Zedd, Porter Robinson, et Madeon

Anton Zaslavki is a grammy winning DJ and producer, and is one of the top EDM artists, but is better known as Zedd. Like most EDM stars these days, a lot of his tracks feature other artists, usually vocalists like his grammy winning song “ Clarity” which features Foxes. But what you may not know is that Zedd is also a classically trained pianist making him a multi-talented artist, as opposed to the “EDM DJs only push buttons and are not real artist” reputation. Knowing this information, you get a better realization of where his inspiration comes from when he makes his own tracks. When given the opportunity, like when I was able to see him live, he played the piano for the popular song “Stay The Night,” instead of staying behind the DJ equipment.
The biggest problem that you encounter with such a huge DJ is that when they have their live sets, the artists that they collaborate with may not be there. Case in point: Hayley Williams, the original vocalist for “Stay The Night” was on tour with her own band and could not make this performance. This meant Zedd needing to use another vocalist, or the recorded track. He went with another vocalist, who wasn’t so great.
Regardless of these possibilities, Zedd is an EDM genius, and his shows are super energetic and loads of fun.

Recently, EDM has taken the U.S. by storm. Festivals and concerts are popping up everywhere, it’s played all over the radios and these once unknown DJs have become part of our music industry like any other well-known artist. All DJ sets seem to be compromised of a common formula: build up, drop, transition and repeat. Many of these DJs just take this mindset, play an intense set and call it a day. But there’s something special about Porter Robinson and when he’s performing you know it’s a Porter set. It oozes his personality, gives off his own flare and voice— and even if you don’t know much about Porter it’s like his set gives you a glimpse into his creative mind. Ultra Miami 2013, weekend two to be exact - that’s when I first saw him live. If you’ve either witnessed it in person or through the live stream, the Ultra Worldwide stage attracted tens of thousands of people in a space that was probably less than 200 feet long and wide. Not exactly ideal spectator conditions. I was sardined between the people around as I squirmed my way to the front because there was no way I wasn’t going to be front and center for my favorite artist of all time. When Porter came on, the crowd went wild as he played his classic tracks like “Unison” while throwing in some unique material ranging from 172bpm, techno and hardstyle—not your typical EDM set. And that’s what made it so amazing because no one saw it coming. He’s a risk taker and he plays what he believes in, not repeated mainstream music that’s been butchered over and over again. Mixed with his amazing video and light set that shined geometric patterns and beautiful digitally created landscaping like mountains and fields, everything about his set was Porter. The energy was incredible and I even forgot how little space I had as I slowly, but surely grooved my way to the front. Twenty minutes in, I made it. Porter just started playing “Easy” (feat. Mat Zo) and the crowd exploded in energy to his hit single. I shyly turned to this six-foot guy raging next to me asking if he could put me on his shoulders. He gladly obliged and as I rose, every other girl doing a double decker came down and in that moment, I was the only person seven feet above ten thousand people. I’m in tears trying to explain the absolute awe and adrenaline rush I experienced—no words to even describe the pure natural euphoria I felt as I looked to the front and see Porter jamming out as the chorus of “Easy” roles in and everyone including me was screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs. Porter appropriately ended the emotional roller coaster that was his set with the famous “Language." That song says so little yet so much sentiment is given off by it and it just touches the soul. A perfect farewell song to a beautifully composed set.

At the tender age of twenty, Hugo Pierre Leclercq is younger than most - many of his contemporaries included, as well as your humble reviewer - but that hasn’t stopped him from making a serious mark on the house music scene in his native France; hailing from Nantes, the youngster better known as Madeon has shaken up the movement in a serious way. He’s been making music from when he was just eleven years old, when he got into trance - trance! He was eleven! - and put together compositions under the name of DJ Deamon, but it was in 2011 that he really came to the fore, with his ‘Pop Culture’ video on YouTube; it clocked up in excess of six million views in just a few days. Since then, he’s released a debut single ‘Icarus’, and an EP titled The City to widespread critical acclaim; in an almost comical twist of irony, both have proved big hits in clubs that he’s barely old enough to gain admittance to. That might explain, actually, why he’s hit the festival circuit so hard, playing to massive crowds at the likes of Creamfields last summer to rapturous reviews; there’s hints of that old trance element in his set, but he mainly channels the fresh French house sound that he pioneered so knowingly - this kid could well be the future of the genre.