This week in dance music: A “no experience needed” DJ competition that originated in Australia is debuting in the U.S. this fall, with auditions happening in New York and Los Angeles later this month. Focused on democratizing DJing and opening up the space to producers without access to equipment and training, the competition is offering a chance not only to pick up skills, but to earn a slot on an upcoming festival lineup. The Your Shot advisory team includes artist and Femme House co-founder LP Giobbi, president of Live Nation’s Vibee Harvey Cohen and representatives from dance/electronic management company The Circuit Group.
Meanwhile, IMS Dubai announced the phase one programming for its conference in November, with Nicole Moudaber, Hugel, Bedouin, Pete Tong and executives from the across the dance industry heading to the U.A.E. for the event.
And also: TikToker Kelley Heyer, who created the viral dance to Charli xcx’s “Apple,” reached a settlement with gaming giant Roblox to resolve claims that the platform featured her choreography without her permission, Lady Gaga cancelled a show in Miami at the last minute due to strained vocal issues, writing in a statement that “I want to be hardcore and just push through this for you but I don’t want to risk long term or permanent damage on my vocal cords,” and Aloe Blacc teamed up with Sickick for the new track “Lonely Together.”
To put an exclamation point on it all, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Calvin Harris & Jessie Reyez, “Ocean”
The saga of this song continues today, with, finally, its release. Harris has been cooking on “Ocean” for years, with the track initially featuring vocals from Miley Cyrus. Harris teased a snippet of this early version last year, but more recently explained that for reasons that are “absolutely not” Cyrus’ fault, that iteration of the track will never get released.
But the final product hardly feels like a compromise. The song’s co-writer Jessie Reyez (who also co-penned the Harris hits “One Kiss” and “Promises”) steps into sing, with her delicate voice dancing over a an urgently pretty production, into which the ever experimental Harris weaves in guitar and light flourishes of psytrance.
“Ocean” is out on Sony Music. Listen to it here.
SG Lewis, Anemoia
SG Lewis releases his third album Anemoia today and — as suggested by the ace singles that have preceded it — the project contains all of the cerebral, stylish, sexy and often deeply contemplative elements we’ve long loved about the British producer’s output. Collaborators including Shygirl, London Grammar, TEED, Frances and Oliver Sim add heft to the 10-track collection, with the various moods conjuring nostalgia, the thrilling presence found on the dancefloor — and, in the album’s best moments, both things at once.
Anemoia is out on Forever Days/Astralwerks. Listen to it here.
Sébastian Tellier, “Refresh”
Five years after the release of his last album, French Touch cool guy Sébastian Tellier returns with “Refresh,” a single that also marks the producer’s first release on Because Music.
“It’s a track about renewal, rebirth, failures, and the ceaseless cycle of starting over,” Tellier says of the track, a shining amalgamation of electronic, synth and pop. “It’s about changing internal processes at certain moments in life in order to keep moving forward, to reinvent oneself, to continue existing — like an animal shedding its skin, or like reprogramming computer software to survive inner chaos. And always rolling the dice again, over and over.”
“Refresh” is out on Because Music. Listen to it here.
Alesso, Sentinal & Sick Individuals, “Upside Down”
Debuted at Tomorrowland 2024, “Upside Down” finally gets release today in appropriate fashion via the festival’s in house label. A collab between Alesso, Australian trio Sentinal and Dutch duo Sick Individuals, the song marries big room tendencies with the darker, clubbier output that Alesso especially has been exploring over the last few years via his BodyHi project.
“Upside Down” is out on Tomorrowland Music/BodyHi. Listen to it here.
Layton Giordani & Green Velvet, “When It Kicks”
Layton Giordani, the New York-based producer and key member of John Summit’s Experts Only label, today launches his own imprint, Madminds. “When It Kicks” is the label’s debut single, with Giordani coming hot out the gates with the darkly winding Green Velvet collab. In fact Giordani originally planned to release the tech house track on Green Velvet’s label, but the house legend instead suggested that Giordani use it to jumpstart his own imprint.
A label rep advises that Madminds will be guided by “curiosity, creativity, and a headstrong approach to blurring genre lines.” Meanwhile, Giordani and Green Velvet will perform together at Summit’s Experts Only Festival later this month and at The Shrine in Los Angeles in November.
“When It Kicks” is out on Madminds. Listen to it here.
Weval, Chorophobia
“Chorophobia” translates to “a fear of dancing,” which effectively summarized how Dutch duo Weval felt about being defined as a dance act since emerging in the scene circa 2013. But while working on the music for their fourth studio album, they decided to “lean into the irony and get out of their comfort zones” by getting out of a listening music mindset and intentionally making dance music. This is all to say that the new project by the pair is straightforwardly body moving fare that still, predictably, maintains the intelligence and nuance that’s long defined the group’s output.
Chorophobia is out on Ninja Tune’s Technicolour imprint. Listen to it here.
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