Alright let's see how this is going to pan out.
DJ/performer/producer: Has to be
Eric Prydz for me, without a doubt. I've always been a massive fan of the guy, but this year he came out with his Epic Radio podcasts, I got to see him in the US
twice (IDentity over the summer and then his Prydzgiving show at Roseland Ballroom in New York), which is huge since the guy has a debilitating fear of flying, and last but not least he released his
Eric Prydz Presents Pryda album earlier this year which includes a mind blowing 37 tracks, none of which I didn't like. This man is a force of nature.
Live performance (DJ sets included): Eric Prydz at Roseland Ballroom. Easily the best show I've ever seen live. I love his style of music (deep, melodic, progressive house), and he basically played for 3.5 hours dropping nothing but his music. But the other part of the experience, which I only realized after seeing him live twice, is that his shows are just so fluid. From what I understand he doesn't plan his shows ahead of time, so he kind of reads the audience and takes his cues from their energy level. Most DJs you can pretty much predict what their set is going to be like if you've seen previous sets of theirs; not true with this guy. I saw him twice and the shows could not have been more different.
I'll give honorable mentions to Gareth Emery at EDC Vegas and Knife Party at Electric Zoo.
Newly discovered act/performer/producer: Not really sure. Maybe Arty or Mat Zo? I really like their style. Zedd had an amazing year but I knew about him before 2012 so that doesn't really count.
Edit: Shit, totally forgot about EDX. Definitely my #1 discovery of 2012, love his sound.
Festival: Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. This is the mother of three-day festivals, and if you love electronic music you need to attend this festival once in your life. Watching Dash Berlin drop Apollo Road while fireworks were going off overhead was pretty amazing.
Song: Either
Ellie Goulding - High For This (Monsieur Adi Remix) or
Deadmau5 - The Veldt (it's even better if you read the
short story by Ray Bradbury on which the song is based.)
Album by a single artist: Eric Prydz Presents Pryda, for reasons already outlined. I'll also give a shoutout to #musicislife by Dash Berlin, since this list is pretty Prydz heavy.
Compilation/mix album: I don't really listen to many compilation albums so I can't really comment here.
Genre: This is the year I really got into trance, so I'd say trance is probably my genre of 2012.
