Well the day is finally here, the conclusion of our Best of 2012 list with our Top 10 tracks of the year!!! In our opinion these ten tracks right here are the cream of the crop, the best this year had to offer in EDM. We hope you enjoyed counting down this years best tracks as much as we did and we hope you agree with what we thought were the greatest tracks that were released this year. For the Top 10 El Jay and I (Mikey) are going to be each writing a little something about each track and why it ended up in ELB’s Top 10. In case you have missed any here’s links to Honorable Mentions, 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31, 30-21 and 20-11! Top 10 after the jump!!!
Tag Archives: axwell
Best Of 2012: 10-1
Filed under Best Of, Electro, Electro House, House, Progressive House, Uncategorized
ELB Exclusive Interview: Feenixpawl
Feenixpawl is a DJ/Production duo from Melbourne Australia that consists of Aden Forte and Josh Soon. Their recent hit ‘In My Mind’ has been tearing up dance floors from Australia to the US for almost a year now. The track is a collab with Axwell, and Ivan Gough and it features some powerful vocals from Georgi Kay. The track went on to become an international sensation, and has been used in a recent Kia commercial and as the theme song for Axwell’s Cosmic Opera. Since the release of ‘In My Mind’ the duo have gone on to have a stellar year as they’ve released some highly touted remixes and bootlegs, like their remixes of ‘Burning’ and ‘Million Lights’ and their bootleg of ‘Lights’. Their unique sound and energetic stage presence has made them stars over the past 12 months, so we sat down with them to find out more about their musical backgrounds, their US tour, and what they’ve got in store for us next. We got the video and the transcribed version after the jump!
Filed under Electro House, House, Interview, Progressive House
All Mixed Up Pier 94 Recap and Review
Here goes nothing, my write up of All Mixed Up on Saturday October 27, 2012 in New York City at Pier 94 featuring the incredible talents of Sebastian Ingrosoo, Alesso and Otto Knows. First and foremost another amazing job by the event team at Pacha NYC for putting this thing together at such a large venue, always a flawless production. This was my first time attending a show at Pier 94 so I was unsure of exactly how the venue is set up, its kind of outdoors but in a large tent so its also a bit indoors I suppose. Now this was of course a Halloween show and along with I guess you could say it’s sister show, The Haunted Coliseum at Nassau, the DJs played a set at the Coliseum then made their way to the Pier right afterwards for their sets their. Pretty genius idea to sellout to enormous arenas and have it worked out so easily. Enough introduction lets get to the sets starting with Otto Knows, who I did miss a good chunk of because as usual I was late but I did get some of his set so continue reading here!
Filed under Bootleg, Electro, Electro House, House, Mashup, Progressive House, Show Reviews
Throwback Tuesday
So I’m pretty inconsistent with these throwback Tuesdays, but here’s another one for you guys (I know I say this everytime but I’m gonna try to do these every week).
This week I’ve got two oldies for you first up is Deniz Koyu’s mashup ‘I Just Wanna Watch The Sunrise’, which combines Axwells classic tune ‘Watch The Sunrise’ and Deniz Koyu and Dave Darell’s tune ‘I Just Wanna Live’. Combining the two makes for one great tune with awesome vocals and a nice drop to boot. The next song I’ve got is Wolfgang Gartner’s remix of MSTRKRFT’s hit ‘Heartbreaker’. This track is literally perfect and easily one of my fav Wolfgang tracks out there. It takes a nice piano diddy, sentimental vocals that state “You’re in my mind, you’re in my heart, I wish I knew right from the start”, and a classic Wolfgang drop with all thoses boops beeps and bops that I love. Enjoy
Axwell Vs. Deniz Koyu & Dave Darell-I Just Wanna Watch The Sunrise (Deniz Koyu Mashup)
MSTRKRFT-Heartbreaker (Wolfgang Gartner Remix)
-El Jay
Filed under Throwback Tuesday
Don’t You Worry Child (Extended Mix)
Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello are back with their “final” track they will be making together as The Swedish House Mafia ‘Don’t You Worry Child’. The song features vocals from John Martin, who also did the vocals on their previous huge hit ‘Save the World’. I mean, here it is, I don’t really know what to write about this track. It’s obviously one of the most anticipated tracks of the year because not only is it a SHM track, it is apparently the last one they are ever doing together. If you know me you know I am not the biggest fan of SHM tracks but I definitely respect the hell out of them and what they have done for EDM and think they are absolute geniuses when it comes to producing as well as the business and marketing aspect of making music. I am also a huge fan of the boys as solo artists but to me the songs they have released as SHM have never lived up to the hype, except maybe ‘One’ or ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’ but I think as far as producing they are all better off solo. Either way the SHM era of EDM has definitely been very exciting and I tip my hat to the boys, they came they raved they loved (I really don’t think this is the end but who knows). This is an obvious must have track and one that will be getting played for quite some time to come now so enjoy!
Swedish House Mafia feat John Martin – Dont You Worry Child (Extended Mix)
-Mikey
Filed under House, Progressive House
Adrian Lux – Teenage Crime (Thomas Gold 2012 Rework)
Teenage Crime by Adrian Lux is easily one of my favorite summer songs and brings back so many memories, so it comes as no suprise that when I heard Thomas Golds rework of the track I fell in love. The original features innocent lyrics into an innocent drop but Thomas Gold takes those beautiful lyrics and drops them…Hard… and turns the song into a huge club banger for the summer. You’re bound to enjoy this and the three songs that Gold released yesterday, so enjoy all of them!
Adrian Lux-Teenage Crime (Thomas Gold 2012 Rework)
-El Jay
Bonus: Grab the original if you don’t have it.
Filed under Electro, House, Progressive House
EDC NYC Sunday Recap & Review
Thank you everyone for the amazing response I got to my Saturday Review of EDC NYC! I’m back with my recap and review of what went down on Sunday at Electric Daisy Carnival New York City in East Rutherford, NJ. Once again Insomniac Events and Pacha NYC could not have asked for better weather for their event on Sunday and just like Saturday the event was top notch production quality. Just like Saturdays review I am going to give you recaps of all the DJs I was able to catch along with some of my favorite parts of their sets and some videos I took at the event. I’ll give each DJ a little review as well and let you guys know who I thought put on the best performances of the day and what you need to know about their performances. Not gonna do too much of an intro here so let’s get to the recap and review.
Sunday
Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano
As I often am I was a little late arriving on Sunday so I missed Bassjackers which I was pretty upset about but I did make it in time for the second set on my schedule which was the Dutch duo of Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano. I love these guys they are just full of energy and I think they are some of the best live performers in the EDM game right now, definitely under-appreciated here in the states. I absolutely loved their opener, which was ‘Now Let Me See You Work’ by Joe Brunning, which in my opinion they couldn’t have picked a better track to open with. It’s got that nice little countdown before that super awesome groovy bass drop. These two came with some of their huge remixes like their re-fixxx of the massive SHM & Knife Party track ‘Antidote’ which people were really feeling. They decided to go with a classic remix of The Red Hot Chili Peppers crowd pleasing anthem ‘Otherside’ by Funkerman instead of the Third Party remix which many others opted for. I liked this it fit into their set real well and even though I prefer the Third Party remix in this setting the Funkerman one was perfect. They had a bootleg of Nero’s ‘Promises’ thrown in their at some point too, unfortunately at this point I was so sick of this song because literally every single DJ had it thrown in their set somewhere. They of course had their massive track ‘Lethal Industry’ which is an updated take of Tiesto’s classic, but the highlights of their set came in the form of two different bootlegs. The first which I have a video of below Sunnery and Ryan took the vocals of Martin Solveig’s ‘The Night Out’ and combined it with the massive electro track from Zedd ‘Shotgun’ to make one massive bootleg. The other bootleg took Sander Van Doorn’s ‘Koko’ and paired it up with another song I heard a lot of this weekend Nari & Milani’s festival banger ‘Atom’. This in my opinion was the best bootleg of ‘Atom’ I heard all weekend that nice serene whistling in ‘Koko’ paired up with the massive ‘Atom’ was perfect. Hats off to the Dutchmen Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano you guys are a force to be reckon with I look forward to our next meeting.
Chuckie
Chuckie! The king of dirty dutch house was next up on the mainstage and after seeing this man at Identity last summer I knew we were all in for a treat. He came out opening with Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’. Are you kidding me?! This was so sick talk about getting the hometown crowd into it that is how you do it. He moved right into the DJ Ortzy and Nico Hamuy remix of his club banger ‘Who is Ready to Jump’ which was great however I really wanted to hear Chuckie’s Jump Around bootleg of ‘Who is Ready to Jump’. He moved on to is latest track ’1234′ which is a collab between himself, Laidback Luke and Martin Solveig that is obviously a huge hit for the festival crowd. Staying true to his dirty dutch and hip hop roots he played some Biggie ‘Where Brooklyn At’ then right into one of his most famous bootlegs ‘Niggas in Satisfaction’ which takes ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Bennassi and ‘Niggas in Paris’ by Jay and Kanye. Chuckie dropped a remix of Tiesto’s ‘Love Comes Again’ next which I think was the Hardwell rework but don’t quote me on that. He had an awesome VIP of ‘What Happens in Vegas’ for the festival which had the sample say “What happens in New York stays in New York” instead of the normal “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. He then played a few bootlegs with some crowd pleasers like ‘Kernkraft 400′ by Zombienation and ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen paired with ‘Internet Friends by Knife Party which dropped right into the ‘Who is Ready to Jump’ sample before the ‘Move it 2 the Drum’ drop. I love that ‘Move it 2 the Drum’ is always still in his set that track never gets old for me especially when he only plays the tech drop from it, which is obviously Hardwell’s contribution the track. He closed out his set with a bootleg of ‘We are your Friends’, of course can’t make it through a set without hearing that one, into his track ‘Let the Bass Kick’. He closed out last time with ‘Let the Bass Kick’ and he never lets it drop all the way which is annoying cause I love track, let that drop all the way Chuckie! If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Chuckie live yet, do yourself a favor and go see him he is one hell of an entertainer.
Dirty South
Following Chuckie on the main stage was the Australian Dragan Roganovic better known by his stage name Dirty South. He had some awesome visuals during his set and especially his intro was really sweet. To open his set he had a little intro with a video then dropped right into one of his greatest remixes and one of my favorites of Nero’s ‘Me and You’. Such a perfect opener with those vocals “Are you ready, do you know? I feel it too, I feel this for you.” I snagged a video of most of the intro and its posted below. He went on to play another favorite of DJs at EDC the Swedish House Mafia’s latest ‘Greyhound’ which I think is the groups best track to date. He also played both of his massive hit tracks with Thomas Gold and Kate Elsworth ‘Alive’ and ‘Eyes Wide Open’, loved hearing both of those tracks played that loudly and they definitely got a great reception from the crowd. He also threw in the Calvin Harris remix of ‘Promises’ by Nero as pretty much every other DJ did then moved onto one of my favorite tracks so far this year and definitely a massive festival track the Bingo Player’s edit of Carl Trick’s ‘Mad Dash’. He then played a few tracks in bootlegs that were common in most peoples sets this weekend Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’, Axwell’s mix of ‘In My Mind’ and ‘Sweet Disposition’. One track he dropped which I was very happy to hear and wish I had heard it in more DJs sets this weekend was Third Party’s ‘Feel‘, it just has such a great festival feel to it. One of my favorite parts of his set was definitely when he dropped the MAKJ bootleg of Dirty South’s track ‘Phazing’ paired with Alesso and Seb Ingrosso’s ‘Calling’ simply called ‘Calling Phazing’. The next two bootlegs were really well done as well the first paired a favorite of many DJs at the festival Florence and the Machine’s ‘You Got the Love’ and another favorite Nari & Milani’s ‘Atom’. You can pair just about anything up with ‘You Got the Love’ and ‘Atom’ as well and it probably makes for a decent bootleg but I did like this one a lot. The other bootleg which Afrojack would play later on took Dirty South’s remix of ‘Coming Home’ with Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’ and Hard Rock Sofa’s ‘Quasar’ which makes the Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell bootleg called ‘Coming Home Aerodynamic Quasar’. The highlight of Dirty South’s set however came toward the end when he finally dropped his upcoming track called ‘City of Dreams’ which is a collab with Alesso. I managed to grab a video of part of this but if you wanna hear a more complete live rip of it check the link in the previous sentence. This is gonna be one of the anthems of this summer without a doubt so keep your eyes out for it. Check the two vids out from the performance below and go see Dirty South.
R3hab
This is gonna be a short recap because I didn’t stay at R3hab very long. I recently saw him at Pacha’s birthday party when he played his 6am set and I was disappointed by his set at EDC. Whether this is because I am not the biggest fan of R3hab or the fact that his set got boring to me after about 20 minutes because he just plays the same remix essentially over and over again. Either way I did really enjoy his set when I saw him at Pacha and maybe its because he had a similar one here I dunno I just wasn’t that into it. He opened his set with the same song as he did at Pacha which is the Afrojack edit of ‘Sending My Love’ which is a collab between Hard Rock Sofa, R3hab and Swanky Tunes. He played his remix of ‘Danza Kuduro’ which definitely was a crowd pleaser but unfortunately his MC talked over about half of it, don’t even get me started on MCs because this post will be a 10 page essay. He then dropped Nero ‘Promises’ which I had heard 25 times at this point and then dropped one of his newer remixes of Wynter Gordon’s ‘Till Death’. I actually really enjoy his ‘Till Death’ remix because it has a lot different structure then his normal remixes instead of having a crazy buildup into a chainsaw madness drop it has a nice bassline throughout the song. He then dropped his remix of Kaskade’s ‘Eyes’ which was my cue to leave, I still can’t listen to that remix. Not sure why he got signed up to remix that track like if Kaskade picked it or what but I can’t stand it. R3hab I got lots of love for you man but this set just wasn’t for me.
Sub Focus
After leaving R3hab I decided to wander into the Stadium and see what was going down on the dubstep stage and to my pleasant surprise Sub Focus was playing. I walked in as he was dropping his remix of Rusko’s ‘Hold On’ which is probably his most commercially known track and of course a favorite of most people. I did my best to pick out as many tracks as I could but I am not as good at ID’ing dubstep on the fly as I am for house tracks. Next track I was able to recognize was his collab with Alice Gold ‘Out of the Blue’, which is an amazing drum and bass track. I recognized a few of his classic tracks that I had my ears pealed for ‘Could Be Real’, ‘Rock It’ and ‘Last Jungle’. He also dropped Flux Pavilion’s ‘Bass Cannon’ somewhere in his set which is always one I like to hear live. The highlight of his set though was definitely my favorite track of his ‘Falling Down’ which he had something special in store for us when he dropped the VIP mix which I got a video of and his below. I’ll definitely look into seeing Sub Focus again and I am glad I got to check him out at EDC.
Afrojack
To finish off Sunday at EDC NYC I caught legendary Dutch DJ Afrojack on the mainstage. I caught him at UMass a few months back and loved his set so I was real excited for him at EDC. He kicked his set off with his unreleased track ‘Rock the House’, what a way to open it up. He then played a bootleg he often brings out which is of Roxy Cottontails ‘Lets Make Nasty’ paired with Afrojack’s track ‘Polkadots’. He then dropped a new track which I grabbed a video of and is posted below and is a massive track that had the whole place moving. He then went on to play Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ right into his edit of ‘Sending My Love’. Then right into his festival anthem ‘The Way We See the World’ which is a collab with Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike and the Nervo twins followed by another one of his tracks this time his collab with Steve Aoki ‘No Beef’. Next was a variety of remixes and bootlegs, first was Afrojack’s new remix of ‘Internet Friends’ then a bootleg of ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Louder than Words’ with ‘Pacha on Acid’. Afrojack like most of the other DJs had his own take of Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I Used to Know’ he chose to bootleg it with Tommy Trash’s ‘Ladi Dadi’ remix. Dropped another classic with ‘Bangduck’ before moving onto that bootleg I talked about earlier ‘Coming Home Aerodynamic Quasar’. Then he had a bootleg of Calvin Harris’s ‘Feel So Close’ with the ever bootlegged Justice and Simian track ‘We Are You Friends’. He then had a nice progressive track that reminded me a lot of ‘Doing it Right’ before moving into the finale of his set. He brought up labelmates Shermanology to help him out with ‘Cant Stop Me’ and to do live vocals on Usher’s ‘Without You’. He then played the festival favorite ‘In My Mind’ before dropping his most commercially successful track ‘Give Me Everything’. Next he of course had to squeeze in ‘Take Over Control’ which he bootlegged with ‘Bangduck’ and apparently he thought this was his closing song check the 5:00 mark on this video. He proclaimed “Oh Shit I can do one more?!” and he did one more that’s for sure. He closed out the whole festival with in my opinion one of the best closing tracks ever Tiesto’s ‘Maximal Crazy’. This track was accompanied by a fireworks show and everyone going wild one last time before the festival came to a close. Couldn’t have asked for a better closer for the weekend!
That’s it for my review and recap of Sunday thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think of this one and my Saturday one and thanks for the support!
-Mikey
Filed under Drum N Bass, Drumstep, Dubstep, Dutch House, Electro House, House, Progressive House, Show Reviews
EDC NYC Saturday Recap & Review
What an amazing weekend in East Rutherford, New Jersey for Insomniac Event and Pacha NYC’s Electric Daisy Carnival New York City! The weather could not have been better and with some of the biggest names in the game in town for the weekend some incredible performances took place. Pictured above is the Everything Looks Brighter crew that was in attendance for EDC on Saturday and Sunday (pictured from left to right: Alexa, Miranda, Brittney, Alex, Myself [Mikey], Mat and Anna). First and foremost big shout-out to both Pacha NYC and Insomniac Events for putting on a flawless event here, real top notch quality production which is to be expected from those two. Now in this post I am gonna give you a recap of the event with some videos I took of the DJs I saw over the weekend and some of the highlights of each of their sets along with this I am also gonna be giving each of the performers a review and maybe a little grade and at the end I will let you guys know who I think put on the best performance this weekend and also some must have tracks from the event. Remember these are the DJs I decided to see so don’t expect a review of every single performer at the event I saw who I wanted to see and did my best to take notes on them so I could write a good recap. A little forewarning I may go on little rants here and there and maybe sound insulting at points but I am just being truthful and trying to write the best and most honest review I can so don’t take anything to seriously. Now that we got the intro out of the way let’s get to it!
SATURDAY
Junior Sanchez
Junior was the first performer I caught on Saturday after arriving a little late and missing Tim Mason (which I was not happy about). On that note, why was Tim Mason playing first anyway and only for one hour? I think Tim deserved a way better spot and at least an hour and a half. Anyway I was pleasantly surprised by Junior Sanchez’s performance, not to say I am not a fan of him or had any doubts in his abilities as a producer or DJ just that I didn’t know exactly what to expect. He played some pretty sweet bootlegs, one in particular I wish I had gotten a video of included The Beastie Boy’s ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ and was a definite crowd pleaser. He went on to play some tracks that I heard a lot this weekend like Afrojack’s edit of ‘Sending My Love’ and Axwell’s Mix of ‘In My Mind’. He also brought up CeCe Peniston to do live vocals on a couple of tracks which I always enjoy but I think a lot of people were confused by it. Just a lack of knowledge of who she is or why she was up there with him but all people had to do was read the set listings! To wrap up I gotta say I thoroughly enjoyed Junior’s performance and I think he did a great job of setting the bar high at the Cosmic Meadows stage for the rest of the day and also getting the crowd into it. Below is a video of him dropping Axwell’s mix of Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl Feat. Georgi Kay ‘In My Mind’.
AN21 & Max Vangeli
Following Junior Sanchez at the Cosmic Meadows stage were the dynamic duo of AN21 and Max Vangeli. I was very excited to see these two in action and they were definitely among my most anticipated performances of the weekend. This was my first time seeing these two live and they lived up to all the hype I have heard about them. They brought of course some of their classic remixes in their set like ‘Save the World’ and their ever popular remix of Pendulum’s ‘The Island’ which was played a great deal over the weekend. They also brought some of their originals whether on there own or in some form as a bootleg, remix or acapella track I heard ‘Swedish Beauty’, ‘Gama’, and ‘Whisper’. One of my favorite tracks from their set and also one of the biggest tracks so far this year was ‘Trio’ by Arty, Matisse and Sadko real glad they decided to stick this one in their set and was surprised I didn’t hear more people breaking it out. I snagged a video of them dropping it which is below. The big track from this set though is their upcoming track with Tiesto ‘People of the Night’ which I have been patiently waiting for quite some time now (a year and a half?). I managed to snag a video of it which is posted below, hopefully we will see this track released in time for summer! AN21 and Vangeli also played some tracks to support their labelmates on Size Matters like Tim Mason and of course the big boss Steve Angello. I’ll definitely be looking to see these guys again soon maybe for a longer set though cause I would love to hear them go deep into their set and see what they can come up with! The videos below are ‘Trio’ first then ‘People of the Night’.
Cazzette
Next up I moved outside of the stadium over to the main stage, Kinetic Fields, for the boys of Cazzette. I didn’t get a picture of them playing unfortunately so I just used the one above for the purpose of keeping this post uniform. They were rocking the Cazzette heads when they were playing which were really fucking cool but they must have been overheating in them because toward the end of their set they came off. These guys played it just as I expected them to just pleasing the crowd all over the place. Dropping so many remixes and bootlegs of tracks that everyone recognizes and can sing along to which is what I think makes these guys so great. I didn’t write down as many notes or tracks from their set as I should have probably because they totally sucked me into their performance as well but I’ll recap with what I got. I know I heard a few of their bootlegs that I am familiar with like ‘Straight Outta Compton’, ‘Look at Me Now’ and ‘Set Fire to the Rain’. I also heard a few familiar remixes like of Avicii’s ‘Bromance’, ‘Rolling Stone T Shirt’ and ‘Believe It’. The biggest track from their performance I gotta say though is one of their own original tracks ‘Blood Theme’ which takes the theme song from the TV show Dexter and makes it into an electro dubby banger. Great performance from these two and I am definitely looking forward to what they have in store for us this year and to hopefully catch them live again soon.
Alesso
Alesso, dear lord did this guy kill it. I actually did a pretty good job of writing down some tracks from his set to so lets get into it. He started off with his track ‘Nillionaire’ which I thought was perfect for an opener and immediately got me super pumped for the rest of his set. He went on of course to play some of his remixes that got him to where he is today and were of course crowd favorites like ‘Titanium’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Alive’. The crowd really got going though once he dropped some of his newer stuff like ‘Raise Your Head’ which really got people moving. Alesso brought some incredible bootlegs to the table as well in his performance which I was expecting after listening to his BBC Essential Mix last month. One bootleg in particular which I loved featured his remix of ‘Heiress of Valentina’ along with Porter Robinson’s latest ‘Language’ which is one of my favorite tracks so far this year. Of course though the one track that really got everyone going was his collaboration with labelmate and mentor Sebastian Ingrosso ‘Calling’ followed shortly after by the vocal version ‘Lose My Mind’, check below for a video. He also threw a few more favorites of mine like Deniz Koyu’s monster ‘Tung’ and the Bingo Player’s ‘L’Amour’ The best track of his set though for me was the one track going into his set that I was waiting for the whole time, the vocal mix of his upcoming track ‘Years’. I got a video of it which is posted below. God please let this track be released soon, it will be one of the biggest if not the biggest track of the summer in my opinion. Alesso closed his set out just as I expected him to with his latest brilliant remix which is of Keane’s ‘Silenced by the Night’ and is the perfect closer to a set. Well played Alesso, you are truly one of the best in the game right now.
Calvin Harris
Right after Alesso the main stage was graced by Calvin Harris, who I didn’t get a picture of so above is one from EDC 2011. He opened up his set with his classic track ‘I’m Not Alone’ but put a little twist on it mashing it up with Hardwell’s ‘Spaceman’ I thought the two worked real well together and definitely was a great way to get his set going. Calvin had a bunch of his classics in his set he also played ‘Flashback’ and ‘You Used to Hold Me’. He of course also had two of his latest commercial successes built into his set, ‘Feel so Close’ and his track he produced for Rihanna ‘We Found Love’ which I could have done without but I understand people expect them. He had a few really good bootlegs in his set also one of which really sticks out in my mind which was of Calvin’s track ‘Awooga’ with the vocals from Justice’s ‘We Are Your Friends’. ‘We Are Your Friends’ is pretty much built into almost everyones set one way or another but I really liked this ‘Awooga Friends’ bootleg and thought it was one of the best of the weekend. Calvin’s track that saw one of the best reactions from the crowd, which is to be expected, was the vocal mix of his track with Kelis ‘Bounce’. I also heard a few Nicky Romero tracks in his set like ‘Generation 303′ and ‘Toulouse’ as well as some Michael Woods with ‘No Access’ and ‘Bullet’. One track that Calvin played and I thought was way overplayed throughout the whole weekend was Calvin’s remix of Nero’s ‘Promises’. Don’t get me wrong I love that song and his remix is great but I heard it way too many times Alesso even played it right before Calvin went on. Check below for the video I got of his ‘I’m Not Alone Spaceman’ bootleg intro.
Sebastian Ingrosso
To wrap up my recap and review from Saturday at EDC NYC I have for you Sebastian Ingrosso who put on arguably the best performance of the day. I knew to expect great things from Ingrosso, who is 1/3 of the Swedish House Mafia, but he blow my expectations away with his performance. He had a few new tracks and bootlegs in his set but also kept the crowd going by playing some classic tracks and bootlegs that have become staples of his own set as well as SHM’s set. He opened his set up with SHM’s latest ‘Greyhound’ which I expected going into it and was very satisfied as its a nice bold way to kick off a set. I think one of the best parts of Seb’s set was definitely the array of bootlegs he brought to the table. He had some of his classic bootlegs like ‘Leave the World Behind’ paired with ‘Atom‘, ‘Otherside’ paired with ‘The Island’ and ‘EMP’ paired up with ‘Midnight City’. One of his newer bootlegs though that caught my attention featured Matisse and Sadko’s remix of ‘Beating of My Heart’ with the vocals from ‘Sweet Disposition’. It was during this bootleg that some of the best visuals of the entire weekend were taking place, the big screen was simply reading the lyrics to ‘Sweet Disposition’ making sure that if for some reason you didn’t know the lyrics you could sing along. Seb of course had to play ‘Calling’ and during it he called up Alesso to join him on stage and they raged out together for a while. Such a great relationship between those two and I hope to hear some more collaborations between them soon. The two biggest tracks from his set though were definitely Hard Rock Sofa and Swanky Tune’s upcoming track ‘Here We Go’ and also an ID which is a collab between Seb and Tommy Trash. Really looking forward to both of those tracks and they will both definitely be some big summer tracks to keep your eyes and ears peeled for. All in all I loved Ingrosso’s performance, he had so much energy and really channeled it into his performance and had the crowd going absolutely wild.
Hope you enjoyed my recap and review of Saturday of Electric Daisy Carnival New York City, stay tuned for my review of Sunday coming later this week.
-Mikey
Filed under House, Electro House, Progressive House, Dutch House, Dubstep, Electro, Show Reviews
ELB’s 1/2 Birthday: E Rich’s Favorite Tracks
Mahalo you fucking surfers! I guess I’m the new guy here, though my wisdom far exceeds my years and I can’t wait to get started. Now, a half birthday wouldn’t be something to normally go wild about, but who doesn’t like a party? With that in mind, here’s a list of some of the best songs in the last six months from my perspective. I did my best to eliminate duplicates, but there were a few that simply had to make the cut. I will start off with the most recent tracks and work my way back into November. This list, along with the others posted by ELB, should get you very excited for the rest of the year. Enjoy!
E Rich’s Favorite Tracks:
The first song I’d like to highlight is a Jakob Liedholm remix to a song by Fun, the band probably best known for the popular jam “We Are Young.” While that song serves as an anthem for my college days, “Some Nights” is actually the song I prefer, as it provides a fun (no pun intended), theatrical opening to the group’s album. Jakob Liedholm, a 15 year old Swedish producer, remixes this pop vibe, creating an awesome progressive track that sounds great at high volumes. I guess 15 is the new 25 over in Sweden if this is what their teenagers are capable of. Check out some of his other tracks as well… this kid’s got some skills.
Fun – Some Nights (Jakob Liedholm Arena Mix)
The next song comes from a bigger Swedish name, the one and only Avicii. I’m a little surprised this song didn’t make anyone’s list since it’s an absolute jam. I have to admit that it took a little time to grow on me, but once it did, nearly every time I have jumped in the car I have put this one on at some point. It showcases a slightly different side of Avicii which I like, and Madonna’s sexy vocals add a lot to the track. Now I just need to find my own girl gone wild… 
Girl Gone Wild (Avicii Remix) – Madonna
Next up comes Deniz Koyu’s remix to the classic “So Much Love” by Fedde le Grand. Deniz Koyu adds a big room vibe to Fedde’s beautiful original, creating synths you want to hum along to while in a state of happiness that the original provides. Most importantly, Deniz Koyu keeps the beautiful simplicity of the original melody while creating something of his own that is pretty different.
Fedde Le Grand – So Much Love (Deniz Koyu Remix)
I am going to revert back to Avicii yet again for this next one, but this time it’s the Levels (In Reverse) remix by George Monev. When I first heard this song, I wanted to go play it for everybody, hoping that at the drop it would trick everybody by going in reverse. The plan worked well until everyone else had heard the song, and pretty soon thereafter the reverse version of Levels had replaced the original in everyone’s rotations. This anecdote speaks to the quality and creativity inherent in this remix, as well as the straight-up brilliance of the original that it could be just as good (or better) played in reverse. I’m sure you’ve heard it, but if not, enjoy.
Avicii – Levels (George Monev Edit)
The next song is a popular one to remix, although this remix may have flown under the radar a bit given that the likes of Tiesto have also remixed Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know,” a song that I really enjoy as an original. I actually one I heard this mix from a former brother of mine who’s attending DJ school with dBerrie, and since it was the first remix of the track I’d heard, I was immediately hooked. Since then, I’ve heard a lot of different takes on editing this track, but I still enjoy dBerrie’s mix the best. I really love how he builds it up with the lyrics, provides a wildly exciting drum beat, and follows it all with a progressive drop that resembles the original while fitting into a big room. Great work by an extremely talented young DJ.
Goyte – Somebody That I Used To Know (dBerrie Remix)
The next song is a repeat, but it is one of my absolute favorite jams and needed inclusion on this list. The lyrics are soothing as fuck, and coupled with a fantastic drop and catchy synths, this song has been one of my most played songs of 2012.
Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl-In My Mind Featuring Georgi Kay (Axwell Mix)
The Special Features remix of Dada Life’s Happy Violence was the very definition of a remix providing the extra kick I needed to fall in love with a song. The original has a catchy tune and great lyrics (who the hell doesn’t like happy violence??), but Special Features bring out the full potential with some head-nodding synths that keep building and building as the song plays.
Dada Life – Happy Violence (Special Features Remix)
This song is one of my absolute favorites, and to this point in the list, it’s my favorite (to be jumped by two more songs later). I think the best way to describe this song is uplifting, between Andreas Moe’s lyrics and John De Sohn’s piano-sounding synths. I really think my favorite part of the song is when there is a small pause in the melody, and the lyrics bellow in over the quietness. Sheer beauty that just makes me want to dance and sing. Another great piece of work by an up-and-coming Swedish DJ… Gotta wonder what’s in the water over there that makes these guys so fucking happy and talented.
John de Sohn feat. Andreas Moe – Long Time (Original Mix)
Ahhhh on to my favorite. I am pretty sure El Jay already spoke volumes about this track, but why not keep going? Cazzette’s remix of Spencer & Hill featuring Nadia Ali’s ”Believe It” is my favorite song of the last six months. Stemming from “Rapture” and “Pressure,” I do believe that any song featuring Nadia Ali’s vocals is an automatic jam, since she has the perfect voice for a house track. Cazzette brings awesome synths to the remix, forcing you to turn up your speakers as loud as you can and jump around, but I think my favorite part of the song are the underrated wobbles that are placed throughout the drops. Finally, as is Cazzette’s tradition, he gives it a pretty sweet name, although I am not sure what androids sounding hot actually means. Overall, there isn’t much more to say about this song but to download it if you already haven’t… Can you feel it?
Spencer & Hill, Nadia Ali-Believe It (Cazzette’s Androids Sound Hot Remix)
I guess this was a good time for house music as my number two favorite song of this time frame is up next. I am choosing the original “Resurrection,” although I do love Fareoh’s bootleg “Resurrecting Timebombs” as well which give this song pretty great lyrics. This song has by far the catchiest hook I’ve heard in a while, so props to Michael Calfan for creating that piano-sounding feel. Overall, I’ve got to praise this song for its simplicity and the fact that every time I hear it, I want to run it back a few times.
Michael Calfan – Resurrection (Axwell’s Re-Cut Club Version)
Next up is kind of the odd duck in this list, as it’s pretty hard electro and that usually isn’t my favorite genre. But Antidote (and it’s respective Tommy Trash remix) is a great collaboration between Knife Party and SHM, and I believe it owns up to its hype and deserves a spot on the list. The lyrics coupled with the violent bass line are great pump ups, and like many of the other inclusions on this list, its relatively unforgettable in how catchy it is.
Swedish House Mafia vs. Knife Party-Antidote (Original Mix)
To end this list off, I’m going with Chuckie’s big room remix of Rihanna and Calvin Harris’ “We Found Love.” The original track is a personal favorite of mine, and even though its been played over and over on the radio, it still hasn’t managed to grow old on me. Calvin Harris is a brilliant producer (“Ready for the Weekend” is one of the best electronic CDs ever, in my opinion), and coupled with Rihanna’s beautiful vocals, this song is pretty impeccable. Plus, it’s fun to hook up with girls, and then ask them if they have found love in a hopeless place 
. Anyways, Chuckie, who I saw as a headliner of Sensation White a year and a half ago, takes the awesomeness of the original and…. doesn’t really change much! He does add some more prominent synths and a heavier base, making the original more suitable for a club atmosphere.
Rihanna and Calvin Harris-We Found Love (Chuckie Extended Mix)
Hope you guys love the lists that ELB has posted this week. I’m going to be helping out on the site a little bit now, so get used to the emoticons and awesome music! I’ve got a very wide range of music I love, so I can hopefully continue to bring that to the table. Now that everyone’s a DJ these days, it’s especially important to continue to bring top notch music to our fans. A special shout out to ELB, which has grown substantially in six months, and is poised to continue its growth. Another special shout out to the APNs, I love and miss you guys. Happy half birthday ELB, and enjoy guys and girls!
- Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose
Filed under Electro, House, Progressive House
ELB’s 1/2 Birthday: El Jay’s Favorite Tracks
Everything Looks Brighter is a 1/2 year old today! We would like to commemorate this occasion and thank you for your support by giving you a list of our 12 to 13 favorite songs since the blog started back in November. Mikey and I will both be doing our own list as well as featuring a list from a new member to the ELB team and a list from Mikey’s girlfriend Brittney! The list is in no particular order but I will be giving some awards like the “Under the Radar Track”, “Most Valuable Track”, “Crowd Pleaser” and “Favorite Remix”. Now let’s get to the list, I’ll start with oldest and make my way to the newest of the tracks.
El Jay’s Favorite Tracks:
Imma kick off my list with one of ELB’s first ever posts, which is Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman’s remix of Mikael Weermeet’s and Audible’s ‘Free’ which features vocals by Max C. The vocals by Max C set the track up while Vangelis & Wyman progress the song into a synth heavy banger. I have almost listened to this song daily since November because it is so god damn uplifting and catchy.
Mikael Weermets & Audible feat. Max C-Free (Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman Remix)
Another one of the biggest tracks from November had to of been Cazzette’s remix of Spencer & Hill’s track ‘Believe It’. The song features vocals from the incredibly beautiful and talented Nadia Ali and one epic drop from the Swedish duo. The song is about working for the weekend which is basically the story of my life, and the drop will leave you craving Friday more than ever. This one has been a staple of my sets and for this reason I’m going to dub it BEST REMIX.
Spencer & Hill, Nadia Ali-Believe It (Cazzette’s Androids Sound Hot Remix)
In late November Axwell, and Michael Calfan brought us ‘Resurrection’ which was easily one of the anthems of 2011. Then in December Fareoh brought us his Fuck Finals EP, which included ‘Resurrecting Timebombs’ which is one of my favorite bootlegs to date. The song includes Calfan’s Resurrection and Laidback Luke’s ‘Timebomb’, when combined the two make one unforgettable track. I am constantly being asked for the title of this song and where people can download it, for this reason this track is crowned BIGGEST CROWD PLEASER!
Michael Calfan vs. Laidback Luke-Resurrecting Timebombs (Fareoh Bootleg)
When I think of last summer a few tracks come to mind and one of those tracks had to be ‘Sending My Love’ by R3hab, Swanky Tunes, and vocals by Max C. In late December Afrojack made one unbelievable edit of the song which featured Hard Rock Sofa’s remix for the intro but it kept the original song’s unreal drop. When put together you get one epic tune. I remember seeing R3hab open his set with this tune at Pacha NYC’s 6th year anniversary show and thinkin’ damn Tommy Trash’s remix of this is so sick. Turns out I was wrong about that one but honestly, who cares?
Hard Rock Sofa, R3hab, and Swanky Tunes feat. Max C-Sending My Love (Afrojack Edit)
Next up is a song that may have had a little hype, Ivan Gough, and Feenixpawl’s ‘In My Mind’ which you might remember was used to push Axwell’s Cosmic Opera. The track features unreal vocals by Georgi Kay, and one unforgettable drop that’ll have you pressing repeat for sure.
Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl-In My Mind Featuring Georgi Kay (Axwell Mix)
Tiesto released his mix album Club Life Volume 2: Miami a couple of weeks back and on that album he featured Avesta’s anthem ‘Arena’. Arena was released on Musical Freedom back in Feburary and has been a absolute club banger ever since. The song features a beautiful piano line which is progressed until Avesta takes the track and drops it into absolute chaos.
Jump forward a week and the progressive jam ‘Trio’ was dropped in preparation for UMF, I assume. The song is a collabartion of super producers Arty, Matisse & Sadko, and features a great piano line that is progressed into a unreal synth line that will have you fist pumping like no other.
Arty, Matisse & Sadko-Trio (Original Mix)
Third Party had a huge year with releases like his ‘Otherside’ Remix, ‘Duel’, and his remix of Tiesto’s What Can We Do (A Deeper Love), but no track was as big as ‘Feel’ in my opinion. The song features vocals by Cicada and one of the happier synth lines you’ll hear today.
Thrid Party, Cicada-Feel (Original Mix)
The Bingo Player’s were easily one of ELB’s favorite artists in the first six months with releases like ‘Mode’, ‘L’Amour’, and ‘Rattle’ just to name a few. Their label Hysteria Records is also becoming one of the best labels that EDM has to offer producing huge hit after huge hit. One of the biggest hits released onto Hysteria had to have been the Bingo Player’s edit of Carl Tricks’ track ‘Mad Dash’. The song features a harmonic build up and in classic Bingo Players fashion they take that beautiful intro and turn into absolute electro chaos.
Carl Tricks-Mad Dash (Bingo Players Edit)
Jidax produced in my opinion the best progressive track of the year, which is entitled ‘Rainfall’. The French producer created a song with the best chord progression I’ve heard in a hot minute. The song starts out with a simple synth which is paired with a cymbal and is progressed into a huge synth line that’ll definitely get you moving. The production value on this track is extremely highn and why this track went so far under the radar is unknown to me. That’s why I’m going to have to give Rainfall the award for Most Underrated Track!
Heard You Were Walking In Paris has been by far the most popular song ever posted to ELB, I mean no other song is even close in comparison. The song is a bootleg by MAKJ and Hardwell that combines Empire Of The Sun, Jay-Z and Kanye West, and Peace Treaty. The result is a huge track that is highly addictive and is also the biggest party pleaser I have ever heard. I absolutely love this track because it adds ‘Sing Along’ lyrics while maintaining it’s house roots making it a must have for any DJ. These are just a few reasons why the award for MOST VALUABLE TRACK goes to Heard You Were Walking In Paris!
Dirty South has had some huge releases as of late with tracks like Alive, Walking Alone, and of course his remix of Diddy Dirty Money’s I’m Coming Home. Since ELB was founded he has had some huge tracks as well like I Love Bullet Promises, Eyes Wide Open, and Rise but those tracks are nowhere near as big as his remix of Miike Snow’s ‘Devil’s Work’. The track opens with simple vocals that state ‘We All Need Somebody To Love’ that Dirty South progressively builds up with a nice bass line, the song then drops into the best synth line of the year, adds more vocals, and drops one more time. This one was easily one of my favorite songs from April and is quickly becoming one of my most played songs in Itunes.
Miike Snow-Devil’s Work (Dirty South Remix)
My final track is by Wolfgang Gartner’s new track ‘Red Line’ which was released back in April onto Ultra Records. This is easily my favorite track that Wolfgang has produced to date and that’s saying a lot seeing ‘Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony’, ‘Illmerica’, and ‘Conscindo’ are a few of my all time favorite songs. This one opens up with a simple yet catchy synth line that is progressed perfectly with a second underlying synth as it adds a simple clap, and bass line to really get you into it. My fellow Canadian brother has made what I believe will be the song of the summer!
Wolfgang Gartner – Red Line (Original Mix)
Thanks so much for being with ELB through it’s first six months, and we hope you stay with us through our next six and beyond! Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter if you get the chance. Love you guys! Enjoy the lists you rave babies!
-El Jay
Filed under Best Of, Bootleg, Electro, Electro House, House, Mashup, Progressive House
