Saturday, May 15, 2010

"Remember how it was with you..."



I was talking with a friend at prom last night, and dance music was brought up. She said that she doesn't love techno, although she does like house. It's the vocals, she said, and the lyrics. I'm inclined to agree.
House vocals get ripped on a lot, but I think they're the shit. ESPECIALLY Progressive House/Trance vocals. Nothing makes me feel the way I do when listening to an ethereal, layered voice singing absurdly dreamy lyrics while accompanied by the most beautiful, synthesized chords imaginable. So here are some Vocal tracks for y'all, mostly progressive with a bit of Electro House in there for kicks.
HUGE shout out to Apes With Barrels, the blog where I got most of this stuff. Those dudes (aka electro house duo Bastille) went to my high school, and their blog is pretty much what got me into EDM (electronic dance music) in the first place. AMAZING archives, they have everything.
They also have a post on vocal tracks, and although I tried not to plagarize it completely, I couldn't avoid posting the first two songs here...they exemplify house vocals.

~ ~ ~

I Remember (Vocal Mix) - Deadmau5 & Kaskade

Probably one of my favorite tracks ever, such gorgeous vocals. You probably have it, but if you're new to house music/EDM in general then GET IT. Deadmau5 is a god among producers, nailing everything from gorgeous Progressive House to heavy-ass bangers. Go buy Random Album Title if you don't have it already, it's worth it (Beatport//iTunes). Kaskade is a beast too, though I know much less of his work.

Move For Me (Extended Mix) - Kaskade & Deadmau5

Love this one too, such great chords and vocals. And the lyrics, of course ("where do we come from/do I know your name?/doesn't really matter/in this life we're all the same"). Don't ask me why the artist names are switched here. I think it's because the mau5 released "I Remember" on Random Album Title, while Kaskade got to have this track on his album, Strobelight Seduction. (btw the vocals on both these tracks are by Haley Gibbey, who has a collab with Kaskade called Summer of Space.)

Out There (Original Mix) - John Dahlback feat. Basto!

Really weird buildup, not gonna lie, but this track DROPS. Gotta love Dahlback, and those vocals..."I need you in my life/I need you in my life..." I like his tracks a lot, it's hard to pin him down with one genre.

Do It (Ian Carey Mix) - PROM feat. Katherine Ellis

LOVE this song (I love em all, in case you haven't noticed). More Electro House, with GLORIOUS vocals. So raw and soulful, definitely contrasts with the more heavily-produced style of the above tracks. Ian Carey is freakin' awesome, another master of genre flexibility (though it's all House, as a rule), definitely do a search for him on AwB.

Day By Day (Vocal Mix) - Paul Anthony & ZZX

Really neat Prog track...the chords shift quickly and in interesting ways, definitely a cool change from the usual Progressive House fare of four bars Cmaj7, four bars Am9, etc (though it's still tried and true). Great vocals, awesome synths.

I Will Be Here (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) - Tiesto & Sneaky Sound System

A good note to end on. More Progressive vocal goodness. Wolfgang Gartner, aside from being a total fucking G, is another one of those producers capable of making a badass track in pretty much every dance genre (Electro, Electro House, Dutch House, Progressive)...he is indeed, as the good chaps at AwB have been propounding for a while now, the Holy Saviour of dance music. Amen.

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