22:20
It may be December but it's time to indulge yourself in some feel good, summery dance music. When it comes to melodic house like t...
It may be December but it's time to indulge yourself in some feel good, summery dance music.
When it comes to melodic house like this, it doesn't matter whether it's January, June or September - the chances are it'll stick in your playlist for the rest of the year anyway. It's easy to let yourself get lost in some transcendent house as the track I've stumbled on for our Song Of The Day, 'Miles Away' by Takedown.
Takedown are a two piece from Frankfurt who, today, put out a new track in the form of 'Miles Away'. With this track, it's so effortlessly uplifting from start to finish. With the same feel good twinkles that you hear in tracks like 'Make Me Feel Better' by Alex Adair, you're instantly rushed into something that puts an instant smile on your face.
The husky vocals then hit in to push the track into its next gear, before you find yourself in a saxophone-driven instrumental that will make you want to wind down your window on your drive to work and let the wind blow through your hair... even if it is the cold December wind.
Even better, the track is available as a free download, so slam this onto your playlists, close your eyes and pretend it's summer because this track will take you into a much happier zone than the icy cold winter ever will.
Takedown - Miles Away (Original Mix) | Free Download
17:28
They released 'Wait' about a year ago today and it became my anthem for the beginning of 2015, infectious, catchy, rebellious. T...
They released 'Wait' about a year ago today and it became my anthem for the beginning of 2015, infectious, catchy, rebellious. They've been back with Rebel since, but it's not until this track, 'Not Like The Others' that we think SHARKS have really done it again.
SHARKS are a Swedish duo, which from their nationality alone is probably one reason you know you should be paying attention to this. The immediate comparisons to Icona Pop are there, a chanty female duo who are basically sticking their middle finger up to the world in their music but we think this new track does a good job in setting them apart.
The track boldly shouts "I'm not your girl, not your girl to change" at you and you know these girls are not to be reckoned with. But, we know they're a rebellious twosome so what else do they have to throw at us?
A stomping breakdown is exactly what. With an instrumental chorus that sounds like it could've been drawn straight from a Major Lazer cabinet, this track does a great job in setting them apart from comparisons. And if you weren't content with just one breakdown... they actually bring two along to the party.
The track is essentially a gift that just keeps on giving. And much like Wait, this track will be seeing us into 2016 and ensuring we keep a very close eye on the duo to see what's up their sleeves next.
Listen to 'Not Like The Others' here:
02:54
With every new release, this next female picks up more and more fans and it's easy to see why when you get hooked on her music. ...
With every new release, this next female picks up more and more fans and it's easy to see why when you get hooked on her music.
Her name is CAPPA, hailing from Nashville, she's about to become your favourite new popstar that your friends might not yet know about. But if she keeps heading in the direction she is now, they probably will in a years time. Taking slight influences from the new wave sound that Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen have taken of late, CAPPA finds herself on the route aswell.
Understandably many are trying a formula that is working so well, but anybody can jump on a trend, not just anybody can make it sound quite so right as CAPPA. Her debut track, Hush, saw her present a more downtempo new wave feel, that eased its way into our senses. Other Girls was soon to follow and we started to see a progression in what we thought was to become a very special... and right we were.
Goddess is probably favourite CAPPA song to date, if you love synth pop mixed in with the aforementioned new wave sound, you've got a fair idea to the bliss she's presenting here. It's so cool, it's so airy and summery from a December release, but who really cares? She promises to take us up to heaven in this song and her vocals as ever, do a pretty good job of that in my eyes. A silky smooth voice that I could listen to all day and given how catchy they are, you'll probably be singing it all day.
She's very blog friendly but that's not to say she's run of the mill, infact she's one of the most exciting artists I've seen spreading across the blogosphere in the past 12 months.
Here's Goddess for you to enjoy yourself:
21:45
As a huge fan of Scottish outfit CHVRCHES, whenever I scour for artists and see a band compared to them, my hopes are immediately raise...
As a huge fan of Scottish outfit CHVRCHES, whenever I scour for artists and see a band compared to them, my hopes are immediately raised quite high.
Many fail to quite meet the bar that has been set in advance of even listening to the track but a song called 'Dawn Faces' by Acre Tarn did stick with me - it's not ALL that similar to their sound in reality but it definitely takes the best bits of their sound whilst doing something very different with it.
Acre Tarn themselves don't really have much of note to mention. Infact, when it comes to a biography of the band, we're simply presented with a rather eloquent piece of writing explaining they are "A sum of many parts, founded by chance and brought together to realise our musical craft" - in other words, seeing as we have no pictures or any real idea who they are, let's just let their music paint the desired pictures.
The intro to the track is one of the best I've heard so far this year, immediately hitting you with sharp yet quiet synths before quickly settling down into something a lot more tranquil. It helps to create quite a special infusion of something that is both exciting yet really quite beautiful and capturing at the same time.
In particular what stands out in the track is Acre Tarn's vocallist, so soothing and rich that it draws you in such a contrasting manner to the bold production that surrounds it. They accentuate one another so well in a way that reminds of MS MR - it doesn't always take a big vocal like Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES vocallist) to amplify the synth/electro genre to its best. Instead, the way in which the timid, beautiful vocals heard in Dawn Faces creates something more haunting.
There's a lot of ways I could describe this track, many of them appearing to contrast with one another; eery, at points minimal and then within a matter of seconds, anything but minimal with the combination of a deep, crashing production and a stronger vocal. I always enjoy music when I'm able to discover another layer of the track with further listens and this is a perfect example of that type of song.
But most importantly when it all comes together, it's just a bloody good song.
Listen for yourself here:
02:08
It's time for some dance music now on Stereo Gold, a genre which I absolutely love but don't actually write about enough on the ...
It's time for some dance music now on Stereo Gold, a genre which I absolutely love but don't actually write about enough on the blog.
While it's often easier to write in depth about the creativity of synth-pop, indie, whatever artists, quite simply a lot of the time the simplicity of an extremely well crafted dance track is all that is needed to please me.
That's what we find here in the form of Elephante's 'Temporary Love' which features Brooke Forman. The track which premiered on notorious dance YouTube channel Proximity yesterday is every bit as euphoric as you would hope from the dance scene in 2015 and absolutely would not sound out of place in the charts but thanks to the impressive vocals of Brooke Forman, it's still able to stand out amongst the reams of competition that come from the EDM genre these days.
Elephante is no newcomer to the dance scene, having brought along some huge remixes particularly over the past year, for tracks such as Clean Bandit's 'Rather Be', Lorde's 'Team' and The Magician's 'Sunlight'. All of which bringing him further into popularity with dance fans globally. With his own solo track here, he continues to succeed in bringing a very club-ready track and mixing it together with an interesting vocal. Brooke's whispery vocals over a song that is building to be anything but quiet and timid make for a great contrast in really emphasising the beat drop that is to come.
In many ways, Elephante isn't doing anything hugely unique with this but for me, with deep house taking so much of the dance focus these days, somebody sticking to an outright euphoric progressive dance track complete with the type of whirls and effects that Elephante has demonstrated throughout his past remixes, there is still something unique in how this sounds.
And I'll definitely be intrigued to hear more from Elephante - like with Kygo, when the hype surrounding your remixes are so big, it puts a lot of pressure on the solo tracks to be big anthems aswell, and with 'Temporary Love', Elephante has certainly achieved it.
Have a listen for yourself right here:
02:02
In a current period of time where the resurgence of females in the RnB genre is really coming about, it's not necessarily easy to ma...
In a current period of time where the resurgence of females in the RnB genre is really coming about, it's not necessarily easy to make yourself stand out amongst the crowd.
Tinashe, Natalie La Rose, Jhene Aiko - just to name three who are really representing RnB strongly for females at the moment. Tinashe and Natalie have carved themselves a sound in the extremely popular DJ Mustard kind of productions at the moment, slick, club-ready, memorable and catchy.
That's where we bring into the picture, Thandi Phoenix who is bringing something a little different to the table whilst still staying in sync with what really seems to be doing well at the moment. Phoenix is a singer AND producer from Sydney, already giving her an extra tool in her box to the other females in the business, although there's no real competition given that Thandi is supporting Tinashe on the Australian leg of her tour. 'Judgement', the track in question and Thandi's newest single, harks back to a more retro RnB feel, giving me touches of the late 90s and early 00s with Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah.
Even her vocally calls back to a more retro time, it's a lot stronger than the softer vocals of the time being which certainly helps her to stand out from the park. Interlinked with this strong RnB track is a very slight hint of clever synths and added effects that have seem other bloggers compare the sound to AlunaGeorge.
There's nothing contrived about this - for all of the criticisers of Iggy Azalea, the Australian-born rapper, who have picked apart her faux-American accent, there is real talent in this Australian. She is somebody who you can tell has taken strong influences from the former champions of her genre and has brought it into her own sound whilst still keeping it fresh and current.
Phoenix's repeated notion of 'don't try to put that blame on me' filled with a very distinct vocal is certain to ensure that Phoenix can stamp her way into the world of female RnB and stick in people's minds. Effortlessly cool.
Listen to the track here:
01:57
When you've got Taylor Swift on board, you know that you're somewhat onto a winner. And that's the case with our next arti...
When you've got Taylor Swift on board, you know that you're somewhat onto a winner.
And that's the case with our next artist, whose song 'Electric Love' takes the focus on this blog today. The artist in question: BØRNS, a Los Angeles solo artist who I find quite difficult to pin point when it comes to placing him in a particular box genre-wise, however, I happen to find this part of the magic of what makes his sound quite so special.
'Electric Love' achieves what so many tracks struggle to do and does it so successfully in that the song feels really classic, you can imagine this playing on one of those retro glam-pop channels on Grand Theft Auto but instead it's actually from 2015 and still feels every bit as anthemic, up to date, fresh and singalong as ever. By all means that shouldn't make sense, but it's clear that with Electric Love, BØRNS has really taken inspiration from sounds of decades ago and thrown them head first into 2015 in spectacular style.
The track opens with a recurring drum beat and a simple guitar riff that on the one hand lend itself into an indie genre, yet they're mixed with overriding 'ahhh' vocals that give the song quite a singalong folk edge. As if that mix doesn't sound interesting enough, this isn't even taking into account when BØRNS himself enters the equation, with a very distinct vocal style which itself has a quirky yet angelic tone to it.
Musically, it is rather hard to describe, though it sounds like the sort of thing you're bound to hear fronting an advert, maybe for an Apple product, in the next 12 months. He is also signed to Interscope Records, so tying that together with the recent promotion he received from some little known talent called Taylor Swift and I'd say that 'Electric Love' won't be a minor blog hit in a year or so to come. You'll be wailing the infectious calls of the "struck by your electric looove" before you know it, if you're not already drawn in on first listen as I was.
Here it is for you to hear:
01:54
Rewind to two years ago and you will come across this blog's most popular post in its history, my glowing review of 'Shadow Of T...
Rewind to two years ago and you will come across this blog's most popular post in its history, my glowing review of 'Shadow Of The Sun' by Swedish duo Taped Rai; thanks to them very kindly reposting the blog on their Facebook and Twitter.
'Shadow Of The Sun', a track which impressively merged a wonderful ballad with a stadium dance beat in incredible cohesive form. It easily became of my favourite songs of 2013.
Shortly after this, the two piece, who had previously been brought to the public's attention after they featured on David Guetta's hit 'Just One Last Time', announced they had changed their name to Max Elto. So, here they are again, two years down the line, appearing on Stereo Gold for the second time.
'Somebody Like You' is a certain change in sound from their previous aforementioned glory, which had such a unique sound and beauty to it that it would be near impossible to emulate exactly the emotion that was produced. Instead, Max Elto have taken their sound in a direction that is more comparable to bands such as Empire Of The Sun and Donkeyboy. In comparison to the elegant piano ballad that rocketed into a dance number which we had in 'Shadow Of The Sun', this track is a lot more instant but still superb in its own individual manner.
Max Elto have certainly found themselves a wonderful knack of creating songs that are so instantly feelgood. This joyful number exudes such a cheery feel around it, from the twinkly and perky production to the booming hook of a chorus, with the chant of the repeated lyrics; 'somebody like you, somebody true'. There's a simplicity to this that is somehow intelligently linked in with something which feels so intricately crafted to really send joy to the listener.
These guys have got me hook, line and sinker with an evident understanding for presenting the listener pure happiness, regardless of the tempo. Where 'Shadow...' presented something that built to a sense of euphoria, this track does it in a more standard fashion with regards to song structure, yet it still feels incredibly special.
Once again, good work guys.
Listen to the track for yourself here:
