A friend asked me the other day if there was some new rule among trance producers that vocals are only allowed to be placed over breakdowns.? While he was joking, kinda, the angelic, uplifting vocals used in trance records do seem to shine the brightest over the sparse, atmospheric breakdowns.? Case in point, the new track “Carved By Your Hands” from Dutch trance producer Sied van Riel.? Starting off with an exposed kick drum at a surprisingly slow tempo (maybe 128 bpm but feeling more like 126), an evil-sounding pad starts before a really pretty keyboard line floats in. It actually starts to go a bit prog with disparate elements (a keyboard hook, off-sounding drum, stutter beat) that shouldn’t work together but do.? The beat starts to fade away as a euphoric pad takes over which introduces the big dropout.? British singer Temper Heart channels Maria Naylor with her angelic vocals floating over the atmospheric drop-out. For a harder, more electro/prog take, check out Wezz Devall’s “Remilf.”? (Yes, the use of the term MILF makes as much sense as Chew Fu’s infamous “refix” moniker.) ? EDM geeks and aspiring producers should check out Sied’s YouTube video about the making of this track as well.
Image Courtesy of S107/Armada.
Category: Song Of The Day
SONG OF THE DAY: Natalia Lesz – “Beat Of My Heart”
If you are craving some slickly-produced europop, take a listen to “Beat of My Heart” the new single from Polish pop tart Natalia Lesz.? Similar in sound to fellow eastern europeans t.A.T.u., the production is so slick and melodic that it could have been produced by Trevor Horn. There are so many classic Hi-NRG references in the track – early ’80s synths, hands-in-the-air key changes, smoothed-out effected vocals, repeated lyrics for easy sing-alongs – that you could imagine Stock, Aitken, and Waterman had reunited after being inspired by listening to Kleerup and the prettier remixes of Wawa. Effected almost to the point of a soothing anime character, Natalia still manages to bring warmth and personality to her vocal performance- for which she deserves some kudos.? As for the video, I am completely confused by the Amy Winehouse drag, the male model wearing just as much make-up, and the horrifically violent ending.? Just a warning, if t.A.T.u’s video for “All About Us’ bothered you, then click off the video before the last 12 seconds.
Image Courtesy of EMI.
SONG OF THE DAY: Patrick Hagenaar ft Marky Hartley – “You Got Me (Glowing In The Dark)”
It seems that Holland’s major export has quickly become dance music, so Dutch producer Patrick Hagenaar’s slogan ?If it ain?t Dutch, it ain?t much” sounds about right. His new track “You Got Me (Glowing in the Dark)” is a straight-ahead commercial pop dance song with electro flourishes not unlike recent releases by David Guetta or Calvin Harris (or even Ne-Yo and Taio Cruz). The uplifting and unifying message is a nice change from the drink-centric party records that seem to be in overabundance at the moment. DJs requiring a harder mix should reach for the My Digital Enemy rerub, while lovers of euphoric happy house will rejoice in the Dan Van & Adam Fierce Remix. You can be sure that there will be a mashup coming quite soon with the recently-released and similarly-titled track from tyDi and Kerli.
Image Courtesy of hed kandi.