Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Track of the Day 9/22



I'm about to be "that guy". I liked this song before it was popular. There. I said it. It's kind of hard to pay attention to the song when there's awesome tecktonik dancing going on in the background. Their shoes are also pretty distracting. I've searched the internet for hours trying to find out where to get a pair but I haven't had any luck. This is a really impressive remix that was even more amazing after I listened to the original song. The two aren't even remotely similar. This remix has blown the original out of the water. Searching for Yelle's "A Cause de Garcons" on youtube will usually only find this version of the song. I had to dig through my search results to find the original. Honestly, I don't even like the original. It does have a good base for an electronic remix in the chorus with its underlying bass line and mildly annoying synth. I don't want to hate on the original too much, though. After all, if it weren't for Yelle, we wouldn't have this awesome remix. This song also got me in a lot of trouble. I played it during a French extra credit "party" and made the mistake of clicking on a related video, "Je Veux Te Voir". The entire song is a retaliation against a male french artist who's songs incorporated a very negative view of women. But anyways, my french teacher was the only one there paying attention to the lyrics. They're extraordinarily sexual. This didn't work out too well for me. But the ACDG Remix is still an awesome track. I don't know why this story was needed. But it was.

Also, if you have any idea where I can find shoes similar to the pair that the lead dancer (treaxy) is wearing, let me know!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Track of the day 9/6




I figured something a little lighter than the previous, hard-hitting Benassi track would be a nice balance. If you've heard of B-Complex you've probably heard of (or heard) his track Beautiful Lies. Many would argue that this is his best track by far. I disagree. I think it is an awesome song that has the perfect combination of fast beats and a heavy, low bass line. But I'm going to disagree for almost the sole reason that not enough of his other material is heard. The other part of my reasoning might be the fact that I prefer lighter Drum and Bass tracks. "It's a Funny World" has incredible piano mixed into it to draw us away from the drums a little bit. Drum and Bass has never been my favorite genre but the genre has a few outliers that are way up on my favorite songs list (which I will never make because I hate having things like that set in stone). But, if I were to have one, it would be highly ranked. B-Complex doesn't have any albums out which is kind of disappointing, however he does have a whole mess of singles. His lack of albums doesn't matter too much for our generation because most of his songs will be downloaded off the internet. The only problem with most of the songs is that they've been featured on podcasts. Why is this a problem? Because the creator of one such podcast insists upon talking throughout the entire song which is extraordinarily irritating. This explains all of the (No Podcast) notation after some of the songs on YouTube. All of the links I provided are the clean versions that have rid themselves of his nasty voice. I have yet to find a track by B-Complex that I don't like and I hope he never changes that. I doubt he will.

Other good tracks:
Beautiful Lies
Winter
Girl With Flower

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Track of the day 9/2



Today's track takes me all the way back to when the techno seed was planted inside of me. It was during my freshman year of high school when I joined the soccer team. Someone always popped a CD filled with (generally crappy) music into the stereo to get us pumped up before game time and I never really paid much attention to it until an extremely German friend of mine, Frederik, put a disc (who uses CD's anymore?) of his favorite techno songs in the radio. I didn't know what it was. I just knew that I liked it and wanted to hear it all the time. I borrowed the disc and took it with me to listen to during the drive home. I kept this song on repeat most of the way home until I decided to see what else was on the disc. Then I realized there was more than one techno song in the world. This is a fairly simple concept but is one that blew my mind for several weeks, maybe even months. I forgot all about sandstorm and decided that this song was now home base for my techno interests and I would compare everything else to it. Since then, my scope has widened and I now appreciate songs more deeply. But man did I love that song. It's hard to convey exactly what happened to me that day through a simple song and a post. The pounding bass washed over me and I've never been the same since. Hearing this song was really one of the most influential moments of my life. That may sound silly or exaggerated but it's true. I'm addicted to techno and I don't think I'll ever want to or be able to change that.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you one of the defining songs of my life:
Benny Benassi's Electro Sixteen