SONG OF THE DAY: Cosmic Gate and Eric Lumiere – Falling Back

Known for gorgeous, lush, and epic trance, when Cosmic Gate dropped their last single “So Get Up” it sounded like they had totally changed by going for the massive big room electro festival sound. With “Start to Feel,” they have returned to their roots with a progressive track that is both emotional and energetic, blurring the lines of progressive and pop. Vocalist Eric Lumiere (“Love Will Bring It Around” and the classic “Anthem” with Filo & Peri) sounds great and emotes a similar vibe as Matthew Koma did on the current Hardwell crossover hit “Dare You.” Watching the video, it’s great to actually see the singer featured in addition to the random european models that normally populate EDM videos. As a second taste of what’s to come from Cosmic Gate’s forthcoming album ‘Start To Feel,’ it will be interesting to see how their vocal progressive and trance tracks meld with the harder electro. Looking over the tracklist you will see collaborations with both vocalists (Emma Hewitt, Jaren, Cary Brothers) and producers (Orjan Nilsen, Jerome Isma-Ae, Khomha), so it looks like the album will have quite a diverse feel when released on June 27th.

Image Courtesy of Wake Your Mind / Armada.

SONG OF THE DAY: Bob Sinclar – Le Manege

Here’s a quite wonderful mashup of styles cohesively fused into a unique club track. Starting with what sounds like the xylophones from the Bewitched TV show theme song and a hook not dissimilar to Tim Deluxe’s “It Just Won’t Do,” you really have no idea what to expect. Then the vocals start – Edith Piaf, France’s greatest star and national Diva, is sampled singing “Mon Man?ge ? Moi.” The lyrics about a lover being a merry-go-round making her head dizzy couldn’t be a better description for a wonderfully wild night of clubbing. This leads up to the well-used sample “Everybody Put Your Hands In The Air” and the electro-tribal big room energy kicks things up further. What makes this track so memorable is how Bob Sinclar is able to meld all these varied elements together for a truly magical club anthem. This song is so special and different that it could go as viral as Yolanda Be Cool’s “We No Speak Americano.” The video is labelled as ‘Paris By Night,’ the title of his album released last year – but this song isn’t on there. If this is the first track from a sequel album, then we’ve found a great party soundtrack for Summer 2014.

Image Courtesy of Bob Sinclar Facebook.

SONG OF THE DAY: Juan Kidd ft Faye Solomon – Are You the One?

This record caught my attention the moment I saw the name of the label – Weirdo. If enjoying quality vocal house makes me a weirdo, then so be it… Known for diverse house tracks and collaborations with everyone from Yousef and Filthy Rich to Prok & Fitch and Mark Brown, British DJ/producer Juan Kidd blends classic house grooves with modern loops for his new track “Are You the One.” The vocal line sounds so familiar on first listen that you would swear you’ve heard it in the club. Working with big, upfront vocals comes natural for Juan- look back at his breakout hit “Now You’re Gone” which featured Lisa Millett… House diva vocals don’t get much bigger than that. Faye sings with a little more of a playful and seductive tone- with a honeyed soul vibe. As great as the track is, I wonder how Juan would play it in his live sets. Since he is known for dropping acapellas live over tracks he is playing and doing live remixes on the fly, who knows what the backing for the catchy lyrics would be?

Image Courtesy of Weirdo Records.