Merry Christmas everyone! 2012 was a great year for EDM and 2013 is sure to be bigger. Here’s some highlights I had from 2012, hope you enjoy.
Top 3 Festivals:
Tomorrowland: Although I haven’t been to them all, Tomorrowland was the best festival I’ve ever been to in my life. This massive festival is located in Boom, Belgium and brings a few hundred thousand music lovers from across the globe to come together in one insane EDM event. Tomorrowland 2012 hosted over 400 DJs including Hardwell, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Thomas Gold, The Bloody Beetroots, Avicii, Carl Cox, Fat Boy Slim, Alesso, John Digweed, Above and Beyond, Mat Zo, Zedd and the list goes on and on and on. There were 15 unique stages that had incredible design and thought placed into them, whether it be in a cave, on a pier, or a giant “Book of Wisdom” that opened up and announced upcoming acts. The production of Tomorrowland is beyond over the top. Big mushrooms projecting bubble over the crowds, airplanes dropping confetti, more fireworks than the 4th of July, and a giant Ferris wheel are just a taste of some of the magical features you can expect during your attendance. Dreamville is a camping site known as home to over 30,000 festival goers where the party just doesn’t stop for 5 days. If you ever have a chance to go, do not miss the opportunity. But be warned, 2 million people were in queue for tickets the second they went on sale so I would make sure you secure tickets before you jump the pond. 
EDC Las Vegas: Despite having to shut down one of the days due toe excessive wind and sand storms, EDC Las Vegas was a highlight of 2012 in the EDM community. Another all star line up including Calvin Harris, Avicii, Above and Beyond, Kaskade, Bassnectar, Feed Me and many others, always makes for great music which will draw crowds. However, it’s the carnival-rave atmosphere that separates EDC from all the other festivals around the world. Starting around 8PM and going all night into morning, EDC‘s dark environment is the perfect setting for bright lights and carnival rides. The festival also tried to rectify some of the weather misfortunes by having Avicii and Armin van Buuren play surprise sets on Sunday. All in all, great festival and I can’t wait to go in 2013. More tickets are available January 9th, 2013 noon PT.
Ultra Miami: Ultra Music Festival has made some major announcements this year in making the festival back to back weekends which seems to be one of the only ways they could improve on the success of past years. With line ups including Tiesto, Afrojack, Hardwell, Armin van Buuren, Knife Party, and a hundred others it’s not hard to see why. Over 165,000 people were in attendance for this record breaking year and it’s growing rapidly in fans. Next year’s improvement’s will most likely include spacing the stages out a little more, and telling Madonna the wrong address.
Top 5 Tracks of 2012:
Calling – Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso feat. Ryan Tedder (Lose My Mind Remix)
Language – Porter Robinson
The Night Out – Martin Solveig (Madeon Remix)
Spectrum – Zedd feat. Matthew Koma
Sparks – Fedde le Grand and Nicky Romero feat. Matthew Koma
Top 3 Break Through Artists:
M4SONIC – 21 year old Australian producer, M4SONIC, has taken a whole new approach to “live” performance sets. To clearly separate himself from the “button pushers,” M4SONIC uses the Novation Launchpad to perform and create new sampled tracks. If you haven’t seen how talented this rising star is the video below will not only demonstrate his abilities with the Launchpad, but his incredible talent of using multiple Launchpads in a live setting. This incredibly talented newcomer is sure to be a sensation in 2013 so keep your eyes peeled.
Madeon – Hugo Pierre Leclercq is 18 year old French prodigy that we all know as Madeon. He began composing music at age 11 and has won several mixing competitions since then. Like M4SONIC, his live performances include live mixing and sampling with the Novation Launchpad. 2012 was a huge year for the youngster playing in dozens of festivals and shows all over the world including Coachella, EDC, and Ultra. He also released his hit track The City which has had enormous success. With already so much accomplished at such a young age, it seems like the sky is the limit for Madeon in 2013.
Knife Party – Formally from Pendulum, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen formed Knife Party in 2011 and blew people’s minds with Internet Friends. Their second EP, Rage Valley, was released earlier this year and got a great response from dubstep and drum and bass fans everywhere. Everything they touch turns to dubstep gold, whether it be moombahton with Bonfire or a heavy banger like their remix of Save the World Tonight. A few days ago Knife Party gave an early Christmas present and tweeted that they “… will preview the third EP in a live streamed set from The Opera House on Feb 1st, and it’ll be released shortly after that. Merry Xmas :).” 2012 was a big year for the duo and 2013 is sure to start off on the right foot.
