TroyBoi Bella Lopez
This week in dance music: We shared images of the earliest days of The Chemical Brothers taken from the duo’s new retrospective book, Paused in Cosmic Reflection, Charli XCX spoke about writing music for Britney Spears and Hot Since 82 shared a terrifying story about being chased by gunmen in Brazil.
And of course, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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TroyBoi, “Híbrido”
London’s TroyBoi has always been especially adept at fusing harder bass with the softer, more sensual side of low end, with that latter element arguably never stronger in his catalog than on his latest, “Híbrido.” Made for that cool down part of the night, the track brings together a hypnotic vocal sample, a sultry melody, spare, crisp percussion and a restrained, mature build and release. The track follows TroyBoi’s Coachella 2024 set at the Do Lab stage and comes from his 4 on the Floor EP coming in June.
“I love to combine different genres together into my work,” the producer born Troy Henry says. “After completing the song, I listened to it and realized I fused elements of baile funk, house, U.K. garage, R&B and funk all together. It truly sounded like a hybrid track and that’s how I came up with the name ‘Híbrido’.” Henry’s other summer dates include EDC Las Vegas, HARD Summer and Ubbi Dubbi.
Anna Lunoe & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, “Right Here”
Two of the scene’s most cerebral producers unite for a predictably excellent house production, “Right Here.” Out through Nina Las Vegas’ NLV Records, the track is pure uplift, winding to a place of blissful abandon but maintaining heft and power through it’s acid-influenced bass and percussion. The track comes ten years after the duo’s first collaboration, “Feels Like,” with Lunoe calling this new one “a sassy anthem to remind you who the main character is in your life… (you!)”
Alesso, Hypnotize
You might call remixing Corona’s “The Rhythm of the Night” (which celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year), messing with perfection. But Alesso makes it work. His take on the classic turns up the gothic drama dial with a very Hans Zimmer Interstellar-style intro, before transitioning into a full on deep house production that still maintains the size and grandiosity that’s defined so much of the producer’s work over the last 10-plus years. “The Rhythm of the Night” comes from Alesso’s new three-track Hypnotize EP, with this project officially marking his transition into club-focused productions coming via his new label, Body Hi.
DJ Seinfeld, “If U Like Me”
Coming off a pair of sets at Coachella last month, Sweden’s DJ Seinfeld drops his first new solo music since 2022 with “If U Like Me.” Out via Ninja Tune, the track is a 2-step club song that balances lyrics about club-style love (“yeah I can’t wait to find out if I’m leaving with you”) with a dash of woozy, minor key melancholy. Seinfeld upcoming dates include a flurry of European festivals and DC10 in Ibiza on May 20.
Hot Since 82 feat. Ron Carroll, “Preach”
While Hot Since 82 hit a very rough patch last week with the aforementioned situation in Rio de Janeiro where he was pursued by a car full of gunmen, this week ends on a much brighter note with the release of “Preach.” Out as part of Defected Records’ Together series — which pairs talent from the past and present of the U.K. label — this song finds the English artist working with Chicago legend Ron Carroll on a soulful, slow-burn, big-build, huge-payoff house production. The track features a vocal sample from power-lunged Chicago house singer Shawn Christopher, who wails (quite appropriately in this case) that while everything in life has its ups downs “if you turn to the music, everything is going to be alright.”
