Ever enigmatic production luminary ZHU dropped his new EP Ringos Desert Pt 1 last month, on which he continued to push the boundaries of house music and electronica. We were hoping the new release and the lack of a Bay Area tour date on his fall DUNE tour meant he would be announced as part of this year’s Treasure Island Music Festival lineup. Though we’re rather disappointed that this hasn’t happened, we’re also quite glad that ZHU has dropped a music video for slinky smoldering
Still Want U, his song with England’s Karnaval Blues. It’s the second track from Ringos Desert Pt 1, and a sparse misty, spacious burbling dose of deep humming, sensual simmering house hypnosis. Learn more about ZHU’s DUNE tour, here. We’re holding out hope that there’s still going to be an announcement about additional dates. Stream Ringos Desert Pt 1, here.
“Nobody” does glamorous, luscious house quite like Ferdinand Weber does, and it’s been a very long time since we’ve danced our evening hours away to a fresh new original from the German producer. So when we saw a new banger floating around from the producer on our feed, we jumped on it instantly. Seconds later, we were grooving out to his deep pumping, steamy surging dance track, Nobody, a posh and infectious, plush and contagious heater with tons of classic house vibes. Join the party, stream/download Nobody, here.
I’d imagine very few of you missed the arrival of a new ZHU EP late last week, but just in case you did, and just because new ZHU is always worthy of much deserved praise, let’s marvel over the enigmatic producer’s latest volume of dark, sultry electronica! After all, we’ve been absolutely spellbound by the San Francisco-native’s music ever since he first released an Outkast cover mashup anonymously. Sure enough, the brilliant spark we saw in that track several years ago has since become a flaming inferno; ZHU is now a superstar. And he’s just dropped a seven track EP named Ringos Desert Pt 1, which can be streamed in full, here. The EP takes us on a journey across barren lands and through magnificent dunes, where windswept beats, howling synths, and rich bass quench our sonic thirst and give us sustenance to survive the wasteland of the arid world. Ringos Desert Pt. 1 even opens with a superb collaboration with Australian singer songwriter JOY. named “Stormy Love, NM”. Her ethereal vocals and tendency for hypnotic haunting music is the perfect fit for ZHU’s inky sleek, glossy opaque house. Catch ZHU on his DUNE fall tour later this year. No Bay Area date has been announced, but we’re predicting a Treasure Island Music Festival appearance considering the tour dates. Find out more, here.
We’ve been fans of Future Classic-signed Australian singer songwriter and producer Hayden James for a very, very long time. In fact, our love for his debut single Permission to Love has never faltered or faded, and it’s still one of our favorites today. So when a new Hayden James song crops up, we prepare ourselves for some true music magic, which is exactly what we get on Just Friends, which features creamy crooner Boy Matthews on guest vocals. Just Friends straddles the line between vivacious dance music and Years & Years like upbeat R&B pop with its pumping bass and incendiary disco beats. Download/stream this glorious Hayden James return, here. Then dance the night away to the friend-zone anthem.
Not only does Bad Habit feature ever enthralling Brooklyn singer songwriter Skela and her sultry, husky soulful pop voice, but it’s introduced us to Miami’s Triarchy and his super savvy production skills, too. There are plenty of bad habits that I should probably cut out of my life, but an addiction to this lusciously pouncing, classy shimmering fusion of house and future beats is certainly not one of them. It’s a silky polished blessing for the ears, as well as a hip gyrating dance provocateur. Bad Habit, which made its premiere on This Song Is Sick earlier this month, is a free download via Toneden, here.
Two of our faves from the budding new music scene in 2017 (who are poised to rule the music world this year) come together on this next official remix. SOFI TUKKER, the Grammy nominated alt dance/house pop duo who’s topping charts these days with their latest single Best Friend, has remixed pop wunderkind Billie Eilish’s COPYCAT, and the resulting edit is wicked good. Billie Eilish’s voice has never sounded more bewitching and teasing than on this snazzy simmering, deep pumping house remix, which pairs SOFI TUKKER’s usual deep dance flair with a sexy pulsing retro house vibe reminiscent of Grum. Grab this dark foxy remix from iTunes, here.
I had to pick my jaw off the floor when I encountered a brand new track from Chicago’s Autograf earlier today. I know they’re versatile chameleons in the electronic arena, but I never expected they’d offer up a cover of Nirvana’s classic hit, Smells Like Teen Spirit. Queen Sessi lays down celestial vocals on the expansive electronic re-imagining of the grunge rock song. This is a Smells Like Teen Spirit I could have never fathomed, a beautifully profound, meditative sprawling ambient electronic and organic house take on the legendary track. Smells Like Teen Spirit seems to be Autograf’s final gift to us in 2017, and they’ve made it a sweet free download, here.
Aside from his collaboration with King Henry and a welcome guest cameo on Odesza’s Corners Of The Earth off their hit sophomore album Meridian, Los Angeles based Australian artist RY X has also spellbound us with his beautiful song Bad Love this year. If you missed out on that exquisitely haunting, immensely heartrending beauty previously, you can watch its video below. RY X has since shared an immense remix of Bad Love by a project named Eagles & Butterflies, and it’s quite the mesmeric electronic approach on the pensive billowing song. Dusky shuddering, shadowy shuffling beats permeate the deep ambient and rapturously atmospheric electronic edit, raising goosebumps on my skin and delivering me into the arms of tech inflected ecstasy. Download or stream the original, here.
SOFI TUKKER’s wildly infectious Best Friend, the Grammy nominated duo’s collaboration with The Knocks, NERVO, and Alisa Ueno, is easily one of the year’s best dance tracks. It’s certainly one of our top favorites, and we’re still glowing with joy from the fact that it’s been featured so prominently by Apple in their big iPhone X commercial. The NYC based alt dance duo shared an immense remix pack for Best Friend last Friday, off which comes this frisky fun, beat clobbering edit by Sophie and Tucker themselves. The energetic pumping new “Carnaval Remix” is well worth of some prismatic plumed Brazilian Carnival shenanigans. This rump shaking rendition is a Brazilian house bonanza, and it’s available from iTunes alongside three other edits on the new remix pack, here.
True story, I once wrote a poem when I was little about how heaven might be different for each individual person, based on what they cherish the most, or what brings them the most happiness. One person’s heaven can be another person’s hell. Well, my kind of heaven certainly entails a whole lot of sublime music, and I’m assigning Spanish producer Different Heaven a VIP visitor’s pass into that oasis, especially after he’s released this ravishing track, Live At Night. Dreamy plinking melodic house and gently gliding electro house are wed with a rich hypnotic bassline on the warm comforting gem, which features wistful vocals by magnetic songbird Sophie Simmons, who’s the daughter of legendary rock star and KISS frontman Gene Simmons. You can stream Live At Night via Spotify, here.
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