Dancing Astronaut does TomorrowWorld: 5 house and techno artists not to be missed

Dancing Astronaut does TomorrowWorld: 5 undergrounds artists not to be missed

You’ve seen the after movies, relished in the flood of big production assets and most likely assume that Tomorrowland’s North American venture is all about the big room moments. TomorrowWorld may be in its infancy, but the festival hasn’t missed a beat where programming for its rapidly evolving market is concerned. With the taste buds for deeper, darker and groovier flavors of the electornic dance sound scope showing in a series of high-profile label signings and audacious live ventures, 2014 was the perfect opportunity for the young US venture to show that amid the orchestrated fist pumping and high octane festival moments, house and techno music of all shapes and sizes can thrive among its musical agenda. Whilst such stalwarts as Claude Von Stroke, Richie Hawtin and Jamie Jones should already be automatic hits for anyone with taste buds leaning towards the industry’s left of center, Dancing Astronaut cherry picks the five underground assets you need locked into your schedule for the weekend ahead.

Check out the full line-up on Tomorrowworld’s official website. 

Claptone

 Joel Zimmerman has his mouse head, Jaguar Skills his balaclava – the underground house circuit needed its own masked vigilante and it came in the form of Claptone. Whilst little is known about the Berlin stronghold, one thing is certain: behind the marketing hype and the golden mask stands one of the circuit’s most proficient players of the time. Exploited and Glasgow Underground have housed some of Claptone’s finest works to date, with more recent remixes for Rufus and Sirens Of Lesbos marking a considerable taste for expansion for this fusion of tech house and indie dance hallmarks. By far one of the most obscure assets to Tomorrowworld’s left-of-field talent pool, seeing is believing when the golden boy of the European circuit comes to town.

Isaac Tichauer

 The rise of Isaac Tichauer has been a two-year spree of of docile peaks and beautiful music. Formally aligned with the French Express collective and mustering something of a reputation for vivid pop re-imaginings, the rising Aussie talent has very much received the golden boy treatment for his stirring studio output here in 2014. At a time when the market seeks an antidote to several years of commercial tomfoolery and big room crossover appeal, the substance and emotive resonance that his productions carry comes as a welcome bridge to a deeper shade of dance music made accessible by expertly tuned hallmarks shared by the pop world and beyond. Remix duties for “Givin’ It Up” and his own Express original “Changes” was the epitome of this journey into vogue that Tichauer has taken in 2014, bringing sultry yet soulful house music to the top of its game at a level that shouldn’t be missed among Tomorrowworld’s programming.

Beckwith

Upon entry to 2014, Beckwith seemed bent on one mission only: to make the heyday etiquette of house music relevant to the next generation. With a legacy already solidified through consistent signings to both Anjunadeep and Nurvous Records, the New York protégé blends the ungroomed crunch of heyday American house with a subtle yet finely tuned appreciation of the market’s deeper and more melodic tendencies. The result speaks for itself: It sounds like the good old days, just re-imagined for expanding taste buds. The road ahead for Paul Beckwith spells a run of very special releases, scaling deep vocal anthems, two-step house joints and everything inbetween. Tomorrowworld is a place to see the next household name in American house music take his mission to the masses ahead of what looks certain to be a promising spike in musical output.

Maceo Plex

 Maceo Plex digs deeper into the underground sound scope than any other artist of his generation has dared. With no credible sub genre immune to his dark and melodically refined production etiquette, the Spanish master of weird and wonderful club moments is now hailed as one of Europe’s more intuitive offerings to electronic dance music of the past decade. The ‘Conjure’ series saw him build upon the weird, wonderful and varied textures of his musical playbook across both his own Ellum Audio imprint and the infamous Kompakt label, with “Conjure Superstar” emerging as one of his most triumphant works to date (NSFW music video and all).

Jonas Rathsman

 This Swedish boy wonder entered the industry radar as a luminary cog in the French Express and its ever-expanding house empire. Turn the clocks forward three-years, add some staggering commercial remix opportunities and a solid run of original material and Jonas Rathsman is a welcome antidote to the misconception that Scandinavia’s musical legacy has been reduced to Eurovision success and a run of commercial big room evangelists. There has been something unexplainably accessible about Rathsman’s fusion of traditional deeper house hallmarks with consistent melodic aptitude; a balance that has had him crowned ‘Future Star’ to the BBC Radio one airwaves and triumphant remixer to London Grammar and Duke Dumont alike. “Skepparkrans” marks his latest and possibly greatest for the French Express, adding yet one more reason to check out a European luminary fast becoming a staple to the larger remits of live dance music in 2014.