Bassjackers Preview “Zing”, But We’re Not Impressed

When will the monotony of electro house see an end? Lets be honest, tracks like Martin Garrix’s “Animals” and Sandro Silva & Quintino’s “Epic” deserved all the praise they received. I’ve probably heard each about a million times, but they never get old. In theory, the songs are simple: utilizing a four bar loop and building it into complete pandemonium with a face-melting drop. However, it’s not just the drop that achieved them fame. It was their ability to create a musical journey for us listeners, captivating us with melodies that could hold our attention longer than five seconds.

Don’t worry, this is not just pointless rambling. When listening to Bassjackers latest preview, “Zing”, being released by Nicky Romero’s prestigious Protocol Recordings on September 23^rd, a little piece of me died. Don’t get me wrong, Bassjackers are an extremely talented duo that has crafted a grittier sound to electro house that many, including myself, find appealing. However, “Zing” is a disgrace. The buildup is satisfying but when it crashes into an offtune, stagnated drop, I honestly had to re-check my browser to make sure I was actually listening to Bassjackers. It sounds as if they were told to make something with a cool drop and that’s it.

It’s been so easy for DJ’s to get away with producing just the “drop” because essentially, that’s what will set their crowd off. The reason I draw comparison to “Animals” and “Epic” is to point out these were well produced tracks with a emphasis on the entire song, not one segment. With “Zing”, the progression and drop are so drastically different they clash, sounding like two completely different songs. You can call it mainstream or unoriginal but Garrix, Silva, and Quintino pioneered a sound everyone seems to use now, and made it work.

Overall, I would have hoped to hear something more professional and refined from a group such as Bassjackers. Yes, the drop by itself will sound cool in any set, but the point of being an artist is, as Armin stated in a recent interview, “to bring people on a journey rather than just bringing them the drops”. Bassjackers are not the only group who has fell victim to this condition I like to coin the “Epic Effect”, but I think sometimes every artist needs a reality check to remember why they make the music. To all producers, lets keep the creativity flowing and never settle for less!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110029747″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]