Category: Featured

SONG OF THE DAY: Moby with Cold Specks – “A Case For Shame”

Electronic music legend Moby returns this year with a new album, Innocents, to be released in October. The preview single “A Case For Shame” sets a dark and haunting, yet uplifting tone.? The track is downtempo electronica with orchestral elements beautifully interspersed in. While it’s similar to previous gospel-inflected songs from “18” and “Play,” the voice of Canadian Al Spx (singer of Cold Specks) takes it to a darker place, a la her signature doom soul sound which mixes gospel and goth.? Her voice channels old school blues in some places, while sounding fresh and pretty in others ?- almost like a case of multiple personalities.? Speaking of which, special kudos to Spartaque who managed to remix the track and give it a happy electro pop feel with a touch of the ’90s, not something that could have been very easy to do.? DJs should also dig up Sharam Jey’s electrodisco rerun.? Moby furthers his artistic palate by directing his first music video – an experimental amalgam of underwater footage with masked animal characters in white sheets.? I would love to hear what Moby’s “specific meaning” is the video as all I get from it is a suicidal escape from taunting people.

Image Courtesy of Little Idiot.

SONG OF THE DAY: Kaskade – “Atmosphere”

Who knew he could sing? Grammy-nominated producer/DJ/artist Kaskade previews his forthcoming album with title track “Atmosphere.” The song starts out quite raw, with just a a few keyboard notes backing his well-sung first verse. It could easily be one of those alt/pop radio hits but as more layers and a beat comes in for the first chorus, leading to the buildup behind the repetition of the lyrics “Of all the waves in your atmosphere,” you realize that it’s dance music at its finest. While solidly in the stadium/electro house genre, it is not too aggressive or grating at any point. As his first vocal performance, the influence of his early OM releases are present with the laid-back feel and warm tone of his vocals. The traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus is quite refreshing, especially when two random lines of vocals normally suffice for most hit tracks. Remixes have a variety of sounds with GTA going for a harder electro sound, Chocolate Puma giving a Bingo Players vibe, and AMTRAC embracing the retro ’90s meme with a Disclosure-ish synthy house sound. “Atmosphere” could be a massive crossover record for Kaskade and could easily follow Armin van Buuren’s “This is What It Feels Like” as one of the biggest radio hits of the year.

Image Courtesy of Ultra.

SONG OF THE DAY: Luxe Laredo ft Honey LaRochelle – “No Man’s Land”?

Luxe Laredo, the duo of L.A.-based producers Stephen Mitchell and Pedro Laredo, debut on the scene with “No Man’s Land,” a melodic fusion of dubstep and ragga. Giving the track a unique spin are the vocals by Honey LaRochelle, which sound like she is channeling Eartha Kitt via 2013 EDM.? With fans like Roberta Flack and Macy Gray, it’s no surprise that Honey’s multitextured vocal performance is such a refreshing interpretation of dubstep.? The R/D + iLL Gates remix stands out as it starts off sounding like a Krewella record before dropping to dubstep.? Those DJs looking to transition between genres should definitely check out the track.??

Image Courtesy of DMT Records