It's that time of the year when a well-timed festival anthem can propel an artist to international stardom. Christina Novelli became a household name among trance enthusiasts for her spirited vocal contributions to Gareth Emery's 2012 hit "Concrete Angel," and "Where We Began" could indeed put her back on the map.
Among all of the surprises that 2016 has brought electronic music fans so far, this announcement might only resonate with a very specific subset of the scene. Blog house mainstays MSTRKRFT have revealed that after a five-year hiatus they will release a studio studio album titled Operator.
...Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Let me get this straight - less than a day after it surfaced that Caitlyn Jenner was experiencing doubts about having gotten a sex change, her daughter, Kylie Jenner, appears to be expressing doubts about becoming a DJ?
This must be how elderly white people felt when gangsta rap groups like NWA came on the scene. I'm used to Slushii putting out the watered-down sort of EDM that you'd expect from an artist using the oddly specific anonymous-DJ-posing-as-an-anthropomorphic-junk-food-item gimmick, but his remix of Skrillex and Wiwek's "Killa" assaults my senses in a way that makes me fear for future generations.
With the uncertainties plaguing its Tomorrowland Brasil's parent company recently, it's reassuring to see that 2016 edition of the festival proved a massive for the books. Last week its organizers released a 2016 aftermovie that captured its monumental energy, and now they've shared 34 live performance videos from the weekend in question as well.
Galantis gets that kids start listening to music to be transported far, far away from reality. For that reason, the Swedish electronic music duo chose a music video for their March release, "No Money," that portrays a strangely fantastic scenario that's even more fanciful than the song itself.
Kygo could have gone the easy route. After being crowned the unofficial poster child of tropical house for his pan flute synth-heavy remixes back in 2014, he would have been well within his rights to resign himself to exclusively releasing music that fell within the confines of the genre.
Although a relatively unknown name in electronic music, Traveler may well reach a wider audience in 2016. The livetronica duo has delivered a remix of David Bowie and Queen's 1982 hit "Under Pressure" that achieves a stylistic synthesis that seems to be resonating with the modern generation of electronic music fans.
Flume's done a respectable job of holding the short attention spans of electronic music fans so far in 2016. The Australian DJ/producer has allowed songs from his long-awaited LP Skin to trickle out at just a slow enough pace to keep us wanting more, and by announcing the supporting talent for his North American tour he's done more of the same.
2016 festival lineups are still dropping left and right. The latest in a veritable cavalcade of announcements is Toronto festival Digital Dreams, which has revealed an entertainment roster studded with names sure to capture the attention of music fans far and wide.
