Exclusive, Progressive House | FNT Premiere: Rob & Jack – Shadows (Karboncopy Remix)

Posted by on July 14, 2014

ROB & JACK – SHADOWS (KARBONCOPY REMIX)

Karboncopy, connoisseurs of erotic styled literature and progressive house music are debuting their forthcoming remix of Rob & Jack’s “Shadows” right here on FNT. The track shares some similarities with their previous remix for Laidback Luke and Project 46’s “Collide”, as well as the hit summertime smash of autumn 2011, “Without You” by David Guetta, in the sense that they are all pretty good. A strong piano leads the song out of the break and into the build, where the rolling melody takes over and then climaxes, powerfully, at the drop. Karboncopy are tremendously skilled and in time are sure to be among the top progressive house artists coming out of Australia. The remix is out a week from today, July 21st. Until then, enjoy the stream exclusively below.

Alternative, Featured | Meet Great Good Fine Ok, Your Soundtrack to Summer

Posted by on June 2, 2014

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By: Annie Dineen

If you’ve danced it out to a funky synth line, tested the limits of your shower’s resonance with high notes, or dabble in keytar solos, you’ll love Great Good Fine Ok. Made of creamy-smooth falsettos and hip-shaking synth beats you won’t need a degree in twerking to dance to, Great Good Fine OK is the indie-synth-pop ice cream bar dipped in R&B syrup that you’ll be craving all summer.

I spoke to the band before their show at Baby’s All Right, a colored light infused venue in Brooklyn replete with elaborate drawings spanning the walls and copper crocodiles carrying incandescent orbs in their mouths. The exuberant twenty-somethings, fresh off a few of their first shows ever at South by Southwest, were particularly excited to be opening for Tove Lo, the Swedish pop goddess whose affinity for black mesh shirts and eating dinner in bathtubs has met with massive recent success. “We’re both big fans of Tove Lo, we’ve been listening to a lot of her,” they tell me. “It’s funny cuz we actually are fans of her, we’re not just saying that.”

Great Good Fine OK is Jon Sandler and Luke Moellman, two Brooklynites who, despite growing up a town apart in upstate New York, didn’t meet until moving to Brooklyn. “We worked together on a couple musical projects, and I was saying some day we should write a song together and it just like, never happened for a while. Then one day we ran into each other on the street like after months of not seeing each other and we were like let’s do this, let’s write a song. That night he sent me the music to “You’re the One for Me” and the next day I wrote the lyrics and the melody to it, kinda sent it back and forth, and we were kinda like ‘oh shit, we have something here.’”

Though they often finish each other’s sentences, Jon taking the lead as they talk and Luke filling in to expand or clarify, when it comes to songwriting, they’d rather be far apart.

“We’re rarely in the same room when we write,” Jon says. “Luke is the producer/engineer and writes. The formula we’ve been working on is…” Luke picks up the slack. “I’ll like write the music to it, the instruments, everything, and then give it to Jon and he comes up with the melody and the lyrics and then sends it back and he’ll have comments about what I did and I’ll have comments about what he did. That’s sort of the formula, that’s what’s been working for us, and it’s really awesome because we both get to focus on what we feel like we’re best at.”

“It’s cool,” they say of their hyper-2014 digital songwriting sessions. “You can sort of turn off the part of your brain that’s really critical if there’s nobody else around.”

The sound that emerges is heavily pop, often compared to artists like Passion Pit or M83. I ask them to describe their sound. “I think the most accurate things people have said is that it’s like a mix between synth pop and R&B,” they tell me. “We’re using a lot of elements that are in Passion Pit and M83 and all these comparisons we’re getting. At the same time, I feel like we’re a little more influenced by more classic 70’s and 80’s.. Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson. So any description that combines those two worlds is really cool and it is really hard to verbalize.”

“Our favorite descriptor we got was that somebody called us ‘PBR Kelly’. Isn’t that amazing? We’ve talked about it a lot. I hope the people that wrote it know that we love it.”

I ask them what they’ve been listening to lately. “I have a car so I listen to a ton of top 40 radio, so I can tell you exactly what I like in the top 40 world,” Jon says, laughing. “I like that Paramore song “Ain’t It Fun,” I like the new Justin Timberlake jam [“Not A Bad Thing”] – it’s amazing! My favorite band in the world is Steely Dan, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the type of music we play.”

Dreams for the future? “I always say this and I think it bothers Luke,” Jon says. “But I would love to go on tour with a big pop artist like Lady Gaga, somebody like that who does kind of artistic things within the pop. Does it bother you?” Luke retains a stoic poker face. “I always say Lady Gaga because like while she writes pop songs and she’s like on Top 40 radio, I feel like it’s how in that respect she’s kind of trying to be creative, not just in the confines of a pop machine.”

“It would be extravagant. Lights, smoke, maybe some fire. Fire mostly shooting out of Luke’s instruments.”

Luke laughs. “I’m beginning to warm to the idea. No pun intended.”

So start practicing your #bodydiamond (no, they did not explain), and get ready to fall in love with the infectious groove of Great Good Fine OK. With or without pyrotechnics, they’re lighting a spark in the pop scene.

Progressive House | SHM + Laidback Luke – Leave The World Behind (Outmode Bootleg)

Posted by on June 1, 2014

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Promising young Gotherberg duo, Outmode have released their remix of the quintessential late 2000’s prog tune LTWB. A robust and bouncy remix, Outmode add their own unique spin on the tune that takes a more groove oriented approach, while still much of the original genius shine through. Similar “Freak Me Out”, their latest single which was championed by Kryder, they draw from their “quality house” sound, adding very promising Swedish faces to the genre their country helped pioneer.

Despite being only 19 years of age, they show maturity in their productions beyond their years and a diversity in sound that is rare for producers their age. It’s not a matter of if, but when these guys break out on the international stage. Now is the time to say you were there when it all began.

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Events | [05/14] Collin McLoughlin Headlining NAGA

Posted by on May 11, 2014

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From being featured on tracks from Hardwell to Laidback Luke, Collin McLoughlin is quickly becoming an act to catch live. Announced earlier this month, Collin McLoughlin will be headlining at NAGA in Boston on Wednesday May 14th, and we expect it be a great time. Don’t forget about support act Kasum, as he’s been releasing a bevy of feel good remixes that are starting to catch fire. Collin McLoughlin. Kasum. NV Concepts. NAGA. Boston. This Wednesday. Ripper City. That’s gold Jerry, gold!

TICKETS: http://bit.ly/mcloughlinnaga1

Electronic | Midnight Pool Party – Linger

Posted by on April 16, 2014

Well folks, it’s the middle of April which means it took me an entire four months to find a new artist to start obsessing over (2014, get your shit together!). But it seems my hunting has come to a end, well temporarily, of course, as I would like to introduce you all to Midnight Pool Party. This band comes from where else other than the down under: Sydney, to be exact. Their style is summarized by a contagious, feel good, retro disco sound, or better put in their own words, a “potent cocktail of funky guitar licks, infectious keys and swoonsome choruses.” Their latest single, “Linger” and all its remixes (especially Luke Million’s) is a great starting place to fall in love with these party people, and once you’re ready for more, you can catch up with me over on their Miami Horror “Real Slow” remix as I’ve had it on repeat for about a week now. They’ve got their tracks available for free download so you can cop them, play them for your friends, and all dance until you drop.

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Progressive House | Laidback Luke & Project 46 ft. Collin McLoughlin – Collide (Karboncopy Remix)

Posted by on March 6, 2014

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Taken from the rather subpar remix pack for Laidback Luke, Project 46 and Collin McLoughlin’s “Collide”, the Australian duo known as Karboncopy have clearly the stand out track of the pack (with an honourable mention going to Marc Benjamin’s remix). We all know that, according to this very site, every song Collin McLoughlin is involved in might just go viral and so successfully remixing “Collide” would be no easy task. Karboncopy’s remix hardly resembles the original. They changed the structure of the song and kept the energy high during the break and the bridge before showcasing Collin’s vocals in the build and their fast paced melody in the drop. I might not go as far as to say this version is better than the original but if it isn’t, it’s close.

Beatport: Laidback Luke & Project 46 ft. Collin McLoughlin – Collide (Karboncopy Remix)

Progressive House | Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – Dark Horse (Jaz Von D Bootleg)

Posted by on February 19, 2014

Katy Perry ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse (Jaz Von D Bootleg)
Katy Perry’s “Prism” did ridiculous in terms of sales, with 286,000 flying off the shelves in the first week and 557,024 first week sales for “Roar” in the lead up to the album. “Dark Horse” is the latest tune to go number one. The original beat is hot fire, Dr. Luke, Max Martin & Cirkut did work on the original, but have you been looking for way to try and give it a refresher in your playlists? Dutchman Jaz von D is the man of the hour, adding a progressive flare to the tune with a rolling, growling electro bass line. Best of all, the remix is free.

Free Download: Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – Dark Horse (Jaz Von D Bootleg)