Author: josmusings

a-trak & dillon francis – money makin’

Time for quick change of pace. I’m kind of all over the place when it comes to music, and just as much as I love my downtempo, I have an affair with catchy dance music. How can you not? With EDM (ew, gross, I hate that term) currently making waves in the mainstream scene, there’s an incessant demand for artists to release tracks on the fly to satisfy the needs of the masses.

I have no resentment, honestly.

A-Trak is one of my all-time favorites – how could he not be? He won world championships for turntabalism at 15, started his own label before he hit 30, and  is one of the funniest people you can follow on Twitter. He’s got mad wit.

Just over two weeks ago (15 days if you’re anal about it) A-Trak and Dillon Francis released their collaborated single, Money Makin’, and golly gee, is it a great summer anthem. It’s gracing most of my playlists as of late, and I play it at every party I’m made to be the last-minute, you-have-a-Zune DJ. No haterade sippin’ here.

FIRST LISTEN

It may be redundant, but out of formalities I’ll just say it: this single is as catchy as your dog Sparky catching a fly ball. That makes no sense, but neither do Dillon Francis and A-Trak, and that works perfectly for this song. I want to blast it from every rooftop, poolside party, yacht deck, and street corner possible. The synths, drumlines, catchy-ass vocals, and even music video are quirky enough to keep you interested. Constant surprises, you know?

 

SAS

Still on repeat. ‘Nuff said.

You can pick it up on Beatport, the link is in the cover image above.

BUY IT, SUPPORT IT, LOVE IT.

-jo.

different sleep

Producers these days are getting to be so young, or rather, the internet is allowing for these bedroom musicians to foster their talents and make a name for themselves at an earlier age. Look at Madeon, or the duo Bondax from the UK – the first has already performed at Coachella, while the latter supported Star Slinger for a portion of his UK tour. These kiddies are screwin’ with my head.

Cue in Chicago producer Different Sleep. You’ll typically see his name paired with his fellow producer-friend, Mister Lies, both sitting at a pretty 19 years of age. Different Sleeps first single released on his bandcamp page offers for very promising future releases (which we have seen with his joint EP with Mister Lies, “Mass”).

FIRST LISTEN

  1. Next Time I See You
    It opens with recorded “city-scape sounds” followed by a sentimental acoustic guitar over a quiet bassline. The song, with its eerie breathing interspersed throughout the track creates a nostalgic atmosphere. Then, suddenly, it breaks! Are we led to a happier place? There’s a promise of it under the xylophone, making what was a song meant for staring out at the Chicago skyline in the late hours of the night with tears for company, into a nostalgic, yet fond, memory. I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone shed tears over this song.
  2. Turbulence
    Maybe it’s because I listened to this song at 4AM one night (morning? Night? I’m an owl) but it definitely had a happier vibe to it. The song offered a clear day-to-night transition for the single, and although it isn’t an upbeat song per se, it’s a track which offers a sense of completion for the overall fluidity of the release. That probably doesn’t make sense, but I don’t really care, it’s the wine talking.


    SAS

    Putting this single on reverse made me feel so down: this is a release meant to be listened as stand-alone tracks, or as it was released. If you listen to it on shuffle, beware – you will feel just a little more sad about life and stuff. I have a soft spot for somewhat depressing music so I’ll probably bombard ya guys with posts with similar downtempo songs.

    Keep your eyes out for this guy, big things are gonna come from him, especially if he’s tag-teaming with Mister Lies.

    Keep it secret, keep it safe,
    -jo.

james & evander

Starting this blog off on a West Coast foot. Based out of Oakland, CA we have the producer pair James & Evander making a stronger footing in the downtempo/electronic/synth pop field(s). I’ve been downloading their music in a frenzied fashion and have yet to be disappointed. After sifting through their archives on their bandcamp page, their two EP releases, Constellating and Let’s Go, made waves in mixes I’ve made. I’ll talk about their latest album, Bummer Pop, in a later post, I promise.

FIRST LISTEN

1. Constellating

It opens with a blend of piano lines setting the stage for a sentimental track but still poppy enough for a quiet late-evening summer drive. From the get go, with the layering vocals, it adds for a very introspective foundation for the lyrics. It’s a song of loss but the melody helps bring in a more “hopeful” feel to the track, making for a complex composition for the song. The track, is reminiscent of California pop-rock from the mid-2000’s. They vaguely remind me of the days when I’d listen to The Fictions on repeat and wish there was an oceanic beach around for me to bum around at.

2. Slap Bracelets

After a strong opening with “Constellating,” this has an almost throw-away quality to it. “Slap Bracelets” has this fantastic chorus though, with the a strong drum line, making you bob your head along to it. The EP continues to have this constant desire to drive around and be blasted from a convertible. In terms for a flow of an EP, the song makes sense, in context: without a track like this, there wouldn’t be a flow going for it. I’m all about the flow.

3. Really Real

We end the James & Evander only portion of the EP with an instrumental. Continuing with the evening-vibe already set in motion, they made a future-pop heavy track to create that disjointed, hyperactive head bopping they led into with “Slap Bracelets.” This is definitely the happiest song off the EP and it makes me want to run around outside. That is, if I actually liked the outdoors.

4. Constellating (Ander remix)

This was the first track that put me on the James & Evander wagon. On some random night of YouTube music hunting, I stumbled upon this remix to add to my glitch/downtempo playlist I had going. Addictive. So addictive. What makes this such a killer remix is when compared to the original, this is the vibe you’d expect the song to have based on lyrics alone. Ander did a beautiful rendition of the song with interesting breaks, a haunting melody, and much creepier vocals.

4. Slap Bracelets (shortcircles remix)

I’m a huge shortcircles fan. After I heard his “iwishthatyouwould (pleaseloveme) off some random mixtape a friend of Giraffage made, I loved all of his dreampop heavy tracks. Uwaa, I love drifting off to sleep to this song. He makes “Slap Bracelets” a lot sweeter of a song, where James & Evander actually created a more “piss-off” sentiment with their lyrics. Damn, whoever that girl is, she really dicked someone over.

SECOND AND SHUFFLE (or, SAS)

This is the part of listening to an album I love. Usually, the first time through, I’m doing something else when listening to a new EP, album, single, whathaveyou. Based on the amount of times I look up while going straight through said music piece, I judge that on how fluid of a production quality it is. After that, I listen to the entire thing again except on shuffle. That is where my full judgement lies.

So for this EP, “Constellating” continued to be a favorite of mine. Everything from the lyricism, to the melodies, and sub-melodies made me grin. “Slap Bracelets” was a pleasant surprise. I think it was the part where it goes, “And I read all your letters, but I never wrote you one back/ I knew you were doing better, with your Facebook facts(?)/ and now I’m glad that you know I was wrong, but this is not a love song.” I’m about 99% sure I botched those lyrics but that was the best part of “Slap Bracelets” for me. The vocals are so distorted that you have to struggle to make out what they’re saying. Always loved a mysterious man.

This EP I’m going to do a bit differently, mainly because I haven’t been able to pull  myself away from the title track. “Let’s Go” is one of the reasons I love electronic music to begin with. Being the music nerd that I am, the first five seconds of this song had me freaking out. Like, legitimately running around like a guillotined chicken.

Where did I get my excitement from? No, not from my mama, but instead from James & Evander’s keen sampling. They took the main melody from one of my favorite songs, “Sunshine Luv,” by Korean hip hop producer, The Quiett, and used it as the building block for this here track. They thought they could be tricksy, but HAH, I bested them (not really though, that’s not a thing).

They slowed down the main melody and added poppier drum lines, along with second and third melody lines for a much fuller sound than The Quiett originally gave us. James & Evander makes an effort to use their recordings of live instruments (like the drums and pianos) mixed with electronic production to make a less perfect-sounding track. Sometimes that gets on my nerves, despite how much of an electronic geek I am. Uwaa, love their stuff so hard so fresh so good so clean. Another huge perk – this EP is a free download. Who doesn’t love free shit?

If you enjoyed any of the tracks, the images link to their bandcamp pages for the EPs. They have a monsterload of free downloads so make sure to check them out.

Till next time,

-jo.