “Rumble,” the victory of which is particularly important given the spotlight it puts on grime, a sonic and cultural phenomenon in the U.K. but not yet a commercial force in the U.S. “I think you can put a bit more respect on the [grime] name,” Flowdan told Cracked Magazine following his win, “because in certain areas I feel that the music or the genre or the culture’s kind of downplayed as if it’s not something that’s really influential.”
What’s almost certain, though, is that like in so many years past, without pop dance, the nominee field would have likely ended up being just kind of odd, with dance-oriented pop stars like Minogue potentially up against an avant-garde electronic artist like Aphex Twin. This issue was vividly demonstrated last year, when Beyoncé was up against Bonobo, Kaytranada, Diplo, Rufus du Sol and ODESZA when her “Break My Soul” was nominated for (and won) best dance/electronic recording.
In the category’s early years, the nominee field commonly included artists like Minogue (who won the award in 2004), as well as fellow dance-leaning pop greats Madonna, Cher, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. It started more frequently rewarding electronic-world producers like The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk in the late ’00s. A few years after that, the category was taken over by a new strain of pop-leaning dance music, EDM, for an era when mainstage bangers by artists like The Chainsmokers competed against more underground acts like Riton — exacerbating the issue that ultimately resulted in the addition of the new category.
Competition between such different artists may have been technically fair, but it never totally made sense. But this year, the pop dance category eradicated the strange-bedfellows phenomenon that’s plagued the dance/electronic recording category since it was introduced to the awards in 1998.
The pop dance category not only made a formal space for producers like Guetta, whose work generally has major crossover with pop, but, by awarding Minogue in particular, pulled off the neat trick of returning an artist like her — one whose work is so often inspired by and at home in the club world — to the dance field where she rightly belongs. Minogue is as much of a dance act as Skrillex, and this year, finally, they didn’t have to fight for space or recognition.
U2 had a busy Sunday night (Feb. 4). In addition to giving most of the world the first extended glimpse at the eye-popping visuals from their ongoing residency series at Las Vegas’ Sphere during a remote performance on the 66th annual Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers also dropped a dancefloor-ready remix […]
Fred again..‘s Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 23, 2022) now has an actual Grammy, winning the award for best dance/electronic album at Sunday’s (Feb. 4) Grammy Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles. The British producer in fact quickly became a two-time Grammy winner, also getting an award for best dance/electronic recording for his work […]
“Padam Padam” further cemented its juggernaut status Sunday (Feb. 4), winning the new best pop dance recording Grammy during the 2024 Grammys Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles. This year is the first time the category has been included in the awards, with “Padam Padam” now the category’s first-ever winner. The song beat Calvin Harris and […]
Hear the victory? Skrillex, Fred again.. and Flowdan‘s 2023-defining “Rumble” won the 2024 Grammy for best/dance electronic record at Sunday’s (Feb. 4) Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles. Taking the stage alone to accept the award, a sharp-dressed Skrillex noted that “for anyone out there that wants to make music, the best advice I’ve ever gotten […]
After a breakthrough year, Dom Dolla received his first-ever Grammy nomination for best remix recording of his remix of “New Gold” by the Gorillaz and Tame Impala, and to celebrate, he sat down with Billboard‘s Katie Bain to discuss how he found out about the nod. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See […]
This week in dance music: Sacred Society Music Group launched a new label focused on ambient music made in spatial audio, Zerb and Sofiya Nzau released a music video for their viral hit “Mwaki” shot in Kenya’s Hells Gate National Park, we shared exclusive footage of Rico Nasty and Boys Noize throwing a mobile party on Friendship 2024, Mija, Dombresky and Netsky shared their sets from Holy Ship! Wrecked 2023 and REZZ, ISOxo and more were announced as headliners for a Lunar New year party series starting this weekend in Brooklyn.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
New music? We’ve got that, too. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
BICEP, “HELIUM”
[embedded content]
Bicep isn’t short on ambition with their new CHROMA project, which encompasses a record label, event series, a new and evolving live show and visuals made in collaboration with renowned designer David Rudnick and his Terrain studio. None of this works without the music to fuel it, but the Belfast-born/London-based duo deliver in fine form with ” HELIUM” a lush, nearly genre defying amalgamation of synth plucks, a grime vocal sample, breakbeat drums and growling bass written specifically for the pair’s shows at London’s Ally Pally at the end of 2022.
“The show felt a little too sweet in certain sections and we wanted to add some more grit,” they say in a statement. They made “‘HELIUM” to serve as something “a bit darker and more club-focused than most of our music we have released over the past few years. Although it’s actually a pretty fair representation of what we’re listening to and playing in our DJ sets”.
Launching on the tail of a sold out 15,000 person show at London’s Drumsheds last December, CHROMA is mean to encompass all varieties of Bicep music, with the pair adding that “We do a lot of more heavy techno focused music, ambient and various other styles that don’t really fit into the ‘Bicep’ sound, and which often never sees the light of day.” CHROMA, it seems, will shine that light. Bicep will play Coachella in April and tour Europe throughout the summer.
Pet Shop Boys, “Loneliness”
[embedded content]
Pet Shops Boys, who celebrate the 40-year anniversary of their classic “West End Girls” this year, demonstrate their ongoing creative verve with their latest, “Loneliness.” A song that plays like the antidote to its titular sad state, the production has a peppy brightness throughout, scaling down to an elastic bassline for the choruses and building back up to a more parade-type atmosphere for the chorus. The song marks Pet Shop Boys’ return to Parlophone Records and comes from their forthcoming album Nonetheless, out April 26. The pair’s concert film, Pet Shop Boys Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live At The Royal Arena Copenhagen, also plays in theaters around the world today and February 4.
“We wanted this album to be a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human,” the pair (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe) says of the new LP. “From the more dance-orientated tracks to the raw poignancy of the introspective ballads, with their beautiful string arrangements, each track tells a story and contributes to the overall narrative of the album.”
Wavedash & Madeon Feat. Toro y Moi, “All Ur Love”
[embedded content]
Texas trio Wavedash link with French maestro Madeon and indie electronic fav Toro y Moi for the extremely feel-good “All Ur Luv.” Built around buoyant piano stabs, the indie pop track puts Toro y Moi’s plaintive, playful vocals at the fore, altogether creating a fun but still totally sophisticated jam with a joyful and genuinely resonant melody.
“‘All Ur Luv’ is, in our eyes, what making music is all about” Wavedash say. “Five unlikely collaborators and friends coming together to make a beautiful piece of music that, in some ways, is bigger than the sum of its parts. I don’t believe anyone else on earth could have made this song; without our flip of the original sample, or Madeon’s master-level pop writing, or Chaz’s ability to churn out ear worms with ease, this song couldn’t have been possible. It’s been the most fun we’ve ever had making a piece of music, so we hope you’ll enjoy listening to it half as much as we enjoyed making it, because we had a ball.”
The Blessed Madonna & Clementine Douglas, “Happier”
[embedded content]
Reminding us once more that she has one of the most special, essential voices in dance music, Clementine Douglas absolutely blazes through “Happier,” a collab with The Blessed Madonna that created a breakout moment during The Blessed Madonna’s Boiler Room set last year in Bali. Out via Major Recordings, the track evokes the ’90s club production trend of the moment while still sounding fresh, with gently rising synths and a cool vocal chop climax indeed likely to leave you feeling happier than you were when the song started. The Blessed Madonna plays Coachella in April.
Orbital, “Tonight In Belfast”
[embedded content]
Orbital’s 1991 classic “Belfast” gets reimagined here, with DJ Helen blending David Holmes’ “Belfast” remix with Manchester street poet Mike Garry’s “Tonight.” These many parts build a track that’s spatial, joyful and often delightfully strange. The song launches the campaign for the re-release of Orbital’s eponymous 1991 debut LP (known as The Green Album), which comes amid their Coachella dates and after a set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. The following April and May U.K. headline tour will find the British genre pioneers playing The Green Album in its entirety for the first time.
The Lunar New Year — encompassing Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — starts on Feb. 10, bringing two weeks of festivities celebrating the year of the dragon. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news For those in the New York City area, the […]
In case your FOMO over missing Friendship 2024 wasn’t already intense enough, we’ve got fresh evidence of some of the fun that went down.
The party cruise, which transported roughly 4,000 attendees and artists from Miami to Belize and back again on Jan. 6-11, featured several “Dial-a-DJ” sets, for which artists took over an attendee’s private cabin for an intimate bash.
One of these mini parties featured the event’s surprise guest Rico Nasty along with Boys Noize, who together barreled into one of the rooms with a horde of party people behind them to play their techno take on The Kinks‘ 1964 classic “All Day and All of the Night.” Rico Nasty serves vocals such as “he undress me in the bedroom all day and all of the night” on the yet-to-be-titled update that’s due out this spring.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
[embedded content]
The heaving private party then goes mobile, with Rico Nasty — wearing sunglasses and clutching a bottle of champagne — and Boys Noize leading a party caravan through the ship’s corridors as they follow DJ decks pulled on a rolling cart.
[embedded content]
The mayhem then lands in the lobby by the elevators, where the crowd grows in size — and enthusiasm — as passersby realize what ‘s going on.
[embedded content]
Friendship is the electronic music party cruise from Gary Richards, the longtime DJ and party promoter who launched the sailing bacchanal in 2018 and also founded HARD events. This year’s Friendship lineup featured Skrillex, Bob Moses, Chris Lake, Chris Lorenzo, J. Phlip, Todd Edwards, Nina Las Vegas, Rusko, Mr Carmack and a flurry of other stars.
“We had a lot of people in that room, and then we opened up the balcony,” Richards told Billboard of the Dial-A-DJ prototype parties on Friendship 2018. “Anywhere else where you had that many people in one room, the room would break. The fire marshal would be like ‘get the f— out of here.’”
Other 2024 Dial-A-DJ performers included Bob Moses, Mikey Lion b2b Lee Reynolds, VTSS, Mersiv, Justin Martin and Nala. The party also featured the first live performance of Skrillex and Boys Noize’s Dog Blood project since 2019.
The next Friendship voyage will sail from Miami to Belize Feb. 21-26, 2025. See exclusive photos from the latest voyage below.
Rico Nasty & Boys Noize on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn
Rico Nasty & Boys Noize on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn
Skrillex, Boys Noize & Gary Richards on Friendship 2024
Glenjamn