If you aren’t really into the world of EDM, Madeon is someone who should definitely be on your radar. Hugo Leclercq rose to fame in 2011 when a video of him performing his song Pop Culture on a Launchpad went viral. Starting with the simple “Here are 39 songs I like” it’s pretty incredible:
Not only is this 20 year old Frenchman insanely talented when it comes to producing his own music, he’s also already produced for the likes of Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Ellie Goulding, and Two Door Cinema Club. He’s been touring since he was 17 and left school to pursue this career. He also cites Daft Punk as one of his major influences. This month he’s releasing his first full length album, Adventure on March 30th. He will also be in Madison at Segredo May 3rd (the day after Revelry Music and Arts Festival, what a weekend for music!) and from numerous past experiences I can assure you his live show is the place to be. He has no need to use a microphone to hype the crowd up as some DJs often do, he remains silent and lets his music affect the crowd for him. He’s also been hinting at big things for his new tour, and in his recent Reddit Ask Me Anything he said that improvising is his favorite part of live shows and he’ll be playing brand new live versions of both old and new songs. Now that I’ve listed his impressive credentials, on to the new album you need to check out.
The album itself is 12 songs long in the standard edition and 18 in the deluxe. I’ll look at the deluxe version because it is currently streaming on iTunes Radio (link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/station/idra.973549523). The deluxe version features 5 previously released singles and (Icarus, Finale ft. Nicholas Petricca, The City, Cut the Kid, and Technicolor) 5 more recently released singles (You’re On ft. Kyan, Pay No Mind ft. Passion Pit, Imperium, Home and Nonsense ft. Mark Foster). This album features many more collaborations than have ever been released by Madeon before. Finale ft. Nicholas Petricca of Walk the Moon (the perfect closing song for his live shows) has been out since 2012, but besides that Madeon hasn’t released many collaborations. He now has numerous people featured on this album from Passion Pit and Mark Foster of Foster the People to Dan Smith of Bastille and Charli XCX on Ok. La Lune ft. Dan Smith is reminiscent of other Bastille songs with heavy drums but very different electronic influences than Bastille would normally have and Pay No Mind ft. Passion Pit is extremely high energy and catchy with typical soaring Passion Pit vocals. When talking in his Reddit Ask Me Anything Madeon also hinted at a possible collaboration with Phantogram. He brings in other artists well and the collaborations are among my favorite songs on the album. You’re On and Pay No Mind also already have music videos out are the first two parts in a trilogy of related music videos:
Something new on this album is Madeon himself singing. He sings on three tracks; Beings, Zephyr, and the very emotional Home. Of the creative process of singing on his own tracks has said he only became nervous about his singing when he realized he was releasing his songs. There’s no indication yet of whether or not he will be singing live like Porter Robinson just did on his Worlds tour.
As a whole the album is incredibly diverse and the fact that the deluxe version features older Madeon songs makes it feel like a look at his work as a whole. The album has the classic Madoen songs finally in album format but also tons of new material for fans to enjoy. The album flows well and has both a fitting introduction in Isometric that transitions easily to the next track You’re On and a slowed down new conclusion in Only Way Out ft. Vancouver Sleep Clinic.
Madeon embodies good electro-house music in a genre that is often too repetitive and not musically unique. This is not the bumping club beats that comes to mind when you think of EDM, this is a beautifully produced emotional music. Adventure is an album you want to be sure not to miss; out March 30th and streaming now on ITunes Radio.
WUD Music 