Tommy Lee & DJ Aero
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Xania V. Woodman
ONLINE AT BEATPORT.COM
AZZIDO DE BASS
“Doom's Night (Switch remix)” (Kontor)
Aero: It's almost as though the track starts with the climax. This is one of the old, classic, dirty/filthy tracks that Paul Oakenfold used to play a lot. Oakenfold made this track famous, word! It's got a heavily syncopated breakbeat.
Lee: It reminds me of the old-school Gap Band dance beats mixed in with Evil Nine or Adam Freeland breaks.
CUTBACK FEAT. FEDERAL
“Rock to the Rhythm (Vibes remix)” (Used and Abused)
Aero: It sounds like a dirty warehouse party where everybody's rockin'. It's got a dubby, kinda aggressive reggae thing going on with the hyper-percussive vocal repeating, “rock to the rhythm/rock to the rhythm/rock to the rhythm” in rapid succession. The drum roll sounds like machine-gun fire when you affect it with Traktor Scratch. It's got reggae flavor up in the hood…and it feels good!
DJ TIMELINE FEAT. PEARL MILLER
“I Just Want to (Lars Schneemann remix)” (Decks Tracks)
Lee: It's got an amazing vocal breakdown. If you listen, you can hear that, as the vocals go down, you hear a tiny keyboard part that breaks. The second I heard that, I was like, “What a great intro to use as a segue!” It's very rare that a breakdown makes me feel like that! It's really great.
HATIRAS AND JELO
“Donkey Punch” (Hatrax)
Aero: The dirty, buzzing, beelike bass line on the intro…it's like a shriek! That song just really makes you wanna dance! To me, that's exactly the sound we wanna play when we're DJing. The bass is so distorted and deep.
Lee: Another thing that Aero and I are both fans of are vocals. Plain dance music, after an hour, can be so repetitious. I want something you can latch onto — a nice melody. It's one of those tracks where if you showed up to a club on crutches, you'd chuck 'em and be like, “Wooo!” You'd be dancing! It sounds like a centipede. Oh, and by the way, there's nothing wrong with handclaps because it's a party. God bless the handclaps and their little cotton socks.
JUMP
“Funkatarium” (Heat)
Aero: This one's going in, just because of the old-school factor…the people who've really been into dance music will know that track, and for the new-school people just finding dance music, they will find that track. This track reminds me of the [early '90s] in L.A. The cowbells and horns are sick! You can feel someone pounding that beat, literally.
Lee: It's weird, you don't hear a lot of cowbells in dance music, so when it's crashing on the quarter note, it's relentless…and we love it!
MIMO AND MARCUS SCHMAHL
“Sometimes” (Craft)
Aero: I like just how thick it sounds over the P.A. Every track that usually appeals to Tommy and I has some unique sound, and it sounds bigger than it really is.
Lee: Aero and I have this conversation all the time. Whenever you take a track and grab the bass, a snare or a main part of the track and make it play in reverse…anything that sucks you in, it really affects you and pulls you into the track.
TOM SAWYER
“Get Ready” (Atsuo)
Aero: I like that big analog sound. This track, once it comes in, just starts galloping! With all of the buzzy, analog synths, it sounds like it's literally galloping. It's already building up.
Lee: There's nothing worse than when you're like, “Oh, God! Here it comes! Here it comes! Here it comes!” And they fucking let you down. Like, come on, dude! Who was standing next to you saying, “That's a wrap”?
Aero: They should be fired.
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