Best of WMC: the VIP questionnaire!

They say that hindsight is 20:20, but we're not so sure: running around Miami fueled by little more than Vitamin Water and soy chips, we found our vision blurry enough during WMC itself. Since returning home, catching up on sleep has helped relieve the pressure in our heads, but many of the week's moments are evaporating like wisps of a dream. Fortunately, we've got a great Flickr photo gallery up to help jog our memories. Better yet, we've assembled a dazzling, many-angled portrait of WMC 2007 as it was lived by DJs, promoters, label reps, publicists, and punters like ourselves. We polled an all-star panel to find out the highs and lows of their WMC experiences; read on for their strange, occasionally shocking, and entirely true (except when they've been kinda, sorta embellished) accounts. They came, they saw, they raved — and they lived to tell the tale.

What was the best party you played or attended?

What were your top records of WMC?

Did you discover any new records or artists?

Best and worst Miami fashion?

Craziest moment you saw or experienced?

The most you paid for a single drink?

Nu rave, filter punk, scuzz disco etc: here to stay?

Bugz in the Attic vs Jazzanova

Kicking off the festivities on Wednesday night, we headed over to SoBe Live for the first installment of our Flavorpill WMC Audio series.

The SunTzu Sound guys laid down a nice mix of broken bits and classic funk, the perfect music to start off the night. Markus Enochson took over the decks for a short set of exclusives from his recent Sonar Kollektiv release, Night Games, but things really got hot when Bugz in the Attic jumped in with a set bursting with bangers from last summer and soon-to-be classics — with mandatory rewind! A live set from Clara Hill pumped up the soul, followed by closing ceremonies from those Black Forest funksters in Jazzanova.

Special thanks to: Tomas and Joe at Aquabooty, Daniel Best at Sonar Kollektiv, Orin, Daz, IG, J-Justice, Atlee, Clara Hill, and Juergen.

For more live sets recorded during WMC, check the Flavorpill streams page.

Photo courtesy of DJ Rhome

Stones Throw Hella International

In one of our absolute highlights of WMC, Stones Throw Records got hella ambitious with its Hella International throwdown, a full day of funk, classic hip-hop, and soul. Live performances from Stacy Epps, Aloe Blacc, and Wildchild had the crowd hanging on every lyric as the performers passed the mic and intertwined vocals over lickety-split mixing from DJs A-Trak, J-Rocc, Peanut Butter Wolf, and James Pants.

Though it drizzled a bit in the early afternoon, the sun shone through while Benji B mashed exclusives in a live Deviation-style set. He was followed by the maestros, Karriem Riggins and Madlib, who took brief but memorable turns at the decks. Presented in two parts, the Hella International sessions are a glorious mish-mash of party jams, left-field freakouts, and stone-cold classics. Close your eyes, crack a cold one, and live the madness all over again.

Special thanks to: Nate, Jamie, Egon, Madlib, Busy P, DJ Mehdi, Stacy Epps, J-Rocc, Peanut Butter Wolf, Karriem Riggins, Wildchild, Aloe Blacc, Benji B, and A-Trak.

For more live sets recorded during WMC, check the Flavorpill streams page.

Spectral Sound Pool Party

There's nothing like an intimate, friends 'n families gathering to recharge the batteries, and that's just what Ann Arbor's Spectral Sound provided at their Spectral Social, a mellow gathering held in the soothing confines of the Clinton Hotel courtyard. Thanks to banging releases from the likes of Audion and James Cotton, Spectral boasts a rep for tough techno. But this three-part recording of the evening proves that the Spectral soldiers can smooth it out and house it up on demand.

Part one features Detroit's Seth Troxler on the decks and the first snatches of Pär Grindvik's grooving live set. Part two finishes up with Troxler and Grindvik, before Spectral's longtime go-to DJ Ryan Elliott takes over the turntables. In part three, Elliott, Audion (aka Matthew Dear), and Troxler whip up a dizzy game of tag-team. Listen carefully for multiple plays of Audion's remix of Black Strobe's "I'm a Man," sure to be one of the hits of the summer.

Special thanks to: Sam Valenti IV, Missy Livingston, Jeff Owens, Matthew Dear, Ryan Elliott, Seth Troxler, Pär Grindvik, and the rest of the Ghostly/Spectral crew.

For more live sets recorded during WMC, check the Flavorpill streams page.

WMC Day 5: Looking backwards

Although the WMC frenzy had dwindled considerably by Sunday evening, the swaggering paraders and hapless vagrants on Lincoln Road were still wandering around in hordes — and such will always be the quotidian scene on the strip. But by now, our over-stimulated brains had surrendered to a depleted state of withdrawal. We're not sure what it was, but hallucinations had become customary. So we had to blink twice when an old, emaciated bum with a Santa Claus beard suddenly appeared, clasping a branch from the plant near our table at Rosinella before crashing to the ground before us in a drunken stupor. That, we figured, was our cue to scoop up the last bits of risotto and head over to Purdy Lounge for one last gasp.

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WMC Day 4: the last gasp

People love to say that electronic music represents a new evolutionary phase, but our Miami experience often seemed to be all about devolution: wet-nap baths, filthy clothing, pilfering wi-fi, lost and found laptops… The list of indignities could go on. We found the soundtrack to such a primal state at Made Event's Sunday School for Degenerates party, a 14-hour marathon of regressive house music.

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Top five WMC highlights so far…

5. The woman wearing the white lace (read: completely see-through) pants and thong at the Scion yacht party. Honorable mention for the girl who was stone-cold passed out in the hallway below deck.

4. The hot-dog cart guy in front of Pawn Shop, and his crazy secret weapon: French-fried shoe-string potato crisps, all mucked up with ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise, slapped on top of the bun and frank. Sweet sodium bomb, pass the grape soda!

3. The anarchy that ensued when the police shut down Claude VonStroke in the middle of his set at the Apple in-store showcase. With the officers standing sour-pussed in front of the decks, Mr. VonStroke slammed the volume up to MAXIMUM, ripped his headphones out of the jack, and stalked off to the roar of the cheering crowd. You'll never take us alive, coppers!

2. Flavorpill Team Leader, Phil Sherburne, and his amazing collection of sparkly, fringed man-scarves.

1. The hefty stash of condoms we found hidden in the wall outside our condo. Because sometimes when you're on the move, you don't have time to stop at the store; you just gotta pull a condom out of the cracks like, whu-bam! Extra points, too, for showing us a really good place to hide our keys.

Interview: Chromeo

Dave 1 (aka Dave Macklovitch) has been busy as hell of late. In addition to being a prolific hip-hop producer, the Montreal native has been pulling duty as Vice magazine's rap editor and is about to release a second album for Chromeo, the cheeky synth-funk outfit he created with his high-school friend, Pee Thug (Patrick Gemayel). He's also working on his thesis in French literature at Columbia University, mind you. After Chromeo's second DJ set in the wee morning hours at the SpiderPussy party, we sat down in Circa28's downstairs lounge for a little powwow about Miami. [KEEP READING...]

WMC Day 3: and justice was served!

A surreal party deserves an equally absurd entrance, so it's only fitting that we found ourselves rolling up to Saturday night's FIXED party — a nu-rave, filter-punk maelstrom featuring over-the-top headliners Digitalism and Justice — sprawled in the back of a stretch limo. A white stretch limo, at that. We're still not exactly sure how we managed to hitch that ride — friends dragged us out of the Spectral party, and there it was: gleaming, stretchy, and ours to be had all the way downtown for only $60, about the same our party of a dozen strong would have spent on cab fare.

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Interview: The Pinker Tones

On their albums, the Barcelona-based Pinker Tones deliver robust helpings of world-influenced electronica, puckishly mashing dance anthems with bossa nova, breakbeats, indie pop, '60s European film soundtracks, and anything else they can squeeze in. The live show takes it up a notch by adding DJ Niño and offering a performance worthy of an '80s glam band. Following their intimate, but spirited set at PS14, we sat down for a quickie with the two main Tones, Mr Furia and Professor Manso.

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WMC Day 3: escaping the heat

Remember that old Siouxsie & the Banshees song, "92 Degrees"? It posits that "more murders are committed at 92 degrees than any other temperature. At lower temperatures people are easygoing; over 92 it's too hot to move. Just 92 — people get irritable!" Fortunately it hasn't been anywhere near that hot down here this year, but even so, the endless lines, drunken spring breakers stumbling along Collins, tire-squealing sports-car drivers, and exorbitant drink prices (isn't charging $8 for a bottle of water in violation of the Geneva Conventions?) are enough to make the most seasoned festival-goer a little cranky. What was rumored by passersby on Collins Ave to be the aftermath of a shooting yesterday — police cordoning off the street and laying down yellow numbered placards, presumably where the shell casings fell — only underscored that beneath Miami's cool blue facade, tensions often glow red. Sometimes, you just need to get away from the madding crowd. Ann Arbor's Spectral Sound label — the techno imprint of Ghostly International — provided the perfect escape…

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WMC Day 3: the wheel of fortune

Lady Luck sure is a crazy bitch sometimes. As we recline back in our chaise lounges, sucking up complimentary iced teas and wi-fi at the Standard Hotel & Spa, the hardships of the previous 48 hours seem very far away, indeed. Shady condo broker trying to steal our rental deposit? No problem. Minor car wreck? Big deal! Our biggest problem now is trying to find an extension cord so we can plug in our laptops by the waterfall pool. The maintenance guys didn't seem too convinced when we asked them about it…

Surrounded by hot tubs, cold dips, steam rooms, and outdoor showers, it's funny to think that just last night, we were huddled in the corner of a drug store, sponge-bathing ourselves with wet wipes. We'd been out in the heat — and intermittent rain — all afternoon, racing over to the Stones Throw party at the Raleigh to catch Madlib's set and free schwag from Adidas, then next door to the National for Magda and Steve Bug at the Remix Hotel event. By the time Tiefschwarz closed down Remix's poolside party down at 9:30pm, we smelled like a cross between a wet beach towel and the inside of a record bag. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so we hightailed ourselves to the massive CVS on Lincoln and Collins for an emergency scrub down. "Ooh look, they have hand sanitizer!" we squealed, rushing towards the 99-cent bin at the entrance. Ten used wipes later, Team Flavorpill emerged from our makeshift bathhouse in the shampoo aisle, slightly less bedraggled and fairly sure we'd scraped the last of our WMC pride. One good tip, though: if you dirty up your pristine white European deck shoes dancing at a warehouse party, wet wipes also make excellent makeshift shoe polishers.

WMC Day 2: disco meltdown

Like Grandma always told us, sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find those diamonds. Of course, Grams was talking about marriage and discount pudding mix, but the same holds true for WMC. The biggest party to go down last night, Get Physical's showcase at Studio A, seemed like a no-brainer with its incredible lineup — we showed up to catch tight, bass-crazy sets from Heidi, Claude VonStroke, Dixon, Jesse Rose, Booka Shade, and M.A.N.D.Y., and came away satisfied that that is how proper house music should sound. But while Booka Shade's set was undeniably banging, we couldn't help but notice that the bulk of the tracks were from their Movements LP, which knocked WMC on its ass… last year.

As it turned out, the most newfangled thing we saw last night came when we slipped off to a small, semi-ignored party happening around the corner. At the Thunder Finger Records launch event at PS14, a freak five-minute downpour caused a mad scramble from the patio outside. With the DJ equipment under tarps and the patio rave effectively shut down, a modest crowd straggled inside, just in time to witness the extraordinary phenomenon that is Steed Lord. Sure, the band worked a gimmick like a cheekful of Big League Chew: the day-glo threads, the intentionally crappy keyboards, the synchronized dance routines… you get the drift. But damn, that little, platinum-blonde, Icelandic frontwoman was belting those tunes like a Chicago disco diva from a bygone era. For the 50 people there to watch, it was like they started playing funky house at a Vanilla Ice karaoke contest — and, on a night when the tunes had been nothing if not dependable, it was strangely satisfying to watch their high-spirited meltdown.

WMC Day 2: crashing the party

We don't know if it's tinnitus, some fault of our central nervous system, or a combination of the two, but we've got this ringing in our ears that sounds exactly like a cell phone. (Maybe it's just because our phones haven't stopped ringing?) In any case, the low brrrt-brrrt is on us like a plague of digital locusts. "Is that the phone?" Then it rings. Ah yes, that's the phone.

We finally looked up from our laptops — working, a cardinal sin at WMC — and realized it was way past time to go out. A 20 minute walk later, wending our way through a sea of unbuttoned shirts, ball caps, catcalls, and the hankie-sized dresses that inspired them, we made it to our first party of the night, Turntable Lab's throwdown at Shore. It felt very New York, appropriately enough: patterned hoodies, covetable kicks, big ol' facial hair, and that whole mix of preppy/hip-hop/rocker/candy-raver excess that characterizes downtown style these days. Roxy Cottontail teetered on the steps of the DJ platform, offering a running commentary so abstract and random it might have been made of haiku fragments. Old-school electro, freestyle, and B'more sounds dominated the set, with nods to classic house, including Josh Wink's "Don't Laugh," that absolute banger made of nothing more than 909s, an acid bass line, and a loop of deranged laughter.

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Interview: Bruce Tantum, Time Out NY

The only thing better, in our minds, than leaving snow-white New York for the shorty shorts and tank tops of Miami, is seeing snow-white New Yorkers actually wearing shorty shorts and tank tops in Miami. So it was especially good to see Bruce Tantum, longtime New York dance-floor fixture (he remembers Danceteria; do you?) and clubs editor for Time Out NY, properly defrosted from the snowstorms that hit Gotham last weekend. Naturally, we couldn't resist pelting him with our usual barrage of questions… [KEEP READING...]

Interview: DJ Heidi

As we wander down Collins Avenue like lost, drunken, sunburned children, Team Flavorpill is bound to bump into some interesting characters. We decided to take advantage of the situation and bring you quick 'n dirty interviews from the DJs, producers, promoters, and general party-makers that we meet on the street. Last night at the Immigrant Records bash, we sidled up to Heidi, proprietor of Phonica Records in London. Here's what she had to say about muscles, minimal, and her residency at Monza …

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WMC Day 1: touching down

No one ever said that attending WMC was particularly easy. Some contend that WMC actually stands for Winter Music Cluster… well, you get the picture. Case in point: Team Flavorpill arrives Tuesday night, hoping to jump in with both feet, only to learn that the condo we're to be sharing with our pals from the Ghostly International label has turned into a cond-no. After a night in the swanky airport Holiday Inn, we spend much of Wednesday looking for new digs. The good news: there's a condo available. The bad news: the rental agent keeps pushing back our meeting, hour after hour. So then, how to keep busy? [KEEP READING...]

DJ Contra: makin' Miami happen

Since his arrival in Miami, Contra has consistently lent his deft hands and acute ears to the promotion of the city's DJ culture. Originally from DC, Contra first made a name for himself hosting The Underground, a hip-hop/soul/funk shakedown at the venerable indie radio station WVUM. In 2005, he left town to tour as feisty lyricist M.I.A.'s backup DJ, returning a year later to claim regular gigs at Purdy Lounge, the Pawn Shop, and Skybar. Just back from making the rounds with Spank Rock at SXSW, Contra offered us some insight on the Miami scene. [KEEP READING...]

Miambient: drop in, turn on, chill out

March in Miami has more than its share of thumping beats, rolling breaks, and thudding pulses: during WMC, it's four to the floor, all the way to the horizon. This year, however, there's an escape from all that: Miambient, the International Convergence of Ambient, Downtempo, and Visual Music. Held Thursday through Sunday at the Standard Hotel, Miambient — an initiative of Earthdance International — offers an oasis of downbeat grooves and ambient soundscapes, with an emphasis on complementary video performance. Round-the-clock programming, specifically tailored to the Standard's secluded vibe, features international talents like OM Records' J-Boogie, leftfield glitch-hopper Pedro, and KCRW's Garth Trinidad; among the special events, NextAid's Beats Build Hope and Global Alliance Distribution's Support for Sierra Leone raise the bar for conscious raving. And be sure to swing by Saturday, from 4pm to midnight, when Flavorpill presents Ari K, Pink Skull, Something in Spanish, and more.

Counting Down: Less than a week to go!

For those of you landing here for the first time, welcome to Flavorpill's WMC '07 Miami Guide. A quick guide to the guide: check the front page here for recent updates and late-breaking news; see Miami Tips for a growing list of local hideouts and hot spots to explore when you simply can't dance any longer; and peruse the week's calendar by day for an ever-expanding roll call of WMC's very best parties. We'll be heading down to Miami next week, so keep hitting us up for our latest reports and updates.

Let's Get Lost: Crosstown Rebels defy bedtime

If you travel the party circuit, Damian Lazarus is one of those figures you bump into everywhere: a hotel pool outside Benicàssim, Spain; a double-decker bus in Mexico City; a cozy afterparty in Berlin (naturally). Lazarus deserves his surname, having parlayed a career as a music journalist into a second life as a globetrotting DJ and keen-eared A&R man. We caught up with him to find out what's in store for his label Crosstown Rebels and its annual WMC blowout.

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Wet Bar: Remix Hotel and Beatport serve up poolside beats

In Miami, some of the best artists aren't found in dark clubs — they're chilling poolside in broad daylight. This year is no exception, as Remix Hotel and Beatport, the premier retailer for dance-music downloads, pair up to bring you the Beatport Poolside Sessions Thursday through Sunday, March 22 - 25, at the National Hotel. [KEEP READING...]

Hella International: Stones Throw takes WMC by storm

WMC is known as a house-music haven, and for good reason, but there's always a little hip-hop that slips through the cracks. This year, LA's Stones Throw label is determined to make its mark on the conference, providing a home for underground flavors of funk and soul. To that end, the label has launched Hella International, a box set of three 12-inch singles featuring cuts from Madlib and Karriem Riggins, J Dilla, Arabian Prince, Aloe Blacc, J Rocc, and more, plus remixes from Four Tet, Dabrye, Koushik, and Madlib. Rounding out the set's fetish-worthiness is the stunning cover art, coming courtesy of Dutch design hero Parra. [KEEP READING...]

Made in the Shade

Mike Bindra is a legend in New York nightlife: as general manager of Twilo around the turn of the decade, he was responsible for electrifying the club's Friday-night marquee with superstars like Sasha & Digweed, Carl Cox, Sven Väth, and Richie Hawtin. Today, he and Laura de Palma run the promotions company Made Event, booking just about every kind of electronic music in just about every club in New York. Last summer they brought the massively popular Paul van Dyk to the massively populated Central Park; at the opposite end of the spectrum, underground technorati Loco Dice and Josh Wink graced a Made Event night at Shelter in February. This year marks Made Event's sixth consecutive year producing parties at WMC.

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Wax Ecstatic: WMC's first record fair

At Barcelona's annual Sónar festival, a draw that's almost as popular as the performances themselves is the féria discografia, or record fair, where all manner of labels, distributors, and independent retailers peddle their wares. WMC has never had a record fair, which in some ways isn't surprising: between the heat, the humidity, and the relentless pace of the partying — not to mention the possibility that many poolside parties can quickly become pool parties, given one well-placed push and a mad, collective dash for the water — March in Miami might not seem like the optimal setting for carting around armloads of rare wax. This year, however, devoted vinyl enthusiasts will have the chance to prove that theory wrong, as WMC mounts the First Annual International Record Collectors Show. [KEEP READING...]

Welcome to the Flavorpill WMC Guide

The clock is ticking: in less than three weeks, Miami will come alive as Winter Music Conference touches down and torches up in a disco inferno of unparalleled proportions. Flavorpill will be there, and what's more, we're taking you with us.

Welcome to the Flavorpill WMC Guide, a blog and unofficial companion to the 2007 edition of WMC, the nation's biggest dance-music festival and professional conference. We're providing an online resource to serve as your indispensable festival guide. Starting with event previews, local tips, and artist profiles in the weeks leading up to the event, and climaxing with on-the-scene interviews, photos, audio, and video from the heart of the Conference (March 20 - 25), the Flavorpill WMC Guide gives you the inside track to dance music's version of March Madness, whether you're attending in person or raving virtually from thousands of miles away.

Check back daily for our rolling pre-festival roundup; browse by category in the left-hand links, or explore our ever-expanding calendar of recommended events, which we'll fill out with the most promising parties that cross our paths. (Promoters, send us your info using this form.) Until then, we'll see you in Miami!