Trance heads will remember iiO's hit track "Rapture". it was an iconic track for the early 2000's and was one of the most played songs on Ministry of Sound at the time, later on Avicii'w went on to remix the track featuring the vocals of Nadia Ali and this gave the track a new lease of life. It completely transformed the song and was a hit in its own right. Fast-forward to current times and there is another remake of this classic, this time by English based DJ and producer Kryder, he's partnered with Natalie Shay to provide the vocals and like the Avicii remake, the track has taken on another sound, where the beat is more soulful and calming but still has that background bassline to keep it on tempo. I have to admit, when I first heard the track, I thought "not another Rapture remake" but you have to give credit to Kryder here, he's done an exceptional job to not ruin the originality of the track, its an enlightening version that has been brought up to speed to what sort of music we're getting of recent but at the end still maintains the core sounds of the original. The amount airplay this track is getting speaks volumes of it alone and hence its our featured track of the week. Enjoy!
Yesterday saw the final day of what was a 2 weekend celebration of Tomorrowland. Celebrating it's 15 year, it is one of the biggest dance music festival's in the world and forever growing with some of the largest recorded audiences for an event in Europe. This year saw the event take place over two weekends with the very best in the industry taking to stage to strut their stuff. A stand out performance has to be Tiesto's tribute to the late Avicii in weekend one with his mash-up of Avicii's Without You and Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman's Penny. The track even reduced the Dutch legend to tears while playing it. Here's is the track exclusive to you by the Bucket.
This Saturday marks a year since the world lost Tim Bergling, otherwise known as Avicii. His rise to stardom in the electronic music world was truly remarkable, as a young kid at the time producing hit after hit, then going on to collaborate with some of the biggest names of the industry did his career no harm. Tim wasn't afraid to push the boundaries and he did that on the biggest stage of the world when he switched his style up and credit to him, it proved to be a success. It's as if he could do no wrong but the pressures of the industry got to him in the end and he sadly could take no more. Almost a year after his passing, his family decided that the world needed to hear his unreleased music, he was in the process of finishing another album before his passing and with the help of fellow artists and friends they managed to achieve this. The first track of the album entitled "SOS" was released last week and features Aloe Blacc on the vocals. Given the circumstances of his death, the lyrics to the song are almost like a story he wants to tell the world, it touches the heart listening to the song and reading the fan memories which are included in the music video. The sounds are uniquely Avicii and while the mellow beat of this track suits it well. The world looks forward to see what else this immensely talented artist had lined up for us.
Since the passing of Avicii in April this year, there have been many tributes to the former Swedish producer and DJ but none more touching than from Russian DJ, Arty. Like many, Avicii inspired Art in his work as a DJ and instead of penning a few words to remember him by, Arty made a song in dedication of Tim. "It was more than losing just the really good person, it was losing probably the biggest music talent that's been around." Arty told Billboard. "It was really hard to talk about it, to get the words out and think straight. I thought it would be easier for me to speak with the music". The track, a vibrant progressive house song inspired by the moments and melodies of Avicii that he shared with the world. It was also the song used to end off the Ultra Miami after movie. A great track by a great DJ, for one that we will remember forever.
Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii sadly passed away last Friday, he was found dead in his hotel room in Muscat, Oman. He was just 28 years old and had already accomplished so much in his short time on earth. The Swedish producer come DJ was a cult legend in the EDM world, he was fearless, bold and always pushed the boundaries in an industry where many chose to be comfortable in a set style they had. My first recollection of his music came in 2010, back when people still watched MTV, they had a Dance Floor Chart every Friday night, I used to watch it religiously. While they only featured 10 tracks a week, it was the top 10 at the time, and an unknown artist was featured as a new entry, Tim Berg - Seek Bromance. If you think the title of the track was odd, watch the music video and be even more perplexed, but back then all music videos were a bit weird but the music was ace. It was a time where EDM was just known as Dance music and there was no division over genre's. This track was epic though, something that was different to what everyone else was making, a new sound, a great beat which was catchy and hence got him quite high up the charts very quickly
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In 2011 the world was introduced to Avicii, Tim at the time had many stage names but this one seemed to have stuck and with it he released possibly one of his greatest tracks ever. He himself knew he had a brilliant creation but I don't think he could have fathomed how much of an impact that song would have had worldwide, the song was Levels. That song elevated him into instant stardom, he was 22 years old and already getting bookings all over the world. He toured South Africa in March of 2012 and I was very fortunate to have seen him play live, in his prime at the Wavehouse in Gateway. He played Levels 3 times that night but I don't think anyone cared, he had us going and we were loving it. I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play his New Generation Mix of Nadia Ali's hit track, Rapture at the show. It was also released about the same time as Levels and still to this day I rate as one of the best remixed tracks made.
Avicii's tour to South Africa came a week just after he killed Ultra Miami in 2012, if anything was an indication of how big these Swedish talent was, it was that festival. At the time he collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, let a lone electronic music. He had made songs with Lenny Kravitz, Alesso, Nicky Romero and even Madonna! He got Madonna to Ultra Miami in 2012. The production team behind the event said it was the biggest star they've had at the festival and I'm sure still is that way. While his track with Madonna "Girl Gone Wild" was pretty epic, his track with Lenny Kravitz, "Super Love" was everything at the time and even featured on the Ultra Miami Aftermovie.
Many lauded his bold approach at trying new things with his music. As mentioned, he didn't conform himself to one set style, while his music was easily identifiable he always liked to mix around with other genre's and see how he could adapt that to his music. Hence in 2013 at Ultra Miami, he shocked the whole EDM world, when his set began with an unplugged version of "Wake Me Up", the crowd was left a bit dumbfounded, as this was the first time we've heard the track and it wasn't anything remotely close to dance music. It was more Country Western, I still recall listening to the podcast and wondered if someone was playing a prank and uploaded something from Tim McGraw. I loath country music so for me, that set was a write-off. I thought to myself, how can someone blow peoples minds the one year, then go and do that the next year? Many felt the same but slowly as the year went on, people realised there was a deeper meaning to his music. I still wasn't a fan though.
Over the next few years, he spent a lot of time touring, while still working on new music. His music hit a high commercial level where almost every radio station was playing it, more so than clubs. Had he succumbed to the commercial Devil? Whereby he made music just for the airplay and money instead of making it for the sheer joy and enjoyment? It's a bit of a harsh comment, I know but it sure felt that way but it wasn't. If you just have a look at all the music he made, it followed a pattern and this was just one of the phases of that pattern. Slowly in 2017 a new sound was transitioning from him, when he released the track "Without You", I heard it on a podcast from another famous DJ, I instantly took a liking to it, it came as a nice surprise to see Avicii on the artist profile. Maybe it's just from my age, that the maturity of the song appealed to me but I was very happy to have Avicii back on my playlist.
One of his last song's he made that still features on my play list is a collaboration he did with Rita Ora, again just shows you the pull he had with working from artists outside the EDM sphere. It was more Pop than EDM but again, it had the unmistakable Avicii signature to it, you could feel that he was onto something great. His management have come out and said that there was an album he was working on, which was almost complete, so lets hope they somehow get to finish it and let the world celebrate his last achievement. Thank you Avicii, for your music and your legacy that you leave behind.
Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan is becoming a regular on the EDM scene, with his music being supported from the likes of Sander van Doorn, Calvin Harris and Tiesto to name a few. He's signed onto US Label Spinnin records and has done pretty decently for himself over the years. His latest release see's him team up with Chris Crone who provides the vocals for today's featured track. It has a great sound to it with the drop very much similar to what we were used to with Avicii.
If you were at Ultra South Africa a few weeks back you would have heard Hardwell playing this new track of his featuring Harrison, if not you probably will hear the radio stations pumping this on out on the airwaves quite regularly as its been play listed into most of the shows. It's something new from Hardwell, bringing a mix of EDM and Rock together, so far, people seem to like it. A Few years back Avicii tried his own hybrid of genre's by fusing Country Music with his Dance music and with that abomination of "music" lost himself many fans, including myself, I hope Hardwell is just experimenting and doesn't see this as a way to get rich quickly, and kill his music into the commercial segment like ol Avicii did. I like this track, its got the right mix of rock and is a nice track to listen to, hence it's featured today. Plus the girl in the video kinda looks like Charne Jade Slee.... or is it just me?
