Category: Song Of The Day

SONG OF THE DAY: The Prophet – Louder

Diversity is a wonderful thing.? If you are reading this, then you have a passion for dance music, and while we have that in common our preferences may vary widely.? The words house and trance seem meaningless these days due to all the specialist and niche subgenres.? One subgenre that doesn’t often get love from people outside the subculture is hardstyle.? The music is banging, aggressive, and normally over 150 bpm making it great for aerobics or for dancing out major aggression (think mosh pit for ragers). The Prophet has been producing tracks and DJing in the hardstyle/hard dance world for nearly 15 years under his name and several aliases (Hardheadz, Punk Brozz, Oral Fixation).? So it seems a bit odd that he is just now releasing his debut artist album.? The title track sets the tone because this music needs to be played “Louder” than just about anything else on your music player. To say the beats are banging is redundant, the drill-like cadence is so insistent and relentless that it is futile to resist.? Along with the pounding comes a cinematic feel, with both a drop to a horror theme instrumental break and the spoken voice of a movie preview announcer.? The funny thing is that just as the hip-hop world has embraced trap, I could see “Louder” with a rap on top and the crowd dancing halftime to it – kind of like drum and bass, back in the day.? If you like “Louder,” explore the album and be sure to check out “Make Me Stay” with Noisecontrollers & Leonie Meijer for a Sarah McLachlan-esque vibe form of aggression.? Yes, that sounds strange, but it works so well.

Image Courtesy of Scantraxx.

SONG OF THE DAY: Anastacia – Stupid Little Things

Having survived a second bout with breast cancer, singer/songwriter Anastacia returns to the spotlight. Her music first broke into the international pop and club world fifteen years ago and clubland continues to dance to her anthems. So, it almost makes me feel guilty to think that it has been far too long since we’ve heard new original music from her. Yes, there was the tribal track “If I Was Your Boyfriend” that she did with Tony Moran and the “Pride (A Deeper Love)” update she did with Tiesto, but the last taste of club mixes of her own original songs were from her vastly underappreciated Heavy Metal album back in 2008. Anastacia goes back to her pop/rock/dance roots with “Stupid Little Things,” by co-writing with two of her original collaborators, Sam Watters and Louis Biancaniello. The result is a powerful anthem that’s reminiscent of her early classics and screams radio for 2014. For clubland, Manhattan Clique pumps up the tempo for the verse with a commercial and modern electrodisco vibe but then slows it down to a semi-original tempo for the bluesy feel of the chorus. Often times, remixers use the slowdown trick when they can’t get a vocal to fit at a house tempo (or because they are simply too lazy to make it work, but of course, I won’t name names), but the Manhattan Clique duo (Chris Smith and Philip Larsen) show that they got the skills to make a full-fledged power vocal performance work in any context. Drag queens, twinks, and circuit boys, here is one of your summer anthems for 2014.

Image Courtesy of BMG/Chrysalis.

SONG OF THE DAY: Tiesto ft Matthew Koma – Wasted

This is such a fun record, or should I say, a ‘fun. record’ – as it sounds like what would happen if the indie pop band decided to experiment with the current EDM trends. Singer Matthew Koma has an incredible voice and is a powerful songwriter, which is why he is in demand by nearly every major dance producer/DJ- Afrojack, Showtek, Zedd, and Hardwell are all working with him. Following the crossover hit “Red Light,” Tiesto aims for the jugular with this infectious party anthem which melds commercial pop (? la One Direction, fun!) with big room electro and that triplet sound, yet keeps the singalong vocals as the main focus. Honestly, this should be called Matthew Koma ft Tiesto or at least Tiesto AND Matthew Koma – because the catchy vocals are the main attraction and the track, though well-constructed and perfectly-suited for radio, is much more in the background. The topic of the lyrics is a bit of a red flag though, glorifying how being wasted is better and that’s the only time we talk. What else could wasted refer to than drug or alcohol use (a point brought home by the video showing an innocent 50s ladies luncheon devolving into a drunken Girls Gone Wild rage fest.) Is this really the message that an EDM artist should bring to Top 40? As the second single from Tiesto’s forthcoming album, it will be interesting to see if the album goes even further into the David Guetta pop direction (which is a great thing) or maintains a balance with banging club tracks. DJs will reach for the Ummet Ozcan mix which manages to keep the feel and the vibe of the original while pumping it for the big rooms with that festival sound. Don’t be surprised if this ends up on the soundtrack of the big summer movies.

Image courtesy of Ultra/Positiva/Virgin.

tiesto matthew koma wasted