Some great tracks came out this weekend, here are those who really got on my mind.
I couldn't not start with this track. Frank Ocean gives us another track from his soon to be released album Channel Orange. A magnificient mix between poetry, hip hop, electro and jazz.
Louis La Roche is best known for his disco house skills, he diverges from his usual style here, going for something a bit more clubby/techno, still pretty strong though.
Pyramid decided to try his hand at Logic, he usually makes his tunes using FLstudio. For a first shot, that's pretty impressive! As usual, everything is about the atmosphere, the progression slowly getting to your guts...
Pilotpriest's back with some synths that'll keep your mind in the clouds for a few minutes, while slowly coming back to reality because well, it's monday.
Let's close this post with a catchy remix of Anoraak - Made-Up by the 3 guys officiating under the name of Les Loups.
A while ago I was sifting through my dubstep collection, it's mostly older stuff before the whole 'brostep' thing happened, and listening to them again I found they are still quality tracks. This was meant to be a mixtapey type deal, but it decided to crap out and delete half of itself right before I went to post it. That and I'd like to revisit the old type of posting for this one to talk more about the tracks themselves.
I've mentioned before how the 'step pays homage to its reggae roots, there's no shortage of it flying around within the genre. The couple I've posted before put a more modern spin on the Dub sound, like replacing the organ melodies with bass rumbles instead. This one however, stays fairly true to the source material and is all the better for it.
And with that out of the way I'm gonna give a rundown of some gems I found during the making of the ultimately failed mixtape, first up is Caspa with the charmingly named Custard Chucker with some lovely wobbles suiting that title. And it actually DOES have a reggae style organ in it!
More reggae stylings to come as we pay a trip to Benga's neck of the woods have a gander at the couple of fine examples he has for us for us on his album Newstep. That main hook is damn catchy, and it manages to stay fresh throughout, especially when it starts to get cut up around 1:50.
Joker has gotten more popular in recent years, I have a spattering of his tracks here and there, and this is one f my favourites along with his remix of Snake Eater from MGS3. Following a similar path to Dubstep Dreams, this track is centered around a single hook and variations upon it, and like Dubstep Dreams it's incredibly catchy and overall just good dub
Rusko was one of my favourite producers way back in '08. That all changed around the release of his first album, and now the tracks he makes these days are geared towards the mainstream and just don't have that same vibe that his early productions had, and they remain quality examples even to this day. The evolution from Garage (the UK Garage that is, stuff like this track) is clear on this one, which is the kinda tunes I grew up with, and is something I'd like to see the scene revisit one day.
I can't really jive with much of the new dubstep scene, it's so far gone from the original sound that it's not even the same anymore. Saying that there are a few producers who stick to the old sound and do it well, or have evolved their sound in a way that makes it more modern, but also y'know, good. You can find quality in dubstep, you just have to look, or sometimes go backwards.
Magna just released his entry for the remix contest Zedd started for his track Spectrum.
I'm happy to finally be able to post it, it's a terrific remix, very different from the original. Magna embraces dubstep with talent here, creating two very impressive drops, using that death vocoder I love, keeping his original sound while adding those sweet "madeonesque" harp notes that add so much to the whole thing.
Good afternoon internet, I just stumbled across an album that I think you're gonna dig. It's by a one Arcade High and is summed up by the man himself as: "It's been described as a cross between the kinda of SynthWave we are used to, influenced by ‘80’s TV and Movie themes, and the adrenaline chaos of video game arcades a couple of decades ago." that got me thinking of Kavinsky. And Miss Kittin & The Hacker to a lesser extent, so I went and scooped myself a copy.
Click for huge (1500 x 1178)
Ok, so the cover art may have had a bit of an influence on me too, you know I love a good cover. After the chiptune-y and new wave melding of the intro, I was treated to this. It's more 80's than Kavinsky, a whoooole lot more. Whereas the K man is sort of a mash between New Wave and Electro this is a straight up love letter to the 1980's, as the first airy synth hits told me.
Speaking of lighthearted synths, I love me some good lines, and this track has them in spades. And this just happened to scratch my itch that I didn't know I had, as those keys twinkled away I just couldn't help but smile. And the break at 3:35 is pretty special those are some excellent pads right there in that little break. And the arpeggio that leads it back into the main mix is pretty stellar too.
Adding to my list of tracks called 1980 something (coincidentally featuring both Kavinsky and Kittin & The Hacker) is this little number. The beat kinda reminds me of Calvin Harris' Flashback but with the plastic drums and synthesizer working that we've come to expect from Miami Nights. I honestly don't own anything else like this in my collection.
It's just not an album without a downtempo interlude to break things up. And this is The Art Of Youth's answer to that. it's like if Washed Out started working with synths instead of sampling old disco records, at least that's the vibe I got from it. Anyway, it's very, very nice. You know I love me a good chilled number and this also has the bonus of featuring everything about the album I've come to love so far.
I'll leave you with this, a more upbeat number that was the track that initially sold me. I was drawn in by that title, which is damn sweet. The synths hit, and that made the deal sweeter. But the deal maker? that has to be hands-down (no pun intended) the claps. When that first one hits at 0:44 you know this ain't nothing but a good time.
So that's a quick rundown of Arcade High, I gotta say it pretty much fits the description he gave out with the info for it, and it is pretty damn special. I highly suggest you check it out, or even buy the album! I'll hit you up with the links now.
