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!
Events, Review | Identity Festival Philadelphia 7/29 Recap
Posted by Middy on August 3, 2012
Identity Festival made its triumphant return to Philadelphia with a quality lineup for all tastes with the likes of Arty, Madeon, Noisa, Excision, the master Eric Prydz and more. Though the lineup may not have been as stacked as last year as booking fees have risen astonishingly high in the last year, causing ticket prices to go even higher (or the other way around, chicken and the egg) the lineup was still very good and Identity Festival is going to provide an excellent show with outstanding visuals at a great price. It is something that we are seeing less and less these days.
The day started off with good sets from upstarts like “The Eye” and “Le Castle Vania” and when 5 rolled around it was time for Noisa to grace the stage with their eclectic Drum N Bass style, kicking the night into full gear. Pulling from a full array of their own songs as well as Electro and Dubstep tracks from others, Noisa’s set helped bring the festival to energy level it needed to be at with the crowd levels coming to their peak capacity. Pictures are now up on Facebook. Hit the jump for more of the recap.
Dubstep | Adventure Club – Retro City
Posted by Spice on August 1, 2012
I feel like Adventure Club epitomizes the happy medium between the underground and the accessible. Their tracks are pretty much crowd pleasers — put them on during a party and they’ll somehow manage to satisfy both the casual Avicii fans and the kids who went to see Excision instead of Eric Prydz at Identity Festival. Their latest release, “Retro City,” is in keeping with this — choppy synths, agile riffs, and a smooth drop that is restrained but has just enough edge. And then there’s the sudden tempo change midway through, which brings in some unexpected (but definitely welcome) moombah-ish funk. On the whole, this reminds me a lot of one of their earlier tracks, Do I See Color. While it’s certainly not the most exciting thing that the Montreal duo has put out, it’s definitely palatable and nicely put together.
Electro-House | Wolfgang Gartner – Casual Encounters of the 3rd Kind EP
Posted by Spice on July 30, 2012
After a weekend of nonstop action at Identity Festival, Wolfgang Gartner got down to business this morning and dropped a two-track EP on Beatport. My initial reaction to Casual Encounters of the 3rd Kind is a resounding mehhhh; there are no big, infectious melodies a la “Redline,” “Flexx” or the inimitable “Illmerica” here, and while that’s not automatically a bad thing, the clean, simple and repetitive game has been played to more kinetic and spectacular effect elsewhere (ex: Afrojack’s “Pop On Acid;” Wolfgang’s own “Space Junk”). Maybe it’s just that I’m aggressively not feeling the whiny loop at the beginning of “Girl on Boy” (can’t help but think that Alvin Risk would have done something better there) but these tracks just don’t seem to go anywhere that interesting. But who knows, maybe they’ll wind up being awesome live. We shall see, I guess. Check out the EP and let us know what you think.
Beatport: Wolfgang Gartner – Casual Encounters of the 3rd Kind EP
Events | Identity Festival 2012 Summer Tour Announcement
Posted by Middy on April 24, 2012
Of ALL of the US festival announcements this summer this may be the best one. Identity Festival last year was a blast hitting 30 cities in close to as many days tearing up the US from coast to coast with some of the best Djs from around the world, most notably Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Avicii, Nero, Pretty Lights, Skrillex, Chuckie, Nervo and more. This year the festival is back on a somewhat smaller circuit of 15 cities, maybe to keep the artsts on the whole way, we will not know until we see each dates lineup, but hitting many of the major cities on both coasts and in the center of the US, though there will be some people left out. However just look at this lineup, Arty, Hardwell, Noisia, Wolfgang Gartner, Paul van Dyk, Madeon, Porter Robinson, and HOLY SH*T ERIC PRYDZ and more. Eric Prydz has been over here as recently as 2007, but he has not been here since the explosion of EDM into the mainstream conscience of the American listeners so I anticipate it will be a totally different experience for him and the viewers particularly with his new triple album coming out of May 21st. Tickets are on sale NOW, so get them while the last for the dirt cheap pirce of $25, and then it is $40, which is still great compared to the outrageously priced festivals all across the US. Ticket link below and tour dates and full lineup after the jump.
Albums, House, Videos | Kaskade Album Preview
Posted by Middy on October 5, 2011
Kaskade is coming out with his new album, “Fire and Ice” on October 25th on iTunes and November 8th everywhere else and from one Ryan to another I can’t wait. As Kaskade says, “This album represents the last 10 years of my career, all the miles traveled, the shows that I’ve played, the people that I’ve met, and the memories I’ve made”, so expect something absolutely amazing. “Eyes” and “Turn It Down” are absolutely incredible and show the growth of Kaskade from the beginning of his career when he was making deep house to more melodic, euphoric big room house that destroys clubs and festivals all over the world. He has evolved as an artist and grown increasingly popular especially after Identity Festival this summer, being deservingly voted the number one DJ in America, extensive touring over the past few years and his recent artist albums. Get ready for “Fire and Ice” because it will be one of the biggest albums in EDM this year. Below are “Eyes”, “Turn It Down” and his Essential Mix to get your ears ready for the 25th.
DOWNLOAD: Kaskade – Eyes feat. Mindy Gledhill (Extended Mix)
DOWNLOAD: Kaskade – Turn It Down feat. Rebecca feat. Fiona – Extended Mix
DOWNLOAD: KASKADE’S BBC RADIO 1 ESSENTIAL MIX – AIRED SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
UPDATED WITH PREVIEW OF NEW SONG FROM ALBUM
Kaskade & Inpetto with Late Night Alumni – How Long [PREVIEW]
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House | Nervo ft Afrojack & Steve Aoki – We’re All No One
Posted by Juicebox on September 13, 2011
Unfortunately Middy, being the animal of a blogger he is, already posted two of the remixes to this bad boy before it was even released. But nonetheless, here’s the original version which features a unique style of a lighter electro track and of course the female vocals from the hotties of Nervo. I’m assuming this track was inspired and created via Identity Festival seeing as all three of these powerhouse artists were on several line ups together. Regardless, the original is better than the remixes…not sure if Middy agrees, I guess we’ll see?
DOWNLOAD: Nervo ft Afrojack & Steve Aoki – We’re All No One
Previously Posted:
DOWNLOAD: Nervo ft Afrojack & Steve Aoki – We’re All No One (Nervo Goes To Paris Remix)
DOWNLOAD: Nervo ft Afrojack & Steve Aoki – We’re All No One (Hook & Sling Remix)