Lets start slow, it's a gross and rainy day out. Check out this chillwave mix of "Call Me Maybe:"
Chillwave mixes can be fairly hit and miss - criticism usually comes down to "this sounds like they put this pop-song through an adult-contemporary filter" and perhaps they are right. But this mix of "Call Me Maybe" manages to float above some of the rest. So kick it on, find someone to slow dance with, and get a little weird.
The team behind the mix, Saint Pepsi, is based in Long Island, but that's about all the info I can find on them. Either way, their beats are heavy and there jams are solid.
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Up next, french electro DJ Kavinsky recently released a remix of "Odd Look" featuring The Weeknd, and its managed to turn our minds into mush.
Kavinsky is known for his 80's synth inspired dance tracks. More often, it sounds like a John Carpenter movie, but with more cocaine. The final result is usually pretty fantastic, with barely a dry seat in the house. He released his first full length album earlier this year, OutRun, which was mostly produced by fellow french-mixmeister Sebastian (of Ed Banger fame.) A good portion of Kavinsky's album sounds like it fell off the back of Sebastian's production truck, which isn't a bad thing by any means (I, at one point, thought Sebastian would redefine dance music for years to come, but dub-step kind of killed that prediction) but I also had hoped Kavinsky would carve his own path.
"Odd Look" did appear on OutRun as an individual track, and Sebastian even recorded the vocal track (with much distortion and auto-tuning) and while the song, after many listens, has really started to grow on me, this newly released remix featuring Canadian producer/singer/hip-hop artist The Weeknd, is significantly stronger.
The Weeknd has been around since 2011, releasing mix-tapes early on for free through his site. Somewhere on the R&B spectrum between Drake and Miguel, The Weeknd has his ups and downs, so please judge his solo work for yourself.