You Are Young and Life Is Long

I know Ultra was a few weeks back, so this post is sort of late, but I still have some thoughts on it I would like to share. Returning to Ultra for my fourth time, this years festival was definitely different from previous years. With less space to wander around in, the crowd did sometimes get to me. Nonetheless, the beautiful Downtown Miami skyline was once again one of the best festival backdrops I have yet to experience. Although the Ultra hill was gone, the newly designed stages (the Carl Cox tent in particular) made up for it. And of course, the Root Society Dome was always poppin, Dada Life's set had everyone unleash their "inner Dada." Lasting three days wasn't as intense as I thought, once your body goes into dance mode there's no stopping. All in all it was a very good experience that, as always, was the highlight of my year.

The line up this year was great, different too. I got to see a bunch of artists I wouldn't normally come across, I did miss a few favorites like Electric Soulside, Shit Robot, Holy Ghost, Porter Robinson, Harvard Bass, and Autoerotique. My favorite performances of the whole weekend would have to be Joachim Garraud on Friday night, Boys Noize on Saturday, and Fake Blood on Sunday. There were for sure some other great performances, like MSTRKRFT, Dada Life, Jefr Tale, Martin Solveig, Sidney Samson, Wolfgang Gartner, and Elite Force. I got to see a bit of Moby and The Chemical Brothers, the small part I got to see sent chills down my spine. I heard Sander Van Doorn was insane, I highly suggest looking for his set online. The one artist that stuck out to me the most was Beardyman, a beatboxer from the UK. His style was innovative, different, and all around mind-blowing. I found it interesting how he records the sounds he uses live and then uses them throughout his set.

I was able to record a few videos from several of the sets I got to see, as well as some from HARD Miami.

HARD Miami was an awesome night, I had been waiting for a long time to attend one of their events and I really enjoyed myself. The lineup was very diverse and well thought out. My favorite performance of the night was Tiga, his set was unlike his original style you hear in his tracks but he threw it down and closed off the night real HARD. Unfortunately the artist I was looking most forward to seeing, SebastiAn, was unable to attend. HOWEVER, there was a surprise guest for the crowd, FAKE BLOOD. The crowd went crazy. As did I. He is one of my all-time favorites. Here are some of the videos I got.

Miami Music Week 2011 was a hot mess of fun. Can't wait until next year (I find myself saying that every time it ends). To finish off, I present to you some tracks your might enjoy listening to.

Haarlem (Original Mix) - Renaissance Man

Los Angeles (Original Mix) - Cold Blank

Doing It Right (Original Mix) - Afrojack

Fear - Amtrac (off his new EP Fear, you should get the whole thing it's amazing)

TAI Felix - TAI & Felix Da Housecat

The new World Tour 2011 mixtape by Mightyfools is baller. I recommend you take some time out of your day to jam out to it, you won't be disappointed.

World Tour 2011 Mixtape by Mightyfools

Adios,

- Silva's Gold