Electro-House, Progressive House | Norman Doray and NERVO ft. Cookie – Something To Believe In (Remixes)
Posted by Middy on November 5, 2012
Carl Louis & Martin Danielle add the house flavor of the late 2000s to this track, playing off of the piano melody and soulful vocals and adding their own nuanced progressive twist to the track. You have been hearing the Hard Rock Sofa remix of Norman Doray & Nervo’s new single “Something To Believe In” for the past couple weeks on Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman’s radio show, so it is nothing new to you. Hard Rock Sofa take a much more direct approach to this one, largely eliminating the existing piano melody and replacing it with their own big room synths and a grungy electro drop. Of the two, I prefer the nuanced approach of CLMD, but the Hard Rock Sofa remix is a great energetic alternative.
Beatport: Norman Doray and NERVO ft. Cookie – Something To Believe In (Remixes)
Preview, Progressive House | Nicky Romero & NERVO – Like Home (Preview)
Posted by Middy on October 29, 2012
Those of us getting pounded by Sandy right now, stay safe and have some fun with it. Nervo and Nicky Romero have been playing this song out for a long time and finally we have the official preview and release date. Nervo deliver on the superb vocals as usual and the melody they put together with Nicky Romero is out of this world good. November 12th cannot come soon enough.
Progressive House, Videos | Norman Doray & NERVO ft. Cookie – Something To Believe In
Posted by Middy on September 24, 2012
Nervo follow up their single alongside fellow countryman, Hook N Sling “Reason” , with their latest collaborative effort, “Something To Believe In” tagging Norman Doray to aid in the production, while Cooke provides the soulful vocals that round out this track. The video, filmed during their show in NYC this past June, takes us from the West 4th Street Basketball Courts to Neptune Beach Club out in the Hamptons and then back into NYC with their show at Pacha that night. The track finds a way to keep the overused dance piano sound fresh with the help of Cookie’s addicitive soulful vocals and prominent arp that helps carry the melody.
Beatport: Norman Doray & NERVO ft. Cookie – Something To Believe In
Albums, House, Pop | David Guetta – Nothing But The Beat 2.0
Posted by Middy on September 12, 2012
David Guetta may be the most hated man in dance music, but he (or his production team) sure knows how to make hit singles. The vast majority of the album are just re-releases of tracks from the original Nothing But The Beat, but there are 5 tracks on here that you should get to know before they become the soundtrack of your nightlife as the world picks up on these new hits. Using the exact cover design as Nothing But The Beat, David Guetta or Giorgio Tuinfort, Frédéric Riesterer and co. spare no shameless sample as they take Alice DJ’s timeless classic, “Alone Tonight” and transcribe it into “Play Hard” with Usher & Akon, a track bound for radio success.
iTunes: David Guetta – Nothing But The Beat 2.0
That is not to say that some of these tracks are not tunes we can all dance to. “Every Chance We Get We Run” tags Alesso to come in to take the production reigns, much like Avicii did on “Sunshine” and at first I was expecting him to mail it in like he did with his work on Usher’s “Numb”, but surprisingly the production work is very good. It sounds like vintage Alesso, dumbed down some to fit a radio audience, while working in tandem with vocals with Tegan Quin & Sara. Guetta’s production team’s mark can be seen with guitar melody in the build, while Alesso elevates the production with a layered melody in the drop.
Nervo joins Guetta and co to give us “In My Head” as they provide the vocals on the track and invariably helped on some of the production. The track provides catchy vocals with a melody that bridges the gap between dance and radio, as Guetta has done countless times before. The track that I find myself coming back to the most, “Just One Last Time” combines excellent vocals that will get stuck in your head from Taped Rai with a superb melody that is begging for an Alesso remix, but still stands tall on its own as well. “What The F***”, David Guetta’s instrumental effort is rather lackluster with a drop that does not separate itself from previous efforts.
Overall the album lacks creativity with the same exact cover art and using the context of a “new album” to rerelease a bunch of old material. That being said the new tracks were surprisingly good, despite the use of a shameless sample. These tracks will inundate party playlists and radios nationwide very soon, so get on these now.
Progressive House | Nervo vs. Hook N Sling – Reason
Posted by Middy on August 27, 2012
Following his successful remix of “We’re all No One”, Hook N Sling had made a name for himself with the Nervo sisters and the collab was born. Though there was a two week delay due to promotion reasons, we now finally have “Reason” from the Nervo twins teaming up with Anthony Maniscalco or Hook N Sling. They put together this heavenly track with Liv & Mim on vocals, pitched synths, quick snare, and joyful melodies. Hook N Sling & Nervo have been making a name for themselves lately and “Reason” will only continue their upward trend towards steady success.
Beatport: Nervo vs. Hook N Sling – Reason
Events, Featured, Interviews, Review | Hook N Sling Interview + Lavo NYC Recap
Posted by Middy on August 17, 2012
The Australian producer / DJ Hook N Sling has really made a name for himself since his start back in the early 2000s where he was struggling to get by still working in his dad’s graphic design and working in the breaks genre with his radio show ibreaks.co.uk. He has garnered support for his tunes since the his first big hit in 2007, “The Bump” and his career has shot off from there with hits like “Diamonds In The Sky” with fellow Aussie TV Rock, his remix of Nervo’s “We’re All No One”, his remix of Calvin Harris – I Am Not Alone, and many more. He has upcoming tracks on Axtone, Stealth Records (the below remix of Mozaik) and Wall Records. The future is very bright for this young Australian producer who has shown that success does not come over night and that if you work hard and are patient, good things will come to you.
We caught up with him in his hotel room before his set at Lavo NY to ask him about his upcoming records, his move to the US, his favorite place to vacation, the reason why “Reason” release date was delayed, his history of singing and more. His set at Lavo was superb, bringing his flavor from down under to the upper crust of New York. Lavo NY has some decent openers, but they do like to sprinkle a few too many Beatport top 40 tracks when those should be left up to the headliner to use as crowd pleasers.
Hook N Sling stepped on around 1 and got the party going with a mixture of his own hit tracks such as his recent single “Evermore”, his remix of We’re All No One”, which got a good reaction from the crowd and “Diamonds In The Sky”. He played recent songs from others like fellow Aussie producer Walden’s remix of “In My Mind”, which was fitting as the young producer stopped by for a short time that night. He played a good blend of progressive as well as some lesser known house tracks that worked very well in the set, displaying Hook N Sling’s ability as a DJ and his intelligence behind the decks. He finished around 3, leaving the nearly full crowd still wanting more. Looking forward at Lavo, Dash Berlin will be there next week the 23rd. Tickets are sold out, but if you are a regular, get to the show. Below is the start of the interview and the rest is after the jump.
FNT: You recently moved from Sydney (Bondi Beach to be exact) to LA — was that tough for you, anything you miss from Australia?
Hook N Sling: It was tough setting up a whole new life. I had to sell my car back home, kind of pack everything up and think about stuff I really love and and don’t give a shit about anymore and sold the stuff I hated. It was like boiling your life down to bare essentials and then picking up and leaving. In that part leaving home was the hard part, getting over here doing stuff like Social Security, drivers license, which I still don’t have and I hope I don’t get pulled over until I get one. All that kind of stuff has just been a big deal, but as I was just saying to someone the other day, it wouldn’t bother me if the shows are doing well, I am busy, so I don’t really think about it, but it was awfully stressful coming over.
FNT: DJs are known for never sleeping or rarely sleeping, how do you deal with that?
Hook N Sling: I slept 9 hours last night. But I needed that because the night before was like 4 hours. It’s ok, I can deal with it, the alarm goes off, I know I am going to get out of bed otherwise I am going to miss my flight and I kind of hate dealing with airports so I like to get it over and done with as easy as possible. It’s alright, the more you think about it, the more you hate it. So I don’t think about it.
FNT: Since you were in a choir as a kid (Hook N Sling laughs), would you ever do vocals for one of your songs like Calvin Harris?
Hook N Sling: I knew I shouldn’t have said that in an interview haha. I do, I have done a couple of vocal parts, but nothing I do makes it to the final record. I would put down an idea and I would give it someone else and go “what do you think” and can you make this sound better and put some words to it, I am obviously not to good with that stuff, but yeah, I have been known to step in front of a microphone.
More of the interview after the jump
Events, Review | Nervo & Norman Doray @ Pacha NYC 6/16
Posted by Middy on June 26, 2012
Though this was 10 days ago, the memory is still quite vivid at the Nervo sister’s ability to manipulate the crowd and Norman Doray’s mastery behind the decks. I was unable to head into the area behind the dj booth as I was 96 hours away from my 21st birthday, but sometimes being in the crowd is just as good being able to share all the energy of the music with your fellow music lovers. Nervo stepped onto the decks at around 1pm after a solid opening tech set from the resident Dj at Pacha getting the crowd at a fever pitch of anticipation for the Aussie twins. They started off their set with some different tracks than your typical top 40 beatport rotation, which was very interesting and refreshing to hear. They then transitioned from these tracks as the clock moved towards 1:45 with their upcoming hit single with Hook N Sling – Reason (video below) that is a going to be huge when it releases.
Then they started to pick up the pace with their set, getting into their progressive sound with their tracks the Hook N Sling remix of “We’re All No One” and their collaboration with Steve Aoki and Afrojack on the Tomorrowland Anthem. Tommy Trash made a surprise visit to support his compatriots, which brought the crowd to a frenzy and the Nervo twins obliged by dropping his remix of “Wicked Woman”. Tommy Trash was a ball of energy in the Dj booth, but let the Nervo twins have their night as they continued to churn out hits with tracks like “Trio” and then more unreleased tracks such as “Like Home” with Nicky Romero (video below) and their famed song with Omarion “Army” (video at end in 2 parts). They finally relinquished the decks at around 3am, leaving the crowd sweating and wanting more, but it was time for the French up and comer, Norman Doray to show us what he was made of. Check out the rest after the jump.