Let’s be honest: a good chunk of EDM Reviewer’s readers, including myself, are nostalgic. Without entering the realm of psychology, many of our demographic grew up with Avicii, SHM, Hardwell & Co in what is called “The Golden Era of EDM”. Things change and this is part of life, but Intensity Recordings cleverly unleashed the “Renaissance EP”, coordinated by JERIKO, paying homage to this niche of listeners. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes, collecting all the pieces for this well-composed selection. We couldn’t miss this one for a complete review!

Overall, the result is impressive. There are, obviously, a lot of overused formulas, but almost all the artists involved, who are familiar names in the label’s roster, have added their touch here and there, making up something refreshing, even after all these years. We had fun.

JERIKO – Revival
90/100
Inspired by Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound

Hats off for this one, I can see why JERIKO organized this EP. He has managed to be more SHM than SHM, with a “Greyhound”-like a banger, perfectly adapted to today’s Future Rave Trend with three drops, working a lot on defining the leads. The central one killed me, with a roaring lead showing its presence like in the 2012 breakdown, but even more powerful. I can’t stress this one enough: “Revival” is exactly what I would like to hear on the so-called “Festival labels”: you can be bothnostalgic and innovative!

FLEXX – High & Low
78/100
Inspired by Dannic – Rocker

FLEXX was obviously going to make something funky-ish, after all these releases on Dannic’s label. This time, the Serbian talent surprised me with the use of whistles in the “High & Low” drop, and an old-school schema with a simple melodic pattern. I didn’t like the idea in 2012 neither do I now, but the whistles have potential. Not a bad one!

G-Sus & Buiatti – Concorde
83/100
Inspired by Holl & Rush vs Tom & Jame – Buddha

This one hit me hard, as I’m missing the incredible style of the duos Holl & Rush and Tom & Jame. G-Sus and Buiatti step out of their comfort zone for a purely ‘nostalgic’ Electro House release. “Concorde” is well produced, maybe it’s lacking the ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking I’m usually finding in the producer’s idea, but never mind. It’s been years since I’ve heard this kind of drop and I tasted it like a glass of quality champagne. The slight Future Rave additions between the leads bring the result home in a classy way. Very fun track.

Impulse, Wrathul & Aleinad – Come True
77/100
Inspired by Axwell – Center of the Universe (Remode Edit)

The producers involved are new to me, but pocking around I found out that “Come True” is a long-awaited ID, firstly released with the “Center Of The Universe” vocal. And there are some similarities with Axwell’s style, especially in the first drop, where the roaring leads are presented with a powerful bassline in the familiar Nordic style. A breakdown focused on valorizing the vocal occupies most of the time, suddenly interrupted by a fabulous Progressive drop. I loved the final lead and think that “Come True” would have earned a higher rating, if “Revival”, which just got a 90+ and it comes before in the album, wasn’t there. I had to make a comparison.

KANON & Antoine D’eau – Wormhole
82/100
Inspired by Dyro & Dannic – Radical

Very, a very interesting idea from KANON and Antoine D’eau, following a sort of “Fonk-ish” style but with lots of innovation. “Wormhole” is a fitting title, since the lead keeps twirling for the entire duration in a peculiar way, together with a surprising percussion system. Also, the breakdown’s construction has personality, with a slower rhythm and some elements directly taken from the Dubstep world! Overall, this Electro House creation is one of the big surprises of the EP: Dannic, since he’s trying to revive his label, should take a look.

Division One (KR) & JERIKO – Your Direction
84/100
Inspired by SHM – Don’t You Worry Child (Tom Staar & Kryder Remix)

First of all, the lead has an inner rage that left me almost scared: it’s rare to see such an aggressive section. JERIKO returns on the EP with Division One and another track ‘à la Greyhound’. “Your Direction”, however, surprises for its composition, which brings the hard-hitting Kryder/Tom Staar groovy style to an extreme. I’ve never personally liked their songs, but if they were like “Your Direction”, things would have gone way differently. I definitely appreciated how the duo picked up one of my less favorite sounds of the past and reinvented it in a way that gave me lots of fun. More than an excellent job!

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