1001Tracklists Community Newsletter — Episode 014
In the last 4 weeks, the top 5 tracks that have dominated DJ sets are from GUZ, Miane & Chris Lake, Eddie Thoneick, FaderX, and CamelPhat. Listen to the full top 50 on Spotify here.
We featured Dyro, Dirty South, LP Giobbi, Loopers, Cloonee, Hannah Wants, and Zerb in our Exclusive Mix series last month, and they all delivered in a big way with lots of IDs! Listen back to their sets here.
Our Spotlight Mix series continues to impress, featuring Victor Tellagio, Nicky Night Time, Drove, and Redfield as the artists to watch! Listen back to their sets here.
Over at the Songstats Lab we published articles about Spotify Personalized Playlists and the latest going on with SoundCloud.
We also interviewed some of the industry’s big players — Spinnin’ Records, Vintage Culture, and Relish PR — who shared great insights about how they use data and Songstats to drive their success. Check out the full interview here!
We’ve also been busy on the development front and have some cool new Songstats product updates to share soon. Stay tuned!
Enjoy a Q&A with two active members of the 1001Tracklists user community, Signus & QuentinJohnsonEdit!
Signus (USA)
While times have been really difficult for the past year, what have been some of your personal highlights?
Signus: One of the main highlights for me this past year has been the huge increase in live streaming, and the communities that have been popping up as a result. For me, half the fun of tuning into these livestreams now has been chatting with all of the people from the last one, and in that way it’s really helped me with filling the void left from the loss of live music and everything else this past year. Not only that, but I absolutely love the opportunities it’s been presenting people with the ability to put yourself right in front of anyone who’s interested.
QuentinJohnsonEdit: I don’t have many highlights from last year since I was mostly just at home. However, because of that, I spent a lot of time digging for new music, watching live streams/online festivals, and creating tracklists on 1001Tracklists. I found lots of new producers & DJs through those mixes.
By the way, before the pandemic and quarantine, I attended a UK garage event for the first time. I wasn’t familiar with the genre prior to the show, but I was impressed by the energy of the groove on the floor and kind of fell in love with UK garage/bassline.
QuentinJohnsonEdit (Japan)
Who were some of the first artists that you discovered when you were first getting into electronic/dance music?
Signus: While it may sound cliché, my first real introduction to the electronic side of music was through Daft Punk right around the time of Human After All/Alive 2007. I didn’t really branch out very far from their stuff until a couple years later. I heard other kids talking and playing this type of music called dubstep, and from there I fell right into that early 2010s YouTube rabbit hole of bad dubstep remixes, eventually finding Skrillex and diving headfirst into the rest of the electronic music scene.
QuentinJohnsonEdit: That’s definitely Avicii, Jack Ü, Chocolate Puma. When all I knew was rock and pop, I had heard a song on the car radio that was playing frequently and thought it was cool. I didn’t know the artist or the name of the song at that time. A few years later, I randomly discovered the song on a YouTube recommendation. It was “Avicii — Wake Me Up.”
His last show at Ultra Music Festival 2016 in Miami is unforgettable for me. I was watching through YouTube Live. Every unreleased track he played sounded fresh to me and I was kind of shocked. I also started to listen to Jack Ü when I was into Avicii. The texture of the sounds is powerful in a different way from Avicii’s sound.
Chocolate Puma are also one of my favorite artists! Although they have a long career in the house music scene, the roots of their sound have not changed much. One of the reasons why I like them so much is that while many artists have changed their tastes as the music scene has changed, the fundamental aspects that they focus on have not changed.
If you could pick three artists to perform at one event, who would you choose, and why?
Signus: If I HAD to choose, at this moment I’d probably go with Liquid Stranger, Dirt Monkey, and Mr. Bill, as I think they are some of the most creative and forward thinking artists currently putting out music, especially in terms of pushing the boundaries of the bass music genre. However, I just want to say that there are probably hundreds of other artists I’d also like to add to the bill if I could.
QuentinJohnsonEdit: Hmm.. It’s a kind of hard question to answer. I would pick 4B, BeauDamian, and Ninajirachi.
For 4B, I want to see him at an open air festival. His performance is very energetic, and he changes from one song to the next with such speed that it keeps the listener on the edge of their seat. I like trap music with Jersey club kick patterns, so that’s the reason why I chose him.
BeauDamian makes very unique sounds in his productions as a music producer! Also, I watched his DJ sets in 2 different online events last year. One was for STMPD RCRDS, and another one for Quality Goods Records. He had selected tracks that fit the color of each label, but both were new to me, and many of them were unique.
I randomly found Ninajirachi last year. I heard some of her tracks and I liked her style. And then, I watched for RL Grime’s Sable Valley online event last year. I felt like her DJ set sounded fresh to me. Once Covid is over, I hope to visit Australia on my travels, and I hope to have the opportunity to see her DJing then!
Hope you enjoyed this episode! Stay tuned for the next Community Newsletter on Monday, April 5th. You can always reach us at team@1001tracklists.com or by leaving a comment on our Medium.
— The 1001Tracklists Team
