Just FYI, for all of the R&B, hip hop and straight up rap we had in our aural universe last year, not a single person of color had a number one hit. No Robin Thicke, in all his gropey ass glory, doesn’t count. No black artist had a top #1 Billboard hit, for the first time in over 50 years. I’m not sure what to think about this, but I hadn’t heard it reported anywhere, so I wanted to make a note of it. Cultural appropriation isn’t cool guys. (via Colorlines)
While some of us had the good sense to not miss their debut performance at A State of Trance 600 (reported on here), the rest of the dance music world got their first taste of the New World Punx, the new mega-collab between Ferry Corsten & Markus Schulz, at either Roseland in NYC or Palladium in LA. The act is harder, more in your face and definitely way less ethereal and smooth than an act like Above & Beyond or something of the like. However, this is by design, as the two mega stars relayed to Billboard last week.
Romper is an intense, stompy track that infuses a serious amount of “you’re two steps from hardstyle” energy into the dance floor. They are acutely aware of the stagnation of mainstage dance music these days, and as Billboard reports, they’re down to drop the drop as it were. Keep the energy up throughout the set, and not wait for the same build/drop/blowout formula that caught trance, electro, house and is slowly entangling trap within its unimaginative tentacles.
Terry Gotham 