Groovers Only Brings the Groove to Casa Bacardi at EDC Orlando

Two b2b sets, a crowd spilling past the sides of the stage, and Brazilian flags in the air. Here's how Groovers Only spent Sunday at EDC Orlando.

Sunday at EDC Orlando had a serious groove to it. Casa Bacardi ran a full lineup all day, and the Groovers Only artists stepped up for two back-to-back sets. When Alves and Joe Vanditti took the decks, the dance floor overflowed past the sides of the stage.

For Michael Perez, who founded the Miami collective with Jake Londos, it was the payoff for four years of building from the ground up. "Seeing it all come together on a stage like Bacardi, surrounded by so many people sharing that energy, was a pretty surreal feeling," he says. "Honestly, I feel like we're just getting started."

Bryan Softwell b2b Chini: Daytime Latin Grooves

Miami's own Bryan Softwell and Chini shared the decks for a set that leaned into the afternoon. "Sunday was definitely daytime vibes," Chini says. "Bryan and I got into some of our Latin grooves, which is always a lot of fun."

Two DJs playing a b2b set in the Casa Bacardi DJ booth at EDC Orlando under a thatched roof — Image by Drew Rodriguez

Chini Somoza describes his sound as "groove-driven, Latin and hypnotic," drawing on soul, disco and funk as well as the Ibiza tech house of the late 2000s and early 2010s. He reads the room before he picks a direction: happier and groovier by day, deeper and more hypnotic at night. He also never plays the same set twice. "Keeping people on their toes, never knowing what's coming next, is one of the most important parts of DJing," he says. Playing EDC with the Groovers Only family was "something I've worked toward for a long time."

Bryan sums up his own sound in one line: "A party, especially one where people are actually dancing." Completely self-taught through YouTube and Reddit, he learned his biggest lesson the hard way. "Less is more," he says. "I used to fill every empty space, thinking it added value. In reality, that empty space was carrying the track better than anything I put there." Even his Bad Bunny flip, which Cloonee played at Club Space and which caught Diplo's attention, came from "a lot of happy accidents."

His drive goes back to one night at 18, watching Joseph Capriati b2b Jamie Jones. "That night altered my brain chemistry," he says. "I want people to look back in five years with their friends and say, 'Man, remember that party with Bryan.'"

Alves b2b Joe Vanditti: Brazil Meets Naples

The second Groovers Only b2b paired Brazilian tech house artist Alves with Naples DJ and producer Joe Vanditti, and the crowd made Alves feel at home, with Brazilian flags waving throughout the set.

Festival crowd dancing in front of the Casa Bacardi stage at EDC Orlando at sunset — Image by Jeffrey Caceres

Fame readers last caught up with Alves as he launched his own label, Dança. His first EDC was a b2b with Ky William. This time, he says, he arrived with "a more mature understanding of house and the direction I want to head in." He calls his sound "groovy and energetic, with a hint of weirdness," and he's picky about what makes the cut. "A lot of new producers follow the same formula, watch the same YouTube videos and copy other artists instead of trying to innovate," he says. "To make it into my sets, I want a funky bassline with broken drums, weird synths or percussion, or a weird structure."

For Joe, Sunday was a milestone. "It was my first time performing at a festival of this scale, and the energy was incredible," he says. "After my set I received so many positive messages." He started DJing at 15 in Naples, and his sound is built on rhythm and bass. "I love playing with rhythms and finding the right bassline to bring everything together." He doesn't see much difference between European and American crowds: "When people truly love music, it doesn't matter where you play." Naples still shapes his music, and his plate. "When it comes to food, I'm definitely biased," he says. "I absolutely love Neapolitan cuisine!"

What's Next

The weekend also hinted at what's coming. Alves and Joe both have music on the way with Insomniac, the company behind EDC: Alves with a two-track EP on its IN / ROTATION label, and Joe with his next release, before he returns to the US for Art Basel. Alves has his sights on Ibiza next summer, and he knows exactly what it will take: "more production and getting my music into more DJs' hands".

Chini has a release coming in December and is launching Material Things, an event series with his partner Rhaff built around deeper selections and vinyl. Bryan is pitching a stack of unreleased records to labels and working on self-releases. "Holding onto music only hurts you," he says.

As for Groovers Only, the plan is to take that energy on the road. "We plan to bring Groovers Only parties to cities across the United States, introducing new markets to our artists, our sound and the community we've been building," Londos says. What ties the roster together isn't geography or name size, he adds, but "their identity, their sound, their work ethic, and what they bring to the culture."

Or, as Perez puts it: "Many more to come, that's for sure."