When was the last time you got something for free at a music festival? My guess is you were lucky to come out of there with just one black eye!
Well, now you can get the the official theme song of the 2010 e-Lake Festival for the price of an Internet connection.
And you didn’t even have to go.
It’s rich, it’s creamy, it tastes sublime, and I simply can’t believe it’s not butter!
Refracture vs. Yenn: Sunset (Free Download)
Collaborations are a magical thing. A transatlantic sowing of seeds to create the perfect musical baby.
That’s what happened here. More or less.
Luxembourg’s Yenn has been on quite a roll of late, with the brilliant Forward, Symphony (with Refracture), and the Mau5-ey Monzen. Mr. Y sent me a couple of ideas he had sitting around, and my favorite was the melodic and haunting mini song ‘Hemorrhoid,’ I mean ‘Blastoid’.
Right away, I could hear the progressive electro anthem it would become. The vocal was especially interesting. You see, Yenn had just become a baby daddy for the first time and another friend, Scott Willis, was expecting his second. Well not directly, but you get the idea.
Maybe it was all the baby talk, because the first time I heard Blastoid, I also heard the vocal line in my head. It was quite the hook, and rare for a dance track in that it was about a father welcoming his kid, as opposed to the usual ‘Do You Like Bass’, ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Dance To It’, ‘Love Your Booty Movin’ etc.
With that, I got to work. From Blastoid, I already had the key of the song, the stabby pads, the arpeggio, and the square lead. I needed a bassline that was muy musculoso. Heck, I needed two basslines. One to drive the groove, and one to add a little wap at the back end. Sort of a smack to the bum, if you will.
If you’ve heard any of my music, you’ll know my basslines are usually also the hooks of my tracks (I call it Electro Bass, as discussed here), so this one had to be special. The whole song, as it turns out, ended up being a bit special, as it’s about something.
The bass went through several revisions until finally, at 4 am on a Saturday morning, it happened and two became one.
Now I needed a vocal. The lyrics took me about as long as the basslines, and while they ain’t Wordsworth, they are effective. I always knew I was going to sing it myself. Why? First laziness, and second, why not? I’m no American Idol, but I’ve got better teeth than Justin Bieber.
Breakdowns can be tricky. Almost everything has been done already, so they require some serious thought. Ultimately, I decided not to go for a ‘mental’ Apes From Space type mindf@ck (it is about a baby remember), and pulled back on the gas. It actually served the track well. Finally, a mix and a rough radio edit and here we are.
I love it. Just the right amount of melodic ecstasy and dirt, with all the ingredients to be a summer smash!
Labels, are you listening to this?
Not one, not two, but three top picks for you to get your own freak on to this weekend. Or something vaguely along those lines anyway. Whole grain goodness for the whole family!
Lazy Rich: Discofukkr (Dirty, cheeky, driving, peak time anthem)
Kismet: Surreal (Melodic, dark, evocative, funky)
Zedd: The Anthem-Yenn Remix (Emotional, epic, progressive, chunky)
Preview and support at Trackitdown. And please promote legal MP3 downloads.
Winner of Pete Tong’s (now defunct?) Bedroom Bedlam competition, Leeds local Elliot Sivad has played it cool with a small number of quality releases.
Play It Cool, with its sexy vocal and thick melodic bassline, is a juicy slice of Electro Disco that’s just perfect for the summer.
Watch out for this guy, ladies, he’s goin’ places.
Preview and support at Trackitdown. And please promote legal MP3 downloads.
May kicks off with the Creme De La Creme of Electro compilations.
Sounding a bit like a 70s Swedish porn series, Bam Bam Bam (on the red hot Noobish label) features a veritable who’s who of the international Electro/House scene: Lazy Rich, Steve Velocity, Donique, Yenn, Refracture, Frederick Olufsen, Zedd, Dermot Bateman, Dead Wasps, and yours truly, Phatso Brown.
The ten anthems cover the entire spectrum of contemporary Electro, from the dirt, funk and sweat of Frederick Olufsen’s modestly titled Superior to the haunting progressive beauty of Donique’s Steps.
You have futuristic anime inspired apocalyptic rave in Zedd’s cheeky Nibbler, and Kraftwerk meets Chicago House by way of Washington, DC in Booty.
Label head Yenn teams up with Refracture for the frenzied Electro Breaks workout that is Bass, while Keemarah gives the Dead Wasps’ Don’t You Know the Justice treatment.
Dermot Bateman’s Bang Bang Rosie is a stripped down grinder and a definite grower, and Refracture’s Play gives Klaas a run for his money.
If you love Electronic dance music, do not miss this cunningly crafted collection of climactic ear candy!
Preview and support at Beatport. And please promote legal downloads. Cheers!
Fast forward more than 20 years from the last Great Moments, and we find ourselves in Bonnie Scotland. One Myles Macinnes has just been called the savior of dance music.
Typical understated British journalism.
While Destroy Rock And Roll was certainly chock full of retro electronic goodness, one track embodied everything we’ve covered in the series so far, and will stand the test of time.
M@thaf@cka’s gonna turn up the presshaaa…
I must have listened to this non-stop for at least a day and a half when it first came out. It was pure Electro, no question about it.
Taking a bit of Vince Clarke (that killer bassline was no doubt inspired by the Yazoo classic Situation), a twist of Daft Punk vocoded madness, and a whole lot of catchy (love me those synth stabs), he crafted not only one of the biggest anthems of 2004 (that breakdown is one of the greatest in dance music history), but also created- a Great Moment in Electro.
Brought to you by Ovaltine: for growing boys!
Absolutely spellbinding music video.
No, not that Jeff Daniels (at least I don’t think so).
This is one of those rare crossover tracks that manages to avoid the double cheese factor, even though it boasts all of the accouterments: sassy vocal, party lyrics, and well, sassy vocal really.
How you ask? The production. It’s slick, confident and ballsy without trying too hard to be flavor of the month.
I like that.
Yet another solid release from the Plasmapool label.
Preview and support at Trackitdown. And please promote legal MP3 downloads!
This is a big one ladies. Two of my underground anthems, old school robo funk workout Lose Control and grindy Electro monster F@ck Thru The Pain (FTTP), have been given a fresh lick of paint and re-released on the vibrant Noobish label.
And on the ‘B’ side, we have a spicy remix of FTTP courtesy of British Breaks star Refracture. Very tasty!
The Production Diary is back after a bit, and I am pleased to report that the Firefly remake that almost didn’t make it before mutating into something completely different, is now complete.
Ladies and gentleman, Superstar DJs, I present to you, Mr. Jackson’s Boys, a 7+ minute intense Electro workout (think Put Your Hands Up For Detroit, only better ;)) featuring the magnificent vocals of a young up and coming R&B singer from Gary, Indiana: Mr. M. Jackson.
The all important high hat is now present and correct, the arrangement (which is always tricky when dealing with a sampled vocal) is simply Shamon, and I am especially pleased with how the middle section leads into the breakdown and the outro. Ow!
There were some changes: the ‘digital’ bassline was ditched in favor of a warmer ‘analog’ one (Poly Ana), while the strings (Solina style-also Poly Ana) were pitched down to make them less obtrusive (thank you Robert Post’s child).
I used a warm toasty compressor on the drums and master, boosted some of the lows, cut some of the mids (smiley face EQ), and there you have it. Took me way to long to finish this, but I’m glad I did!
I am thinking of a Beatport/Trackitdown release date around mid April, immediately after the FTTP re-release on Noobish and the Aaren San remixes on Plasmapool. Busy month ahead.
Mike would be proud!
Electro rocker Aaren San is on a roll. First the excellent Revenge Of The Humaniacs EP (remixes from yours truly coming soon), and now this mini monster. Taken off the ominously titled Book of Electronomicon, the delightfully obese Fairy Tales From Osc is a breath of fresh (filtered pumping) air.
With its trademark chunky Aaren groove, glorious bassline, deliciously retro string synth and wicked vocal hook, this is a tune that gets going and never lets up. The way San layers and juxtaposes each part throughout the track is a masterclass in Electro production. Watch out for this lad in 2010 ladies, he’s gonna get big…
Click album cover to Preview and support at Beatport. And please promote legal MP3 downloads!
Phatso Brown-Straight From The Gut... 