Hip-Hop, Mixtapes | KURT – Red Carpet Ignorance [Mixtape]
Posted by Grubeats on January 18, 2013
Four months ago I stumbled across a freestyle over “Next Episode”. Naturally, I was skeptical of even listening because it’s certainly no walk in the park to bring justice to one of the Doc’s best recipes. Pleasantly surprised by what I heard, I reached out to Long Island native, KURT with hopes of learning about him and his music. Describing “Next Episode” as the starting blocks for the next chapter of his story, KURT released this as a promo single for what at that time was his upcoming mixtape, Red Carpet Ignorance. The feedback was incredible and even KURT himself couldn’t believe the cosigns he was receiving.
KURT transferred the positive energy from his freestyles to his lead single, “No Shame”, which once again garnered some serious attention from local radio DJ’s. In a recent interview alongside producer WhiteLie, KURT described “No Shame” as a “stripped down banger”, which in a sense was initially made as a joke record. The rapping-producing duo have been working alongside each other for close to 8 years now diligently building a unified and distinguished sound.
Red Carpet Ignorance was a long time coming, but artistically paints the scene of a young aspiring star walking the red carpet on his premier night. KURT understands the importance of staying “classy” in the public eye, but also believes celebrating life is also about the occasional asinine or “ignorant” acts. This mixtape is a culmination of KURT’s premier night. The first track, “Hallelujah (Intro)” sets the tone for KURT’s journey, as he marches on set with WhiteLie, confidently laying the brick and mortar for the foundation of his throne. RCI features a broad range of sounds, emotions, and energy, but the quality of each individual track is consistent throughout. Thus far, my personal favorites are “Hallelujah”, “Good Morning Beautiful” which features singer Robbie Nova, “Don’t Need ‘Em” which features an original verse from the O.G. Bun B, “Ignorant Interlude”, and lastly “City Love Jones”.
Compilation, Electro-House, Featured, Progressive House | FNT’s Top 25 Big Room & Electro Tracks of 2012
Posted by Middy on January 9, 2013
2012 was a year of explosive growth for dance music worldwide. We have seen increasing influence from the United States in dance culture, with the “bigger is better” ethos evident in everything from sound and visual production to the massive convergence of electronic music with pop music (a charge led by top-40 radio stars like Rihanna, Chris Brown, Usher, and even Taylor Swift, who made a brief but notable foray into dubstep this year). In other words, dance music has literally and figuratively blown up. Of course, with the “mainstream-ization” of dance music comes the inevitable backlash from traditionalists who’d prefer it to remain as it was in the 80s and 90s — confined to small clubs and warehouses with little attention from the general public. This rift is notably present in the trance community, where purists who prefer the higher BPMs of the 90s and early 2000s often look down upon newer listeners who have quickly latched on to what Above & Beyond famously described as “trance 2.0.”
While there are valid arguments to be made for both sides of this growing dance music debate, at the end of the day we think you should listen to what you like, and that producers should be free to evolve artistically without fear of being branded sellouts. Of course, it is important to acknowledge and respect the long (and occasionally troubled) road that electronic music has taken to get to where it is today, just as it is undeniable that 2013 has very exciting things in store for the genre — regardless of whether you’ve been a fan for twenty years or twenty minutes.
In keeping with this theme, we bring you this list in addition to our own personal lists — a list which we think sums up the year in dance music, from the clubs to the festivals to what you played on your car speakers. We all have our own tastes, but we still must pay our respects to the EDM anthems that dominated the year. So without further adieu, a few words on how this list was decided. First and foremost, this is our list, not the definitive list from the dance music gods, so no matter how hard we try to be objective we’re sure there will be some debate. Secondly, we are talking about the biggest and best tracks of the year — so tracks that were absolutely dynamite but which failed to garner support and playtime from other DJs will not make the cut. Third, remember the genres we’re covering. No hard feelings to Sasha’s remixes of “Flutes” and “Benediction” — both crushed 2012 — but this isn’t the time or the place. We also must note that we are American, so our list will mainly represent the tracks we heard at US festivals and clubs (even though some of us spent substantial time in Europe). Finally, we must give a quick nod to all of the amazing songs that were released just before 2012 but which still had an enormous impact on the year — like Nicky Romero’s “Toulouse“, Knife Party’s “Internet Friends”, Bingo Players’ “Rattle”, Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party’s “Antidote” and the ever-enduring “Epic”. At the end of 2013, we’ll give the same acknowledgment to tracks released in December 2012, like “Easy“, “I Could Be The One“, “Like Home“, “Clash” and possibly “Rift“.
Whew. Now that we’re done with that, let’s get on to The Top 25 Big Room & Electro Tracks of 2012.
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | Dzeko & Torres Talk Food, Beginnings, Dance Music in Canada & more in an Interview with FNT
Posted by Middy on December 29, 2012
Canadian duo, Julian Dzeko & Luis Torres, better known as Dzeko & Torres have come a very long way since their single “Confronted” was released on Chuckie’s Dirty Dutch Digital Vol. 4 just a year and a half ago. The long time friends quickly found that working with each other would be the ideal working situation and from there it was only a matter of time before it took off. They were able to grow their profile with free remixes of Monsters and Men “King and Lionheart” and Animal Kingdom “Strange Attractor” that promptly spread like wildfire. They had a track signed to Michael Woods’ Diffused Records, a remix of Trey Songz “Heart Attack” on Atlantic Records, their collab with ANSOL, “Yeah” on Mixmash, and their most recent release, their “Hey EP” on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak imprint.
However, their biggest success was with their remix of Chuckie’s “Who Is Ready To Jump” that even as they said half jokingly “literally I think Afrojack’s mom dropped it”. They were able to get gigs on both sides of the Atlantic, expanding their growing influence outside of the confines of Toronto into London, Miami and elsewhere. Having just signed to AM Only and with consistent support from some of the biggest names in the game like Tiesto, Steve Aoki, Chuckie and others, the sky is the limit for these guys. Start the interview below and check out the rest after the jump as we discuss advise they were given from another DJ, future plans and their love for food. I was talking to both of them at the same time, but it is mainly Luis Torres who was communicating during the interview.
FNT: When did you guys decide that you wanted to work together and make this official?
D&T: It actually started pretty soon after we met. We used to promote and frequent all ages club events in Toronto and we both had a love for house music (i guess people call it EDM now) and then i remember Julian went to a Tiesto show and pretty much as soon as he got home, he was convincing his parents to help him buy some CDJs. I had already been fooling around in FL Studio for a year or 2 and so we decided to start working with eachother and learn off eachother. Took about 2 years of goofing around for us to finally take it seriously though.
FNT: When, if at all did it hit you that doing this could really work?
D&T: I think originally we were just having fun, just doing it because we truly enjoyed it. I never really felt like my goofing around in FL would ever take me anywhere and im sure that Julian didnt think that buying CDJs would get him anywhere either. It took a while, but i think the breakthough point for us was when we started talking to Chuckie and he gave us a release on Dirty Dutch, which at the time was one of our favourite labels and we felt like it was massive for us.
Progressive House | Lift Off #007
Posted by Middy on December 27, 2012
We are back for a special holiday edition of Lift Off with free tracks to keep you satiated until next year. If you are looking for an infusion of fresh tracks for your holiday playlists, we have you covered. We start things off with Australian Kaz James bringing us his latest single “Drums” that gives you a mix of both big room house and tough electro with a well placed dubstep interlude. Also included are some quality remixes from the likes of Ivan Gough & Maison & Dragen.
Beatport: Kaz James – Drums (Incl. Remixes)
Syn Cole, a new name in 2012 and one of the surefire breakout stars in 2013 recently released his remix of Kerli’s “The Lucky Ones” that combines both melodic and tough electro elements into this superb track.
Beatport: Kerli – The Lucky Ones (Syn Cole vs Kerli Remix)
Lift Off veterans, Primacy Funk return with a bootleg of their new piano driven single “Rain” with the vocals of Avidan “One Day”.
My (w8’s) favorite pick of the bunch. Seriously, try to resist the urge to blast this out of your speakers right now. Grab your copy through Facebook.
Richello amalgamates some eclectic club fuel into this candy pop. The best of both worlds. Continue on after the jump for a dozen more free tracks.
Events | Kap Slap Pre Release Party on Mixify
Posted by Juicebox on December 22, 2012
We’re proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with Mixify for Kap Slap’s pre-release mixtape party. Kap Slap, Styles&Complete, and a few other acts have all come together to create one hell of a lineup for an online dj event. The event kicks off at 5:30 and you can RSVP HERE. Free live sets from some of the biggest up and comers…we’re in. To top it all off, Styles&Complete just released their latest original track and it’s a bangerrr.
Events, Review | Fareoh returns to Santos Party House for a Special Hometown Set
Posted by Middy on December 20, 2012
I had been very excited to see Fareoh for a second time after his Halloween set with Adventure Club & Nero, especially in a club setting where he would be the headliner with more time to craft the ideal Fareoh set. I got to the venue around 11:45 and the place was largely empty as you would expect in a New York City nightclub, with a few groups dancing on their own to the soulful tech grooves of the opening DJ. As time progressed from midnight on, the crowd started to fill in, many wearing santa hats and costumes because of Santacon that day. Fareoh was late getting to the venue and this threw off the opener who reverted to some safer, commercial plays a little after 1am as the venue was getting very full.
At around 1:30, Ian Spurrier, better known by his stage personna, Fareoh, arrived at the venue and wasted no time getting right into it. The venue itself has a very unique charm and style, as it does not go for the big LED screen or the big laser displays, but rather puts the DJ booth front and center in the middle of the crowd and allows for a more intimate setting between the DJ and the audience who surround the booth on all sides. Fareoh, playing to a packed club of people dressed in clothing ranging from full on Santa costumes, to your usual clubbing attire, to the guy in a LED suit (way to be), wasted no time making sure his presence was known on the decks taking the lead with a big room, bootleg heavy set.
Mashups | DJ Trademark – Drop Out (Kryder x Nicky Romero & Zedd x Dada Life x Dirty South)
Posted by Juicebox on November 14, 2012
Up and comer DJ Trademark is back at it again this week with yet another absolute banger of a mashup. DJ’s, download this for your next set, people who party, download this for your next party. Trust me. This will be Trademark’s last release before the official release of the mixtape which drops in 5 days and is rightfully entitled, “Diamond in the Rough.” Stay tuned.