BY JIPSY, NEFARIOUSGIRL.COM
Those of us who love electronic dance music and Winter Music Conference-turned-Miami Music Week know it’s a marathon and not a sprint.
That’s a fact. I prepare physically by taking immune system boosters, have a daily plan of action and always carry earplugs, hand wipes, charged batteries and biz cards with me. With all this, I took on the week and a half of dance music ready to cover as a social journalist and a fan of the culture.
Here is a snippet of my week (story continues below):
Miami Music Week, Ultra Music Festival, and WMC 2012
The first weekend, I was at Ultra on the hunt for outfits -- and all I found were clones furry boots, neon clothing and beaded arms and faces. As for the production, it was amazing. Still can’t get over how beautiful and well done it was. (Photos 1-4)
Monday I reserved the evening for Apollonia Records at Treehouse. Shout out to Apollonia and Mobilee Records who put on an awesome dance party. (Photos 5 – 8)
Wednesday was dedicated to the first Masters At Work cruise where Kenny Dope and Louie Vega performed together. Since I’m a house head, this was my time to dance. (Photos 9 – 13)
On Thursday, I started at The Red Bull Guest House for Boiler Room, but cut it short to head out to the Motorola Music Lounge at W Hotel where I photographed Krewella, Markus Shultz and their fans. Awesome. (Photos 14 – 18)
I missed out on the Mox Bus the day before, but I tried to jump on Thursday, only to find it was already way to crowded for me and my camera. Cool idea though. (Photos 19 – 21 and 23)
On my way to the next party, I ran into my man producer and DJ Arthur Baker scooting around town. (Photo 22)
We made a pit stop at Setai Hotel to meet up with Tommie Sunshine and his lovely lady Daniela, had some Pampelonne (a sparkling wine in a can… trust me it’s yummy) and met Derek van Bakergem, part owner of the label, and his brother, who were enjoying the party. (Photos 24 – 26)
I hadn’t yet made it to a pool party, but it was only because I would show up after 3 p.m. and that’s a mistake. From the Surfcomber to the National, the Shelbourne to the Raleigh, there were capacity issues. Good thing for them, bad thing for me. I used this opportunity to check out other parties on my list, like the Bed Head Hotel party on The Gale rooftop, which was a two day event that started on Friday. First day it was cloudy and rainy, but Mr. Black from Tel Aviv brightened the day with his set.
Saturday was straight up crazy. It could have been that The Mad Decent crew was performing or that the sun was finally out, but this party was bananas. The complimentary hair styling by Bed Head didn’t hurt either -- or that I ran into my eye and ear candy man Armand Van Helden. (Photos 27 – 32).
My brother texted me and gave me the scoop on a free party at The Chesterfield Hotel, “Are You Afro?”, where the beats were house and the crowd smelled like Egyptian Musk. It was Afro-licious. This proved there’s good music everywhere for free during WMC, you just have to look. (Photo 33)
Finally on Sunday I made it to The Pool Parties at Surfcomber just in time to hear Loco Dice's set, which was on point! Again, another great production I enjoyed personally. (Photos 34 – 40)
Finally, I closed out with Ultra, a little on Saturday and a little on Sunday. Snapped the ladies of Icona Pop, who are honestly pretty cool and down to earth. There was much more that I witnessed and photographed, but I save those for my memories or the blackmailing when I need to get out of a jam. (Photos 41 – 48)
-- JIPSY