Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method and Orbital will headline America's first Creamfields festivals in Long Island, New York, and Las Vegas in September.

DJs Timo Maas, Tall Paul and John Aquaviva will also perform outside of the Big Apple on September 1, while Basement Jaxx, Sandra Collins and DJ Dan will play Sin City on September 29, organizers announced Monday (May 21).

Several other top electronic acts are slated for both shows, including former Underworld DJ Darren Emerson, Stereo MC's, Uberzone, Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong, Josh Wink, Photek, Max Graham, Scott Henry, Scott Hardkiss, Scanty Sandwich and the Dub Pistols.

The Long Island festival, which will feature an outdoor main stage and several circus tent arenas hosted by influential clubs from the East Coast and the U.K., will also include DJ Feelgood, Christian Smith, DJ Dara and DJ DB. The event will run from 2 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Dave Ralph, Donald Glaude, Bad Boy Bill, Christopher Lawrence and Adam Freeland will spin at the Las Vegas festival, which will feature an outdoor main stage and six tents. That show will run from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

More acts, along with ticket information, will be announced later this month, organizers said.

Leading European dance event promoters Cream staged the first Creamfields in the U.K. in 1998. Held annually since, it has become one of the biggest dance-music festivals in the world, attracting 50,000 fans last year.

This year's U.K. fest will be held August 25 at the Old Liverpool Airfield in Liverpool. Fatboy Slim, Gorillaz, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, Sasha, John Digweed, Paul van Dyk, Goldie, Seb Fontaine, Judge Jules and Pete Tong are among the artists scheduled to appear.

• Fatboy Slim
• The Crystal Method
• Orbital
• Timo Maas
• DJ Dan

Danny Tenaglia

MIAMI — If dance music can be said to have a Santa Claus, Danny Tenaglia proved himself as the dancefloor gift-giver Monday night at his annual marathon DJ set.

A highlight of recent Winter Music Conferences, Tenaglia, a Brooklyn native who is among house music's most venerable emissaries, holds court in the DJ booth of Miami's Space club beginning around 2 or 3 in the morning and doesn't stop until the next afternoon. This year, Tenaglia finally took the needle off the last record around 4:30 p.m., some 13 hours later, with those remaining — who had been treated to complimentary bagels, muffins, fruit and juice since dawn — receiving T-shirts as proof of their devotion and stamina.

For many in attendance at WMC this year, the question wasn't whether or not you were going to see Danny, but rather what time you were showing up. Monday was the peak of the conference's five days, with more than six-dozen events of various sizes and styles planned and 48 hours or more of solid partying already completed as preparation for another long night.

A third day of picture-perfect weather — 80 degrees, zero clouds, light sea breezes — transformed the daytime events into glorious platforms on which South Beach's many outdoor performance spaces could shine. Among them was Nikki's Beach Club, which featured a massive sound system installed on a sandy swath near the southernmost tip of the island.

Arriving in late afternoon at Nikki's to the sounds of a deep, minimal house set, it was something of a surprise to see none other than drum'n'bass mastermind Photek manning the turntables, a pair of blue-tinted shades above his big grin and a shag of his orange locks poking out behind his baseball cap. Formerly a somewhat reclusive and notoriously intense artist, Photek (born Rupert Parkes) had clearly made the full transition to the house realm on this afternoon, a direction signaled on his 2000 album, Solaris. About halfway through his set, the producer welcomed to the stage singer Robert Owens, who sang on several classic singles from Chicago's formative '80s house scene and returned to the fold last year on two songs on Solaris, "Can't Come Down" and "Mine to Give." The latter recently reached the top five on Billboard's Club Play chart, and Owens' live rendition of the track evoked a collective whoop from the growing crowd, many of whom were well aware of the special treat they were witnessing.

Within five minutes of Photek leaving the stage, Fatboy Slim had worked the "dance floor," now bathed in a sunset glow, into a frenzy. A true master of DJ skills, Fatboy nailed a chunky groove that gave way to the instantly recognizable filter funk of Madonna's "Music," which he modified with a banging beat. Like a master chef at home in his kitchen, he then stirred in the gritty synths of "Da Funk," the smash from Daft Punk's Homework, creating a mesmerizing swirl of resonating and discordant textures that placed the crowd squarely in the palm of his hand for the next two hours.

After Fatboy's hits were exhausted — "Star 69" and the epic "Song for Shelter," from last year's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, and "The Rockafeller Skank" all made appearances — London's Basement Jaxx took the reins for a slow-building two hours that jump-started when the duo, Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton, dropped "Romeo," the opening cut from their upcoming second album (due June 26) and one of several new songs that incorporate a two-step rhythm.

Later that night, Fatboy returned to the decks with a midnight set in the upstairs room at Crobar, where a party presented by the leading New Jersey house label Subliminal was in full swing. The English duo Layo & Bushwacka!, one of 2000's hottest emerging acts, spun later for the champagne-and-sunglasses crowd (Fatboy pumped his fist in the VIP rafters), but didn't hold back, blending hard house and techno funk to the elated patrons.

By then it was pushing 4 a.m., which seemed about right for "Danny time." Upon entry into Space, the reverence for Tenaglia was palpable, and his party boasted one of the few elusive real "vibes" of the conference: Less an industry showcase, it was more a spiritual gathering. The club's three indoor rooms were all wired into Danny's domain, while the two outdoor patios were in the nimble hands of fellow New Yorker Jeannie Hopper, a fixture on the deep-house scene for the last decade and host of the weekly local radio program "Liquid Sound Lounge." As Hopper laid down a mellifluous groove that glided effortlessly through African, Latin and disco hues, with the sun shining brightly through most of her epic set (from the outdoor dance floors, Tuesday-morning workers could be seen traveling to work on the city's elevated monorail), Tenaglia relentlessly rocked the indoor crowd.

Over and over, he guided dancers up a mountain of rhythm with graceful ease, revealed to them the full vista of the expansive view, then slid them back down to the depths of the ocean. This is the style used by innumerable DJs, but none are able to exercise their mastery so precisely and with such consistency as Tenaglia, who maintained a packed floor at the sprawling Space into the afternoon hours: Each time a sense of lull crept into the collective mind — the party took on a religious air early on — a faint strain of captivating melody or beguiling texture snuck its way into the mix, acting to enliven, yet again, and inspire.

• Danny Tenaglia
• Photek
• Fatboy Slim

Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell
Photo: Warner Brothers

A revamped Jane's Addiction, pop deities Weezer and uber-DJs Paul Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers will headline the second Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, to be held April 28 in Indio, California.

Promoters announced the lineup, heavy with hip-hop and electronic performers, Thursday (March 1), just two days before tickets go on sale.

Other acts on the bill include the Roots, the Orb, Roni Size's Reprazent, Gang Starr, Ozomatli, Mos Def, Iggy Pop and Tricky. At least five stages will be set up at the festival, according to organizers.

The inaugural Coachella Festival took place at Indio's Empire Polo Field on October 9 and 10, 1999, and featured more than 80 acts. Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Beck and Underworld were considered the headliners, though dozens of premier artists performed. The event, held just two months after Woodstock '99 ended in riots, gave concertgoers a renewed hope in music festivals.

This year's Coachella Festival, at the same field as the original, marks Jane's Addiction's first performance together since December 8, 1997, when the alt-rock rulers played the final show of what singer Perry Farrell dubbed their "relapse tour." Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who replaced original member Eric Avery on that tour, will again be joining the band.

Although Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro have gone on to separate projects, Jane's Addiction never announced an official split.

Farrell, who has built an audience as a DJ in recent years, performed a set of world beat music at the first Coachella festival, which also included the Chemical Brothers and Raymond Roker (a DJ and editor of sponsoring magazine URB), both of whom will perform this year.

Several top names in the dance music community are slated to perform this year, such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, St. Germain, Richard D. James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin), Christopher Lawrence, Photek, Doc Martin, Uberzone, Ian Pooley, Smith & Mighty, Dieselboy and the Detroit Grand Pu-Bahs.

Other acts include the Dandy Warhols, Blonde Redhead, Del tha Funky Homosapien and Pedro the Lion.

A complete lineup is available at www.coachella.com.

Coachella organizers, which include the Los Angeles-based Golden Voice, chose to have a one-day festival rather than a two-day event, so they could focus on the quality of the entertainment, according to Josh Levine, promotions director for URB. "Logistically, having 80 bands can be a nightmare," he said.

URB's record label, URB Music, had planned to release live albums from the original Coachella Festival in the fall, but when Golden Voice decided to have the festival in the spring, URB Music delayed the release. Instead, live albums from Coachella 1999 will be released in the summer, with live albums from 2001 to follow, according to Levine.

(Check out "The Jane's Addiction Relapse Interview" for more on Jane's Addiction.)

• Jane's Addiction
• Weezer
• Fatboy Slim
• The Chemical Brothers
• The Roots

Sonicnet Music News

Rupert Parkes, who records as Photek, doesn't want to be the king of minimal drum & bass.

Although his meticulously methodical, surgically precise, and intricate patterns meshed well with some of his earlier productions' blend of paranoia and Eastern philosophy, Parkes, 28, has proven himself as a master of several styles on the many records he's released since the early '90s. Having produced tracks for Goldie's Metalheadz label, LTJ Bukem's family of imprints, and his own labels, the more accurate tag for Photek is the king of versatility.

"Rupert is one of the best programmers in the world," said Bukem, founder of Good Looking Records and one of drum & bass' early pioneers. "I've got a lot of time for him."

It was that attention to detail on Photek's 1997 debut full-length, "Modus Operandi" -- where his skeletal constructions were punctuated by discrete sine waves -- that garnered him the minimal title. But Parkes, speaking from a London mastering studio where he was preparing dubplates of new tracks to spin on his recent American tour, sees no need to be judged solely by his debut.

"My first album was, yeah, minimal, almost cold, a private world almost," he said. "But if you read my first album as a statement of my life in music then you'd be mistaken. I never set out to be Mr. Minimal.... I've had my jazzy moments and my techno moments and all kinds of moments. We're all multidimensional characters.... It's not like a mission statement, that one album. It's just a snapshot in time."

It comes as no surprise, then, that no one was prepared for Photek's latest release, "Solaris," an album that includes only one industrial-strength drum & bass track, "Infinity." The remaining 10 tracks span warm two-step garage, a touch of techno --and, in a fairly shocking twist, house.

Raymond Roker, publisher of "URB" magazine and a renowned jungle DJ in his own right, supports Parkes' intrepid spirit. "Photek and artists like that want to explore other kinds of beats, and that's fine. I think it just widens the acceptability of artists to create on whatever label they create on. That's the way it should have been from the beginning."

Accordingly, the attitude Parkes took while recording "Solaris" was adventurous and open.

"I went into the studio saying I'm not going to think about the style of music I'm going to make or what type of music I feel I should make," he said. "It was the only criteria I laid down, to just make music that you want to hear, and don't think about genres or anything else.... I must say I had a lot more fun making this record than my first album."

One distinctive sound that does stand out in the mix is the voice of house legend Robert Owens, who sang on several tracks by Chicago producer Larry Heard's seminal Fingers Inc. project.

"I wanted to work with Robert from since before I even made music," Parkes revealed. "And I wanted his voice just like I want a particular sound off a Roland B50 keyboard I've always loved. It was kind of like, I've waited long enough and it's time I got into the studio with Robert."

Similarly, the overall sound of "Solaris" is fairly nostalgic, recalling some of Parkes' favorite influences circa 1991: Carl Craig on Derrick May's Transmat label, Fingers Inc., U.K. down-tempo producer Nightmares On Wax. Within the record's first three tracks can be found traces of drum & bass' early-'90s "darkside" period, when the music, still in its nascent stage, reflected the tough side of the London ghettos from which it sprang.

However, within short reach are two Chicago-influenced gems (with Owens on vocals), "Mine To Give" and "Can't Come Down," as well as some cinematic flourishes.

Parkes says his experience composing the score to "Unter Den Palmen," a film his wife directed, helped free him for the diversity of "Solaris." It's a project he would love to repeat.

In addition to potential scores for some films and video games, Parkes also is remixing a single by Ananda Project, the latest alias of Atlanta house producer Chris Brann, and preparing the release of singles by himself and fellow U.K. drum & bass luminary (and collaborator, under the name Special Forces) Peshay on his Photek label.

After returning from his U.S. tour, which ended Tuesday, Parkes plans to head back into the studio with Owens to "do whatever happens."

• Photek