Four Minutes Of Solitude.

Like everyone else, I get songs stuck in my head for days/weeks at a time. Every now and then I'll get an extremely annoying earworm* that's somehow managed to lodge itself into my brain, but usually they're tracks that I actually like. Not that I've been feeling particularly emo or anything lately, but Skream's first single "Where You Should Be" (from his second album Outside The Box) has been on repeat in my dome for weeks.

Here's a radio rip of the track:


Weeks, I tell you! -- and for good reason. The production is a thing of beauty. And although it's not normally my thing, I give the robotic voice manipulation a thumbs up. It gives the song a cold, plaintive sensibility that's perfect for the subject matter. Like DJ Annie Mac quipped at the end of the clip, this joint makes you want to break up with your significant other just so you can have a reason to listen to this song! While I probably wouldn't advise that course of action, I see what she's getting at.

To summarize: My ears are loving this. Okay so: Lyrics follow for those who want to sing along.

It keeps me awake ...

How can I feel good about this life I'm livin'
When you're not here right beside me
Not here where you should be
Sometimes it feels like I might as well
Just turn around and give in
'Cause you're not here where you should be
Not here right beside me

These lonely days
Turn into lonely nights
Everything's upside down
And I've lost the will to fight
You say you have to leave
And won't even tell me why
You took my hopes and dreams
And left me alone to cry

I stare at the phone hoping that you might call
Wondering who you've been seein'
And tryin' to make sense of it all
They say my heart will grow stronger
Ahead of me all of these years
But right now it's hard to believe as
I lie in my empty bed drowning in tears

Can't say I've never felt this way after a relationship, so the song definitely connected on that level. Okay so yeah, a little emo, but it's done tastefully and with top-notch electronic instrumentation *wipes mascara* On another note, I'm pretty amped about the direction Skream is taking the dubstep genre. I'm eager to hear what Outside The Box sounds like, as well as his group project with Magnetic Man. It's a good time for electronic music, yo.

*Yeah yeah I know: Her songs are catchy! And yes, I'd dance to some of them. Doesn't make them any less annoying :)

Heavy Rotation 007: Starsmith | The Remixes.

Okay so I've been slightly obsessed with electro-pop and dubstep for a few months now, scouring music blogs and sites for the latest wobble and synth to grace my noise-cancelling headphones. Both sub-genres have been bubbling for a minute, and it seems like they're really starting to accelerate and blow the f!ck up globally. There's a ton of artists and producers releasing quality material on the daily. And although I don't really check for Top 40 anymore, paradoxically enough I'm really feeling some dubstep and electro remixes of pop songs that caught fire on the Web (I mean, just type "electro" in the search box on The Hype Machine and see if I'm lying).

One electro-pop producer I'm excited about, however, is Starsmith [MySpace, Facebook]. A young cat hailing from London and freshly signed to Island, son is making significant noise in the scene. Having just completed Ellie Goulding's album (one of my favorite new British singers who no doubt deserves another Heavy Rotation post by herself), he's about to start working on his own project, but has done a grip of remixes under his belt that have to be heard.

No, really: You need to hear them.

So I took all the tracks I could find* from a handful of blogs, tagged them, zipped the whole thing up and now I'm sharing them with you. Before you do anything else today, grab Starsmith: The Remixes*.

Yeah, I couldn't help myself and made an album cover. Haha hopefully it's not that cheesy. Anyway here's a track listing:

1. Passion Pit - "Sleepyhead (feat. Ellie Goulding)"
2. Frankmusik - "Better Off As Two"
3. Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl"
4. Lisa Mitchell - "Coin Laundry"
5. Marina & The Diamonds - "I Am Not A Robot"
6. Paloma Faith - "New York"
7. Private - "My Secret Lover"
8. Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"

Only eight songs deep at the moment, but all quality. Boom it out the speakers and push that "Repeat All" button. This is something different for your brain to nosh on -- something upbeat, springy and undeniably good -- and you won't go wrong with it. Thank me later.

*I know there are lots more out there, and according to his Facebook fan page at the time of this post, he just finished a Timbaland remix. I'll update the link when I get them for those who are interested.

Edit: Seems Mediafire took the link down. Ah well ... Google is your friend :)

Heavy Rotation 004: Rontronik | Radio:Rontronik Broadcast 1 (Permanent Midnight).

You know that time of night when it's too way late and way too early at the same time?  Like around 3:30-4:00am and you don't know whether to throw in the towel or just stick it out and catch the dawn suicidal-vampire style, and there's that irritatingly eerie silence that's just begging to be crushed out with a precise, fine-tuned mixture of ear candy?  That was last weekend for me.  Owing to my weekend rotation, I stayed in like a good little boy and, having nothing better to do, dug around in my exponentially-growing collection of music blogs for something to soothe the nocturnal quiet and please my soul.

Good news, My Peoples.  I found a gem.

Rontronik (website, blog) is an NYC-based "digital DJ/producer/sound designer" well-versed in the arts of IDM (intelligence dance music).  Since I really can't describe it too well myself, Wikipedia informs us that the genre

is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno. Stylistically, IDM tends to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather than on a particular set of musical characteristics. The range of post-techno styles to emerge in the early 1990s were described variously as art techno, ambient techno, intelligent techno, and electronica.

Vague enough for you?  Yeah I couldn't really wrap my head around that either, but mainly 'cause it was like 4:12 in the morning.  But I digress.

Rontronik describes his particular flavor of music as abstract electronica.  To get a taste, download and immerse yourself in Radio Rontronik: Broadcast 1 (Permanent Midnight), a mixtape that I can only describe as a glitchy, aggressive cat-walk down a humid city block clogged with steamy taxis, uninhibited bar-hoppers, pseudo-hipsters and people in dirty hoodies who try to cram neon-splashed afterparty flyers down your gullet. It's "dark and dubstep tinged with a few surprises thrown in, Rontronik style."  The dubstep is actually what caught my eye/ear, and this joint definitely does not disappoint.



The wobbly, funky-ass dubstep remix of Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" is fire!  Needless to say, silence was effectively vanquished in my humble home and before I knew it, it was daytime.  Fuuuuuck.

"Sound designer"?  I'd have to agree a hundred-plus percent.  Cop this.