Category: house music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

KCPK is a French production and electronic music artist trio, who have have been making a name for themselves as pioneers of the Rémoise scene along with the likes of Yuksek, Brodinski and The Shoes, as well as their frequent collaboration with PANIK, a club night best known for hosting the likes of Groove Armada, Laurent Garnier and Amon Tobin. And adding to a growing international profile, the act has collaborated with the likes of Woodkid, The Chemical Brothers and Two Door Cinema Club.

February 26 will mark the release of their Who Wants It remix EP and the EP’s first single “Who Wants It” pairs KCPK’s club rocking production consisting of huge, propulsive arena rocking beats, kick drum, handicaps, buzzing guitar chords, chilly staccato synths with swaggering, braggadocio-filled bars from Philadelphia-born emcee and producer STS. Interestingly, the song manages to bridge festival-friendly house music with trap hop/trap house in a way that feels playfully inventive and fresh.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Roland Clark is a renowned Atlanta, GA-based house music producer, songwriter and vocalist who has recorded and released material under several different aliases including Houseboy, Keita, Jesus Jackson, People, Roland Clark Presents: Digital Pimps, Dark Clark and South Street Player, as well as releasing material under his own name. Clark has also been a member of Leviticus and Urban Soul — and has collaborated with Bob Sinclair, Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez and Fatboy Slim; in fact, “Song for Shelter,” borrows a sample from DJ Le Roi’s “I Get Deep” featuring Clark.

However, at their heyday Urban Soul was not just influential, they were commercially successful — the act had hit the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play Charts seven times during the 90s. And if you were in a club in the early 90s, you’d likely know of “Alright” one of Urban Soul’s biggest song. Skittering drum programming, thick, cascading synth chords and soulful yet ethereal vocals bubbling and floating over the mix. Although the song is now 25 years old, it manages to sound as though it could have been released within the few years — as though someone like 100% Silk Records.

Electronic music producer and artist Alexander Technique is best known for his time helping pioneer both the term and idea of the “mash up” with Princess Superstar when they launched DJs Are Not Superstars Records, where they both mixed rock, techno and 90s hip-hop, as well as releasing material under several genres and subgenres of electronic music including the work of Larry Tee, Harvard Bass, Etienne De Crecy, Zoo Brazil, Sia and others. Technique is also the co-founder of Drop Ready Records. The renowned producer, remixer, electronic music artist and label head recently remixed Urban Soul’s classic “Alright.” And as Technique explains in press notes “”The remix was originally about 7 minutes long but after playing it for Todd Terry and my label partner Pedro, they both suggested that I make it longer. Todd even got in and played some keys towards the end…”

Interestingly, the Alexander Technique remix pushes the song towards the 21st century as it pairs Clark’s soulful and sensual crooning with a dense and super slick production that sounds as though it channels both a John Carpenter soundtrack, if filtered through hyper modern European house music as layers of shimmering synth, layers of buzzing synth, are paired with explosive flashes of cymbal and skittering drum programming.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Reuben Keeney is a 22 year old Letterkenny, Ireland-born Donegal, Ireland producer and electronic music artist, who emerged onto the international electronic music scene with the release of  a cover/rework of “Sweet Child Of Mine,” featuring one of London‘s most sought after young vocalists, Jasmine Thompson; in fact, the single landed at number 1 on Hype Machine‘s dance charts.

Building on the buzz of “Sweet Child of Mine,” Keeney’s latest single “Better Run” is an infectiously upbeat, old-school house music single that pairs layers of pitched down soulful vocals and twinkling synths, chugging bass lines and bits of glockenspiel with an anthemic hook in the sort of club-banger that you can picture your cohorts shouting along to in the club.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Born in a musical household in which her mother was a successful vocalist and her father was a professional musician and businessman, Munich, Germany-based singer/songwriter, producer and DJ Sandy Dae followed her parents footsteps as a professional musician and vocalist.

Early in her career, the Munich-based vocalist, producer and DJ relentlessly experimented across a variety of genres to find her creative voice — her first release was melodic house but she followed that up with an R&B and hip-hop-based collaboration with another DJ. Dae also has had stints as a vocalist in an alternative/indie rock project and in a reggae project before eventually returning to electronic music. And when Dae returned to electronic music, she realized that she had been where she needed to be all along.

Sandy Dae’s latest single “Losing Myself” pairs the Munich-based artist’s sultry and jazz-leaning vocal stylings with a slick house music production — gorgeous keys, propulsive, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, distorted vocal samples, layers upon layers and an anthemic hook in a crowd-pleasing and club rocking song that manages to possess a naughty, come-hither quality while simultaneously being a kiss off to a potential lover, who could potentially be a time-waster and heartbreaker.

Renowned house music label Enormous Tunes will be officially releasing the single package on January 15 — and the single package will also have remixes from house duo Milk and Sugar and French, deep house producer Mark Lower.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the course of 2015, you may recall that I wrote about  Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ Lennart Richter. Prolifically releasing a series of singles through renowned electronic music labels Sleazy G, East Project, G-Mafia Records, GUN PWDR, Ensis Records, Blue Dye, Mondal Recordings and others, Richter quickly developed a reputation across his native Germany and internationally for exploring the gamut of electronic music subgenres including deep house, G house, nu-disco and several others with a slick, crowd-pleasing, club-rocking production. And as a result, Richter can claim several Beatport Top 25 releases under his belt, and his last EP, Berlin Brawling landed at #10 on the Beatport Indie Dance/Nu Disco Charts.

The Berlin-based electronic music artist, producer and DJ closed out 2015 with the release of “Hold Up,” a nu-disco and house track comprised of layers of shimmering and cascading synths, propulsive drum programming led by explosive cymbal shots and a looped vocal sample that comes in and out of the haze. Sonically, the song reminds me quite a bit of Octo Octa’s “His Kiss” an “Please Don’t Leave” off his fantastic Between Two Selves — or in other words, it manages to possess both a bracing iciness and a thoughtful soulfulness.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

 

Mark Dobson, the creative mastermind behind the British electronic music sensation Ambassadeurs has developed a reputation as a producer and electronic music artist for a sound that employs the use of samples that have been processed beyond recognition and that’s informed by dub, hip-hop, jazz, and drum ‘n’ bass. And as result of his signature sound and production style, Dobson has also become a go-to producer as he’s done work for a number of renowned labels including Tru Thoughts, Ninja Tune, Moshi Moshi, Fat Cat, Wah Wah 45s, Universal, and Rough Trade — all while heading his own label, Lost Tribe Records and releasing a number of free singles for his rapidly growing fanbase. (He currently has 35,000 followers and his singles on SoundCloud have exceeded over 7 million plays.)

Dobson has received airplay from several BBC Radio 1 personalities,  as well as praise from the likes of The Fader, Mixmag, Vice, i-D, Clash, XLR8R and others, and as a result he has opened for the likes of renowned artists such as  ODESZA, Machinedrum, The Gas Lamp Killer, Danny Brown, Gold Panda, Daedelus and Kelpe, had a 15 date co-headline tour across North America with Daktyl and played at festivals such as Hard Day Of The Dead, Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, and The Sound You Need Festival.

2015 has been a rather busy and prolific year for the London-based electronic music artist and producer as his debut effort Patterns was released to critical praise earlier this year, along with a number of EPs. Building up on the increasing buzz and serving as a teaser for his forthcoming 2016 efforts, Dobson recently released his latest single “Halos,” which was written and recorded during a vacation in the country — and in some way that vacation has influenced the single’s sound as it is reportedly much more organic than his previously released work as layers of staccato synths are paired with skittering drum programming, swirling electronics and soulful vocal samples with warm bursts of strings and twinkling keys. Sonically, the song seems to be equally influenced by Peter Gabriel (think of “Shock the Monkey” and “Biko“) as it is by house music; as I listened to the song I was reminded of Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves. In other words, the material manages to be atmospheric and melodic, while possessing a cinematic quality.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Producer, DJ and electronic music artist Paris-born and Italian-based Idriss D has spent more than a decade at the forefront of Italian electronic dance music with the release of a string of commercially and critically successful EPs and singles — and as one of the best known DJs and producers as he’s played in some of his country’s most renowned clubs and music venues including Echoes, Cocorico and Red Zone.

After a chance meeting with Berlin-based Fabrizio Maurizi in 2006, the pair founded Memento Records, a forward thinking electronic music label that has released work from up-and-coming and cult-status producers and artists such as Luciano, Paco Osuna, Argy, Tom Clark, Okain and others.  Idriss D’s long-awaited full-length debut Amalgamation is slated for a December 18 release is inspired from the Italian-based DJ and producer’s desire to bring together his life experiences over the last couple of years as he’s become something of an authoritative voice in Italy’s club scene.

Amalgamation‘s first single and album opening track “Transition” is an incredibly nuanced song consisting of skittering drum programming, undulating synths, electronic clicks, bloops and beeps and big thumping bass, and sonically it possesses the same hazy and dream-like feel of Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves — in particular, “Please Don’t Leave.” And much like Octo Octa’s impressive 2013 full-length, the song is an atmospheric and carefully constructed and yet propulsive and dance-floor ready.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of artists who have become mainstay artists on this site. And interestingly over the past week or two I’ve been primarily (and unwittingly) focusing on many of those mainstay artists, as some of them had been releasing videos or new material. Adding to that growing list is the New York-based electronic duo Beacon, who will be releasing their latest effort, Escapements through renowned indie electronica label, Ghostly International on February 5. Now if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past few years, you may be familiar with the New York-based duo comprised of Thomas Mullarney III (vocals) and Jacob Gusset (production), but I know that there will hopefully be some new readers and listeners and there will be some folks whose memories will need to be refreshed so some backstory is a little necessary. With the release of their debut EP, For Now and its follow-up efforts, The Ways We Separate and L1, the duo have received attention across the blogosphere for a sparse R&B-leaning electro pop driven by big bass and big beats that frequently explores human relationships — perhaps more important, the dark and fucked up aspects of broken and failed relationships including the confusion between lust and love, obsession and longing and so on. And at its core a haunting sense of dread and regret as a reminder that ghosts linger — and linger in unsettling, uncomfortable ways. Although initially sparse and icily minimalist, the duo’s material has become increasingly warmer and dance-floor ready while remaining as subtle and nuanced as ever. In many ways, the material captures complex mental and emotional states that we all have known at some point.

Interestingly, the Beacon’s forthcoming effort Escapements is about time and the baggage it inevitably brings. And it’s title is reportedly taken from clock mechanics; escapements are timekeeping regulators designed to transfer energy at a constant and regular pace. As the duo’s Mullarney explains in press notes. “I was attracted to this concept because of the entropy it implies. Friction and changes in amplitude over time mean[s] every escapement, no matter how well crafted, will lose its accuracy and effectively slow down time via its own decay.”

Featuring drumming from Tycho‘s Rory O’Connor, the material on Escapements was written, revised, refined and recorded over the course of about nine months at Beacon’s Brooklyn-based home studio and Gary’s Electric and interestingly, their forthcoming effort reveals that the duo in a period of restless experimentation that includes changing their songwriting and production approach wherever their muses take them. And as the members of Beacon note, it meant trying out new studio tricks and recording techniques — sometimes on the fly, essentially capturing the free-flowing energy of the creative process.

Escapements‘ first single “Preserve” begins with woofer and tweeter rattling bass, layers of undulating and cascading synths and skittering and stuttering drum programming paired with Mullarney’s aching falsetto in what may arguably be the most dance-floor ready, classic house music-leaning song they’ve released to date while remaining incredibly nuanced both emotionally and sonically. But at it’s core the song glistens with an urgent, plaintive need.
The band will be on tour next February and March to support the new album and it’ll include a hometown show in February. Check out tour dates below.
Tour Dates
02/04 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s Tavern*
02/05 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Cafe*
02/06 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel*
02/10 Boston, MA @ Great Scott*
02/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom*
02/12 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle*
02/13 Washington, DC @ Song Bird*
02/16 Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5*
02/17 New Orleans, LA @ Hi-Ho*
02/18 Houston, TX @ Rudyard’s*
02/19 Austin, TX @ The Parish*
02/20 Tlaltizapán, MX @ Bahidora*
02/22 El Paso, TX @ The Lowbrow Palace*
02/23 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar*
02/24 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar*
02/25 Los Angeles, CA @ Bottom of the Hill*
02/26 San Francisco, CA @ Noise Pop*
02/27 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios*
02/28 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge*
03/01 Boise, ID @ Treefort*
03/02 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court*
03/03 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake*
03/04 Wichita, KS @ Barleycorns*
* w/ Natasha Kmeto
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Robin Paul Braum is a Berlin, Germany-born, London-based electronic music artist and producer, best known in electronic music circles under the moniker of Ballerino. He’s also a founding member of the London-based production and artistic collective squareglass, a collective known for a focus on unconventional production techniques. As a solo artist, Braum has developed a reputation for hypnotic house music with an artsy sheen.

Much like A side side “Wet,” it’s B side “Coward” according to Braum delves into something that would be familiar for all of us — desperate, embarrassing crushes, the fact that most of the time love is either unrequited or unwanted and the fact that love at first sight is often an illusion.  The production reportedly pays homage to house music’s origins as the song is comprised of shuffling and wobbling bass line, undulating synths ebbing and flowing about the bass, skittering and stuttering drum programming, led by hot, explosive blasts of cymbal and a chopped up vocal sample that reminds me of the fluid production style of Octo Octa‘s Between Both Selves  — in particular “Please Don’t Leave” and “Work Me.” And from the release of this single, Braum adds himself to a list of producers creating carefully crafted house music and electronic music that is clearly artistic, but hasn’t forgotten how to move a crowd.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Lliam Taylor’s Club-Banging Re-Imagining of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”

More than enough ink has been spilled on the incredibly lengthy and influential career and music of Stevie Wonder — and more than enough has been said about “Superstition,” one of the most beloved, often […]

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s Punks Jump Up and Their Old-School, Chicago House Leaning New Collaboration “Give It To Me” with the Legendary Robert Owens and Josh Caffe

Comprised of a native Londoner, Joe Attard and Swedish-born and London-based David Andersson, the London-based electronic music act and production duo Punks Jump Up (PJU) come from a punk, dance, street art, street fashion background. The […]