Written by Shivam Sukha of Turks & Underdog for Hijacker Records
Sampling Toni Braxton’s, You’re Makin’ Me High – a slamming piano line revolves around a vocal sample so bubblegum that it modulates the bassline to no extent.
2. Toyboy & Robin – Better Places (Ft. Alex Adams)
With vocals emulating that of the late Michael Jackson, Toyboy & Robin return with a 4-track, four frenetic vocal heavy EP on MTA Records. It sounds like a feeble mimeo of Le Youth’s ‘C O O L’ which is why I can see it thrive this summer.
Vocal-led, ‘Hideaway’ nods to the mid-‘90s heyday of chart-house through a turbine-like bass against fraught melodic chimed dots.
Drum & Bass outfit Kove muster this floor-driven, fevered banger alongside lamenting piano riffs and a swirling jungle-inspired low end.
5. Ben Pearce & Black Orange – Predictable
As the name suggests, this is as ‘Predictable’ as it gets from Ben Pearce. It forces me to ask the question: are we to term house music – Pop? A lot of the chart-friendly occupiers seem generic. I mean, it’s a good record, just not one I’m going to remember long after it’s played.
Expect to hear it all over the radio this summer though.
6. Tensnake – Good Enough To Keep (Ft. Nile Rogers & Fiora)
Along with many others, I’m fairly certain to have never actually pressed play on Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’, yet I’m actually sick to death of the song. This Tensnake record is an obvious attempt to mimic its coup so listen to it now before every wavelength stutters its bars.
There’s a definite aesthetic running through every Jack Beats record. It’s essentially house, but with trap, fidget and electro suffixes and it’s refreshingly difficult to predict quite how these traits will manifest themselves. ‘Beatbox’ hints towards the rough-hewn energy of their heyday fidget tendencies.
First heard on Disclosure’s Essential Mix last summer, it has yet to see a release so expect this to drop – probably on AUS or School records – in the next few months. With the same hooky attack as last year’s ‘Dummy’ and ‘Nobody Else’, it’s packed into a no-nonsense straight-up heavy house record.
9. German Whip ft. Skepta, Pro Green, Bossman Birdie, Rizzle Kicks
As an electronic music label, we adhere to diversity and this Grime track is a percussive onslaught which skips along in leaps and bounds anchored by Skepta’s German Whip lick. It coasts in a rolling, typically exuberated and tempered manner – everything you’d expect from a high-octane grime track.
Out on PMR Records, ‘Intoxicated’ clings to the UKs infatuation with Sam Smith-like pop house; it was surely a matter of time before they looked to emulate Jessie Ware’s successes. Javeon’s rapid slew of bonne bouche, 90’s R&B vocals removes the superfluous elements of the danceable framework you’d come to expect from Gorgon City, and replaces the chassis with delicate keys adding to the tenderness of the outcome.
Owing to the strength of these records, none of them strike me as a standout summer anthem. Given that the past three years has seen Tensnake’s, ‘Coma Cat’, Julio Bashmore’s, ‘Au Seve’ and Paul Woolford’s, ‘Untitled’ buoy like oil in a bucket of water, with maybe the exception of SecondCity’s ‘I Wanna Feel’, the others lack that longevity and ability to be played on a stereo, club and fully-blown festival sound system.
Given that we’re a few months off the summer, keep an eye out on the following 15 artists who are bound to put out a release soaked in summer vibes:
1. Route 94
2. Ten Walls
3. Huxley
4. Rustie
5. Redlight
6. Clean Bandit (Debut album ‘New Eyes’ due on 12/05/14)
7. Gorgon City
8. Friend Within
9. Bicep
10. Bondax
11. BrEaCh
12. Ejeca
13. Duke Dumont
14. Chris Malinchak
15. Disclosure
Andy Chandler
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