[Dream Folk] Still Parade – 07:41

Still Parade
07:41

If you’ve been keen to our site for the past few years, you’ll know we have a handful of artists that we religiously cover. The process is almost automatic once we see that they’ve released a new tune. We frantically head to our keyboards, eager to quickly convey our swooning adoration. Still Parade, aka Niklas Kramer, is one of those acts, and today is one of those days.

“07:41” was released less than a day ago, and it brings us all of the cozy, embracing, feel-good nature we’ve come to know and love from this heavenly-voiced act. However, in comparison to his Fields EP, this song, and his last, differ from the wonderfully lazy, ethereal progression we first came to know. Today’s song, in particular, is heavily rooted in a style that calls on associations from 70’s pop, bringing listeners in with a light and playful funk. That aside, the hazy yet calming nature is still very much apparent throughout other elements, giving Still Parade fans both a taste of something new and of what they already love. When asked about the meaning behind the tune, Kramer had this to say.

07:41 is about this weird feeling when you’re new somewhere. you feel like a stranger and no one really seems to care about you. But there’s also the chance to build up something new. It’s the point when you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Can’t be quite scary and exciting at the same time.

This tune will be released as limited hand-cut 7Inch by the UK label Art Is Hard Records, and we certainly hope we can get our hands on a copy.

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Steve James Talks EDM, Justin Bieber and His Original Single [TMN Interview]

Steve James Interview 2
(PC: Elliott Brockelbank)

Having charted at No.1 five times (going on six) on Hype Machine, Stephen Philibin a.k.a Steve James has become one of the fastest-rising stars of the electronic music community. If you google his name, you would probably also find out that the 17-year-old musician is being credited as one of the producers behind Justin Bieber‘s “Purpose”, which is the title track off the Biebs’ new album. That’s a HUGE accomplishment for any 17-year-old kids, let alone somebody like Steve who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, we’re honored to be able to ask Steve a few questions that our readers are dying to know the answer to. Listen to his first original track “Renaissance” featuring Clairity below, and check out our exclusive interview after the jump.

’Steve James – Renaissance (feat. Clairity)’

TMN: Pleasure to have you here with us Steve.

Thanks for having me, I’m looking forward to this!

TMN: First of all, congrats on the release of your first original track “Renaissance”! Not many 17-year-olds can say they’ve accomplished half of what you’ve done. Can you tell us a little bit about your passion for making music and how it all started?

Thanks on Renaissance – I’m super excited about that track! As for how it all started, I’ve actually always wanted to be a musician. I grew up playing the piano since age 3 or 4, I always enjoyed doing things by ear rather than reading music, and was always a fan of synthetic sounds like what Owl City was making, or the Postal Service. When I was 12, my older brother gave me his old macbook for christmas which had a program called Djay on it which I used to start mixing tracks. As soon as I learned about producer/dj’s, I was sold. I started putting a lot more time into learning how to use ableton than learning how to mix. It was after seeing Avicii (my all time favorite producer/dj) live for the first time that I said to myself, “Alright, that’s how I wanna spend the rest of my life.” I guess that was like, 2012, so I had just turned 14 haha. I was lucky to catch onto that so early, but from there it was just evenings and weekends in ableton trying to make uplifting/positive music.

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Patti Yang – Invisible Tears [TMN PREMIERE]

Patti Yang Group
Invisible Tears

If you’re not ready to be fully entranced by a modern-day psychedelic listening experience, one which would certainly garner an appreciative nod from Jim Morrison, then we encourage you to re-think that position and just press play anyways. We promise you won’t be disappointed.

When we first heard “Invisible Tears” from Polish artist Patti Yang, we were left in such a state of overwhelming wonderment, that we got completely and blissfully lost in the task at hand. The beautifully long build-up is more than enough to lock people in, providing a cinematic escape worthy for opening credits to a 70’s spy thriller. From there, the song builds into distorted flowing guitar riffs, danceable percussion, and Patti’s sultry voice which carry memorable lyrics along for the ride.

This tune will eventually be found on her debut album, which is set to release early in 2016 through Giant Rock Airport. We highly suggest keeping a keen eye out for it by following her on SoundCloud.

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[Pop/Soul] Jackson Breit – Shades of Marmalade EP

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to the lead single off of LA-based Jackson Breit’s Shades of Marmalade EP. The positive, feel-good, and uplifting “Wouldn’t Change a Thing” not only brightened the listener’s day, but it also was benefitted families with Autistic children through its sales, which, is pretty damn amazing.

Recently, Breit released the entirety of this six-track EP, giving us another five songs to smile, nod, and tap our feet to. Aside from the extremely charming lead single, other highlights include tracks like “Bed We Shared,” which features a familiar face from his hometown. Counter-balancing the playful duet is Virginia Beach singer/songwriter Samantha Marq, who truly shines in the interchanging verses with Breit, all of which create a warm and enveloping experience.

Our other favorite from the collection has to be “Are You Down,” which flexes Breit’s vocal dexterity in an exuberant display of vocal cadence and range. Switching effortlessly from a more hip-hop flow to styles we’re more accustomed to from past tunes, Breit brings in an impressive and well-crafted change of pace.

The entire EP is a solid body of work, top to bottom, so make sure to spin all the way through.

’Wouldn’t Change A Thing’
’So Far So Good’
’Catch Me Falling’
’Are You Down’
’Kick It’
’Bed We Shared (feat. Samantha Marq)’
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[Multi-Genre] Brig – Vanilla Sky EP

Music like what we have for you here is what originally got me into this music industry. Since then there has been a massive branching out, but there will always be a special place for crazy, in your face tracks like what can be found on Brig‘s Vanilla Sky EP. The thing I love about Brig is he takes his sound up and down the tempo scale to give listeners a different pace to dance to, but he always brings a ton of energy. He delivers two 128 tracks, including the title single which may just break your speaker system. Lovers of dubstep will absolutely love the paired “Bottle Of Rum” tracks that bring in a little cut time action to an otherwise fast-paced collection of records. For me, because I love the 108-112 range so much, the closing single “Megalomania” is my favorite. I thought the other tracks were hardcore, but this one is pure savagery. If Vanilla Sky is up your alley, make sure to head over to iTunes to get a copy.

’Brig – Vanilla Sky’
’Brig – Bottle Of Rum (VIP Mix)’
’Brig – Intergalactic Pirate’
’Brig – Bottle Of Rum (Original Mix)’
’Brig – Megalomania’
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[Hip/Hop] Casper & B. – Sneak feat. Pell, Michael Christmas, Wonda & Maarlon

Casper & B.
Sneak (feat. Pell, Michael Christmas, Wonda, & Maarlon)

Hip-hop has been beating its head against the wall for a while now. There aren’t a whole lot of artists out there pushing the sound, but one track I came along that has some personality and creative direction is “Sneak.” Casper & B. made this one with the help of fellow artists Pell, Michael Christmas, Wonda and Maarlon. For “Sneak” being their first single, they show a lot of promise. We will be keeping a sharp eye out on what they got going on in the future, but for now we have our ears all over this new jam. It’s a party-starting record with a truly sensational instrumental, paired with quality rhymes, making it a diamond in the rough. It’s more than simply a song, as they take you on a journey that lasts exactly five minutes long, but chances are you’re going to have this one on repeat like we do. Currently there is no download, but if anything changes, we’ll be sure to let you know!

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[TMN Exclusive Interview] Introducing The Brand New Collab Between option4 & Manik: 909 Til Infinity

If you’ve stuck around the pages of TMN for a while, somewhere along the line you may have noticed our penchant for the tasteful, soulful, groove-filled corners of House music and its many iterations. We’ve had the chance to meet, interview, support and of course party with some of our favorite artists within those realms, and two artists we’ve become diligently enamored with over the years have without a doubt been one of our former ‘TMN Resident Artists of the Month’, Denver’s option4 and L.A. via NYC producer MANIK.

Between the two, they’ve parented releases on some of House music’s most notable labels in the world including Nervous/Nurvous, Defected, Sweat It Out, Hot Creations, Recovery, Fool’s Gold, AnjunaDeep, Culprit, & loads more and much to the delight of the underground dance community, they’ve teamed up to announce a brand new collaborative project: 909 Til Infinity. 909 Til Infinity’s modus operandi is a rather simple one: to “Smash down genre walls while riding a torpedo straight into your hi-fi.” We certainly can get behind that ethos. The newly formed duo’s debut EP Bee is getting set to drop this Friday on Treasure Fingers’ freshly minted Psycho Disco imprint and after advance listen, it’s a sure fire slammer, combining House, Techno, and Funk. Needless to say, our intrigue was set to ‘max’ and we just had to get to the bottom of the exciting new collab, so we managed to track them down in order to shed some more light on the project that is 909 Til Infinity. We’re beyond excited to bring you 909 Til Infinity’s first ever interview on record. Read the entire transcript below, and be on the watch for the pair’s first official release this Friday.
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TMN: First things first. We’ve obviously got to ask how a pairing like option4 & MANIK, who are not even that relatively close to each other came to be?
909 Til Infinity: Can’t stress the importance of true collaboration. We both have solo projects and are making music under those names but EVERY single song we’ve produced has been side by side in the studio. So even though we live in different cities we wanted to make sure that every song was done together from beginning to end. Not like.. one guy starts an idea and the other guy finishes it. So there’s been a lot of flying involved. We became friends years ago and just stayed in touch, So this past year has been real fun.
TMN: What are your goals, or I guess, what is the mission behind combining both of your production prowess and what do you both hope to accomplish with 909 Til Infinity?
909: Our mission statement is to put sort of an American spin on underground dance music. Sort of a mixture of bass and techno and house~ More of an expression of straight dance floor club tracks, not trying to make music to listen to in a car etcetc. We’re not making crossover music. Just straight dance floor torpedo bangers. So many acts in the U.S. are going full crossover now and we want to stick to what we know and do best.
TMN: How have you found the creative process to be different or more rewarding than just working solo like both of you have done for so long?
909: It’s a blast to DJ and work with someone who has similar music tastes. A true definition of a Duo in our opinion however is to create music that neither one of us would make alone. That’s been the funnest part. It’s not really a full artistic expression if it just sounds like one or the others solo project.
TMN: You’re getting ready to drop the first 909 Til Infinity extended play, Bee Dee, on Treasure Fingers’ Psycho Disco imprint. With that kind of backing on just your guys’ first record, we’re anticipating some great stuff. How did that signing come up, and what else do you guys have coming down the pipe to round out 2015 and kick off 2016 with a bang so to speak? Have all of your records been signed or have you guys still been shopping?
909: We actually have been working for the past year on this project so we have 9 records done and completed. About half are signed already and we’re shopping one in particular at the moment to see where we’ll put the rest. We’re super fortunate to have TreasureFingers backing and have signed the 2nd EP to his label already coming out in February. We’re hoping for a big 2016 as well! Crossing our fingers here haha
TMN: I’m sure it’s been artistically rewarding to step outside of your comfort zone’s and make music that your personal brands maybe aren’t as expected to put out. Are there any plans currently in the works as far as touring and playing shows together as 909 Til Infinity in the near future?
909: Probably won’t tour anytime soon, We want to keep the bookings based off true demand so we’re going to keep putting out music and see if it catches on first. If people start digging our style and what we’re doing then perhaps next year sometime people will see some select tour dates. We’re obviously hoping for that but we gotta see if people dig the music first:)
TMN: Speaking of shows together, have you guys been able to practice as a duo at all in regards to DJ sets?
909: We have only ever DJ’d together once as a test run.. so before we decide to hit the road we’ll be doing a lot of practicing together. Mixtapes however are something we’re going to give a lot of attention to however. So expect some dope mixes in the near future 😉
TMN: It seems like there’s a definite look and feel already in regards to all things 909 Til Infinity. Is there a concept of sorts behind your collaborative efforts?
909: This duo was built and based upon firm unadulterated love for tacos and the NBA. Thus our dope b-ball branding. We both love the NBA but in a weird way love the NBA in the 90’s. So most of the art and feel will be based off that. Although it’s still up for debate on whether or not every piece of art should have just been a taco or not.
TMN: How could a pair built on such a strong foundation of tacos and 90’s NBA not succeed hahaha? Is there anything else you’d like to get across before we let all of 909 Til Infinity’s music do the talking?
909: Yeah! Just follow TheMusicNinja forever. One of the best outlets in the business;) Oh and DJ’s go play our records out if you wanna start an earthquake on the dance floor 😉
We certainly can’t wait to hear more from 909 Til Infinity, and can’t thank you enough for letting us be your first ever interview on records.
Be sure to follow 909 Til Infinity on their Facebook here, Twitter here and Soundcloud here!

 

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