Electric Zoo 2016 is quickly approaching! Will you be there? Let us know in the comments!
Can you believe it’s already August? Electric Zoo 2016 is approaching rapidly, and I don’t know about you – but this massive lineup for this year’s “Wild Island” party is making my head spin. With so many huge headliners such as Porter Robinson (Live) Bassnectar, Hardwell, The Chainsmokers, Blasterjaxx, and more, the mainstage this year is stacked with EDM giants across the spectrum of the genre. Aside from the main stage, notable artists will be performing on the Dim Mak, Anjunadeep, Buygore and ANTS stages where you can catch talented acts like Borgore, GTA, Lil Dicky, Getter (Buygore), Steve Aoki, 3Lau, Rain Main (Dim Mak), Way Out West, Moon Boots, Lane 8 (Anjunadeep), and Joris Voorn, Henrick Schwartz, &Me (ANTS).
Still haven’t bought tickets yet? Click HERE for information!
This is an insane lineup with some great artists with all types of dance music covered, so picking and choosing an itinerary will certainly be difficult, but based on who I’ve seen live, who has made moves in 2016, and artists that are my new and old favorites, here are the ones that I certainly won’t be missing.
Cliff’s Top 10 Artists at Electric Zoo 2016: Wild Island
Porter Robinson
Porter Robinson‘s 2014 Worlds album was critically acclaimed by fans and execs across the board. Tracks like Language, Divinity, and Sad Machine were unlike anything else we’d heard, but received such unbelievable success and positive responses at the same.
If you weren’t lucky enough to catch the accompanying live “Worlds” tour which included unique intermissions, story telling, original tracks, and surprises, it has been described as, and mutually agreed upon as NOT a simply a rave, DJ set, or standard live performance but a true journey through music, space and time. Both the record and the tour has set him apart from trend following EDM acts, put him in an artistic lane of his own, and cemented Porter as one of the fastest rising and most talked about artists of the last several years.
Porter recently released 3 new edits at Hard Summer this year, keeping us on the edge of our seats, and this year he will be performing a live set at Electric Zoo. His creativity seems to be limitless, and possibilities for what he could bring to the stage are never-ending.
Check out Porter Robinson at Hard Summer 2016:
Out of nowhere, Porter has also blessed us with a new track entitled “Shelter“ with Madeon, and announced an accompanying tour to go with it – getting us even more excited just in time for Electric Zoo!
Can’t get enough Porter Robinson? Check out Zach’s top 10 favorite tracks of his.
Vanic
Vancouver’s Vanic appeared on the scene about two years ago, and blew up last year with an edit of alternative artist K.Flay‘s Can’t Sleep. The track quickly caught attention online, leading to two more fire collabs with K. Flay: “Make Me Fade” and “The Cops”, as well as remixes of Coleman Hell’s “Two Heads”, Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast” and Major Lazer’s “Be Together”
Vanic subsequently toured across the United States and Canada, boasting sold out shows in major cities, and began popping up on festival lineups like Coachella, Snowglobe and Moonrise Festival not shortly after. This is an artist who, without a debut album or EP, has managed to fill nightclubs and pack festival stages around the country and shouldn’t be slept on.
He’s done an edit of another of K. Flay’s tracks entitled “FML” and is sure to bring some heat to the main stage on Day 2 (September 3rd).
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Gareth Emery
By now, everyone is familiar with Gareth Emery’s name and his dance floor anthem “Concrete Angel”, but he’s had more than a few tricks up his sleeve lately that have had fans shifting their eyes back on to him.
Fans have been buzzing about his set at EDC Las Vegas 2016 this year, which, in my opinion, was fantastic and better than everyone was expecting. It felt fresh and new, but brought out both his own and other artists’ trance classics, appeasing long familiar fans and those flocking to the genre as it’s popularity continues to resurge.
He is truly an artist out of a handful who can take trance fans on a journey while playing a set of mostly his own music. With many artists performing at the same time as he during night 3 of EDC, those who chose to spend those final hours with him were far from disappointed.
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In more recent months, his own spin on “Getaway” from Tritonal and Angel Taylor has caught traction online and is on it’s way to becoming a well and often played euphoric trance track around the globe. Gareth Emery is definitely the artist to bring the progressive trance Electric Zoo needs, and with his recent great work in the studio and spectacular live performances he should do a fantastic job representing the genre.
Pierce Fulton
Pierce Fulton has been producing house music since 2009, and his hit track “Kuaga” was a popular, radio friendly summer anthem that helped him spring on the mainstream scene and into listeners’ ears quickly in 2014. Since then, he’s proven himself to be a multifaceted and experimental artist with a diverse musical palette to please, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down or going anywhere anytime soon.
Missed our recent interview with Pierce Fulton? Check it out HERE.
With a strong musical background, Pierce Fulton produces, DJs, and plays guitar as well, and has been able to showcase all his talents on his Borrowed Lives EP, which was just released this summer and features “Pantheon” which, in addition to the rest of the EP, has been positively received so far.
Stream Pierce Fulton’s “Borrowed Lives” by Pierce Fulton below:
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On the festival side, Pierce Fulton tends to play a lot more of his own music at festivals as opposed to nightclubs where he plays a more radio friendly club set to please the dancefloor, so we can definitely expect to hear “Pantheon” and more of the “Borrowed Lives” EP, and see him get creative on stage.
The Polish Ambassador
Oakland’s own The Polish Ambassador‘s goofy, lighthearted stage persona is as equally entertaining as his unique blend of catchy, danceable electropop that incorporates hip-hop and chiptune elements to get your feet moving. The Ambassador has recently released a new album entitled Dreaming of an Old Tomorrow and has toured this summer since the record’s release. Notable tracks include “Tornado” featuring Matisyahu and “Chill Or Be Chilled” featuring Nitty Scott.
Sitting at the helm of his own Jumpsuit Records, The Polish Ambassador has his own creative freedom to produce and release his own content to his liking. The Polish Ambassador is also 1/2 of the duo Wildlight, which has just released a record entitled “The Tide” less than a year ago under the same label.
These funky, groovy, laid back tunes should fit right in on “Wild Island” this year, and please those looking for an alternative to big room house or radio friendly EDM.
Stream The Polish Ambassador’s Dreaming of an Old Tomorrow below:
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Hermitude
Australian duo Luke Dubs and El Gusto, aka Hermitude have been collaborating together since the mid 90s under a variety of identities, but formed Hermitude in 2000 and haven’t looked back since solidifying their own unique hip-hop/dance sound which has been acclaimed by artists like Dizzee Rascal, RJD2 and DJ Krush which provided them opportunities to tour with these artists all over the world.
Hermitude’s most recent record Dark Night Sweet Light, has been well received by fans at stages all across the country since its release, including Bonnaroo, What The Fest, Camp Bisco, Soulstice, and Moonrise Festival, and it seems that the duo is unstoppable and on track to becoming bigger than ever expected.
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Hermitude will also be supporting Flume in Miami, St. Petersburg and New Orleans in September, more information here!
Kiss The Sky
New York City locals Rich Urraro and Jason Bach, aka Kiss the Sky are well on their way to becoming prominent figures in house music on the East Coast and beyond. Initially collaborating in hardcore rock bands together over six years ago, the duo has stuck to their love of music and found success after segueing into the electronic music genre, performing at some of the Big Apple’s hottest nightclubs and events.
As resident DJs of Pacha NYC before it’s closing, the duo has performed alongside Steve Angello, Chuckie at Marquee New York, Electric Daisy Carnival New York and will be taking the Treehouse Stage at Electric Zoo this year. Kiss the Sky provides a groovy, melodic twist on house and popular top 40 tracks with a nice flow that avoids overly simplistic drops and transitions to get the party started.
Check out our recent interview with Kiss the Sky HERE!
Stream their Music Lovers Anonymous Guest Mix below:
NGHTMRE
Tyler Marenyi, aka NGHTMRE has been on fire this summer, steadily releasing original tracks and remixes ranging from trap to moombahton and touring all over the country and world in 2016 where he’s drawn huge crowds at events like TomorrowWorld, Snow Globe, OMFG NYE, EDC Las Vegas and Lollapalooza.
Most recently, NGHTMRE has released a 6 track self-titled EP through Mad Decent, a perfectly crafted EP showcasing Marenyi’s many talents where he has written lyrics and sings vocals on his own tracks. To continue his momentum for the rest of the year, NGHTMRE has teamed up with Flux Pavilion to create a new track called “Feel Your Love”, a heavy and hard-hitting bass track which is backed with vocals by the talented Jaime Lewis.
Check out NGHTMRE and Flux Pavilion’s “Feel Your Love” below:
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Bassnectar
Bassnectar is truly something else. The combination of Lorin Ashton’s beautifully crafted records, passionate fan base and spectacular live acts that had some Colorado residents mistake his live performance for a literal force of nature always seem to keep him at the center of attention. Bassnectar is constantly busy and has barely tapped the brakes since his career’s inception, releasing a full length album almost every single year, with a busy touring schedule to follow nearly every single time, while releasing EPs and remixes in between.
With his incredible success of his Noise vs. Beauty record in 2014 with a sold out tour and packed stages around the globe to follow the release, topping and out doing himself must be a daunting challenge, but he’s stepped up to the task with the release of Unlimited this past June, a record that seems to revisit Bassnectar’s earlier works, dancing between hard-hitting bass, entrancing melodies, and hip-hop elements. Notable collaborators on this record include The Glitch Mob, Gnar Gnar, and Crywolf.
Steam Bassnectar’s “Unlimited” Below:
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The Chainsmokers
Initially written off as a one hit wonder, The Chainsmokers have continued to defy expectations since the release of their viral hit “Selfie”.
The “nice hair” duo Andrew Taggart and Alex Paul have continued to grow, evolve and roll with the punches since they first exploded onto the scene and have become involved in every aspect of the EDM scene and the entertainment business as a whole.
They are producers, DJs, radio hosts on Sirius XM, and sometimes even television personalities; performing on events like American Idol and The Tonight Show hosted by Jimmy Fallon, shows that had never featured electronic dance music artists as performers before.
They have continuously released chart topping tracks: besides ”Selfie”, both “Roses” and “Don’t Let Me Down from their debut EP ”Boquet” have peaked at number one on the US dance charts; ”Closer” featuring Halsey has peaked at number four…and they’ve still managed to capture all this success without releasing a debut full length album so far.
Watch “Closer” by The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey below:
And this doesn’t even include their overwhelming collection of popular remixes with millions upon millions of listens online that surface at their live sets at events around the world.
Even if you have seen them perform before, this is an act that has, and as continuing to develop and solidify their own sound, and will always have something new to share at their next round of tours. Like it or not, The Chainsmokers are here to stay; this duo has broken through the glass ceiling that separates EDM acts from the rest of the music industry.
These are my personal favorites for this year’s Electric Zoo lineup, which is overwhelmingly diverse. Plan to see your favorite artists, and make peace with the fact that there may be conflicting set times, but above all, make sure to budget some time to explore, wander, and discover new artists. Who knows what you’ll find on Wild Island this year?
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