It’s Friday and you know what that means. One week down, and three to go until Sun City Music Festival. Don’t have your tickets yet? Buy your tickets online today!

For this edition of our Sun City Music Festival Weekend Warriors, we were inspired by recent events. Everyone wants to go to Tomorrowland. Everyone. Their motto says, “Yesterday is history. Today is a gift. Tomorrow is a mystery.” So since we were given today, let’s have a little dance now, shall we?

Although some of us couldn’t make it to the rolling hills of Boom, Belgium, we can imagine we were there with three uploaded Tomorrowland sets from our talented Sun City roaster. Feel the energy and vibes as each mix is bound to get you moving. All the more ways to get ready for highly-anticipated event!

Alesso – Live at Tomorrowland

We love Alesso‘s Tomorrowland set because it starts with crazy energy and maintains it all the way through. Featuring some of his biggest hits and some recent favorites, get ready dizzying wind-ups, emotive strings, and a rocking good time.

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Steve Aoki – Live at Tomorrowland

Even though we aren’t able to see the craziness that’s going on on-stage, we can hear the craziness happening behind the decks for Steve Aoki‘s Tomorrowland set. The tracklist is amazingly diverse and should be commended. Spanning over almost every single genre, the mix features artists like Chris Lake, Lil Jon, W&W, Flux Pavilion and Carnage. Now, how is that for eclectic? We’re really digging the mashup of “Warp 1.9” with Prodigy and the double bass kick on “Get Me Out of Here” is in-your-face and fist pump worthy.

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Markus Schulz – Live at Tomorrowland

Sun City talent Markus Schulz had the pleasure of hosting his own stage at the mega festival, but also had the challenge of performing a 12 hour open-to-close solo set. On his current Global DJ Broadcast, he shortened the mix down to two hours featuring the highlights of the set. We love that Markus dug out the older, classic tracks towards the end because he very rarely gets to play them out. WARNING: Dead unicorns everywhere.

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As August continues to roll through, the time for Sun City Music Festival will soon be upon us. El Paso certainly knows how to party, and you’ll see that when you join us on the dance floor for Texas’ largest dance music event. Grab your tickets now to score the best deal!

On this edition of the Sun City drop, it’s all about the launch. We’ve got one of our headliners launching a new radio show and another act is relaunching their own imprint.

Tiësto Launches New Radio Show Dedicated to House

This past Sunday, Sun City headliner Tiësto launched his new radio show Club Life After Hours. The new weekly show on Sirius XM will be dedicated to house in all of its forms. Clocking in at a whopping 24 hours, the show will run from 5:00 AM Sunday to 5:00 AM Monday. Though the show won’t feature Tiësto every week, special guest DJs will be invited to throw down on the decks.

The first episode ranged from the chiller side of house to the funkier styles, featuring artists like Audiofly, Tale of Us, and Tube & Berger. “Stylistically, I don’t think [house is] ready for my live sets just yet because I like to play a little more energetic and uplifting, but who knows in the future?” Tiësto says. “For now I want to experiment with it on the radio and see what people think.”

With a trap release on Musical Freedom last week and recent tweets promising to produce a trance song, what’s one more genre to add to the multifaceted artist? We’re not sure what to expect when Tiësto takes the stage at Sun City Music Festival, but we do know there’s only one way to find out. Have you bought your tickets yet?

Candyland relaunches Sweet Shop Records

Back in 2012, breakout successes Candyland launched their own imprint in Sweet Shop Records. Though the duo took a small hiatus, we were overjoyed when we learned that Ethan and Josie are relaunching the project – with some newly added benefits.

Sweet Shop Records is a multi-genre label, which, of course, is fitting considering the duos eclectic productions. Fans can now send in demos to have the chance at having their work distributed to the world by the company. The label’s official site has also launched the Sugar Free feature. Sugar Free is a mailing list that anyone can subscribe to. Fans can sign up on Facebook or the duo’s site to receive notifications of ticket giveaways, remix stems, free downloads, and so much more.

We’re sure you’ll hear some sweet stuff when Candyland joins Sun City Music Festival this August 31st and September 1st. Tickets are available online, buy your tickets today!

The boys of Flosstradamus are certainly no newcomers to dance music. Comprising of Josh Young and Curt Cameruci, the duo have become synonymous for their eclectic mix of pretty much any genre to get the party started. Having performed at some of the biggest festivals and college campuses in the world and even making an appearance on Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba, Flosstradamus knows how to bring any crowd together with their unique sound.

The Floss story started quite some time ago. Young recants, “I was living in an apartment with a bunch of dudes and one of the guys worked at Whole Foods with Curt knew I was trying to start a little duo. He said I should meet his friend, who had a similar style to me. He introduced us, and we knew immediately. We were like, ‘Oh, wow, this is really going to work.'” Using their combined brainpower, the two began to brainstorm on a name, “We were just drinking one night and randomly throwing out names. It wasn’t even us that came up with it, it was a friend of ours. We were like, ‘Next subject!’ We knew straight away that was going to be our name. It’s funny, because everyone thinks it’s got to be this incredible story. We’re just like, “Yeah, because we can predict the future.”

Donning stage names Autobot (Curt Cameruci) and J2K (Josh Young), the boys first popped up on Chicago’s music radar in 2005, when the duo formed and hosted the “Get Outta’ the Hood” parties at local joint, Town Hall Pub. The event was a wildly successful, no-frills affair where the night would always end up in a massive dance party. Thanks to an increasingly supportive music scene, Flosstradamus have since gotten out of the hood. When MTV2 featured Josh’s sister, accurately named Kid Sister, on its My Block Chicago episode, the then rising hip-hop star landed Flosstradamus some airtime as well helping build some Floss buzz that scored the boys blurbs in publications like URB Magazine and Rolling Stone. In 2006, the duo hit the club circuit hard and hasn’t looked back since. Now having an at-length list of accolades, releases, and milestones, Flosstradamus are easily one of the most popular acts in dance music right now.

Putting a Floss spin on all of your favorites and delivering a crazy amount of energy to every set, Flosstradamus are going to tear up Sun City Music Festival, happening August 31st and September 1st. Buy your tickets today!

Last week we announced that we are teaming up with Mixify and This Song Slaps to bring you the 2013 Sun City Music Festival DJ competition. Mixify received tons of entries from all over the world, and the top 10 DJs are ready for the final voting round!

We’re putting you all in the driver’s seat of choosing one DJ to be booked at Texas’ largest dance music event on Saturday, August 31st. Head over to Mixify and start listening to some mixes. We need your help selecting one lucky DJ to play alongside artists like Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki, and Alesso for the gig of a lifetime. Remember – our winner will also get a one-hour slot at the official Sun City Music House Party on Thursday, August 15th on Mixify.com.

Vote now for your favorite DJ and share with all your friends. The DJ with the most votes by 11:59 PM ET on Sunday, August 11th will win the live slot!

To steal a direct quote from Bristol native Eats Everything, “I like big bass and solid beats.” And while that is a very broad description of Eats, or Daniel Pearce’s booty-shaking productions, we can’t get enough of those basslines and tricked out drum beats which is why we are very excited to have Eats Everything join us for Sun City Music Festival, going down August 31st and September 1st.

Daniel Pearce’s vision for music has been molded from an early age. “I grew up listening to early hardcore at the start of the 90s, Ellis Dee, Carl Cox. Easygroove etc, and seriously into jungle when it emerged from the hardcore scene and the harder end of techno as well. One day a good friend played me a house record by the Rhythm Masters and from there on it was house all the way. I guess the strong musical vision comes from the fact that I have been listening to dance music and DJing for a long, long time and I have seen a lot of genres/styles come and go. I guess that I encompass a lot of those styles both old and current and try to do something unique.” It is that unique sound that has landed Pearce to the worldwide success he’s at now.

Eats Everything first caught our eye with his breakout release “Entrance Song” back in 2011. Pearce recalls how it was signed, “I made it in June 2010, a few labels that I sent it to turned it down and then it was meeting J Phlip from dirtybird at a club in Bristol in February that was the turning point really. I gave her the tracks, she loved them, passed them to Voitek and Greg from Catz n Dogz and the next day they emailed me asking to sign them. I couldn’t believe it as I was a massive fan of Pets Recordings, Catz n Dogz and J Phlip and it was amazing that they were into my music.”

Since the Entrance Song EP, Pearce has won massive support from heavyweights in wide array of genres including the heads at label dirtybird. “I had been sending stuff to Claude Von Stroke but to no avail, he was always polite and said it wasn’t quite right or whatever. Then he heard Justin Martin play “The Size” at Movement Festival earlier this year and the next day I had an email asking if he could sign it. It was signed to another label at the time, a really good one but not as big as dirtybird, so Vonstroke asked Worthy if he could sign it, Worthy said yes.”

So what can you expect when Eats Everything plays on our newly announced Beatport stage for Sun City Music Festival? Expect a lot of hard-hitting tracks from his own production other label buddies. Get to witness Eats Everything play a variety of house and incorporating funk, disco, hip-hop, and so much more at Sun City Music Festival. Buy your tickets today!

From the early days of his career, all Tiësto has said that he wanted to do was, ‘to share his music with others.’ Now, almost 20 years since his first release, Tiësto has won almost every dance music award there is making it quite apparent that he has shared his music to the world. Born Tijs Verwest, Tiësto was the first DJ to play a solo stadium concert. He also set the world record for the largest audience every played to by a DJ, and his remix of Delerium’s “Silence” was the first dance track to be broadcast on daytime radio in North America. Undeniably, Tiësto has put in the hard work and dedication to called one of the greatest DJ’s to be behind a set of turntables.

And there is just no stopping the Dutch veteran, as just last month, Tiësto released the third volume of his revered Club Life series in “Stockholm.” Tiësto explains, “I moved to Stockholm in February 2009 and now spend several months there every year. The Swedes are enormously talented in fashion, music and art, which is extremely inspiring for me when I work on new tracks. There are also lots of great clubs within walking distance from the city center that makes Stockholm a very friendly place to party. This mix album perfectly encapsulates my Stockholm Club Life experience.”

This Sun City talent and enduring champion of DJ Mag’s Top 100 has done it all from record-breaking marathon sets to performing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games to an audience of billions. Simply stated, Tiësto is a performer who has transcended musical genres and created brand. Join us August 31st and September 1st to see the one and only legend himself, Tiësto as he headlines the main stage at Sun City Music Festival. Tickets are available online and in select retail stores.

On today’s edition of the Sun City Music Festival sound clash, we are highlighting two veterans that have helped shape the way we view dance music. Whether you like to thrash around and stage dive or whether you’re the type who like to take deep, long journeys into the night, we are very excited to have legends like Steve Aoki and John Digweed play at this year’s event. Haven’t bought tickets? What are you waiting for! Tickets are available online and in stores.

Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki is known for a lot of things. He likes to crowd surf. His facial hair should be commended. He really likes cake and champagne is his version of water. But perhaps something that fans too often forget is that the Dim Mak Records front man has been in the business for over 15 years and is credited for launching the careers of bands such as MSTRKRFT and Bloc Party.

Steve’s role as a producer has seen tracks have success on charts around the world. He has a great ability to create big electro releases and has a good ear for creating catchy melodies. Just last year, Steve released his first studio album, Wonderland after many years of successful output on his imprint and remixes for names like the Jackson 5, Kanye West, Eminem and will.i.am. But like his earlier hits suggest, Wonderland, showcases one of Steve’s best talents of creating beats that put bodies on the dance floor and any sub-woofers to good use.

Get an earthquakey dose of Steve Aoki when he takes the stage at Sun city Music Festival. Buy your tickets today!

John Digweed

John Digweed first sent a demo into Sasha in 1992 and scored a gig at the Renaissance Club in Mansfield. Together, their residency at that venue was where they saw their popularity begin to rise. As Sasha and Digweed, the two are by far one of the most successful if not the most well-known DJ duos of all time. The “Renaissance Sound” was captured on Renaissance: The Mix Collection, which is known as the first legally licensed DJ mix.

Digweed became first known for promoting the progressive house sound that became popular in Europe and America in the late 90s and early 2000s, mastering the art of the mix. He started the imprint Bedrock Records to further promote the music he was playing at the time. He speaks about his sound in a dated interview, “I still think I’ve got a sound, and I think if I play certain records people can say, ‘He’s playing it like John Digweed would,’ you know? I can take techno records, I can take house records, but I play them in a way that makes sense to me. I like to kind of get a groove going and lock people into it, but I’m also quite a varied DJ as well.”

Get a dose of one of the veteran artists of our time when John Digweed takes the Beatport stage at Sun City Music Festival. Buy your tickets today!

A good man once said “Music always sounds better on Friday.” We couldn’t agree any more. Which is why we love collecting sets from our Sun City Music Festival talent for all you warriors out there. All this great music is just in preparation of what you can expect at Ascarate Park this Labor Day Weekend, August 31st and September 1st. Have you bought your tickets yet?

On this edition of the Weekend Warriors, we are all about that “new new.” New shows, new car, you name it – we all like it new. This week, we’ve got three NEW mixes from our Sun City talents that are weekend ready. Get ready for some freshness!

Danny Avila

Every Wednesday on Electric Area, Danny Avila presents his Ready To Jump radio show. This episode of Danny’s radio show kicks off with his latest release “Voltage.” The track has a massive build that is of epic electro proportions which is perfect kickoff to a show full of bangers. Featuring a track with other Sun City talent Alesso, big room in the house (pun intended) with this mix!

Scuba

Scuba releases the third installment of his After Hours mix series. At just over an hour, this mix is quite the ride. For this journey, Scuba utilized a lot more house cuts that are on the weirder side. What you’re left with is an overall trippy experience with lots of reverb. Enjoy this collection, our guys is that you haven’t heard these gems anywhere else.

Markus Schulz

This mix is a very special one. At four hours long, you already know Markus Schulz spent a lot of time in creating this. Which is why we’re going to let him do the talking for this set:

“In between this summer of madness consisting of 12 hour Tomorrowland sets, Ibiza residencies, multiple festivals and Global DJ Broadcast Sunrise Sets and Ibiza Summer Sessions, one of my main tasks over the past 10 weeks was crafting something special for this year’s Coldharbour Day.

At the end of July each year, the Coldharbour family unite for our annual Coldharbour Day celebration – together with our friends at Afterhours.fm – to create a marathon radio event dedicated entirely to the fans – with special all-Coldharbour sets and showcases of producer talents.

My job each Coldharbour Day is to create a 4 hour set – which is the longest studio mix I put together every year. I spent a lot of time attempting to get the vibe right, as well as striking the right balance of curent favorites, unheard / unreleased material and classics from days gone by.

Really hope you guys enjoy the journey.”

On this week’s edition of the Sun City Music Festival drop, one of our headliners is ready to run the trap and the other is diving further into his softer side with a forthcoming release. All the more reason to get ready to join us on the dance floor at Ascarate Park this Labor Day Weekend. Grab your tickets today to score the best deal!

Tiësto’s imprint Musical Freedom releases its first trap release

Trap is a current phenomenon taking dance music to an entirely new level. Coincidentally, the sub genre has become a favorite of Sun City Music Festival act Tiësto who has been dropping some trap in his sets this past year. Looks like Tiësto is ready to run the trap, and if that didn’t convince you, his imprint Musical Freedom Records unleashed it’s first trap release this past Tuesday, July 30th.

The Trap Remix EP isn’t just a collection of random trap tracks. It’s a compilation of his favorite trap remixes of Musical Freedom releases. Sun City acts Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike and GTA both start off the release with a trap re-rub of their track “Turn It Up” featuring Wolfpack from Swedish newcomers Pelari. Next is Chicago’s Luminox whose remix of Sandro Silva and Quintino’s “Epic,” keep the signature melody while reworking the bass and percussion. Recently featured on Tiësto’s Club Life Stockholm, Tiësto and DJ Punish’s “Shocker” is next on the EP and is remixed by Washington, DC-based DJ Basscamp. Closing out the release is New Jersey talent Ethyr who traps up R3hab and ZROQ’s “Skydrop” into some swift kicks.

Dillon Francis gives the world a preview of ‘Without You’

Recently, the crowned prince of moombahton Dillon Francis, has been showing the world his softer side. First, his “Flight 4555” video, and now with his forthcoming single “Without You.” The cat, ninja, and taco enthusiast has enlisted the help of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, taking a detour from the heavy drops he’s most known for. Get used to this side of Dillon too. This is the direction his forthcoming album is growing to. The Dillon camp reports, “Dillon has gone the route of subtle and infectious on this one, reflecting the expansive growth of sound that he has cultivated in the process of recording his coming full length debut.”

On the preview posted on his Soundcloud, Dillon shared this in the comment section, “This song is very meaningful to me because as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and I were working on the song I was having relationship problems of my own. He ended up writing the song about the whole situation I was going through.” “Without You” will be out via Mad Decent August 6th.

Candyland have only been producing since 2011 but the co-ed duo consisting of Ethan Davis and Josie Martin from Santa Barbara have known each other long before that. Josie spoke about how the two first met, “My first DJ gig was his [Ethan] 17th birthday party and we met from there and he started as my drummer for my DJing but then we formed a group and he began to DJ with me.” It wouldn’t be long before the two would start to mold their craft in what was soon to be Candyland. Ethan said in an interview, “Yeah she [Josie] got me into EDM. Eventually I started producing and Candyland was born.”

In early 2012, Ethan and Josie got to put their talents to the test. The two entered and won two Beatport remix contests that changed their lives. The first being the Bingo Players’ “Rattle” remix contest, and in the same year, the Skrillex and Damian Marley’s “Make It Bun Dem” remix contest. Josie gave some back story in a recent interview, “Well Ethan was super into ‘Rattle’ before there was even a contest and he just decided we needed to give it a shot. We REALLY wanted to win that one. [It] Was pretty exciting to win. We first thought that everyone and their cat would remix Skrillex, even the more known producers, so entering it would be pointless. We did anyway and just kinda hoped it would do well. Winning the contests have done a lot for our career’s so we are happy we did them.”

When the two released their debut album Bring the Rain on Spinnin’ Records earlier this year, it charted #3 on the Beatport’s overall Top 100 chart, #1 on the dubstep, electro house, drum and bass, and even glitch hop charts. Candyland continues to evolve with every original and every remix they’ve released. We’re not coming down when Candyland takes the stage at Sun City Music Festival. Grab your tickets today and secure your spot on the dance floor.