6. Gareth Emery – Tokyo
Label: Garuda
Genre: Trance...ish
2011 has been a slower year for Mr. Emery, but that is to be expected since he just finished releasing his debut artist album last fall. Just released yesterday, I believe Tokyo is his first (and only) solo production of the year... and it's a big one. Known in the trance world for his lighter melodic trance anthems, Tokyo is quite the departure from Gareth's signature style... and he took a ton of flack from the community upon releasing it.
First things first, this track has my favourite kick pattern of any production this year. You can really only hear it in the first and last 10 seconds of the clip, but if you ever check out the full original mix, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's one of those tracks that truly begins when it begins, rather than at the 1 minute mark. This vocals in this track are a great example of why I love electronic music so much. The vocal sample was chopped, reversed, pitched up and made completely unrecognizable from it's original form. For some reason I love the fact that you we'll never be able to understand what she's actually saying... along with the actual sound that comes from playing a vocal sample backwards which is seems just about impossible to produce in any other way.
It's really just a huge tune. Everything about the track is massive, and I feel that it's much more representative of Gareth as a DJ than any of his previous productions, which is always a good thing. As someone who can truly rock a dancefloor for every minute of his set, it's great to see him showing a bit more of an edge in his productions.
--
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/lunatic-asylum
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/summer-rain