After his set at Electric Zoo, French Ed Banger artist Sebastian chatted with us about making music for the girls. Read on after the jump. Continue Reading

Festival season is officially upon us, and lot’s of events this year are looking to expand. This includes Made Event’s annual celebration of all things dance music, Electric Zoo, which has added a third day to their weekend extravaganza that will take Labor Day weekend, September 2-4, 2011. The line-up is as follows:

Friday, September 2

☛ Main Stage: Moby (DJ set), Benny Benassi, Rusko, Tiga, AN21 & Ma Vangeli

☛ Hilltop Arena: Richie Hawtin Presents Plastikman (Live), MSTRKRFT, Felguk, Gareth Emery, Markus Schultz, Robbie Rivera

☛ Carl Cox & Friends Take Over Sunday School: Carl Cox, Loco Dice, Joris Voorn & Nic Fanciulli (B2B), Victor Calderone

☛ Red Bull Music Academy Riverside: Crookers, Martin Solveig, Bart B More, Busy P, Feed Me, SebastiAn

Saturday, September 3

☛ Main Stage: David Guetta, Above & Beyond, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, John Digweed, Sander Can Doorn, Sub Focus

☛ Hilltop Arena: Ferry Corsten, ATB, Andy Moor, Dirty South Joachim Garraud, Mat Zo, Sean Tyas & Simon Patterson (B2B), Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano

☛ Sunday School Grove: Luciano, Danny Tenaglia, Carl Craig, Chris Liebing, James Holden, Steve Bug

☛ Red Bull Music Academy Riverside: Skrillex, Super Smash Bros, 12th Planet, Beardyman, Kid Sister, Porter Robinson, Tommy Lee & DJ Aero

Sunday, September 4

☛ Main Stage: Armin Van Buuren, Afrojack, Chromeo, DJ Snoopadelic, Calvin Harris

☛ Hilltop Arena: Boys Noize, Diplo, Big Gigantic, Carte Blanche, Excision & Datsik, Fake Blood, Jack Beats, MiMOSA

☛ Sunday School Grove: Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Gui Boratto, Guy Gerber, Ida Engberg, Nicolas Jaar (Live)

☛ Red Bull Music Academy Riverside: Infected Mushroom, Gabriel & Dresden, Arty, EDX, Hardwell, Kyau & Albert, Mark Knight

More artists TBA!

Payment Plans

Passes to the festival can be purchased HERE. This year, Electric Zoo is also offering a payment plan for those who would prefer to not pay the full sum all at once. This payment plan contains two options. The first payment option allows you to pay a 50% deposit of your order total upon purchase of the pass, plus service fees, with the remaining 50% automatically deducted from your card on August 1, 2011. The second option allows you to pay 30% of your order total plus service fees as your first payment, with the remaining total automatically deducted in equal payments on July 1st and August 1st 2011.

Dust Reduction

Electric Zoo will also be making efforts to reduce dust this year, as the dancing and frolicking of 25,000 pairs of feet coupled with the unusually dry summer took a toll last year, and by the end of the day, the grass had been trampled and a lot of dirt had been kicked up into the air.

Here’s a list of things they’ve put in place to reduce the dust:

• Flooring will be used in all of the tents. This means that where all that dancing is going on, the grass will be protected and dirt won’t be kicked up.
• Dirt service roads will be covered with flooring. As our crew travels in golf carts and other vehicles to get from place to place around the perimeter of the festival grounds, there’ll be far less dirt stirred up.
• Making use of existing pavement for high traffic areas, including the area directly in front of the main stage. The main stage will be moved back this year in order to create more space. This will mean that a large area directly in front of the main stage will now be situated on pavement rather than grass. So when you “tear up the dancefloor” in front of the main stage, you’ll no longer be tearing up grass and kicking up dirt at the same time

They’ve also hired lawn specialists to consult with and work with Randall’s Island Park to improve on the maintenance of the field and to get it as healthy as possible before Electric Zoo.

Check out our coverage of last year’s Electric Zoo HERE, and stay tuned for more information and updates from us as the event draws closer!

When you hit the seven-year mark, you either go big or go home, and after making the trip across the Atlantic, the latter was definitely not an option for French label Ed Banger Records. Everything about their seven-year anniversary celebration was massive: the venue, the line-up, the cake, and the overall atmosphere hit all the right notes for the sold-out crowd at Terminal 5.

The evening began with DJ sets by Breakbot and DJ Mehdi, followed by a surprise guest set by Ed Banger “cousin” A-Trak. Uffie, accompanied by Ed Banger DJ/producer Feadz, briefly took the stage to perform two songs, ”MC’s Can Kiss” and “Illusion of Love”, from her new album, Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans.

Head honcho Busy P had the most festive set, which saw the unveiling of the four-layer cake and a colorful balloon drop into the gleeful audience. He played songs by the Bloody Beetroots, Major Lazer and 50 Cent, and segued into Justice’s set with “Tthhee Ppaarrttyy”. When Justice took over, Busy P ceremoniously cut the cake as Feadz cheerfully handed out pieces to the audience. Justice played all of their hits, including a mash-up of D.A.N.C.E. with Bob Sinclar’s breakout hit “Gym Tonic”.

After the show ended at 2 AM, we headed to Webster Hall for the after party, which was already in full swing. The rest of the Ed Banger crew also came through to continue the celebration and show their support for So Me, SebastiAn, and Feadz. During his set, SebastiAn hilariously dropped Mariah Carey’s “I Can’t Live (if living is without you)”, a song that the French seem to adore, and in a Webster Hall first, he took one of the CDJs into the audience, allowing them to manipulate the sounds from Feadz’s set. By 5 AM, the party was still going strong, until security called it a night and ushered out the crowd.

We’ve seen a lot of anniversary parties in our time, but this one definitely takes the cake. CLICK HERE for photos of the “Ed Banger Seven” at Terminal 5, and HERE for photos of the after party at Webster Hall.