Oh man. I've been waiting WEEKS for the official audio for this to drop. It may have leaked a while ago, but I feel that now, I can at last (ethically) wax lyrical about Wolfgang Gartner's return to music, with his comeback single Unholy. The producer explained his absence, and made his feelings on the current state of dance music known a while ago, with a very lengthy post on where he's at now.
Unholy is, then, as you'd expect, quite a departure for Wolfgang. Is it worth the year that we've waited, though, and more importantly, is it worthy of any praise? Find out after the jump. And yes, that pun was DEFINITELY intended.
Unholy represents a whole new way of thinking for Wolfgang Gartner. Not content to simply go with the flow, he's wisely chosen to avoid adding a quiet noise to the growing, monotonous drone that represents the worst excesses of EDM. Instead, he went away, and had a think about where he thought dance music should be heading. And frankly, I prefer his vision to a lot of other people's.
He's decided that what we really need to rediscover in dance music, is what made it so danceable in the first instance: funk, and soul. And in Unholy, he's largely achieved that. It is, in essence, a pop track, and it's far more radio friendly than we've perhaps come to expect from the producer. But there's still something quintessentially Wolfgang about it; his uniques sense of chord progression, as well as his distinctive synths remain thankfully intact. His last album, Weekend In America, proved to the world that he was more than capable of writing a great song, but this takes that notion to a whole new level.
"It feels so good to be, Unholy," croons the appropriately-named Bobby Saint prior to the track's thumping chorus, lyrically reflecting Wolfgang's desire to fight the system and do his own thing, to defy the Gods of conventional EDM. And if he ends up going to hell for it, it'll definitely have been worth it, as Unholy is an absolutely fantastic track that puts the fun back into dance music. For too long has the genre been too serious, and Unholy is a breath of fresh air - one that I've had on repeat for days.
Wolfgang has managed to craft one of the feel-good tracks of the year, and has managed to do so whilst simultaneously completely reinventing himself. I can't wait to see where this new style will take him next, but with a new album on the way, I'm left wondering, would I actually listen to a whole album like this?
The answer is an unequivocal 'yes'. And that's high praise indeed (sorry, I'll stop now).
The Octopus' Rating: 7.5/8
Track Details:
Name: Unholy (Feat. Bobby Saint)
Artist: Wolfgang Gartner
Label: Kindergarten
Release Date: 21 October
Purchase: iTunes (US Only)
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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