Photo of Bassnectar at Decadence 2015. Taken by Dom Ragusa – The Chronic Electronic
One of the most highly anticipated events of the year is none other than Global Dance’s own, Decadence! For their 6th year they are making it their biggest year yet! The City of Dreams is their theme for this year and it is ever so fitting. This is a place where people can let go of reality for two nights and take a musical journey through a beautiful city of lights in the Colorado Convention Center. Each year here it only seems to get better and with major head liners in the past such as, Deadmau5, Above and Beyond, Excision, Pretty Lights, Hardwell, Armin Van Buuren, and many many more… it is easy to see that they have potential to be one of the biggest events in the nation for New Years Eve. Check out who they have announced so far for this 2016 end of the year extravaganza!
The following will cover each artist that is announced so far with a short bio of them and a video. It will go in “A.B.C” Order and by date, so the 30th will be first followed by the 31st artists. There is also a playlist that I compiled together for all these artists so you can discover music if you don’t know who they are. Check it out!
December 30th 2016
Bassnectar: Lorin Ashton has completely changed the electronic music scene. Starting the name “Bassnectar” in 2001 and performing in 2002, he has come a long way breaking boundaries and creating some of the best parties ever. His first albums were ambient, break beat, electronica, type of goodness. As the years came he started to get deeper into trip hop, dubstep, glitchy type of electronic music. In 2010 his Timestrech EP came out, which held one of the most influential songs for our generation, “Bass head.” With this amazing song and the ever gaining popularity that Bassnectar already had, he exploded and created a mass following of fans called, you guessed it, Bassheads. Since then it has been nothing but bigger and better shows with harder and louder music and keeping up to date in technology with the best of LED screens, lights, and a massive team behind him with amazing talent on visual production. Check out a video from last years performance at Decadence.
Disclosure: Two brothers from England, Howard and Guy Lawrence released their first single “Offline Dexterity,” in 2010 under the name Disclosure. Gaining popularity fast in a couple of years in Europe they started to travel world wide, performing at festivals at events within just a couple years of their initial release. Starting in 2014 they were nominated for Best Dance/Electronica Album for “Settle” and again in 2016 for “Caracal.” Their music is a rather great mix of funk, electro-house, future UK garage, and deep house. Check out a video from on Djhectik06 on Youtube from their performance at The Observatory in Orange County.
Griz: Grant Kwiecinski was born and raised in Michigan. He began his music career 2011 where he created GRiZ along side with his own record label, “All Good Records.” On this label he has several different artists such as The Floozies, Manic Focus, Muzzy Bear who plays the guitar for GRiZ live often, The Geek x VRV, Sunsquabi, and Freddy Todd. He has 5 albums out so far, all of which are absolutely game changing for the electronic music scene. He produces a beautiful blend of electronic, melodic, funky, glitchy, soul, dubstep, and all while live with Muzzy Bear on guitar, or Griz himself with the saxophone! This is one of the hottest and most popular artists to see in our scene and since he has been living in Colorado for a couple of years, it has become his new home, in which case he brings the funk extra saxxy and the electronic music extra heavy! Check out his recap video of him at Burning Man and see just how versatile this brilliant man is.
Kasbo: A Young 19 year old producer from Sweden, Carl Garsbo, “Kasbo”, has been taking many by surprise with his unique taste on future melodic soul-filled house that can leave you in a trance or have the bass rock your face. He is a fresh artist to our scene and made his US debut to Hard’s Day of the Dead in October last year. Check out this up and coming artist with a popular future track that he has produced. (Can’t find much for live videos of him.)
Keys ‘n Krates: This Trio from Canada initially formed in 2008 with Hip-Hop acapella’s and heavy bass lines as their main production of live music. Over the years they have perfected their live music into harmonious and bass heavy trap with hip hop influence. Since they are a live band, they have received more attention than the average producers. Each set is played out live with drums, keyboards, and turn tables. They have released albums and singles on Dim Mak (Steve Aoki’s Label) and Mad Decent Records (Diplo’s Label), both huge record labels. On those releases they have produced some of the most iconic trap beats such as “Keep it 100” or “Dum Dee Dum”. Check out a video from their performance at Coachella 2015.
Marshmello: Up and coming (and already there) masked producer/DJ Marshmello has been taking the scene over with his exquisite selection on Future/Trap music and superb collabs with popular artists. In 2015 he released his first song and since then has released an album called “Joytime” and several releases as singles and remixes with artists such as Jauz, Slushii, Omar Linx, and more! With such a quick gain in popularity there are rumors that Marshmello is an Alias for DotCom, a dubstep producer. Check out a live video that he posted.
RL Grime VS Baauer: This act only comes together every so often, Trap Producers RL Grime and Baauer will be showcasing their taste and talent in music once again in Colorado. RL Grime and Baauer both started producing music around the same time (2011/2012) and both had one song that blew up early on that got their name out in the industry for them to become major artists. RL Grime produced a gnarly remix of Kanye West’s “Mercy” while Baauer producer an original trap anthem “Harlem Shake” that ended up becoming associated with viral videos of ridiculousness. (See compilation of Harlem Shake videos here)
Video of both of them together at Global Dance Festival at Red Rocks on Youtube By Christian Marano.
Zeds Dead: One of the most infamous and influential artists on the bass music scene is the Canadian Duo, Zeds Dead. Dylan Mamid (DC) and Zachary Rapp-Roven (Hooks), using the notorious catch phrase from the movie Pulp Fiction, “Zeds Dead” they have lived up to this revered reputation by producing some of the most grimey and world renowned electronic music. For years they have been producing amazing tracks covering multiple genres of music, now when you see Zeds Dead live, they have become so versatile that you don’t ever really know what kind of set they are going to play. They have so much to pull from but their most iconic is their dark dubstep. Check out their recap of Dead Rocks 2015
December 31st 2016
Big Wild: Jackson Stell is a producer, DJ, composer, and engineer that is also called Big Wild. With his experience in music he has a unique production method, so much so that within a couple years of producing he was brought onto Odesza’s tour and that is where Big Wild got really big. Following that in 2016 alone he has traveled to multiple festivals and shows internationally, and with his live funk filled electronic music he is a name that is going to be seen around a lot more.
Check out this video of him in Michigan by: Blake B
Bob Moses: A duo from Vancouver, Bob Moses has influences from alternative soul and California punk that results in rock based type of electronic trance music. They have been producing music under this name since 2012 and have traveled to several festivals across North America and Europe. The majority of their music gets released on Domino Records which is a UK based company. Check out a video from their performance at Burning Man 2015 on the “Robot Heart” by: Steve Jurvetson on YouTube
The Chainsmokers: Hit sensation and one of the most popular newer artists is The Chainsmokers. This duo is from New York, and it is there, in 2013 they released their hit single, “Selfie” that become an iconic electronic dance music song. Being used in multiple remixes and being played across the world they got their name out there with this single, resulting in huge popularity. They kept up with their raise in popularity very well by releasing hit tracks and their first EP “Bouquet.” Headlining events and playing main stage at festivals and shows across the globe, it is no wonder that this house playing duo are a hit sensation. Check out their performance at Tomorrowland 2016 by Tomorrowland
Eric Prydz: Progressive house mastermind, Eric Prydz has been producing music for over a decade and has been gathering fans world wide. Being from Sweden, his progressive house blew up in Europe in clubs and festivals all over the nation. Within years he was making moves to be one of the biggest names to see in the electronic music industry. By 2014 he did just that by providing one of the world’s largest indoor holograms as visuals on his show EPIC 3.0 at Madison Square Garden. Now he has even one-upped him self by upgrading to EPIC 4.0 with a square hologram surrounding him with probably some of the best visuals and technology that is available. Check out one of the biggest and most revered producer’s in our scene today by watching his EPIC 4.0 performance.
Flume: Australian Harley Streten has a beautiful taste in future trap and melodic electronic music. He released his Self Titled album, “Flume” in 2012 that gained tons of attention and launched him into popularity across the world. He had a side project for a couple ears with Emoh Instead called What So Not. With this side project he also gained some new followers but with his releases on Flume being remixes and classic originals, he had to give up his side project to focus on himself. He has released another album since then and countless amazing singles. This is another artist that is changing up the music scene and is a must see. Check out a live video from FlumeAUS on YouTube.
Phantoms: New duo from LA, Phantoms have been coming into the music scene relentlessly with multiple releases of remixes and originals. They only have 2 EP’s released but with their multiple singles and with only producing music under this name for maybe two years, they have a lot released. They have a classy deep house sound to them and have caught the attention of Slow Magic, Dillon Francis, and more. (They are so fresh that I couldn’t find a decent live video. That will change at Decadence.) Here is a Official Music Video:
Snails: Montreal’s Vomitstep founder, Snails, has changed the way we listen to dubstep by putting his unique touch on it. He was found by Kannibalen Records (Black Tiger Sex Machine’s record label) and has released tons of music under that label since then. His filthy and grimey samples have been perfected over the years. With his sound mastered, any time you hear a “Vomit” like dub sample you instantly know it is Snails. Snails causes many people to head bang and for this and his prime selection in music, it is a show that should not be missed. Vomitstep goes hard. Check out this recap from ILoveSickDrops at Red Rocks on 4/20
Tiësto: Notorious trance and house producer/DJ, Tiësto, has been on top of the charts for over a decade, and started to produce music under Tiësto and other Alias’s in 1994. He is one of the most respected and revered artists in the electronic music scene, starting out as DJ Tiësto, he used to play strictly Trance music, but since evolving to Tiësto, he has evolved his music too, both production wise and live as a DJ. Now his music is no genre and covers a vast range of different styles of production, all while playing for the crowd. He has mastered his performance and being in the City of Dreams on New Years Eve, this mastermind should be a set to be seen by everyone. Check out a video I took of Tiësto at Decadence in 2013.
Thank you for reading!
Be sure to keep up to date with Decadence’s page for updates. You can get tickets now below!
Author: Dom Ragusa