The Best Walk Up Tracks/Entrance Music

Yesterday was my first day in a new baseball 'beer' league, and it's got be thinking about a number of empowering tracks that I'd love to have blasting while I walk to the plate or come out to the mound. Ever since I was young (and dumb enough to think wrestling was real), I would pretend I were coming into a packed arena to a la Rocky, or more recently Floyd Mayweather with boy wonder, Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne rapping at his side. Entrance music or in baseball, walk up tracks, have to be immediately recognizable, hit hard right off the bat and instantly, thrust its atmosphere of intimidation onto the scene. With that in mind, I've compiled a number of my favourite tracks to puff up my chest and peacock my way into the batter's box or onto the mound. The first, and most recently released, Dr. Fresch's "Gangsta Gangsta" exudes strength and intimidation; Baby Eazy-E's vocals only further that threatening atmosphere, of "don't fuck with me." You've heard it in in Budwieser's latest commercial campaign, Baauer's use of infernal horns, makes "Day Ones" one of the best examples of empowering tracks, that makes any entrance epic. While the lyrics may not be the best fit, the first 5 seconds of OG Maco's collaboration with bad boys TWRK, is incredibly powerful and invokes a strut that rivals any wrestler entering the ring. Despite taking a couple seconds to really hit its anthemic stride, Rustie's "Big Catzz" leaves just the right amount of room for one of the Buffer brothers to announce your entrance. Another of the slow burning, building intensity, Black Tiger Sex Machine's collaboration with Lektrique's flows incredibly ominously underneath the unholy warbling, before exploding in a fury. I would be remiss if I didn't include some NGHTMRE on this list, as he's been so influential in my musical enjoyment in the past year or so, and his remix of Slumberjack "The Others" my favourite of his catalog and perhaps the best suited for this category of tracks. Another one of my favourite artists, Henrik The Artist, may not be the most intense, but this mashup with Lethal Bizzle, courtesy Non Stop Pop, combines the genius "On The Moon" and LB's grime laden vocals.

Relive BTSM's Church Service with Apashe & Dabin

Last night at The Hoxton was undoubtedly a religious experience as revelers were treated to the thrilling future of Kannibalen artists Apashe, Dabin and label heads, Black Tiger Sex Machine. Dabin was first to take the stage at 11 and were wow right from the get go. When I arrived he had just dropped Flume's remix of Lorde's "Tennis Court" to which the crowd cheered and sang along. Shortly after that Dabin grabbed his guitar and shredded to Queen's "We Will Rock You," only adding to the crowd's sense of awe. Even though he was jumping between DJing and slaying the guitar, he was able to mix smoothly, moving from his "Kyoto" to the Jesse Slayter remix of Hoodboi's "Palm Reader" into Banvox's "Watch Me" and then his "Ghost Hack." While that four track stretch is a highlight in itself, Dabin truly outdid himself when he combined Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on his guitar with some seriously heavy electro drop, absolutely annihilating the ravenous audience. 

Dabin was followed by Apashe who opened his set in full 'Sith Lord' style with a dub remix of Star Wars' 'Imperial March' quite possibly Tujamo's "Darth Theme." Grabbing the crowd by the scruff of the neck he dropped his remix with Oski and Lennon of Backstreet Boys "Everybody." Things were getting pretty intense at this point, bass faces hit their peak when he dropped back to back vomitstep from Snails, in the form of his remix of "Pump This" and the Snails and Ghastly VIP version of "King Is Back." Sprinkling in Torro Torro's "Cashville" Jauz's remix of "Tip Toe Wing In My Jawwdinz," Wiwek's "Riot" the crowd was becoming putty in his hands. Further digging into the Kannibalen crate, Apashe dropped Lektrique & Autodidakt "Shots Fired," Erotic Cafe's "Killed By Humans," Snails "Murda Sound," rounded out with his remix of Excision's "Night Shine" and his originals, "Kannibalen" and "Trap Reqiuem." By the time Black Tiger Sex Machine was ready to take the stage, the crowd had totally bought in a was seemingly ready for anything. The intensity of the BTSM church quickly became a real thing when one of the most hardcore fans I saw the whole night was carried like a corpse and dropped on the couch beside me, clearly having had too much of something. The air was becoming thick and soupy with the temperature rising from the insane amount of movement, with the floors literally bouncing under the weight of the BTSM cultists, jumping up and down. The trio so shrewdly began their set with their track "Religion," while following it with a number of tracks from their new album (which you can stream here) including "Punks," "Blood Moon" and "Numbers." While their own tracks seemed to get the best response from the audience, especially, their "Jack Dat Body," "Stairway," "Rockers" and "Sleep Now In The Fire" remix, they were also able to decimate their followers with Boys Noize's "& Down" and Nom De Strip's "Reward Is Cheese" remix. It was their "Funeral March" that put the cherry on the top for me, book-ending their sacred set. All in all it was an epic night of apocalyptic tracks that simply annihilated the audience, one that I will not soon forget. Be sure to grab Black Tiger Sex Machine's album, Welcome To Our Church, Tuesday and stay tuned to Kannibalen Records for more from dudes Apashe and Dabin.

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Stream 'Welcome To Our Church' now, and see Black Tiger Sex Machine @ Hoxton tonight

Masked Montreal trio, Black Tiger Sex Machine, are playing The Hoxton tonight ahead of their massive North American tour, playing almost every day until mid-march. All of this ahead of the Tuesday release of their first full-length album Welcome To Our Church, on their own Kannibalen Records, also home to frequent (and album) collaborators Apache, Dabin, Kai Wachi, Lektrique, and Snails. They've so generously taken control of the weekend by uploading their full album for streaming on spotify, Although I'm sure if you just listen to the Preview Mix (below) you'll be hooked.

You may already be familiar with one of the tracks, "Numbers," which has been online since May 5th and was once a free download, I played on Electronic Impressions. It fits in neartly, near the end of the 12 track album, including intro "The Virus," and outro "The Church." Welcome To Our Church presents the group's musical look into the future, by producing a nightmarish doomsday, sound-tracking a hostile apocalyptic wasteland. Each tracks thrives with combative, militaristic atmosphere, and a tremendously audacious tone. Each track exudes power, transforming listeners into a pompous, puffed up wrestler, strutting into the ring on a bigger ego trip than Donald Trump. The landscape the trio paint is so dismally dire, it could be the depiction of a future with the Donald as president.

Whether it's the foreboding gospel choir in "Broadside," the fanatical lyricism of Husser in "Crazies" or the dirge of an unholy "Armada," BTSM have injected the very ethos of their creed into their debut album. Anticipate the congregation to arrive early; as of this morning tickets were more than 70% sold out. If you want to observe tonight's ritual, you'll have to act with haste, otherwise you'll have to follow them around the continent. Expect hear many of the above tracks tonight, as well as much more Kannibalen bass with help from aforementioned, Apashe and Dabin. If you're still sanctimonious about the church, might I recommended two videos from Black Tiger Sex Machine's masses, after the break.

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