Listening Party: B U R N S

 

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Listening Party: B U R N S

November 23, 2009 by Nicole Cohen

When asked to describe his sound, U.K. DJ B U R N S is at a loss.  The child of a professional heavyweight boxer says he’s always trying something different, so fans will be hard-pressed to pin him down.

That said, I’m going to give it my best shot.

B U R N S’ tracks have a distinctly Daft Punk feel to them.  They start with a simple melody and build up into a kind of rhythmic frenzy that’ll find you waving your hands and stomping your feet on the dance floor (see “Teknique” video below in which said rhythmic frenzy leads to a baseball-themed and bare-chested ass-kicking party).

Here’s what he has to say for himself.  I would say sit back and enjoy the tunes, but I think these beats are best enjoyed on your feat, while bustin’ a move.  It’ll be good practice for tonight’s show @ 9:30 Club with Deadmau5 and Kim Fai.

disposable001

“Teknique”

[This] was a really club-oriented track …the sole purpose was to have a really big impact on the dance floor.  There’s no pop feeling about it … It’s all about the whole breakdown of the song in that we sort of build up the tension in it.

http://www.vimeo.com/6216860

“I Could Have Loved You” (Jack Splash Ft. Missy Elliot)

I kind of like the way [this] arrangement turned out.  It starts off sounding quite poppy and then it goes into a techno kind of sound.  It’s quite a good breakdown towards the end as well and it’s quite melodic too … I kind of like using rap vocals … I find it interesting to play around with them and chop them up a bit.

It’s my favorite remix that I’ve done so far.

“Heartbeats”

[This] one’s a completely sample-based track … [It] was more about the production technique.  I was trying to achieve a really nice warm sound using an old guitar loop… It’s got more of a housey feel to it.

“3 Little Words” (FrankMusik)

[This] one’s really melodic.  Again, it’s got an older style, sort of house vibe to it.  Really I just go with the elements of the original track that I really like and then try to turn that into something that’s completely different.

The original track is really fast, it’s like a 150-something BPM so it’s quite difficult to work.  When you get something that’s a different speed from normal songs, it tends to make it more difficult.  So I tried to create a melody out of parts of vocals.

Want More:

B U R N S is playing tonight @ 9:30 Club.  Don’t forget to bring your dance shoes.

cold case Says:

burns’ best work in my opinion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsStPXxSl6U

November 23, 2009 at 5:32 pm