Designer Drugs - Drop Down

In a world of dirty hipsters and even dirtier electro, those that resound with gritty, zealous synths and frantic basslines reign supreme. Designer Drugs, a couple of odd fellows who have come out of the woodwork with those assets and more, have churned out remix after remix and made a name for themselves as purveyors of true fucking party music. Lucky for us, their original music is just as good as the many remixes that they lay claim to, and with their newly released singles, "Riot / Drop Down," they prove this to club kids with a stunning array of caustic, and often violent, beats. I'm somewhat concerned about the general anger and sense of sadism that I expect, and thoroughly enjoy, from a lot of the music I listen to... but with videos like The Bloody Beetroots' Awesome and the studded fist that adorns the cover of "Riot / Drop Down," this theme of animosity seems rather self-perpetuating, though it does happen to perfectly coincide with the "get fucked and dance" party atmosphere of electro as well. The single that stands out more to me out of the two is "Drop Down." The little hook, "drop down, let me give it to you," is catchy as all hell and signals the coming of an atomic explosion of sound and weird, manic melodies. The wobbly electro synth melody pervades through the music as convulsive and dark and conjoins fantastically with an equally invasive crazy resonating alarm sound. The build is fucking beautiful, and the drop even more so. If you want darkened electro with a taste of pure party frenzy, this track is for you. Check it.

MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker [Music Video]

MSTRKRFT (featuring John Legend) from Vincent Haycock on Vimeo.

The awesomely cute video for "Heartbreaker" by MSTRKRFT. I've been obsessed with this song lately, check it out.

Emancipator - Shook [Sigur Rós vs. Mobb Deep]

What do gangsta rap and post-rock have in common? Well, not a lot by their lonesome, but in the world of bastard pop, conventionality is not the name of the game. Mash-ups have risen immensely in popularity as of late with artists such as Girl Talk, Super Mash Bros, and Milkman slicing up tracks every which way, blurring and reshaping musical designs and fashioning new memories out of old ones. Downtempo artist Emancipator brings us the ethereal soundscapes of Iceland's Sigur Rós and warps them with a verse of one of hip-hop's most revered tracks of the 1990s' "Shook Ones (Pt II)," by east coast legends Mobb Deep. I'm not the biggest Sigur Rós fan for reasons I don't care to mention, but when one of the most impressive and raw verses of the 90s' is layered over it, I can't help but appreciate. The emotionally-driven piano and string instrumentation build and build with chopped up vocals pushing against the melody as spare breaks and the song eventually drops, the short but commanding discourse of Prodigy combining with Sigur's vivid background music, the presence of the song rather bleak and visceral. A chill vibe with a hint of lyrical dynamism. Genius. And another great song to sleep to as well.

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Washed Out - Feel It All Around

Chillwave. Glo-fi. Silly hipster bullshit. It's a beast comprised of many names and entities, resembling the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythos... that is, if it were decked out in plaid and high-tops. Washed Out brings us this emerging brand of music from the confines of his very bedroom, enveloping everything in his reaches in a smokey haze of surrealism. The lethal combination of chillout and lo-fi creates true hypnotic sound, lulling you into a relaxed and vulnerable state. If you want something to throw on when you're crashing tonight, or even if you're staying up and doing a ton of work like me, grab this track.

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Tim & Jean - Come Around [Transcribed lyrics included]

These two gentlemen are Tim & Jean. Tim & Jean have composed the track that has broken my rabid dubstep addiction. With an eerie similarity to Passion Pit, as noted by countless other individuals [read: everyone, PERIOD], Perth's Tim & Jean have worked up a musical storm with their warm & sparkling feel-good hit of the late summer, "Come Around." These skinny-jean-rocking blokes from down under compound the vibrancy and exorbitance of electro-pop with a lot of fun tropical, hazy elements and top it all off with some fucking cute lyrics. "When sunshine comes around, will you still be with me?" Fucking cute, right? Check it.

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Lyrics (because I've been unable to find them elsewhere, I transcribed them myself):

Tim & Jean - Come Around lyrics

When sunshine comes around, will you still be with me?
You know it's not the same, but you can count to three
Why don't you find yourself a nice dress to wear
While you're at it, you might as well even care [x2]

I can't complain with what I've got in this life
Possessions only make it hard to feel alright
That's why it's so much harder for people to smile

Hold on, girl, don't be talking like that to me
I'm the one who's been there through the misery
Fall in love, 'cause I'm supposed to be the bad guy
I just need to take a breath and look with my eyes

We're never gonna feel the same
Hey, no, look what you've done now
You should've been the one to blame
Hey, no, look what you've done now [x2]

I can't complain with what I've got in this life
Possessions only make it hard to feel alright
That's why it's so much harder for people to smile

We're never gonna feel the same
Hey, no, look what you've done now
You should've been the one to blame
Hey, no, look what you've done now [x2]

X & Hell - Jump the Gun [Jakwob Remix]

To those of you who are stuck dealing with me on a daily basis, you're probably well aware that in the last week or two, I've been on an unstoppable (possibly life-threatening) dubstep binge. The genre is propelling itself upwards out of the musical underground and tearing to shreds everyone's vestibular systems with grimey, syncopated basslines encompassing earth-shaking wobbles. As it's shoved into the limelight, I'm assuming somewhat against the will of many cause now it's just fucking "trendy," we can also see producers sprouting out of the ground like flowers in spring... and I assume we'll see that these very flowers wilt. Hell, I wouldn't lie to you, I've tried my hand at dubstep - it's a fun, new, and very expansive genre, with much room for creativity and experimentation. At the same time, I'm one of the aforementioned flowers. Granted, you won't see me grow, but... well, enough with the fucking plant metaphors already. Whether you're a dubstep musician or a dubstep fan, you see producers come and go like nothing; some have their 15 minutes of fame with a successful track, and some wreak havoc upon everything they lay their dirty little synths on.

Jakwob is very much the latter.

I would never be able to tell you whether the man is having a very well-coordinated and fantastically-timed streak of luck with his production or he holds the philosophers' stone of dubstep. It's not up for me to speculate about such supernatural issues. My job is to listen, and I would love to think that I do my job well, although people may tell me otherwise. But I do listen, and I hear naught but golden waves of sound from this track. "Jump the Gun" isn't as intense as some of his other remixes, but the staccato of his melody remains persistent and memorable throughout. Simple melodies like these tend to bore me, but he manages to pull it off perfectly, fusing his homogeneous principal against a bouncy and well-timed auxiliary harmonic line. In layman's terms, he kills it all too simplistically. If you're a fan of dubstep, a fan of electronic, or just a fan of good music in general, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed by this track.

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BRAND NEW: The Bloody Beetroots - Warp 1977 (ft. Steve Aoki)

As far as I know, this beastly dancefloor-destroyer came out today. This represents the extensive intensity of The Bloody Beetroots' arsenal of synths, basses, screams and heavy to all hell kicks and snares. I'm still somewhat unsure of whether or not I like Warp 1977 better than Warp 1.9, but there's no denying it's astounding ability to get you to lose all control of your limbs. Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo has mutilated the electro scene once again, left it writhing and twitching in pain, and desperately wanting more.

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Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed [Jakwob Remix]

Thumping dubstep track with bass that will rupture your eardrums and mercilessly strip you of your dignity. It's not the dark, evil sound you've come to expect from the generally grimey genre. In fact, it's rather emotional, and of a much brighter tone than most dubstep, most likely due to the choice of song and artist remixed. You don't have to be a musicologist to recognize that dubstep and indie-folk are two highly different genres, which makes Jakwob's melding of the two more impressive than you could ever consider. Sample-laden with vocals gated and pushed until the drop, the song builds and builds to crush you at the peak. Altitude is high. Jakwob presents to you his Everest and dares you to climb it... so go ahead; seize the day.

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