Booka Shade |
Last week, Miami hosted the Winter Music Conference, a huge festival celebrating the year to come in dance music. Lovers of house, techno, breaks, and most every other subgenre gathered to dance on the beach and in clubs from sun-up to sundown to sun-up again. An army of Bostonians represented our burgeoning party scene, and we heard from a few partygoers about what popped and what didn’t. Here’s a sampling from those that did, and links to buy them off digital dance warehouse Beatport.
Booka Shade, “Manderine Girl”
“Booka Shade annihilated Studio A last night,” text-messages Red Foxxworth. It’s quite possible they brought the house down. The German duo, part proprietors of the excellent Get Physical label, play live instruments when they play, and the performance is always exquisite. “Manderine Girl” is their signature track: an unstoppable force of electro-house that builds up as it breaks down.
Dennis Ferrer, “Touch the Sky”
DJ Bruno came back for his paycheck Top 40 gigs at Boston Rocks, but even early in the week, he reports over the phone, “there were a lot of really good parties. One was the Shelter party. Above and beyond the call of duty. The energy there was amazing, they sang every word, it was like going to church. The one big track was Dennis Ferrer’s ‘Touch the Sky’ . . . that track was everywhere.” Ferrer’s uplifting piece of deep house is lovely indeed.
Audion, “Mund zu Mund”
People were looking forward to the Spectral Sound Social on Friday as much as they were talking about Matthew Dear’s recent appearance at Phoenix Landing. Dear makes techno as Audion, and this track is his own rework of his big hit “Mouth to Mouth.” With a razor’s edge, he goes in and flips the track into a minimal giant with a vertigo-inducing bass line.
Boys Noize, “Don’t Believe the Hype (Surkin Remix 2)”
Red Foxxworth was in Miami to play with perhaps the hottest name in electro today. Alex Ridha is the man behind Boys Noize, and making raucous, jamming rock-techno tracks is what has him on everyone’s tongue. This is a remix of the first single off his upcoming album; Surkin, a Parisian talent on the rise, does a smooth job, limiting Ridha’s usual redline massacre to something a little more appetizing.
