DROP THE BASS From East to West the lowdown on the best music

festivals in the country!

Featuring: Interviews with Vampire Weekend and Avicii

What to Wear to this year’s hottest concerts!

Everything you need to know about Calvin Harris

Table of Contents

The Best of the West: Coachella 4

Must see band at Coachella 2013! 7

The Best of the Midwest: Lollapalooza 9

Must see bands at Lollapalooza 2013! 11

Festival Style-What To Wear: Boho Chic 12

Festival Style-What to Wear: Rave Wear 13

Must See Dj at Ultra 2013! 16

The Best of the East:Electric Zoo 19

Must See at Electric Zoo 2013! 21

3

The Best of the West: Coachella

Indio Valley, CA

Why it’s awesome? -The best grass of any festival

-Palm trees and desert mountains make a gorgeous backdrop

-Tons of surprise appearances by artists and other celebs hanging out.

-Despite the masses of people, it’s not too hard to get from stage to stage

-Beautiful people, so many beautiful people (what do you expect from California?)

-Great people watching

Downsides - It’s not the easiest place to walk in and out of. After pacing around the entire shuttle

bus paddock for what felt like an hour.

-Temps reach over 100 degrees. Ugh.

-Even though it’s two weekends, those with sloppy seconds might feel a little disappointed withless parties surrounding the festival and less surprises.

5

Vampire Weekend’s return, with their first album in three years, rates really high on my list of excitement. The Brooklyn quartet drop thier new album Modern Vampires of the City May 14th and will headline Squamish Valley

We noticed that the album cover for ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ was taken in 1966, on one of the Smoggiest days in New York histo-ry... Why did you guys decide on that photo for the cover? Rostam: There is something grabbing about it, because on one level it clearly looks like New York, but in another way it does have a quality of something mystical, or mytholog-ical about how it portrays a city. It could have been New York from the past but it could be New York from the future too

What role does New York play on this album?

Ezra: We wrote most of the songs in New York, it’s always been our home base. It’s where the album was conceived. There were some other trips and we did go to LA to finish it, but New York is the starting point for this album.

So when you guys are writing it, is it in your apartments in Brooklyn?

Ezra: We do a lot of the writing and recording at Rostam’s apartment.

One of the new songs that we are playing right now and loving is “Diane Young,” Who is Diane Young?

Ezra: Apparently there are quite a few Diane Young’s out there in the world. We’ve been told there’s some one who works for the British Music Industry named Diane young. And there is a dermatologist on the Upper East Side, who specializes in anti-aging called Diane Young. But we didn’t have any of them in mind when we wrote the song. It just came out that way, just a character that developed out of the song.

In the song “Diane Young” a lot of people are picking up on the Elvis like inflections in your voice Ezra, what inspired that sound?

Ezra: I think when Rostam sent me the original beat that had this driving slightly 50s punky thing happening, it was natural to take on that kind of rhythm when I came up with something to sing on top of it.

In the video for your song Diane Young, you guys burnt a Saab. What inspired that?

Ezra: Well the opening line, the opening line of the song is, “You torched a Saab like a pile of leaves” there is a lot of dicey behavior in the song.

Were you guys actually there during that music video shoot, what was going on behind the scenes?

Rostam: We couldn’t be there because we were in Austin for South by Southwest. But we wrote out very detailed emails of exactly what we imagined happening, and we were very lucky that we could find people that could help us execute our vision.

Rostam, was it one of your friends that in-spired the actual visual?

Rostam: Yeah it was actually my friend Borna who is actually a video artist, and he was talking about the Phantom Camera. Which is this camera that shoots 1000 fames per second and it got me thinking about how we could shoot this video and see what came out of it. So the actual video is only five seconds of time, if you can believe it.

Rostam you have been working on a lot of side projects too, have you found that that time-spent way from Vampire Weekend is making it’s way in to your music now?

Rostam: well I have always felt that all the music I make is connected in some way. I feel like it’s good to have a lot of creative out lets, there have been songs that I have started on my own that I thought would never be part of Vampire Weekend, and when they did become part of Vampire Weekend I was happy that happened. To me it is just the process of discovering where things should go.

Is it true that you guys [Ezra and Rostam] spent more time writing together for this album?

Ezra: Yeah this is the first album that we had to actually think about writing. Previously most of the work was fin-ishing songs, we started the album with more or less all the song writing ideas there. This one we really needed to figure out how to write songs. We found that ire-quired some trial and error and some experimentation.

Rostam and I took a writing retreat, which is something we have never done. It’s funny because some bands only write that way, some bands only meet up and go out of town and write the album in a week or two. Where, as for us, we had never tried that before, we found it very fruitful.

Must see band at Coachella 2013!Vampire Weekend

7

Why It’s Awesome: -It's basically two vacations in one: explore

Chicago by day, Lolla by night.

-And then hit up one of the many after parties later

-Miraculously, drink and food costs are kept pretty low

-Many hotels are in walking distance, so you don't have to worry about transportation.

Downsides:-Security seems really lax at times.

Good if you only care about sneaking in booze, but bad for safety.

-The music ends at 10pm. Boo.

-This is really a pro in disguise, but with so many good bands, serious scheduling conflicts are inevitable.

-No camping, if that’s your scene.

The Best of the Midwest:

LollapaloozaChicago, IL

9

*Major Lazer

*Two Door Cinema Club

*Tegan and Sara

*Beach House

*2 Chainz

*Matt and Kim

*Alt-J

*Ben Howard

*Icona Pop

*Alex Clare

*Dog Blood

*Baauer

*Hot Chip

*Mumford & Sons

*The Killers

*Phoenix

*The Postal Service

*The Lumineers

*Kendrick Lamar

*Knife Party

*Steve Aoki

*Ellie Goulding

*Grizzly Bear

*Imagine Dragons

*Flux Pavillion

*Band of Horses

Must see bands at Lollapalooza 2013!

11

The Best of the South

Ultra Music FestivalMiami, Florida

Why It’s Awesome:-Now two weekends, but with different lineups. Take that, Coachella.

-15th anniversary means surprises!

-Tons of really exciting parties surrounding the festival

-It's won the International Dance Music Award for "Best Music Event" for six years. Awards mean something, right?

Downsides:-Music ends at midnight, so make sure you find the after parties

-It’s TOO popular, so it’s sometimes crammed and difficult to get from stage to stage

13

Must See Dj at Ultra 2013!Calvin Harris

Adam Richard Wiles, better known by his stage name Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top-ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". His second studio album, Ready for the Weekend (2009), reached number one on the UK Album Chart and includes the chart-topper "I'm Not Alone", the UK top-five hit "Ready for the Weekend", and the singles "Flashback" and "You Used to Hold Me". A remix album titled L.E.D. Festival was released in July 2010 as a free album in the August issue of Mixmag. Harris released his third studio album, 18 Months in October 2012, which contained the singles "Bounce", "Feel So Close", "Let's Go", "We'll Be Coming Back", "Sweet Nothing" and "Drinking from the Bottle". He has written and produced records for other recording artists including Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Dizzee Rascal, Cheryl Cole, Example, Rihanna (on the interna-tional chart-topper "We Found Love") and Kesha.

On the song “Feel So Close” and his own singing voice

“It’s like the same way you experiment with sound — you know, experiment with synths and guitars and make them sound good. [After] 12 years of trying to make my voice sound good in the studio, I finally learned how to do that. I know how to treat my voice to make it sound as good as it possibly can — which is still not that good. There’s still a very limited range there, which is why I like working with other people — especially female singers because they suit dance music a lot better. There’s only so much you can do with a male voice in dance music.”

Must See Dj at Ultra 2013!Calvin Harris

15

The Best of the East:

Electric zooNew york City, NY

Why It’s Awesome: -You get to ride a ferry to the island. Yes, an awesome ferry

-Free refills with a $3 water bottle purchase!!!

-The festival's iPhone app, which includes live schedules, maps and food options, makes life much

easier.

-Well-controlled and organized event (i.e. wristband scanners, organized buses, lots of security)

Downsides: -It's an island, so NYC subways won't get you there. Labor Day

Weekend

- It's an all-ages festival, so you could bump into (literally) an 8-year-old or 80-year-old.

17

Tim Bergling, better known as the progressive-house pow-er-player Avicii, has had quite a run over the last few years. Since releasing “Seek Bromance” (as Tim Berg) and “My Feelings For You” in 2010, and continuing that string of hits into 2011 with “Street Dancer,” “Penguin,” and of course “Levels,” Avicii has climbed the ranks rapidly, packing 2012 with world tours and headlining slots for nearly every major music festival. 2012 has been a huge year for you, and for dance music. You were ranked #3 in the DJ Mag poll after only three years of perform-ing. You headlined nearly every major festival including Ultra, Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Lollapalooza, among others. What were some of your favorite moments?

That is a very hard question. It’s so many things, but one of my favorite moments was when I headlined Ultra Music Festival in Miami, and Madonna joined me on stage. It was also one of those festivals I was really looking forward to. I remember going to Miami a year earlier and just looking at the headliners and dreaming that maybe one day I’d be a headliner like that, too.

Speaking of Madonna, you collaborated with her and Lenny Kravitz last year. Tell us about the creative process working with some of these artists.

They asked me to work on their projects, which was great. They sent me the tracks and I just did what I do in the studio. This year, I’ll be spending more time with my collaborators in the same studio. That will be a new way of working.

Your latest highly anticipated collaboration with Nicky Romero, “I Could Be The One” (formerly “NickTim”), pairs your melodic tal-ents with Nicky’s high-energy sound and now features vocal treatment from Swedish pop singer Noonie Bao. How did this collaboration come about?

We seem to have a great energy together. And I was super-happy with Noonie’s vocals and the opportunity to share her talent with the rest of the world.

You’ve been known to wait to officially release songs until long after they’ve been circulated online and heard by fans. Is there a specific strategy to that approach?

That’s because me and my manager, Ash, have always thought the fans of our music were the most important part of what we do. We want to let them hear it first. Their response creates the momentum to enter the general marketplace.

Did you have any idea “Levels” was going to become such a phenomenon when you were creating the track?

Not at all! But it took a while for it to reach that level. People had to get accustomed to the hook. I am still amazed at the reaction I get from it.

You unveiled your giant face-shaped DJ booth at Coachella 2012, and took the stage setup on your arena tour. What inspired that unique design?

To be honest, I didn’t have much to do with the design, but I was so happy when I saw it—it was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It was something completely out of this world; no one had ever done any-thing similar to that, especially not in the electronic music world. It was just more of a show—it was still very much Avicii, my music, but the whole setting and everything around it really elevated the show to something com-pletely different. The content that was made and mapped onto the head was just beautiful. It was kind of freaky sometimes; it looked real. It was really awesome.

Do you prepare differently for a festival set compared to a club set?

Obviously there is stuff that I wouldn’t play in a club that I play at festivals, and vice-versa, but my sets are still dominated largely by my own music. I think that’s what makes me stand out a bit. My music is also festival- and club-friendly, so it generally works out well.

After a year full of intense touring, you’re back in the studio. What can we expect from your new releases?

I don’t know what I can and can’t say, but there’s been some collaborating going on, and over the past few months, I’ve finished some new tracks and continue to work on more. I feel fortunate to be at a point where I have a lot of unreleased material waiting to be heard. Stay tuned!

Tell us about your creative process.

I always just sit down at the piano and make the main hook—what I want the track to be about melodical-ly—and then I’ll build everything else around that. But growing up, I did not play any instruments.

What advice would you give aspiring produc-ers and DJs?

Don’t give up! It takes a long time to really get ahold of the production part, and the same goes with mastering the decks.

Must See at Electric ZooAvicii

19