Somewhere…Under the Rainbow?
As music from either side of the frigid Atlantic becomes further and further awash with colorful, hue-bending synthesizers, from Animal Collective and Major Lazer to Joy Orbison and Joker, the dark moodiness of American indie and British dance music has dissipated into a brighter, more emotive undercurrent. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of intense, brooding gems still being produced (Loefah’s Swamp81 label comes to mind), but the overall feeling seems to be that there is somewhat more potential, or at the very least, more fun to be had with the meticulous aural expression of color and light.
This sun-drenched electronic sound certainly has a more universal appeal, but in carrying forward some of the more primal and memorable elements of dubstep and 90s hip hop, (sub-bass, lo-fi production, and that gangsta swagggga), many of these post-millenium styles have successfully fused melodic and catchy high frequencies with a deep, attitude-spiked low.
The result of this gradual ‘naughties’ evolution in contemporary music is on display in my Under the Rainbow. Admittedly, the mix primarily showcases dance music, as it is a DJ mix or set, but the trends of synthesized color and island, tribal vibes are emblematic of the changing tides in other genres as well.
Check out my SoundCloud to stream the mix and see the tracklisting.
And to download the mix in a 300mb mp3 form, click below:
Part 1 Under the Rainbow
Part 2 Under the Rainbow
(I uploaded a 1.3 gig wav file to soundcloud by accident, my apologies is you try to dl from there…)
Enjoy and have a sunny day, summer’s just ’round the corner kiddies….
