Maceo Plex ​

What started out as a fairly modest afterhours party at the former Studio A space in Downtown Miami in 2006 has since evolved into the WMC event par excellence.

Of course, we're talking about Crosstown Rebels' Get Lost. And now in its seventh installment, this party has pretty much come to epitomize the WMC experience for many locals and international visitors.

And since the Electric Pickle began hosting the party three years ago, it's also brought iconic status to the Wynwood EDM mecca. People are still raving about last year's energetic performances by Maceo Plex and Art Department on the Pickle's sunny patio.

The lineups have also grown exponentially each year, with over two dozen stars of the international house and techno scene onboard for Get Lost 2012 on March 24.
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​Damn you, leap year! This extra day nonsense is really starting to piss us off. With so much to look forward to in March, the thought of February 29 holding us back is killing us. Especially ever since we found out that Boys Noize is throwing a WMC party at Mamushka's Miami.

The Hamburg-born, Berlin-based DJ will invade Mamushka's on Saturday, March 24, bringing a remix ruckus to Midtown on the penultimate night of Winter Music Conference 2012 . And according to his double exclamation-point tweet sent out three hours ago, it's "bound to be big!!"
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​Known to fanatics and followers as the High Duke of Dance or simply PVD, professional party starter Paul Van Dyk (born Matthias Paul) is a total beat-freaking legend.

Over the last two decades, he's uhntz-uhtnz-ed all across the globe, unleashing five stellar slabs of electronic tuneage, Rock-ing the Vote with Bono, and using the power of EDM to "Make Peace, Not War."

He's won DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJs poll ... Twice. He's been named Leader of the Trance Nation. He's even been saluted for his superior social media skills, seizing 40th place in Rolling Stone's exhaustive survey of the 50 Top Tweeters in Music.

And now Van Dyk is dropping his sixth studio record, EVOLUTION, with an album launch party at Ice Palace Film Studios during Winter Music Conference.
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Photo by Daniel De Las Casas

Diplo getting Hard for Miami in March.

​Hard, the long-running Los Angeles club night and electronic music festival, made its Miami debut during WMC 2010 with a pool party at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. We called it out for being a lite version of Hard's notoriously heavy throwdowns.

Now we won't try take credit for it. (Actually, we will.) But the following year, the L.A. collective provided us with the vastly improved Hard Miami at Grand Central.

And the South Florida love didn't even stop after March ended. Earlier this month, the Holy Ship! music cruise sailed out of Port Everglades, and now we've received word that Hard Miami will return to Grand Central for WMC 2012 or Miami Music Week or whatever.
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​Near-tragedy and heroism have become synonymous with EDM-theme cruises, both around Biscayne Bay and abroad.

On Saturday morning, the MSC Poesia ran aground in the Bahamas and sent beat freaks aboard the Holy Ship! cruise into panic mode as death seemingly knocked on their portholes.

In 2010, Biscayne Lady captain James Cho was praised for his heroic efforts after the ex-Navy man saved a parakeet from dying during a WMC cruise.

What is it about electro music that triggers these crazy scenarios? We don't know. All we can hope for is a safe WMC aboard this year's EDM cruises.
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WMC moves oceanside.

​When last year's edition of Winter Music Conference took place at the Miami Beach Convention Center, it added to an already confusing year due to the "misunderstanding" with Ultra Music Festival. Before that, it was held at mid-Beach resorts like Eden Roc in 2010 or the Miami Beach Resort & Spa.

So the question remained: Would WMC 2012 be going back to the Convention Center or taking over another resort? The answer is neither.

Organizers announced today via press release that the ten-day conference (March 16 to 25) will be taking place at the Beachplex, a tent located on the sands of South Beach at 21st Street and Collins Avenue, AKA Collins Park.
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​Did Winter Music Conference organizers concede defeat? Not exactly.

The largest US conference devoted to electronic music is expanding to 10 days in 2012. From March 16 to 25, WMC 2012 will take over Miami in what promises to be an endless array of events that combine music, fashion, and, yes, conferences.

That means WMC will once again occur at the same time as Ultra Music Festival, which is scheduled for March 23 to 25.
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​When people speak of that classic '90s house sound, whether they know it or not, they're pretty much refering to the sound of seminal producer Marc Kinchen. His legendary dubs are the blueprint for today's transatlantic house: soulful yet brooding bass-heavy four-on-the-floor funk.

MK's highly-coveted studio skills would see him take a hiatus from EDM for the last decade to focus on hip-hop and pop, hooking up with recording magnate Quincy Jones and producing for the likes of Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Pitbull. But in 2009, he made his grand return to house with a live appearance at Detroit's Movement Festival.

We caught up with MK ahead of his performance with Hot Natured at the Electric Pickle on Sunday night. The topics: Studio magic, meeting Quincy Jones because of a $20,000 watch, and getting back in the EDM game.    
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Scuba

​Recent years have marked the resurgence of the broken beat in electronic dance music. (Not that breaks ever went away, but they did stay on the fringe for a good decade.) Now, with the rise of dubstep and '90s UK garage/two-step nostalgia, producers across the international scene are breaking the four-on-the-floor house music mold and blending in a fair share of polyrhythms and sub-bass.

One label is a cut above the rest -- Paul Rose's Hotflush Recordings. With genre-bending sonic iconoclasts like Sepalcure, Instra:Mental, Joy Orbison, and Mount Kimbie on its roster, Hotflush runs the increasingly blurry gamut between breaks, dub, jungle, house and techno.

And Rose (AKA Scuba and SCB) himself practices the same eclecticism he preaches through his A&R efforts, producing his own brand of dubby breaks as Scuba and deep techno forays as SCB.
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​Benoit & Sergio's rep on the international EDM scene rised slowly and surreptitiously, thanks in part to word-of-mouth praise from inner-circle luminaries like Seth Troxler and Bruno Pronsato.

The release in question was a two-track gem of an EP called Full Grown Man which Pronsato put out on his small and obscure Thesongsays label. But the Washington, D.C. duo would not remain obscure for long.

Hooking up with the eminent Visionquest crew for the debut release of their eponymous label this year, Benoit & Sergio's Where The Freaks Have No Name EP quickly climbed the deep house charts, scoring serious worldwide buzz.

We caught up with Benoit & Sergio in advance of their Ultra week performances for Visionquest's label showcase at the Shelborne on March 25 and Sunday School on March 27.
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