MUMBAI: Following the massive success of their 2014 collaboration ‘THIS’, Dutch stars HI-LO (aka Oliver Heldens) and Sander van Doorn teased their fans this summer with photos of them in the studio together again. Now the time has come for the latest fruit of their endeavors to see the light of day, and it’s another absolute stormer.
‘WTF’ takes a classic rap vocal snippet (previously put to good use in a Fatboy Slim classic) and welds it to taut techy beats and big swathes of pulsing bass. An atonal metallic synth riff hammers away, subtle counter melodies undulate around it and meaty FX are put to good use to build the tension. That atonal riff develops into an infectious, groovy swung melodic motif, with great use of building reverbs to heighten the energy further.
The epic breakdown drafts in warped string samples and all manner of theatrics to take the track to fever pitch, with the succinct but hugely effective drop the icing on the cake. It’s a classic Sander van Doorn sound twisted through the prism of the HI-LO style to great effect.
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Sander’s calendar is looking mighty busy for the rest of the year, with 13 gigs left including a string of dates across the USA and culminating in Zagreb on New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, Heldens played a handful of HI-LO gigs this year including his very own HI-LO-Ween parties in New York and Los Angeles. Look out for more select dates in 2017, including an appearance at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
