First Spin: The Week’s Best New Dance Tracks From David Guetta, Artbat & Idris Elba, SG Lewis & Tove Lo and More
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This week in dance music: we were there for the pair of shows Zedd played to honor the ten-year anniversary of his debut Clarity, we caught up with Wreckno about the special meaning behind their Electric Forest set this past June, we went deep with Kerri Chandler on the occasion of his most recent album, and we saw the queen Björk hit Hot Dance/Electronic albums with her latest, Fossora.
And new music? You know we’ve got it. Let’s dig in.
More from Billboard
David Guetta & Artbat feat. Idris Elba, “It’s Ours”
Is it future rave? Melodic techno? A cryptic spoken-word ballad featuring one of the world’s best-known actor/DJs uttering heady musings about “the connection… the absolute purity…” in baritone? “It’s Ours” is in fact all of these things, with the fearsome foursome that produced it — David Guetta, Ukrainian duo ARTBAT and aforementioned multi-platform star and noted good-looking person Idris Elba — tossing their respective skillsets in the mix for the darkly hypnotic heater. The track is fairly experimental output (particularly for the typically melody-centric Guetta), and really excels in the extended eight-minute version, which plays like the soundtrack to an actual movie. — KATIE BAIN
SG Lewis & Tove Lo, “Call On Me”
Ladies and gentlemen, right this way through the holographic door into a dark-lit, dystopian disco where the champagne flows like spilled blood and the only soundtrack is the sinister thump of SG Lewis and Tove Lo’s insanely hard-hitting single, “Call on Me.” There’s just something desperate about this song’s insatiable funk. It seems to promise that if we turn its maximalist production up until it red lines, for three blissful but very-sweaty minutes, we might forget that there’s such a thing as human pain.
“Call on Me” is the latest single from Lewis’ forthcoming double album AudioLust & HigherLove, which he says “explores the differing ways in which we approach love and relationships, and the cyclical nature of those feelings.” It also appears on Lo’s spankin’-new LP Dirt Femme, which sees the Swedish singer peeling back the layers on her personal demons in a way she’s never quite exposed before. Of course, all this over beats that will breathe life into any dance floor. These two can call on us literally any time. – KAT BEIN
Sohmi, “Somebody”
After playing Coachella for the first time earlier in April, Sohmi has entered a new and more high-profile era in her career. The producer-singer-songwriter is back today with her first solo release since last year, “Somebody,” through which she revisits her past. “‘Sit on the floor little darling / know what you’re worth,’ Mama told me,” she begins. She builds upon the premise of working long and hard to become “somebody,” the refrain echoing like a lingering dream across a driving soundscape filled with pummeling drums and fluttering synths. It’s dark yet dreamy, heavy but hopeful and lyrically relatable while also being some of Sohmi’s most personal material yet.
“Somebody” is also the first taste of a new EP due out early next year. “A lot has happened and changed since my last release,” Sohmi says, “and I’ve spent a lot of time diving deeper into my own personal history in order to better understand who I am; why I hurt the way I hurt, why I love the way I love. All of it has been at once challenging and fulfilling at the same time, but most of all, it’s been beautiful to confront who I am as a person and how that’s shaped the artist I am and strive to be today. I think ‘Somebody’ is sort of the first piece of that story, as it takes a step backwards into some personal history of mine while looking ahead and forward, sonically.” — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ
Agents Of Time, Universo
After taking a giant step into the mainstream this past January via their killer remix of The Weeknd‘s “Take My Breath,” Italian duo Agents Of Time are closing out the year with their sophomore album, Universo. The 13-track LP melds melodic techno with an expanded pop sensibility (particularly in the vocal-driven tracks), altogether delivering dually sophisticated, hypnotic electronic music you can live with at home or on the dancefloor. Universo is out now via Kompakt. — K. Bain
G Jones & Eprom, “R.A.V.E.”
Have you been to a rave lately? It really does feel like stepping outside of society into a more perfect union of souls. When a rave is done right, it’s like going to church and a bacchanal all at once — which we suppose at certain moments in history is exactly what going to “church” was like. Raves make you feel like a better tomorrow is possible, so maybe that’s why inimitable texture gods G Jones and Eprom named their latest laser attack anthem “R.A.V.E.,’” aka “Realizing Alternative Visions for Earth.” A monster tune that will break your windows and smash your skull, the track is everything we love about these two producers: funky, groovy, an absolute assault of the aural senses — and also just mean, and therefore, so nice. The track comes from Jones’ Illusory Tracks EP, out next month. – K. Bein
Coco & Breezy feat. Baby Sol, “Magic”
Some tracks are made for banging out in the club, and some are meant to be set free in the outdoors. Coco & Breezy’s new single “Magic” falls into the latter group. In an exploration of their Afro-Latina heritage, the twin-duo deliver a track shrouded in mysticism, pairing driving drum rhythms and menacing bass with vocal chants and wolf howls as vocalist Baby Sol teases, “I got that magic.” There’s a communal spirit within “Magic” that evokes images of midnight forest raves, where among the silhouettes of looming trees and nocturnal birds, it might sound right at home.
“We all have that magic when we step into our power,” write Coco & Breezy. “It truly feels like we are tapping into our ancestors with the vocal chants in the background. “Music is healing, and words are powerful. Creating a song for people to dance to, and repeat the affirmation ‘I got that magic,’ is powerful.” — K.R.
