Author Archives: Matthew Bloss

[Deep-House] Toyboy & Robin – Save Me Now feat. Sam Wills (Felon Remix) [TMN Premiere]

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 16, 2015

Toyboy & Robin
Save Me Now (feat. Sam Wills) (Felon Remix)

Many of us remember the London house trio of Archie Ward, George Renwick and James Levey -more readily recognizable as their artist moniker Felon-for 2013’s über-viral club hit “Isla”. While we understand that may have been some listener’s sole exposure to their slick combination of accessible melodies with proper house backing, we hope it wasn’t. The three artists have been steadily expanding and improving their Felon project, which now features a groovy live show, in a number of aesthetics with every passing release; and have completely won us over in the process. Luckily for us, we’ve got their latest official remix for Toyboy & Robin‘s Sam Wills featuring single “Save Me Now” before anyone else, and it’s fallen right in line with their consistently shimmering output. Felon comb their deeper side through Toyboy & Robin’s malleable original, throwing on a sticky sweet synth hook and shuffled hi-hats while slathering on some warranted reverb on Sam Wills’ syrupy vocal track. Quite simply, Felon’s “Save Me Now” remix is an earworm if we;ve ever heard one and a welcome addition to our in-house heavy rotation house playlist.

Like the rest of their Bright Young Things collective, which includes some erupting talent including TMN favorites Sebastian Carter & DE$iGNATED, Felon’s been pushing the envelope on what has become somewhat of a saturated genre in regards to the deep and club-house sound that has been taking over underground dance for years. We’re beyond excited to see what comes from the house triumvirate, but for now, let’s bask in the glory of their “Save Me Now” remix above.

[House] Need & Necessity – Patience

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 15, 2015

Need & Necessity
Patience

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We’ve labored before about the difficulty we occasionally face in regards to posting tunes from some of our favorite proper dance labels. Imprints like Andre Crom’s OFF Recordings, Dixon & Ame’s Innervisions, and of course Rob Made’s tasteful curation of the Sleazy Deep brand along with its expanding iterations (amongst countless others of course) have been some of our most looked-to sources for the true pulse of what’s going on in underground dance music for years. Typically though, with smaller dance labels doing most of their business through online retailers, our favorite imprints tend to produce Soundcloud channels who only post preview snippets on their respective pages linking back to Beatport/Traxsource etc. Anyhow -after the long-winded intro- we wanted to clarify just how excited we were to feature this one in its complete glory (and the latest from the aforementioned team at Sleazy Deep), as we’ve got our hands on the label debut from an act that TMN’s been obsessively fond of for years: Need & Necessity.

Most recently landing on our pages with an independent deep-tech remix of Brodanse’s “Train of Thought”, Patience marks Need & Necessity’s debut EP on an international label (although they remixed for Sleazy Deep last month in the form of a single), and yet again the Denver based pair has delivered another heaping spoonful of scrupulously crafted house. The extended-play’s title track ticks a number of boxes for us, and we’ve not stopped grooving since first listen. From its G-House leaning bassline, fluctuating vocal samples, and huge topline synth; “Patience” is the pair’s largest sounding club shot from their entire catalog. While “Patience” was our choice off of their congruently titled EP, all four tracks from N&N’s latest release are more than worth a rinse as well. Grab a copy of the entire Patience EP from Need & Necessity on Beatport here, put your dancing shoes on and stream its title track above.

[House] Throttle – Together (Templeton Remix)

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 11, 2015

Throttle Feat. David Spekter
Together (Templeton Remix)

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Fridays around here usually mean one thing: Let’s have a dance party. For years, we’ve gone out of our way to find the purest house cuts we could as the weekend arrives, and today is no different. L.A. based Templeton, who has been picking up quite the head of steam over the last year for his accessible, yet extremely proper slate of remixes and originals, returns with an official remix of Throttle’s hit single “Together”. While we may have missed this one on its first go-round a week back, it was high time we shared with our Ninja faithful. Templeton’s remix penetrates deeply into a contemporary house structure behind a set of punching kicks and crisp percussive layers, which all culminate in an authoritative and melodic take on Throttle’s original. Snag Templeton’s remix and check out the entire package including remixes from Hellberg, Spenda C, and Shanahan through ICONS Music and be on the lookout for more from the burgeoning producer on these pages very soon.

[Indie/Synth-Pop] Favored Nations – I Can See You

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 9, 2015

Favored Nations
I Can See You

Soundcloud

Despite their brief catalog, electronic supergroup Favored Nations -whom consists of the collective talents of singer Morgan Phalen (former frontman of Diamond Nights and featured vocalist on Justice’s last LP Audio, Video Disco), DJ/Producer James Curd (DFA, Exploited), and Surahn “Sid” Sidhu (touring guitarist for Empire of the Sun with writing credits for the likes of Usher and Kimbra)- has already carved out quite the eclectic and faithful following. Whether you came into contact with them on hyper-addictive single “The Setup” (which served as the best closing tune any video game has ever seen on GTA V), their most recent single “Always”, which we absolutely loved, or are just hearing them for the first time; Favored Nations’ sonic appeal enlightens pretty much every level of listener.

The latest single to be released in anticipation of their debut LP, The Great Unknown, which itself will see release worldwide on October 2nd via Antler Records and the etcetc Music collective, “I Can See You”, begins simply enough with a four-note synth backdrop giving way to one of Morgan Phalen’s most purposeful and directed refrains we’ve heard yet. But, “I Can See You” follows a steady aural progression, carefully layering bits of hollow kick-drum, plucky guitar and a heaping dose of pop-soul. Favored Nations does an excellent job of transfixing its listener, when perfectly, in the middle of Curd’s lushly layered synth-pop structuring lies a compressed yet stylistically emotive electric guitar respite from Sidhu which brilliantly wraps up Favored Nations buoyant tune.

We could keep gushing for at least another 200 words, however, its time to sit back and let “I Can See You” do the rest of our talking.

[Electro-Soul/Alt-Pop] NITE-FUNK (Nite Jewel & Dâm-Funk) – Can U Read Me

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 4, 2015

NITE-FUNK (Nite Jewel & DâM-FunK)
~ Can U Read Me?

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L.A. based alt-pop songstress Nite Jewel and modern-funk musician, vocalist and producer Dâm-Funk have teamed up more than a few times over the trajectory of their respective careers; even securing a smidgen of virality with their single “I Know You’re the One”, and have once again combined forces as NITE-FUNK for brand new single “Can U Read Me”. Once upon a time, the sometimes duo was even close to releasing an entire EP’s worth of music, but as their arcs have swirled in different direction since then, we’ll have to settle for their one-off singles. Which, as long as we’re still getting tunes from the unlikely pairing, we don’t entirely mind. “Can U Read Me” pulls from both Nite Jewel and Dâm-Funk’s sonic psyche, ambling out of the gates with washed out pads and some Nite Jewel appropriated bass before unveiling its percussive core as a funk-tipping two-step progression before giving into the pair’s hooking vocals. “Can U Read Me” is a lovely piece of Neo-Soul, modern funk and avant-pop that we’ve not stopped grooving to this morning. Let’s get into the weekend spirit with some NITE-FUNK above.

[Electro-Pop/Dance] Gilligan Moss – Stasis

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 2, 2015

Gilligan Moss
Stasis

Soundcloud

For years now, and largely on the low, Chicago native Gilligan Moss has been producing left-field house music and elegantly off-kilter electronic pop. Much to our chagrin, this is unfortunately our first post covering the now New York based producer, but in reality Moss’ latest EP, Ceremonial, is his official debut. The vibrantly technicolor extended-play, which dropped just a few weeks back on the independently-minded London imprint AMF Records, touches its wings down on a number of aural aesthetics, but it was the EP’s closing tune, “Stasis” which came across as the perfect Hump Day prescription.

Hopping out of the gates with a rolling arpeggiated synth, clicky percussion and a light dose of grand piano, “Stasis” chases down a synth-pop prognosis and smashes it to bits with hints of a sensible psych influence and club-first house foundation. Gilligan Moss treats his vocal just as craftily as well, cutting and looping effortlessly through hazy and delicate incantations that sound somewhere between Sean Ryder‘s most indulgent bellows and the Macintosh computer SimpleText application used on OK Computer’s “Fitter Happier”. Just beautiful stuff to our Ninja ears really. For a real taste of Moss’ range, don’t skip on the rest of Ceremonial either, to get a much clearer grasp as to why mainstream source’s like NME nabbed the burgeoning producer in an August edition of “Radar New Act Of The Week”. Let’s start unwinding our Wednesday with a little Gilligan Moss.

[Future/Deep-House] Kygo – Nothing Left (The Golden Pony Remix)

Posted by Matthew Bloss - September 1, 2015

Kygo
Nothing Left (The Golden Pony Remix)

Soundcloud

It’s become increasingly infrequent for a tune from NYC based house & disco benders The Golden Pony not to move us in some type of way. Whether it’s their deeper, disco leaning classic reworks, future-tipping joints or heated originals, our favorite afro-sporting duo never fail to pull a wry smile and rocking hip-wiggle from seemingly everyone who comes into contact with their accessible blueprint of underground house reverberations. Most recently, the boys have taken Trop-House Prince Kygo’s “Nothing Left” into their end of niche dance groove, and yet again we’re more than locked into what they’ve come up with. Riffing on those plucky metallic signature Kygo keys, TGP’s version slathers on a rumbling low-end and revs up the vocal cadence to a pace more in line with their club-first sonority, resulting in a tune that fits perfectly into The Golden Pony’s repertoire while staying true to Kygo’s original stems. Go ahead and try not to bounce to this one.