Breazu Studios Presents, Ep. 140

In my absence, I have listened to a great variety of music, but I’d like to start off with the genre I’ve been commenting on throughout the history of this blog, electronic. Just one month ago, American producer and DJ Ryan Raddon, better known as Kaskade, released his seventh studio album, Fire & Ice, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums Chart. The album is an example of the interesting path that Kaskade is trying to take his music on, departing from the laid-back, down-tempo house of his earlier material towards the electro-house style that’s currently becoming quite popular.

Like in all of his albums, there’s a focus on vocals with a variety of artists, some old and some new, collaborating on the tracks: Mindy Gledhill on Eyes, Neon Trees on Lessons in Love, Dan Black on Ice, and Haley on Llove. The funk-influenced house characteristic of Kaskade’s style is still evident through most of the tracks, especially in his collaborations with Quadron, Waste Love, and Skrillex, Lick It. It was surprising to see that Kaskade chose to work with Skrillex, considering that they are on completely opposing sides of the electronic music spectrum, but, contrary to what I was expecting, Skrillex doesn’t pull everything from his Dubstep style, the collab creating something that fits well into the electro-house genre. 

As far as I know, Kaskade did made an album unlike any other: released as a double disc, one disc contains the original, club-oriented tracks, while the second contains more relaxed, down-tempo versions of the same tracks, all remixed by Kaskade himself. Fire and ice. You could say that Armin van Buuren has done it before with his On the Beach and In the Club discs of A State of Trance, but those all contain remixes by other artists, while Kaskade created everything himself (with the help of his collaborators, of course). The “ICE” mixes of the tracks make the album perfect to be used at a party: some of the original tracks could be played while everybody is all pumped up, and the ICE mixes could be played as the party winds down and everybody is just hanging around. 

So here’s a little sample, the second single off of the album, Turn it Down. One of the electro-house styled tracks, it features the vocals of the recently-formed Swedish duo Rebecca & Fiona and has great club anthem potential. Fire & Ice definitely deserves a listen, and if you do check it out, let me know what you like more, the fire or the ice. 

Kaskade - Turn it Down ft. Rebecca & Fiona from the album Fire & Ice

Listen, Enjoy, and Critique.