vip
tick ’em off!
console games
From popstars to pit-stars
Facts and fiction on the four best events to add to your to-do list
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SOUNDWAVE
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The Garden, Tisno, Croatia. £105 adv, July 19–23. www.soundwavecroatia.com De La Soul, Ghostpoet, Roots Manuva, Submotion Orchestra and DJ Yoda are playing As well as several stages and nightclubs, there will be a series of Soundwave boat parties during the festival Craig Charles plays B2B with Corrie cohort Simon Gregson, at The Ravers Return
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Avicii @ The 02
LOVE SAVES THE DAY
The 02, London. Tickets from £32.50 adv, June 4. www.aeglive.co.uk/artists/avicii The 22 year old Swedish megastar returns for a gargantuan show at London’s 02 Arena The same time as The Queen’s Jubilee Weekend but he’s already won approval from pop royalty Madonna, at Ultra Music Festival Avicii has been invited to DJ at The Queen’s garden party ahead of the event
Castle Park, Bristol, Tickets start £25.00 adv, June 3. www.lovesavestheday.org Brand new festival in the centre of Bristol Acts announced so far include Annie Mac, Joker, Maya Jane Coles and Greg Wilson Also Jamie Jones, Joy Orbison and T-E-E-D Ahead of his set, local-boy Joker will entertain the crowds during the day with a BMX stunt exhibition
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C-Y-N-T: 2MANYDJS BANK HOLIDAY TAKEOVER
SHINDIG 20TH BIRTHDAY
Solus, Cardiff. From £16.99 adv, May 6 www.c-y-n-t.com 2ManyDJs return to Cardiff after their incredible May bank holiday show last year Support comes from Pete Jordan and C-Y-N-T residents 2ManyDJs have promised to dig out local favourite, ‘Duw It’s Hard’ by Max Boyce
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Hoults Yard, Newcastle. From £13 adv, May 6. www.shindiguk.com Newcastle’s premier underground house and techno night celebrates 20 years They’ve reeled in one of the godfathers of dance and happiest man in techno, Carl Cox The party’s in a warehouse space As part of the celebrations, Carl Cox has promised to dress as a giant birthday cake
Sniper Elite V2 This is a WW2 shooter with some serious scope. Set in the final days of the Third Reich – and the genesis of the cold war – stealth and camouflage are your friends. As are a devastating arsenal of sniper rifles. Small arms and machine guns have their place, as do mines, booby traps and even throwing rocks to distract. But the skill here is to control your breathing and get sniping. Each direct shot engages an insanely graphic kill-cam that follows each bullet to its target – anatomically stripping the victim’s body – to show the shot’s full devastation.
Risen 2: Dark Waters In this pirate fantasy RPG you are a nameless hero tasked with saving humanity from the wrath of god-like sea monsters called the Titans. You align yourself with the pirates or the inquisition in a nonlinear narrative where your actions and decisions have different repercussions. Weapons include everything from cutlasses to voodoo dolls (with which you turn people and monsters on each other). But the real treat is the wonderfully over the top English accents and Python-esque humour, that tips Risen’s pirate hat to the legacy of Monkey Island.
Dirt 3 Showdown A spin off from the more realistic Dirt franchise, Showdown sets its sights on casual racers as an adrenaline pumping pick-up-andplay title that revels in speed, style and destruction. In racing mode, nitrous boosts send you careering through the pack, trading paint on courses littered with obstacles, under skies alight with fireworks and hot air balloons. ‘Hooligan’ mode offers freestyle stunt park madness, but for multiplayer, nothing comes close to the demolition derby events where insane levels of damage give a new meaning to the term ‘car-nage’.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 Tiger is back and this time you play the world’s greatest golfer as he earns his stripes. With the Tiger Legacy Challenge you relive his rise to stardom, starting as a toddler through his first child tournaments and then onward. There’s a brand new swing mechanic with advances in shot set-up, swing plane, tempo and power to help you through. Kinect functionality adds voice control and real virtual swinging. This is not for everyone, but it does have nice touches, like zooming in when you raise your hand to your head to scope the horizon.
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japanese popstars go f1
Let’s ride
The Japanese Popstars have teamed up with Caterham F1 to take their adrenalin fuelled electro to the next level n Tucked into the rugged hillside of Jerez in Spain is the racecourse where Caterham F1 do pre-season training. Not where you’d expect to find Mixmag, but we’re here with The Japanese Popstars’ Decky and Gary, in the pit-lane having a gander at the Caterham car and Renault engine sampled in ‘RS27’, a storming slice of big room electro. “We asked for engine noises and luckily they agreed. It’s a massive opportunity, we’ve met the drivers at tracks like Monza,” says Decky. It’s a perfect match as it turns out Caterham were already using The Popstars’ records to get them psyched on race days. “It’s a bit surreal,” says Gary as top driver Heikki Kovalainen screams past. The JP logo is pasted in the Caterham cockpit, which means they’re the first band on an F1 car. The logo stays for the 2012 season, ensuring they’re the soundtrack to one of F1’s most promising teams. As we hear Kovalainen shouting into his headset: “We can fire up, let’s go!” The ‘RS27’ EP is out now. The Japanese Popstars play Rockness, Camp Bestival and Creamfields this summer.
Top 10 Racing Tracks n The Prodigy ‘Speedway’ n SebastiAn ‘Motor’ n Storm ‘Time To Burn’ n Sukh Knight ‘Diesel Not Petrol’ n Grovesnor ‘Drive Your Car’ n Tiga ‘Beep Beep Beep’ n Cally Gage & Gammer ‘Breakneck Bastard’ n David Rubato ‘The Circuit’ n Daft Punk ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’ n Zombie Zombie ‘Driving This Road Til Death Sets You Free’
dancefloor dictionary Snowvomming n. the result of late night partying then early-start snowboarding as seen at dance/snow festivals Mixing In Oven Gloves expr. To be DJing with tunes that are ‘very hot’. Not to be confused with Mixing In Boxing Gloves (expr. To keep fumbling your mixing) A polite zero n. a DJ agent’s way of politely declining a shit gig by adding a zero to
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their DJ’s usual fee. “Sure, he’ll play an ex-Bingo Hall in Hull, that’ll be £50,000” “I’m a streamer!” expr. A declaration made to the tune of Livin Joy’s ‘Dreamer’ by a lone laptop monkey when asked by a DJ what they’re doing in his DJ booth Private Ryan exp. A lost mate at a festival site. “Shit, where’s Seb?” “Fuck Private Ryan, he should have kept with the pack”