B2B (or back-to-back) sets involve what are normally two separate DJ acts performing the same set, usually alternating the selection, cueing and mixing of songs. This year’s EDC includes several such pairings. We break down five for you.
BLACK SUN EMPIRE + STATE OF MIND
Who: BSE is a trio from the Netherlands. SOM is a duo from New Zealand. Both specialize in darker, harder drum ’n’ bass.
Connection: They’re BFFs—meaning they’ve made a ton of music and toured together—and yes, have shared a DJ booth before.
COOKIE MONSTA + FUNTCASE
Who: Both English producer/DJs and Circus Records acts rest on the dirtier, more sinister side of dubstep.
Connection: Also BFFs. (They’ll also play the June 18 Bassrush pool party at Rehab.)
EPTIC + HABSTRAKT
Who: Young dubstep upstarts from Europe (Eptic is Belgian, Habstrakt is French) who boast versatility, melodic chops and influences outside of bass music.
Connection.The Never Say Die artists have recorded together and remixed—and DJ’d—with each other.
KASRA + FOREIGN CONCEPT + ENEI
Who: Kasra’s forward-thinking drum ’n’ bass earned him the honor of a FabricLive mix in 2012, and fellow Englishman Foreign Concept’s aesthetic isn’t too far off. Russia’s Enei occasionally paints his own d ’n’ b with a dubstep brush.
Connection: The latter two are signed to the former’s Critical Music label, which brands their 3XB2B sets as Critical Soundystem.
GREEN VELVET + CLAUDE VONSTROKE
Who: Lifelong Chicagoan Green Velvet helped revolutionize house music in the 1990s, and Bay Area-by-way-of-Ohio icon Claude VonStroke has been waging his own underground movement with his funky Dirtybird imprint.
Connection: Though it’s billed as a Get Real set, the booking is—just like their previous co-billed gigs—the two native Midwesterners playing side by side.
