We’re happy to present our Weekly Recap segment thanks to the brilliant work of Pranav Arora and The QR Network. He’ll be picking his favorite tunes of the week and giving a brief review of each of the tracks.
Orjan Nilsen – The Last Goodbye (Silk Android Remix)
The direction which Orjan Nilsen and his label – “In My Opinion”, has taken over the years has been a big disappointment for the old fans of the artist. The original track is a progressive house gem, and is one of my favorite tracks from his album – “Prism”, but it doesn’t meet the quality of production we used to hear from Orjan in the past. The track has two remixes, one from Matt Fax which gives the track a more Trancy vibe to the original and the other from Silk Android which brings to us a Trap version of the song. I like to see labels release tracks and remixes of various genres, but this remix has been released on “A State Of Trance”, which is very disappointing as the track is nowhere related to trance. In the past few years ASOT has been labelling many non- trance tracks as trance, just because a trance artist has produced the track or the track has been released on a trance artist’s label. Releases from artists like Fatum, Orjan Nilsen, Kill The Buzz and Dimatik are some of the non trance tracks released on the label in the recent times. Talking about the remix, I was expecting a progressive energetic drop to the track till the buildup, but was left very confused with a drop which didn’t fit the track. Silk Android should have made some variations before the drop so as to make to the drop fit in the track, instead of just varying the drop of the original track and making it sound like a mashup of two different tracks. Overall, I didn’t enjoy this remix and would prefer the Matt Fax remix over this one.
2/5
Armin Van Buuren ft Bonnie McKee – Lonely For You
Since the release of “This Is What It Feels Like”, it had become a ritual for Armin to release a radio hit every year. Armin starts off the year with another experimental radio hit – “Lonely For You”. It is always great to see Armin experiment with genres as over the past few years he has produced tracks of so many different genres such as bigroom house/trance , electro house, trance, deep House, techno, pop and progressive psy. This time Armin brings to his fans a drum and bass influenced pop track, featuring the dynamic vocals of Bonnie McKee. Being a fan of his more festival/club sound, I was disappointed at first, but after listening to the track a few times I really started enjoying this one. As always, Armin being true to his roots has produced a club mix of this track for his older fans. Usually I enjoy the club mix of his radio hits more than the original, but the vocals ad beats of the original track lack emotion, and hence don’t fit in well for a club mix. The club mix will be released soon, and will definitely be a treat for the fans of trance music. This track is way better than Armin’s experimental radio track – “Sex, Love & Water”, and being one of his old fans I would love to see Armin venture and experiment more into such tracks.
3.5/5
Nicky Romero & David Guetta – Ring The Alarm
This track has been one of the most awaited releases from Nicky Romero, and I have been waiting for this track since Romero’s Tomorrowland 2018 set at Belgium. The track features Romero’s signature bigroom sound and powerful vocals. I really liked the vocals used for this track, and I can imagine these powerful vocals being used for a tech house track in the future. The track is a collaboration between Guetta and Romero, but since the past many years Guetta has no signature sound of his own, and it seems that he just puts his name on tracks without contributing to them. The drop is powerful and features the sound of the drums, which we have heard in many of his Nicky Romero’s bigroom tracks such as “S.O.T.U”, “Champion Sound” and his remix for Steve Aoki’s – “Lie To Me”. It is good to see these two big names releasing a track after 6 years, even though I’m not sure if Guetta has contributed to the track as I only hear Nicky Romero’s sound throughout the track. This track is perfect for the festivals, but I would prefer Nicky Romero to be a little creative with the drops for his festival tracks.
3/5
Rodg X Dim Fricot – Cinnamon
Rodg, is one of the few artist on ASOT who has always delivered the best progressive tracks and has never disappointed his fans. Rodg, is back with another dreamy progressive gem, featuring beautiful synths and haunting vocals. The track is perfect for the clubs or a late night drive. The vocals, lyrics and production of this track remind me of Above & Beyond’s progressive tracks.
4/5
This recap was provided by The QR Network which is a site for interviews with producers and DJs. Check out their interviews with the owner of EDM Reviewer, Peter Rijkpema, Nino Lucarelli, Anikdote, and Herobust.
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