WOW, EDC. WOW. I think it’s safe to say that was the closest I have come to NOT surviving a festival in my life. Obviously, anyone who was there has their fair share of praise and complaints with regards to the festival itself but I’ll give everyone a brief recap of what I thought. First off, the amount of time, energy, creativity and MONEY put into the production was readily obvious; there was absolutely no expense spared. Every stage, with the exception of the Bass Pod, was downright epic and massive, albeit sometimes overly intense. Acrobatic planes flying overhead, nightly fireworks displays, extensive pyrotechnics and costumed “carnies” and go-go dancers were to be seen everywhere and there had to be at least 20 carnival rides to go along with the theme of the festival. Overall it was hard to not be impressed with the scale of the festival and it would be impossible to fully describe in a few paragraphs here.
That being said, there were some things that really sucked about it. First, and I’m sure everyone will agree, security was the tightest I have ever experienced at any festival period. As at EDC Colorado, no open cigarette packs, gum packs, or chap stick (wtf?) were allowed in. If you do the math, you were pretty much expected to buy a new one of these things every day. I also had the pleasure of experiencing a fucking “Random Shoe Check” on my way in on Sunday which, without getting into detail, landed me in the hands of one of the biggest douchebags I’d ever met escorting me to have my ticket revoked and kept assuring me “You’re fucking lucky you’re not getting arrested” and proceeded to tell me I’d be arrested if I came back. Well, sure as shit I wasn’t going to miss Swedish House Mafia (which was a huge part of why I went) so I bought another ticket and made my way in. Also, the parking situation could have been better figured out by 5-year old children. Just letting tens of thousands of cars filled with spunions try to figure their own way out of a parking lot at 6 in the morning was an absolute mess.
That said, as far as the shows go, with the exception of everything at Bass Pod (sound sucked and it was right in the middle of a high traffic area, plus the MC was probably the most annoying person at the whole thing), they were amazing and all the DJ’s brought a unique energy. Highlights for me definitely had to be SHM, Porter Robinson, Benassi, and the early morning closing sets of Boys Noize and Dada Life. If you were at Dada Life on Monday past 5AM, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you weren’t, I can honestly tell you that you missed the most exciting and fun show of the weekend. But enough about EDC, lets get into some tracks from last week that I’m posting way too late because of the craziness of this weekend.
First, this Dillon Francis remix dropped on his SoundCloud a couple days ago and it is simply phenomenal and my favorite of all his newest tracks. This song has that amazing dubstep sound that Francis is certainly capable of but is all too often overlooked by his moombahton offerings. The drop is oh-so-happy! Grab this one, it’s another classic from the man. I also highly recommend you cruise here to hear the rest from this week.
Cher Lloyd – Swagger Jagger (Dillon Francis Remix)
Next up we have a track that is supposedly a leak off Nero’s upcoming album “Welcome Reality.” This is the second song I’ve posted from Nero in the past week but it had to be done. Whatever it is, it’s fucking awesome and should help everyone else realize how awesomely talented this bass duo is.
Nero – The Way You Make Me Feel
Finally, and this is HUGE, Diplo & Skrillex’s collaboration that first debuted last week in Diplo’s Mad Decent Moombahton mix is finally available online and this tune is outrageously good. Takes everything that’s great about Skrilly tracks and brings it to that 108 BPM that characterizes moombahton. Huge buildup- wait it out for the NOISE! Get this one! If you were lucky enough to see Skrillex at EDC, he dropped this one hard. VIVA LA MOOMBAHTON!
Bonus DUB:
Skrillex – All I Ask Of You (Trypt Remix)
EDC Song of the Weekend: