While we’re busy: Crvvcks, Hella, Niceteed and some Lucas Divino

While we’re looking at new and relevant ways to find and write about new music (we won’t be making updates for at least a month, but we will be back) here’s something that caught our eye this week that is worth sharing.

Instead of self promoting new music, Dutch dj/producer Funkerman is reaching out to other producers, thanking them for bootlegs that weren’t even part of any contract of EP release. Which is a nice change from all the complaints about copyright takedowns we continue to see in our social streams on a daily basis. On top of that, this is – in our opinion – the kind of move artists should be making more often. Instead of an old sender/receiver model, it is nice to see artists embracing the idea that they’re part of an ecosystem that’s much more suited for collaboration. Which isn’t something any artists is willing to do just so easily though – there being issues of protection of music rights and a general dislike for a bootlegger’s creative views and such.. Anyway, most tracks in Funkerman’s selection are great bootlegs and they’re free:

Crvvcks

Easily the best one of the pack. Crvvcks (Crooks) is a producer from Leeds who bundled his ‘Speed Up’ remix with another remix on Kathy Brown in a free release titled ‘Tranquil EP’. His most popular track is a 2014 remix on Kirk Spencer, though our personal favourite has to be a track that came out last fall titled ‘Leaves’ with Javeon on vocals. It sounds like he’s got some quality garage releases up his sleeve for 2016 as well.

Niceteed

Especially cool because of this raw punch-in-the-gut type of kick Niceteed has got going here. His remix racked up some nice feedback by artists such as Amine Edge & DANCE, Joy Kiticonti, Joseph Capriati, Marco Carola, Richie Hawtin, Roger Sanchez, Stacey Pullen and Steve Lawler – though maybe it used a downloader where a comment was obligatory in order to download.

Lucas Divino

Alright, sorry but the first sample right here is just kind of baaad. But the remix itself is pretty great, like something Jauz, Moksi or Valentino Khan would play. As you might hear, Lucas Divino is a French producer. Most of his tracks are still free, but he’s had some official releases on lesser known labels such as Monochrome, D-Tracks and Sky Academy. Looking at popularity of his tracks though, nothing comes close to some succesfull bootlegs he made on mainstream artists such as Bruno Mars, Stromae or Zedd.

Hella

Looks like this is the most listened to bootleg Funkerman selected by far. Hella’s remix covers an older track titled ‘Falling In Love’ by Funkerman and vocalist JW. Most of it’s popularity is probably thanks to the genre’s rise in 2015, where anything ‘future’ became an accepted sound by a lot of mainstream industry people. Hella’s soundcloud page does display a very versatile list of productions by the Norse producer though, mostly bootlegs too.

Check out the shoutout and the full selection below:

And here’s the acapella pack Funkerman is sharing for anyone who needs vocals. As per requested by Funkerman on facebook, he’d like to find these bootlegs using the #funkermanapella hashtag. Happy remixing!