The songs that got me into the Electronic Genre

Well, I decided to take Weekes up on his suggestion and make a post in this group. I was trying to think of a good topic to discuss while I procrastinate studying and I thought that the origin of my addiction to the electro music scene would be all right. So here it goes....

Everyone who has a specific genre of music they listen to has some song, event or person that really got them hooked into it initially. I'm sure if you guys all think hard, there's that one song that sparked your interest in electronic music and got you searching for other songs in this genre. Fortunately enough, there's lots of bad-ass songs out there that we stumbled upon after we started searching that really cemented our love for this type of music. I'm going to list off my own personal "spark" song and the following 4 or 5 others that made me realize that I was going to be listening to electro music for a long time.

1) 009 Sound System - Dreamscape.

The first person to introduce me to electronic music was my cousin who listened to (what I thought at that time) all this weird shit music with no words. Some guy named Dead-mow-five (everyone noobed out like that before they knew what was up), these 2 robot dudes named Daft Punk and some old guys with a cross named Justice. I was adamant initially that I didn't like any of that stuff regardless of how hard he tried to convince me to listen to it. Finally, he force fed this song, Dreamscape, and despite my initial protests, I listened to it. In all honesty, it really is a weird song that hooked me but it has some of my favourite aspects of music in it (plus I really love old school trance). Its very tinny nature, long drawn out chords and smooth transitions really appealed to me. Give it a listen when you find yourself super tired and it just feels like your floating away. Its one of my favourite songs and the song that got me hooked at the start. (P.S. All of 009 Sound Systems trance is soooooo gooood)

2) Deadmau5 - Strobe

Ok, so basically, my cousin listened to this Deadmowfive guy hardcore and gave me all his music after I said I wanted to start listening to this genre. I was flipping through his songs once I got back home and came across this...... masterpiece. This song is the reason I enjoy electro as much as I do today. It is my absolute favourite song in the entire world and has been for the past ~3 1/2 years. Words simply do not do this song justice. If you haven't heard this song before, what are you even doing with your life. If you have, give it a listen or 9 anyway because its amazing.  

3) Skrillex - With you, Friends (Long Drive)

Back when dubstep started to become a popular thing, people started talking about this Skrillex guy. I looked him up and immediately liked his stuff (back when Skrillex made his good songs, his new stuff is mediocre at best, only my opinion though...). His glitch music is what really got me, I'm a huge fan of pitchy music and this song is the definition of pitchy. The glitch he did in this is so good and it is such a smooth song with a really really good ending and build-up. This and summit (which happens to be very similar to this song) are my favourite pieces by him and ultimately got me to broaden my enjoyment into the glitch and dubstep sub-genres. Give it a whirl if you haven't heard it.

4) Deadmau5 - Raise your Weapon (Madeon remix)

So I naturally began my avid obsession with Deadmau5 early and found a remix that he re tweeted. Some 16 year old kid remixed this song I liked into a song I liked even more. Thus started my love of the happy/fun/dancey style of the legend kid, Madeon. Seriously though, this guy is unreal and his music is phenomenal. I heard this song for the first time and I put it on repeat for weeks. This is actually still one of my top 10 songs today and it has a way of just making you feel happy regardless of whatever you are doing. Madeon, you are on my bucket list to see live.

5) Daft Punk - One More Time

The main reason this song is here was because during this electro blitz section of my life, I discovered that this song was made by Daft Punk. I'm sure everyone has heard this randomly in restaurants or on the radio but I had never put it to a specific artist. This song needs no introduction, it is the classic of classics and one of the reasons that electro music is even popular today. Made by the fathers of "Techno" and listened to by every individual on the planet I'm sure. This song is as beautiful now as it was 11 years ago and will never go out of style for me. Listen to it out of respect for the 2 masters that pioneered this genre that we know and love. (P.S. I'm going to die of excitement for Daft Punks new album in the fall. Wheeeeeeeee!)

From there, it spider webbed all over the place, from discovering Feed Me, Flux Pavillion, Calvin Harris, Nero, Adventure Club, Avicii, Pretty Lights and numerous others, to loving all of them. 

So after this novel of a post and a successful hour of procrastination, this is how I personally got addicted to electronic music and the few songs that cemented me into it. If any of you guys have a couple songs that did it for you, you should share it as well because it is always neat to see the progression of someone's initial taste in a genre to what you enjoy today.

Thanks 

-Pat

Weekes' Weekly Wobble ~3

So new title of my wobble of the week (big thanks to Aimee!) Weekes' Weekly Wobble has a little more flow to it so here it goes.

Feed Me - Little Cat Steps takes it this week

I randomly shuffled to this song a few months back and completely forgot it even existed, I feel like you should take a peak.

Don't listen until you are in the mood to get motivated and pumped, this track will get you going faster than speed, its rhythmic pumps will put you straight into heavy workflow.

This guy's real name is Jon Gooch but don't laugh at the name he has some filth, Gooch also goes by Spore and has released tracks under Deadmau5's label.

I honestly can't find too too much him but just let this song do him some justice, another honorable track by him is Feed me Ft. Tasha Baxter - Strange Behavior which is a bit calmer.
oh and cool artwork too....

cheers! Don't forget to comment!

Top 5 Adventure Club Tracks!

As I'm sure all you Edmontonians are aware, Adventure Club is this Thursday at Union! If you don't have tickets, I don't know what the fuck you are doing with your life.  Seriously, you're gonna want to be there. Although there is no such thing as a bad AC song, over the last couple of days we have conducted a poll on the Lister Electronic League facebook group on our favorite AC tracks.  Here are the results! If you disagree with the placement of any of the songs on this list, or think that a song should be on here that isn't, tough shit.  Make your own god damn list. (But seriously, leave your thoughts in the comment section as there are probably others that agree with you).

(Cue epic movie announcer voice)

Coming in at number 5, we have "Retro City":  

"Do I See Color" takes the number 4 spot:

AC's newest remix of "Lullabies" by Yuna sneaks into 3rd place

The runner-up spot on our list belong to AC's remix of "Youth"

Finally, the winning song from our poll, the track that we think is the fucking tits and stands above and beyond all other AC tracks is............."Crave You".  Thats right, you knew it was going to be on this list somewhere. Crave You takes our top spot on this list.

Hope this mini playlist gets you guys as amped for Thursday as we are!  Hope you see you there!  

We Can Make The World Stop - The Glitch Mob

The Glitch Mob is pretty sick trio consisting of edIT (Edward Ma), Boreta (Justin Boreta) and Ooah (Josh Mayer). I know I'm not the only one writing here that appreciates what these guys put together.
We Can Make The World Stop is one of my favourite tracks from this trio. This song has an epic sound to it, and gets a sick ass slow motion feeling going on. Great song to drive along to.
Check it out.

LEL Party Playlist Thursday!

Welcome to the second edition of the LEL Party Playlist Thursday!  Here are the songs that we have been listening to since our last encounter a couple of weeks ago. Hope you enjoy!



Songs by Contributor:

Alex:
Clockwork -- Surge
Tom Budin -- Butterscotch (feat. Sniff)
Foxes -- Echo (FIXYN Remix)

Lin:
Tenishia -- Where Do we Begin (Andrew Rayel Remix)
Judge Jules -- Phenomenology
Christian Burns, Paul Oakenfold, and JES -- As We Colide (Club edit)

Braydon:
Artificial Nocturne --  Metric (Love Thy Brother Remix)
Doctor P feat. Eva Simons -- Bulletproof (Vicetone Remix)
Flux Pavillion feat. Childish Gambino -- Do or Die

Shane:
DJ Shadow -- Stem (Blank image Remix)
Heyoka -- Flying Dub Sauce (Mr. Rogers Remix)

Jedd:
The Glitch Mob -- We Can Make the World Stop
Dillon Francis -- IDGAFOS

Michael:
Avicii vs Nicky Romero -- I Could Be the One

Nathan:
Gramatik -- Illusion of Choice
Bassnectar -- Butterfly
Above and Beyond -- Alchemy

Jeremy:
Steve Aoki -- Ladi Dadi (Tommy Trash Remix)
Modek -- Goose Offender
Kid Cudi -- Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)

Artist Profile -- Bikslow

Bikslow has been a very recent discovery of mine, but I am absolutely loving this duo.  I saw them a couple of weeks ago on Beatport's top 10 house list, and has no fucking clue who they were or why there were on the list. After listening to the track, I immediately understood.

I really wanted to do a big write up on them, but I had a really tough time trying to dig up info.  Taking a look at their Facebook page gave some indication of why this was.  They have literally only released like 5 or 6 tracks!  Seriously, making it into beatport's top 5 house songs having only released a handful of songs...might be a good idea to keep on eye on Bikslow.  Here is a couple more tracks they've released. KiniMooper was literally just dropped a couple of hours ago from when I'm writing this: Its got a Mord Fustang feeling to it to go along with its clever title, both of which i fucking love.  



Artanist and Iron Giant both have a really nice summer-ish feeling that reminds me of beersbee and swimming pools. 



 Lastly, The SAP has a much darker vibe, showing off yet another side of their producing.  



So as you can hear, Bikslow seems really versatile right now, and I feel like they are just testing the waters out and trying to see where they fit into things; wherever that is, I am for sure following them there.  

The Sound of Euphoria

I have a lot to say about how music makes me content on so many different levels and how it never fails to cheer me up. Instead, I'd like to explain to you how immensely beautiful all of this is. I'd also like to add a disclaimer at this point of time that my words might not be completely accurate, but do bear in mind that I am merely trying to share my point of view.

I, like many of you out there, love stumbling upon a good song. However, once in a blue moon, we all find that AMAZING track that just makes us lose our minds. Its different for everyone and although we often like a lot of the same songs, we each have our own little 3-4 minutes of music that speak to us individually.

This is the part that intrigues me the most, I hope I don't bore you.

Music is varying sound, and sound is varying airwaves; Airwaves specifically varying in pitch (frequency) and amplitude (loudness). And all of this, is occuring through the same medium in which you inhale and exhale.

Emotion is a transient chemical imbalance in the brain brought about by a stimuli. Cascades of various chemical reactions allow for the production of specific chemicals in your brain to allow for the perception of these emotions by your consciousness. Completely ignoring the insanely complex electrical system by which the receptors in your ears fire signals to the brain, we are still faced with this stupendous phenomena of how the former paragraph, has led us to the latter.

Is it not amazing how these specific patterns of air compressions and rarefactions can lead to the overwhelming state of contentment that you feel?

Electronic music has been the only genre of music that has ever been able to get me to that state of relaxation and contentment. Everyone has that song that resonates the feeling of happiness and elation, and I'd like to share one of my favorites with you. 

Let the light come in, open your eyes!

P.S. It was between this song and Language, but since Lin already did a post about Language, here is 'Open your eyes'!

Rock Remixes

So I’m at the bar, and I walk up to this cute girl and say, “Hey babe, you may not be Jesus but I’d still nail the shit out of you”.

Now that I have your attention I want to show a mini mix I put together. Although I was mostly done my Dada Life post, I decided that an artist profile for a group that successful would either be far too long, or I wouldn't do them justice by covering enough of their material. Instead, I decided to throw together 5 of my favorite rock remixes together! Even if you’re not huge into the genre of Rock, there’s no denying that rock has had a huge influence on your musical tastebuds from the time you were a child (and Jedd was 18). These songs are all classics, but mixing them with some electronic beats puts a fresh sound on these unreal songs.

Anything that Glitch Mob touches turns to gold, and this is no exception. So i’ll start with my favorite of these five, Sevens nation Army by The White Strips (Glitch Mob remix).

Next up is The Crookers remix of ACDC’s Thunderstruck. BASS, nuff said.  

The Other Side is one of the greatest tracks by one of the greatest groups of our generation. Throw Benny Benassi into the mix and you have a room full of ravers bouncing off the walls.

What kind of rock playlist would this be if I didn't throw in a little Foo Fighters? Not a good one (Fuck all you Foo haters), so I had to throw in Zed’s Dead remix of one of the Foo’s greatest songs, The Pretender.

I’ll finish the mix with the dirtiest track. One of my favorite songs in Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana, with some filthy dubstep compliments of Dual Dubstep.

 

Funkalicious Friday

[image source: http://www.shinybinary.com/images/art/funk.jpg] 

Friday. What better day for a little funk round-up? Little bit of retro bass to ease you into your weekend, some danceable beats to start your party, and the alliteration works! So if you are feeling a little groovy this may be the right post for you.

It seems that a time portal has opened up along the west coast of Canada, because all of these tunes today come from some good ol' BC boys.

FUNK HUNTERS

The Funk Hunters & SkiiTour - The Plan [Out Now on ReSoul Records] by The Funk Hunters

TIMOTHY WISDOM & THE FUNK HUNTERS

The Funk Hunters & Timothy Wisdom - Ghetto Disco by Timothy Wisdom

STICKY BUDS

Marvin Gaye - Let's Get it On / Sexual Healing Ft. Max-A-Million (Stickybuds Remix) by Stickybuds~

WICKED LESTER

WiCKED LESTER - Wah Wah Wah by WICKED LESTER

And here is a bonus track, again by the Funk Hunters, remixing a song by another one of my new favourite bands Delhi 2 Dublin.

Weekes' Wobble of The Week ~2~

Hey everyone,

This week's wobble goes to "Hello by Martin Solveig --- Sidney Samson remix"

Back in September (2012) Martin Solveig came to Edmonton, and i really didn't know much about him, or for that matter did really know much diversity in the EDM scene. This was really my first rave experience, and the first time I fully committed to the scene... NO regrets. For anyone reading this post I strongly suggest seeing Solveig live.

A few weeks went by after the show was over, Solveig gained more plays than anyone in my library (Hello, Ready 2 Go, The Night Out, and Big In Japan looped many times) and I began to look for remixes (found Sidney Samson's on Soundcloud). Oh and Sydney is Dutch and Solveig French so you know something good is going to come from that right..

Anyways.....

What I really enjoy about this track is Sidney doesn't take away from the effort Solveig put into it, he leaves what went so well for the track and adds probably some of the filthiest bass I have heard. This beat is good to play if you having other (non-EDM) crowds around too because who the fuck doesn't like to come and say hello.

I don't really have the time to break this track into pieces and guide you through the filth, but im sure you will discover some love it on your own.

Weekes

Empire of the Sun -- We are the People (Sam la More remix)

Got something thats both a little bit older as well as a little different.  Empire of the Sun kind of crawled out of the woodworks following the huge success of MGMT a few years back, and god am I glad they did.  I absolutely fell in love with Walking on a Dream, as well as pretty much everything that they've done with their other project Pnau.  But this isn't about Empire of the Sun, this is about Sam la More.  

The original of We are the People is super chill and laidback.  You can hear the LSD seeping through every single note and word in the song in an profoundly awesome way; the song makes you feel like you are one with the Earth.  This remix does an amazing job of capturing that original feel, while adding a little more substance for you to rock out to.  The drop gives me chills every single time I hear it; something about the combination of "We are the people who rule the world" followed by some of the gnarliest bass i've ever heard.

This probably isn't a song that you're ever gonna hear at any of the big festivals, or in any club setting really, but it is among my favorite songs, and just an amazing remix in general.

Bonus: really trippy music video!  Who needs LSD when you have stuff like this?

Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People (Sam La More Remix) from deafcat on Vimeo.

Weekes' Wobble of The Week

Hey guys, this is my first post so it might take some time (not too much time) to workout some sort of flow to this blog.

Walking to school i came up with the idea of a once a week post for something dirty i found through the week called "Weekes' Wobble of The Week" (name could be improved but w/e first post blow me)

Im generally open to several genres of music (even outside the edm globe) so for me electronic music is something to bump when your in the mood for it, if your not in the mood for electronic then you really aren't giving it any justice.
To me you play edm: before going out, when your grumpy and just want to tune out for a while, when you're tired and need to put in a few more hours (for us students), general pump up studying, driving (obviously), while playing video games, or when you're just with a few friends and want to submerge them in your filth.

Enough intro and typing useless text... So for the wobble of the week im chucking out "Never Mind by Infected Mushroom on their album Army Of Mushrooms"

This summer a friend introduced me to Infected Mushroom, and when i look back at the summer months they seem to conform to this album. Other notable tracks on the album include: "U R So Fucked",  and "Wanted To". They also have pretty "neat" album artwork

Never Mind's up beat tempo from the start (0:00) gets the people going.. before you know it wobbles are all over your territory(0:17)... then when you think the Israeli artists couldn't get any more gaza they switch back (1:31), changing it up around (3:00), and then downtown  pound-town from (4:48) onward.

Hope you all enjoyed this week's Weekes' Wobble of The Week.. leave me some feedback so i know where to go from here...

Weekes

Party Playlist Thursday

For any of you partying this weekend, here some songs that we've been listening to this week!  Download this shit up and impress your friends!  I'm pretty happy about how this turned out, but let us know what you think!

Song List by Contributor:

Lin:
Armin van Burren and Markus Schulz -- The Expedition
Audien -- Wayfarer
Gareth Emery -- Sanctuary
Andrew Rayel -- Aeon of Revenge
Tut Tut Child -- Dance To It

Jeremy:
Sander van Doorn -- Joyenergizer
Svidden -- Brettafjack
Pretty Lights -- I Know the Truth

Alex:
Sabo ft. Teenwolf & Shelco -- Vibracion
Avicii vs. Kings of Leon -- Abow vs. Sex on Fite (Avicii's Bootleg)
Tittsworth -- Club 219
Pacific Air -- Float (TheFatRat Remix)
Feed Me & Crystal Fighters -- Love is All I Got

Ryan:
Alesso -- Years ft. Metthew Korma
Last Lynx -- Killing Switch (Sound Remedy Remix)
The Killers -- Miss Atomic Bomb (Major Levi Remix)
Right/Wrong -- The Company We Keep (Conspirator Remix)
Sultan & Ned Shepard -- Walls

Nathan:
Northie -- Chase Me Down (Bikslow Remix)
Mord Fustang -- Taito
Dada Life -- Boing Clash Boom
Will Sparks -- Ah Yeah!
Avicii -- Three Million ft. Negin

Braydon:
Porter Robinson and Mat Zo -- Easy
Bingo Players -- Rattle
Birdy Nam Nam -- Goin' In (Skrillex Goin' Hard Mix)
Kaskade vs. Tommy Trash -- Empty Streets Cascade (Kaskade mashup)
Captain Cuts -- Dancin with Avicii (The Knocks vs. Avicii)

Jedd:
Krewella -- Alive (MitiS Remix)
Nicky Romero -- Toulouse
Noisestorm -- Timewarp
Otto Knows -- Million Voices
Hardwell -- Spaceman

Alive (MitiS Remix) - Krewella

So the original track by Krewella is pretty decent, but this remix is sick! It’s not that often that I like a remix that much more then original, but this is definitely one of those times. But don't get me wrong, both are great.

Joe Torre (MitiS) comes from a place where It’s Always Sunny, and in my opinion he really manages to step Krewella’s track up. He takes it from a relatively melodic house song and really dirties it up into a nice dubstep track.

This is the track that introduced me to MitiS, so you could say it’s got that special place with me, but he’s got quite a bit of diverse material mainly falling into more the Lovestep/Dubstep categories that I quite enjoy. I’ll probably be back with another post about this guy because he’s worth listening to.

Enjoy both the Original and MitiS Remix.

Nero -- Innocence

Hoooo man I'm amped about this one.  Put yourself in my shoes.  You're this young naive kid thinkin hes pretty BA listening to his hiphop and rap and whatever. You're just scrolling through facebook minding your own business, when one of your friends posts this song saying "hey check out this cool dubstep song".  You think to yourself "da fuk is dubstep man, that sounds dumb," but you give it a listen anyways.  The song starts off slow, as most dubstep songs do, so you continue scrolling through facebook.  Things start building up and your attention is grabbed and everything else is now lost in the background, all there is left is you and the music. Suddenly, the drop.   Holy shit the drop.  For the next 4 minutes, you are left in pure ecstasy, leaving you in an emotional mess, eardrums under constant assault from those heavy basslines.

Innocence was THE song that got me into the EDM scene.  Sure I had heard of like Armin van Buren or Ferry Cosrten before this, but this song was the first to pull me in, to make me go "HOLY FUCK SHIT BALLS, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT AND WHERE CAN I GET MORE?!?!"  I imagine a junkie goes through something similar injecting for the first time.  Seriously, fuck Deadmau5, fuck Skrillex (well not really, I like them both), Nero is where I got my start.  Your gonna want to turn up the bass for this one guys.

Zedd

Where do I even begin with Zedd?

The dude was not even heard of until recently, and all of a sudden he has dropped a number of great tracks like Spectrum, Shave it up, Codec, Follow You Down, Clarity, Slam the Door, Shotgun ....  Zedd brews beats with such character and style, his songs are bound to get your body moving. 

In my opinion, some artists will keep on making beats with the similar style because they know it will be successful and that is what the fans like to hear from them. I mean, I do love those artists don't get me wrong, but at times I find myself listening to the same rhythms over 5 - 6 songs. On the contrary, musicians like Porter and Zedd are not afraid of making beats to a different style. Oh did I mention they are good buds too? Yup. And if you have heard of the EPs from these two, you will find them to have a different taste than their recent releases, but in a good way. 

Big things are coming Zedd's way. Enjoying the success his first album Clarity, the Germany born DJ is currently working with Lady Gaga producing her upcoming album ARTPOP. I missed my chance to see him live during Christmas break last year, but I am sure it was more than fantastic, so don't make the same mistake I did.

Sure you can stick to the familiar beats by the big names, but if you have not heard of any of the artists and tunes you have seen on this blog, you should definitely check them out; because after all, the purpose here is explore the different genres and artists out there to fulfill our ever changing taste.

A Farewell Tribute

Since Lin already took the time to write about one of my favourite songs, Porter Robinson’s Language, I’ll go in a bit of a different direction for my first  post.

There is no denying that the trio consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso has a lot of talent and skill. This ‘Mafia’ of House producers from Sweden have put down several tracks that don’t cease to amaze, Save the World, Don’t you Worry Child, In my Mind, Miami to Ibiza, just to name a few. All these tracks have great beats layered with clear vocals that can pull you right in. But if you only want one track from these guys in your library, I'd have to recommend one track that’s name isn’t so widely known merely due to the face that it’s an instrumental, but this doesn’t mean it’s any less recognizable;

Swedish House Mafia’s Greyhound.

The trio does a great job of building energy with this song. The thick beat in this song gives you something to move to and the continuous subtle changes keep you intimately involved. The melody keeps building energy throughout the song, and it gives you the feeling that something great is in store, not for just the rest of this song, but for what is to come after. By the time I finish listening to song, I’m ready to go and completely amped to hear what’s up next. This song can draw you right into music and can make the next songs sound even better. In my mind this makes for a great opening track.

It’s unfortunate that Swedish House Mafia is splitting up; however on the plus side there are three people worth keeping an ear on as they pursue their solo careers. If you get a chance to see these guys on their farewell tour, don’t pass it up, it’ll be a party to remember.

Alexisonfire -- To a Friend (Adventure Club Remix)

Just for a little background, Alexisonfire (Alex is on fire? Alexis on fire?  Anyone know???) is seriously one of my favorite bands of all time, especially during my angsty teenage years.  Even today they still manage to find their way into my playlists. Something about Dallas Green's voice man...gives me shivers no matter what setting its in. Now, Adventure Club. Oh. My. God. Adventure Club.  This duo blows my freaking mind.  I was lucky enough to see them live at PURE this last October, and it was just amazing.  Somehow every track they drop manages to be just huge and cutting edge, and gnarley, and just....hnggghggasdfas... (yes that was me orgasming).

So, you can imagine my excitement over this song.  If I recall, it was something along the lines of "WUUUUUTT!?!?!?!?!" followed by uncontrollable sobs of happiness.

In all seriousness, this is an amazing song. Dallas Green should seriously collab for real with AC.  Or any electronic producer really....Its simultaneously chill, melodically stunning, and just about everything else that you would expect from AC. In fact, I think I just creamed myself again while writing this; be forewarned, you might too.



P.S. Big shout out to Jedd for designing the banner for this; I know I'm not the only one who thinks its pretty fucking amazing

Another kind of Language

Let's try blogging.

The beauty of electronic dance music is laid out by beats, rhythms and melodies. And even the simplest notes can create a melody so powerful that can cover one in goosebumps.

Language is one of those tunes.

Carefully crafted by Porter Robinson, this gem is breathtaking. Some people call this a master piece, which I completely agree. Personally, there is never a wrong time to play this song; it always just has that amazing power to life me up no matter what.

From all the raves I have heard this song played by various DJs, not one of them has done a remix of it.

It is just that precious, and beautiful. There are many things that cannot be best expressed by words, so have a listen, and let the space and time surround you.