Simply the best new dance tracks of the week.
Zhu
Courtesy of Falcon PR
This week in dance music: It was Mau P weekend in Austin, where the Dutch producer made an appearance at the Billboard House @ SXSW and talked about topics including his hesitations about doing a stadium tour, his Coachella 2025 set and how his career started on GarageBand. Later that night, Mau’s performance at Billboard’s THE STAGE was shifted to Austin’s The Concourse Project due to high winds, with the show drawing thousands of fans and going down as an all time night.
Meanwhile, Calvin Harris and Kasabian’s “Release The Pressure” occupied the top spot on the WARM Global Radio Dance Chart, with more than 800 plays across more than 200 monitored stations worldwide in the March 6-12 tracking week. William Orbit revealed that he had has a Ray of Light 2.0 ready, but that he’s gotten “nil response” from Madonna on it. We spoke with Chris Lake about remixing Taylor Swift’s “Opalite,” a project for which Lake liased with Travis Kelce to make happen. ANOTR, Bebe Rexha and Jennifer Lopez were key movers on the dance charts this week.
We chatted spoke with Rüfüs Du Sol’s longtime agent at CAA Alex Becket about the historic tour the band is currently on, with Becket noting that given this success and all the other achievement currently happening in dance it “just seems like the whole genre has never been hotter.” We also had the honor of sitting down for a chat with techno pioneer Jeff Mills amid the current tour behind the 30 year anniversary of his 1996 release Live at the Liquid Room, Tokyo.
And last but never least, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Zhu, Gc_bestbelieve_sa & HNTR, “Levelzzz”
The third single from Zhu’s forthcoming album Black Midas is the sexy and darkly chugging “Levelzzz,” which the producer himself says is one for “all my clubber, ravers, and late night creatures who need energy to keep going.” Sonic adrenaline, this one was made with rising artists with Gc_bestbelieve_sa & HNTR and comes ahead of Zhu’s performance at Ultra Music Festival in Miami on March 29. Meanwhile, Black Midas is set for release on April 24.
“Levelzzz” is out on Broke/Blacklizt Sound Syndicate. Listen to it here.
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Innellea, “Slave To the Hype”
“I’ve been reading more and more comments telling me what Innellea should sound like, and it does something to me,” the German producer wrote on Instagram in February. “Yet somehow I feel stuck. locked into expectations. Into boxes I never wanted to step in. What am I actually allowed to do as an artist.”
As Innellea works out these big questions, part of the answer seems to be “Slave to the Hype,” a tongue in cheek reference to the current algorithm dilemma many artists find themselves in. But the track itself is no joke, with the producer presented a throttling, ravey, acid-ey three minute track that, at least to our ears sounds like fun and like freedom.
“Slave to the Hype” is out on Belonging. Listen to it here.
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Ian Snow, “Flow State”
Rising bass producer Ian Snow proves once more why he’s one to watch in the world of low end with his latest “Flow State.” Equally psychedelic and wompy, this one has a hypnotic quality that may very well put you in the coveted state of consciousness its title references. Snow’s upcoming tour dates include May’s Illfest in Austin, where Snow will share a bill with artists including Crankdat, Excision and G Jones b2b Eprom.
“Flow State” is out on Gud Vibrations. Listen to it here.
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Bianca Oblivion, “Up!”
L.A.’s own Bianca Oblivion links with fellow Angelenos AOBeats and ReniGAD for the hyphy, feisty “Up!” A tight assemblage of percussion and vocals that bring this one to the dancehall realm, the simultaneously playful and driving track was first started by Oblivion and AObeats late 2024.
“We had a dancehall acapella as a placeholder, but we knew we wanted to get a proper vocal on it, and the first person I thought of was ReniGAD,” Oblivion says in a statement. “I’ve always been a fan of his music with RDX, and after hearing one of his solo singles ‘Bududup’ with its baile funk influence, I could immediately hear how his voice would cut through this production… ReniGAD jumped on it and sent us back these explosive vocals, and as soon as we heard them, we knew we had a hype anthem. Dancehall and Caribbean culture have deeply influenced my sound, so being able to collaborate with such an iconic voice from that world is really exciting.”
“Up!” is out on Club Aerobics. Listen to it here.
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Horsegiirl, “an apple a day”
There are a lot of club tracks about lust, drugs and alcohol, but the latest from Germany’s Horsegiirl may be the first about apples. A hectic kitchen sink of sounds revolving around the convention that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, this one is zany enough to feature a vocal cameo by the doctor himself, who over a kickdrum declares in baritone that “I’m so angry, I’m the doctor, no one needs me! I’m the doctor!” before Horsegiirl insists “Take a bite! Take a bite! Take a motherf–kin’ bite!” What absolutely doesn’t make sense on paper works splendidly in your earholes as the scene’s best and newest fruit-centric heater.
“an apple a day” is out on RCA Records. Listen to it here.
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