Five for Friday: 4th Jan 2019
Welcome to our fortnightly Five for Friday post, we hope you've had a great new year so far and find some cool new tunes to spin below!
Sasha Sloan - The Only (TWO LANES Remix)
Two Lanes have remixed Sasha Sloan's emotional acoustic song "The One", maintaining the tense, dark feels but raising the production intensity as a trap remake. Sloan's arresting vocals lead the track initially over a scratchy vinyl and piano soundscape before Two Lanes introduce electronic bass, percussion and build to a heavy bass and vocal chop drop. The duo burst onto the scene in December 2017 with their popular remix of ZHU, Skrillex and THEY's song "Working For It". They wrote alongside the new remix on SoundCloud: "it's been only 1 year since we uploaded our first remix to soundcloud and we are so grateful for all the support you have shown over this past year. we wanted to end this year by sharing this remix with you and hope you all like it. new original music will be out in the beginning of 2019. thank you all for your support"
Troi Irons - Me Myself & I (prod. by Troi)
The opening track "Me Myself & I" on LA-based artist Troi Irons' recent self-produced EP "Antihero" is a loners anthem played with acoustic guitar and plenty of reverb. She's had a roller coaster of an upbringing and career, raised in a musical family with a prodigious intellect and talent that saw her graduate high school at 12 and acquire a record deal with RCA by age 14. That record was never released, but she's since gone on to release two EPs and has featured on tracks by Lupe Fiasco, Will Sparks and Tom & Hills. By 18 she earned a B.A. in Psychology at Cal State, but was kicked out of the house and began living in her car. She's had her share of battles in the music industry over the years and now seems set to go the independent route. With such quality and raw intensity, we wish her all the success!
William Black - Wasted On You Ft. Sara Skinner
Guitar and delay forms the intro to "Wasted On You" by producer William Black before Sara Skinner's stunning vocals come in. The track features on Black's new EP "Universe" which charted at #1 on the iTunes dance charts. The title "Universe" coupled with the album artwork perfectly sets the scene for the atmospheric electronic sound he's crafted. The bridge on Wasted On You breaks into a beautiful melody and the chorus unleashes a powerful wave of electronic goodness. He's recently been touring with Illenium among a host of other talented electronic acts, and is now touring with Adventure Club with dates throughout the U.S. until the end of April.
In December he shared an amazing personal achievement on Facebook: "Today I'm celebrating 6 years sober from drugs & alcohol. I spent so much of my life hating myself and using drugs to numb that. I pushed the people away that loved me the most and hurt anybody who tried to get close to me. I'm forever grateful I was given what feels like a second chance in life. I have always used music as a form of therapy, and the fact that so many of you have reached out to say my music has done the same for you is beautiful for me. That's the whole reason I started making music, to impact others as it does me. Thank you guys SO much for believing in me and supporting my vision. I'm excited to continue to share my story through music <3" The same month he was also able to finally quit his day job to focus 100% on his music career. It's an exciting time for Black and we look forward to watching his career blossom in 2019!
Loris Cimino - Shape Of My Regret (feat. Alice Berg)
Sway to the verses and lose yourself in the energy of the chorus on Swiss artist Loris Cimino's new uplifting dance single "Shape Of My Regret", released on Revealed Recordings. Alice Berg shines bright with her lovely vocals and beautiful lyrics such as the titular line: "because your silhouette has the shape of my regret". Having recently hosted on Revealed Radio and with support on previous releases from the likes of Hardwell, Nicky Romero and Mike Williams, Loris Cimino is rising fast.
If you've ever visited festivals such as Tomorrowland, Coachella, Ultra, Qlimax or Ibiza during the season, you've probably been dancing to Swedish vocalist Alice Berg. She's featured in songs by Nicky Romero, Julian Jordan, Dannic, Blasterjaxx, Manse and more, and as of last month she's begun to release her own solo music too starting with her debut single "Underwater" and working towards an EP in the summer.
Audien - Rollercoaster (feat. Liam O'Donnell)
Electronic producer Audien has released a new single called "Rollercoaster" featuring co-writing and vocals from Liam O'Donnell. The track has a slow-tempo dance pop style with almost a Jamaican feel to it, and Liam O'Donnell's vocals ring out strong over Audien's summery production. Audien wrote: "'Rollercoaster' to me is a tribute to something I believe we all experience at one point in our lives. A toxic but addictive relationship that has both very high-highs and very low-lows. It's destructive but enjoyable. Sometimes it's nice to feel something vs. nothing at all, even if it slowly kills me. I wanted to capture this message with this song sonically, and Liam described it poetically. I'll always look back at this song and remember what I was going through when I released it." O'Donnell is the lead singer of the band Various Cruelties and has co-written with the likes of Fall Out Boy, MAX, Kodaline and Illenium.
Also, if you feel like you deserved more presents at Christmas this year, check out the 40-minute mix Audien released on his SoundCloud as an Xmas gift to his fans here.