Category Archives: Hedonism

Summer lovin: Its supposed to happen so fast. Summer Bummer,Lana Del Reys new song with A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti,stops it dead in its tracks.

True to the ethos of the artist who came up onSummertime Sadness, Bummer unfurls at a glacial paceor rather, the pace glaciers used to have. The song openswith atmospheric piano, as Del Reymoans a few lines about how its never too late. Shes daring her lover to leave, maybe, or just hinting atthe existential dread of every earliersunset. Abackground murmur builds, peppered with Cartis ad-libshe doesnt get one full line in the whole song, just background yeps and whats that couldve just as easily been sampled fromsomething else. ProducerBoi-1das beat kicks in,dryandscratchy, as if he were playing everything with a wire brush. The air feels close. Wrap you up in my daisy chains, Lana speak-sings.Hip hopin the summer / Dont be a bummer, babe.

With Rockys first line, the song momentarily snapsinto focus. His verseshoulders the bulk of the storytelling, such as it is. I might fuck with her all summer for real, headmits, slippinginto an approximation of Lanas own woozy,whispered flow. So nebulous is the relationship between these two protagonists that it might, in the end, all turn out to be a hallucination born of heat exhaustion.

Even as it widensslightlythe range of hercatalog, Summer Bummer is best viewed asa classically Lana Del Rey set piece: a heavilystylizedsoundtrack fordrugs, pools, and high-contrast monochromes. White liesor maybe thats, ahem, white linesand black beaches / And blood red sangrias, she sings later, mirroringacolor scheme that dates back toOff to the Races.Sonically, Bummer islike a trap-inspired takeon HoneymoonsHigh by the Beach,and thematically, it doesnt go anywhere thatsong didnt already.

The bestdefense of Summer Bummer is that it is not Groupie Love, the secondA$AP Rocky feature fromDel Reys new album Lust for Life, released simultaneously today. Groupie Love relegates Rocky to a pop songs standard third verse rap feature, where anysupposed romantic chemistry falls flat. Del Reyschoruses are almost lush enough to sell a vision ofvintage backstage hedonism, but she winds uptripping over the clichs she idolizes.Time after time, writing my lines / Having my baby there next to me couldnever hope to compete with, Got my bad baby by my heavenly side. The very firstlinesYoure in the bar / Playing guitarshould have been struck as soon as they were written.

Let us, at last, take one moment to acknowledgethattheSummer Bummer single artwork (photographed by Neil Krug) is absolutely killer.

More here:

Lana Del Rey Slows Summertime Romance to a Crawl on the A$AP Rocky-Starring Summer Bummer - SPIN

Sebastian Anthony

The second room. This one deals more with uploading content to the Web, security, load balancing, etc.

Sebastian Anthony

IBM's presence at Wimbledon is entirely transient - they turn up, run things for a couple of weeks, then disappear. As such, the "servers" are all just ThinkPad and MacBook laptops.

Sebastian Anthony

A server rack - containing more laptops.

Sebastian Anthony

A highlights screen showing that commentators, players, and other behind-the-scenes people get access to.

Sebastian Anthony

A cool map showing all of IBM's various data sources across the venue.

Sebastian Anthony

A shot of (apparently) the IBM software generating highlights from tennis matches. You see the four variables it tracks...

The Championships at Wimbledon, which consumes some 28 tons of strawberries, 10,000 litres of cream, and 320,000glasses of Pimm's per year, is notable for its seemingly unchecked luxuriant hedonism. But while most companies, organisations, and institutions are looking to cut costs, Wimbledon has stuck to itsmantra. Don't do things cheaper; do things better.

Case in point:Wimbledon's use of technology is really quite impressive. I've been lucky enough to follow Wimbledon's techover the last three years, and it's been very encouraging to see a massive endeavour like The Championships dive deeper and deeper into technology. You might think that after 140 years Wimbledon could be stuck in its ways, but far from it. When technology is the only viable way of providing consistent, significant gains for players, visitors, andhundreds of millions of people spectating remotely, you don't try to fight it; you embrace it.

Of course, Wimbledon is embracing tech in a distinctly Wimbledon way. This year, for example, The Championships aretrialling free Wi-Fibut because they don't yet know how people will behave with free Wi-Fi, it's only available in three specific locations (near the food court, in the ticket resale area, and on the west side of court 12). The tournament continuesthrough this weekend, but its team has already started analysing the data. It turns out that, thankfully, the Wi-Fi users on court 12only use their phones between points. When play begins, Wi-Fi usage stops. If the trial is a success, Wi-Fi could be rolled out across Wimbledon in 2018.

When the overall excitement level crosses a threshold (0.8?), the software goes back through its video bufferand creates a highlight clip of the point. For now, a human editor still goes through every clip before being published. A human editor is still required to tease out video clips from more nuanced matches, too; the IBM software doesn't yet understandthe context of individual matches or player pairings. But given that other IBM software at Wimbledontracks match contextmostlyso that commentators can add some extra flavourit seems like an obvious improvement to the auto-highlight tech in future years.

Sebastian Anthony

Perhaps most excitingly, Wimbledon is now storing the 3D state of tennis matches via the Hawk-Eye camera system available on some of the courts. Hawk-Eye, which uses multiple cameras to track the ball and resolve line judging disputes, outputs a constant stream of data that IBM can process into a useful format.But actuallydoingsomething with that data is a risky affair, because it isn't clear who owns it. Some tennis players, as you can imagine, aren't keen for some wily big data/machine learning software to reveal the secrets of their play styleto the world.

Sebastian Anthony

On a simpler level,if Wimbledon blankets the All England Lawn Tennis Club withWi-Fi, it will be able to use each device's unique MAC address to track the movement of most visitors aroundthe venue. Not for creepy reasons, I'm assured, but to iron out bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Should there be another toilet here? A strawberries-and-cream stand there? An everlasting font of Pimm's here? Venue-wide Wi-Fi wouldalso allow Wimbledon to push notifications to visitors as they move around, beacon-style.

Two years ago, an IBM engineer told me they were in discussions with the UK's mobile network providers to trackvisitors through cellular triangulation, but this year I was told that no such partnership was ever struck. Doing it via Wi-Fi (and perhaps augmented with Bluetooth) is probably more sensible, anyway.

Finally, Wimbledon has released a significantly overhauled mobile app for this year's Championships. Over the last few years, there has been a big shift from people following Wimbledon on a desktop browser to their mobile devices. The mobile app is meant to provide a better experience than the mobile websitebut to be honest, if you're into tennis, you should probably just download the free app (iOS/Android) and see what you think.This year there's a new feature called Ask Fred that apparently uses some IBM Watson-type tech to answer your questions. The app also has the ability to look through some 360-degree cameras that have been placed on each court.

Now read about how evolution can only take us so far in sports, but embracing technology would be far more exciting...

Read more:

Wimbledon 2017: The tech behind the world's top tennis tournament - Ars Technica UK

A snuffle, a snort, and a scratch and there she is.

Thats Lua, up there, poking her head through the gate a resident at the worlds first dog glamping site at NOS Alive festivalin Lisbon, Portugal.

The hills are well and truly alive round here. A few miles down the road in the citysPasseio Martimo de Algs, theyre alive with the sound of music, a stellar line-up of big hitters like Foo Fighters, Depeche Mode, The Weeknd and The xx and providing one of Europes most vibrant and colourful destination festivals.

Up here though, its a chorus of barks and howls that flood Tiago Patels doggy daycare site.

Announced back in June, NOS Alives link-up with Tiago Patel was borne of a simple idea: why should humans be the only ones allowed a little escapism over a music festival weekend?

Dogs need this space they need to be dogs, Tiago tells metro.co.uk, gesturing to a group of pooches squabbling over a pine-cone nearby.

Its like a child, as soon as they are naughty it is seen as a problem that must be solved, but its natural they need to be a child, to get it out of their system.

The premise is foolproof. Bring your dog to the festival gates at the start of the festival, and theyre whisked off to Tiagos farm, which hosts lucky pups all year round.

While youre enjoying the music and madness of NOS Alive, the canines get to roam their very own festival site, getting back to their natural instincts in the same carefree, hedonistic ways their owners are enjoying down the road.

With eighteen dogs on-site for the festivals duration, everywhere we go were followed by a tail of at least three eager-for-a-petting pups.

Theres all ages and breeds here, from a shuffling, podgy old beagle to a grand Alsatian.

One golden dachshund is particularly amorous, flopping herself on anyone wholl give her some attention. Free love, indeed.

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Luas a new arrival, only getting a day ticket for the festivals closing day.

She might have missed out on the likes of Fur Fighters, Bone-obo and Royal Bloodhound over the last few days, but the Saturday night do plays host to De-paw-che Mode and, er, Fleet Foxes (that one does the terrible punning all by itself).

Shes in her element, leaping about and legging it around the place like a novice festival sesher, trying to catch everything at once.

Tiago himself, meanwhile, is as much of a character as each of the pups in his care. Coming off like a Portuguese long-lost-relative of TVsDog WhispererCesar Millan, as he walks us through the ten-acre site, his heels swarmed by doting doggies, he enthuses about his surroundings.

Its not hard to see why from a wide open plain of grass, to a rope swing and a big old fire-pit nestled in the heart of the tiny woodland, theres more for the dogs here than there are in most humans festival campsites, and decidedly fewer pint cups and bottles of wee.

Hes a staunch believer of allowing dogs to live out their natural instincts, sitting by as they develop their own hierarchy around him.

At one point Lua gets a swift telling off from the other dogs clearly theyre not too keen on their new mate peaking too early.

Tiago and his handful of helpers camp on-site for the weekend, in a fenced off corner of the woods.

As we go to leave, one more night of Heineken-fueled hedonism ahead of us, he invites us to come bring a tent one time, and spend a full weekend with the dogs.

As lovely as our Lisbon hotel may be, a night with the pooches might just be enough to drag us back to the tinned lager and festival tents of our youth. Wed be barking mad to say no.

NOS Alive returns to Lisbon, Portugal from 12th-14th July 2018.For more information on Tiago Patel, head here.

MORE: Just so you know, theres a tropical island where you can play with puppies all day

MORE: Watch: The amazing surfing dogs at Australias Noosa Festival of Surfing

MORE: Puppy drags his new blanket outside so that a homeless dog could sleep on it

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Exploring the world's first dog glamping site at NOS Alive music festival - Metro

Upon touching down at Croatias Split Airport for 2017s, seventh edition of, Hideout Festival, I truly didnt know what to expect from it, the location or the crowd.

I can admit here that, contrary to (Im sure) many out there, Im not necessarily a person drawn to the tropics, an over amount of sunshine, or beach culture in general. In fact, my previous weeks Iceland excursion was, at first, much more up my alley with its constant overcast, rain, and sub 10 degree temperatures. So, going from cold Reykjavik pretty much immediately to the sunny shores of the Adriatic seemed a bit too drastic a weather change for me, and one I wasnt sure how Id react to.

Well, to my pleasant surprise, the massive happening that is Hideout Festival turned into one of the most pleasant and comfortable festival experiences I have recently experienced, with some 20,000 fans flying in from around the world for a weeks worth of proper dance music hedonism. Aside, there were also some 150 artists on hand to man the festivities. These artists spanned the musical spectrum from Grime (Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Wiley, Kurupt FM) to Drum n Bass (DJ Hype, Shy FX, My Nu Leng) to House (Heidi, Jamie Jones, Steve Lawler) to Techno (Marco Carola, Paco Osuna, Alan Fitzpatrick), and everything in between.

To go in depth into everything that went down at Hideout would simply be an impossible feat. The event, which spanned seven proper days, included its primary hub of world renowned festival locations scattered across Zrce Beach (Papaya, Aquarius, Kalypso, Euphoria, Noa), each pseudo open air venues, featuring state of the art production elements, as well as all the frills that come with tropical clubbing (pools, bikinis, cabanas, bottles, etc). These venues programmes included all day soirees, while also occurring around the area were a host of boat parties, secret events, and scattered does for the curious and the (more importantly) awake. For example, the seminal house act Basement Jaxx were on hand for a hidden beach party, while BBC Radio 1 broadcasted live from the event on its Friday, bringing sets from the likes Danny Howard, Dusky, Skream, B.Traits and Eats Everything to their devoted fanbase. As for the boat partys, well, barring the unfortunate rain out of Wednesdays events, other boats featuring the likes of Solardo and Denis Sulta were a natural jump off (not overboard, thank godbut as a kick start to the rest of the night). Of course, however, it was our own collaboration with Detroits MK and his Area10 brand, which featured Doorlyand the man himself, setting sale on the SS Champagne (I made up the SS partnot sure if they use that nautical term in Europe, t be honest), which was a high point event for us, and for the festival. 3 hours of sold out funk, house, and soul from MK and Doorly really set the vibes right from the sea to the shoreand the crystal clear waters and picturesque sunset werent too shabby either!

Musically, and again it is difficult to be everywhere, highlights came from a variety of locations and artists. Aside from the funk of our aforementioned boat party, several appearances and sets stood out to mesome that I knew who and what was going on and some that I didnt. I can tell you for sure that the sunrise sets at each of these venues will always be a site to beholdI attended twoAlan Fitpatrick (Noa) and Heidi (Papaya). Heidi is something of a Hideout favorite, who also hosted her Jackathon Pool Party that same day, while Alan Fitzpatrick is simply a crowd favorite. Each of these artists, though different in sound, possesses a similarly dynamic stage presence, which exudes fun and energyclearly on display for the faithful who made it to the end of each respective nights musical programs.

Additional musical highlights came from the always reliable The Martinez Brothers, who took to Noa on the events Thursday alongside a heavyweight crew of Marco Carola and Amsterdams own Joey Daniel. My travel mates to the event, The Martinez Brothers once again showed their chops for selection and party starting (not to mention, maintenance), before Music Ons main man closed things down in typical dramatic fashion. Finally, I will also give a shout out to a great b2b set, which also came on Thursday, in the form of Steve Lawler b2b Darius Syrossian (Aquarius). Always having been a personal favorite, going way back to his Dark Drums days, Lawler must have surely been itching to get down given the cancelattion of his Wednesday ViVA pool party. With Do Not Sleeps Darius Syrossian, a game partner in musical crime, the two went strong into the wee hours, solo and b2boh, that night also featured some guys named Hot Since 82 and Skream(who seemed to be everywhere during the week) as well.

As you can see, the scope of this event is huge. I havent even gotten to speaking about the ridiculously colorful elrow takeover of Kalypso, by way of their famed Rowlympics concept, which went down each day & night and in typical jovial fashion. That event featured everyone from Andres Campo, Lord Leopard, Patrick Topping, Jasper James, Waze & Odyssey, and many of the artists already mentioned here.

All in all, Hideout was an extremely pleasant surprise to me. Thought the crowd veered towards the younger side of the spectrum, the alcohol was flowing like water, and inhibitions were DEFINITELY minimized, their still was a certain chaotic order to the whole thing. For one, its hedonism felt in placealmost necessary, to be honest, with nothing standing out as too out of control (all things considered, of course). Also, for an alcohol heavy, spring break type event, I was not witness to a single fight, conflict or sexual assault situation, which is a testament to the crowd, especially on the events latter hours. Though other festival locations that dot Croatias extensive coastline may feature more historical landmarks, Pag Island and Zrce Beach (as well as its surrounding township) does hold all the quirks one would come to expect from holiday, seaside locations, from pristine weather (the occasional torrential rainstorm aside) to some of the freshest seafood around, and an overall affordability that always comes welcome when traveling to Eastern Europe. It was a well organized, well run, and personable event, with many of its top brass cavorting around with fans, press, artists, and locals, all of which seemed up for it at all moments.

So, thank you to Hideout Festival and its crew for providing an event that was simply FUN. No pretention; no frowns; no fightsjust an all around good time!.

Go here to see the original:

Party Report: Hideout Festival 2017 - Deep House Amsterdam (press release) (blog)

While there may not be any more episodes of Sherlock, the Emmy-winning star of that franchise, Benedict Cumberbatch, is set to make his return to TV in a big way. Showtime is partnering with the actor for Patrick Melrose, a five-part limited series based on the bestselling series of books by Edward St. Aubyn.

The lavish production will trace the devolution of the title character, Patrick Melrose, from the hedonism of the French Riviera of the 1960s to the decadence of 1980s New York City to the Rule Britannia era of London in the first decade of this century. Oscar nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh and Matrix star Hugo Weaving have signed to play Patricks parents, with filming slated to begin in August.

St. Aubyns quintet of novels Never Mind (1992); Bad News (1994); Some Hope (1996) Mothers Milk (2005) and At Last (2012) was re-released as The Patrick Melrose Novels in 2012. The author adapted Mothers Milk, which contended for the Booker prize, for a 2012 film version directed by Gerald Fox. Smash star Jack Davenport played the part.

Tackling the adaptation this time around is BAFTA-nominated David Nicholls. He crafted the 2015 film adaptation of the Thomas Hardy classic Far From the Madding Crowd that starred Carey Mulligan as well as the 2008 television version of Tess of the Dubervilles that launched Eddie Redmaynes career. And handling the helming is Edward Berger (Deutchland 83, Jack).

Be sure to make your Emmy predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our Emmy odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before nominees are announced on July 13. And join in the fierce debate over the 2017 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.

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Benedict Cumberbatch: Patrick Melrose' could win 'Sherlock' star another Emmy - Goldderby

The Sun

Reporter strips naked to quiz nude swingers on their love of wife-swapping in bizarre telly segment The Sun Standing without a thread on them, couples at the clothing-optional Hedonism II resort in Negril spoke on camera about how they got into swinging and embarrassing moments they've had. Carli asked one nude couple what they ask each other once they ...

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Reporter strips naked to quiz nude swingers on their love of wife-swapping in bizarre telly segment - The Sun

THEATRE VIGIL Book & Lyrics: Steve Vizard, Music: Joe Chiadamo Arts Centre Melbourne, Until July 8

Eddie Perfect lambasted the lack of support for Australian musicals on social media recently. He was right to be angry. When something as sparkling and original asVigilcomes along (nurtured to fruition by institutions like the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and The Arts Centre) you get a sense of what we're missing out on.

The talent pool underVigilruns deep indeed. It has sprung to life from Steve Vizard's witty character-based comedy, his brisk gift for lyrics and narrative and emotional intelligence; from Joe Chiadamo's melodic songs, which range through terrain as diverse as parody and heartfelt ballad; and the divine Christie Whelan, whose star quality is no secret, but who gets to spread her wings as a performer here embracing a rare chance to make the audience ache with sorrow, as well as cackle with delight.

Careening between hilarity and desolation, this intense one-woman musical compresses a gamut of conflicting emotion into one final evening between mother and daughter.

Whelan plays Liz, a wild child who rocks up to her mum's hospital ward on Christmas eve, after a long stint overseas. She plans to whip out overdue gifts, borrow some money and bugger off again, but the spectre of death intervenes.

As Liz holds vigil over her silent mother, a welter of grievance and memory, love and pain pours out of her. Trauma lurks underneath her rootless hedonism, and fortunately for us, Liz is a whiz at defensive humour giving Whelan an opportunity to showcase sharp comic impersonations, sketch comedy inFast Forwardmode, and musical hijinks, including a scream of a song (a kind of solo duet) where she embodies male and female lust at a suburban barbecue.

Under the laughter, suffering. Whelan is deeply moving when her character's guard drops, and nails Chiadamo's strongest melody, One More Breath, through three clever variations that capture the shock of unexpected grief, regret at time wasted, and resolve to seize the day.

A few weak spots exist moments where the comedy is slightly overstretched, one confessional number where I heard an uglier, more bitter song in my head than what Whelan performed butVigilremains a captivating new musical.

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With brilliant composition, writing, acting and vocals, with direction and design that augment intimacy at every point, the show makes you want to laugh and weep, sometimes both at once. A must-see for music theatre fans, and anyone who has ever lost a loved one will well up at the labile emotional odyssey it portrays.

This review was written from a preview.

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Steve Vizard's Vigil at Arts Centre Melbourne reveals trauma ... - The Age

FACT Rated is our series digging into the sounds and stories of the most vital breaking artists around right now. This week, Scottish producer Claude Speeed tells John Twells how his new album Infinity Ultra emerged from the moments before and after hedonism.

IN SHORT NAME:CLAUDE SPEEED FROM:EDINBURGH MUST-HEAR: MY SKELETON (LUCKYME, 2014) FOR FANS OF:TIM HECKER, KONX-OM-PAX, LORENZO SENNI

If you were looking closely at LuckyMe post-rock band American Mens 2010 debut Cool World, youd have noticed a track named after Grand Theft Auto 2 protagonist Claude Speed. It was around this time that the bands Stuart Turner decided to adopt the moniker for himself (adding an extra e) and begin penning what would become Infinity Ultra, his second solo album.

Id been making a lot of stuff I enjoyed listening to, but would sound dumb if it had drums on it, and the drummers were really good, he explains. It felt a bit ridiculous to say to them OK theres gonna be a lot of tracks where you dont have to do anything at all. So I felt like I needed some other outlet for that kind of music.

For one reason or another, however, Turners initial solo experiments were shelved when he quit his day job as a corporate lawyer in 2012 and traveled to Asia, with his modest studio setup for company. A MacBook Air and a pair of headphones, along with a field recorder, provided the backbone of debut album My Skeleton, which acted as a kind of travelogue for Turner, documenting his trip. In contrast, Infinity Ultra is a set of tracks the producer has collecting for years.

The first track is legitimately the first Claude Speeed track. I wrote that in 2011 and havent really changed it since then, he tells me. I realized at some point that Id done all these other tracks that I was really into, but they werent consistent with each other so they wouldnt make a record. Eventually, Turner played the tracks together and had a lightbulb moment this was the album hed been trying to desperately to make. It had been right there all along. Not very conceptual, he laughs. But thats what happened.

When I make music, it tends to be fairly sad music in the end.

Instead of focusing on a specific concept, with Infinity Ultra, Turner has allowed his life experiences over the last few years seep into the music as they happened. So while the album started life in Edinburgh, much of it has been colored by his move to Berlin, where hes been based for about five years. The syrupy ambience and near-devotional qualities of My Skeleton are still present, just about, but theres a vivid dancefloor glow thats hard not to attribute to Germanys de facto capital of club culture.

I think thats something to do with the rave sadness of Berlin, Turner says, pensively. Especially when I first arrived, I went to parties really more than I should have and was out a lot, and the music I made was really sad, even though I was having a lot of fun. Hes not talking about a comedown either (when he made the move, he was straight-edge), but the absence of hedonism: a level of calm thats hard to describe as anything but sad. I was partied out, like a character in a film. And you see that a lot, and that influences the sound. Thats what Im interested in. For someone else it might express itself in terms of really dark techno, but thats not my thing, so thats not the way it comes out.

Its really not. Infinity Ultra is woozy and cinematic, especially on VHS-warped opener BCCCC, pulling in influence from trance (Ambien Rave, Fifth Fortress), noise (Super 800 NYC) and post-rock (Enter the Zone) as the album develops. It might be informed by Berlin, but Turner doesnt make dance music his tracks are vignettes, hinged on memory and melancholy. Im not a sad person, he assures me. But I feel if Im being honest when I make music, it tends to be fairly sad music in the end. And I like listening to sad music as well.

Infinity Ultra is out on July 14 via Planet Mu.

John Twells is on Twitter

Read next: New Atlantis is ushering in the new wave of new age

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Claude Speeed is the trance-inspired ambient nomad documenting Berlin's rave sadness - FACT

Anybody whos itched for a night out and a cathartic sweep on the dance floor, whether its to shake off the stress of work, get over a breakup, or just catch a DJ theyve been meaning to see live, can relate to Cakes Da Killas rallying cry at the end of Hedonism (Intro), the opening track of his debut studio album, Hedonism.

Lets take it to the clubs, he says, with the last word reverberating over and over in a looming echo. The sentiment keys up the rest of the album nicely, pulling the listener onto the dance floor and into the pounding bassline of the second track, Keep It Going, featuring fellow New York vocalist Calore.

A lot of my catalogue is made for club settings, says Cakes da Killa. I have a deep appreciation for underground clubs in New York and dance culture in general. I think lately there is a huge disconnect between the dance community and hip hop music, which to me is essential to the sound.

Originally from New Jersey, Cakes started rapping in high school, and released several mixtapes throughout college. As he found a fan base for his vibrant sound, he started touring and then began work on Hedonism. His music struck a chord precisely because its bridging a gap between club music and hip-hop, while blending in layers of queer dance signifiers and Jersey club beats. His invigorating, ultra-hard style of MCing adds a further layer of intrigue to the tracks.

My style has always been very fast-paced, he says. I think when you have your own flow, certain characteristics become standard, so my tempo is just something that comes naturally to me. A lot of my beats are fast because thats just what I gravitate to: beats where you can shake your ass and dance.

"The whole narrative needs to focus less on my sexuality and more on the music."

Much of Cakes reputation as a controversial or incendiary artist comes not from his beats, but from his identity as a gay man, and the queer narratives that feature heavily in his lyrics. This has led to media coverage and buzz that lumps Cakes together with other queer rappers of color, like Mykki Blanco and Le1f, under the 'gay rap' label. Cakes is enthusiastically part of the queer community of rappers thats currently thriving in New York and works regularly with other queer rappers (he recently finished an expansive DIY tour of the US with Mykki Blanco), but he believes the label serves to pigeonhole queer artists and oversimplify their output.

That label specifically can sometimes overshadow my talent, he says. Whether Im gay or straight, I like to think my music has been my main source of stability because of my hard work, not because of a buzz article. It makes all my hard work seem smaller then what it is, when me and my peers are really doing something revolutionary and fresh.

Cakes collaborated with several other queer artists on Hedonism, spitting lithely and lightening-fast over the clubby beats he shares with gender-bending icon Peaches on Up Out My Face, and on the aforementioned Keep It Going with Calore, a major member of the NYC queer club scene. But the album draws from a deep well of different influences, including 90s basement rap, R&B and the club music of Cakes native New Jersey.

The whole narrative needs to focus less on my sexuality and more on the music, he says. People find that complicated, though, because my sexuality is such a huge theme in my music. But that still shouldnt be the overall takeaway.

And theres no reason why he cant straddle multiple communities, serving as an inspiration and scene-builder for fellow queer artists, while also building a mainstream reputation as a club-focused musician with undeniable skills as an MC. As one of the first major international acts to play at ALL, a new Shanghai club by the management of now-defunct underground epicenter The Shelter, hes setting the tone for one of Shanghais most essential nightlife spaces. This matches well with the themes and tone of Hedonism, and all of Cakes varied influences seem to come together on the dance floor.

The club is a sort of safe haven, especially for alternative people, Cakes says. Just about anything can happen here; its like a paradise. Thats how the album starts. But the older I get, I realize its at 8am [after leaving the club] when reality, or in my case adulthood, makes me face the daylight until the next time.

July 7, 11pm. RMB100. ALL Club, see event listing.

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Cakes Da Killa on Clubbing, Labels and His Shanghai Debut - That's Online (registration)

Music fans at Coachella in 2016. Data suggests that white people comprise 69.2% of the festival-going public. Photograph: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images for Coachella

The flashy multiculturalism of music festivals presents a seemingly harmonious alternative to the racial tensions that bristle in society at large. Now at blockbuster events like Coachella, Kendrick Lamar is able to weave tales of the black experience to massive audiences, and a new generation of stars with intersectional identities can capture the imagination of the crowd. But no cultural phenomenon can be divorced from the tectonic social processes underlying it.

In the heady optimism of the early Obama years which coincided with the stateside festival industrys sixfold attendance boom the phrase post-racial began to creep into the lexicon, and music festivals began promoting themselves as spaces where lofty ideals could be realized. On grassy fields and under big tops, differences of race, gender and sexual orientation are supposedly set aside in pursuit of a diverse, multicultural harmony-via-hedonism. In terms of race, this has proven to be a half-truth. On stage, Americas deep pedigree of black influence rings loud and clear, but look out over the crowd at most major music festivals, and more often than not youll see a sea of white faces.

The makeup of Americans aged 18-35, the prime festival demographic, is 58% white, 13% black, 5% asian, 20% hispanic, as of the 2010 census. Numbers drawn from Nielsen suggest that white people comprise 69.2% of the festival-going public, which in itself is not an overwhelming over-representation, but direct statistics from single festivals paint a different picture. Burning Man, not a music festival per se, but still a preeminent entity in festival culture, released figures in 2014 listing their attendees as 87% white. In a 2013 poll on the festivals website, Coachella-goers were only 4.9% black.

Music publicist Michelle Kambasha detailed her experiences as a black woman attending predominantly white festivals in the UK. When Im asked: Why are you at this [insert any indie band] show? and I explain that its because I do their press, I know what theyre really asking is: Why dont you do press for someone black, because youre black?, she wrote in 2016. It is as if my race inherently makes me underqualified. In her piece she mentioned Britt Julious, the music writer and Guardian contributor who created Blackfork an annual headcount of black people she sees at Pitchfork festival in her hometown of Chicago. After attending this years Coachella festival, Teen Vogue journalist Jessica Andrews wrote about what she dubbed Coachellappropriation ie white attendees borrowing style from other groups (bindis, dashikis and braiding their hair). Black hairstyles are not lewks to try when you want to feel edgy, only to discard them once youre bored and ready to retreat back to your privileged bubble, she wrote.

On stage, music festival line ups are far more diverse than they were even a decade ago. But that shift has brought with it new problems. The past few years in particular has seen most mainstream festivals swing their booking heavily to include hip-hop and R&B. The Coachella lineup in 2007 gave no hip-hop acts top billing although further down the order acts such as Ghostface Killah and Pharoah Monche could be found. A decade later, five of 20 bill-toppers were hip-hop, and if Beyonce had not dropped out, two of the three headlining acts would have been black. The trend continues at electronic music festivals such as HARD Summer. In 2012, its urban elements were limited to Albanian American chef turned rapper Action Bronson, Canadian electronica producer Lunice and funk veteran Bootsy Collins out of more than 50 acts. This years edition features Snoop Dogg, Rae Sremmurd and Migos as headliners topping a bill thats hip-hop heavy.

But the inclusion of certain manifestations of hip-hop at festivals where audiences are majority white doesnt sit well with everyone. Its awful for me, says Matthew Morgan, founder of the globetrotting Afropunk festival. Participating in an audience, particularly with rap lyrics, when you have a majority white crowd using the n-word, its a very uncomfortable environment. This awkward appropriation of other cultures rankles many artists who perform at the very same festivals. Underground house and techno DJ Seth Troxler suggests the fault is shared between the artists, the audience and the festivals themselves. The imagery and music that a lot of these rappers are putting out focuses on the negative aspects of ethnicity, he says. It attracts a culturally ignorant crowd.

If you pulled back the curtain of the music industry, people would be shocked

To Morgan, its a case of opportunism and greed. These promoters predominantly dont care, because theyre selling tickets, he says. For Troxler its business as usual for an industry thats rarely been interested in ethics. I dont think, at any point, most people in the music industry are concerned about the welfare of the music they choose to promote or the implications of their decisions, he says. You have this weird cultural system in place where for a black person to be successful, its like indentured servitude.

In music, just like sports, black people are allowed to participate on the front-end, but we have no say in the back-end, adds Morgan. If you pulled back the curtain of the music industry, people would be shocked. When booking Afropunk, I work with hundreds of agents, and only two of them are black.

Therein lies the reason for the glaring dissonance between the intent and effect of the festival industrys push for diversity: those in executive positions, from the record label to the management to the promoters to the corporate sponsors, are usually caucasian.

A positive trend counteracting this is niche festivals that are driven by cultural production more than profit. Festivals like Tyler the Creators Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles and Nyansapo in Paris approach Afro-centric intersectionality in a similarly progressive fashion, because theyre made with input from black and minority individuals behind the scenes as well as on stage and in the audience.

Afropunk has editions in New York, London, Paris, Atlanta, and Johannesburg, and features a predominantly black lineup that intersects hip-hop, punk, blues, soul, pop, queer and dance culture. Putting a black audience in front of black artists is cathartic, says Morgan. Its absolutely imperative that we participate in feeling good about serving a community with music that is created from our community.

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The kids are all white: can US festivals live up to their 'post-racial' promise? - The Guardian