Salacious Sound » Shows

Coleco and Cal to play Riva, Toronto, this Friday [Show Preview]

Cal — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:44:49 +0000

ColeCo have been racking up the accolades in the last several months, taking care of all live programming for The Weeknd’s upcoming tour as well as remixing for them, Torro Torro, Bedouin Soundclash, and Young Empires.

They’ve supported The Magician, Com Truise, Fake Blood, and they played CMJ in NYC at the end of 2011. Finally, they just released a new single on Nervous, and have another upcoming on Kitsune in March.

So I’m proud to announce that I’ll be rocking a party with ColeCo on Friday February 10th in Toronto, at Riva Supper Lounge. Expect sexy, groovy, disco rhythms.

Get full event details here.

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If It Bleeds It Leads — Knife Party at Ministry of Sound [Show Review + Photos]

Riley — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

Knife Party - Fire Hive.mp3

School, family, work, friends, hobbies, health, happiness, clean living… These are just a few of the many things that rank below Knife Party on my list of lifetime priorities.

So, when they showed up at Ministry of Sound, I figured there was no way I wouldn’t see them. And lo, It was decided — with a group of fifteen or so intrepid adventurers, I set out to Elephant and Castle, and away from the usual Dalston and Shoreditch haunts. Because Knife Party.

Before I talk about the show, I want to talk about the cultural context of Ministry, and condemn those who dismiss it with bad or no reason.

Technically, Ministry is an excellent club — it’s an easy to navigate space with an absolutely top class sound system that gets pushed to its limits. In terms of the crowd, I found people I could just as easily have met at The Nest or Corsica Studios.

To what degree is audience-makeup due to the venue or the artists? Well that’s the point — when it gets the right artists in, people who appreciate those artists will follow. I think it’s time to accept that it is foolish for this vocal minority to discount this excellent space, and that if they can book acts of the calibre and musical legitimacy of Knife Party, then they could become a (a blogger who wears round glasses) favorite venue of mine to which I look forward to returning.
/dearlondonhipsters.

Okay, enough bitching about hipster opinions on clubs. Let’s be honest — it’s the music blog equivalent of a TED talk on how social media will revolutionize something.

Knife Party’s set was, as I expected, primarily their original work. They opened with Internet Friends and the room went nuts. I haven’t seen Lonodners go this crazy since… well… since I’ve been here. They proceeded to drop their EP, their new single, and some curated electro and dubstep of dispersed origin (more on this later!). Technique-wise, I noticed that they were having a lot of fun with their transitions, cutting and mashing them up live. Their jocking was, obviously, masterful — it seemed quite natural that they were teasing drops, pulling out builds, dangling opens, and, generally putting on a great show of spinning the platters that matter. Remember, though, this is 2/3 of Pendulum we’re talking about here — the fact that they displayed skill is not interesting…

I’d like to think about some things that make Knife Party’s performances unique — the blending of electro and dubstep into one set, the changing of the character of a song as it moves from laptop speakers to giant-fuckoff-Ministry speakers, and finally, the curation of some standout, non-Knife Party songs McGrillen and Swire chose to include.

As anybody who has ever mixed will know, tempo is everything — how can you beat match 128 BPM and 70/140 BPM? It’s why we have electro/house sets and dubstep sets, and not-often-the-twain-shall-meet. McGrillen and Swire’s peculiar mixing techniques — a demonstrated preference for cutting, as opposed to blending — allowed them to create a coherent set out of songs with very different tempos. When you combine this more difficult mixing technique with the similar-across-the-board instrumentation of the Knife Party catalogue, then I think you can begin to see how this would work, and how easily these songs might mash up live. This esoteric style had a couple effects on the show: first, each song, from beat one, is clearly distinguished from each other song, and second, each song is remade to the point of challenging the audience’s preconception. On the first point, I’ll just note that, as Pendulum, Swire and McGrillen opt for a more blended style of mixing — and I think that relates to the more consistent style of the Pendulum catalogue. On the second point, I noticed the crowd struggling to keep up with the new songs. The Knife Party boys were not just handing them familiar beats on a silver plate, but rather undermining their expectations of how these songs progress. During Internet Friends, for example, they decided to use this cutting tactic to delay “You blocked me on Facebook, and now you’re going to…”“Die!” I think we can all agree that it’s a cop out for DJ’s to simply fade their songs into one another, operating as a glorified sound technician — Knife Party’s approach to the DJ set as performance rather than technical venture showed through, and I think the audience appreciated it.

I think every electro fan has listened to Knife Party on his/her Macbook (pro?) speakers. If you haven’t then go listen to Antidote. I’ll wait. Okay, well, it’s awesome in any context, but I think it’s worth saying in italics that these songs are not meant for small speakers. The “lazers” on Destroy Them With Lazers, for example, may be bold, may be new, may be your mother’s brother… but their intended effect; piercing, shrieking, is lessened by smaller speakers. While my assertion may seem banal, I think the point is important — Knife Party is music that is meant to be experienced rather than simply listened to, but the experience is empty unless the equipment is able to match the level of insistence of the tunes themselves. It’s aggressive, pounding, and, I’ll use this word again, visceral like Korean cinema. Believe me: this quality does not come through on headphones, but it is now crucial to my future enjoyment of these guys.

The last thing that jumped out at me was some of the choices they made in terms of non-Knife Party tunes to exhibit. My favourite, without a doubt, was from our favorite filthy devils, Zeds Dead — Undah Yuh Skirt (feat. Mavado). Knife Party’s original and collaborative productions maintain a high level of energy, so to curate other artists’ music to match that intensity is a delicate task. I cannot think of a more rage-driven Zed’s Dead song than Unduh Yuh Skirt, and I think this choice in particular demonstrated a singularly excellent understanding on the part of Swire and McGrillen as to the “work” done by their music — they are able to look at their own catalogue, and find complementary work elsewhere in the world of dubstep (most of the electro portions of the set were Knife Party originals). This was the most-standout of any of their choices in particular, so I think it’s the one that bears mention more than any other (Skrillex and the like which, will it performed its function perfectly does not bear much interest for me as a writer).

I predict that Knife Party, especially on the festival scene, is going to be the show to see in 2012. If you haven’t yet, get on it and find out when they’re going to be in your town.

Free 12th Planet EP + 28 Date Tour

Cal — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:11:50 +0000

Two big pieces of news coming from John Dadzie, aka 12th Planet, today. First, Scion A/V will be releasing his latest production effort ‘The End is Near’ EP. It’s a 5 track record with some incredible collaborations. Check the tracklist, listen to and download the single, and be sure that we’ll have an update with the drop.

12th Planet – The End Is Near EP presented by Scion A/V
1) 12th Planet & Flinch – The End Is Near Pt. 1
2) 12th Planet, Skrillex & Kill The Noise – Burst ft. GMCFOSHO
3) 12th Planet & SPL – Ratchet Strap
4) 12th Planet & Antiserum – Ghost
5) 12th Planet – Jailbreak

Second, 12th Planet has an upcoming headlining tour – dates below. For an idea of what to expect, check the video:

12th Planet Corner Pocket from One and Only Productions on Vimeo.

Or if you’d like to learn more about one of the most important North American bass music artists, check out this awesome interview I did with him at Electric Zoo this year:

Tour Dates:
Feb 2 Miami, FL @ Grand Central
Feb 3 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
Feb 4 Athens, GA @ Bad Manor
Feb 5 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Feb 7 Virginia Beach, VA @ Peabodys
Feb 8 Washington, DC @ District
Feb 9 Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
Feb 10 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Feb 11 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
Feb 12 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
Feb 13 Boston, MA @ Middle East
Feb 14 Montreal, Canada @ Le Belmont
Feb 15 Toronto, Canada @ Wrongbar
Feb 16 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Feb 17 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
Feb 18 St. Louis, MO @ 2720 Cherokee
Feb 19 Nashville, TN @ Club Mai
Feb 20 New Orleans, LA @ Ampersand
Feb 21 Dallas, TX @ Trees
Feb 22 Oklahoma City, OK @ Kamp
Feb 23 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
Feb 24 Phoenix, AZ @ Madison Events Center
Feb 25 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock
Feb 28 Orange County, CA @ Dubtroit
Feb 29 Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box
March 1 San Francisco, CA @ Mighty
March 2 Portland, OR @ Roseland
March 3 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall

Jed Harper @ Maison January 13, 2012 [Photo Gallery]

Cal — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:35:51 +0000

Jed Harper headlined Extravaganza @ Maison on Friday, and we have the goods. Judging by the photos, the opening DJ was quite intimidated by the photographer, grey furry hats are a valid excuse for rampant photo-bombing at Maison + the secret to getting sexy girls, and several bachelorettes put their hands up + penis straws in their mouths during Jed’s set.

Photos from EMERGENCY and EXTRAVAGANZA are also always available from the Provoke Facebook fan page.

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Dzeko and Torres @ Maison January 6, 2012 [Photo Gallery]

Cal — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:19:13 +0000

Dzeko and Torres spun Maison in Toronto last Friday, and we have the photographic evidence! These gents have been making waves in Toronto with releases on cr2, Moda, and Starter Records. While you’re cruising the photos, enjoy their latest DJ mix!

Tracklist:
1. Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party – Antidote (Original Instrumental Mix)
2. Alesso – Raise Your Head (Original Mix)
3. Spencer & Hill – Believe It ft. Nadia Ali (Cazzette Remix)
4. Steve Forte Rio ft. Lindse – Slumber (Tommy Trash Remix)
5. Dirty South & Those Usual Suspects ft. Erik Hecht – Walking Alone
6. David Guetta ft. Sia – Titanium (Arno Cost Remix)
7. Serge Devant feat. Coyle Girelli – On Your Own (Thomas Sagstad & Mike Hawkins Remix)
8. Michael Calfan – Resurrection (Axwell’s Re-Cut Club Version)
9. Tiesto ft. Kay – Work Hard, Play Hard (Paris FZ & Simo T Remix)
10. Michael Woods ft Duvall – Last Day On Earth (Original Mix)
11. John Acquaviva & Dan Diamond – Good Music (Stefano Noferini Remix)
12. Umek & Beltek – Rasta Voice (Original Club Mix)

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Dose of “At Night” (Avicii)

ReySon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:19:42 +0000

House for Hunger: 26 gigs, 25 dates, 17 American States. Ash & Tim (Avicii) of the At Night family are changing the face of the world.

3 Words.
End. World. Famine.
One Love.

Support Avicii on Beatport | iTunes | Facebook

Prok & Fitch @ Cobra Thursday December 15 [Photo Gallery]

Cal — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:59:58 +0000

One of my favourite UK duos, Prok & Fitch, was in Toronto on December 15th, 2011, and we’ve got the photographic evidence. Ben and James are prolific producers, and have had a stellar 2011 with big releases on Toolroom, 303, and of course Floorplay. The guys have a fully-up-to-date Facebook page that you can use to keep up with their tour dates, releases, and their Floorplay Podcast which I follow.

Prok & Fitch on Facebook

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Grammy Predictions: The Year of Skrillex

Cal — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:06:25 +0000

Some people watch the Grammys to see who’s receiving one of the most prestigious recognitions of musical talent, some for Lady Gaga’s outfit, but this year I’ll be watching to see if they break away from a radio-play-count measure of quality and choose to recognize the most exciting artist to emerge in the last several decades.

No one has had a bigger impact on dance music this year than Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex, and I bet no one has played in front of as many people either. Through the summer he actually averaged more than one gig a day!!

Anyway, Hyundai discovered at Re:mix Lab that I am a swell and cultured Canadian complete with next-level opinions, and has asked me to make predictions about how this awards show in February is going to turn out. I feel somewhat under-qualified and at once over-opinionated to accomplish the task.

I suspect that I use different criteria to assess quality, or best (best is such a stupid and subjective term when talking about music in the first place..)

It’s that different criteria that has you reading Salacious Sound in the first place though, amirite?!??

A quick shout out to my sponsor, because they have been really generous with me and have asked nothing in return except that I write about things I love!

This article is fueled by Hyundai Veloster

Best New Artist

Nominees: Skrillex, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, The Band Perry

I’m not sure what the criteria is for ‘best’ new artist, but I find it a bit strange that Skrillex is nominated in to the same category as Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj. I mean for starters, Skrillex didn’t actually have anything that charted this year. And then there’s the fact that the electro-dubstep Skrillex makes doesn’t compare at all to the music by the other nominees.

If I were predicting who deserved it most I’d say Skrillex, but my cynical side says Nicki Minaj will probably take it. As for Skrillex.. he’s picking Bon Iver as the favourite.

The Winner: Skrillex

Best Dance Recording

Nominees: Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech – Raise Your Weapon, David Guetta & Avicii – Sunshine, Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend, Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, Swedish House Mafia – Save the World

Again, what are the properties that make a recording the ‘best’? Production quality? Number of people who know the words to the hook? Or just the number of people who’ve heard the song? Number of radio plays? Surely those aren’t the things we judge quality by here on Salacious Sound..

My own pick here is Raise Your Weapon, for a few simple reasons. The production quality is as good or better than all of the competition, and the rolling chord progressions are as moving as the lyrics. It also has high remixability – something that made all of Robyn’s tracks this year huge. The aesthetic isn’t cheesy – it’s a lot more substantive, and will be playable years from now, when already Save the World has been over-rinsed.

Scary Monsters is a close second for me. It was an innovative sound, and it pushed a genre thought to be relegated to the underground in to the limelight. But it is a second-best simply because it doesn’t move me like Raise Your Weapon does.

The Winner: Deadmau5 – Raise Your Weapon

Best Dance / Electronica Album

Nominees: Cut Copy – Zonoscope, Deadmau5 – 4×4=12, David Guetta – Nothing But The Beat, Robyn – Body Talk, Pt. 3, Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

This is a no-contest category – if Deadmau5 doesn’t win, not only will the judges have made a gross error but they’ll have a riot on their hands. Think about the number of gems on 4×4=12: Some Chords, Sofi Needs a Ladder, Animal Rights, Cthulu Sleeps, and Raise Your Weapon. Compare that to Scary Monsters which, while it is a fantastic release, is mostly remixes.

Body Talk , Pt. 3 is a close second, but a lot of the songs are ‘soft’. The album IS highly remixable, and to be honest, I enjoyed those remixes a lot more than I enjoyed the originals.

The Winner: Deadmau5 – 4×4=12

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical

Nominees: Benny Benassi – Cinema (Skrillex Remix), Leona Lewis – Collide (Afrojack Remix), Daft Punk – End Of Line (Photek Remix), Rihanna – Only Girl (In The World) (Rosabel Club Mix), Foo Fighters – Rope (Deadmau5 Mix)

I’m a bit taken aback here. I’m not sure what monkey they had selecting nominees for this category, but next year they need to get me in on the selection process if they care about authenticity.

That isn’t to say any of these songs are bad, though the controversy around Collide makes it a bit of a tasteless nomination in my opinion.

Honestly, all of the tracks’ popularity pales in comparison to the Cinema remix. Everyone, bassheads and non-dubstep dance fans alike, know this version of the song if they’ve heard in the original. Chances are they think this is the original version – it’s the main version, anyway. None of the other tracks got as much love on the festival circuit this year, none have the recognizability, and none are as big a flip from the original.

The Winner: Benny Benassi – Cinema (Skrillex Remix)

Once again, a shout out to my sponsor here. They’ve given me free reign to write about things I love, and they’re supporting great art!

This article is fueled by Hyundai Veloster

Interview: Pleasurekraft

Cal — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:35:49 +0000

Few artists come close to doing anything as exciting or innovative in 2011 as Pleasurekraft. My introduction was a sort of baptism by fire – after a VIP shuttle with Skrillex’s tour manager and visual productions guy, and a golf cart ride backstage, I came upon Pleasurekraft playing for an audience of several thousand at this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas.

I’ve spent my time in Ibiza, and I agree with the criticism that tech house can sound pretty homogenous sometimes. Not with Pleasurekraft though. Their unique blend of hooky-vocal-sampling and hedonist aesthetic lends itself to instantly recognizable AND lasting, substantive, memorable tunes.

Pleasurekraft will be in Toronto on New Years Eve, playing at Loft 5 Eighty! I’m also super proud to announce that I will be supporting the night. Tickets and comprehensive information here.

Full tour listing at the end of this article!

Pleasurekraft Official Site | Soundcloud

The Interview:

Cal: The artwork for Satyr Song looks vaguely like a penis with wings, am I right? What’s the backstory there?

Pleasurekraft: Actually we had no say on the artowrk – in fact what I actually suggested to 1605 (Umek’s label) was something along the lines of a Satyr – the half man half goat beings from Greek mythology that were all about pleasure – but the artist who does all of 1605′s artowrk doesn’t take art direction from anyone (including Umek) and just delivers what he wants – so that being said – I personally never looked at the Satyr Song artowrk and saw a penis with wings, but perhaps the fact that that’s what you saw maybe says more about you! ;P

(Cal’s note: my favourite track of the year!)

Cal: If you had a clay phallus hung outside your front door would you hope it would bring you luck or fertility?

Pleasurekraft: We don’t need any more fertility on this planet – there’s already too many of us here – give me the luck baby

Cal: What does the word hedonism mean to you? What bearing, if any, does it have on your life and music?

Pleasurekraft: Well – unless the Hindus & Buddhists are right, in which case we’ll keep coming back and living this life over and over again until we get it “right”, it looks like we only live once. But who knows. If we do only live once – you certainly want to make sure you make the most of this one chance you have been given to experience this amazingly beautiful, sometimes disturbing, and always interesting thing called life. Experiencing everything life has to offer full on is what hedonism is about to me.

Cal: Wine or nymphs?

Pleasurekraft: no comment but isn’t that kind of like the chicken or egg question?

Cal: I have a bag of marshmallows. Do you want one now or two in the future?

Pleasurekraft: Depends, is there a fire around? I only like toasted Marshmallows, otherwise I don’t want any.

Cal: Aside from phone and laptop, what is the most important item in your travel bag? Why?

Pleasurekraft: Deodorant, and ear plugs! I think both for obvious reasons!

Cal: What country has the best beer?

Pleasurekraft: Belgium + Germany have the best beer. HOWEVER – as far as a simple beer just to be had with some simple food – nothing too cerebral – I personally love Mexican beer (and I’m not talking about that Corona bullshit)

Cal: Wrapper on or off?

Pleasurekraft: I don’t even know what that means lol.

Cal: You are charged with presenting 3 awards to edm artists for 2011: rookie of the year, most improved, and mvp. Who are your picks?

Pleasurekraft: Fuck. I wish you hadn’t said EDM artists, it would have made my choices so much easier. To be honest I really don’t listen to much EDM when I am not going through promos or listening to things on Beatport – I think it does a disservice to the music you make if you listen to that very same genre all the time. The best EDM is made by producers who draw their inspiration from non EDM sources in my opinion – but lets see if I can give this a shot…

1. Rookie of the year – defining rookie in terms of a timeline is tough – but I’ll say for this case Mike Vale
2. Most improved – again difficult one here – as improvement for me here would be just change of production genre – for me I would say Miami’s Jesse Perez – who used to have a more prog/electro sound, but as of this year has been churning out some great techy numbers on his fine fine label called Mr Nice Guy
3. MVP – Again a toughy here – but I find myself playing alot of Hungarian producer Belocca’s stuff lately – so maybe him?

Cal: Which are more fun: dive bars OR swanky clubs?

Pleasurekraft: def dive bars. I like it dirty

Cal: Pick up lines: art OR science

Pleasurekraft: no contest : Art

Cal: What three songs from 2011 have the most memorable hooks? OR what are your top three most memorable hooks of all time?

Pleasurekraft: I don’t like to do All time things cuz they’re always too much pressure – so for 2011 – if you mean EDM? Style of Eye & Magnus the Magnus “The Antidote” has to be in there. I personally LOVE Format B’s “Country Girl” little hook. Simple but so great for me. And probably this Belocca bootleg I have of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland” that just smokes everytime I play it out. Easily one of my fav tracks to play out. Non EDM? Pretty much anything Kanye West did this year.

See you all NYE in one of my favorite cities on the planet : TORONTO!!!!!

Pleasurekraft in your city:

Re:mix Lab Recap

Cal — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:16:01 +0000

For complete coverage, hit the Re:mix Lab category link at the top right of the article!

The last packed day of events for Re:mix Lab was Saturday, and the evening portion featured my favourite performance of the week.

I showed up early in the day for a hip hop event featuring Cut Chemist, and later a crowd of young’ns going crazy for a local 3 piece (singer, DJ, rapper) act. Hopefully someone in the comments can point out who these talented locals were.

The long wait til the evening events was worth my patience, as the evening could not have turned out more entertaining. First up, there was a long technical-delay in getting the band, Boxer Rebellion, playing. Instead of playing music for the not yet in to their second drink / past their awkwardness crowd, the house let them ruminate.. until your Cal saved the day.

Now obviously this event was sponsored – how else do you think you can throw a week worth of free events with an open bar, featuring some of the finest artists in the world right now? I’ll tell you – by placing a tricked out to epic Pimp My Ride’esque proportions Hyundai Veloster on the dancefloor, complete with ridiculous pounding soundsystem more than capable of entertaining a ruminating crowd of 100, and Serato Itch DJ set up in the trunk.

So yea, I “jumped on the decks” and made people move a little bit. This basically makes me an international DJ now, amirite?

Aaaanyway.

Boxer Rebellion played a solid hour-long set that got things properly heated.

And the event ended with Underground Rebel Bingo, which is a sort of cross between vulgar British street trash, a rock concert, improv comedy, and bingo. Everyone in the audience was handed bingo cards and markers (everyone proceeded to draw on each other), and absolutely loved the no-rules and no-holds-barred fun.

But the real highlight of the night for me was Mike Relm. This guy is an absolute g. A polished performer, talented turntablist, and a salacious selector. He threw down some sick live mashups, did a lot of vocal editing with the wheels of steel, and through the night scratched and mashed several movie samples, including but not limited to a Charlie Brown Christmas and the “O-Face” scene from Office Space. Awesome.

His solid performance was enhanced yet more by the fact that he is also a VDJ – imagine scratching a video instead of a song. It gives you an instant connection with the DJ and how he’s manipulating the music, which is an oft-missing ingredient with DJ sets!

I couldn’t be happier to have been a part of these events, and feel so fortunate that I was asked to come down and be a part. Thank you SO much to Hyundai Veloster and Antenna Mag – I’m expecting big things from all the forward-looking people behind this fantastic series of events!

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For extensive high-quality video coverage of the week’s events, check the player below!

Salacious Sound » Shows

Coleco and Cal to play Riva, Toronto, this Friday [Show Preview]

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If It Bleeds It Leads — Knife Party at Ministry of Sound [Show Review + Photos]

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Free 12th Planet EP + 28 Date Tour

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Jed Harper @ Maison January 13, 2012 [Photo Gallery]

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Prok & Fitch @ Cobra Thursday December 15 [Photo Gallery]

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Grammy Predictions: The Year of Skrillex

Best New Artist

Best Dance Recording

Best Dance / Electronica Album

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical

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Interview: Pleasurekraft

The Interview:

Pleasurekraft in your city:

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Re:mix Lab Recap

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