ARTIST SPOTLIGHT- Say YES to D/R/U/G/S

Manchester, England DJ and fan of controversial names and forward slashes, D/R/U/G/S has an amazing remix of internet sensation Lana Del Rey's recently released single "Blue Jeans" and is available for streaming at RCRDLBL.com.  D/R/U/G/S is young twenty-something Callum Wright and has made a splash in the UK, getting rave reviews for his first single "Love/Lust" and has already  played some big festivals as well.  According to this interview done in the UK last summer he is self taught and actually just picked up electronic music a couple of years ago, getting his start in music initially as a singer for a punk band,

It appears his specialty is crafting epic dance grooves built around beautiful ambient chords.  As well as he excels at putting together big sounds for dance purposes he also does a formidable job limiting tracks to a smaller sound but still keeps it interesting.  The track "Hyperdream Clap"  from his "Connected" EP is a great example of that outstanding minimalistic sound.

The "Blue Jeans" D/R/U/G/S remix from RCRDLBL.com (see below) adds a thumping beat and huge waves of ambient synth chords to the original Chris Isaak "Wicked Game" clone (even down to the video, with the only difference really being the woman and man switch roles).  He still maintains the ghostly feel of Del Rey's vocals but makes the song sound brighter.

I listened to a lot of DR/U/G/S' other tracks on his Soundcloud page. On one track called "Velodrome I" you'll hear some awesome staccato'd synth runs with more ambient waves in the background to give it a cool hybrid type of sound.  He adds some guitar to it to give it the sexy "Lethal Weapon" soundtrack feel to it as well.  On "Hemisphere V" he takes a turn with some trance-like sounds.  I hear some deep bass synth beats with a frenetic electro-melody.  Such an easy track to get lost in!

D/R/U/G/S has a big future in electronic music as it seems he can really do almost anything with electronic sounds and he is constantly working on evolving his music.  He is signed with Moshi Moshi Records.

-Chris