Latest news with #danceMusic
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE DJ Pete Tong makes rare comments about his kids as he admits his family have kept him 'grounded' throughout successful career
Pete Tong has opened up on how his family have 'kept him grounded' throughout his successful career. The DJ and Radio 1 star, 64, has become one of the biggest names in dance music over the years, and jets across the world to perform for adoring fans. And despite keeping his family life relatively private, Pete made rare comments about his kids in an exclusive interview with MailOnline this week. Pete shares three children with his ex-wife Deborah. Their marriage broke down in 2003. Pete also has another child and two step-children with his second wife Carolina Acosta, who he married in 2006. He explained how he tried to created a 'more regular environment' for his kids growing up, and admits they are the reason he still has a successful career. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Speaking on how he juggles the fame with his family life, Pete shared: 'It is definitely a challenge, and you learn a lot along the way. It also keeps you really grounded as well with that responsibility and that to go home to, and I would like to think that is a big reason why I'm still doing what I'm doing. 'When I started DJing, I made a decision early on that I would only do the bits I really wanted to do and loved. 'I didn't want to be on radio seven days a week and I didn't want to be gigging seven nights a week. I wanted to pick and choose. 'So I kind of always had a day job when I first started, as DJing wasn't seen to be the be all and end all and the money wasn't the same from when I started to what it is now so that created a more regular environment around my kids.' Speaking about his kids supporting him at sets, he explained: 'When they were young they started coming to things like Café Mambo. And then when they were too young to legally go to clubs is when the demand was highest that they wanted to go. 'When they first could go, they were around quite a bit. They've moved on and have their own lives now and are not necessarily interested in what I'm doing. 'Now I'm like, "do you want to come?" They tend to show up for the orchestra, I don't force them.' Several of Pete's kids have followed in his footsteps, including daughter Becky who is also a DJ. Pete and Jules are celebrating a decade of their Ibiza Classics with a string of shows at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall Meanwhile, his oldest son Joe is a music producer, while his other son Matt also partly works in the music industry. Pete is currently celebrating a decade of his and Jules Buckley's Ibiza Classics with a string of shows at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall. The pair first teamed up in 2015 to perform for BBC Proms, an annual summer series bringing daily classical music to the Royal Albert Hall, but have went on to tour Europe with the orchestra. Each of the four shows will feature unique programming, including appearances from guest vocalists Becky Hill, Jacob Lusk (Gabriels), Jazzy, Clementine Douglas, and Barbara Tucker. Guest DJs Seth Troxler, Damian Lazarus, David Morales, and Paul Oakenfold will also join the show. Speaking about returning to the Royal Albert Hall after ten years, he said: 'It is surreal and inspiring to come into such a historical place doing what we are doing. 'But it isn't a nightclub, so you treat it in a different way. We are all super excited to be back.' And fans will be thrilled to hear that Pete has no plans to stop after ten years: 'There was a time five years ago when we said we would probably end it if we made it to ten, but now we never want to end it!' Pete Tong Ibiza Classics is at the Royal Albert Hall, London, May 29-Jun 1. The broadcaster is also due to bring his acclaimed show to six UK arenas in December 2025. Kicking off in Glasgow on December 4, the upcoming run of shows also includes stop-offs in Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. The tour will conclude with two gigs at The O2 in London on December 12 and 13.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Pete Tong on life as a legendary DJ: How the music star went from playing £100 sets in Kent villages to taking over the Royal Albert Hall
Despite his name being slang for things going wrong, it has all gone right for Pete Tong and his career. The veteran DJ, who over the years has become one of the biggest names in dance music, as well as being the BBC 's longest-serving DJ, started out by playing village halls in Kent and earning just £100 a set. Now, the 64-year-old has once again taken to the iconic stage at the Royal Albert Hall to perform his Ibiza Classics with Jules Buckley and the Essential Orchestra, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. But life wasn't always big stages and crowds for Pete, as he shares with MailOnline how his first gig was at a school disco, where he performed for free and had to work a 'normal job' on the side. During an exclusive interview, Pete explained: 'The first time I ever played was a school disco, and I got paid nothing because I was learning how to do it. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'Then I rented a village hall. It was quite entrepreneurial looking back, and I stuck posters up around the village and did this party and ended up with £100 on the kitchen table. 'I was around 16-years-old at the time and that was quite a lot of money back then.' While finding his feet in the music industry, Pete worked at Blues & Soul magazine, before landing a day job as an A&R man at London Records. 'My way into raving was being the DJ. I was out a lot, looking back at my old diaries I was playing six or seven times a week, but I wasn't raving I was playing. I obviously did go to clubs occasionally,' he added. Pete grew up in Dartford alongside his father who was a bookie and mother who was a former publican. Despite neither of them being musicians, Pete's love for music started to show at a young age. He shared: I didn't come from a musical family, but my dad did collect a lot of records. It just became a hobby early on in my life, then became a passion and then a life. 'My parents told me I was attracted to music as a baby, banging things, strumming things. I got a toy drum kit and then a real drum kit and went from there.' Recalling the moment he knew he wanted to be a DJ, he said: 'I saw a school DJ and it changed my life. A humble DJ at a school disco and I thought, "that would be fun to do". Pete admits 'staying healthy and relevant' has been the biggest challenge throughout his career. 'I don't lose sleep over it, but certain opportunities come along and you kind of reinvent yourself in ways you never thought,' he says. 'The best example being right now with the orchestra. If you had asked me 20 years ago, "what are you going to do in 10 years, how can you take your career to a whole other level?" I can guarantee I wouldn't have said an orchestra. 'There's lots of different challenges but it is just making the most of the opportunities and being grateful.' Pete said it was also hard juggling his busy schedule with family life, but admits it was his kids who kept him grounded. He shares three children with his ex-wife Deborah. Their marriage broke down in 2003. Pete also has another child and two step-children with his second wife Carolina Acosta, who he married in 2006. The broadcaster explained: 'It is definitely a challenge, and you learn a lot along the way. It also keeps you really grounded, with that responsibility and that to go home to, and I would like to think that is a big reason why I'm still doing what I'm doing. 'When I started DJing, I made a decision early on that I would only do the bits I really wanted to do and loved. I didn't want to be on radio seven days a week and I didn't want to be gigging seven nights a week. 'I wanted to pick and choose, and so I kind of always had a day job when I first started, because DJing wasn't seen to be the be all and end all, and the money wasn't the same from when I started to what it is now so that created a more regular environment around my kids.' Now, Pete and Jules are celebrating a decade of their Ibiza Classics with a string of shows at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall. The pair first teamed up in 2015 to perform for BBC Proms, an annual summer series bringing daily classical music to the Royal Albert Hall, but have went on to tour Europe with the orchestra. Each of the four shows will feature unique programming, including appearances from guest vocalists Becky Hill, Jacob Lusk (Gabriels), Jazzy, Clementine Douglas, and Barbara Tucker. Guest DJs Seth Troxler, Damian Lazarus, David Morales, and Paul Oakenfold will also join the show. Speaking about returning to the Royal Albert Hall after ten years, he said: 'It is surreal and inspiring to come into such a historical place doing what we are doing. 'But it isn't a nightclub, so you treat it in a different way. We are all super excited to be back.' And fans will be thrilled to hear that Pete has no plans to stop after ten years: 'There was a time five years ago when we said we would probably end it if we made it to ten, but now we never want to end it!' Pete Tong Ibiza Classics is at the Royal Albert Hall, London, May 29 - June 1. The broadcaster is also due to bring his acclaimed show to six UK arenas in December 2025. Kicking off in Glasgow on December 4, the upcoming run of shows also includes stop-offs in Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. The tour, which Pete describes as a 'giant mobile disco', will conclude with two gigs at The O2 in London on December 12 and 13.
CBS News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Movement Music Festival in Detroit offers welcoming and creative space
A Detroit institution is back this weekend. Movement Music Festival is one of the longest-running dance music events in the world. From May 24 through May 26, Hart Plaza is going to be filled with thousands of techno music fans from all over the world for the festival. Dance music fans say it's a genre unlike any other. "There's so much to it that is just the base. It's almost hypnotizing," Aiden Graczyk, an aspiring techno DJ, said. "I guess, you know, the music is just powerful. [It] touches the soul." Techno was born in Detroit, experts say. "We didn't know that. I'm learning a lot of stuff about what Detroit is about," Lucy Sosa, who's attending her first Movement Festival, said. "So, I want to experience everything that you find in Detroit." According to researchers at Michigan State University, techno was invented by Black youth and nurtured in Black and queer spaces. "People who love to dance are a different breed," Jennifer Cullins from Warsaw, Indiana, said. "We are expressive, creative, artistic people of, you see in the fashion and the dress, and we're open-minded, and I feel like that's what really brings people together." Hundreds of performances will take place on six stages over the Memorial Day weekend. Dozens of vendors and food options are available for the massive crowds of people. "You can see the diversity and inclusion all around us, and that's what I love most," Sosa said. Detroit may be known for Motown, but its musical legacy includes a wide range of genres.
New York Times
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
25 Ways to Get in on Dance Music's Renaissance
Dance music is experiencing another boom period, and this time the music is traveling faster and farther than ever, thanks to new streaming platforms and more fans getting access to making (and vibing to) an even broader slate of sounds. Here's how to get involved. 5 Ways to Club Anywhere What began in 2010 as a single livestream called Boiler Room, with a webcam taped to a D.J. booth, has become not just a global proving ground but a rite of passage, and a catchall term for a format that's changed the course of dance music. Start here: Kaytranda's devilishly chaotic, often hilarious 2013 Montreal session; a fun hour of soulful dance music that foreshadows big things to come for the artist and the format alike. Started in 2016 on a triangle-shaped patch of gravel in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the Lot has drawn a wide range of top-tier talent to D.J. inside its sticker-covered booth (or as Charli XCX did last summer, dance on top of it). Start here: The Japanese video game composer Takuya Nakamura, blasting an elegiac trumpet solo over drum-and-bass to mind-expanding effect. Femi Adeyemi created what may be the greatest anti-algorithm collection of D.J.s and music today, while reclaiming the power of live broadcast and the lost art of the radio show. (He was also involved in the founding of Boiler Room.) To wit: 40 percent of the music on NTS can't be found on Spotify. Start here: Moxie's recent set at Public Records in New York brings the literal sound of the club right into your headphones — two purely excellent hours of house. A D.J. in a tiny, tiled room, at the base of a former East Berlin broadcast tower — that's it. And yet: In a raw, entirely unadorned environment that leaves nothing unexposed between decks and D.J., HOR Berlin has become an essential incubator for up-and-coming talent since it started in 2019. Start here: HOR's broadcast of the journeywoman D.J. Avalon Emerson's set from Amsterdam's Dekmantel festival in 2023 is absolutely electric. Born in 1994 in the great tradition of U.K. pirate radio, had a few scuffles with the law before it eventually secured a broadcast license. It has always been an essential hub for the country's homegrown talent, from grime and dubstep and well beyond: Rinse put out chart-topping records as a label and, in 2014, started Rinse France. Start here: Any episode of Hessle Audio's show. The label, co-founded by Ben UFO (a true D.J.'s D.J.), is eclectic, fun and wildly au courant. — Foster Kamer 5 Clubs Worth the Trip This Berlin institution, a former heat and power plant, began setting the standard for 21st-century nightlife bacchanalia when it opened in 2004. Its mercurial door policy, banging techno and sexual permissiveness have been often imitated but never duplicated. A techno club in Maspeth, Queens, with (much like Berghain) a finicky door, and a strict anti-phone-camera policy. The former glass factory's aesthetic is a mix of brick and concrete that its owners have referred to as an 'industrial catacomb.' As industrial catacombs in New York go, it doesn't get hotter than this club. London's always-relevant Fabric has been open since 1999 (with a brief closure in 2016) and features three rooms, one equipped with a vibrating dance floor. But its most lasting legacy may be its adjacent record label, which has released a stellar series of recorded D.J. mixes featuring innumerable classics of the genre. The legendary French dance producer and D.J. Laurent Garnier started throwing his Wake Up parties at Rex not long after it opened in 1992 under the landmark Parisian theater it's named for. While it's not quite what it used to be — Daft Punk no longer D.J. there — more than 30 years later, the 800-capacity club remains a staple of Parisian nightlife. There are two New York clubs on this list, but that isn't a matter of regional bias: The city's nightlife scene, despite recent closures, remains the most robust in the country. Nowadays in Brooklyn, open since 2016, may now be its locus, famed for its Mister Sunday outdoor summer parties, its Nonstop nights that run 24 hours (if not more), its egalitarian vibes and its world-class bookings. — Rich Juzwiak and Kamer 5 Artists to Watch On record, this London-based singer/producer/D.J. delivers soulful vocals over pumping U.K. garage-adjacent beats, often deconstructing and then reconstructing her voice to create a patchwork of hooky sounds similar to those that Marc 'MK' Kinchen popularized in the '90s. Live, Murphy spins records and sings over them, bridging her worlds. The Australian-born, London-based Teneil Throssell, a.k.a. Haai, has worked with the xx's Romy Madley Croft and Fred, again.., the beloved electronic musician turned Coldplay producer Jon Hopkins, the techno mastermind Daniel Avery and plenty of others. But her solo work — which includes psychedelic electronica, massive breakbeat sounds, anthemic synth-kissed songs and remarkably fun D.J. sets — continues to cement her reputation as a stand-alone talent. The Greek duo — Vangelis (not the 'Chariots of Fire' guy) and Tareq — specializes in neo-vintage sounds like old-school house and highly arpeggiated electronic disco. They are particularly adept at modernizing classics and offer re-edits of reliable floor-fillers like Janet Jackson's 'When I Think of You' and Snap!'s 'The Power' on their Bandcamp page. Talk about a commitment to the bit: The pseudonymous German D.J., producer and vocalist Horsegiirl wears a horse mask and sometimes sings about being a horse (see the 2023 viral hit 'My Barn My Rules'). Her sound epitomizes the endless blending of established styles typical of modern dance music, though she favors subgenres often considered abject by dance snobs, like hardstyle and Eurodance. Like spinning hay into gold, Horsegiirl can make gauche sound cool. The distinctions between dance music subgenres are sometimes small to the point of parody. The Colombian artist Verraco renders them useless, imbuing a range of styles (techno, UK Bass, IDM and hardgroove, to name a few) with Latin American traditions like cumbia, dembow and guaracha. The result is a textured, varied funkiness that's as great as it is difficult to pin down. Still, as his Boiler Room sets demonstrate, he's also still a D.J. who, given a room full of people, can absolutely cook. — Juzwiak and Kamer 5 Tracks You Need to Know The anonymous London group Two Shell has a KLF-like mischievous streak and the tunes to back it up. The fizzy 'Mad Powers,' from its 2024 self-titled album, exemplifies its stuttered approach to hyperpop, with warped vocals percolating over a frenetic, ping-ponging beat. ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube A trans-Atlantic team-up between the Queens-based Eartheater and London's Shygirl, 'Shark Brain' is of two minds. The machine-like whir and laconic, trap-like tempo of the opener give way to a peppier pumping beat a little more than halfway through. Duality is of the essence here — Eartheater said the song was inspired by 'the uncanny resemblance a hammerhead shark brain has to the female reproductive system.' ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube A highlight from the London D.J. and producer's recent 'With a Vengeance' album, 'Freaky (Just My Type)' marries the kind of speedy breakbeats Sherelle favors with a bouncy bass drum and an R&B swagger, thanks to vocals from George Riley. ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube A sugar rush of a track, 'Help I'm Lost' fuses a driving techno beat, ravey keyboards and pitched-up vocals. Similar to the insistent yet earwormy work of the D.J. and producer Salute, Sobstory (the duo of Oliver and Villhelm) achieves a kind of bubble-gum sensibility without sacrificing hardness. ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube The Detroit techno pioneer Robert Hood and his daughter Lyric Hood are Floorplan, and they make dance music that is infused with the Holy Spirit. 'We Give Thee Honor,' from their 2024 full-length 'The Master's Plan,' floats an impassioned gospel choir over a four-on-the-floor stomp, achieving dance floor divinity. ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube — Juzwiak 5 Boiler Room Sets Worth Dancing To Over the course of a year and change, Floating Points released an album and music for an anime and a ballet. But for five hours — on vinyl — in Brooklyn's steamiest, sweatiest room last summer might have topped it all. Making a one-hour Boiler Room session compelling is hard enough, but Floating Points deployed no gimmickry or shenanigans — just talent and physical endurance, putting on a clinic in selection and mixing skill, driving a packed room to collective transcendence in the process. The Canadian D.J. Jayda G opened a 2023 set from London with the sounds of the Detroit legend Moodymann, ended it with the high priest of neo-soul, D'Angelo — and somehow, Taylor Swift landed in the middle. (Remarkably, it worked.) But the set became a classic the moment she vamped along to Clivilles & Cole's 'A Deeper Love.' There's a fine line between a Boiler Room D.J. being sincerely enraptured in what they're spinning and playing it up for the cameras — but by the time Jayda G closes with 'I've Found My Smile Again,' it's impossible not to believe in her joy. Two of the most exciting names in the world of dance music right now are a trans couple who espouse the transformative potential of the dance floor. They're phenomenal D.J.s who play everything from house to breaks, trance to techno, but their specialty is less rooted in genre than it is in euphoria, as demonstrated by this contagiously fun hour at Australia's Sugar Mountain festival in 2019, where they traded rave classics and breakbeat in an all-vinyl set. While not technically a Boiler Room, this similarly formatted recording from a 2024 music festival in Sydney features two artists putting out consistently great records: the Belgium-born Salute, a producer who makes genre-crossing house music blasted through with sunshine, and the Scottish producer Barry Can't Swim, a classically trained pianist making soulful, worldly records. At this event, the pair appeared to be having a better time playing music with friends than anyone else on the planet, and the crowd responded in kind. Long before Fred, again.. ever tapped his drum machine to fame on Boiler Room, there was the British D.J. Carl Cox, blasting a set of steel drums into outer space in someone's backyard. These 45 minutes from an Ibiza villa in 2013 have racked up nearly 70 million YouTube views (the most for any Boiler Room besides one from Solomun). There's a reason people keep watching this living dance music legend in the heyday of his Space Ibiza residency, playing a flawless set of Balearic house that transmutes the energy of a club filled with thousands of people to a pool party with about 50 of them. — Kamer
