Here it is. The last Indie Dojo of the year. It’s been a wild ride, dear friends, but here we are. We made it. And we are ready to face another next 365 days with 52 more indie dojos to put in our pocket. Cheers!
First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukkah to holiday celebrators. With Christmas this Sunday, we wanted to give you all we could in this week’s edition of the Friday Party Playlist. Within it, you get a whole lot more than the twelve usual tracks. Sure, you get songs from the likes of Breathe Carolina, Choppa Dunks, Twofold, Tha Trickaz, YOOKiE, Dubloadz and more, but you also get multiple records from Kastra and Aylen, who have short mixes of some song packs. Lastly, Carter Cruise dishes out a nostalgic mix for all to enjoy. As usual, everything is downloadable for free. No need to spend anymore money, treat yourself to these free presents today! Most importantly, make sure to #danceirresponsibly.
Datsik is all about ninjas. We’d hope he’s all about the Music Ninja’s as well, since we’re all about him and his new EP, Sensei. Datsik has long been a leader in the dubstep community, pushing severely dirty growls onto headbangers worldwide. With his new EP, we get just what we bargain for with the Firepower Records‘ head.
Sensei features seven songs, including collaborations with Virtual Riot, Excision, AD, Lox Chatterbox and Zack The Lad. If we could only choose two words to describe this project in full they would be sharp and heavy. Sharp is a katana, and as heavy as a sumo wrestler. Throughout Sensei Datsik kicks forth his signature vibe that pays homage to the more classic, pre-2013 dubstep sound. Despite this, he still manages to keep things fresh and forward thinking, showing yet again why he is one of dubstep’s big hitters. Get your copy of Sensei today!
FRND only has a few tracks out, but already is one of the hotter up and coming acts in dance music. After releasing two originals, the producer already has put out an official remix for Sweater Beats, which we share with you today.
“Did You Wrong” featuring MAX is what the mysterious songster got to remix. FRND has a unique style that, although not entirely new, is a step in the right direction for electronic music, especially for styles surrounding future. 2017 will surely be a big year for the producer, who has a whole lot more coming. In just a few months to wrap up 2016, FRND made incredible headway and won’t stop gaining fans with his amazing music anytime soon. It’s almost Christmas, so get yourself a little present by purchasing this single on the digital service of choice today.
New York is full of talented artists, but one that you absolutely need to know is Mothica. The talented artist teamed up with fellow NYC creator Icarus Moth for the single “Reputation.”
Together, these two acts put a soulful spin on the future bass genre. Despite the obvious influence the genre has on “Reputation,” the song doesn’t fit quite neatly into the box. Mothica’s intoxicating vocal is certainly the highlight of the track, but that doesn’t take anything away from the top-notch production that Icarus Moth put forth on this single. With the weather being cold and the plans likely being stay in to jam some tunes, this one is perfect. Shout out to the Majestic Casual team for dropping this one.
Talal Qureshi has woven through so many styles of music throughout his near decade long career as a producer, from hip-hop beats to hard-edged dance and dubstep, ambient textures, and arrangements which rebuke genre. His new single “After Party” blends colorful synthesizers, strong drums and a sultry melody to create a fun and accessible sound that lifts high a radiant vocal feature from the 16-year-old singer Rehma out of Los Angeles.
If this track came on in a cab on my way from a party to an after party, I would be zoning. The elements are all there – a beautiful voice, synths that shmooze then soar, just the right amount of pop frills, and critical, kicking percussion. With the windows down heading to that after party, maybe just to find a certain someone, and this track would cinch it all together.
Qureshi, born in Saudi Arabia but based in Pakistan, continues to diversify his offerings. After remixing great pop selections and producing grade A instrumentals, it’s exciting to hear him bring in a vocal feature and create a catchy top-40 style tune. “After Party” is a preview of what we can expect from Qureshi’s upcoming Acha EP due out in early 2017.
This track boasts seven minutes of Neo-Soul legend Maxwell’s falsetto voice paired with The Aston Shuffle‘s groovy, deep house production and is simply stated, a perfect match. The Australian duo recently impressed us with their “Only 100s” mix and now they’ve given us a track worthy of placement in their own series. With basslines capable of inducing a trance like state of mind matched to a smooth body moving melody, The Aston shuffle have created a project to end 2016 in a bold way.
“Huge fan of The Aston Shuffle, they keep it so soulful and raw for the dance clubs.” – Maxwell
2017 is soon approaching and news is they’ll be gracing us with another original release on The Magician’s Potion label. After what we’ve seen in 2016 there’s no question these two should be on everyone’s watch list. I got the chance to ask the guys a bit about the new remix. You can stream the track on Spotify or Youtube.
TMN: 2016 has been quite the year for music – How have you guys grown throughout the year and what would you say was your greatest moment?
TAS: 2016 has been great for us! We had 3 releases (High With You, Only 1 and Make A Wrong Thing Right) come out on one of our favourite record labels, Potion (The Magician’s label). We did a few national tours here in Australia and Vance has been busy spreading The Aston Shuffle message across the US with his recent move to NY, and we’ve continued to get great listenership with our Friday Night Shuffle radio show.
TMN: MAXWELL is no rookie when it comes to music. The NYC soulful R&B singer has been around for quite some time. What did you like best about remixing this particular track?
TAS: It was all about the vocal, it’s so dope and catchy! The producers treated the vocal with some really cool effects which really grabbed our attention and ultimately drove the direction in which we took the remix.
TMN: How did it feel to have Maxwell reach out to you about this remix? Describe your reaction.
TMN: Did you have a certain direction in mind for this or was it more go with the flow?
TAS: Not really, we just went with the flow like we normally do when doing remixes. It was totally unintentional but it ended up with a bit of a nod to some classic Armand Van Heldon vibes.
TMN: Not only have you released this remix but started the Only 100s mix – What do you look for when selecting music?
TAS: Between our radio show and DJ sets, we are seriously inundated with new music. It’s seriously crazy the amount of music we have to go through each and every week! So to help with our workflow we create a shortlist of club weapons. These tracks are what we consider to be the standout tracks of the moment whether it’s a Balearic house jam or a certified techno banger, if it’s dope, then we’re playing it on Only 100s.
TMN: What direction do you see yourselves going in 2017? Is there anything particularly exciting you can share?
TAS: We already have a few releases ready to go in 2017 which you’ll be hearing about very soon. We’ll be continuing our Friday Night Shuffle radio show and also building the Only 100s name. It’s going to be a busy year for us but we’re already looking forward to it!
