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Handmade Electronic Music by Nicolas Collins
Harold Golen Gallery, Miami
Sunday, March 30, 2008

Better Than: Making music using GarageBand

There’s beauty in chaos, especially when electronic hardware hacker Nicolas Collins gets his hands on some odd machines and lets his mind come up with unusual, yet stunning sounds.

Long before the advent of music-making computer programs, hackers around the world were toying with assorted electronic equipment, creating strange, original electronic compositions. As one of the leading figures in the world of analog electronics hacking, Nicolas Collins has worked with avant-garde luminaries such as John Cale and has published the book Handmade Electronic Music, a comprehensive how-to guide for would-be music hackers.

Sunday night at the Harold Golen Gallery, Collins offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of early computer music. The fiftysomething composer was in town giving a two-day seminar workshop for this year’s WMC, at the Florida Art Center. After its conclusion, Collins headed straight for the gallery, where a sizeable crowd of left-field music fans awaited his performance.

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Antidote party, featuring Bassnectar and the Freestylers
Circa 28, Miami
Sunday, March 30

Better than: A ripe, juicy peach on a hot summer afternoon while your boombox spills the top 40.

A good amount of closing joints were poppin’ off Sunday night to see the close of WMC ’08, but downtown had it again. This time around, Circa 28 in Wynwood hosted Antidote,” pullin’ in headliners like number-one stunna Bassnectar and The Freestylers for one last hoooorah. Kickin’ it with a scandalous throwback to the Beastie Boys (who Bassnectar followed at Langerado late-night), torches were thrown during “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)." Then, paying tribute to Bassnectar's own personal fave, Nirvana, the nastified beats of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” merged with what I semi-recall as a possible Eminem sample thrown into the banana split.

For the most part, Necta threw down some tight and sweet reggae beats, which had locals like myself snakin’ moves like woah. It was ON when buddy pulled Mims out of his left pocket. Sliced with some Erykah Badu, the Necta virgins and pros were on the prowl during “This Is Why I’m Hot,” which might as well have collapsed the second floor of the club in right then and there. The beauty of Bassnectar is that he mashes up like six different genres at a time, breaking him through into his own category of filthy deck dominance. This San Fran native has definitely got it going on. Never afraid to try something dank, Necta threw a mike over to homebody from Cali who freestyled to some more-than-worthy new tracks.

Like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t help myself. I was that girl... you know the one who has her head bobbing against the speaks to let the beat juice take hold and travel through my ear drums over to any lobe of my brain willing to stay vacant. This hip-hop freestyle freak had monkeys banging their thimbles for a set that might as well have been served straight up with a seducing side of sweet potato mash, coated with caramelized sugar and topped up with a fat sack of chronic, because this shit was fire! -- Tracy Block

The Juice: Bassnectar breaks the mold crossing into zones and genres some hardcore beat-breakers might consider dangerous. But the sick nasty set was well-received, as always.

Underworld at Ultra Music Festival
Bicentennial Park
Saturday, March 29, 2008

Even after 10 years of the Ultra Music Festival and 23 years of Winter Music Conference, it’s still sometimes difficult to fathom the onslaught this week brings to Miami. I mean, really. Pulling myself outta Moby’s set in the Carl Cox tent to catch Pete Tong wrap up for Underworld? Who coulda thunk it?

Well, apparently the Ultra folks, that’s who. And it’s them that I hold fully responsible for giving me and about 50,000 wild-eyed dance fans such a stellar segue – and such a swinging night under the stars.

Cool guy that I claim to be, I don’t so much go for tent sweat, so my drive-by for Moby was brief and fleeting. Likewise I didn’t dance it off for Tong, though the thousands who did do so did left my heart skipping along.

But Underworld got my ticker skipping to a whole ‘nother beat, then doubling back in on itself. Forget the earplugs that the security cat in the pit instructed me to get – I should’ve had a bass-proof vest, ‘cause at the foot of the stage where I stood the low-end was loud beyond imagination.

Pump, thump and slam, it went straight into the thicket of my soul and never left. “Crocodile” crunched, “Rez/Cowgirl” cranked, “Spoonman” slammed, and – yes! – “Born Slippy” swelled like a live-action soundtrack on steroids.

Gadget-cats Rick Smith and Derrick Price, naturally, manned enough gadgetry to slay both Kubrick and Clarke, and frontman Karl Hyde, supernaturally, had more moves than an asteroid on crack. But it was the mega-crowd which really propelled this merry-mad band of fest vets, and it was for the crowd that Underworld came. – John Hood

Personal bias: Trainspotting, the movie version on whose soundtrack "Born Slippy" famously appeared, was always my idea of a bloody good time.

Random Detail: At one point during “Born Slippy” it seemed as if every single foot at the fest left the ground at exactly the same time.

By the Way: If I had any guts, I’d shut up and dance.

Michelle F. Solomon

DJ Bob Sinclar livened up the party remixing the party's name sake song.

Madonna "Four Minutes" WMC Release Party
Friday, March 28
Penthouse At The Raleigh Hotel, South Beach

We knew Madonna wouldn't show, but there was just a faint glimmer of hope as they dragged in the 3,000 pounds of hard candy up the elevator of the Raleigh to celebrate Madge's new release "Four Minutes" with Justin Timberlake from the "Hard Candy" album.

It was one of the happeningest VIP parties at the Winter Music Conference in the Raleigh Hotel Penthouse. And even though the Material Girl herself never materialized, and a rumor about Justin Timberlake showing up with Timbaland remained merely a rumor, you couldn't get any up front or closer to some great grooves.

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Fool's Gold Records showcase
The White Room, Miami
March 28, 2008

Better Than: All the sleep you’re missing from WMC, times 10
Although most of the brouhaha was supposedly occurring Friday night over at Ultra, one seemingly underground party emerged from the woodworks of Downtown Miami. Dubbed by LA Riots as “THE party of the conference,” the Fool's Gold joint was fresher than an economy-sized hand sanitizer – which everyone in the house could have used after the decks were violated dirty-style. Treasure Fingers got shit started earlier in the night, and although club attendance was scarce at that point, homeboy from A-town did a tight job warming things up. Dueling it up on the tables, LA Riots and MSTRKRFT escalated sounds to an uproar, representing a raging indie blend of electro and house scratches to cut it up to.

When Fool's Gold cofounder A-Trak came up to bat, bouncers closed off the room, leaving stragglers out in the foyer, but at least they still got a taste of the double-decker-mega-stacked value meal of a set. It’s a great thing the White Room's inner room is windowless.

Big ups to Boys Noize for flooring the spot producing techno-infused hella straight remixed beats, Nacho Lovers for a few parts house, and Jokers of the Scene for sprinkling a sexy dash of thrash into the pit of musical mayhem. There’s no way I’d be able to produce a track list as much as I can remember the name of the dude mackin’ it to me while I was tryin’ to get my groove on. When all is said and finis, these so-called Fools had it goin’ on for a party that’ll have lovers chasing and haters praising for one long-ass minute. -- Tracy Block

Inside Scoop: A-Trak must have had one sick birthday celebration that night... Oh yeah -- the birth of this spin prodigy just so happened to fall on this same night... Coincidence or just plain insanity?

Justice at Ultra Music Festival
Bicentennial Park
Friday, March 28, 2008

Better Than: Whatever X those chicks next to me were rolling face on

I obviously wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see the typical ravers, rollers and ridiculous public behavior at Ultra, a fest known for its array of diverse DJs and fans from all over the globe. After a couple two-steps over at The Crystal Method’ set – decent at best until they busted out with the Bee Gees' “Stayin’ Alive,” which obviously woke up everybody’s feet – I headed with a crew over to the main stage for the finale of Eric Prydz’s show. It was pretty much a cluster of house-heavy spinning to pump up the herd, prep time for the ultimate showdown by Justice.

Crushin’ the tables straight into the first five minutes, the Parisian duo mashed up a list of personal classics and super-sexy remixes which confirmed why Justice has a serious cult following. They held it down with tracks from their 2007 debut album, like “D.A.N.C.E.,” (personal fave), then “Phantom” transitioning into “Phantom Pt. 2”, to a tight taste of an oldie, their remix of Simian's “We Are Your Friends” and a loose sample of “One Minute To Midnight." The grass of Bicentennial Park got worked, and hard. Justice’s original jams were wicked, but their raw cut of Ginuwine’s “Pony” was by far my cherry on top. The sea went crazy for their stir-up of Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” and sensually grooved to Kylie Minogue’s “Love at First Sight.” From start to finish, these Frenchies were for sure the one-night-stand I would call all my friends about. -- Tracy Block

Personal Tidbit: I definitely had to stop and kill it on the pavement for a few minutes at the side stage on the way out. After all, MSTRKRFT was reprising “D.A.N.C.E.,” baby!

Tracy Block

A-Trak confirmed his incomparable spinning skills Thursday night at Suite, showing serious candidacy for best WMC set thus far.

Last Night: “Wish You Were Here” at Suite and Snatch

Better Than: A hot and fresh box of Krispy Kremes after blazing up a fatty.

Although the snooty door keepers denied existence of guest lists and turned away numbers outside Snatch and Suite Thursday night, a lucky sea of beat heads made it in to the clubs. Luckily enough, yours truly milked it and headed over to Snatch for the earlier part of the evening where Klever busted out jams for about an hour. Though the mix was ill, the company Snatch kept was nothing to brag about. I counted only a handful of people actually bobbing their heads, and the rest of the club-hoppers seemed like they didn’t necessarily get the memo about the WMC event. Ladies were dressed to the nines like it was any other Thursday night, not so much in true dance-till-you-can’t-stand-no-more attire. Little did they know Klever was making sweet love to the turntables with a mix of hip-hop, break beats, booty and a few house jams that rocked me and my boys’ socks off. Holding it down with a samples of Lil Jon and Ying Yang Twins remixes pleased the handful of appreciators, but when the clock struck 2 a.m., it was time to head back over to Suite for probably what I would predict as the tastiest treat of WMC.

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Tracy Block

Craze ripped a sick never-ending set at Nocturnal Wednesday, March 26 which had beat lovers gettin’ their groove on from the window to the wall.

Last Night: Bass Sessions at Nocturnal

Better Than: The best ‘90s booty mix you ever bought

Downtown Miami’s Nocturnal night club certainly had it going on last night. Appealing to the booty music, heavy bass enthusiasts, dope beats were crankin’ out from 10 p.m. until 5 in the morn. Scenesters were clad in grungy attire, sure to sport some hot kicks so they could keep up on the dance floor all night long. DJ of the night, Craze, ripped it up with what seemed like a two-hour set, but we were all jammin’ so hardcore, nobody really kept track. Bringing the mostly twentysomething crowd way back to the middle school days, Craze let loose with a tribute to 2 Live Crew, Uncle Luke and 95 South and the floor was packed with pimps and hoes doing their thing better than those Daisy Duke-wearing skanks who graced all the old school music videos all those years ago.

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Today: The Armani Exchange Music Lounge at the Hotel Raleigh Penthouse

Better than: Last night’s hangover from WMC kickoff gigs and jet lag combined

VIP constitutes access to a slew of stellar events, but during WMC, being “Very Important” grants you access to one of the choicest chill spots on SoBe. Enter the Raleigh Hotel’s penthouse's Armani Exchange Music Lounge, boasting a plethora of sponsors to cater to DJs and WMC badge holders during their downtime.

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If Scottish singing sensation Calvin Harris is not the hardest working man in electro-land, by the end of this weekend he will be, because the cat’s got three – count ‘em – shows coming up in two days. New Times took a quick phoner from the man before he crossed the pond; here’s some of what he had to say. (And click here to read this issue's article about the man.) – John Hood

Ever been to Miami?

No, never ever. But I’m ready.

You’ve got three dates scheduled (The Raleigh, Ultra, and The White Room) – how long are you gonna be in town?

Just two days.

Oh, so you won’t have a lot of time to see one of the millions of DJs while you’re here?

I’m hoping to catch Tommie Sunshine at some point. We have a lot of history, so it’d be nice to meet him.

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M.A.N.D.Y., hailing from Berlin, isn't female -- nor is it even one person. Rather, it's the purposefully ambiguous moniker of the DJ/producer duo of Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung. Longtime pals since boyhood, over the years they moved from throwing warehouse parties for the sheer love of the music, to fiddling with their own compositions. Helping to create the new sound journalists would tag "electrohouse," M.A.N.D.Y. hit big-room gold in 2005 with their single "Body Language," created with fellow duo Booka Shade. It's a rolling, deceptively simple trip over tweaked-out bass that landed itself on no less than a BBC 1 Essential Mix that year.

But what Bodmer and Jung are also revered for in today's dance music circles is their cofounding of Get Physical Records, along with friends Walter Merziger and Arno Kammeier (Booka Shade). The label's become known for its slinky, sexy sound of old-school, body-jackin funk that bubbles over with futuristic machine melodies. There's enough of a cold, techy wallop for dance floor purists, and enough warmth and swing to lure over former rock kids who are ready to move beyond the neon-flashy hype.

I recently caught up with Philipp by phone at the Get Physical offices, and we chatted about the limitations of festival appearances, this year's Get Physical party at WMC, and why David Bowie is cool, but Mick Jagger isn't. --Arielle Castillo

M.A.N.D.Y. appears Thursday night at the Get Physical Miami 2 party at Studio A; Friday at the Beatport pool party at the Remix Hotel at the National; and Friday at the Ultra Music Festival. Scroll to the end for full party details.

M.A.N.D.Y.'s Fabric 38 mix is available now on Fabric's label. And check the duo's Myspace page, at http://www.myspace.com/getmandy for details of their upcoming international tour.

Full interview after the jump.

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In this week's special Winter Music Conference guide, we spoke with house legend Louie Vega -- click here to read the story. Of course, there are always interview outtakes, so for Louie's true fans, here's the full Q&A. -- Arielle Castillo

Little Louie Vega performs Thursday, March 27, at the event Roots Presents Vega Records, Blaze Imprints, Soul Heaven, and Fania Records. The party takes place at the Vagabond, 30 NE 14th St, Miami. Doors open at 10 p.m., and admission is $20. Those 21 and older are welcome with ID. Visit www.myspace.com/thevagabondmiami.

Check out this video clip of Louie Vega talking about his Elements of Life project and Vega Records signee, Latin percussionist Luisito Quintero.

You live part of the year in Miami, right?

Yeah, we've got a place and we're there a few times a year. We always loved Miami, you know what I mean? Between having a nice beach to go to, and the people are great, it’s kind of like a little version of New York City to me, but on the beach. You got a great group of people there that are very musical, into art. I really like it a lot; there are great places to eat out there. The weather’s warm, and it’s only a couple hours away from New York.

I read an interview with you where it seemed you were really nostalgic about the days of the first superclubs in New York. But when you play here in Miami, with a couple exceptions, you're usually playing more intimate rooms. Have you had a change of heart?

These days it’s very been about the intimate rooms. I love them; it’s almost about playing a house party, in a way. In New York I do a night called Roots at Cielo every Wednesday, and that room only holds about 300 people, but it's an incredible sound system, a really nice vibe. The atmosphere’s great.

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