Day 112: Kensington - No Way Out

It's time for an other Dutch band, but not just another. The band members originating from Utrecht in The Netherlands, is merely the one thing that indicates Kensingston is Dutch. After having debuted in 2010, a powerful follow up single called We Are The Young was released in 2011, before the recent album Vultures was released. 

Kensington lends it name from a London neighbourhood and pursues a sound that easily matches with international bands such as The Killers, The Editors or Kings Of Leon. Anyhow, few Dutch marks can be found when listening to the potent and energetic, lively songs. This may be due to the fact that Vultures was initially recorded in Berlin and thereafter postproduced in London and New York. 

No Way Out is the brand single of Vultures and also has that full sound with pacing drums, catchy guitar riffs and imposing vocal harmonies. Not to the mention the attention that has been given to his special video.

Day 111: Metric - Youth without Youth

Most of the articles I write about singles that I discover through playlist of others, through being played in the radio or through listening to new albums. For this one it was different. The album of this single was in my little list of new albums to try out for this month, until Tuesday morning I read a small article about synthrock band, Metric, in the Dutch newspaper. About how great their album was and how this one was certainly the best of the 5 albums so far. But more importantly, it mentioned the gig they were going to do in the Melkweg the day after.

It turned out that there were still tickets available so I called one of my friends and asked him to join me to the gig on Wednesday. It was a small gamble but it turned to be a reaaly good one as this was one of these performances that are surprisingly brilliant and qualitatively good. Especially singer Emily Haines made quite an impression on stage with her magical, sweet voice and her femme fatale appearance. (find here a link to a youtube movie of Sympathy, the song they finished their gig with)

Canadian synthrock, or Indie electro ( as I like to call it), band Metric has been around since 1998 and in the last couple of years they have aquired their name within the international music industry, with their music (from their 4th album Fantasies) being used in series like House, Grey's Anatomy and the Twilight Films. Now they're back with their 5th album Synthetica and I must say, it is a masterpiece. It rocks, it is exciting with all the electronic bits and pieces, it even contains some references to dubstep and the amazing voice of Haines completes it all. No wonder that Tiesto was keen on working with her.

Today's single is the first single of this album, and it gives a good representation of the rest of the album. Metric, one of the nice surprises of the music year 2012.

Day 110: Netsky - Get Away From Here

What have we here? It’s Netsky, a young DJ/producer from Belgium who succeeds in bringing a real solid piece of drum and bass. This genre nowadays is mostly heard underground, as where its younger brother dubstep get all attention today. An exquisite chance to pick it out out and highlight it at our blog. Active since 2009, Boris Daenen just issued a follow-up to his debut, called '2', showcasing tracks that are reminiscent of old school work of early drum and bass icons such as Goldie and Roni Size. As well, he blinks to the modern sound we know as dubstep, a genre spawning songs that can be as euphoric but have less focus that Netsky’s ultra tight productions. All in all, each song is crafted with interesting samples, accents and groovy basses. Perhaps as a result of living where the axes of Britain and France cross, Netsky cleverly mixes ingredients like British two-step and the ever so recognisable French electronica.

This one is a track he made with Selah Sue, who sings in consonants too nowadays and therefore really adds to the song. I myself look forward going to London in a month, where drum and bass just comes out of the speakers in any bar.