Between Us: Album Review

This album review is coming in two months late, but better late than never, especially for the debut album from electronic artist, Hayden James. I wrote a blog post about Hayden James last year. I became obsessed with his song “NUMB” last May and it was a song I continually listened to through the rest of 2018. This summer he released his debut album Between Us on June 14, 2019. The Australian DJ has been in the music world since 2013. He had only released 1 EP and plenty of singles up until his album release in June, but he’s been known for some killer tracks.

His first album features a few of those songs. “NUMB”, “Just Friends”, and “Better Together” are on the record amongst several new tracks. All three were released over the last two years. Leading up to the album release, James dropped the song “Nowhere to Go” as well. The album features collaborations with indie electronic artists Elderbrook and Running Touch. Between Us is filled with house music that will get you in the groove from top to bottom. I can hear a lot of these songs being played in clubs worldwide, if they’re not already.

To all my electronic music fans out there, I urge you to check out Hayden James if you haven’t already. This new record is filled with bangers. Hayden James just started his fall tour in support of the album. He’ll be hitting several U.S. cities in September and October as well as playing dates in Australia and Europe. The tour seems relatively small based on the amount of dates and venues, but that might not be for long as I’m sure his fan base is currently growing. It’s time to hop on the Hayden James train because it’s moving at full speed and not stopping any time soon.

Coachella Band Preview: Illenium

I swear the 3 months between the lineup release and Weekend One of Coachella always fly by. Now, once again, here we are just over a month away from the festival. As always once March hits, time is winding down. I’m sure plenty of attendees have begun the planning process of fashion and travel. It’ll be a few weeks before the set times and food vendors are announced though. I hope your planning process also includes jamming to some bands and artists playing the festival this year, otherwise why am I even posting this?! Regardless, at least you’re finding some info out about the music world, I guess? But let’s be real, I hope you’re using these to prep for Coachella. This week I’m previewing an electronic artist that hopped on to the scene around 2013. Since then he has quickly rose in the EDM rankings.

Denver’s Nick Miller, better known to the world by his DJ alias, Illenium, has made a notable impact on the electronic music scene recently. He was inspired to start recording music after he saw Bassnectar perform at Red Rocks in 2012. He released his first EP in 2013 and his debut album, Ashes, in 2016 under his own record label Kasaya Recordings. Ashes peaked on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums Chart at number 6 and on the Billboard Top Heatseeker’s Chart at number 19. About six months ago, he released his second album, Awake.

Illenium was originally a melodic dubstep/trap artist, but his latest album strays from that a bit. Several songs are more downtempo and have an atmospheric type sound similar to what you might hear from Odesza or Gryffin. It’s a definite progression from his debut, but still incorporates his signature sound. He’s stated that he plans on straying from that dubstep/trap sound in his live performances as well by sticking to more of his own music and playing less of others’.

I first heard of Illenium last year when I heard his collaboration on the track “Feel Good” with Coachella 2017 performer Gryffin and vocalist, Daya. After the release of his latest album, I spent a week or so listening to it as part of my work out routine, eventually downloading and adding a few songs to my typical work out playlist. I really liked his more recent sound and I definitely felt like he was an artist I would want to check out at a festival over the next year. Luckily that might happen!

Illenium plays on Sunday at Coachella. I’d guess his set to be at the Sahara Tent. He might even play there before expected Sunday Sahara headliner, Odesza, plays. If I’m free, I’d definitely want to drop in to his set for a bit. The only conflict for me would be if Portugal. The Man plays around the same time. Honestly, I’d probably go see Portugal. The Man. But if you’re trying to maximize your Coachella experience, you may want to catch a little of both sets. If you want to check out Illenium’s set, here’s what you need to hear first:

1. Feel Good
2. Fractures
3. Sound of Walking Away
4. Crawl Outta Love
5. With You
6. I’ll Be Your Reason
7. Don’t Give Up On Me
8. It’s All On U

Coachella Band Preview: Kygo

Another week down means another week less to prep for Coachella 2018, but it also means it’s time for another band preview. I feel like I need to re-name this blog series. When I started it in 2015, I was mostly into bands. Since then, my taste in electronic music has grown. Also as you know, this year’s Coachella lineup has way less bands than in prior years. For now, just know that my band previews encompass singers and artists too, which includes this week’s preview as well.

Kygo aka Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll is a Norwegian DJ, producer, and musician. He started taking piano lessons as a child and continued until he was a teenager when he began to produce his own music using a keyboard and recording software. He was also halfway through a college degree in business and finance by the time he decided to pursue music full-time.

Kygo’s break-through hit came in 2014 when he released the single “Firestone” ft. Conrad Sewell. In the same year he was contacted by Avicii and Chris Martin of Coldplay to remix the Coldplay song “Midnight”. He then supported Avicii on tour.

In 2015 his music was featured in a trailer for the Ultra Music Festival, a well-known electronic festival that takes place in Miami, FL, as well as being a featured headliner for Lollapalooza. He also released 4 more singles that year which paved the way for his debut studio album to be released in 2016. His debut was released on May 16, 2016 entitled Cloud Nine. The album featured collaborations with several artists including John Legend, Angus & Julia Stone, Foxes, James Vincent McMorrow, Maty Noyes, and more. Kygo also played at the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In 2017 Kygo released two singles that lead up to an EP and his second full length studio album. The EP, Stargazing, included both singles “It Ain’t Me” ft. Selena Gomez and “First Time” ft. Ellie Goulding. Kygo’s second album Kids In Love was just released in November.

Kygo’s tropical house style originated from him trying to imitate his hero, Swedish DJ/producer Avicii. He eventually found his own sound by slowing it down into a dreamy, light synth type sound. He was really one of the first DJ’s to popularize the style which originates from deep house, a subgenre of house music.

I feel like I started listening to Kygo just because of my interest in his style of electronic music. Although he’s known as one of the originators, I discovered the style through listening to Matoma and Sam Feldt first. I’m not even sure when I first listened to Kygo. It was obviously sometime over the last 2-3 years and it was definitely the song “Stay” that I was into. I can’t even say I’m into that many Kygo songs. I was hooked on “First Time” last summer though. I honestly just think his Coachella performance will be fun because I like his style of music so I would totally want to catch his set if I was attending.

Kygo plays on Friday at Coachella. In my opinion Friday has the weakest lineup, but Kygo is one of the bright spots. He’ll probably close out the Sahara tent Friday night or he might even take to the Outdoor Stage as the last slot, which may overlap The Weeknd. Either way, there’s no question he’ll be a late night set. If you plan on catching him, I recommend getting there with plenty of time. No matter where he’s playing it’s sure to be packed. He’ll be setting the vibe for the rest of the weekend that night. To me, there’s something about tropical house being played in the SoCal desert amongst the palms that sets the mood. Here’s a few songs that will get you ready for that moment Friday night:

1. Stay (ft. Maty Noyes)

2. Stole the Show (ft. Parson James)

3. It Ain’t Me (ft. Selena Gomez)

4. First Time (ft. Ellie Goulding)

5. Kids in Love (ft. The Night Game)

6. Stranger Things (ft. One Republic)

7. Stargazing (ft. Justin Jesso)

8. This Town (ft. Sasha Sloan)

9. Firestone (ft. Conrad Sewell)

10. Raging (ft. Kodaline)

 

Coachella Band Preview: Gryffin

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’re a little over a month away from Coachella. One month. 30 some days. Can you feel the hype?! The time flies so fast once that lineup drops. That means there’s only a few more band previews left and limited time to listen to all your favorites in preparation for the festival. I’ve wanted to write this preview since January, but I’ve purposely held off so I’d have something to write about as the festival got closer. Out of the group of electronic artists performing at Coachella this year, there were two I was most stoked about. The first was Kungs, who I wrote about back in January (I was too stoked to save Kungs until now). The second is an artist known as Gryffin.

Gryffin, whose real name is Dan Griffith, is an EDM DJ from New York City. He’s also a talented instrumentalist. He started piano lessons at the age of 7 and played through high school, while picking up guitar along the way.  Gryffin attended college at USC and studied electrical engineering, but devoted his free time to making music. His intent was to make music for his friends to play at parties. He never expected to be making it for a career, yet here he is selling out tours and playing Coachella 2017.

Unlike most of the artists I preview, Gryffin has yet to release his first album. He is most known for his remixes and a few chart-making singles. There’s no doubt an album release is in the works for him especially with the original tracks he has dropped over the last year. One of his most well known hits and debut single, “Heading Home” ft. Josef Salvat, was released a little over a year ago. The song hit #1 on the Spotify Viral 50 Chart and also made the list of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart. Last spring, he embarked on his first North American tour and sold out every show. He dropped a second single, “Whole Heart” ft. Bipolar Sunshine, on August 26th, which also hit Billboard’s electronic charts. It sparked another 10 show North American tour this past fall. A week ago, Gryffin released his third single, “Feel Good” with Illenium ft. Daya, and it already has almost 3 million plays on Spotify.

Gryffin classifies his style of electronic music as melodic house because he likes to incorporate piano and guitar into his music. It makes sense given his musical background. That’s the cool thing about his live sets though. It’s a blend between electronic and instrumental performance. Along with DJ-ing at his shows, he plays parts of songs on guitar and piano. It adds new elements to the music that you don’t necessarily get listening to a recording. This is something that takes his live performances to a whole new level in the electronic music genre making his Coachella performance one that you don’t want to miss.

I first heard of Gryffin within the last year and a half or so. I would see his name listed on song remixes, but I never listed to any of them because I typically don’t listen to remixes (except the Matoma remix of “Old Thing Back” because #fave). It’s mostly because I prefer the original version of songs, or the ones I was first exposed to, which I guess is strange when I think about it because I love covers. I think that it’s more so with remixes where you can have a non-electronic song that is electronically enhanced. That’s what I don’t really like since I was never big on electronic music. I guess you can say that’s changed now, but I still prefer original songs. Just this past fall, I heard Gryffin’s original song “Whole Heart” playing in the background of an end of the season highlight reel video for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL. I really liked the song and added it to my Spotify playlists as well as to my iTunes. About a month later, I heard “Heading Home” and added it just the same. Just a few days ago I heard “Feel Good” for the first time and I’ve been so hooked on it all week. I had it stuck in my head yesterday. It’s a great song, and I believe it has a ton of potential to surpass the success of Gryffin’s previous singles.

Gryffin plays Saturday at Coachella. It’s his first Coachella appearance too. I expect he’ll play the Sahara Tent, but I don’t expect his set to be super late. As I said, his performance will be one you don’t wanna skip especially if you’re into electronic music. Even if you’re not, his hybrid live performance style might be something transitional for you. I’d love to catch his set if I had the chance. Gryffin doesn’t have many original tracks you’ll need to prep with, so I’ll include some remixes as well. Here they are:

1. Heading Home
2. Whole Heart
3. Feel Good
4. Desire (Years & Years) Remix
5. Animals (Maroon 5) Remix
6. Youth (Troye Sivan) Remix
7. Talking Body (Tove Lo) Remix
8. Clearest Blue (CHVRCHES) Remix
9. Beggin’ For Thread (BANKS) Remix