STMPD has become Martin Garrix’s playground for the harder, clubbier end of the dance spectrum, and Sentinel’s “Bring The House Down” fits the brief with a title that’s basically a mission statement. This is muscular house music, the kind with a bassline that drives rather than glides and a hook engineered for a festival tent full of sweaty people. It does what it says on the tin, no overthinking required. I keep flip-flopping on STMPD as a label, because some of their output feels like it was assembled by committee to test well in a stadium. But this one has actual grit to it. The drop is punchy without tipping into the cookie-cutter bigroom thud that killed the genre’s reputation a decade ago. There’s a sense of momentum, a forward lean, that makes it more than functional. Sentinel might not be a household name yet, but a track this clean on a platform this big is a good way to change that. Put it on when you need the energy in the room to go up a couple notches and watch it deliver.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.