EDM Bluesfest Rumour Mill (Oakenfold, Tiesto, MSTRKRFT, Skrillex)

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This afternoon my twitter lit up when Ryan King (@lowpass) tweeted me some really really interesting rumours that Tiesto, MSTRKRFT and Skrillex will be announced as one of the 200 musician lineup at this year's Bluesfest! Ryan pointed me to this page which clearly shows future dates for Skrillex' upcoming 'Full Flex Express' tour. So I'm quite confident that Skrillex will be announced for a July 14th timeslot.

Tiesto will be in Montreal in early June for the Grand Prix and Milwaukee for Summerfest on July 3rd so he will definitely be around North America when Bluesfest arrives. Last year he appeared as one of the headliner's for the Escapade Music Festival for Canada Day so hopefully his rumoured announcement for Bluesfest might spark the beginning of a yearly pilgrimage to the Nation's Capital. The possibility of MSTRKRFT, the Canadian EDM group from Toronto, being booked would not surprise me in the least.

And finally Paul Oakenfold, who will also be at Summerfest and is the original Bluesfest EDM rumour, will almost certainly be confirmed for July 4th. You can read about my excitement of this booking in this post.

DNA Presents announced that they took part in helping to book EDM acts for this year's Bluesfest so the possibility of local DJs Ariyan, Mister Parker, and DJ Emm (all of whom have been booked by DNA to warm up bigger acts at Barrymore's in the past few months) to appear at the festival is high.

To end this article I will take a shot at one last speculative name that I would love to see at Bluesfest: Zedd. Like Tiesto and Oakenfold he will also be appearing at Summerfest but he will also be in the New York state area for a gig on July 12th. Zedd is someone that is taking the Electro music scene by storm so I'd be hyped to see him live this summer.

Just in: Anonymous source informed me that Atrak and Datsik will also be added to the lineup.

The official lineup announcement will occur at 9:30 pm tonight so be sure to visit again for more information.

 

Changes made to the Coldharbour Night this Friday at Circus Afterhours

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Note: Unfortunately KhoMha and Mr. Pit will not be able to attend this event due to some issues that were outside the control of Circus Afterhours and Coldharbour Records. Please check out Circus' facebook page for the official statement. Fortunately Grube & Hovsepian and Basil O'Glue have swooped in to replacement them while Arnej promised on Twitter to deliver a 4 hour set.

Here's another funny clip that shows the strange circumstances that led Grube and Hovsepian to be signed to Coldharbour Records:

Location: Circus Afterhours, 917 Ste-Catherine E., Montreal, QC, H2L 2E5

Time: 2:00 am - 11:00 am

Tickets: $25 + $3.25 Service Charge at Want Tickets.

Aly & Fila added to the Escapade Lineup

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Earlier today the Escapade Music Festival organizers announced that Aly & Fila will be joining the official lineup! This gives a much needed trance boost to the official lineup that is already impressively stacked with some of the biggest names in progressive house music such as Avicii and Afrojack. 

I've been enjoying Aly & Fila's future sounds podcast for several months now so I'm really happy to see them added to the lineup. They have been mainstays of Armin's A State of Trance live shows and will have the honour of being featured on the ASOT main stage with Armin, Markus Schulz, and others at the Global Gathering UK festival this August. I think several Ottawa trance fans were considering a special trip out to the Veld Festival in Toronto when Aly & Fila were announced so this is a solid addition for Escapade.

Here's a look at Aly & Fila live at ASOT 500 in Sydney:

Bluesfest's Full Lineup To be Unveiled Tomorrow

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Ryan King (@Lowpass on twitter) reminded me today on Twitter that the official lineup for Bluesfest (July 4th - 15, 2012) will be released tomorrow and later linked me this article from the Ottawa Citizen. It's a good read but I'll just post one of the most important quotes from Mark Monahan, Executive and Artistic Director of Bluesfest:

"I think you're going to see a fair amount of electronic music this year because that's big in the whole industry," hints Monahan, "and I think we're going to follow that trend."

Combine this quote with the rumour heard on twitter that there might be a dedicated EDM stage with numerous EDM acts booked on the main stage this Bluesfest might be an absolute blockbuster for EDM in Ottawa! How far the scene has come when only a year ago they brought Infected Mushroom on the main stage and Skrillex took the stage next to the comedy tent - this year's Bluesfest has a real potential for a true EDM takeover and of course I'm loving it.

EDM Ottawa has already posted a strong rumour that Paul Oakenfold will be performing on the first night (July 4th) for weeks and that booking alone makes a strong statement as to the potential quality of other EDM acts that might also get the nod for this year. If the EDM buzz becomes a reality then there is also a strong possibility that a few local EDM DJs/producers will be performing at Bluesfest as well. If you read the Ottawa Citizen article you'll know that the organizers really value secrecy so I'm sure a few of you local boys (and girls) are celebrating quietly right now.

I just hope that all of this positive EDM buzz for Bluesfest becomes a reality tomorrow and I'm just not spinning my wheels here. A few notable EDM acts that I'd like to see at Bluesfest that have not yet been announced at Escapade: John O'Callaghan, Tiesto, Madeon, Zedd, Skrillex, Porter Robinson, Zeds Dead, Rusko, Markus Schulz, Ferry Corsten, Knife Party, Axwell, Orjan Nielsen, Leon Bolier, and John Digweed. The list can go on and on but if they book a few of these names I'd be pretty pumped. Is there a possibility that none of these names I picked might not show up on tomorrow's lineup? That's a strong likelihood but at least we can share some laughs on Twitter to see how wrong I am. Of course make sure to check back tomorrow to EDM Ottawa to get the full lineup list!

Swedish House Mafia live at Coachella - Save the World Mashup

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I really really dig this mashup/remix of Save the World by Swedish House Mafia. Probbaly 99% of the mixing was done beforehand but I don't care because it was that good and gave me goosebumps. Well done.

And here's their full set taken by one of the many fans dedicated enough to record the entire thing using their cellphone:

As you can see their production value is through the roof which should put many of these top DJ acts asking for $100-200k a night on notice that this is the new standard that us EDM fans expect if we're going to shell out big money to see you live. One can hope right?

 

 

Lots of exciting EDM events tonight!

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Tonight at the Ritual Nightclub we have legendary house DJ Derrick Carter:

Location: Ritual Nightclub, 137 Besserer Street, Ottawa, ON

 

Time: 10:00 pm - 2:30 am

 

Supporting DJs: Serena Passion, Jeff Dougler & Balu.  DJ Ray Ray, Rayaz - Phono Jones in the lounge.

 

Tickets: $20 in advance, more at the door. You can buy them at Ticketweb.ca.

 

 

And we have AN21 at Barrymore's tonight:

Location: Barrymore's, 323 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X9

 

Time: 10:00 pm - 2:30 am

 

Opening DJs: Mister Parker & Alex Primeau

 

Tickets: $15 + $2.95 Service Charge for Advance at Want Tickets or free when you purchase a Steve Angello/Nicky Romero tickets by 8 pm tonight.