Moombahton is the frisky new dance music micro-genre responsible for an awful lot of hype just lately, as Kate Hutchinson explains in her latest blog.
Dance bible Mixmag and countless blogs – even US style magazine Nylon – have profiled Moombahton in recent months. And, of course, it has its very own namesake blog, www.moombahton.com, which has documented its short yet speedy history.
And its quest for world domination continues apace this week with the release of a new scene-defining compilation on Mad Decent. Blow Your Head Vol. 2: Dave Nada Presents Moombahton is the originator’s guide to the sound, from its inception at a house party in Washington in early 2010, where Nada (pictured, top) slowed a remix of the Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie track Moombah from Dutch house producer Afrojack down to reggaeton’s laid-back 108bpm tempo – and thus gave it its name – to now, when it is, well, everywhere.
Type ‘moombahton’ into YouTube and everyone from Tiësto to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs via Benga (in fact, anyone who’s had big club tune in the last year) has had the moom-moom treatment. But Blow Your Head’s 16 tracks focuses the likes of moombahton masters past and future, such as Dillon Francis and Munchi, Red Bull favourites Toy Selectah and Isa GT and others that you might associate more with Baltimore house, like US producer Tittsworth and Nadastrom (Red Bull blogger Oliver Keens touched on Baltimore and moombahton’s similarities in April earlier this year.) And it’s rather good.
It’s the second compilation of the series – the first saw label head honcho Diplo tackle dubstep. Significantly, the two genres are similar in their Twitter-fast advancement. “Not since dubstep has a genre grown and spread across the globe at such a rapid rate,” says Mad Decent. “Dave Nada literally invented moombahton a year and a half ago and there are already producers contributing and shaping the genre all over the world.”
Its biggest supporter in the UK is Toddla T, who, incidentally, is in residence this week and next for the Red Bull Mixtape at the Red Bull Studios in London. He brought the genre to their clubbing community’s attention when he took over Benji B’s slot on BBC Radio 1 in February with a moombahton special, which you can listen to here, and its UK fanbase has since exploded with moom-influenced producers.
YoYo resident and remix wizard Smutlee in west London is now a fan – it sits comfortably between house and dancehall, the two styles of dance music he plays. Last Friday, he headlined the UK’s first moombahton-dedicated club night in London’s Shoreditch, Fiyapowa, from the people who run the baile funk-favouring events Club Popozuda – further proof, if any were needed, of moombahton’s unstoppable force.
Why is moombahton so popular? You only need listen to a track to catch its infectious groove. Yet Club Popozuda adds that the key to the genre’s success is also because, like dubstep before, it incorporates a breadth of music styles. “Moombahton is a diverse, international sound. It's a new genre that has spread around the world very quickly and draws on many different cultural and musical influences,” says Club Popozuda’s James Hurrell. “It can be very slow and sensual or very rough and fun. It’s great because girls love dancing to it too. What's more, it's still evolving! So it's surprising, fun and evocative.”
Of course, you’ll hear it on worldwide dancefloors too. Well-travelled producers like Diplo, Dillon Francis and their Mad Decent gang and Brodinski, who released a mix of the sound in February, European Introduction to Moombahton, have peddled it at their DJ sets all over the globe – most recently in London when the former crew hit Camden’s Koko for a Red Bull Music Academy rave-up. It’s that’s further proof still that moombahtom’s bump and grind is going to get bigger yet – suss it out on a dancefloor near you.
If you’re not yet familiar with moombahton, Dave Nada’s Blow Your Head promotional mini-mix will set you right, a taster of the compilation before you have to fork out for anything.
Blow Your Head Vol. 2: Dave Nada Presents Moombahton Minimix by maddecent
And Smutlee has also contributed these essential moombahton selections for Blog on the Dancefloor:
Schlachthofbronx – Chambacu (Smutlee remix)
“This is my first official moombahton remix, which is forthcoming on Mad Decent.”
Mescal Kid/Ms Thing – Majic (Smutlee edit)
“This is where it all began for me. I was just messing about, trying to figure out what moombahton was all about, and came up with this.”
Heartbreak – Grown Man Shit
“Heartbreak is the best in the business for the soulful stuff.”
Munchi – Me & My Bitch
“This new one from Munchi may not a club banger, but it’s still a great tune.”
Dave Nada – Moombahton
“The first tune to get the moombahton treatment, and it works so well in the rave.”
Want more?
- Read previous Blog on the Dancefloor entries
- Follow Kate on Twitter: @katehutchinson
- More music on redbull.com
Comments
Add a comment