Tag Archives: Tech House

[Festival Review] CRSSD Epic Weekend Recap

Posted by TMN Staff - October 7, 2016

(PC: Felicia Garcia / CRSSD Fest)

San Diego’s Waterfront Park hosted its fourth CRSSD Fest this weekend, a place that’s become home to lovers of electronic music across the entire Southern Californian region. Maintaining a similar aesthetic to the previous CRSSD festivals at the park, the scene was filled with feelings of a tropical escape, an escape that differs only so slightly from that of the city the event is held in, but it’s the difference that gives patrons a feeling that they’ve left home and arrived at a new one. The lineup, as always, was stacked with legends and exciting up and comers alike. TMN had the opportunity to check out the show, and we’ve got a full run-down below.

The fest kicked off its first day with huge names like MK, Justin Martin, Miike Snow, Cashmere Cat, and Bonobo. As per usual, Dirtybird showed up in big numbers, and Justin Martin’s set and Shiba San’s set were ones to remember. There’s always something so special about the Dirtybird crowd. Knowing that all of your lives were probably touched at one point by Shiba’s track “OKAY” is a strong bond that not many other labels can achieve, and Shiba’s set was filled with all the depth and bass one would imagine. Justin Martin’s headlining set drew crowds that were worthy of his talent, and the set was an hour and a half of pure bliss. And while Justin Martin was taking everyone on a journey at one side of the festival, house music legend Marc Kinchen (aka MK) was giving everyone an education on the other side of the fest. Pioneering house music with tracks like “Always” from the 90s, MK has his finger on the pulse of house music now more than ever. We were ecstatic to see him headlining, getting all of the glory that he deserves.

Continue reading →

[Deep House] Jade Blue – How To See

Posted by Jordan Coburn - February 26, 2016

Jade Blue
How To See [Premiere]

Buy

London-based electronic producer Jade Blue has recently released her single with Black Butter Records, “How To See,” and it’s really putting her on the map here for us at TMN. Jade just knows exactly what to do to create an instant hit. We can’t wait until we hear this dropped at a show and get to be the cool kids that furiously dance all up in the space.

This track makes it apparent that Jade has a great grasp on both tech and deep house, and her transition from one to the other is pretty flawless here. She’s got a great way of creating depth in the track with a variety of synths and panning in all ends of the spectrum. One moment you’ll be hearing cosmic zooms, and the other you’ll find yourself in a bass drop so good it hurts. Her work has got us feeling like we’re at a show in the likes of a Dirtybird BBQ, but with a little more glitch in her style. We’re happy to give her many props for this track.

[G House] Destructo, Ty Dolla $ign, iLoveMakonnen – 4 Real

Posted by Jordan Coburn - January 25, 2016

Destructo
4 Real (Featuring Ty Dolla $ign & iLoveMakonnen)

Buy

Destructo just keeps taking the scene by storm. Seriously, this dude throws some of the sickest parties with anything HARD touches, and rosters that are always super on point. His lineups always do a great job of meshing a number of different genres, and that’s exactly what he’s done in his latest track release, “4 Real.”

When the song first started we weren’t sure what to expect—it didn’t show any signs of being an electronic track per se, but it’s 2016 y’all. Ty Dolla $ign blesses us with his dreamy vocals and iLoveMakonnen provides the hype, and a few seconds later Destructo starts to tease us with his melodic tones, which lets us know that this will most definitely be an electronic track. This all builds into what might be one of the more unexpected drops we’ve heard in a while—a tech house wonderland filled with a sped up take on the quintessential hip hop sample (aka G House 2.0). The end product is an impressive and well-done fusion of two entirely different genres, something that we’ve seen Destructo do before and hope he continues to do as long as he’s making music.

[Deep/Tech House] Fabrikate – SDM ft. Gillette

Posted by Jordan Coburn - January 4, 2016

Fabrikate
SDM ft. Gillette

Buy

Now that the New Year has started, you’re gonna need some hot new music to pump you up. If you were smart you made your New Year’s resolution to hit the clubs more, so we figured you’d need some inspiration. Well that’s what we’ve got for you here with Fabrikate’s new track, “SDM feat. Gillette”. We’re always fans of giving new artists exposure, so what a great way to kick off 2016—for everyone! Yay.

This track is a classic deep house tune but throws in some nice dubby riffs which round it out real nice– like your butt after getting on that resolution. The vocal samples of this track are perhaps our favorite part about it though, and we’ll just have to let you listen yourself to get what we’re talking about. Congrats Fabrikate on a successful single. Looking forward to you releasing more. Happy New Year y’all!

[Deep/Tech House] Guy J – Bungalow

Posted by Jordan Coburn - December 9, 2015

Guy J
Bungalow

Stream Only

Starting his career writing music and recording in his own home at the age of 14, Guy J, based in Tel Aviv, has become an infectious house music producer pulling from the progressive and tech subgenres for the last decade. With friends like John Digweed, Guy J always delivers tracks that can get you vibing all night long. Off of his new EP The Trees, The Sea & The Sun, he brings us the track “Bungalow,” which is a lengthy homage to all things prog and tech house.

The best part of this track is quite possibly the deepest of deep elements he works into the tune. We would even call them insidious. After his Royksopp-like ambient sounds that he leads in with, the ear hears a low-end calling to the dance floor that you absolutely cannot ignore. Bringing in a welcomed snare clap and some more percussion you would literally have to cover your ears to not want to step up and dance to this. Exploring all the depth of a producer more seasoned than many, “Bungalow” is a hit we’ll be listening to on repeat.

[House] Need & Necessity – Patience

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 15, 2015

Need & Necessity
Patience

Buy

We’ve labored before about the difficulty we occasionally face in regards to posting tunes from some of our favorite proper dance labels. Imprints like Andre Crom’s OFF Recordings, Dixon & Ame’s Innervisions, and of course Rob Made’s tasteful curation of the Sleazy Deep brand along with its expanding iterations (amongst countless others of course) have been some of our most looked-to sources for the true pulse of what’s going on in underground dance music for years. Typically though, with smaller dance labels doing most of their business through online retailers, our favorite imprints tend to produce Soundcloud channels who only post preview snippets on their respective pages linking back to Beatport/Traxsource etc. Anyhow -after the long-winded intro- we wanted to clarify just how excited we were to feature this one in its complete glory (and the latest from the aforementioned team at Sleazy Deep), as we’ve got our hands on the label debut from an act that TMN’s been obsessively fond of for years: Need & Necessity.

Most recently landing on our pages with an independent deep-tech remix of Brodanse’s “Train of Thought”, Patience marks Need & Necessity’s debut EP on an international label (although they remixed for Sleazy Deep last month in the form of a single), and yet again the Denver based pair has delivered another heaping spoonful of scrupulously crafted house. The extended-play’s title track ticks a number of boxes for us, and we’ve not stopped grooving since first listen. From its G-House leaning bassline, fluctuating vocal samples, and huge topline synth; “Patience” is the pair’s largest sounding club shot from their entire catalog. While “Patience” was our choice off of their congruently titled EP, all four tracks from N&N’s latest release are more than worth a rinse as well. Grab a copy of the entire Patience EP from Need & Necessity on Beatport here, put your dancing shoes on and stream its title track above.

[Deep/Tech-House] option4 – You’re ILL

Posted by Matthew Bloss - November 11, 2014

option4
You're ILL

Soundcloud

Denver based dance architect option4 has been on what we like to call around the music industry a “tear” as of late; with releases on iconic labels like Australian based Sweat it Out!, Diplo’s Mad Decent and an EP on one of house music’s most revered imprints, NYC’s Nurvous Records all within the last 12 months. So when we heard he was touching back down on the digital label he founded (and one we’ve been keeping up on), Night Supply, to release this latest slice of hooky underground house, “You’re ILL”, well we were just smitten. Featuring one of the best plucked samples we’ve had the pleasure of consuming this year, “You’re ILL” riffs The Pack’s breakout hit “Vans” like many others have tried, but prevails mightily over them all. That aurally addictive vocal of “Got My Vans On..” rides front and center over a versant melody most of the Dirtybird crew would covet, instilling equal parts classic jack and hip-hop infused soul. It really has been a pleasure witnessing option4’s star shine brighter with every passing release as we’ve been covering his ethos branded take of “More House than Tech, More Deep than Disco” since its inception. Stream option4’s “You’re ILL” above, and let’s bring it back to the club just like he did.