Browsing Tag

edm

Izzy Trixx created a rhythmic firestorm of an introduction you’ll never forget with ‘Our Friend Manuela’

Posted on 19 August 2023

The Indonesian-Irish DJ and producer Izzy Trixx made no bones about shaking the EDM scene to its core by unleashing the vibrantly electrifying house mix, Our Friend Manuela.

With one of the most transcendent drops you will ever follow the descent of while the euphoria floods through your synapses and rhythmic pulses, Trixx lets it be known that there are few better producers equipped to lead you to a euphonic utopia. With over 7k monthly listeners after releasing her debut single, success isn’t just on the cards for Trixx, it is a given.

After spending ten years behind the decks, Trixx learned what it takes to make a crowd move; all her experience DJing everywhere from Singapore to New York, Jakarta to Germany was infused into her debut single that teased even greater things to come in her upcoming 5-track EP, But What If It All Goes Right. It is safe to say that there’s never been a better time to deliver hypnotically high-vibe sonic sanctity. For your own sake, get her on your radar.

Our Friend Manuela was officially released on July 21st; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: AMRIX has launched his EDM track that will follow you into the dark, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’

Posted on 14 August 2023

The Perth-hailing EDM artist & producer AMRIX gave a Grammy-worthy performance in his debut single, Don’t Be Afraid, which carries all the intimately compassionate soul of I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie on the smoothed-out-with-reverb synth lines which build into one of the most heartfelt crescendos you’re likely to ever to hear.

The tenderly mid-tempo hit amasses evocative visceralism around the builds and breaks in a similar vein to Avicii’s emotion-driven singles; AMRIX has what it takes to leave as much of a mark on the industry with his songwriting stripes that can drive you to the brink of tears while constructing a sanctuary to slip into when dark clouds permeate your perspective.

Collaborating with lyricist Matt Miller, a guest vocalist, and Ruben Castro, who mixed and mastered the self-produced release, the genre fusionist achieved his goal of creating timelessly impactful music that resonates with listeners on a deep emotional level.

While other EDM artists are busying themselves releasing trite high-vibe summer hits that do little more than contribute to unrealistic expectations of a utopic season, AMRIX is cutting right to the core of sincerity with his elevated discography; I know which kind of artist I will be putting on my radar for future installations of resonant euphonic compassion.

In his own words, here’s what AMRIX had to say on his first installation of electro RnB-Pop:

“Don’t Be Afraid is inspired by personal experiences and the universal struggle of developing trust in relationships. It explores the vulnerability and strength required to open up to another person fully.”

Don’t Be Afraid hit the airwaves on July 28; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fats & JM went on a ‘Mad One’ with their infectious EDM rap hit

Posted on 8 August 2023

The Azerbaijan-born British rapper and songwriter, Fats, mashed up his talents and his infectious tongue-in-cheek charisma with his co-collaborator JM to deliver the ultimate house party anthem, Mad One.

After a solid serving of sun-bleached acid house beats, Fats subverts the transcendently tranquil tones with his wit-sharp garagey rap bars and bass-drenched rhythms. Between his cleverly enticing cadence and his lyricism that carries the perfect amount of antagonism, there’s no resisting the magnetism of the monolithic drop.

If anyone deserves to go as viral as the Blackout Crew did in 2009 with Put a Donk On It, it is Fats. A month after the drop of the official music video for Mad One, it has already racked up 95,000 streams on YouTube and has been added to plenty more high-profile Spotify playlists.

We would usually say get on it while the hype is hot, but it’s unlikely that Mad One will stop being the hottest EDM drop of the summer anytime soon.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Freshcobar & Golden Girl released the deep house drop of the summer with ‘Days Long Gone’

Posted on 21 July 2023

Days Long Gone is the latest delicious drop of deep house from the undeniably hot collaborative duo, Freshcobar & Golden Girl; it is summer transcendence in a sonic bottle.

While the bass-drenched grooves dig deep, the Elysian vocal lines will take you even higher as you come up on the builds, which are tenacious enough to leave you on the hook of every ascending beat until the short sharp bursts of euphonic euphoria.

It is only a matter of time before Freschobar ascends from the underground as one of the most revered deep house artists of this era; his passion for the genre is conspicuous in each of his gravitas-graced releases.

Days Long Gone is yet another stellar release from No Ones Safe Recordings; if you want to keep your finger on the deep house pulse, we strongly recommend digging into the digital discographies of artists on their roster.

Days Long Gone will officially release on July 21. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shurpi gets us back into the right mindset with Energy

Posted on 12 July 2023

Taken from his head-turning, body-grooving 8-track release called Mastered The Art, Shurpi shall unwrap the unhelpful plastic lodged bottomless into our fractured frontal lobes with the dynamic new single, Energy.

Shurpi is a Boris Shurp-created EDM project that swirls around in brilliantly radiant energy to enhance our minds and calms our busy souls with only pure music to get thrilled about.

Turning our attention away from all distractions and dropping the heat to warm up all unconscious cruces, Shurpi sends all shivers into the freezer on this sublime track. If you like it foot-tapping and natural, you’ve entered the right door.

Energy from the genre-busting electronic music producer Shurpi is a quite terrific single to get ecstatic about no matter where in the world you are right now. This is an ear-piercing song with a calibrated sequence to snap back into reality. Right now.

Can you feel it? Let it sink in, it’s coming.

Hear this top new single on Spotify.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Hanging by a Thread: Ariana Molkara senses they’re messing with her head on the outstanding I Don’t Wanna Drown

Posted on 8 July 2023

Feeling the space between herself and a lover who she loves but is worried about showing her true feelings for fear of rocking the boat overboard, Ariana Molkara sings with the kind of gloriously classy energy to put shivers on the spines of those who want to be happy in love on I Don’t Wanna Drown.

Ariana Molkara is a radiantly exceptional award-winning Los Angeles-based 19-year-old singer-songwriter, actress and UPenn Wharton ‘27 student who has that extra hunger in her sparkling eyes which has her believing in her abilities.

Previously known best for her roles in Septembers of Shiraz and as Darby in WARPED!, Ariana Molkara is utterly mesmerising on I Don’t Wanna Drown and might cause hearts to flutter in abundance. This is the kind of honest single with a breathtaking beat, to catapult emotions into a reflective gaze of wonder at what the possibilities could be.

I Don’t Wanna Drown from your new favourite Southern California-born pop/EDM singer and actress Ariana Molkara is a rather special effort from a massively talented creative. She puts her heart and soul into this one of the results are supremely excellent no matter what genre you usually consume.

Having that lifejacket close for two is always a smart idea.

Turn this up on full volume with Spotify.

See more of her growing career reaching the top on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Interview: Nottingham alternative electronic producer RICKY leads us through those era-defining Dark Places

Posted on 25 June 2023

Opening up a whole new brightly coloured tunnel and delving us deeper into a mysteriously illuminating venture to bury all demons inside forever, UK-based EDM producer RICKY slams the door shut rather brilliantly and tells us all about it with an interview all about his 7th of July scheduled 8-track release, Dark Places.

Llewelyn: Welcome to A&R Factory and thank you for taking the time to chat with us today RICKY. Let’s start off with this. You were known previously for your work with the 2 piece electro-punk indie rave band called Battlecat! What’s the progression been like in your life to now being an alternative EDM producer?

RICKY: Thanks for having me! I’ve always been passionate about music having previously grown up living in an independent family-run music venue and watching and prompting hundreds of bands every year and then came Battlecat! Who was made up of me plus the sound man from our venue (we were very close friends and had been talking about trying to write some test icicles-inspired tunes for a while.

Battlecat’s sound mixed elements of techno, EDM and drum and bass with punk guitars and distorted vocals and was heavily influenced by the ‘Nu rave scene’ of the early 00s. Working on that particular project gave me an opportunity to explore a different side of music production (as I only really played guitar prior) and is where I cut my teeth using Daw’s and Vst’s and hardware units. I kept exploring and learning more about arrangement and production and it became my passion and so transitioning to alternative Electronic production felt like a natural progression.

Llewelyn: You rep Nottingham in the UK. What’s the scene like there (good and bad things) and where are the best spots to watch underground music in your area?

RICKY: The scene in the early 00s consisted of a lot of indie, punk and metal but it seems to have broadened over the years and it’s literally a melting pot of unique artists of every genre you can think of. Nottingham is home to many great venues but JT SOAR, The Chameleon and Bodega are great venues to catch upcoming artists.

Llewelyn: Dark Places. Goodness me. This will wake up anyone who has been sleeping. We love the high-tempo energy. What was the main motivation behind the project and are there any tracks in particular you’re most proud of? Also, was there anyone else involved in the creation?

RICKY: Dark Places is a follow-up to my ‘bedroom-produced Ep’ Pushing Buttons. I was fairly proud of Pushing Buttons but it was definitely a genre-hopping piece of work where as this next record feels a bit more coherent and uniform in terms of tone. I’m particularly proud of the debut single ‘Don’t say anything’ (which is released on 23rd June) and ‘Wreck’ which I suppose is my answer to Hudson Mohawke’s distorted brass, fidgety loveliness. The whole record was written, mixed and mastered by myself and the only contribution being that of ‘PLAEDO’ who is an activist, rapper and altogether great guy from Portland Oregon that pit some great lyrics to ‘I’m talking to you’

Llewelyn: 2020 was mad. Did you feel super refreshed after your hiatus and do you sense your creative process or sound changed at all?

RICKY: 2020 was definitely mad and full of negatives the only plus for me personally was the free time it gave me due to being furloughed and getting the last ep finished. When you have a family and full-time job it can be very difficult to find the time to work on your passion project because let’s face it family comes first.

Llewelyn: Do you have any funny stories about the music business you’re allowed to share? Perhaps an interaction with a fan, or a wild moment at a party/festival or a realisation which made you laugh?

RICKY: I can remember when the Eighties Matchbox B line disaster played our venue and after they played we had a lock-in with around 50 folks where we drank the bar dry to lots of The Cramps and QOTSA blasting out the PA and then around 3 am we took the party to their tour bus (they came it a massive double-decker tour bus complete with leather sofas and flat screens tvs) and invited a few of us on to indulge in some mushrooms and various other ‘vegetables’ that was a very epic and hilarious night. It wasn’t hilarious when I woke up with my head in a pizza box covered in filth and vomit though.

Llewelyn: Who are the OG’s of your local scene and who do you look up to the most?

RICKY: There’s always been Lots of great Nottingham bands but back in the day for me, it was probably ‘Late of the pier’ ‘I was a Cub Scout’ and Swound! There’s obviously been a good few Notts acts break in the last decade such as Sleaford mods and Jake Bugg.

Llewelyn: Lastly, where can we catch you live over the summer?

RICKY: I’m looking at getting the live show up and running for late August and I’m hoping to gig as much as physically possible (in between work and family commitments) through the back end of this year through next year onwards so hit me up if you’re a promoter and have any slots going free. I’ll sweat and make noise for beers and fuel.

–

Listen up to Don’t Say Anything on Spotify.

Find out more on IG.

Interviewed by Llewelyn Screen

UK EDM duo Issi Noho rattle the windows of the drowsy with the hauntingly memorable pick-me-up, Back to The Abyss

Posted on 24 June 2023

Following the dynamics of a film that is still to be made, the massively experienced and much-loved Issi Noho drops track 8 from We erA (A Tale for Dreamers and Scientists) and this is called, Back to The Abyss.

Issi Noho is a UK-based EDM Psychedelic Beats lover who enjoys drenching all tired hearts into a bath of mass contentment and shall cause bodies to be reinvigorated again.

Formed by Nick Smith & Neil Riley who are known best for their electric track on the legendary and original FIFA game, Issi Noho scores a hattrick on their latest release which would trouble even the best keepers. This is riveting to the core of empty abdomens and shall fill up the hungriest, who are voracious for something proper. Eat up then. It’s snack time.

Back to The Abyss from UK-based EDM act Issi Noho is a fast-paced and pulsating track to turn the lights off with. With glowsticks in abundance and masses ripping off their shirts, we have found an anthem to stomp all toes off with.

Sizzling through the lights and never letting go, we hope you’re ready to pump up the volume.

Check out the video on YouTube.

Soak into the socials on Twitter.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Spotlight Feature: Ducktail’s fiery feat of anthemic electro-soul, Over, ft Kristal Oliver, Bursts with riotous, almost punk energy: try telling us this isn’t the debut of the year

Posted on 23 June 2023

With a Wall Street career in the rear-view mirror, the electro luminary in the making, Ducktail, ensured the world knew about his arrival in the Future Bass scene by dropping his debut single, Over. If it’s good enough for Pete Tong, the multi-layered leads driving through pop-hooked groove-pocketed basslines are worthy enough for your rhythmic pulses.

The New York-based artist and producer teamed up with the Grammy-nominated platinum artist Kristal Oliver, who exhilarated the release with her award-winning vocal lines before the anthem for a lost and now found cause was mixed and mastered by none other than Gosteffects.

Ducktail and Kristal Oliver converged to create an unreckonable force with this fiery feat of anthemic electro-soul. With choruses that burst with riotous, almost punk, energy and ever-ascending verses, which will leave you on a new spiritual plateau, just try telling me this isn’t the debut of the year.

As change is the only inevitability in life, Ducktail prepared us for it with Over, by illustrating that freedom to step into the infinite possibilities of the unknown is something that we should forego complacency and stagnation for.

“Over is all about following your passion and finding happiness along the way. Music has always been the greatest source of happiness in my life. So, in a way, Ducktail was created to repay the debt I felt I owed to something that’s given me so much. Lyrically, Over is a testament to pursuit and passion; it quells decisional regret, something we’ve all experienced.”

Over hit the airwaves today on June 23rd. Check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Follow Ducktail on Instagram
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud
Watch on YouTube

DJ CoolRex grooved through the depths of desire in his tech-house debut, I Want

Posted on 8 June 2023

After the debut single, I Want, from DJ CoolRex, it is safe to say tech-house has a new iconic architect. While encompassing the epitome of desire, the techno kicks and basslines punctuate the soul-soaked house synthetics to create an authentically immersive atmosphere that electro heads will want to drench themselves in time and time again.

His future-ready flair, noted through the bass-drenched deep cuts, effortlessly set him apart from his contemporaries and the tech-house pioneers Laurent Garnier and Carl Cox. DJ CoolRex may be new to the scene, but on the basis of this deliciously strong debut, the Ohio-born and raised innovator has exactly what it takes to make his ascent from the underground an ephemeral trip.

Check out the DJ CoolRex debut by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast