Ellie Goulding – High For This (The Weeknd)

30 May

Ellie Goulding made a huge splash in the music world this past year or two with a successful album and a big nationwide tour. But even with all that success, it’s not her original music that made me fall in love with her. Her cover’s have had just as much, if not more acclaim than her own music. This time she’s tackling the first track off The Weeknd’s House of Ballons, and definitely my favorite Weeknd track to date, ‘High For This.’ Not only do we get Ellie’s beautiful voice on this track, but the production quality from Chiddy Bang member Xaphoon Jones.

The integrity of the original track is kept largely intact. But instead of the melancholy instrumentals, Xaphoon replaced it with some lighter, more spirited beats. This version most definitely still captures the mysterious emotion of the original, but Ellie’s voice creates a much more refreshing sound while Xaphoon keeps the track upbeat with his production.

Overall, a great remake of one of my favorite songs. Well done!

Tags: , , ,

Adventure Club – Wait

30 May

Adventure Club have not only put themselves on the map in just a few short months, but they’ve made a mark big enough for everyone to notice. The duo from Montreal came seemingly out of nowhere, and with their unique dubstep style, have hit the EDM scene in stride. They have the perfect touch that combines melodic vocal samples and downright, heavy dubstep filled with all the right womps and wobbles.

This time around, they moved a little bit out of their comfortable dubstep zone, and created a track they are calling “clubstep.” It definitely has some distorted womps giving it a brief dubstep feel, but the overall attitude of the track makes it much more dance friendly. They sampled the well known Yeah Yeah Yeah’s song ‘Maps,’ taking the female vocals and placing them seamlessly on top of the deep, yet utterly smooth bass. Adventure Club seems to be unstoppable at the moment, and this (in my opinion) is their best work to date.

Tags: ,

Kaskade vs. Steve Aoki & Tommy Trash – Be Still Ladi Dadi (Kaskade’s Freaks of Nature Mash-Up)

30 May

To help kick off Kaskade’s huge Freak’s of Nature Tour, he put together this mashup that is sure to be played throughout the tour. It’s pretty massive, and I know I’ll be the first to lose my mind when I hear it come on at MCU Park in Cony Island. Putting the Kaskade’s original ‘Be Still’ on top of Tommy Trash’s remix of Steve Aoki’s ‘Ladi Dadi.’ He basically took two unbelievable tracks, put them together, and created a whole new monster. One that hits home on multiple fronts. Using the beautiful vocals from ‘Be Still,’ the upbeat party feel from Aoki’s original, and the heavy electro basslines from Tommy Trash. The perfect storm.

Tags: , ,

Tommy Trash & Sebastian Ingrosso – ID (Jakob Liedholm’s Set Fire Edit)

30 May

I don’t know a whole lot about the 15-year-old Swede named Jakob Leidholm. But based on this track, and the fact that he’s barely in high school, I’m thoroughly impressed. This edit samples ‘Set Fire To The Rain,’ but before you immediately skip over this because you’ve heard Adele wayyyy too many times in the past few months, give it a quick listen. I promise you won’t be disappointed. He brought this overplayed track back to life with a heavy dose of that big, epic progressive house feel. I expect a ton of support from a lot of DJ’s this festival season.

Tags: , , ,

Little Comets – Jennifer and Other Short Stories EP

29 May

 

Following a successful release of their Worry EP, Little Comets are back with another couple songs that are sure to turn those bad times around, and make those great days even greater. Their uplifting brand of indie-pop is a fun way to sit back and relax. Jennifer and Other Short Stories is a quick 4 songs, but the focus here isn’t on quantity, it’s on quality. And there is a ton of that in these few songs. Check out my favorite of the bunch, ‘Jennifer,’ and head to iTunes to buy the rest of the EP.

 Little Comets – Jennifer

Tags:

Beat Connection – The Palace Garden, 4am

29 May

I’ve only really known about Beat Connection for the past few months, but given that their debut LP, Palace Garden, is being release June 19th, I think I’m off the hook. They’re a fun, upbeat, electro-pop group from Seattle, and the first single from their LP is a winner. It’s got a light, dancy melody, and airy vocals reminiscent of Cut Copy (who I am a big of). Overall, a great summer track that is perfect for those lazy sunny days that are perfect for BBQ’s, laying out, or just driving around.

‘The Palace Garden, 4am’ is the first single off their forthcoming debut LP. This is a group with endless amounts of potential, and a sound that is sure to turn some heads. Pick it up digitally in the US on June 19th.

Tags: ,

Xavier Rudd – Spirit Bird

29 May

Xavier Rudd has been a source of peace and calm for me for about 10 years now. His music always seemed to create a safe place in my head. It’s beautiful not just in its actual musical qualities, but in it’s content as well. So it excites me to hear that he’s coming out with a brand new album this summer, and we’re getting a taste of it through it’s title track, ‘Spirit Bird.’ He spoke to Rolling Stone about his incredible experience in writing this song. The story makes you love the song before ever hearing it.

One old-woman spirit bird locked eyes with me and began to creak and groan her message of time passed and changes to her country and the fear in her heart. It was all very heavy, and as she looked through me with her eyes and passed this message I felt like I sank into the earth, and my mind was racing with imagery of things that were clear, but that I had never seen previously on my journey. Almost like I was looking through someone else’s eyes with someone else’s memories. That night I wrote the first half of “Spirit Bird” in the sand on a sacred beach. It poured out of me and was quite emotional.

Between this incredible story, and the general aura surrounding this track, Xavier has created quite an emotional, reflective song that has the power to really touch people in a special way. His album Spirit Bird is due out June 5th, and should be the perfect addition to your summer collection.

Download ‘Spirit Bird’

Tags:

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 512 other followers