URN

So it’s the new term and more importantly, it’s summer, which as everyone knows dance music comes to the front of our audio spectrum. Whether it’s jetting off to Ibiza, lounging around on a Greek Island for a week or like me, hitting the worlds biggest dance music festival Creamfields late August, there is no escaping from 130+ bpm for the next few months.

So to mark the best time of the year, we have a new feature, artist in focus. Each week myself and Simon will highlight either a new rising star or veteran DJ who you will be hearing big things from this summer. More importantly you’ll be able to work out who the hell makes that song you keep hearing everywhere. Poor old Sydney Sampson, no one really knows who he is, yet Riverside fails to go away. So we’re going to give you a head start and show you who’s got the sound of summer 2010.

As exclusive parties go, Lost in a Cave has to take the biscuit. An eclectic mix of music lovers gathered Friday night for some hardcore house music which started off in a pub of all things. So I know what your first thought is, doesn’t sound like much of a rave, but oddly enough there was certainly a tension in the pub. A palpable air of excitement was clear, mainly because no one knew what to expect.
God that’s a posh paragraph to start off with, lets get back into some more Progression Remixed talk.

For a pub gig, and don’t worry it did progress, the dj’s were fantastic. A really strong set from the warm up guys included some strong funky house that was only let down by the fact there was just one guy dancing. Poor guy, poor djs.

So then it was time to move to the infamous caves. With glow sticks in hand, the party of us, around 60, headed next door, to another pub full of bikers (proper old school rockers with leather jackets) and straight through to the basement. And then the magic began.

For someone who's only ever been to Stealth for the big drum and bass nights, I never expected popping to Stealth for Wigflex vs Dealmaker to be such a different experience. Arriving just in time to hear the tail end of Metaphi's live set the first thing that struck me was the amount of space I had to boogie the night away. Nottingham local and Wiglfex resident Methaphi was busy dropping some lovely house-y dubsteppy-type sounds while the crowd got their drinks down, awaiting the appearance of Darkstar and Kode9.

Having been well into my hip-hop a few years back I couldn't miss out on a chance to catch the UK hip-hop legends that are Taskforce live on stage in the intimate surroundings of Stealth 2. Once the crowd was warmed up, and even though they got the crowd jumping with classics like Grafdabusup and Wha Blow, the show seemed a little tired. Taskforce, the genre-defining emcees of the late nineties and early noughties (is that what people are calling them?!) just didn't seem quite with it - the completely blank expression on Chester P's face when he wasn't on the mic painted a pretty grim picture of Taskforce in 2010.

Eric Prydz delivered on Saturday, pure and simple. 3 months ago he welcomed in the new decade headlining the Ministry of Sound O2 Arena gig. He is being billed as the 3rd biggest name to play the Saturday night at Ultra Festival, which kicks off in two weeks time in Miami and looks to be the biggest dance music festival to happen this year. He’s on the front cover of this months DJ mag. And last saturday he headlined a Saturday night at Gatecrasher Nottingham. Not entirely sure what the biggest achievement there is.

Being by far the biggest act the newly launched Fade Saturday night at Gatecrasher has for the next few months, the night had to deliver to encourage people back. With Funkagenda and Vitalic over the next two weeks, they lack the mainstream pulling power that your Prydz or Calvin Harris (30th May) have, so there was a lot pressure for Crasher to pull off a strong night.

DONAEOOOO, DONAEOOOOOO. Personally my favourite UKfunky/Dance music artist at the moment. This is one of my very first interviews on URN. After searching high and low for a copy to post up, this was the only one I could find.

Enjoy..

DJ Em