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And the reward for most Euro-sounding song title goes to….but seriously, this track slays. Be it trance or house or, as “Maximal Crazy” proves, synth-tearing electro, Dutch legend Tiësto still knows how to make an anthem. I still stand by his 2010 Coachella show as one of the greatest I’ve ever seen, and if he keeps producing tracks like this, I can’t wait to see him again.
Britney Spears occupies a weird, unique space in the pop spectrum. She’s been compared to past greats like Madonna and Kylie Minogue, but she lacks the latter’s self-aware creativity and mentioning her in the same breath as the former is, frankly, insulting. A common complaint with Spears is that she doesn’t write her own songs, which, the argument goes, somehow equates to a lack of talent, but the same can be said of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra… the list goes on. She isn’t blessed with the preternaturally skilled vocals of a Mariah Carey or a Tina Turner, but her music has never been about her voice so much as her personality. And her personality is just what has carried her this far, when contemporaries like Mandy Moore and Christina Aguilera are becoming Starbucks whores and public laughingstocks, respectively. Spears is the ultimate pop chameleon, transforming from sly school girl with enough sexual innuendo to inspire thousands of illegal fantasies to a robotic dance-floor dominatrix, confident enough to overcome tabloid dramas that have ruined lesser stars. In many ways, Spears needed that separation from her past self to become the four-on-the-floor mistress she is on Femme Fatale. Calling Britney a pop singer is doing the term a disservice; she is much more of a pop bellwether, subject to the whims of the Top 40 crowd and more than happy to adapt to environments that have cruelly undone lesser icons. There’s a reason Aguilera’s last album sold barely north of 110,000 copies and Spears’ single “Hold It Against Me” has the most aggressive beat on mainstream radio today. Spears shows a willingness to reinvent herself that belies her fragile personal life and, most importantly, keeps her on the cutting edge of pop music.
Sure, “Hold It Against Me” has the kind of dubstep breakdown that only the most naïve listener would consider representative of the genre, but the fact remains that Spears is the first to introduce such a rapidly rising phenomenon to the mainstream. She’s become a pop juggernaut not by being the most talented, or the most charismatic, or even the one with the best songs, but by simply listening to the people who know the pop pulse best: her stable of producers. Blackout became such a great modern pop album because Spears finally submitted entirely to her songwriting team, choosing to become the entirely sexualized instrument through which their massive hooks would be transmitted to neon dance floors worldwide. And for Spears, that is just what she needs: a Max Martin and a Dr. Luke to write a track like “Till The World Ends,” one that throbs with trance-y synths, a thumping electro beat that is pure sex and a chorus that goes and goes as only the best club hits can do, sensible lyrics be damned. Synths as dirty as the ones on “Trouble For Me” or as unashamedly Eurotrash as “Trip To Your Heart” are just what pop music needs right now, in a year when electronica is becoming bigger than ever and a pop song is not just about the hook but about how much it can make you move.
Yet while one can be assured that Spears’ lyrics remain as one-dimensional and cheesy as ever, it’s the sonically varied production work that prevents Femme Fatale from being a one-hit factory with a bunch of electro clones. It helps that Spears’ sounds much more involved than she did on the rather dispirited Circus, with even a by-the-numbers Dr. Luke jam like “Gasoline” showing some Spears vocal pizzazz, as much as a Auto-Tuned sexual android as she tends to sound. The real treat of the record lies in the more off-kilter tracks, like Bloodshy & Avant’s (better known as indie band Miike Snow) skeletal, vaguely African-flavored “How I Roll” and their rave day-glo specimen “Trip To Your Heart,” a track that would make Tiesto blush. For all its obvious chart-topping intent and single-minded dance directive, Femme Fatale is an eclectic record, and that’s why for every ill-advised will.i.am guest spot (“Big Fat Bass” – how the fuck this isn’t a Black Eyed Peas song is beyond me) there’s an out-of-left field flute (!?!) solo that actually works (“Criminal”). It isn’t exactly the progressive stylings of a Janelle Monae, but damn if it’s not catchy and interesting.
So, Britney Spears: pop icon or pop puppet, someone with the genuine foresight to see where the winds are blowing or one lucky enough to have a team of handlers to decide which direction she should go in? It will always be hard to tell, even though I’m inclined to lean towards the former considering Blackout had her pushing the pop boundaries years before electronic music was truly a driving force in mainstream culture. Perhaps it’s easier to just say that Britney is Britney and nothing more – someone who is more a distinctive sound and a driving force of sex nowadays than a genuine musical talent. Femme Fatale, after all, is a flawed album, with lyrics that barely clear the level of a Ke$ha and a maturity level to match. But it’s a pop album that’s supposed to make you dance, and when it comes to that, there’s not a star out there that can match Ms. Spears.
Britney Spears – “Trip To Your Heart”
Trance megastars Above & Beyond are having quite the year – DJ Magazine recently placed them at #5 in the world in their annual rankings, the trio is putting on the finishing touches on their third proper studio LP entitled Group Therapy, and they’re all set to go out on tour again following the release of the second single from the album, “Sun & Moon,” on March 7th. Those looking to land tickets to a certain sell out in the Klap’s home base of Los Angeles need look no farther than the link below, which has been graciously provided for those looking to land early bird tickets to the group’s May 13th show. Just enter your e-mail address at the link.
But don’t hesitate: the early bird signups will only be live for so long. Check back at the Klap in March for “Sun & Moon” as soon as it drops.
Above & Beyond Los Angeles Early Bird Tickets Presented by Insomniac 05/13/11
Here’s the first single from Group Therapy, featuring British singer-songwriter Richard Bedford. Track goes.
Got the chance to talk on the phone with three-time #1 DJ in the world, Armin van Buuren last Saturday before his epic set at UK dance festival Creamfields. Thanks to Sputnikmusic.com, Plexi PR, and Armin himself, who was extremely gracious and accommodating. Quite envious of anyone in the NYC area who is going to see him at Electric Zoo.
Rudy Klapper: Being the number one DJ in the world is a pretty demanding job, particularly when you’ve been voted the best multiple years as you have. How has 2010 been turning out so far as you gear up for your album release?
Armin van Buuren: Well, it’s been really, really phenomenal. I thought last year was sort of the peak for myself but this year I’m releasing my new album, I’ve been doing a little less DJing in general because I want to focus on that. But I still toured South America and North America, some stuff in Asia. But yeah, in the summer though I’ve just been full on doing a gig almost every day and it’s been really fantastic. Now I have 21 new tracks finished and I’m very proud.
RK: I caught your headlining act at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles this past June (well over a hundred thousand people) and you’ll be playing at the Electric Zoo in NYC this upcoming weekend. How do you like playing at these massive festivals as compared to more intimate gigs?
AVB: I think everyone would like to have a fancy dinner sometimes at a posh restaurant, and then somebody likes to have a greasy burger the other day or eat with friends another day or a home cooked meal another day. That’s how I see it; you have a different meal every day. And it’s just really, really great. I love the smaller gigs, the intimate gigs. Last week for example I played at a really small club, like 400 people, in Greece, and you can talk right to your fans, communicate with them directly. While at a big festival it’s sort of, you know, the big energy, all the big tunes in a really short time, very quick mixing, just a big party atmosphere, which is unbelievable fun I think.
RK: How are festivals in the U.S. different from festivals in Europe? Dance music hasn’t been as mainstream for that long here, a lot of people see it as “new” and “fresher;” does the crowd reflect this?
AVB: Yeah, I guess that is true, in Europe we do have a longer history of electronic dance music and it’s more in the daytime radio. I think the U.S. is definitely catching up with house music right now, especially with all the big festivals that are going on, Electric Daisy, ULTRA Music Festival, and now Electric Zoo, slowly but surely the U.S. is definitely catching up. And of course you can tell by the crowds that are starting to come out.
RK: A lot of electronic artists who will be playing at Electric Zoo utilize software and MIDI controllers during their performances to allow for more “on the fly” changes and more live remixing. Do you see yourself ever incorporating different technology into your DJ setup?
AVB: Oh for sure, I mean the gap between being a DJ and being a producer has sort of vanished anyways the last couple of years. For my type of music, trance music, people like to hear tunes unedited as much as possible. That’s my experience; there was a time in 2004 when I used to drop all types of a capellas and tunes and mixed-key and whatever not, but a lot of people that come to my gigs just want to hear the tunes and the full tunes, mixed in and mixed out, that’s it, not too many technical tricks. It depends on what kind of artist you are and what kind of music you want to represent. Of course, I have some special edits that I do and on the fly I make sure that a lot of my sets, for example when I play a big festival, that I do have live edits just to make a tune shorter and give it more energy. At the moment, though, I don’t see myself fully producing because I don’t really see the point from my kind of music. With trance, it’s basically all about the tunes themselves rather than being on the stage full on producing with a MIDI controller and all that.
RK: Has there been any particular festival this year that has stood out to you?
AVB: Yes, I played in Bulgaria this summer, which was really, really special, and one of my favorite crowds. I played until 7, until the sun came up, and that was one of my favorite gigs. I also thought Dance Valley [an annual dance festival held in Spaarnwoude, Netherlands] was really, really special. It was raining all day and then in the evening when I started to play it finally cleared up, and it was a very magical atmosphere.
RK: Speaking of huge concerts, I know you occasionally play 9-12 hour sets – I even saw one at TAO 2009. How do you prepare for something like that, and more importantly, how do you stay awake?
AVB: *laughs* Well the crowd keeps me up, all that energy! I think I’m preparing every day because I’m selecting tunes for longer sets constantly and seeing in which part of the night they could work out perfectly. For example, when I play a festival I have to play all my big hits and my latest productions because that’s what people expect me to play, that’s what they want me to play. But when I get to play a longer set I can really build, play some more progressive stuff, some more house stuff, some more techno stuff, some classics, some vocal trance, and everything in between.
RK: Your fourth album, Mirage, comes out September 10th, of which I’ve already had the pleasure of listening to a few tracks. What would you say your goal was with this album and do you think it turned out as you originally perceived it?
AVB: Well, mainly, the quote for this album that really works is “life is what’s happening to you when you were busy making other plans.” I had a big plan for this album and it turned out in a completely different way *laughs*. And I really didn’t mind, I was just making music in the studio and I really found the fun again in the studio. I really felt pressure a couple of years back after the success of Imagine, I was like “Okay how am I ever going to top this?” I had a really big hit, “In and Out of Love” was #1 in three countries, and I really had a lot of pressure for a follow-up. And I found that I just went into the studio and had fun, that’s what music is all about, and without actually noticing it I’d produced twenty-one tracks, brand new tracks, and that’s the most I’ve ever done in one year. So it’s the biggest project I’ve ever done, working with classical orchestras, working with a real rock band, working with loads and loads of live acoustic stuff, working with excellent writers like Guy Chambers, working with the Nervo sisters, you know, just having fun. I didn’t really think about – I mean, of course I had an idea for Mirage when I set out, but for me, it didn’t happen, the album just came about in such a great way in its own way, and I just had so much fun in creating the album.
RK: Mirage has a number of guest spots, including [English singer-songwriter] Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Owl City’s Adam Young. Is there any artist in particular you would love to collaborate with that you haven’t had the chance to?
AVB: Oh yeah, they’re loads of artists that I admire and I’d love to work with. I’m a big fan of Seal, his voice is amazing, or Enya, or Bjork. But I think what I want to stress for me is not so much the collaborations that inspire me, for me it’s the songs at the end of the day. When I talk about my new album I notice that a lot of people talk about the collaborations, but I want to stress that half of it is still an instrumental trance album, and I know there’s not really much you can say about something if it’s not a collaboration or something, but at the end of the day, for me music is always number one. No matter who you work with the song should always be involved; let’s say if I could ever have the honor to work with, say, Madonna for example, I would still want the track to be good, I don’t want the track to be finished just because it’s Madonna, just because it’s somebody really famous who would look good on the album. I want the music to be the best.
RK: Nowadays blogs are a very convenient way for people to discover new music, particularly in the dance and techno genres. Although the artist may be losing money in record sales, it’s often outweighed by the promotion and publicity. How do you feel about people using blogs to find new music, even if it is sometimes illegal?
AVB: I don’t know, I think it’s hard because you have to make a living one way or another. If you go to a restaurant and you leave without paying, that’s just something you don’t do, and I think that is really important to stress. This last album is the most expensive album I’ve ever made, paid out of my own pocket, and people downloading it and putting it online, they just don’t realize the damage that’s being done, not just for me but for everyone who works on it. Now on the other hand, I do love the fact that music is so easy and accessible for people right now. I think what should happen is we should find a solution for people to be able to access music very easy, very quickly, because I think the Internet is a wonderful thing and it’s so great to find new music. On the other hand, artists do need to be paid. I don’t want to be really rich on my music, I want to be able to make music and be able to make more music, that’s all I want. I don’t want to be involved in just selling new music to sell it. I think what we should do, with YouTube now and all the commercials, the way YouTube is selling money for each commercial click, I think new advertising streams like that online are going to be happening more, like when an artist posts a new track there will be advertising with it. I think, not only for myself but also for other artists, what you really notice is that people do really need money, to pay rent, and to make a living and keep on making music.
RK: Lastly, I was searching around YouTube the other day and came across a clip of you DJing a celebration for the men’s World Cup team, in honor of their second place finish this past summer. What was that experience like, being able to celebrate such a huge moment in Dutch history with all your countrymen?
AVB: It was amazing, I mean unfortunately we did lose in the finals, but it was still an extraordinary achievement for such a small country, I mean Holland is only 16 million people! *laughs* But it was amazing, and I gotta be honest with you, the whole show was basically unplanned. I was supposed to play from 4-6, and I wasn’t supposed to be on stage, and then all of a sudden I had to play they pushed me on stage, and there I was, live on national TV! Just a fantastic experience.
Brian Transeau has always been something of a musical renegade. Going from a classically trained pianist at the Berklee College of Music to a trailblazing electronica pioneer in Los Angeles, BT has become world-renowned for his innovative techniques as well as for his huge role in developing progressive house and trance for the masses. Calling the man a one-trick pony would be an insult, though; nearly every album he’s released after his debut has incorporated numerous genres and bits of pieces into his diverse arsenal, from jazzy trip-hop to classical scores to straight rock. These Hopeful Machines, his sixth album, continues this trend, returning to a more dance-oriented sound than 2006’s This Binary Universe but retaining the prevalence of vocals and stylistic mish-mashing.
As an artistic effort, These Hopeful Machines is immediately inspiring and, truth be told, a bit intimidating. Clocking in a bit under two hours, the mammoth record is split into two slightly more manageable sides, although the differences between either are negligible. It’s an interesting concept, and one that speaks to BT’s desire to release an album as opposed to a dance record. There is an ebb and flow that’s obvious from opener “Suddenly” to the Psychedelic Furs cover “The Ghost in You” that closes everything out. At times it’s a rewarding experience, where all the jagged pieces fall together into a thing of seamless beauty that is as amazing for its coherence as it is for its understated complexity: check the shimmering collapse of “The Emergency” into the glitchy “Every Other Way” or the way the filthy house rave of instrumental “The Rose of Jericho” gracefully downshifts into new-wave rocker “Forget Me.” For a man of BT’s talents it should come as no surprise, but it’s hard to make it through a full listen of These Hopeful Machines without coming off with the impression that the record is a bit bloated, particularly much of the first and fourth tracks off the second disc, which meander about melodies and dreamy soundscapes without much of a purpose or hook.
It should come as little surprise then, that amidst the typically excellent mood pieces and foot-stomping parties BT throws down, the album really succeeds on the contributions of its vocalists, from Transeau himself to guest vocalists like Rob Dickinson, Kirsty Hawkshaw, and Christian Burns. At times they make the track, as on Burns’ urgent vocals on “Suddenly” or the delicate performance Transeau puts on “The Ghost in You,” which overhauls the original into an entirely new atmospheric beast. On the other hand, Hawkshaw’s angelic work on “A Million Stars” comes off as far too airy, making the rather boring track seem like a bad Enya trance mix. Dickinson’s throaty effort on “Always,” meanwhile gives the track a bit of a Nickelback-in-Ibiza vibe that is certainly off-putting only aided by the cheesy lyrics, although he redeems himself on the soulful, breezy “The Unbreakable” later on.
Still, BT’s true talents continue to lie in his house work, and on hard-hitting club mixes like “The Rose of Jericho” or the gritty synths and transcendent melodies of the bipolar “Every Other Way,” Transeau continues to prove he can progressive, fresh house with the best of them. While it’s entertaining to see such a talent spread his wings beyond his most successful works, the uneven nature of These Hopeful Machines speaks to a scattered genius, one who is suitably proficient in everything from soft rock ‘n roll to fist-pumping anthems to hypnotic mood pieces, but one who still struggles to fit them all into a clear, consistent aural portrait.
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