Being the musichead that I am, whenever I hear a song that sounds epic, I have to hunt it down. Youtube, knowing that I attend festivals, placed an ad for Breakaway Music Festival before a video I watched, and although I am too broke to go to another fest so quickly, I was transfixed by the song playing and the visuals of what looks like a pretty enjoyable festival not too far from me. Maybe if a miracle happens I’ll find myself there, who knows.
Anyway, enough rambling, Bro Justin’s remix of Khalid and Normani’s “Love Lies” has an uplifting vibe and sound, perfect for festivals, and for the summer season that has sadly drawn to a close. That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy it and rock out whenever the feeling hits you though!
Bro Justin is a Filipino electronic music artist who has several remixes that you can check out on his Soundcloud.
Great for the summer heat, cool off with Pryor’s remix of Bebe Rexha’s “I Got You”
[Ambient Trap / Future House:]
Bebe Rexha – I Got You (Pryor Remix)
Courtesy of the good folks at Selected. Music channel on YouTube, is a brand new Future House banger from Bebe Rexha remixed by Pryor. “I Got You” has quality future house synths, great vocals and is calming and energizing at the same time. Throw in a little trap snare and you’ve got a perfect track for summer days at the beach, by the pool, out in the backyard or wherever your heart’s desire.
HYTYD brings us “Like That.” An interesting fusion of Dubstep and Trap sounds, worth checking out for fans of EDM.
[Dub-Trap]
HYTYD – Like That
HYTYD brings the noise in his dubstep/trap hybrid “Like That.” Beginning sounding like one of your more typical dubstep songs the first drop melds trap snares with Middle Eastern sounding horns and synths and steadily comes back to its original dubstep sound. While the dubstep portions of the track seem predictable, it’s what HYTYD does in between them that is the most interesting. A catchy repeating synth chord, a nice steady, semi-fast BPM and generous amounts of bass make for an interesting sound that EDM fans should check out.
The bass gets incredibly heavy in Hekler’s “Ultimate,” a refreshing take on the bass/trap genre.
[Trap/Bass] Heckler – Ultimate
Check out this super-heavy bass filled trap banger from Hekler. Starting with a hazy atmospheric vibe the song quickly amps up the energy dropping bass bombs, heavy snares and trappy sampled vocals. The first drop of the song comes as a welcome surprise evolving into very interesting and unique basslines and bass rolls. All fans of trap and heavy bass music should not miss this track.
Two hot EDM bangers from the likes of CiD, Kaskade and marshmello are here.
[Dance & Deep House]
Sweet Memories – CiD & Kaskade
Your sweet, memories
the one we danced to, all night long…
CiD & Kaskade’s insta-classic “Sweet Memories” has a very badass extended version (like many of CiD’s songs). Powerful wobbling basslines and funky groovy vocal samples make for a very floor-heavy dance tune. The song is very powerful even with it’s minimalistic take on “vocal house” and is sure to be a favorite among house lovers (also check out the duo’s other hot collab “Us” from Kaskade’s Automatic)
[Electronic Trap] Freal Luv (feat. Tinashe & Chanyeol of EXE) – Far East Movement x Marshmello
Hustle to win, we be livin’ in sin,
makin’ us two of a kind
새로운 길, babe we got temples to build,
ain’t no haters can step to our grind
-Chanyeol
Hip-hop and electronic group Far East Movement has teamed up with rising-star Trap producer, Marshmello, in the hard-hitting trap banger “Freal Luv.” Bringing R&B songstress Tinashe into the mix and Korean Pop singer Chanyeol, livens the song up even more while heightening it’s diverse sound. On the surface it may begin like your typical trap with female vocals but Tinashe manages to bring some very moving energy to the chorus. Far East Movement has largely been off the mainstream radar for some time, and though this is not the first time they’ve “teamed up” with an EDM producer (All You feat. Waka Flocka heavily sampled Kaskade’s “All You) this cut feels much more authentic. In “All You” the beat was simply sampled from it’s original recording, while this was produced just for the song.
The result is Marshmello‘s signature slamming and slapping snares, heavy bass rolls and triumphant bells keeping the mood light, but intense.
For those in the Atlanta area, marshmello will be performing at The Gold Room in Buckhead, Atlanta on November 23rd. Pre-sale tickets are already sold out.
If you’re not familiar with current Atlanta trap music “slaughter king,” 21 Savage shame on you…and me. I was not either until a few months ago back in early Spring. As an old head (or maybe slowly becoming an old fart), I had stopped following this generation of “trap” hip-hop after Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like” and similar songs dominated airwaves in the past year or two. Of course, here and there I’d hear a song I liked, mostly off of the radio, but I’ve always identified more with “trap” music of the early to mid 2000s (think Gucci Mane, T.I., Lil’ Boosie, Cam’Ron and a host of long fizzled out local ATL groups, like Crime Mob or D4L.
While recently chillin’ with some young bucks in the ATL streets, they did not hesitate to introduce me to the budding rapper. Just as I was with dubstep, trap EDM and IDM music, I did not immediately embrace this new type of music shown to be by friends. Especially as it seemed so braggadocious and over-laden with swag flexing, I initially could not take it seriously. Over time however, I began to hear of Savage more and decided to give his mixtape a listen. What could it hurt, right? Turns out I was glad I did.
I may not fully identify with Slaughter Gang, Chiraq Boys, or this young people’s generation of trapping, drug-dealing, “runnin’ up in them bandos”, pulling heists or other actions that might declare one as hard, but I can identify when music is bumpin’ as fuck (excuse my language, it is necessary here).
Slaughter King: Rating (4.5 out of 5 stars)
21 Savage’s “Slaughter King” is a solid tape full of hard, trap beats and lyrics that actually go above and beyond what I would expect from another trap rapper from ATL’s hoods to come up with. Not to say these rappers or this type of music isn’t ever witty or creative, but as is the problem in many genres (my god, like dubstep) after some time you realize a LOT of it sounds the same.
Thankfully, Savage switches it up with clever lyrics, original if not downright catchy ad-libs (21, 21, 21!!) and hooks. Two of my favorites so far off his December mixtape include “Lord Forgive”: the reflective, but very deep opening trap banger with Savage reminiscing on his come up in the rap game and in urban street life in general. For whatever reason, the instrumental ( masterfully produced by Fukk 12) makes me feel very nostalgic, but also very contemplative. The song definitely immediately feels heavy and while listening to it, as one YouTube commenter put it, “[you] can feel Savage’s pain on the track,” which comes across as sincere and certifiably street.
“MInd Yo Business” is probably one of the catchiest on the tape with a repeating hook (“Mind yo bidness b*tch”) over a similarly hard beat. The track is far more active compared to “Lord Forgive” and is already a favorite among many. There are many other standouts on the mixtape, “Deserve,” “No Peace” and very few boring or even similar sounding songs, save for one or two. Even on those tracks Savage still manages to make them entertaining.
Do yourself a favor (if you’re not an original/true fan of this genre of rap): suspend your judgement and how much you identify with gangsters and hood stars, or even the killers (as Desiigner’s “Panda” would like you to do) and simply enjoy and appreciate the power and feeling behind these trap-heavy numbers. You might be glad you did! Also in similar style of rap, also from Atlanta was Bankoll Fresh who has many now classic releases, following his tragic death in a shooting in March 2016.
![[Dub-Trap] HYTYD – Like That](https://illuminousmusic.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/download.png?w=800)
![[Dance/Deep House:] CiD & Kaskade – Sweet Memories (Extended Mix) // [Electronic Trap] Far East Movement x Marshmello – Freal Luv (feat. Tinashe & Chanyeol of EXE)](https://illuminousmusic.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/marshmello-2016-bellnjerry-billboard-1548-650-2.jpg?w=1200)
![[Rap & Trap Music] 21 Savage – Lord Forgive & Mind Yo Business](https://illuminousmusic.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/cover.jpg?w=500)
LUMiNOUS Musings 