Sixty drops this week. House and drum and bass split the top of the pile between them, dubstep brought the heavy artillery, and somehow a pair of budget Bluetooth earbuds is sitting at number four on the monthly chart. I genuinely have no complaints.
The Charts
- Isam Hadjih feat. Ormella - In My Dreams: holding the top for a 4th week, completely unmoved. Listen →
- TLM feat. Merely - Summer Jam: locked at two for 5 weeks running. Listen →
- Seven Lions & Kill The Noise - I Need: steady at three, 4 weeks and counting. Listen →
- Cheap Earbuds Review: AWEI A920BL: surging up from eight. Not a song. A review of fifteen-dollar Bluetooth earbuds, and it is climbing past the actual music on this blog. I have no explanation and I refuse to apologize. Read →
- Crashguard - For A Moment: new on the chart, straight in at five. Listen →
- Amelie Lens - the energy is us: new entry. Listen →
- Joker - SETI: slipping one spot after 3 weeks. Listen →
- Rudimental, Original Koffee & Winny - Send Shots: cooling off, down from four after 3 weeks. Listen →
- BOP - Rumination: new on the chart. Listen →
- Da Hool - Meet Her at the Loveparade (Hex Cougar Remix): slipping one. The Loveparade never truly dies. Listen →
Knocked off this month: Born On Road & P Money - Bristol Style, SKALAH, Riko Dan - Thriller in Manila, Dimension & Subsonic - Ghost Town.
Track of the Week
Crashguard - For A Moment
I called this one “competent, pretty, and completely forgotten by tomorrow morning” back in August. It is now topping the weekly chart and sitting at number five on the monthly. Turns out the audience does not share my memory problems. The uplifting trance formula that felt predictable on first listen is clearly the thing people want right now, and the melody in the breakdown is doing the heavy lifting. Sometimes the straight line is the one that connects. Listen →
The New Drops
House (14 posts): House ran the week. Eats Everything brought a Rick James-sampling groove that was the most fun I had with a dancefloor record all week, The Vision turned up with Andreya Triana and Prince Fatty for a soulful Sunday-afternoon record, and Route 94 got a remix with a bassline that has a personality of its own. Raphi appeared four times across house and dance, which is either impressive dedication or an algorithm gaining sentience.
Drum and Bass (12 posts): Liquid and heavy in equal measure. Eli Brown crossing over from techno with Dimension was the collab nobody saw coming, and it worked. BOP showed up twice, Netsky brought a radio-liquid vocal track with Hannah Boleyn, and S.P.Y’s remix got a grittier, darker edge courtesy of US + THEM.
Dubstep (9 posts): Excision and Space Laces built something almost comically violent (compliment). Hamdi tapped D Double E for a grime-dubstep handshake that should have happened years ago. Virtual Riot and Whales packed more into one drop than some producers manage across an EP. The heavy end ate well this week.
Electronic (9 posts): The broadest bucket, covering everything from Ghost Jr’s trap-bass hybrid to Jack Garratt doing his own thing entirely. A mixed bag by definition, a few gems hiding in the pile.
Big Room / Dance (7 posts): Borgeous and Dyro flying the electro flag, Ravekings on acid-tinged big room, and Dillon Francis dropping a trap record. The big rooms are alive and well.
Trance (4 posts): Scorz made progressive trance feel warm and melancholic in the right proportions, and YORK showed up with a beachside cut that sounds like it belongs in a better decade.
Future Bass / Melodic (3 posts): AK & Liam Thomas and Retro Kid on the softer, more textured end of things. Onte’s halcyon rounds it out.
Hard Dance (2 posts): Jessica Audiffred and RayRay on hard techno, Hel:sløwed on hardstyle. Small sample, big kicks.
Also Banged This Week
- Eli Brown & Dimension - Frequency: two producers from different lanes meeting at 174, and the result is heavier and cleaner than it has any right to be. Listen →
- Hamdi & D Double E - Heart & Soul: grime royalty over dubstep weight, swagger and menace in equal parts. Listen →
- Eats Everything x Love Revolution - Give It To Me Baby: Rick James funk under a fat house groove. Pure peak-time grinning. Listen →
- The Vision feat. Andreya Triana x Prince Fatty - Heaven: grown-up soulful house that made me forget I was working. Listen →
- Excision & Space Laces - True Killers: two bass heavyweights, zero politeness. Bring a waiver. Listen →
See you next week. Coldplay still sucks.