Will Julio Bashmore's debut album deliver?

With his debut album to come out at some point in 2014, this is the year where Julio Bashmore's already sterling reputation will either be further cemented in the UK dance scene or will come crashing down. (However, from his track record alone, I think the former is more likely.)

With three releases last year and a remix of Justin Timberlake's 'Suit & Tie', he's an artist who keeps himself busy yet wisely chooses to not give too much away before his much anticipated album. One of his most divisive releases 'Duccy' caused much online debate between the usual camps: the first one criticizing his musical progression and wishing for a return to his older material and the second group simply praising him because he's done something different. I have to say I'd find myself on the fence on this one but would lean closer to the former camp. Nonetheless, I'm not saying I don't favour change, I just didn't particularly enjoy the song.

Before I start a pointlessly long rant, I'm gonna keep it simple. I haven't been that impressed with his efforts in 2013 and after hearing he had an album coming out, I was a bit skeptical. Like any of his fans, I'm a big supporter of his older material. From 'Battle For Middle You', to 'Footsteppin'' to the massive tune that is 'Au Seve'. If I had to choose my favourite track however, it would have to be 'The Horn That Time Forgot'. And of course, if I had a say in his musical direction (which I don't), it'd be awesome if he had a few songs along the lines of this incredible tune.

Despite all of this, my optimism has resurfaced lately with the release of 'Peppermint' in late 2013. Taken directly from his so-far unnamed album, it's a track that screams 90's house, with lush productions, bouncy rhythms and guest vocals from fellow PMR label mate Jessie Ware, it's definitely a good sign for what's to come. It also seems as though in one song, he's attained a sound that Disclosure have taken years to perfect, once again showcasing Bashmore's extraordinary talent and adaptability.

Ultimately, we need to wait for any future releases to hopefully get a better insight into the album but as I said with 'Peppermint', it has given much hope and is a perfect compromise between the expectations of his die-hard fans and the inevitability of creating a more commercialized sound to rival Disclosure.

The Problem with Eton Messy/Majestic Casual

As I wrote in my last piece, Eton Messy for me reached the zenith of their 'career' around the middle of 2013 and have since, slightly dropped in quality. The same goes for Majestic Casual. The latter I discovered before Eton Messy in late 2012 and it was a great time for finding new music, constantly spewing out new and interesting new acts that seemed more individual and original as the last one. If you did read my best of list for 2013 you'll probably notice that a number of songs I chose were in fact from Eton Messy and Majestic so can I understand if you can perceive this as hypocritical. I'm not saying that they're not good whatsoever, it's just that I've noticed a drop in quality in the last few months.

Undeniably so, they exposed to the world brilliant new artists from Maths Time Joy, Queenie to Snakehips yet since, they seemed to have stopped favouring originality and simply repost more homogenous sounding artists that they know their fans will appreciate. I think this may be one of the problems. There appears to be a genuine group of people who solely listen to Majestic Casual music now and will simply share it because well, Majestic Casual liked it. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Youtube channels regularly posting new music because it's a great way of discovering new artists. The problem however is that they should not post music purely because their fan base will appreciate it, but seek to find new, innovative and original acts. I have also noticed this with the channel SubSoul, who subjectively I do prefer yet they have began to post similar music to Eton Messy because they know there's it's popular on their page. One song recently got quite an amount of backlash from the page's followers who were discontent that SubSoul were simply attempting to imitate Eton Messy. The former is a bass/garage orientated page so it's understandable that people were annoyed that they were trying to focus on a sound that's popular amongst other channels just for the sake of reaching a higher viewership.

Once again I'm not discrediting any of these channels (or their fans for that matter) I am simply saying that they shouldn't change or fixate their sound on a specific style purely because they know they'll get more viewers.