Let’s make a first impression by having a look at the other three editions.

2007 & 2008 events took place at Pontin’s holiday camp in Hemsby, Norfolk. The venue that hosted it, no longer exists, having been closed by the holiday company which owned it. Other, actually interesting info on these events would be that they were sold out every time, each with around 2500 people attending. Highlights from 2007 include Kool Keith, Autechre, Congo Natty, CJ Bolland and Two Lone Swordsman, 2008 brought, amongst others Red Snapper, Amon Tobin, Dave Clarke, Karl Bartos, Juan Atkins, A Guy Called Gerald.

The 2009 edition was moved to a larger holiday camp, Butlin in Minehead, Somerset. The 5000-attendees event from last year was sold out as well. Highlights were Future Sound of London, Le “Scratch” Perry, Afrika Bambaataa, Carl Craig, Aphex Twin, Green Velvet, Modeselektor.

2010 BLOC Weekend will be held at Butlin’s, Minehead on 12 – 14 March. Before finding out the price, useful information would be that everyone attending BLOC stays in their own, private apartment and that the tickets include three nights’ accommodation, access to all BLOC arenas and all of the resort’s facilities. You can choose between a standard apartment – 140£ or one with a kitchen and living room – 150£.

Now let me tell you a little bit about the event “per se” J. I didn’t find out very much about the stages, how many there will be, what parties each of them will be hosting, but I can tell you that they are all purpose-build indoor music venues, keeping public safe from the weather and sound restrictions in the UK. Sounds like it’s gonna get noisy.

Among artists who will enable the “noise” this year we have Salt N Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, Adam Beyer, Ellen Allien & Pfadfinderei, Skream b2b Benga, Roots Manuva, Derrick May, Ms Dynamite, MJ Cole, Anti-Pop Consortium and others.

And for those of you who want to dig deeper, here’s where you can meet the community and read the FAQs.

by Di

Although I’m pretty sure you know what it is about, let me tell you a little bit about its history.

It was founded in 1985 by DJs and Record Pool Directors Louis Possenti and Bill Kelley. The first WMC took place in February 1986 at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott with approximately 80 dance music industry insiders. The event festivities are presented across Miami Beach and Downtown Miami. The major event is the International Dance Music Awards – the first and largest awards ceremony dedicated to dance music; an evening packed with performers and celebrity guests. The event has major international draw, with around 38% of attendees coming from outside the US.

The conference serves as a platform for several underground and indie artists from over 70 different countries which gather at events and panels; it is also a medium used by several entrepreneurs and consumer electric companies to present their business and technological developments.

In 2009 the WMC introduced the first annual VJ Challenge with celebrity hosts, judges and VJs from various parts of the world, hosted by VJ Psyberpxie and Felix Sama.

The WMC is recognized for serving around 60.000 visitors during one week. 3.726 industry delegates attended in 2008, most of them being from the US. Other areas being represented at the WMC were: Europe, the Latin-American community, Canada, Asia and others. Some examples of professionals attending the WMC are: record label representatives, publishers, A&R, press & media, music production specialists, concert promoters, managers, agents, consultants.
Getting back to “our days”, let’s have a look at deadlines, prices, accommodation, line-up, and what else might be of interest and use.

Registration has already started and there are several deadlines, each corresponding to a price, which gets bigger the more the start date approaches; the earlier you decide, the less you pay. Let’s have a look at those deadlines.

Until December 9th 2009 – $ 275, Jan 6th 2010 – $ 325, Feb 3rd 2010 – $ 375, Mar 3rd2010 – $ 425.

Official headquarters for this year’s WMC is the Eden Roc Beach Resort & Spa where special prices can be obtained by registered delegates only, trough the WMC Housing Bureau.

Saving money:

The general recommendation is to stay close to the parties; within walking distance of the strip (1st Street to 40th Street is “The Strip”) in order to avoid spending the money saved with accommodation on cabs stuck in traffic. The “WMC 2010 Sweet Spot” is between 15th Street and 43rd Street.

Another recommendation on saving money is sharing the hotel room with around 4 people in rooms booked for less, as no hotel representative will notice… Now, if you take this risk, it’s, of course, for you to decide, but I would recommend getting informed about what happens if you’re caught, ‘cause being thrown out the hotel in the middle of the fun, wouldn’t be too funny, would it? Unless you’re ok with sleeping on the beach or paying more than you initially thought, which would be the opposite of saving J

Then you can save by taking public transportation (they say it’s not very reliable in Miami Beach, meaning you should leave an hour earlier to be on the safe side), or renting a bike.

If you enjoy drinking at this kind of events…do you?…it’s recommended to drink before getting in, as alcohol prices range from 7$ a beer to 10$ a vodka. Oh, and if you’re really interested in getting wasted on alcohol look out for the free drinks parties (for ex. Bacardi B. last year).

Among the last recommendations about how to get around at the Winter Music Conference, I found a pretty amusing one, check this out and keep in mind! “Avoid passing out, getting robbed or going to jail” – you wouldn’t have known if I wouldn’t have told you, right? )))

Going further with our guide, don’t forget sunscreen, shoes you can keep on for a long time, Tylenol and WATER .

This is the last recommendation and probably most important for first timers at the WMC: NO party hopping! Plan your itinerary before you get there and don’t chase only the big venues as you risk spending most of the time waiting in line.
Now that we have a clue about the in and out’s, let’s see what the WMC has prepared for this year in terms of events and panels:

Seminars & Panels: addressing the important issues affecting the music industry today.
International Dance Music Awards: the first and largest awards ceremony dedicated to dance music. This evening will be packed with performers and celebrity guests as the industry comes out in force.
DJ Spin-Off: the most promising DJ talents mixing and manipulating their way to victory.
WMC Record Collector’s Show: 4th edition this year; for all vinyl enthusiasts.
Remixing and editing workshops: a chance to interact with the top producers, programmers and remixers – doing what they do best.
Exhibits: WMC’s international marketplace showcasing the leading products, services and gear from around the world.
Demo Listening Workshops: developing artists and producers can showcase their talents and gain insight and feedback from leading record labels, publishers and A&R reps.
South Beach Sessions: Founded on the principles that make music compelling – individual expression, empowerment, creative thinking and collaboration, the program’s mission is to create greater exposure for artists and ideas.
Club events: Renowned DJs and performers from around the world headline at venues throughout Miami during 5 non-stop nights of WMC club events.
Ultra Music Festival: official festival for Winter Music Conference. WMC badge holders receive complimentary admission to this event.
VJ Challenge: VJs from all over the world mixing their way to glory.

The official WMC website didn’t schedule any events yet, however I found a party list on an unofficial uncensored WMC guide, you can have a look here.

We will keep you posted as soon as there are official news on this.

Before I end, I want to inform our readers from overseas that there are employment opportunities and volunteer work at the WMC so if you are considering mixing fun and work, you might want to apply.

by Di

I was shown this video only a few days ago, enjoyed it and here’s a few things I found out about it:

It was developed in 2003 at a university in Barcelona by Sergi Jordà, Marcos Alonso, Martin Kaltenbrunner and Günter Geiger and has been declared Hot Instrument of the Year by Rolling Stone Magazine (2007). The device found appreciation among artists too, as for example it has been implemented by Bjork in her world tour Volta.

Let’s see how it works and what it actually is. The tabletop – Tangible User Interface – and tangibles – the blocks being placed on it, are the components which operate a virtual modular synthesizer. The table itself is the display. Underneath is a video camera, inputting video to a pc. There is also a projector under the table, connected to the pc, projecting video on the table, which can be seen from both sides. As a tangible is placed on the table, various animated symbols appear, which show what the particular tangible is doing. The tangibles have fiducials (printed black and white images, consisting of circles and dots in varying patterns) on their underside, which are seen trough the table by the camera. Most of the tangibles are flat, with one fiducial on the underside. Some other tangibles are cubes, with fiducials attached to several sides, allowing those tangibles to serve multiple functions. (before we go on, repeat the new words you’ve learned today )

Now that we’re trough with the rough technical part, I can only say that producing music with the Reactable seems pretty easy, compared to the mixers with loads of buttons we’re used to see DJs playing on…could it be another step towards the “Everybody wants to be a DJ Movement”? No matter what the answer is, my conclusion is: I like the flashy, the fresh and tough the simple about it and am looking forward to more of these music & good mood producing devices.

by Di

Yes, it’s true, Pendulum, only with a Dj Set, managed to attract a mass of people that I’ve never seen in Bucharest for a drum and bass event.

I’m sure part of the crowd was there for Dj Snow; this guy just killed the crowd before Mc Verse entered the scene. And the main party didn’t even start yet.

The tent was full of energy, the arena was full of people coming in an out to take a breath, the MC and the Dj just sucked up everything that they had ready for that night, and it was only at half of the main act. Drum and bass, dubstep, voodoo people, housie sounds, hiphop samples and again drum and bass, and some more dubstep.

Conclusion: one of the best party this year!
Yes, the drum and bass scene is now present in the South-East of Romania also, and the hunger for it is big!

We’ve got the promise that next year, in the same Arena, we will see a live act of Pendulum, so stay tuned to logitune.fm for more details soon.

Until the live act, I can promise you a great party in Bucharest’s Arenele Romane, december 19th, with this year revolution in uk drum and bass, Sub Focus, from RAM Records, in a new Arena dnb event.
You can see Sub Focus in London on Friday 11th december, if you don’t have enough there, book a hotel room in Bucharest for the Arena dnb and let’s party just before Christmas!

Pendulum dj set with Mc Verse in Bucharest – Arenele Romane.

Author: Flo

For those of you that don’t know it check it out:

“Ganja White Night is a dubstep live act coming from Belgium.

Their two first tracks Strawberry Cough and Purple Star were the starting point for them to develop a style made of sharp beats, explosive basses and tricky space melodies.

They played live in several places in Belgium alongside names as Baobinga amongst others. Lately they created their own digital label named SubCarbon to get to the next level and to get heard by the whole wide world.

The trio consists of: Bamby who manages Sound Design, Arrangement, Lead and Vocal, R-One who deals with Rhythmic and Machine, and finally LebelgeElectrod who is in charge of Bass and Sound Design, Arrangements, Filtering and Graphics.”

You can check out their myspace, twitter and last.fm pages

I’m gonna post a couple of their tracks found on youtube including my personal favorite “Purple Star”… I tested it and everything it gives me such a good vibe…

Yeahh… enough talking.. check this shit out

Strawberry Cough:

Purple Star:

Blueberry:

What more can I say… they just earned a new fan…
I wanna hear more… indica… sativa… hybrid tracks from them

Cheers,
Bogdan