This week in dance music: We talked to current Billboard cover star Peggy Gou about her ascent and forthcoming debut album, we talked numbers with Steve Aoki, we learned the value of the global dance music industry in 2023 amid IMS Ibiza and we saw Dua Lipa make history over on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.
And of course, we heard fresh music. These are the best new dance projects of the week.
HYPERBEAM, “Okay Fine”
Hyperbeam, the collaborative project from Australian producer Odd Mob and L.A.-based artist Omnom, releases its debut EP today via Insomniac Records. The Unexplained is a four-track amalgamation of tech house and bass house that’s steeped in a generally ravey late night vibe, which will surely work wel during the duo’s upcoming sets at festival’s including EDC Las Vegas, Hangout Fest, Ubbi Dubbi, The Concourse Project and Electric Forest. The previously released “All Day, All Night” and “Mind Awake, Body Asleep” have both become scene hits, with the equally hypnotic “Okay Fine” likely to become the same.
Justice, Hyperdrama
After months of hype, along with debut of a new live show at Coachella earlier this month and a Billboard cover story preceding it, the fourth studio album from Justice has arrived via the duo’s longtime label, Ed Banger Records. The French duo’s first studio album since 2016 — “Because the album cycle is so long every time, we’re both like, ‘OK, is there going to be anybody that’s still interested?’” the pair’s Augé jokingly told us — Hyperdrama is an often intense, sometimes lightly psychedelic and altogether satisfying 13 track collection that contains elements of classic Justice while also pushing their catalog forward into a kaleidoscopic future.
The album includes high-caliber collaborators like Miguel, Thundercat, Conan Moccasin and Kevin Parker, with the latter artist appearing on the album’s lead single “One Night/All Night” and the just-out “Neverender” — a gliding, punchy, lightly psychedelic melody-forward production on which the Australian singer-producer’s voice takes on the same string quality as the disco stabs the track is structured from.
salute & Rina Sawayama, “saving flowers”
Vienna-born, Manchester-based house producer salute — a 2023 Billboard artist to watch — sets the stage for their debut album, True Magic, with the project’s lead single, “Saving Flowers,” a lush jacking house production outfitted with silky vocals from Rina Sawayama. Coming in July via Ninja Tune, salute’s forthcoming album also features Disclosure, Empress Of, Karma Kid, Sam Gellaitry, piri, Léa Sen, LEILAH and Nakamura Minami, with the producer posting up at a house in the English countryside to work with this crew. “In dance music there always seems to be this focus on doing everything yourself,” they say, “but I wanted to get a team around me to develop the ideas I had. One thing I’m really proud of is how organic the work with the collaborators is.”
Chris Lake & Sammy Virji, “Summertime Blues”
It’s only April, but Chris Lake, British producer Sammy Virji and The Boxer Rebellion vocalist Nathan Nicholson already have the summertime blues. A subtly bumping ode to letting go of the kind of memories that haunt, the track makes an interesting key change in its final phase, like when the summer sun finally burns away everything that’s been bumming you out. “We wanted a drop that felt like the warmth of sunshine and that’s how it makes me feel,” Lake says of the track, which is out via Astralwerks and his own Black Book Records.
Kasbo, “Resenären”
In our hyperspeed era, seven minutes can feel like an eternity. We suggest that you stop what you’re doing, close your eyes and devote that amount of time to the latest from Swedish producer Kasbo, who on “Resenären” delivers an emotive and ever-lusher production that doesn’t have vocals but still easily transmits a message of cerebral bliss.
“The goal of this track was to take the listener on a journey and take time doing it,” the producer says. “The name ‘Resenären,’ which means ‘the traveler’ in Swedish, sort of speaks to that. With my album theme being centered around slowing down in an ever-accelerating world, I wanted to push that concept and take my time leading up to the final climax with this song. In 7 minutes, it’s the longest one I’ve ever made.” Kasbo’s album, The Learning Of Urgency, is out June 7 via Odesza’s Foreign Family Collective.
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