US Rapper Mac Miller (Malcolm James McCormick) has passed away at the young age of 26. His world famous collaborations include ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande, Meek Mill, School Boy Q, B.o.B and ‘Moves Like Jagger’ with Maroon 5. He had reportedly battled with drug addiction for many years and showed signs of struggle earlier this year when he wrapped his car around a pole and fled the scene, it’s been reported he died of an overdose. 

Mac Miller released his latest album ‘Swimming’ this past Monday and had an extensive North American tour set to begin shortly. Hauntingly the first single on the album is titled ‘Come Back To Earth’ features lyrics such as “I’ll do anything for a way out”, perhaps he held on just enough to see the release, however it’s unknown at this point whether his overdose was accidental.

With what will be a shock to every dance music fan, Hardwell has just announced he is quitting indefinitely. At just 30 years old, Hardwell will be handing up the headphones. Having announced on his Facebook that all shows and all “targets, interviews, deadlines, release dates” will be cleared.

After his last show in Ibiza yesterday, Hardwell has concluded his touring schedule, with one more show; his all ages performance at the Ziggo Dome during Amsterdam Dance Event on the 18th of October 2018.

This leave of absence is not the first time Hardwell had to step away from the music, in his 2014 Documentary, I AM HARDWELL, a bout of burnout was as a previous cause for Hardwell to cancel shows as he traveled the globe continuously and became violently ill.

After what occurred with Avicii, major DJ’s need to re-evaluate their touring and schedule so that they don’t burn out and lose their passion in the scene. Let’s hope for the sake of dance music, this isn’t the last we see of Hardwell. With music like ‘Spaceman’, ‘Apollo’ as well as some quality music coming out from the Dutch DJ this year, the dance music world needs more Hardwell. We can only hope as fans that he takes the time to recuperate and find what he is looking for, and to return once again to be the powerhouse that is Hardwell.

His Facebook post reads:

Hello world,

Ever since I was a little kid I dreamed of the life I live this very moment. A life filled with music, real human interaction and the freedom to express myself in the purest form I know.

I have grown from an ambitious kid with everything to gain into the 30-year old I am today whilst evolving as an artist with triple the speed of my aging process. Over the past few years I’ve come to know myself better and better and over time I realized that there’s still so much I want to share with my family and friends, so many roads I’d like to explore, but being Hardwell 24/7 leaves too little energy, love, creativity and attention for my life as a normal person to do so.

This is why I have decided to clear my schedule indefinitely to be completely liberated from targets, interviews, deadlines, release dates, etc. I’ve always dealt with all the pressure that comes with the heavy touring schedule, but for now, it felt too much, like a never ending rollercoaster ride. I always try to give myself 200% and in order to keep doing that, and feeding my creativity, I need some time off to be me, the person behind the artist and reflect on everything that happened the last few years. That means my touring schedule has ended yesterday on Ibiza on September 6th, 2018 with a bang. However, I will still do my All Ages show in the Ziggo Dome during Amsterdam Dance Event on the 18th of October 2018.

I’ll keep making music and I will never let go of it and will always aim to continue to connect with my fans through it.

Last but not least I want to thank every single one of my fans for the support so far. It is your love and dedication for all I’ve put out there that helped me evolve in more ways than I ever could have imagined, and I realize that I do owe everything to you all. My sincerest hope is that we will be able to continue this journey together. I want to come back stronger than ever, but for now, I’m just going to be me for a while.

Robbert

It’s been a busy year for Vicious’ favorite South American son DIRTYLOUD, after a cruisey 1.3 Million streams on his last single “Better”, and a few major festival performances, the Brazilian native returns to Vicious with a HUGE new single! A fresh take on the 1992 anthem “FINALLY”, giant piano chords are combined with clever vocal cuts, layered with airy pads and rounded out with punchy basslines to bring us a massive track that is sure to be heard all around the world at festivals and clubs alike.

This festival / future house anthem is rounded out with a massive hand picked remix package, including a nostalgic nod to 2008, a reminiscent progressive house remix from VANDALISM, combining upbeat basslines and upright pianos JOLYON PETCH brings us a catchy vocal house remix, and rounding out the package is Marcus Knight who delivers a catchy spaced out tech house groove!

‘Finally’ by Dirtyloud is out now!
Make sure you stream or download HERE.

Coming off a fresh remix of Snugs ‘Radio Silence’ last month, KVMO is back with his new Single ‘Follow Me’. With all large percentage of releases boasting hundreds of thousands of plays, there is no doubt that KVMO is quality. ‘Follow Me’ featuring lyrics from Loè, is a unique track with fierce guitar strings and strong vocals. It was just released by Metanoia and defiantly worth a listen.

If you’re not a fan of Afrojack’s commercial music, you are going to like this EP. The ‘Press Play’ EP includes exactly what made Afrojack; electro dutch styled music. Every single track is a hard hitting club record, that will definitely go down well in Afrojack’s sets. It is quite surprising that he has decided to release this under his ‘Afrojack’ moniker, as he usually reserves hard tracks for his NLW (Nick van de Wall) alias. 

Here’s what Afrojack has to say about his exciting new release:
 

“For me, this was more of a journey to show a different side of me with the different styles of music I’ve been doing. I’ve been playing a lot of tracks with the new artists I signed to my label in my sets, so it made sense to put out all of the music fans have been hearing since Ultra this year on the EP. You’ll hear familiar and unfamiliar sounds with some great artists and I can’t wait for the fans to hear it all.”

As you can see by the songs listed below, the EP includes collaboration with fellow friend and frequent collaborator, MC Ambush. As well as music together with Jewelz & Sparks, BROHUG, Titus, Chaser, Chico Rose (Ravitez), DISTO, Ricky Breaker and the last track of the EP with Oliver Twizt & Angger Dimas.