There are few names that represent the alternative side of Australian dance music quite like Flume and Chet Faker do. The former artist pioneered future bass by experimenting with elements of trap, downtempo and dubstep and the latter is responsible for a soul-infused variety of electronic music - and as evidenced by the LockJaw EP, the place where those styles intersect is something remarkable.
There's been a major drum and bass resurgence in the UK as of late, and it's carried artists like Rudimental along with it. Tracks like "Never Let You Go" are a somewhat more watered-down take on the traditionally abrasive genre, but it's been encouraging to see such a bygone genre rise back into mainstream consciousness nonetheless.
It's only a matter of days before Avicii's sophomore album, Stories, comes out, but it looks like the Swedish DJ/producer couldn't wait to share its songs with his fans. He's uploaded a 16-minute megamix to his Spotify page that teases short segments of each track of the highly anticipated release.
Come on, Borgore. I would expect this from Steve Aoki, but you know better. It feels like I just got done writing about how Borgore hasn't changed with the electronic music landscape. Even the preview he's released since then for his upcoming Keep It Sexy EP promises the aggressive sort of dubstep that put the Israeli DJ/producer on the map a few years ago, as passé as the genre has become by fad chaser standards.
Decorated EDM DJ/vocalist combo 3LAU and Bright Lights have teamed up on a track with an unusual sort of appeal. "Runaway" will be the first single from the latter artist's upcoming album, and will be released in full through Dim Mak on October 16th.
Over the past couple days, reports coming from Chattahoochee Hills, Atlanta indicate that inclement weather conditions have dramatically limited attendance to the music festival TomorrowWorld. Furthermore, personal testimonies from both employees and attendees of the three-day event suggest that lapses in communication at the management level have resulted in conditions that have ruined the festival experience for thousands and even placed many in harm's way.
Perhaps today just wasn't the right day for Robin Schulz to release a house album. For all intents and purposes, Sugar is a sincere enough collection of four-four dance music - but when it's measured against the yardstick of Kaskade's Automatic and Disclosure's Caracal, both of which also came out today, it comes across as a largely riskless attempt to reach the widest audience and still maintain some semblance of artistic integrity.
Disclosure have had one of the most fortunate runs of luck of any outfit in contemporary dance music. The young DJ/producer duo happened to put out a unique brand of intelligent yet soulful house music right at a point where the EDM generation began to outgrow hard kicks and hoover synths in favor of music with more substance.
As part of his cryptic Genisis Series, Zhu has debuted "As Crazy As It Is," a collaboration with A-Trak that features Jamaicn vocalist Keznamdi. Following close behind Zhu's incredibly well-received AlunaGeorge collaboration, "Automatic," was leaked a day before its debut - but either way, the densely packed release schedule so far suggests that more will follow shortly.
To be completely honest, writing with authority on Kaskade's ninth studio album, Automatic, has been something of a challenge. Contrary to what you might expect from my opinions on some of the tracks he's already released from the effort, I haven't just been gearing up to trash talk the entire album. ...Well, yes, I actually was, but only if it was deserving. What Kaskade has put out, however, is a collection of songs that - regardless of what they convey individually - tell a story of the world-class DJ/producer making a bold stylistic transition over the course of one of the EDM movement's stranger hours.
