After emerging onto the scene in 2013, WEISS has ascended through the dance music ranks at an impressive rate, receiving support from a host of legends ranging from Armand van Helden, Eats Everything and Carl Cox to Elton John along the way. His 2018 hit single ‘Feel My Needs’ took the world by storm, reaching #1 in both the BBC Radio 1 Dance Chart and ARIA Club Chart (also being voted the #1 track for the year), and winning ‘Best Track’ at the DJ Mag ‘Best of British’ awards.
WEISS has circled the globe countless times to complete tours worldwide, in the latter part of 2019 he embarked on his biggest ever tours of North America and Oceania covering 30 dates across 7 weeks. It is this connection that brings WEISS and his experiences to CULTR. We present, WEISS’ Around The World.
Los Angeles
California
The mad thing is I wasn’t originally the biggest fan of LA but I’ve fallen in love with it more and more over the years. The restaurants are incredible and if you’re lucky & get an offer to party at someone’s house in the hills, then take it!!
Ibiza
Spain
It’s always a No.1 go to place for me to party with my friends during the summer. Not only is the nightlife amazing but Old Town is a real mix of old & new with a chilled atmosphere and beautiful restaurants.
Barbados
Carribbean
Barbados has a special place in my heart: I went there as a kid and love the beaches & crystal clear water. Waking up in the morning and finding yourself surrounded by red crabs and swiminning with the turtles is a memory I’ll never forget.
OTR has just embarked on his most fulfilling venture in his young career thus far. With the release of his debut album “Lost At Midnight” via Astralwerks, it is exciting to see the artist’s vision finally coming to fruition. Featuring artists like Panama, Shallou, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, Au/Ra, and more, the 12-track LP serves as a digital embodiment of the talent rooted in the 26-year old aerospace engineer-turned-producer.
The captivating project will throw you into a whirlwind of emotions as you are captured by the records alluring atmosphere. Offering enchanting soundscapes, melancholic chord progressions, and catchy toplines along the way, “Lost At Midnight” evidently reaches the peak of electro-pop. Pulling you by the heartstrings, OTR effortlessly transports the listener into a pit of vulnerability which is the very essence as to why the album is incredibly addictive to listen to in the first place. Finally showcasing his genius to the world, we can safely declare that this is OTR’s moment.
“Writing the album over the last two years was an incredible experience. Now that it’s out, I’m happy to see people empathize with the raw emotion I put into each track, signifying different points in my life.” – OTR
With all that being said, what better way to pinpoint the significance of this album than to hear it from the artist himself. Hear the story of how he put this all together in the track-by-track breakdown below.
Shawn Mendes and Cuban born Camila Cabello released their joint single, “Señorita,” last week via Island Records. The song achieved instantaneous success worldwide rocketing to #1 on Spotify’s Global chart as the biggest single-day debut of a male/female duet ever. The video garnered 50 million YouTube streams in the first 48 hours of release while trending #1 around the globe. Other notable chart #1s include Spotify US Chart, iTunes, Apple Music Pop and Apple Music’s Top Videos.
GRAMMY nominated Toronto born multi-platinum singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes released his highly anticipated self-titled third album in May 2018. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart as well as multiple additional worldwide markets, including Australia, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Holland & more and shot to #1 on iTunes in more than 80 countries immediately upon release. The album became one of the top best-selling album debuts of 2018 and made Shawn the third youngest solo artist to ever have three consecutive #1 albums.
Multi Grammy nominated Cuban born singer/songwriter Camila Cabello (Epic Records / SYCO) released her debut solo album, CAMILA in January 2018 to rave reviews. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart at the same time as her single “Havana” Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Camila the first solo artist in nearly 15 years to reach the #1 spot on the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and Artist 100 charts in the same week. The RIAA platinum-certified album, CAMILA, launched its debut at #1 on 110 iTunes charts around the world, breaking the record for most #1 positions for a debut album in iTunes history. Camila also became the #1 artist on global Spotify.
Ferry Corsten is back with his latest ‘Unity’ collaboration, after releasing the last one with Ilan Bluestone back in December – Ferry has teamed up with BT for a special collaboration in ‘1997‘.
Ferry Corsten has been busy with solo music in the first half of 2019, releasing ‘Freefall‘ – which feels like a more commercially viable release. He also returned to his Gouryella alias with ‘Surga‘.
Ferry Corsten has brought in another big name into the Unity project, with the legend that is BT. After remixing BT’s track ‘Suddenly’ in 2010, the pair are familiar with each other’s prowess in the studio, and that united vision is showcased in abundance. The team-up sees both artists strengths utilised to their best potential to create a track that is greater than the sum of its parts. As it should, the production leans heavily on the killer uplifting melody – which is a prominent throughout the entire track. The mix of each artist’s styles is present and concludes in an epic collaboration.
Ferry launched the UNITY project in 2018 with his collaboration alongside Paul Oakenfold titled ‘A Slice Of Heaven’, and continued working with artists within the Trance community throughout the year, such as DIM3NSION, Jordan Suckley, Saad Ayub and Ilan Bluestone, and after the success of 2018 has more releases in store after making his first donation to project partner, VH1’s Save The Music Foundation, an organisation launched to reinstate music programs in public schools, which to date has raised over $53 million and helped over 2,100 public schools.
The Holidays are rapidly approaching with many of us finishing up the last of our gift shopping and travel preparations to see family and friends. For most of us, these are set to a soundtrack of classics like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” “Last Christmas” by Wham!, and–of course–the immortal performances of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole. But what about people who don’t want the old jazzy big band and pop standards? Especially those EDM fans out there that want to get into the Holiday spirit to the BPM of their own drum? Well, thankfully, our friends at Deezer are here to help us better understand the needs of those EDM fans, and how to connect them with the holiday tunes they’ll love.
We sat down with Robin Wilms, who is the Global Dance & Electronic Editor for Deezer, to discuss his role with playlists, how he curates the ultimate EDM playlist for the Holiday season, and his favorite songs that get him in the Holiday spirit.
What is the editor’s role in terms of creating a playlist?
It’s always the editor’s goal to compile a selection of tracks to match the concept and/or the theme. There’s no one “right way” to create a playlist, as every editor has their own approach. I typically like to begin with a concept (the mood, the decade, the moment) and a genre (and sub-genre). Then, I pick one track that embodies that concept, and then build my playlist from there, track-by-track.
When people think Christmas music EDM is far from the first thought. How does your playlist look to challenge that notion and inspire people to get into the Holiday Spirit with the non-traditional sounds of EDM?
My “Chilled Holiday ” playlist is geared towards EDM fans who don’t necessarily want to hear traditional holiday music. I’m not trying to replace classics by Wham! or Whitney Houston. My goal is to create a holiday spirit and mood that our EDM fans want to listen to. It can range from chilled beats while enjoying a holiday meal to instrumental beats as background music. It’s a good compromise for family members who may not necessarily be EDM fans. I’ve tried this at my own family get together with great success!
How would you curate someone’s morning to night on the day of the Office Holiday Party?
There are a couple of tracks that can easily transition from day to night starting from the moment you wake up until your head hits your pillow again. My top picks are:
How does the quick transition from the Holidays to New Years influence your playlists? Or do you curate a mood that can withstand the entire month?
Switching moods from the seasonal holidays to New Year’s doesn’t really affect what goes into the playlist that much. There is usually an increase or a spike for certain playlists as we get closer to the actual holiday. For example, festive and upbeat music tends to get played more frequently in the days and hours leading up to the new year. Editorially, we adapt to this change and offer more dance floor-ready playlists. One track that I know I’ll definitely include for NYE will be Peggy Gou’s ‘Starry Night’. It’s extremely addictive and instantly sets the atmosphere for NYE. Honestly, how can you go wrong with a title like “Starry Night.”
What are some elements that make a great Holiday EDM track? Any particular BPMs, style, genres, or sounds?
When you’re hosting friends or family it makes sense to consider a slower BPM. Uptempo beats and loud vocals can be distracting and even annoying when you’re trying to talk to people. The playlist that I created here include specific synth sounds, melodies, and vocals that are uplifting or positive. I included some recognizable tracks that veer on the pop side, as they can be a good conversation starter as well. It’s the perfect playlist to play if you’re looking for something non-traditional.
If you could choose any song (doesn’t have to be released within the last year) which tracks would make up the ultimate EDM Holiday playlist?
I’m really into Pablo Nouvelle’s album, ‘Atlas Internet Café’ on Armin van Buuren’s sublabel ‘Armada Electronic Elements.’ The album starts out with a clever instrumental track that sets the tone for the entire album. It’s a beautiful album where every single track takes a surprising turn, while maintaining a dreamy and synth-driven bedroom electronica sound, which is both unpredictable and delightful.
It’s going to be a rough start to the year for more than 20 staff at Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group.
2018 wasn’t smooth sailing as we saw Billboard’s CEO, John Amato, forced to step down following an internal investigation into the fact that he had prevented or influenced or halted reporting about serious sexual abuse allegations against a leading music exec, Charlie Walk, who also happens to be his personal friend. It was reported he recieved an $18 Million US settlement upon his departure which makes it even more painful to hear the company has laid off it’s staff. Key exits include Dana Miller, the media group’s Chief Marketing Officer, and Jayme Klock, Managing Editor for Billboard’s magazine.
At the annual CES convention this past week we were introduced to a variety of new tech developments, innovations and proposals. We also learned a few new facts about Spotify and their plans coming into the new year regarding Podcasts.
The service now has over 200 million users, a notable twice the size of the next competitors, in which have avenues to up-sell and on sell with existing services and technology products such as Amazon with Alexa & Prime, and Apple Music with their phones, MacBooks and watches which all build intuitively with Apple Music.
The milestone means a 9 Million increase in users since November when it was revealed they had 191 million followers. However, it is reported that 109 million of those are only on ad-supported free tiers. Meaning more than 50% of the users are paying artists with ad views and listens, a method that pays out less than that of paid users streaming the same song and a bad thing for artists, but still better than YouTube.
Spotify noted that it’s future plans are built around trying to grow its market share in new regions and those who haven’t embraced it, such as in 2018 launching in South Africa and the Middle East. India will be the next big market for streaming music dominance which will have the potential to allow artists a way to tap into a market that is otherwise dominated by Savvn and is speculated to be a leverage tool for the major labels.
“We’ve said all along, we want to focus on growth, We believe in being a profitable company, but first and foremost we have to grow and get to regions of the world that still don’t have Spotify. There are still parts of the United States where Spotify is not widely used. So I think the company has done a great job of prioritizing growth and making the service better, because there’s a lot of competition and we’re only as good as the user thinks we are so we have to continue to enhance our service.”
— Dustee Jenkins, Spotify Global Head of Communications
Further to their portfolio, they demonstrated that Podcasts which are mostly funded by private advertisers currently will become a major focus for the company in coming months and will include more original shows and improvements to the functions and user interface on the Podcast section of the Spotify App.
“We believe there is a future – a significant opportunity in podcasts. It’s a game-change.”
— Dustee Jenkins
Be sure to check out our Playlist and Podcasts sections to see our favourite shows in Music, True Crime, Comedy and much more.
