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Beatport was invited to a private listening session at Booka Shade’s studio in Berlin last week to preview the upcoming new album ‘The Sun & The Neon Light’.

We asked Beatport’s Ronny Krieger, one of the attendees of this special, exclusive session to give us a report on what he heard.

Here’s his sneak peek of Booka Shade’s forthcoming album.

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written by Terry Church

Late last year, we extolled the virtues of K-Scope and their burbling Lil Louis-inspired ‘Elektrikiss’.

The sophomore Nite Grooveshttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif EP ‘Deepest Desire / Dreamstate’ from Eric Kupper’s alter ego dutifully arrives and, thankfully, doesn’t suffer from second single syndrome.

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written by Lewis Dene

written by tom real

Legendary Düsseldorf, Germany outfit Kraftwerk return to the United States for a brief tour preceding their headlining appearance at this year’s Coachella festival in April.

Kraftwerk tour only infrequently, perhaps due to their elaborate stage set-up, which includes minimal instrumentation stations, a large video screen and the moving robots which have come to symbolize the founding quartet of musicians (at least after the initial set-up of Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter).

But since they’ll already be on the North American continent with a live performance and all the necessary gear, we don’t rule out the possibility of future dates being added.

The last time they toured the United States surrounded the release of their live double-CD/DVD album ‘Minimum-Maximum’ in 2005.

This round of live performances occurs in the often passed-over metropolises of Minneapolis (Minnesota), Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and Denver (Colorado) before the so-far final date at Coachella on April 26th.

Check out the list of dates and venues by clicking on the link.

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written by Terry Church

Two ambassadors from one of the minimal techno scene’s finest labels, Dumb-Unit, arrive in London this weekend for their Fabric debut.

Originally based in Toronto, Canada, label owner Jeremy P. Caulfield relocated to Berlin in 2003, and watched his label blossom, releasing acclaimed tracks from artists including Butane, Lee Curtiss, Seph, Sarah Goldfarb, and many more.

He’s also one of the tightest DJs around, locking down his sinister grooves everywhere from his Watergate residency in Berlin to the furthest flung corners of Japan, Australia, and his native North America.

We caught up with Jeremy ahead of the big London gig.

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written by Lee Smith

Berlin-based house and techno producer Shonkyhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif plans to promote his new album ‘Time Zero’ at this year’s Miami Winter Music Conference.

Ahead of the WMC marathon, we grabbed him to find out more about his Miami plans. Just two weeks to go till the party starts!

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written by Terry Church

When we arrived in Buenos Aires last Thursday for the South American Music Conference our luggage didn’t show up.

So it makes some sense that the missing bags should appear just as we’re leaving the country.

After all, frustration ain’t really frustration without irony thrown into the mix.

Oh well, at least we won’t have any dirty washing to do when we get home.

Thanks for keeping up with our live SAMC blog, we hope you enjoyed the exclusive interviews and found our coverage insightful.

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written by Zack Rico

written by Azarashi

written by Mr Tunes

For years, people in the electronic music industry have been complaining about how Miami’s Winter Music Conference has lost much of its focus.

It certainly has become less about the ‘business’ and more about the parties: just check Beatportal’s guide to Miami to see just how many 100s of club nights, pool parties and raves are going on this year.

Networking and smoozing still goes on at the pool parties and in the back rooms of the clubs during Miami’s WMC, but it’s usually more of a social get together than a serious, business card-swapping gathering.

So it makes some sense that somebody would try to launch a rival music conference focusing just on the business.

Usually Beatportal would write-off such an attempt as futile because WMC is so established, but then we saw that Mr. Dance Music himself, Britain’s Pete Tong, is behind the new ‘International Music Summit’ and it’s being held in Ibiza, just before the opening weekend parties from 28th - 30th May 2008.

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written by Terry Church

Great to report the return of the maestro of hip-house, the “L-A-Zee-Y”, Doug Lazyhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif.

The man who ‘Let The Rhythm Pump’ and ‘Let It Roll’ never missed a beat back then, and a decade and some on he’s still on point, sounding as youthful, funky and wordy as he did on those early 1990s standards.

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written by Lewis Dene

Sometimes two heads are better than one – just ask underground house production duo Kenny Hawkeshttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif and David Parrhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif, who’ve been igniting dancefloors over the last twelve months with big releases on Radio Slave’s Rekidshttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif label, Serge Santiago’s Arcobelano, and most recently, a killer remix of French avant-garde house-head Skathttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif.

With over 26 years combined experience between them (Kenny was resident DJ for many years at London’s legendary Space night, while David is the man behind long-running Brighton club night Stompa Phunk), they’ve seen a lot of things come and go in dance music.

We caught up with them at their studio in Brighton to share a few of their heard-earned pearls of wisdom.

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written by Lee Smith

With the South American Music Conference well and truly wrapped up there was just one person left that we needed to speak to.

We bagged a ride with Mariano Trocca, the organizer of SAMC, to Buenos Aires airport to catch our flight back to the Northern hemisphere.

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written by Christen Reutens

The start of the summer party season is just around the corner as Miami’s Winter Music Conference begins.

The annual tradition known as Beatport’s Pool Party is in full effect for 2008, featuring some of the best of the best in electronic music at at Remix Hotel Miami.

Feast your eyes on this line-up, complete with an hourly breakdown, featuring M.A.N.D.Y., Dubfire, François K, Mark Knight, James Zabiela, Gui Boratto, Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, Dirty South, Chris Lake — and many, many more.

Although the events are free and open to the public, these Pool Parties have become wildly popular, so pre-registration is the only way to guarantee entry and to avoid the line. Check the link below for registration information.

This year’s Beatport Pool Parties at Remix Hotel Miami take place from Thursday 27th March to Sunday 30th March at The National hotel from 2pm - 9pm everyday.

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written by Terry Church