Posted by: Jay

Along with counting all of my other blessings this year (including the gifts of good health, a loving family and a poverty free life) I wanted to once again take the time to be grateful for all the wonderful, diverse sounds of electronic dance music we’ve been treated to in 2011.

I’m thankful that Electron Dance Music has been liberated from 125-140 beats per minute.

Here are two of my favorite “mid-tempo” tracks this year. Of course one of them features Dillon Frnacis, my new EDM crush. I <3 him so much!

Wale & Dillon Francis - “G.O.O.D.G.I.R.L.S.” - The White Panda Mash-up

Frost Raven & K Theory - “18th Century Gangster”
Buy It!

I’m thankful for funky basslines

Kinky Movement & Camouflage - “Park It”
Buy It!

The Muthafunkaz - “Gotta Hold On Me (That Skatt Thing)” - Gramophonedzie Nuskool Remix
Buy It!

Maybe be best pure electo house track off 2011 by old friend Quivver:

Quivver - “Funktribe”
Buy It!

I’m thankful EDM super stars are blurring the lines between genres

With the resurgence of guys like Fedde Le Grand, peak of their prime guys like Afrojack, Deadmau5 and Steve Aoki, and the continued excellence of old-school guys like Tiesto we are in EDM talent boom the likes of which we’ve never experienced. And my favorite part? They are collectively pushing EDM beyond previously established genre boundaries.

House, trance, electro, progressive? No longer relevant on their own. I mean I GUESS you could call these tracks “big room progressive house” but that wouldn’t be doing them justice. Progressive Electro Trance? Probably a more accurate description, but the label isn’t what’s important.

What IS important is that the greatest talent in the game is willing to evolve their sound to such a degree that they are forging typical genera limitations. This takes all of EDM to a better place, and for this I am grateful.

Fedde Le Grand - “So Much Love”
Buy It!

Afrojack, Steve Aoki & Miss Palmer - “No Beef” - Austin Gregory Edit

Tiesto & Steve Aoki - “Tornado”
Buy It!

Deadmau5 - “Strobe” - Special Features Remix

I’m thankful simple beauty

My favorite progressive house track of 2011. And it’s not even close.

Maceo Plex - “Falling”
Buy It!

We’re thankful for YOU!

On behalf of all The Beatery writers, DJs and editors I’d like to give all of you thanks for reading, comenting and most of all: listening! We love this music so much it’s our pleasure sharing it with you.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving, there’s so much to be grateful for!!

*****

PLAY ALL THANKSGIVING TRACKS

*****

Posted by: Cor

When we revived this “So You Think You Can Remix” feature we intended to focus only on remixes of songs from non-EDM genres, and yet here we are at the second post and I’m already breaking the rule. But I needed to post this track. Matt shared it with me last week and I’ve had it running through my head all weekend. Deadmau5’s original version of Raise Your Weapon sounds like one of his typical progressive house numbers until a cruel twist in the middle when the dubstep breakdown sticks around for the entire last half of the song. Eh, definitely not my thing. However, unknown 16-year-old French producer Madeon works the track into a melodic, choppy electro house anthem with a seriously infectious hook. The remix earned him a spot on Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show, and let’s hope it launches him into a long career producing gems like this one. Vocal house usually isn’t my thing, but when a track is this well executed, it’s impossible to resist. Enjoy!

Deadmau5 - Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Remix)

Deadmau5’s original after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

Well, look at this!  We’ve come to the final installment of “So You Think You Can BUMP!? 2010″, our contest of nominating the top electronic music producers of the past year.  If you’ve missed a few or need a review go here for all the nominees and a breakdown of the contest.  Voting will start next week!

The man in the mouse mask crashed down onto the the electronic dance music (edm) landscape in the mid ’00s like that comet that killed off the dinosaurs. Deadmau5 quickly became the hottest name in edm by releasing a tirade of banging tracks that filled that missing spaces between electro, progressive and trance; and perhaps most impressively with just three years of work he still managed to win  fifth place in our original SYTYCB contest that counted down the top producers of the decade.

But hype, fame and the grand stage are often followed by imitation, staleness and complacency.  Did Joel Zimmerman mange to evolve his sound in 2010 to stay ahead of the competition?  You can be the judge after the jump, but first a quick pop quiz:

The number one complaint I always hear about deadmau5 is that all his tracks sound the same.  But is this really true?  Below are five snippets of tracks that came out in 2010.  Can you pick out which one(s) are by deadmau5 and which one(s) are not?

Track A

Track B

Track C

Track D

Track E

PLAY ALL SNIPPETS

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Posted by: Cor

Note: I’m sure you all know by now that we are nearing the end of our 2010 ‘So You Think You Can Bump’ throwdown. Voting will commence soon, so be sure to give yourself enough time to review all the candidates on our SYTYCB 2010 page.

We normally don’t draw much attention to record labels here on the Beatery, but I feel we have to acknowledge one here. Mau5trap, the young but fast-growing label started by Deadmau5, went on what I can only describe as a fucking tear in 2010. With major releases from Moguai, fellow SYTYCB nominees Wolfgang Gartner and Skrillex, not to mention Deadmau5 himself, Mau5trap is arguably the hottest label in electronic music at the moment. And now you can add one more Mau5trap artist to our SYTYCB list…
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Posted by: Derek

Unless you’ve been living on a different planet and it takes too long for radio waves from Earth to reach you, you’ve probably heard Deadmau5’s huge smash track “Ghosts n Stuff”. There were a number of good remixes that came out for it, and there are those out there who wish they could play them all. Well now you can, or at least two simultaneous.

My friend Means+Function alerted me to a fabulous mashup of the original and SubFocus’ DnB remix by Australian DJ DiiSTORTiiON, who added touch of Fatboy Slim for some spice, and blended it all together into a tasty stew.

And damn is it tasty, and interesting to have the style switch in the middle. It’s like an Indian burrito - taqueria on the outside, but then CHICKEN TIKKA FTW! in the inside.

Here it is:

Ghosts n Stuff - Deadmau5 (Elite Force vs Sub Focus) DiiSTORTiiON edit

He’s got some other cool mashups as well on his soundcloud page, so give a listen!