Category: Featured

SONGS OF THE DAY: The Young Punx – “Girls Like Disco” and “Harlem Breakdown”

Those who love Daft Punk realness and can’t wait for the forthcoming DJ Cassidy album will be excited to hear what The Young Punx have come up with.? At first, when I heard the discofied “Girls Like Disco,” the authentic ’70s sound threw me for a loop as these were the crazy cartoon characters that rocked my dance floor with “MASHITUP!” just a few years ago.? Times and inspiration change, and producers Hal Ritson and DJ Nathan Taylor did their own take on ’70s funk using their full band and vintage recording gear.? The tracks sounds authentic for the time yet modern for today, with a bouncy energetic feel- a la Crazibiza.? “Harlem Breakdown” is getting a lot of buzz, with Mixmag declaring it Song Of the Month, and it’s easy to hear why.? It’s full-on classic disco, produced masterfully.? It sounds real and full and vibrant – something you just can’t get from plugins.??? The manic energy from their previous releases is channeled into pure creative artistry.? For club consumption, Mark One (Texas) and Rocoe (Reset!) keep the disco vibe full and center and add a bit of house to the proceedings.?? There is also a harder version of “Girls Like Disco” call “Boys Like Bass,” which the more electro-minded will call their own.? As always with the Young Punx, the visual presentations add a unique spin, with “Girls Like Disco” capturing middle-aged Chinese women line dancing and “Harlem Breakdown” bringing back their long-time collaborator, the beloved cartoonist Han Hoogerbrugge, whose creativity never ceases to blow our collective minds.


Image Courtesy of MofoHifi Records.

Notable Dance Podcast #034

Sia ft The Weeknd & Diplo – Elastic Heart
Kosheen – Harder They (Original)
Steve Aoki & Rune RK ft RAS – Bring You to Life (Transcend)
Alesso & Calvin Harris ft Theo Hutchcraft – Under Control (Ryan Enzad)
Arty – Flashback
John Christian – Flight 643 (Original)
Bassjackers & GRX – Gamer
Reece Low & Nathan Thomson – We Back
Bombs Away – Better Lock Next Time (MOTi)
Danny Howard & Futuristic Polar Bears – Thundergod (Festival)
Armin Van Buuren ft Cindy Alma – Beautiful Life (Kat Krazy)
Shermanology ft Amba Shepherd – Who We Are
Arty ft Fiora – Grand Finale (Arston Remix)
Erasure – Gaudete (Dave Aude)
Medina – Junkie (Rothmann)

SONG OF THE DAY: Sia ft The Weeknd & Diplo – “Elastic Heart”

Like many, I first heard of Sia when “Breathe Me” was used in the closing of the TV show ‘Six Feet Under.’ Her songs have always had a bit of quirk and edge to them – “Girl You Lost to Cocaine” and “You’ve Changed,” with the accompanying videos, show her colorful yet uniquely dark spirit. It’s great to see that as she’s been embraced by the superstars as a singer/writer (David Guetta “Titanium,” FloRida “Wild Ones”) and writer (Rihanna “Diamonds,” Ne-Yo “Let Me Love You,” Britney Spears “Perfume,” Celine Dion “Loved Me Back to Life”), her essence is still there. I mean, come on, who else could have written Nikki Williams “Kill, Fuck, Marry” and Neon Hitch “Get Over You” without seeming schizophrenic? Well with that in mind, the collaboration of Sia with Diplo (eccentric world music and EDM visionary) and The Weeknd (alternative r&b crooner) has led to the most brilliant leftfield pop single since Gotye. You can clearly identify the elements that each person brings: stuttered vocals, questioning lyrics, big singalong chorus, operatic chords, clashing overlaid vocals – yet the flow is so seamless that it feels like a supergroup creating a definitive masterpiece. Here’s hoping it becomes the massive Hunger Games soundtrack single that it deservers be. For club consumption, Steve Pitron and Max Sanna turn it into a hands in the air club anthem by using all of the elements, upping the tempo, giving it a bit of a commercial flavor, and adding a dubstep break, which might feel a bit cliched at this point but it works so perfectly that you can’t help but love it. Commercial DJs should jump on this remix immediately.

Image courtesy of Universal/Republic.