Another year, another Tomorrowland, another Tomorrowland EP from the bosses Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. Unfortunately, this time we are not really happy with the results: apart of a couple of nice tracks, the selection disappointed us, especially because of the high expectations.
Let’s begin!
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Hardwell – Unity
25/100
Personally, I could write a college admission essay about the deepest meanings of this quintessential big room house song, putting on the spotlight both its pros and its cons.
To keep things extremely short, we just focus on the highlights, in pure EDM Reviewer style.
This is the embodiment of the sound that brought these two now-legendary names to immortal heights in the electronic music scene more than half a decade years ago.
The clearest concept behind these 5 minutes of EP opening, is the love for the scene that ultimately brought together Dimitri and Mike with Robbert to create a collab that fans had daydreamed about for years, even climbing over the wall of a cold war-like beef between the two sides that lasted 2 solid years.
It’s a great title and a better, especially if we look at the other popular house songs’ names: ‘Hands Up’ or ‘Get Down’ anybody? Fun fact: the speculated title was ‘Fuck The Haters’.
Breaking down the song itself, it certainly doesn’t shine for creativity. The first 3 minutes and a half is certainly nothing new. Later on, we see the Hardstyle fetish both sides have been pushing for years coming to a liberating reality with a hardstyle kick exploding as a last ditch effort to make this collaboration somewhat mold-breaking.
Nice try, but staying true to one’s sound sometimes can result in obsolescence.
During our joint brainstorming, the sentence ‘From these names, we expected more‘ was repeated multiple times.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Nicky Romero – Here We Go (Hey Boy, Hey Girl)
72\100
Round two.
It’s a Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike discography staple to sample dance music classics. Add that to Nicky Romero’s evergreen, thunderous electro house style, and you get the one of the most well executed ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’ reworks of the past years.
While I’m not sure if The Chemical Brothers would be happy to see their work being sampled and released for free, this collab is definitely a relief after the stale ‘Unity’.
The break is kept short, but the hats and kickdrum tech they applied here helps it not getting forgettable. The drops are festival pleasers that easily sound fresh when compared to other Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike obnoxious stadium-sized and synth-filled big room house weapons. Nice job!
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. KSHMR – OPA
80\100
This one gets the crown of one of the most hyped up collaborations in the entire history of electronic music. Rightfully so, because ‘OPA’ is an electro house gem!
KSHMR – the producer who introduced the mainstream electronic dance music world to ethnic instruments and exotic sound designs – was the best choice to let the Greek roots of Dimitri and Mike flourish in the form of ‘OPA’.
Another fun fact: ‘opa’ is a Greek expression used when someone breaks a plate, hence the artwork.
The song samples the popular Greek ballad ‘Zorba’, based on the bouzouki, a typical Greek ‘guitar’, and this makes the song stand out far from the other songs in the EP. Even when considering its electronic dance music structures such as the drops and the buildups, it is clear how KSHMR’s touch was essential in making the track a fan favourite.
‘OPA’ is unique, and it’s certainly a nice comeback to Dimitri and Mike’s multiethnic experimentalism that they started back in the day with songs such as ‘G.I.P.S.Y.’ and ‘Eparrei.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. W&W & MOGUAI – Arcade Mammoth
83\100
The last House song in the EP, this is more than a mashup. And it’s more than a festival banger. This is a hymn.
‘Mammoth’ and ‘Arcade’ have already reached anthem status in the festival world, with the former being the brother’s greatest song. Arguably. Obviously, MOGUAI played a massive role in the design of the 2013 product. And ‘Arcade’ would have never been possible without W&W stepping in with their craft.
‘Arcade Mammoth’ plays on blending the iconicity of ‘Mammoth’ melody with the updated and gargantuan synths from ‘Arcade’ to form an ultimate Big Room House beast.
Zero complaints about this one, the best song for us out of the ‘Tomorrowland EP’ and one of the best recent songs from the brothers’ discography.
After a promising Big Room House oriented start that pushed our ratings far higher than what we expected, the brothers decided to get a little bit experimental with the last 3 songs in the release.
Unfortunately, it’s here that the EP really starts to go south.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike feat. Gucci Mane & Delaney Jane – All I Need (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Bassjackers VIP Mix)
50\100
The original ‘All I Need’ is one of the few dance-pop hits that we appreciated in the past couple of years. And the Bassjackers have proven to be quite competent with Trap music with their 2016 trap killer ‘One Fifty’, which saw heavy support by the Belgian brothers during that year.
To say the expectations didn’t get matched is an understatement, as this so-called ‘VIP’ Mix of the radio-friendly original is just a plain, uninspired and overall lazy Trap flip that could only hope to work in a festival environment.
Nothing more.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Bassjackers – The Jungle
54\100
Another collaboration with the dynamic duo Bassjackers, ‘The Jungle’ was debuted by Dimitri and Mike last year at the start of the festival season, making appearances at Tomorrowland, World Club Dome, and their very own Bringing The Madness: Reflections.
Supposedly, this would be another festival-oriented Trap on the tracks of the steamy ‘One Fifty’. Too bad it sounds like an unsuccessful attempt at compressing 2 songs in one.
The ‘One Fifty’ vs. ‘Iceland (Viking Clap)’ mashup performed by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike at the Bringing The Madness 4.0 got amateurly condensed into this uninspired Trap effort.
While the type of break they adopted with the sabers’ sounds, the tribal shouts, and the stomps gives off an enjoyable adventure-like vibe, the overall concept is just lackluster at best.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike feat. Wiz Khalifa – When I Grow Up (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Brennan Heart Tomorrowland Remix)
40\100
Possibly the worst song on the EP, and arguably the worst song out of Brennan Heart massive and respected repertory. It’s such a shame seeing one of the greatest names in Hardstyle history delivering such an underwhelming performance.
The original had a lot of nice hidden potential, but for the third time in a row in this EP, all we have is a colourless harder genre flip that completely fails at delivering what actual songs of said genres would be able to. It’s even more disappointing when a name of the likes of Brennan Heart is involved.
I guess the clout this song has achieved by being the outro for both the brothers’ Tomorrowland 2018 Mainstage set and their Bringing The Madness: Reflections massive 3 hours song could make up for the bad reputation it bears sonically… but the bad taste in the mouth is sharp.
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. W&W – Crowd Control (3 Are Legend Remix)
45\100
The Belgian brothers have decided to wrap up this EP with their strongest song from last year revisited in the biggest current trend in electronic music, mainstream Psy-Trance.
It’s noteworthy reminding you that this sound is far from what real Psy-Trance sounds like.
The original ‘Crowd Control’ is another festival weapon that the brothers and W&W added to their massive ‘Classic Mainstage Destroyers’ catalogue, and it has received support by all the biggest names in dance music, the likes of Alan Walker, Hardwell, and even the good old Skrillex.
But unfortunately, the craze Dimitri, Mike and Steve Aoki have for always following the trends played against them, by completely ruining the Hardstyle-sampling Big Room House maravilia the original was with a to-say-the-least subpar psy bassline that doesn’t do the song any favor, and two amateurish and completely anticlimactic drops.
What do you think?
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