Kaskade 'Love Mysterious' album

Love Mysterious is Kaskade’s third album and will mark his first release with Ultra Records. Those familiar with Kaskade’s preceding albums, It’s You, It’s Me and In The Moment, will feel a sound of greater dimension and big-room proportion in Love Mysterious. Though his trademark melodies, sensual vocalists, and emotionally driven sound remains intact, Love Mysterious is a bolder production and reflective of Kaskade’s growing acclaim and popularity worldwide.

Last year’s schedule alone had Kaskade appearing at 150-plus shows, the result of which is evidenced by a dedicated following whose numbers continue to multiply. This has encouraged promoters and event organizers to book the artist at venues with larger capacities, and, says Kaskade “It’s affecting me as a person and as an artist and my sound in general. Five years ago when I was producing my first album, the whole nonstop, world travel thing wasn’t a part of my daily routine, nor was playing sets at large scale festivals or 20,000 person massives.”

Today, for the Chicago-raised San Francisco transplant, playing sold out shows in every corner of the globe is, in fact, routine. When Madonna performed at the 2006 Coachella Festival, Kaskade along with Paul Oakenfold were the opening acts. Overseas, Kaskade has been the headliner at huge festivals and events including Field Day and Park Life in Sydney, Australia, or he’ll pop up on any given weekend at mega-clubs ranging from Carfax in Johannesburg, South Africa to Summer Dance in Manila. If there’s a dance culture alive and well in this world, Kaskade has likely been there, and he’s likely scheduled to go there again soon.

Kaskade’s explosion onto the dance music scene and subsequent rise to top-tier status is not without significance. As Tricia Romano of the Village Voice observed, “In dance music no one ever seems to graduate or ever get promoted, which means that the ability for new DJs and producers to break in the upper ranks is incredibly hard. Kaskade is one of the few who’ve pushed past the Sashas and the Derricks to get on the A-list.” This is so clearly the case that when URB Magazine featured Kaskade on their cover alongside Kanye West’s A-Trak and NYC’s Tommy Sunshine as the three the most influential DJs in North America today, they explained that “Kaskade is a special breed of house star, one who has increased in popularity over the past few years in an industry where most of the major players have at least a decade (often two) of stardom behind them.” That Kaskade has broken rank as well as tradition is a testament of his ability to create music that has succeeded in transcending industry politics and obstinate so-called gatekeepers.

And transcend it certainly has: consistently to the top of the charts. Kaskade’s remix of the Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha” immediately hit Number One on Billboard Magazine’s Hot Dance Music Club Play, as did his remix of David Morales’ “Here I Am.” His own songs have proven to be just as chart worthy: The single “Everything,” a big-room remix off In The Moment made Number One on Hot Music Club Play and went as far as Number Six on Hot Dance Single Sales (another weekly Billboard chart). But it was the single “Steppin’ Out” that earned Kaskade wide recognition, far beyond the dance music scene and thanks in no small part to its heavy radio play and commercial licensing, as well as being named to the annual “Top Ten Singles” list by Entertainment Weekly. From Budweiser commercials to MTV’s The Real World, the rocker-styled guitar riffs of “Steppin’ Out” mixed to a bass-heavy backbeat was contagious in its appeal, and burst open a wholly new and original sound to dance music.

This broad appeal that Kaskade has been able to tap into has not gone unnoticed by the music industry. The accolades and recognition are numerous and include a nomination for “The Borders Award for Best New Artist” in 2004 to being voted number 20 in the “2004 America’s Favorite DJ Poll” conducted by BPM Magazine. The San Francisco based magazine, SOMA, summarizes it well: “Kaskade has taken over the scene as one of the West Coast’s most sought after DJs.”

For Kaskade, the fortuitous path of his DJ and producer career is not taken for granted. In the opening track of Love Mysterious, “Stars Align,” Kaskade addresses the veritable sea of success he’s been sailing with relative ease and without obstacle: "It represents how I feel about my career and the way things have been going for me. I didn't consciously write it to express this point, but listening back to the record, I definitely associate this track with my life. It's about how everything has just lined up and somehow, has seemed to work out. I've been lucky and blessed and this song is just my way of being thankful for it all." The lyrics of “Stars Align” combine with a powerful, kinetic track whose dark melody and raw rippling of bass pierce the listener provocatively, almost spiritually.

All this appreciation is not to say that he takes his profession too seriously. “I’m just a guy who loves to produce music, and I’m having a really, really good time doing so. I’m not it in for the ‘scene.’ I don’t wear shiny sequin shirts and I don’t usually hang out in clubs unless I’m going for a specific reason.” With his relaxed West Coast demeanor (it’s not uncommon for him to show up to a club in flip flops), and his affable personality, Kaskade is an anomaly to the stereotypes often associated with the DJ persona.

Individuality is apparent in Kaskade’s personality, and so is the music he produces, which is consistently fresh and discernibly original. Love Mysterious lives up to this reputation and reinforces Kaskade’s stronghold in dance music. Dennis Romero of the Los Angeles City Beat couldn’t have put it better when he writes, “If there’s a man of the moment in dance music, it’s Kaskade.”

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Kaskade - Love Mysterious