This week in dance music: The hype around the supposed Calvin Harris and Miley Cyrus collab continued hype-ing, SiriusXM announced a new show by Steve Angello and AN21 along with a new channel dedicated to Avicii, we spoke with Moby about the 25 year anniversary of his era-defining album Play, we talked to Subtronics about his first ever set on the EDC mainstage, we counted five times Taylor Swift songs have been remixed by electronic producers on the occasion of the new Blond:ish “Fortnight” edit and we covered the opening of a new 104,000 square foot cultural space in Brooklyn.
And ahead of the long holiday weekend, we’ve got the best new dance tracks of the week.
Nelly Furtado feat. Tove Lo & SG Lewis, “Love Bites”
Nelly Furtado launched her 2023 comeback saying she wanted to work with DJs, making good on that goal with last year’s Dom Dolla collab “Eat Your Man,” and now via her latest “Love Bites,” with SG Lewis and Tove Lo. A slinky, hypnotic club track written by the trio — produced by Lewis and sung by Furtado and Lo (whose recent works also includes playing venues like Red Rocks Amphitheater and The Shrine with L.A.-based, all-female DJ collective Ladies of Leisure) — the song comes with a quick-cut music video starring all three artists and a pretty hot car, altogether extending the dancefloor ambience of the Furtado renaissance.
“I felt called back to music from the DJ community,” Furtado says in a statement. “DJs were remixing my songs at concerts, clubs, and on social media, and I realized how much people like to dance and escape to my music. It’s the healthiest vice you can have, and I love the opportunity to write music that lets people escape more than anything.”
Skrillex with Hamdi and Taichu, “Push”
“When I push, I feel good. When I pull, I feel good,” Argentinian vocalist Taichu declares over a distorted buzzsaw synth by Skrillex and fellow bass maestro Hamdi. The track blew up after getting teased in a RinseFM set by Jyoty last year, and with good reason, as the production gives toughness and swagger while also maintaining the same sense of laid-back chill of its lyrics. Out via OWSLA, “Push” will likely get a lot of play this weekend at California’s Lightning in a Bottle festival, where Jyoty and Skrillex are both on the bill.
LP Giobbi, “Feel”
LP Giobbi comes through with her first track of the year with “Feel.” Laced with a recurring piano motif, the gently unfurling house track layers in strings and a vocal from Nigeria-born English singer Jacob Banks, building to a kind of serenely dancing with your eyes closed kind of place. Coming amid a summer festival run from Giobbi that includes Movement this weekend in Detroit, Electric Forest and Defected Croatia, the producer calls the song the start of a new chapter, adding that “getting to collaborate with artists outside of the dance space is always amazing, but to be able to work with Jacob Banks was a dream come true. His voice transcends genres and it allowed me to really get creative when building the track around his vocals.”
Louis The Child & Madeon, “Believe It”
“It makes me feel like what being a teen in the ’90s must have felt like, that first wave of French house music,” Madeon (who is himself French) says about his latest “Believe,” a collab with the gentlemen of Louis The Child. Indeed, the track is all bounce, effervescence and (seemingly) marimba, with the vocals giving the song a pop lean and a singalong melody and all its parts building to a giddy jam that’s not only joyful, but – in the very quickly moving world of dance releases, memorable too.
DJ Holographic, “Gemini”
Ahead of her hometown set at Detroit’s Movement Festival this weekend, DJ Holographic drops a track that sounds like how Memorial Day Weekends feels: celebratory, warm and — at six minutes — luxuriously long. The disco/funk/house hybrid is the third single from the producer’s debut album House In the Dark, with each song from the album designed to evoke the Zodiac sign connected to its respective drop date. Coming next year after Holographic completes the full calendar year of monthly singles, House in the Dark will be released through her own Through The Veil label.
Eli & Fur, “Golden Eyes & Tears”
Dance, by its very definition, is a realm of body moving music — but not always. London duo Eli & Fur deliver a slow burn for the afterhours with “Golden Eyes & Tears,” which moves along like clouds across the sky and, as its “can we make it up til morning light” lyrics indicate, gives a mood like the kind of nights that extend until dawn. The song is the lead single from the pair’s Dreamscapes album, coming in September via in tandem with their Found in the Wild live show concept that will come to life at headlining sets in New York, Los Angeles and London.
