In the unlikely event that you’ve spent as many sleepless nights pondering this phenomenon as I have (and in the even more unlikely event that you care at all), you’ll be happy to know that I have finally encountered what I believe to be the answer we’ve been looking for. And who do we thank? We thank the lovely Isis, of Thunderheist.

Thunderheist

It finally clicked in the midst of my getting caught up in a massive Thunderheist marathon. I thought to myself, “Damn, this girl’s vocals pack some serious punch. It almost feels like she bossing me around without ever having given me an order.” And then it hit me. She is giving orders. Nearly every lyric in Thunderheist’s tracks, or rather, nearly every lyric in all of dance music is derived from some kind of a command. And it makes sense too; Producers started off simply telling listeners to do things like work it, shake it, and move it, but naturally, time brought forth an inevitable redundancy, thus leading producers to more innovative requests, including, but certainly not limited to: “dust it off and jerk it,” “bounce hi, bounce low,” “be alright,” “cold act ill or get retarded,” and of course, “buy it, use it, break it, fix, trash it, change it, melt upgrade it.” And that’s what sets it apart. Where most other music’s vocals have a lot to do with expression of pent up emotion, dance music (though I do acknowledge more than a few exceptions) is home to a massive crowd of megalomaniacs.

Free Tickets!

Now here’s the part where it gets good. (And for those readers who’ve decided to skip ahead, this is the part where you stop scrolling). In honor of this (largely useless and uninteresting) discovery of mine, I’ve decided to issue one final command of my own: “Live It.”

The first person to send an email to Stephen@uhohdisco.com with their name and address shall instantly win a pair of FREE TICKETS to see Thunderheist at Studio B in New York City, as presented by Finger on the Pulse!

Perhaps a little sample will get your juices flowing?

Thunderhesit – Jerk It (Jokers of the Scene Remix)

Thunderheist – Nothing 2 Step 2 (Trevor Loveys Remix)

I’m particularly impressed with the Jokers of the Scene track. Their ability to layer massive chord progressions over tracks that were once as simple as Jerk It never ceases to amaze me.

Thunderheist & JFK

JFK (the mustached half of MSTRKRFT) has recently finished a remix for fellow Canadian party-goers, THUNDERHEIST, which is a cause for celebration considering electro/hip-hop hybrid tracks given the MSTRKRFT touch always seem to get the bodies bouncing. Here’s the remix, as well as the original:

Thunderheist – Jerk It (Nasty Nav + JFK remix)

Thunderheist – Jerk It

On a side note, how would you like to be in the front row at one of Thunderheist’s shows…

Kitsune

Also, I just had Kitsune’s most recent compilation album tossed my way, and I must say, those Parisian’s have got quite an arsenal of artists going for them. Though the entire album is very well done and quite worth purchasing, I was particularly impressed by the London duo, autoKratz, who had me up and grooving with their track entitled, “Pardon Garcon”.
I’ve included that, as well as another of their rather danceable tunes.

autoKratz – Pardon Garcon (rework)

autoKratz – French Girls Play Guitar

Rayflash

I’ve got to give credit to DiscoDust for picking this next guy up. Japanese producer RayFlash is an electro dream-come-true, what with his heavy kick-snare drive layered with the perfect combination of distorted, vocoded, and reverbed synths. It’s like he took a piece of everything that’s ever been done in electro, from Daft Punk to Boys Noize, and threw it all together in one ultimate track. And as a plus, he’s finally put Japan on the electro map, which opens up a whole new world of producers and possibility. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of a response the rest of the Japanese world has to this new found genre.

RayFlash – Flash Dancer

The Bloody Beetroots

And finally, I simply must comment on a particular Bloody Beetroots track: I don’t have much to say about it, except that it makes me feel like I’m about to fight Bowser in an epic game of Super Mario. Kinda makes me wonder what they were trying to accomplish with this interesting piece of music. What do you think?

The Bloody Beetroots – Verra la Morte e Avra i Tuoi Occhi