Chicago

Atkins and Von Oswald keeping the beat alive in Berlin

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Electronic Dance Music or EDM is here to stay. House music developed in the black night clubs of Chicago and Detroit in the United States in the mid-1980’s and has evolved since taking a whole new generation and countries, especially in Europe by storm.

In Germany, the band Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have been helping to link the beats of Detroit with the capital Berlin.

According to Moritz Von Oswald, in an interview with Electronic Beats, the idea of playing electronic music in the German capital was a brain storm of Dimitri from Tresor who got the idea to link the music being played in the USA in Berlin.

“He really pushed things forward. He was really into getting Berlin and Detroit to connect. Tresor worked on getting [music] well spread, and over boundaries,” said Von Oswald.

Moritz doesn’t necessarily describe himself as a techno person but as a “rhythmically interested” person and he wants to put a lot of things into his music such chords and harmony into his rhythms.

Juan Atkins came onto the season in the 1980s and started the association with Von Oswald in the 1990s. One of their most important collaborations is the album Borderland.

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Amir Alexander on the move

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Amir Alexander is one of the leading names in US house music in the last few years.

The Chicago-based house music producer has won for himself fans all across Europe with his Vanguard Sound label.

Alexander will play at ADE along with the likes of John Daly, Youandeman,Roman Flugel, Giles Smith, and James Preistley.

Alexander came onto the scene after starting an association with the Secretsundaze label which has backed Midwestern US artists such as Smith, Patrice Scott, and Chez Damier.

After spending many years as a starving artist, the now 40-year-old Alexander, who first became exposed to electronic music at age 7, is glad for the opportunity to ply his trade, develop his skills, and further his discipline.

And he says while his mentality hasn’t changed it has certainly evolved and being able to play out regularly enables him to see what works and what doesn’t and in what context.

He notes that his life changed forever after he heard the full version of ‘Planet Rock’ played on the radio for the first time.

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Kate Winslet divulges on Divergent

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Kate Winslet (read here more news) says she took on a role in the new film “Divergent” so she could impress her children.

The actress will play the role of Jeanine Matthews in the movie which is based on Veronica Roth’s best-selling novel of the same name.

The novel takes place in a society which is divided into a society in which five different virtues govern. Neil Burger will direct the film which is set in Chicago, Illinois.

Winslet, pregnant with her third child, says she took on the job because she wanted her children Mia who is 13 and Joe who is 10 to think she was “cool”.

“I didn’t have any hesitation at all. It was such a great script. It’s a fantastic book,” Winslet told MTV News.

Trailers of “Divergent have already been released showing snippets of the film. The trailers were released during the MTV Video Music Awards in August.

Winslet, who became the youngest actress to be nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress when she was nominated for the films Sense and Sensibility and Titanic at only 21 years old.

The film is the first of a trilogy, and will star Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz,Maggie Q, andTheo James and opens March 21, 2014.

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Transformers 4 blowing up Chicago

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The producers of the new “Transformers” movie have been struggling to keep info about the new flick set for release on June 27, 2014 under wraps.

The title of the film was leaked last week. “Transformers 4: Age of Extinction” will be the title of the fourth in the series about the robotic automobiles with humanlike characteristics. Now some footage from the set of the new film has been leaked on line. It was captured in Chicago on August 26 and shows Optimus Prime and Bumblebee cruising on Columbus Drive.

Cincinnati Bengals footballer Terrence Newman, who was in Chicago last Sunday for the filming of the movie Tweeted that the film was being shot outside the team’s hotel.

“The cars out there are insane!!”

The Michael Bay-directed Paramount Pictures film is being produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and will feature Dinobots with a heavy portion of the movie being filmed in China.

Bonaventura says only one version of the film will be released worldwide.

“Transformer 4: Age of Extinction” will star Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing, and T.J. Miller. 

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British music taking on a South African flavour

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House music is being described as the biggest thing in South Africa for young people and now it is catching on in Britain and influencing musicians in the UK.

House music is as big as hip hop used to be in South Africa and is very commercial heard in shops, taxis, bars, parties, and on mobile phones. Some of the biggest names include Brothers of Peace, Oskido, Bruce Sebitlo, and Black Coffee.

House music first evolved from the Chicago club scene in the 1980′s, made popular in discotheques catering to black and latino communities before moving to Detroit, New York City, New Jersey, and Miami. It then made its way into Britain but now the music is taking on a different sound – the sound of South Africa.

Soul and funk are major elements but so are percussion, bass drum, synthesizer bassline,electronic drums, electronic effects, pop samples, and reverb.

In Britain the music was first influenced by black dancers doing a move known as “foot shuffling” or “cutting shapes”. It became part of mainstream pop and dance worldwide since the 1990s.

House music is very popular in the Midlands and north of England in Manchester,Birmingham, and Nottingham but has also gained a foothold in London clubs.

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