James Egbert – In The Beginning EP

After much anticipation, rising electro house star James Egbert has released his first full featured EP, In The Beginning, on Fuzion Musik. Highlighted by the adumbrative lead single “Back To New,” the album’s original tracks do well to maintain the electro mantra of Egbert while also showing off his sound’s development since the Blackhawk EP in 2011.

Kicking it off is the title track, “In The Beginning,” which includes one of two vocal features from James’ sister Brittany, and lets you know right from the start you are in the midst of an Egbert production. “Back To New” and “You Got Me” are the most characteristic of what you’re probably expecting to hear on this project, and help remind to you of those powerful leads that had helped give rise to the Denver native’s success in the first place. When you get to “Milky Way Wars” and “Halo” however, you’ll get a pleasant taste of James’ experimentation with dubstep, and how he manages to translate his classic sound into the change in tempo. That leaves us with “Light Up The Stars,” which in my opinion lacks a little in the vocal department but is still the most unique track on the EP because it’s a found that happy medium between the harder electro and softer progressive melodies.

The remix portion of the album is really interesting, not only because of boy wonder 3LAU’s spectacular Beatport inauguration, but also because you’ve got a couple of lesser known artists like CultureRock and Paris Burns contributing some amazing tracks to the group (both of which I included below). The entire 11 track set is available through the Beatport link I provided, so if you’ve been a fan of James (or Justin for that matter), or just enjoy good electronic dance music, I would encourage you to support the EP there.

James Egbert – In The Beginning EP | Beatport

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Viceroy & WhiteNoize – Only Takes (Original Mix)

After a growing series of summer remixes, Viceroy is back with his first original since the Sunburn EP back in November. For “Only Takes,” he’s teamed up with fellow San Franciscans (your new word of the day) WhiteNoize to create an incredibly groovy summer boogie that’s only missing the disco ball and bell bottom jeans. You can buy this attentive banger on Traxsource as of today, but look for iTunes and Beatport links coming May 7th. [Update - The Beatport link is up.]

Viceroy & WhiteNoize – Only Takes (Original Mix) | Traxsource | Beatport

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Usher – Lemme See (feat. Rick Ross)

While “Scream” may have been a slight let down for those anticipating Usher Raymond’s upcoming Looking For Myself album, “Lemme See” should get you back to the same hype level achieved when “Climax” came out. This record revisits some vintage Usher, and features a very bawse verse from Ricky Rozay that really makes the song complete. “Lemme See” will release on the 8th, and the album is still slated for a June 12 drop via RCA Records.

Usher – Lemme See (feat. Rick Ross) | Stream Only

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Blackbird Blackbird – Waikiki

San Francisco’s own Mikey Maramag, aka Bye Bye Blackbird, aka Blackbird Blackbird, is known for putting together lighthearted and tropical electronic productions. His latest single, “Waikiki,” went up last week and is just the right amount of soft vocals and quirky instrumentation to get you through this rather dreary Monday. If you need more, hit up his SoundCloud for a jackpot of folk/electronic music that is for the most part all free.

Blackbird Blackbird – Waikiki | Download

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Bob Marley – Sun Is Shining (Brand Blank Dubstep Remix)

After watching Chronicle the other night, this incredible wingsuit flying video seems even more appropriate. Acting as the video’s soundtrack is a rather awe inspiring dubstep remix of Bob Marley’s timeless “Sun Is Shining,” which sees the sometimes confused genre get back to its reggae roots. As for the remixer, Brand Blank, no one seems to know much about him, but you can follow his respective social media outlets at the bottom of the post.

Bob Marley – Sun Is Shining (Brand Blank Remix) | Download

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Dawn Richard – Call To Hearts (Raw Facts Remix)

Here’s a track straight from the submissions stream from Rochester rapper/songwriter Raw Facts. The emotional original “Call To Hearts” tune is provided by Dawn Richard, and this hip hop remix is a nice change of pace from what I typically see come through the inboxes. Raw Facts is gearing up for his sophomore mixtape, Fact or Fiction, so follow him on Facebook and Twitter if you want to stay up to date.

Dawn Richard – Call To Hearts (Raw Facts Remix) | Download

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