After electro and dubstep, my next favorite genre in electronic music is nudisco, a sub-genre that takes the disco style from the early 70s and adds some more modern flavor to it. BPMs go up to mirror the majority of all other electronic styles out there, but the funk basslines and sing-along style vocals are maintained. Many people agree that it is the most dance-able of all the main electronic genres. Anyways, on to the track. Breakbot of Ed Rec. is one of the more commonplace names in nudisco. He takes inspiration from label-mates Justice insofar as the slap bass melodies (i.e. DVNO, We Are Your Friends). The disco-favorite cabasa comes in with the drums and a funk bass melody also starts up. The song itself is very low-key, just a cool nudisco jam, nothing crazy or revolutionary. Breakbot does a good job with the remix by using the original vocals over his beat.
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Without Lies (Breakbot Remix) – Aeroplane
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Hats off to Miss Monae. Even prior to the release of “Many Moons,” young Janelle had a solid following thanks to songs like “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” and “Sincerely, Jane.” She is now a very relevant figure in the arts community and she continues to set the bar higher in a lot of her performances.
For months I had been hearing of a young Aretha Franklin-esque figure that was emerging from the Outkast camp. I was skeptical that anybody could bring back that classic, soulful sound but at the same time be “poppy” and relevant enough for the enjoyment of young and old people alike. Janelle Monae did exactly that on her 2010 Studio Album, “The ArchAndroid.” This album included an impressive array of inspiring music that stayed true to classic musical standards, yet had that certain pop viscera. I’m excited to see if her style will take on some sort of evolution, hopefully the type that involves more electronica. (If you haven’t caught on, I’m obsessed with the meshing of the old and new “schools.”)
“Without A Fight” begins with that feel good organ and guitar, then tricks you into an upbeat jazzy tune. This song does exactly what it set out to do, and is quite simple in doing so. It is easy to get carried away in the instrumentation and complexity of arrangements with this type of music. Its simple urban-type beat, although probably programmed, sounds real. It’s all about real. My only criticism is that this type of song really calls for an uplifting bridge that takes the tune somewhere else and then culminates in that very powerful chorus.
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N.E.R.D. has come a long way since “In Search of…” I remember watching MTV when I was very youg and seeing this band redefine the sound of mainstream music. Since then “The Neptunes” produced pretty much everything that was on the radio in the late nineties and early 2000′s. Some argue that their music style has died out and they haven’t evolved accordingly due to artistic differences between the band members. To them I say: “relax, bro.” (i don’t really talk like that)
Even if their mainstream production has slowed down considerably, I believe that their artistic focus is based on a personal motivation to create work that’s more interesting. Pharrell, Chad and Shae don’t need number one hits anymore. “Seeing Sounds” produced a couple interesting tracks, but nothing out of this world. They needed to come back with something that is true to their roots and what they admire.
If you follow the “Billionaire Boys Club” brand, you can see the 50′s Americana touches in a lot of their clothing. That gives a clue into the honesty that is portrayed in “Nothing.” I remember watching an interview in which Shae explained the complete shut down of over 20 tracks that were supposed to make the original cut, hence starting from “Nothing.”
“Nothing,” has the obligatory single “Hot N’ Fun,” which did considerably well but didn’t impress many people. If you take a closer listen you’ll find songs like “God Bless Us All,” and “Perfect Defect.” It is unfortunate to say that these songs follow the current, “taking it back” fad. This fad was arguably started by Mark Ronson on Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.” (in mainstream music of course) (people have always been doing this.) Other acts like Janelle Monae and recently Cee Lo Green have followed with some impressive, classic-sounding tracks that really stick to that classic analog sound. “Nothing” makes some attempts at this and has moderate success in doing so. (in my opinion, ofcourse)
My only criticisms are that if this type of music is being created you need to have some real instruments, at least layered ontop of programmed tracks. Although they usually have real drums layered ontop of programmed ones, they aren’t very prominent in these mixes, if they’re really there. Maybe more time should’ve been spent to throw some dirt on these productions. Overall, my two favorite tracks are “Perfect Defect” and “God Bless Us All.”
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My good friend was lucky enough to spend his Halloween weekend in the great city of New Orleans jamming over at the legendary Voodoo Experience (Voodoofest). He told me about a bunch of great acts and I wasn’t surprised to hear some of the names, mainly Muse and Crookers (both incredible live performers). One name stood out though: Innerpartysystem. Their live show was apparently just that, live. The show had live vocals, live synths, live drum sampling, etc. I always have a lot of respect for electronic artists that pursue the true live show and so I began to look into this group a bit more. My friend also tipped me off the one of their songs that he said was incredible live called American Trash. Upon further research on the coolest MySpace page I have ever seen, I learned a bit more. Hailing from everyone’s favorite major American metropolis, Mohnton, PA, the group got their start with an untitled EP in 2007. The self -managed band has only grown since then leading up to their most recent release, their American Trash EP in late August of this year. Their style, at least on American Trash, is somewhat glitch-electro. Very SebastiAn-sounding drum loops run in the background with the typical distortion-friendly bass synth rounding up the melody. The vocals are slightly modulated every so often at the end of a bar. It all leads up to the line, “I’m just american trash,” after which a very heavy bass synth (several decibels up from what it was before) kicks in. Think of it as something Bloody Beetroots would have played before they ditched their style for something more rock-like. Anyway, don’t take my word for it, check these guys out (especially live if you get the chance).
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American Trash – Innerpartysystem
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I apologize for my long absence! I’m back though, and fully committed to the sauce. College applications among other things have been taking up a lot of my time.
Most people that follow electronic music know the remix clichés. Using 2 lines from another song and calling something a remix is rather ambitious. But Flux Pavilion has gotten away with it and I don’t hold it against him.
Every so often there is a cultural phenomenon that makes its way into contemporary music, these acts always appear to be on their own category. Jamiroquai fits that description to the fullest. All the recent remixes to some of his classics are a testament to the notion that good music lasts.
As crazy dubstep artists like Skrillex and Zeds Dead are coming out with some pretty creative sampling and some immense sounds, some other acts have been changing up their style. For this remix Flux Pavilion dropped the screechy sound that can be associated with “Got 2 Know” among other tracks that fellow artists made get lame pretty quickly. When I first heard it I was pretty excited to hear that flux pavilion was under going flux… oh boy, (disregard that). Really though, the song evolves from some real sounding drums (for once) to a really large, arpeggiated vehicle leading somewhere high above. I am a BIG fan of arp synths, that’s probably why I’m digging this song. My only criticisms are that the mix isn’t great and that it’s quite repetitive compared to some of the seemingly glitch-step sounding stuff that’s been coming out from the skrillex factories. (I guess he makes everything sound repetitive? who cares).
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Blue Skies (Flux Pavilion Remix)
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A couple of weeks ago I met someone who told me he managed an up and coming LA-based band. I thought it was cool so I asked him a bit more about it, what the band was up to, how he got into the business, etc. Little did I know that Grouplove, the band in question, would be playing at CMJ and being one of the must see bands there. The manager slipped me a copy of their first EP, the self titled Grouplove EP. Since I am an indie rock enthusiast but no expert in the field, I went in with a rather open mind. What I heard really blew me away. First of all, the band itself has a completely unique sound to it. Even from song to song, everything is unique and original. Their lead track, Colours, has an Arcade Fire/Modest Mouse sound to it: layered vocal harmonies, mellow breaks mid-verse, etc. Just when you think you have the style of the song figured out, it changes. The chorus comes in and the sound changes a bit more to early 2000s mainstream alt rock. The lead vocalist’s voice even reminds me a bit of the Taking Back Sunday vocalist, very similar style. So at this point you find yourself feeling like you’ve got their sound down, a bit of emo-indie fusion type of rock. Think again, you go onto another track and its another unique sound. Unique sound after unique sound, this band really finds a way to keep things interesting throughout their 5-song EP and tests out a wide array of different musical styles. I am excited to see which direction the band takes in the future and hope to see them gain some of the recognition they deserve.
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Muse has been crowned as the next kings of stadium rock, the next U2 (at least in England). Although they’ve been around for a while and there are many Muse fanatics, their true impact is just starting to be felt in the US as some of their newer songs like Uprising have been featured in different advertisements, movies, etc. As their name spreads, more and more people are starting to look into their older stuff and get creative with it. Enter Nostalgia. The St. Paul, Minnesota based dubstep producer doesn’t really have much to his name except this great remix of the Muse classic Knights of Cydonia. I’ve had this remix sitting around on my computer for a while, since before the birth of Tunesauce actually, yet I never got around to posting about it. Just like the original, the song starts with the sounds of horses, lasers, and this eerie ringing noise. It then cuts out to a 2 note per measure melody followed by silence and the vocals of the original. It uses the same vocals the original uses in its buildup but obviously progresses into a much different musical style. The production once the beat drops is somewhat complex compared to most dubstep songs. It features a 4 bar sequence where every bar is unique. As is becoming more and more common, the production is glitchy, hopping from one bass synth to another suddenly, yet making it work. This sequence is repeated twice before the lyrics come back in over an oscillating bass synth. This then leads to a breakdown where the beat is essentially cut out, another short buildup, and then the dubstep wobble returns, different once again. I have come across many dubstep songs over the last year and this is definitely one of the best produced ones I have heard. The synths are very compressed and tight, the variations keep the dubstep harmonies interesting, and the vocals are used exactly how they should be throughout. It would be great if Nostalgia could put out some other tunes, but maybe he decided to quit while he was ahead and batting 1.000 (thought it would be an appropriate reference since it’s the World Series and all…). Anyway definitely a tune worth picking up and adding to your collection.
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Knights of Cydonia (Nostalgia Dubstep Remix) – Muse
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So this is the third post we have on Canadian dubstep artists Zeds Dead. Something’s trending here. This is pretty different from anything they’ve done to date. The song is essentially three parts: a background melody sampling of Ratatat’s Drugs, suck-it-haters (a la Drake) rap lyrics by Omar Linx, and the classic Zeds Dead hard hitting dubstep drops with that thick vibrating bass line. The song opens up sounding almost exactly like Drugs, but then quickly cuts to the rap lyrics and starts to sound like more of a rap song than anything else (except at first I thought Zeds Dead was starting to produce hip hop). But then, almost on cue, a bassline enters the song. There’s your dubstep. The rapping continues, the beat cuts out, the Drugs sample comes back, the song drops. The drop beat plays with the Drugs piano sample while the oscillating bass synth vibrates everything around you. I love the sampling of Ratatat, but I think that the drop beat could’ve been a bit more creative than it was. Still, it’s a new step for Zeds Dead but its definitely a good one. (Side note: picture comes from Pulp Fiction which is where the phrase “Zed’s dead” comes from.)
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Out For Blood (Feat. Omar Linx) – Zeds Dead
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Numbernin6 describes himself as a “producer/remixer/dj/medical student.” One guess as to which of those four doesn’t fit. I say to him, why even study medicine if you can make such tight remixes? Mad props. Anyway, the Virginia-native DJ is another emerging artist in the dubstep scene. His style is like that of Bassnectar just slowed down about 10 bpm to the standard dubstep 70 bpm; thick bass synth melodies that carry throughout with layered elements in the background. This particular remix is of Prodigy’s iconic Breathe, one of the most well-known electronic songs ever produced. The song is very consistent with his style. Very heavy layered bass synths paired up with some typical dubstep drums and samples from the original song (vocal clips here and there and the classic samurai sword sample originally from Wu-Tang’s Mystery of Chessboxin’). It’s nothing extremely unique but its definitely a banger worth downloading. Additionally, Numbernin6 has been gracious enough to post two full length dubstep sets on his Myspace music page. His Garbage/Hunt You Down EP is out now and available for download on Beatport.
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Breathe (Numbernin6 Remix) – The Prodigy
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I have always hated on Rusko. Never liked the screechiness, thought his stuff was too pop-y, and just wasn’t down for his style. Until last night. I went to Rusko’s set in Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia and was really impressed by the show. The venue helped make the event as intense as it was. Trocadero Theatre is located deep in downtown Philly and has been around since the 1870s. With the look of a broadway theatre, this venue hosts events ranging from indie rock concerts, to dubstep rages, to low key movie nights. Now as for the actual set, I was very surprised. The wobble was definitely in full effect as Rusko played a lot of his classics and even branched out and played some more underground type dubstep from artists like Flux Pavilion. At one point the englishman dropped this rage-tastic song with a sample from Home Alone, the early 90s movie. All in all the show was great and left me pretty surprised. Definitely a show worth going to. Here are the remaining dates and cities for his tour.
Richmond, VA – Canal Club Sat. Oct 23
Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall Sun. Oct 24
Knoxville, TN – The Valarium Oct 26
Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade Oct 28
New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Music Festival (City Park) Oct 29
New York, NY – Studio at Webster Hall Fri Oct 29
Bonus Choon:
Might Like You Better (Rusko Remix) – Amanda Black
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