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Our Top 10 Ultra Music Festival Sets (on Soundcloud)

April 8, 2016 By Brian Schultz

Ultra Music Festival Picture 13 deadmau5

It’s been three weeks since the first day of Ultra, and luckily many artists have posted their live sets on Soundcloud, and some with full video on Youtube, but not all unfortunately. But we’ve already looked at a lot of visuals and music in other articles, so let’s focus on the music. What were your favorite sets? We decide to pick our top 10 in no particular order, to really showcase the variety and diversity that Ultra now brings, away from the heydays of “Big Room House Only” to show that Ultra is far more than that now. Keep in mind that the sets chosen were based upon those sets posted by the artists themselves posted to ensure the best quality.

MALAA
Who is MALAA? DJ Snake? Mercer? Tchami? A combination of them? Who cares, because with sets like these playing some of the most unique tracks coming out from Confession records (Tchami’s label) and beyond, as long as this intense mix of dark house continues, it doesn’t matter.

Kaskade
There is no denying his talent, his humility, or his fan following. Kaskade has had an evolution of sound over the past few years, but his set for Ultra this year showed that there is a perfect way to blend it together, and blow us all away.

Cedric Gervais
After his 2013 hit remix of Lana del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness”, Cedric has been touring, releasing tracks, and staying strong in the game. What his Ultra set this year showcased is that not only does he know what tracks to pick, but that he never lets the energy diminish. Seamlessly going from one track to the next, it showed some of the best skill of the festival.

Markus Schulz
Whenever he’s playing in his hometown, Markus will never let us down. And playing on the heels of his upcoming album Watch the World, the amount of energy from Markus and the entire trance family in attendance was beautiful.

Brillz
This set is all over the place in the best possible way. That drop at 6:50, 28:30, 41:51 and so many more amazing moments. I don’t care if you’re a true trap-head or not, this set will have you moving forever, cause it’s a non-stop hour.

Don Diablo
This man came to party. A surprise appearance from Oliver Heldens with a great new ID, unreleased tracks of his own, and even some killer drum n’ bass, Don Diablo had it all. This set will have you dancing for the entire hour, wishing it never ended. The live stage was packed in for this sunset time slot, and rightfully so. Easily one of our favorites all weekend.

SNBRN
This was also a favored set of ours. Great transitions, from playing originals and dropping them into the magical electronic versions we love, to his own originals and the remixes of those as well. Just an all around killer set if you like more of a chill dance vibe. And if you don’t, let this be your entrance. Sunscreen not included.

Mercer
Dirty. Firehose needed. That’s how you’ll feel after listening to Mercer’s set. As part of the “Pardon My French” tour with his fellow heavyweights Tchami, DJ Snake, and the mysterious MALAA, Mercer always knows how to make us feel like we’re in the movie Blade with non-stop French energy and mystery in every track that he plays.

Aly & Fila
If you want trance in it’s absolute purest form, look no fruther than Aly & Fila. These two keep to their roots, and never seem to waver from their original art form that they’re known for. That’s pretty rare nowadays. With that being said, they were everything you’d want and more for any lover of trance.

Valentino Khan
It’s hard to put a specific genre tag on this mans music. From trap to dubstep to straight up break your neck heavy bass. Either way, it’s instantly a good time. This set will have you jumping in and out of your seat in your car, punching your rear view mirror and honking over and over like that annoying guy with the whistle. And we love it! An additional surprise was when Valentino dropped his new collab with the man himself Skrillex, “Slam Dunk” which is an instant bass classic.