#10: Zedd feat. Heather Bright – Stars Come Out (Tim Mason Remix)
Closing a brilliant remix EP featuring artist talent, such as John Dahlbäck and Datsik, that spanned from electro house and dubstep to progressive, Tim Mason’s euphoric upgrade of Zedd’s “Stars Come Out” electro burner gracefully out beat its hefty competition, setting itself lightyears apart from the original to reside in a galaxy where stargazers don’t worry about light pollution.
Tim Mason provides a delightfully radiant hope for the future of bigroom house. By keeping music the focus of the beat-making process, harmonies don’t have to surrender the lead role to the machine.
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#9: Virtual Riot feat. Amba Shepherd – Superhuman + (Titchimoto Remix)
The original mix was badass enough. Another helping of soothing vocals a la current princess of dance Amba Shepherd suggested a fittingly calm chorus, but the aggressive bang of the kick drum building up to a nuclear bomb of a drop set the listener up for something supernatural.
To attempt to top the near impeccable original with a remix under the same genre would be nearing absurdity, so British producer Titchimoto took the stems off Germany’s 18-year-old Virtual Riot and stripped the track butt naked with his chillout remake, warming Shepherd’s bare vocals with burning electric guitar riffs and steady finger snaps.
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#8: Sander van Doorn & Mayaeni – Nothing Inside
Nothing so beautifully written had made its way through the brick walls encasing 60 Hert thunderclaps and smashed young adults before progressive house elite Sander van Doorn’s team-up with Detroit soul singer Mayaeni provided an antidote for all the chaos.
Most of the magic happens, as expected, during the piano and violin featured massive chorus, but it’s the two verses in between, the slowed down BPM, and the affection of the lyrics and performance that bump “Nothing Inside” inside the top tier.
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#7: Pryda – Allein
Repetition is key to Eric Prydz’ brand. It’s key to pop music in general. And, it’s key to his crowd calling summer anthem “Allein”. Featuring a catchy vocal sample from German indie electronic band Polarkeis 18, the phrase translated to “Alone, Alone” demands to be chanted at a setting not quite so desolate regardless if the meaning is understood.
Whether or not the aerophobic house artist used Polarkeis 18’s hook to easily recreate a progressive version of the song that ended up sounding fairly similar to the original is out of the question, because Prydz has a knack for repetition that really, really works.
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#6: Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston – You Got To Go (Seven Lions Remix)
Backtracking genres to their origins can become a dizzying trek through information that needn’t be explored sans a highly descriptive map, but let’s just say dubstep derived from trance because Seven Lions sure makes it sound that way.
Tagging his sound as progressive dubstep, though we’d vouch for trancestep or, to closer fit his term, progresstep (we’d probably go with the former), OWSLA-signed Seven Lions cooked up a nasty one for trance legends Above & Beyond that somehow happens to be even more sincere than the initial production. Zoë Johnston’s highs lift the track’s deep lows as her spliced chops act as a tool of instrumentation.
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#5: Dirty South & Thomas Gold feat. Kate Elsworth – Eyes Wide Open (Lenno Remix)
Another young one, Finnish producer Lenno tears an otherwise great Dirty South & Thomas Gold collaboration wide open to reveal an exotic realm of nu disco and indie dance.
Mating progressive house with enough groove and boogie to make your grandma jump out of her rocking chair and shake what her grandma gave her is a priceless skill of Lenno’s. Hopefully, the fresh talent can bring that ethic into the creative world of original works soon after he has remixed his way to the top.
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#4: deadmau5 feat. Chris James – The Veldt (8 Minute Edit)
Although not quite another “Strobe”, the breathtaking 8 minute edit of “The Veldt” finally becomes deadmau5’s comeback classic.
After trial and error and error again via his cluttered SoundCloud page of various works in progress, the most famous Canandian musician behind Bieber and Drake nailed an unfinished project by recruiting the songwriting goldmine of Twitter associate Chris James. Without the life brought by James’ contribution, deadmau5’s technology would certainly not be as happy.
deadmau5 feat. Chris James – The Veldt (8 Minute Edit) (YouTube)
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#3: Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl feat. Georgi Kay – In My Mind (Axwell Mix)
Swedish House Mafia’s third leg Axwell more or less edited Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl’s “In My Mind” and now, nearly a whole year later, he is pretty much regarded as the sole artist behind the entire production.
It makes sense that he, one of the best house producers, would get the most attention out of the resounding international success that continues to be “In My Mind”, one of the best bigroom productions, but for Axwell to be the only nominee recognized on the ballot at the Grammy’s this year for Best Remixed Recording? Well, it wouldn’t go down in our books as one of the best “remixes”. What we would be more than satisfied to call it is the second aforementioned Axwell accolade: one of the best bigroom productions.
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#2: Mat Zo – Yoyo Ma
Mat Zo is one truly exciting EDM talent to look forward to in the years to come for many reasons. He’s a well-rounded producer. He’s a reliable artist. And, above all, he’s a musician.
Although non-classical, Mat Zo is the Yoyo Ma of the digital generation. The prestigious title denotatively comes from the name of the fourth track off The Bipolar EP that placed at #3 in our Top EPs of 2012 list, so dismiss the judgement as an acquittal, but it would be hard to deny the man gifted.
Mat Zo takes progressive house across new boundaries into the world of classical music with a song that breaks down for an enchanting sub 2-minutes that must have been written by a practiced composer. Fully submerged in a whirlwind of brilliance, Mat Zo’s synth symphony flutters for 16 everlasting measures before dipping out for the buildup into a fabulous explosion of funk. The result is very likely one of the greatest sub 2-minute progressive house interludes of all freaking time. In a future pans-musical environment, Yoyo Ma would be proud.
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#1: Porter Robinson – Language
When the American who coined the term complextro to describe his complex electro sound dropped his combination genre single for his “Say My Name” audience to purchase in the hopes that they would accept his softer side, little did he know that a shy one day atop the Beatport chart meant much more than an acceptance. The bass and trance outlets alike embraced “Language”, the yield of a cross-genre experiment, marking only the beginning of a fruitful future for his favorite track he has ever written; so far, at least.
Porter Robinson’s “Language” spoke to EDM fans in an unfamiliar way. The airwaves of wobble drone were pierced with the delicate, inescapable aura of “Language”, communicating with its audience in a way deeper than through customary lyrical content.
Heather Bright’s uncredited vocals are exactly what the track needed in its second break, but they are not the heart and soul of the song. The beauty that comes from one of only two Porter Robinson singles released in 2012 lies in its raw composition. From the throwback turn-of-the-century trance piano rifts to the electro squeels and sizzles that construct many intricate sub-sections that are a rarity to the “if it works, don’t fix it” mentality of the clear-cut progressive mob, Porter Robinson outdoes every expectation of his genre and, seemingly, himself.
We predicted “Language” to be one of the biggest tracks of the year back in our April evaluation. That prediction checks in, but the track amounted to something less obvious to predict. It became a model of electronic dance music, an assurance that music still had a market in a beat-oriented era, and a necessary kick upside the head to get electronic producers back to some real work. It became hope. EDM will be okay.
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