Category: Featured

SONG OF THE DAY: Hard Rock Sofa & Skidka – Arms Around Me

Chatting with BBC Radio DJ Danny Howard, I asked him where he thought the EDM sound would be going next. One thing he mentioned was more hybrids of different genres, citing “Arms Around Me” by Hard Rock Sofa ft Skidka. Listening to the track by the Russian production duo, it’s easy to see why. Mixing disco funk beats and samples over big room festival electro, it sounds completely fresh yet familiar – like two great flavors coming together for a new sensation. (How did I just devolve into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial?) The track is packed with energy that will hype any club set and has enough of a singalong hook that could cross it over to mainstream radio as well. I have a feeling that we will be hearing this track quite often while down here in Miami.

Image Courtesy of Axtone Music.

SONG OF THE DAY: Fedde Le Grand ? Don?t Give Up

This track is going to sound familiar to a lot of you. If you watched the movie about the Ultra Music Festival’s 15th edition, “Don’t Give Up” is THAT track that has been unavailable. Set to be released at the start of the Winter Music Conference/Miami Music Week on March 24th, it will definitely be heard all week. The big room festival anthem combines the aggressive electro beats with a pretty, anthemic and uplifting interlude. Since the track is being set up to be quite massive, it seems inimitable that there will be a vocal version as well. It is quite funny that there are already mashups of the track floating around – like the solid one with Hardwell & W&W “Jumper.” While there is rarely a single song that defines the WMC anymore, this could possibly be the one. It also makes me wonder how this track fits into Fedde’s long-awaited follow-up album to ‘Output’ from back in 2009.

Fedde Le Grand – Don’t Give Up

SONG OF THE DAY: Gabriel and Dresden – Rise Up

Last week when I wrote up the Duke Dumont, Arches, and Second City tracks, I received really varied responses varying from absolute love to sheer boredom with cliched sampled tracks. It seems that the most successful of the NuHouse tracks will be the ones that use elements of classic ’90s house and updates with a modern sensibility. It seems that Gabriel and Dresden got that memo and expanded on the journey they started with “Play it Back.” Their new release “Rise Up” is a progressive house track which sounds completely modern with elements of ’90s synth-pop and a bassline reminiscent of classic New Order. Listening closely, you can dissect these parts, but it’s just as easy to enjoy the track for what it is – a happy, uplifting track which changes moods and energy throughout its development. Seemingly the only thing missing is a vocal, so here’s hoping they bring “Back” Betsie Larkin or get vocalists Sean Ryan or Neil Ormandy to sing a topline. I must say that it is also quite refreshing to hear something that sounds completely different and stands out from the multitude of current electronic releases.

Image Courtesy of Organized Nature.

gabriel and dresden rise up