When it comes to my music, I don’t mess around. I contribute a bit of minor OCD to my obsession of keeping my music neat and organized, whether that be by mood, genre, or release date. For over a year now, I have been compiling the best songs from each month into Spotify playlists. I do this for a few reasons: 1.) It allows me to revisit the period of my life when those songs were dropped to get nostalgic and feel how I was feeling at that point in time. 2.) Because I’m usually bored at work on Fridays and listening/organizing new songs helps pass the time. What has resulted is over a dozen of these monthly playlists and many more to come (so follow my Spotify).
TOP 5 SONGS of MARCH
5.) Amaru – Yotto
The Finnish producer Yotto has been smashing the club scene with his complex deep house tracks. Amaru is another weapon he’s added to his impressive arsenal earlier this month. With that signature “four-to-the-floor” beat combined with his eerie, 90s warehouse rave synths, the track oozes with intensity while retaining its danceability. Yotto and artists similar to him (Ben Bohmer, Lane 8, etc.) create these massive dance tracks that make you think and feel before you dance. Get lost in a trance with this one.
4.) Yoko – Rome in Silver
I was first introduced to Rome in Silver about 5 years ago. Oddly enough, this was the first song I heard from him and since then, I have been a religious follower ever since. Now you may be wondering, if this song came out 5 years ago, why is it in the March 2020 list?! Well to answer that simply, Rome in Silver has been receiving the recognition he deserves recently and the song that was uploaded as a SoundCloud track 5 years ago has gotten a signed re-release by San Holo’s label bitbird. So now we can all enjoy it on a multitude of streaming services. Yoko hits you with some incredible production that personally brings me back to those summer days as a kid where all your problems and worries of the past now seem so insignificant and even almost welcoming. If you couldn’t tell, I’m a sucker for some nostalgia. I’m a massive fan of Rome in Silver and on top of being an elite producer, he’s also a genuinely great person. Go check out his discography and hop on board the Rome in Silver train before this guy blows up!
3.) Bummed (feat. Alison Wonderland) – Chet Porter
The LA based producer Chet Porter is a fun goofy dude whose ability to beautifully convey his serious and melancholic emotions into all his songs is unmatched in the music world. Bummed is an indie-electronic track using the uniquely gorgeous voice of Australian producer Alison Wonderland that helps uplift you when you’re, appropriately, “bummed”. After a hiatus for about a year, Chet Porter has bounced back in the tail end of 2019 returning to his roots of hitting you right in the feels. Bummed feels like a breath of fresh air in the electronic scene usually dominated by booming 808s and transient heavy hi-hats. The track also credits the up-and-comer sensation Quiet Bison whose influence you can hear around the 1:50 mark in the song (seriously check out Quiet Bison if you haven’t already. Dude is absolutely lethal in the producer world). This mellowed out yet still exciting track makes you want to drive cross country with the windows down on some spiritual quest to find yourself. Excited for Chet Porter’s return and what more we’ll see from him this year.
2.) The Difference (feat. Toro y Moi) – Flume
The Australian music scene might be on top of the world right now, but the Sydney born producer Flume is no stranger to the spotlight. In fact, he’s no stranger to being on top of the world. Perhaps one of the most recognizable names in the electronic music scene (and one of my personal favorite artists), Flume teams up with Toro y Moi to create The Difference, a short but very sweet DnB influenced track with some indie-electronic vibes to get you prepped and ready for summer. Since Flume’s return to the scene just over a year ago with his critically acclaimed mixtape Hi This Is Flume, we’ve seen an incredible amount of experimentation from the producer separating him from the future bass scene he helped create all those years ago. And this is not a bad thing. The quality and complexity in his productions are unrivaled by any producer in the game and he’s proven time and again to be a trailblazer to new and exciting genres and styles. Even Apple has taken notice to the legend by using the track in their new Air Pods Pro commercial. The Difference is yet another track to add to his already impressive resume which will be replayed on my Spotify for a very long time.
1.) Something Comforting – Porter Robinson
For those who know me, there’s three things that matter most to me in my life; Dogs, the Green Bay Packers, and Porter Robinson. This Top Songs list is certainly intended to be unbias (and I still hold that it is) but I can’t NOT put the electronic music pioneer GOD at the top of the list. A six year hiatus after releasing arguably one the greatest electronic music albums of all time, Worlds, the North Carolina native is back in 2020 announcing his second album titled Nurture after dealing with a heavy bout of imposter syndrome. Something Comforting is the second released single from the Nurture album, and is Robinson’s explanation of feeling fake and phony trying to chase the success of his first album. “Cause getting made you want more and hoping made you hurt more oh there must be something wrong with me” . Robinson uses the track to show that even when he was ruling the world, it didn’t bring him the happiness he believed it would. Dealing with writer’s block and feeling fake, he shelved the Porter Robinson project for a bit, even briefly considering retirement. Well we’re glad he didn’t and the silver lining that comes with this all is new music with genuine meaning and emotions to back it up. I am ecstatic for the new album and upcoming singles ready to be released. I assure you, this is not the last time I will be writing about Porter.
If you need more songs, check out the entire Best of March 2020 Playlist by yours truly at the top of the page.
Beats & Blockbusters 