Performing along side these lovely ladies are B-Slim, Cartoon Chaoss& Themba Lunacy... Cosmo will be on the mic as MC for the night. Be sure to get there for some hip-hop, bass, moombahton and whatever else these crazies decide to throw at you. 

Free for students with a valid student card, R20 after 8 if you do not have a valid student card.  

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Having recently released the huge "Into The Deep" EP on Stacey Pullen's Blackflag Recordings, Sergio Fernandez is fast becoming one of Spain's biggest exports.

No stranger to the Blackflag label, Fernandez was the first artist since Pullen himself to release on the label since its revival in 2010. Then, Sergio scored with the huge "Clicks & Stuff," a unique builder that earned him praise from the likes of Luciano, Carl Cox and Richie Hawtin. His imprint, Insert Coin, is a stable for funky tech house sound so popular in places like Ibiza at the moment, gaining support from jocks like Steve Lawler, Dubfire, and more.

Returning to Blackflag with "Into The Deep," Sergio is once again showing the world his flair for peak time dance floor destroyers - Stacey himself played it at Music On at Amnesia Ibiza this weekend and trust us when we say it did the trick.

Now, Sergio Fernandez provides an hour of rolling, funky, upbeat tech house to get you dancing.

DOWNLOAD PULSE.183 HERE.

And don't forget to check out a snippet of Sergio's "Into The Deep" below.

Listen to Sergio Fernandez on Pulse Radio.

This fall, iconic UK label Hyperdub is setting off on an extensive tour across North America with several dates planned in Canada and the US. Kicking off on September 9th in New York, the tour will make stops in Toronto, Washington, DC, Chicago, California, Vancouver and more. Everything will wrap up on September 28th in Louisiana.

Members of the Hyperdub family who will take part in the tour include Kode9, Taso, Ikonika, and Mala, who will bring a diverse range of sounds from dubstep, footwork, and bass music to cities across the continent. Check out the full list of tour dates below.

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28-year-old guitarist Dave Harringtown is perhaps best known in the electronic music community as one-half of Darkside with fellow musician and fried Nicolas Jaar. The two had only briefly met when Harringson’s friend recommended that he audition for Jaar, who was putting together a band to promote his 2011 album ‘Space Is Only Noise.’ Darkside was born after the two toured for two years.

Rolling Stone recently launched a new video interview series called ‘Young Guns,’ which profiles some of the “most notable guitarists from the next generation of legends.” Today’s episode, features Harrington who shares some of his early musical influences, his introduction to electronic music, and why saying that you don’t like the genre is similar to “not liking pizza.”

During the interview, Harrington shows us his personalized setup and how he creates some of the sounds we hear in Darkside’s productions.

Listen to Darkside on Pulse Radio

You may be familiar with Tinder, the wildly popular “dating” app (remember these hilarious Tinder DJ fails?). Now, some of the people behind the phenomenon have developed a new app for music that involves the same swipe-to-discover concept.

Next is an iPhone app that aims to bring the music of artists directly to fans, bypassing industry folk. Surprisingly, the app doesn’t function that differently than Tinder. Christopher Gulzynski explained his reasoning behind the app’s decision to bring over the swiping concept. “We want to be the democratization of access to music. We’re coming from a place of real passion and wanting people to be heard.”

Artists will have the opportunity to upload short clips of their music, anywhere from ten seconds to three minutes. Users will listen to them. If they decide to swipe right to show their interest, they will be given the choice to follow the artist on the app itself or to share the new talent. Swiping left means the viewer isn’t into the artist and another will pop up instead. Download Next in the iPhone App Store here.

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The NYC party people at Sheik ‘N’ Beik are taking a break from the city this weekend and heading out to beautiful Southampton with Lee Foss and Anabel Englund (live). Join them at 1OAK on Saturday, August 5th for some great music and beach vibes.

This isn’t Lee Foss’ first time at 1OAK, which stands for 1 Of A Kind. The popular upscale nightclub chain has spots in Manhattan, Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Los Angeles, where he spun his first ever hip hop set in March. Lee has had a strong presence in the dance music community for a number of years. He and his Hot Natured band mates (Jamie Jones and Infinity Ink) have created a strong community of producers that includes Richy Ahmed, WaFF, Digitaria, Robert James, Miguel Campbell and, of course, the lovely Ms. Anabel Englund.

Anabel’s collaboration with Lee and Marc Kinchen (MK), "Electricity," has been a monumental success, shooting her into the deep house spotlight. Since then, Lee and Anabel have been travelling all over the world performing a number of their hits, like “Reverse Skydiving”, everywhere from Miami to Brazil, Italy and beyond. Anabel is currently working on her solo debut album. These two always put on a show and when you combine two talented artists who like to have a lot of fun together, the result is always something special. Don’t miss out! 

Listen to Lee Foss on Pulse Radio

Though it is yet to be confirmed, British R&B vocalist FKA Twigs is likely to feature on next year's Laneway Festival lineup, after a still to be confirmed January/February Australian tour was revealed in a recent interview with the Herald Sun. The singer was interviewed by the paper's journalist Mikey Cahill who then tweeted the news (see below).

SCOOP: @FKAtwigs will play @lanewayfest 2015. And the clip 4 Pendulum will feature her tied up by own hair, bondage style. #lanewayfestival

Twigs has also dropped a new track 'Video Girl' ahead of her LP1 album set to arrive in August. Check it out below.

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Last month Pulse Radio's Sonia Miles-Khan traveled to Bulgaria for Meadows In The Mountains, an intimate music festival that's gaining a passionate following.

A little slice of paradise, Meadows in the Mountains began four years ago on the Sasse brothers’ family farm in Serafimovo, Bulgaria – what they charmingly call “Sasse Manor”. Since then the festival has caught the eyes of many with its divine mountainous location, very intimate crowd and haute underground line-up. Previous years have included Crazy P, Will Saul, Bicep, Moomin, Wbeeza and Portico Quartet. When the announcement of 2014 included Mayaam Nidam, Andrew Ashtong, Ruede Haglestein, San Proper, DeadEcho and a return from Moomin, I knew I finally had to experience it for myself.

The ease of making arrangements for MITM definitely makes it a winner right from the get-go. For just a few hundred euros you can be whisked from Sofia airport to the festival site, stay in a local property and then after an epic weekend, be driven to the after party at a local spa resort.



The bus to the festival is where the silliness begins. We had a memorable ride with a stage manager, co-ordinator, DJ, two journalists and a legend with a boom-box suitcase. A few drinks in and the verdant vista unfolds before our eyes. Climbing and climbing until the road becomes a skinny one-way strip up the mountain to the site. Happy faces greet us with wristbands.

We stroll into the festival in time for a quick felafel and Bulgarian craft beers. Exploring the site is reminiscent of an epic childhood bear hunt – the Sasse brothers have created a site par excellence, with whimsical structures created from locally sourced pine wood. We discover a viewing deck, a “death slide” and even a flying fox through the forest. The stages themselves are charmingly picturesque. Closer to the entrance is the Meadows Stage where live acts perform from mid-morning till just before midnight. The smaller Sunrise Stage is perched atop the mountain and hosts electronic acts from the evening through till mid morning.



Meadows in the Mountains don’t reveal set times. This would probably frustrate the majority of underground music fanatics, however it works well within in the event’s small setting. In a site of just six-hundred people, word travels fast and set times are passed on anecdotally between punters. Many of the artists are also there to party and are happy to share their set times with those they meet. This is exactly how we discover our favourite sets of Friday night; the ever enigmatic San Proper and house doyenne Maayan Nidam take us to the wee hours of the morning. Saturday’s sunrise is filled with thick fog, replicating many of our minds.



The days at MITM can be spent lazily. We find hay bales and wooden tee-pees to lie about in till evening, accompanied by the soulful voice of uber-talented Andrew Ashtong. Light rain slowly starts to fall and we hustle for all things waterproof. Silly outfits of hot-pink jumpers, spandex, slime green mackintoshes and camp umbrellas – it’s time for Saturday night.

MITM resident Chrissy Meraki lights up the crowd with a fierce house set. She works in ‘Mandarin Girl’, the first of a few Booka Shade tracks thrown our way over the course of the night. By 1am a full house has gathered at the sunrise stage as Andy Ukhtomsky leads the sound into tighter 4x4. Ecstatic grins emerge when he drops Lorca’s ‘Naoko’ and works emotions further with his unique blend of effusive house and techno. Again on the Booka Shade tip is DeadEcho, bringing out ‘Night Falls’ and ‘In White Rooms’ – a thematic touch.


 
As the evening turns to morning and the Rakia flows, the Pièce de résistance arrives: Moomin. His two-hour set felt like a magnificent eternity, full of smooth jazzy grooves, with perennial favourite ‘The Story About You’ accompanied by a pale pink, misty sunrise. As we finally crawl back to our local villa, the sounds of Will Lynch and Sarj echo around us, bouncing off the mountains.

On a tired and wet Sunday, the only place to be is around the fire, exchanging stories. L.A. Salami takes everyone’s attention with his neo-acoustic finesse and butter-melting voice. As dusk settles, damp pine aroma fills the air and the warm pink lights flood the stage.





The crowd are just divine; everyone from the bar staff to those moving together on the dancefloor are some of the most fabulous, kindest and funniest people I’ve ever met. Watergate resident Ruede Hagelstein comes on to a stellar reception. Epic pads, progressive house and love are in the air as we stomp in the mud to ominous basslines.

Laughing, a flash of pastel thunder, crisp Rakia, synths, thumping feet, slipping in the mud and pine smoke are the beautiful patchwork memories that Meadows in the Mountains has left melted in my mind.

[Meadows in the Mountains returns June 12th -14th, 2015. For more info head here.]

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There’s a lot of reasons to love Splendour, but for the sake of standardized listing conventions, we’ve cut it down to 10. Here’s 10 reasons you should have been at Splendour In The Grass 2014.

1. The Mix Up stage
As is the trend across the festival landscape the past few years, Splendour has become increasingly dance music oriented, transitioning from a predominantly indie/alternative base to a line-up dominated by electronic artists. As its name suggests, the Mix-Up stage is almost exclusively the DJ’s domain.

For all the young, scantily-clad munters, one could be forgiven for mistaking this stage for a Sydney dance fest. All the same, this non-stop dance-teria provided entertainment aplenty over the three-day event. International like Darkside drew a massive crowd on Sunday, while local mixmasters were well represented, with Motez, Charles Murdoch, The Acid and Golden Features making strong showings.

2. Urban flavour
Hip-Hoppers also got their fill, with plenty of homegrown and overseas talent on show. Having generated legions of fans as ‘Troy’ on the hit comedy series Community, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino made his SITG debut on Friday night. Gambino was ferocious, replicating the same clean, rapid fire flows as displayed on his recorded material. Meanwhile, Kelis reminded us all of her virtuous ‘Milkshake’, while Big Boi and Andre 3000 rifled through a ‘best of’ Outkast setlist. As for the Australian contingent, the Hilltop Hoods flexed their muscles in front of an enormous amphitheatre crowd on Sunday, while Illy and 360 shone for the new generation.

3. Awesome new talent
For the more instrumentally inclined, the Red Bull Music Academy stage hosted a wealth of promising talent from all across the music spectrum. The stage was home to a swathe of young up and comers, and though smaller than the festival’s main-stages, the intimate vibe allowed punters to interact on a more intimate level with artists. Emerging stars like Hiatus Kaiyote, Roland Tings and Oscar Key Sung all impressed. Expect to read more about these guys in the near future.

Elsewhere, hotter-than-hell London crew Jungle managed to live up to their massive hype with a spectacularly tight set, and The Acid also impressed with their debut Australian festival performance.

4. Old favourites
While the young guns and breakthroughs gave us a picture of what the future might hold, plenty of fans turned out for the older brigade. The Presets swooped in at the 11th hour to fill in for the last minute cancellation of London Grammar, making some subtle changes to their live catalogue. Now 100% electronic (no live drum-kit), Kim Moyes and Julian Hamilton experimented with some new arrangements and compositions. The Sydney duo hit the refresh button on some club classics, putting a new spin on tracks like ‘This Boy’s in Love’ and ‘I Go Hard, I Go Home’. SITG 2014 also proved to be the farewell performance for Yacht Club DJs. After six years of madness and mayhem, Guy Chappell and Gaz Harrison decided to hang up the headphones. The Goulburn mash-up maestros signed off in trademark style, throwing the crowd into a frenzy with a rousing rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

5. Affordable drink prices
Raise a glass for cocktail curators at Splendour 2014! The drink selection was as varied as it was mouth-watering. Everything from Carlton to Koppaberg and Smirnoff was on tap, with Moet and Chandon bubbling away for the VIPs. The most appealing thing about the bar however was the reasonable prices. Beers were a mere $6 apiece, and RTDs at around $10. Even the most miserly of piss-pots could get on board with that.

6. Arts and culture
While many festivals market themselves as ‘arts and music’, few genuinely showcase the art in any noticeable or memorable way. Though often overlooked by line-up obsessed spectators, the arts program at Splendour ’14 was a feature in itself. These less publicized treasures, such as Splendour in the Arts, added a new dimension to the event, creating a richer and more varied experience for attendees.

7. Plenty of alternative entertainment
One of the best things about SITG is the diversity of the event. With so much happening at any one time, punters customize their festival experience in a number of ways. Much like the art program, Splendour delivered a broad range of alternative entertainment around the festival site. The Tipi Forest was the festival equivalent of a bush-doof, with the party raging into the wee hours each and every night. Global Village held all manner of events, from African dance classes to ukulele workshops to drumming circles. Nightly ‘All Star Jams’ were another feature, as John Butler Trio’s Nicky Bomba rocked out with some of the festival’s finest. And for spectators after something more different still, the Forum hosted a number of interactive panel shows, stand up comedy and film festivals, including a special edition of the popular ABC program Q&A with Tony Jones.

8. Sustainability
Splendour has always promoted environmentalism as a central focus of their agenda. Following the controversial relocation to the North Byron Parklands in 2013, the festival pledged to maintain the natural beauty of this pristine site. The festival’s dedication to sustainability was formally recognized last year, winning the coveted ‘A Greener Festival’ award. Once again, festival organizers made a concerted effort to run as carbon-neutral an event as possible. SITG introduced a range of new eco-friendly initiatives in 2014. SITGs environmental mission was readily apparent, with eco-cops leading an extensive ‘green team’. Splendour also did its part to restore North Byron Parklands. Avid greenies could make their own contribution to the Parklands, planting a tree on-site for National Tree Day (Sunday 27th).

9. Peace, love and mung beans
Spirituality is a significant part of the Splendour experience. The festival captures the essence and energy of Byron Bay and transports it some 30 kilometers up the highway. Anyone searching for inner peace need look no further than the Lotus Palace, while The Healing Element tended to your greater well-being. With an array of new age ideas, tarot cards and incense sticks, Splendour certainly lived up to its reputation as a haven for hippies.

10. Reasonable queues
30,000 people. 246 toilets. Let’s face it – queues are inevitable when hosting an event on this scale. As they go however, lines were not a major sticking point for Splendour this year. Ok, it did take five hours to get out of the festival precinct on Monday, but the majority of folk made the most of this bonus time, laughing it off with newly made friends or grabbing a farewell fajita. The slow procession to the exit gave spectators the chance to say goodbye to Splendour in a manner befitting the event. Festival organizers Village Sounds and Secret Service ought to be congratulated for efficiently and effectively managing such a colossal task.

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After more than 2 years, Electric Circus is back at Truth in Midrand, Johannesburg to bring an experience of a lifetime

An audio-visual banquet delivered by SA’s finest DJs to ignite four dancefloors in an electrifying circus atmosphere.

On this night ELECTRIC CIRCUS unleashes their infectious carnival energy and you’ll be swept into a wild world of banging beats and seductive grooves. 

Headliner Belocca from Hungary will be bringing this to the party: 

Signed at the tender age of 16 by Secret Service Records, this Budapest native is itching to bring you his own brand of Tech House. Beatport elected him in 2009 as Most Promising New House Artist. with support from such luminaries as Roger Sanchez and playing alongside such legends as Mark Knight and Stefano Noferini, Electric Circus is in for a major treat. Mainground Music release all of his music as well as new up and coming artists. 

- ELECTRIC CIRCUS Main Floor

Pimp Squad (Guy Herman & Jon S) , Ryan Dent, Ricardo da Costa,  BELOCCA (Hungary) , Deepgroove, Vimo DJ/Producer

- UPSTAIRS Floor

D’Ritmo , Andi Dilll, JustSmart, Karmi Eli Jacobson , Brad S

 - EDM Floor

Rocca & Martini [Justin Jay Rocca & Keegan Dj-Martini] , Harael Salkow, Royal K, Mark Stent

- HOUSE Floor

Keren Onay, Kyle Cassim,  HouseHold Funk, Kyle Watson, Peter Booth DJ & Producer

Presale Tickets are R120 and R150 at the door. Doors open at 9pm. Make sure you bring your dancing shoes and bottles of water as you will be sweating until the early hours.   

Phew, we feel exhausted just thinking about it. 

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Last year's mammoth lineup was always going to be tough to beat. But Australia's largest dance music festival, Stereosonic, has once again dropped an epic two days of names for 2014. Check it out below.

The two-day festival hits captial cities aross the country in November and December (not you Canberra, sorry).

General tickets for Stereosonic 2014 go on sale at Ticketmaster next Tuesday August 5.

Stereosonic 2014 Dates
29 & 30.11.14 - SYDNEY
29 & 30.11.14 - PERTH
05 & 06.12.14 - ADELAIDE
06 & 07.12.14 - MELBOURNE
06 & 07.12.14 - BRISBANE

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According to the BBC, a man has died this weekend after falling ill at GlobalGathering. 

Reports state that the 20-year-old man was taken from the Long Marston airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon, where the festival is held, to Warwick Hospital on Friday night.

It was then confirmed by officials that he died on Saturday morning. 

A spokesperson for GlobalGathering said: “Everyone at GlobalGathering is deeply saddened by this tragic news.

“Our sincerest thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends at this time.

“We are assisting Warwickshire Police with their ongoing investigation.”

Over 50,000 people attended the two day event, which featured several top-teir electronic music acts, including a headline set by The Prodigy. 

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Dutch legend Armin van Buuren releases his latest installment on his ever expanding Intense Road Movie from his recent gig in Johannesburg. They spend time ski'ing in the freezing water of the Vaal River. Behind the scenes footage, then Safari time at Zebula Park. Lions getting frisky and singsongs around a campfire, including a cool interview with the man himself.  

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Fatboy Slim is set to appear at Café Mambo on Monday 4th August as part of the legendary sunset establishment’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

Fatboy Slim will be playing a 2-hour set at the famous San Antonio sunset spot.

Mambo is celebrating its 20th year of existence on the White Isle with a series of flagship parties and pre-parties for Amnesia and Pacha, and of course bringing some of the biggest electronic artists in the world for their famous free parties.

Cafe Mambo owner Javier Anadon says: "We can hardly believe it was twenty years ago when we first opened our doors. Sunset after sunset, year after year, we have shared great moments, have made great memories and have built friendships to last. What once started as a small sunset bar has grown to be a staple in the electronic music world. We are so proud to see our friends evolving in what is today one of the most exciting movements in the world! We wish to deeply thank everyone who has been part of our journey at Cafe Mambo. Never stop dreaming!"

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Barcelona based Fur Coat chat with us in the lead up to their headline set at The Nest in London this Friday. The duo have recently released monster tracks on Hot Creations and BPitch Control, and with an EP set for Crosstown Rebels, we find out what Fur Coat are about and what it means to make forward thinking music in an ever changing industry.

You're headlining The Nest in London this weekend. For those of us who haven't seen you play before, what can we expect from your set? Don't come with expectations to the gig, just come with an open mind to get into a musical journey of house and techno. The only thing people can expect is that they'll be listening to a lot of upcoming and unreleased material from us.

Are you looking forward to playing alongside No Artificial Colours? Never heard them play, but obviously looking forward to hearing them and having a great party on Friday.

For me, Hot Creations and Crosstown Rebels were at the forefront of, at the time, a new sound of deep house, back in 2010/2011. Do you feel you're producing different tracks now than you were a few years ago? As part of every artist that wants to grow and evolve, we can say our music will always change. Obviously it has our print in everything we do, but like everything in life, things have to evolve and always take it to the next level.

We think that our focus in the studio has let us achieve this evolution in our sounds. It’s not something planned to sound, its just part of growing as an artist and what inspires you at the moment. For us, music doesn't have to have a ¨label sound.¨ We just like to release on good quality labels, as well as people that we're friends with and feel there is something related to our music. If you listen to our music, although it has a vibe related to the label, it’s just us being us.

Other artists such as Tale of Us have also steered in a similar, darker direction. Why do you think that deep house sound has changed for some? Music always goes in a circle. The reality is that musically, everything is done already. The thing is to do what you really believe in, and the mood you are really into.

Sometimes you hear the music of many producers is getting deeper, sometimes darker, sometimes with vocals, sometimes techier. We think there are people who follow and adapt to things that are happening and believe that’s the way the music is going, but our case is just the mood that we feel and that our music makes sense in the things we play. In the end, each producer will have their own vision where music will go; at least, the people who are trying to do forward thinking music.

I heard John Digweed playing one of your most recent tracks, “There's No Time,” at Timewarp Mannheim earlier this year. How does it feel to have support from a dance music legend? It really is an honour. We are really happy to have support from Digweed and many other DJs that are playing our music. But it also fills our souls that music lovers, local DJs and people that buy our music are really behind the things we're doing and what’s coming up next.

You're originally from Venezuela, what's the music scene like there? It’s a question we’ve been asked a lot. But in a few words, it’s really nice, apart from the political problems that our country is going through.

Now you're based in Barcelona. What drew you to the city? This is a city we've been coming over the summer for many years before becoming Fur Coat. We really like it´s unique vibe. We have a lot of friends here, we love our flats, having the beach, great weather, great food, close airport…what more can we ask?

Looking at your previous bookings you've played many an exciting gig all over the world. Any wild stories stand out from your travels? Wow, so many…It’s hard to recall a specific one, or maybe its better to pretend to have a long memory lost!

Who enjoys to party most, Sergio or Israel? I think most of the time I (Sergio) look like the quiet one, or the one that´s a bit more serious. Although we think when we play, the roles are swapped; I'm more expressive and Israel is more serious and concentrated. Anyway we both love to party, but I think Israel has more batteries than I!

Top three tunes you're playing at the moment? Our own “U Turn,” “Borscht,” and “Mumbata” are going down really well at the moment.

Finally what productions are in the pipeline for Fur Coat? We have our next EP on Crosstown Rebels. All four tracks have been heavily played by Damian Lazarus and ¨U Turn¨ you have probably heard in Tale of Us' and our sets. After that we have some other things in the pipeline that can’t be revealed yet, but don´t worry, 'cause we'll post it on our socials as soon as we can.

Catch Fur Coat at The Nest in London this Friday with No Artificial Colours. More info here.

See you all at Oppikoppi Odyssey. 

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Having been on the island 11 weeks now and having hit countless parties, it seems the right time to assess how these parties are doing now we’re mid-season. Monday meant Cocoon for a healthy fix of all things techno.

In Sven, Âme, Ben Klock and Adam Beyer we really did have the full spectrum of techno sound, from the blistering to the melodic – there was something for every type of techno head.

First off on the Terrace was Âme, (just Frank Wiedemann handling live duties solo) setting the tone with an hour of their trademark, sweeping, melodic techno that they have become renowned for. Closing track 'Turn Around' gave an emotional set end before it was time for Sven to start spinning the records.

In the main room we treated to an excellent serving of techno in two different, but equally enthralling forms. Ben Klock took the more brutalist approach – heavy, heady and abrasive – the main room suiting perfectly and conjured the kind of industrial images in your head that are so synonymous with techno. As you’d expect it was truly chest rattling stuff at times.

Adam Beyer hit the crowd, with the grooves on the house side of things, with shuffling rhythms and bits of melody thrown in. The big man dropped tracks such as Maceo Plex’s ‘Conjure Sex’, Alan Fitzpatrick’s remix of ‘I Want You’ by Trus’me and DJ Koze’s remix of ‘Bad Kingdom’, all three of which have been killing dance floors all over the White Isle this season.

Sven Vath as always provided the euphoric and melodic moments, effortlessly giving techno the colour that it innately steers away from. Not that the lack of colour is a bad thing, pounding moody techno in the main room is what we want, but in the Terrace the added swooping melodies add a distinct feel of emotion. The swelling emotion of David August’s ‘Epikur’ managed to sum up everything about Sven Vath’s set in one track, the Cocoon boss dropping it at 8am to a throng of up-for-it revellers.

Cocoon has been on form this year. The crowds have been consistent, with last night proving that the Terrace and the Main Room can coexist without problems – the main room was pretty much full right until the end of Adam Beyer’s set at 7.30am, and the Terrace was going strong until revellers had to be forced into leaving. Sven wasn’t even ready to call it a day at 8am.

There’s also the Amnesia Terrace, which is one of the most special places to experience a DJ set – we all talk about it, but those early morning Cocoon sessions on the Terrace, in broad daylight are some of the most exhilarating hedonistic experiences on offer.

So far this season two of my favourite moments have come on the Amnesia Terrace, one of which was the monumental Ricardo Villalobos, Seth Troxler and Craig Richards back-to-back-to-back at Cocoon.

Things have changed and they’ve brought a refreshing energy to the party and some of the best techno you’re likely to hear on the island, and anywhere in the world for that matter. Decoration-wise they have adopted a minimalistic, clean aesthetic, with rotating projector screens hanging from the ceilings and the famous Cocoon dancers and their letters the only obvious signs that Cocoon have taken over.

This approach is ideal and suits the party and the ethos perfectly. It’s simple, there’s no clutter or fuss and the music is absolutely central to the party. We can see this in the bookings as well, with often no more than three DJs playing in one room on the same night, allowing long sets, which we all know allow for all the most amazing experiences.

The momentum at Cocoon has clearly carried on building and given the size of the crowd last night, we can see that the party is still shining on despite the strong competition from Circoloco at DC-10.

It’s certainly interesting to watch as parties progress throughout the season, and at this stage Cocoon are enjoying a great time in their landmark 15th year. To last so long on such a ruthless island is testament to their vision and their ability to throw a killer party.

Listen to Sven Vath on Pulse Radio.

Soulistic's Tembisa based DJ Shimza hits Portuguese club Le Club in the Algarve with his One Man Show tour. 

This Metro FM and Channel O mix DJ who's annual One Man Show for charity is set to enchant the Portuguese with his Afro-House genius.  

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Maceo Plex
'Conjure Superstar'
[Kompakt]

7/10

Maceo Plex has been around under various monikers since the early two thousands, but that hasn't stopped him from slowing down at all. Despite the fact that he's quickly turning into a veteran of the electronic music world, his sound is as innovative as ever, and the music he produces serves as testament to that fact. His latest release is a track called "Conjure Superstar," and aside from it just being a expertly crafted dance track, it's also a shrewd sonic commentary on today's club culture. There's not a lot of dialogue in the song on the topic, in fact the vocal sampling is used more as a texture than as lyrics, but the sounds he weaves together are clever plays on what you might hear a lot of right now, albeit with a clever twist and a much more refined approach. This is by no means Maceo Plex's first pass at a dance floor filler, so even the most picky of listeners will be able to find something they like in this release.

"Conjure Superstar" is part of his ongoing 'Conjure' series, and the song reflects, on a micro level, the effortless cool that Maceo Plex has been able to cultivate with this body of work. The beat is pretty bare-bones at the beginning, but it serves as a great appetizer for the body of the song. As Maceo Plex folds in more and more layers of synth work and ambient textures, you're treated to a very dramatic build up that not only telegraphs a fantastic ending, but opens the song up early on so his transition into the bigger sections of "Conure Superstar" don't feel out of place or unexpected. Overall, it's got all the right elements necessary to get people moving while it blasts over the dance floor, and after you've heard the whole thing all the way through, you'll get why he made this his latest release amongst an already stacked line up of previous successful tracks.

Tracklist:
1. Conjure Superstar

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