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

The Z-Dar - AU5

Whatsup everybody! Z here once again and I absolutely need to share with you some pure gold I stumbled on to. The man's name is Austin Collins, He is a 20 year old New Jersey native, and alot of you will very soon come to know him as his stage name and current EDM project AU5 [pronounced A-U-5]. The energy flowing off this guy's tracks is something else, and his production is super tight and upper echelon professional for a guy who surprisingly doesn't have a lot of play, but from the quality I'm seeing that's gonna change very soon. He says he made his own genre out of his influences called "trancestep" which includes elements of electro, progressive house, trance, and dubstep and it really shows. The quality of production comes out really nice you'd think he was a veteran and rightfully so as he's been producing and making music since he was only 12 years of age! That's a feat in itself and there are a lot of younger producers out there as of late if anything the phenomenal quality of this is what we should be expecting in the future once a lot of the younger upstarts, start growing into themselves. Anyways, today at EGP I would love to share with you some stand out tracks from the man to show you what he's all about. Check em out!

Hypersphere [Released - Atom Recordings] by Au5 (Official)

This track is called Hypersphere off of AU5's Iconoclast EP released under Atom Recordings, and its an experience. Starting off with cool glitchy tics and nice melodic highs, it instantly gives off a feeling you come to know as original and a good taste test for AU5. it later breaks off into tight percussion accompanied by some sick bass that manages to be heavy as hell without being overwhelming. It's dubstep at some of its highest and melodic, and that isn't a bad thing.

Depths of Ice II [Released - Atom Recordings] by Au5 (Official)

This track is a preview of his track titled Depths of Ice II also off the Iconoclast EP, and this one is more of a good representation off his "trancestep" stylings he seems to be going for. Melodically is very light and airy, very icy feeling, which is funny since I think those instruments he uses were in Ice Cap Zone in Sonic! (No seriously, let me know AU5 I'm curious). Then you get swept under your feet as the crushing bass beams itself in with some awesome sounding bass manipulation. It's a good one, one of those songs where you think it's too early in the morning to be heavy but you want it anyways.

The Essence [Atom Recordings] by Au5 (Official)

This track is a preview of his track titled The Essence, also released under Atom Recordings, and its got an almost heavenly feel to it. The highs are nice and comfortable then it drags you into an almost vertigo inducing drop that melts into mid bass and low end bass. its a beautiful fusion of trance and dubstep and the beat changes are seamless and fit the overall feel of the entire package.

Au5 - Singularity [Preview] by Au5 (Official)

This gem of a track is a preview of his upcoming track titled Singularity. It's his newest production available and it's a sexy beast of a song. Refining the "trancestep" sound to a whole different level. I can't wait for this one to come out the bass is smooth and grinding at the same time, I'm not even sure if thats supposed to be possible, but keep your eyes open on the look out for this one in the future.

There looks like theres gonna be a very bright future in store for AU5, I personally wanna get a chance to check him out live myself. I may look into trying to get him booked onto some NY shows in the future if possible. Keep your eyes peeled for any releases from this man, Theres a new track coming out with Fractal that's an intense trancey drumstep with some killer vibes to it.

Love & Light
Z aka Zodd

AU5 LINKS!!!

Soundcloud
Facebook
Beatport

The Z-Dar: 'In Time' Peace Treaty Remix Contest

Whatup denizens of the Internet. It's Z here and its contest time again. Beatport has a contest up in collaboration with Steve Aoki's DIM MAK Records and Peace Treaty for Peace Treaty's awesome song "In Time" that came out last July. Like clockwork, EDM artists/producers from all over the world started taking the stems they made available to bring a ton of remixes to the net for the contest and for everyone's enjoyment. Events like these are what keep the scene alive and fresh as you can get a lot of content out in a short time and you can really see what makes a musician shine with a good remix to contrast them from others. New faces to keep on the radar is also a great plus too with lots of originality and flare to bring to the table in the ever increasing fields of electronic music.

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 contest page and listened to an ear numbing amount of remixes, picked out a bunch I liked the best that I feel deserve to win the contest. 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. Keep in mind these are in no specific order at all.

PEACETREATY - IN TIME - (WALI FINKBEINER REMIX) [LINK TO VOTE IN THE DESCRIPTION!!!] by Wali Finkbeiner

This first one up is an impressive Progressive House remix by Wali Finkbeiner. It's light and airy, one of those songs that just make you feel right with the intense highs. The production on this song is awesome as well and keeps the original feel intact while building on its original emotional content. (VOTE for Wali HERE)

PeaceTreaty-In Time(Kundo Remix) by KundO

This next one up is a dope Drumstep remix by Kundo. It screams catchy and its upbeat stylings are gonna make it a mainstay on my playlist for a while. One of my favorites for this contest in particular. (VOTE for KundO HERE)

PeaceTreaty - In Time ft. Anabel Englund (Exige Remix) ~ Vote on Beatport! by Eхige

This one here is from the Australian native Exige. This one has that extra flair to it, keeping a more whimsical style of Electro House to the contest. It's good and my first listen from this artist. Definitely gonna check the back catalog on this one. (VOTE for Exige HERE)

PeaceTreaty feat. Anabel Englund - In Time (Kynaze Remix) by Kynaze

This one is an interesting one from Kynaze. Its very Electro House, but it has a bassier vibe and structured  like a Dubstep track. It's ear catching and I love it, the vocal effects are awesome and this song out of all I post here, this one is the party banger. (VOTE for Kynaze HERE)

Peacetreaty - In Time (Third Culture Remix) by Third Culture Official

This one is probably the most melodic entry on this article, this cool one up by Third Culture is an amazingly light and airy Progressive House that instantly caught my body in one of emotional overloads you get from a good progressive song. (VOTE for Third Culture HERE)

PeaceTreaty - In Time (Singularity Remix) by Singularity

This last one here is by none other than Singularity. It's a very trance-esque take on Dubstep, its nice with tight production that Singularity is known for. It's an excellent song to chill out to and probably my favorite of this list. (VOTE for Singularity HERE)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

These next two I liked a lot but for whatever reason I feel like they didn't beat the rest in the limit 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.

Volie Joight - REMIX! (Dubstep)
Josh Vega - REMIX! (House)

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. The winner will be announced on December 11th 2012.

Love & Light
Z

Musically With It: Zedd's Beatport Remix Contest

Hey everyone, Z Here! I'm sure a lot you guys already know that Zedd and Beatport are throwing a remix contest for that catchy tune of a song Spectrum, and if you didn't then now you know why everyone and their mom has heard this particular song or one of its many remixes floating all over the EDM scene in the past couple of months. That isn't at all anywhere near a bad thing in my opinion this song is one of the most killer tracks out this year, and the plethora of amazing remixes that these artists new and old, established or grassroots, big or even small as hell keep this song and the entire scene fresh.

Never has one contest amazed me over and over, and I feel us at EGP need to give a certain spotlight to a few of these soon to be contenders in the EDM field. So I took the time myself to get over to the contest page and check a bunch of remixes out and pick out a few that really stood out to me as a couple of my favorites and who I think would win. Keep in mind 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 contest winner gets announced by August 14th, so in the meantime enjoy some tunes!

LISTEN HERE

This first one up is one by none other than AaA, most don't know this man, the Laguna Beach native Erich Vickers, but he really knows how to make a presence for himself. He's fairly well known in EDM circles, and his remix of Spectrum goes hard with a higher tone on the overall package, an amazing spaced out glitch hop kinda feel which borders on funk and catchy new rythmns that fit in equally well with the originals tone in and out. This one is a personal favorite of mine which I know for a solid fact I'm gonna be bumping this for a while. 

LISTEN HERE

This second one I'm showing you here is by ILLECTRIX. He's another big name coming up from the UK.  Nick KJ has been producing for a couple years and has just started to come in circles that are getting his name out there. He's pulled together a banging electro house drumstep mix for the competition using what I think are precise drum kicks and some heavy wet bass sounds to make an altogether dope remix.

LISTEN HERE

This banger of a third is by Foxsky. He's from Fremont, California. His version of this song is an INTENSE moombahcore track with syrupy slow melodic choruses bringing in an altogether complete package if you love that spanish sounding beat timings. Which I do. Bassssssss.

LISTEN HERE

Now this Fourth one, is who I think will win, Now I could be wrong but lets see here. I'm sure you've all heard of Stratus and if not, You should play catch up quick cause the EDM world is moving on fast and furiously without you. This remix although just a dubstep mix of Spectrum, gets treated with Stratus signature flair with lots of intense novelty sounds into almost vertigo speed inducing tempo shifts backed with a classic composition just only there to remind you what genre you're actually listening to. It's a work of EDM art if you ask me.

[scratchy records] WOAH

Hey ya'll, it's Wish[Paus3]. Z was telling me about this contest, so I had to check it out. Here's my two cents about he contest. I checked out the top voted, the mixes were hot! But, I know how sometimes talent can be overshadowed, so I went dooooown the list of entries and votes. I checked out this one mix by Razihel, and I'm glad I did! He clearly has a following, but the votes are lacking. Sitting between songs that were listened to at 700 something and almost 3,000 hits, Razihel's mix is almost at 6,000. Busing out some dubstep on the track is appropriate and he does it right. 

LISTEN HERE

[deep jazz dj voice] Back To Z

That wraps it up for my coverage for the contest. Hopefully I gave you all some insights into some directions to look for new music, sparked maybe a couple of ideas for upstart producers, or even showed you the new "favorite" song. Let me know what you think of the mixes in the comments below!

'We'll Hiiiiiide where love can save us... lol, its catchy. don't shoot me'

Love & Light

Z