Tag: Electronic Music

AABO – “WORK WORK WORK” COVER FEAT. LAFA TAYLOR

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Can’t stop, won’t stop. Basically, that’s exactly what Rihanna’s “Work” track has been doing since it was dropped earlier this year. Anyone with working hearing  knows you can’t go to a club, turn on a radio, or search the net without hearing at least the original version, let alone the plethora of remixes.

Can’t stop, won’t stop also seems to be the motto of long collaboration duo, Aabo and Lafa Taylor. The two recently released the a Feel EP earlier this year, along with a 3 hour freestyle on Aabo’s Soundcloud, last month.

Today, the team dropped their  own remix of “Work,” although “cover” might be a better label. Not only does it feature Lafa Taylor on vocals, but Aabo’s version takes a grinding club beat and lightens it up to an atmospheric level. Much more ambient than the original, Aabo  shakes things up by ending the track with a soft, jazzy guitar that sounds more like baby-making music than a corporate radio hit.

If all that isn’t enough, Taylor is getting ready to play Northern Nights in roughly 3 weeks, but only after he does the FREE EUPHORIC show at the Catalyst–in Santa Cruz, Ca–on July 2. With Aabo only 70 miles away, fans just might be in for a collaborating treat.

Just make sure you get the night off and don’t have to work, work, work.

 

 

 

DRUGS OF THE FUTURE – “SOLSTICE”

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Here at Euphoric, we try to bring to you the hottest artists with the freshest material. And it doesn’t get much fresher than this!

Out of nowhere comes Drugs of the Future. Their latest–and so far, only–track on Soundcloud is barely two hours old but it’s one of the chillest ambient tracks we’ve heard in a while. “Solstice” puts the listener in a mellow mood while stimulating the senses with enough excitement so you won’t fall asleep.

With a song and account so new (after all, they currently only have six followers), it begs the question–Who is/are the Drugs of the Future? Intuition suggests some fresh up-and-comers, but with production and quality music like “Solstice,” we might discover a familiar name when more information comes out.

Stay tuned, Euphoric fans, and blast “Solstice” to pre-game for tonight’s Strawberry Moon.

 

FOALS – NIGHT SWIMMERS (MURA MASA REMIX)

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At only 20 years old, producer Mura Masa has been taking the electronic world by storm for several years now. Born in the Channel Islands, at age 16 he discovered Ableton Live and dropped his first tracks in 2013. The following year his label, Anchor Point Records was picked up by Polydor and Interscope for distribution and he subsequently released his first mixtape, Soundtrack to a Death.

After leaving the Islands to study in the United Kingdom, Masa began performing live and quickly sold out such infamous British clubs like the Green Door Store and Elektrowerkz. Last year, he dropped his first EP, Someday Somewhere, with the lead track, “Firefly,” getting significant airtime on BBC1.

Euphoric is excited to spread his latest track, a remix of indipop band–Foals’– “Night Swimmers.” Only hours old, Mura Masa’s vision is a bass-filled and beat-driven track that keeps the integrity of the original with a burning twist. Utilizing looped vocals and spaced-out timing, Masa reinvents “Night Swimmers” as an introspective and carnal trip through the mind.

Sit back, pop in some headphones and let your thoughts wander. Mura Masa  is in control, now.

 

 

 

MAYA PAYNE – SELF DEFINED

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Music knows no boundaries or boarders and New Zealand artist, Maya Payne, proves it. The 19 year old artist hit the scene last year with the singles “If Only,” “Fragile” and “Falling.” The talented prodigy began her singing career at only six and started composing her own songs at 11, when most of us were still discovering the internet.

She recently finishing her latest EP, The Lucky Ones. The first single, “Self Defined” is an upbeat number as beautiful as it is empowering. After all, what’s more powerful than a strong, talented woman enchanting the listener over a strong, electronic beat?

Maya Payne says she is currently working on her full-length, but we all know art takes time. So for now, define yourself with this euphoric debut and keep your ear to the internet.

https://soundcloud.com/maya-payne/self-defined-maya

DARREN ASHLEY – QUESTION

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Malaysian beat-maker, Darren Ashley, gracefully blends beats and sounds together into the quickly budding Future Bass scene. Every Monday he has been releasing new, unique singles–via Soundcloud–for his “Monday Juice” project.

Last week he dropped “Question” a futuristic dance tune with plenty of bleeps and bloops somehow concocted into a tasty tune. Incredibly underground, undeniably different and continuously proficient, Darren Ashley might just become your favorite beat chef nobody’s heard of.

KATY B, MSSING NO, GEENEUS – “WATER RISING”

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UK club queen, Katy B, is back with a bang! On April 22 she released her third studio album, Honey, and dropped here latest single, “Water Rising,” only a few days before.

The newest track is indicative of the album, melodic beats flowing through the cloud of Katy’s sultry voice. Honey features a multitude of collaborations with some of today’s hottest artists and producers and water rising is a great example with MssingNo and Geeneus producing the track. Something tells us you’ll be hearing more of this track throughout the Spring, just be sure to tell your friends where you heard it first.

https://soundcloud.com/rinsefm/katy-b-x-mssingno-x-geeneus-water-rising-1

 

 

Euphoric / Euphoric Styles / Euphoric.net

FORM ASCROSANTI FESTIVAL–DAY 2 BY JORDAN FICKEL

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This is a continuation from PART ONE: https://weirdjournalism.com/2015/05/28/form-ascrosanti-festival-day-1/

photo P1000385_zps4mrzlyf0.jpgPortrait of the author as a young artist. 

The big question on day 1 was about the “Very Special Guest” headlining the first night, with a longer set time than anyone else for the entire weekend. The festival t-shirt I got 30 minutes after entering said “Skrillex”on it. Oh boy.

Seriously? Skrillex? At least it was a good conversation starter. Most everyone I spoke to was initially turned off by seeing one of the highest paid DJs in the country for free. I was too. What the hell was the prince of brostep doing at our weird magical desert music festival? I guess that’s what people at Burning Man were asking last year too, when he was allegedly boo’d off the stage for playing “Turn Down For What”.

I came to the festival with what I thought was an open mind, ready to appreciate the experience for what it was, but this was a greater test than I was expecting.

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Spazzkid started the day off with a vaporwave set (maybe? I’m still figuring out that genre); banging away on his ableton controller and singing into a microphone on occasion. His style sort of a funky, hous3y, 80s pop thing, with a shout out to Saint Pepsi halfway through his set. He was actually my favorite performance of the day.

Spazzkid
Spazzkid

The next DJ was just running iTunes, no crowd. I found out later that The Range couldn’t make it for whatever reason.

I wandered the grounds most of the day, the stark beauty of the Arizona desert surrounding the experience. Paolo Soleri, the architect behind Arcosanti, had incredible vision, but as my boyfriend who works in construction pointed out, not as much of an engineer. The place was weathered and sturdy.

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I missed most of the Kodak to Graph set, the first set in the ampitheater and not the vaults. A resident of Arcosanti told me how happy they were to host such a wonderful event. I thought the vibe might be of resentment for interrupting their peaceful desert town.
Jacques Greene played after that, a dj whose work I’m actually a really big fan of. It’s like glitchy brainy house music, so I  was surprised that I didn’t enjoy it that much. Music always sounds different at home in your headphones than it does in a ‘live’ context.

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Tokimonsta played in the ampitheater as the sun set, her smile and head nodding seemingly plastered on but genuine at the same time. My second favorite set of the night. Machinedrum right afterwards, playing in the dark with little illumination, just a projector running abstract computerized human shapes. The two most talented musicians of the night. Those glitchy drum n bass drumbeats were performed by a live drummer. The name suddenly made sense. One guy on the machine, a small synth and what looked like an MPC or something, and a drummer with a full kit and a drum pad triggering abstract noises.

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The next act spent most of his time bobbing along to a mostly disinterested crowd waiting for the main event. I went to the merch booth and asked who it was, because no one really knew. The guy told me that Skrillex was late but The Range had finally shown up, so he was taking over for now. We went back and found a place to sit.

It was loud, it was stupid, it was intense and immediately accessible. I managed to enjoy it. He played a lot of songs I didn’t like, but he mixed out of songs usually in less than a minute, sometimes in less than 15 seconds. Huge build-up, then drop, creative transition to the next track, repeat. He had command of his mixer, was really creative and talented. Most of the crowd filtered out during his set, leaving a dedicated 50-100 people in the auditorium. Security was so lax that the stage ended up full of his fans, crowding around him and his mixer as he tried his best to hype an experimental ambient festival in the middle of the desert, stuff like “what’s up arcosanti let’s scream to the stars yeeeeaahhh”

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FORM ASCROSANTI FESTIVAL DAY 1 BY JORDAN FICKEL

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Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! 

Well, kind of. 

After a long delay, Weird Journalism is back and the blogging will commence so bend over and read!!!! 

Kicking off our return is a very EXCLUSIVE piece on last weekend’s rare and elusive, FORM ASCROSANTI festival in Arizona. With an application process for tickets and only a few hundred given away, guest writer Jordan Fickel (DJ Bear Hugs) wasn’t sure what to expect. Here is part one from his strange time in the desert…

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“Remember?  That exclusive music festival in Arizona I applied for?”

“Oh, you mean Hipster Summer Camp.  You have to call it that. That’s what it is now,” my usually stoic roommate said, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

It’s true.  I had been calling it Hipster Summer Camp.  That was before I was accepted, anyway. However, now that FORM Arcosanti gave me the golden ticket, my sour grapes attitude had dissipated and I honestly felt kind of bad for calling it that for so long.

FORM is an invite only music festival in a strange small town in the middle of the Arizona desert. The town is so small that it can only host a few hundred people at a time. So,  the festival curators have an application process that asks vague, artsy questions like “What inspires you?” and “What will you bring to FORM if accepted?” and bizarrely “Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?” The answers deemed creative enough get an invite to this exclusive festival. Seems pretty pretentious and inclusive, right? Those were my thoughts, initially. But imagine this: a music festival with no screaming woo girls in culturally appropriated fashion, no blackout bros trying molly for the first time, no one vomiting on your shoes… just a small number of laid back, creative adults trying to appreciate the experience.  That’s what was so appealing to me. I only recognized two of the bands, and there was only one that really excited me, but the experience seemed so unusual and magical… I had to at least apply. I filled out the application honestly, which is a little unusual for me. Normally, I try to game the system.

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Chris and the author en route and looking good.

I told my friends and my boyfriend all about it and was shocked at the lack of interest. I truly believed this is going to be a once in a lifetime type event, but I was unable to convince anyone else of it. I told my boyfriend Chris that if I got an invite I was going, but it probably wasn’t going to happen. Not only is this a bizarre magical event in a strange town in the desert, it is also completely free to get in if they pick you.

“Making it expensive would mean only wealthy people can come. not down” festival curators Hundred Waters said in a facebook post regarding FORM.  I was the only one who wanted to go to Hipster Summer Camp.  That is, until I got an email saying I could go.

Chris was miserable and kind of angry. We had been to a bunch of weird, magical shows since we’ve been dating, and he was pissed I got to go to this one without him. I told him I’d see what I could do.  I got in from work at 3 am, Chris already passed out.  I sent an email to the info email on the FORM webpage, outlining our situation.  Again, I didn’t embellish anything. I truly believed Chris deserved to go.  I asked in the email if they would consider a late application if any slots opened, and I went to sleep.  When I woke up they had sent a response.

“Jordan, Send us your partner’s full name and email and we’ll send him an invite. :)”

I was thrilled, but surprised too.  This was bizarrely personal for a music festival, which is a trend I hope continues over the course of this weekend.

And then I was a convert. I stopped calling it Hipster Summer Camp, though the name still stuck.  I had preacehd it to the world and it no longer belonged to me.

There are two types of tickets, people who camp on site and day passes.  Chris and I got day passes.  We’re in a hotel in Prescott, Arizona (pronounced “press-cut”, I found out last night) 30 miles north of Arcosanti.  It’s pretty much the closest hotel; Arcosanti really is out in the middle of nowhere.  There are bell-castings, there’s a pool, and there’s a Moog synthesizer lab, in addition to the music.  Holy shit I haven’t mentioned anything about the music yet.

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Chris in AZ. kicking ass and taking names

One reason the name Hipster Summer Camp is appropriate is most of the bands have albums that reviewed well on Pitchfork.  If you need some genres here are some appropriate ones: ambient, drone, house, indie, experimental, noise, downtempo.  Here are some band names: Hundred Waters, How To Dress Well, Pharmakon, The Antlers, Moses Sumney.

The big question is who is headlining tonight.  The lineup just says “very special guest”, and this guest gets the longest set out of anyone for the entire weekend.

I’m obviously not worried too much about the music, which I guess is odd for a music festival. My opinion is that music festivals are one of the worse ways to see a band live, to be honest. It’s like going to a bar to find a date. I’m going to have an amazing bizarre experience. I hope the bands are good! I’ll have fun either way.