EDM producers have a weird line they have to walk across when it comes to being album artists. On the one hand, it's hard for many people to wrap their heads around the idea of buying an album of tracks that are predominately instrumental, so they have to make sure there's enough variety and, in many cases, vocalists, just to keep the attention of those who might've heard a big single on the radio. You have to find a way to do that without alienating the people who came here to hear you kick out the jams they remember catching #feels to during your festival set. It can be a lot harder to balance all of that and still stay true to self, you know?
All of that said, Steve Aoki has sorted out a "club edition" of his latest album, Neon Future I. The premise? It's pretty simple. As Aoki put it, "I wrote Neon Future with the intention of writing songs that would connect with listeners emotionally. But I also know that that a traditional song format can often be difficult for club DJs to play out so I reinvisioned, remixed and reworked these tracks for those DJs who really want to bang it out."
This six-track release is out now on Ultra, but if you wanted to hear what these club editions sound like, we have a megamix of the project that Aoki just dropped:
