SYTYCB - Stanton Warriors
Booty Breaks, Breaks, Funky Breaks, Nu-Skool Breaks, So You Think You Can BUMP?
Editors note: This is the second in a series of posts counting down our favorite dance music producers of the decade. Full details on the series and a list of all the posts can be found here. These post are long, plan your day accordingly ; )
If it were up to my wife, we wouldn’t be wasting our time nominating and writing bios for twenty artists over the next four months for this little contest of ours. We’d just hand the grand prize to the Stanton Warriors right now and call it a decade. While tempting for the amount of work it would save us, I’m not quite ready forgo our uncompromisingly scientific selection process. I will admit however, if there’s an obvious nominee for best dance music producers of the new millennium, it’s the Stanton Warriors.
It’s really the timing that works out in their favor. While the duo released a few singles before the turn of the century, it was their 2000 release ‘Da Virus’ that put them on the map. They followed this up with the critically acclaimed Stanton Session mixed CD in 2001 which went on to become the best selling breaks album of all time… a record which they’ve since broken. Since that time, they’ve gone on to carve out their signature sound, which can only be described as ass-shaking, bone-rattling booty breaks. They’ve unquestionably set the bar in this arena, and when you go to hear the Stanton Warriors play, you know that’s what you’ll be getting (for better or worse.) For this post, and for your voting consideration, I’m not only posting tracks that define this bootilious sound, but some of their others in different styles that show their range.
Check out the Warriors at work after the break.
ADVENTURES IN SUCCESS (2004)
DJ Cor fans (all twenty of you) will recognize this as the first track in the No Excuses mix. I love both the funky production, and the uplifting tone. What a fun idea to use a motivational speaker as the vocal in the track… too bad the speaking can’t really be heard when the track is played over a club sound system.
POP YA CORK (2005)
Alright, here it is: the quintessential Stanton Warriors track. It’s got a snappy breakbeat, that chest-rattling bass I mentioned earlier, and most importantly, a memorable rap hook with the obligatory emphasis on “shaking that ass.” As played out as it is, this is still one of my favorite breaks tracks to mix live… those signature agogo bells come in and instantly the breakbeat fans in the crowd know what’s coming next.
SHAKE IT UP (2006)
One more booty track, this time featuring the Beatnuts. I love the line “Shake it like it’s Tropicana” even though I’m not sure what it means. Do people shake their juice bottles before they drink them? Does Tropicana even come in bottles? I suppose it sounds better than “Mix it with 36 oz (approximately 3 cans) cold water like it’s Tropicana.” This is why I don’t rap.
SEEKER (2006)
I’ve always wanted to start a mix with this track, but alas, I really don’t spin enough dark & moody music to compliment it. I wouldn’t say this is one of Stanton Warriors’ more popular tracks, but I think it goes a long way to demonstrate their range and skill working with vocalists.
BLUE (2006)
Second track from the same album, and another departure from booty breaks. Not much to say about this one, I just like it.
BOLLYWOOD BEATDOWN (2007)
Another distinct track, thanks to a strong Middle Eastern hook and a tribal drum loop. This is one of Jay’s favorites.
Alright, time to introduce a new sub-feature. Obviously we want to emphasize a producers’ originality by giving you the best examples of their own work, but a major part of any producer’s skill-set is their remixing prowess. Much of the time, remixes are little more than genre translations; a pop song made club-friendly by adding a dance beat, or house song given a new bassline and a harder beat for the underground scene. However in the best cases, a talented remixer will take the memorable parts of a song and place them in a completely new context, adding an entirely new set of supporting sections, and if done correctly, lifting the track far above its original version.
The Stanton Warriors are masters at both kinds of remixes. They are responsible for some of my favorite remixes because they know when to leave a great track alone, simply rearranging a few parts and throwing a breakbeat behind the track (compare the first and second half of We Interrupt This Programme on No Excuses for an example of this.) Other times, they completely rework a track to the point that it’s hard to imagine it any other way. The song below is one such remix. They’ve taken the vocals from a rather average (IMHO) electropop track and added enough beats, synth hooks, and general UMPH to turn it into a fantastic breakbeat anthem. Compare the original to their remix and you’ll hear what I mean…
GOOSE - BRING IT ON (ORIGINAL)
GOOSE - BRING IT ON (STANTON WARRIORS REMIX)
STANTON WARRIORS IN OUR SETS
- “Reckless Girl (SW Remix)” - Sixth track on DJ Cor - Fatbeats
- “Apollo 440 - Dude Decending Down a Staircase (SW Remix)” - Second track on DJ Jay - Fatbeats
- “Adventures in the Success”, “Coburn - We Interrupt This Programme (SW remix)”, “Claude VonStroke - Who’s Afraid Of Detroit (SW Remix)” - All on DJ Cor - No Excuses
- “DJ Deekline And Ed Solo - Handz Up (SW Mix)” - Somewhere towards the end of DJ Jay - Live @ Green Drinks
OUR RATINGS
Naw, I don’t think so. Last week we brought you a rating of Chris Lake, but lets try something different this time. If we’re leaving it up to you to do the final voting, then YOU should be the ones rating these producers along the way. Besides, I just wrote all that shit up there and I’m ready for a break.
So, based on our criteria, what would you rate the Stanton Warriors? Leave us a comment and tell us what you’d score them out of five based on consistency, originality, and number of quality releases over the last decade (example at the end of the Chris Lake post). I’ll even bribe you… you give us those ratings, and I’ll give you a recent Stanton Warriors mini-set. Deal?
first!
sorry, i’ve always wanted to do that. anyhow, thx for featuring the warriors - i love those guys! i have the fondest memory of dancing my ass off til the wee hours to a set by 1/2 of the breaks duo at burning man in 2006. and my newest fav remix is “beggin’” on their fabriclive mix - it ROCKS!!
I would have included that one, but I can’t find the single.
So… ratings?
oops, i thought i could rate by choosing stars (above). that would be the EASY way. but cor says i have to give a rating here in the comments section.
lame. anyhow, it’s a 5 (obviously).
I think it’s my directions that weren’t clear enough. I meant for you guys (our wonderful readers) to rate the SWs on the 3 criteria we’ve outlined (consistency, originality, and number of quality releases.) However, the comments section may not be a good way to go about it. Maybe we’ll take a look at some other ways for you guys to rate the artists we’re profiling.
The thing that sticks out most to me about SWs is their strict adherence to the “Less Is More” philosophy when it comes to their production. You would think it easy to produce songs with less: less parts, less reverb, less delay, less samples, etc… but in reality when you’re actually producing it’s sooooo easy to get carried away.
You hear it in tracks all the time, producers just trying to do too much, and in my very limited production experience I’ve been guilty of the same. But not the Warriors, they do a great job of keeping it simple, clean, snappy… and ass kicking.
Okay I will follow the rules…
* Consistency - 4/5 - The Stanton Wizzle are consistently slamming…
* Originality - 4/5 - There is no one that sounds like the Warriors except for the Warriors. And while I love them to death and their songs always get me moving they do have a tendency to sound the same sometimes.
* Number of Quality Releases - 5/5 - 100% pure quality the warriors are prolific.
The simple fact is that a single Stanton Warrior was responsible for quite possibly the greatest night of sober dancing I experienced in this decade… You have to give them some love for that.
Awesome, Steve. You’re pretty good at this. You wanna write the next post?
i guess i’m not too good at this rating thing. but whatevs, i already have that SW mini-set (not so super-rare now is it, cor?)
I never said it was rare. I said it was recent.
Don’t worry about the ratings… it was a bit much to ask.
dukee wrote exactly what i was going to say, altho i am pretty sure i wasn’t sober at that awesome set.
and while i do think the songs have a tendency to sound the same i love that there is a warriors sound. in film the best directors get their own name as a style eg. Fellini-esque so calling a song a ‘warriors sound’ is a great testament to their mad skills. much love!
hey wizzle heads, seen this? http://www.theboomtownblog.com/
OMG, b! Thank you so much! That last remix I’ve been fucking LOOKING FOR to no avail. Guess what’s getting dropped on the playa?
Don’t tell Cara. Maybe she won’t see this and it’ll be a surprise. She loves that track.
And the LCD Soundsystem and Guy Called Gerald remixes are dope as well. That blog is a gold mine.
cor if you hadn’t made that comment, i never would have known about that track. i only looked at the “good vibrations” video, until you pointed out that “beggin” was on there. d’oh! oh well, i will dance when you play it anyhow..
DOH!
Okay, looks like I’m 4 months late to the party but I wanted to say thanks to bridget for posting the BANG remix!
It’s never too late baron! Welcome, good to have you on board.
[...] Stanton Warriors Sample track: “Pop Ya Cork” Quick totals: C - 4/5, O - 4/5, NQR - [...]