So. 100 posts. The Octopus baked you a nice cake to celebrate, but unfortunately we accidentally ate it all. So instead, here's a look back at some of my favourite tracks and features from our first few months.
Back in June, the internet discovered a little French band called POOM. They exploded into people's music libraries with their infectiously catchy song, Les Voiles. We absolutely loved it, writing, "It's smooth, it's slick, and it's going to stay on repeat for hours." And sure enough, it's still in heavy rotation in my library.
When EO started, the last thing I expected was to be handing out a perfect score for our very first album/EP review. Yet that's exactly what happened, as PrototypeRaptor's Elemental EP was a breath of fresh air, and almost perfect in every way. Without doubt, this is still one of my highlights of the year in music.
Another fantastic track came courtesy of I See MONSTAS in August, as they dropped their newest single Circles. Their unique brand of soul and dance collided in spectacular fashion, with the result being a highly euphoric slice of D&B with an epic middle section featuring a full gospel choir. And if that doesn't entice you, I don't know what will.
You lot really seem to like the playlists that we do here. There's only been a few instalments so far, but Feel Good Friday and The Playlist have proved to be the sites most popular features. Check out the most recent editions here and here. And just you wait until this Saturday's instalment - it's a corker...
In September, Fox Stevenson caused quite a stir with his latest track, Sweets (Soda Pop). It was unlike anything I'd ever personally heard, but I loved it, if only because it proved to me what I think I already knew - there's still so much I have left to discover within EDM. It saw Japanese culture and western Dance music come together to form an obscenely cheery track that stands out from the monotony.
Monstercat have featured heavily on EO, because the music they put out is so bloody good. To celebrate their 3rd anniversary, they decided the best way was to rerelease most of their back catalogue - but condensed into 3 and a half minutes. The label teamed up with Didrick for a spectacular live mashup of their best and most popular releases. It was nothing short of extraordinary.
And finally, something I'm particularly proud of. Infrequently, we run a feature called Hot Topic Tuesday. You may never have come across it, and that's okay - it's actually not one of our most popular features. But when I started this thing, my goal was to create thought provoking, in-depth content that would hopefully be of a higher quality than some websites. And I believe that with HTT, we're achieving that. Particularly our pieces on deaths at festivals, and whether or not festivals should be branded bigger than the artists playing there. I'd encourage you to have a read of some of them, and add your 2 cents - I don't care whether you agree with them or not, all I want to do is start a debate.
I think that oughta do it! Thanks if you made it this far, and thank you for reading EO. It means an awful lot to know that I'm not just shouting into the void, and that at least some people are getting something from the blog. There's still more work to do - especially on the frequency of posts - and I hope you'll stick around to see it get done. Oh, and as a reward for getting this far, you can have our fancy artwork from above as a wallpaper:
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See you for more exciting stuff soon!
- Alex
Writer, musician, and all-round top guy. I set up Excited Octopus. Currently, I'm on a one man team. It gets lonely sometimes. But I don't mind, because I love you all.
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