Ten Acts We Wish Would Play Ultra Music Festival, But Never Have

By Kyle Munzenrieder Tue., Mar. 9 2010 at 9:00 AM

Categories: Winter Music Conference

Some of us judge Ultra Music Festival by the, how should we say, "chemical experiences," yet others of us have the novel idea of actually judging it by the music. This is supposed to be America's premier electronic and dance music festival, ain't it? This year's fest has all your bottle service dance music favorites and quality musicians, but lacks the oomph and surprise of years past.

It got us thinking about who we would have liked to see, and then it got us thinking about who we're surprised have never actually played the festival before. We tried to do our homework and make sure that none of them have played Ultra before, but earlier line-ups are hard to come across online. We're at least certain none have played since the fest became the two day extravaganza at Bicentennial Park.

Some are your typical elusive and reclusive beat makers, others rarely make it to the US, while a few honestly have us scratching our heads wondering why they haven't been down. So here's our top ten act we wish would play Ultra, but for whatever never have.

Ricardo Villalobos
The maestro of minimal and hands down one of the most critically acclaimed DJs in the world refuses to play on American soil after being detained in LA post-9/11 and interrogated over why his family fled from Chile during the Pincohet year (ah, that damn Pincohet). Though, now with Obama in office there's, ahem, "hope." He told XLR8R last year that he'd love to play America if he was invited to a cultural event. Of course, the example he gave was playing at Carnegie Hall, but c'mon Villalobos this is South Florida, not Sarah Palin's idea of "Real America," and you know what they say, ""The best thing about Miami is how close it is to the United States." In the meantime we'll just continue to be freaked out by his "Blood on My Hands" remix.

Aphex Twin
Let's forget the fact that Richard D. James himself hates the term IDM or "Intelligent Dance Music" for a moment, and remember the cynical implication of those that use the term is that a lot of the other dance music at Ultra would then be "Unintelligent Dance Music." Maybe that explains why the fest hasn't played host to many of the Warp records greats. Then again, they did get The Orb to headline two years ago, so hopefully they'd be open to Aphex Twin (assuming he's open to Ultra). If not, we wouldn't mind the likes of Autechre or Luke Vibert in his place.

The Knife
Over ten years in existence, and yet live performances by the brother and sister duo of The Knife are still a rarity. Which is a shame, because the clips we've seen of their live gigs are amazing. Seriously, the video art and lightings are just all you could ask from a mainly electronic group performing live. Maybe one day they'll get over their media shyness and give into the world's desperate hope for an exhaustive world tour and a stop at Bicentennial Park.