Tag: house music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares a Swaggering Banger

Throughout this site’s 13-year history, there have only been a handful of mainstay artists I’ve written about more than the wildly prolific, French electronic music producer LutchamaK.  The French producer and JOVM mainstay continued his well-earned reputation for being prolific: Earlier this year, he released the five-track EP Zirconium, which featured material that oscillated between different modes and genres, including tech house, breakbeats and more.

The JOVM mainstay’s latest EP, the recently released seven-song Let The Drums Go sees the French producer crafting material that meshes elements of tech house, breakbeats and electro pop among others. The EP’s latest single “Funk U Want” is a fun, swaggering banger that pairs old school house with contemporary production and an infectious hook that recalls Out of the Black-era Boys Noize.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Bubba Brothers Return with Shimmering and Euphoric “Black Beach”

Portuguese DJ and production duo Bubba Brothers — Eliseo Correia and Justino Santos — formed back in 2015. And since their formation, the JOVM mainstays have developed a reputation for being amazingly prolific, releasing a growing collection of club friendly bangers, which I’ve covered extensively over the past couple of years.

“Black Beach (Visions),” the third single released by the JOVM mainstays this year sees the duo pairing deep house with Balaeric house with the song featuring glistening synth arpeggio-driven melodies, skittering beats, twinkling percussion and euphoria-inducing hooks. “Black Beach,” as the duo explains was inspired by and written on Iceland’s famous Black Beach — but somehow manages to evoke sweltering summer nights and sweaty clubs.

The accompanying video by Eduardo Raposo is shot in a cinematic and stunningly gorgeous black and white and features Iceland’s famed Black Beach, a woman seemingly at the end of her rope in a hotel room, another woman swimming presumably off the coast of the Black Beach, and the Portuguese duo on the decks rocking out.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Marc O’rell and Wesley Reid Team Up on Deep House Banger “Bounce”

British electronic music producer Iwan Bedford and American electronic music producer Wesley Reid collaborate together in the transatlantic electronic music project O.a.G., which is influenced by 80s and 90s synth pop — think Yazoo (known […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rozarc Shares Cinematic Banger “For the Sake of a Long Night”

Over the past week or so I’ve managed to write a bit about Sinan Özgur Koç 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. 

I’ve written about two tracks off Flamacue:

  • “Sand Grains,” a track built around layers of fluttering and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and skittering beats that seemed 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.

  • “S.S.7,” a track that begins with a brooding introduction featuring twinkling piano that’s gradually paired with propulsive thump. Eventually, the piano is replaced with gentle layers of glistening and bubbling synths. The end result is a trippy mix of downtempo, cinematic piano and minimalist techno that nods a bit at some of the atmospheric, classically-inspired moments of Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express and others.

The expansive “For the Sake of a Long Night” is built around glistening synth arpeggios, twitter and woofer rattling thump within a shapeshifting song structure. The single manages to continue a remarkable run of cinematic, yet club friendly house — but while being arguably the most sensual and soulful single off the entire album.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Michael Phase Shares a Bombastic and Euphoric Banger

Michael Phase is a Dominican-American electronic music producer and artist, who initially became known for harder dance styles and collaborations with a number of labels, producers and companies, including Universal Music Group, Ashba, Cloud9, Kingsland Festival, Q-Dance, 2 Dutch and a lengthy list of others. Lately, Phase has been focused on fusing elements of UK House, hip-hop and techno with bass grooves inspired by Dubstep, melodic house and bass house, informed by an open-mindedness to new sound and concepts — and a desire to create a new, attention commanding lane for himself.

The recently released two-song Lost in Mvsic EP is the first bit of recorded material from the Dominican-American artist featuring his new sound and approach — and in the case of the EP the material is a blend of bass house, rave and tech house. Each song was written with the intention of allowing the listener to forget about their problems for a few minutes — and to let loose on the dance floor.

Clocking in a 2:40, EP opening track and EP title track “Lost in Mvsic” isbuilt around tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a monologue on music being a church and the DJ being a deacon, a chopped and looped soulful vocal sample, euphoria-inducing hooks paired with enormous drops. It’s a wildly accessible, crowd pleasing and bombastic banger that’s meant to inspire you to get off your ass and dance the pain, frustration and despair away for a few minutes. Believe me, it’s necessary.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Bubba Brothers Return with Another Euphoric Banger

Portuguese DJ and production duo Bubba Brothers — Eliseo Correia and Justino Santos — formed back in 2015. Since then, the JOVM mainstays have been wildly prolific, releasing a growing batch of banger I’ve written about over the past couple of years.

Continuing upon what may arguably be the most prolific period in their history, the JOVM mainstays released the Frenetic Desire EP earlier this year. The EP features “Desire,” a sultry club banger that recalls a slick synthesis of Larry Levan/Chicago house, tribal house and Balearic house. The EP’s latest single “Frenetic” is a slick and sultry mix of tribal house and Balearic house paired with a bombastic horn sample, skittering beats and the duo’s unerring knack for enormous, euphoria-inducing hooks.

With the unusually warm weather we’ve had in NYC over the past few days, this track is a reminder of rooftop, street and outdoor club parties that are about to come. Get ready to dance your troubles away, y’all!

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

45 is getting indicted here in New York today — right about now. I thought about four different songs that seem to fit the weird yet very historical occasion:

  • Antibalas‘ “Indictment,” off 2010’s Who Is This America?
  • Intelligent Hoodlum‘s “Arrest The President” off 1990’s self-titled album
  • YG and Nipsey Hussle‘s “Fuck Donald Trump” off YG’s 2016 effort Still Brazy
  • Madison McFerrin‘s “Guilty,” which was released as a standalone single back in 2021.

Fuck Donald Trump forever and ever.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dylan Rafael Shares Another Euphoric Banger

Dylan Rafael is a 23 year-old, New York-based electronic music producer and DJ, who discovered his passion for DJ’ing when he turned 12 — 12 y’all! When he turned 20, he started to learn how to produce his own original material, which eventually led to him playing at Lavo and nebula — with opening slots for Ship Wrek, Dzeko, Gordo and others. 

Last year, Rafael released two singles which caught my attention:

  • “Ancestral Groove,” an infectious, deep house banger that’s simultaneously club and lounge friendly — with a subtle hit of fall. “This is my first release inspired by my love for Tech house and Afrohouse,” the New York-based producer and DJ explains. “Did my absolute best to combine by favorite elements of both genres to create what I found to be a unique style.”

  • “Bedouin Whispers,” a deep house-inspired banger centered around tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a chopped up vocal sample, and the New York-based producer’s penchant for euphoria-inducing balearic-house hooks. But there’s a subtle Middle East influence in the vocal and in some of the instrumentation. “My new single ‘Bedouin Whispers’ is my take on tech house blended with my Middle Eastern roots.”

The young, rising New York-based producer begins 2023 with “Cham Cham,” which continues a remarkable run of Balearic-tinged house with elements of tribal house and classic Larry Levan-like house featuring skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats and subtle Middle Eastern instrumentation paired with euphoria-inducing hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Trance-Inducing Banger

Throughout this site’s almost 13-year history, there have only been a handful of mainstay artists I’ve written about more than the wildly prolific, French electronic music producer LutchamaK. The French producer and JOVM mainstay starts off 2023 with the recently released Zirconium EP, a five-track EP that features material that oscillates between different moods and genres, including tech house, break beats and more. 

Earlier this week, I wrote about EP single “Laws of Gaia, ” a slickly produced banger featuring tweeter and woofer rattling breakbeats and glistening synths. Arguably one one of the more chilled out, lounge-like tracks of his growing catalog.

The EP’s latest single, EP title track “Zirconium” is trance-inducing banger rooted in glistening synth arpeggios and relentless tweeter and woofer rattling thump. Play loud, y’all.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JoVM Mainstays H2SO4 Shares an Ibiza-like Banger

Over the past year or so, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering British electro pop outfit and JOVM mainstays H2SO4.

Last year, was among the busiest years for the JOVM mainstays as they released a batch of singles that included:

  • “Fast Cars,” a swaggering Brit Pop meets Big Beat banger that sonically nodded at the likes of Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Evil Heat era Primal Scream — and meant to be played as loudly as possible. 

  • “Electroworld,” a sleek and slickly produced, club and lounge friendly bop featuring thumping beats, glisteninlg and woobly synth arpeggios and Butler’s insouciant yet sultry delivery paired with the trio’s unerring knack for crafting an infectious, razor sharp hook.

  • “Best Shot,” a strutting bop with an infectious hook that nods at Electronic‘s “Getting Away With It” and The Chemical Brothers “Come With Us” but with a chilled out, lounge/salon friendly vibe.

  • The BassBears remix of “White Light,” a house music inspired track centered around glistening synth arpeggios, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats paired with Butler’s vulnerable delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook. The end result is a club banger that sonically is a synthesis of In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy and Balearic house. 

  • “Crash Test Dummy,” an arena rock friendly take on the British Big Beat sound featuring skittering beats, woozy synth arpeggios paired with enormous hooks. The end result is a song that seemed like a slick synthesis of Evil Heat-era Primal Scream and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method rooted in incisive, satirical lyricism.

The JOVM mainstays begin 2023 with “Outsiders (BassBears Mix),” a sleek, Balearic house-like banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, enormous bass drops and euphoria-inducing hooks paired with sultrily delivered vocal sample fed through a bit of distortion. This one sounds as though it would rock clubs at Ibiza on any given night.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Bubba Brothers Share Sultry and Summery “Desire”

Portuguese DJ and production duo Bubba Brothers — Eliseo Correia and Justino Santos — formed back in 2015. And since then, the JOVM mainstays have released a prolific array of club rockers. including a growing batch of singles I’ve written about over the past year.

Continuing upon a rather prolific period, the Portuguese duo’s latest single “Desire” is a sultry club banger that sounds like a mix of Larry Levan/Chicago house, tribal house and Balearic house rooted in slick, modern production, tweeter and woofer rattling beats and euphoria-inducing hooks. Although it’s been unseasonably warm here in New York over the past week or so, “Desire” manages to be a warm reminder of summer dance parties.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sub Caesar Shares an Ibiza-Styled Banger

Sub Caesar is an emerging Dutch electronic music producer, who started to seriously pursue a music career over the past year or so. And since then, the Dutch producer has released a handful of singles across the electronic dance music, including classic house, techno, house music, deep house, and even commercial house.

His first few releases saw him creating electro house/dance pop-inspired material that reflected an old-school musical upbringing. But lately, the emerging Dutch producer has had a desire to break old habits and old thinking, and to push his sound and creative process into bold, new directions.

Last summer, I wrote about “Do You Like Our Owl.” The song’s title is derived from a scene in Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner: Deckard (Harrison Ford) meets Rachael (Sean Young) at Tyrell Corporation headquarters. An artificial owl is prominently featured in the lobby. At one point, Rachael asks Deckard “Do you like our owl?” That bit of dialogue is featured on Vangelis‘ Blade Runner score, a score that the Dutch electronic music producer says he “must have played a million times.” 

The song itself, which features glistening and oscillating synths, skittering beats, tweeter and woofer rocking thump is paired with a chopped up vocal sample from Mariami. The end result is a sultry yet dreamlike take on deep house that reminded me quite a bit of Octo Octa.

The Dutch producer’s latest single the swaggering “About Last Night” is an Ibiza-styled tech house banger, featuring dense layers of glistening synths, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and skittering beats paired with euphoria-inducing hooks. Simply put, this one is a club friendly banger.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Satir Monter Shares Expansive and Cinematic “Ligea”

Satir Monter is an Italian-born and-based electronic music producer, who can trace the origins of his career back to when he started as DJ in 1994. As a DJ and as a producer, Saint Monter’s work is influenced by jazz, soul, Afro pop, funk, pop, blues, deep house, techno, electro pop, dance, house, underground house and progressive house among a lengthy list of others. And while his work manages to be indebted to eclectic sources, the Italian-born and-based artist’s sound is rooted in progressive evolution informed — simultaneously — by the past and the future.

His latest single “Ligea” is a club friendly, deep house banger featuring glistening synth arpeggios, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with shimmering strings, and euphoric hooks. The end result is a song that brings Octo Octa, De Lux, and others to mind — but with a cinematic quality.

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brooklyn’s illectronic Shares a Hypnotic, Soulful Banger

Oren Cohen, best known as illlectronic is an emerging Brooklyn-based electronic music artist, producer and founder of Vibal Records. The Brooklyn-based artist and producer can trace the origins of his music career to his teenaged years: As a teen, illectronic and his friends would spend countless hours smoking and immersed in hip-hop and EDM with the likes of Jonathan Peters, Eric Prydz, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas emerging as major influences.

A troubled home life and a series of bad luck, including getting struck by a car as a pedestrian, struggling with addiction and even mental health issues made things difficult; but he persisted, prolifically producing beats and developing the sound and approach that would become his signature style. Additionally, the Brooklyn-based producer and artist can also dance, act, write and sing — in English, Spanish and Hebrew. Not surprising for a Brooklyn boy, huh?

His personal experiences influence and inform his work, and as result, his music is infused with an emotional depth that he feels separates him from a crowded field. “My best friend Dan calls me a prophet . . . lol,” the Brooklyn-based producer writes. “I have no idea what I’m doing actually I just have the drive and ambition to be like my lifelong idols” He adds “I want my audiences to not only see, but feel God’s light when they hear my music.

illectronic’s latest single “Victory” is a hypnotic and soulful banger centered around skittering and propulsive beats, euphoria-inducing hooks and a gently morphing song structure. Sonically, the track brings Octo Octa to mind, with the song being both club and lounge friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dylan Rafael Shares a Euphoric Banger

Dylan Rafael is a 23 year-old, New York-based electronic music producer and DJ, who discovered his passion for DJ’ing when he turned 12 — 12 y’all! When he turned 20, he started to learn how to produce his own original material, which eventually led to him playing at Lavo and nebula — with opening slots for Ship Wrek, Dzeko, Gordo and others. 

Back in September, Rafael released “Ancestral Groove,” an infectious, deep house banger that’s simultaneously club and lounge friendly — with a subtle hit of fall. “This is my first release inspired by my love for Tech house and Afrohouse,” the New York-based producer and DJ explains. “Did my absolute best to combine by favorite elements of both genres to create what I found to be a unique style.”

Rafael’s latest single “Bedouin Whispers” continues a run of deep house-inspired bangers centered around tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a sultry, chopped up vocal sample and the New York-based producer’s penchant for euphoria-inducing balearic-house hooks. But there’s a subtle Middle East influence in the vocal and in some of the instrumentation. “My new single ‘Bedouin Whispers’ is my take on tech house blended with my Middle Eastern roots.”