I previously covered Dabin’s Wild Youth album here, and suffice it to say that it was by far a highlight of the year in EDM in terms of its emotional appeal. If you somehow got bored of hearing the originals over and over again, Dabin has offered a remedy – a 17-track remix pack featuring underrated talent across all subgenres of melodic bass and beyond. Names like Anki, Last Heroes, Trivecta, MitiS, Nurko, Crystal Skies, Sober Rob – well, I can list all the remixers here, because the quality of each track is bound to be as good as the rest. That’s not something that you hear often about remix packs.
As it would be practically impossible for me to speak about all 17 remixes in this article (as much as I would like to), here are my top five from the package which you absolutely can’t miss (in no particular order).
Rings & Roses (Anki Remix) – One of the most underrated producers in the melodic bass umbrella, Anki has proved his production dexterity with two phenomenal LPs and multiple remixes for the likes of the Cheat Codes and Selena Gomez. For his Rings & Roses remix, Anki goes with a stand-out square lead overlaid on a dubstep sounding beat, for a melodic heavy-hitter.
Part-time Lover (Crystal Skies Remix) – Expected this one to be phenomenal, and it delivered. Keeping the chord progression and the vocal chops intact, this remix twists the calmer original into a melodic dubstep heater with soaring supersaws and trembling percussion. Upbeat vibes only in this one.
Youth (w/ Yoe Mase) (sober rob Remix) – Innovative vocal chops layered on top of each other is both an innovative production technique and a sure-fire way to elevate a tune to the next level. A calming beat takes the background, allowing the vocal harmonies to stand out.
Home (w/ Essenger) (Mazare Remix) – One of my personal favorite artists, with three releases on Monstercat over the past year, Mazare accentuates the feelsy vibes on this record, as a simple melody with a magical atmosphere takes hold. Warm, fuzzy synths lead the way through the drop, interspersed by clean vocal chops.
Alive (Trivecta Remix) – It was hard choosing between this one and MitiS’ take on the same tune. For arguably the two most well-known names on the pack decided to remix the same song. Trivecta’s take on the lead single from Wild Youth retains the main elements (melody, chord progression and arrangement) of the original, but adds a harder, melodic dubstep flavor to the light-hearted, chillstep original.
On the whole, it is quite noticeable that the album focuses largely on melodic dubstep, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have diversity, spanning hybrid trap (Slippy) to chillstep (IHF) to midtempo (Sam Lamar). That’s also to be expected, considering that a large portion of the remixers are friends with the artist. With 17 reinterpretations of a 10-track original album, Wild Youth (The Remixes) is a must listen for anyone with a foot in the melodic bass territory.
