Jay Hardway, Tom & Jame, JGUAR – Run Baby Run

STMPD RCRDS seems to have been on autopilot for a while, releasing decent track but far from the hype when it was at the top of its game. However this latest release introducing some familiar faces to the label who have been long overdue for their debut on Garrix’s imprint. While this song is a far-cry from what made Jay Hardway and Tom & Jame popular in the first place, there’s no denying there’s a whole lot of charm and passion in this release elevated by the vocals from JGUAR.

While it’s great to see names like Carta returning to big room as it continues its resurgence, we’re just going to have to keep an open mind when our favorite producers try new things and give credit where credit is due like on a stellar song like this. The melodies, production value, and overall atmosphere is simply stunning. Honestly I can’t get enough of it but I wish they added a bit more variety to the main melody in the drop to really make it timeless.

83/100

Guy Arthur – Get Money (ft. Titus)

One of the producers to rise up out of the noise of everyone racing to hope on the latest electro grove trends is Guy Arthur. Through his stellar official and unofficial remixes, he’s established himself as one of the more talented and creative minds of today. Now he’s finally been inducted into the STMPD family started with an official remix for the imprint, a subsequent pop song, and now going back to his heavier roots with “Get Money.” The track is really carried by Titus, who you might recognize from a few of Afrojack’s tracks, who brings some real heat to his verses. The drops, while a bit more tame than my favorite track from Guy, “Tokyo Drift,” is still extremely heavy-hitting. While this is speculation, it really feels like a “fuck you” to slap house as it shares a few rhythmic similarities but then throws it all out the window real quick. While this won’t take the top 3 for me of Guy Arthur tracks, it’s nice to see STMPD getting some of its moxie back.

78/100

REGGIO & Declain – Retrowave

Truthfully, even as an avid EDM fan, I’ve had a hard time keeping up with all of Revealed releases, from the inconsistent Soundcloud uploads and incorrect profiles, to confusing and achronological social media posts – which is made worse by Instagram and Facebook’s own feed settings. At any rate, while I know I’m late to the game in realizing that their “main artists” are released on Fridays with personalized artworks, it floored me to realize that they don’t consider some of the actual fan favorites like SaberZ, Jaxx & Vega, KEVU, Reggio, Olly James, Swanky Tunes, Thomas Gold, KURA, ANG, or Manse are not valued to the same level as Dastic, Mr. Black or Dr. Phunk. The lack of respect, acknowledgement, or attention to the artists who built up Revealed is just appalling to me and that continues with this truthfully stellar track from Reggio and Declain.

While on the surface, this is yet another future bounce track from Reggio in the key of F#m, Declain breathes new life into a dying sound with his new 80s inspired sounds and ever-catchy melodies. While, at least from the fan-side of social media, this one got a lot of attention this week as well as the new remix from Allessa.A. Hopefully Revealed continues to promote this one, but when you see a track from NAEMS on Radar get 400k on Spotify, Dastic with over 750k, and then Olly James get only 60k in a month, it makes you wonder where their priorities are…

80/100

Jakik & Bitas – Abyss

Fans of underground big room undoubtedly remember some of the iconic tracks from Jakik on labels like Armada Trice, TNC Recordings, and Quartzo (when they were relevant) and Bitas of course had memorable tracks as well on Revealed and Exposed. It’s been quite some time since either of these have put out an original single, and so to see these names pop up on my feed gave me quite the start! The track itself sounds like it might have been from an older project they had laying around, but that also gives it some of that charm that has helped the big room comeback this year. The only part where this hurts the track is in the breakdown which has some odd leveling around the kicks they use which end up muddying the track. The drops are the standout feature here with a big room meets percussive meets trance leads. All in all it’s a strong track but perhaps not as timeless as their older stuff. It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here!

72/100

Ragunde & ROAFF – Nu World Sound

Abyss wasn’t the only interesting self-release this week as we also got a new one from Ragunde & ROAFF. Many were introduced to Ragunde through his collab with ANG on Revealed main and this track seems to have been released to show that he did contribute a significant amount to “Test Track.” This “nu” one takes his psy-sound in a totally different direction, putting in more of a reggae influence to it. The real takeaway here is the climax melody in the second break and drop. That is what is going to stick with you after listening to the song. Personally, while I know many people long for the age of longer songs, this one seems to go on a bit long at almost a 4 minute radio edit largely in part to the repeat of the break vocals. Still well worth your time to go and check out this independent release and support these rising talents.

77/100

Quintino & Mike Cervello – Ruins

Quintino has always been a bit of a mixed back in terms of quality level, but some of his most underrated tracks are his collaborations with producers outside his sound. For example “Get Down” with Curbi was actually an excellent combination of sounds and a heavy track. Same goes with Alok and “Party Never Ends.” That trend continues with bass producer Mike Cervello and their new track on Smash The House. It starts off by ramping up the energy and hitting us with what sounds like a big room techno drop. You can clearly hear Quintino’s kicks and Cervello’s unique basslines coming together here for an almost decent result except there’s hardly any bass! How do you make a track like this and have no follow-through on the low-end? It’s honestly such a shame because the ideas in this one was top notch but ruined by a bad mix and master.

58/100

Dirty Palm – Rock

Since the release of “Takedown,” the new Dirty Palm sound hasn’t quite hit the same for me. His new style seems to forgo the quirky and fun melodies of his previous works in favor of more of a TV Noise direction that focuses more on the energy itself. What made his older stuff and even his new stuff as Mikus good was that balance between energy and melody and now tracks like “Rock,” “To The Back,” and “On Fire” just lack that special quality that made up the “Dirty Palm Sound.” Hopefully he finds that balance again or at least lets it live on in the Mikus side project.

63/100

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