Flux Pavilion Goes Hip Hop with Two-9 on Stain

When I need a rowdy, bass heavy, crowd pleaser, Flux Pavilion is on a short list of artists I lean on. To this day, I'm still baffled his remix of Faithless's We Come One hasn't gotten an official release. Official release or not, that mix is on the Mount Everest of bouncy EDM tracks.

Late last week Flux continued his bouncy crusade on more of a Hip Hop tip on Stain. With the help of some fire verses from Two-9, his new one walks a tight rope between rowdy Hip Hop and Trap. The jagged, aggro synth progression post-drop fits with what I'd expect from Flux, but without that you'd be hard pressed convincing me this one has anything to do with EDM. If your Tuesday is in need of some audio smelling salts, this one should do the trick...#Stain

Flux Pavilion feat Two-9 - Stain

"Why Don't You Just Pull the Trigger?"

Without Flux Pavilion, I don't know where I'd satisfy my drum and bass cravings. On his new one featuring the vocals of Cammie Robinson, he toes the line between heavy and melodic. In between the melodies and gentle, wobbly chords, there are some serious bass hits that remind you Pull the Trigger isn't as much of a ballad as you thought it was. The smooth drum and bass layered over stellar vocals provide a perfect example of how hard hitting bass can actually be relaxing if done right. I'm about five laps deep on this one on and see no end in sight. For the paying crowd, check it on iTunes, otherwise feel free and hit up Spotify for unlimited, almost free listening...#PullTheTrigger



Flux Pavilion feat Cammie Robinson - Pull the Trigger

"Something About You Turns Me To a Savage"

I'm gonna be honest, I'm still trying to figure out whether I like the song below. There's something about it that I can't turn away from, but it's on the periphery of what enjoy EDM wise. The abrasive guitar riff progression post pushes my tolerance for abrasive, aggro beats. That being said, the contrast between the seemingly vocal R&B beginning and the pedal to the metal electro-drop is downright enticing. Like anything strange and alluring, with every lap around Savage I'm liking it more and more. Kudos to Whethan for bringing in Flux Pavilion and MAX to create such a unique track. It's big news that Whethan is headlining his first 15 city tour, so if you're a fan, check out the seventeen year old phenom when he comes to town...#Savage

Whethan feat Flux Pavilion & MAX - Savage

Flux Flips Faithless Classic Into Drum and Bass Masterpiece

One thing I really appreciate is when modern EDM artists reach back into the archives to dust off a classic. Electronic music as a whole didn't begin to start gaining appreciation from an American audience until the decade after Y2K. As a result, there's an entire history of electronic music that not a lot of people know about. For example, if it weren't for Avicii and now Flux Pavilion, I wouldn't know very much about Faithless. Evidently, they've made a lot of great music in their day, including their 2001 hit We Come One (below)...

In hindsight, it was a pretty awesome track that I wish I had known about earlier. But, luckily, Flux has my back because he modernized the original by adding his own special sauce. There are few that can impart the type of awe inspiring drum and bass progressions that Flux Pavilion is able to generate. This isn't just a solid remix, it's a great remix that adds in a few exclamation points and a whole lot of a head nod worthy bass. If you want to know what in EDM specifically resonates the core of what I like about music listen to this exemplary display of drum and bass and you'll understand me a little bit better...#WeComeOne

Faithless - We Come One (Flux Pavilion Remix)

Videos of the Week January 8th

Admittedly, it was an underwhelming week for videos. Rarely am I ever scraping the barrel for a top five, but it was a slow start for the year. I say that but Kendrick Lamar's debut performance of his latest Untitled track on Fallon was the show stopper of the week. You want to talk about energy in a performance! He brought his A game to the party.

Coming in a close second was Gallant, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. With the help of Sufjan Stevens, he showed again why he's THE rising star when it comes to R&B vocalists. Continuing with an R&B tip, Majid Jordan made news this week when they released the tracklist for their upcoming album along with the new video for their latest single Something About You. In electronic news, if you were wondering how easy or hard it is to make a track, Flux Pavilion was willing to show you in a matter of ten minutes. Pretty cool how it all comes together more quickly than you'd imagine. And last, but not least, your boy Yonas came through with yet another interesting cover. This time, he did work on Adele's Hello. But, to his credit, he put his own interesting rock twist on it with the help of Living in Fiction...#Yonas
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled 2 (Live on Fallon)

Gallant & Sufjan Stevens - Blue Bucket of Gold (In-studio Video)

Majid Jordan - Something About You (Video)

Flux Pavilion Makes a Track in 10 Minutes

Yonas feat Living in Fiction - Hello (Adele Cover)

Photo Credit: YouTube

Flux Goes Reggae on "This International Anthem"

I'm not used to Flux Pavilion dipping into reggae rhythms, but it's a good look. If you take his usual exaggerated, heavy drops he took that to new heights on his new single International Anthem. A little word to the wise, if you call a song "International Anthem", I'm going to compare your song to the International Players Anthem. Let's just say that's a dangerous proposition because that might be one of my top 5 favorite songs ever. Comparisons aside, if you're looking for a fun, new electronic track this one should satisfy your craving...#InternationalAnthem

Star Wars Rebels Just Got Fluxuated

Evidently Walt Disney has gotten the memo that electronic music is what the cool kids listen to. It turns out the whole deadmau5 Ghosts n' Stuff Re-mics debacle was only the tip of the iceberg. In order to give their new animated series Star Wars Rebels a shot in the arm, they hired Flux Pavilion to take a stab at remixing the Rebels Theme.

Oh you better believe he mixed the living hell out of it too. The remix still has a very clear video game sound to it with grandiose trumpets and all, but the bouncy chords mixed throughout provide all the Flux needed to garner intrigue. The Star Wars light saber and gun ship laser noises keep it real enough, but the mechanized synths blend it together nicely. It's a bummer that they killed Saturday cartoons because you better believe I'd be steering the kids toward this cartoon if they brought the thunder with this type of music...#RebelsTheme

Star Wars Rebels - Rebels Theme (Flux Pavilion The Ghost Remix)

"Would Someone Get Me Out of Here?"

On first impression, you would expect a track by Steve Aoki and Flux Pavilion to be a rage-fest. Both are known for their ability to ignite clubs, so you'd think combining the two forces would be like putting gasoline on dynamite, right? Not exactly, but that doesn't take anything away from their soothing, melodic dubstep concoction below.

Kill those preconceived notions of the word soothing because even though the tempo of Get Me Outta Here doesn't push the needle, the drop still packs a punch. The controlled synths result in a formulaic ebb and flow, but the heavy bottom provides plenty of oomph. This is one of a hand full of tracks that I'm excited about on Steve Aoki's upcoming sophomore album Neon Future I...#NeonFutureI

Steve Aoki & Flux Pavilion - Get Me Outta Here

Recess is Fun With Flux Pavilion and Skrillex

Picture Skrillex's Recess armed with drops that require a parachute. Actually, don't waste too much time doing that because all you really need to do is press play below. What Flux Pavilion did with Recess should be banned in at least 40+ states because it's that nasty.

When I first heard Skrillex's version of Recess, I appreciated it's playful sing-songiness. I can't say I was completely sold on it, but that's OK because he teamed up for four of his closest friends to stretch and pull the track a million directions. Sure, it's given I'll gravitate toward the arena filling Moombahton version, but there are a couple other comparably awesome versions put together by Milo & Otis, Valentino Khan and Ape Drums. It really is pretty awesome how many creative directions you can take a track and still have each of them be successful in making the original into new, awesome things. Whatever you do, just know that these remixes should only legally be played at high volumes...#RecessRemixes

Skrillex - Recess (Flux Pavilion Remix)

Videos of the Week February 28th

I'm gonna keep it 100 by saying that I'm in Austin, Texas right now, which means that I need to get out and enjoy a city I've been wanting to get to know for a while. Got a solid top 5 for y'all to check out including some awesome trailers, Lebron and Jimmy Fallon collabo and some interesting music videos. If you're in Austin tonight, holler atcha boy...#GettinWeirdTonight
Haim - Change Your Mind (Video)

The Amazing Spider-Man II (Trailer)

Flux Pavilion & Dillon Francis - I'm the One (Video)

Jimmy Fallon & Lebron Rap About Wastepaper Basketball (Video)

Godzilla Movie


Photo CreditLYouTube

"Got to Pick Yourself Up, You've Got to Jump Up High"

Artists hitting social networking milestones is like the new Christmas on the internet. Whether it's a couple million followers on Twitter or Soundcloud, milestones are great for fan because they usually mean free music. The most recent case being Flux Pavilion's new Exostomp off the upcoming Circus Records LP Grand Central. The magical milestone just happened to be two million followers on Soundcloud. *fist bump to the internet* for collaboratively working to get to that milestone.

Repetitious, bounce and fun are the three words I'd use to describe the track below. Like any self-respecting EDM track, it takes a bit of time to wind itself up, but what's in the middle is worth the wait. Listening to it again, I'm finding it hard not to get at least a little inspired listening to the lyrics. Great Monday morning pick me up for those getting ready to start another week full of 9 to 5...#Flux Pavilion

Flux Pavilion - Exostomp (Jump Up High)

"Why Won't You Give Me Your Love Sweet Love"

Like clockwork, Flux Pavilion is back with another melodic dubstep anthem. This time he enlisted the help of sultry vocals Rosie Oddie. The track features heavy drops and powerful vocals that produce a easily digestible pop feel. The track is set to surface on Flux's upcoming five song Freeway EP due out on November 11th. The only real question that remains is, "why won't you give me your love, sweeeet love?"...#GoldLove

Flux Pavilion feat Rosie Oddie - Gold Love

Flux & Dillon Chop It Up

Now that the proliferation of electronic music onto the pop culture music scene is all but complete, I guess it's up and time to start diving into the sub-genres of EDM. Tonight's feature, moombahton, which is the half reggae/half house sound that Dillon Francis' continues to champion. I've personally learned from Major Lazer that reggae does in fact mix well with synthesizers (cue up Jah No Partial), but the kicker with I'm the One is the deep bass that Flux Pavilion brings to the table. It's a whole mish-mash of high and low pitches that has the potential to get a whole lotta people out of their seats. If you're a fan of moody electronic music that has the ability to take on multiple personalities within a four minute span, you'll enjoy this little burst of energy...#ImTheOne

Flux Pavilion & Dillon Francis - I'm the One

Hip Hop and Dubstep Compliment Each Other Well

Rarely do I ever re-post songs, but I'm going to make an exception today because when I posted the original version of Do or Die back in December, it was a choppy radio edit. Today the visuals came out for the Flux Pavilion and Childish Gambino's collabo, which prompted the second wind. Check out the video below...

The CDQ of the track is much more palatable and gives the Hip Hop/Dubstep mash even more credibility. The track comes off as even more methodical and even slower than the original I remember. I enjoyed the end of the track too, Flux showed off a bit by seamlessly mixing in the synths to the heavy dub beat. I said it before and I'll say it again, hopefully there's more Hip Hop/Dubstep collabos to come...#DubHop

Flux Pavilion feat Childish Gambino - Do or Die

Flux Makes Your Body Wanna...Dance

It's getting to a point where new @Fluxpavilion tracks are almost an automatic post. Dude knows Dubstep, there's no question about it. Despite it sounding like the sample is saying "leeky body water", One Two Three somehow manages to be dance-worthy, despite not being very uptempo.

It's amazing what some heavy bass and high-pitched synthesizers can do, but again, I guess that's the allure of Dubstep as a genre. Even better, Flux was nice enough to offer the download free of charge because he's awesome like that...#OneTwoThree

Flux Pavilion - One Two Three (Make Your Body Wanna)

"Gambino Forever and Royalty is Do or Die"

You knew it was only a matter of time before Dubstep and Hip Hop would start hanging out more. With electronic music as a whole starting to gain some traction in American pop music and Hip Hop continuing to lead pop music, the two high energy genres simply can't be kept in two separate corners. Earlier this year, we saw @LupeFiasco collaborate with @bassnectar on Vava Voom, but Hip Hop/Dubstep collabos have been few and far between so far.

...which is why it's so awesome that two up and comers like @Fluxpavilion and @DonaldGlover got together on a new track together. The rumors of a new track came to live back in September when Flux debuted the track at Electric Zoo, but he's kept it under wraps until this week. I'll put it this way, it was well worth the wait. The opening verse from Donald fits well over the high energy synths, which give way to a drop that goes well beyond epic at the 1:05 mark.

The track is scheduled to surface on Flux's upcoming Blow The Roof EP, which will hit shelves on January 28th. From now on when I think of a best case scenario for blending Hip Hop and Dubstep, Do or Die will set the bar...and set it very high at that. #DubHop

Flux Pavilion feat Childish Gambino - Do or Die

Reggae Meets Dupstep... in an Major Way

For starters, there isn't a group in music industry that experiments with their sound more than @majorlazer. Recently they toyed with anything from Hip Hop to smooth Reggae to upbeat Dancehall Pop to radio friendly Pop. Might as well add another to that group as they've now added Reggae Dubstep to their arsenal with Jah No Partial.

If you're like me, you pressed play on the track below already and wondered just how in the hell it all came together. The good news is, Major Lazer put out an interview letting us know how it came to fruition...

A few takeaways from watching that video:

• @diplo is a musical genius and can probably be blamed for about 75% of Major Lazer's awesomeness. Honorable mention goes to newer ML memebers @jillionaire and @walshyfire.
• Johnny Osbourne is as legnedary as it gets in Dancehall and everyone would be better off listening to his discography. (The vocals on Jah No Partial are sampled from his original track Mr. Marshall)
• @Fluxpavilion's name is starting to become synonymous with the word Dubstep, which makes me think I should be familiar with more than Bass Cannon

Major Lazer's new album Major Lazer Frees The Universe was recently delayed and will be released on February 19th rather than November 6th...#freeTheUniverse

Major Lazer feat Flux Pavilion - Jah No Partial (iTunes)