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Above & Beyond are going further than ever before, with the electronic trio earning their first RIAA Gold Record via their 2019 track “Don’t Leave.” The song comes from the group’s 2019 ambient album Flow State, which was designed for use during yoga and meditation. The certification marks 500,000 units moved of the song, with […]
Aluna has scored a lot of hits in her decade-plus career, but she doesn’t feel like things really started for her until more recently.
After making music as one half of AlunaGeorge — singing on smashes by that group along with hits by artists including Disclosure and Jack Ü — the British producer/singer/songwriter says going solo is the proudest moment of her career so far. This pivot, marked by the 2020 release of her debut solo album, Renaissance, meant for her that she was “essentially starting all over again, but this time with my full self-intact.”
Indeed in tandem with that album’s release, Aluna — who’s of Jamaican and Indian descent — became an outspoken voice on racial inequality in the dance world, writing a 2020 open letter on the industry’s “extreme double standard” of racial inequality and advocating for Black artists and fans within a scene that remains overwhelmingly white and male-dominated.
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It’s not just talk. Aluna has again made good on her ambition by coalescing a group of Black and LGBTQ+ collaborators and allies around her for her latest album, MYCELiUM, out tomorrow (July 7) via Mad Decent. Taking its name from the foundational, interconnected, creative network formed in nature by fungal root structures, the 14-track house-focused project features creative, interconnected work from Brazil’s Pabllo Vittar, South Africa’s KOOLDRINK, Panama’s Roofeeo and U.K. stars TSHA, Chris Lake, and MNEK, altogether forming a foundation of diversity that’s the core of Aluna’s mission.
This summer and fall will find her supporting the album on tour, with club shows across the U.S. and festival dates including Higher Ground, North Coast and III Points. Her advocacy work has continued while on the road, with Aluna working with groups like Melanin Ravers to help Black fans find each other at festivals and shows, spaces where audiences can often be largely white.
“I still have to perform in predominantly white audiences,” Aluna said in a recent post. “The way that I get through that now is that I think about all the other Black ravers that I know exist, and then I can get out on stage and I’ve got my army of people in my mind and in my heart, so I’m never alone.”
Here, Aluna talks about MYCELiUM, and what it means to her.
1. Where are you in the world right now, and what’s the setting like?
I’m in Brooklyn, New York. The sky looks like Armageddon from all the fires in Canada, it’s 85 degrees and I had to clamber through the whole storm and airport shut down to get here … people are still stranded from that!
2. What is the first album or piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?
It was probably The Bends by Radiohead on CD.
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 a careers advisor, which is ironic since she would never have advised anyone to follow a music career path. She struggled with it for all the years that I looked like I was gonna be a crazy starving artist — around eight years from when I first started vocal lessons [with] a pipe dream.
My dad never had a full time job — he’s a photographer, but he didn’t crack the code of how to make a creative career to sustain himself or his family. That really left an impression, and a pressure on me to make it work holistically … a drive that perhaps neither of my parents understand. They both support me, but a music career is hard for any parent to fathom, because there’s literally no way to help your kid win. Well, unless you have lots of money!
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4. What’s the first non-gear thing you bought for yourself when you started making money as an artist?
It obviously wasn’t anything awesome or I’d remember. I just needed to pay rent and eat.
5. If you had to recommend one album for someone looking to get into dance/electronic music, what would you give them?
Neptune’s Lair by Drexciya. It’s absolutely insane the amount of creativity in the whole concept and album!
6. What’s the last song you listened to?
“Off My Mind” by Coco and Breezy.
7. Do you have guilty pleasure music?
I don’t actually; I definitely stand by all the music I listen to. I might be conceited, but I think I have excellent taste!
8. The new album is MYCELiUM. What’s the significance of the album title?
As I’ve been working in the dance electronic genre simultaneously making music, building community and advocating for change, I came across mycelium and the way that it works as an interconnected cell network sharing information, energy nutrients to create the organic ecosystem around us. Music is an ecosystem too, and I wanted to signify the return of core values that created this genre and would have kept it healthy rather than turning into the monoculture that it has become — devoid of soul, diversity and respect.
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9. You’ve called working with Black and LGBTQ artists on the album the “most life-affirming experience of my career.” Did this experience bring out different facets of your artistry?
Absolutely. Talking about the history and what the pioneers were doing when they invented the genre with my collaborators always creates this new excitement in the studio. It sparked ideas really quickly, we felt like we were tapping into something that had always been there but we’d not explored before.
10. You’ve talked about creating communities of Black ravers. Who are the people who’ve come together under this banner, and how have they influenced the album?
My Black ravers are my champions-whether I’m with them or not they are in my heart when I write or advocate for change – @Melaninravers, @femaleraversunited, @Basslollipopp, @Givemeplur, @cookievalentine have been working hard to look after the ravers who brave going to festivals, often isolated, sometimes completely alone. There are so many Black producers and artists who have remained on the outside of the industry, but creating with the little resources they have, and we try to support each other with international online groups that are invite only. And then there are the event communities who have been creating smaller safe spaces for Black communities to dance together such as Moonshine, Set de flo, Ascendance and Hoodrave.
11. You’ve also spoken about being the only Black artist at festivals and in industry settings. Are you seeing any meaningful shifts in the scene at large in terms of diversity and inclusion?
Anything I have seen has been created by individuals working, with no help from the industry or those with the power to do so. The problem is without the real integrity of a desire for change, most of the efforts I saw after George Floyd fell away. There is a widespread, complete lack of care in the live show business, not just for Black people, but for the festival goers in general. I think that comes from a lack of diverse voices in charge. On the industry side, I regularly talk to large companies who want to work with me, yet they don’t have a single Black female employee.
12. In May you made an announcement on Instagram about helping Black ravers link up at festivals. What’s been the response from your community? Are you hearing great stories of people meeting up at events?
I’m not the first person to try and do this — I would say Melanin Ravers are the leaders in that area — I’m simply adding my energy to the cause. The response has been huge, with many people having never even braved a festival for fear of being the only Black person there, or going alone. I am hearing stories of people meeting up — I have a private community that is specifically designed for that on the Geneva app, anyone who would like to join just has to go through me! It’s important to me to keep my group safe and focused, since there are lots of places online to meet up that get overrun by scammers and people looking for hookups.
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13. What does success for this album look like to you?
I hope this album serves as inspiration and solace, a virtual place that people can escape to whoever they are and feel more themselves, more alive and free.
14. The most exciting thing happening in dance music currently is?
Amapiano.
15. The most annoying thing happening in dance music currently is?
Festivals and promoters not taking more risks, and continuing to underestimate the audience’s hunger for more diverse lineups and more inclusive spaces.
16. What was the hardest moment of your career, and how did you overcome it?
The hardest thing was being sexually assaulted by a musical peer who I respected and trusted. I don’t think I’ve gotten over it, and it almost destroyed my career. But I’m here now because my work wasn’t done; I needed to know that I left a pathway for other Black Women to walk down, not just be an exception to the rule.
17. The proudest moment of your career thus far?
Going solo and essentially starting all over again, but this time with my full self intact.
18. What’s the best business decision you’ve ever made?
To learn how to calculate whether a live show will be in profit or be a loss. I almost went bankrupt in 2016 because I didn’t understand this.
19. Who was your greatest mentor, and what was the best advice they gave you?
[Performance coach] Shelly Mitchell. She taught me that creativity can also be reached through joy and serenity, not only pain and self-destruction. She destroyed the myth that artists can only be creative if they’re tortured, and that allowed me to embrace working on my mental health wholeheartedly.
20. One piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
Take care of yourself, ’cause no-one else will.
Dutch producer AFROJACK has signed with Moe Shalizi and The Shalizi Group for management. The Grammy-winning electronic artist joins a stacked dance roster that includes Alesso, Jauz and Marshmello, witih Shalizi guiding the career of the latter artist from unknown producer to global brand. “Moe Shalizi’s past work speaks for itself, excited to see where […]
On Friday, ODESZA‘s concert film/biopic The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience will have its one-night run in more than 700 theaters worldwide.
The movie, directed by the Seattle-based duo’s longtime friend and creative director Sean Kusanagi, captures the grandeur of the pair’s recent tour behind their 2022 album, The Last Goodbye, while also unpacking the backstory behind ODESZA’s rise and the team behind the project.
The film emphasizes the incredible amount of work and attention to detail that went into the live show, for which the guys and their team took the album they’d just finished then completely revamped it for the tour, crossing the new music with older material and figuring out how to best present the ODESZA catalog in spectacle of lights, lasers, confetti and a drum line.
In an exclusive clip of the film below, the pair’s Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight hash out some of the most granular details of the show. The clip finds the guys parsing out details in the studio, with Mills acknowledging the high stakes to what they’re doing given the time that’s passed since their last tour.
“I’m a little nervous for sure,” Mills says, “it’s been three years.”
The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience works for both old and new fans of ODESZA, with the movie composed of stunning, inventively shot concert footage from the Last Goodbye Tour that offers new views of the show even to those who’ve seen it. This footage is interspersed with the making of the show and archival material going back to the earliest days of ODESZA.
“Our long-time friend Sean Kusanagi has been with us from day one of ODESZA and it’s incredible to see what footage he pulled together from the past ten years of our careers,” Mills and Knight tell Billboard.
Highlights of the movie include the guys returning to the dilapidated basement of the college house where they began the ODESZA project, the older footage that demonstrates the friendships at the heart of the project, new material that reveals more of the emotion and psychology behind The Last Goodbye (try not to cry in the scene where Mills talks with him mom about the death of her parents), and the impact this music has had on fans.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our fans,” Mills and Harrison add. ‘That’s why we are extremely excited to share this film… to give those who have been with us a look behind the curtain for the first time and to let them know how grateful we are for their support over the years.”
Ultimately, The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience functions in the same way as ODESZA’s previous output, providing a massive show with emotional punch. The 27-date tour after which the film is named hit arenas and amphitheaters across North America, grossing $25.6 million and selling 395,000 tickets, according to numbers provided by Billboard Boxscore.
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Austin, Texas’ annual Seismic Dance Event debuted its satellite festival, Seismic Spring Lite Edition, this past May 19-20. Focused on house and techno, the two-day, one stage Seismic Spring was hosted at Austin’s The Concourse Project with a tight 10-act lineup and a few thousand fans.
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Artists included Coco & Breezy, the identical twins who played a very housey, very funky two-hour set. Also delivering was Dillon Francis playing as his house alter ego, the very deep and often goofy DJ Hanzel. Additionally, the lineup featured a driving and satisfyingly dark hourlong set from San Diego-based techno producer Speaker Honey. Hear all three of these sets exclusively below.
Spring Lite is the offshoot of Seismic Dance Event, which was launched in Austin by married couple Kelly Gray and Andrew Parsons. The pair run RealMusic Events, the Austin-based indie production company that’s been credited for injecting underground electronic flavor into the “live music capital of the world.”
RealMusic Events started hosting shows in Austin in 2009 and launched Seismic Dance Event in 2018 with the intention of delivering underground house and techno music to Austin, a scene that’s long been dominated with live music but is expanding its electronic world offerings via RealMusic Event and other shows like a tour stop from the Burning Man art car Mayan Warrior.
“We want to deliver the big festival experience with an intimate vibe,” Kelly Parsons told Billboard in 2019. “We aren’t trying to sell 20,000 tickets, because that’s not the goal. We always want to keep it boutique.”
The lineup for this November’s flagship Seismic Dance Event, happening this November 10-12 at the indoor/outdoor space The Concourse Project, includes Chris Lake, Kaskade, deadmau5, Boys Noize, Anfisa Letyago, DJ Tennis and Carlita performing as Astra Club, Loco Dice, Mau P and more.
Coco & Breezy
DJ Hanzel
Speaker Honey
TikTok is helping bring Tomorrowland 2023 to the world.
On Wednesday (July 5), the dance mega-festival announced the video-sharing platform as its official content partner for the event, which is taking place over two weekends in Boom, Belgium: July 21-23 and July 28-30.
The partnership will include TikTok LIVE broadcasts of headline performances from the festival’s main stage, along with behind-the-scenes footage and video-on-demand content from artists and other creators. TikTok will stream Tomorrowland content 24 hours a day across both weekends.
Additionally, the partnership encompasses in-app playlists, a search hub and activations designed to make it easier for TikTok users to find content from the festival.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Tomorrowland, one of the world’s biggest and most iconic festivals,” TikTok business development lead of global music content and partnerships Michael Kümmerle said in a statement. “With its legendary line-up and global audience, Tomorrowland is the perfect festival partner for our flourishing community of #ElectronicMusic lovers who congregate on TikTok. As our relationship with the genre deepens, we’re incredibly excited to help grow the festival further by giving our community 24 live streams and a 360-degree experience of Tomorrowland on TikTok.”
Tomorrowland 2023 is set to host more than 600 artists across 14 stages. Performers include Afrojack, Alesso, Armin van Buuren, Black Coffee, the Chainsmokers, Claptone, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Dom Dolla, Don Diablo, Eric Prydz, Hardwell, John Newman, Martin Garrix, Netsky, Nicky Romero, Oliver Heldens, Paul Kalkbrenner, Purple Disco Machine, Robin Schulz, Sebastian Ingrosso, Shaquille O’Neal as DJ Diesel, Steve Angello, Steve Aoki, Tiësto, Timmy Trumpet, Topic and W&W.
The festival is once again set to host 400,000 fans each weekend.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts have been home to wide a variety of international hits, across many genres, cultures and languages. Dance music has been able to seamlessly float across cultural and geographic lines, including on the latest, July 1-dated rankings, as three artists, each from a different continent, debut with their own high-energy boosts.
Kylie Minogue, one of Australia’s most enduring stars, debuts on the Global 200 with “Padam Padam” at No. 190 while climbing to No. 169 on the Global Excl. U.S. list. Since its May 18 release, the thumping track has increased its weekly streams each week, culminating in a 17% bump to 9.6 million worldwide in the frame ending June 22, according to Luminate.
The song is Minogue’s first non-holiday entry on either global chart and continues to build months before the expected September release of parent album Tension; no tracks from her 2020 set Disco appeared on the surveys.
Elsewhere, South Korea-born, Germany-based singer, DJ and producer Peggy Gou makes her global chart debut, at No. 137 on Global Excl. U.S. with “(It Goes Like) Nanana.” The house single drew 9.6 million streams worldwide June 16-22, its first full week of release.
Plus, Germany’s Purple Disco Machine teamed with France’s Kungs on “Substitution,” new on Global Excl. U.S. at No. 199, up by 3% to 7.9 million streams around the world. Neither act has made the Global 200, but “Substitution” is the second entry for both on Global Excl. U.S., following the former’s “Hypnotized,” which hit No. 121 over a 23-week stay in 2020-21, and the latter’s “Never Going Home,” which reached No. 107 amid a 15-week run in 2021.
The burst of dance music on this week’s global charts is diverse, both geographically and stylistically. These tracks join others by chart mainstays including David Guetta and Calvin Harris, as well as such pop artists drawing from the dance world as Dua Lipa, whose “Dance the Night” holds in the Global 200’s top 40, and Jain, who jumps from 68-41 with 2016’s resurgent “Makeba” (which is now being promoted to pop radio).
Kanii’s Exiit arrives at No. 10 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart dated July 1. The eight-track set earned 4,000 equivalent album units in the June 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate.
It’s the first appearance on any Billboard album chart for the TikTok-fueled Kanii, whose “Heart Racing” with Riovaz and Nimstarr, reached No. 13 in early June on the multimetric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
Previously, Kanii’s “I Know” hit No. 19 on Hot Rap Songs, No. 29 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April. Kanii hit a No. 15 high on the Emerging Artists chart the same month.
“This is truly insane,” the Washington, D.C.-based teen told Billboard upon learning of his recent Hot 100 bow. “To see my creation thrive and prosper this early in my career, I am forever grateful for this accomplishment.”
‘Smash’-ing Start
Pet Shop Boys also debut on Top Dance/Electronic Albums, as Smash: The Singles 1985-2020 opens at No. 14 (3,000 units). It’s the pair’s 16th appearance on the survey, tying for the sixth most dating to the chart’s 2001 inception; among duos or groups, the tandem trails only The Happy Boys (18).
The set – also new at No. 4 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart – expands Pet Shop Boys’ Billboard chart history to beyond 37 years, as the act first reached rankings in March 1986 with its eventual Hot 100 No. 1 classic, “West End Girls,” the first song on the new collection of remastered songs.
New Top 10s
Elsewhere, TELYkast and Georgia Ku’s “You Got Me” rises 11-8 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay. The fourth top 10 for each act is drawing core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, iHeartRadio’s Evolution network and SiriusXM’s BPM, among other outlets.
Plus, Sigala.’s “Feels This Good” featuring Mae Muller, Caity Baser and Stefflon Don pushes 12-9 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay. It’s the seventh top 10 for Sigala. and the first for each featured act. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 60 top 40-formatted reporters.)
Breakaway, the touring dance music festival, has released the lineup for its fall edition in San Francisco. The lineup, shared on Tuesday (June 27) is led by masked Norwegian producer Alan Walker, the always hyphy DJ Snake, French artiste Madeon and bass favorite NGHTMRE, along with saxophone infused jammy duo Big Gigantic, house pair Walker […]
This week in dance music: A shooting at Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge last weekend reverberated throughout dance music, with Insomniac Events’ CEO Pasquale Rotella responding to the incident, Electric Forest ramping up security and the artists and brands speaking out in the aftermath. Beyond this tragedy, the week also saw a flurry of lineup announcements, with Shaqhille O’Neil announcing his first ever festival, Miami’s III Points releasing the full lineup for its festival in October, Georgia’s Imagine Music Festival dropping its phase two lineup and Fred again.. announcing a historic eight-night run at Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall. Elsewhere, Sam Smith and Madonna made moves on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, and we caught up with the founders of club night HE.SHE.THEY.
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Is there more. Indeed. Let’s get into it.
Madeon, “Gonna Be Good”
The Artist: One of our tres favorite Frenchmen, Madeon.
The Label: Mom + Pop
The Spiel: The producer returns with his first single of 2023 — a bonafide anthem that builds slow and gets big before paring back down to the same spare percussion it opens with. The video plays off his the cinematic texture of Madeon’s acclaimed Good Faith Forever live shows.
The Artist Says: “It’s a song about restless hope. It’s about saying the things we wish were true, like an incantation,” Madeon says. “It’s about caring for people we love and promising them things we couldn’t promise ourselves. It’s the final single from the Good Faith era (that started all the way back in 2019), but also hints at what’s to come. I think it’s my favorite production and perhaps my favorite song I’ve ever released – I’ve already made so many special memories performing this song live over the past year, and I’m so happy you can take the song home now, I hope it’ll mean something to you too!!”
The Vibe: Levitating into the weekend.
The Blessed Madonna Feat. Jacob Lusk, “Have Mercy”
The Artist: The Blessed Madonna, on a hot streak, with vocalist (and American Idol alum) Jacob Lusk, co-production from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
The Label: Warner Records’ recently launched Major Recordings.
The Spiel: “Have Mercy” taps into the religious fervor of a peak dancefloor experience with the slick, funky and ultimately ecstatic house production serving as a foundation for Lusk’s smooth as hell vocals and an exclamation point of an assist from the House Gospel Choir.
The Artist Says: “I’m interested in the dichotomy of the sacred and the ordinary in songwriting,” The Blessed Madonna says. “Agony and ecstasy. A song about love and heartbreak can still be a deeply spiritual piece of work. I began by thinking about what love is for me in my life and arrived at the simple idea that it was at its core a promise not just to live but to forgive. Love is Mercy. Over many revisions and with the developments that came from working with Jacob and the rest of the many people who came together to make this record a reality, the idea deepened, and we found exactly the sweet spot between the church and the dancefloor that I was looking for. The gospel influence is intentional and undeniable. I thought in particular about the sculpture The ecstasy of St Theresa which is an incredibly rich image that feels as carnal as it does holy. This is my conception of god: those moments where we are humbled by a love so big that we can’t imagine being worthy of it or worthy of the kind of acceptance and mercy we feel.”
The Vibe: Amen.
Galantis, “BANG BANG (My Neurodivergent Anthem)”
The Artist: Swedish duo Galantis.
The Label: Big Beat Records
The Spiel: The title here isn’t just being pithy or glib, with the slick up-tempo pep Galantis has always delivered here carrying a message about Galantis’ Christian Karlsson actual ADHD diagnosis. “I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was an adult,” he says in a statement, but had known for a long time that I was wired differently. The knowledge brought clarity to the chaos, yet it also led to a period of self doubt and confusion. My brain has the motor of a Ferrari and the brakes of a bicycle, and the only way I had been able to sustain was by keeping it activated non-stop with music. I quietly began a long trial and error process of medicating, trying to find a solution that worked for me – ‘Pharmacy’ wasn’t the name of the first Galantis album by coincidence.
The Artist Says: “Eventually I learned more about neurodiversity, and found myself to be part of a community that was living through experiences similar to my own. Every day I’m learning more about who I really am and how my brain works, it’s a comfort to be connected with people who are on that same journey. Neurodiversity encapsulates all the different variations of the human mind, none of us are alone or less than… I called ‘BANG BANG!’ my neurodivergent anthem because like the chorus echoes, ‘it’s in my head.’ These thoughts, these questions, these stigmas we work to erase. Letting go of what we’ve been conditioned to perceive as ‘normal’ and embracing our own unique identities. It’s the prescription I’ve been looking for.”
The Vibe: Serotonin rush.
Skips, “My Only Mistake”
The Artist: Los Angeles-based trans producer skips, formerly known as Ducky.
The Label: Symphonic Distribution
The Spiel: With his debut release skips goes for a decidedly vibe, with the track winding up to a place of industrial frenzy and the only lyrics stating “my only mistake was loving you.”
The Artist Says: “I feel a shift in my creative process away from the results, away from people’s perceptions, and towards saying what I believe with my whole chest. This song is an exploration of areas I might not have dared to go in the past – from the unconventional song structure and darker mood, to the more dramatic visual aesthetic, exploration of sex, and visible queerness. a.k.a. skips is rave music, and raves are for the freaks. Enjoy!”
The Vibe: 4 a.m., in the dark, in the warehouse.
Surf Mesa, “Manzanita”
The Artist: Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based producer Surf Mesa, in collaboration with Norwegian singer/songwriter Elsa Søllesvik and Zurich-based producer Benji Alasu.
The Label: Astralwerks
The Spiel: The producer born Powell Aguirre has come a long way from his viral Tiktok days, trading the dreamy, pop-oriented mode of his breakout hit “ily (I love you baby), for a slinky, sophisticated textural dancefloor vibe that marks some of his best work to date.
The Artist Says: “’Manzanita’ is a track I’ve kept exclusively for the dancefloor for a while,” says Surf Mesa. “The texture and atmosphere this song makes me envision a rainforest in the future. It resonates with me so much as I begin my next chapter of music.”
The Vibe: If trance and tech-house had a baby in Ibiza.
Aphex Twin, ” Blackbox Life Recorder 21f”
The Artist: The one and only.
The Label: Warp Records
The Spiel: The producer returns with his first new music since 2018, the more or less soothing “Blackbox Life Recorder 21f.” The track is the lead single from a four-track EP, Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760, dropping July 28.
The Vibe: A welcome return.