Widdle Me This

I recently got to see The Widdler in Chicago at Smartbar and while I wasn't totally blown away, his set was impressive. Not only was his mixing flawless, but I had never heard any of the tracks he dropped before, which is always a plus in my book. And best of all, while he's still in the process of making a name for himself, he's giving out hot dubs in what seems like every other week. Here's his most recent collab remix with VoodooSteamBoat:



Let me be the first to say, I'm not a fan of psytrance. I got burnt out on it circa 2003 when I listened to it 24/7. There are a few tracks here and there that I dig though, and Infected Mushroom's "Becoming Insane" is one of those. Not for this to become a review of Infected's track, but it sidesteps most of the repetitive sound elements and patterns that typical Psy tracks fall into. The usage of strings is deliciously psychadelic (...bearing reference to the psychadelic nature of the genre, something most "Psy" tracks seem to miss entirely) and while I'm usually repelled by vocals, they're done well in the original.

Widdler and VoodooSteamBoat practically take all of the elements I dislike about Infected's original and cuts them out while using the elements I like at the same time. They keep the "becoming insane" vocal, which without it you're really missing the theme of the original. What's great about the use of this vocal is not only is the original good, but not too many dubstep tracks utilize vocals. A sample here and there, perhaps, but this is becoming more and more common lately (think Nero) and I'm liking it. They're well placed and not overused. The duo also kept the strings but I wish he layered them throughout more of the track rather than dropping them after the intro. The wobbly bass is there for the dancefloor and while theyre a bit repetitive, at least they're not generic in nature.

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