Monthly Archives: November 2015

Earworm Of The Month: Lido’s Thoughts From The Tour Bus

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Lido – Thoughts From The Tour Bus

This kind of sound is dangerously honest. Lido created this tune in response to his account being frozen by Soundcloud I believe. In which, you can hear the frustration with the touring, inauthentic life. The shot about riders & refreshments, being alone with speakers and everything else shows his existential annoyance with that whole life. Shining through the words is Lido’s signature perfect production. The bass and frisson-inducing chords are exactly where they need to be. He’s got this infectious way to take an original and turn it into a far superior version. This kid’s got the Midas touch so hopefully he’s got some good people around him to steady him as he blows up. In a year’s time, he’ll be an EDM household name. Just watch. You heard it here first.

Happy Thanksgiving From A Tribe Called Red & Wednesday Addams!

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A Tribe Called Red – Burn Your Village To The Ground

This is going to rile some of y’all up, and others may just run and hide when it comes to the content matter & execution in this track. I happen too love these guys. A trio of First Nation producers, going by the name A Tribe Called Red, put this fantastic anthem track out last year to celebrate the holiday. There’s a lot of terrible shit in the history of North America, and our treatment of American Indians & First World Nation people is at the top of that shitpile. While many of us still look back longingly at the Addams Family Values movie, I bet not that many of us remember this dope speech in the middle of the movie. Definitely drop it on whoever is Thumping The Donald today. Happy Gobble Gobble y’all!

Midweek Music: Otic, Dylan Reese, EDEN, Scott Bond & Kaskade!

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Take It Easy

This sleeper hit from Otic is exactly what your pre-holiday jitters need. This low-key drum & bass is great to travel or prep to. Whether you’re heading out on the town or over to the parental situation. It’s unassuming and definitely not aggressive. Not a whole lot more to say except, let it smooth you out.

Dylan Reese blindsided me with this one. It’s a strong offering, not what I expected, especially given the look and production. Everything clicks together, with Dylan providing good flow and making the right choices about where to go hard, where to tune and where to push the melodic breaks back in. He’s got a tune coming out on Dec. 1st, so here’s to hoping he keeps the hit streak going.

EDEN can do nothing wrong. How many artists do you know that cover Billie Jean without embarrassing themselves? This Future Pop tune does a couple of things correctly. First, EDEN doesn’t try to outsing MJ, which is the dumb thing most artists try. EDEN wins on production here, and secondly, it feels a bit differently melancholy, as opposed to the pop anthem the original will always be. Splendid work, can’t wait to hear about live gigs.

I’ve written about Scott Bond before, but this most recent 138 trance anthem is welcomed during this week of family & traveling great distances. It’s got the energy you don’t hear very often anymore, with the 138 space being crowded by the bro-y end of electro & progressive. This racing build breaks into exactly the pumping, driving trance drop us hard house enthusiasts can’t get enough of.

Kaskade decided to take a walk through some legit house done by Thomas Sagstad ft. Wildo. This Burned remix has the signature positivity Kaskade brings to all of his work, taking great parts of the original and shuffling them around, adding a healthy dollop of anthem. The tune feels sun-drenched, which is definitely needed this Thanksgiving weekend for us Northern Hemisphere residents. Hope it gives you a minor urge to dance around in your chair during Thanksgiving feast. Or afterwards to help work off them calories! See y’all next week!

Midweek Music: SMLE, BANKS, 20syl, Big Grams & Daktyl

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Created by homieh: http://homieh.deviantart.com/

Another week, another quick quintet of tracks! Stuff from New York, the UK, France & LA. Lots of great stuff happening as 2015 draws to a close, so don’t sleep on these tunes!
This is a big set folks, all new dopeness spread across a couple of different genres, but it stays decidedly future throughout.
SMLE is getting a bunch of attention, though somewhat quietly. Over the last couple of months they’ve kept showing up on my Soundcloud feed. You always know an artist is legit when multiple producers you respect keep sharing the stuff. SMLE puts together a sound that’s both symphonic, chill and surprisingly forward-looking. It’s got Sunday afternoons all over it.
BANKS is back, and we are all better for it. The soothing single has an amazing music video, which reminds of Gesaffelstein, but with her own flair. She makes you wait until 2:25 of the 3min to really get how bluesy the track actually is. It’s melancholy & massive at the same time.

20syl re-envisions a masterful trumpet piece by Ibrahim Maalouf in ways I’m not sure any of us saw coming. This is a future ballad that needs 100x the attention it’s getting currently. The tune fuses classical trumpet, future bass, the always impressive synth work of 20syl and a distinctly global feel. One of the tracks that I doubt will make it to the blogs, but really does need to.
This next one is huge news for everyone in both the bass music & hip hop universes. Big Boi & Phantogram have decided to team up to start producing under the name Big Grams. The classic Outkast vibe is played to perfectly, and faithfully, while Phantogram has taken the “make beats for Big Boi” mantle & ran with it. It’s a fantastic premiere, so expect to keep hearing from this collaboration. I feel like it’s got cross-pollination potential both at regular hip hop shows but also at Bassnectar, Pretty Lights & other edge acts. Splendidly produced from start to finish, this demands your attention.

Rounding out the post is a surprise posted by This Song Is Sick. This remix of Autograf by Daktyl made me sit up in my chair. It’s got just the amount of re-production, while staying faithful to the original. The bass seems to laze along, but crests properly, giving an almost anthem feel to the future trap.

Midweek Music: Sorsari, ZHU, Lido, Campuskit, Enschway

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I am so glad I this track exists. It’s a superb remix of a melody that is near & dear to my heart. This theme from Chrono Trigger (from the Realm of Magic I believe) was an ethereal, lofty, tease that so many of us loved growing up. This chilled trap rework adds an atmospheric quality that could never have exist on the SNES. The source material is used honorably, going places I only dreamed about after playing the damn game for 8hrs at a time. Great for a Sunday morning or the last tune of the night.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony hung out with ZHU. I’m a little late on this tip but if you haven’t heard this, it’s crossover with the boys from Cleveland. They pull in Trombone Shorty for a surprisingly uptempo jazzy tune for the Bone Thugs. It works well and I’m happy to hear them out of retirement. If ZHU is bringing rappers back from the dead I think he needs to hang out with Biggie & Tupac’s holograms next.

Lido & Santell may have created the Mambo #5 of the 10’s. For anyone who doesn’t know who Louie Vega is and/or didn’t listen to pop radio in the late 90’s, this tune oozes sexy. To the point where it may make you or other people listening uncomfortable. Or possibly accelerate Netflix & Chill. Your mileage may vary. Use with caution.

Another release from the always excellent Stoney Roads Soundcloud, Campuskit is a fresh sound from down under. The synth powers are strong with this one, and he definitely earned my attention with this remix. It’s got a shimmering, almost chippy future bass tune. Great work, and it’s novel artists like this that keep me loving what I do.

Enschway  takes it away on this last remix. Another gem from Stoney Roads, this Future Trap anthem bursts with emotion and doesn’t let up. It’s got a Madeon, or dare I say even a Porter Robinson feel to it. The composition & production seems effortless and the soulful work put into the vocals makes the track pop in your ears. It’s a real feast for the senses and makes me excited for everything this kid from Sydney has in store for us. Honestly, this is so good, I’ve gotta share a bonus track. It’s a bit more recent, so put it and the previous one into your face!