Here’s what I did last weekend: On Friday, I caught only half an hour of Armand van Helden’s set (after missing the Japanese Popstars thanks to the Austrian Federal Railways) – a bit mainstream-ish as expected (in a Bonkers-way, of course), but a great selection of music to get the party started. He was followed by Digitalism spinning a set that I would’ve loved two years ago but found quite predictable and partially boring now.

When David Guetta came on stage, I was quite glad that he was playing only the cheapest commercial smash hits for a brain-dead crowd, so I could go on hating on him with a clear conscience – but when he started dropping tracks that I’ve been smashing in my own sets for weeks, including Congorock’s Babylon, my world came out of joint and I decided to get drunk immediately. (On that account, I have little memory of both Boys Noize and especially Adam Freeland’s sets, but I do remember Boys Noize starting a hefty techno set with Kontakt Me, which I always thought was quite boring but loved at that time – thanks to Mr. Stolichnaya). In between, I caught glimpses of Roni Size and DJ Fresh making the drum & bass stage’s blood boil.

Right after Carl Cox playing a nice three-hour sunset-set, Buraka Som Sistema, definitely being my personal highlight, killed the crowd on Saturday. Sampling every single piece of music history ranging from Rage Against The Machine to Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You, these Portuguese madmen were radiating so much energy on stage that one could almost feel the crackling electricity in the air – I tried to film their performance using my mobile phone but soon ended up dancing and jumping like a lunatic, waving my hands in the air and therefore taping mainly the people behind me instead of the band.

Directly after this hour of perfect bliss I went to see Carl Craig, but changed my mind quickly: His set was like one and a half hour of sex without an orgasm – quite fun in between, but sort of unsatisfying on the whole. I went to see Benga who was dropping sick beats on a needy crowd and then decided to switch to the drum & bass stage where Spor, Noisia, Original Sin and Audio were ripping it up until I finally (after a short intermezzo at the techno stage to see Stephan Bodzin playing on little known frequencies) decided to go to bed when the sun came up.

Here’s the reason why there might be no blog posts on Friday and Saturday this week – and judging from the above line-up I might also need the whole Sunday to recover from the side effects of massive partying. However, to make sure everyone’s in the right mood for the festival, here’s a banging little something-something for you all to dance to while getting your stuff packed (if you can’t make it there, think of this track as some kind of substitute drug). Drop me a line if you’re there and want to meet for a beer!

MMMatthias – The Question (Jo Kira Remix)

Got some exciting news to share with you all before starting my weekend by partying with SebastiAn from Ed Banger Records in Vienna tonight: I’m giving away a pair of weekend passes to the Urban Art Forms Festival 2010 in Wiesen, Austria, Europe’s leading audiovisual festival. This years (questionable, I admit) headliner is David Guetta, alongside the likes of Carl Cox, Sven Väth, Boys Noize, Armand van Helden and Digitalism. The list of performing artists reads like a who’s who in electronic dance music: Adam Freeland, The Japanese Popstars, Buraka Som Sistema, Moonbootica, Parov Stelar, Infected Mushroom, Spor, Benga and many more.  To get your hands on the tickets to festival-heaven, simply email me at discodemons@gmail.com (subject line: UAF) and tell me why I should ignore 10.000 other entries and give the tickets to you instead – the winner will be contacted on May 15. Good luck!

Liebe Freunde der elektronischen Blasmusik, ich verlose zwei Festivalpässe für das führende audiovisuelle Festival Europas, das Urban Art Forms Festival 2010 in Wiesen (Österreich). Dieses Jahr mit dabei sind unter anderem David Guetta, die Techno-Götter Carl Cox und Sven Väth sowie namhafte Größen der Electro-Szene, wie Boys Noize, Armand van Helden und Digitalism. Weiters werden Adam Freeland, The Japanese Popstars, Buraka Som Sistema, Parov Stelar, Moonbootica und viele andere am traumhaft schönen Festivalgelände Wiesen für Euch die Plattenteller drehen bzw. live performen. Um an die begehrten Tickets zu kommen, schreib mir einfach an discodemons@gmail.com (Betreff: UAF) und erklär mir, warum ich 10.000 andere Einsendungen ignorieren soll und die Tickets stattdessen dir schenken sollte – der glückliche Gewinner wird am 15. Mai via email kontaktiert. Viel Glück!

In collaboration with Smirnoff, I’m updating you on the latest collaboration to keep an eye on: South African BLK JKS, recently named “Africa’s best new band” by Rolling Stone magazine, have teamed up with no one less than Tiesto to ultimately break genre boundaries. Their currently in studio working on an exclusive track set to release in April. To celebrate this occasion, the Smirnoff Experience will be landing in Johannesburg, South Africa on May 15, bringing the biggest party ever – headlined by Tiesto himself. To find out how to be there, just visit www.smirnoff.com.

As if this wasn’t enough, I’m giving away one bottle of Smirnoff vodka (all applicants must be above legal drinking age, winner needs to send a scan of an ID) plus a Smirnoff be there T-Shirt. All you need to is follow me on Twitter and tweet “Smirnoff vodka giveaway on @Disco Demons: http://tinyurl.com/DDsmirnoff“. Be there!

Here’s an announcement on very short notice: I’ve already covered Topman CTRL on the blog last month, if you don’t know what this is about (shame on you!), look it up! This month’s controllers are the Filthy Dukes, who picked a bunch of artists for an event, including We Have Band, O. Children and the Filthy Dukes themselves.

Hiya kiddos, sorry for no posts since last week, been spinning in Switzerland with Johnny Roxx on Friday and playing with with Saint Pauli and A.G.Trio in Austria on Saturday – needless to say, I was quite wasted on Sunday.

Speaking of A.G.Trio: Check back on my blog in a few hours, got something special for you later today… gotta catch a few hours of sleep in the meantime.