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Rejoice, Forest Fam. Electric Forest announced the lineup for its 2024 event on Tuesday (Dec. 5).
Again melding electronic, jam music with rock, hip-hop, indie and more, the four-day festival will be headlined by Pretty Lights, whose sold-out, 27-date comeback tour wrapped this past weekend, along with tech house phenom John Summit, Subtronics, Excision and resident headliners The String Cheese Incident.
Also getting top billing are techno star Charlotte de Witte, Ludacris, Dom Dolla and Summit performing as Everything Always, Nelly Furtado, The Disco Biscuits, Knock2, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Ben Bohmer, Clozee and LSDream performing as Psyren and many more. More artists will be added to the lineup in the coming months.
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“What I care more about is that attendees walk past a stage where they don’t know the act, but they stop because it’s cool music,” Electric Forest founder Jeremy Stein told Billboard in 2019. “[A diverse lineup] also creates a lot of doors for people from different walks of life to come to the festival. You’ll come because you’re a fan of ten artists on the lineup, and you’ll leave a fan of a lot more.”
The festival returns to Rothbury, Mich., June 20-23, 2024. Festival tickets go on sale Friday (Dec. 8).
Produced by AEG Presents and Insomniac Events, the festival takes place in the tiny town of Rothbury, Mich., (population: roughly 440) on a woodsy 400-acre expanse of land located 10 miles east of Lake Michigan. The event has been taking place at this site since 2008.
See the full lineup below:
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Insomniac’s annual Halloween bash Escape brought the spooky vibes to the dancefloor Oct. 27-28. Taking place at Southern California’s NOS Events Center, festival headliners included Above & Beyond, Afrojack, DJ Snake, Kaskade, Malaa, Rezz, Slander, Tchami, Three 6 Mafia and Zedd, with artists playing across five stages, and tens of thousands of fans turning out in […]
This week in dance music: We broke down the top 25 tracks played at ADE 2023 and caught up with Tiga about the 25 year anniversary of his Turbo Recordings label.
And, as always, here are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Daft Punk, Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)
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The Label: Columbia Records
The Spiel: A half year’s worth of 10-year anniversary celebrations for Daft Punk’s 2013 Grammy winning masterpiece Random Access Memories culminates today in what is arguably this anniversary’s greatest achievement — a new version of the album stripped of all percussion.
What sounds like a potential gimmick instead gives new life to the LP by allowing greater focus on everything that was always happening, but which one can now hear better without all the drums. Elements that maybe weren’t thoroughly noticed or appreciated on the original — Panda Bear’s gorgeous, glowing acapella on “Doin It Right,” Nile Rodgers’ rhythm guitar on “Lose Yourself To Dance,” the pulsing bass on “Get Lucky” — all get space to breathe and shine on the Drumless Edition, with the project achieving standalone status in the duo’s lauded catalog, rather than just being a footnote to it.
The Blessed Madonna with JOY (Anonymous) & Danielle Ponder, “Carry Me Higher“
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The Label: Warner Music
The Spiel: At its essence, house music is and always has been church music, with the latest from The Blessed Madonna, U.K. duo JOY (Anonymous) and singer Danielle Ponder delivering a big dose of spirit with the tremendous “Carry Me Higher.” A simmering, slow build multi-movement production is the base for Ponder’s power-lunged vocals, which insist “carry me higher!” — a task this one achieves in that ecstatic manner the best music dance music is capable of achieving.
The Artist Says: “The day we made this in New York it felt like we cracked a code and we’ve often talked about it in those terms since then,” The Blessed Madonna wrote on Instagram. “It felt like a musical breakthrough then and it still does. It’s finally time for us to give you the code.”
Calvin Harris & Eliza Rose, “Body Moving”
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The Label: Ministry of Sound
The Spiel: Calvin Harris and the ever-ascendent Eliza Rose deliver a quick hit of sunshine as the days get darker, with their “Body Moving’ collab — clocking in at two minutes and 34 seconds — amalgamating punchy brass, cooking percussion and Rose’s sinewy, shimmery voice for one last blast of summer as the holiday season gets started.
The Artist Says: “My goal was to create a track that captures the essence of summer while also igniting the dance floors,” says Rose. “The vibe with Calvin has been fabulous. He couldn’t be more down-to-earth. It’s been an honor to work with one of the best producers in the world! It’s something I never thought would be possible. We have created something that I believe has really combined our two identities into something unique and also reflective of our own personal work.”
Shygirl feat. Cosha, “thicc”
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The Label: Because Music
The Spiel: The latest from Shygirl is the stuff peaktime dancefloor bliss is made from, with layers and layers of staccato synths building to an ecstatic climax that’s balanced with pared down moments of kickdrum and vocals from Shygirl and Irish singer Cosha that give the track a sublimely feminine feel.
The Artist Says: “[This was] originally a song we’d made around the same time as some of the album tracks but I decided to hold this one back. I’ve enjoyed teasing this one at festivals and shows while still in demo mode for over a year already with the idea of somehow infusing the energy of the crowd into this final version of the song – ‘thicc’ is fun and carefree and definitely a tease – all the classic traits of club shy infused into one track.”
Vintage Culture, Tube & Berger, Kyle Pearce, “Come Come”
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The Label: Virgin Music
The Spiel: Brazil’s Vintage Culture links with German duo Tube & Berger and vocalist Kyle Pearce for the looming progressive house cut “Come Come,” which demonstrates how the genre, when done right, achieves a balance between human emotion, epic size and machinistic appeal.
As Tyla‘s “Water” hit keeps getting hotter — and climbing higher on the Billboard Hot 100 — some big names in music are jumping on it: Travis Scott and Marshmello came out with two new remixes on Friday (Nov. 17). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Scott’s wavy […]
Tate McRae has big plans for 2024, so she’s taking cues from one of the world’s biggest pop stars. Shortly after announcing that her new album Think Later will arrive Dec. 8 followed by a world tour next year, the 20-year-old pop prodigy — who’s also Billboard‘s latest cover star — doubled down on her […]
Tiga‘s Turbo Recordings has delivered fresh, inventive music reflecting the darkly alluring world of techno for 25 years, which is a pretty long time.
Today (Nov. 17), the Montreal-based producer and the label are celebrating this quarter century of existence with a 25-track compilation album, composed of music by a globe-spanning collection of artists including Seth Troxler, Spanish producer Adrian Marth, Chilean-German artist Matias Aguayo, Germany-based Biesmans and a 2manyDJs edit of Tiga’s own “Woke.” There’s also a flurry of other productions that exist in a place that’s simultaneously tough, cerebral and transcendent.
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In other words, the compilation is made for the club, which has been the producer’s home away from home since he started releasing music in the late ’90s. Over time, Tiga has become a hero of the electronic realm with smart, consistent releases that hit emotional buttons without ever veering into cheesiness.
The Turbo 25 project comes amid new work from Tiga’s LMZ project, a collaboration with Hudson Mohawke that’s delivered resonant collaborations with Channel Tres and most recently, Jesse Boykins III. Here, Tiga reflects on the compilation, 25 years of Turbo, and how — while he’s occasionally considered throwing in the towel on the label — he’s “never considered quitting” music.
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1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
Amsterdam. I’ve been staring out my window like a house cat. Looks very alive.
2. What is the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
With my own money: the first Duran Duran album. On cassette, bootleg Indian edition, at a hotel lobby giftshop in Bombay. 1981 or 82.
3. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid, and what do or did they think of what you do for a living now?
My mother was a full-time mom, she took very good care of me and was always there for me. My dad was a stock trader. They were both extremely supportive from step one, even when I dropped out of school at 18. They knew their son, and knew how serious and passionate I was, and they supported me completely with zero judgment.
4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
Good question. A pair of Yamamoto boots.
5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into electronic music, what would you give them?
Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works.
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
Leonard Cohen, “It’s Torn.”
7. You spent the early years of your life in Goa, India. What are your strongest memories of that time? Did it set you up to be a producer?
I don’t think it set me up as a producer, but as a person I got used to being around wild people and got used to the idea it was okay to be different and strange. I also grew up around a lot of hippies and weirdos, so I always wanted to work hard to end up “successful.”
8. Goa trance, love it or leave it?
When it’s done well, I like it. But what I really love is just good trance that happens to be played in Goa.
9. How were the 25 tracks on the compilation collected and selected? What was the criteria for what made it on? Is there anyone you’re particularly excited about having on the compilation?
It was a collection of our existing family of artists and new artists that we have had an eye on. We sent out invite letters to everybody and then just had some back and forth with them. It is always quite informal. I was very happy to work with Matias Aguayo, because he’s one of my favorites and he delivered something really special.
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10. What does this compilation say about the past/present/future of Turbo?
That we still do what we do.
11. The compilation’s album’s fine print that it was “made possible in part by the Government of Canada.” What did the Canadian government bestow upon the album?
We get some grant money for certain projects from the Canadian arts endowment. They support Canadian artists. Its tax money well spent.
12. Does Turbo have a brick-and-mortar headquarters? If so, paint us a picture of that space. If not, what’s your fantasy HQ?
We had a gorgeous office from about 2012 to 2018. It had a studio, a giant wall of fame with every single physical release mounted in order. We closed it pre-pandemic, and now it’s all laptops and remote control. But it’s my plan to open a new HQ in the next few years, on a mountain top in the countryside.
13. Twenty-five years is a respectable amount of time for any artistic endeavor. Was there ever a time in your career when you considered quitting? Do you see yourself making music and traveling the world in perpetuity?
I never considered quitting personally. Never. I obviously go in and out of the love affair with travel and touring, but generally it’s still an almost unbeatable occupation. As for the label: Yes. There were a few times over the years when I almost threw in the towel.
14. If you could time travel to any era of dance music, to when would you go and why?
I would have liked to go to a few legit early acid house parties: early 80’s Ibiza, late ’80s U.K. I also would have loved to have been to some serious Belgian industrial/new beat clubs at inception. I would love to have been at a club like the Hacienda the first time Blue Monday played.
15. In the sprawling ecosystem of dance music, what niche does Turbo fill?
I like to think we make dignified bangers.
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16. Dance music is obviously intended to make people… dance, but are there any dance songs that reliably make you cry?
I don’t think I’ve ever actually shed a tear to a dance song. There are a few Aphex tracks like “Polynomial/C” and “Every Day” that make me very emotional, but not actual tears.
17. What’s the proudest moment of your career thus far?
I was proud of the first time I did a live show, in Berlin, in 2015. Singing in front of an audience, etc. Also, my first real shows in Berlin back in 2001.jamb
18. What’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?
Never having a boss.
19. Who’s been your greatest mentor, and what’s the best advice they gave you?
I don’t really have a mentor, and I would love to have one. It’s healthy. But my dad told me when I was about one, “Just find something you love to do, and do it.” And that was great advice.
20. One piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
Get paid in Bitcoin for a few years, 2015-2016, and be generous with the people around you.
The dance industry’s biggest conference, ADE, happened in Amsterdam Oct. 18-21, with loads of business happening by day and the industry flexing what it does best with even more parties by night. Ranging from intimate shows to stadium-sized spectacles, parties took place in more than 100 clubs and event spaces throughout the city during the […]
Imagine worrying that you’d reached your creative songwriting peak before you could even legally order a beer. That’s the existential dread Billie Eilish said she suffered before Barbie director Greta Gerwig came knocking with an assignment.
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“I honestly was concerned that it was over for me. We’d been trying and it wasn’t doing what it usually would do in me. I was honestly like, ‘Damn, maybe I hit my peak and I don’t know how to write anymore?,’” Eilish told The Hollywood Reporter for its Hit Squad songwriter roundtable, where she talked about inspiration, frustration, first songs and cringe-y lyrics with fellow songwriters/singers Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo and Julia Michaels.
Eilish, 21, said she was struggling to find fresh inspiration before the call came from Gerwig in January with the Barbie soundtrack assignment. The result, of course, was Eilish’s haunting ballad “What Was I Made For?,” which not only hit Nov. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, but also garnered the seven-time Grammy Award winner another five nominations for the 2024 Grammys.
“Greta saved me, really, honestly,” Eilish said of the track she wrote with songwriting partner brother Finneas. “It brought us out of it and immediately we were inspired and wrote so much more after that.” And though we have not year heard what else they cooked up for Eilish as-yet-untitled third album, the story of struggle opened the door for Eilish to describe the making of the song in greater detail.
Eilish said she and Finneas were in the studio on a rainy January day the day after they first saw the movie — whose soundtrack garnered 11 Grammy nominations overall — at a time when they were super-stuck. “It was just a day of nothing. It was just idea after idea after idea of just no ideas. Nothing was happening. It was the least creative,” she said of the unproductive six-hour session.
Then Finneas suggested they try to write the Barbie assignment, which Billie was not psyched to take on after such a frustrating day. “I was like, ‘What? You think after the day of garbage we’ve just made, we’re going to make a perfect song for something that needs something really good?,’” she asked. “I was like, ‘I don’t even have that in me.’”
Though the siblings had struck Oscar gold before with their James Bond theme “No Time to Die,” Eilish didn’t think she had “something astounding” in her. But once Finneas began playing the piano, Eilish — sitting on a couch with a handheld mic — started singing as the brother and sister talked about the “floating elegance of [Barbie] and her ability to be so smooth and beautiful and perfect all the time. And then the juxtaposition of her suddenly falling and [she] can’t do everything perfectly.”
That inspired the line “I used to float, now I just fall down,” which led to the song’s title and a breakthrough. “Then we were both asking the question after that and we did that in probably five minutes. It was like it was God. It was just the most perfect example to me of true inspiration and connection,” she said. “It was living in me that whole day, but it wasn’t coming out of me. We didn’t go into it knowing at all what we were going to make or if we were going to make anything. And it was just so clear that we needed to.”
Rodrigo, 20, weighed in on how writing the song “Can’t Catch Me Now” for the new Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes prequel took her out of her comfort zone in the best way. “It was so much fun. Most of my songs are very diaristic in nature and kind of about my life. It was such a fun challenge to watch this movie through the eyes of this character and try to capture herperience through my words and my voice,” she said. “There’s so much inspiration in restricting yourself sometimes.”
Lipa said her experience writing the Barbie song “Dance the Night” was, from the beginning, “the most fun experience. It was something that I hadn’t done before.” She said soundtrack producer Mark Ronson DM’d her on Instagram saying the script was hilarious and he wanted her to write a song for its iconic dance sequence.
“I was like, ‘This is an absolute no-brainer. One thousand percent yes,’” she said. “It’s so much about stereotypical Barbie having an existential crisis and finding out what it’s like to experience the human condition and the way that we are as people and the emotions that we feel. And constantly striving for perfection but not quite reaching it, striving for something deeper in a way. Greta was saying how inspired by disco she was. I just thought about disco and the community it brings, and the way it brings people together. It was always a genre of music that was such a release when things weren’t going well in the world.”
The discussion also had Erivo dissecting the first lyric she wrote at 16 for a South African girl group and Rodrigo’s first effort, a “feminist anthem” called “Superman” she wrote at 14 about how she didn’t need a Superman to come and save her. Dua Lipa remembered a song she wrote at 4 or 5 in her native Albanian she’d sing around the house with lyrics about wanting to be just like her mom.
As you might expect, Eilish’s first attempt, at 8, featured some typically dark lyrics: “I’m going down, down, down into the black hole, sweeping up your soul today …”
Marshmello tells Billboard all about his five favorite Latin things. Marshmello:Yo, what’s up? This is Marshmello, and here are five of my favorite Latin things. My favorite Latin word I actually learned from working with Manuel. The word is “chimba.” And chimba means like, “that’s fire” or like, they use it a lot in the […]
This week in dance music: We went behind the scenes at nightlife advocacy agency VibeLab and spoke with East Forest about his new album. Dua Lipa released her new dance-centric track, The Living Tombstones debuted on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Skrillex, Fred again.. and James Blake led the 2024 dance/electronic Grammy nominations and Aluna launched a label focused on Black female and LGBTQ+ artists, Noir Black.
We’ve also got more! These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Peggy Gou, Lenny Kravitz, “I Believe In Love Again”
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The Label: XL Recordings
The Spiel: Peggy Gou appears to be swinging for the fences with her debut album, set for release next year. The LP’s lead single “Nanana (It Goes Like)” became a viral hit (“My song was never on a chart before,” Gou recently told Billboard. “In the beginning I wasn’t sure what [charting] meant exactly”), and the album’s second single is a simmering collaboration with the bonafide legend Lenny Kravitz. Together, the pair are predictably cooler than cool, with Kravitz employee the higher-pitched side of his range for vocals that ride Gou’s ’90s throwback production.
The Artist Says: “The ’90s have had such a huge influence on my music” Gou says. “People know about my love of the dance/house/rave scene from that time, but I’ve always been a big R&B fan, and also a huge fan of Lenny. I listened endlessly to his 1998 album 5 – my personal favorite – but his whole discography is great, totally timeless. He came into the studio and transformed the guide vocal into magic, writing new lyrics and creating that incredible guitar riff. ‘I Believe In Love Again’ is a strong message of positivity and hope, and we hope everyone feels that when they hear the song.”
Yaeji, “easy breezy”
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The Label: XL Recordings
The Spiel: There’s a neat trick to Yaeji’s latest track, with the lyrics focused on how certain things are not so easy breezy over a track that very much contains that laidback vibe. Skittering d’n’b percussion swells with synth, fun bossa nova touches and the occasional acoustic guitar, for a song that does indeed feel like a warm breeze. The release comes in tandem with the European leg of the artist’s With A Hammer tour, which includes a headlining slot at Pitchfork London festival this weekend.
The Artist Says: “Sonically, the song connects a thread between me now and me back in middle school —when I discovered bossa nova, drum and bass, and house through Korean and Japanese pop electronica,” Yaeji says. “‘easy breezy’ is a thread, a tribute, a recollection of memories, and an encouraging push for us to bring forth change with courage and laughter. We hold the power in our hands, and we should never doubt that. Change is now.”
Keys N Krates & Ciara, “Fantasy”
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The Label: Last Gang Records
The Spiel: The Keys N Krates crew links with Ms. Automatic Supersonic, Hipnotic Funkyfresh herself, Ciara, for “Fantasy.” Out of the trio’s third studio album IN:TENSION, the song is a positively buoyant house cut built from feel-good piano stabs, strings, cooking percussion and vocals from Ciara that bounce between rapidfire spoken word and mellifluous singing.
The Artist Says: “After vibing with ‘Fantasy’ for the first time, I had good feels all over,” says Ciara. “I felt an infectious energy that made me want to dance, and I could envision myself living my best life to this song all over the world. This is the perfect party song for my collaboration with Keys N Krates. House is a space I’ve really been wanting to get involved in, so I’m excited for the world to hear it.”
Logic1000, “Self To Blame”
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The Label: Therapy
The Spiel: Logic1000 has had a steady rise since her 2019 debut, releasing remixes for Fever Ray, Glass Animals, Christine and the Queens, Flume, Orbital in addition to her own productions. All this work had led to the tk artist’s just announced debut album, Mother, set for release in March. The album’s lead single is the sinewy, gently rising “Self To Blame,” marrying Y2K R&B and and house music featuring the velvet-voiced Kayla Blackmon.
The Artist Says: “I haven’t been posting anything personal since this unfathomable situation continued to unfold,” the artist wrote on Instagram regarding the Israel-Hamas war, “and I have been very confused about whether to make this post about my new music. I’m riddled with grief. Anxiety too. But I have also always believed that music has special healing powers. It is a way to escape, to decompress and it is in service to the community of people who connect to it. I hope that my new song – “Self To Blame” featuring the wonderful Kayla Blackmon brings you some much needed comfort and healing. I also want to use this time to announce that this is in fact the single from my debut album Mother. Big Ever and I have put our hearts and souls into creating this in the hopes of connecting you all through our music. I will continue to scream and shout about the injustice that is being inflicted upon the people of Palestine, all the while continuing to give you the music from the depths of our hearts. Please take care of yourselves.”
Ninajirachi, “Wayside”
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The Label: NLV Records
The Spiel: Australian producer Ninajirachi is back with a five-track EP, 4×4, that highlights her mastery of productions that balance effervescence, bounce, heft and style. The fast-paced “Wayside” is a highlight of a project that’s altogether futuristic yet accessible, bright yet weighty and playful throughout. 4×4 includes Ninajirachi’s own vocals, along with collaborations with Ravenna Golden and Kota Banks.
The Artist Says: “Making music hasn’t felt this fun and effortless for me since pre-pandemic,” says the producer. “All of these songs were made in the last few months with my good friends and they were made very quickly, mostly in under a day, they’re not that serious or deep, they felt fulfilling and easy to write and produce! On this release (and others to come) I’ve been pulling more and more inspiration from the dance music that changed my life as a child and getting closer to becoming the producer I dreamed of being when I first heard it.”