Lee Foss
Pete Tong
James Zabiela
Bushwacka/Just Be
probably isn’t considered the most enviable spot on the bill, but inside, the ever-affable Rob James is commanding Ice Palace’s dark, light pierced studio interior with a suitably warehouse-rattling sound. Despite suggestions of proceedings going on well into the sunlight with a ‘??’ finish time on the flyer (and the final tune, after a marathon back2back finale, actually getting played well after 10am), we duck out before Paradise falls.
Given Hot Natured’s status as underground dance’s only pin-up group (every contentious word of which we’ll leave you to debate online), those pressing as close as they can to the railings around the booth include a high percentage of Miami’s excess quota of slim, bronzed women, charmed, no doubt, by the collective’s unashamed love of a well-written pop hook — see Lee Foss’s recent ‘Electricity’, or Hot Natured’s newest single ‘Reverse Skydiving’, both of which feature the vocals of Anabel Englund — as much as anything else. Facing up to one of the label’s two main pillars
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djmag.com
Friday When Pete Tong’s slot on Radio One was moved to accommodate Annie Mac there was the suggestion of ‘making way’, but with younger producers and DJs now looking to the seniority and heritage of house and techno for their direction, dance music’s most famous voice seems to be having a renaissance. For starters, there’s his new role as the figurehead of American club sounds, via the dedicated Evolution station on iHeartRadio — something that is seeing him act as an ambassador for all facets of dance music, not merely the easy path of EDM. His It’s All Gone Pete Tong Presents pool party, running from 11 till 11 at the Surfcomber Hotel, seems to give a clue as to his battle plan for this. Jostling amongst boobs and biceps on the sandy dancefloor in the early afternoon sun, it’s a fair assumption that many are here for the only Swede on the line-up, Eric Prydz (in Pryda mode, judging by the t-shirt he’s wearing). But the melodic strains of Scuba, who closes his warm-up with his own slice of posh trance, ‘Adrenalin’, are neatly programmed to help join the dots with deeper, less obvious sounds. There’s also an almost paternal mentoring going on in selecting Skream to provide a house mix for the party’s
accompanying mix CD, the DJ most famous for helping forge dubstep telling us about his growing alienation from its current state. Taking to the stage to play back2back with Eats Everything, whose ubiquity at this year’s Miami again underlines his versatility as a DJ, the pair’s garage heavy stylings hint at Skream’s return to earlier influences to help move forward again. Having forever remained the generalist, rather than ever pinning his sail to one mast, Pete Tong dropping the speed garage strains of Skream’s forthcoming remix of Infinity Ink doesn’t even have us batting an eye-lid. And it’s testament to his unparalleled black book that a bare-footed FATBOY SLIM also comes to rock the masses. All day drinking, it turns out, doesn’t bode too well for the memory banks (if only we could remember that), neither does losing the copious Miami notes you made when you leave your phone in the back of a cab. But what is certain is that Defected’s party that night at Nikki Beach displays the label’s ever-impressive range, with everyone from Dusky and Noir to SUPERNOVA and FRANKY RIZARDO in effect.
Meanwhile, down at Lincoln Avenue’s Score club, a resurgent DANNY TENAGLIA is holding one of his legendary marathon Miami parties. A small, dark room and a predominantly gay crowd of New Yorkers may be the opposite of the typical South Beach crowd, but it is clearly Tenaglia’s ideal audience. He expertly moulds deep tribal house with Latin and disco influences until the party is prematurely shut down at 8am. “What a night,” he coos over the mic. “Just next year, it has to be downtown! We need to go longer!”
Saturday Saturday afternoon offers up a true treat. We’re invited to James Zabiela’s BORN ELECTRIC label party. And it’s aboard a boat, with a line-up to die for. Witnessing the
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