This weekend I'll be enjoying myself at the North Coast Festival at Union Park, here in sweltering hot Chicago. This will be only the second iteration of this event and features an impressive line-up of mostly electronic or hip-hop influenced groups (http://www.northcoastfestival.com/). Main acts include David Guetta, Wiz Khalifa, Thievery Corporation, and Fatboy Slim. The groups I'm most excited for are Little Dragon (see earlier blog post), Common, and Major Lazer.
Major Lazer, a collaborative project from DJ's Diplo & Switch, highlights dancehall reggae beats and vocals, with noticeable hints of house, soca, oldies, jazz and R&B. The result? High-energy, thumping, musical party starters. Perfect for a huge crowd of overexposed, under-hydrated, sweaty festival-goers who want nothing more than to dance their faces off.
The group has produced a wonderful mixtape called "Lazerproof" with La Roux, and a full length album in 2009 called "Guns don't Kill People...Lazers Do". For the album the duo moved to Jamaica, to immerse themselves in the many sub genres of the dancehall world. I have often argued that there is no better type of music to get people groovin' than dancehall. After checking out these songs I hope you not only agree, but join me on the floor come Saturday afternoon.
This track, "Pon de Floor" has one of the strangest, raunchiest, and entertaining videos I have ever seen. If you want an example of the Jamaican dance style, "stabbin", go on the internet and find it. Below is the track.
This Major Lazer remix was the first thing I heard from the duo. I loved it, and promptly went out and bought the original song by Gyptian as well. Check out both below.
