This week was certainly a big one for albums with new ones from Illenium, Kayzo, and JackLNDN most notably. We’ll talk about the latter two along with some other tracks but leave the first for its own article. As always, we’ll be partnering with The QR Network to compile a short recap of notable tracks that we didn’t have time to cover during the previous week. We hope you enjoy our selection and if you have any tracks you’d like to see here, please feel free to post your suggestions in the comments
Justin Mylo & Reggio – More of Your Love
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I mentioned this in our review of “Afterlife,” but now this track marks the 8th one from REGGIO in the key of F#m to just show how he’s reusing assets without modification from the leads to the kicks to the bass. Justin Mylo added a nice future house melody and pluck in the extended buildup although I felt it could have been more pronounced to increase the energy and tension. The percussive breakdown is reminiscent of “Rave Alert” with SWACQ but with enough differences thanks to the vocal used. Overall, it’s a somewhat fresh amalgamation of past assets from both of these producers. I think this style of REGGIO’s is beginning to wear thin…
64/100
VIVID – Ocean (feat. Emery Taylor)
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As far as being “inspired” by other people’s style, I think it’s safe to say that Brooks has had a big impact on some of VIVID’s tracks such as “This Love,” “Fire & Gold,” and here with “Ocean.” However, the melodies that VIVID lays down are definitely memorable and filled with positive emotion. The original vocals and progressive house fusion really strengthen what would otherwise be another Brooks knockoff track. While derivative, you can really see the effort put into this by the producers and it translates well over the speakers.
82/100
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Nicky Romero – Everybody Clap
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Protocol Recordings is one of the last places I would have expected Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike to show up. Sitting just under two-minutes-and-thirty-seconds, “Everybody Clap” is yet another lazy DJ tool from DVLM with I guess some groove influence from Nicky Romero. We’ve seen Nicky Romero try this before with “Ring The Alarm” alongside David Guetta but at least those breakdowns had a bit of character to them. The tired chromatic melody in the drop is something we’ve heard a million times before, most recent and notably in Flexx & Vahn’s track, “Trompeta” which also revolved heavily around the drop. The breakdown of “Everybody Clap” just doesn’t have the same anthemic chants as “The Melody,” “Louder,” “Crowd Control,” “Ready For Action,” or recently with “Turn Up.” This one is just lifeless through and through and should have been a free release along with the other discharges from the Tomorrowland EP.
28/100
Kayzo – Wait It Out (feat. Micah Martin)
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While we wait for our review of Illenium’s new album to finish, I wanted to briefly touch on Kayzo’s one which I personally felt was a bit more innovative and encapsulating. There was a nice mix of genres from his typical dubstep bangers to fresher tracks like ones that follow this continued trend of higher tempo house music. This one with Micah Martin is one of the latter with the other being a collaboration with xo sad. “Wait It Out” reminded me a bit of two tracks from Snav’s EP, “Elevate” and “MSN” which were both fairly simple, high-tempo house tracks. This one features a sort of indie-rock vibe in the breakdown with a slow, longing guitar playing under Micah’s vocals. The buildup goes full-on rock-mode before going to the drop which I continue to have mixed feelings about. It’s essential a juicy kick and bass with Micah’s cut up vocals on top of it. I suppose it’s pleasant for streaming but something about it doesn’t feel like enough. The album as a whole is a decent listen, but I won’t be betting on its long-term replay value.
72/100
Carnage – Holy Moly Feat. Terror Bass
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After returning from his hiatus earlier this summer, Carnage has been quite prolific with his releases. The song features an ominous organ in each breakdown and a fairly standard heavy trap drop with samples and sounds we’ve heard before from many other artists. The second drop shakes things up with a rearrangement of those samples but my overwhelming feeling was that the track really needed some heavy and emotional raps over it all. That would have made it feel like a complete product rather than an instrumental version of something heavier.
64/100
Stesso – Keep My Space
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Revealed came out with three community releases this week. The one that won their Instagram poll was this one from Stesso but Skylight, 9Lives, and Hypnotune also did some decent work, with this being Hypnotune & Skylight’s debut on Hardwell’s imprint. There was also a tune from the questionable characters: Window and Jenil who somehow got Richie Loop on the track for a somewhat outdated but enjoyable track. At any rate, the crowned release of the week was one that also caught my eye for its unique, three-way fusion between progressive house, groove, and future house. Specifically it combines a light progressive chords with a moving bassline and groove rhythms. The breakdowns feature a heavily modified vocal and a modified version of the bassline which all makes for some really unique textures when listening through headphones. The second drop adds some cute little additions which makes the track worth listening through all the way. I recognize Stesso from an old track from 2016 with William Ekh, who has just recently introduced a new alias, PRETTY YOUNG. Overall, this was a very enjoyable track to listen to and also research to catch up on these artists.
85/100
Jinaction – Walidwipa
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It’s so hard to ignore Dharma when it comes to picking tracks to review because so many of them have noteworthy aspects to discuss. Of course, the first thing that came to mind when hearing this song was that it sounded like Dropgun’s style of psy-trance. Although looking back, most of these track feature a vocal sample in the drop rather than a synth, and the one made by Jinaction is so sharp and well-controlled. This song is just so tight and full of energy. Sitting at 145 BPM, it feels a bit too fast but that also adds to its infectious nature. The call and response in the drop is extremely effective but the psy-bass feels slightly too dominating in the mix. Lastly, I looked into Jinaction’s profile to see what sort of other tracks they had and found that it was mostly unofficial remixes and bootlegs with two singles on Spotify. It’s great to see this new talent and I look forward to seeing what Jinaction and Dharma bring next!
84/100
Cytrax – No One
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With a discography comprised of most big room tracks, hearing this soulful bass house track in the vein of STMPD come out on Exposed Recordings was certainly a pleasant surprise. I hear a bit of Loopers, Crime Zcene, and TV Noise influence in the track but nothing overly derivative. The vocals are processed well with a high-pass and bitcrusher effect placed over it. The oscillating lead in the break feels slightly out of place at times, but is mostly an interesting inclusion of a primarily future bass sound. Overall, a really interesting track for all involved parties.
81/100
JackLNDN – Beautiful Life
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Another notable album released this week came from JackLNDN which featured a bunch of enjoyable, easy-going tracks which was a great example of how to make mainstream tech and melodic house. The soundstage and sound design in “Beautiful” expertly manages its vocals and adds the perfect atmospheric sounds. It’s the details which set this and all the tracks on the album apart from the other drivel that gets released daily. I highly recommend streaming through this album if you’re looking for some calming music which could serve as a decent background to your activities but also gives you something to focus on if you just want to listen to music.
83/100
We hope you enjoyed our recap of selected songs from last week. If there is a song that you felt should have been on here, be sure to leave it in the comments below and we’ll do our best to give our take on it. Certain songs were not included because they will be covered in more detail in the following days so make sure you’re following our social media pages to see all of our latest posts!
Teamworx, Mr.Sid & George Z – Louder
Tiesto, Jonas Blue & Rita Ora – Ritual (MOSKA Remix)
This recap was provided by The QR Network which is a site for interviews with producers and DJs. Check out their interviews with Todd Helder, Justin Mylo, Krimsonn, Wasback, Illuminize, and Jaak.
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