Category Archives: Electro-House
Danger’s ‘22h39’
Whether leaks harm or help and artist in their promotion I open for debate, I can say that, whether harming or hurting, it probably fucks up their pre-planned release track somewhat. Over the weekend a new track from Outrun originator Danger leaked, which looks like it forced his hand to release it through official channels, so here it is.
Danger was one of the undisputed reigning champions of Electro in 2007, even now you can drop something like ‘11h30’ and the place will go apeshit, but other than trickles, and the occasional leak (usually ripped from a live set) EP’s are very few and far between, three in five years, and the last one was two years ago. So the release of ‘22h39’ sees a Danger that despite first appearances isn’t all that different from the Danger of old. His production were always measured and melodic and although the beat is more Disco than Electro-House, it’s still the haunting, driving, powerful Danger we remember.
♫ Danger – 22h39
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Kool Bandits’ ‘Dancefloor Hold Up’
Way back, last month, we posted a track by French outfit Kool Bandits, then called ‘I Want You’ the track has now been renamed ‘Dancefloor Hold Up’ and has been given the full vocal treatment for it’s single release.
The vocal is actually quite weird, really self-referential. It kinda’ works, but I’m torn as to which version I prefer, this or the Instrumental version. The vocal version is definitely more of a commercial party starter. The track itself, as we said last time, is unashamedly poppy with it’s hook, with a dirty bassline and a big euphoric riff. But the vocals are maybe just a tad too cheese laden and meandering for our tastes. That said though, it’s still a really good track, and the single is definitely worth picking up, if mainly for the Instrumental and it’s insanely catchy hook. The instrumental version is the standout track here, but this vocal version is definitely going to get some play over the summer.
♫ Kool Bandits – Dancefloor Hold Up (Radio Edit)
♫ Kool Bandits – Dancefloor Hold Up (Instrumental Mix)
‘Dancefloor Hold Up’ is released 22nd June.
Check out more from Kool Bandits on SoundCloud.
Rave Me’s début EP
OK, fist up Rave Me is a terrible terrible name. Shudder. Sometimes I really don’t think producers care about how their music is presented to the public. I got sent Rave Me’s new EP from Keiz Beats, a label I trust, so I listened to it, if it had come form an unknown source, with a name like that, I would have probably passed it over. Right, now I have got that out of my system, Rave Me is a 17 year old Ukrainian producer who is actually making some awesome tunes, so it’s a good job I did end up checking it out.
This insanely young producer is mashing up Electro-House and SynthWave into one powerful, noise and emotive dance monster, and with no releases recently from Danger, we kinda’ need someone doing this. His ‘Dance’ EP (this kid really isn’t good with names) kicks off with ‘Round’, a massive stomping Electro track that comes at you with chainsaw synths. This leads into the rest of the EP which contains a few, more Pop oriented, tracks. These tracks, like ‘With You’ are surprising beasts, starting you off with plumbing Electro then dropping a slick vocal on you. It makes for a weird combination, but the mixture of jackhammer stadium Electro and big anthemic vocals works incredibly well. Then out of nowhere Rave Me drops a track like ‘That Night’, a Ukrainian take on Chromeo’s Funk. Sure, the EP is a little rough around the edges, the production could be smoothed out a little, maybe mastered properly, and that name (oh that name!), but all-in-all this is a damn impressive, and mature, début from this youngster and one that it is definitely worth checking out.
♫ Rave Me – With You
♫ Rave Me – That Night
♫ Rave Me – Dance
The EP is released 4th June.
Buy Rave Me’s music from:
Hervé and Ronika’s ‘How Can I Live Without You (Make It Right)’ video
Well, we’ve been hearing about this for a while now, both in person and on Twitter, but now we can feat our eyes on the video, and have our first listen to the full vocal version, of Hervé and Ronika (ahem, Madonna Of The Midlands™)’s ‘’How Can I Live Without You (Make It Right)’.
Directed by Jack Lightfoot & Robin Mason at Blindeye Films, the clip features little Ron and little Hervé, and slightly less little Ron, but seems to be missing a big Hervé. Wassup with that?
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Van She reMixed by Hervé
Van She’s ‘Idea Of Happiness’ was finally released this week and alongside the awesome original and the kicking SebastiAn reMixes we’ve already heard sits this Rave monster from Hervé. A surprising standout on the single, the reMix is bally, Acidic, in-you-face and bass bass bass heavy.
‘Idea Of Happiness’ looks set to become the anthem of the summer, an amazing comeback for Van She, and between the Indie-ElectroPop of the original, the French Disco of SebastiAn’s mix and now Hervé’s big Bass track there is a reMix for every occasion. Hervé has dropped a tune that will be dominating festivals and big parties in the coming months. Keeping most of the track intact for the into, he then goes Rave crazy once the track kicks in with Acidic riffs and booming basses in a track that seems to constantly build.
♫ Van She – Idea Of Happiness (Hervé Room 1 reMix)
The single is out now and features additional reMixes from SebastiAn, Jonti, Hervé, and What So Not. Van She’s new album will be out this 6th July on Modular Recordings.
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Nite Sprite’s début EP
Nite Sprite are a Norwegian double act whose harsh Electro/SynthWave we recently featured reMixing Mitch Murder’s ‘In The News’. The duo have just released their début EP and it’s a no-nonsense, dark robotic journey through the night. Check it out.
Their self-titled EP contains four originals, named ‘Scene 1’, ‘Scene 2’… and so on which only adds to the ambiguity of these tracks. This isn’t sweet Outrun/SynthWave inspired by ‘80’s teen movies, this is holy-shit Electro SynthWave inspired by ‘80’s “what the fuck is after me” movies. They actually remind me a lot of Coloureds, in that way they can make Electro noise terror but still retain a Disco groove or a cinematic SynthWave progression. it’s not an easy thing to achieve and Nite Sprite pull it off with ease. Highlights of the EP include ‘Scene 1’, which sets up the EP with harsh digital bass and melodies filled with dread anticipation, ‘Scene 3’ which channels a little Kavinsky and Vince DiCola together into a noise, but emotionally driven tune, ‘Scene 4’, the most melodic of the tunes, maybe the finale of the Originals. ‘Scene 4’ is a brooding, but ultimately optimistic slice of chainsaw electron with a tune. Also, their are reMixes from Totem and the king of SynthWave Mitch Murder, who takes the heavy elements of ‘Scene 1’ and works them into a flawlessly produced, post-EBM slab of pure retro synth work. Mitch’s reMix drops some really interesting elements, the crunch synth guitar playing against the sparkling leads to create a rich, full sound. An interesting EP to be sure, and an in-you-face début form Nite Sprite.
♫ Nite Sprite – Scene 1
♫ Nite Sprite – Scene 3
♫ Nite Sprite – Scene 4
♫ Nite Sprite – Scene 1 (Mitch Murder reMix)
Nite Sprite’s self-titled EP is out now.
Buy Nite Sprite’s music from:
Mr. Gonzo’s ‘Dance On You’
It’s been a while since we heard from French producer Mr. Gonzo, since his ‘Extended Play Area’ EP he’s been of around the world DJing and hidden away working on his new single, which is released today on Folistar.
‘Dance On You’ is a massive tune that straddles the line between Nu-Disco and Electro-House. Squelchy funky basses rock the core of the track leaving loads of room for some crazy stabs and vocal snatches. Unmistakable French, ‘Dance On You’ takes the classic French Disco sound and layers it heavily with dirty, grunged up synths. Infectious stuff! The B-Side, ‘Wild Shoes’ is pure slick French Disco, cut up and stuck back together with good-times-glue. This track is slick dancefloor fodder, but amidst all the smooth grooves Mr. Gonzo manages to keep things raw with some subtly use of chainsaw synths. reMixes for the single are supplied by Tagteam Terror and DJ Gero.
♫ Mr. Gonzo – Dance On You
♫ Mr. Gonzo – Wild Shoes
Check out more from Mr. Gonzo on SoundCloud.
Buy Mr. Gonzo ’s music from:
Anto Greekson
OK, let me just start by sating that, yes I am aware that is the single worst record cover ever made. It’s such a truly terrible peice of misguided marketing that I can’t even bring myself to show you the whole thing. A graphic design and artwork failure so bad that I very nearly didn’t listen to the music at all. But that would have been a mistake, because the music of Greek Swede Anto Greekson is really sublime at times.
Anto makes Electro tunes that swing between full-on bangers and sweet SynthWave tracks. As evidenced on his new EP ‘Fantasy’, his bangers are top quality, EBM tinged cacophonies of chainsaw synths and heavy bass that would kill in any hard Electro set. However, it;s his more melodic peices where Anto really shines. ‘Galaxy’ for example, drops a hard beat and rapid fire Italo basslines, but then layers it with some soaring synth leads that would easily be suited to some futuristic ‘80’s TV show. Still working the buzzsaw sounds, ‘galaxy’ is an altogether more musical offering. As is ‘Naked’, again still in-your-face Electro, but somehow less obnoxious as the more banger-oriented tracks, here there is flying shimmering synth sounds and a sense of melody to the distortion. ‘Streetlights’ is the other standout on the EP, the most Italo of the collection at times sounding, working bit-crunched sounds into a rolling groove and occasionally sounding a bit like Mille. All in all it;s a pretty good début, Anto needs a lot of work on his production (and a new graphic designer!) but this one shows a lot of potentiol, and we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on him.
♫ Anto Greekson – Galaxy
♫ Anto Greekson – Naked
♫ Anto Greekson – Streetlights
Anto Greekson’s ‘Fantasy’ EP is out now.
Buy Anto Greekson’s music from:
Adamski’s ‘I Like It ‘ EP
Adamski has had a long and illustrious career. Instrumental in bringing dance music to the Pop masses when he, along with his Ensoniq SQ80, brought digital synths into Acid House (I had an SQ80, used to spend ages trying to copy Adamski!) and gave the world Seal (movie soundtracks would never be the same again). That was back in ‘89, and he’s been recording off and on ever since, sometimes as Adamski, and in recent times as Adam Sky.
But it took our friend Jerry Bouthier’s Continental Records to get him to don the Adamski hat once more for his forthcoming ‘I Like It’ EP, and it strangely sounds just like Adamski should! The lead track is a big Disco-tinged rave monster. It’s a definite London vibe, deep, hypnotic riffs and brain infecting synths work best on the capitals dark mysterious dancefloors. Places you can loose yourself in a track that takes in the last two decades of the producer’s career. ‘Wot Happened To You?’ is more straight-up Nu-Disco, still with a strong ‘90’s House vibe but more of a solid groove and slick Disco guitar snatches here and there. We first heard ATTAR!’s reMix of ‘I Like It’ on the last Aeroplane mixtape and it does an amazing job or reining the track in with a solid bassline and, naturally cowbell (the only thing the original track didn’t have). ATTAR!’s mix has such an epic lead line that’s pure euphoria inducing, there’s no way that this won;t kill on the dancefloor. Discotexas’ Mirror People smooth things out even more with their late ‘70’s Funk inspired Disco workout of ‘Wot Happened To You?’. moving you with the Disco and surprising you with some Rave keys. Holding the read is another mix of ‘Wot Happened To You?’ from French synth guru Blackjoy with a Disco sampling dark and moody Italo version that stands out from the pack in it’s pure difference to the rest, it’s an epic, cinematic track that is the perfect closer.
♫ Adamski – I Like It
♫ Adamski – Wot Happened To U?
♫ Adamski – I Like It (ATTAR! reMix)
♫ Adamski – Wot Happened To U? (Mirror People reMix)
♫ Adamski – Wot Happened To U? (Blackjoy reMix)
The ‘I Like It’ EP is released 28th May on Continental Records and includes a reMix from Blackjoy as well.
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Hervé and Ronika
This past Friday, the best start to the weekend Annie Mac premièred the forthcoming new single from UK bass legend Hervé and our very own Madonna Of The Midlands™ Ronika. Strap in for some heavy as hell, euphoric dancefloor gold.
‘How Can I Live Without You? (Make It Right)’ is a bass heavy stomper with some serious early ‘90’s Rave overtones. Just the sound of those keys takes me back over a decade and invokes such a good feeling. The track is both nostalgic and upfront with some killer bass in the mix, perfect for when the party is hitting it’s peak. Ron’s vocal line just add the icing on the cake, I know she would have had fun singing a Rave line like that and it really sounds like it. I can’t wait until this tune goes off at the summer festivals. The UK is gonna’ jump.
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♫ Hervé (Feat. Ronika) – How Can I Live Without You? (Make It Right) (Club Mix) (Radio Rip)
‘How Can I Live Without You? (Make It Right)’ is released in the coming months.
Update: According to Hervé, this is in fact the Club Mix, and there is indeed a full vocal version coming, a fact that just gave me goosebumps.
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