The Global Dance Festival 2014 lineup: Grading the first twelve artists

Global Dance Festival, the recipient of "Best Dance Party of the Summer" in our Best Of Denver issue, has just announced the first acts that will be playing the event. Phase one of any lineup announcement is always the appetizer, and what better way to tease than by announcing some of the biggest acts in multiple EDM sub-genres? We ranked the first phase of artists on a scale of "kandi" and "horns." Kandi represents the trance/house factor, and horns represent the rage factor. DESTROID Destroid is the collaboration of Excision, Downlink, and Pendulum's drummer, KJ Sawka. That lineup alone is ridiculous. The triple-threat super group is doing some pretty interesting stuff with production. You'll notice each of them playing guitar looking apparatuses, but those are actually midi controllers, similar to what you'd find next to some CDJs on the stage. Destroid is not for the trance-deep house crew; it's going to be wild. ZEDD Zedd's "Clarity" pretty much made him the hottest thing on the EDM scene for the past two years, and his momentum has remained intact because he consistently creates lovely tracks with beautiful vocalists that are radio friendly. Recently teaming up with Bud Light has put Zedd on a whole new level of stardom, but he can still rock a party out and have everyone staring longingly into the sky in hopes finding true love at a rave. And look, he can play drums! ADVENTURE CLUB Adventure Club makes regular stops in Colorado, so seeing them on the lineup isn't much of a surprise. Regardless, they know how to get the show going, and the outfit's music is pretty rad. It's got some solid builds, and then those smokey vocals come in, and wham! you've got a dance party. CARNAGE Carnage is a trap party starter who absolutely loves Chipotle. Seriously, we've heard the guy keeps some chips on guacamole on stage during his sets. Whether or not that is true, it's badass that someone represents a burrito brand from Colorado so hard. Carnage likes to party like it's going out of style.
SHOWTEK Showtek is some hard-style dance music that brings some techno into the mix and really moves the place. At Red Rocks, the Dutch duo will certainly get things going when they, hopefully, drop some disco-style remixes in with the heavy stuff.
WOLFGANG GARTNER Gartner is a house music master, and although he regular spins through Colorado at Beta, and even playing Decadence two years ago, he still knows how to move a crowd.
ANDY C It's always a nice break from the usual house music for someone like Andy C who will get those feet moving with some drum and bass music. BRO SAFARI Bro Safari's music is pretty much what you'd expect from a group called Bro Safari: They are hunting bros with trap music and relatively generic music.
DAVID HEARTBREAK On OWSLA, David Heartbreak fits right in with the label's eclectic styles. He's got some downtempo/chill music, as well as some house and glitch. Basically, you'll be able to enjoy this sitting, standing, dancing, talking, or pretty much doing whatever is you plan on doing. Party on.
SAVANT "Welcome to the electro-house, here's your distortion," is what we imagine the butler at Savant's hosue saying when he greets you. If he doesn't have a butler, then we imagine his house to lit by only lasers and strobes, and there is probably a constant dance party happening in the living room.
ETC!ETC! Trap music is the genre that just won't go away, but you also kind of don't want it to. It provides a nice break from the normal repetition. ETC!ETC! does it particularly well.

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