I remember when I got hooked on Adventure Club after I heard some of their earlier remixes and couldn’t get enough of their sound. It seems the circle is now complete, as I’m now finding the cream of the crop by seeing who has the chops to remix Adventure Club singles. 1:25 into this track, Giordani gets your attention and never lets it go. This half trap, half footwork, all chill re-envisioning of Wonder by the dynamic duo deserves all of the praise Fresh New Tracks & whoever else besides me found it and posted it out. There’s a serious return to un-grimey bass, while keeping the vibe and the big room feel of the original intact. Sit up & pay attention, this Canadian is gonna be on your radar by the end of festival season, you heard it here first. (via Fresh New Tracks)
The Prodigy Keep It Going With The Day Is My Enemy & Wild Frontier.
Because I’m your favorite internet music celebrity, I’ve got not one, but two new Prodigy singles for you. Wild Frontier brings in a classic amen break driven breakbeat track that screams remix. I’d make one myself if I wasn’t too busy shaking my ass to it. The Prodigy are certainly no strangers to hyping a new release, but these are my favorite kind of bread-crumbs. The Day Is My Enemy has a perfect mix of vintage Prodigy sounds and modern production values. You can almost hear The Glitch Mob in their vocal sampling, which could an homage to the way new producers are pushing being angry with female vocals these days. The red fox returns for a feature spot on the official video for The Day Is My Enemy, but in a different style than their first single. The music remains massive and if you told me The Prodigy paid to work with a drumline from a marching band I’d believe you. The drum work is perfect, backing up the syrupy smooth vocals in a way only The Prodigy can.
Midnight Music: Mistabishi – From Memory (Matrix Remix) [Soulful Drum & Bass]
Mistabishi really can do great work when he puts his mind to it. This track from a while ago, really encapsulates what the genre of drum & bass can be. The Matrix remix of From Memory and the music video created for Hospital Records is equally good. Watching the creativity of a human drain away from them while they work their lives away have become one of the central stories of the Western world in the modern age. This video is no exception, and frankly, especially at this point, I think we need to be reminded to do it more. Especially when there are no guarantees of job security even if you play by all the rules. The idea that his mixer & system are in a box labeled “old stuff” and he’s still rocking an old CRT monitor really give the video a little bit more authentic resonance than you’d expect. The vibe here is almost hopeful, which is shocking for a UK release, I know.
MellowEDM, The Lighter Side Of Drum & Bass, Electro & EDM.
Get in on the ground floor ladies & gentlemen. If you’re looking for another YouTube stream to get the soothing, more chill side of the dance music spectrum, MellowEDM is off to a great start. If you wanted to learn about how to produce a channel like MrSuicideSheep, just watch this one rise. If they can keep cranking out fantastic, chilled out remixes of some amazing tunes and the interesting artists I’ve never heard of before, there won’t be anything stopping them. Klrx & Hybrid Minds are just two of the crazy good artists featured on the channel and I think it’s less than a week old. You know what to do, especially to smooth your way into Monday.
Midnight Music: SoySauce ft. Joni Fatora – Broken Record [Space Bass]
My girl Michelle out at EDMTunes not only tips me off to some of the best tracks, but is consistently in my Top 5 for descriptions of tracks online. Like, check it:
SoySauce delivers an unexpectedly classy track with ‘Broken Records’, heightening a rapport from food court fried rice to high-class sashimi platter.
I mean, honestly, how good is that? She’s totally accurate. This kind of thumping chilltrap could’ve been totally phoned in, warmed over and made you hungry for something real in under 30min from listening to it. However, an original use of some squelchy chords, competent pad work & legit vocals by Joni Fatora gives the track a surprising flavor. This is on the Cashmere Cat & Chet Faker end of the pool, but that side of the pool has hotter people and the ones diving in are doing sweet flips & shit. Letting that metaphor die, the track is quite good, especially in the relatively early stages of the genre they’re working in. The soft sounds mesh with the irregular beat structure in a way that’s inviting, not erratic. And as anyone who has been fucked up at a trap party can tell you, moments of regularity & warmth are precious. Go ahead, pour some SoySauce on your evening. (via Michelle Chu of EDMTunes)
Mix Of The Weekend: Werk It! by Tinker
This weekend, I’ve got a delightful future/space bass mix for you from Tinker. This dope creator not only drops sick beats, but she’s one of the few DJs across the world that are really trying to incorporate future bass & hip hop. This gargantuan task is one of the real issues that EDM needs to negotiate to really integrate within the larger global music universe. To put it another way, the first person to mix hip hop & EDM correctly wins a billion dollars, as Avicii proved with mixing bluegrass & EDM. She’s on her way, as this mix proves. If you need more proof, just check out this tweet charting her among them DJs to watch in 2015 😀
Amazing list by @poemproducer of female contributors to electronic music. Truly honored to be included. Thanks! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/wnT9B67BOm
— Tinker (@TinkerBeats) March 9, 2014
This mix is definitely higher energy than most of the attempts I’ve seen to fuse the two. The track selection is flawless, with crucial tunes from TroyBoi, Wave Racer, Mr. Carmack, Modeselektor & Aztek being highlights. All in all, it’s a groove-filled 30min that is exactly what you need in your life now that you’ve chased the hair on the dog & realized you woke up too late for brunch. Put it into your face & show my girl Tinker some love!
Album Of The Week: Demented Sound Mafia – Inspired [Ambient/Downtempo]
Demented Sound Mafia, besides being a dope name for a music production group, has actually impressed me with this project. I don’t usually go in on this kind of stuff, but I have to make an exception for Inspired. This is a compilation of soundscapes, cinematic offerings and tracks that need to be in your next extreme skiing video once you figure out how to get the GoPro off your helmet. The tracks are soothing, ambient & perfect for your student film, skateboarding/surfing video or generally as a downtempo soundtrack for life. And just in case you think this is a random CD from a random outfit, you’d be wrong. They’ve had their work in soundtracks for Captain Phillips, Divergent, Paranormal Activity & a number of other movies. That’s right, you’re hearing them here before they even make it into the movie trailer you’re going to hear them in 6 months from now. Some of my favorites include I Conquer, Within My Reach & Earth From Above, but throw this on while you’re driving, getting things done, or winding down from a long night of partying. You’ll be thanking the global (literally, one from Oklahoma, one from Tel Aviv) pair of composers before the first track finishes up.
PM(A), PMMA, Who Got The Keys To My Bimmer
This week, Ravelrie, Stay Safe Seattle, NY DanceSafe & I are talking PMA/PMMA. Just like the rap joke in the title, this topic is as old, and potentially devastating. PMA In case you weren’t paying attention, fake pills killed some people in the UK over the holiday season. When The Guardian is taking time to talk about this, you should be paying attention. To stress, this stuff has been killing people since 1973. The USA, Canada & the UK have dealt with this stuff, even the Netherlands & Denmark has had its problems with it.
Now remember, it’s not like we don’t know how to get information out to the public. Mixmag reminds us that in the UK people, will call out the gov’t for not issuing safety warnings about pills. That’s right, the Warehouse Project gets information out about this stuff, and even local newspapers in Bristol were getting the word out. Isn’t that really what we should be trying for? Using this crazy security & surveillance apparatus they’ve built under the guise of protecting us, and using it to like…tell us when there are things out there that might hurt us?
But I digress. You may be wondering why I’m bamboozling you with UK statistics when you, dear reader, likely aren’t reading this from Brixton (BIG UPS BIG APPLE RECORDS!). Here’s the really scary reminder that ties this little post of mine together. Anyone who has been in the scene for more than the last couple of years will remember the Superman pills here in NYC. These pills are seen as the like, the dope shit. And they really are dope. They will ruin your night/life, and we need to be cognizant of the fact that reputations when it comes to MDMA can be used against users. This is DanceSafe advocates drug checking if you’re really brave (stupid) enough to use these things. To note, besides a random trip report or two, this drug doesn’t have a recreational following. No one is trying to score PMA, they just get it because their dealer is a terrible person. Be safe, don’t take drugs that will kill you & join us at 4:30pm on Twitter using #PMMA.
Midnight Music: Unlike Pluto & KickRaux – Palace
This is the 1,000th post on this blog & I am so proud to use the opportunity to talk about Unlike Pluto. ATL-raised, he’s been training on the mean streets of the LA dance music scene, and has it ever paid off. This track is one of a kind, and Mad Decent knows it. He & KickRaux pushed the boundary of what dance music can sound like, way into territory I’m loving. The major chord progression respect, squelchy vocal samples & stunningly good production value on the trap beat is second to none. This is bordering on psychedelic, which, considering it’s a Mad Decent label tune, is astonishing. This has dharma punk written all over it. The pull back into the beat at 2:42 is everything I want to hear out of Mad Decent right now. Whoever convinced diplo to pick this tune up, I’m buying them a bottle of champagne, and none of that plastic top shit neither. Peep the track and show Unlike Pluto & KickRaux some love for this.
Music Connects People.
I don’t often post content from Tumblr, because WP breaks the long line of heart/note chains that make for epic Tumblr sharing among the younglings. This caught my eye though. Share more things, listen to more music together. Sing, dance, laugh, shine on your crazy diamonds. (Via Higgins, originally from Zonixx)
Terry Gotham 