DJ Mag March 2020 (North America) - digital

“ARE YOU GOING TO MIAMI?”

Since the ’80s, that question’s been posed at this time of year approximately one zillion times, by our calculations. At first, it was the Winter Music Conference, at the time a scruffy little gathering of music industry types, that was driving the annual March exodus; soon, WMC was joined by a sprawling array of parties (later branded as Miami Music Week) and, of course, towering like a Colossus above it all, Ultra Music Festival.

Inside, we take a look at the week and the carousel of events that drives it — including the annual DJ Mag pool party, this year held on March 18 at the Surfcomber, featuring the likes of Cassy, Seth Troxler, La Fleur, and A-Trak and Armand Van Helden, once again together under the Duck Sauce moniker.

Just as March in Miami has evolved, the dreams and desires of artists change over the years — including those of the man who fronts this month’s magazine: David Guetta. The Parisian began his career, as many DJs of his generation did, as a club jock excited by the possibilities of a new art form called house music; over the years, he morphed into an EDM and pop superstar, tooling around in private jets and working with the likes of Rihanna, Sia, and Justin Bieber. But something was missing — and Guetta may have found it with his Jack Back project, a return to his long-ago house roots.

Elsewhere, you’ll find interviews with the varied likes of electronic-pop outsider Dan Deacon, the oddball surrealists of TWRP, the four-to-the floor– loving Detroit Swindle, the tuneful multi-instrumentalist Monolink, and Canadian techno maven Patrick Holland. New artists, tons of reviews, tech news — it’s all here, waiting for you.

BRUCE TANTUM

Editor, DJ Mag North America