There’s something magical that is created when two creative people work together. Jeff Montalvo a/k/a Seven Lions is known for harder electro and dubstep production with hints of trance. As a singer/songwriter, Kerli has a unique voice and a sound that transforms to fit any style of production. Together the two have constructed “Worlds Apart,” which brings dubstep and progressive elements together and adds a bit of a pretty pop feel to smooth them over. It’s the kind of song that fits a SciFi movie soundtrack as easily as commercial radio. Worlds Apart is the title track on Seven Lions’ EP which also features another collab with Kerli (Keep It Close) and songs with Ellie Goulding (Don’t Leave) and Myon and Shane 54 & Tove Lo (Strangers). Highly recommended.
Two Texans meet up with up with a Brit to release a track on a label down under… Sounds more like a setup for a punchline than the start of a solid record. Following up their collab “Daylight” with WeSmile, producer Kid Massive teams again with singer/songwriter duo DataBoy for one of the strongest vocal tracks of recent memory. This may seem like a strange compliment, but Cam and Adam can actually sing and you can tell by the way they duet with three distinct levels of intensity – first the poppy Wanted/One Direction-ish verse, then the more uplifting and emotional pre-chorus/bridge into the full-on wailing of the chorus. It’s hard to gauge whether the track came first or the lyrics came first, but either way Kid Massive’s original stadium house/electro hybrid track is quite solid on its own, sounding like a mix of Swedish House Mafia and Zedd. Remix-wise, there’s a lot of buzz on Vinai and listening to his big room electro mix, it is easy to see why. DJs should also check out the shuffling Tradelove-ish remix by Alex Taylor and the more chilled-out take by Skyden & Piero.
As we all look forward to Sia’s forthcoming ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ album (due for release in July), the lead single “Chandelier” has been receiving widespread radio airplay. It’s quite fascinating for us long-term fans that it took her writing dance records for Flo Rida and David Guetta for many to appreciate her unique voice (both as singer and writer). The song itself has been reviewed everywhere, so let’s talk about the remixes that are beginning to surface.? Out of the gate are takes by Liam Keegan and Hector Fonseca. To preface this, let’s just say that to a dance music producer, the song, with its musical structure and instrumentation, is a challenge to make work in a club setting. The original 87 BPM tempo is in that “hell tempo” range that remixers often find difficult.
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Liam Keegan does a good job by keeping it at 122 BPM and going in a mellow house direction – like a Clean Bandit feel, with a bit more oomph. Hector Fonseca amped it up to 128 BPM and on first preview, I figured this tribal-oriented mix would be perfect for prime time play.? Wow, I was surprised at what came through the loud speakers at the club – the stutter repeated vocals and beats are the closest thing to dissonance I’ve heard in a club record in a long time (going back to some of the more outre/experimental Jonathan Peters mixes from the late ’90s). If you have an adventurous ear (or an adventurous crowd) it could work, but a club kid even asked me if my mp3 was warped.? (Those of us who remember vinyl realize how funny that concept is.) If you don’t already know the song, Sia’s vocals become almost meaningless, and you have to wonder why he tried to make a full vocal mix anyway, unless it was a contractual obligation. Hector’s Tribal dub works a lot better and reconciles the disparate elements together in a more aesthetically-unified fashion. It’s a good track that doesn’t sound like everything else, and that’s admirable given how similar so much of contemporary EDM is happy being. But the vocals and the track don’t fit together in a way that people can groove on (though pitching the mix down some does yield much more interesting results and does let Sia’s voice shine through rather than be hammered into chunks as it seems at 128).?
As we await the rumored MK-inspired mix by Cutmore, I would encourage you to hunt down the exceptionally strong mix by Bit Error. The rising talent split the difference between Keegan and Fonseca by going in at 125 BPM, keeping the pretty pop feel and adding some tasteful electro in the mix.? The vocals are so well done that it would work perfect for mixshows, and an edit would fit just about every dance radio station.?
