Drum and bass doesn’t often cross over to mainstream but when it does, it’s massive.? Think back to the ’90s when N-Trance “Set U Free” and Baby D “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” were major pop hits.? Soulful singer Kathy Brown, best known in clubland for her hits with Praxis “Turn Me Out” and Soul Central “Strings of Life (Stronger On My Own),” was looking to update her song “Somebody to Love,” and through the networking platform Music Gateway met the drum and bass duo Artificial Intelligence.? This new version of the song starts off with an ’80s R&B feel, like what would be a love theme on the soundtrack to the movie ‘Breakin,’ before building up to slamming drum and bass beats.? Kathy sounds great as always, and the alternating and contrasting beat structures of R&B and D&B enhance the emotion of the lyrics.? If you aren’t a huge drum and bass fan, check out the Alessio Caforio mix for a sexy Crazibiza-ish house vibe.? The video is absolutely adorable, showing the story a little boy pining for his lost robot toys as they magically find their way back to him – a cross between the video for Chris Malinchak “So Good to Me” and the movie Toy Story.??
Image Courtesy of Music Gateway.
Artificial Intelligence and Kathy Brown – “Somebody to Love”
Category: Song Of The Day
SONG OF THE DAY: Yolanda Be Cool ft SYF and Fritz Helder? – “All That She Wants”
You never quite know what to expect when Austalian trio Yolanda Be Cool drops a track.? After exploding onto the scene with the massive “We No Speak Americano” with D-Cup and a few similar-styled swing-house jams, they started exploring harder sounds, nuHouse, and progressive on the followup releases (“Change,” “Sweat Naked,” and “Before?Midnight”). For their cover of the Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants,” they’ve moved to downtempo chill house, but with a harder, almost metallic reggae vibe.?? Imagine a collaboration of early Nine Inch Nails with Le Youth, and yes, it’s as strange as it sounds but works so perfectly for the dark vibe of the lyrics.? The vibe was no doubt influenced by Starving Yet Full (SYF) and Fritz Helder, two members of the Canadian electro group Azari and III.? If you listen to their tracks like “Hungry for the Power” and “Indigo,” you can totally see the roots of the sound.? DJs will probably reach for the more uptempo Go Freek and Wordlife remixes, but those who enjoy leftfield sounds will go straight to the Plastic Plates and Human Life remixes. The darkly psychedelic and gorgeously haunting video fits the narcotic vibe of the track perfectly.
Image Courtesy of Dim Mak.
Yolanda Be Cool ft SYF and Fritz Helder – “All That She Wants”
SONG OF THE DAY: Kimberly Cole – The Prelude EP
In this era of dance artists dropping random singles and collaborations, singer/songwriter/TV personality Kimberly Cole has stepped outside of the box and constructed a fully-realized EP that tells a story through six strong songs.? Starting off downtempo with the pretty, yet powerful “Heart I Didn’t Break” (which might be better known as “Picking Up the Pieces”), she belts out the lyrics with a growing intensity that matches the rising energy of the track.? Comparisons to Nicole Scherzinger are quite obvious.? Her bad girl persona comes out strongly over the edgy, shuffling pop beat of “Wind Up Dead,” sounding like a collaboration between Katy Perry and M.I.A.?? For “Found Better,” Kim changes her vocal timbre, going with a huskier, reggae-inflected tone as she tells off her ex over the downtempo dubstep beat. “Cruel” continues the dubstep and amps the intensity with some NSFW lyrics that really sound like an emotional catharsis. The most obvious radio hit comes next with “Let Me Go,” her take on the classic “love me or leave me” theme over an alternating house and dubstep beat.? The finale of the EP, “Everything,” sounds like a Nervo production aimed at festivals and top 40 radio at the same time. Throughout all six tracks, the constant is not only Kimberly’s strong vocal performance but the incredibly strong production which melds current club sounds with a polished pop edge.?
Image Courtesy of Crystal Ship.