Category: Song Of The Day

SONG OF THE DAY:? Luckner ft Sophie Louise – “Time”

From EDM blog to record label, you have to show that crew some massive respect. Two of my inspirations in making the jump from?about.com?to Notable Dance were lessthan3 and dancing astronaut – incredible EDM blogs with impeccable taste and superior editorial content. So when Less Than 3 started releasing tracks, you knew they were going to be of the highest quality.? Swiss producer Luckner has managed to created a progressive stadium track that sounds different than what all is out there right now. It’s pulsing and pounding without resorting to the three chord cliche which overruns the market. The track is quite multilayered, with hooks all over the place. Singer Sophie Louise has a beautiful yet powerfully angelic voice that sounds great both raw and when chopped up with effects, a la Otto Knows. The video is quite sweet, showing a school class growing up and contrasting toys (Etch-a-Sketch, Monopoly money) with the adult equivalent (iPad, currency). ?Who knows, this song about growing up could be the new high school graduation theme for the EDM generation.

Image Courtesy of Less Than 3.

SONG OF THE DAY: Duke Dumont ft AME – “Need U (100%)”

The ’90s are back, and as the wave of stadium house begins to recede you can look for underground house to make its way to the forefront.? We’ve covered the Canadian duo Prince Club, and it seems like Disclosure is getting more buzz than anyone else at the moment, except of course for Duke Dumont.?”Need U (100%)” bubbled up from the underground garage clubs in the UK to become a number one pop hit.? Listening to the song, it’s easy to see why. The classic house vibe feels like something King Street or Nervous would have released in the ’90s. Add in the the soulful diva vocals by A*M*E (already buzzing from being nominated in the Sound of 2013 poll) and you’ve got a song that is a fresh take on underground house.? It’s also a nice change to dance to a sexy house jam at 122 BPM as opposed to jumping up and down all night to electro tracks clocking in at over 130.? For those DJs who do require a more uptempo mix, Danny Howard pumps up the energy, adding some electro but keeping the soul of the original in place. Speaking of Disclosure, they recently covered “Need U 100%” with a male vocalist and a more classic MURK-ish kind of vibe. Premiered on Sara Cox’s BBC Radio show, the Disclosure version is giving a second life in the UK to the track amongst the underground hipsters. Maybe it’s time for Disclosure, Duke Dumont, and A*M*E to go into the studio together and see what kind of magic they could create.

Image Courtesy of Downtown/Ministry of Sound.

SONG OF THE DAY: Cash Cash ft Bebe Rexha – “Take Me Home”

I will be honest, the first time I heard about Cash Cash was when I was rummaging through the mixes of Krewella’s “Alive” trying to find a mix which didn’t have a large dropout which sucked all the energy out of the dancefloor… Thank you, Cash Cash. Digging into their tracks, I found a mixed bag of commercial-leaning stuff (the ‘obvious they were from New Jersey anthem’ “I Like it Loud,” a PSY-hook filled remix of British Justin Bieber-clone Conor Maynard’s “Vegas Girl”) and interesting ideas (the JUSTICE-influenced Loleatta Holloway sample track “Overtime” and the boy-band sounding dubstep tribute “Michael Jackson”). For “Take Me Home,” they’ve managed to combine the two extremes with a commercial take on electro/stadium tracks. It’s definitely pop, but since it premiered on Nicky Romero’s radio show, it must be credible. Just teasing, it’s seriously a great track that is hooky as hell with energy to pack a dance floor and singalong lyrics with crossover appeal. Enlisting the help of vocalist Bebe Rexha pushes it over the edge. When I first heard the track, I thought it was the singer from the Studio Killers. If you play “Take Me Home” after “Ode to the Bouncer,” you’ll hear what I mean. With “Take Me Home,” Cash Cash just might follow their friends on the path bubbling up from the underground to mainstream success.

Image courtesy of Big Beat Records.