The Z-Dar: Seven Lions Beatport Contest

Hey people! It's Z here with another contest that I could not keep my hands off of. Beatport has another contest up in collaboration with Seven Lions and OWSLA for Seven Lions amazing track Days to Come off the Days to Come EP that was released about a month ago. There has been a ton of artist putting their all into this contest, with tons of amazing new faces and styles that are coming out of the woodwork. The contests keep getting bigger and bigger at Beatport and with the ante so high and the numbers so large you can bet even some familiar faces have followed suit to take a crack at remixing too. With the grand prize being an OWSLA record release, among other goodies, to be in the ranks and likes of Skrillex, Zedd, Porter Robinson, Kill The Noise, and Jack Beats to name a few, you can bet that theres gonna be a lot of gold this time around.

Today at EGP I feel I should give some airtime to the artists and their respected remixes that caught my eye for this contest. I took some time to head over to the Beatport page and listened to an ear numbing amount of remixes about 1300 give or take a couple hundred, picked out a bunch I liked the best and that I feel deserve to win the contest. Due to the sheer number of amazing tracks I found I feel I'm pressed to break my limit this time and give you a lot more tracks than I previously had planned. Keep in mind as with any other contest article that this is all my own opinion, I tried to do this with variety in mind so if anything you know that if you don't like any of the individuals up here you can figure that there's sure to be a bunch out there that you most definitely will like. The winner of this one gets announced January 1st, 2013 so keep your calendars marked to see which one it is.

This one here is by Infrasonix. It has beautiful light jumpy dubstep style to it. It's ridiculously fun and engaging. A surprising remix to come out of this contest I'd say. (VOTE FOR Infrasonix HERE)

This one here is from the Canada native, Cublete. It's got some amazing chillout vibes that this song perfectly melds with. It's relaxing and great if you wanna hear this song in a more vocally pure form. A+ (VOTE FOR Cublete HERE)

This one up here is by OSKR a producer from Britian, and its a sick Electro House remix that you can't help but move to. I wanna hear this dropped somewhere very soon, It's dancy as all hell, an amazing remix in my opinion. (VOTE FOR OSRK HERE)

This next one up is an impressively done light Trap remix by Slander, 7Deadlysynths, and Direwolfe. It's an unexpected remix for a lot of people checking this contest out. Not much people expected a well done trap remix coming out of this song and this one is amazing. I love the way they did it. (VOTE FOR Slander/7Deadlysynths/Direwolf HERE)

This one here is by none other than Singularity, he always seems to find a way to get on this site oddly enough, but this remix is too tight to not feature on this article. It's a great remix and the quality of production is amazing. (VOTE FOR Singularity HERE)

This one here is by Coyote Kisses, a favorite of mine, He took a different approach that most would expect with more of a electronic pop rock kinda feel going on. It works really well and I love it. (VOTE FOR Coyote Kisses HERE)

This next one up is a collaboration between I.Y.F.F.E. and AU5, and it's a heavy as hell banger of a Drumstep song. Its definitely a crowd melter if I ever heard one. Sick bass manipulation thats intense but still fitting into the song without being abrasive. (VOTE FOR I.Y.F.F.E. HERE)

This one is by a duo from Britian that goes by the name Culture Code. The have a very dramatic dubstep rendition that fits the tone of the original. It's very movie-esque and moving, Its a fun song that I know I'm definitely gonna revisit. (VOTE FOR Culture Code HERE)

This one here is by Kicks n Licks from San Diego. It's Melodic all all hell with reverberating bass that penetrates and makes you wanna dance. It's a fun remix, and I like how overblown it is without being overdone. (VOTE FOR Kicks n Licks HERE)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

These next few I liked alot but for whatever reason I feel like they didnt beat the rest in the limits I made for myself, so I decided to throw em up here at the end for honors sake. I really do enjoy them though so let this be a sort of shout out to the artists under here.

Aipolar
La'Reda
Thornsworld
Affinity
Line One
Anansi
FrostBound
TMZ + Janonymous
Vitagliano
Vade
Skelton


So that wraps it up this time for my entries on this current contest. If any of you have a Beatport account you can go out and vote on any of these tracks or any others you might find by using their respected Beatport links provided. Hopefully I showed someone something they really enjoy today, and upstarts should really look into these contests they are amazing for anyone looking to get their names out.

Love & Light
Z

Z-Dar - Singularity (artist/music review)

Whatsup everybody? Z here once again and I'm coming to you to share with you Singularity. he is an artist that's been on the radar  as an up an coming producer from the states for quite some time and as a personal favorite I've wanted to cover for a while now. So due to his plethora of new tracks off his Breathe EP (free download!), I figured what better time than now? He has a style that is very precise on his productions, it have remnants of chip tune sensibilities that stand out well with tight production quality and crunchy rhythms that melt together amazingly as stand alone melodies that give a sound that boarders somewhere between Gameboy and alien crystalline planet. So today all you EGPunks, I'm gonna give an artist overview to the LA native Singularity, and play you some tracks from the new EP as well as some of my favorites from the back catalog.

Singularity - Fracture *FREE DOWNLOAD* by Singularity

Fracture is one of Singularity's newer tracks, taken off the Breathe EP. It's definitely one of the more interesting takes on a Glitch-Hop ensemble, with catchy rhythms overlaying the whole piece and drops that are on the less abrasive side that come elegantly after melted interludes. The arranging is top notch and the tight synth work that Singularity is quickly making a name for himself with is more apparent than ever.

Singularity - Crave *FREE DOWNLOAD* by Singularity

Crave is an amazing piece of art. It's melody instantly drags you into a comforting space with a electro vibe that has a lot to be admired. It's clean drum play has some real staying power keeping the overall flow of the track going well and the vibe high as hell. If that's not enough, it then smacks you in the face with some impressive vocal work that is consistent enough to be a feature but not done too long and frequent to take away from the actual song structure itself and to top it off it was done by Singularity himself. Multi faceted and talented in all fields I hope to hear more all encompassing work by the man In the future.

Singularity- Pulse *FREE DOWNLOAD* by Singularity

Pulse is a more reserved entry ensemble wise as it keeps to the tried and true dubstep formula, but don't let that fool you one bit. It's impressively done. It keeps a more airy vibe throughout and just lets the drums carry it through for most of the way giving a more Trance-esque feel that breaks off into a more liquidy breakbeat/drum and bass motif before it drops into a glitchy, crunchy, all around fun before bering it back to that trance feel you got comfortable with before. Not a party song by any means but one of his best chillout songs to date.

Singularity - Breathe (Feat. Steffi Nguyen) *FREE DOWNLOAD* by Singularity

Breathe, if you hadn't already figured out, is the title track to the newest EP, featuring vocals by none other than Steffi Nguyen who Singularity has used before on his song Fade. It's probably the most varied out of all the tracks on Breathe with super tight production quality and drum play that gets the intensity without breaking the overall chillout vibes from the beginning that are only intensified by the vocal, until it drops abruptly turning it into the banger you wouldn't immediately notice. Deserving of being the title track as I see it incorporates a lot of the skills from the previously featured tracks melded together in a way that gives it a stand alone feel.

Singularity - Earthbound (Original Mix) * OUT NOW ON ITUNES* by Singularity

This one off Singularity's back catalogue released about a half a year back is called Earthbound, It has a jumpy Glitch-Hop feel that keeps you dancing. It presumably features vocals by Singularity himself, It hasn't been made official but it sounds exactly like the person who does Crave which Singularity came out and said he did himself. It has more a video game chip tune feel to the entire thing that is done tastefully without being annoying, and the Mario jump is a fun touch.

Singularity - Nanox (Original Mix) *OUT NOW ON BEATPORT* by Singularity

Nanox is another one off the back catalog that was released a little more than a half year ago. It's one of the most cliff diving vertigo inducing tracks Ive heard in Glitch-Hop history. It bring euphoria whenever it kicks into overdrive from one modest end of the EDM spectrum till it soars into space with an impressive melody that glitches itself into percussion, and the only way that makes any sense is if you check it out yourself.  Finding impressive ways to be hard hitting as the best of them without being heavy to the point of being generic and abrasive.

Singularity is definitely one to keep on the radar, hopefully someone books him in NY or tries to get him on a few festivals that I could take the time to check out because I'm interested in seeing how he can do live sets. His sound is original to him as not much people in the same fields of genres take their time to cultivate a distinct difference in sounds that they can call their own so to see that progress further and taken into the live music territory would be nice. Any promoters who check our site out and I know there are a good number of you can make that happen, but for now go to his website and check out the new Breathe EP along with other music.

Fitz - Whatchu Know 'Bout That - GRiZ

Finally!! After six months of waiting, GRiZ has finally released the song that he had teased us with way back in February. Smash the Funk is a perfect example of why GRiZ is one of the quickest rising stars in the Electronic Music scene. GRiZ seamlessly flows from smooth melodic electrosoul into some of the craziest jumpin beats and still includes a deep sax solo... If this song doesn't prove to you that GRiZ is a artist to follow, you should probably stop reading this blog.


Smash The Funk (forthcoming album MAD LIBERATION SEPT 4th) by GRiZ

Download this song and the rest of Mad Liberation September 4th! You can also catch GRiZ live this weekend in Chicago with Grizmatik at the House of Blues for the North Coast Music Festival or wait until Nov. 17th when he returns to New York to play Terminal 5 with  Bassnectar and Gladkill.