(via Shutterstock)
We’re heading to the club this time around and honestly you may not ever want to leave!
The five songs featured are not out and out furious dance numbers but they are all beat heavy in their own way and come with lyrics and a mix of tempos that mean you will be well served by a beguiling raft of diversity as you listen, think and dance.
We all have so much life stress to deal with and the artists who have given us these songs know that intimately but they also know that a well-crafted tune can make all the difference, and you know what, it really, really does …
“Embers” by BRUX
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Born in Australia but now Brooklyn-based, BRUX aka Elizabeth Rose is a producer who well and truly knows her way around a propulsive tune.
“Embers” is described the musically good people of Acid Stag as “a drum-heavy banger filled with contagious energy” and it builds and builds as it goes on, building an enormously catchy head of steam, just perfect for losing yourself on a club’s dancefloor.
Beat-heavy and unceasing in its infectious forward momentum, “Embers” is a song that came about with not much planning and a whole lot of nostalgia, says BRUX.
‘Embers’ is a fiery club tune that I made last year on a whim – I actually sampled my own vocals from an old release of mine from my previous project Elizabeth Rose & created the vocal chop hook with it! I’ve never done that before. This track pays homage to underground house music with syncopated grooves & nostalgic textures.’ (Acid Stag)
“Buffalo” by The Aston Shuffle
(courtesy official Facebook page)
I have long loved The Aston Shuffle, the project of Aussie electronic music producer and DJ Vance Musgrove, because they can’t music that is incredibly enlivening and will not be ignored.
The latest track from the producer, “Buffalo” is all kinds of impish, beat-stuttering fun, melody wrapped around jagged musical jumps and twists with some tasty vocal samplings thrown in for good measure.
The Aston Shuffle describes it as “a bit of an epic Mr. Oizo-esque crazy techno banger” with Acid Stag observing that this hugely catchy track “marches its way through your speakers and leaves its mark immediately, through a commanding percussive presence in the centre of the mix that works in tandem with the robust synths to intensify the soundscape to incredibly heights.”
It is brilliantly enjoyable to listen to and to dance too – and by dance we mean abandon all sense of elegance and just LET YOURSELF GO! – and to escape into in a way that only most immersively mesmerising of songs can offer you.
“Spine” by Brad Mullins
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Another Aussie producer up for review and Brad Mullins offers up a chilled slow down from the frantically light exuberance of the previous track that lets you catch before your breath before the next big wave of musical energy comes a-calling … and you know it will (your feet are itching for it).
“Spine”, which comes with “pristine production and artistry” has a glimmeringly blissful atmospheric feel to it, wrapping and enveloping you in a sense of wellbeing and quiet joyfulness.
It is a lush mix of light and dark, upbeat and the contemplative and it exudes a call to dance and yet do so in a way that gets you up and moving but not in a way that will rip the dancefloor up.
It also stays with you in the very best of ways with Acid Stag brilliantly observing that throughout the track “”we are met with an intensified delight full of vigour and power that pierces through the mix and well and truly leaves its mark on all within its path”.
“Baddy on the Dancefloor” (feat. Honey Dijon) by Jamie xx
(courtesy official Facebook page)
(A little aside here before we dive into the next review – Acid Stag is a music blog that brings me a lot of musical joy and if you’re looking for a site that will give you a delicious variety of tracks, consider subscribing to its weekly newsletter … and no, I have no links with it.)
Good lord but “Baddy on the Floor” has supreme and hugely infectious doses of funk!
It is one of those songs that kicks into the funky gear by which it means to go on almost immediately, making good use of a melodically danceable melody, a sound that exuberantly leaps up from a sitting position into instant dancefloor pose, and which features the emotively-rich vocals of U.S. singer Honey Dijon.
If you think this is all things deliciously good and captivatingly wonderful, then more is on the way according an Instagram post with Jamie xx thanking his collaborative partner “for the inspiration and saying that this gorgeously alive track “is the first of much more to come …”
“Angeles” by Låpsley
(courtesy official Facebook page)
How much do I love, adore and hugely enjoy the music of Låpsley aka Holly Lapsley Fletcher, an English singer-songwriter-musician-producer? A LOT. A LOTTA LOTTA LOT.
Her latest track, “Angeles” is all emotively whispered vocals, juddering fabulous beats and real emotional honesty which according to DORK, characterises the EP from which the song floats and caresses itself into definite earworm territory, which “focuses a lot on a toxic relationship”.
Liverpudlian Låpsley says the song explores a lot of who she is that she may not be entirely comfortable with:
It’s filled with strange memories, and I’ve always struggled with the side of me that it brings out; deep insecurities, inadequacies and an obsession with materialism and social status. (DORK)
“Angeles” is starkly beautiful in its musical expression and its lyrical contemplation, a short but sweet song that dive deep in its brief rundown and makes you think hard even as you lose yourself in its escapist lightness.
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EUROVISION 2024 EXTRA!
Did you think you could get much better than Nemo, this year’s Eurovision Song Contest winner for Switzerland, belting out his powerfully quirky song to a powerfully operatic beat? Then try tis on for size? Nemo goes classical and it’s really quite beautifully, poetically impactful …