Contributing Writer
Funkin Matt, a renowned producer and DJ hailing from Oslo, Norway, has been a prominent figure in the electronic music scene since 2007. Known for his ability to seamlessly blend techy electro bangers with future house bliss, Matt has consistently delivered quality music with room for experimentation and genre twisting.
With releases on labels like Tiesto’s “Musical Freedom,” Diplo’s “Mad Decent,” and A-Trak’s “Fool’s Gold,” his tracks have become mainstays in the sets of top DJs worldwide. Funkin Matt is a well-known artist amongst Heldeep fans and followers and Open Your Eyes will be his 10th single on the label.
Faithless – Insomnia (Monster Mix)
Iconic tune by Faithless, this is the first electronic track I can remember hearing as a kid, and I fell in love immediately. The house groove on 1.54 in the Monster Mix still inspires my beats, it’s just a perfect dancefloor beat. Couple that with the most iconic hands in the air synth melody ever created as well as the hypnotic vocals of Maxi Jazz making this the blueprint of modern EDM.
Roman Flugel – Gecht Noch
100% playfulness, total disregard for all rules, this was innovation and art. First time I heard it I was suprised, intrigued and confused. Looking back at things, this track really inspired my own music, to not take things so seriously, and appreciating the odd and weird. You could drop this at any party and it would go off, what an amazingly simple but exciting tune.
Bodyrox – Yeah Yeah (D Ramirez Remix)
Peak Electro House of mid 00’s. The sound design of this bassline is amazing, I was mindblown the first time I heard it, so big fat and still melodic. He cleverly uses layering of the bass and lead, which has influenced a lot of other producers into making Electro and later Future House. The arrangement is spot on, dropping very minimal and making use of filters to build the tension throughout. This is still a masterpiece.
Tchami – Promesses
The track that started Future House in my opinion. It sounded like deep house, but then out of nowhere it drops with this weird futuristic and robotic bassline. It’s not a big build up, it’s just so vibey and deep, but it drops hard. I played this in every set, and it made me hopeful for House musics innovation. Classic.
Disclosure – Latch
In the midst of the EDM boom with trancy hands in the air stadium drops, we get this garage inspired soulful thing from some guys called Disclosure. Such a good vibe, great melody, great vocal AND they drop with triplets. I love Disclosure, but I can’t think of how they can ever top this, such an amazing tune.
Daft Punk – End Of Line
I was at the cinema, watching Tron Legacy. I had never seen the first Tron, but this looked cool in the trailer. I never tought I would be so musically inspired by a movie, but I could “watch” this one with my eyes closed and still love it. There’s also Derezzed, Solar Sailer, C.L.U and many more from the same score that’s equally great. I love the use of bit crushing, distortion, big basses, synths, ambience and growing tension throughout.
Enrico Sanguilano – Moon Rocks
Enrico managed to make Techno heavy and big, while keeping it alien-like clean. Sound design is spot on, taking us to outer space, it’s a bit trancy, it’s a bit housey, but it’s techno, genre blending on a high level. No big EDM build ups, just tension, groove, tight AND big, the execution is perfect. This paved the way for the modern Drumcode dominance, and shaped a lot of new artists.
Virtual Self – Ghost Voices
Ghost Voices has this magical combo of housey beat and trancy synths, a bit like a modern Insomnia. Big on nostaglia, 90s trance vibe, but drops with this kind of slow and gritty house beat topped with dreamy synthwave synths. I’ve played this so much, and it’s not trendy, it’s classic, could have been released today or 20 years ago.
Stephan Bodzin – Sleepless (Remix)
One kick, one white noise hihat and a rim shot, what more do you need? That’s right the Moog Sub 37, which Stephan has mastered to perfection. At 1.11 when the filtered Moog comes in, is devine, such amazing sound design and melodic feel. I’ve always been a minimalist, trying to get everything said on as few stems as possible, but I’ve never been close to this level of minimalism. You need godlike sound design, mixing and melody to pull it off, which this one has.
Ludwig Gøranson – Freeport
Tenet, is all about confusion and tension, this track has both. It’s just a simple detuned trancy synth, but it’s played frantically, constantly moving, filters up, down, shorter, longer, pitched. Hypnotic piece, impressive and innovative. I think Ludwig is the next Hans Zimmer, pushing the limits further down the electronic rabbit hole. Just put a kick underneath this and you have a techno hit.
Open Your Eyes is out now on Heldeep