Tag: Please Don’t Leave

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of Jon Davison (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass), Geoff Downes (keys) and Alan White (drums), the London, UK-based prog rock quintet Yes can trace their origins to when founding members Chris Squire (bass) and Jon Anderson (vocals) formed the band back in 1968. Much ink has been spilled throughout the band’s nearly 50 year run but what I will say that the legendary act has not only been pioneers of prog rock but they’ve also managed to be remarkably successful — 9 of the band’s 22 full-length albums have reached the top 10 in either the UK or US with two reaching number 1 in the UK. And the band has sold 13.5 million albums in the US alone. In the early 80s, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” was a mega-hit song — and a song that I remember quite fondly as a child.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 13 months or so, you may recall that I’ve written 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 reminded 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. Richter builds on the success of the past year with the release of a remix of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” that retains the vocal sample but pairs it with what sounds like ukulele, handclap-led percussion, swirling electronics and slowly cascading synths, which essentially turns the electro rock song into a slickly produced, densely layered, mid-tempo club banger — while retaining something of the song’s original feel and spirit.

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

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

Tale Of Us is a Berlin-based production and electronic music artist duo comprised of Carmine Conte and Matteo Milleri. And over the course of the past five years, the duo of Conte and Milleri have developed an internationally recognized reputation for material that possesses an exacting precision (they’ve been known to discard hundreds of tracks in their search for the perfect beat, the perfect sound) and for techno that’s deeply emotive.

“North Star,” the the first single off their double A side “North Star”/”Silent Space” consists of layers of shimmering and undulating synths, tweeter and woofer rocking low end, skittering percussion to craft a song that’s reminiscent of both Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” and Octo Octa‘s “Please Don’t Leave” in the sense that all three songs are atmospheric yet carefully composed club bangers in which, notes are never wasted.

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.