Winter Music Conference

Music Rony Seikaly: Transition Game

April 20, 2011 - 10:32 am

If you’re a sports nut like me, you know Rony Seikaly from his 11-year NBA career, more than half of which was spent with the Miami Heat. If you’re a dance music nut—also like me—then you know about Rony Seikaly the DJ and producer. Check out his site and you’re met with images of Seikaly rocking packed clubs, not short shorts and knee socks. He’s got a full tour schedule, and his various productions—of the deep, sexy, tribal house variety—are being released through Subliminal Records, one of the genre’s most tastemaking labels. (Check out a selection of tunes here.) Last month he was booked for gigs at both Winter Music Conference and the week of the Ultra Music Festival, and this month will hit up New York, Paris and Marrakesh. Quite the baller indeed. We caught up with him between shows to find out a little more about his spin moves.

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Gallery Music Red Bull BPM Party feat. DJ Manny & Felix Da Housecat

by Rich Thomas and Lisa Johnson

March 16, 2011 - 4:04 pm

Let me preface this by saying I’ve never been to Austin before. I know, I know. Tragic, right? San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso and maybe a few other random destinations, but never Austin. But if everything is bigger in Texas and Austin is “weird,” then I felt comfortable in my assumption that everything would be big, weird, and maybe smell a bit like barbecue. Maybe some beer. Okay a lot of beer. And a ton of food trucks.

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Gallery Music I Survived Winter Music Conference

by Rich Thomas and Graham John Bell

March 15, 2011 - 10:33 am

Apart from needing a double foot transplant, a deep tissue massage, a wheatgrass IV drip, and to never be around cigarette smokers again, I feel amazingly good after this year’s Winter Music Conference. What started off slow gained a tremendous amount of momentum in a very short period of time, and reports from my colleagues at other events around the city were favorable. If you’ve been following our WMC coverage, you know that the divorce with the Ultra Music Festival (happening 3/25-3/27) was the big news. Would it be favorable for the conference? What sort of effect would it have on South Beach? With all the marquee names playing Ultra weekend, would you still get enough quality DJs to support the fans?

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Music DJ Colette: Your House Or Mine

by Rich Thomas and Graham John Bell

March 14, 2011 - 11:27 am

She’s been called Om Record’s First Lady of House, helped form the genre’s only female supergroup (SuperJane), and released some of last decade’s most infectious 12-inch singles in “Feelin’ Hypnotized,” “What Will She Do For Love,” and a sultry version of Robert Palmer’s “Didn’t Mean To Turn You On.” Indeed, Chicago’s DJ Colette is one of house music’s most well-respected performers and producers, and a 16-year veteran of the Winter Music Conference. You know, back when people traded vinyl by the pool and the only things that tweeted were the endemic Florida Scrub-Jays that hung out in the palm trees. We met up with Colette at a South Beach cafe to get her take on this year’s conference and the inside scoop on her next artist release for Om Records.

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Music Oscar G: Made in Miami

by Rich Thomas and Graham John Bell

March 14, 2011 - 10:59 am

You’d be hard pressed to find a dance music artist that reps Miami harder than Oscar G. A true house music don, Oscar has had a long and healthy career on New York’s own Nervous Records, releasing a crate of singles and his first (and only) full-length, Innov8, back in 2008. Now with a new label in the works, appropriately titled Made In Miami, Oscar is looking to give shine back to his fellow South Florida musicians and possibly drop another full-length, sooner rather than later, we hope. Before he blazed through a sunset performance at the Nervous Records pool party, we got a hold of him for some questions.

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Featured Gallery Music Q&A With The Indelible Talib Kweli

by Rich Thomas and Graham John Bell

March 11, 2011 - 2:52 pm

Hip-hoppers at Winter Music Conference this year got a special treat when the Red Bull Music Academy announced a special two-day event featuring indelible MC Talib Kweli and producer 9^th Wonder that hoped to provide an intimate look into two of the game’s most talented and influential artists. After an interview and Q&A session on Thursday, the two artists would then regroup at the Delano Hotel’s Florida Room for an “On The Floor” performance. We had the chance to interview Talib before he took the stage for the interview portion of the event, held at the Raleigh Hotel. Then, due to flight delays with 9^th and the session moderator, we jumped on the mic to kick off the discussion while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Below is a portion of our conversation.

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Gallery Music Pool Party 101

by Rich Thomas and Graham John Bell

March 10, 2011 - 3:25 pm

People-watching at the Winter Music Conference is one of the highlights of the week, and chlorinated bodies of water seem to bring out interesting behaviors. While taking in the soothing sounds of Daz-I-Kue, Alix Alvarez, Vikter Duplaix and other sun drenched DJs at the Lotus WMC 2011 Showcase, we noticed a few things happening poolside and thought we’d report back. All you people looking to hit up WMC in 2012 take note—here’s the ChinaShop guide on how to conduct yourself at a pool party. You can thank us later.

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Featured Gallery Miami Sasha and John Digweed Sunset Cruise 2010

by Roemer

April 13, 2010 - 12:19 pm

For the past eight years during Miami’s Winter Music Conference, dance music masters known as Sasha and John Digweed throw what is arguably the party of the year. And by “party of the year” I am not just referring to the thousands of options available during this very full week of every conceivable form of electronic music. I am referring to all parties, everywhere, all year round. Going all out, Sasha and John rent a mega yacht and invite 400 close friends and fans to join them for this special event, the Sunset Cruise. This will prove to be a peak experience in the lives of many of these party goers – not just of the year, but of their party-going careers.

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Miami Red Bull Thre3Style Miami: What You Missed

by Shop Keeper

March 31, 2010 - 2:51 pm

If Red Bull Thre3Style were a disease by now, you’d probably have it. And if you didn’t have it, well, you’d probably want to catch it for a while. If it seems as though a new club every week is playing host to the Red Bull-sponsored DJ battle, it’s probably because it’s true — 3Style is spreading across the nation like a virus, and people are starting to realize its showdown-style premise and display of virtuosity makes for one of those events that, even for those who aren’t DJ aficionados, will make you love it for the competition. So here’s a peek at what was going down in Miami last week.

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Gallery Miami Winter Music Conference at the Clevelander

by Shop Keeper and Angel Tagudin

March 29, 2010 - 11:41 am

This month, the Winter Music Conference in Miami celebrated its 25th anniversary, and it’s safe to say things have come quite a long way — and maybe not so long — since its inception in 1985. But there’s been some speculation about the WMC in the past few years: is it relevant? Or has it devolved from the trend-setting, groundbreaking event thousands of people flock to every year, to something insipid and boring?

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