Its been a while since we have heard from UK producer Doctor P and he is back with a new single title track called ‘Neon’ featuring the vocals of Jenna G.
Best known for helping to pioneer a significant change in sound for the genre with his world famous ‘Sweet Shop’ and remix of Caspa’s ‘Marmite’, in more recent time it would be seen that he is trying to hit a more mainstream sound.
With elements of big European house, this is a little be cheesy, little bit dramatic and a little bit cool.
I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving and I hope your food comas have subsided after a night’s rest. Today’s news spans from trance to dubstep with Above & Beyond, Jesse Rose, Depeche Mode, 12th Planet, and Flux Pavilion. As always, catch the full GDD™ Morning Update after the jump.
Above & Beyond warn against “Very weak imitations” in dance music
As far as dance music success stories go, Above & Beyond’s career is a standout. With a string of artist albums, an ever-growing Anjunabeats empire and tireless world tours, their superstar status has been hard-earned. In an interview with Mixmag this week, Jono Grant has drawn on the trio’s experience to send a sagely message to aspiring producers (and established ones, too). The bottom line being: don’t shamelessly ape the formula of David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and co.
“I’ve noticed that many smaller producers are seemingly feeling a bit lost in where to go with their direction, and are perhaps seeing artists like having mainstream commercial success and saying, ‘I want a piece of that!’,” muses Grant in the interview. “They are then diverting from their chosen flight path and heading towards that, which is of course fine if it’s where they genuinely want to be, as some do. But for a lot of producers, they dilute what they are about because they are not David Guetta and don’t do what he does best. That’s not experimenting in my eyes, it’s panic!”
He then goes on to single out a particular example that’s likely to resonate with Beatport-trawling ITMers.
“For example, over the last two years I’ve noticed Beatport has been littered with tracks trying to directly mimic the riff from Swedish House Mafia’s One, including some of the bigger names,” Grant continues. “Now the instrumental of One was a great groundbreaking track when it came out, but it just feels very weak, perhaps even cynical, for so many producers to try and copy this, and in 95-percent of cases creating very weak imitations. In the process of doing something like this you dilute your own identity.
“Dance music has always been about borrowing ideas, but at the same time it’s also been about moving the sound forward. I’ve always felt the key is to draw influences from multiple sources in order to make something fresh sounding. Fair enough if you take influences from the SHM, but throw something new in there.”
This weekend is set to be a big one for Above & Beyond, with the 400th episode of its Trance Around The World radio show. Naturally, there’s a mammoth party planned – Beirut is the lucky destination – accompanied by an eight-hour broadcast. The headliners will be joined by Jaytech, Mat Zo, Kyau & Albert and Gareth Emery, so fans will want to settle in.
Mixmag recently took a trip to LA to catch up with fidget house originator turned global house superstar Jesse Rose. Find out what we got up to with Jesse right here and check out his brand new documentary, Made For The Night, above. It gives further insight into the life and work of one of the best DJs in the game right now.
Depeche Mode Co-Founders Martin Gore and Vince Clarke Reunite After 30 Years
Depeche Mode co-founders Martin Gore and Vince Clarke have announced that they are working on music together for the first time since Clarke quit the band in 1981. (Clarke would go on to make synth-pop history with Erasure and Yazoo/Yaz.) The two have joined together to form a techno act called VCMG.
Gore said in a press release, “Out of the blue I got an e-mail from Vince just saying, ‘I’m interested in making a techno album. Are you interested in collaborating?’ This was maybe a year ago. He said, ‘No pressure, no deadlines,’ so I said, ‘OK,’ and that’s what we’ve been doing the last six month.”
VCMG will release a yet-untitled album early next year, which has already been recorded. In the meantime, they’ll put out a series of EPs, beginning with a 5-track collection called Spock. That’ll be out on December 13 through Mute, and includes four remixes of the title track.
DJ/producer 12th Planet picks five seminal dubstep tunes
It’s impossible to identify the first DJ to spin dubstep in Southern California, but for all practical purposes, it might as well have been 12th Planet. After being galvanized by the sounds gurgling out of London nightclub FWD and captured by Mary Anne Hobbs’ seminal “Dubstep Warz” special, the artist born John Dadzie became an apostle for the nascent sub-genre in early 2006.
Eschewing the drum-&-bass scene that had supported his touring lifestlye for the previous several years, Dadzie embraced the blistering wobble. One of the founders and the most prominent face of venerable bass-music promoters/record label SMOG, the L.A.-raised Dadzie is one of the city’s biggest dance-music success stories. He’s rocked festivals all over the world, toured with everyone from Daedelus to Skrillex and has officially remixed M.I.A. and John Legend (both will see forthcoming release). His own tunes have been remixed by fellow dubstep star Doctor P, and 12th has seen his videos played on MTV2. Moreover, he’s done it all independently.
Yet it’s as a live performer when 12th Planet is truly most in his element. He raises his fist and rallies crowds; he dances, raps and drops knowledge. He’s a whirlwind of energy capable of making audiences go as wild as Waka Flocka. In advance of SMOG’s fifth-year anniversary party in Santa Ana on Friday(headlined by dubstep legend Skream), Pop & Hiss asked 12th to select five of the songs that converted him to dubstep in the first place.
Wow, I remember hearing this song every night from 2006 to about 2008. This was one of the first Dubstep tracks I had heard with some serious attitude on the bass. It reminded me a lot of the late 90′s jump-up that Aphrodite was making.
My friend Tech Itch was one of the first people to ever mention the word dubstep to me. He told me to check out this group Vex’d, and lo and behold this was one of the first songs I had ever grasped the concept of dubstep on.
I remember hearing this song for the first time at a [drum-&-bass] show in San Francisco. I thought to myself, this dubstep sounds kind of like hip-hop. It was then I realized my longtime friend Matt from Santa Cruz was the orchestrator behind the sound. This track was pivotal to me, because it was probably the first American-made dubstep that caught U.K. rotation.
In my opinion, this track was the platform for modern dubstep. The way the drums are programmed, and the two-note bassline, is basically what set the tone for conventional dubstep.
Check out the footage of Flux Pavilion dropping ‘Superbad’, his latest track with Doctor P, at KOKO while supporting Skrillex. Rusko couldn’t have had a better opening at this year’s HARD Haunted Mansion with this track.
Well as most of you know I have been extremely busy the past 2 months with Military stuff; I want to thank our writer Josh for keeping the site updated while I was away. As for all of my loyal readers I have missed writing and sharing great music with you. I am now back and after the 10th will be up to date with all my meetings and appointments that had to be rescheduled so blogging will be back to normal with your 3 favorite segments.I have alot of catching up to do as far as emails so if you have submitted something be patient as I will get to it. Thanks for your continued support. Here is a massive tracklist for everyone to party too. Enjoy….
Before I head out to enjoy the sun this weekend I decided to put together a little dubstep collection. This is a small list mostly influenced by my personal taste. Honestly I’ve never been a really huge fan of dubstep. However last couple of weeks my listening behaviour experienced a huge change. I started listening to such a wide range of music genres, I simply couldn’t deny that I like tracks in every genre. More genres will reach phase02 soon! Now it’s dubstep, lets go!
We start of with a genious remix of an already genious track. Enjoy “Crave you” in the Adventure Club version.
How can I deny. These guys are everywhere! Nero and Skrillex, both on top of the dubstep foodchain, tearing this tack apart. You know I don’t dig the complete track though. I especially love the drops and the mellow piano parts where the incredible vocal rises magically above the dubstep’s rougness. A perfect balance.
So as many of you know I have been very busy with Military stuff. So I would like to apologize for not posting as much. I have been trying to go through the submissions so that I can make a post. Please be patient and please don’t submit multiple times I will get to it. Thanks. I hope everyone has been having a great past couple of weeks. I will be back on the grind in July that is when I’ll be done with this stuff and i’ll be back 100% so please just hang in there just a tiny bit more.I hope everyone has a great weekend. Here are some bangers to get you guys going. Enjoy…
As 2010 draws to a close, we at GDD™ have decided to embark on a recap for you guys, and summarize our favorites from a truly epic year in EDM. Every day between now and January 1, our contributors will be pairing up to share their top picks with you. Tre and I drew the short straw and are up first, covering the bassier genres, so without further ado let’s kick things off...
Tre's Picks:
Skream - Outside The Box [Tempa]
In my eyes, 2010 saw the start to a great number of full length albums from EDM artists, which is pretty uncommon. The genre of mainstream dubstep emerged and saw the release of Magnetic Man on a mainstream label (Columbia), as well as Rusko’s OMG! on Mad Decent. However, there was only one that really stuck out to me as worthy of my album of the year - Skream’s Outside The Box. A cracking album from start to finish that demonstrates Skream’s versatility as an artist, ranging from the beautiful and entrancing sounds of 'Epic Last Song' to the heavy as sin 'Wibbler', which was a longtime anticipated by dubsteppers early on in the year. Essential Listening:Wibbler / How Real (Ft. Freckles) / Epic Last Song
Breakage - Foundation [Digital Soundboy] 2010 was the year that saw Breakage (aka James Boyle) burst through the EDM scene with his own unique style. Foundation is a groundbreaking album full of jungle inspired drums, haunting bass lines and an eclectic mix of drum and bass and dubstep. James Boyle has taken a futurist approach to the scene, cranking out tunes that give listeners the best of both worlds while maintaining percussive roots in a scene that has been flourishing since the early 90’s. Breakage follows the simple, yet crucial rule of quality over quantity and while his songs may not be the busiest they sure deliver a sound that can only be described as smooth, haunting and powerful. Essential Listening: Hard (Ft. David Rodigan & Newham Generals) / Run ‘em Out (Ft. Roots Manuva) / Vial (Ft. Burial)
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma [Brainfeeder]
2010 was also the year that IDM finally broke into the mainstream. This is one of those albums that stayed #1 in the unbelievably competitive billboard chart that is my car stereo. FlyLo’s intricate full length was a full force fusion of IDM, Jazz, Classical, 8-bit, hip-hop and so much more. Flying Lotus’ intense amount of work and emotion can be felt throughout the entire record, which arguably flows better than any other album I've heard this year. One can't mention Cosmogramma without mentioning the enormous amount of collaborations that graced the album, from Laura Darlington to Thom Yorke. Essential Listening:...And The World Laughs With You (Ft. Thom Yorke) / Do The Astral Plane / Nose Art
SweetFA's Picks:
Netsky - Netsky [Hospital]
When I think of Belgium, probably the last thing that comes to mind is Drum & Bass, but this year I've been forced to have a rethink, after the success of Belgian DnB sensation Boris Daenen. Relatively new to the game, Daenen under the guise of Netsky unleashed his selftitled debut on the legendary London-based DnB label Hospital Records. Netsky's liquid DnB sound has acted as a huge spark for the genre, breaking into the mainstream in a similar way to Pendulum when they unleashed Hold Your Color in 2005. With Hospital's backing, you can expect big things from this guy.
Essential Listening:Pirate Bay / Moving With You (feat. Jenna G) / Escape (feat. Darrison)
Horsepower Productions - Quest For The Sonic Bounty [Tempa]
Credited as one of the earliest pioneers of the dubstep genre, Horsepower Productions’ experimental UK Garage sound has been influencing scores of present day dubstep producers since the early noughties. The core duo consists of Benny Ill and Jay King, while Nassis and Lev Jnr drift in and out of the group, they worked together as a four piece for third studio album Quest For The Sonic Bounty which dropped last month. If you’re expecting high energy electronic wobble then this isn’t the one for you, but if you’re expecting a subtler more refined roots and garage album, then this is the one. For some the dubstep genre has begun to sound stale and monotonous, but when you listen to this record, you see that UK Garage is experiencing a second wind and will soon surpass it. Essential Listening:Poison Wine / Water / Damn It
Underworld - Barking [Om Records]
While this record only touches the tips of bassier genres via some dank co production duties from Welsh DnB guru High Contrast, it’s definitely one of my top 5 records this year. Seeing an allstar lineup of co-producers including High Contrast, Appleblim, Dubfire, D.Ramirez and Paul Van Dyk, Barking is Underworld’s eighth studio album and it absolutely bangs. While it’s come under flak from some critics, I see it as some of their most ambitious and versatile work to date, ranging from the Deadmau5-ey prog house vibes of ‘Always Loved Film’, to straight up DnB jam ‘Scribble’. Those who were lucky enough to catch Karl Hyde and Rick Smith live this year will agree that these guys are one of the few acts whose live shows are even more mindblowing than their studio work, which is no easy feat. Essential Listening:Scribble (co prod. by High Contrast) / Always Loved Film (co prod. by D.Ramirez / Strumpet Groove
Subsidiary of Coldcut’s legendary Ninja Tune label that turned 20 this year, Brainfeeder is a collective run by Flying Lotus which this year has seen epic releases from FlyLo himself, as well as Daedelus, Mr. Oizo, Teebs and Tokimonsta.
Started in 2005 by the legendary jungle mogul Shy FX, Digital Soundboy has become a household name in the electronic music scene. With both Shy’s musical knowledge and the talent he has recruited it is no wonder Digital Soundboy has become such a widely renowned and highly respected label. DS has had a massive year with hits from the likes of Breakage, Redlight, Benga, Benny Page, DJ Fresh, Caspa, Calibre and many more.
Circus Records was founded in 2008 in Weisbaden Germany, and now contains some of dubstep’s biggest names. Circus’ artists have saturated almost every dubsteppers itunes library and favorite clubs, whether it be the unique high end screeches of Doctor P, the intense layered basslines provided by Flux Pavilion or the diverse singles and remixes that Funtcase has dropped on us, we can’t deny that this was Circus’ year.
Thus, what can we say bassheads, glitch freaks, and IDM nazis...this was truly our year ; ) So grab these tunes, curl up next to the fire hugging your most massive sub and reminisce, because the best has yet to come (and we will keep bringing it to you).
This week has so far felt like an eternity.I mean the days are just dragging by.I hate days like that.These are the days where I feel over worked and under paid which is 100% true but I try to block that from thought.Anyways I have a nice selection of tracks to share with all of you that should put a smile on your faces and gear you up for the weekend.I know these tracks made me feel better.I had someone ask me the other day ” How come you don’t write about the music“?Here is my answer for everyone else who wonders that.I am only one person running a company.Yes there are contributors but they only post when they want and I don’t provide them with the material.I have to go threw hundreds of submissions a day listen to all of it and select what to post; if I wrote about every track I post I would not be able to keep up on my own.I try to write reviews,and conduct interviews when available;But doing all of it is hard now I enjoy what I do and believe that good music speaks for itself it doesn’t need a 8 paragraph write up about how chillwave and relevant its going to be.That is for the listener to decide.I think of myself as a gatekeeper as all bloggers should we decide what should be shared and let you decide whats hot.I don’t believe writing a huge column on a track is going to change your mind if you think it sound good or not.Have a great remainder of the week.Enjoy…
another week gone by another friday for you to get excited about how much alcohol/substances you will ingest in an attempt to make the working week fade away into distant memory for it is the weeks end and you need to release. first up to get you awake and ready for the weekend is caspa remixed by doctor p, the original marmite its a pretty fast breaks style track but it is given the treatment by doctor p (who you may know for his track sweet shop) who grimes this up quite nicely, check it out.
Next drums of death a solo man/voodoo cursed zombie undead with a broken drum machine for a heart, signed to Joe Goddard’s (member of hot chip) party imprint greco-roman he has released a few singles you may have heard ‘got yr thing’ and ‘lonely days’, with plenty of remixes for you to search for to get an extra taste. but todays track is off his forthcoming album ‘generation hexed’ which was not what i was expecting but nice to see some variety in the tracks, ‘won’t be long’ is a bit techy, abit tropical and abit fun so get on it.
High Rankin and Evolve or Die, we featured last week with their recent Gramophonedzie remix. This week the two have teamed up again and dropped a heavier dubstep edit of Delerium‘s trance classic ‘Silence’. For enormous nostalgia value if nothing else, you need to hear this track:
12th Planet brought the house down with this track at Wednesday’s Scion party in LA. British dubstepper Flux Pavilion is getting a lot of hype at the moment; signed to Circus Records with Doctor P, he’s definitely one to watch out for this year.
So as many of you know I have been very busy with Military stuff. So I would like to apologize for not posting as much. I have been trying to go through the submissions so that I can make a post. Please be patient and please don’t submit multiple times I will get to it. Thanks. I hope everyone has been having a great past couple of weeks. I will be back on the grind in July that is when I’ll be done with this stuff and i’ll be back 100% so please just hang in there just a tiny bit more.I hope everyone has a great weekend. Here are some bangers to get you guys going. Enjoy…
This week has so far felt like an eternity.I mean the days are just dragging by.I hate days like that.These are the days where I feel over worked and under paid which is 100% true but I try to block that from thought.Anyways I have a nice selection of tracks to share with all of you that should put a smile on your faces and gear you up for the weekend.I know these tracks made me feel better.I had someone ask me the other day ” How come you don’t write about the music“?Here is my answer for everyone else who wonders that.I am only one person running a company.Yes there are contributors but they only post when they want and I don’t provide them with the material.I have to go threw hundreds of submissions a day listen to all of it and select what to post; if I wrote about every track I post I would not be able to keep up on my own.I try to write reviews,and conduct interviews when available;But doing all of it is hard now I enjoy what I do and believe that good music speaks for itself it doesn’t need a 8 paragraph write up about how chillwave and relevant its going to be.That is for the listener to decide.I think of myself as a gatekeeper as all bloggers should we decide what should be shared and let you decide whats hot.I don’t believe writing a huge column on a track is going to change your mind if you think it sound good or not.Have a great remainder of the week.Enjoy…
