On a personal note… Vincent Reinders (Venz)

I can’t believe it’s been 12 months already! I won’t talk too much about the incredible ride, Gilles already wrote enough about it last week. This little idea of mine has become an online jukebox with 22 genres and over 12,000 unique listeners, a number that continues to grow daily. I will take a moment to thank our DJs. They select great new music every week and make it ever so easy for the rest of us to discover it all.

We’ve been connecting with more and more labels, both majors and independents, to see how we can support each other. The music industry has learned a lot these past years and knows that it’s not helping anyone by killing a service like 22tracks, and I want to thank those labels for their patience to let us grow too. Several people have called us crazy: an online music startup! What were we thinking? What a dangerous world, what a hard way to earn money! Well, we’re not in it for the money. We just have to pay the rent, our server costs and licensing (a sum that’s not little at all, of course, but we think the artists and composers deserve it).

3,300 Twitter followers and 4,600 Facebook fans prove that we may be on to something. In an online world crowded with artists, songs and music services, selection is badly needed. Now let’s grow. We will continue to improve the website and will start with guest-playlists soon (where interesting people will have a one-week-special). Expect State Awards and Museumnacht (n8) specials in November. And let’s hope Apple approves our iPhone app any minute now, otherwise we will have to wait a little longer for that… (For those who don’t know: it’ll be a free app, available in the Netherlands only for now.)

I hope to see all you Dutch listeners this Friday when we celebrate 22tracks’ 1 Year Anniversary party at the Sugar Factory in Amsterdam. Ten 22tracks DJs will be spinning, I will be your host for the evening and Venour – who built our website – will be VJ’ing. The first 222 attendees will receive a goodiebag with an exclusive, brand new 22tracks T-shirt provided by Tjunk.com. Doors open at 19.00, be early!

On a personal note… Gilles de Smit

Wow. What a year! 22tracks launched at last year’s ADE and is still growing steady, every day, thanks to you. By spreading the word of good new music to your friends on Twitter, Facebook or face to face. We now welcome over 12,000 unique listeners each day, most of you from The Netherlands (liefde!).

Much has happened for me this last year—besides no longer having a steady income or any spare time. It all started with this little idea from Vincent Reinders (you might know him from the HipHop and Relax genres). This tall and very unhealthy living radio DJ guy had an idea after he got asked the same question over and over again: “Where do you find these tracks? Oh come on, send me some MP3s!”. The concept of playlists curated by expert DJs and journalists was born. Free, streamable genre-based playlists curated by experts, leading you through the thick forest straight to the new music gems. Legally, and with the utmost respect for artists and songwriters.

I joined this adventurous ride back in August/September of 2009, only shortly before 22tracks launched officially on the 22nd of October 2009. We started with next to nothing ready, and no money available for any kind of PR campaign. Vincent has made sure everything sounds and looks good while I’ve been working on the more commercial and legal side of the business. The DJs have been digging for fresh new music and finding the hottest tracks, while we have been convincing the music industry and at the same time hoping that you, the listener, would enjoy it all. Well, everybody did. Including our amazing partners and pro bono advisory board.

Now, nearly a year later, I can easily say that I’m pretty damn proud of what 22tracks has accomplished so far. Despite us having to delay the iPhone app, nothing has gone seriously wrong. We’ve managed to survive a full year! We’ve even won some awards! We are still independent, we are still having the same fun as when we started, we are still bringing you the best new music. We’re celebrating that!

These last two weeks, working towards this year’s ADE—where we’ll be hosting the 22tracks 1 Year Anniversary party on the 22nd of October at the Sugar Factory—have been, and still are insanely busy and nerve-wrecking at times. We will be announcing and launching a lot that day: the release of the highly anticipated 22tracks iPhone app (that has finally been submitted to Apple last Friday), new features for the website and a redesigned logo. Cool new DJ head shots have been made. In the coming week we will continue to work our asses off, making sure that everything is in check. It won’t be long anymore. Will we see you on October 22!?

P.S. Two things you should know about our upcoming 22tracks iPhone app release: (1) It is awaiting review by Apple, and our hope is that it will be accepted before the 22nd of October so that we can present it on our 1 Year Anniversary at ADE. (2) The app will be made available within The Netherlands and therefore in the Dutch App Store only (for now).

<3 new music!
Gilles

Africa Unsigned & 22tracks Give Away

Our friends from Africa Unsigned (listen to their 22tracks playlist here) left a message for all of us, please read if you’d like to support new African artists:

“We are proud to be the selectors for one of the 22tracks channels. However, we are aware that there is so much more unknown talent coming from Africa, which currently isn’t featured on our channel. Starting today we are extending our Africa Unsigned playlist with up and coming artists from the forgotten continent, which aren’t part of our Africa Unsigned platform. To show you what The New African Sound is all about.

To celebrate our partnership with 22tracks we are giving away 22$ to spend on Africa Unsigned for the first 100 people who register with the promotion code ‘22tracks’. Of course we have a few suggestions for you to invest in:

Emza with Skip & Die
Skip & Die is a collaboration between the South African vocalist / visual artist Catarina Aimée Dahms (aka Cata.Pirata) and Dutch producer Jori Collignon (C-Mon & Kypski, Nobody Beats The Drum). While traveling through South Africa’s Soweto, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Guguletu, they collaborated with some of SA’s most inspiring music-makers on the rise.

TEDx Artists
Africa Unsigned has partnered with TEDxAmsterdam, an organization devoted to Ideas worth Spreading. We nominated three of our amazing female Kenyan artists for this competition. By investing in them you might be one of the lucky supporters to win a ticket to the ‘invite-only’ TEDx event.

Of course you can decide whomever you want to spend it on. Just remember to use the ‘22tracks’ promotion code when registering.”

Miss Diamond if you’re disco

Today’s blogpost is dedicated to the sultry sounds of British singer Kathy Diamond. If there’s a Queen of New Disco, it must be her. Three different tracks in 22tracks’ current disco playlist are sung by her, with a fourth on the way as soon as I can get my hands on it. Anything Kathy Diamond touches turns into something precious.

“Love Saves the Day” by Kaine is as good a showcase as any for Kathy Diamond’s understated but soulful voice. It helps that the title is the same as Tim Lawrence’s groundbreaking disco chronicle from 2004, and the remake by Mario Basanov gives the track just that little extra push on the dancefloor. It’s not the first time that the producer from Lithuania has worked with the singer from England. Last year’s collaborative “In My System (Make You Move)” is a 90 BPM slowburner of a gem.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zC8RsB4vI

“A Little Bit More” is a little bit faster, but not much. The track is by UK producer Toby Tobias, who doesn’t introduce the singer until three minutes in—very very slowly. They may just be some repeated phrases (“hold me a  little bit more”), but they sure set the mood. Exquisite strings take over from luscious synths and the whole thing is just a dream. Not much of Diamond’s contribution remains on Nick Chacona‘s “The Fear (Beg to Differ Remix)” but, again, what does is enough.

Not only is Kathy Diamond a very fine singer, but she knows how to choose equally fine production talent. I first heard about her three years ago, after her album Miss Diamond to You had already been out for a few months. That record is produced from start to finish by the legendary Maurice Fulton, and that’s all the recommendation anyone needs, really. Another big record Miss Diamond featured on was 2008′s “Whispers“, where she handed Aeroplane their breakthrough single. Nuff said.

I don’t know if a second Kathy Diamond’s album is forthcoming any time soon, as she seems to be preoccupied with a new duo called The KDMS. You can figure out for yourself what the KD stands for, but the MS is Polish producer Maksymilian Skiba. Last year’s “Never Stop Believing” was a jam, and new KDMS single “High Wire” (out later this month) is again sure to satisfy DJs on the lookout for a spot-on vocal performance. The video is rather silly, I’m afraid:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tAsA6VH8Cg

(Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned “Tic Toc“, which is insane.)

Mayer Hawthorne needs some Chicago soul

One day, California singer Mayer Hawthorne was listening to a bunch of beats sent to him by hip-hop producer Nottz. One particular beat stood out, he tells the Stones Throw website. “It had the same chord progression as [Otis Leavill's "I Need You"], so I just went with it.”

Indeed he did, rescuing a 41-year-old ballad from obscurity. Mayer Hawthorne’s cover version of “I Need You” is #nowplaying at 22tracks’ soul playlist.

It’s pretty stunning that hip-hop produce Nottz did not create the track with “I Need You” in mind, because the song fits perfectly. Here is the original, produced by Willie Henderson, a protégé of the great Chicago record man Carl Davis.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v1o_gLZeGY

“I Need You” was the B-side of “I Love You“, an R&B Top Ten hit in 1969 for Carl Davis’s assistant, Otis Leavill Cobb. He never released an album, but he certainly had good ears because according to Allmusic, Leavill discovered The Chi-Lites, Bohannon and also a group called Manchild, that included a teenage Babyface! (Apparently, he also passed on Chaka Khan, but I guess you can’t be right all the time.)

Otis Leavill died of a heart attack in 2002. Both “I Love You” and “I Need You” were reissued on CD in 1999, on the compilation The Class of Mayfield High, and unless Mayer Hawthorne is something of 45 collector, I guess that’s how “I Need You” wound up on his DJ mix album Soul With a Hole Vol. 1. (It’s funny how Otis Leavill’s name is spelled incorrectly, in two different ways even, on both the mix CD and the Stones Throw site.)

Dominick Lamb AKA Virginia producer Nottz is best known for his work with luminaries such as Busta Rhymes, Xzibit, Ghostface Killah, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and The Game. Most of it is on album tracks rather than hit singles, though I guess this Nottz production did pretty well:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2q6yxYmUt4

If that video gets you in the mood for scantily clad ladies, Mayer Hawthorne has a new video out for one of his own compostitions, “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’”:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxBdYM8opg

Skream if you want to go faster

Skream is on a roll, there is no other way to explain him #nowplaying four different times on 22tracks’ dubstep playlist. Two tracks are from his free downloadable Freeizm series of zip files, one is his current UK Top Ten hit with Magnetic Man, and the other is a jungle throwback taken from his new album Outside the Box.

I blogged about Magnetic Man a few weeks ago, so if you missed that go here. Suffice to say that “I Need Air” entered the UK chart at number ten last weekend, and that the album is coming out October 4. Besides Angela Hunte, who sings on “I Need Air”, the album features Ms Dynamite, Katy B and John Legend.

On Outside the Box, Skream’s second solo album coming out next week, you can hear Cali rapper Murs, UK synth pop star La Roux and a certain Sam Frank, who sings on the record’s potential chart hit, “Where You Should Be”. Skream is definitely pushing for a crossover on his new album, but more in a musical sense. Unlike other young dance producers, he is (thank goodness) not pursuing some kind of muso credibilty with jazz odysseys or out-of-place indie rock vocalists. He’s doing something more dangerous than that: Outside the Box sees Skream broadening dubstep’s sound to include more a melodic, European sensibility. You can even hear this is in “Listenin’ to the Records on My Wall”, a track that references the hardcore jungle sounds of Skream’s (early) youth.

Here’s a record young Oliver may have have heard as 9-year-old. Like “Listenin’…”, J Majik‘s classic “Your Sound” (1995) cuts up the famous “Amen” break. The track was included on Grooverider’s Hardstep Selection Vol. II, a compilation by pioneering jungle DJ Grooverider, who was friends with Skream’s older brother Hijak, also a DJ/producer.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5HifHi-eww

As much as I love dubstep, I don’t think it ever gets as devestating as this. And although I’m not interested in a revival, it is interesting to hear a young producer like Skream getting influences like these, as well as others, on board. If you want “proper’ dubstep, you can download his Freeizm collections. I’m looking forward to the Magnetic Man album. “The fear of selling out is always in the back of your mind but you grow up and get over it,” MM member Benga recently told Britain’s Metro newspaper. “Nothing stays underground forever. If we don’t do this, someone else will and they might not have done all the grafting and groundwork.”

Let’s stay outside the box.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WUZf0JmBsU

Life Hurts

We don’t keep logs here at 22tracks, but I’m pretty sure I playlisted “Wonderful Life” by English duo Hurts early this year already. I know we’re all about new music, but the song is again #nowplaying on the pop playlist. After Hurts’ major label debut single “Better Than Love” hit the radio last spring, “Wonderful Life” is only now ready to finally fulfill its destiny, and hit the bigtime.

“Better Than Love” wasn’t a huge smash, but it got quite a bit of radio play across Europe. The sound and feel of Hurts’ music may be reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys, but singer Theo Hutchcraft has a much bigger voice than Neil Tennant does, so a good additional comparison is probably… early- to mid-’80s Ultravox:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5L9GCksSs0

Still, I was surprised that Sony Music had picked up Hurts, seeing as their debut single “Wonderful Life” is a bit of a moody record. I was probably misled by the (original) video, and the lyrics, that see a woman pleading (at night, in the rain, on a bridge) to a suicidal man to not give up on life. The original video looks a bit gloomy, too, despite the dancing:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClf_8AKF4E

The grandeur of the song comes out much better in this new video of the same song. Director Dawn Shadforth took Hutchcraft, keyboardist Adam Anderson and what is possibly the same dancing woman from the previous video to a stylish mansion in Ibiza. In a twist, by this time, it is Susie who lies at the bottom of the pool.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIJXqOvXb1A

If you ask me, this is a much better song than “Better Than Love”.

Hurts’ debut album is called Happiness and is scheduled for a September 6 release. They’re performing all over Western Europe starting August 20 at Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival.

The Count & Sinden set to go mega mega mega

Sinden (pictured left) and Hervé AKA The Count (right) are two of the most prolific English house producers of the past half-decade, both emerging during the fidget house eruption of the mid-’00s. Teaming up in 2007, the duo has released a series of stellar, catchy dance singles leading up to the release of their debut album next month. The latest, “After Dark”, is #nowplaying on 22tracks’ disco playlist.

The first time I heard a record by Hervé was in the spring of 2006, when I bought his “What You Need the Most” EP on the Dubsided label. Fidget house was one of the most exciting new sounds around at the time, and B-side “I’m Mo Try”, a co-production by figure head Switch, was the stand-out track on that 12-inch. A couple of months later, producer Switch (using his Solid Groove alias) also introduced me to Graeme Sinden. Another a co-production, “Red Hot” was a Baltimore styled club banger released on Basement Jaxx’ Atlantic Jaxx label:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doq8rF9RDww

Ever since, Hervé’s and Sinden’s discography is an intertwining maze that I won’t try and entangle here. I think their first release together was “Tamborzuda” (2007), a baile funk influenced rave track featuring Brazilian MC Thiaguinho. Back then, Hervé was still known as The Count of Monte Cristal. They’ve remixed Pharoahe Monch, Alphabeat and Robbie Williams, and, in a striking move, were the first club act to sign to Domino, one of the most important indie pop labels in the UK (its roster includes Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys and Four Tet). This is The Count & Sinden‘s second release for the label, 2008′s “Beeper”, featuring US rapper Kid Sister:

“Beeper” won’t be on Mega Mega Mega, The Count & Sinden’s debut album that’s coming out 23 August. New single “After Dark” will be, and it’s a little bit different from the crunchy bleepy electro-y (is that a word?) house sound that the two are known for. It’s a tropical summer dance record with a funky guitar and a disco feel. It also features the English pop band Mystery Jets, who have just released their own, third album. Here’s their latest video, “Dreaming of Another World”:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBRsXKgRAHc

I’m really looking forward to Mega Mega Mega (download a minimix here). After Basement Jaxx seemed to have lost their edge somewhat, this should be the bright, poppy, dynamic UK dance album to take their cue into the 2010s.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs9vRtZsMz0

Brap brap brap: Bart B More

When I first heard of Bart B More a couple of years ago, I thought he was some wannabe trying to hitch a ride on Baltimore club music, sometimes known as Bmore. At the time, it seemed like the Baltimore sound (uptempo club music built on hip-hop breaks) was possibly maybe going to be the next big thing. Turned out that Utrecht DJ/producer Bart van der Meer was more of a Dutch house type. I don’t know if that still holds true after hearing “Brap” his new banger of a record that is #nowplaying on 22tracks’ electro playlist.

For those paying better attention than I was, Bart B More’s breakthrough record was probably “So it Goes”, released in 2007 on the British Toolroom Trax label:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGLMNyakPYg

That’s what I learned from this interview (in Dutch) with Joost van Bellen, anyway. In it, Bart B More explains that “I’d like to believe that I am more than Dutch House and I think you can tell from my productions. Some tracks are very close to being cheesy, but plenty others are getting played in the cool scene and the underground.”

The latest in that fashion is “Brap”, Bart B More’s first release on Boysnoize Records. He’s admitted fair and square that the track has been inspired by “Raven”, a 2008 single by the Russian DJ/producer Yevgeny Pozharnov AKA Proxy:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ebQpWqH2k

I guess there was no point in denying it anyway. That is not a slight on Bart B More, however. As Joost van Bellen said on his Rauw blog:

It’s a film sequel, but with a different major director. Spiderman 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Sex in the City 6, Rocky 106, The Naked Gun 2.5… And then: Raven 2 = Brap!

That’s not a bad comparison! Once the storyline has been established, “Brap” is like an action flick that has you jumping through windows, chasing helicopters and detonating small countries—on the dancefloor.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXLuHJ7QzlM

A killer record from Dexter

You may have noticed a switch-up in gears this week from 22tracks’ house and techno departments. DJ/producer Tom Trago has taken over the house playlist, while his old job of choosing the techno playlist is now filled by Cool Chris, DJ and co-owner of Amsterdam’s Rush Hour empire. One of the new tracks #nowplaying in house is “Junofest” by Dexter AKA Dutch producer Remy Verheijen.

Since the dawn of the ’00s, Dexter has been instrumental in re-establishing electro as a major force in dance music. His debut single “I Don’t Care” (2000) is an electroclash classic (now there’s a tongue twister!) and has been licensed numerous times. It was also the first release on the terrific little Klakson label that Dexter runs with his friend (and, by now, superstar DJ) Steffi.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exY5hHN2J5I

Since then, Dexter has remixed Fischerspooner, The Hacker, De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig, amonst others, released more of his own and other people’s music on Klakson and other record labels, and had a hit TV series named after his extra-curricular serial killing activities. Well, not really.

“Junofest” is the first release in Rush Hour’s new Voyage Direct series, Tom Trago’s new label vehicle named after his own, still-great debut album that is “all about feel good club music“. That sounds about right as far as product description goes. JunoFest, on the other hand, is a Canadian music festival that, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do whatsoever with anyone involved in the making of this record.