Featured, Review | Lollapalooza 2012
Posted by dshaq on August 14, 2012
As a first timer at Lollapalooza, nothing could prepare me for what I witnessed last weekend. 3 days worth of 100,000 people, 130 acts, 8 stages and one astounding Chicago skyline adding the finishing touch to every night. Lollapalooza 2012 reeled in artists from almost every possible genre of music and every corner of the globe, with a crowd of all ages that was alive every second from start to finish.
Friday welcomed the weekend with open arms and clear skies. Perry’s Stage, known for featuring electronic artists, was stripped of its roof and enlarged to accommodate the recent growth of EDM fans. With artists such as Madeon, Porter Robinson, Zedd, Nero, and Bassnectar all in one day, it’s no surprise the stage and entire surrounding area was packed to the brim. Of the most memorable, 18 year old Madeon managed to squeeze in every one of his crowd favorites, from “Finale” to “Pop Culture” in one hour of solid fist pumping, while the underrated duo, Nero, blew the crowd away with their “Feels So Close” remix and “Promises,” featuring live vocalist Alana Watson. For the more laidback audience, there was Passion Pit, M83 and The Shins, never failing to deliver an uplifting show. And for those who just wanted to get down, Wale, Black Sabbath and The Black Keys finished off the day, rocking the night away into the after shows, which kept the music going across town until 4am.
Contests, Events, Featured | Huey Mack Ticket Giveaway for 8/29 in Minnesota
Posted by LoffyG on August 12, 2012
This week Huey Mack kicks off his first headlining tour. For those of you in Minnesota, we are giving away a pair of tickets to his show at Station 4 in St. Paul on 8/29! You can enter the contest easily using the app below. The first 3 tasks are mandatory to enter and you can greater your chances of winning by doing additional tasks within the app. Good Luck!
Contests, Events, Featured | Cruise For A Cause Featuring Mod Sun [Giveaway]
Posted by LoffyG on August 6, 2012
We have teamed up with JK Clothing to give one lucky winner a pair (2) of All Access Passes to the Cruise For A Cause event in St. Paul, MN. This isn’t your average show because it’s a 4-hour cruise down the Mississippi aboard 2 connected boats with 2 different stages. It will feature Mod Sun who is fresh off the Vans Warped Tour, along with many other great local artists. All proceeds from this event are donated to support the music therapy program at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota! The boat will be departing from Harriet Island in St. Paul, MN.
ALL ACCESS BOARDING PASSES will give you the opportunity to hang with the musicians and have your own private catered section of the boat. You can enter the contest easily using the app below. The first 3 tasks are mandatory to enter and you can greater your chances of winning by doing additional tasks within the app. Good Luck!
Featured, Progressive House | Archie – Pony Up Podcast Episode 2
Posted by Middy on August 6, 2012
Coming off of his successful release “Here And Now” with Polina, Archie is back with the second edition of his monthly podcast, Pony Up. FreshNewTracks is proud to partner with Archie and Hype Jones Entertainment to bring you this podcast every month that brings a discerning track selection, quality mixing and high energy throughout the entire 90 minutes of music brought to you by Archie and the guest mixer of the month. There are very few shouts as Archie just lets the music do all the talking for him. The first podcast featured a guest mix from TheFatRat and was widely successful. This time he returns with another hour of music hand selected by Archie and a 30 minute guest mix from the Swiss powerhouse DJ, EDX. Archie puts together a tracklist that varies from funky disco to progressive to electro with artists like A-trak, Paris & Simo, Dirty South, Wolfgang Gartner & more. There a plenty of bootlegs as well to keep it interesting. Without further ado, hit the play button and let this 90 minutes of magic carry you through the week. Tracklist after the jump.
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | Arty Interview (FNT Exclusive)
Posted by Middy on August 5, 2012
22 year old Russian producer / DJ Artem Stolyarov, better known by his stage name Arty has slowly become a household name with his crossover Trance / Progressive sound that seems to fill space so well and has become so unique to him. Already hailed as a legend by the trance god himself, Armin van Buuren, Arty is only going to become better and better as he gets older. His earlier productions that trended towards trance are all fantastic like “Bliss”, his “Vanilla Sky” EP with his more recent productions like “Mozart”, “Trio“, his “Walking Alone” remix and most recently “Open Space” have been more that Trance / Progressive fusion, offering not just one style, but a plethora of sounds. You will never hear the same set twice from him because of how varied his tastes are. He can create the perfect set for any occasion and will masterfully manipulate the crowd every time. He has a radio show “2gether We Are” that shows off his varied tastes in music playing everything from Dubstep to progressive to trance, generally choosing songs that are not your already huge singles.
Looking ahead to what the rest of 2012 has in store for Arty. He has upcoming collaborations with Axwell (finished), Porter Robinson, his collab with BT & Nadia Ali – Must Be The Love, and singles “Together We Are”, and “When I See You”, recently revealed by Sebastian Ingrosso on the latest edition of Refune Radio. In my interview with him we discussed growing up in Russia and the scene there, his love for video games, talked about a few of his songs such as his trancey Drum N Bass collab with Paul van Dyk “Sun After Heartbreak”, taking final exams the day after ASOT 500 and much more.
FNT: What is your mindset going into a set and how do you adjust during your set?
Arty: I don’t know, I just go to the stage and see the people and I have some sort of playlist, some sort of tracks that I plan to play, but it really depends on the crowd, what’s the kind of crowd, what kind of tracks they like and what the vibe is. So I decide during my set.
FNT: Does it depend on the venue too because I saw you at A State Of Trance and you played more trance than this show.
Arty: Yeah for sure. If I am playing for A State of Trance I am playing more Trance, if I am playing just for a festival, I am playing more festival music. So as I said, it really depends on the crowd, because the crowds are really different. Some of them like more Electro stuff, some of them like more Trancey stuff, some of them like more emotional stuff, it really depends.
More of the interview after the jump!
Featured, Videos | SOL REPUBLIC x PROFESSOR MEOWINGTONS -WORLD’S FIRST CAT HEADPHONES
Posted by A on August 2, 2012
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been jamming out to a massive Collin McLoughlin vocal edit and my cat’s in the corner not experiencing what I’m experiencing listening to my Sol Republic headphones. I’ve felt guilty about it for months. Luckily, the good folks at Sol Republic have to come to rescue, teaming up with Professor Meowingtons (who could easily be on the August cover of Cat Fancy) to eliminate your guilt and create the world’s first ever cat headphones with dog isolating technology. Here’s the best part. They can be yours for the low low price of $999.00 (that doesn’t include tax). Sol Republic are essentially giving them away. They’re the purrrfect set of headphones for your feline friend who will thank you in the form of a full litter box. Order yours today !
Featured, Progressive House | Introducing: Vicetone
Posted by Middy on July 26, 2012
I would like to introduce you guys to Vicetone, two 20 year old producers from Groningren in Northern Holland (they just keep on coming). Their productions are flawless with full bodied, top of the line melodies, crisp bass lines and well organized transitions, builds and breaks. They only have 3 productions on their Soundcloud page and they are all must haves — showing that they are only going to release their top of the line work. They use vocals just right, molding them to their deftly crafted melodies. Their most recent remix of Adele’s hit “Someone Like You” exemplifies that with a soft build with agile key play, dancing alongside the vocals. It then moves into a break of a sublime melody with intricate layers and a hard clap. The remixes of Flo Rida’s hit single “Whistle” and Calvin Harris & Ne Yo’s “Let’s Go” continue this trend of well crafted, uplifting melodies and superb bass lines. The full version of the “Whistle” remix can be found on their Soundcloud page. Check all of these out and be on the look out for more tracks from these guys in the future!
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