Jorge Meza / OC Weekly

Armin Van Buuren at The Palladium

If you consider trance music a religion, then Armin Van Buuren is God. The DJ, producer, remixer, composer, musician, pianist and songwriter has taken trance to world renowned heights through his A State of Trance radio show, Armada Music record label and vast discography which spans over the course of a decade. He has dominated the DJ Mag Top 100 poll at number one for a record five times and holds 27 International Dance Music Awards which include everything from "Best Global DJ" to "Best Global Record Label." With the release of his highly anticipated new album Intense, Van Buuren kicked off his album tour at The Palladium in Hollywood where we got to talk to him about Intense, Armin Only, fatherhood and where trance is headed in 2014.

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Matt Oliver / OC Weekly

Sander Van Doorn

EDM is a tough genre to stay on top of, even for the most devout kandi kid. The explosion of festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival, the abundance of DJ residencies and tours around the world and the mammoth popularity of sites like Beatport, its not always easy to decipher between the next big star and the flavor of the month. Many change their musical styles and every popular DJ has their own world tour now. Not to mention the slew of young new producers dominating YouTube views and the Beatport charts.

In an effort to make things easy for you, we've scouted out a few of the names you should definitely keep track of during the summer so you can stalk their Sound Cloud pages, learn their backgrounds and memorize their tour schedules. Once festival season took off, we traveled to Miami for Ultra and then came back to town for Coachella and interviewed the top three EDM artists you should definitely start paying attention to right now.

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Courtesy of Jorge Meza Photography

Bingo Players (missing one) at the Sahara Tent

Amidst the crazy sea of hipsters, hippies, old folks, pre-teens and babies(!), the first weekend of Coachella was also packed with EDM revelers ready to get their fist-pumping music fix over the course of the three day bacchanal. In fact it seems that dance music lovers are growing in numbers so much that every other car in line at the campgrounds checking in on Thursday was blasting some sort of EDM anthem. The festival even dedicated a new stage to the more underground side of house music in the form of the new Yuma Tent this year. So now that we've come home briefly from the dust storms and nursed our massive hangovers, it's time to reflect on the top five EDM Coachella highlights for weekend one.

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Jon Pegnato aka Hot Mouth

Jon Pegnato has carried on by his DJ moniker Hot Mouth since he left the electro duo LA Riots almost a year and a half ago. But really, the project started about five years prior, before the LA native joined powerhouse EDM duo LA Riots and became the whirlwind success that he never saw coming.

Eager to continue his career as his own solo act and get back to the dream he originally created, Pegnato has been busy in the studio focusing on his own original productions and finding time to have fun as a touring DJ. Coming straight from his four gigs and 10 days of heavy partying at WMC, Pegnato is showcasing his skills as a taste-maker and all around hilarious dude at the Yost Theater in downtown Santa Ana for White Rabbit's "Havoc Thursdays." We got a chance to speak to Pegnato as he walked around his LA neighborhood and talked our ears off about his wild days as a kid, how he came up with Hot Mouth and where his music is headed.

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Tim Norris / OC Weekly

Coachella Sahara Tent 2012

Festival season is upon us and that means not one, but two weeks of Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival with enough electronic dance music to keep aficionados fist pumping in their sleep with anticipation. With one of the biggest music events of the year just around the corner, why bother doing anything else all month? Well, for those not willing to shell out the $350 for three days or others who weren't lucky enough to score a ticket before it sold out fear not because there's plenty of EDM shows right here in OC and in LA to get your party music fix. We did all the research for you to ensure you don't miss the five best dance music shows of all genres to ensure you spend your hard earned money on the right events.

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Matt Oliver / OC Weekly

Steve Aoki with Travis Barker at Beyond Wonderland 2012

This weekend, Insomniac takes its fourth journey down the Alice & Wonderland-themed rabbit hole to Beyond Wonderland Music Festival, held at the San Manuel Amphitheater after the city of San Bernardino complained from previous wonderland events at the NOS Events Center. Don't be fooled by the new location however. If anything, it means a new venue for Insomniac's CEO Pasquale Rotella to curate into a magical world filled with art installations, performers, rides and some of electronic dance music's biggest stars including David Guetta, Steve Angello and Afrojack. For fans excited to roam the hills of the San Manuel Amphitheater and discover its new found home, we have put together a list of five must-see acts amidst all of the heavy dose of spine-rattling basslines.

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After falling in love with electro in his native Miami, Eric Estornel began deejaying in the early 90s. Like most EDM enthusiasts he later got into techno and began making house beats in 1996. He moved his family to Dallas where he made a name for himself as a local DJ, but it wasn't until he fled to the European dance music scene that things started to take off for him four years ago. He released an LP on the infamous Crosstown Rebels label and his appeal has since skyrocketed. Tonight, going by his DJ moniker Maceo Plex, the soulful, underground producer is headlining the official Insomniac Beyond Wonderland pre-party alongside Maya Jane Coles at Exchange LA and playing the Crosstown Rebels Rave stage at Beyond Wonderland Saturday only to make his way back to Miami for his Ultra Music Festival debut on Sunday!

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Shannon Nehls / OC Weekly

Swedish House Mafia

Swedish House Mafia
March 8th - 9th, 2013
LA Historic Park

Who would have thought that just after seeing the legendary Tiësto sell out the Staples Center on March 2 that LA would receive another one of the biggest EDM weekends since Electric Daisy Carnival was held at the Los Angeles Colosseum. Erick Morillo played at Avalon AND Sound Nightclub, Carl Cox brought the house down at Exchange, Sasha was also at Sound and Ben Klock saw the sun rise at an incredible warehouse party. But the biggest event of the weekend and probably year was Swedish House Mafia's Masquerade Motel which played it's final west coast dates of their "One Last Tour" on Friday March 8th and Saturday the 9th at the LA Historic Park. Only a group as big as Swedish House Mafia would be able to sell 35,000 tickets in minutes only to add more show dates, which included this Friday night event.

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Alejandra Loera / OC Weekly

Laidback Luke at the Fox Theater Pomona

Laidback Luke
March 8th, 2013
Fox Theater Pomona

Last night the Filipino/Dutch DJ sensation Laidback Luke brought his signature mix of hip-hop and electro house to the Fox Theater in Pomona. Legally known as Luke Van Scheppingen, Laidback Luke has been killing it on the electronic music scene for the past 15 years. Know for his infamous Mixmash Records which continue to release hit after hit and his grand Super You & Me parties that sell out the biggest venues all over the world with it's audiences dressed in super hero get ups - Laidback Luke is one of the hardest working DJs and producers in the game who continues to amaze and wow his fans. This special Thursday night 18 and over event brought some serious dance music to the I.E. thanks to powerhouse promoters LED and Goldenvoice.

The show started at 11pm, noticeable early by EDM standards, and raged for a full two hours with in your face electro mash-ups and remixes of Luke's own originals as well as surprisingly a lot of Swedish House Mafia edits - perhaps playing homage to the 60,000 people event all of the EDM crowd will be attending this weekend at the Los Angeles Historic Park. We're not complaining however, as the vocals of of his track with SHM group mates "Leave the World Behind" echoed on the sound system we got carried away in anticipation. The crowd seemed fittingly for the Fox Theater's old school "rave" culture (this used to be the spot back in the early hey days of dance music) with kandi kids and girls in fluffies ready to get their shuffle on the packed dance floor.

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Shannon Nehls / OC Weekly

Tiësto's Club Life at the Staples Center

Tiësto
Staples Center
March 2, 2013
This weekend, the mega-star Dutch DJ/producer Tijs Michiel Verwest, better known as Tiësto, returned to Los Angeles via the Staples Center after his epic, soldout show at the Honda Center in 2011 for 26,000 electronic dance music fans. This marks the second time an EDM artist has played a headlining gig at the legendary venue (Kaskade brought his Freaks of Nature Tour to the Staples Center just last summer). Thanks to powerhouse promoters Insomniac Events and Goldenvoice, the College Invasion Tour brought in DJ Alvaro & Tommy Trash as the opening selectors of the evening, which sent loud basslines all the way to Figueroa at an early 6 p.m.

See Also: Why Tiësto Became an Indie-Inspired Electro Chameleon
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