Hello everyone and welcome back to the Electronic Music Alliance July 2020 Newsletter - your monthly update on the latest goings on from the EMAlien Mothership!
We send our well wishes to everyone in regard to the Coronavirus pandemic and want to say thank you to everyone caring for the sick and the more vulnerable - you are all legends! As for EMA, we want to say a big thank you for the continued support and sharing all the good vibes on Twitter! This month has been one of our most EMAzing ones yet with two huge compilations and brilliant storytelling releases from the EMAliens on the community run Electronic Alliance Records label. On top of that, we have more mixes with the EMA DJ Mix Series and we take an in depth look at this month's Featured Artist, DZM! So with the newsletter bursting at the seams already, let's open it up and see what's going on under the hood of the Mothership! EMA Community
Welcome to all the new followers and thanks to everyone who continues to follow our EMA and EAR Twitter! The EMAlien community continues to grow and we've been steadily adding to the playlists and release catalog in July! Here's a full run down of how things have shaped up this past month:
As always a big thanks to our EMAliens on the Mothership, keeping everyone's spirits up and making it a fun place to be! Regular Playlists
We have our regular weekly EMA curated playlists going across various streaming platforms featuring tracks no older than 3 months from our members, keeping things as new as possible! We've also added the Apple Music and Hearthis platforms to our rotation, which are regularly updated so there's no shortage of places where you can find our music. Here's a little reminder of our schedule:
Featured Playlist
Skaarl is back at the playlists once again with his "EMAliens At The Rave" reaching it's 4th installment of floor filling, rave tunes from members of EMA! This features electronic music in the style of House and Techno for you to enjoy!
EMA DJ Mixes
We have continued the cool vibes from the EMA DJ Mix Series each week thanks to Radio Dark Tunnel. Our 1 hour slot is on Friday evenings from 19:00-20:00 UTC for the time being, where our EMAliens showcase their mixing talents along with a host of electronic music ranging from downtempo to house to drum and bass. Feel free to stream the latest mixes from our Mixcloud page below:
Electronic Alliance Records
Our community run label Electronic Alliance Records continues to grow with some huge releases this month from our EMAliens who have been beaming their beats down from the Mothership! Make sure you follow us on our Beatport page for the latest releases. Wrap your EARs around these:
Future Sounds Anthology Vol. 3 - July 3rd
The 3rd volume of our quarterly compilation called "Future Sounds Anthology" saw 17 tracks from 19 EMAliens come together in an assortment of vibes from chill to "thrill" as genres range from downtempo to Drum & Bass! There's something for everyone in this release and the theme was a little more on the "summery" side with each track bringing sounds from Summer and on the more melodic side!
We Initially launched Vol. 1 on the 1 year anniversary of EMA as a special compilation but decided to keep that tradition going every quarter. Nicky Havey wrote a full rundown of FSA Vol.3 on his website which you can find here but the Spotify playlist is below for your streaming pleasure and it's available to download on our Beatport page!
11:11 Invasion - July 11th
11 EMAliens, 11 MCs and rappers came together to bring this pile driver of a release which was the brain child of Trip Jacker. We went in to more depth to find out all about this epic project and how it came to be with many challenges having to be overcome with the coronavirus pandemic affecting play. However, in true EMA style, everyone came together and supported the completion of this compilation and give you the 11:11 Invasion!
Once again, Nicky Havey wrote a blog which followed some of the EMAliens featured around on their journey with this release and you can read all about it on our EMA website here. The full epic compilation is available to download here and you can stream below:
Featured Artist - DZM
Each month the "Featured Artist" section of our newsletter gives us a chance to find out more about one of our EMAliens and this time round, we're going to be shining the spotlight on Discord "High Flyer" - DZM! We digitally sent Nicky Havey over to find out more about this dude from 'Dam and here's what happened!
Hey hey it's the bee keeper "Bee ZM"! Congratulations on making your way in to DJ Overlord's "High Flyer" rank in our Discord - I know we're all looking forward to finding out more about you! So, who is the buzzing "Bee ZM" aka DZM? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved with music?
Hey Nicky Beezy! I have been doing for a long time, starting out when I was like 13 years old or something, starting on some very basic software (Techno Maker and Fasttracker 2) and eventually ended up using Reason. As this was mostly pre-internet it was simply me messing around on my computer in my bedroom, and I did not really have the access to any fancy stuff so it was very basic what I was doing. I continued doing stuff here and there but it was about two years ago that I felt I wanted to give things another chance and so I bought a “lite” version of Reason and things started to click somehow. I have been going at it ever since!
I like a wide range of musical styles - I grew up on gabber / hardcore and I really loved the raw and emotional style of PCP from Frankfurt, which are getting in vogue again at the moment, being played by Helena Hauff and Nina Kraviz for example. After that I had a bit of a hiphop phase, starting with Eminem but really falling in love with the beats that RZA did for the early Wu-Tang stuff, I love MF Doom and when Kanye West came through. oh man… Later I started to enjoy rock as well, Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys, for example.
Musically my two biggest idols are Kanye West and Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys. Kanye is obviously widely regarded as an a$$hole but his music is simply on a different level. Also you gotta respect someone who simply does not care what people think and, every bedroom producer should simply adore him for how he got himself to the top (tip: listen to the second season of Dissect to get a bit of a flavour how tough that was). And Alex Turner, two things - first of all Arctic Monkeys make amazing music, almost every on of their songs has an amazing melodic left turn (usually on the bridge) that gives you goosebumps. And secondly, to see how he has developed himself from a shy kid to this rock star persona, I think its very cool.
Awesome man! It's great to see that you've got such a wide range of influences and to be able to pick two biggest idols isn't easy to do with the plethora of musical talents out there! So how have all these influences come across in your music? Do you have a particular style you go for?
I’d like to say emotional music. It can be anything, its mostly in the techno realm but even in there I’ll swing from harsh electro to melodic techno. And recently started working on hip hop which I like a lot, but the key is that it needs to have some emotional intensity to it.
Definitely agree with you about bringing emotions in to music, feels like we can express the inexpressible through our sounds hey? With these different techno vibes and hip hop sounds you're going for, have you managed to incorporate them in to your latest releases like "Space Age" or your track on 11:11 Invasion?
So Space Age was my latest original release and meant to be one of a series of more melodic techno stuff I have been doing. I think in my discography that is a relatively light and fun track, but I love nostalgic feeling of the chords and the JFK sample really amplifies this sense of “safety” that I felt in my childhood that seems to be gone from the world now.
11:11 invasion was so cool, I spoke a bit of how the beat came about for the release (involving a trip to Poland and a lot of alcohol), so I will leave that out, but when I got the vocals from Helstrip… man… My son goes to chess classes on Tuesday evening and usually I take my laptop with me and have a beer and work on some music while waiting for him to be ready, and I remember getting the vocals and just sitting there one and a half hour smiling like a maniac listening to Helstrip just absolutely killing it. Better Place is one of my favourite tracks out of my own releases, even though I feel the mix should have been better.
Still, I loved that experience so much, so I started working on a bunch of hiphop beats that I will either try to market or get some of the 11:11 rappers to rap on for a new release. Still thinking on that but I am really enjoying working with samples and creating those beats.
Next to that, I have three techno tracks that are 90% finished and that I’d like to finish and release. So maybe I will finally get to that and get them out there as an EP.
Yeah I get exactly what you mean by that "safety" feeling, the world is a different place now hey? The 11:11 project is an incredible feat and can just imagine you sitting there trying to contain yourself while everyone else in the chess room was trying to concentrate haha! Sounds like you've been a really busy boy of late, this is how Bee ZM rolls, buzzing around with the beats! Looking forward to seeing your latest Techno treats! Where can people find you online?
I am EVERY WHERE! Somehow Twitter is my favourite, so you can find me at @DoezMr, though I am also at Instagram and (yuk) Facebook. Honestly, I really hate the social media game as its so fake - yes there is some meaningful communication but mostly its just people selling stuff and I don’t think thats pretty.
Great stuff man! And I guess the final question, like always is, how did you get involved with or hear about EMA/EAR?
Because you guys are legendary! LOL. One of my early tracks got selected by Ms EfemBee, and this is really not that long ago. And she was involved with EMA, and initially I was a bit intimidated by you guys but one crazy nights I decided to drop you a message and the rest is history!
Haha! Well, we're only a sum of our parts and everyone is a legend in their own right at EMA, including you! We're really happy to have you with us and that you decided to drop a message - look at all the awesome collabs you've got involved with!
So there you have it folks! The legendary BeeZM - make sure you follow him on the social links above and check his music out out! Here's a glimpse in to his tunes on Spotify:
We hope you have enjoyed this month’s newsletter, let us know in the comments below and catch you soon for the next one!
Yours EMA (Bufinjer, DaveyHub & Nicky Havey)
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Greetings everyone and welcome back to another weekly showcase from the Electronic Music Alliance!
Each week on our blog, we bring you a selection of the freshest tracks from our members, specially chosen by one of our founders. This time round, it’s Bufinjer curating the playlist with music submitted by the EMA community on YouTube – have a listen below and let us know what you think in the comments! Artists Featured
Adrian Earnshaw
DaveyHub Ethanol ADDiKtz Nicky Havey Hegstraction Gribbles Bufinjer Primaudia Record ØLSKXX Electrostatic Nightmare Disco Stick Up Boys Crimson Medici
We hope you enjoy this week’s selection, let us know in the comments below and catch you soon for the next one!
Yours EMA (Bufinjer, DaveyHub & Nicky Havey)
Greetings everyone and welcome back to another weekly showcase from the Electronic Music Alliance!
Each week on our blog, we bring you a selection of the freshest tracks from our members, specially chosen by one of our founders. This time round, it’s Bufinjer curating the playlist with music submitted by the EMA community for SoundCloud – have a listen below and let us know what you think in the comments! Artists Featured
Skyline Tigers
TC Newman Nexus2089 trx-01 Andrew Gabriel Electrostatic Nightmare Disco DZM Primaudia Record E1GHTH PLACE HEGstraction Neonian TRiPmusic Bufinjer winkandwoo Nicky Havey The Restless Natives
We hope you enjoy this week’s selection, let us know in the comments below and catch you soon for the next one!
Yours EMA (Bufinjer, DaveyHub & Nicky Havey) EMA Is On A Roll
July has been an extraordinary month for releases on the Electronic Alliance Records label with the Future Sounds Anthology Vol. 3, the superb "File Not Found." EP from E1GHTH PLACE, a zombie apocalypse adventure with Skyline Tigers' "Devolution Denial" EP and now our biggest global collaboration yet with the "11:11 Invasion" Compilation!
As you might have guessed from the title of the post, this colossal project involved the cross-pollination of two musical styles with electronic music and rap. The vision of Trip Jacker happened earlier in the Earth year of 2020 and the co-ordination of getting everyone together for the release on 11th July was facilitated by great examples of teamwork and EMAliens stepping up to the mark. We teleported our resident blogger Nicky Havey around the Mothership to garner more information about this epic compilation from some of those involved - here's what he found out! Trip Jacker
SZZZZZzoooom... Ooo hey, that was a cool experience, not been in the EMA Mothership teleporter for a while! Oh wow look it's Mr Jacker! Congratulations on this EMAzing release and huge undertaking to bring 11 EMAliens and rappers together for the 11:11 Invasion! Can you tell us all how it all came about and what was the inspiration behind the whole project?
Hey Nicky! This project was a vision of mine as I grew up listening to many styles of music, including a lot of hip hop.
Years ago, there was a movie called Judgement Night. The soundtrack teamed up hard rock artists with rappers. It's a great album, btw. I wanted to make an electronic music version of the Judgement Night soundtrack, teaming our amazing EMA producers with indie rappers. I also wanted to push the artists outside our comfort zones. Most of us in EMA hadn't worked with rappers. Most of the rappers hadn't worked with electronic music. This was an epic experiment. I know Deto 22 in the real world, and I mentioned the idea to him. Deto is a very talented hip hop producer and he's been in the scene for years. He immediately wanted in and he brought his good friend Sketch tha Cataclysm into the project. I leveraged that to get Cee Reed into the project, as he knows Sketch and Deto.
From there, I brought the idea to EMA. We got the producers on board and worked to bring other talented rappers into the project, including our very own Bonnie Legion, Karnevor and Ethanol Addiktz. Bufinjer did a tremendous amount of work to keep things on track. It was challenging as we have had multiple lineup changes and were interrupted by COVID. Some of the rappers couldn't get into the studio to record their vocals.
Special thanks go out to Stick Up Boys, Fat Pockets, Lunatic Fluid and Donte Pringle as they all stepped in for artists that left the project. Donte deserves extra credit as he agreed to come on board at the last minute. There was a lot of pressure on him to deliver in a very short amount of time. The long, bumpy road was well worth it as the album is stellar. Everyone pulled together and we have created a gem. We need get the word out because this is a unique project. There's nothing like it out there. 20 artists from the indie electronic and indie hip hop scene worked together to make something extraordinary! Also, EMA's Chaos Studios deserves recognition for the graphic design work he did.
Wow! I'm beaming from ear to ear reading that back and feeling the positive vibes that brought to everyone! Really sounds like you encountered every challenge possible with Coronavirus thrown in to the mix as well - you should all be very proud of yourselves!
So how about your collaboration, "Trying to Find The Words" with Sketch tha Cataclysm? Tell us a bit more about that one!
I was excited and also nervous to work with Sketch. I've been a fan of his work for years, and now I was collaborating with him. I started listening to his music on the great Indie Feed Hip Hop podcast hosted by the legendary Dirt E Dutch. The beat I made increases in intensity as it goes along. I asked Sketch if he could do the same with the lyrics. He did exactly that, and his second and third verses are just incredible. Special shout out goes to Deto 22 for the cameo and for his guidance on mixing hip hop vocals.
Yeah! Let's hit that play button! Time for me to visit our next EMAlien! Tssschhhmmmm....
Bufinjer
MMMhshchhhh... Alrighty! Let's catch up with fellow EMA Co-Founder Mr Bu! What's up Bufinjer! Superb work on the organisation here with Mr Jacker - tell us how you found the whole experience and about your big hitting "Out the Asylum" collab with Lunatic Fluid!
Hey Nicky! It all started as an idea by Trip Jacker, it seemed like a cool idea that was doable, lets do a collab compilation with electronic music and rappers. Well it started off simple...
For me, this project started as I always do, sit down and put together a track, see where it goes. Well I did that, and after the track was done, the feedback was that it wasn't the "right" track for the project, so back to the drawing board. I then decided to really put more effort into a layout design that would fit vocals easily (well in my head at least LOL)! So I came up with the track that ended up being used. I had Ethanol ADDiKtz give the track a listen for feedback, and he said yea I could rap to this, BUT he wasn't the rapper I was eventually paired up with. Then the Coronavirus pandemic hit. The rapper I was paired up with had to be dropped due to lack of contact, whether due to the pandemic, or something else.
So I had to scramble to get someone else to step in, and funny thing was Ethanol ADDiKtz said he would team up with Helstrip and do lyrics under their Lunatic Fluid name. The virus made things difficult as it was hard for people to get around to be able to do lyrics, and this was the case for Helstrip, as they get together at Ethanol ADDiKtz's place to do them. Then to make matters worse, Helstrip injures his leg!
But through all the challenges, they got together, and delivered an amazing performance on the lyrics. There wasn't much I had to do to get the final master done, adding a little metal reverb, and a cool phantom reverb to the chorus. The final result is an amazing and catchy track that will be sure to make you move, and want to listen to over and over.
Wow, with all those challenges you overcame, it still sounds huge! And I agree with you saying it makes you move! I've already played it a few times and will make nice backing music as I teleport over to the next EMAlien zzzzzzooaaaammmmm...
Cylotron
Sshhhummm... Phew, that teleporter is getting used well today! Alright, Mr Cylotron, you're up next on our grand tour around the 11:11 Invasion - got any words for your "Oldsckool S.A.N." track with Donte Pringle?
Hey Nicky! This is a flashback track inspired by early hip hop mixed with electronic elements. It also features aggressive rap vocals by the talented Donte Pringle
Quality sounds in this one guys! Sure those old school sounds will help power this teleporter to get me to the next EMAlien blip blop beepidy...
DZM
Blippedy beep... Ahhhh, I appear to be in the Netherlands, ooh look, it's Bee Z... I mean DZM! Hey man! Awesome to hear you are on the comp too! What's the story with your "Better Place" collaboration with Helstrip?
Yo Nicky! I actually made the first version of the track in the airplane. I was browsing through some samples and found the guitar sample you hear at the start of the track. Those growling MiniMoog chords followed almost automatically as well as the strings, right before a stewardess forced me to close my laptop. Obviously a lot of work was done subsequently, including reworking the beat days before the deadine. Oh yeah and I had one hell of a hangover... Have to be careful drinking w Poles!
Haha, I've learned not to compete with Poles in the drinking department the hard way too! Hopefully this teleporter isn't feeling too hungover yet with all these trips, let me plot co-ordinates to the final EMAlien here lalalalalaalala....
Skyline Tigers
lalalallllll... Ohh, that's what the lala noises were from the teleporter! I thought it was playing up but no, it's put me in front of the Llama Lady - Skyline Tigers! What's happening Llama Lady - looks like you're my final visit for this grand trip around the 11:11 Invasion Compilation - have you got any insights in to how your 3-way collab with DaveyHub and Fat Pockets came about?!
Hey hey Nicky! It was sooo great to get involved with this track, Davey is a fantastic producer and Fat Pockets is just incredible at his craft. I’ve always wanted to be on a rap track and now I want to do another one!
Haha yeah! Awesome tune here and hope we hear more rapping from you too! Of course, the Drum & Bass element got me going in the second half and hopefully with that increased energy, the teleporter can get me safely back on board the Mothership! llamallamallama...
11:11 Invasion - Are You Ready?
Now that was quite a journey and great to get a glimpse behind the scenes of our biggest compilation yet! 11:11 Invasion compilation is now available on our Electronic Alliance Records label - released on 11th July 2020. Be sure to check the rest of the compilation out from the Spotify playlist below
We hope you enjoy this massive release and so that just leaves one question - are you ready for the invasion yet?
Bufinjer, DaveyHub, Nicky Havey EMA Founders
Greetings everyone and welcome back to another weekly showcase from the Electronic Music Alliance!
Each week on our blog, we bring you a selection of the freshest tracks from our members, specially chosen by one of our founders. This time round, it’s Bufinjer curating the playlist with music submitted by the EMA community on Spotify – have a listen below and let us know what you think in the comments. Artists Featured
Adrian Earnshaw
Downward Spiral Mantra HootGun Neonian Electrostatic Nightmare Disco Kindly Spoken Thieves Ethanol ADDiKtz Nicky Havey Skaarl Empty Sea mAncient ØLSKXX Andrew Gabriel E1GHTH PLACE Stick Up Boys James Black Presents iconDARK trx-01 Hegstraction Trip Jacker Bufinjer DaveyHub Awaking The Elements
We hope you enjoy this week’s selection, let us know in the comments below and catch you soon for the next one!
Yours EMA Founders (Bufinjer, DaveyHub & Nicky Havey) |
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