WOOD DRIFT is a music project realised between Demi and Andy Dennis, two lifelong friends, bonded through formative experiences on the dance floors of some of London’s most iconic clubs during a golden era of music in the 90’s and noughties.
Demi’s career trajectory since then took his brand of music to all four corners of the globe with numerous awards, accolades and release compilations which endeared many to his brand of sound and personality.
The post rave, progressive sound with a more sophisticated euphoric approach in its composition underpins the Wood Drift vision.
A handful of single releases which featured on the Earth compilation, spearheaded by Eli from Soul Clap and Hernan Cattaneo’s Sunbeat imprint now sees the pair noticed by a wider audience with their first full EP release on Do Not Sit Recordings.
The three track BuzzTap EP begins to demonstrate the breadth of their work together as Wood Drift. Timeless and universal are strong currents that flow in their production approach. We look forward to their full length album in 2023
We caught up with the duo and asked them to talk us through a playlist of their influences.
Payfone – Sofian (12″ Mix)
These type of slow tempo sounds always run a risk of noodling for the sake of it. We try to ensure that whatever we make has some element of tension and momentum regardless of tempo. There has to be purpose. Here we have a very cool outing from Payfone that marries with soft spoken vocals which are very much a sonic blueprint of the comfort end of sounds we produce in the studio.
Maricopa – One Impulse
This is a classic Wood Drift influence sounding record. Drifting into a deep-sea ocean of harmonies and melodies that are underpinned by a soft rhythm section that keeps the momentum flowing. Positively charged.
Afterlife – La Torre
A comfort sounding trip that rhythmically sits perfectly with the soft pads and steady groove we look for in our productions. A beautiful piece that slowly sits into your conscious stream.
Margino – Happy People
There is also very much a soulful and playful side to our characters too. At heart we are positively charged souls and there’s so much 70’s and 80’s boogie music that we continue to unearth. This is a gorgeous slice of boogie funk for the dancefloor.
Hypnotique – Le Divan
A more uptempo slice of synth pop goodness that still draws influence from the 80’s with the signature rhythms and snares. And who doesn’t love the sound of a sultry French spoken voice too 🙂 When Wood Drift pumps, it tends to follow and flow like this.
Body San – Last Breath
We’re always striving to create ambient music and soundscapes that are tinged with that sense of euphoria.
A.C. Band – Good Feelings
Summer poolside vibes aplenty here!
Mystic Jungle – Money Wonder
Tune repeat alert. That iconic drum programming sound from the Roland Cr78. But that’s not what carries this. Simplicity at its best here and what we strive to achieve with our work.
Wubble U – Time
Another key component in our music making is storytelling. We love the extended intro on this and is a great mix tool to use in your sets. An uptempo classic house number that ooozes class. Wait for the drop. A dancefloor moment!
Smith & Mudd – The Surveyor
We’re big fans of the output from Claremont 56. We love every aspect of how they package their music as well. This is simply timeless. Pure Balaeric feels here in the slow steady tempo range.
Tommy Rawson – 7 Days (12″ Digital Bonus)
Back to an uptempo bounce here. Tinged with a mature slice of funk and progressive. Very reminiscent of the vintage Spirit Catcher vibe. Another timeless masterpiece here by Tommy Rawson.
Semtek – Angel
Another example of the bounce we push for with our our sound. Simple bassline grooves and snappy rhythms with fleeting dreamy sounds layered on top. Yes please.
Trembling Blue Stars – The Rainbow
Hard to believe this was made 25 years ago. An indie pop band that formed in 1995 that unfortunately disbanded in 2010. A song with timeless lyrics that touches the soul.
Alias “Who’s Story?” – Da Journey
Classic garage rhythms, with a killer groove but with the signiature elements that turn the Wood Drift camp on. Another timeless number.
Wood Drift – Buzztap EP is out now on Do Not Sit On The Furniture Recordings
As many Americans step out and reconnect to a version of what their musical lives were before the pandemic, I remain, stubbornly, at home. No, I don’t have “cave syndrome,” but I’ve not had COVID and I want to keep it that way. My last concert was March 8, 2020, when I gleefully let the sounds of Third Coast Percussion wash over me as the band performed music by the electronic artist Jlin in an old church. With live music verboten, my exploration has come largely through recordings — and the albums that touched me most deeply this year are the 10 below, in which I’ve found a pervasive theme of connection.
Soprano Julia Bullock’s affecting solo debut, with its breathtaking spin on a deep cut by the enigmatic Connie Converse and a sublime rendition of Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, traces the tenuous connections individuals share with one another and their own senses of purpose on earth. There’s a ghost in the machine that reconnects the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson to his own luminous Drone Mass, while his fellow Icelander, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, makes a life-altering connection to a nonagenarian composer, resulting in the introspective From Afar. Classical guitarist Sean Shibe stitches unlikely connections between disparate composers by way of a Mexican Stratocaster. The new music outfit Wild Up once again wields the music of the late Julius Eastman, empowering listeners to fearlessly connect to their most authentic selves. And, as luck would have it, Third Coast Percussion released an album containing that mesmerizing Jlin composition, connecting me to a now-distant but no less thrilling memory of witnessing new music in the wild.
These albums not only kept me company at home this year, but helped me realize how important our connections are to each other — perhaps more so now than ever. I hope they do the same for you.
A Far Cry / Shara Nova The Blue Hour
For Those Who Like: My Brightest Diamond, song cycles, compulsive sequencing
The Story: Few multi-composer collaborations are memorable. However, The Blue Hour, an engrossing cycle of songs by Caroline Shaw, Angelica Negrón, Sara Kirkland Snider, Rachel Grimes and Shara Nova — who sings and narrates its 40 sections — is unforgettable. The five women have inspired each other for years, and Snider calls the communal result “an embodiment and celebration of a musical sisterhood.” The texts were plucked from Carolyn Forché’s expansive poem “On Earth,” which traces ruminations on life and death in vivid, alphabetically organized vignettes.
The Music: A Far Cry, the Boston-based chamber orchestra that commissioned the piece, gives the music its buoyancy and broad color palette. In songs such as Negrón’s “A black map,” strings caress and thread around Nova’s vocals, commenting almost like an additional character in this hallucinatory journey. Nova has rarely sounded so all-encompassing — from intimate, unguarded communications to full-throated operatic splendor. It’s best to hear The Blue Hour in its entirety, but I’m hoping some of these finely built songs will be embraced by others and make their way into the world on their own.
Julia Bullock Walking in the Dark
For Those Who Like: Connie Converse, Nina Simone, velvety voices
The Story: With a singularly expressive voice and a career on the upswing, you’d think the 35-year-old soprano from St. Louis would stuff her debut album with show-stopping opera arias. But nothing is conventional about Bullock — who lives in Munich and has applied a careful craft to her career reminiscent of the late Jessye Norman — and so Walking in the Dark instead offers songs associated with the likes of Nina Simone and Sandy Denny. A keen curator, Bullock has drawn praise for assembling programs that balance fun with intellectual rigor — like staging a tribute to Josephine Baker on the grand staircase of the Met museum in New York, or mixing songs developed by enslaved people with new music by Black women composers.
The Music: While there is no opera here, there is drama. Bullock’s fiery side emerges in a scene from El Niño, John Adams’ gripping retelling of the nativity story, and she communicates tenderly, with elegant phrasing, in Samuel Barber’s ruminative Knoxville: Summer of 1915. She even unveils the interior tension in “One by One,” a deceptive little song by Connie Converse, the pioneering 1950s singer-songwriter who never cut an album and disappeared mysteriously. “Brown Baby” and “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” point to Bullock’s sense of social justice, while her completely reharmonized version of Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” closes the album on a breathtaking note of nostalgia.
Jóhann Jóhannsson Drone Mass
For Those Who Like: Arvo Pärt, noise, Nordic noir
The Story: Even if the name is unfamiliar, you know Jóhann Jóhannsson’s music if you’ve seen Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners or The Theory of Everything. Acclaimed for his award-winning movie scores, the Icelandic composer spent years writing music at the intersections of classical, electronic, ambient and indie rock. Just as he was gaining international recognition, Jóhannsson died suddenly in Berlin in early 2018. Just 48, Jóhannsson was a restless artist, lost way too soon, who would have continued to search and amaze.
The Music: Three years before his death, Jóhannsson completed Drone Mass, arguably his magnum opus. Neither particularly drony nor set as traditional liturgy, the 45-minute piece unfolds as a crepuscular ritual, and along the way blurs distinctions between acoustic instruments, electronics and voices. Strains of Renaissance choral riffs somehow sound at home in washes of jet-engine distortion, while calmer tracks invoke the God-squad serenity of composers Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. And in an unlikely gift from the afterlife, a savvy engineer located audio files of Jóhannsson’s own electronic performance of the piece and incorporated them into the recordings, allowing him to play alongside the fine musicians on this release.
Sean Shibe Lost & Found
For Those Who Like: Guitar Hero, William Blake, transcendent duality
The Story: The mild-mannered, conservatory-educated classical guitarist from Scotland possesses an untamed imagination, a sharp ear for curation and an extraordinary technique. That he’s clad in a pink tulle dress on the album cover might be a wink at William Blake, whose metaphysical poetry and painting play loosely with disguise, and whom Shibe describes in the album booklet as “a radical looking for the revelatory.”
The Music: What’s “lost” here is Shibe’s traditional nylon-string classical guitar; what’s found is the black Mexican Stratocaster on which he plays most of the diverse music on this recording. Repertoire-wise, strange bedfellows have rarely sounded so good together: Shibe sets music by Moondog against Bill Evans (a heavenly version of “Peace Piece”), while Olivier Messiaen and Meredith Monk lie down with Julius Eastman and the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen. Shibe can shred, but more often he makes the instrument as featherlight as an angel’s wing.
Third Coast Percussion Perspectives
For Those Who Like: Jlin, Bang on a Can, banging on cans
The Story: These four Grammy-winning gents from Chicago, who pound on anything from vibraphones to steel pipes, found a surprisingly simpatico collaborator in Jlin, whose suite Perspective is this album’s centerpiece. The electronic music artist and Gary, Ind. native has transformed the hyperbeat footwork style of music and dance from the clubs and house parties of Chicago into a realm wholly her own. She crafted a 30-minute suite for Third Coast Percussion, which the band transcribed to its unconventional arsenal of instruments.
The Music: At upwards of 160 beats per minute, Jlin’s suite is far more than just a toe tapper. Metal bowls filled with water give the third section, “Derivative,” a woozy swagger. Elsewhere, the album offers more traditional fare from some familiar names. Danny Elfman’s Percussion Quartet weaves colorful threads in a transparent way, while a laid-back arrangement of Philip Glass’ Metamorphosis No. 1 will appeal to the glockenspiel-obsessed. Another successful collaboration features the duo Flutronix in a three-paneled suite that begins with jitters in flutes and ends in breathy tranquility.
Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet Evergreen
For Those Who Like: string quartets, puzzles, hugging trees
The Story: Shaw is a triple threat: a gifted violinist, superb vocalist and Pulitzer-winning composer. Along with her orchestral and choral compositions, she has been writing some of the finest string quartet music of recent times. Evergreen, named after the composition Shaw wrote for a specific tree in Canada, is the Attacca Quartet’s second album devoted to her music, and the group plays it with an irresistible blend of precision, wit and color.
The Music: Slotted between three major pieces written for the quartet alone, Shaw sings three of her own songs in her trademark crystalline sheen. Her text for “And So” reveals her knack for the stylishly meta: “Would scansion cease to mark the beats / if I went away?” Similar trap doors abound in the music for quartet. First Essay (Nimrod) introduces a lilting theme that soon gets twisted and tossed down a rabbit hole of surprising deconstructions. A solitary moment where strings, in extremely high register, dovetail in a chromatic haze, is alone worth the price of admission to this musical funhouse.
Víkingur Ólafsson From Afar
For Those Who Like: Ólafur Arnalds, upright pianos, miniatures
The Story: By his own admission, From Afar is the Icelandic pianist’s most personal album, inspired by a lengthy visit with the nonagenarian Hungarian composer György Kurtág. After their meeting, Ólafsson wanted to write the composer a thank-you letter, but sat at the piano instead, creating this double album for Kurtág. As a bonus, he recorded the music twice — once on a grand piano and again on an upright, like one from his childhood, with the damper pedal engaged to create what Ólafsson calls a “whispering intimacy.”
The Music: Kurtág was a master of the miniature, compressing color and expression into mere seconds. Ólafsson sprinkles pieces from the composer’s series Játékok (Games) throughout the album. Some are jaunty (“Harmonica”) while others hang spaciously in air (“A Voice in the Distance”). In between are pieces from Ólafsson’s past — Brahms intermezzi, Bach arrangements, lovely Hungarian folk songs by his beloved Bartók and the sparkling cascade of intertwining notes that make up Schumann’s Study in Canonic Form. From Afar is a quiet album, the perfect pairing for morning coffee on a winter Sunday or a late-night glass of whiskey.
Wild Up Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy
For Those Who Like: Albert Ayler, Steve Reich, ecstatic excursions
The Story: If only Julius Eastman were alive to enjoy the recent, richly deserved resuscitation of his uncompromising music, which during his short career put him in collaboration with Pierre Boulez, Meredith Monk and other important experimentalists. Boldly gay and proudly Black, Eastman gained precarious acclaim in the 1970s for his provocative pieces and performances, then withdrew and crashed too early, dying alone and unknown in a Buffalo hospital in 1990. He was only 49.
The Music: In its second volume of Eastman’s work, the Los Angeles-based outfit Wild Up once again gives astonishingly committed performances. The music, unlike the first volume’s frenetically joyous Femenine, doesn’t always land comfortably on the ear, but dig in deep and you’ll find the rewards are manifold. Touch Him When, in two separate guitar arrangements (“Light” and “Heavy”), plumbs deep ambient spaces and shreds with scorched-earth élan. Joy Boy offers a caucus of fidgety saxophones and flutes amid chaotic chatter, while the album’s final track, Stay On It, for voices and ensemble, returns to the funky spasms of ecstasy so warmly welcomed in Femenine. If you’re interested in art that prizes connection with one’s “authentic self,” this album is the sound of freedom.
Steve Reich Runner / Music for Ensemble and Orchestra
For Those Who Like: John Adams, African bell patterns, sativa
The Story: If you’ve ever been hesitant to dip your toe into the pulsating music of Steve Reich, now is the time to take the full plunge. The 86-year-old composer has released his 26th album on the Nonesuch label, and it contains a pair of ebullient pieces that might just be Reich’s most accessible since Music for 18 Musicians in the mid-’70s.
The Music: The two works teem with all that is vibrant and mesmerizing in Reich’s music. Runner, for 19 musicians, opens with a piano pulse of toggling 16th notes, while strings, winds and percussion file in separately to create a whirligig of interlocking layers. A passage where two chirping oboes chase each other as vibraphones chime like clocks is among the sunniest, most joyous stretches in Reich’s catalog. Music for Ensemble and Orchestra is set up in the same five-movement structure (ABCBA), but actually embeds the smaller group of Runner‘s musicians into a full orchestra. Hats off to conductor Susanna Mälkki, who leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a vigorous, transparent performance.
(A version of this review originally appeared on NPR Music’s #NowPlaying blog.)
Jonathan Tetelman Arias
For Those Who Like: Jonas Kaufmann, muscular tenors, high B-flats
The Story: While his name is still somewhat off the radar, Jonathan Tetelman has hit it big. The tenor, born in Chile, raised in central New Jersey and educated at New York’s Mannes School of Music, has signed a multi-record deal with the venerable Deutsche Grammophon and is making starring debuts this season at the Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera and Houston Grand Opera.
The Music: Opera geeks routinely complain about “park and bark” syndrome, where singers stand motionless, in mid-drama, belting out music at a single earsplitting volume. Tetelman, with a voice of bronze and velvet, embodies an opposite approach. His physical acting is often praised, but it’s the sensitivity of his dynamic control that marks him as a truly great singer. In the aria “Pourquoi me réveiller” (from Massenet’s Werther), which finds its character is near meltdown mode, Tetelman, in a single line, shows us stentorian frustration, then pares the loudness down to a golden ribbon of grief, perfectly supported by the breath.
10 More Terrific Albums:
Johnny Gandelsman, This Is America: An Anthology 2020-2021
Klaus Mäkelä / Oslo Philharmonic, Sibelius
Carlos Simon, Requiem for the Enslaved
Steven Beck, George Walker Piano Sonatas
Tania León, Teclas de mi Piano (Adam Kent)
Marc-André Hamelin, C.P.E. Bach: Sonatas & Rondos
Jason Vieaux: Bach, Violin Works, Vol. 2
Jakub Józef Orkinski, Farewells
Micah Frank & Chet Doxas, The Music of Hildegard von Bingen Part One
Evgueni Galperine, Theory of Becoming
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Pop stars Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé’s popular Christmas songs are bolstering Hipgnosis Songs Fund in the run up to the holidays, as the London-listed music catalogues investor continues to capitalise on the boom in music streaming.
The company’s portfolio has more than 65,000 songs, and includes “Queen of Christmas” Carey’s 1994 song “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, which is a popular Christmas standard and has been topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the holidays every year since 2019.
Hipgnosis has co-owned the song since 2020, with founder and Chief Executive Officer Merck Mercuriadis’ steadily pushing to build the company’s roster as the pandemic drove people to listen to records online, making streaming more lucrative.
Last year, private equity firm Blackstone Inc agreed to deploy around $1 billion in partnership with Hipgnosis in a bet on the streaming boom, which the latter says in not going away anytime soon.
“In the wider music market, people continue to listen to and pay for music irrespective of today’s cost of living challenges,” Mercuriadis said on Thursday.
Hipgnosis, which owns rights to catalogues of artists including Neil Young and Shakira, added it also benefited from popular UK retail chain John Lewis using a track from its collection by the rock band Blink-182 for its seasonal ad.
“Strong streaming growth from traditional sources, together with price rises, and revenues from new emerging platforms, are also tailwinds,” analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note.
Hipgnosis said underlying net revenue grew 5.8 per cent year-on-year to $65.1 million in the six months to September.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) – Songwriters are an important part of country music, and music Tin general. the historic Kalamazoo State Theatre is hosting an event that features hit Nashville songwriters who have some #1 songs you may know and love! Kyle Jennings is one of those songwriters performing live on Friday night with a bunch of his storytelling friends – he joins us today.
>>>Take a look!
Kyle Jennings & Friends
Friday, December 9th @ 8pm Kalamazoo State Theatre Get tickets at Ticketmaster Or call 269-345-6500
Spotify Wrapped has just dropped and, if you’re anything like us, you’re probably wondering how on earth you spent over 49,000 minutes listening to music, and why you listened to the same one song 181 times (Ari Lennox – Whipped Cream, for those of you wondering).
Spotify has long held the top spot of the ultimate music streaming service. It offers both free and premium subscriptions, it has an eclectic catalogue of music and podcasts, and it seems it’s a lot of people’s default choice. But is it the best?
Apple Music, which launched in 2015 in comparison to Spotify’s 2006 debut, is Spotify’s closest competition. The two streaming platforms share a lot of similarities, from recommending new artists and songs to creating personalised mixes. They also have a fair few differences, like audio quality, paid services, and sharing to social media. If you like to shout about the hot new track you’ve just discovered, this last feature is a big deal.
A monthly subscription to a music streaming service is the easiest way to consume music. But out of Spotify and Apple Music, which platform should you spend your hard earned cash on? We’ve analysed both.
More like this
Start a three month free trial at Spotify Premium
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
For more music streaming comparisons, check out Amazon Music vs Spotify.
What’s the difference between Apple Music and Spotify?
Spotify offers a free entry-level subscription. You pay absolutely nothing, however, you’ll be met with adverts every approximately three songs, have six skips per hour, and the audio quality is worse than Spotify Premium.
Individual Spotify Premium will set you back £9.99 per month, and this gets you ad-free music, the ability to listen offline — it lets Premium users download and save up to 10,000 songs at any one time on up to five different devices — and unlimited skips.
The other Spotify Premium options include: Duo, a £13.99 per month service for two people living under the same roof; Family, a £16.99 per month subscription which has six Premium accounts and gives parents the ability to block explicit music; and Student, a discounted £5.99 per month service which still has the same benefits.
Apple Music doesn’t offer a free entry-level subscription. So, if you’d already mentally planned to not spend a single penny, head over to Spotify.
However, Apple Music’s paid packages are brilliant value for money. There’s the Apple Music Voice plan, which is £4.99 per month and is designed to only play music by using Siri; the £5.99 Student plan; the £10.99 Individual package; and the £16.99 Family plan.
The Spotify and Apple Music packages essentially offer the same things: ad-free, skippable listening, but you’ll probably have noticed the popular Individual plan is £1 extra on Apple Music. So now for the big question: is it worth the extra quid?
As well as the expected devices like phones, tablets, PCs and Macs, Spotify can be played on games consoles, such as the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. It also works on smartwatches, such as Fitbit, Samsung, Google and Garmin models.
Apple Music, unsurprisingly, can be played on Apple devices like the Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini, Apple TV 4K, and Apple smartwatches. It’s also supported on Sonos, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, PS5 (not PS4), Roku and even Android smartphones.
Start a three month free trial at Spotify Premium
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Do you enjoy live music? Stay up to date with our Going Out section for the latest releases like Red Hot Chili Peppers tickets, Duran Duran tickets and McFly tickets.
Apple Music vs Spotify
Getty / Five
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. In the red corner is Spotify with over 80 million songs, and in the blue corner is Apple Music with over 100 million songs.
Ding ding ding. What about podcasts? Spotify boasts 4.7 million podcast titles, whereas Apple Music doesn’t have any. Instead, there is a separate service called Apple Podcasts.
Next round is streaming quality. Last year, Apple Music updated its entire catalogue to give it high-res audio quality (24-bit/192kHz). Spotify streams songs at three different rates: 96kbps, 160kbps and 320kbps, all in the OGG Vorbis audio format. The highest rate is exclusive to Spotify Premium subscribers.
Apple Music continues to offer lossless streaming and spatial audio support as standard. If crystal-clear audio quality is important to you, opt for Apple Music.
Start a three month free trial at Spotify Premium
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Apple Music vs Spotify verdict: which music streaming service should you buy?
Like we said earlier, if you’d rather not pay to stream music, Spotify is the way forward. The adverts are tedious but not diabolical, and the lesser audio quality is noticeable but not unenjoyable.
If you’re going to spend money on a music streaming service, we’d recommend subscribing to Apple Music. The audio advantage is worth the extra quid for the Individual plan, however, if you opt for the Family or Student package, you’re paying no more money than you would be for Spotify, except the listening experience will be better.
Spotify Wrapped is a huge part of the music experience: it’s an annual round-up of your top artists, songs and genres, as well as how many minutes you’ve spent enjoying listening to music and what new things you’ve discovered. If you’re swapping from Spotify to Apple Music, you’ll be pleased to know Apple Music offers Apple Music Replay which is essentially the same thing as Spotify Wrapped.
Start a three month free trial at Spotify Premium
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
Spotify vs Apple Music free trials
Spotify is offering three months of free music on its Individual plans up until 8th March next year. You can also bag one month of free listening on the Duo, Student and Family packages.
Apple Music offers a one month free trial on all of its plans, too.
Start a three month free trial at Spotify Premium
Start a one month free trial at Apple Music
If you also enjoy audiobooks, be sure to check out the best Audible deals for this month. Plus, take a look at our deep-dive into ‘What is Amazon Music Unlimited?’ and if it’s worth your money.
Blending deals and discounts with fun, food and fireworks, Dubai Shopping Festival returns with a spectacular lineup of the best the city has to offer
The 28th edition of the world’s longest-running festival starts on 15 December 2022 and runs until 29 January 2023
Over 800 participating brands at 3,500 outlets will offer 25% to 75% reductions throughout the 46-day festival across Dubai’s malls and shopping destinations
Ahmed Al Khaja: We invite everyone to celebrate with us and explore the diverse experiences across entertainment, gastronomy, shopping, leisure and lifestyle that only Dubai can deliver
“The seven-week festival showcases the incredible experiences, events and entertainment that our great city has to offer”
Drone shows, fireworks, Etisalat MOTB, Tunes DXB, and Dubai Lights City Art installations will complement discounts and bargains across Dubai’s malls and shopping destinations
New attractions for this edition include the Dubai 80s pop-up and the COREUNITY festival, a community wellness weekend in Hatta
The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) returns next week with the very best the city has to offer, including unmissable deals, a kaleidoscope of entertainment experiences, mouth-watering food, and mega prizes. The 28th edition of the world’s longest-running retail festival starts on 15 December 2022 and runs until 29 January 2023 across an action-packed 46-day calendar.
Over seven weeks, the DSF will feature only-in-Dubai shopping, winning, entertainment, and gastronomic experiences at citywide locations, including malls, high street shops, festival and community markets, and beachside destinations. The festival will see the world’s best New Year’s Eve celebrations, unique dining experiences, life-changing raffles, the best deals from homegrown and global brands, and live concerts by regional and international music icons.
The DSF fireworks displays will be back with a bang this year, along with the return of the incredible drone show. Tunes DXB, too, returns by popular demand, bringing ten days of celebration for music lovers with live performances with some of the region’s hottest and hippest emerging talents. And in a first for the festival, families can enjoy Dubai’s glorious winter weather with a weekend of curated fun, adventure, and wellness at Hatta with the COREUNITY Festival.
The full DSF 2023 Calendar of Events was revealed today during a media showcase at the Government of Dubai Media Office. Speaking about what to expect from DSF 2022-2023, Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, said: “Dubai Shopping Festival is not just the world’s longest-running retail festival, but also its best. The seven-week festival showcases the incredible experiences, events and entertainment that our great city has to offer. This DSF, we invite everyone to celebrate with us and explore the diverse experiences across entertainment, gastronomy, shopping, leisure and lifestyle that only Dubai can deliver. In collaboration with our valued partners and retailers, we look forward to another DSF season of world-class experiences that create unforgettable memories for our residents and visitors.”
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS DSF? The opening weekend: DSF celebrations will kick off with a spectacular opening ceremony on 15 December featuring concerts by regional music icons, cultural and family-oriented performances, and live entertainment. Dubai Shopping Festival’s opening night fireworks on 15 December at 9 pm will light up the sky across six locations: The Beach opposite JBR & Bluewaters, Burj Al Arab, Dubai Frame, Al Seef, Dubai Creek, and Dubai Festival City Mall.
Daily Fireworks: From 16 December until 29 January, the daily DSF fireworks displays by the Al Zarooni group will provide pyrotechnic spectacles at Burj Al Arab, Bluewaters, Dubai Creek, Al Seef, Dubai Frame, Dubai Festival City Mall, and JBR at 8:30 or 9 pm.
DSF Drone Show: The DSF Drone Show will host two all-new themed shows: Dubai Shopping Festival, inspired by the DSF’s retail offerings, and The Future of Dubai, inspired by the 2040 vision. The show will wow spectators with original music composed for the spectacle and the most advanced 3D drone technology available. Shows will be held twice daily throughout DSF at 7 pm and 10 pm at The Beach and Bluewaters opposite Jumeirah Beach Residence. On New Year’s Eve, show timings will be at 8 pm and 11 pm. Laser shows on 23-24 December, 13-14 January, and 27-28 January will accompany the visual lineup.
Shop your heart out: Over 800 participating brands across 3,500 outlets will offer 25% to 75% reductions throughout the festival. Top international brands will provide unmissable discounts and bargains across Dubai’s malls and shopping destinations.
The DSF Daily Surprises are back with incredible deals from different brands each day of the festival, with deals revealed only 24 hours before they go live. The free-to-attend DSF Markets will bring outdoor and pop-up community shopping experiences at iconic locations across the city, including the Al Seef market at Dubai Creek and the DSF Market at Al Muraqqabat.
The annual Etisalat MOTB, the original alternative shopping concept for Dubai, celebrates its 10th year and will take place from 19 to 29 January. It will celebrate homegrown F&B and retail vendors with on-ground activities alongside live entertainment by local and regional artists.
New Concepts: New for this edition is the Dubai 80s pop-up at Last Exit Al Khawaneej. From 23 December to 8 January, Dubai 80s will serve nostalgia with old-school pop-ups from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. The COREUNITY Festival will take over Dubai’s adventure capital Hatta to deliver incredible music, movement and wellness from 13 to 15 January 2023.
Win Incredible Prizes: The Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group’s raffle will give shoppers purchasing AED500 worth of gold, diamond or pearl jewellery from participating outlets a chance to win 250 grams of gold. Spending AED25 at Zoom and AED50 at AutoPro or select Tasjeel services will earn shoppers an entry into the ENOC Grand Raffle for an AED100,000 cash prize daily. The DSF Mega Raffle ticket, available for AED200 at ENOC or EPPCO petrol stations, will give buyers a chance to win a new Nissan Patrol and AED100,000 in cash daily.
With the Dubai Shopping Malls Group, shoppers at participating malls can win up to AED1 million when they shop for over AED200 between 15 December and 29 January. With the daily DSF Lucky Receipt, shoppers spending a minimum of AED500 from 15 to 25 December at any of the ten participating brands can win TVs, iPhones, gold and jewellery sets.
DSF SHARE Millionaire will allow shoppers spending AED300 or more during DSF at Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Mirdif, City Centre Deira, City Centre Me’aisem, and City Centre Al Shindagha a chance to take home up to 1 million SHARE points. Patrons spending AED300 or more on shopping, dining or entertainment during DSF at Dubai Festival City Mall will get a chance to win the grand prize of AED1,000,000 as part of The Greatest Deal Of The Year.
This DSF, Tickit provides shoppers with a chance to earn double or triple points across key programme partners and incredible daily prizes, including passes to Dubai Parks and Resorts, tickets to Roxy Cinemas, dining experiences, and much more. New Tickit members who sign up during DSF with a linked Visa or MasterCard issued from the UAE and who spend a minimum of AED100 will enter a weekly draw to win 50,000 Tickit points, equivalent to AED50,000.
Idealz will present over 200 raffle draws this DSF, including the DSF Mega Raffle and the DSF Grand Prize, which will be an apartment in Downtown Dubai.
Play and be entertained: Eighteen world-class tennis stars, including Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, and Alexander Zvrev, will participate in the World Tennis League from 19 to 24 December at the Coca-Cola Arena. The daily duels on the court will be followed by musical extravaganzas featuring performances by Tiesto (19 December), Wizkid (20 December), Ne-yo (21 December), Deadmau5 (22 December), Mohamed Ramadan (23 December), and Armin Van Buuren (24 December). Tickets for all World Tennis League matches and nightly performances start at AED199 and are available on VisitDubai.com.
Arabic music singer, composer and songwriter Kadim Al Sahir will perform live at the Dubai Opera on 23 and 24 December at 9 pm. Tickets are available on VisitDubai.com and start at AED550. Pre-New-Year’s-Eve will see the Dutch dance-music sensation Martin Garrix go live on 30 December at the Coca-Cola Arena, with tickets starting from AED175.
Dubai Beats makes a comeback this DSF, hosting ten artists from different musical genres on 6 and 7 January. Tickets are available on Platinumlist with prices starting at AED120. Tunes DXB will run from 6 to 15 January in 12 locations across the city, showcasing talented local artists, including Hamdan Al Abri, Alya Al Ali, Maitha Al Mansoori, and Shebani, with daily performances from 5 pm to 11 pm.
Unique art and cultural experiences: High-energy and high-acrobatic production of OVO by Cirque du Soleil will run from 12 to 18 January at the Coca-Cola Arena. Tickets start at AED113 from the venue’s website. The Quoz Arts Fest will return to Dubai’s artistic hub Alserkal Avenue on 28 and 29 January 2023. The infamous Murder Mystery experience will be performed live at Al Seef Heritage Hotel Dubai until 12 February, with tickets priced at AED210 per person. Throughout DSF, Performing Arts of Dubai will feature a jam-packed schedule of in-mall and outdoor entertainment. The second edition of Dubai Lights will showcase ten unique interactive light installations by renowned artists and studios worldwide.
Horse racing: The Meydan Racecourse will see the region’s most skilled horses and talented jockeys go head to head in a domestic challenge that runs along with the international Dubai World Cup Carnival, with races scheduled until 19 February. Tickets start at AED 2. For more information, visit Dubairacingclub.com.
City lights and decoration: The city will be decked with lighting decorations and structures, creating an ambience of fun and festivity. Giant illuminated DSF shopping bag structures will be situated in nine locations in addition to the DSF digital bag structure at Hessa Street. The Dubai Pop-Ups project supports SMEs and upcoming brands and labels across the city from across F&B, clothing, jewellery, accessories and much more.
The Closing Weekend: Iconic Hollywood film music composer Hans Zimmer and his 45-piece band, orchestra, and dancers will give a sensational show on 27 January 2023 at the Coca-Cola Arena. Tickets start at AED495 and are available at dubai.platinumlist.net.
For more information, visit www.mydsf.ae. @StyledByDubai and @CelebrateDubai on social media channels.
Having kept himself busy in 2022 by releasing not one but two new albums with Red Hot Chili Peppers – not to mention touring the world with them – John Frusciante has announced that he’s also returned to one of his other great loves: making electronic music.
The star actually has two albums on the way: ‘. I :’ (pronounced ‘one’) and two ‘: I I .’ (pronounced ‘two’). These will be released on Avenue 66, a sub-label of Berlin-via-LA-based label Acid Test that focuses on leftfield electronic projects.
And leftfield these two records most certainly are. In fact, Frusciante suggests that they’re a direct response to spending “a year and a half writing and recording rock music” with the Chili Peppers.
“I needed to clear my head,” he explains. “I listened to and made music where things generally happen gradually rather than suddenly. I would set up patches on a [Elektron] Monomachine or Analog Four and listen to them, hearing one sound morph into others, making changes to a patch only after having listened for quite a while, gradually adding elements, and finally manipulating the sounds on the fly. All tracks were recorded live to CD burner, with no overdubs, and executed on one or two machines.”
Frusciante cites a range of experimental musicians as influences on the albums, also referencing “John Lennon’s tape and mellotron experiments he made at home during his time in the Beatles, as well as events like the first minute of Bowie’s Station To Station, …And The Gods Made Love by Jimi Hendrix, the synths in the song Mass Production by Iggy Pop, and the general idea of [Brian] Eno’s initial concept of Ambient music.”
In a bid to convey “both movement and stillness,” Frusciante reports that he “refrained from sudden musical changes, especially avoiding sequences of notes and rhythms.”
He goes on to say that “in fact, this music was made from sequences which never exceed a single note, many of these pieces being made on a single pattern. The movement which a good sculptor conveys when the shape of his medium meets the eyes of the viewer who walks around the piece, or the sun changes its position, are the kinds of movement which it was the role of the synth patches to communicate.”
Confirming that “there was no place for sequences of notes and rhythms in my plans,” Frusciante attributes this creative philosophy to coming off the back of “writing songs and playing guitar” for 18 months.
“When the band’s recording phase was completed, I needed to go back to my adopted language,” he explains. “I had done enough with chords, rhythms, notes, defined sections, sharp transitions, etc… What I needed was to create music from the ground up with nothing but sound, and have that music reflect ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. It was a therapeutic way of re-balancing myself, before and during my band’s mixing process.”
Given all of the above, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that the new albums won’t be made up of hooky three-minute pop songs.
“This music seeks to just exist, and is not attempting to manipulate or grab the listener in any way,” says Frusciante. “I believe it works well if one listens loud and focuses on it, but also works well at soft volumes and in the background. It can compete with silence on silence’s own terms, and it can also happily wipe silence out.”
Released on CD, ‘two’ is essentially a longer version of ‘one’, which will be put out on vinyl. “The reason the vinyl is shorter is that some of the tracks have sounds that can not be pressed on vinyl,” Frusciante explains, though there is one additional track that’s exclusive to the vinyl release.
You can find out more and pre-order the albums on the Acid Test Bandcamp page. They’ll be released on 3 February 2023.
He has never visited India, but American DJ and EDM music producer Jauz is hugely inspired by the country and its music. He explains, “While growing up in San Francisco, I worked at a restaurant that would host weddings on the weekends and a lot of them happened to be Indian weddings. At almost every wedding, a DJ would play hours and hours of Indian and Bollywood-influenced dance music. Watching a whole wedding party going crazy about it was fun; it always put a smile on my face. This was right before I found dubstep and started producing electronic music myself. So, I feel without Indian music, I may not have become Jauz.”
Jauz, who has dominated the EDM scene with his popular album The Wise & The Wicked, hopes to visit India soon. “I have been looking forward to getting to see India. I hope I get to come soon. I am also open to collaborating with Bollywood musicians and be part of some projects,” says the musician, who has recently release his Block Party EP.
He is also looking forward to an eventful 2023. “I have a ton of music ready to go for 2023. In fact, I am writing new songs pretty much every day. I have also announced my first tour of 2023 in New Zealand and Australia. There’s also a song coming up in the beginning of 2023,” he ends.
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