For the first night, Sensation’s pyramid will be inhabited by an incredible crew of DJs that range from multiple genres. Joining Mr.White will be Dennis Ferrer, Fedde Le Grand, Joris Voorn and Nic Fanciulli. With Friday offering the perfect mixture of soul, tech vibes and big room energy, Sensation’s lineup unveiling is guaranteed to have people talking for a long time.

Part two, which takes place on Saturday, will feature a lineup that is of equal magnitude to the night prior. Alongside the host Mr.White will be; Danny Tenaglia, Mark Knight, 2000 and One and Fedde Le Grand for his part two. Bringing in two of EDM’s biggest legends in Mark Knight and hometown hero Danny Tenaglia promises an experience unlike any other big festival or club could possibly offer.

With this lineup putting those who doubted in a state of utter silence, Sensation ‘Innerspace’ has completely blown people away with their choice of talent. Offering the masses a trip to the underground during one of the most mainstream and widely followed events on the planet has given Sensation a mountain of respect from those in all areas of the industry. With the chatter and speculation now officially turning into confirmation, Sensation is bound for music history.

Check out the teaser video below!

Only 23, Driscoll has quickly made massive strides in his growing career. Playing a number of NYC’s top venues such as Pacha, District 36, Bar 13 and Santos Party House, the young DJ/producer has also shared the 1′s and 2′s with some of dance music’s elite like Victor Calderone, Manufactured Superstars and Pete Tong. Polishing his skills at London’s Point Blank Academy and The Ministry of Sound DJ Academy, the young Driscoll has nothing but promise for the near future and this freshman release is a clear indicator of that. Dubbed the ‘Silo’ EP, this two track pack features a sound that is an eclectic mixture of Eric Prydz and Steve Angello. Guaranteed to catch the ear of many big room DJs, ‘Silo’ is a must grab once it drops October 3rd.

CLR Podcast 148 – Chris Liebing

Datilly: Thanks for interviewing with me Chris. For our readers, how old are you and where are you from?

Chris Liebing: I am 43 and I am from Frankfurt, Germany

Datilly: When did you start to DJ?

Chris Liebing: Oh man haha! I’ve been DJing for over 20 years now.

Datilly: Create, learn, realize. Those are the 3 ideologies behind CLR. How did you come up with the imprint’s main concepts? What fuels all of what CLR does and plans to do?

Chris Liebing: I ran various labels before I started CLR. CLR was really born out of necessity because the label I used to run, Fine Audio Recordings, was apart of a company in Germany and when I left they kept the label and I had to go. So I had to quickly start a new label and honestly I wasn’t really creative enough to come up with a new name, so I just called it Chris Liebing Recordings. I was never really happy with that name as I truly don’t like to put myself in the center like that. I felt that it should really be about a vibe a group of people create together, not only about me. Over the period of the first 6-7 years of the label, I felt if I could I would change the name but everyone was like no! no! no! It is a brand now, you can’t change it. I eventually got the idea to not change the name but change the meaning behind it. It really represented what I wanted to express; create, learn, realize. It is really what I have been doing for the past 20 years. I try to create a certain vibe on the dance floor with certain kind of music. I learn from it because I observe what’s happening, and from this hopefully I can realize what I can do better for the next time. So it’s a constant cycle in order to get to a certain stage. Ultimately, that stage is to create a certain vibe where the people totally get lost in the music, go on a journey and completely forget about everything and have a good time.

Datilly: Let’s talk a little about techno’s development. Over the years, the entire genre’s sound and style has changed. I remember when I first heard techno it was at least 130 BPM if not higher and was almost too much. You have been there since the beginning and now many would say you pioneered the advancement of techno. How would you say, from your early days to now, how techno has changed and how you’ve changed as a producer?

Chris Liebing: 130 BPM? How about 140 BPM? It’s really funny because I didn’t really start to play electronic music until 1994, before I played a mixture of everything. I then got into techno but it was pretty late. Germany’s big techno days started in about 1990 but at that time I didn’t really like it for some reason. I recently found a tape of myself playing at OMEN in Frankfurt where I used to be a resident and as I started to listen to it I thought wow, this is super lame hahaha. The music is really cool, but it is like you mix a record after 5 minutes. The speed was around 130 – 132 and I was like oh that is interesting, it sounds very dull compared to today because not much was happening but at that time it was sort of enough. Also the sound was really crappy, I mean additionally it was a tape recording from 15 years ago but I tried to create a certain kind of energy and I did that via the tempo. Over a few years it got faster and faster and around 1999/2000 we were at 144 BPM. We were trying to create a certain energy and it wasn’t possible to create otherwise, but when productions got better and sound systems improved I knew that I could create a similar kind of energy with certain amount of bass. That wasn’t possible back in the day because we played on rock sound systems which is very mid range heavy. So now, the energy comes out via the bass and what I later realized is if I play slower it leaves room between the bass drums. More space between the bass drums enables more room for the bass and deepness to come through which allows a certain vibe to come through so in turn you didn’t have to be limited to this overly fast 140 BPM music. There is a whole lot more things possible and it really developed over the last 7-8 years which leads to where we are now and I truly have no idea where it is gonna go from here. I’ve always felt quite comfortable in what I was playing but today I must say I am really comfortable but if you asked me the same question 5 years ago I’d probably say the same thing haha!

Here is an hour long portion from one of Chris’ sets at Omen from 1998

Datilly: Germany has become well known for being a hotbed of devoted techno artists. With clubs like Berghain, Waterfront and Tresor it seems to me and most of the world that Germany is techno’s home. With that being said, who are some young up and coming German techno producers that you think will follow you up and lead techno into the next frontier?

Chris Liebing: Honestly, I don’t really see techno in the national point of view anymore. Obviously there is a lot of young German producers who are doing a great job and creating a whole new vibe but I see it more globally and there is a whole new generation coming up of really interesting artists who are like 20 years old and doing big things. One name that comes to mind is Tommy Four Seven. Even though he is now on my label, he was one of those young outstanding artists that I picked up on and was like wow this is great. A new cycle is beginning and it isn’t necessarily national. Of course 15 years ago it was all very national but now, the techno scene especially, is more global. There is so much interaction going on between different nationalities and that’s what I think it’s all about. It’s so great to see so much interaction. You don’t really care if it’s German, African, Brazilian or Canadian. It’s just people.

Chris and Tommy Four Seven playing B2B At Nature One

Datilly: Speaking about music being more global, some artists, more typically underground artists, are protective of their niche and in a sense are unhappy that EDM as a whole is blowing up as much as it is. Being that you are one of the kings of the underground, what is your take on it? Do you think that the global culturing of EDM is good for music? How do you feel about the masses taking an interest in what used to be a very isolated community?

Chris Liebing: This discussion has been there since I started to listen to music. It has always been there. There is always those people that feel they have to protect a certain style they may have created and condemn everything that goes on to become more commercial and successful. I am much more easy going. I don’t necessarily like, for example, the kind of music we are listening to here next to the main stage but that doesn’t mean I disrespect the artist or disrespect and put down the people that listen to it. I mean obviously they are enjoying themselves a lot. I wouldn’t really call it electronic dance music because I don’t really see them dancing, I see them jumping around but they are having a lot of fun. This whole argument is the same as one that went on during the middle to end of the 90’s in Germany when trance began to come in. Trance became really big, like really cheesy trance boomed on the charts. All the techno guys were complaining like oh look at those guys they are all sell outs but in actuality it did nothing. Honestly, any commercial thing cannot harm the true underground vibe. If you have a true underground vibe then you should really be tolerant of what goes on around you no matter what. Why would it be harmed or compromised? But another thing on the positive side is the whole EDM movement happening in the states kind of paved the way for people like me as well. Right next to us, people are having lots of fun dancing and jumping around to Axwell and Tiesto but eventually they may want to listen to something a little different and all they have to do is walk down to the techno tent and they will experience something completely different and maybe they can get into that and then a whole new generation comes up. I have actually really experienced that in the past two years, there is a lot more interest in niche electronic music for a lot of people. I know people who are now into more minimalistic music, which is a more underground style, but now there is a massive jump in the amount of people with that interest and it is all due to the massive EDM success. Who am I to condemn that? I just think people are having a lot of fun.

Chris closing out the Sunday School Grove at Electric Zoo 2012

Datilly: I definitely can see what you mean. To follow up on that, I was at your BLK|Market party at Highline Ballroom months back and then two months later you played at Pacha which is primarily a big room oriented club and draws a lot of the mainstream loving crowd. With that being said, how do you feel about your US draw now? Even though Europeans are a much more musically educated crowd, your energetic sound packed with devastating kicks has really started to attract a lot of US club goers. With some people saying the US is 10 years behind in music, what are you trying to portray to these new fans?

Chris Liebing: I wouldn’t say that is true anymore. I’ve been coming here now for a long time and played in all sorts of bars that when I came in people were still sitting and eating their dinner and having a beer and the promoter would say oh we have to wait until they are finished eating. When they finished, then we would move all the tables off the dance floor and setup the sound system. You know, I’ve done it all here and in the beginning you were really behind. The people didn’t even know how to move to the music but now a lot of things have changed. It’s really great to see this devout passion and the US has these really great pockets of music lovers in various cities and they are getting more and more connected now. Another thing is when you talk about clubs like Pacha NYC, I had actually played there back in 2006 along with Speedy J and we did a collab show, which was a crazy thought because it was really hard techno back then, but people were open enough to listen to it. When I came back to Pacha this year I thought to myself, am I gonna scare everyone away here? Is it gonna be empty within a half an hour? But no, the party was crazy and I played 6 hours until 8 in the morning and I had such an amazing time and this is why I say do not judge locations and people. Be always open to whatever happens. I mean obviously you are never gonna see me play the mainstage at a festival like this because there probably won’t be enough people to enjoy my kind of music because it is sort of niche. But it worked at Pacha and now there is a lot of exchanging going on. I mean you were there, you saw how crazy it was and that it worked. That’s when I ask myself why not? Why not do things like that? I’m not one of those guys insisting on an underground rule and you have to keep it that way. Some people have been criticizing me for that attitude but I respect that. I tolerate that.

Chris playing at Pacha NYC this past year

Datilly: You’ve played all over the world from Ibiza to various cities throughout the US to the UK to South America. Where is your favorite place to play? More so, what place is your favorite dungeon for the darkest of your techno sets?

Chris Liebing: Basically, I think I suit really well at Space in Ibiza. There is also Berghain in Berlin. It is one of my favorite places to play because you can really explore yourself and explore the music. Every time I play, I play long sets but the last time I played there it was for 13 hours and there was so many phases and it was such an incredible journey and that is pretty unique. As I’m looking back on all the places I’ve played, I have to say that it is an extremely unique place. I really recommend to anyone visiting Europe, you have to try to get into Berghain.

A picture of the infamous German nightclub, Berghain

Datilly: What can we expect to see from CLR artists and yourself in the next year? What’s set to release on CLR?

Chris Liebing: We have some great stuff coming up. Monoloc has just finished a new album that is going to come out at the beginning of November. I’m currently mixing down another album by Drumcell which is an artist from Los Angeles and I think it is amazing. Obviously, I am going to say it’s an amazing album but if I didn’t honestly feel that way, I wouldn’t release it. It sometimes sounds cheesy or like I’m trying to sell something but I really do feel that way. We also have a compilation coming out with 10 exclusive tracks by artists I feel are doing some amazing stuff that are not necessarily connected to CLR but just talented artists in general. This is what we have coming up for now but I always have my ears open because I don’t like to plan too much because things just happen and if I plan to much I limit myself. It is amazing to see what happens sometimes if you are open to things just happening and taking shape.

I would just like to thank Chris for interviewing with me! Look out for forthcoming CLR releases and podcasts and be sure to catch Chris playing alongside Danny Tenaglia at Pacha NYC on November 17, 2012.

For most party animals the option to attend an event at NYC’s crown jewel of exclusivity, Provocateur, is not available. Considered to be the toughest door on the east coast, if not the whole country, the Gansevoort Hotel’s ground floor club primarily caters to a group of clients consisting of wealthy businessmen, athletes, musicians and models. With some people going their whole club career without making it past the two beautiful door girls at Provocateur, it was with great fortune that Dat Illy was able to join in on a night of the high life with one of EDM’s underground kings…Loco Dice.

When I arrived at Provocateur there was a massive crowd of people all trying to get past the velvet rope. Names being dropped, pleading negotiations with the door girls, and lots of disappointment found as the eager party-goers would do anything they could to get inside. With the club being already at capacity when I got inside around 1230, it was very evident that an experience unlike any I have ever had before was about to rack my brain. Around 2 am, the Desolat king left the cafe area and entered the intimate nightclub and setup shop for what was going to be a long night.

Dice started off in such a way that it was clear he was about to throw down one of his classic monster sets. With his opening track being a personal edit of KW Griff’s ‘Chris Rock Joint’, which features an amazing vocal sample of Rock ranting about never leaving the club, Loco had the crowd exactly where he wanted them. Relentlessly dropping bomb after bomb, the Desolat head honcho took full advantage of Provocateur’s top quality sound system.

With rumors spreading around that Dice may possibly play an after hours following his set, I wondered how late he might go. Being that the Provocateur crowd didn’t appear to be the early morning type, I was nervous that 4am would mark the end of this remarkable tech massacre. To say that I was mistaken would be an understatement. 4 became 5, 5 became 6 and when I finally called it quits at 645, Dice was on a roll that lead me to believe he would never get off. Eventually getting off at 7, Dice played for a devoted crowd no bigger than 30 people and still threw down as if he was in front of thousands. For what was one of the best clubbing experiences of my life, not only in the party sense but also musically, Loco Dice clearly showed why he is the DJ/producer everyone claims him to be.

Below are some of the tracks I was able to identify throughout the night, in no particular order.

1. Bimas – Never Say Goodbye [Desolat X]
2. Pirupa – Party Non Stop [Desolat]
3. Bimas – Post The Music [Desolat X]
4. Loco Dice – Definition (Nic Fanciulli Remix) [Saved Records]
5. Philip Bader + Andrea Oliva – Girls [Saved Records]
6. Philip Bader – Amir Loves You (Nic Fanciulli + Davide Squillace Remix) [Saved]
7. DJ Sneak – Beat Some Sense Into You [Desolat]
8. Andrea Oliva + Gel Abril – Scene [Be As One]
9. tINI – Shmooh’s Raisin Theory (Re-Up Remix) [Dissonant]
10. Yaya – Strange Meeting [Etruria Beat]
11. Mathias Kadden, Affkt - Kadenzafkt (Coyu Remix) [Sincopat]

     Photo Credit – Oliver Correa 

Set to take place at one of Verboten’s favorite venues, Highline Ballroom, this weekend’s main event welcomes back Visionquest’s Seth Troxler and Crosstown Rebels’ favorite youngblood, Subb-An. Returning to New York for the first time since EDC, Troxler offers party goers a musical journey that will properly offer insight into his eclectic mind. Subb-An on the other hand is one of the underground’s fastest risers. Renowned for his ability in the studio, the young British producer has been featured on a number of respected labels such as Saved, Hot Creations and 2020 Vision. Featuring a very melodic, deep and bass filled sound, Subb-An is guaranteed to set up the perfect atmosphere for Uncle Seth. Handling the warm up duties will be Plot resident Michael Christopher. With a packed house in Highline’s future for tomorrow evening, it is recommended that party goers buy advanced tickets. Get them HERE.

Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones BBC Radio 1 Takeover

Subb-An Guest Mix For Radio 1

Our first mix is compliments of our good friend, NYC based DJ/producer, Jean Pierre. Following his recent destruction of Pacha’s main floor during the Voodoo V party, it is with great pleasure that we feature this exclusive mix he did for us. Featuring an eclectic mix of heavy bass, rhythmic percussion and unique vocals, Jean Pierre offers up a perfect collection showcasing his true sound. For those of you who would like to find out more about Jean Pierre, be sure to check out our latest interview which featured him. Be sure to download this mix as it will perfectly play the role of this weekend’s soundtrack.

Be sure to stay tuned for future installments of illy Radio coming soon!

Available for Purchase September 16th.
Pre-Order Love & War Tour Tickets Here!

Love & War Tour

9/27/2012 The Varsity Theatre Baton Rouge, LA
9/28/2012 Lyric Theater Oxford, MS
9/29/2012 Cannery Ballroom Nashville, TN
10/2/2012 The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD
10/3/2012 Pearl Street Ballroom Northhampton, MA
10/4/2012 Toads Place New Haven, CT
10/5/2012 Lupos Providence, RI
10/6/2012 Higher Ground Burlington, VT
10/9/2012 Necto Ann Arbor, MI
10/10/2012 Bluebird Bloomington, IN
10/11/2012 The Canopy Urbana, IL
10/16/2012 Boulder Theater Boulder, CO
10/18/2012 Knitting Factory Missoula, MT
10/19/2012 Knitting Factory Boise, ID
10/20/2012 Knitting Factory Reno, NV
10/22/2012 The Showbox Sodo Seattle, WA
10/23/2012 Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR
10/24/2012 McDonald Theater Eugene, OR
10/25/2012 Knitting Factory Spokane, WA
10/26/2012 Congress Theater Chicago, IL
10/27/2012 The Warfield San Francisco, CA
10/30/2012 The Graduate San Luis Obispo, CA
10/31/2012 The Graduate San Luis Obispo, CA

Available for Purchase September 25th.

Available for Purchase September 11th.