Dancing Astronaut

For Effin inspiration can strike just about anywhere. It might come from an ’80s playlist at the gym, a decades-old vocal discovered down a YouTube rabbit hole, or the energy of the city he is preparing to play in that night. Over the years, the producer has developed a sound that pulls from across generations, transforming familiar melodies, riffs, and vocals into something distinctly his own.

Few artists have navigated the evolution of electronic music quite like Loco Dice. From his early roots in hip-hop to becoming one of house and techno’s most distinctive figures, the Düsseldorf-born DJ and producer has built a career defined by curiosity, culture, and an unwavering commitment to doing things his own way.

Purified started as a radio show and grew into just about everything else. Nora En Pure has spent the last decade turning it into a weekly SiriusXM Chill fixture, a Zurich-based record label with over 100 releases, and an event series that has touched down in Miami, New York, San Francisco, Prague, Montréal, London, and Washington DC. On Saturday, September 5, it lands in Seattle.

2 min read Rewind to July 2024. Her first single, no catalog, no crowd. Fast-forward to now and she’s past 25 million Spotify streams with over 5 million on “Here Again” alone, another 5 across the Rushing In EP.

XS has been dark for the last few weeks, but in 3 months the lights are coming back on. Wynn Nightlife announced the grand reopening of XS Nightclub on Thursday, November 5, supported by a four-day run of the world’s biggest headliners. RÜFÜS DU SOL will bring the dancefloor back to life with a DJ set on Thursday, then The Chainsmokers take over on Friday, Calvin Harris on Saturday, and Diplo goes back to back with Hugel to close out the weekend.

1 min read Most electronic duos are built on file transfers. Stems in the cloud, notes in the texts, a track that gets assembled async. Unter Strøm created their first two singles working exactly that way, and it worked well enough that Above & Beyond, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, and Markus Schulz all put the tracks into their sets. “Fragment” is what happened when they got together in the same room. The room was Sound Factory in Los Angeles. Two days, no schedule, no deadline.

Breakaway is ending its biggest year in Texas, and the debut Houston edition has been built like a season finale. Houston is the final stop on Breakaway’s 13-city 2026 tour, the largest touring season in the brand’s history and one that added three new markets — New York City, Salt Lake City, and Houston — in a single year.

Returning to The Festival Grounds at Subaru Park September 11–12, Breakaway Philadelphia 2026 will run 26 acts across two stages plus a silent disco, headlined by Tiësto, Marshmello, ISOxo, and SOFI TUKKER. It’s a headline block that covers nearly the full commercial width of the genre without feeling like it was assembled by committee. ISOxo is the most interesting name on the marquee.

1 min read Anvaya’s “Churaya” spent two years as an unfinished sketch before a flight to Dubai forced his hand — Kaushal welded it to a separate groove somewhere over the Atlantic, sent it to Sonia and Indo Warehouse co-founder Kahani, and the pair finished the record overnight. Sweeping stabs, tribal percussion, a groove that sits in tension without ever dropping and Sonia singing original Hindi poetry over the top of it. Her voice serving as an instrument rather than a topline.

Chicago gave house music to the world, and while the city’s festival calendar has become increasingly dominated by corporate giants, a few independents are keeping the community spirit alive. Summer’s Last Dance is one of the last of them, and it just announced its return. The fully independent, philanthropic festival is back September 19 in Bridgeview, IL for its third year, and the lineup sets the tone for what has quickly become the city’s defining end-of-summer sendoff.