A lot of producers try to create a signature sound, but not many pull it off, let alone keep it up. I usually criticize producers for sticking with what originally made them popular, but Galimatias changes it up enough in his latest round of releases. Plus the vocalists are always well picked.
His ‘Ocean Floor Kisses’ came out at the end of 2014 and I’ve been going back to it since. It’s one of the most relaxing beats – on the top list of all time – and best sums up his beautiful & laid back, off the beat music. Fun and quirky at times.
His work with Alina Baraz just before that is even more interesting to talk about. How he mixes her voice in ‘Pretty Thoughts’ with what I’m assuming is her pitched down vocals is one of the best plays between two voices. It finishes sentences better than most couples in love.
He hasn’t made much in the last few years, but some new stuff has sprouted up. ‘Blowback’ isn’t the redefining sound I heard with ‘Ocean Floor Kisses,’ but it’s as different enough as it is good. Taking on that 50’s doo wop (shoo bop) throwback.
We anti-Valentined last year with our Hip Hop + Heartbreak, thanks to the help of mimb, and this year we’re covering everything but (hip hop).
Most of heartbroke (as fuck) is some sort of soul music along the electronic scale, leaning heavy on electronic near the end.
If you’re in for a lonely Valentine’s this year, I hope this makes for a good background soundtrack.
The first time I ran into Madelyn Grant’s name was on Odesza’s Sun Models. I had recently uploaded the track to SoundCloud and she had contacted me about including her name in the title. The only reason I hadn’t in the first place was because they really chopped and skewed her vocals, making her voice barely recognizable. But she was real nice about it and it seemed more than fair.
About two months later and I see Madelyn Grant on FKJ’s Waiting. I didn’t remember she was on Odesza’s track at first, but once I did I was all the more in love. Madelyn has a breathtaking voice, but even better she knows how to use it – a much bigger problem with most vocalists.
Since then Madelyn has collaborated with a favorite of mine, Emancipator. I asked her how she got to collaborate with all these legitimate producers and she said, I sent them my demos.
That’s it. In Odesza’s case they were requesting female vocalists, but the other two she just sent them a sample. That’s all it took. How the fuck does that happen? Oh wait, that doesn’t. Minus with Madelyn.
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I’ve put together a playlist of my favorite songs of her’s as well as another list for producers she should also send her music to. Although, this time I think they should be doing the reaching out.
The original theme was fuck music that sounded like Flume, specifically his bombastic use of synth. That glamorous sound.
Future is what it’s being referred as right now, but I don’t like that title much. Even though I’ve used it before, it’s gonna sound stupid once it’s no longer the hype in electronic.
So in tribute, I thought I’d make something fun out of it. The title that is, with some word play.
Our electro funk from last year grew so much we decided to break it up & section it into a few playlists. First up comes from the groovier side.
I wanted to call this Groovewit hits, but Lauren talked me out of it. Generally speaking it lies in the mid-range of electro music with heavy synth influence and a whole lotta funky bass.
Let us know how well the songs flowed together for you.
It’s important to us.
Our favorite female vocalists of 2014 had a part two and this was going to be it. But so many of them were downtempo electronic, so we decided to make something more specific out of it, and brought in some older tracks.
Our electro relaxations has been our most popular playlist to date, other than the beats to blaze to, and we always wanted to include female vocals over the relaxations. And here it finally is…
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I’ve listened to way too much music this year, probably around 12,000 new tracks (I tried calculating it). Most of the music was.. unfinished, to say the least, but we found a lot more songs worth keeping than any year before it.
A lot of new music emerged or reemerged over the year. Deep house was the big thing, but many discredit it because of the hype. It had its bad with its good. Our favorite new style goes to what doesn’t seem to have an official name yet. I’ve heard many call it kawaii, but I prefer vapor – this naming shit is more important than you’d think.
We’ve got 30 songs to show off, 11 artists and 20 playlists for you, but if that’s not enough… wait ’til next year.
We start this off by sampling some of the best styles in electro soul and go from the playful down to the more sedentary. There are a few songs that deal with heartbreak, but the sound is still right.
Have fun with your loved one with this one.
At my job that actually pays, we’ve been trying to figure out what relaxing electronic music should be categorized under on our website. It was originally classified as ‘electronica,’ but the name was often confused with electronic, especially with Spanish speakers. Downtempo & trip-hop were other good options, but we decided on chill as it seems to be the most popular term used now.
I thought about naming our Electro Relaxations playlist something similar, but as popular as chill is now I gotta imagine it’ll fall off as fast as it came in. I’m still not too set on Electro Relaxations, but it seems like the best option for now. And who really cares, the music speaks far better than any name could.
Electronic is overtaking the industry and has done the same on this blog more & more each year. Our list of electronic music is so massive this year we split it in two.
First up is our best electro soul of 2013 that ranges from funk & jazz to R&B & dubstep (melodic dubstep). We weren’t sure if we wanted to include the remixes from our last list, 2013’s Top Remixes, but there is just as much soul in the remixes as any of the originals. Make sure to play through all 25, it’s got a good ebb and flow to it.
Also, stay tuned for our next list in electro: electronic dance music – and not that bullshit shit.
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