I taught a friend a new word this week. I thought it summed up Outside Lands pretty well and most festivals in general. It’s got a negative connotation to it, but a TA at my University once defined himself as a hedonist and at the time it sounded like the most honest look at one’s life I had ever heard. I don’t mean it in its extreme, as it’s often taken, but to some extent it’s what most festivals are in the business for, the senses.
This list is best for the late hours at the club and seems to be replacing glitch & bass music for the darker side of dance – as apposed to its more feel-good Disco House counterpart.
It really should have a two words tops title because Deep House & UK Garage is too much. I thought deep dance fit well, but I don’t think I like it enough. Help me out, word people.
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Each year we put together a playlist of our favorites that are performing at Outside Lands, but we got bored of that this year. So we decided on putting together a bunch of Kanye mashups & remixes instead, ’cause Kanye would want it that way. Except them being remixes maybe.
A little disclaimer. For the most part, don’t take these too seriously, especially the first one. Some of the tracks even fall outta sync at times, but each has their moment.
Just prepare yourself with these “unofficial Kanye collaborations” and hope he debuts his official one with Disclosure this Friday at OSL. It could happen. It should happen.
#3 is the best, by the way.
‘Make a Stand’ reminded me of the laid-back disco guys like Chris Malinchak are pushing into popularity, but something is slowly added at the beginning to completely transform it by the end.
I don’t know exactly what this sound is called, all I can think of is glam rock but in the electro sense. Not that glam rock sounds like this (I’m not looking it up). But glam with electro sounds fitting.
I actually first heard it in Jade Blue’s Instinct I think.
Last time we tried to highlight some of the best female singers of 2013, the top one just so happened to be a man. We wanted to carry on the tradition on this list with Zhu, but decided an honorable mention would probably be more appropriate.
The rest are a fine mix of 17 female singers that have such damn beautiful voices. Every single one of ’em. How all of these ladies haven’t gotten more mainstream airplay this year is beyond me, minus Lykke Li & Little Dragon, but I guess that’s what we’re here for and so are they.
Odesza is releasing their next album, In Return, in September and this is the perfect track to preview it (along with Sun Models). They’ve always had that Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” going on, at least in the electro sense, and ‘Memories That You Call’ continues it with a film worthy, chorus sound added on.
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Disclosure‘s influence appears to be popping up all over the place. They may not have created the sound, but they have undoubtedly popularized it. We’ve found many who try to dup their style, but few can do anything well with it.
Not only is Linden’s sound not just some blatant repeat, but he brings in vocals from Sam Frank on ‘Be Like You’ that bring much more than good sound. Lyrics usually don’t resonate too profoundly with me, but Sam Frank’s message is so telling of our time. I never really got people’s obsession with performers… without acting on it at least.
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We were so close to putting Zhu at the top of our 2014 R&B list. And even though he didn’t make the cut, he did help us distinguish the difference between today’s R&B and electro soul.
Before, the most notable difference the two was whether it was vocal or producer based, respectively. Where as R&B is focused on the soulful voices of today, electro soul generally cuts & chops memorable voices from the past and blends in heavy electro influences. Zhu is really the perfect intersection between the two, but we eventually came to the conclusion that his deep house influence was more fit for electro soul than the more traditional R&B (“traditional” in loose terms).
Also, keep in mind that even the musicians featured here are still electronically influenced in some way. Most music is nowadays. However, they play much more of a balancing act than their counterparts in electro soul. Hear for yourself and let us know your thoughts on today’s soul music and how you define it.
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I know I focus too much on chorus too much of the time, but Corinne Bailey Rae’s is damn near perfect in ‘Put Your Records On.’ It quite literally put me to tears. She’s as inspiring in words, for the most part, as she is in vocal zest and Nehzui’s remix gives it the extra oomph it deserves. His electro brass is a bit… brass but essential for the sing-a-long.
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