Calvin Harris – Awooga

Calvin Harris is breaking new ground this year – deviating from his roots as a singer and songwriter – he’s now exploring his talents as a DJ. After his wildly popular albums I Created Disco and Ready For The Weekend (both of which you should check out), his first release is a prominent electro house track easily recognizable in the clubs and at festivals. Awooga was named Pete Tong’s Essential New Tune on April 1st, 2011. This tune is a good indication that we can expect great things from Calvin Harris in the future. (I’m also curious to see what his future tracks will be called – Awooga is quite original!)

Although Calvin Harris did not break through on American radio (he has been extremely popular in the UK, Australia, and France), he did have quite an influence on American music. Below you can listen to one of Calvin’s most popular songs, Not Alone, and the eerily similar sounding Chris Brown song Yeah 3X. You decide:

You can buy Awooga from Beatport.

Justice – Civilization

After releasing their critically acclaimed album in 2007, Justice (a French duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay) enjoyed incredible success with their huge first release, an electro house album infused with heavy rock synths. I had the honor of seeing them live in 2008 at Ultra Music Festival shortly before they went completely off the map and stayed silent for a few years. Now, it is official. The silence is broken. Their new single, entitled Civilization is out now! This is the first track of their new album, which does not have a name or release date yet.

Ever since I found out about Justice, I quickly realized that they are excellent at promoting themselves. They love to create a mystery. Its seems as if their strategy is to get people guessing, thinking, talking and always wondering about them. Their first album, entitled ” † “, had several song titles referring to the Bible (eg. Genesis, Waters of Nazareth, and Let There Be Light). Try searching for them on Google – you won’t even find a website. Nothing. (Although they recently created a Facebook page). All this guessing, wondering, and talking has built up so much curiosity behind the duo. But no matter what you say, you can’t take away from their remarkable album. Their album was not like anything else I’ve head before – 4 years later I can still listen to this album on repeat and not get bored. After all this waiting, their fan’s expectations are SO HIGH for their next album. Mark my words, when this album drops, its going to be a big deal.

THE BEATING OF A MILLION DRUMS
THE FIRE OF A MILLION GUNS
THE MOTHER OF A MILLION SONS
– Civilization

Oh, and did I mention that Civilization is the soundtrack to Adidas’ new commercial. Watch it. It’s so intense and makes you want to get up and do something.

You can buy Civilization from iTunes.

Chrizz Luvly – Amen (Original Mix)

This track really stood out for me this week. Not only is it a good one to listen to, it’s also pretty informative.

A monotone voice says “I’d like to talk about drums….or rather about a particular drum beat. I’m sure you’ve heard it dozens of times before. The Amen Break. Here’s what it sounds like………” then it plays a sample of the Amen Break before it breaks into a heavy Electro, head-banging beat. There is nothing really special about this song. The generic, hard Electro sections are only interrupted by a sampled voice (which I immediately recognized – you’ll hear it in the video below) that introduces the Amen Break. But I thought the idea of putting the Amen Break in an Electro House song like this was great a great idea. It sounds fresh and teaches people about the Amen Break at the same time.

The Amen Break is a very brief drum solo that has become arguably one of the most famous drum lines in music. It can be heard on everything from 80’s hip-hop, to commercials, to movies, and the radio. The Amen Break even became the basis of an entire genre – Drum and Bass. Whenever you hear the Amen Break, you can know that it came from The Winston’s 1969, funk song Amen, Brother.

Here is an interesting video giving examples of where the Amen Break has been used and explaining its significance and the history behind it. This video is also seems to be the source for Chrizz Luvly’s vocal sample for the song Amen.

Buy Amen from Beatport.

Laidback Luke & Steve Aoki (Ft Lil Jon) – Turbulence

Finally, this week, Turbulence was released on Mixmash Records. With a collaboration between Laidback Luke, Steve Aoki AND Lil Jon … you can expect nothing less than BIG. This track has been making its rounds for about a year now, but its finally available to the public.

Laidback Luke is phenomenal. He’s been around for years and has worked with just about everyone! Not only is he an A list DJ (voted number 17 in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs for 2010), he also loves his fans more than anyone I’ve seen live. He gives off such positive vibes. He’s also the founder of Mixmash Records (check out Mixmash’s latest releases, here). Steve Aoki has been been in the business for years too, but experienced a drastic leap in success the last 5 years. Lil Jon, with his roots strong in Hip-Hop/Rap, has recently been seen at Electronic music festivals and making appearances on some big Electro records. To me it was quite a surprise to see Lil Jon on the scene…but a pleasant one.

This is a video from my birthday last year of Laidback Luke playing Turbulence at Opera Nightclub in Atlanta:

Buy Turbulence on Beatport.