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Happy Tuesday, everyone. I have for you the second part of my rave playlist. It’s a bit shorter than the first because, after listening to it exclusively for a week, I’m sick of some of the songs and they’re obviously not good enough for me to talk about. Luckily, this is the last piece of the playlist. Otherwise, the entire thing would be reduced to my five favorites and you would have much less exposure to new songs. On to the music!

Love Don’t Let Me Go by David Guetta
The vocal harmony here is amazing and is the main focus of the song. The background melody is interesting and uses a bit less of the synth static that these songs tend to be drawn towards.

The Promise Man by Basic Element
If this song had no lyrics, it would be amazing. However, it does. It’s still a good song, but the lyrics really don’t add anything to it at all. While I’m changing things, I would add a bit more of the secondary melody.

Walk On Water by Basshunter
This is the song that got me hooked on techno. It’s one of those songs that is absurdly popular, but it still hasn’t been worn out. It’s insanely repetitive, but it can get away with it because it sounds amazing.

Feel Fine by Tune Up!
The main melody in this song is very well-supported and it gives this song a ton of energy. The song has three distinct parts that work together fairly well to keep things interesting.

Can I Get a Witness by Rob Mayth
The main melody of this song is good enough to make up for the odd lyrical sections. Once again, it has a lot of energy and it sounds like it’d be wonderful to dance to. The transitions are done very well.

Future Shock
Here is a true example of the Minimalist influence in techno. This song really doesn’t change often and the patterns are the same throughout. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s more of a filler song. At the moment, I can’t find the artist for this song because the Grooveshark gnomes seem to have taken the name off. If anyone knows it, post in the comments. It is currently listed under Hard Dance Mania Volume 5 (disk 2).

Start the Game by Tune Up!
Aside from the fact that this song makes me lose the game every single time I hear it, the melody is fun and restated in a few different ways. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much deeper than that.

Bounce by Tune Up!
This one has become one of my favorites because of the energy, the lyrics (all four lines of them), the open synth sound in the melodic line and the layout of the song. Bounce is more complex than others because of the Matrix-esque slow motion break in the melody gives the song a bit more texture than the straight repetition of the beat.

Feelings by Basic Element
Unlike the other songs on this list, the main melody is exclusively in the lyrical line. It’s repetitive and leaning towards Minimalist, but it’s a generally interesting song. I will admit that I’ve never paid attention to the lyrics whatsoever.

Every Time We Touch by Cascada
Every Time We Touch is another techno/pop classic and one of the few songs on this list whose lyrics I actually listen to. It may be cheesy and slightly overused, but it’s a good song.

Ravers in the UK by Manian
Ah, Manian. Evidently, they love stealing from their own songs. There are few differences in the melody of this song and Welcome to the Club, but, luckily for them, I like both of them enough to overlook that. Once again, the rhythmic pattern from last week shows up noticeably in the melodic line. The lyrical line is great except the actual “ravers in the UK” part annoys me. The style of singing is subtly different on that part and it doesn’t sound as good as the rest. However, the remainder of the song has enough musical merit that I can get past it.

Stamp on the Ground by Italo Brothers
I blame the Nerd of the Blog for the inclusion of this song. Since my last post, he introduced me to it and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. My initial opinion was that it lacked in the energy of some of the other songs I’ve listed, but the melody is undeniably well-written (for those of you keeping track, it also has a bit of that same rhythmic pattern). The harmony in the lyrical line also has an appealingly open resonance. I’m absolutely in love with this song now and I can’t quite pin down why apart from reasons I’ve already stated.

Raise Your Head Up by Pimp! Code
I’m becoming steadily more impressed with Pimp! Code despite their odd name choice. This song is a tiny bit over-synthesized, but the pizzicato sections provide a good contrasting statement of the melody. The melody itself is very repetitive, but well-harmonized and a bit addicting. It hints at the same swung style of other techno songs I love (techno takes a lot from jazz rhythmically).

This marks the end of my rave playlist for the time being. I have many more playlists of various genres that will likely be coming to you soon. If you have any specific requests of songs for me to talk about or genres, leave a comment. I retain the right to choose not to talk about those songs (for example, I’m not going to be talking about the majority of heavy metal songs), but I promise I will consider them.

A martedì!

~ Entropy