So Earmilk broke this crazy sounding track, and I’ve been trying to guess who the hell it is. It’s cool as hell and the vocals are 100% on point. The cleverness of changing “You Oughta Know” to “You Gotta Go” turns the 90s vocal sadness soundtrack into a huge, punchy dance anthem. This is going to get played at every festival ever. This has the catchiness of Turn Down For What but without the stupid dub-lectro feel and zero heart. But there’s no artist info anywhere! Right now, I’ve narrowed it down to three possible vocalists, and I need your help (yes you, the reader, all 12 of you) to ID this tune! It’s between Ayah Marar, Aja Volkman or Dia Frampton. Check out these tracks by each of them and let me know which you think.
I don’t know how he keeps doing it. MitiS knocks another one out of the park, this time, pushing out the first single from his new Oasis EP. This triumphant epicstep carries the lofty standard of quality we’ve come to expect from MitiS forward mightily. The soaring synthy step-y lines accompanied by some almost soulful male vocals by Crywolf make for a wonderful little track. There’s a rambling, almost pop-punk quality to the tune that comes in during the isolated anthemic vocals. The ping-pong beats glitter along, making you feel as if you’d just beaten a Mega Man game for the NES or something. This makes his upcoming tour even more exciting. The full EP drops at the end of the month. Don’t sleep on it.
Coming at you tonight with some creeping, murky drum & bass that you’re going to be all over. There’s a Volor Flex feel to this EP that I don’t see played around with a lot these days. Haunt takes a little while to get going but the throbbing dark sounds are definitely a style of D&B that I have missed. There’s a potency to it that transitions into some jungle-styled halfstep with ragga notes. Vaibla has a moody lilt with some bass to match. It’s a tight little joint that you can get for less than Pumpkin Spice Latte. Make the call.
(I first saw Hank & Cupcakes at an underground warehouse off the N train way a while back. They’ve since gotten a kickstarter fully funded, an album released and are about to launch into a massive tour! I caught up with them as they were packing…)
1. It’s been a long road for you both since the underground festival at Wonderland in Queens when I first saw you, how have you been?! Long road is right and winding too! With obstacles surprises & uphills. But we understand that as long as we keep walking that road…
Ok, I promise, this is the last one. Totally final summer house track of the year, as we’ve now arrived at Labor Day I can’t push em out so often anymore. But one last one! Enjoy and I hope you have the day off on Tuesday!
Tommie Sunshine comes out swinging with his new remix. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are now vintage quality (as old as that makes us feel), with a potent punch added, after being drenched in some summer anthem. This collab between Modern Machines, CID & the man himself cannot be ignored. The explosion 75 seconds into the track holds its own amongst the best progressive & banger drops out there and there’s no stupid big room repetition. The pull back is exactly what it needs to be and I expect it to have been played a dozen times at Electric Zoo. The DJ support list is massive, as it should be. Rage, rage against the dying light my friends. ALSO a bonus mix at EDM.com!
Super glad that I can bring this out to share for y’all. A bunch of my peeps at EDMTunes put together this fantastic 90min of dance music for you. New illness from The Chainsmokers, deep gorgeousness from Matt Lange off Anjunabeats, Bassnectar’s summer jam & 17 more tunes. From trap bangers to progressive anthems, if you want to know what Electric Zoo sounds like right now, you’d be hard pressed to find a better sampling of tunes that are big right now. Strong by Arno Cost & Shadow of the Sun’s Mako remix are highlights as well. Hit up EDMTunes and thank them for making this happen with Spinnin’ Records. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you know when the next one comes out as well.
Over on Soundcloud, there’s the next session of InDeep. These cats are quickly becoming my go to source for deep, future, tech & “insert sub-genre of house here” house. The list comes in at a manageable 72min and with new Hot Since 82, Amtrac, a fun little snippet from Marcapasos, a FANTASTIC deep house remix of Bittersweet Symphony (must listen), a joint from Mixmag featuring Jody Wisternoff & a whole lot more. If the EDMTunes playlist is your Turn Down For What list, this is your grooving, deep dark set that happens later in the night. Or now while you’re walking around cleaning the house on the long weekend before shenanigans later. Or yachting, elephant polo’ing or jousting, whatever you’re into. The tunes are quality so enjoy the almost 3 hours of music between these two playlists and rock out your weekend!
(A month or two ago, I was given the honor of writing a long-form article about my favorite homegrown EDM DJ. Kaskade is an American hero. Peep the article and show some love to EDMTunes, who keep letting me yammer on about stuff that I love.)
I was sitting there listening to MIA to LAS (a personal favorite off Kaskade’s Atmosphere), reading about all of his music disappearing from Soundcloud when it struck me. Kaskade is one of the only producers in the industry besides maybe deadmau5 who really gets it. Soundcloud has been bent over a table by the labels when it comes to takedown notices, even when the original creators (i.e. Kaskade and 50,000 other DJs) want them to be available. While I’ve given it up to deadmau5 here before, I wanted to take time to write a love letter to Kaskade. He, in my mind, embodies the absolute best in American dance music, much more than just being America’s Best DJ (which, he totally won last year if you forgot). Not only has he been innovating both sides of the house coin, progressive & deep, but his embrace of the exploding dance music culture in the USA over the last 5 years deserves massive respect. His recent Redux 2014 tour is astonishing and he’s working on more crazy stuff in addition to ways to get his music to his fans directly.
While he grew up in Chicago, he attended university Utah. He took a break from spinning records to serve two years on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan. That’s right, he served as a missionary bringing His word to the people in Japan, before Kaskade was ever a thing. After being inspired by a waterfall, he thought maybe “cascade” sounded good, so he got to work. In 2003, “It’s You It’s Me” with the debut album pushed out, creating an amazing, smooth sound that was signature then, even though we had no idea how far he’d go. Or perhaps you did, and I tip my hat to you, EDM hipster 😀
(I was lucky to be able to interview the Executioner himself, Andy C at Webster Hall, via Electronic Night Life. Give them some love and check out my interview below.)
1. How has your summer been? Do you have any cool stories/highlights from 2014 so far that stand out?Summer’s been incredible man. The summer kind of kickstarted, for me it was March. I know that’s not summer, I did Ultra and I did a little tour. I did like a week in the US, and then it’s just gone crazy since then. I went out for two weeks in June and I’ve played the most amazing festivals already. Electric Forest was amazing, EDC was incredible, Paradiso, Spring Awakening. I’ve been blessed already, you know. Then I come back to the UK and I went straight to Ibiza, doing a residence in Amnesia. Serbian Exit Festival, there ya go, tens of thousands. I mean, honestly it’s crazy. And here I am back in America, this tonight, Red Rocks tomorrow, and we’re only halfway through the summer. The bags are getting bigger and bigger under the eyes.
Since it would be tacky to post Summer House tracks after Labor Day, I’m gonna cram as much of it into this week as I can. Next up, Sam Feldt’s glorious tropical house mix. This mix has a number of great remixes and there’s a free download on Sam Feldt’s Facebook page as well. Free summer vibes for the last week of the unofficial season, and just in case you need another reason, the mix is dedicated to a single fan. I love this idea, the direct connection to a single person, something that really creates a connection between artist and dance party attendee. I can’t imagine how happy the winner of this mix would’ve been. Anyone want to make a Gotham mix for me? 😀
Terry Gotham 