Monday Choon: Hardwell & W&W - Bangkok

 

It’s been a while since I last featured a proper hardstyle-influenced track on the blog, and who better to bring it back than two of the biggest names in the game, W&W and Hardwell. Their new collaboration, “Bangkok,” is exactly what you’d expect from these kings of the harder side of electronic music big, energetic and built for the main stage. The track brings together W&W’s signature high-energy sound with Hardwell’s unmistakable festival style, delivering a powerful production that hits hard from start to finish. If you’re a fan of the harder sounds, this is definitely one to turn up loud.

ULTRA SA 2024 - Phase 1 Line up

 

ULTRA South Africa this morning released their phase one line-up for next years festival. The biggest dance music festival just got bigger with some major head lining acts confirmed for 2024. Dutch DJ Afrojack returns to the stages of Ultra SA, the last time present he had the crowds jumping with his classics and live set mashups and remixes. Steve Aoki also returns and be sure to be standing front line if you want to get caked by man himself. Ultra is bringing the big room sound back with the addition of W&W who are undoubtedly one of the hottest acts at the moment, the energy these two have on stage and the ability to get the crowd going is remarkable. A first time appearance at Ultra South Africa for Paraguayan DJ Vintage Culture and another return of see's Skrillex coming back to the country, he's a man who has re-inspired his sound and has been making major waves world over with his collaborations, mainly with Fred Again and Four Tet, definitely not going to be missing his high energy set next year. 

Support acts include Major League and Shimza, with more to be announced in the Phase 2 line-up which is due to drop soon. 

Monday Choon: W&W x Ben Nicky x KEVU - Freed From Desire

 

The cult classic track from Gala Rizzatto "Freed From Desire" has resurfaced on many scenes in the past few years, be it football games, clubs, festivals and other events which are in a party atmosphere and you can't blame the masses for taking to the track as its catchy, easy to sing and got a great beat. Seeing the success its been having, the hard trance duo W&W decided to team up with Ben Nicky and KevU to make a rework of the track, giving it a trance and hardstyle feel but still keeping the beat as close to the original as possible. I was a bit pessimistic about the track at first, given that these guys do like to go hard on their drops, which would completely ruin the track for what it was, this isn't the case though as I was pleasantly surprised by the drop which incorporates some trumpets and beats that are have a vibey bassline. All in all its a great rework of the track and one thats sure to get the clubs and parties going. 

Monday Choon: NWYR - Year Of The Dragon

The Dutch duo NWYR are back with their latest track titled Year of the Dragon. The pair have been busy over the last year making new music with both their main act W&W ad well as this alias NWYR. They've also spent a lot of time doing virtual shows such as EDC and Transmission. Year of the Dragon is a typical NWYR track with the same sound that we've become accustomed to over the years. It's high energy, trance and techno track that will get your feet stomping from the start till the end. Willem and Ward  continue to deliver their signature sounds and we look forward to seeing what's next up for them.

 

Monday Choon: W&W x Martin Jensen ft. Linnea Schössow - Greece 2021

The classic track "Greece 2000" which was originally done by Dutch Progressive trio Three Drives On A Vinyl has been given a fresh new update and appropriately renamed "Greece 2021". The Dutch duo of Willem and Ward along with Martin Jensen and Linnea Schössow have taken the original, upped the tempo, the bassline and added their own unique twist to the track, the song has a very big room sound which is synonymous to W&W style, with big bass lines, deep synths and that awesome high energy techno sound while still maintaining that catchy sound from the original. It really is a banger that will make you want to listen to it on repeat, so turn up the volume and enjoy!

Monday Choon: NWYR - Drakaina

 

There's always tracks you hear on artist live sets which just captivates you, but they you go to look in the track list and it says "ID" so you patiently wait for it to be released. Seldom do they not get released but after 2 years of waiting I honestly made peace that Willem and Ward are never going to give us this track but then this weekend, while listening to an Andrew Rayel podcast, a familiar track was played which revoked memories from Tomorrowland 2017. Could it be? Have NWYR finally released this track? The short answer is yes and we have it here for you today. Drakaina is just as amazing now as it was the first time I've heard it. Their sound is so unique and distinct that it doesn't have an age to it, so even if I heard it three years ago, with its release now still sounds fresh. The duo seriously have no idea how happy they've made me by releasing this track, all trance lovers will share my sentiments as well.

Monday Choon: NWYR ft. Andrew Rayel - The Melody

W&W's trance alias NWYR teamed up with anothrt popular trance DJ on the amarda record label, Andrew Rayel for their latest release, "the melody". Andrew is no stranger to trance music and has been one of the standout acts over the last few years on the ASOT podcasts and live shows. Teaming up with the NWYR duo could only mean one thing, a track of epic proportions and thzyd exactly what melody is. It brings a marriage between the two sounds and works beautifully together, there are aspects which are clearly Andrew's input and vice versa with NWYR but overall a brilliant track that should be on your Playlist if you're a fan of trance.

Monday Choon: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike x Armin van Buuren x W&W - Repeat After Me

It's the first Monday Choon post of 2019 and we're pulling out the big guns for this one to get the year off on the right note. With the music video just dropping last night it was a no brainer from our side as this tune is hot as it is and features three big name hitters in the industry, starting off with the duo who run the show at Tomorrowland, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, along with the Dutch duo W&W, who are joined by the legendary Armin van Buuren to bring us this epic track "Repeat After Me". Armin says its "easily one of the most epic collaborations of the year". The track is a full-throttle mainstage anthem which is able to cause some serious damage on the festival grounds. It features many fan favourites and has an awesome build up and drop, you're definitely going to hear this one throughout the year. 

Monday Choon: NWYR - Ends of Time

It's no secret that I am a massive fan of NWYR and in my honest opinion they were the biggest break-through artist of 2017. Even though they haven't officially released much of their work, their live sets are just something else. The Dutch duo who are better known under their main guise as W&W have been playing as their new alias NWYR for just over a year now, with one of their first performances at the ASOT stage at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, which is where they first played today's featured track. You could tell that this song mean't a lot to the do as when they played it, the emotion on both Willem and Wardt's faces showed it. It is a great track, full of energy, awesome build ups and a killer drop. Honestly loving the work coming out from NWYR and hope to see more in the horizon. 

Monday Choon: NWYR - Dragon

After featuring their debut single Voltage not so long ago, the talented duo NWYR have dropped their second single, Dragon. It's been played both at Ultra Miami and at Tomorrowland during their ASOT set. It's one of the many tracks we've been waiting for them to release and now that's its out, we can enjoy it. While W&W have been quiet on their hardstyle music, we're definitely loving whats coming out of the studio's under this alias. Keep it up guys!

Monday Choon: NWYR - Voltage

If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen me tweet last week that NWYR are probably the best break through artist of the year. Many won't know who they are but are actually no strangers to the EDM game. Earlier this year when the Ultra Miami line-ups were announced, many were surprised to see the exclusion of W&W. The big room specialist who normally are a crowd favourite were not going to perform at the mega festival but later many discovered that they were but under a new alias, NWYR. The Dutch duo created NWYR to be more trance focused and have a heck load of music to share to the world. This has blown open their fan base now, with many trance goers attending their set at Ultra. Their set at the ASOT stage at Tomorrowland was mind blowing, it's so refreshing to see their take on trance, it has so much energy and great tempo, I honestly cannot wait for more new releases from them. Today we have featured their debut single, Voltage which just personifies how electric their music is, do enjoy. 

Monday Choon - Ultra Coundown: W&W & Armin van Buuren - If It Ain't Dutch

Wilem and Ward, the Dutch Electro House DJ's are coming back to SA, when they first toured with the first Ultra South Africa, they were not that well known with most of the Ultranauts but they sure won over the crowd with their hard style, fast paced electro style music. They've always been a favourite of mine and particular enjoyed their sets in the ASOT festivals around the world. 

They've been doing well with their podcasts, Mainstage and they have built up a large following all over the world. This weeks featured track has them featured with Dutch DJ legend Armin van Buuren. Keeping with their Dutch heritage, they song is appropriately named, "If it ain't Dutch" and has been quite popular of recent. The track has a lot of influence by the duo with the master, Armin adding his expert signature style to round it off. 

                   

Stay up to date with the latest information from Ultra SA, visit the website or follow them on their various social media streams.

Twtter: @ultrasa

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Website: www.ultrasouthafrica.com

Youtube: UMF TV

Monday Choon: Tritonal - Ginsu

Tritonal, the music duo of producer/ DJ's Chad Cisneros and David Reed from Austin, Texas are no stranger to our Monday Choon segment with various remixes coming from them that have been featured before, most recently was a remix of their song "Anchor". Falling under the Mainstage Music label of W&W, these guys are pumping out the hits today's featured track is indicative of that. Ginsu has been out for just under 3 weeks now and as already being play listed around the globe in festival and chart shows. You can catch the guys podcast Tritonia on the various media streams as well. 

                    

Monday Choon: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs W&W - Waves

Tomorrowland 2014 just ended on the last weekend of July, which saw over 400,000 people from all over the world flock to Belgium for the festival. It's been in existence from 2005 and just keeps getting bigger and better. This year the event was held over 2 weekends for the first time and as expected, was more insane and crazier than before. The anthem for the festival is always a banger and this year saw the dutch hard style duo W&W work with Tomorrowland resident DJ's, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike to co-make it. It's a mixture of both of their unique styles and the music video which was released this past week has footage from the 2014 festival. 

Monday Choon: Orjan Nilsen - Xiing

This trackby Norwegian DJ Orjan Nilsen hasn't even been officially launched yet but its already making waves in the industry with Armin van Buuren dropping it in his essential mix on BBC radio as well as W&W featuring it on their radio show Mainstage. The song is no doubt going to be topping Beatport's chart when its released on July 8th, since theres still some time before we can get our hands on the official song here is a rip from the radio show it was played on.