Two DJ magazines have released their ‘Best of 2011′ lists and awards recently. Find out who came out on top in the world of American electronic music.

Even though DJ Mag‘s number one DJ is actually Parisian, David Guetta is often seen as a key element in pushing dance music to the American masses. His counterparts in this operation, djs Deadmou5 and Skrillex also come in at numbers 4 and 19 respectively (view the full 100 here). According to DJ Mag, after building upon massive success in 2009, Guetta “became the go-to guy for US urban artists to hook up some dope dance beats”. His recent production list proves that, with collaborations with the Black Eyed Peas, Kelis, and Snoop Dogg helping him, and his dance beats, reach a wider audience and achieve a breakthrough in getting dance music onto American radio.

Meanwhile, DJ Times recently held an event at Marquee Nightclub in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, where they crowned Kaskade as ‘America’s Best DJ 2011′. Chicago-born Kaskade regularly lands high in the Billboard Dance Charts, and has remixed pop acts such as Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga. The award ceremony rounds off a 12 week tour in which DJ Times hosted 24 parties across the US, from New York to Los Angeles. Kaskade also recently completed a video for The Craft, telling the story of his initial discovery of dance music and recent rise to stardom (look out for a quick shot of Gramaphone Records!)…

With all these ‘official’ awards, there is always a backlash from music-lovers and club-goers, touting their favorites as the biggest and best. Many of them are deserved front runners, from house music pioneers of the early eighties, to current trance heavyweights, to the underground dubstep phenomenons. The fact is that dance music as a whole has never been more prominent in the US, taking up larger stages at festivals, as well as dedicated festivals for each sub-genre. Dance music is on breakfast radio shows, in downtown bars, on the catwalk and at the gym, and in part, all of the above mentioned DJs have had a part in that over the last ten years. As for rating the best, that will always be subjective, but the fact that more people are voting and listening, means that the scene as a whole is healthy, and that we should all agree is a good thing.

by Lee Jarvis.

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Chicago DJ and producer (and all-round nice guy) Derrick Carter has been connected to music for some time. Allegedly starting on the decks at the age of nine (playing disco records at his family’s parties) he evolved into a key figure of his city’s house scene throughout the ’90s, playing clubs like Shelter and Foxy’s and working at Gramaphone Records. In 1995 he launched the now infamous Classic Records with Luke Solomon and Chez Damier, and went on to put out exactly 100 releases in its decade-long stint inclusing Markus Nikolai’s ‘Bushes,’ Isoleé’s ‘Beau Mot Plage’ or DJ Sneak’s ‘You Can’t Hide From Your Bud’. The label also helped break fresh material from upcoming artists such as Style of Eye, Justin Martin, Tiefschwartz and Jesse Rose among others. As a regular remixer, Derrick has put his own spin on works from Slam to Ricky Martin to Ian Pooley to Röyksopp.

The Fabric mix series is legendary in it’s own right, growing from the sideshow of the London club and reaching the heights of credibility by cutting new trends with over 100 releases in the last ten years. For Fabric 56, Carter does his best to show what you might hear from him in a club: his own remixes, tracks from Chicago artists, and that signature “boompty boomp” sound. In his own words, “I have some new stuff, some old stuff, some special stuff,” he says. “I tried to give it that kind of treatment so it’s authentic, and real and valid and present. It’s Derrick. All day.”

Tracklist
01. Jody Fingers Finch – Jack Your Big Booty (Derricks BHQ Acid Vocal / BHQ Bonus Of Beats) Green Velvet – La La Land (Derrick Carter Ds BHQ Business Remix)/ Dennis Ferrer – Church Lady (Tommy Davis & DJ Spen Bom Bom Bom Tool)
02. Almost September – Love (Derricks BHQ Remix)
03. DJ Sneak – Respect Bonito (Justin Long Remix)
04. Nick Garcia – Playin Tricks (Hector Moralez Remix)
05. Scope – 8 Track
06. Cricco Castelli – First Love
07. Osunlade pres. Nadirah Shakoor – Pride (Johnny D Remix)
08. Iz & Diz – Cosmid
09. Roger Sanchez – My Organ
10. Scrubfish – Testify To The Soul Provider
11. Olene Kadar feat. D-Low – Baby Keep It Up
12. Cajmere – Percolator (Derrick Carter Bonus Mix)
13. 1200 Warriors – HardDrum (B-Boy Mix)
14. Tripmastaz – Back on My BS
15. Piek meets Stan Garac – La Gondola
16. Lego – Bang Bang
17. Abraham Inc. – Moskowitz Remix (Ds BHQ Re-edit)

Derrick Carter’s Fabric 56 will be released March 7th.

by Lee Jarvis.

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I came across a lot of new rock / dance / electro funk punk / etc bands last year. Not that they were always new bands, but often new to me. There’s also a couple of more established bands who are threatening to get back together or released their first material for a few years.

With that said, I thought I’d make a shortlist of several artists that I’d love to see perform live in 2010, with a little help from Lala. Having received a lot of coverage with their recent buy out from Apple, I thought I’d compile a streaming playlist from their site, and must say I found the process simpler and more fluent than I remember from last using their system. Here’s to hoping that Apple help make the brand profitable and they continue providing a useful service.

And so, onto my rockin playlist – featuring music from Kings of Leon, Jet, Kasabian, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Silversun Pickups, Muse, The Prodigy, Foo Fighters and Soulwax.

Enjoy!

Lee Jarvis.

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