Hi, everybody, and welcome to this week’s edition of The Shuffle Button. You know the drill – new songs sit next to old songs. Electro is side by side with house across the street from drum and bass. Let’s jump right into it.
Eric Prydz – Every Day
We’re going to start this week off with an classic song from one of house music’s most iconic artists.
Eric Prydz has been an influential figure in dance music for a long time and his music has permeated all aspects of dance music culture. His style is so distinctive that there are a set of songs that are immediately identifiable and recognizable as Prydz songs.
“Every Day” is one of those tracks. This six-year-old song owns space in the memories of dance music fans all around the world. Chances are, if you like electronic music enough to go to a festival, this song means something to you and calls back to at least one distinct memory.
Melé & Shovell – Pasilda
Moving into the tribal house space, Melé & Shovell have remixed the iconic “Pasilda” and given it new life. Melé couldn’t resist imbuing this track with his tribal tendencies as the drums take center stage. The Spanish organ of the original song pours gasoline onto this fire as the track is an explosion of energy.
This song has that Miami and Caribbean vibe that just slowly spreads good feelings throughout your body and mind.
Shy FX feat. Kate Stewart & Mr. Williamz – Badboy Business
Shy FX is massive in the drum and bass scene. His sound usually keys into the old school jungle vibes, but he’s not afraid to play in the melodic space.
In his new song, Shy FX has a devious plan. He leads you to believe “Badboy Business” will be a nice liquid song, and then drops straight into some filthy bass. The two disparate parts of the track actually tell both sides of a love story. Kate Stewart takes the heartfelt and rhythmic perspective and Mr. Williamz comes at it from a rude boy point of view.
It’s an interesting concept and the execution is amazing. It ends up being a ragga jungle track with melody. Only Shy FX has the chops to pull something like this off.
The Prodigy – Need Some1 (Friction Remix)
After a three year hiatus, The Prodigy stormed back onto the scene with “Need Some1”. This new release has that classic Prodigy sound and edge. For a drum and bass remix, they picked Friction to take it to that next level.
Friction’s diverse style dabbles heavily in the in your face, aggressive music space. It’s not easy to take a Prodigy song and make it more hectic, but Friction managed to do just that. By modulating the bass-line over the course of the song, Friction shows that there’s more to remixing a big tune then just adding snares and a kick drum. Each drop has a different identity and feeling.
By speeding up and slowing down the pace of the track, Friction keeps the listeners guessing while always keeping the original tune close to heart.
M-Beat feat. General Levy – Incredible
Since there have been so many jungle tunes coming out from drum and bass heavyweights (See FX, Shy), we figured we’d bring it back to an original ragga jungle song.
Around the time “Incredible” was released, combining ragga vocals and putting it over a jungle bass-line was unheard of. In fact, vocalists usually didn’t like having their samples used. General Levy had a different outlook. This song was put out before Levy gave his permission, yet when he heard it, he loved it.
Being on the cutting edge requires people to take risks, and ragga jungle was not well received at first. But soon enough it became a permanent fixture in the popular drum and bass sub-genre list.
CHOOOOOOOOOOON of the Week
Justice – Phantom Pt. II
“Phantom Pt. II” is one of the most famous tracks from a globally renowned French duo well-known for their work in the dance music scene. No, not Daft Punk, we’re talking Justice.
Forefathers of electro, Justice has shown producers how to harness gritty and distortion filled riffs and combine them with a pumping beat. Justice doesn’t care about silly things like making songs that sound good on the radio or have a big pop music following. Their style is unapologetic. They don’t make music for the masses, they make it for their dedicated fans.
They literally only play their own music in live sets, what electronic artist does that?
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