SoundTrax: Feel The Swing
posted in: Features • Reviews & Playlists
In the age of the playlist, everyone has access to collections of songs hacked together due to arbitrary similarities. But what does that accomplish other than aid our forever shortening attention span, while making the idea of an album obsolete? SoundTrax is here to provide you with playlists that are more thought out, but still provide you with the instant gratification of a dance playlist.
Over the past few years, as dance music has taken the world by storm, a subgenre called electro-swing has been slowly gaining traction and is bound to have a breakout year in 2012. The name is pretty self explanatory, combine ’30s era swing music with heart-pounding modern electro. But what results is an incredibly complex fusion of different musical ideas; swing horns over house kick drums, antique vocals blended with nu-wave synthesizers, it’s the dance that defined the thirties combined with the dance defining the tens. So practice that Lindy Hop, then pop in this mixtape and take a trip back in time.
Unlike normal weeks of SoundTrax, there will be no individual track descriptions to accompany this playlist. The music speaks for itself, and is extremely versatile. Getting ready for a night out at some swanky club modeled after an old speak easy? Electro-swing is your answer. Throwing a dinner party? Put some electro-swing on as background music and watch while your party goers can’t help but tap their feet. Entered in a twenty-four hour dance-a-thon? Electro-swing your way to the finish! Woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Put a smile on with some electro-swing. Stuck in some weird space-time continuum between now and 1937 because Doc Brown forgot to jumpstart the flux-capacitor? Electro-swing!
I think you get the point.
Here at SoundTrax we realize that sometimes people take music a little bit too seriously, and every once in a while its nice to put on some tunes that are just plain fun! Maybe this is not the most thought-provoking music you’ve heard today, but why does it have to be?
The playlist starts off with SoundTrax veteran Gramatik who combines swing-based horn samples with a bit of funk influence, then electro-swing staple, Caravan Palace pulls us even further back in time before reminding us where the “electro” of the genre comes from. Parov Stelar, another big player in the scene creates some really unique song structures by combining choppy vocal samples with monster horn riffs and playful piano parts. Gramophonedzie finishes off the opening half of the playlist with the most well know song to come from the genre, featuring heavy vocal sampling (and an awesome video). You’ll be humming this one all night. The rest of the soundtrack delves deeper into the dance rhythm that has been established, so tighten your laces and enjoy!
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