Showing posts with label Lost Kings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost Kings. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

9 new tracks from the long weekend

Whether you're Canadian and celebrated Thanksgiving, you're American and celebrated Columbus day, or you're neither, you may have missed some fresh new tracks from the likes of Bring The Noise, Lost Kings, and Skylar Spence among others. Classics from Nero and Porter Robinson/Madeon received bootleg remixes, but of course that's not all; I've highlighted 9 tracks that range from light and bubbly pop to dark electro bass. The first, and perhaps most disturbingly underplayed track of this weekend comes from Bring The Noise. Despite their near 15k followers on Facebook, "West Side" has only 23 plays at the time I write this. This is a travesty as it is an absolutely awesome production, dripping with dark vibes, playing with old school rap motifs while warbling bass throbs beneath, giving the impression that something immense is about to happen. It sets us up perfectly for the rest of the tracks to come. Obviously I'm a fan of Nero's "Crush On You," after having written about Animal HÖuse's remix of it last month. Now DJ duo DIV/IDE has put their own touch on the classic, relying on a piano driven lead and an awesome bass house drop. The groove is strong with this one, freely flowing, and utterly enjoyable. Changing course drastically, the next track is from one of the brightest duos in the game right now, Lost Kings. Their latest, "Phone Down" continues their tropical tilt alongside divine piano chords, and a powerful and poignant message from vocalist Emily Warren. Maybe the most alluring track in this nine pack (knowing my love for hyperactive bubbly pop tracks), comes from gupi, in the form of "Great Day." It's like if the Teletubbies took speed, went to Tommorowland, and this is the soundtrack to the montage video. "Wow, what a great day..." As deep and dark as the infinite abyss that is outer-space, where Moonzz and her track "Wonder" emanate from, this mix from DNMO ups the ante, injecting the original with rocketfuel. It refills the stasis chambers allowing the interstellar vehicle to travel further than ever imagined. Bursting at the seams, Pierce's track "What We're Looking For" is absolutely explosive. There's no way you can hear this track without feeling it's tremendous power, while brilliantly combining a number of sounds and styles. Like many of the above tracks it too can be downloaded for free. After seeing Skylar Spence at Bestival this summer, I knew I'd found someone special. The uplifting and groovy disco vibes he delivers are simply sublime. His latest, released on Carpark Records, maintains that delightfully dance-worthy energy and sentimentality. Of course Porter Robinson and Madeon's collaborative effort "Shelter" has been firmly entrenched in the minds of their thousands of fans, but save for Luca Lush's lift, there hasn't been a truly fitting remix. That is until now. soupandreas and Soflex seem to have been able to get into the mindset of the two veteran producers, reimagining "Shelter" as a more necessary reality, a hideout in an apocalyptic future. The last track in this collection of new, fresh productions comes from Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs collective, courtesy Rytmeklubben member, DJ Karaoke. His superb and saintly synth work soars with brilliant beauty alongside an angelic, ethereal choir. It too is available entirely free.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Cheat Codes x Kris Kross Amsterdam - Sex

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.