The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I have a couple of really serious posts I'm working on, and I'm still doing the journaling project. So I've not done music in a while. I'm back in the mode of listening mostly to DJ sets. Here's a list of the regular weekly(ish) things I tend to listen to. They're like regular podcasts, each with a little bit of formatting and self-promotion mixed in. I may highlight some of them or pull tracks now and then, but you can also listen and decide for yourself:

• Groovelectric - DJ Steveboy. House, new-old funk, occasional downtempo chill or drone mixes. These tend to be more curated and less club-oriented than others.


• Maxximize On Air - Blasterjaxx. Very club/performance. Hottest tracks and remixes, rarely original stuff. More monotonal than others, which is good for workouts or pushing through things without distraction but rarely causes me to sit up and search for a specific track.


• Identity - Sander van Doorn. Another European performance DJ. Throws in his own mixes from time to time and posts a decent number of festival playlists.


• I Need R3hab - R3hab. Still club dance, but more varied tempos and styles than others. Also occasionally contributes his own mixes.


• Innerstate - Ummet Ozcan. Tends toward more trendy things, including his own contributions to whatever has grabbed his ear this week. Lots of people submit tracks for inclusion on his cast so we often hear new artists in his top tracks of the week. Downside is that dub and electro-scratch are still pretty popular, which leads to me turning off the episode about half the time.

Many of these, but particularly the "what's popular" compilations make me miss the old days when I could skip forward a track. Each of them shows artistry in how tracks are selected, mixed, and worked into each other so I can see how skipping would miss what the artist is trying to bring, but my alternatives right now are "suffer" and "listen to something else" which isn't great.

I have to keep doing music as part of my long-term self-care and I would love to share more of it with you. I still don't have a good solution for dealing with the tags/searchability problem, though, so I'm still very limited. Today I've got two long-form sets that ought to keep your ears happy and your butts chair-dancing for a while. (Also you're gonna need it for the political spam that comes next.)

http://www.groovelectric.com/peoplesparty.html
It's been a long time since DJ Steveboy put out a straight-up funk mix. The idea of "new old funk" was what started me listening to Groovelectric years ago and though I enjoy a variety of his sets nothing is as consistently satisfying as the funk. Here we get nearly a full hour of lush horns, rhythms and vocals, plus a cover/remix or two that got my attention (and I promise not to spoil).

https://soundcloud.com/user-457571129/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-138
I have not been happy with most of the last few weeks in Innerstate Radio-land. Frankly too much glitch and wub, I find myself turning it off halfway through. This episode avoids that for the most part. There are also a couple of really nice summery tracks such as Ozcan's own take on "Everything Changes" with Chris Crone. I can't recall any other time I've heard an Ozcan track with simple naked guitar chords. Others, such as "Lady" are more dance-y but still leaning toward the full house sound rather than the edge-y glitch pop.

I look at OMG music tabs and then realize it's been 10 days since my last post. We'll start with three long-form pieces that I can write up pretty quickly to get things rolling then put more stuff into a separate post.

http://dancingastronaut.com/2016/11/beastie-boys-remix-album-daft-punk/
I've seen this posted a couple places but maybe you haven't. This guy did an entire album (8 tracks) of Beastie Boys remixes built out of the original vocals and a bajillion samples from Daft Punk. This is not an entirely whacky notion, but it does lead to a lot of what I think of as train-wreck mixes. It's not a style of mash-up I particularly prefer; I like it when the mixer finds clever ways to meld the source tracks. But other people might like this style better so here you go.

https://soundcloud.com/innerstateradio/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-112
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcicRZ6QAB4
https://soundcloud.com/edm-demonz/this-girl-ummet-ozcan-bootleg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGY0gDBMmgc
For some reason a whole stack of Innerstate episodes appeared on Soundcloud more or less at the same time. Normally they release a week or so apart. I'm blogging this one because it largely had a different feel than the typical sets and because of several things in it that caught my ear. The set has an overall more pop, upbeat, and feel-good tone than I'd expected, which makes for a nice change.

The first is Jay Hardway's remix of "Runaways". The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDyuZ0_mWPI) is an undeniably summer-pop confection with a cute teen-love video. The remix is less saccharine and sped up a little more for dance club feel but very true to the original.

The second is a nice dance banger by Ozcan himself, "This Girl". It features a fast build and a lot of electro-horns. The released version is very short and feels like the intro for a bigger piece I haven't had time to track down.

And finally we have "Magic", an instrumental upbeat house banger from Mr. Black. I picked this one out on my second listen-through and I'm still not entirely sure what it is that grabs me about this. It's got some interesting rhythm changes, a little more electronic woop than I like, and yet I think the whole hangs together very nicely for a few minutes of chair-dancing.

https://soundcloud.com/thefunkhunters/sets/illectric-ep
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had marked more Funk Hunters to share and here's some of it. A six-track EP from Funk Hunters and Chali 2na. This is their first studio release after a lot of touring and playing together and it's all original tracks. Right now my favorite is the second "Get Involved" because it has Defunk and it's got some smooth political lyrics along with soulful brass and backing vocals.

I want to close out the last set of tabs I've backed up for the past month so I can open new ones. A couple of the usual suspects here and a couple new.

https://soundcloud.com/djroastbeatz/sets/ghetto-funk-ghetto-funk-presents-roast-beatz-gfpd27
Ghetto funk EP from DJ Roast Beeatz. Five lovely tracks in variations on a style. It slides a little sideways into glitch at times, but overall this is the new old stuff I really dig.

https://soundcloud.com/allgoodrecs/all-good-radio-ep-05-thefunkhunters
The Funk Hunters' fifth podcast actually showed up about a month ago, which tells you how far behind I am because I loved it from first listen. I particularly like that this mix has a number of instrumental and acapella items. The entire 'cast is full of luscious phat horns and wonderfully stompy beats. I know this is not everyone's definition of "all good" but it sure is mine.

https://soundcloud.com/hiddenandreignlocker/festivalessentials2016
Hidden & Reign teamed up with Jacob Ferrer to produce this "Festival Essentials" mix. In a way it's a Best of summer 2016 remixes with almost every track edited down to fit the hour-long requirement. That makes for some choppiness but I liked it anyway. Most of the tracks are A|B mashes of various house bangers so you have to be in the right mood for that kind of thing. It's hard to pick favorites from this set but the two that most caught my ear were the first two tracks. "Faded Lights" is Dannic mashing Alan Walker's 'Faded' against Dannic and Amersy's 'Lights Out'. The result is a strong electro-house banger with good sustain. Though if you're not completely DONE with "Talking Body" the next track is a nice Tove Lo/Tom & Jame mash-up that I also enjoyed.

https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/ummet-ozcan-live-at-tomorrowland-belgium-2016
I've been linking Ummet Ozcan's radio shows for a while now - this is his live set at Tomorrowland. It's not bad, as live set recordings go. Unfortunately there's no set list so I can't pick out favorites. I'm pretty sure I recognize some of the tracks from his shows, though.

Because a meeting got cancelled. No promises on when I hit 'post' though. My mood has continued to be utterly in the shitter, so several of these are going to be the sort of chair-dancing upbeat things I like to use to counter that sort of mood. There will soon be another post consisting of long-form listening but for now let's hit some quick tracks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TRxT3l2GE0
I'm continuing to listen to Ummet Ozcan's set mixes and sometimes I come across his original creations. This one I really like in part because it feels like an EDM homage to European heavy metal. From the symphonic opener to the solo guitar wail at about 0:40 to the choral refrains you get the sense that this is someone who grew up loving a similar sort of unabashedly pretentious prog and metal I did. Then about 1:30 when I'm already grinning the track drops into familiar electro-dance territory. "Megatron" indeed.

https://soundcloud.com/derpforce/nitro-fun-dragonfly
Frichte's "Nitro Fun - Dragonfly" compilation is kind of a made-up track picking bits and pieces of Nitro Fun's game-themed music. As such, it's very electro, kind of glitchy, and a little dubstep. I don't play enough modern electronic games to recognize most of the samples, but it's still a fun chair-dance track.

https://soundcloud.com/chvrches/bury-it-featuring-hayley
New CHVRCHES that sounds (to me) remarkably poppy. Their previous things I've noted have been generally listener-friendly but not out-and-out pop. I'm continuing to be sad I missed my chance at tickets to their local show this time around. Maybe I'd have a better sense for their sound - next time for sure.

https://soundcloud.com/featurepr/torren-foot-ryan-collins-bounce-feature026
Bounce, from MSTKRFT, is often called "All I do is party" after its repeated line. Here, that lyric bit is repeatedly sampled and played by Torren Foot & Ryan Collins over a heavy electro-bass rhythm. It's nohow the most sophisticated mix, but it's definite chair-dance material.

https://soundcloud.com/120dbrecords/settle-my-heart-premeson-remix
But don't stop there, if bouncy house is your thing. Premeson has a sweet energetic remix of JustLuke's "Settle My Heart". The original is heavily produced male-vocal pop that feels like it's aimed at teens (bubblegum much?). Then along comes Premeson with the 'move aside, kid, let me show you how the adults do it' effects and amps it all up. The vocals still work, but I vastly prefer the remix to the original.

https://soundcloud.com/vicetone/bonnie-mckee-i-want-it-all-vicetone-remix
Vicetone are continuing to find the core honey in tracks and then building interesting dance bits around those cores. This time it's Bonnie McKee's "I Want it All" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj_La4gaVIQ). The original has a very heavy autotuned sound and it's nice to see that stripped down and cleaned up for the remix. Once again I think it helps to have a second

Right, I have these long-form sets around for you. Hopefully they'll ease some of the effects of going back to work. I've only listened to these a couple times and haven't had a chance to pick out favorite tracks. If something you hear really catches your ears leave a note in the comments.

http://www.djsteveboy.com/imminentdark.html
Yes, another DJ Steveboy Groovelectric set. Partly it's that I'm catching up on some of his back work (I'm on his mailing lists but don't listen immediately when new sets come out) and partly it's that he's had some really good work lately. This one, "Imminent Dark" is deep, somewhat tribal, and kind of intense in places. It does feel like the kind of music you'd be playing or dancing to late at night - some noir but with considerably lighter stretches.

https://soundcloud.com/djmayajakobson/back-2-back-party-mix-2015-maya-jakobson-yair-raviv
DJ Maya Jakobson (who I started following after stumbling over her work back in July) put out this screamin' hour-long end-of-year party mix last month in collaboration with fellow Israeli Yair Raviv, whose remix works appear often in the set. I find myself liking almost every track in this set but if you push it, I think Maya's work comes out on top - either the "How Deep Is Your Club" mix or the "I Love Sax" rework she did. I had a link to the DJs from Mars version she's using but that link went dead and now I can't find the track again.

https://soundcloud.com/vicetone/vicetone-end-of-year-mix-2015
Vicetone also did a year-end set mix of their own work and others' work they remixed. Obviously if you don't like Vicetones you'll want to skip this one, but I do and I particularly like how they've worked a variety of styles in. It's all house, with strong electro and techno influences and definitely geared to the kind of thing you'd play at a bouncy party.

https://soundcloud.com/innerstateradio/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-72
Just out a couple days ago is another Ummet Ozcan Innerstate mix. I haven't even done a full second listen-through so I don't have a lot to say except I think he's doing a good job of picking and promoting interesting new artists. Looking at the setlist I recognize fewer than half the names, which is always a good sign for a new year.

https://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/solid-steel-radio-show-1112016-hour-2-cheeba-moneyshot
Unlikely to be most of my readers' tastes but it's part of mine and my LJ so here I blog it - an hour set from Cheeba & Moneyshot with a lot of great hip-hop, rap, scratch, and funk. Definitely somewhat old-school emphasizing the fast word-slinging and less of the things I don't like in more modern hip-hop.

LJ says it's only been about three weeks since I posted music but it has felt like longer. Right now it's on my mind a lot because the latest round of sound driver updates to my home Realtek sound engine hosed the speakers. I can get sound via headphones but I can't use my PC to play music to the room anymore. Grr. Still, I have tabs and will share them.

https://soundcloud.com/divideandkreate/echosmith-cool-kids-divide-kreate-remix
Divide & Kreate remixes the extremely popular indie pop hit "Cool Kids" from a couple years ago. D&K has spiced it up a little and made it beat faster but it still has the essential spare sound of the original.

https://soundcloud.com/gldncollective/romance
Following on mizarchivist's original pointer I continue to find Tove Lo mixes. This one is Flipboitamidies doing an A|B with clean bandit, a rather unusual UK duo (http://cleanbandit.co.uk/). The mix is OK - better than most of the Tove Lo mashes I'm coming across - but I'm actually more intrested in the discovery of clean bandit. I love you, so I share.

https://soundcloud.com/fissunix/5-deaths-of-king-kong
This one keeps coming up in my stream and I'm still not entirely sure if I like it, but it's an interestingly original idea. Fissunix is A|B mashing Mano Negra and The Prodigy. Most Prodigy mixes tend to use things I don't like - this one is "Wall of Death" which I think has the best sort of energy that Prodigy produces. And Mano Negra gets mashed up approximately never, so here you go.

https://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-cheerleader-freaks
Mashup Germany again, with a really nice five-way mix of tracks I'm not familiar with. It fronts Timmy Trumpet and I loves me some brass horns so that's nice. I think the vocals work less well than they might, but perhaps I have too high an expectation of what M.G. can do. From anyone else this would be an excellent track - for him it's just average but the track radiates a kind of fun joy that makes it infectious.

--- We now enter the Ummet Ozcan zone ---

https://soundcloud.com/djphase/zedd-ft-selena-gomez-vs-ummet-ozcan-i-want-daftizer-to-know-phase-bootleg
Someone going by djPhase has mashed up an Ummet Ozcan track that I think is his super-popular "Daftizer" (https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/daftizerfree) with Zedd's "I Want You to Know", which features the vocals and (ahem) appearance of Selena Gomez. Yes, THAT Selena Gomez, who is now all growed up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46t8ZFqUB4) and who's doing a respectable job of turning her childhood Nickelodeon image into an adult singing/acting career. Of the three tracks I think I like the Zedd original best, but that might be influenced by watching the video.

https://soundcloud.com/ultrarecords/02-double-exposure-my-love-is
Msystem's remix of Double Exposure's "My Love is Free". It's definitely an electro-dance track, but it draws on soul and disco roots heavily. I picked it out because it features Double Exposure's all-male vocals in a genre that often fronts female vocalists.

https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/ummet-ozcan-presents-innerstate-ep-33
Another episode of Ozcan's "Innerstate" pod/setcast. This one has a lot of really nice tracks in it, of which I picked two to feature because they spoke to me particularly.

https://soundcloud.com/nathanc/nathan-c-felix-leiter-this-is-our-night-preview
Nathan C and Feliz Leiter do a trance track that starts out mostly instrumental and then brings in "This Is Our Night" by Sander Kleinberg (http://www.vevo.com/watch/sander-kleinenberg/TION-(This-is-Our-Night)/NLL331100021). This is a track I heard many years ago and had almost completely forgotten about. Then it showed up this rework and I was like, "wait, I know that..." This version is much more high energy, higher BPM and more electro than the original but it's really nice to hear an old favorite getting some new life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH51g1L0i14
Saving the best for last, here's some truly superb vocal trance from Killogy. "Awake" is a showcase for singer-songwriter Angelika Vee (http://angelikavee.com/) whose vocals absolutely soar in this track. My only complaint is that it's too short, but it's definitely got me following Ms Vee to see what else she's doing. It's been a while since I heard a new voice that really got my attention and this track is a great way to finish out a set.

I never managed to get the second music post done before heading to Arisia (about which more in a separate entry). Here is the second post, collecting some of the better electronic dance tracks from the past year. This is all going to be house, trance, and vocal dance. Most of these are independent artists who sell through Beatport and don't have big label support. If you like their stuff please buy the tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/nervomusic/r3hab-nervo-ummet-ozcan-1
First of two from Ummet Ozcan (https://www.ummetozcan.com/) who has been working with some of the biggest names in house music. I've heard a couple mixes of this "Revolution" and I like this vocal mix best. It's not terribly sophisticated in either the music or vocals, but it's a good solid high-energy dance track.

https://soundcloud.com/ummetozcan/ummet-ozcan-superwave-original-mixout-now
Second Ozcan track for compare-and-contrast. This one lacks the smooth vocals and has a more energetic high-BPM style. I like it for its variety of styles - it's almost a sampler. I also like that Ozcan is willing to drop the volume and not try to blast everything out as loud as possible. There are plenty of loud passages, but it's not all the same thing.

https://soundcloud.com/vicetone/united-we-dance
Vicetone's "United We Dance" was apparently written for a movie soundtrack, so it's more ?compressed? tonally than a full club mix would be. That's not bad - you get a sense for how music can be built to leave spaces others can fill in. This is also prime remix material.

https://soundcloud.com/protocolrecordings/tritonal-paris-blohm-ft
Speaking of remixes you can find probably dozens of remixes of "Colors" - it was one of the bigger tracks of 2014. This version is more spare and really features the piano bits more than most mixes. I am not as fond of the non-vocal thumpa-thumpa bits but it's worth giving a listen.

https://soundcloud.com/porter-robinson/lionhearted-arty-remix
Continuing our theme of interesting piano and vocal bits, here is the "Arty Remix" of "Lionhearted" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgKDu5pp_fU). The original is much rougher and louder - this remix keeps the underlying track's energy but smooths and mellows the edges.

https://soundcloud.com/doornrecords/sander-van-doorn-firebeatz
I was intrigued by this track because guitars usually don't feature in EDM tracks. To be perfectly honest they're not all that big a deal here, either. Not in the way you'd hear guitars taking most of the load in a rock&roll track, for example. That said, there are some interesting bits where you can hear the guitars doing their thing and it's nice to see people trying different approaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhkD47AauNQ
Here is AVB spinning Dash Berlin's "Shelter" at the Amsterdam Music Festival. This is the Photographer remix, which makes much better use of Roxanne Emery's vocals than any other mix I've heard. Unlike the Revolution track I started this set with, the vocals here are much more complex and interesting - this sort of thing is what first got me into vocal trance and I'm glad some people are still making these kinds of tracks.