The Cool, The Quirky & The Downright Unmissable Acts At Stereosonic 2015

Arriving in November, Stereosonic is Australia's biggest touring (dance music) festival and signals the official start of the summer party season. Cyclone casts her eye over the event and presents her Big Six must-sees and more.

Despite some hipsters' belief that 'Stereo' is a mega-rave, you actually don't even have to be into 'EDM' to fully appreciate it. Stereosonic has myriad cool, cred and clubby acts (see you at The Woods arena, people). Indeed, the wider scene has swung away from EDM back to house, garage and deep bass — and Stereosonic's astutely "curated" line-up mirrors that. Skimming 2015's roster is initially a lil' déjà vu, promoters re-booking popular names. But don't sleep on the buzz newcomers! Commendably, Stereosonic again has Australian headliners. This year the fest is reverting to a one-day format. There is heaps to check out.

The Big Six: The Headliners You Won't Wanna Miss (Or Diss)

Diplo/Major Lazer

To the masses, Diplo (aka Thomas Wesley Pentz) is EDM's playa provocateur, entertaining everybody with his music, interviews, tweets and celebrity romances. However, the dance community lauds him as a countercultural (or "post-") DJ who's long championed regional musics with Mad Decent. Pentz conceived the Major Lazer sound system — to dancehall what Gorillaz is to hip hop. Then he's challenged elitism in dance, rendering Justin Bieber 'cool'. Of late Pentz has even repudiated the very term 'EDM' as irrelevant. In 2015 the hyper-industrious super-producer has contributed to Madonna's Rebel Heart. He's also unleashed both a trap album alongside Skrillex as Jack Ü (heard the Bieb's redeeming Where Are Ü Now?) and Major Lazer's blockbuster Peace Is The Mission (home to the ARIA #1 garage-dub belter Lean On with MØ and DJ Snake). A Stereosonic fixture, Diplo will perform live with Major Lazer and DJ. Dope fact: Jack Ü's album contains a Take Ü There remix with Missy Elliott.

Armin Van Buuren

Among the most enduring DJ/producer/brands in dance, Dutchman Armin van Buuren is currently ranked #3 in DJ Mag's Top 100 poll, previously topping it five times. In 2015 he's the stadium trance act on Stereosonic's main stage. The Armada Music mogul is prepping his sixth 'artist' album, recently airing the trousey Another You (featuring Mr Probz). He's also officially remixed the Game Of Thrones theme. One meanie on SoundCloud commented, "Jon Snow died because of this." Wrong. Van Buuren sho' better drop it at Stereo'.

Axwell ^ Ingrosso

Nostalgic for Swedish House Mafia? The phoenix duo of Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso is for you. The flossy electro-prog DJ/producers lately followed On My Way with Sun Is Shining — in conjunction with an H&M campaign. That oft-vaunted album on Def Jam can't be that far off...

Peking Duk

Maverick Canberra house kids Peking Duk emerged amid the hype surrounding Flume's amorphous 'Australian sound' revolution. They became a household phenom themselves on the back of 2014's crossover hits High and Take Me Over — both in the upper reaches of the triple j Hottest 100. Yet their new single, Say My Name (with Benjamin Joseph, rumoured to really be SAFIA's Ben Woolner), is stompin' indie-dance. Already this year Peking Duk have made their Coachella premiere — and they just did Splendour In The Grass.

Galantis

So — no Calvin Harris for Stereosonic 2015? Never mind — Harris' fans should instead head to Galantis. The Swedish super-duo are bringing their big room pop to Australia for the first time — and performing live. Christian Karlsson (aka Bloodshy and a Miike Snow co-founder) and Linus Eklöw (Style Of Eye) put Galantis on the map with 2014's euphoric Runaway (U&I). The sparkly, Calvin-y album Pharmacy appeared mid-year.

Clean Bandit

Stereosonic's biggest reveal? It's gotta be Clean Bandit on their inaugural Australian run. The posh electro-pop quartet from Cambridge in the UK signed to Black Butter (Rudimental's base), cutting 2014's debut, New Eyes. In the interim, they took off globally with the Jess Glynne-sung Rather Be — it's since won them a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Fun fact: violinist Neil Amin-Smith is the BF of Years & Years' Olly Alexander.

Cool 'N' Cred At Stereosonic

Duke Dumont

Brit houser Duke Dumont (Adam Dyment) had a monumental 2014. He conquered the UK charts for a second time with I Got U, soul diva Kelli Leigh channelling Whitney Houston. After DJing at the last Stereosonic, he's back with a live show. Dyment has issued the underground The Giver (Reprise), plus a superb remix of Mark Ronson's I Can't Lose (featuring Keyone Starr). Word is that Chicago MC Vic Mensa will guest on his debut LP.

MK

Detroit's Marc "MK" Kinchen has been active since the '80s, being the protégé of Inner City's Kevin Saunderson. The studio boffin later settled in Los Angeles, producing urban for the likes of (shhh...) Will Smith. An in-demand '90s remixer, Kinchen experienced a dramatic career resurgence when his take on the Storm Queen (Morgan Geist) track Look Right Through blew up. Seek his deep house Bring Me To Life (featuring Milly Pye) on Columbia. Incredibly, Kinchen is a relative newcomer to DJing. His bumpin' house set at Stereosonic 2014 was a highlight — don't miss the encore.

Claptone

Scholarly music mag Wire recently published the exposé Deep Cover: Aliases, Pseudonyms & Alter Egos... As it happens, Germany's Claptone belongs to that tradition of electronic auteurs revelling in anonymity and self-mythologising, donning a medieval, gold bird mask. Claptone's disco house could be a Berliner's response to Moodymann. This year he sublimely remixed Liquid Spirit by Grammy-blessed jazz vocalist Gregory Porter. He's also signed to Different (Motorbass) for an album. Claptone, here over summer, will present his new Immortal Live audio-visual show at Stereosonic. The fest's most avant act?

Claude VonStroke

Tech-house fave Claude VonStroke (born Barclay Crenshaw) was raised in Detroit, only to relocate to the West Coast to pursue a vocation in the movies. Rather than that, however, he launched the influential label dirtybird in San Fran a decade ago. Ironically, the DJ's own signature record is Who's Afraid Of Detroit?. Crenshaw is on fire as a remixer: he's tech-ed up Rihanna's trap Bitch Better Have My Money and transformed The Chemical Brothers' Q-Tip-led Go into Cybotron-esque electro-bass.

Hannah Wants

There are elite she-Js on Stereosonic's bill such as breakthrough UK bass-houser Hannah Wants (aka Hannah Smith) and 'our' Tigerlily. Smith, from Birmingham, once privileged DJing over production. But she's teamed with fellow Brummie Chris Lorenzo for bangers like Rhymes. Smith herself has just unveiled a tough remix of Roger Sanchez' nouveau house Remember Me.

Quirk Vs Twerk: Stereosonic's Most Intriguing (Or WTF?) Acts

Shiba San

The 'French touch' posse have always adored mystique — Daft Punk pretending to be robots and Tchami (also at Stereo) wearing a priestly collar. The identity of Paris' Shiba San remains unknown, but he's admitted to being no novice. Shiba's bassy ghetto house captivated Claude VonStroke early on. He's now remixed Drake's Started From The Bottom for his SoundCloud followers. We def recommend Shiba's new single, Burn Like Fire, on his own fledgling imprint, Basement Leak.

Cut Snake

Cut Snake are viral Aussie DJ stars. Their novelty factor is apparent in their bio: Paul "Fish" Fisher and Leigh "Sedz" Sedley, childhood mates from the Gold Coast, are pro surfers. Now based in LA, they're putting a beachy twist to the Oz sound. Warning: Mick Fanning, if he's even into house, may wanna avoid Cut Snake's current Warner single, Maybe Why Not, 'cause of the ominous shark-fin-in-the-water artwork.

Hot Dub Time Machine

Hot Dub Time Machine, touted as "the world's first time-travelling dance party", is the invention of Sydney's Tom Loud (a corruption of Lowndes) — formerly a sound mixer for TV's Underbelly. The vinyl stalwart will ostensibly be staging his cult Hot Dub Classic show at Stereosonic, spinning pop tunes from 1954 to present — although mid-year he introduced a Hot Dub Rave in Adelaide.

SNAILS

Gimmickry allows a DJ to jump out in a digital age defined by transience — and short attention spans. But added eccentricity and subversiveness help. Montreal's SNAILS (Frédérik Durand) has an offbeat sense of humour. The DJ/producer has branded his topsy turvy bass "vomitstep". It is catching on: Durand, down with OWSLA, co-produced Jack Ü's Holla Out. He's hitting Stereo' following February's Oz club tour.

Jessie Andrews

Like Sasha Grey, Jessie Andrews (not her real name) is a porn star-cum-DJ — yep, it's a micro-trend! Andrews, from Miami via LA, is a modern slashie — an adult film actor, model, jewellery designer and DJ/producer. Impressing with an early remix of Anna Lunoe & Flume's I Met You, she's since released EPs. Andrews, partial to chugging '90s disco-house, toured last year — but Stereo' represents her first Aussie fest. Fun fact: she used to date the gorestep Borgore.