Quintino & Deorro - Phoenix

Big-room is supposed to be dead and Quintino & Deorro clearly never got the memo. “Phoenix” is a full-throated festival main-stage weapon, all rising sirens and a drop designed to launch 40,000 people into the air at the same instant. There’s no subtlety anywhere in it and that’s completely the point; this is music engineered for one specific function and it performs that function ruthlessly well. The lead synth in the drop has that classic Deorro punch, and the buildup at 1:40 does the whole slow-siren-and-white-noise routine that should feel dated by now and instead just works because they commit so absurdly hard to it. I’ve got a soft spot for big-room when it’s this unapologetic; the genre gets mocked to death, but a great festival record still does something a moody deep cut simply never will. It’s dumb the way a fireworks show is dumb, loud and bright and completely effective. Not one for the headphones. For the field, at night, with your hands in the air.

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