I’m not usually one to put out tracks with anything other than the music on it, but a Pete Tong essential is always a special case. For the last few years quite a few of my favorite musicians have been featured on Tong’s show. And never have I ever seen such a prominent music influence like him promote such acts so far away from the mainstream scene. Tong is just as relevant as he was back in the late 80’s at the crack of dawn in house music. I actually just caught him on the Pump Up the Volume documentary // Educate yourself!
In this not so recent Pete Tong essential, Ben Pearce is introduced with his ‘What I Might Do’ track just over a year ago. It may be dated when it comes to houses’ rapid growth, but it is just as relevant as any house on the market today. Still lovin’ those deep chords in house right now.
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I think I’m starting to get the hang of this whole brass classification thing, alright maybe not fully yet. I know this isn’t the sax at least, or at least I’m pretty sure. I should have been a musician so I could have properly learned this musician mumbo jumbo, now I’m just in it purely for the sound.
Grifta’s ‘The Lost’ has got all the emotion I see with any brass infused track with a downtempo Nujabes like find. It’s still puzzling to me how much emotion brass instruments have over all others to me, something only vocals supersede. Can’t wait for Grifta’s next gift.
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I can feel jazz creepin up on the electro scene this coming year. I thought it was going to be rap, but a lot more jazz brass has been popping up. And if I have to wait any longer for hip hop’s revival, I don’t mind so much if it’s with jazz.
Space Captain’s ‘Easier’ features vocals by Maralisa and I don’t know who compliments whom better. Space Captain puts on a fine jazzy beat, but these vocals really capture the feeling. I guess what will tell is who can reinterpret their own sound and make it something more beautiful next time. Could happen together again, but it’s much harder the second time.
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Last year I heard Insomniac was taking its Wonderland festival and bringing it to The Bay. The thing I remember most when looking into Beyond was that Insomniac was trying to create a festival so visually & audibly stimulating there was no need to rely on ecstasy or LSD. As you can imagine, I was pretty eager to find out how well they pulled it off both personally as well as for other attendees. And as much as I can’t speak for them, though some of the pictures can, I will speak a little on my own account.
Visually, everything was pretty enchanting my two nights there, but during the day the drabness of the Shoreline Amphitheater seeped through. Much of the crowd was dressed in full fantasy and really made the scene more than anything. But where as the visuals were decent, the music faltered.
Some of the night acts, namely Zeds Dead & WhiteNoize, were a helluva time, but the music that played most of the day can best be described by one song, the dirty bit version of ‘Time’ by The Black Eyed Peas. In other words, once the beat dropped everything went to shit […]
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‘Control’ starts off like an MGMT tune with vocals blended in well shortly after. The highs do get pitched up a little too high, but I like ’em in their quirky little way. The closer these vocals stay with this producer, the more likely both will succeed — keep up the collaboration, however it may have formed.
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I’ve been following Jason Burns for a bit now and when I heard he teamed up with the lovely Jessie Andrews for a Drake retake I knew it had either bad or good written all over it – Drake is usually a big hit or miss for me. Thankfully though Drake has nothing to do with this, except in name and album art. His vocals have been completely removed. However, Sampha’s backup vocals are provided throughout and make this one beautiful deep house melt.
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The melody isn’t half bad, the wobbles work well and the girl is good for a few cuts in, but that sax is what carries this tune. My obsession with the saxiness has gone back to one of our very first posts (3 minutes in, woof) and far before that. It’s the only instrument that can consistently replace the vocals as the backbone of a piece. And in ‘Jubel,’ the sax is its stature.
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Attended my first Beyond Wonderland festival in The Bay and as a helluva time as it was the music wasn’t really my thing (it’s about more than just the music). It’s not like they lacked good EDM artists, loved Zeds Dead & WhiteNoize, but the majority of it suffered from the dreaded dead beat (see dirty bit) loved by the Molly driven audience plaguing the EDM scene.
So after the festival was over Saturday night, I wanted to blast a little of my own EDM favs on the ride home. And first to pop in my mind was a newly discovered remix of Whitney Houston’s “It’s Okay” by Arches. It may cop out to sampling some of the finest of the 90’s, but with its deep house depths Whitney has been revived with one helluva banger set for a massive audience. I’d love to see this tried out on a similar audience.
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Repetition drives me nuts sometimes but usually feels just boring & unfinished, however, if it’s got a catchy melody with vocals it can go a long way. Toyboy & Robin’s ‘Jaded’ has a pretty standard house beat, but gets deep on the chords and varies it up just enough to rise above most.
And like with most upworthy music, the vocals set it further apart. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with vocals pitched up or down these days, but it works well (up) here.
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This one’s even got a pretty sly message under it, but that’s not why Bodhi’s Imperfection has been keeping my attraction. Bodhi cuts up ‘Imperfection’ with finesse, giving a clean midtempo breakbeat performance. My favorite part comes 50 seconds in and lasts a good 15. A spine-tingling buildup.
One flaw I found in ‘Imperfection’ was at 2:47 and a few bars after, but after listening to it a couple more times through I realized that was all apart of the fun in ‘Imperfection.’
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