The U.S. has never been much of a hotbed for electronic music. Well, a more accurate statement would be the U.S. has never been much of a retailing hotbed for electronic music. Clubs play electronic music. People go to clubs. There’s an audience, but are drunken people really going to remember that striking track after hours of boozing?
I guess the biggest problem for electronic music is the specific sound that must accompany radio tunes (arguably the biggest musical outlet). Most of the terrestrial radio stations that catered to electronic or techno music changed tunes after mere months. Talented DJs and their music would have to find success elsewhere.
Chicago-born Kaskade was determined to entrance the world with electronic techno, utilizing his skills to craft the type of music that makes body-moving, body-rubbing, and body-uncontrolling possible. Kaskade now makes his home in San Francisco, but that hasn’t helped him forget his Windy City roots: “I was molded by the city that I grew up in: Chicago” (press release).
Strobelite Seduction is the fifth album in Kaskade’s electrifying catalog. The most impressive aspect of his music is the fact that no two songs ever sound the same. From the traditional electronic opener “Move For Me” (listen here), to the disco-tinged “Angel On My Shoulder” to the Hilary Duff-inspired “Back On You,” to the Enya-like “Borrowed Theme,” to the sensually mellow “I’ll Never Dream,” Kaskade finds the right beats to go along with the right melodies with the right lyrics at the right times.
But it should be noted his fundamental underlying theme is having fun.
With streaks of frenetic joy to moments of relaxed comfort, Seduction almost perfectly encapsulates a night on the town, especially the inclusion of the ever-present exciting desire for uncertainty and surprise. It’s no wonder the album is titled what it is, which Kaskade declares as “a justification of my weekends in big dark rooms with flashing lights and pounding sound systems. I was seduced by the strobelite” and its ever-changing existence.
[photos via Mark Owens]
[photo via Sneak Attack Media]
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Track list:
- 1. Move For Me
2. Angel On My Shoulder
3. Back On You
4. Step One Two
5. Pose
6. I Remember
7. Borrowed Theme
8. I’ll Never Dream
9. One Heart
10. Your Love Is Black