I’ve Heard the Name But…

So all the dj’s out there (and actually, probably everyone else as well) know how the story goes with new music. You spend hours online looking for those new tracks, and (assuming you’re successful in your quest) you end up with more than you asked for; The next time you find yourself behind the decks, the pressure’s on, and you’ve got roughly three minutes to select, ponder, and mix your next track, and somehow, you just cannot remember a single one of your newest drippers. I mean, the artists are all chilling there in your music folder, but you can’t for the life of you (due to the sheer volume of megabyte-age you got yourself into) remember any of the new names you see clogging up your music collection. Naturally, you reluctantly fall back into your normal routine, playing the songs you’ve played a thousand times before (not to mention the ones that everyone has heard you play a thousand times before), telling yourself that this time, when you go home, you’re going to get it together and actually learn the music you were so excited to play.

This, my friends, I feel is a rather unfortunate case for both yourself (come on buddy, how long’s this going to go on for) and for the poor talented artists who don’t get played, simply because no one can seem to cram their likeness into their head, and as such, I’ve decided to grab a few of those artists that have been kept just inches from the surface for far to long, and make those guys stick, once and for all.

Shadow Dancer


Having been hand picked by Alex of Boys Noize, there’s no question of quality here. If you’re a fan of Ed Banger‘s Sebastian, or if you simply find that the darker glitch-heavy floor shakers are what draw you out to those sweaty (oh god are they sweaty) warehouse parties, ‘twould be foolish to let Shadow Dancer escape your decks any longer.

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Shadow Dancer – Cowbois

Moulinex


Here’s a bit of a change. Stumbling across a German artist that’s totally and completely unrelated to the minimal techno scene is obscure enough; Finding one that’s settled into producing the truest of disco-house is almost unheard of. Nonetheless, that’s the direction that Moulinex seems to be taking. It’s like they took regressed modern electro, and slapped an advanced 70′s disco funk rhythm into it. The result is unbelievable to the extent that you simply must hear it yourself. The Cazals remix is strongly exemplary of their overall style, while their work with Cut Copy‘s Lights and Music has a divergent Russ Chimes esque feel to it. Needless to say, both are more than enough to start you seeing colors.

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Cazals – Somebody Somewhere (Moulinex remix)

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Cut Copy – Lights and Music (Moulinex remix)

Boy 8-Bit


The great thing about this young London producer is his influences. Now that electro’s been living strong for almost three years, we’re starting to see more than just a couple artists with a rather shallow pool of inspiration. Granted no one likes to admit it, but I’m sure that an honest answer to the question, “What defines your style?” would, nine times out of ten, be “Well I always kinda liked Daft Punk, and then I heard Justice, so I bought Ableton Live.” Boy 8-Bit, however, has followed a largely different path. According to his site, a large portion of his influences are the more classic metal bands, which is not surprising, considering many of his tracks feature melodically heavy synth riffs that, though subtle, are reminiscent that particular style. When combined with his notoriously 8-Bit sounding instruments, this Brit makes for good hard splash of electro fresh.

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Mad Again (Boy 8-Bit remix)

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Boy 8-Bit – The Suspense is Killing Me

MeleeBeats


And as a last little note, for those of you who, more than ten years ago, fell in love with Daft Punk‘s Homework, only to be disappointed by the fact that there hasn’t been anything nearly as satisfying released in that genre of elegant house music ever since, today may be the day of your salvation. After hearing the first 10 seconds of “Girlhype” by Sacramento’s very own Melee Beats(I know! The US finally has a decent electronic producer!), I couldn’t help but wonder whether I may have somehow missed a hidden track off the legendary album. The smooth pumping compression is so reminiscent of Revolution 909 that it’s almost difficult not to become confused between the two. This one will most definitely tug at the roots of your musical soul.

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Melee Beats – GirlHype

So now here’s the deal: You’ve got the goods. We know you’ve got the goods. So write yourself a sticky note, stick it over the apple on your MacBook, and use it as a reminder to get those tracks pumping. It’s about time.

If any of the tunes contained in this post happen to suit your taste, the artist would probably be thrilled if you considered buying them on iTunes, Beatport, or Amazon.

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by Stephen Corwin

8 Responses to “I’ve Heard the Name But…”

  1. J says:

    Meh, I’m getting tired of this cookie cutter stuff. On one hand it gets me mad that people are taking the same recipe for electronic music and copying it till they literally mash the brains of the dead horse they are beating. But on the other hand it makes me appreciate the good electro artists that much more. As for these guys, not bad, but forgettable.

  2. EroticTangerines says:

    I’m pretty sure that Moulinex is Portuguese but lives in Munich. Probably explains his non-Germanic stuff.

  3. admin says:

    Good call :)

  4. Nice text and great stuff…keep in touch ;)

  5. This is very interesting information. I just bookmarked it now.

  6. Major iTunes says:

    South Rakkas/Boy 8 Bit @ Itunes: http://bit.ly/1AnjM1

  7. Major iTunes says:

    Boy 8 Bit @ iTunes: http://bit.ly/2XUapB

  8. Music1 says:

    Find South Rakkas/Boy 8 Bit @ iTunes here: http://bit.ly/1AnjM1

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