Merry Christmas everybody! Even though it’s Xmas eve our countdown of the top 100 EDM tracks of 2012 rolls on with 50-41. If you missed any of the countdown so far here are the links to the other posts; 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, and The Honorable Mentions.
Filed under Best Of, Dutch House, Electro, Electro House, House, Progressive House, Trance
One Year ago today we began an EDM blog and decided to name it after some lyrics from our favorite DJ/Producer of all time, Tiesto. We couldn’t be more proud of how far ELB has come and are super excited for what the future holds! We are gonna come up with something cool to celebrate this momentous occasion, maybe something similar to what we did for our 1/2 Birthday with lists from Mikey, El Jay, Brittney and E-Rich, or something completely different! Either way we are so thankful and appreciative of the support we get from our readers we love all of you!
-ELB
We are so excited to announce that our Merch Store is finally launching today! We have white unisex tank tops with the ELB face logo as well as ELB rave bans which come in 5 different colors! You can even save a few bucks and buy the tank top and sunglasses combo pack! Click the picture above to enter the store or in the future this will now be available under the site’s Store tab above. If you live near any of the staff here at ELB and want to purchase anything let us know and we will hand deliver it to you otherwise items will be shipped as soon as possible. Things are looking brighter!
-ELB
Filed under Other
We are back and very pleased and excited to announce the next new Affiliated Artist this week, House Nerds. Daniel Song and Jason Louie aka The House Nerds have a unique and interesting take on EDM let’s hear it from them,
“The House Nerds are a pair of graduates from UC Berkeley with a diverse skill set. One, a computer programmer with an economics background and the other, a strategy consultant with an engineering degree. While educationally and professionally different, their skill sets align under the umbrella of music with deep roots stemming from over 16 years experience studying and practiving the art of music from jazz trombone to classical saxophone. Most recently, the duo have embraced their passion and love for EDM music, and more specifically house, by becoming ardent students of the art of DJing. As House Nerds, we understand the Science behind good music and difference an excellent DJ can bring to the life and energy of a party. Our belief is that DJs should be more than just ‘disc jockeys’, but they should be educators providing peer guidance and personal transformation. We are constantly researching the best that EDM has to offer and aim to provide the most profound experience to all of our peers through each and every one of our publications or performances.”
Be sure to check out The House Nerds on Facebook here, SoundCloud here, Twitter here and YouTube here. Below we have three of their latest tracks for you to check out including some massive mashups like Alesso’s ‘Raise Your Head’ vs. AN21 & Max Vangeli and Steve Angello’s ‘H8ERs’ or Deadmaus and Kaskade’s ‘Move For Me’ vs. Alesso’s remix of ‘Pressure’. We are very excited to have House Nerds as our newest Affiliated Artist be sure to check them out and remember all this info will now be available on the Affiliated Artist page!
Alesso vs. AN21, Max Vangeli & Steve Angello – Raise your head H8rs3 (House Nerds)
Deadmaus & Kaskade vs. Alesso – Move For Pressure (House Nerds MashUP)
Rihanna vs. Nari & Milani – Where Have You Been Nari (House Nerds MashUp)
-ELB
Filed under Bootleg, Electro House, House, Mashup
Everyone here at ELB is excited and proud to announce the next new Affiliated Artists, Le Gunner. Steven Karmaniolos aka Le Gunner is a 19 year old electro/dubstep producer hailing from Newcastle, Australia. He started DJing about 2 years ago and started getting into producing with Ableton and Massive about a year back. He has an Akai APC40 and an M-Audio Trigger Finger to use along with Ableton and Massive to produce his unique sounding originals and remixes. When Le Gunner DJs he prefers only the best of course, Pioneer CDJs. This up and coming Australian is influenced by the likes of Mord Fustang, Porter Robinson, Topher Jones, Justice, Bloody Beetroots, and SebastiAn which you can definitely hear in his tracks. We are happy to have him as one our latest Affiliated Artist and we are looking forward to hearing his sound grow and look forward to seeing what he has in store for us in the future. Check out Le Gunner on SoundCloud here or his Facebook here. Below we have three of his latest tracks for you all of, two are originals and one is a remix of Porter Robinon’s track ‘Unison’. In addition all of this info will be located on the Affiliated Artist’s page as well.
-ELB
Filed under Dubstep, Electro, Electro House
Filed under Electro, Electro House, House, Progressive House
May was a huge month for ELB, not only did we see the release of so much great music but also saw the site grow significantly. We broke up our top 10′s into three lists this month; House, Dubstep and Remixes & Edits. Here are our top 10 dubstep tracks for May 2012.
1. Knife Party – Centipede (Original Mix)
2. Zomboy – Cage the Rage (Original Mix)
3. Eptic & Habstrakt – Ninja Challenge (Original Mix)
4. Knife Party – Bonfire (Original Mix)
5. Skeptiks – Shadow (Original Mix)
6. Dodge & Fuski – Round One (Original Mix)
7. SKisM – Like This feat. Virus Syndicate (Original Mix)
8. Ajapai – There’s a Riot Goin’ On (Original Mix)
9. Kezwik – Tame (Original Mix)
10. Adventure Club – Wait (Original Mix)
-ELB
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
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 Dubstep, Dutch House, Electro, Electro House, House, Progressive House, Show Reviews
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 favorite songs since the blog started back in November. El Jay 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 my 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.
1. To start my list off I have Alesso’s remix of ‘Titanium’ by David Guetta featuring the vocals of Sia. This was posted very early on in the blog on November 16 to be exact and has been played quite a bit since then! Alesso is one of my favorite producers out there right now and his remixes are really second to none (ie. ‘Heiress of Valentina’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Alive). I also absolutely love Sia’s vocals who was on another one of my favorite tracks this year (but didn’t quite make my list of 12) Nicky Romero and David Guetta’s ‘Wild One Two’. This track was a no brainer for my list and filled my Alesso requirement.
David Guetta feat. Sia – Titanium (Alesso Remix)
2. Next up I have Third Party’s remix of ‘Otherside’ by The Red Hot Chili Peppers which was posted in early December. This was a song that ended up getting remixed quite a bit last year by some big names like Benny Benassi and Tim Mason. I first heard Tiesto play the Benny Benassi remix quite a while ago at a show and then ended up hearing him play the Third Party one when I saw him at UMASS and fell in love with it then. It’s funny how I was obsessed with Benassi’s remix first then once Mason’s got released I switched to that but finally in the end it was the Third Party one that was perfect. It’s just that, perfect, this song could not possibly be remixed better than Third Party did it. This one is a favorite of mine to play at parties because everyone gets into it and can sing along. Because of this this track gets the CROWD PLEASER AWARD.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Otherside (Third Party Remix)
3. This list obviously had to have a track from the Bingo Players, as they are some of my favorite producers, and that track was ‘Mode’. Oddly enough it was originally posted the same day as ‘Otherside’ on December 5.I’m a huge fan of the Bingo Player’s style they make some of the best electro house out there today and ‘Mode’ is some of their best work to date. The vocal version which was called ‘Dont Blame the Party’ just didn’t do it for me, the original mix is perfect. Hearing this played at a show or festival is unbelievable it’s just one of those tracks that gets everyone moving.
Bingo Players – Mode (Original Mix)
4. I love New Years, its pretty much my favorite holiday. What is better than a holiday that encourages you to drink as much as you possibly can and stay up super late then blast champagne all over your house and friends? Yeah, there is nothing better. Unfortunately the hangover can be pretty rough but not this year cause the new year brought us Archie V and Fareoh’s track ’2012′. Originally posted on January 8, it was actually released on New Years. This is one of those tracks I can never get enough of, the piano, synth and bass lines are so good. These two rising stars of EDM have really done it with this one, and there is rumor of a vocal version to come, are you kidding me?
Fareoh & Archie V.-2012 (Twenty Twelve)
5. ‘This Is So Good’, could Ehrencrona have come up with a better name for this track? Absolutely not, because it literally is so good. It is so good that for a very long time it was thought to be an Avicii track and was tagged as his ‘ID3′ in live videos people were taking of him playing it. Posted on January 8, just like ’2012′ was it certainly helped to make that day a very good one for me. It has a great Avicii flavor to it but also a hint of Alesso in there with the drop off synths which makes for quite a track by Ehrencrona. This is one everyone should have, just so good.
Ehrencrona-This Is So Good (Original Mix)
6. In early January, posted January 10, Tristan Garner released his Winter Bootleg Pack. In this pack was ‘Digital Love Callin’ which is my MOST VALUABLE TRACK from this list. It takes the classic Daft Punk song ‘Digital Love’ and pairs it with Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso’s smash hit ‘Calling’. What a match made in heaven, the two songs could not have mashed together any more perfectly. Trust me I listened to my fair share of Bootlegs and Mash Ups with ‘Calling’ in them and none come even close to this. As much as I love the vocal mix of ‘Calling’ called ‘Lose My Mind’ it just doesn’t match up to this bootleg Tristan Garner created.
Alesso & Ingrosso & Denzal Park Vs Daft Punk – Digital Love Callin (Tristan Garner Bootleg)
7. On February 1 I posted David Jones and Robbie Rivera’s remix of Robbie Rivera’s own track called ‘Roxy’. I think it was overlooked by many people so I’m giving it the award for UNDER THE RADAR TRACK. Hey I’m not blaming you guys for missing it, it doesn’t have any huge names like Guetta, Tiesto or The Swedish House Mafia attached to it or anything. I would probably have missed the track too if this wasn’t my blog. On the other hand this track demands your attention, everyone should download it now because you will fall in love with it like I did. It has a great piano line much like ’2012′ and ‘This Is So Good’ which as you can tell I am a sucker for. Grab it now and know you are no longer missing out.
Robbie Rivera – Roxy (David Jones & Robbie Rivera Remix)
BONUS: Since this is my blog and therefore I do whatever I want I have a 13th song to add to my list as a little bonus. We will call it the runner up UNDER THE RADAR TRACK because it hasn’t ever even been posted on the blog previously. It is definitely under the radar and deserves to see some love because it has been one of my favorite tracks for quite some time now. It is Rory Gallagher’s track ‘Remember Me’ which features the incredible vocals of Sean Ryan. I originally found it when ATB posted a link to this YouTube video for it made by an awesome channel called Trance Divine. I love some good trance and it doesn’t get better than this. Incredible track with some beautiful vocals/lyrics. “And everyday I wish to be, loved, like you once did, as I hold on desperately, in hopes you’ll just remember me”.
Rory Gallagher feat Sean Ryan – Remember Me (Original Mix)
8. Recently Tiesto released Volume 2 of his Club Life mix albums this one was dedicated to Miami. My next pick was featured on that album, it’s John Dahlback’s ‘Life’. It got posted on April 5 but was released before than and I just forgot to post it. I mean being on the Club Life mix album says a lot for it already but maybe not enough, this track is enormous. The buildup is perfect especially for a festival then it just drops into some spine tingling uplifting synths that will get you dancing and put a smile on your face. The name is so perfect too, Dahlback must have made it and been like “Damn this is my life”. I would take it as the soundtrack to my life any day.
John Dahlback – Life (Original Mix)
9. This was posted on April 5 also in the same post as ‘Life’ and like ‘Life’ it was released before then I just hadn’t posted it. RoodMusic came out of nowhere and dropped ‘Cool’ an absolutely massive track. When I first heard this song I was blown away and immediately wondered how I had never heard of RoodMusic before. In many ways it reminds me a lot of Tim Mason’s ‘The Moment’, I think mostly just because of how it sounds on good speakers. Dropping ‘Cool’ when you are DJing is way to much fun, no one can resist dancing to that drop its just too good not to. Love the cool sample and the bring that beat back sample too. This is one that everyone I show to loves.
RoodMusic – Cool (Extended Edit)
10. Porter Robinson, what a guy, literally taking the EDM scene by storm and he hasn’t even turned 20 yet. His latest track, ‘Language’ which was posted April 12, pushed the envelope even further as he dives into progressive house with this track. You can tell Porter’s style is changing and he is growing as a producer and I love what I am hearing. At three minutes in when the those vocals come in, my ears melted the first time I heard that. Literally too good, you gotta think the older EDM producers are like “Goddamn kid”. I am so excited for what Porter has in store for us next because he is obviously only getting better.
Porter Robinson – Language (Original Mix)
11. It’s no secret Tiesto is my favorite DJ/Producer out there and I have another track off Club Life Volume 2:Miami. Tiesto teamed up with fellow Dutchman and friend Hardwell for this remix. Their remix of The Naked & Famous’s track ‘Young Bloods’ was posted on April 21 and was an easy pick for my list. I was excited these two decided to team up again because I love ‘Zero 76′ so much and had a lot of faith in them to make another great track. Well they certainly proved that because this is an absolutely incredible remix. I love when producers remix alternative poppy type bands like The Naked & Famous those type of songs just remix so well. I am giving this one my award for FAVORITE REMIX.
The Naked & Famous – Young Blood (Tiesto & Hardwell Remix)
12. My final track for the list was one that I patiently (well not really) waited for a very long time and was finally released just in time for this list. I am talking about Avicii’s ‘Silhouettes’ which was finally released and posted on April 29. Salem Al Fakir lends his great voice to Avicii for the track’s vocals. I feel the need to stress again just how long I have been waiting for a legit release of this song and I know El Jay felt the same way. He has been playing this one for so long live and so many live rips and crappy quality versions were floating around for so long. My list needed some Avicii and this was the perfect track for him to make an appearance with. Just classic Avicii here, absolutely incredible.
Avicii feat Salem Al Fakir-Silhouettes (Original Mix)
To supplement my list I asked my lovely girlfriend who is a regular visitor of Everything Looks Brighter and also has an incredibly good taste in music to do her own list of her 12 favorites since the blog started. She put together a great list which has a few songs that were on my list as well as some others that were candidates to make my list. I had her give the same awards I did for my list and they are listed from oldest to newest like I did for mine. I wrote a little about each song for her as well.
1. This track was actually released before our blog existed and was posted in one of our Best of The Year lists for 2011 on December 27. That being said when I saw Brittney had chosen it for her list I had to allow it. The track in question is Goodwill & Hook N Sling’s ‘Take You Higher’ and technically she found this track from our blog which is exactly the point of these lists. This track was definitely one of the best of last year and you can listen to it over and over again. Super catchy lyrics and a drop that makes you wanna dance outside.
Goodwill and Hook N Sling – Take You Higher (Club Mix)
2. Tiesto’s remix of Coldplay’s hit song of last year ‘Paradise’ is Brittney’s next pick and was very close to making it onto my list but I decided to choose ‘Young Bloods’ instead. This remix was originally posted in our Best of November remix list on December 1. She has even given it her award for FAVORITE REMIX. I am a big supporter of that choice I think this is definitely one of the best remixes we have seen posted on the blog. What a surprise Tiesto gets the favorite remix award from both Brittney and myself.
Coldplay – Paradise (Tiesto Remix)
3. Brittney, like myself, is a huge Bingo Players fan and has chosen their track ‘Mode’ for her list as I did for mine. Originally posted on December 5 and also was posted in the Bingo Player’s Featured Friday. As you can imagine we jam out to this one on the regular together.
Bingo Players – Mode (Original Mix)
4. Here is another that was very close to making my own list, Ken Loi’s Bootup called ‘Wonderwall 2Night’. This was first posted, like ‘Mode’, on December 5. Here Ken takes Oasis’s classic ‘Wonderwall’ and pins it up against Pryda’s ’2Night’. ‘Wonderwall 2Night’ is Brittney’s choice for the CROWD PLEASER award, a great choice since this is definitely one people get into.
Oasis vs. Pryda – Wonderwall 2Night (Ken Loi Bootup)
5. One of the most anticipated tracks from last year was Brittney’s next choice, Afrojack & Shermanology’s ‘Can’t Stop Me’. This was originally posted on the blog in our Best of 2011 list on December 31. This track was also remixed by Tiesto for his Club Life Volume 2: Miami mix album. I first heard this track when Afrojack played it to close out his set at UMASS and quickly showed it to Brittney and we both knew it was gonna be a good one.
Afrojack & Shermanology – Can’t Stop Me Now (Original Mix)
6. This track was also first posted in one of our Best Of lists, this time on January 7 in our Best of December list. ‘Keep It Coming’ is a collab between the Starkillers and Nadia Ali which some people may have overlooked which is why Brittney gave it her award for UNDER THE RADAR TRACK. I will admit even I missed this track at first because it was posted by El Jay but thankfully Brittney help me discover it.
Starkillers and Nadia Ali-Keep It Coming (Original Mix)
7. Another one here that was extremely close to cracking my list and one of my favorite songs of the year so far, ‘Wild One Two’. The collab between Nicky Romero, David Guetta, Sia and Jackback was originally posted on ELB February 15 and was an obvious choice for our Best of February list. This track was super highly anticipated and a favorite of Brittney’s and myself as well. We both can’t get enough of that sample and Sia’s voice.
Jack Back Ft. David Guetta, Nicky Romero & Sia – Wild One Two (Original Mix)
8. This next track is one that I don’t think got as much attention as it deserved either when it was originally posted on February 7. EDX teamed up with Nadia Ali for this track called ‘This Is Your Life’. Just like ‘Keep It Coming’ and all tracks with Nadia Ali, the vocals are perfect. Like Brittney I am a big fan of this one so it was an easy pick for our Best of February list.
EDX & Nadia Ali – This Is Your Life (Original Club Mix)
9. This next remix by Mikael Weermets and Smiley Fac3 of Nari & Milani’s track ‘Love Will Conquer All’ first made its debut on ELB on March 22. It went on to be featured in our Best of March: Remixes and Edits list and now Brittney has chosen it not only for her favorites but she is giving it her award for MOST VALUABLE TRACK! Weermets and Smiley Fac3 give this track a beautiful uplifting synth drop to go with its amazing vocals to create an absolutely incredible track.
Nari & Milani feat. Shena – Love Will Conquer All (Mikael Weermets & Smiley Fac3s Remix)
10. Brittney chose a track that originally debuted on ELB on April 5 for her next pick and also was featured on my favorite tracks list above. Making it’s second appearance in this post here is John Dahlback’s incredible track ‘Life’.
John Dahlback – Life (Original Mix)
11. Just as on my list these two appear back to back because this was also posted on April 5. Just like me Brittney can’t get enough of RoodMusic’s ‘Cool’.
RoodMusic – Cool (Extended Edit)
12. With her final pick Brittney went with a track featured on Tiesto’s Club Life Volume 2:Miami which was originally posted on ELB April 26. What can I say we both love Tiesto and like Brittney I am also a huge fan of Sultan & Ned Shepard’s track ‘Walls’. The track features some great vocals from Quilla and some incredible uplifiting synths to create one very beautiful song. It’s also a great song to close our her list with!
Sultan & Ned Shepard feat. Quilla -Walls (Original Mix)
Thanks so much for all the support for the half year ELB has existed, we hope you enjoyed the lists!
Love,
Mikey & Brittney
Filed under Electro House, House, Progressive House, Trance
