March 17, 2014

StéLouse – Home [Subterra Records] Album Feature

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy, Heavy • Tags: 80's, 808, Bass, Blogs, Chill Wave, Complextro, Curious Kontrol, Dance, Deep, Deep House, EDM, electro, electronic, Electronica, EP, Facebook, Flume, Follow, funk, funky, Future, happy, Heavy, Hold On, Home, house, Kate Wild, Mix, Monstercat, music, Nu Disco, Onions, Original, R&B, Rager, Records, Soundcloud, Spaceship Gurl, Spacewave, Start Something, StéLouse, Subterra, Synthesizer, techno, Transgenre, Trap, Trip Hop, Twitter, Vibe, VIP

This next enigmatic, neo-futuristic producer by the name of Ross Ryan is unlike any other EDM musician whose sound we’ve been fortunate enough to sonically indulge ourselves in. His latest EP, “Home,” which was recently released on Subterra Records, combines so many sounds and genres that after a few listens, our heads began to collectively spin. Utilizing his years of experience in studying and creating music (both on the computer and in various bands), StéLouse, pronounced “Stay Loose,” has hybridized a unique stylistic approach that we simply adore.

One of the most difficult aspects involved in presenting music to you, the listener, is finding a way to classify it. Not only are the lines between genres slowly becoming blurred by the popularization of electronic dance music as a whole, but we now find EDM creeping its way into every imaginable musical motif. If we had to begrudgingly describe what StéLouse sounds like in terms of what you’ve already heard before, lets say he’s an amalgamation of complextro style, nu disco melodies, future bass-resemblant percussion and vocals, and various other classic electronic progressions.

To be honest, each track on Ross’ “Home” EP is entirely idiosyncratic in its own right. We did the best we could with a sentence. Regardless of what it is, all you need to know is how it sounds, and that is AWESOME.

The first track off StéLouse’s release on Subterra titled “Spaceship Gurl,” vaguely reminds us of what we’d hear from a few of the artists over at Monstercat, only with a twist. Engrossing the listener within a bevy of glitched, nu disco space age samples, Mr. Ryan dials the time machine that is this song back to the early 1980’s and shows off his talents on the synth.

Following up the first track, StéLouse completely changes directions with both the original and VIP versions to “Hold On,” featuring another talented Subterra artist, Curious Kontrol. Interestingly, the song shares the same title as another jam from an artist that pioneered similar vocal modulations and downtempo, fine-tuned percussion pieces (which can be found on both tracks): Flume. An homage perhaps? We’d like to think so.

Lastly, Ross Ryan aka StéLouse wraps up his EP with two original jams, one that shares the album’s title and the other named “Start Something” featuring Kate Wild. In an effort to not bore you to death, we’ll let you experience these two on your own. However, we certainly dig ’em.

Give a listen to “Home,” which can be found below. Also, be sure to follow Subterra Records and StéLouse in whatever way you can to remain privy in regard to future releases. We’d hate for you to miss out.

Follow StéLouse:

@stelouse
facebook.com/stelouse
twitter.com/SteLouse
www.youtube.com/user/stelouse

Follow Subterra Records:

@subterra-records
facebook.com/subterrarecords
twitter.com/Subterrarecords
instagram.com/subterrarecords

March 4, 2014

Dude, That’s So ‘Meta’ [Artist Spotlight]

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy, Heavy • Tags: Ambient, Atom & Eve, August & Andrew, bass music, Breakbeats, Complextro, Downtempo, Dubstep, EDM, EDM Blogs, Electro House, Electronic Dance Music, Fringe Disco, Glitch Hop, house, Iceland, IDM, Jake Groch, Melodic Dubstep, Meta, Mimetic, Neo Eden, Nu Disco, Progressive House, Rager Onions, Reign, Seattle, Self Referential, Spectre, The Wolf

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the term “meta,” it is a word used, chiefly in art or the humanities, to describe something that is self-referential or introspective in nature. This idea may also be referred to as “breaking the fourth wall,” which involves a character “speaking directly to or otherwise acknowledging the audience” through a camera in a film or television program or more directly, in person, like during a play.

Many of you may remember a classic Shakespearian technique we all learned in school known as the “aside,” in which a character would turn to the audience, address them directly, and reveal a bit more information about themselves that the other characters may not be aware of. This is a classic example of “Breaking the fourth wall.” However nowadays, an aside might be more eloquently referred to as something that is “so meta, bro”.

After understanding the meaning behind this next artist’s moniker, we can’t help but curiously wonder how self-referential abstraction will reflect in our favorite art form, electronic dance music. Taking into mind the word’s use in other artistic endeavors, and the infinite spectrum of sounds and thus, moods, that can be created in an electronic music production, “meta music” might just be a formation of sounds that, when amalgamated, animate themselves into a living, breathing, self-aware musical landscape, capable of acknowledging the listener’s existence and drawing them in, much like the Sirens of Greek Mythology would.

We are not speaking for August & Andrew of Meta when we hypothesize in regard to the meaning behind this group’s name, we are merely projecting our experiences when listening to their music with instances in which we have seen the word “meta” used in other forms of art. Who knows, maybe after this post the two might just be ~~appreciative~~ lucky enough to conduct an interview with us here at Rager Onions (*hint, hint*), where we can get to the bottom of this philosophical debacle.

In the meantime, we hope that you can amuse and immerse yourselves in the musical beauty produced by this next electronic artist and producer duo with “composer-like tendencies,” who hails from both Seattle, Washington and Reykjavík, Iceland. Spanning the globe and expanding your own self-awareness, Meta music is the kind we can truly dig. Please enjoy the abundance of auricle abstraction below.

January 31, 2014

AWE – Crystals [TBA]

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy, Heavy • Tags: 808, Annie Mac, AWE, BBC Radio One, Drums, EDM Blogs, Electro Funk, electronic, Electronic Dance Music, funky, Future, Future Bass, Garage, Jake Groch, Nu Disco, Plastician, Rager Onions, TBA, Terrorhythm Recordings, To Be Argued, Zachary Urman, Zaku Chan

Zachary Urman (aka AWE) has left us feeling exactly as his moniker reads when listening to his latest release titled “Crystals.” After a little bit of sleuthing we have discovered that Mr. Urman used to produce music under the alias Zaku Chan, but has recently made the switch onto his new project, AWE. Now working rather independently, but under the watchful eye of season veteran Plastician, Zach finds himself releasing new tracks under Terrorhythm Recordings.

“Crystals” is an EDM production unlike anything we have heard. To even classify it within a particular genre would be doing this monster of a jam a great disservice. Others are comparing it to Rustie, but we disagree. We don’t even want to make an attempt at it. All we know is that AWE’s sounds are incredibly vivid, his chord progression is on par with the most talented of EDM producers and this may just be one of the most innovative and unique songs of 2014 thus far.

You just need to hear it for yourself, really.

And please, please, whatever you do, wait for that second drop. SO SICK.

Like-> facebook.com/AWEmygod

Follow-> twitter.com/AWEmygod, soundcloud.com/awe