The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Trying to keep my stress at a reasonable level, music helps. It helps if you can dance to this stuff.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
Doing something he said he'd never do, and with a large helping of sarcasm, DJ Steveboy has finally put out a trance mix on Groovelectric. His subscriber newsletter was more snark-full than the Web page, so I can't resist posting this one bit:

Trance became the elfie sword-and-sorcery fantasy of dance music. The Stevie Nicks of electronica. It could be downright embarrassing. Then came Tiesto, and, well, let's move on, shall we?

Well, with all that said, he did find some trance music he liked and put together a highly listenable, relaxing, and yes "feel-good" set. Check it out.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/whatsapper-speck
https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/underworld-born-slippy-nuxx
I was surprised that these two items appeared almost back-to-back in my stream. Both are reworks of older, popular tracks and both infuse new life into the older items.

The first one is by the excellent Mashup Germany, putting Peter Fox's "Schüttel deinen Speck" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTmf11OxOYc) a bebop-inspired dance-hop tune against MC Fitti's "Whatsapper" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxb2A4uASqc), which is in turn based on the Ini Kamoze reggae fusion classic "Here Comes the Hotstepper". It's a brilliant combo, executed with Mashup Germany's flair and brilliance.

The second one is SPL (https://www.facebook.com/TheSPL) touching what has to be one of the classics of trance, Underworld's "Born Slippy NUXX" (Wikipedia has an excellent discussion of the two versions of the track and why they're often confused.) SPL borrows tropes from dubstep and d&b for this rework, but does a decent job of staying true to the original.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/07/kavinsky-odd-look.html
Kavinsky, a French electro-synth producer, is at it again. This is his latest EP, with three mixes of the same track. The styles are so different, though, that if they didn't come labeled you'd be hard-pressed to tell they're the same. The first one features The Weeknd and it's a very disco styled Michael Jackson-esque vocal piece. The second is A-Trak with some deep dub house sounds and breaks, and I think I like this one best. The third is a hand-clapping/feet-stomping fast remix from Surkin, which sounds the most like the movie soundtracks Kavinsky is known for.

https://soundcloud.com/divideandkreate/christina-aguilera-your-body
Divide and Kreate has been working hard putting pop sounds into dance shapes. Here he's got Christina Aguilera's 2012 vamp-trash track "Your Body" and he makes it so much better than the original. He's cleaned up the sound, tightened up the vocals, and build a comfortable electro-pop backing for it. C.A. clearly needs a good producer and when she gets one she can sound really good.

https://soundcloud.com/djschmolli/example-vs-lenny-kravitz-are
This is utterly brilliant, even if it's Lenny Kravitz. DJ Schmolli did a mash-up called "Are You Gonna Change The Way You Kiss Me" for the second Pirate Nation compilation. Then DJ's from Mars got ahold of it and put their signature heavy stomping production touches on it. Pure gold.

https://soundcloud.com/themashupradio/01-dan-mei-this-is-what
Speaking of DJs remixing DJs, here's Dan Mei mashing up Armen van Buuren's "This is What It Feels Like". The original is a feel-good bit of vocal trance, which Dan Mei slams up against Zedd's "Clarity." The mash is tricky because both tracks feature high-quality strong vocals. AVB is featuring Trevor Guthrie and Zedd has Foxes doing the signature female voice for his track. The result is something of a vocal duet/duel and I really like it.

Another vague grouping of interesting stuff. If you're not in the mood for loud then set this one aside and come back later. All the rest of you? Turn it up.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/A-Trak/track/Trizzy_Turnt_Up
A Trak (http://www.djatrak.com/) is one of those DJ's you've probably heard a bunch of places (he's been around since the late 90s). He DJed for a Kanye West tour. He's done remixes for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He's been on stage with DJ Q-Bert. And he's all of 27. These two tracks are pretty fun electro-hip-hop. I'm not sure why he hasn't made more of a name for himself.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Boys_Noize/track/Transmission_Tiga_Remix
Boys Noize (http://www.myspace.com/boysnoize) is a German techno DJ with some very heavy club/house influences. Normally I'm not a big fan of the repetitive club tracks but this stuff is fun and caught me in a mood to head-bop so here you have it. Mental images of electronic hamsters wired on speed are completely optional but I find they help.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Villains/track/BoB_-_Nothin_On_You_feat_Bruno_Mars__Bei_Maejor_Villains_Remix_
This is another of those idiosyncratic styles - it's R&B and hip-hop and electronica all cut and spliced back together in the first track. The second is much more house with the serious high-BPM thuddy bass that I like, but still has the rap vocals and sudden pace changes that make it more interesting than your standard house track. Villains (http://myspace.com/wearevillains) are an LA-based duo with a good discography and several more samples on their MySpace page.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Sleigh_Bells/track/Tell_Em
I don't quite know how to classify Sleigh Bells (http://myspace.com/sleighbellsmusic) except... um, loud! This is the kind of thing I like to blast out my open windows on a warm summer day, much to the dismay of my church-going neighbors. The poppy/cheerleader/punk female vocals really make these tracks. (Is 'cheerleader punk' a genre? If not, it should be.) Anyway, loud. I'm telling you - crank this one up.