Thursday, March 31, 2011

Song Of The Day: Skrillex - Equinox


Ladies and gentleman, Skrillex, aka Sonny Moore, is at it again. After a wildly successful 2010, having topped many charts and garnered such accollades as Beatport's highest grossing DubStep Track with 'Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites,' Moore drops yet another soon to be smash hit, with this, as of yet unreleased track, rumored to be named 'Equinox.' The track has all the major elements of any other recent Skrillex track, chopped, distorted vocals, layered over a brief, somewhat ominous piano melody, and straight into the deep heavy saw bass that comprises 90% of most of his songs. Compared to some of his earlier tracks, 'Equinox' is more structurally cohesive, sticking more to the pattern of the song, and less like an ADHD adolescent who's forgotten his medication, though there is still plenty of that, don't you worry. Skrillex's electro/dubstep style is one enjoyed by many for its energy and unique style, though like anything new and good he has garnered many haters, dubbing his style 'brostep.' If, as they say, dubstep truly is dead, than then the post mortem is something I can live with. Enjoy.



*Photo courtesy of Rukes.com

Monday, March 28, 2011

Back Catalogue - Songs Of The Day

Last September after an amazing dance party with some long-lost friends, I began a music share email where I would attempt to send out an streaming electronic dance music/dance music track a day, to share with my friends and those who were interested in what I was listening to or discovering. Recently I have switched this over to my blog in the hopes of forcing myself to think harder about these songs, write more meaningful blurbs, and reach a wider audience.

I've decided to post streaming files for each of those tracks, going back to the beginning, so here they are:

11/10/2011: Michal Menert - Sun/Shadow


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11/11/2010: Duck Sauce - aNYway


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11/11/2010: Kill the Noise - Perfect Combination (Original Mix)


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11/12/2010: The Chemical Brothers - The Sunshine Underground


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11/12/2010: Bonobo - Recurring


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11/16/2010: Swedish House Mafia - One (Congorock Remix)


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11/17/2010: Pretty Lights - A Million Tomorrows


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11/18/2010: Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Deadmau5 Remix)


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11/19/2010: TM Juke - Bee's On Mars


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11/20/2010: Glass Gifts - Arrivederci


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11/22/2010: BassNectar - The Churn Of The Century


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11/24/2010: Miike Snow - Animal


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11/25/2010: Quantic - The 5th Exotic


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11/26/2010: Soulwax - Krack


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11/29/2010: Cut Chemist - The Garden


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12/2/2010: Wax Tailor - Once Upon a Past


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12/3/2010: Pixies - Where Is My Mind (Bassnectar Remix)


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12/7/2010: Four Tet - You Could Ruin My Day


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12/8/2010: Birdy Nam Nam - New Birth


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12/9/2010: Amon Tobin - Slowly


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12/13/2010: Two Fresh - Third Day


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12/15/2010: Pretty Lights - My Other Love


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12/15/2010: La Roux - In For The Kill (Skream Let's Get Ravey Remix)


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12/16/2010: Photek - Slowburn


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12/24/2010: Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire


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12/29/2010: Blur - Ambulance


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1/4/2011: Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Shock Doctrine


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1/5/2011: Boys Noize - Yeah


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1/10/2011: Baths - Maximalist


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1/11/2011: VII - Nadie


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1/12/2011: Hallucinogen - Solstice (Warwick Bassmonkey Mix)


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1/14/2011: Amon Tobin - Hey Blondie


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1/15/2011: Miike Snow - Silivia (Roboberget Remix)


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1/16/2011: Blockhead - It's Raining Clouds


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1/17/2011: Quantic - Archipelago


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1/18/2011: James Blake - I Never Learnt To Share


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1/19/2011: Glass Gifts - Shaking


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1/20/2011: Blockhead - Which One of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer


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1/20/2011: Blockhead - Tricky Turtle


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1/20/2011: Bibio - Sugarette


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1/21/2011: Ratatat - Neckbrace


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1/24/2011: Pretty Lights - The Time Has Come


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1/25/2011: Die Antwoord - $o$


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1/26/2011: Feed Me - Green Bottle


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1/27/2011: The Chemical Brothers - The State We're In


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1/28/2011: DJ Shadow - Building Steam With a Grain of Salt (NiT GriT Mix)


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1/31/2011: Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em


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2/1/2011: DJ Fresh - Gold Dust (Flux Pavilion Remix)


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2/2/2011: Break Science - Move Ya Body (Co-Prod. by Paper Diamond & Gramatik feat B.L.A.M. and Julexa)


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2/3/2011: Big Gigantic - Funhouse


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2/4/2011: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)


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2/7/2011: The Glitch Mob - Animus Vox


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2/11/2011: Fukkk Offf - Rave Is King (Le Castle Vania Remix)


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2/14/2011: Pretty Lights - Hot Like Sauce (Rustified Remix)


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2/15/2011: Justice - Genesis


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2/16/2011: Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers


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2/18/2011: Mark Ronson And The Business Intl - Somebody To Love Me Featuring Rose Elinor Dougall, Andrew Wyatt


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2/22/2011: Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe


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2/24/2011: Thievery Corporation - Resolution (Rewound By Thievery Corporation)


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2/28/2011: Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Version)


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3/1/2011: Cee Lo Green - Fuck You (Le Castle Vania Remix)


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3/2/2011: Amon Tobin - Hokkaido (Lorn Remix)


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3/3/2011: Hot Chip - One Pure Thought


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3/4/2011: Bob Sinclar - World, Hold On (Children of The Sky)


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3/8/2011: Daft Punk - Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger


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3/9/2011: Sub Focus - Splash (Extended Mix)


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3/10/2011: Nosaj Thing - Light 2


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3/11/2011: Wolfgang Gartner - Space Junk


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3/14/2011: Quantic - Time is Enemy


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3/16/2011: Outlet - Touch the Sky (Live)


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Song Of The Day: Zedd - The Legend Of Zelda (Original Mix)

If there is one thing I've though since listening to the break at 1:12 in Wolfgang Gartner's 'Space Junk,' it's that Electro should dip more into the limitless resource that is Video Game music for source material. I do not mean that this should replace original composition, on the contrary. I would not want to see Electro-House as a genre go the same route of the action movie which is now in the business of raping unoriginal source material, like superhero comic books, to the point that all we have no are 3 different, lousy Wolverine movies, and a shitty Green Lantern movie that everyone is guaranteed to be disappointed with. What I mean, is that from time to time, they bring us something like this:



German Producer, Zedd, has turned this childhood favorite into a ridiculous electro club banger. Zedd has pumped out many fantastic remixes, notably some for Skrillex and B.o.B.

You can find the original track, as well as the Electrixx Remix (found below) both available for download here.



*Photo Courtesy of Bazooka Records

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Song Of The Day: Steve Aoki & Sidney Samson - Wake Up Call (Datsik Remix)

LA-based Electro/House Producer, Dim Mak Records founder, Rocky Aoki trust fund recipient, and "World Famous Hipster DJ," Steve Aoki has a new remix of one of his collaborations with Sidney Samson, done by dubstep producer, Datsik. The remixed track has a great Electro/Dubstep blend to it, and certainly helps me forget about past Steve Aoki collaborations, like September's god-awful 'Brrrat!' with Arman Van Helden. In my opinion, the remix is much better than the original house track, though with it's signature Steve Aoki screamed vocals, and melodic reprise, I can see 'Wake Up Call' being the new 'Warp 1.9' in 2011.



Below: Steve Aoki featured in Current TV's Supernews episode - "Hipsters in Space."



*Photo Courtesy of Dim Mak Records

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Song Of The Day: Will Albeck - Optimus' Crime

I stumbled across this track in my library from over a year ago, it was one of the first songs I put together after getting my MPC, first full version of Ableton Live, and having a considerable amount of free time. Of all the hours I spent in front of that computer, eventually things got busier, and I only managed to convert a few of those Live Sessions into tracks, and of all of those, this is probably one I am still the most pleased with. My heaviest influences at the time were Bonobo, and Pretty Lights, though I was also listening to a lot of Simon Posford and MEGASOID. I was still very new to the equipment and software at the time, so I think this track is a good reflection of my experimenting with the different instruments and effects, as well as sampling of different drum loops.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Song Of The Day: Cut Copy - Need You Now

Structurally, the first song of an album is the most important. Much in the way "La Femme d'Argent" set the tone for Air's 1998 release, Moon Safari, as an experimental, dreamy disco-pop sonic adventure, "Need You Now," the first track on Cut Copy's newest release Zonoscope, let's you know exactly what to expect over the course of the 11 track album. Part space disco, part 80's synth-pop, the track has a rolling bass line straight from U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," and the steady, yet ferocious, percussive rhythm from LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!"



I have to say that I liked this song much better than the first pre-release single, "Where I'm Going." Dan Whitford's vocals, reminiscent of Robert Smith's, build steadily until the last third of the song, when it breaks away into a very 80's guitar synth solo, that I am very excited to see live.

Zonoscope is out now, and available to download here.

*Photo courtesy of Modular Records.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

CAMP BISCO X - LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT!

Song Of The Day: Bibio - Fire Ant

I first heard this track by british producer Bibio, aka Stephen Wilkinson, late one night on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I could always count on this channel to provide me with refreshing doses of new, energized, instrumental electronic music, some of it recognizable, but usually it was all new to my ears. Unfortunately, because of the medium it was presented on, before the development of Apps like Shazaam or SoundHound, rarely was I ever able to identify these tunes. After getting my first smart phone back in 2009, this was the first song I've ever ID. Several phone later I still remember it for a few reasons:



I think the song is a good representation of the dynamic nature of Bibio as a producer. The song begins, interestingly enough, with two young children having an inaudible conversation about a fire ant, which is gradually overlaid into a mid-tempo, somewhat upbeat rhythm, akin to Two Fresh in 'Bakers' Dozen', yet more polished. About 1/3 of the way through the song switches gears by changing melodies, adding some playful distorted vocal loops and a syncopated rhythm, and most notably a cross-fade effect on the vocal track which sounds like a skillful showing off.

The final third of the song makes another drastic change in style, and serves more as an epilogue, or transition to the next song, while ghostly chords are strung out on what sounds like a harpsichord.

Recently, Bibio released the single 'Excuses' off his upcoming album 'Mind Bokeh' which will be released on Warp Records March 28th.

*Photo courtesy of Warp Records