Club Beat #7 Tracks You Need on Your MP3 Player (Top 5 May Releases)

Club Beat brings you some massive May releases, heavy on the beats and light on vocals – just the way we like it!

5. Grube & Hovsepian – Pressure (Ken Loi Remix)

Release Date: 9th May
Record Label: High Contrast
Genre: Trance
Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp5H3KZdW6U
You’ll like this if you’re a fan of: Dakota and Barnes & Heatcliff

This aptly titled track twists and turns, rises and falls, and rises again. Ken Loi’s remix is more crisp and techy than the original, sounding more like a Coldharbour offering. The strings, a great touch by Loi, really help the pressure to climb, as a crescendo of spiralling blips, weaving, contemplative melody and a touch of percussion culminates in a driving sound, before falling back into the blips and percussion the track began with. A well structured track that would fit perfectly in any progressive or tech trance set.

4. DJ Ralph & Da Fresh – I’m Stressed (Moe Aly Mix)
Release Date: 11th May
Record Label: Juicy Music
Genre: Electro House
Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UDUwrCQ4xI
You’ll like this if you’re a fan of: Swanky Tunes and Phunk Investigation

You only need one word to describe this track: funky. If the original is more representative of the title, this remix is the solution. It’s the Friday night club mix to the Monday morning ‘I’m two hours late because of the tube strike’ mix. The delicate, scattered breakdown with simple introspective piano chords is quickly built on with layers of percussion and sounds that build back into the wicked beats and funky grooves from before. This track is energetic and exciting: I challenge anyone not to have at least a little toe-tapping going on whilst listening to it.

3. Umek & Beltek – Let The Bass Kick (Original Club Mix)
Release Date: 22nd May
Record Label: Toolroom
Genre: Techno
Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnzKmk-kdoo
You’ll like this if you’re a fan of: Roy RosenfelD and Da Fresh

From the highly anticipated (and absolutely incredible) Toolroom Records Ibiza 2011 vol.1 compilation, Let The Bass Kick is an unrelenting techno monster. Every track Umek and Beltek create is a dance floor stormer and this will no doubt become a festival anthem. The vocal sample is chopped and repeated continuously along with the tune, popping, percussion and beats: it’s hypnotic and compulsive listening. There’s no chance to catch your breath; you better be ready to dance!

2. Afrojack & R3hab – Prutataaa (Original Mix)
Release Date: 23rd May
Record Label: Wall
Genre: Electro House
Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b84N_fYej8
You’ll like this if you’re a fan of: Chuckie and Ahmet Sendil

We’ve had the mash-ups, the rips and the bootlegs, now FINALLY we have the one and only Prutataaa from Afrojack and R3hab. Fans have been climbing walls and making odd threats (to kill unicorns and the like) out of desperation to secure this long awaited release, which, as a consequence, has soared up the beatport charts. A driving track with hints of other-worldly-ness, it has an off-kilter melody and a euphoric build accompanied by what sounds like crows screeching, all sandwiched between a forceful beat. With so many layers of crazy sounds, it’s pure mayhem contained in an mp3. This track is bound to blow your speakers and your mind.

1. Roy RosenfelD – My Bubble (Original Mix)
Release Date: 16th May
Record Label: Rusted
Genre: Techno
Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiIh41vP2Yw
You’ll like this if you’re a fan of: Mark Mendes and Luigi Rocca

My Bubble is something to be treasured. Dark, isolating, atmospheric and addictive; it is a rare find. Listening to this track is something akin to synaesthesia: I feel like I’m experiencing it through a kaleidoscope. The beautiful piano melody lifts you up as light is reflected and refracted, forming an array of colours. The track contains a universe of sounds, as the driving beat, percussion and sampled vocalisations roll forwards. I find myself day dreaming about nothing; this track encapsulates me. Mesmerising and beautiful, just one listen and you’ll be addicted too.

- Ann Bartholomew