Miami Beach and kilowatts of sound

From 25 to 29 March, the Winter Music Conference took place in Miami — the main showcase for figures of the club scene, musicians, DJs and simply fans of electronic music. At the conference all the pillars of dance music gather, the large-scale Ultra festival is held, and the main trends of the coming club season worldwide are set.

Our secret correspondent — DJ Grad — attended the event as both a guest and a participant, and brought us back a detailed report on the Winter Music Conference 2008 (WMC).

"We came to the festival early, to acclimatise and see the city's sights. As I'd expected, Miami turned out to be a devilishly beautiful city — predominantly art deco style, stunning architecture, always warm and sunny weather and... everything in dollars! Miami is hard to call a part of America; it's a self-contained resort city that we often see in music videos on MTV. And there's no difference between Miami on television and the real Miami. Over the course of the festival I managed to meet real gangsters, a huge number of Bentleys and Lamborghinis, stunningly beautiful girls, to enjoy the snow-white beaches and much more. I was invited to perform at the conference back in January this year, when I was playing a Christmas set in Chicago, and I was very glad of it. Besides me, two other Russian DJs took part in the conference — Romeo and Scandal.

Despite the city's dazzling beauty, my attention was given to the WMC festival. I'd heard a lot about it from my friends and acquaintances, imagined the scale of what goes on, and had always dreamed of visiting here. After all, WMC serves as the starting point and the trendsetter of club fashion for the season ahead (and the season usually opens in summer on Ibiza). That is, all the first parties take place there, people bring new, fresh music, prepare special presentations and performances, acquaint the conference's guests with their vision of the future. Here it's worth noting that whereas Ibiza operates actively over four months, WMC lasts just four days, of which parties run only from Thursday to Saturday, and by Sunday everyone is already leaving. In a single night, up to forty major parties take place in the city! The concentration of music there is insane, there are huge queues at every club, entry is paid everywhere (entry to the party with Danny Tenaglia cost $60, and entry to the club Space, where Deep Dish played as a duo, was $100), you can't squeeze onto the dancefloors — in short, life is in full swing.

A film about how D.Ramirez went to Miami

I performed on the conference's opening day at Karu&Y — a beautiful new club with four dancefloors and two terraces. And if it weren't for the official Defected label party, which was the main event of that night, I think we'd have filled the dancefloors at Karu&Y. Even so, a large number of Russians came to support us. I played on the terrace, while on the dancefloor there was Anthony Pappa and other American DJs. By the way, DJs at WMC play whatever they want, they let loose to the fullest, just like at our own KaZantip. I can admit that I fell in love with their techno. It's hard to compare or describe it — it's probably a new funky techno that makes an extremely positive impression. I didn't hear electro music even once, but there was a lot of vocal and jazzy house.

DJs played everywhere: in shops, in hotels, on the streets, in shop windows, everywhere there were turntables — and turntables were everywhere. Oddly enough, people in Miami gathered at parties very late, plus the queues, in which you can spend 30 minutes, and the blanket checking of passports, without which getting into a club is unrealistic, let alone ordering something to drink. I only got used to it by the third day, though on my departure day, at the airport, when I decided to order a beer, they asked me for my passport again — I was simply shocked (given that I don't look like an 18-year-old kid).

As for the parties in Miami, what I remember most are the poolside parties, which opened at noon and closed around 10 in the evening. Another interesting feature of WMC is that the parties there don't end and don't begin — there's no such thing as a pre-party or after-hours; people wake up (whatever the time) and go to a party. It's mainly the row of hotels along the ocean shore with dozens of pool-party pools. The sound made an enormous impression on me. I hadn't come across such good quality in a long time. At mind-blowing volume we chatted completely calmly on the dancefloor and heard each other perfectly.

As it later turned out, the people who set up that sound are also nominated for awards for installing the best sound system. It's worth noting that in the clubs the promoters use a minimum of lighting, creating a relaxed atmosphere in which you can fully concentrate on the music.

The main beach parties were those of the online music store Beatport. It was there that every possible headliner performed, and entry was free. And while at a paid-entry club the queue was a hundred metres long, at the Beatport parties it reached five hundred. The main event of WMC is the Ultra festival, which runs for two days. The number of performers goes off the scale past 100 people, everyone plays for half an hour, and it turns into a bit of a mess, but people like it. Just imagine, all of this happens over four days — clubs, festivals, beach parties, plus conferences, meetings, discussions, masterclasses on top of that! There was even a remix hotel, where anyone who wished could submit their new track to have a remix made of it.

As for the party that mattered most to me — it was the performance of Danny Tenaglia, my idol, and the idol of very many DJs all over the world. The party went great; Danny played for 12 hours in one dark and dirty club with stunning sound and a stunning atmosphere. I only lasted six hours, met loads of Hollywood stars, famous DJs and just plain Danny fans. I loved it!

I also remember the party when I was playing by the pool, while beyond the fence of our hotel an Italian hard-house party was going on. It wasn't without Italian porn divas, who put on a real porn show up on the speakers! All of it was filmed on video and later, most likely, came out on DVD under the title "Porn in Miami"... In other words, it was utter mayhem there. The beach deserves a separate mention — compared to our beaches, fascism reigned there. It was forbidden to drink alcohol, smoke, listen to music, talk loudly, swim further than five metres out into the ocean, and much more. Police rode around on four-wheeled scooters and kept watch on us.

Another sight is the muscle-heads who flocked to Miami from all over the world... They were even called by a different name — hunka-bunka. Honestly, I don't know why. Anyway, these hunka-bunka were constantly stripping off in the clubs, felt as though they were at a workout, and wanted to show everyone their bodies. Security would put their clothes back on, but five minutes later they'd throw off their shirts again. It looked very funny! Besides, in Miami the women are obsessed with silicone. Coming to a party, it was easier for a girl to stand out without silicone than with it. Although it's all done at a very high, quality level, so that even after four days those girls began to appeal to me — but only visually, not on a tactile level: when you see a girl in short shorts and a tight top with a perfect chest, that's very cool, but there's no telling how cool it is to the touch...

For one of the parties my friends booked a table at a club. When we called to make the reservation, we were offered, for an extra fee, the option of hiring a personal bodyguard (this service cost us $500 for the whole group). We agreed. I didn't know what functions a personal bodyguard performs at a club, but when we arrived and ran into a 70-metre queue, I immediately appreciated our advantage. The bodyguard came out of the club to meet us and led us inside. All night he kept watch over the positive atmosphere around our table and did everything to make us feel comfortable and have fun (we even skipped the queue for the toilet and went first). Afterwards, as it turned out, our bodyguard had worked with stars like Paris Hilton, Janet Jackson and others. When we found this out, we were a little shocked.

The whole trip cost us less than if we'd flown to Sochi. The flight — about $800, renting an apartment — about $50 a day, plus the parties, but that's purely individual and depends on how many places you plan to visit, whether you can get onto guest lists, and how much you plan to eat and drink. In any case, a trip to the Winter Music Conference in Miami is an absolute blast and a lot of fun. I hope to see you at WMC in 2009!"