REVIEW: Todd Terry vs Hip Hop – Dramatical: Volume 1

By Spun Counterguy

DJ, remixer, and producer Todd Terry has been fulfilling all three of those roles from pretty much the beginning of both house and hip-hop’s respective births. He?s made a name for himself by being at the forefront of ?deep house,? developing the early remix phenomenon by being responsible for such massive crossover hits as ?Missing? by Everything But The Girl and producing tracks for such artists as PM Dawn. So to the Todd Terry fan, Dramatical will come as no surprise and will be sure to please expectations.
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SONG OF THE DAY: Carl Nunes & Jake Shanahan ft Shaun Frank – “We Are”

Maybe I should retitle this blog NotableRock.com?? The trend of rock guitars and energy infiltrating electro and stadium tracks continues, and the team of Carl Nunes & Jake Shanahan elevate it to a new level.? Adding an emotionally-textured vocal from Shaun Frank, lead singer of the Canadian rock band The Envy, over stadium house-style dropouts makes a perfect contrast to the full-throttle aggression of the electro-with-a-rock edge production.? If you are a fan of recent Hardwell/Showtek productions or the deadmau5 track “Professional Griefers,” this track is for you. The lyrics, about uniting through commonalities, are heartfelt and simple yet surprisingly well-written (let’s be honest, most toplines feel as computer-generated as autotuned vocals). The “ohh” chant is perfect for crowd sing-a-longs well.? The video is quite well-done, letting us see the producers at work and the singer in the studio so that we can put a face with the name of the people making this great music.

Image Courtesy of Trice.

INTERVIEW: Max Graham (2013)

Max Graham is quite the maverick, letting his tastes in music dictate what he plays and produces rather than being tied to any one specific subgenre.? Even his record label Re*Brand is named for the way he reinvents himself over the years.? With a loyal following and a popular weekly radio show, Cycles (which often trends on Twitter), Max Graham is busy in the studio working on his upcoming artist album due for release in 2013.? I caught up with Max backstage at the Armada showcase during the Amsterdam Dance Event to find out more about his varied music career.

RS: Max, are you singed to Armada right now?
Max Graham: In 2008, I combined my own label ReBrand with one of Armada?s labels. Technically, I am signed to Armada, but through my own label because I only release on Re*Brand Records.

RS: Does the name Re*Brand have anything to do with how you have changed your sound over the years?
Max Graham: Actually in 2007, I was talking about rebranding myself and at the same time trying to figure out a name for the label. One of my friends, Alex K, who owns a club in Montreal called New City Gas, said to me ?call it rebrand, it is something that you keep running into whether you are trying to rebrand yourself or not, it is kind of a word that fits you.? From there I had a good friend in Ottawa design the logo and he came up with the red star above the ?re,? separating the two words so it fit perfectly. All of this happened over the course of 10 days, so I went from having nothing to having a label with a beautiful logo, it all came together and I was super happy.

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