Without too much preamble, I just want to introduce my seven track picks for this week! I’ve been listening to these artists and songs quite a bit recently, and hope you enjoy them! If you want to leave me a suggestion for any music, leave a comment below. I listen to all suggestions, and after all, sharing music is what this column is about so get involved and help your fellow Arcadians broaden their musical horizons!
Phoenix Down (Zardonic Remix) – The Unguided
This is the song that Pendulum/In Flames’ Self vs Self wishes it was, a perfect fusion of metal and drum ‘n’ bass. The Unguided were formed from the ashes of Sonic Syndicate after label pressure to adopt a more commercial sound led to the lead creatives quitting. Phoenix Down was the lead single from The Unguided’s debut, and while the original song is still very good, this officially-sanctioned remix by Zardonic pushes it out of the way in terms of quality. Give both versions a listen, they’re both excellent tracks.
Absolute Territory – Ken Ashcorp
A one-man producer who creates songs based on various aspects of nerd culture (from pro wrestling to anime to web cartoons), Ken Ashcorp is a talented individual who very sadly suffers from a slow release schedule and perfectionist tendencies. When he does release a song, though, they’re invariably excellent with some smooth vocals and smart lyrics. With a smooth bass groove, a poppy chorus and slick productions, Absolute Territory is probably Ashcorp’s best song so far.
Breathing You In – Zircon
Zircon is a staple of the OC Remix scene, having contributed numerous songs to the site and writing a whole bunch of tutorials to help new musicians start off on the right foot. In his own time he creates original music too, working on several chiptune albums and EDM compositions. Breathing You In is a fantastic trance song with a very uplifting, organic feel to it, no doubt helped by soaring operatic vocals. I always feel like it’d fit right in with the soundtrack to Mirror’s Edge, with its airy, clean production and proves why Zircon has risen to the top of the OC Remix stable.
Atomic – she
This is my go-to feel-good song. Without question, no matter what mood I’m in this turns it right around. She is a favourite chiptune/EDM artist of mine, and Atomic exemplifies his style perfectly, with thumping bass, energetic female vocals, chiptune samples and glitchy distortion. It’s an upbeat song that makes a perfect backing track to any sort of physical activity, whether it be running, cycling or even trying to motivate yourself to do housework you really don’t want to do.
Blackstar – Celldweller
Klayton is a one-man sonic machine, crafting a huge array of songs which bounce around from dubstep (Unshakeable, First Person Shooter) to electro-metal (Eon, Switchback) to a metallic metalcore sound (Own Little World, Kill the Sound) and EDM gems such as this one. Part of the Wish Upon A Blackstar concept album, it paints a picture of the titular Blackstar with the power to grant wishes, while also portraying how this is actually A Very Bad thing. It has a harder edge than a lot of EDM thanks to Celldweller’s metal influences, but it’s one of his poppiest songs and got stuck in my head for days after first hearing it.
Spontaneous Me – Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling has become a Youtube sensation, and with damn good reason. She’s a very talented violinist who manages to incorporate the classical strings into electronic music incredibly well and inject a whole lot of personality into all of her videos, which are almost always beautifully shot. While she’s probably more known for her arrangements from games such as Skyrim, Zelda and Assassin’s Creed or her dubstep songs like Crystallize and Elements, I have a serious fondness for her incredibly upbeat original work like Spontaneous Me and Electric Daisy Violin. I was lucky enough to see her in Glasgow when she played here last year, and she’s playing Dublin later this year so you all have no excuse to miss that show.
Light Your Way – AMT & Neblix
Mega Man 2 is one of the best Mega Man games from the whole series in my opinion, and certainly had the best music. Wily Stage 1 joins the pantheon of legendary tunes from the NES era, and this OC Remix reinterprets it as a Pendulum-style, rock-tinged drum ‘n’ bass track. The guitars are a little more prominent than in Pendulum’s work, and the acoustic guitars provide a nice book-end to the song, while the segue into Flash Man’s theme in the middle keeps the track feeling fresh.
