See also: Sound Wave Music Festival 2012 Announced for September 29 See also: Calvin Harris Announced as Headliner for Sound Wave Music Festival
The next couple months are going to be a great time to be an EDM fan here in the Valley. Not only is the Identity Festival making its stop at Ashley Furniture Homestore Pavilion this weekend, but EDM bigwigs like Bassnectar and Megalodon are visiting in the coming weeks.
And then there's the fact that Sound Wave Music Festival is just around the corner. The all-day EDM event at Tempe's Big Surf Waterpark, taking place in late September, will feature a packed lineup of turntable tricksters, electronica whiz kids, and dance music tastemakers (such as Calvin Harris, who was previously announced as the headliner) performing on three outdoor stages.
And the lineup keeps on growing, as Sound Wave promoters Donnie Disco and Steve Levine Entertainment recently announced the addition of some EDM bigwigs that are scheduled to appear at the festival, including Dutch house superstar R3hab.
Widely considered one of the best practitioners of house music in the world, the 26-year-old (born Fadil El Ghoul) has ruled the club scene across the globe. Along with his fellow countrymen Afrojack and Chuckie, he's cornered the market on Dutch house, infusing the genre's poppy energy into his beatscapes and remixes of artists like Far East Movement, Pitbull, and LMFAO.
His tracks tend to scorch the Beatport charts, such as "Pump The Party" and his "Prutataaa," his collaboration with Afrojack from last year. It's the sort of high-energy electronica that will get the sweaty masses gathered in front of the stage moving their asses during Soundwave.
Speaking of Beatport faves, the remixes and dubstep hotness produced by the Montreal-born brothers James and Christian Srigley, better known as Adventure Club, proven to be a hit on the high-profile EDM site, including their heavy-duty reworking of Flight Facilities' "Crave You." The duo, who are scheduled to appear at Sound Wave's Waikiki Beach stage, once performed as an electro-pop band and now specialize in unleashing spinning a mix of ear-pleasing electro, dubstep and hip-hop.
Other names added to the lineup at Waikiki Beach include Crizzly (a.k.a. Christopher Marshall), the Texas-based producer who mixes up his self-described mashup invention Crunkstep and recently opened for dubstep early-adopter 12th Planet, as well as California dub-trance whiz kid Seven Lions, who was plucked from obscurity and thrust into the international spotlight by the members of Above & Beyond.
We're expecting more announcements in the weeks ahead from the folks at Steve Levine and Donnie Disco regarding additional guests for Sound Wave, including plenty of local DJs and EDM aficionados. Stay tuned.
Sound Mave Music Fesitval will take place Saturday, September 29, at Big Surf in Tempe. Tickets are $40 general admission, $70 for VIP access.
