A recent change in Canadian law has made it harder for smaller venues to book musicians from outside of Canada. Although Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program was amended back in the end of July, effectively increasing fees for every musician and member of the artist's crew, the news has only recently made its way across international borders.

The law will most likely only hurt smaller venues and spaces that don’t exist primarily as music venues. These venues are now required by law to pay an application fee of $275 per musician and crew member (tour manager, sound, lighting, etc.) to apply for permission for them to legally work in the venue. This change comes in addition to an extra $150 that the venue must pay for each person’s work permit once he or she is approved.

Before the change was made, venues only had to pay $150 per artist with a maximum charge of $450 as a one time fee for entering the country, meaning that venue owners across the country could split these costs if the artists was making several stops on a tour.

The change in the law is intended to protect Canadian workers by ensuring that no one in Canada can fulfill the role with a Labour Market Opinion before someone from outside the country is brought in for a job. Unfortunately, while it may make sense in some situations, the new rule may make it impossible for some venues to book artists. Already, there have been several documented cancellations of events because of the new regulations. The Canadian Independent Music Association has publicly opposed the new law and a petition is currently being circulated with over 100,000 signatures.

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IMS Engage will return to Los Angeles’ W Hotel in Hollwood for its second iteration on Wednesday, April 16th. The inaugural event last April was a resounding success bringing together over 250 delegates from around the world who came to see six unmoderated conversations between several prominent figures from the financial, technology, music, and media industries.

The electronic music industry continues to evolve with major upcoming events such as SFX Entertainment’s IPO and faces new challenges, especially in the wake of recent drug deaths at music festivals. IMS Engage was started by Billboard’s editorial director and self-proclaimed “ex-raver” Bill Werde.

Past pairings from last year’s event included Skrillex and Summit Series Founder Jeff Rosenthal, Diplo and Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, and Ultra Music founder Patrick Moxey and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Ben Turner, the founder of IMS said, “The EDM industry in America continues to expand. After the success and feedback we received from the debut IMS Engage event it was an easy decision to return to LA and we’re thrilled to deliver another exciting program in 2014. At a time when more and more opportunities are present in dance music, and the industry is subject to ever more scrutiny and external interest, a forum like this that allows us to engage with and learn from people outside the EDM world seems vital.”

Listen to Diplo on Pulse Radio

The 2014 St. Jeromes Laneway Festival lineup is finally here and it's another ripper mix of indie, rock and electronic names. The best news for electronic music fans? Why Four Tet and Mount Kimbie of course! Check out the full list below.

Laneway 2014 line-up
Adalita
Autre Ne Veut
Cashmere Cat
Cass McCombs
Chvrches
Cloud Control
Danny Brown
Daughter
Dick Diver
Drenge
Earl Sweatshirt
Four Tet
Frightened Rabbit
Haim**
Jagwar Ma
Jamie XX
King Krule
Kirin J Callinan
Kurt Vile
Lorde**
Mount Kimbie
MT Warning
Parquet Courts
Run The Jewels (EL-P & Killer Mike)
Savages
Scenic
The Growl
The Jezabels**
Unknown Mortal Orchestra**
Vance Joy
Warpaint
XXYYXX
Youth Lagoon
**Exclusive to Laneway: no sideshows

A special Visa Entertainment ticket pre-sale is going down at 12pm on Monday 30 September through to 12pm on Tuesday 1 October, though tickets are expected to sell out well before the end time. Buy here.

Laneway Festival 2014 dates
Singapore: Saturday, January 25 – The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay
Auckland: Monday, January 27 – Silo Park
Brisbane: Friday, January 31 – RNA, Fortitude Valley
Melbourne: Saturday, February 1 – Footscray Community Arts Centre/River’s Edge
Sydney: Sunday, February 2 – Sydney College Of The Arts, Rozelle
Adelaide: Friday, February 7 – Harts Mill, Port Adelaide
Perth: Saturday, February 8 – Esplanade Park and West End, Fremantle

Listen to Four Tet on Pulse Radio

Much loved Aussie music festival institution Homebake makes a grand return in 2013 to celebrate i's 18th birthday as a festival by expanding to three days and moving to a new location at the Opera House Forecourt.

Taking place across Friday December 6, Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8, the unique three day edition has been split up to represent each of the main Homebake stages. The opening day of the festival will feature acts such as Paul Kelly and Gurrumul while day two - 'Put On Your Dancing Shoes' will aptly feature a host of Australian dance music talent including The Presets, The Aston Shuffle, Miami Horror as well as cross over acts Architecture in Helsinki and The Cat Empire. Day three will focus on the heavier side of things with You Am I, Beasts of Bourbon and The Rubens among the line up. 

Tickets go on sale 9am Wednesday September 25 - you can purchase tickets here. Check out the full line up below.

Friday December 6 Line Up 
Paul Kelly
Gurrumul
Eskimo Joe
Vance Joy
Thelma Plum
Sheppard

Saturday December 7 Line Up 
The Presets
The Cat Empire
Architecture In Helsinki
The Aston Shuffle
Way Of The Eagle (Dan Sultan, Daniel Merriweather, Amy Findlay, Harry Angus and Lachlan Mitchell)
Miami Horror
Deep Sea Arcade
Bam Bam

Sunday December 8 Line Up 
Birds of Tokyo
Beasts Of Bourbon
You Am I
Bernard Fanning
The Rubens
Kingswood
Courtney Barnett

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Once the musical revelry with BLOND:ISH and Hunter/Game aboard Agwa Yacht Club 17 wraps up, the fun is set to kick on with both acts playing Patron After Dark - a unique party going down at The Star’s Boom Box club.

Presented by Finely Tuned and Patron, After Dark is a chance for Sydney punters to witness two of electronic music’s most exciting up-an-coming duos flex a deeper, after-hours sound in one of the city’s most unique nightspots. Complete with a standalone bar, state-of the-art sound system and spectacular views over Sydney harbour and the city skyline, Boom Box is a prime location to get lost on the dancefloor into the small hours.



Patron After Dark kicks off at 10pm, just as Agwa Yacht Club 17 docks at Pyrmont Bay, leading punters to Boom Box’s private and separate entrance via Pirrama Rd. Support sets will come from Start:Cue, Sam Roberts and T-Boy. Tickets are on sale now here, more info here. Let’s get dark.

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Listen to Hunter / Game on Pulse Radio

Chinese Laundry and Pulse Radio are once again giving you the chance to win double passes to the iconic Sydney club this weekend and there's plenty to get excited about. 

Friday features 21 year old prodigy Wave Racer headline this months edition of Boss Bass; the precocious beatsmith now features as part of Triple's J's most played rotation and has climbed to the number two slot on the Hype Machine charts. He's joined by residents and local favourites Spenda C, Pop The Hatch, Autoclaws plus more. 

Meanwhile on Saturday, Laundry will play host to the inaugural Listen Out after party featuring Spenda C, Hannah Gibbs, Kerry Wallace and more of your Laundry favourites. 

To score yourself a double pass to one of the two nights below, email us here with your name and the event you wish to attend. Winners will be notified on Friday 27th September by 6pm. Good luck!

Friday September 27 Full Line Up
Wave Racer
Spenda C
Ocean
PhaseOne
Pop The Hatch
Autoclaws
Brown Bear
Chenzo
Bassriot

Saturday September 28 Full Line Up
Spenda C
A - Tonez
Ocean
Kerry Wallace
Hannah Gibbs
U-Khan
Fingers
DJ Just 1 
Plus more...

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Sydney based DJ/ Producer Spenda C a.k.a Steve Lind has been genre juggling and pushing boundaries in a number of different projects over the years, including The Hump Day Project and The Mane Thing. After years of keeping party goers busy on dancefloors across the country,he has recently mixed one half of OneLove’s Bass Trap compilation. We catch up with Mr. C for a chat about all things trap, twerk and Jamaican dancehall records…

Pulse: Hey Spenda, how are you? What’s been happening today? Good, just taking the dog out!

Tell us how it all got started for you I started playing drums in bands, and then when I moved out of home and into apartments it wasn’t really tactical for me to be playing drums in apartments so I started djing as a way to keep playing music but to you know, keep the volume down, I could do it with my headphones on instead.

Right from the start though I got myself turntables and taught myself how to scratch, I got a sampler and a Roland drum machine to make beats on, I always had a focus on making music right from the start before getting into the DJi’ng

One of your first projects was as one half of The Hump Day Project. How do you feel your style has changed since then? Musically things changed, The Hump Day Project was more on Baltimore sort of tip, which is actually making a bit of a comeback lately, the approach is the same, songs that have energy and that work in the club, I don’t like stuff that’s too chin stroke-y or too intelligent, I just like stuff you can party to and have lots of fun with.

So the Onelove Bass Trap compilation has just come out, and you’ve had the honour of mixing the first disc – talk us through the selection process I really wanted to cover all sorts of styles that I’m playing in my sets at the moment, also styles which I think are becoming popular, new styles that will become popular, there’s a lot of that standard trappy stuff – it’s called ‘Bass Trap’, there’s a few 100 BPM tunes on there, songs I call ‘twerk’ style, that’s style’s getting really popular at the moment, then I’ve got some deep, clubbier tunes

There’s a song on there called ‘Bring In The Katz’ which is straight up Baltimore club style – I’m really happy that’s on there, it’s bit of a nod to The Hump Day Project days! I was trying to get everything in there that I’m feeling at the moment pretty much and wrap it all up in a way that made sense!

When you started your career, you mentioned you had never really heard of ‘club compilations’ and the like – how does it feel now to be approached to be part of one? I’m really thankful to Onelove for approaching me and giving me the chance to do this. I mean, I could put a mix up on Soundcloud every now and then, a lot of DJ’s do that just to show people where they’re at and tunes that they like. When there’s a physical CD, people tend to put it on when they’ve got their mates in the car, it’s different to say, streaming it on your phone.

I mean how many of us when they’re at home find an old Ministry CD in a drawer somewhere and it just reminds you… it’s sort of like a snapshot of a time and a place in your life – so hopefully down the track someone will find it in their drawer and go ‘Hah! Remember that weird trap music stuff?! That was pretty cool!” (laughs) 

You’re touring the compilation with Leah Mencel, who mixed the second disc of Bass Trap, what are you most looking forward to about the tour? Leah and I are doing most of the tour together which is pretty cool – I guess I’m just looking forward to playing these tunes out and plus music in Australia is in a good place at the moment, especially for DJ’s and for me, it’s probably the best it’s been in awhile. I can play whatever I want and crowds respond well to new music, to things that are a bit different - its not the same boring 4/4 130 BPM stuff so they respond well to tempo changes and hearing new sounds which is good,

Trap as a genre in 2013 is quite contentious – there’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the fact there’s little authenticity around it at all-Tell us what first got you interested in trap as a genre To me there’s two types of trap – there’s your typical trap which comes from hip hop, black American music which has been around since the early 90’s which is sort of all related to the ‘trap’ and the drug trade and being unemployed selling the drugs on the corner, cooking the drugs, it’s all related to that. Then there was a switch, when Flosstradamus did a remix of ‘Original Don’ and when they put it up on Soundcloud, they put the genre as ‘Trap’ that’s what made a whole new movement, which brought in the whole EDM side of things, the more aggressive, in your face rave sort of music.

To be honest I sort of sit in the middle, stuff that’s not too lazery or too aggressive but I like stuff that still has that hip hop feel to it – I sort of like to explore all different facets of it

You’ve got all the old school people are going ‘all this new stuff’s not trap’ and you’ve got all these new people saying ‘ all the old stuffs boring!’ – I like to try and play all of it and mix it in.

Do you think artists like TNGHT and Flosstradamus made the trap genre more accessible? Yes definitely, and that’s the funny thing, those two guys, TNGHT and Flosstradamus are part of the two divides I was talking about before. On one side you’ve got Flosstradamus who’s got the in your face aggressive stuff and then you read anything that Lunice (one half of TNGHT) says, he hates the term trap.He can’t stand it, he calls all their stuff rap, he’s like we’ve got nothing to do with trap, we’re rap – he’s on the hip hop side of the fence. It’s funny you mentioned those two guys because on the surface they’re very similar, but their attitudes and their approach is totally different.

 When genres tend to get ‘revamped’ the reaction from people is pretty interesting, they get quite defensive and possessive. They do (laughs) but then you’ve got your more cool, intelligent side of things coming through now too, you’ve got Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Wave Racer and LDRU and Cosmo’s Midnight. It’s all sort of pooling together I think, which isn’t a bad thing - I think that’s why I like trap as a term, it covers all that music. Nobody owns anything, nobody owns a title – its good that people get passionate about it and want to have a conversation about it. 

You’ve been a resident at Chinese Laundry for 8 years now – do you think they’re one of the bigger supporters of genres like trap and bass?  They’re supportive of more forward thinking music that’s for sure, they’re not the ones to sit back and wait for something to be popular and then jump on it. Paul (Azzopardi, former booker at Chinese Laundry) is quite conscious of trying to pick trends before they break, so they’re very good at supporting new music.

Would you describe the bass music scene in Sydney as healthy overall? I think the scenes are sort of starting to blur a bit which is really nice. I think its good I can go to clubs all over Australia that aren’t necessarily bass music clubs, but they can put on a bass music night and it will do really well – I think its good that there are lots of clubs that are willing to try new music and do new things, I think that’s great for the scene.

You’ve just released a new EP recently – can we expect a full length Spenda C record any time soon? Not anytime soon, but there is a follow up EP also on Klub Kids toward the end of the year where I’ve done two songs with a female MC called Zuri Akoko, which actually feature on the Bass Trap album- we’re going to follow it up with a full remix EP – The stuff I’m writing now is a bit more ‘song-ey’ so I’m trying to write in more vocalists and structure my things where it’s ‘verse-chorus-verse-chorus’ The whole album concept could be on the horizon after a couple of years, if I keep going in this direction!

Anyone you would be keen to approach to appear on the record? There’s a lot of people I’d like to collaborate with – it’s a matter of working up to it – I’m working on a song at the moment with a friend, DJ Butcher from Queensland and another guy Oski from Sydney and MC Kinky, a.k.a. Feral is Kinky from the UK on the vocals – that’s a pretty big collaborative effort!

I notice you mentioned that when you started out, that you used to collect vinyl – any favourites in the collection you’d save in a fire? The records that I play the most actually, are non-dance records, I’ve been collecting Jamiacan dancehall 45’ for a few years now so they’re the ones I pull out the most – I’ve got a little record player that I pull out and just play Jamiacan dance hall sometimes!

Can we expect a vinyl only set from Spenda C some time soon maybe? Yeah maybe, one day - if anyone wants me to come and play a Jamaican dancehall set on 45s I’ll come and do it! 

One Love Bass Trap Tour Dates
28.09.13 - King Street Hotel, Newcastle
04.10.13 - Flinders Social, Townsville
06.10.13 - Kit and Kaboodle, Sydney
06.10.13 - Beachcomber, Toukley (Spenda C Only)
11.10.13- Gilligans, Cairns
12.10.13 - Shuffle, Gold Coast
19.10.13 - Electric Circus, Adelaide (Leah Mencel Only)
23.10.13 - Secret show
25.10.13 - Family, Brisbane
26.10.13 - Onefiveone, Woollongong
02.11.13 - Secret show, Melbourne

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Hamburg duo Adana Twins step up for this week's podcast with a set of summery house vibes. Having just wrapped up a successful tour of North America, we chat to the DJ and production team of Take it Easy & Friso ahead of their Australian tour.

[Download here]

How has this year been for you? Fill us in on both one of your high points and low points of 2013 so far. We had a great year so far with a lot of high points. We just finished our first North American tour a few weeks ago. That was really great. We had a gig on a boat at the Bosporus, which was amazing. One of the low points was definitively our gig in Beirut. We had to cancel the show because of a bomb attack where 20 people died. Sometimes you really cannot understand the world.

Last year you still had ‘real’ jobs in design and advertising. Has that since changed? Is music now your full time job? Yes, we had to change our whole situation. We are really happy to make our living doing music. We never expected it but our dream came true.

How and when did you first get into DJing? Did you teach yourself or did you have mentor? Friso: I remember our friend Eddy in Hamburg gave me the possibility to play at his club during the week when the club was empty. The resident DJs taught me a lot during that time. Take It Easy showed me some tricks as well.

How does the dynamic between you two work in the studio? We are twins in mind but sometimes brothers from really different mothers. We have different musical backgrounds that help us come up with different ideas and gives everything a special twist. This wouldn't happen by ourselves.

And what about when you DJ? Do you typically go one track each B2B? Do you spend much time planning your sets? We never plan our sets. Every country, city and gig is different and that's what makes it special. If you play in Sydney at a pool party there is a totally different vibe than playing in Manchester at a warehouse party. It is important for us to be a bit earlier at the show, to feel the vibe, to see the resident DJ and the reaction of the crowd.

Do you have any plans to record an album? We are thinking about it.

What’s the scene like in Hamburg at the moment? Is it a healthy city for clubbing? Hamburg has always been a pumping hub for cool DJs, labels and producers, which has always had a certain influence on us. You definitely have different clubs here within different scenes.

Bright and pop-inflected house music has made quite the comeback the past few years. Is there a certain country or city you’re finding are the most receptive to your sound at the moment? We are overwhelmed every time we play - that feeling comes especially when we're playing in new places because we get to see how people react to us and the music we love to play.
It's really crazy that you can play in Lima, Cairo or Melbourne and the people love what you do!

You’ve been on tour in the USA at the moment. How did it go? It was a real pleasure. We also played in Canada and Mexico. We met so many friends and you can feel that the scene is growing. Will be great to come back again in 2014.

‘EDM’ and super commercial dance music has really taken off there in the USA. Did you get a sense of how big it is when you were there? It is really big at the moment. It feels like every popular radio station is playing 'Steve Angello and friends' right now. Maybe it is a good thing from one point of view. The people are introduced to electronic music and we are quite sure they will find out how different this scene can be.

Which producers inspire the style of house you create? Friso: Daft Punk, Jeff Mills.

Vinyl, CDs or mp3? MP3 with US.

List a couple of tracks that are really doing it for you at the moment. Nils Nürnberg - 'The Morning Slap'.

DJ Yellow & Flowers and Sea Creatures - 'No One Gets Left Behind (Konstantin Sibold Remix)'.

Pulse.144 - Adana Twins Tracklist:
01 | NR& - Broken Toy (Original Mix) - Keinemusik
02 | Isolee - Allowance (DJ Version) Pampa
03 | Digitaria - Shine (Original Mix) Hot Creations
04 | Finnebassen - Jaeger (Original Mix) JEUDI Records
05 | Robosonic & Adana Twins - La Fique (Original Mix) 2DIY4
06 | Breach - Jack (Original Mix) Dirtybird
07 | Doctor Dru - U Don't Dance (Original Mix) Jackmode
08 | Kruse & Nuernberg vs. Adana Twins - Talking About (Original Mix) Jackmode
09 | Adam Port & Here is Why - Our Fate (AP Club Version) Keinmusik
10 | Smash TV - Whatever ft. Cari Golden (Chopstick & Johnjon Remix) Get Physical

[Download here]

Adana Twins Australian Tour Dates
27.09.13 - The Met, Brisbane
28.09.13 - Adana Twins - Geisha, Perth
29.09.13 - Beach Bar, Wollongong
05.09.13 - Ivy Pool, Sydney (day party)
06.09.13 - Revolver, Melbourne

Listen to Adana Twins on Pulse Radio

With four Innervisions showcases last year at We Love…, fans of the German label crew could easily get their monthly dose of melodic techno. But with only one special this year, everyone made sure they came out for what turned into one of the best Sundays of the season.

Early on, Doorly was keeping the tempo jackin’ and the bodies moving over in the Sunset Terrace, bumping tunes like ‘The Clapping Track’ by Claude VonStroke followed by Kolombo’s hip-house slammer, ‘Throw Your Hands’ and Bazar’s ‘Hard To Find,’ working the effects to stretch and chop the vocals like a boss, much to the joy of the well packed room. Over in the Pulse Radio Terrace, Ryan O’Gorman kept things floating along nicely with melodic movers like ‘Everything’ by Greenville Massive Feat. Kat Boelskov, and tripped out tech bombs like Freakside by Shlomi Aber, the room moving right along with subdued anticipation. We downed a quick drink, and head over to El Salon, pulled in by the funky jams emanating from that corner of the club, and thank goodness we did.

The mood in the side room was positively festive upon walking in, and even the cleaning staff were singing along to disco hits like Candi Staton’s 'Young Hearts Run Free' and funky grooves like 'Get Down On It' by Kool And The Gang, as the newly wed Bonar Bradberry and fellow PBR Streetgang member Tom Thorpe, popped streamers, poured bubbly, and knocked lamps around over their heads in pure celebration. Many of the island’s residents were out in full, packing the room to the gills, everyone singing along, giving El Salon an incredible relaxed September vibe – just what we needed before heading back into the mix with Innervisions and Derrick May over in the Discoteca.

By just after 1am, Innervisions was kicking off with Marcus Worgull leading the charge. The booth had been moved next to the stairs leading from El Salon for the evening, giving the night that extra hint of something special and unique. Worgull was warming up nicely with melodic numbers like ‘The Night Mail’ by New Jackson, heading over to punchier beats with ‘Satisfy’ by Cajmere Feat. Dajae, the packed room tossing their heads back and hands up to each new tune and breakdown Marcus had in store for them.

By around 3am, it was Âme’s turn at the controls, and work them he did, using a live APC and Ableton setup to give the expectant club exactly what it wanted. With all the twisting emotion of his music, Frank Wiedemann of Âme was twisting and reeling at the controls to tracks like ‘Olga's Theme’ by Yuriy From Russia, heading to sweatier territory with Tiga’s ‘Plush,’ the drop absolutely rocking the room to it’s core. Though he wasn’t done yet, blasting off with Underworld’s uplifting 2007 chart topper ‘Crocodile.’ Though as good as the action was in the Pulse Radio Terrace, with Derrick May kicking it off in the room next door, one could hardly stay static for too long, so we headed over to check out the Detroit legend in all his glory.

By 4am, Derrick wasn’t holding back one bit, slamming out his Detroit style with furious fervor, blasting forward with techno stalkers like ‘Greed’ by Ad.lib & Silvision, it’s clunky, hard hitting rhythms rocking the room from front to back. From there, May lifted the mood with Gene Farris’ the horn heavy, soul infused house hit ‘The Gospel,’ over to ‘Never Grow Old,’ by fellow Detroit native, Floorplan, the alias for Robert Hood, who’s also graced the halls of We Love… this year.

Meanwhile, Dixon had taken stage, working the crowd over effortlessly with tracks like Jimpster’s ‘Brought To Bare’ Feat. Jonatan Bäckelie, encapsulating the beloved style of Detroit influenced, soulful, melodic and strangly beautiful house and techno he and Innervisions are known for, leaving Henrik Schwartz to finish things off beautifully.

Henrik absolutely rocked the crowd, getting them pumping and jumping time and again with tunes like his own ‘Walk Music,’ Mano Le Tough’s Primitive People and what seems to be the track of the season, or one anyway, with Claude VonStroke’s ‘The Clapping Track,’ though everyone was right up for it, the crowd dancing on until the last note carried out of Space’s Funktion 1’s. Another smasher for We Love…, gearing things up just right for the massive closing party next week, featuring Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada and James Zabiela to name a few. Get your tickets below!

Listen to Innervisions on Pulse Radio.

After being released from obligations with Ultra Records, Deadmau5 has revealed more fresh music on his Soundcloud player.

The straight talking producer - known as much for his outspoken attitude as he is for his brand of electro tinged EDM - has been teasing music ever since his obligation with Ultra to not make anymore music had been lifted. For the latest track, he drops the punishing mid range for a slice of hip hop tinged beats in collaboration with Zedd. The new track - and sound - also comes after the producer claimed that not enough people were prepared to take risks in the genre.

What do you think to the Mau5's latest direction? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Listen to Deadmau5 on Pulse Radio.

Pulse can offer an exclusive premiere of the video for the new Visionquest single from Eric Volta & Sebastien Voigt featuring Forrest, Words & Chance. 

The new track is a prime, dancefloor bubbler, bringing the pair together once again for a slice of unique house tinged grooves, featuring the vocals of rising, enigmatic London proucer Forrest. Check out the video in the YouTube player above and read on as we asked for a bit of background information from Eric.

What was the inspiration for the new video? Well it's funny because the stock footage had to be royalty free, so to solve the problem I just looked to an obvious date where there wouldn't be a claim on usage. Which obviously meant the 20s-40s. I have a thing for vintage and I love burlesque type performances, so I was selecting clips that had to do with this style. What was awesome about it meant that I discovered the Thomas Edison video libraries. You wanna check some of his footage out though. One in particular was shocking literally. They electrocuted an elephant. Poor thing fried on the spot.

How does the new track follow up - or differ - from your last release? Well this track is something like 3 1/2 years in the making. The original idea was something I knocked up on Fruityloops all that time ago, Seb and I then decided to revisit it one day in the studio and got as far as writing all of it without Forrest's parts. I remember we thought about pushing to write more melodies but in the end I thought best to go on Facebook and put out a massive 'HELP WE NEED A VOCALIST'. And I had met Forrest just a few days earlier, and he wrote back. Now I almost NEVER ever like it when someone just writes something for the music without being in the studio and having picked up the vibe. But he delivered something very cool. He has this way of tracking his vocals over quite a few times until there is a natural 'chorus' effect. We have had a few more jams together since and he's great. But there you go. A doodle, revisited and added vocal. Our effort on MFR was pretty similar, took a while to finalise the idea. Sometimes the music writes itself and it's done in a few hours, sometimes it has to be put aside until the right elements are made present.

Do you think the concept of videos and visual imagery is important in today's music market? I think it is. I feel it adds another dimension to the music. When it's a perfect marriage it feels like a complete work of art, even though it's a combination of two different mediums. I mean go easy on me though, this is my second video project. I shot Forrest with a Cannon 500D which is far from pro, but i'm getting a new camera and would like to continue pursuing the video aspect.

Words And chance is available to buy through Visionquest now.

Listen to Eric Volta on Pulse Radio

One of the globe's biggest music promoters Live Nation have announced the debut of their forthcoming reality TV series, The Rider Challenge - and music analyst Bob Lefsetz has been the first to air his views.

Called the Rider Challenge (a clever way to tie in their brand partnership with Ford Motors), the concept is simple - teams compete in five cities to successfully bring a tour rider to fruition for a musician - in return they win a Live Nation Ultimate Access Pass and their very own 2014 Ford Fiesta. Viewers can also submit their own dream riders to win holidays and more. The series is to feature Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Fitz & The Tantrums, Kid Cudi, Fall Out Boy and The Lumineers as artists being run for. But has this new concept been born out of our obsession with celebrity culture and the colour of Steve Aoki's underwear?

Music analyst Bob Lefsetz seems to think that we're being fed drivel in an article he posted on his blog condemning the series, which is reportedly 18 shows long and produced with a budget of $5 million. "Whenever a brand gets involved, everybody in the music business bends over and takes it in the rear for the little cash flowing their way".

"That's how far we've come" he continues. "Tour riders were about rock and roll excess, the lifestyle, the truth, and now they're just another ancient ritual employed to sell product that no one wants". "Unless we stand up and punch holes in the industry music has become, we're going to continue to be presented with lame product. "

Watch the preview of the series at the official site here. Read Bob's full article here.

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London based, alternative electronic label Petit Records step up for the first in their monthly series of radio shows, exclusive to Pulse and running every last Tuesday of the month. For their first show, label boss Oli Petit introduces us to the label's ethos, style and approach to a wealth of international electronic artists. Tune in to the show in the player below.

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
 Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance" 
― Yoko Ono

Ah, London in the summertime… blue skies and burnt thighs. We certainly did enjoy one of the best summers in recent memory in London with the extended heat wave giving rise to that rare sight; day time and rooftop parties. Not something the UK is known for thanks to seasonal weather you can set your watch to. If your watch was completely fucked. And only worked under water. The downside to sunny mornings and hot afternoons can only be getting rest, when after a heavy all-nighter you’re left with little choice than venturing back outside or swim in sweat on your sofa. Case in point our local record shop who turned away a vacant wide-eyed customer for the second time after he lost his rather rockefeller £250 haul somewhere between the counter and the street. After stumbling back in for another spree the staff kindly suggested he go have a lie-down before he spent his entire salary in a ketamine-infused haze. And no I couldn’t find his bags.

But as Autumn approaches and those oh-so familiar rain clouds begin to close in, we can only be grateful that Petit’s daytime showcase at Oval Space in August was such a sun-soaked success, with a beautiful terrace and cosmic ‘disco shutter’ providing the perfect playground well into the night. Our parties are rather sporadic but we try to keep it intimate, special and a little bit continental, so alongside London’s Rob Shields - who treated us to a live set of his organic, electronic (organtronic?) music - we had Rampue and El_Txef_A, jetting in especially from Berlin and Bilbao respectively.

Both artists rarely perform in the UK so we are proud to showcase something unique and will take all the credit going thank you cheers. We also celebrated the forthcoming release by Rampue - the keta-disco wunderkind - whose 12” will be out on Petit later this year. As a keepsake, we gave away a limited run of our Everybody In the Face mini-prints to everyone on the night, but people stole a lot of the scenery as well, which I have no doubt was meant as a compliment. Our next soirée will be in the winter and to keep it cosy it will be free guestlist only. Follow our socials to stay in the loop on these and our screenprints and special wares.

Our new series of Transmissions start proudly on Pulse Radio this month - recorded in different parts of the world they explore the music we love, from house and techno to ambient and soul. Tune in above.

Oli Petit x

Stay tuned to Petit Radio every last Tuesday of the month, right here on Pulse Radio.

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It’s been another big season for the Ibiza Sunday institution, We Love… Space, now wrapping up it’s 15th year on the island. So we caught up one last time with We Love… Director Darren Hughes to chat about some of his favorite artists of the season, a few of the challenges faced this year, and what Darren calls the ‘wind of change’ headed toward We Love… in 2014. Read on, and come to your own conclusions…

Now that we’re approaching the close, how would you say the season at We Love… has been this year? The season has been a tale of two stories. On the one hand, the 17 We Love… Space events we have produced so far, with one to go, have been amongst some of the best parties we have witnessed in our 15 years of promoting Sundays at Space. However, almost diametrically opposite, this year we have seen our attendance drop dramatically in some cases. Now we touched on this when I did the interview at BHS with Deusi and Dave, and to be honest, nothing has changed since then. I can use the reasons for decline in numbers on sources outside of our control – the commercialization of Ibiza, the VIP culture, Ushuaia, Avicii, the proliferation of competing parties, nights, beach bars, etc., etc., - and not even mention the world wide recession. But ultimately our party is the only thing we have control of, and none of of the outside factors. You are only as good as your last party.

If a comparison can be made, how does it stack up to all the others? It bears a strong resemblance to last summer, 2012, but more so, the issues I mention in the above answer are simply becoming more significant and pronounced. The landscape is changing and we must change with it, ideally changing before it so we can assist in effecting the many changes in Ibiza, and that’s critical.

What have been some of your personal favorite highlights of the season? Phew, I hate being asked this question, but here it goes: Disclosure-live, Kolsh-Live, Joris Voorn, Just Jack, Ivan Smagghe, PBR Streetgang and of course all of our residents, they know who they are an I love them all.

I know Disclosure were a massive hit at We Love… this year. Any plans on bringing them back for 2014? Massive was and is the word. But do you know what? The thrill of seeing them return to We Love… Space back in June, approximately 10 months after they debuted with us back on the Radio 1 weekend in August 2012, was awesome. In 10 months they had gone from bubbling up nicely to exploding across our world, and that for me was and is just about perfect. Those two brothers have not only nailed it for themselves, they have blown a door wide open that will not close. David Guetta did this with pop-dance in the US, and now we have the mighty Disclosure doing it their way/our way. And the implications and opportunities this in turn is having upon the world of electronic music are killer. Go on!!!

What are the feelings of you and the We Love… family when it gets this close to the end of the season? Excitement? Sadness? Or perhaps a mixture of both? It’s a bittersweet feeling for all of us. Yes, it’s sad to come to the end of another season for sure, to say goodbye to some of your good friends, but it’s also a relief that I can spend a lot of time with my family, Charlotte my wife, and my two boys Hugo and Jasper, who I miss terribly.

What are your plans for the winter? Family time, a few tours with We Love… and brain storming for next summer.

Any other big plans you might be able to let We Love… fans in on for 2014? Perhaps a few artist debuts you can tell us about? Here is a huge wind of change about to blow. Some of this change is not what I want, but Ibiza is cyclic and for the most part it has a habit of cleaning out the old and bringing the new.

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After a serious accident involving a crew member setting up for the event at Privilege Ibiza, the ASOT Invasion closing party was cancelled. The highly anticipated party celebrating the close of a successful 15-week run would have featured Armin van Buuren as well as ASOT regulars Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten as New World Punx, W&W, and Cosmic Gate.

ASOT released an official statement on the matter: “We’re very sorry we have to announce the cancellation of the official A State of Trance Ibiza Closing Party at Privilege Ibiza. Due to a terrible accident that happened to one of the crew members during the buildup at Privilege, we have to cancel the event. It would not feel right to celebrate or party. We’re very sorry to disappoint the ASOT fans, who traveled to Ibiza from all across the globe to witness this night. Visitors can get a refund of their tickets at the door of Privilege tonight.”

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Despite the ongoing conflict that has been flooding their daily lives, some determined Syrians have been going out at night to escape the constant fear that comes with living in a war-torn region. Although the conflict in Syria has been going for 30 months leading to the death of over 100,000 people and destruction of the city, several bars and clubs in the capital city of Damascus have managed to stay open.

The brave Syrian clubbers seek a way to forget the war going on around them. In an interview with the Huffington Post, 25-year-old Mohammad says, “I came here for a change of atmosphere. There is joy here. I want to live, I don’t want to hear any more bad news.” A 22-year-old rapper named Mudi al-Arabi has similar sentiments. “Everyone’s going to die some day, but the Syrian people love life and the most important thing is to be happy . . . Guys come here to be happy with their friends or with their girlfriends, to forget the week’s routine.”

A song overheard at the club had political lyrics, “Don’t ask me how or why, it’s the army that protects us . . . You and I salute General Maher,” in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s brother, an army official. Rapper Mudi al-Arabi’s tracks are full of nostalgic lyrics about Damascus before the war, when the local music scene was thriving. Because of the conflict, he has not been able to perform as much as in the past, only once every other week. The Syrian authorities have grown wary about public gatherings and have made it much more difficult for events to get the necessary authorizations.

Some Damascus nightclubs have been hit hard financially and have been forced to close. Others live in constant fear that they will be attacked if the Syrians find out that people are having fun while others are suffering on the streets, but the few establishments that have managed to stay open are truly thriving.

Photos courtesy of the Huffington Post / Getty Images

via Huffington Post

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DanceSafe is teaming up with ID&T’s TomorrowWorld to provide harm reduction and outreach services to the guests at the upcoming festival. TomorrowWorld, a spinoff of Belgium’s Tomorrowland, will take place in Chattahoochee, Georgia this weekend from Friday, September 27th to Sunday, September 29th. The partnership represents the first time DanceSafe will work with a major event promoter. Although DanceSafe will not have a drug testing station at the festival because of TomorrowWorld's strict zero tolerance policy for drugs, there will be a booth with free non-biased literature, earplugs, condoms, water, and on site peer education. Testing kits are available on their website.

Thump recently spoke to Carissa, one of the DanceSafe organizers, to learn more about the group, the impact of the Rave Act on electronic dance music culture, and what the organization has encountered since its inception in 1999. Carissa makes an interesting observation about what drugs are actually out there based on the consistent results of tests done with DanceSafe. “Today Molly is questionable – it can be any number of different drugs, because anyone can put anything into a capsule and tell you it’s Molly. You never really know what it is till you test it!  Most of the time when we test Molly it is not MDMA.”

When asked what the “Molly” they've tested actually contains, she answers, “Mostly cathinones . . . MDVP, BK-MDMA, methylone, butylone, mephedrone are all cathinones. They are also called “bath salts” by the media but I am not a fan of slang terms for drugs.”

She blames the diminishing number of DanceSafe tables at events on the United States’ 2003 RAVE Act. “In the beginning we had chapters everywhere. But after all of the RAVE Act stuff went down, promoters were scared to have us at their events because they thought by having us there it meant there was drug use going on . . . The whole industry seemed to die down after the RAVE Act but now it’s back and bigger than ever.”

She then explains how drugs have become more and more adulterated since DanceSafe first started testing pills in 1999. “Back then it was very rare for me to do a test and have it not come up as a positive for MDMA. At one point I remember thinking that my testing kit wasn’t working correctly! All the MDMA capsules we tested were always sketchy. And now it’s capsules everywhere and hardly positive tests for MDMA. Bath salts all day! Scary. Almost half of people we surveyed last summer said that they had taken something that they had no idea what it was.”

It is a shame that more festivals and events haven’t embraced DanceSafe’s willingness to make their events safer for free, and the partnership with TomorrowWorld represents a step in the right direction. Perhaps this is a much more realistic approach in reducing harm than banning substances all together like the uninformed Mother’s Against Molly campaign and petition.

Read the full interview with Carissa here.

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Since what he “always wanted to do, he already did” (“be a superstar DJ”), Tiesto has now moved onto new projects: marrying a lucky couple in Las Vegas, hosting a deep house radio show, and now working on a TV show. The Dutch DJ has been busy this summer with his residency in Vegas but told Billboard that he has found the time to work with Shane Brennan, the man behind “NCIS: Los Angeles,” on a new police drama set in Las Vegas.

Tiesto tells Billboard: “This TV series is going to be amazing. It’s a new police series. It’s about Las Vegas, it’s about the strip and everything that happens around here. It’s really exciting that they want to make the music about it all EDM, so I’m going to be the music supervisor and producer . . . I think it’s really exciting to see the images and bring it all together and the storyline is amazing.”

The show will start shooting in a month or two and, if all goes according to schedule, should premiere in the spring.

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Forbes has just released its annual list of the highest earning rappers, which its dubs its Cash Kings list. Not surprisingly, Diddy, Jay Z, and Dr. Dre have taken the top three spots with $50 million, $43 million, and $40 million respectively, mostly due to their numerous licensing and endorsement deals and less because of their music sales. Nicki Minaj comes in at fourth on the list with a cool $29 million. Newcomers Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore experienced a huge 2013 and tied at $9 million each, just managing to squeeze into the top 15 spots on the list. Check out the video breaking down the top 10's earnings and the full list of the top 20 Cash Kings of 2013 below.

Cash Kings 2013:
1. Diddy, $50 million
2. Jay Z, $43 million
3. Dr. Dre, $40 million
4. Nicki Minaj, $29 million
5. Birdman, $21 million
6. Kanye West, $20 million
7. Lil Wayne, $16 million
8. Wiz Khalifa, $14 million
9. Ludacris, $12 million
10. Pitbull, $11 million
11. Drake, $10.5 million
12. Snoop Lion, $10 million (tie)
12. Eminem, $10 million (tie)
14. Kendrick Lamar, $9 million (tie)
14. Pharrell Williams, $9 million (tie)
14. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, $9 million (tie)
17. Swizz Beatz, $8.5 million
18. Tech N9ne, $7.5 million
19. 50 Cent, $7 million
20. Lil Jon, $6 million (tie)
20. Rick Ross, $6 million (tie)
20. Mac Miller, $6 million (tie)
20. Young Jeezy, $6 million (tie)
20. ?uestlove, $6 million (tie)

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