Welcome to week #17 of the Steel Orca Songs of the Week.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

It’s the end of the second week of the year already. Have you made any significant changes yet? Working on those new year’s resolutions? Are you in a better place mentally, physically, and spiritually?

If the answer to that question is no, what are you waiting for? You’ve burned through 12 days already. Time to get it while the getting’s good.

Also, happy Friday the 13th to those reading this post on the day when it comes out. I’m not a particularly superstitious person, so I don’t put a lot of weight on things like that, but when I was young, the Camp Crystal Lake novels came out, which were basically young adult horror novels (or so I thought?). I found them in my local library and became addicted to them, but then developed issues sleeping (who could have predicted). The books initially slipped under my mom’s radar, but she started looking pretty hard at them when the nightmares and sleep terrors began. I probably shouldn’t have been reading them.

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Also, here is an update on last week’s post about me starting up some positive new habits (where I was being intentionally vague) - I started jiu-jitsu last week, and at the time of writing, I have gone to three classes. That’s my big new positive change for 2023 (thus far). I’m still on a trial membership at my local gym until February 1, when I think I will switch to a different one with a slightly better schedule. It has been great thus far, and the scariness of actually showing up is easing with each class. I even got my first submissions (ever in life) rolling at the end of the third class, so that was neat. A lot more fun submitting than getting submitted, but I guess that’s to be expected. “Everyone always loves being the hammer; no one likes being the nail,” as people say.

Anyway, like I was saying to a guy the other day, the most challenging part of jiu-jitsu class (any exercise, really, class or not) is the hour before I leave the house. If I can convince myself to pack my bag, put my gear on, and go, I have not once regretted it. And to be clear, I was extremely nervous about attending my first class. But I did it, and everything was fine, and now I have a fun new hobby.

Hopefully, that motivates others to try something new this year. Let me know what fun new things you’re planning for 2023 in the comments below.

Playlist Breakdown

Here are the songs for the week of January 13, 2023 🎂.

▶️ Youtube Music: Songs of the Week #17

This playlist came together pretty quickly earlier this week. Still, it went through several revisions (specifically in track order) before coming to the final iteration you’re listening to. Maybe I’m getting a better ear for this sort of stuff - DJ career, here I come.

All of that is to say other tracks on this playlist were previously listed as the Song of the Week, but after repeated listening, I had to switch it up and ended up with what we have now. I’ll let you guess which other tracks they were. Enjoy!

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Boris Brejcha - Black Unicorn

Release Date: January 6, 2023
Label: Harthouse/UCM.One
Genre: Techno
Spotify Plays: 142,685
Origin: Ludwigshafen, Germany 🇩🇪
Instagram: @borisbrejcha
Twitter: @BB_BORISBREJCHA

So last week, while listening to Spotify, I discovered the New Music Friday Dance playlist, which I had no idea about despite being a famous music blogger. Silly me.

The playlist contains all of the hot new dance and electronic tracks that came out the past week and gives me an excellent new source for songs for this newsletter. Now I’ll look like I actually know something about current popular music.

Given that, this track by Boris Brejcha is the most cutting-edge track I’ve featured on this playlist to date, having come out just a week ago at the time of posting.

Based out of Germany, Boris describes his music as “high-tech minimal techno.” An interesting bit of trivia- his love of music was discovered due to a famous tragedy. From his website:

At the age of six, he was seriously injured in the Ramstein air disaster and spent months in hospital. Today, he still bears extensive scars from the severe burns. Because of teasing from classmates, Boris withdrew and discovered his interest in music.

His tour dates are listed on his website here. Of particular note, it was announced that he will play the Sundays of Coachella 2023.

Saturna - Why U Wanna?

Release Date: August 19, 2022
Label: Odyzey Music
Genre: UK Garage/Bassline
Spotify Plays: 43,830
Origin: Vancouver, BC 🇨🇦
Instagram: @saturnasound
Twitter: @Saturnasound

Somewhat surprisingly, if you look up “Saturna” on Google or even “Saturna music,” you get a bunch of results that aren’t Dez Baker, the real identity of this particular Saturna. The first one that comes up for me is a band from the Pacific Northwest, while the other one is a DJ out of Memphis. Given where he hails from, I guess that his name is a reference to Saturna Island.

Another surprise to me is that Beatport's genre for this song is listed as UK garage/bassline. On his Bandcamp, Baker describes his sound as organic bass. To me, this is closer to something like Sun Sala by Memba (our song of the week from week 11), which Beatport describes as electronica. I’m thinking that Beatport is a little off on this one, but as I’ve said in previous posts, I don’t really know genres.

This is a good song with a catchy eastern vibe that I think many people will be into. I believe the main melody is a sitar or at least sounds like one, and the song has a lot of hand drumming, but I couldn’t reasonably tell you, based on sound, what kind of drums they are. Tabla maybe? I have no idea.

I expect to see Saturna on the lineups of many smaller festivals this year (Shambhala, anyone?), but according to his Songkick, he doesn’t have anything currently booked.

Devault, Bipolar Sunshine - Don’t Be Alarmed

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Ultra Records, LLC
Genre: Dance/Electro-pop
Spotify Plays: 796,114
Origin: Orange County, CA 🇺🇸/Manchester, England 🇬🇧
Instagram: @devaultmusic/@bipolarsunshine
Twitter: @devaultmusic/@bipolarsunshine

I’ve got to be honest that I don’t necessarily love the first part of this song (the first 45 seconds or so), but the second half (and the end, especially from around 2:20 on) is so good that to me, it makes the entire song worthwhile. It’s almost two different songs, with the first 2 minutes having a dark 21st-century bass-heavy vibe and the last minute sounding something more like a classic Carl Cox (or even Frankie Knuckles) track.

Devault hit the mainstream in 2017 with his official remix of Rihanna’s Sex with Me on her 5 track dance remix EP of the same name. From his Insomniac profile:

“Everything is so accessible now that it has become quite unique to get my point across outside of just my music catalogue,” he notes. “I’m able to showcase various arts to my audience beyond sound that can convey my thoughts and past emotions. The world I’m creating is vast but specific. Dark emotion and vibrant energy in perfect sequence, and as time presses forward, it will only become more narrow and focused.”

Bipolar Sunshine (real name Adio Marchant) is a vocalist and songwriter from England. Formerly with the band Kid British, Marchant debuted as Bipolar Sunshine in 2013 with his debut EP Aesthetics. Since then, he has been a mainstay as a vocalist in the electronic scene, collaborating on songs with DJ Snake, San Holo, Party Favor, and Surf Mesa, among others.

At the time of writing, Devault had two tour dates listed (one is tonight at 1720 in LA). No such luck for Bipolar Sunshine.

Juelz - Closure (featuring Ruby Chase)

Release Date: March 8, 2019
Label: Fool’s Gold
Genre: Trap
Spotify Plays: 709,989
Origin: Vancouver, BC 🇨🇦/Los Angeles, CA 🇺🇸
Instagram: @bbjuelz/@rubychase
Twitter: @bbjuelz/@rubychase

Initially released in 2019 by Fool’s Gold Records on his Shanghai Nights EP, this song features Ruby Chase on vocals and is decidedly trap. It’s also notable that Chase is listed in the credits as one of the songwriters. This was truly a collaborative effort.

Another Vancouver-based artist, Juelz has been crafting music that blends hip-hop and electronic since the mid-2010s, making his first major splash supporting Ekali on his Canadian tour in 2016. He has also had significant releases via Sable Valley (RL Grime’s label, which we also featured in last week’s post).

Ruby Chase, on the other hand, describes herself on her website as a singer, songwriter, DJ, and producer- a “musical alchemist”:

With a focus on taking her listeners on a journey, Ruby serves up a unique ritualistic approach to live performance, weaving a broad span of musical flavors ranging from bass to latin, downtempo to house. Blending this range of global dance tracks with her original music, ethereal live vocals and interactive invitations, Ruby’s sets turn the dance floor into a ceremony.

At the time of writing, Juelz did not have any listed dates. However, Ruby chase can be found at various upcoming festivals and retreats (including some invite-only events). It looks like her Instagram is the best place to keep track of her comings and goings.

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Song of the Week 🙌

Holly, Baauer - ID Summer Jam

Release Date: September 2, 2022
Label: Sable Valley Records
Genre: Trap/Wave
Spotify Plays: 72,557
Origin: Portugal 🇵🇹/Philadelphia, PA 🇺🇸
Instagram: @beatsbyholly/@baauer
Twitter: @beatsbyholly/@baauer

This track was previously in the middle of the playlist, but after repeated listening, I realized this was my favourite of the bunch, so I switched things up late, and this is now the song of the week.

Released on the Sable Valley Summer Vol. 3 collection that came out in September of last year, including this track that’s two official Sable Valley records songs on the playlist in the previous two weeks, and even Closure above is cursorily linked to Sable Valley. I obviously like what RL Grime and the team are producing. I should buy a T-shirt.

Holly (real name Miguel Oliveira) gained recognition from his peers early on, with releases on Fool’s Gold Records, Dim Mak Records, and Monstercat earning acclaim from major industry players like Zeds Dead, Bloody Beetroots, Machinedrum, Noisia, Rezz, and more. From Insomniac (from a few years ago):

Deemed ‘one of the top producers of 2017’ by both DJ Mag and Run The Trap, Holly clearly has had no trouble gaining recognition from both artists and fans alike. Impressively so, his unparalleled production and mixing skills also led him to win the very first A-Trak Goldie Awards Beat Battle in 2017.

Baauer originally broke into the mainstream in a major way when his song Harlem Shake went viral and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, changing record industry rules forever and achieving double platinum status. The song would win EDM Song of the Year and Dance Song of the Year at the 2013 Billboard awards. No stranger to accolades, Baauer’s second album, Planet’s Mad, released on June 19, 2020, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Unfortunately, neither Holly nor Baauer had any listed tour dates at the time of writing.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

That’s it for this week from all of us here at the Steel Orca.✔️👋

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Flamingo, Laguna Colorado, Bolivia 📸:Clara Beth/steelorca.io

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