Our top story this week is that Borgeous ripped off Cheyenne Giles’ signature sound in his latest bass house track. In other news, Loca Recordings released a track from Declain, Noiz Van Grane introduces a fresh new sound on Nik Cooper, and Thomas Gold shows his label is nothing more than average. Additionally, Lucas & Steve embody the worst of EDM at the end of 2019. As always, we’ll be compiling 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.

Borgeous – Nobody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBZz70rdQe0

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/611643324″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

At first glance, it may seem like Borgeous is a free spirit who just likes trying new genres and playing around with his creativity. Longtime EDM fans might remember when the news broke that KSHMR was behind many of the big room tracks from Borgeous including Tsunami, They Don’t Know Us, and many others. Logically, it would seem that Borgeous just keeps a close circle of producers that he directs and purchases productions from – which makes this latest release even more perplexing.

Thanks to Musical Freedom, I came across the bass house producer Cheyenne Giles who released “Blow The Whistle” on Tiesto’s imprint. I fell in love with his sound and his incredibly engaging remixes which often mash up more than two or three songs at a time. So when I first heard “Nobody,” I could have sworn Cheyenne Giles had produced the track. It uses many of his percussion and bass sounds as well as his laser-infused buildups punctuated by soft kicks. I’ve been told by reputable sources that Cheyenne had no part in the making of this song which means whoever Borgeous hired for this one did quite the rip-off. Even the vocals are sampled from one of Kanye West’s older works, “Clique” which leaves almost no originality to the composition at all. The key takeaway is just the incredible lengths an “artist” will go to in order to stay relevant – quite sad really.

22/100

Declain & Calvesco ft. SONJA – Break The Silence

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/713290987″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

Since we last checked in with Loca Recordings after new management took over, they’ve committed to two releases a week featuring names like TBR, Simen & Capturam, Kevin Brand, VINO & HAVOQ, and Subliminals and now they’ve come at us with a new track from Declain with new art from Lacza. The track itself marks Declain’s first foray into uptempo music hitting 145BPM in the second half. First-time topliner SONJA makes her debut with a memorable performance that strikes at the core of what it means to be a musician. The drop melodies strike a strong emotional tone with its use of pitchbending and has the potential to get stuck in your head for days. It’s great to continue seeing labels like Loca, Glow, and Nik Cooper pushing these types of tracks and growing their artist roster to include some truly impressive names.

85/100

Mesto – Don’t Worry (feat. Aloe Blacc)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/719290381″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

This could have been Mesto’s best song to date. With a legendary vocalist singing one of his best lyrics to date. But the drop just falls flat for me. In terms of production – it’s excellent. Mesto has really found his signature sound and it feels modern, bright, and full. But the melody just isn’t there. He has created such catchier ones in “Wait Another Day,” “Chances,” and “Missing You” but he didn’t bring that here. Opting rather for a progressive style melody that feels repetitive and lacking in emotion, especially compared to Aloe Blacc’s performance. Even the vocal processing could have been better to bring his voice front and center in the breakdowns. Overall this feels like a major fumble despite having all the right pieces in place.

63/100

KAAZE – Take Me Home (feat. Elle Vee)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/723575893″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

It’s that time of year again: KAAZEMAS! Rather than unloading some remixes and mashups, he’s partnered with Revealed to release tracks that I suppose didn’t quite make the cut for his album. The first track, “Less Is More” featured an absolutely amazing guitar solo and key change but the core melody and arrangement wasn’t one of Mick’s strongest. Now with “Take Me Home” (no relation to his past track, “I’m Coming Home”) we have esteemed vocalist Elle Vee lending her talents to an otherwise lackluster psy-inspired track. Kaaze returns to his groove roots but the drops just add nothing new to his style or the excellent breakdowns. It’s simply one of Elle’s versus over some kicks and psy-bass. I got a hint of KSHMR’s “Invisible Children” with this one but lacking the same sort of punch. Is “Take Me Home” a bad track? No. Did I want more? Absolutely.

71/100

Sandro Silva, Max Adrian & Meikle – Activate

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/722581333″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

Dark progressive is one of those genres that I feel never truly peaked. Yes there were a group of successful artists who rose to prominence from the genre but you never saw the large amount of copycat tracks and artists like you do with other styles. Since then, the genre has sort of faded away entirely, which makes this Revealed release all the more surprising. Sandro Silva seems to be making the rounds recently with a whole bunch of different styles (no doubt due to his skilled collaborators) but the end results are arguably pretty enjoyable. I got heavy Zack Martino and REGGIO flashbacks here with the gating similar to “Future,” “Fuse” and “Shadows.” The arrangement of “Activate” was refreshingly long with emotional breaks. Could this be a revival of a genre? I wouldn’t bet on it, but I wouldn’t mind another quality dark progressive track like this in the future.

83/100

Husman – The Siren’s Call

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/712811293″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

Now that Husman has firmly settled into the Armada family, I feel like the quality of melodies has declined since “Blackhawk.” This EP lacks the melodies and memorability of some of his past work. “The Siren’s Call” features an irritating vocal sample that goes nowhere unlike “Warriors.” The instrumentals here are what carry the track with an enjoyable albeit generic melody. It just feels like some of the best melodic minds of 2017-2018 like Husman & SaberZ are going through a bit of a rut now despite having steady label homes. Maybe it’s that complacency that resulted in their recent lackluster releases.

68/100

Lucas & Steve – Perfect (feat. Haris) (Club Mix)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/722554969″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

Ever since Seth Hills and Julian Jordan released their sample packs, their sound has flooded labels and artists everywhere. I can’t believe the laziness involved in this club mix. A 2-note melody with weak sound design and no originality whatsoever. No effort at all to try and incorporate their own sound into this. It seems like they were exploring with the new pack and released the first thing they made. Not to even mention that the “original” song is almost wholly derived from “Take On Me” by a-ha. Just ridiculous. This club mix epitomizes everything wrong with EDM right at the end of 2019.

16/100

NoiZ Van Grane, Herc Deeman & Pade – Raaja

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/723692176″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

“Raaja” caught my attention for a number of reasons. First was seeing Dharma veterans, Herc Deeman & Pade on Nik Cooper and the second was the incredibly unique drop by Noiz Van Grane. His new lead is outstanding, fresh, and easy to vibe to. I’ve always admired his way of staying true to the sound he wanted to create. Herc & Pade rocked the breakdowns as well bringing that Dharma sound in top form. The track as a whole is an enjoyable romp and gives me hope for the future of festival music.

81/100

Samlight x Sam & Mike – Hope Is Louder (feat. Nathan Brumley)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/719800438″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”130″ iframe=”true” /]

One label showing some strong early potential comes from Thomas Gold and his Fanfare Records. Somehow I am getting some vibes from John Christian’s Freeway Recordings here which had a very good run for its time. Fanfare has tapped Spinnin’ Talent Pool artists Samlight and Sam & Mike for their second release which turned out to be very average. It reminds me of MOTi’s future house signature and melodies the breakdown from “Bazaar” by KSHMR & Marnik. As for Nathan Brumley’s vocals, they may as well be from a sample pack at this point since all of his songs sound the same with his alternative rock voice. “Hope Is Louder” is very average. Decent, but average.

65/100

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! 

What's Your Reaction?

0In Love0Happy0Not Sure0OMG0Angry0Sad