Linkin Park Remixes
For some reason or another I found myself looking up EDM remixes of Linkin Park today. I had more success than in the past, and actually found several great tracks.
Phaeleh
I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the extremely talented dubstep artist Phaeleh this week. His tunes are not the abusive, overdone commercial dubstep that more people are familiar with; his style is deep, smooth, and usually relaxing, mesmerizing and even thought-provoking. He collaborates with Soundmouse, who provides stunning, delicate, entrancing vocals. I think it feels very much like winter music, especially his EP The Cold In You. His full-length album Fallen Light is also excellent and has a good variety of his style. Some of my favorites from him include In The Twilight, Think About It, Afterglow and The Cold In You.
By the way, if you’re wondering how his name is pronounced, it is like “fella”.
Sanctum, Mirror’s Edge Soundtracks
About a month ago, the video game Sanctum was free to play on Steam. “Hey, this looks cool, I’ll try it out.” I’m glad I did. Besides being a pretty cool and fun tower defense game, Sanctum boasts an extraordinarily excellent soundtrack. It might not have incredible energy or necessarily make one think of a battlefield, but it definitely has quality, style and atmosphere. The mood, especially the tracks that play during the building/planning phase of the game, is chilled yet still has nice energy and beat. Most of it I think would be nice background music for a social party. I was surprised to discover it was made by an in-house composer for the indie game company, Coffee Stain Studios. I expected it to be a commissioned work by an independent artist. You can listen to and buy it here. I hope to see more titles from this game company.
I recently discovered the artist Solar Fields. As I mentioned previously, I am a huge fan of spacey-sounding tracks, and Solar Fields delivers! This artist has produced six full-length albums of deep, detailed and atmospheric tunes, mostly Ambient, Downtempo and Psy Trance, with some Breakbeat. I found out he also produced the soundtrack for the game Mirror’s Edge, which I then bought in part because of the music. I found the game, a free-running-oriented first person action/adventure, quite fun and very immersive, and Solar Field’s excellent soundtrack was a big part of that. I find the menu music amazing for its emotion and detail, and love the fact that it uses the melody of the credits song, Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky, which also entrances me. Another good sample from the soundtrack is New Eden.
Outside of his work on Mirror’s Edge, Some of my favorites so far by Solar Fields would be Insum (this link is also a stunning video titled World Builder by Bruce Branit), Sol, Leaving Home, and Unite.
Artist Name
You may notice this blog’s name has changed. My official artist name is now Sound Cadet. Yes, this means you can expect something from me in the future. I have been messing about with mixing software. :)
James Zabiela / Moon
About a year ago, I found this fantastic 2-hour mix by James Zabiela. The theme of the mix is “Life on the moon” inspired by (and sampling from) the 2009 movie, Moon. [Warning: the mix contains spoilers for the movie, so if you plan on watching it, wait to listen to this mix until after you see it.] I am a big fan of space/flight themed music, but the first time I heard the mix I was unsure if I liked it as a whole, because I found it rather odd, and I wasn’t terribly fond of some tracks. However, this mix introduced me to a number of amazing songs and artists, including Altair’s track Collateral, which is one of my all-time favorite pieces. Collateral itself has samples from the movie Crash, which is a very good movie. I have been listening to this mix by Zabiela occasionally for the past year, and grew to like it more each time. I finally watched the movie Moon yesterday, which I quite enjoyed. I can now appreciate the mix even more, and it will remain as a special part of my library.
Sample of Florida Breakbeats
Some of the first electronic music I started listening to (outside of video game soundtracks) was Florida Breakbeat. I might have actually liked hanging out in clubs if I had been older when this stuff was popular in the 90s and early 2000s. Florida breaks are very bass and beat oriented and tend to have a dark atmosphere. Here are a few favorites from my collection, as well as some I have just found (soon to be added to my collection). Afraid Of Us includes some samples from The Matrix, bringing back good ‘ol memories. :) Enjoy.
Digitally Imported Radio
I have to mention that a great place to hear electronic music for free is Digitally Imported Radio. You can use your PC or phone to stream any of dozens of channels. The trance channel is always good and hosts a variety of shows during afternoons, including Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance, which plays 1pm-3pm CDT on Thursdays. Yes, it’s playing right now! So head on over and tune in to the greatness with me!
Fall Breaks
I don’t know what it is about cold weather and breaks, but they seem to me to go especially well together. With the first couple of cold fronts coming through my area, I’ve been going back through some of my breaks collection and thoroughly enjoying it.
I was very happy this week to find something to add to it, this gem of a 2-disc compilation by Anthony Pappa: Balance 006. I was looking through tracks by Luke Chable and found his remix of Open Day which has been stuck in my head for a few days. Out of curiosity, I looked to see if it was featured in a compilation somewhere, and sure enough it was, along with an original by Luke, in Balance 006. The first disc starts out easy with chilled beats, then slowly warming up but remaining very atmospheric throughout. It gives me that “spacey” feeling of flying at night or through space that I like so much. The second disc is a bit darker and club oriented with harder beats but lightens up a little bit toward the end. Overall a very good, well-mixed compilation.
Speaking of Luke Chable, I also thoroughly enjoyed this remix of Trafik’s Your Light.
I also found this guy Nicolaj, who pretty darn good at mixing, and he’s got some good ones up for download at SoundCloud. I especially like Examination 003 Part 2, featuring breaks geniuses Hybrid (one of my favorite all-time artists) and Elite Force.
I have been listening to my Way Out West collection again the past couple of weeks, which I also associate with winter. I love their older style, especially their album Intensify with tracks like Stealth and Intensify (parts 1 and 2).
I now have an official outlet to rant about my favorite music.
I’ve been listening to electronic music for about six years or so now, and have always wanted to share the experience with others. It’s sad that electronic music doesn’t seem to be popular at all in the US (except possibly for the growing Dubstep phenomenon as of late), and it seems to be in large part that people just don’t know about it and haven’t heard the good stuff. I feel that, as one of the “enlightened” (thanks Jonathan and Jacob!), I need to show those around me the wide variety of excellent electronic music out there, and share my adventures as I stumble upon more of the countless talented artists around the world.
I have shared links to tracks in Gmail and Facebook for a long time, but what I really needed was this sort of blog-type format. I never really considered myself as a blogging-type person, but the more music I find, the more I want to write about it, and I’m spamming my Facebook profile with music-related posts. I guess I do need a blog, so here I am.
I will be sharing tracks, artists, albums, compilations, mixes, and other cool stuff I find related to electronic music. My mood and the music I listen to are usually in sync in some way. I am mostly interested in Trance, Breaks, and Progressive House, but when I am in the mood for them I also get into Drum’n’Bass, Dubstep, Hardstyle, IDM, Minimal, Ambient, and chill “Balearic” tunes. I believe in giving anything a try, and love discovering new and unknown talent in any genre.
What I love most about electronic music in general is that it is boundless. The complexity of sounds and rhythm, or emotions of flowing melodies, is only limited by the artist’s imagination. They can lift your spirits or sympathize with your frustrations, or provide a catchy beat to exercise or dance your stress away. I quickly get bored with Rock, Pop, and other stuff. Trance in particular always keeps me coming back for more.
