SONG OF THE DAY: Infinity Ink – “Infinity”

This one is a bit difficult to write about.? London duo Infinity Ink released the buzz track “Infinity” over a year ago.? A throbbing piece of minimal electro house with a ’90s vibe (and a possible reference to Guru Josh), the incessant bassline is instantly memorable and similar to heroin with its addictive nature.?? The spoken male vocal adds to the trippy vibe, as do the two music videos – the kaleidoscopic original video released on Crosstown Rebels and the Trainspotting-esque hallucinogenic video created for major release on Warner a year later.

A plethora of official remixes exist, with Skream’s speed garage take getting a lot of buzz.? Over the past year, this track and bassline has been covered, mashed, and reworked in an infinite number of ways – some of which are quite amazing, and in one way that is clearly diabolical – namely “Can’t Believe It” by Flo Rida and Pitbull. It’s not that there is anything innately wrong with Flo Rida and Pitbull’s modus operandi of singing/rapping over electro tracks as it has created some fun party tracks (“I Cry,” “I Know You Want Me,” “Good Feeling,” “Don’t Stop the Party”). However, “Can’t Believe It” is so horrifically bad and lazy – the raps don’t even fit over the beat – and are so smutty as to appeal to middle school boys.? Not to mention the video, which rips off “Butter’s Theme.” While Inifinity Ink have received criticism online for allowing their track to be sampled, they said on their Facebook page, “Given the choice between Flo Rida using our original bassline or Flo Rida making an almost exact copy of it, we gave permission for it to be sampled.”? With that in mind, we strongly suggest you ignore “Can’t Believe It” and embrace “Infinity” if you haven’t already.

Image Courtesy of Big Beat.

Image Courtesy of Big Beat.

SONG OF THE DAY: Rivaz & Benny Benassi ft Heather Bright – “Tell Me Twice”

Sometimes a great song is just a matter of mixing the right ingredients together.? “Tell Me Twice” is the Ultra Music Festival Anthem which blends pretty rhythms with hard electro beats as the track behind a melodic pop vocal. Actually, you can basically break up the record pretty easily and figure out who did what.? Rivaz (aka Davide Riva) obviously did the the gorgeous and uplifting intro section, you can hear it as a continuation from the epic “Colors” record which buzzed around WMC.? His pop production skills also influenced the song structure (he is part of the production team that created the Whigfield phenomenon of the ’90s), yet the actual lyrics are clearly the work of Heather Bright (aka Bright Lights). If you crosspollinate her previous records “Never Say Goodbye,” “Language,” and “Ghosts,” you can already hear the DNA.? That leaves the aggressive electro beats which are clearly the contribution of Benny Benassi.? As a DJ, I am thankful that they left enough of a loop through all the drops so that dancers will have a beat to latch onto.? All of the remixes keep the tone of the original with slight mods for a different flavor – Adrian Lux (moodier progressive), Bottai (Zedd-esque electro), Simon de Jano (mellow electro house), and Bright Lights (indie electro). ??

Image Courtesy of Ultra.

SONG OF THE DAY: Lady Gaga – “Burqa”?

While singing about the full body covering of Muslim women might be construed as shock tactics, if you listen to the lyrics of Lady Gaga’s leaked single “Burqa” you will realize that it’s quite a personal analogy.? Starting with a surf/guitar rock intro leading into electro dance-pop, the song compares the traditional hiding of awrah (intimate parts of the body) under the burqa (full body covering) with the attempt of maintaining a personal life in the midst of global fame.? While the intermittent usage of the words dance, sex, art, and pop as a chant cheapens it a bit, they seem to be more like twitter hashtags or digital noise. To those who see this as another reductive impersonation of Madonna, they might say it’s just a mashup of “Justify My Love” and “Like a Prayer” sharpened with more lyrical pelvic thrusts.? As a leaked demo of what will no doubt be an album track from ‘ARTPOP,’ it shows the Gaga is going to further than she did with “Judas” and really cross cultural boundaries.? Let’s see if “Applause” will live up to expectations when it’s released later this month.