Carnage is having a very stellar year. From being hand picked to play some of the biggest festivals in the world, to making a name for himself in the big room house circuit, there is no denying the impact this Isla Del Sol Fest talent has had on dance music in 2013. Even Tiësto has dropped some productions from the leader of the #ChipolteGang. The best part? He’s only getting started.

Born Diamanté Blackmon, Carnage began producing at the age of 16 with the help of a few self-help books and a passion for hip-hop. Born in Guatemala, he grew up in a small town in Maryland. “Living in the country, there was nothing really to do. I used to rap, so I thought making my own beats would both be cool and pass the time. I started a group with my friend Bruce, who also rapped, and I started hosting his mixtapes. He would push me into sampling music and pulling eclectic points of reference into the music I was making. From here I got into making beats and developing them into proper tracks, and as time passed, the platform for this music became more and more relevant.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Carnage first came to our attention with his remix of Hardwell’s massive single “Spaceman.” Dubbing his sound “festival trap,” Carnage exploded onto the scene and it hasn’t really slowed down since. With an unwillingness to be pigeonholed under one genre, he has ventured out from his original trap style releases and has taken on that big room “festival-style” sound. He’s even been working on some some other goodies including deep and electro house, drum and bass and anything else that strikes his fancy, “If I want to make a rap record I make it; if I want to make a house record I make it. If I want to make some pretty shit I make some pretty shit.”

We don’t know kind of stuffhe’ll drop when he makes his way to Isla Del Sol Fest, but we do know it’s gonna be a ridiculously great time. So buy your tickets today!

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With a top-notch soundtrack joined with fun in the sun with an island twist, get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience when Isla Del Sol Fest takes over Clayton’s Beach Resort on South Padre Island this Labor Day Weekend.

As the month of August is rearing its end, Disco Donnie Presents, Global Groove Events, and Sugar Society can finally release the artist schedule for the upcoming event. Make sure you don’t miss any of your favorite performers on August 31st and September 1st. We’ll see you soon!

VIP tickets are sold out, but General Admission tickets are still available. Secure your spot at Isla Del Sol Fest, purchase your tickets today!

Saturday, August 31

• 12:30 – 02:00 AM Major Lazer
• 11:00 – 12:30 AM Carnage
• 09:30 – 11:00 PM Jesse Marco
• 08:00 – 09:30 PM Locals

Sunday, September 1

• 08:30 – 10:00 PM Showtek
• 07:30 – 08:30 PM Quintino
• 06:00 – 07:30 PM Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
• 12:00 – 06:00 PM Locals

A limited number of single day tickets to Isla Del Sol Fest are now available for online purchase. So for those of you that can’t get off work for both days of the tropical event on South Padre Island or have prior engagements with the family interfering with your would-be plans, we’ve got you covered. You don’t have to miss out the experience! So make your way down to Clayton’s Beach Resort and celebrate the Labor Day weekend for Isla Del Sol Fest, going down this August 31st and September 1st.

Single day tickets are now available, buy your tickets now!

Isla Del Sol Fest duo Showtek have been in the dance music industry for quite some time but over the past year, the boys have undoubtedly experienced a meteoric rise. Though they were once a hardstyle act, the two have now evolved into a powerhouse team, creating some of the biggest dance floor hits in hard dance, progressive, electro house and everything in between.

The Dutch duo, consisting of two brothers, Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen, have been producing music since 2001. Their early productions were of techno persuasion, but they later grew into the harder dance act that they are best-known for. The brothers describe their early sounds in an interview, “The ‘TEK’ in Showtek comes from techno! We started with this no-melody, groovy loop kind of techno. But when Mauro Picotto came with ‘Komodo,’ that was so new and cool! In 2001 we released Save the Day, which was a major hit in the clubs and dance charts for weeks. If we look back to that time, we even played tracks from Marco V because our style was pretty close to his. If you listen to Showtek, our sound is pretty accessible. We still try to put all different kind of elements in our music to sound as diverse as possible. But the “tekno” we made back then, that’s history.”

Sjoerd and Wouter didn’t really plan on choosing DJing as their go-to careers though. Both explain how they got started, “We never had the dream of becoming DJs, it really just happened, but not out of the blue of course. We started producing music as a hobby. We both loved music when we were young — Wouter played piano and Sjoerd worked on beats on his computer. When our parents got divorced we needed a way to express ourselves. We hooked up as a team and locked ourselves up in our little room and just made music, straight from the heart. We had no background in music, no schooling, no one who taught us how to work music programs, we just discovered everything by ourselves.”

Their first release in 2001 “Save the Day” was licensed to over twenty compilations CDs, immediately establishing their name in the Dutch dance scene. Their follow up release “Controller” has been called “one of everyone’s favorite hardstyle tracks” and the two have been championed by many of the industry’s heavy-hitters ever since. “We were asked to play in a club in our hometown as residents DJs, and from there on we started to really DJ.”

This past year has seen the brothers at an all-time career high. Not only have they co-produced tracks with talents like Tiësto and Hardwell, but they have also co-produced songs for Chris Brown. Playing at some of dance music’s most popular events, the duo is known for their dynamite sets brimming with crazy energy. Get ready to get loose when Showtek takes the stage at Isla Del Sol Fest. Buy your tickets today!

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Isla Del Sol is just weeks away and as the tropical getaway draws nearer, we’re looking forward to amazing music from some of the world’s most known DJs. Grab your tickets today and secure your spot on the dance floor!

For this edition of the Isla Del Sol drop, we’ve got three of our artists powering “top” lists all around the world and internet.

Carnage and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike listed as ‘Top Moments of Tomorrowland’ by Billboard

If you didn’t get a chance to experience Tomorrowland a few weekends ago, rejoice – there are many recap videos and reports thanks to a recent partnership with YouTube and wide array of coverage.

Billboard recapped the infamous event with a recap of the “Top Six Moments of Tomorrowland” all captured in digital video. Two of our Isla acts made the list.

#2 – Carnage’s Wheelchair Surf

Isla del Sol talent Carnage played on the power-packed Dim Mak stage during Tomorrowland. When he dropped Ellie Goulding’s “Lights,” a young fan in a wheelchair gets hoisted by his friends to take the moment in from up high. Fast-forward to 4:30 in the video below…

#6 – Off-Key Singalong with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike

Even though Tiësto is a tough act to follow, Tomorrowland residents and Isla talents Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike took the stage with a tremendous amount of energy. With brother Vegas primarily on DJ duty and brother Mike hyping up the crowd, there was plenty of champagne spraying to go around. During a singalong to One Republic’s “If I Lose Myself,” the brothers are astonished about what’s going on in front of them. Fast-forward to about 4:00 in the video below…

Showtek named ‘Artist Of The Month’ at The Music Ninja

Every month the popular music blog website, The Music Ninja, hand picks an artist to be the resident of their Artist of the Month platform. This month, The Music Ninja selected Showtek! With their recent transformation from hardstyle to progressive/electro-house, the two show no signs of slowing down.

Over the course of their career, the duo have scored major hits like “Hell Yeah” with Tiësto, the Beatport #1 “How We Do” with Hardwell, the chart-dominating “Hey!” with Bassjackers, and the globally acclaimed super-smash “Cannonball” with Justin Prime. This year, Showtek debuted their Dim Mak release with “Slow Down” which hit the Beatport Top 5 for five weeks in a row. Their following release on OSWLA titled “Get Loose” (a collaboration with Noisecontrollers) was remixed by Tiësto himself and earning an #1 spot on the way.

With “Booyah” featuring We Are Loud! and Sonny Wilson due out via Spinnin’ Records on August 19th, the two will continue on in their hit-making streak.

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According to the legend, Major Lazer was a Jamaican commando who, unfortunately, lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. But in a twist of fate, the US military rescued him and proceeded to use experimental lasers in place of prosthetic limbs.

Now a retired war veteran, Major Lazer is employed by a rogue government operating in the upmost secrecy under watch of M5 and the CIA. The Major, disguised as a dancehall club owner from Trinidad, enlisted friends Diplo and Switch to help him make his first LP.

Though that’s a more entertaining version of actual events, what actually happened is totally different.

The original lineup of Major Lazer consisted of its brainchild producing DJ Diplo and Switch. Meeting after working with popular artist M.I.A., the two came together to highlight lesser-known subgenres that was buzzing through Jamaica’s dancehall scene. Diplo describes the Lazer concept in an early interview, “I was fascinated by how crazy dancehall was, like Red Rat or Beenie Man. I felt like it was the punk rock sound to me, just heavy stuff. When I was 14 I was into that. I always felt like, as far as MCs, dancehall guys were way cooler to work with than rappers. They changed the record around in a different way. Dancehall is like the end of the line of mashing things up in a melting pot. It’s like the end of the world, all the little influences—house, soca, oldies, R&B, jazz—it all ends up in Jamaica. They make something out of that nasty funky crap.”

The duo’s first album Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers was released in the summer of 2009. The eclectic long player made its way to Billboard’s US 200, Top Electronic Albums, and Top Heatseekers charts, ranging in styles from dancehall, reggae electro house, and moombahton.

Now operating as a solo act, Diplo employs artists like Jillionaire and Walshy Fire with live performances and shows. We’re not sure who will join the stage at Clayton’s Beach Resort for Isla Del Sol Fest on August 31st and September 1st, but we do know it’s going to a killer good time. Tickets are available online, buy yours today!

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Join Disco Donnie Presents, Global Groove Events, and Sugar Society this Labor Day Weekend for the 2013 edition of Isla Del Sol Fest on August 31st and September 1st. When it comes to incorporating fun in the sun with an island twist, Clayton’s Beach Resort will serve as the perfect backdrop of this tropical festival.

Island selectors Major Lazer will be headlining the return of Isla along with, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Showtek, Quintino, Carnage, and Jesse Marco. They won’t be the only ones soundtracking the exotic event however. We’ve got tons of regional talent making their way to South Padre Island for the highly anticipated event as well, so your weekend will rage on with great music all day and night

VIP and General Admission tickets are still available, but time is running out! Grab your tickets online now and secure your spot on the dancefloor.

Here are your regional acts for Isla Del Sol Fest 2013:

• Skootr Valdez
• Danny Desmadre
• Frankie Gusto & Broseph
• Ruben Divine
• Kyzer
• Impact
• Agro
• Hubba-Bubba
• Toni Trouble
• Justin Besk
• Raul Magallan & Javy Lemus
• Trance Army
• Jonwayne Eaden & Tayrie
• Gruvman Fun
• Exceeder

We are only a couple weeks away from the doors opening at Clayton’s Beach Resort for the 2013 edition of Isla Del Sol Fest. Since we are going to share the same memories on South Padre Island together as Major Lazer, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Showtek, Quintino and Carnage all soundtrack the weekend, we thought; why not share and connect with you guys before August 31st and September 1st? There are multiple social media outlets you can follow to meet other Isla’ers like us, as well as stay-to-date with all of the updates for the anticipated event.

So show us how you get ready for Isla Del Sol. We want to see your pictures or short videos with friends, family, or maybe with the entire dance floor at your favorite local nightclub! Use the #IslaDelSol hashtag for your Instagram, Twitter, and Vine App to set yourself apart from the rest. We will be retweeting some of our favorites!

Have you secured your spot on the dance floor? yet? There’s still time! Buy your tickets now!

Follow Isla Del Sol Festival

• Isla Del Sol Fest on Facebook
• Isla Del Sol Fest on Twitter
• Isla Del Sol Fest on Instagram

Follow Disco Donnie Presents

• Disco Donnie Presents on Facebook
• Disco Donnie Presents Texas on Facebook
• Disco Donnie Presents on Twitter
• Disco Donnie Presents on Instagram

Follow Global Groove Events

• Global Groove Events on Facebook
• Global Groove Events on Twitter
• Global Groove Events on Instagram

Follow Sugar Society

• Sugar Society on Facebook
• Sugar Society on Twitter
• Sugar Society on Instagram

Isla Del Sol Fest is an island getaway coming to Clayton’s Beach Resort this Labor Day Weekend, August 31 and September 1st. Recently, two of our Isla talents have been making their getaways a lot more accessible. Buy your tickets now to score the best deal!

Major Lazer Pons de Lazergram

Just when you thought the artist-inspired apps couldn’t get any more entertaining. Just this past week, Major Lazer released an Android version of their Lazergram App, previously only available on iOS.

The fun Jamaican-influenced app has the ability to take pictures, turn them into “original Major Lazer art works” and even create a direct link to then share it with your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts. You can even send an MMS within the app too, although that technology seems dated these days. Best part? The app is completely free (with the exception of some sticker upgrades). Hashtag your photos with #Lazergram for the chance to get a shoutout from the Diplo crew.

Quintino uploads his own 2013 Tomorrowland Aftermovie

Just this past weekend, the world celebrated the ninth annual Tomorrowland Festival taking place in the now legendary fields of Boom, Belgium. Isla Del Sol talent Quintino threw down at the Jacked Stage on July 26th to crowds of dance fans from around the world in the thousands.

Yesterday, Quintino uploaded an aftermovie of his set at the world-renowned event. Featuring “Puzzle,” his new single Blasterjaxx and his remix of Example’s “All The Wrong Places,” the aftermovie is a great snapshot of the event, the music, and the artist. Get a glimpse of what you might expect when Quintino takes the stage at Isla Del Sol Fest coming to Clayton’s Beach Resort August 31st and September 1st. Buy your tickets today!