While there’s plenty to say about how stale some of the current mainstream EDM stuff is – it’s even declared itself dead on several occasions and it’s easy to throw around a few more cynical comments about that- it is nice to see some names keep making progress in a positive way. Martin Garrix and the newly created team around the STMPD label are doing some of the best work within the genre right now.
Today Garrix is sharing a new free track titled ‘Oops’. It’s the first free track for the Dutch producer after getting out of an earlier contract with Spinnin’ Records and setting up his own STMPD RCRDS in close collaboration with manager Scooter Braun’s company. The label still seems to be developing, but we’ll probably know more soon enough.
As for the track itself, it sounds like an early video game soundtrack. Which is a fun nostalgic idea for it, being the official ‘Youtube Live At E3’ theme. The Electronic Entertainment Expo starts on Tuesday in L.A. and Garrix’ track will be heavily featured in Youtube’s twelve hour live program. It’s seems to be a pretty good way to contribute for the Dutchman, presenting his own developing sound in the progress.
Level up
And as far as the 8bit inspired instrumental goes, ‘Oops’ is a good track, but it’s not why you should listen to it at least once. Try a side by side comparison between this and Garrix’ 2013 international debut track ‘Animals’ for instance. Over the past years – while yes, many other mainstream EDM-acts are notorious for mimicking sounds that proved successful with festival crowds – the young STMPD label owner has been growing as a producer, creating more refined productions and developing what noticeably truly feels like his own sound.
Saying a genre is dead is just a cheap way to make headlines. The EDM thing isn’t dead. But it is becoming much easier to separate the fake unauthentic (they’re very likely currently trying to recreate something someone like Kygo or Diplo made) from the pro’s. And no matter if you’re digging Martin Garrix’s work or not right now, the guy is definitely a pro.
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