Kaskade, the rising American DJ and producer, wins points for his melodic ear, accessible style and tunes which combine all the best elements of pop and house music. He is able to manufacture music which can be enjoyed lounging at the beach or jumping up and down with thousands of others. His sound is absolutely euphoric and anyone who has ever heard his music can attest to that. His uniqueness is hard to describe; to any casual house fan, it might be hard to discern his ability to bring a multifaceted energy to a track effortlessly. But to anyone who would agree with me that “Turn Me Down” and “Eyes”, Kaskade’s biggest hits from 2011, encompass everything you would ever want to get from house music will agree with me that EDX brings a very similar style, energy and talent in his new LP On The Edge.
Released today, On The Edge is the Zurich-based producer’s first full-length album, an increasingly more common practice among producers (Kaskade did the same last year with his LP Fire and Ice). Double-digit tracklistings allow artists to include their popular hits which had already been released as singles (in EDX’s case, “D.A.N.C.E.” and “No Xcuses”) and explore a range of different sounds across the rest of the tracks, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate the many profiles of their talent. On songs like “Give It Up For Love” and “D.A.N.C.E.”, he shows that he is able to bring high-energy electro sounds to his melodic house to make them full-on bangers (think “Turn Me Down” by Kaskade). On the track “Warped Minds” he shows his ability to make a deep house track with eerie sounds and a progressive beat. And of course he showcases his exceptional ability to make sweet progressive tracks paired with vocals from the likes of Sam Obernik and Nadia Ali throughout the album. Here’s a couple of my picks from the album and be sure to listen to the whole thing on Spotify here.