Welcome to You Might Have Missed, my weekly segment where I’ll be taking things back down memory lane and highlighting older songs that a lot of people either missed, forgot or overlooked. All of these tracks hold some type of special meaning to me, and I hope that you will find them enjoyable too. Let’s get started:
For this week’s installment of You Might Have Missed, I’m going to be focusing on the group that was among the most influential when it came to my first love for electronic music. Comprised of multi-talented musicians Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P, MSTRKRFT‘s timeless tracks are essential to any fan’s understanding of how the EDM of today came to be.
MSTRKRFT‘s 2006 debut album, The Looks, remains one of my all-time favorite LP’s not just of dance music but music in general. Having previously been a huge fan of Jesse F. Keeler’s Death From Above 1979, I decided to check out his other project MSTRKRFT. At the time, it was unlike anything I had ever heard and was probably the #1 reason I decided to dig deeper into the sound. Below are three of my favorite tracks from the album: Bodywork, Neon Knights, and Work on You.
MSTRKRFT – Bodywork:
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/07-Bodywork.mp3]MSTRKRFT – Neon Knights:
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Neon-Knights.mp3]MSTRKRFT – Work On You:
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Work-On-You.mp3]
After 2006’s The Looks and a slew of remixes, MSTRKRFT followed things up with their sophomore LP titled Fist of God. Fist of God was a game changer. Heartbreaker and Bounce were as popular as levels was last year (well, not quite) and they revolutionized dance music in 2009. I’ve included a few of my favorites from this album below: Vuvuvu, Bounce, and 1000 Cigarettes.
MSTRKRFT – Vuvuvu:
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Vuvuvu.mp3]MSTRKRFT – Bounce (Extended):
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/02-Bounce-Extended-Version.mp3]MSTRKRFT – 1000 Cigarettes:
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/1000-Cigarettes.mp3]
Unfortunately, since this last album the group has more or less been on an unofficial hiatus. In March of 2011 they released the tracks Beards Again and Back in the USSA, but since then there’s been no new MSTRKRFT to my knowledge. At the same time, there’s been no announcement regarding the two splitting up or anything to that effect, so here’s to hoping they’re just hard at work in the studio. To wrap things up, check out those two tracks plus a few of my favorite remixes they did from back in the day.
MSTRKRFT – Back in the USSA: (Free Download Here)
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Back-In-The-USSA.mp3]MSTRKRFT – Beards Again: (Free Download Here)
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Beards-Again.mp3]Para-One – Dundun-Dun (MSTRKRFT Remix):
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/271461_Dundun_Dun_MSTRKRFT_Remix.mp3]Armand Van Helden – NYC Beat (MSTRKRFT Remix):
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Armand-Van-Helden-NYC-Beat-MSTRKRFT-Remix.mp3]Until next week,
-DD