Lights are shining extra bright on EDM stalwart MING, who’s closing in on two decades of dancefloor dominance. 2014 proved an epic year, capped by a Grammy nomination for best remix, alongside names like Kaskade and Tiësto. The nomination enhances a legacy already deemed “legendary” by EDM luminary Steve Aoki. To fans’ delight, that legend is still very much in the making.
Most musicmakers would beam at such plaudits. But the New York native and adoptive Harlemite born Aaron Albano is matter-of-fact about his place in the game. Given EDM’s constant turnover, longevity intones lasting peer respect but needn’t necessarily ensure currency. That rift doesn’t daunt the ambitiously genre-proof MING, who is equal parts producer, songwriter, remixer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and studio savant.
MING brought all those attributes to bear in 2014: Alongside the Grammy nomination for remixing the Crossfingers track “Falling Out” (featuring Danny Losito) was his massive, genre-bending Blackout EP on Datsik’s Firepower Records. MING likewise stormed charts, simultaneously notching four Top 40 trap remixes on Beatport. His syndicated podcast found a home on the Main Stage channel of di.fm, and his mixes now appear on Music Choice, America’s #1 music and video on demand provider.
MING’s ceaseless assault on the #1 spot should come as no surprise, given his remix résumé: Beyoncé’s “Run the World;” Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” ft. Beyoncé; Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl;” Black Eyed Peas’ “Rock That Body;” Ellie Goulding’s “Lights.” His own compositions have fared just as well, including his scorcher “King Kong” on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records and his “Disintegration” collaboration with Le Castle Vania, released on deadmau5’s Mau5trap label.
To his credit, MING supplements the artistic with the entrepreneurial. He founded Habitat Music, which supplies original music to the advertising, film, and television industries. Indeed, MING’s aural provocations have graced hit TV shows such as CBS’s CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, HBO’s Sex and the City, and Showtime’s Weeds. He’s also scored big-name advertising campaigns for Sears, Nissan, Chevy, Burger King, Nokia, AT&T and Doritos.
Albano likewise helms Hood Famous Music, his own label imprint. Not bad for the man who in a former life was one-half of groundbreaking experimental hip-hop/EDM duo MING+ FS. MING manned guitar, bass, drums, keys, and turntables in gracing more than 1,000 stages worldwide. The NYCentric pair opened for seminal acts such as Sting, Run-D.M.C and Moby. Fast forward to the present, and meet MING v2.0: older, wiser, hungrier, stronger. Legend might be putting it lightly. Behold the MING Dynasty.
