Sort of a pedantic title, we know, but seriously: Saladin, a house producer from Chicago may likely have been the biggest EDM juggernaut that not nearly enough people were paying attention to in 2017. It’s time to rectify that now, dear Your EDM readers, with his most recent track, “Noize” and his fiery EP full of big room anthems, Feel My Bass, out January 8.
It’s definitely not as if no one was listening to Saladin in 2017. He charted heavily both on Billboard (one of his tracks recently hit number three on the Billboard Breakout Hits chart) and Beatport. He’s worked with hitmakers like D.O.D., Laidback Luke and Don Diablo, made tracks for Play and Phunkjunk Records and is a regular guest DJ on Chicago’s Dance Factory show on FM radio. In the Chicago house scene, Saladin is kind of a big deal, and since Chicago is the only deal when it comes to house, that makes this more than upcoming producer a big deal in the international house scene as well.
Saladin says he is most influenced by 80s new wave and, of course, Chicago house. This is reflected in the almost all his 30 tracks released in 2017 but he also incorporates progressive house, dark techno and hardstyle into his work. With his last release of the year, “Noize”, however, he’s really amped it up in his last release of the year. This track plays like a big room banger, and it was certainly meant to be such, as it was released right before the new year. With all the sirens, screeching 90s-style synths and complex buildups and breaks, one can almost see the baloons and confetti dropping on the crowd as this track is played at midnight. It’s definitely a big room hardstyle anthem and a great way for Saladin to cap off 2017.
It doesn’t seem like the house train will be slowing down any time soon in 2018 for Saladin, so there’s still plenty of time to get on board. In less than a week, the fastest moving house producer in Chicago will be releasing an EP on Phunk Junk called Feel My Bass, and it’s got lots of styles from progressive house to more high-voltage hardstyle. Check the preview below and in the meantime the year in Chicago house can be summed up by looking at Saladin’s top tracks on Beatport, where Feel My Bass will also doubtless be dropped on January 8.
https://youtu.be/iWMSKi57Lzg
