The frenetic world of electronic music is full of distractions and diversions, hindering the ability to find transcendent music. Let Oggie James be your guru and lead down the path to musical Enlightenment.
Album, song and event reviews, mixtapes, and radio shows, light the way to Enlightenment, conveyed by Oggie James.
It's the end of the week and that means tons of new music is dropping. The digging has been done and I've got another edition of Enlightened Listening for you. As always the list runs through seemingly every genre, with new music from big names, new names and everything in between. This week I've done my best organize them in a cohesive flow from more chill future bass vibes, through funk and disco, where then things get a bit messy, moving from Wuki's take on "The Hustle" into Tiga & Kölsch's collab "HAL," then into heavy house and hard hitting bass. Stream below and grab the free D/Ls.
Earlier this week French producer Dombresky graced SiriusXM's Electric Area for a guest mix on The Cookout. Now, I've been a fan of his for a while now, and with tracks like "Be Real," "Hardcore," and his DJ Snake "The Middle" remix, how could you not be? My only beef is that he's not been to Toronto, but that's also changed this week when he was announced as support for Chris Lake's October 21st stop at CODA during his Lose My Mind Tour. While it's nearly impossible to predict what anyone might play on a given night, this mix for The Cookout is at worst a great introduction to the rising talent. So don't sleep, press play below and RSVP/buy tickets for the 21st, here. Check here for the other tour dates.
What I like most about Dombresky is on full display here: his versatility in both production and mixing. He dabbles mostly in house, but as we've seen the the last year or more, house has really become multidimensional, with bass, deep, tech and other subgenres blowing up. He drops a little bit of all of that in this set, from the delightful open of Boston Bun's "Missing You" to Eli Brown "Got The Power" and the Oliver Dollar, Daniel Steinberg collab "Perc It Straight," there's so much to dance to. However, I'm particularly taken with the way he's used Eli Brown's "3am," not just because it's such top notch tune, but the way it sets the mood before transitioning the mix into a more brighter after-hours vibe.
Every year the world of electronic music gathers in Miami to celebrate and showcase the latest and greatest. This year was no different seeing massive performances from countless DJs, producers, hype men and everything in between. There were multiple curated stages from the tech driven Resistance Spider stage to ASOT, and of course the uber eclectic mainstage dubbed "Worldwide." And while there were several standout sets, I've decided to focus on a few I feel deserve the most praise. So here we go with my favourites, in no particular order. Also note some are just audio while others have video too.
DJ Snake
Why not start at the end with DJ Snake's closing set. The "Bird Machine" man has quickly become one of the most powerful players on the scene bringing France firmly back into the forefront. His genre bending and taste-making are on full display with guests Lil Jon, Future & G4SHI joining him on stage. Download the mix here, and get tracklist here.
Stephan Bodzin
My favourite set for many reasons: 1) the Spider stage setup 2) the way Bodzin builds the tracks with his unique live setup 3) the almost 100% Bodzin tracklist (apart from 2 IDs everything is his own). It's really had to quantify not just how good it sounds, but how cool the whole thing is. Incredible.
Justice
Fresh off their album Womanand ready to tour Justice, too, closed out Miami like their French brother, DJ Snake. But these two sets couldn't be any more different. Of course Justice is live, but their music too hits a more retro feeling whereas Snake is about being new and cool. Justice just are, and whether you're a fan of their gritty electro stuff or their more vocal driven, new work you'll enjoy their set.
Arty as Alpha 9
Back with trance and where else better to do it but Armin's A State of Trance stage. Another rebirth of sorts, which seems to be a bit of trend lately. It's been 10 years since "EDM" arguably broke through and with that veterans of the scene have had the chance to alter their career arc more than once. Lots of people remarked that they were happy to see Arty back with ASOT, and you can tell why with a set like this. Download it here, and get tracklist here. OWSLA All-Stars (Jauz, Ghastly, Cesqeaux & Mija)
One of the world most popular labels, and some of their fastest rising stars came together for 40 minutes of rapid fire bass, trap, dubstep and everything in between. As I said above the main/worldwide stage was eclectic and there's no better indication of this than the tracklist these 4 put together, from 4B to Ginuwine to Kayzo and RIOT to Future in the first 4 minutes. It's hard to argue that genre-denying sets like this aren't the way of the future. More and more I'm hearing DJs do whatever they want, not worrying about smooth transitions, but blowing people's minds with track selection.
Download the mix here, and get tracklist here.
I wanted to include Above & Beyond's set but it's been removed across the internet so I had to do without. If you find it please share and enjoy. Otherwise, enjoy the sets above and keep your ears/eyes open for more to be posted in the next week or so. EDIT (March 28): they've uploaded it to their youtube, so here it is in full 4K for your listening and viewing pleasure.
Last night three Monstercat artists hit the stage at The Hoxton. First up was Grabbitz who dropped his new collaboration with Pegboard Nerds "All Alone" as I first entered the club. I was late arriving and unfortunately missed the majority of his set, I did however catch his track "Better With Time" and his finale "Float Away," while he high-fived, shook hands and fist bumped his appreciative fans. You can hear each of the above tracks, in the playlist below:
Crowd interaction was certainly one of the themes of the night, as following his set, San Holo joined the crowd for an impromptu meet and greet. Throughout his set, as you'll see in the videos below, many people in the crowd were trying to grab him, get his attention and make requests showing him their phone. He certainly seemed to oblige many of these ravenous fans, both with his incredible tracks selection and professional mixing. The video (below) of the beginning of his set will help to establish the atmosphere.
Even better imagery of the incredible hype that San Holo's set induced, with this guy going crazy.
His tracklist featured all of his most well known productions, "We Rise" and "Fly" in the videos above, as well as "BWU," "Donkey Kong," "Victory," "Hiding" and "New Sky," but the biggest ovations came when he dropped his Don't Touch The Classics remixes "Ride Wit Me" and "Ms. Jackson," which followed "The Next Episode" in the video below.
He complimented his already swirl and sparkle ridden set with Flosstradamus' Jack U, Post Malone mashup, Rustie's "Big Catzz" and his forthcoming official remix of DJ Snake's "Middle." Once again I've compiled a playlist of many of the tracks he dropped last night, below.
Finally it was Haywyre's turn to take the stage, and boy did he ever deliver. It was an unbelievable sensory experience, watching his fingers flying over his keyboard, and the incredible visual display behind him. Of course this is without mentioning his obvious talent and artistry. It was absolutely mesmerizing watching him move from track to track so flawlessly pouring his heart and soul into his performance.
Adding a couple of covers, including Daft Punk's "Robot Rock" and Oliver Nelson's remix of "All Cried Out," he was able to bolster his massive library. He played his tracks "Do You Don't You," "Impulse," "Moment," "Memory," "Endlessly," "Back And Forth" "Crimson" and "All We Need." Once again you can attempt to relive the night with the playlist below, although it won't be able to hold up to the energy of his incredible live performance.
SUPPORT GRABBITZ: FACEBOOKSOUNDCLOUDTWITTER SUPPORT HAYWYRE: FACEBOOKSOUNDCLOUDTWITTER SUPPORT SAN HOLO: FACEBOOKSOUNDCLOUDTWITTER
The massively debated and previously unidentified Spinnin' Records track, that's racked up over 623 thousand plays in just over two weeks has finally been revealed as a collaboration between trios, LA's Cheat Codes and Dutch Kris Kross Amsterdam, and is available for download today.
Aptly titled "Sex," has Spinnin' flexing it's label strength, procuring the rights to sample Salt-N-Pepa's "Let's Talk About Sex." The line "all the good things and bad things" immediately called me back to Akon's use of that line in Kid Ink's "Rewind." That's not the only similarity between the two either. The vibes of each elicit a warm floating feeling. Where "Rewind" leans more on DJ Mustard's synth sound, "Sex" is significantly more tropical, very similar to Major Lazer and DJ Snake's "Lean On." Furthermore, the first twenty seconds have a distinct resemblance to What So Not's "Touched." One commenter called it a rip off of Where Are U Now, Lean On, Sorry and What Do You Mean. While "Sex" no doubt seems to borrow facets from all of these tracks, it is its own distinct production. It is, at worst a mere mashup of covers, and at best, a finely crafted combination of some of the best pop music from the past year.
Of course this isn't anything new for Spinnin' Records, being the host label for chronic recyclers Vinai. A quick survey of Vinai's catalog of releases makes it seem like they've only ever started one project file and just keep minutely changing each production before sending them to Spinnin'. This seems all too common for the Dutch label which continually churns out repackaged, commercially leverage-able music, whether it's from Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Oliver Heldens or the Lost Kings, the other act many commenters thought might have produced "Sex." This isn't to say that Spinnin' is without merit, it certainly holds a different footing, philosophy and purpose than Dirtybird, Ed Banger, mau5trap or even OWSLA. Whatever the case, you can now get your copy of "Sex" now.
This past Friday, NGHTMRE wowed the crowd at the Hoxton with a whole bunch of new material. As you see in the videos below, 2016 is looking tremendously bright for NGHTMRE who is set to once again explode with new productions including remixes of "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites":
He also dropped a new Skrillex track:
And finally, he dropped his new collab with Dillon Francis:
NGHTMRE dropped exclusives all over the faces of Hoxton partiers, so much so that revelers were constantly reaching for high fives and fist bumps, congratulating the producer on his track choices, and monsters drops. Look for these tracks and more to be released in the near future.
