Electric Zoo Day 2 Sneak Peek: Maya Jane Coles, Chris Liebing, and Claude VonStroke take over the Sunday School Grove
Day two of Electric Zoo features as diverse of a line up as it gets, as Sunday School Grove hosts a wide variety of genres. From deep soulful house from Maya Jane Coles, to unforgiving techno from Chris Liebing, to booty-bass tech house from Claude
VonStroke — these showcases will prove to be more of a musical experience than your run-of-the-mill DJ set. Read past the break for our full breakdown.
1. Maya Jane Coles
Last year deep house wonder child Maya Jane Coles rose to the top of the house and techno world — winning a few monumental awards on the way. She was voted “Producer of the Year 2011” by DJ Mag, named “Best Breakthrough DJ 2011” by Mixmag, and rests in the top 10 on Resident Advisor’s 2011 DJ Poll. If her accolades don’t speak for themselves, perhaps her music will. Her two-hour Essential Mix is a flawless mixture of deep house and bass heavy techno. Some of her notable tracks over the years are “What They Say,” and her remixes for Little Dragon’s “Ritual Union,” and most recently Florence & The Machine’s “Spectrum.” In setting the bar so high for herself, we’re anticipating her set to be one of the best of the weekend.
Maya Jane Coles – What They Say (Original Mix)
Little Dragon – Ritual Union (Maya Jane Coles Remix)
Florence & The Machine – Spectrum (Maya Jane Coles Remix)
2. Chris Liebing
Chris Liebing, slave to the dark and heavy techno beat, is the closing act of the day for Saturday’s Sunday School lineup. The man slotted before him, Sasha, is a progressive house legend of sorts. When we saw the following slotted DJ to be techno legend Chris Liebing, we knew Made Event’s game plan was for absolute mayhem to ensue. Liebing is unique in his own right as he has a very hair-raising method of delivering relentless patterns of obscure techno beats. On his remix to Moby’s “Lie Down in Darkness,” he strips the song down to its most minimal form, and re-crafts it into a quality progressive techno record. If you want to get an idea of what one of his festival sets is like, episode 162 of his CLR podcast is a recording from Time Warp Festival in Germany. It is dark techno in its rawest form.
3. Claude VonStroke
Dirtybird label head Claude VonStroke has made a name for himself by playing an unusual form of house — heavier on the bass — with influences from hip-hop, funk and drum ‘n bass. His breakthrough track “Who’s Afraid of Detroit” illustrate his distinctive style of production. The groovy bass lines and bleepy chord play made this track the hit of its time. If you’re looking to try something new and special, VonStroke delivers an all-star live performance. Claude has a big New York following, so get to his set early to secure ample room to dance.
Claude VonStroke – Who’s Afraid of Detroit (Original Mix)
Claude VonStroke – Vocal Chords (Original Mix)
Samim – Heater (Claude VonStroke Remix)
The Bottom Line
Sunday School has come to represent the standard of quality music within the world of pure house and techno. If you’ve been in the game for a while and have an understanding of this sophisticated and intricate form of dance music, then educating others is all you can do. If you’re new to the scene and dance music has become your life style, you can only go to so many shows and hear the same songs reordered, re-remixed and bootlegged. When you want to explore what else dance music has to offer, you run into tents like the Sunday School Grove at Electric Zoo and reconsider your options. It’s natural progression for most — some taking longer than others — but once grasped, the underground dance music scene is so extensive that it feels infinite at times.
Categories: Music