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ILLENIUM has had a massive 2023 with his self-titled album and the global tour behind it. But as the year comes to a close, he’s returning to the beginning of the ILLENIUM saga.
On Nov. 21, the producer born Nick Miller will release ILLENIUM Presents: Starfall, a graphic novel spin on the producer’s own origin story. Produced in collaboration with Z2 Comics, which has produced graphic novels with a variety of artists including Blondie, Sublime and Vince Staples, the 80-page graphic novel tells the story of “a cold totalitarian society where only the fittest survive.”
See exclusive images from the project below.
“Nick has embraced a new world order of violence and brutality,” the Starfall teaser continues, “blindly following his overseers’ wishes no matter how much blood stains his hands. To meet these vicious ends, Nick relies on an addictive Substance—a potent elixir that his malignant overlord rations out to the loyally subservient.
But a mysterious woman named Ash soon challenges his worldview, unlocking a potential of harmonyrooted in a winding mythology of phoenixes and fire. To transcend the dystopia he helped create, Nick will have to battle demons of addictions and unearth the secrets of ILLENIUM.”
This storyline mimics Miller’s own life, as the producer has been candid about getting sober in 2012 after a heroin addiction.
“The chance to bring my origin story to life in graphic novel form has always been a dream of mine,” Miller says in a statement. “This will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen from me before.”
The graphic novel will be available in standard hardcover, deluxe hardcover and super deluxe editions. The deluxe edition will feature an oversized hardcover book in a custom slipcase and come packaged with three art prints illustrated by artist Alex Moore. The super deluxe edition, which contains the same contents as the deluxe edition, is limited to 100 copies signed by ILLENIUM and also includes a limited edition holographic collectors card in a magnetic case and an enamel pin. Pre-orders are available now.
The IRL ILLENIUM is currently on tour in Europe and will play a pair of shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi stadium in February behind his ILLENIUM LP, which debuted at No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Albums upon its release this past Mary. The hero of our story also announced yesterday (Oct 3) that he got married in Aspen, Col. this past weekend.
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
From ILLENIUM: Presents Starfall, with images from Pablo Andrés and Luis Expósito Hernández
Set inside the Studio 54-esque Club Millennium, Here Lies Love — the Broadway musical from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim — is already a party. Now, the revelry will continue even after curtains close with a series of post-show DJ sets happening after select dates. Called the People Power Disco Hour in homage to the […]
It’s been a busy year for M83, and it’s not done yet. After releasing his ninth studio album, Fantasy, this past March, the French musician has been on the road with his band for a 30-date spring and summer run in the U.S., Europe and Mexico, immersing audiences in the lush, cerebral, often thrilling dream pop that’s made the artist, born Anthony Gonzalez, a revered figure since his 2000s breakthrough (and particularly the release of the 2011 classic Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming).
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The fall leg of the Fantasy tour launched last night (Oct. 3) in Tacoma, Wash. and extends through mid-month with dates throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Nevada and a final show at Austin City Limits on Oct. 15.
Amidst praise for the new album — 13 tracks of transportive, deep, pretty and emotionally evocative music — Gonzalez has also gotten attention for the monster mask he’s wearing on the cover art and in all the promotional materials, a slightly scary but now seasonally appropriate guise he says is “a way of hiding myself from the world.”
He did, however, hit a wave of unwanted attention after a March interview in which he said that “EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most,” expressing disdain that his era-defining hit “Midnight City” is so often played by “these bro EDM DJs.” Gonzalez later clarified, releasing a statement that “I do not hate the EDM community. No! I am forever grateful for the love and support,” but adding that he does hate “DJs using my music without any permission.”
Here, Gonzalez shares if any DJs have asked for this permission, why he’s more comfortable in the monster mask and why he doesn’t believe in guilty pleasure music.
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
Just arrived in Seattle to start the last leg of the Fantasy tour. I always loved this city. It feels like Seattle has a soul and spirit that is highly inspiring.
2. What is the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
A cassette of the album Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, which was sold to me by my brother’s friend Fred. I was immediately attracted by the fantastical cover art and the sound that felt like discovering a new planet. I was 10 years old and suddenly hooked to rock music.
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 mum was the owner of a very cute little fabric store in the heart of Antibes old town, while my dad was a police inspector. Neither of them had anything to do with music, though my mother always pushed my brother and I to play a musical instrument. I feel extremely lucky that my parents always supported us in our choice of being a musician and a movie director. We always had the freedom to do what we liked.
4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
I actually don’t remember buying anything but musical instruments when I started to earn money with my music. It has always been my sole obsession.
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5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into electronic music, what would you give them?
I think it would be a Tangerine Dream album called Phaedra. It’s a dark but rewarding album that takes you on a journey to very strange places. One of my very first shocks as a teenager listening to electronic music.
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
“Pygmy Love Song” by Francis Bebey.
7. You’ve been on the road behind Fantasy since April. Has there been anything surprising or particularly interesting to you about the way the album has come to life in the live setting?
To me, it’s the team I’ve put together for the tour that keeps me wanting to play more. I love my band and crew. They always have my back and they keep inspiring me every night on stage. I don’t think I could have done it without them.
8. I understand you’re about to release “Mirror,” the unreleased Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming-era track. Why, and why is this the right time?
Simply because it’s a track that never came out digitally and we close our shows with that song. The response of the audience has been great so far, and it’s an unknown song that deserves to be properly released in my opinion.
9. The creature that’s on the cover of Fantasy and in a lot of your promotional materials for it — what is that creature? What motivates it? Why does it represent this album?
It’s a way of hiding myself from the world. I absolutely hate seeing me. It’s starting to scare me to know that so many photos and videos of me are online. Ideally I would like to be able to have control over such images, but it’s just practically impossible. So I choose to protect myself and just fight to make sure that my music stays the main protagonist in what I do.
10. You wrote on social media that “I want to keep having fantasies about worlds that I don’t know and creatures I don’t understand, and that’s the story behind this record.” Unpack that a bit more for us — have you kept having those fantasies? Why is this important to you?
I’m just a dreamer, and anything related to being an adult in a modern world is boring and terrifying to me. The ultra-connected aspect of our society is making life more stressful. Emails, socials, my phone, they are all my worst enemies. My imagination saves me from turning insane with it all. Music helps a lot.
11. Based on things you’ve said in previous interviews, it sounds like you’re ready to move away from Los Angeles. What did the city give you while you were there? Why is it time to leave?
I’m not gone yet, but I’m seriously considering it. L.A. will always be the city of dreams for me. When I moved here almost 15years ago I felt like anything was possible. It really helped me to be a better artist by allowing me to be close to more talented and successful people than me. In that way it pushed me to be a stronger person and to work more.
But I miss France a lot, my family and friends, my culture and my roots. I’m lucky that I can share my time between California and France, even though traveling has become more and more difficult. A lot has changed in 15 years, and not in a good way. Just going to an airport now is such an exhausting and draining experience.
12. What are you seeking elsewhere?
Peace of mind. A quiet life making music close to my loved ones, far from the noise and superficiality of a big megalopolis like Los Angeles.
13. You made headlines around the release of Fantasy with some comments about EDM and about how you wish DJs would ask permission before playing your music. Have any since asked for that permission? If so, did you grant it?
A few have asked yes, and I thank them for it. Of course I grant it. I know that DJs helped my music to be more popular, and I’m thankful for it. It’s just a different world with different rules. I have to learn to let go sometimes.
14. But, surely there are DJs who play other peoples’ music that you enjoy. Maybe? Was there a particularly great set you’ve been to recently?
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a DJ, no. It’s not my culture and [I’ve] never been attracted to the club scene.
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15. What’s one song you wish you had written?
None. I’ve never been envious of anyone. I have respect yes, and there are so many artists that I love to death, but that’s all. I believe we need to accept that some artists are more talented and successful than yourself. So many songs and albums move me in a very deep way, but even so I never wished to be someone else. I’m already trying to accept myself as an artist, which is an extremely difficult process to me.
16. Do you have guilty pleasure music?
No, I don’t like this expression of guilty pleasure. If you get pleasure listening to something then it’s just good!
17. The proudest moment of your career thus far?
Being myself and making the records I want.
18. What’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?
I hate the word “business.” I don’t like talking about success, money etc. Being able to make music is a gift, and that’s all I care about.
19. Who was your greatest mentor, and what was the best advice they gave you?
Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Moving to L.A. and meeting him was a blessing. He helped me find myself in so many ways. I always go to him when I need guidance. He’s like a brother to me, and I love the fact that he always says what he thinks, even when it hurts.
20. One piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
Be happy, music is cool.
Kylie Minogue collects her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart as her new studio release Tension opens atop the tally (dated Oct. 7). She previously led the 22-year-old list with 2020’s Disco.
The new album’s chart-topping debut comes after its lead single, “Padam Padam,” became a viral hit over the summer, and went on to become her first top 10 hit on the 10-year-old Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in June.
Tension, released Sept. 22 via Darenote/BMG, earned 24,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Luminate. That marks Minogue’s best week, by units, since the industry began measuring by that metric in December 2014. On the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, Tension debuts at No. 21, her highest-charting album in over a decade, since Aphrodite hit No. 19 (July 24, 2010-dated chart).
Further, of Tension’s first-week units, album sales comprise 19,500 – the pop star’s biggest sales week for an album in nearly 20 years. She last sold more in a single week with an album when Body Language debuted with 43,500 (Feb. 28, 2004-dated chart). Of Tension’s 19,500 sold, physical sales comprise nearly 14,000 (7,000 on vinyl – her biggest week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991; 6,000 on CD and 1,000 on cassette) and digital album sales comprise about 5,500.
Tension was issued as a standard 11-song album, a 14-track deluxe edition (on CD, digital download and streamers) and in a 16-song edition (sold as a digital download exclusively through Minogue’s webstore). Sales of the album were bolstered by more than 15 physical formats, including seven vinyl variants (all with the same standard 11-song tracklist, with many in different colors with alternative covers – including some retailer-exclusive offerings), five cassettes (four with the album’s standard tracklist, and one with the 14-song tracklist – all in different colors) and five CDs (including a signed edition sold through Newbury Comics, and versions in alternative collectible packaging).
Tension was ushered in by the No. 7-peaking “Padam Padam” on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in June. (The chart ranks the week’s most popular songs of the genre in the U.S., by blending streams, sales and airplay.) The track also became her first entry on the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart (peaking at No. 14) and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart and two weeks atop the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.
The viral hit went on to earn 34.19 million on-demand official audio and video streams in the U.S. – making it Minogue’s third-biggest streaming song ever in America. “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” released in 2001, is her most-streamed hit in the U.S. (176.66 million) and her seasonal cover of “Santa Baby,” released in 2000, is in second place (44.62 million). (Minogue made her Billboard chart debut in May of 1988, bowing on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Should Be So Lucky.”)
Following “Padam,” the new album has spun off a second dance hit with the title track, which hit No. 18 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in September, No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and debuts at No. 7 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay on the Oct. 7-dated chart. Plus, concurrent with the album’s debut on the charts, the set’s “Hold On to Now” bows at No. 32 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and No. 10 on Dance/Electronic Song Sales.
Outside of the dance world, “Padam Padam” gave Minogue her first entry on the Pop Airplay chart since 2004’s “Slow,” and her first hit on the Adult Pop Airplay chart since 2002’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
The Billboard 200 and Top Dance/Electronic Albums charts rank, respectively, the week’s most popular overall albums, and dance/electronic albums, in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Top Album Sales ranks the week’s top-selling albums by traditional album sales (CD, vinyl, cassette, digital download album, etc.).
Palm Tree Music Festival is returning to Aspen, Colo., early next year with a lineup featuring Palm Tree co-founder Kygo, French titan David Guetta, dance-pop mainstays The Chainsmokers, the white-hot Labrinth, electronic hybrid duo DRAMA and pop-folk-rock artist Harry Hudson. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The festival […]
Since entering the dance scene nearly a decade back, Spencer Brown has made his name on progressive house music that’s lush, emotive and pristinely produced.
That last part is not a coincidence. Brown, 29, has always been a hyper-perfectionist, and in the last few years he’s gotten a better understanding about why.
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“There’s been symptoms and signs since I was a kid,” Brown tells Billboard over Zoom. “It got really intense five or six years ago, but I didn’t know what was going on.”
What was going on was obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which Brown was formally diagnosed with during the pandemic but had always been a part of his life. The American Psychiatry Association defines OCD as “a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions). To get rid of the thoughts, they feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions).”
For Brown, OCD manifests as an extreme discomfort with uncertainty, with his obsessive thought loops being the compulsion attempting to mitigate it. Since childhood, Brown would find six different ways to ask his parents the same question. As an adult, he’d barrage his team with texts about how tickets to his shows were selling and ask 40 different people which of two mixes they thought sounded better.
“The thing is with with OCD, a lot of people think it means you have to like clean everything,” Brown says. “But in reality, it can come out in so many different ways and for me, it’s almost purely a mental thing. The ritual, so to speak, of milling over things that are uncertain.”
Certainty can be hard to come by for most people, and can be especially elusive for someone in a profession that relies on ticket sales, streams and consistent artistic inspiration. But after starting work with a therapist, Brown says he’s “learned how to sit with being uncertain about something better than I used to.”
It thus follows that his latest album is called Equanimity, a word Merriam-Webster defines as “evenness of mind especially under stress.” Out this past Friday (Sept. 29) via diviine, the album — Brown’s third studio LP — took him four years to make and found him spending 12-18 hours in the study every day during the last three months of production. He says that when he listens to it, he’s certain it’s his best work to date.
“The theme of this album is personal growth, not letting things out of your control affect your mental state,” he says. “That was a lesson I learned that I tried to capture into this music.”
Here, Brown talks about his diagnosis.
Tell me about how your OCD manifests.
With music, OCD for me comes out in perfectionism. I think that’s the blessing of this thing, because I’m so dialed in on what I’m doing. If it’s not a perfect mix, I’m gonna just keep on working on it and testing it out. I have an issue that I’ll finish it and turn it into mastering, then they’ll send the master back, I’ll sit with it and be like, “is this messed up?” I’ll sit with those thoughts, then maybe a couple of weeks later I’ll have to go back and redo the whole thing.
It sometimes drives people who work with me nuts, but we’ve learned to work in a productive way, where my team is fully aware of how my brain works, and I’m fully aware of how my brain works. They understand that sometimes I have this thing, and they totally accept that.
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Are there are other aspects?
I’ve had to make a conscious effort to not bother my team too much. I used to really worry all the time about ticket sales. For a big show, let’s say a couple days before we only have 200 tickets sold, and we need to sell 1,500 tickets. I would be freaking out like, “Is this going to be bad? Are people going to show up?”
I’d be blowing up my team like, “Do you think there’s gonna be walk ups?” But I get to the show and maybe 1,000 people buy a ticket the day of the show, and it’s a packed show. And I’m like, “Why did I spend days having so much anxiety about how this is going to be, when really all I can do is just promote the show?” So now we have a thing on my team. I don’t get ticket sales number counts. No one gives me any of that stuff anymore. It’s really, really helpful for me.
When did that boundary get put in place?
I would say post-COVID. I really started to understand how OCD affects my life about a year into COVID, which is a funny thing, because there’s so much uncertainty with COVID. That was a true test of not letting [OCD] run my life. Basically I learned practicing equanimity, which is which is what my album is called. That means all these things can be happening around you, but you have to ground yourself and understand it’s okay that you don’t know… You have to be okay with uncertainty.
What was the response within your peer group, when you shared the diagnosis?
I do have friends who deal with similar things. But obviously everyone’s very supportive. It’s like, this is my personality. This is how I have been my whole life. All that’s changed is putting a label on how my brain works and realizing it’s slightly different than how other people’s brains work.
Everyone is totally understanding, especially my team, my peers, my collaborators. Everyone knows that this is how I am.
What other adjustments have you made?
Pre-COVID, before I learned how OCD manifests in my life, all I would do is cause myself anxiety. It was this anxiety cycle of uncertainty causing anxiety, then I would do things to try to get certainty, like texting 40 different people sending them two mixes saying “which mix is better?”
Half the people would like mix B, and half the people would like mix A, so then I would go into this loop of like, “oh my gosh, which one is right?” Then I would go to my car and test it. I would go to the club and test it. I would test it in my studio and on my headphones and on my air pod, over and over and over and over. At some point, you just need to decide like, “This is what it is. I’m done.” The past is the past, and I need to move on instead of dwelling.
And both versions are probably good.
They’re different. That’s it’s art is something I had to also had to learn. Some of these creative decisions, there is no right or wrong.
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What other tools have you used to work with your OCD?
I was going into this therapist who’s incredible. And I was talking through all these things that were going in my head that I couldn’t explain. I would say things like “I don’t know if this, or I don’t know if that and it’s giving me anxiety.”
He’d say, “You’re looking for certainty on this, and I can’t give it to you.” All the sessions turned into me basically speaking to a wall. I love the guy, but that was the whole point of the therapy. I learned the same feeling I’m having with my therapist, where he won’t give me certainty on what I have uncertainty for, I need to apply this to my life and music and everything. The lesson is that that there’s no certainty in a lot of things in life, and you just need to be okay with sitting with that.
Have you developed any particular methods of sitting with that, so to speak?
I had a really powerful experience at Burning Man [this year.] I boiled down my career to four principles that, if I do them, it’s all I need to focus on. One is to be a good person to everyone around me — team, venues, promoters, anyone around me. First and foremost, just be kind to everybody.
Number two is to love the music that I’m making. If I’m in the studio feeling like I’m making music for somebody else, or for some other reason other than the love of what I’m making, that’s not the right reason to make it.
Number three, when I’m playing shows, play the music I love, don’t cater to anyone; don’t pander to anyone. If it comes out of the speakers, it must come from the heart for me.
Number four is creating authentic content that is aligned with my values. It doesn’t matter what’s trending or what people think I should do. It must be authentic. These four things are what I’m focusing on in my career. The rest of the stuff like the ticket sales, the numbers, that’s all stuff I need to not focus on. Or comparing myself to others. There’s a lot of uncertainty in that of “Why did they get that?” None of that stuff is relevant.
In the realm of perhaps surprising collaborations, Peter Gabriel‘s latest song, “This Is Home” had some input from Skrillex. In a statement released with the song, out Friday (Sept. 29), Gabriel noted that “I’d had a call from Skrillex, who’s a very talented musician, and I thought it would be interesting to see what he […]
Dance music legend Danny Tenaglia is selling a collection of his albums, production equipment, memorabilia and other gear spanning his nearly 50 year career.
Bidding on the collection starts Monday (Oct. 2), via the online auction house Amplifyd. The items available now are largely pieces of studio equipment, with bidding on much of it starting at $1; the auction will be online for the next 28 days. A second bidding phase launching in November will feature items from Tenaglia’s vinyl collection, which spans his nearly 50-year history in electronic music.
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“It’s been an incredible journey to have all of this in my possession for decades,” Tenaglia said in a statement, “and I’ve been thinking for quite some time now that these items and records might be better served in the hands of others who will continue to love and appreciate them just as much as I have.
“I’m excited to auction most of my collection on the amazing Amplifyd platform,” Tenaglia continued. “What would make me the most happy is if this massive record collection and various pieces of studio gear and DJ equipment can find a new loving home where they will continue to be appreciated and used.”
The sale marks Amplifyd’s official launch out of beta, and follows the platform’s May partnership with Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, which involved the auctioning of more than 30 experiences with artists including Marshmello, Armin van Buuren, Yellow Claw and Loud Luxury. The initiative raised more $100,000.
Amplifyd is also set to host forthcoming auctions from Sasha and Felix Da Housecat, who’ll be selling rare vinyl, acetates, white labels, memorabilia and studio equipment.
“Being an electronic music artist myself over the past 15 years, it’s an incredibly exciting time for Amplifyd to partner with artists of Felix, Sasha and Danny’s extraordinary talent and pedigree,” said Amplifyd Founder Dan Willis. “Their contributions to the roots and infrastructure of the electronic music industry are monumental. Our collaboration promises a unique and unforgettable journey for fans and music enthusiasts.”
Amplifyd’s founding investor is Steve Anderson, who was also a founding investor in Instagram and other ventures.
This week in dance music: Kenya Grace made her Hot 100 debut with the drum ‘n’ bass infused “Strangers,” Michael Bibi announced he was leaving the hospital amid his ongoing cancer treatment, then immediately jumped on a flight to Ibiza to make a surprise appearance at DC-10, The BPM Festival released its phase one 2024 lineup, Daft Punk announced that a “drumless” version of Random Access Memories is coming in November, CloZee answered 20 questions upon the launch of her fall tour and we spoke with the founder of San Francisco’s Portola festival, happening this weekend, about the event’s lineup and adult vibe.
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And of course, there’s more. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Eliza Rose, “Take You There”
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The Label: Warner Records
The Spiel: “Yeah, I can take you there,” Eliza Rose offers on her latest, before simply proceeding to do so with the slick, swirling, simmering club track. Simultaneously playful and tough, “Take You There” marks another winner in the U.K. artist’s catalog, which already included “Better Love” and “Pleasure Peak” from this year, along with her 2022 smash “B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All).” The new track comes with a trippy, fairly mesmerizing music video that features Rose playing dress-up with friends in a drop top, along with a claymation version of the artist.
The Artist Says: “‘Take You There’ and ‘Better Love’ always come together as a pair, a bit like two-sides of a coin showing how in underground dance music you can have both these slick, summery cute moments, as well as these more mad, chaotic ones. It’s important to me as an artist to touch both sides.”
The Vibe: We’ll literally go anywhere Rose wants to bring us.
VTSS & Boys Noize, “Steady Pace”
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The Label: Big Beat Records
The Spiel: “Feel that groove between our bodies, keep a steady pace,” VTSS whisper-sings on her euphemistic new collaboration with Boys Noize, “Steady Pace.” A punchy beat indeed keeps the track moving at a quick clip, creating the same sort of hypnotic, lightly industrial vibe that have long been core elements of both the Polish and German producers’ respective wheelhouses. Stick around for the gear shift in the last 20 seconds, which hits like a strobe light right in your eyes.
The Artist Says: “The track was made during mine & Alex’s session in LA in our friend’s Sonny’s studio,” says VTSS. “It really came about quite quickly – within probably first our we had a sketch and I’ve written the first verse. I haven’t done much in studio collaborations so I was extremely nervous and frankly I didn’t know Alex that well, but we instantly clicked and have been great friends since.”
The Vibe: High-octane sexual tension.
Logic1000, “Grown On Me”
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The Label: Therapy/Because Music
The Spiel: Berlin-based producer Logic1000 returns with her first release of 2023, “Grown On Me.” Built around a single lyric stating the title over and over, the track maintains the producer’s signature style of fusing an ethereal vibe with weighty production, with the message here taking on greater meaning given that the artist, born Samantha Poulter, recently became a mother.
The Artist Says: “It’s been way too long since releasing something new so this is a special moment for me. Ever since Tom (big ever) and I wrote ‘Grown On Me’ the vocal has been stuck in my head, and the lyric has a very special, private meaning to me, that in fact came after choosing the sample. This song was written (and now released) during a transformative period of my life. I hope it uplifts you the way writing it uplifted me.”
The Vibe: Lush, feminine, maternal.
LP Giobbi, “Time Expands”
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The Label: Yes Yes Yes
The Spiel: LP Giobbi launches her Yes Yes Yes imprint, part of the Defected Records family of labels, with “Time Expands.” The track functions as its title suggests, making three minutes and 24 seconds stretch into a good trip of a good time with a darkly pulsing bass line, flecks of rhythm guitar, a long windup with a percussive breakdown, and a voice spitting hippie philosophy while repeatedly declaring that “time shrinks or expands in exact opposition to what you want to do.”
The Artist Says: “I grew up going to this hippie festival in Oregon called the Oregon Country Fair,” LP says on the label name’s origin. “My parents started going in their 20s, and I have never missed it since the womb. It’s my favorite place on earth because it leans into weirdness, joy, and mind-opening experiences. The first thing you see when you walk on site is a sign that just says, ‘Yes Yes Yes’ and it makes me smile ear to ear every single year. This label is not beholden to one genre or one particular sound. It’s simply about good dance music, made for the dancefloor that expands your mind and makes you feel good.”
The Vibe: Shrinking, expanding, spinning, grooving, vibing — yes indeed.
Sam Gellaitry, UNDER THE ILLUSION
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The Label: Major Recordings
The Spiel: The Scottish producer follows his 2022 album VF Vol II with the UNDER THE ILLUSION EP. Sophisticated and pristinely produced, the four-track project is dancefloor fare equally well-suited for the dancefloor or the afterhours. Gellaitry will surely unfurl them all during his set this weekend at San Francisco’s Portola festival.
The Artist Says: “For this project, I decided to make an EP focused solely on dance music which actually feels like returning home after a long time away for me,” Gellaitry says. “I started making music due to my fascination with Daft Punk and French House when I was ten, so it’s almost bizarre that I haven’t officially dropped a project dedicated to the genre that got me started off in the first place! These tracks are intended for night time usage.”
The Vibe: That rare midnight-to-3 a.m. timespan, and all the possibilities contained therein.
“it’s a daunting task, to follow up that lineup,” says Danny Bell. He’s referring to the bill for last year’s inaugural edition of Portola, which debuted in San Francisco with artists including The Chemical Brothers, Flume, Fatboy Slim, Kaytranada, Peggy Gou, Jamie xx, James Blake and so many more heavy-hitters that the event quickly made its case for being the strongest U.S. electronic festival lineup of the year.
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The even more difficult trick would be doing it all again. “This year really put my booking skills and creativity to the test,” says Bell, the SVP Talent Buyer for Goldenvoice in San Francisco. “There were a lot of changes from the initial plan to what ended up being this year’s lineup. But that’s just the nature of booking festivals. Some years, everything falls into place. That was year one. This year, it was like every time I picked up the phone, there was another piece of news derailing the plan. But we got through it, and I’m very proud of the lineup we’ve put together.”
This weekend (Sept. 30-Oct. 1) Bell and the team are bringing Portola Festival round two to Pier 80 in San Francisco, with another hefty lineup and the credibility culled from year one, with one in-the-know agent calling the event one of the most important electronic festivals in the United States.
Night one will be headlined by Eric Prydz, performing his technical masterpiece of a show, HOLO. The Portola play was made more possible after Prydz closed out the Outdoor stage at another Goldenvoice property, Coachella, on the second night of the festival this past April, allowing the Portola team to use the same equipment and tech elements this weekend in the Bay.
“It definitely helps that we share a production team and an ethos,” Bell says of Portola and Coachella, “so [artists and their teams] know who they’re working with what they’re stepping into.”
Skillex is headlining Portola night two, flying in from a festival play in New Zealand and, through the magic of time zones, managing to play both the show in Auckland and Portola on the same day. “They just really want to make this happen,” Bell says of the producer and his team, recalling the first time he tried booking Skrillex back during Bell’s time as a student at USC.
“The first Skrill quote I got was $2,000 bucks, and I couldn’t afford it. He’s obviously a lot more than that now.”
Other lineup standouts include Jai Paul, the enigmatic artist doing his first major touring run this year. “Jai Paul’s just the s–t, man,” says Bell. “There’s a handful of these super artists that you don’t know if you’ll ever get the chance to see live or book, and it magically worked this year.”
Nelly Furtado will perform her first show in the U.S. in 16 years on Saturday, with Bell saying this pop element (lead by Charli XCX last year) is essential, in that it adds a different and overtly fun facet to a lineup largely composed of house, techno and what Bell calls “esoteric electronic music.” (He adds that when he ran the idea of booking Furtado by his fianceé, “she freaked out.”)
Portola 2022
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This year, the festival site — located on an industrial shipping pier outfitted with a massive crane, warehouses and an actual giant ship — will be slightly reconfigured to prevent the sound bleed that occurred between a few spaces last year. (This reconfiguration should also help mitigate the sound that traveled across the water to Alameda last year, resulting in sound complaints from residents. Bell says San Francisco city officials worked with them on solutions to this issue and hav been altogether great to work with.)
A warehouse space used as a venue — the site of a brief crowd rush incident during Fred again..’s set last year — will be flipped so that the stage is on the opposite end of the building, in order to improve sound quality and crowd flow. (While this space featured live acts last year, this year it’s reserved exclusively for DJs.) There will also be more space for GA attendees to sit and hang out, including an expanded bar area and a a bigger food court. Like last year, Portola expects 30,000 attendees per day.
This year will also feature an art gallery of rave stickers and flyers from throughout the years that’s been curated by DJ and rave culture historian DB Burkeman. Sponsored by Spotify, the gallery is meant to function as a pseudo-highbrow place for people to check out when they need a break from the music.
“The whole thing is that I want people to be treated like grown-ups,” Bell says. “I just felt like there wasn’t a festival to fulfill the desires of a 21-plus audience who’ve been electronic music and dance fans, but who also like other genres and who are interested in an event focused for the older fan.”
Bell knows something of becoming a grown-up raver. He booked shows throughout his time at USC, and started a full-time job as a talent buyer for HARD Events the Monday after he graduated college. The EDM era was peaking, electronic music was becoming a major commercial and cultural force in the U.S., and Bell was helping propel this culture in Southern California by co-designing HARD lineups that nodded to current trends, folded in genre heroes and presented smart, boundary-pushing bills to audiences who, at that time, were often just discovering the sound and scene.
Portola is thus a festival for people who became dance music fans when Skrillex was in his spaceships-and-big-drops phase and who, 10 years later, are equally as excited to hear him play the IDM his sound has evolved into this weekend.
“There wouldn’t be a Portola if it wasn’t for EDC or HARD,” Bell says, “because those were some of the fans’ first introduction to that music in a festival environment.
“I don’t think there would have been a market for a festival like Portola 10 years ago,” he continues. “The longer they stay, the older they get, their tastes change and now a festival like this can exist.”