The weekend’s in sight, and we’ve got the solace of the dancefloor on our minds. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Fred again.. & Jozzy, “ten”
The Label: Atlantic Records
The Spiel: Fred Gibson has established himself as a technician of music that’s simultaneously melancholy, peppy and entirely his own. The producer again flexes that ability on his latest, “ten.” Featuring shimmery vocals from Jozzy (a singer whose also got writing credits that include “Old Town Road”), the song is a tight, slightly somber affair about missing someone bad, with the percussion and tempo also imbuing it with a certain brightness, like that feeling of finally actually seeing them. The song — written by Fred, Jozzy and Jim Legxacy — comes in the midst of Fred’s three-night run at Forest Hills in New York this week, and ahead of a sold out eight-night residency at The Shrine in Los Angeles later this month.
The Artist Says: “This song is about missing home, which I have this year more than ever,” says Fred. “Jozzy and Jim are both f—in g’s and great friends from different sides of the world which I kinda love because it feels like one voice is coming from L.A. and another from London. But yeh foreal I wanna thank them for making this song wit me and also jus for bein my mates. Cos I guess that’s the thing that makes being away from home better? Its always the people innit.”
Skrillex, Flowdan & Lil Baby, “Pepper”
The Label: OWSLA/Atlantic
The Spiel: Skrillex brings the same tough-as-nails vibe that he started the year with into the close of 2023, with the producer again linking with Flowdan on “Pepper.” Their duo’s third collaboration of the year — after January’s scene-shaking “Rumble” and August’s similarly heavy “Badders” — “Pepper” is a glitchy, darkly stuttering and ironically cold-as-ice track that could very well be the close of a trinity of songs thematically focused on dominance, strength and winning over adversaries. This new one features Lil Baby, whose shimmery, melodic vocals counterbalance Flowdan’s sucker-punch delivery.
The Artist Says: “It’s inspired by being an underdog, not taking no for an answer, overcoming all odds, making sure you get that win,” Flowdan says.
G Jones, Paths
The Label: Illusory Recordings
The Spiel: The producer returns with his much-anticipated sophomore album Paths, the follow-up to 2018’s The Ineffable Truth. A experimental bass pioneer in his own right, the artist born Greg Jones has worked with legends including DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin and Eprom, and on Paths, he once again demonstrates why they’ve all sought him out. The album synthesizes sharp, sometimes challenging, often spare and occasionally explosive bass music that deftly maintains the celestial, cerebral and frequently ambient tone that’s part of his signature. Jones has developed a new live show for the album that he’s debuting at Red Rocks Amphitheatre this Sunday (Oct. 15).
The Artist Says: “I’ve been working on the Paths Live show all year, remixing and reformatting songs from Paths as well as the rest of my catalog for live performance, and also doing multi-day IRL work sessions with my team of visual collaborators, building this new show from scratch,” says Jones. “I can hardly contain my excitement about it all. I’ve been discovering so many new ways to perform my songs in a live context, and really believe that the audiovisual aspect of the show will be far beyond anything we’ve done before.”
REZZ & deadmau5, “Infraliminal”
The Label: mau5trap
The Spiel: REZZ and deadmau5 mark another milestone in their history as pals and collaborators with “Infraliminal,” an dual edit of deadmau5′ “Superliminal,” the opening track of his 2012 classic >album title goes here<. This new “REZZmau5” version maintains the same call-to-arms quality as the original while shaving off about two minutes, spending a little more time in the ambient section and adding more of REZZ’s signature bass crunch.
The Artist Says: “’Superliminal’ is my favorite deadmau5 track,” says REZZ. “That’s one of the key songs that stunned me and I immediately had to learn to produce music. I put my own lil spin on it, while Joel also did his own lil spin, and we combined it together for now called ‘Infraliminal.’”
Azzecca, “Tell That Boy”
The Label: Higher Ground
The Spiel: Chicago producer Azzecca has released “Tell That Boy” via Diplo’s Higher Ground label, with the the house track encompassing moments of spareness, heaviness and general acid-ness over the course of three-and-a-half minutes, and further establishing why she’s one to watch. Azzecca plays in Amsterdam next week during ADE before returning to the States for sets at Phoenix’s Body Language Festival, Austin’s Seismic Dance Event and EDC Orlando.
The Artist Says: “Thank you all so much for the support on this cheeky little acidy thing,” Azzecca says.
