NEW YORK - Two of the most sought-after producers in pop music, Mark Ronson and Diplo, have walked different paths, with Ronson reviving retro funk and Diplo reaching eagerly across the globe.

The two have fused their brands of dance music to create a new duo, Silk City, which made its debut Sunday to the sweaty masses at New York's Governors Ball.

In its eighth year, Governors Ball - which brings some 150,000 people over three days to tiny Randall's Island, where the New York boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx come together - remains the longest-running of a proliferating number of summer music festivals in the metropolis.

This year's festival took on daily themes, with Saturday rekindling the flame of early 2000s indie rock and Sunday drawing a significantly younger crowd with a heavy emphasis on hip-hop.

Silk City - so named after a Philadelphia diner where a young Diplo built his name as a DJ - kicked off a set with a distinct feel of Ronson as funk-infused beats merged with snippets of soul.

Diplo and Ronson - who produced for the late Amy Winehouse and collaborated with Bruno Mars on blockbuster hit "Uptown Funk" - in the course of an hour incorporated decades worth of samples from artists ranging from disco-era titan Van McCoy to young rap heroine Cardi B.

While bringing in some of the soaring sheets of electronica and pumping drums now associated with Diplo, Silk City shied away from the stage theatrics of Diplo's Major Lazer project with the two veterans spinning like classic DJs.

Silk City ahead of the show released a first single, "Only Can Get Better," a track of old-school, dance-club house with vocals by Australian R&B singer Daniel Merriweather.

Coachella in California, the biggest-name US festival, made waves this year by for the first time not booking any rock acts as headliners. Not so for Governors Ball, whose main stage Saturday was led by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs followed by Jack White.

Music nerds quickly noted a historical parallel. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, one of several indie bands who revitalized the New York music scene at the turn of the century, played their first show in 2000 as the opening act to White's duo The White Stripes in the city's cozy Mercury Lounge. - AFP