Tag Archives: DJ

My Music

The Anonymous EDM Producer & DJ, Zhu

Xavier Capdepon Zhu Faded nycWho is Zhu? That’s the pivotal question nowadays in the electronic dance music community. He first came on the scene with an anonymously disclosed remix of Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson.” The song was a big hit on all the major music blogs, but no one knew who actually made the song. The deep house sound from this remix led people to believe that the famous EDM group, Disclosure, was behind the popular remix. A week after releasing the Outkast remix, the anonymous EDM artist came out as Zhu, with the release of his first original track, “Superfriends.” In April of 2014, he came out with his first EP The Nightday, which featured his first single “Faded.”

Zhu’s entire aura revolves around anonymity and judging him solely on the music that he makes. It took a lot of digging to finally unearth the anonymous artist as Steven Zhu from Los Angeles. Zhu has apparently been working on various music projects since 2011, but he has kept completely quiet on social media projects until now.

His marketing tactics keep up with his air of anonymity, focusing on a gorilla and grassroots approach. Zhu recently had a secret show in Brooklyn, NY where he made his fans aware of a show somewhere in NY, but never specified the place or time. He posted posters all over the city of an upcoming show, but the details remained anonymous.

The anonymous approach in this day and age is reliving in the face of huge marketing tactics used my EDM producers in the modern age. Rather than judged by the music, their marketing team is judges on whether or not they were able to find more followers. Zhu’s tactic is reminiscent of Daft Punk before they were discovered. Critics believe that Zhu’s marketing techniques could possibly change the EDM scene, with more of a focus on the created rather than the creator.

Check out Xavier Capdepon’s new remix of Zhu’s first single, “Faded.”

My Music

Who is Clean Bandit?

Xavier Capdepon Clean BanditClean Bandit is an electronic group from Cambridge, England founded in 2009. The group consists of four members: Jack Patterson on the bass guitar, keyboard and vocals; Luke Patterson on the drums; Grace Chatto on the cello and vocals; and Milan Neil Amin-Smith on the violin. In January of 2014, they released their first single to hit the number one spot on the UK Singles Chart, “Rather Be.” In the United States, “Rather Be” reached the number 12 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

They music style of Clean Bandit can be described as a mix of electronic/deep-house music with elements of classical music. The music that they make uses elements from classical compositions from Dvorak, Beethoven, and Mozart. They released their single “Mozart’s House” in 2013 and the song reached  #17 on the UK Singles Chart. A lot of their music can be considered humorous at times as many record labels refused to sign the band because they thought that they were a comedy band.

In a world where a lot of electronic artists these days are hiring production interns to produce their own music, Clean Bandit actually produces their own music. Jack, Chatto and Amin-Smith all met while attending Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. Chatto and Amin-Smith were leads in a string quartet. Chatto was Jack’s girlfriend while at college, and he would record remixes to Chatto’s vocals from time to time. One of their songs, Motzar’s House, eventually materialized and thus began the journey to becoming an electronic band.

Their band name comes from the minds of Chatto and Jack Patterson. They both lived in Russia for a bit, so “Clean Bandit” is a direct translation that from Russian to English that is used to mean “complete bastard” or “utter rascal” in British terminology.

The other night Xavier Capdepon completed his remix of Clean Bandits’s most famous song, “Rather Be” with vocals from Jess Glynne. Check the song out below!

Music

Xavier Capdepon’s Introduction to Music Blogging

The music industry these days is vastly different than it was a decade ago. These days, DJs and musicians have to rely more on touring than they do on CD sales. The music experience and success relies on major record labels signing artists and building their careers in the music industry. Aside from this, all there really is to do if you want to enter the music industry is 1) have a web presence 2) network within the industry and 3) learn how to produce music. I have made this blog as a steppingstone for my career. I want to simply play good music and make a living doing so. Music is my everything, and I have been doing music for my entire life. I am a firm believer that music is a necessity in life as it brings joy and happiness to a ridged and stiff world. I know great music and I am in the middle of learning how to make good music. I’ve DJed all over the world, so I know what it takes to get people off of their seats an onto the dance floor. This website will act as a place where you can find good music, but more importantly, good NEW music. This era of music is moving faster than ever. With new technology and electronic music taking over the industry, there is much more accessibility to music production tools. People are able to churn out songs faster than ever, and songs don’t stick around for years, like they used to. It is important to not only create music in this industry, but to keep evolving with it and keep up to date with the current trends. Thus, this will be a place where you can find the hottest trending songs. Below is Xavier Capdepon’s soundcloud creations of the songs that he has produced himself. Listen and enjoy!