Albums | Radio 1’s Dance Anthem Queen Charlie Hedges Reworks Gala’s “Freed From Desire”
Posted by VMan on July 15, 2022
Renowned radio presenter and DJ Charlie Hedges takes on Gala’s hit single ‘Freed From Desire’ for her debut outing on the hit-making imprint, Perfect Havoc. Breathing new life into the nineties Top 10 single, Charlie enhances the original with a fresh club-ready buildup and drop, with pumping rave tent synths that fits oh so perfect with the singalong chorus. As the presenter of Dance Anthems on BBC Radio 1 there couldn’t be anyone better fitting to take on Gala’s bonafide dance anthem than Hedges herself.
Loved by all, the larger-than-life Charlie Hedges hosts Radio 1’s iconic Live Lounge alongside Rickie and Melvin, and the biggest dance show in the UK every Saturday night, ‘Dance Anthems’. Featuring 2 hours of Classic Anthems followed by an hour spinning the anthems of today, Charlie is a passionate advocate for the international dance music scene, and a right laugh to boot.
As a club DJ, Charlie has toured the globe playing some of the biggest dance events and festivals. These include a residency with Carl Cox in Ibiza, Amnesia Ibiza, Pacha Ibiza, Isle of Wight Festival, Boardmasters, and a residency at BH Mallorca playing alongside Craig David, Duke Dumont, Steve Aoki, Axwell and Ingrosso.
As a producer, Charlie has released various house tracks on labels such as Spinnin Records, Universal Music and Defected Records. As a remixer, she reworked Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan’s ‘Let’s Go Home Together’ on Atlantic Records, Rudimental’s ‘Ghost’ feat. Hardy Caprio, and Clean Bandit & Topic’s ‘Drive’ feat. Wes Nelson.
Perfect Havoc – a runner-up for Best Independent Record Label at the 2022 Music Week Awards – is one of the most successful indie dance labels of recent years. Its trademark commercial dance with a smattering of the more club-focused sounds has generated the label over 5 billion streams and given rise to six UK Top 20 singles including the No.1 single ‘Head & Heart’ by four-time Brit Award nominated producer, Joel Corry & MNEK.
With a talent-packed schedule for 2022 that also features releases from Just Kiddin, PS1, Austin Millz and many more, Perfect Havoc is guaranteed to serve up a ton of new accessible and underground house sounds from both breaking and established talent.
Albums | xndr. Drops House Slapper “To The Light”
Posted by VMan on July 13, 2022
House is one of the longest genre’s inside the electronic music space, not only did it help EDM become relevant but it has also stayed consistently popular for the past 30+ years, which is why I can always get down to some House music, regardless of the sub-genre it resides in. xndr is a new artist on my radar out of Nashville that is starting to make waves in the Music City, even if his career is very early on. His track “To The Light” is a banger that should impress you enough to keep your eyes on this up and comer. Check it out above now!
Albums | Eminata’s new single is a soul-pop masterpiece
Posted by VMan on July 7, 2022
Eminata is a soul-pop singer/songwriter based in Japan. Her new single “PBJT” was heavily influenced by Kaytranada, and you can tell in it’s production. The upbeat, feel-good, funky sounds are the perfect backing track for the up-and-coming singer to gracefully float on top of. Lyrically, the song is about a clumsy relationship between two peope that is not only sweet, but also a taste of love.
Albums | Australian Talent 44 Ardent Releases “intothedeep”
Posted by VMan on July 7, 2022
Rising Australian producer has a new EP on the way this August, and to help hold us over until that drops he has released the title track to the forthcoming project via this vibey new track “intothedeep”. If you’re a fan of unique sound design that is house infused (think Four Tet or Tourist), I am very confident you will enjoy the tune above. Check it out now!
“intothedeep is probably my favourite song on the whole record. I was a bit self-indulgent with the synths and the sound design on this one and didn’t hold back! The song sort of sucks you right in with a wall of sound as soon as the drum fill hits and then it spits you back out for a little bit before a totally different wall of sound at the one-minute mark. I’ve mentioned previously that the EP is loosely themed around climate change. I suppose this is the “ocean” song. I can imagine it being played with a powerful stormy ocean in the background.” –44 Ardent
Albums | The Fur Shares New Single “The Light”
Posted by VMan on July 6, 2022
Hailing from Stockholm, The Fur is an exciting rising indie artist/songwriter/producer who has been releasing music since 2021 but sounds like he’s been making it a lot longer. “The Light” is his latest offering and it’s only his 7th release to date, initially being one of the first demo’s he ever worked on until fully fleshing it out and updating it to it’s current format. The style of the song takes from tropical house and Nordic dance pop, with an Ariana-like flavor added by Los Angeles-based singer Ashley Alisha. Check it out above now!
“The song itself came to me in September 2020, and the first demos also stem from that time. We worked on it a bit during the winter of 2020, but it didn’t really lead to anything. Then this year I met with producer Sebastian Meyer, and we decided to work on some stuff together. This song ended up being the first thing we did, and I think it turned out really well.”
Albums | L*o*J Unleashes Experimental Banger, “Mr. Hunt”
Posted by VMan on July 4, 2022
Las Vegas based producer duo L*o*J are a new name to me but their new single “Mr. Hunt” is a head turning banger. Hot off of releases two big releases through Buygore and FUXWITHIT, they’re keeping the limelight on them by going a little more experimental than normal no this one. Tune in to the track above now, keep an eye on L*o*J’s future drops, and read a quote from the group on their latest release after the jump now!
“We built the track around the cover art we had received. Due to the length of the production of the song and that constant changing and searching of ideas (hunting for that perfect sound) we found Mr. Hunt was a good fit. The underground energy should resemble something challenging. Also, the rhythm and atmosphere almost gives you the feeling of getting chased.” – L*o*J
Albums | Femme-fronted, inclusive underground dance label Delusional Records celebrates PRIDE with 1 Year Anniversary Compilation
Posted by VMan on July 2, 2022
Queer, LA-based underground artists Maude Vôs and Marie Nyx launched Delusional Records last year as a hub for all delusional individuals to thrive together, driven by the core values of experimentation, visibility and inclusivity. Delusional Records is working to revive the roots of dance music culture; when there were no rules, just honest expression.
The imprint is dually celebrating PRIDE Month and their first-year milestone birthday with the Delusional 1 Year Anniversary VA Compilation – a 15-track package of left-field sounds designed primarily on modular sythesizers and analog gear by female, LGBTQIA+, nonbinary and BIPOC producers.
The label’s co-founders anchor the compilation via their own individual productions – Vôs with the propulsive, spacious “iele,” and Nyx with the extraterrestrial techno track “Asteria.”
Standout tracks include the compilation’s first offering, M-Other’s “Smoke and Honey,” a swirling, psychedelic cut with funky basslines, reverbed drum-patterns, atmospheric synth pads, and an all-encompassing spoken word passage. Next up is “Cat Dance” from modular synthesist Marie Ann Hedonia, an acid and italo-disco inspired rave experience with clave production. Then there’s “Infliction” from experimental hard dance producer and vocalist Dahlia Fae, a track that oscillates between glitchy breakbeats and pounding happy hardcore drums – a combo that vividly transports you to classic 90s raves.
Delusional 1 Year Anniversary VA Compilation achieves the imprint’s goal of reviving the roots of dance music: by imbuing its varied, all-inclusive tracklist with an abundance of retro rave sounds, the compilation feels limitless, returning the listener to a time when dance music culture was pure, honest expression.
Delusional Records has come a long way since its inception last year, which launched with Maude Vôs’ three-track The Umbra EP serving as the label’s debut offering. The anniversary compilation marks Delusional’s tenth release, following drops such as Marie Nyx’s transcendental techno debut EP Elysium which ranked #1 on Beatport’s Raw Deep Hypnotic Techno chart and earned her plaudits from DJ Mag as an ‘artist-to-watch.’
Vôs and Nyx are an unstoppable dynamic duo. Each artist boasts a plethora of individual accomplishments – collectively they’ve shared stages with Pleasurekraft, Prok & Fitch and Baltra, released on labels like Desert Hearts Black, Rules Don’t Apply and Glory Hill, and performed at notable parties like Mixmag Lab LA, Clinic Wednesdays, and Minimal Effort.
Furthering Delusional Records mission to revive club music made by women, non-binary, queer, and hardware artists, the anniversary compilation speaks to the labels’ inclusive, boundary-pushing sensibilities through hypnotic package of genre-blending cuts helmed by rave resurgence throwback elements.