Just as?last Sunday?when I looked to Boy George for spiritual inspiration, today let’s go to the “Queen of Christian Pop” Amy Grant.?? With songs like “House of Love,” “Every Heartbeat,” and “Lucky One,” she is one of the few artists from the Christian music world that crossed over to pop.? Previewing her forthcoming album of club remixes, a devout fan captured a clip of Dave Aude’s remix of Amy’s biggest pop hit “Baby Baby” and it is sure to please.? Transforming the sugary pop confection to a big room high energy club track was obviously not an easy task, and just as he did with Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” Dave has again shown that he can literally make almost any kind of music work flawlessly in a club context.? Please note that the video is a low quality sound recording filmed at the gay bar Beatbox in San Francisco, so if you are easily offended by homosexual imagery then you might just have to wait until this (and the rest of the remix album) is released this fall.
Category: Featured
SONG OF THE DAY: Aruna – Start a Fire
Lovers of trance and progressive probably already follow Enhanced recordings religiously.? The home base of Tritona, Estiva, Lange, and Juventa, the label releases quality tracks on a consistent basis.? Aruna is an incredible singer and DJ who has the kind of pretty yet powerful angelic voice which sounds so great on trance tracks.? Her collaborations with Ferry Corsten, Markus Schulz, ATB, Cosmic Gate, Myon, and Armin van Buuren definitely showcase that.? Following up her solo songs “Save the Day” and “Reason to Believe,”? she recently released “Start a Fire,” which pretty much lives up to the title.?? The production, with Johan Malmgren, isn’t a quick torch but a slow burn that grows with intensity as it pulls you in.? It’s one of those songs that might not grab you the first time you hear it but with each listen it will grow on you.? For me, it was the track I kept hearing during the Winter Music Conference; knowing that it sounded familiar, but it didn’t hit me until afterwards what it was.?? If you like vocal trance/progressive with a touch of a pop edge, definitely check out “Start A Fire” and make sure Enhanced releases are on your radar.
Image Courtesy of Enhanced.
SONG OF THE DAY: The Prophet – Louder
Diversity is a wonderful thing.? If you are reading this, then you have a passion for dance music, and while we have that in common our preferences may vary widely.? The words house and trance seem meaningless these days due to all the specialist and niche subgenres.? One subgenre that doesn’t often get love from people outside the subculture is hardstyle.? The music is banging, aggressive, and normally over 150 bpm making it great for aerobics or for dancing out major aggression (think mosh pit for ragers). The Prophet has been producing tracks and DJing in the hardstyle/hard dance world for nearly 15 years under his name and several aliases (Hardheadz, Punk Brozz, Oral Fixation).? So it seems a bit odd that he is just now releasing his debut artist album.? The title track sets the tone because this music needs to be played “Louder” than just about anything else on your music player. To say the beats are banging is redundant, the drill-like cadence is so insistent and relentless that it is futile to resist.? Along with the pounding comes a cinematic feel, with both a drop to a horror theme instrumental break and the spoken voice of a movie preview announcer.? The funny thing is that just as the hip-hop world has embraced trap, I could see “Louder” with a rap on top and the crowd dancing halftime to it – kind of like drum and bass, back in the day.? If you like “Louder,” explore the album and be sure to check out “Make Me Stay” with Noisecontrollers & Leonie Meijer for a Sarah McLachlan-esque vibe form of aggression.? Yes, that sounds strange, but it works so well.
Image Courtesy of Scantraxx.