Avicii - Levels (Chris Stebbins Summer 2015 Remix)

You'll be forgiven for reading the title of this post and thinking "Oh god, not another rehash of this tired old track", because I have to admit, I have the same knee jerk reaction every time I hear Levels even mentioned in casual conversation. But if you had that thought, I hope you pressed play anyway like I did, as you'll be pleasantly surprised with this remix from Chris Stebbins.

Chris has taken the original to another place, with little left from the original aside from his use of the Etta James vocal sample from her 1962 single Something's Got A Hold On Me.  Aside from that sample, Chris has gone on to create a fresh new melody that really gave this track new legs for 2015 that I would never have expected. Do yourself a favour and have a listen, and grab the free download from his Facebook Page.

- KJ

Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (Chris Stebbins Remix)

Chris Stebbins dropped us a line letting us know he was dropping his remix of Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do as a free download last week.  You may recognize his name if you checked the Friday Care Package out on Friday, as we included his remix of Wiz Khalifa's See You Again.

The track eases into things with a gradual build that introduces some of Chris's melodic elements through the initial verse and into the first run through the chorus.  The percussion doesn't really drop until the one minute mark when the second verse hits. This remix has a slightly reigned in big room progressive house sound that gives a nod to mainstream dance while also staying away from being cliché.  Fans of the original Ellie Goulding track will also appreciate that Chris left the vocals intact and without pitching of any kind.

Make sure you check out this Ontario producer's Soundcloud page, and keep an eye on it as he mentioned he's got a few more tracks up his sleeve that are forthcoming. 

- KJ

Deadmau5 - Strobe (Shemce Remix)

If you haven't heard of Deadmau5 by 2015, I'm not quite sure where you've been living, but it must have been dark there... Going back to the epic 10 minute closing track to his 2009 album For Lack of a Better Name, fellow Canadian producer Shemce takes on the Deadmau5 original, and brings it into contemporary deep house style with his remix.

It's not initially obvious when you start the Shemce remix that it is a take on Strobe, but anyone who has heard the original a couple times will definitely recognize the key sequence that comes in at the 1:28 mark. There are definitely nods to the original, and even when things drops back in at 2:00, there is definitely some obvious progressive house influence that remains even through the remix. To make things even better, this remix is up as a free download.

Also, in case you hadn't heard, Deadmau5 also just uploaded 3 new tracks over the past weekend, which you can check out on his page here.

- KJ

JackLNDN - Don't Forget

This JackLNDN track was released for free download back in late November, but it has been in rotation in my listening playlists ever since.  This one is a bit more progressive than his typical productions, but the lack of previous production in this style does not seem to have created any issues at all - this is a great house track with some real proggy elements.

This track has such a wide range of appeal - if you're a house head, if you enjoy epic trance breakdowns and buildups, or if you're really into progressive house, this has aspects of all of these styles, wrapped up neatly into a free download.  Actually, Jack LNDN has a fairly large body of work all available for free, so head over to his Soundcloud page and start downloading!

- KJ