Tag: EDM

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: London’s Finesse Shares a Summery Club Banger

Finesse is an emerging London-based electronic music producer and artist, who has a passion for creating energetic, uplifting EDM and house with a melodic vibe that can simultaneously help you chill out — and make you dance.

His debut single “So Alone” is a summery club friendly banger built around a deep house-inspired production featuring glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and a soulful vocal sample paired with an incredibly catchy hook. The result is a song that strikes me as sounding like a mix of Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa, Larry Levan, and 90s dance pop.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s Rozarc Shares Shimmering Club Banger

Sinan Özgur Koç is a Berlin-based, Turkish electronic music producer and artist, drummer and sound engineer, best known as Rozarc. Koç has grown up with a diverse array of music influencing his own work ranging from Bjork, Amon Tobin, and Nine Inch Nails to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kyuss among others. But as an electronic music producer and artist, his work is influenced by techno, tech-house. industrial, synth wave, downtempo, glitch and IDM while paired with sound design ideas moulded with narrative and cinematic structures.

The Berlin-based producer and artist first emerged into the electronic music scene with his debut EP, 2019’s five-song Odds Are Tough, which saw him quickly establishing a forward-thinking, genre and style-defying sound and approach to his productions while being remarkably harmonious. Koç’s full-length debut, last year’s 12-song Flamacue was released to quite a bit of attention with the album being showcased in FAZEmag, The Groove Cartel, The Further, Zero Music Magazine, R+, Roadie Music, Zone Nights, Electronica.org.uk, and a list of others.

Built around layers of fluttering and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, twinkling keys and skittering beats, the remarkably cinematic album track “Sand Grains” seems like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” — but with a club friendly accessibility.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda’s “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi

Cyril Thévenard is a Dijon, France-born, classically trained flute player, and highly regarded electronic music producer and artist. Initially influenced by French touch, Thévenard becomes a DJ and plays at raves under the moniker Hermetic Unity.

Thévenard started releasing material as John Lord Fonda in 1997 with the release of that year’s Vulcan through Choice Records. After gaining experience on the turntables, the Dijon-born electronic music producer and artist, signed with Citizen Records, who released 2004’s VoltAge. 2005 saw the release of Erase My Anger EP, followed by Debaser, which featured a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”

2009’s Composite compilation, included some live versions of tracks. 2011 was a busy year: He started the year with the Bang The Fire! EP and closed out the year with Supersonique. Thévenard then disappeared from the scene for the next decade, reappearing with the release of 2021’s Walk Again, which featured “Together Again,” a club banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and euphoria-inducing hooks.

Recently Grenoble, France-born and based electronic music producer and artist Endrik Schroeder remixed “Together Again” feat. Gabriel Afathi turning it into an Italo Disco banger, along the lines of From Here to Eternity-era Giorgio Moroder with a contemporary EDM sheen — but while retaining the song’s original, mysterious air.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Allegories Releases a Left Field Banger

Allegories was a long-dormant experimental noise duo that reappeared in 2014 as an electro pop unit that experimented with genre, meshing eclectic soundscapes with pop inclinations. Gathering further, inspiration from DJ’ing house and hip-hop nights, the act began to create electronic music that often shifts between the mainstream and underground spectrum.

The duo’s latest single “Pray” is a feverish left field take on dance music, centered around `shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats, euphoria-inducing hooks and pitch shifted vocals that sonically is a slick synthesis of Evil Heat era Primal Scream and Sound of Silver era LCD Soundsystem. Or in other words, it’s a bizarre yet winning mix of menace, irony and sincerity within a club banger.

“‘Pray’ feels like a tree grown out of a seed of house music, but its leaves are wild and varied,” the mysterious duo explain. “Sometimes you let gravity take over a composition; you start one way but over time music evolves naturally. At the same time, “Pray” doesn’t function in an uncomplicated fashion. It was written and recorded over many years and each new iteration added conflicting emotional layers. A menagerie of feelings. Owing as much to the overtly sincere as it does the misleading insincere. “

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Nile Rodgers

Today is the 16th day of February — and the 16th day Black History Month. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles with the hopes that these artists can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience.

As the month goes on, I hope that you’ll be reminded of these urgently important facts:

Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.

Nile Rodgers has written, cowritten and/or produced some of the biggest and most beloved dance floor and pop hits of the past 50 years while working with a who’s who list of artists across a diverse and eclectic array of artists. I’d guarantee that Rodgers has worked with an artist you love on a song you love. And as a result, his sound and approach has been instrumental in your life.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Matteo Longbois is an emerging, 20-something, Honfluer, Normandy, France-based electronic music producer and electronic music artist. He can trace the origins of his love for electronic music to when his father played David Guetta‘s 2006 Sensation White Festival set for him. Since then, Longbois has created his own original music, influenced by Daft Punk, Paul Kalkbrenner, Lauant Garnier (a.k.a. Chance) and Todd Terry among others.

Clocking in at a little under three minutes, Longbois’ latest single, the minimalist “Techno Medicament” is centered around hypnotic repetitions of dense synth arpeggio layers, tweeter and woofer rattling polyrhythmic thump. Sonically, the song strikes me as a sleek and energetic synthesis of Kraftwerk and The Chemical Brothers‘ “Star Guitar.” Interestingly, as Longbois explains the song is influenced by several different electronic music styles and genres including minimalist techno, IDM and house. Ideally, the song was created as a a way to escape one’s troubles after a hard day’s/night’s work.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

James Fisher is a Chicago-based electronic music producer, best known as ALIGN. With ALIGN, Fisher has developed a reputation for crafting thought-provoking music for the everyday listener meant to be the soundtrack for your daily commute or a night out with friends. So far he has appeared alongside some of the brightest and biggest names of contemporary indie electro pop and EDM including Louis The Child, Illlenium, Autograf, Hayden James, Thomas Jack, SNBRN, GTA and a list of others. Adding to a growing profile, “All In Our Eyes,” a 2018 collaboration with fellow Chicagoan Mielo landed at #1 on the Hype Machine Charts.

Fisher released two singles earlier this year “Second Thoughts” and “Reflections” through well-esteemed electronic music tastemaker label Lowly Palace and a remix of PINES‘ hit single “Tell Me” for Kygo’s Palm Tree Records. Capping off a big year, Fisher’s last ALIGN single of 2020 “When I’m With You” finds him collaborating with vocalist Martina Lynn. Centered around ambient and textured synth arpeggios, skittering beats., and Lynn’s achingly vulnerable, sultry vocals, the upbeat confection “When I’m With You” manages to be both club and radio friendly. But underneath the slick studio polish, the song is a sweet declaration of longing and desire by a narrator, who has stumbled upon the true love that we all wish we have — the sort in which you can find sustenance and comfort in your lover’s presence and arms.

“I started writing this track by using some guitar plucks and experimenting with a soundscape,” the Chicago-based ALIGN says. “I wanted to create an ambient moment, then transition into more of a rhythmic beat. That soundscape became something that I could write chords on top of and develop a beat and melodies. I loved where it was going, but I knew it needed somebody’s story to accompany it. Martina seemed like the perfect fit for the vibe of this track.” 

“When I first heard the track, I was immediately intrigued to start writing and creating a melody for it because it was an upbeat, EDM type track that I wasn’t used to working with and I was up for the challenge,” Martina Lynn recalls. “My manager, Jeremy Gentry and I spent so much time writing, rewriting and recording all via video call, which was such a challenging, vulnerable process but it was so rewarding. When it comes to the actual writing process, we were both drawn to the idea of creating a healthy and happy story of love for the track, because those seem so rare lately. I think everyone can relate to the idea of only being able to think of one person when it comes to love and being in love and wanting them because of the comfort they bring.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Mariatti · Patches

 

Andrea Mariatti is a 26 year old,Turin, Italy-born and-based electronic music producer, electronic music artist and DJ, who can trace the origins of his music career to when he turned 12. Around that time, he had started creating and making music from his laptop. Mariatti’s music career started in earnest when he was 15: he started releasing albums under the name Andrea Dub. Some of the young producer and DJ’s work was played by a number of DJs across the European Union.

After completing high school, Mariatti studied at SAE Institute, Milan, eventually earning a degree in Audio Production and Creative Music Industry, which helped him pushed the boundaries of his sound and technical limits. Over the past few yers, Mariatti has been rather busy: three years ago, he returned to his hometown, where he built a studio, so he could work on music every day.

Two years ago, the up-and-coming Italian produced signed with NBM Music Agency, who helped him sign with Deadmau5′s mau5trap Records, who released music from his latest musical projects Thin King and his latest solo project Mariatti. Additionally, he founded Recall, a live events brand whose mission is to create and foster a community of passionate people about electronic music with his friend and colleague HolyU.

Now, as you may recall, Mariatti has also released a batch of new material that included the trance house meets New Jack Swing-like “Other Vibes” and the lush, Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa-like “Variable Speed of Life.” Mariatti’s latest single “Patches” is a lushly melodic yet brash banger centered around layers of shimmering and wobbling synth arpeggios, stuttering beats placed with an expansive, seemingly free-flowing song structure. Subtly recalling Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, Factory Floor and others, the track may arguably be the most mesmerizing of the Italian producer’s growing catalog.

“‘Patches’ is the most melodic and evolving arrangement I went through,” Mariatti says. “The process of this song came from only one synthesizer: Korg MS-20; every single sound you hear is made by that astonishing machine.” 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Mariatti · Other Vibes

Mariatti · Variable Speed Of Life

Andrea Mariatti is a young, emerging Italian electronic music producer, electronic music artist and DJ, who can trace the origins of his music career back to when he was 12. He started creating and making music from his laptop. By the time Mariatti turned 15, he was releasing albums under the name Andrea Dub — and building upon a growing profile, some of his work was played by a number of DJs across the European Union.

After high school, the young Italian producer studied at SAE Institute, Milan, eventually earning a degree in Audio Production and Creative Music Industry, which helped him pushed the boundaries of his technical limits. The last couple of years have been pretty busy for Mariatti: three years ago, he returned to his hometown, where he built a studio, so he could work on music every day.

Two years ago, the up-and-coming Italian produced signed with NBM Music Agency, who helped him sign with Deadmau5′s mau5trap Records, who released music from his latest musical projects Thin King and his latest solo project Mariatti. Additionally, he founded Recall, a live events brand whose mission is to create and foster a community of passionate people about electronic music with his friend and colleague HolyU. Mariatti has also been busy working on new material, including his two latest singles — “Other Vibes” and “Variable Speed of Life.”

“Other Vibes” is slickly produced bit of trance-inducing house, centered around wobbling and arpeggiated synths, skittering beats, vocoder’ed and distorted vocals and an infectious hook — and while being a forward-looking yet crafted bit of electronic music that subtly nods at New Jack Swing, the track as the Italian producer explains in press notes is dedicated to Recall’s motto, with a focus “on the continuous research of inspiration from the sounds and the people, who enjoy the craft.” “Variable Speed of Life” is a straightforward yet brash club banger centered around a lush production featuring layers of shimmering synth arpeggios, thumping beats, twinkling and atmospheric electronics. Sonically, the track reminds me of Octo Octa and 100% Silk Records.

”Variable Speed Of Life’ is my second independent release and its title came from the quarantine experience: for the first time in our lives we got more aware about the flow of time and it’s importance,” Mariatti says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

DAYS IN ORBIT · TSUKIAGERU BEAT

Days in Orbit is a Paris-based electronic music production and music unit that specializes in crafting transcultural dance floor bangers centered around organic instrumentation and electronic production.

Deprived of the opportunity to play live shows as a result of COVID-19 pandemic-based lockdowns, the members of the French electronic act decided to connect with their fans through a weekly digital meeting on Instagram that they dubbed #corcorobeatz.  Each session featured a member of the band spontaneously creating beats — while revealing their own inner world. The end result was eight new beats that the members of the act decided to develop into new, original music.

“TSUKIAGERU BEAT,” the French electronic music act’s latest single can trace its origins to a beat the act created in #corcorobeatz 2 — and it’ll further establish their globe spanning, dance floor friendly sound and approach. Centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, twitter and woofer rocking beats, industrial clang and clatter, an enormous, crowd pleasing hook and chopped up vocals sung in a coquettish Japanese, “TSUKIAGERU BEAT” is a swaggering and upbeat, club banger that recalls Daft Punk and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk.