Gig Review: Swanky Tunes at Royalty, Mumbai

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For a long time now, the Electronic Music universe has been dominated by the Swedish brigade. With the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz, Avicii, John Dahlback and many more spearheading the Swedish domination. The Russians are not too far behind anymore, heading the Russian dance brigade is main man Arty, remix giants Hard Rock Sofa, Bobina, Matisse & Sadko and many others. However, another group that has firmly notified the dance music community of their prowess since the last 15 years are SwankyTunes. Mumbai was fortunate to be in their presence on the 5th of July! 

While initially finding recognition through their frequent collaborations with Hard Rock Sofa such as “Here We Go”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Chemistry (Turn The Flame Higher)“, Swanky Tunes are certainly no strangers to dance music with a detailed portfolio of works with other giant producers such as Tiesto, R3hab and Kaskade. They have always experimented with different electronic styles in pursuit of their own sound-starting their career with techno, before moving into a distinctly big-beat influenced sound.

Comprising of Vadim Shpak, Dmitry Burykin, and Stanislav Zaytsev, their signature style of music includes hard basslines, chunky beats & claps and resonating synths which will carry you to and fro ‘the drop’. Back in 2006 & 2007, they were rewarded as ‘Best Musical Group’ at the Russian Dance Music Awards. If one was to expect some heavy mashup’s and massive club anthems from their set – they were definitely going home happy.

Proceedings began at about 10:30 pm with local talent Beat 2 taking to the decks. He played an opening set of composed energy, starting with techno, disco before finally dropping some club anthems towards the end. The crowd built up steadily as the hour progressed. Beat 2 gradually lifted the tempo with tracks like Ananda Project’s ”Moment Before Dreaming (Sasha Involv3r Remix)”, Thomas Schumacher’s scorching number ”Every Little Piece (Hot Since 82 Remix)” and the delightful “Live To Tell (Federico Scavo Remix)” by Tommy Vee & Mauro Ferrucci & Keller & Lucrezia. Increasing energy with tracks like “Cheget” by Ross Evana, “Get Ready” by Jay Lumen and a remake of The Door’s classic “Riders On The storm” by Sean Finn.

Towards the final quarter of his opening set Beat 2 began to drop some massive club anthems as the crowd was getting in the Swanky mood! With tracks like “Skeleton Key (Format B Remix)” by Pleasurekraft & Green velvet, “In The Air” by David Penn & The Cube Guys and “Bring It Down (Todd Terry Remix)” by My Digital Enemy, Beat 2 ensured that the crowd was pumped enough.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the dancefloor had reached full capacity, along with the VIP area overhead seemingly full, the Russian stalwarts made their way to the decks. A little bit of playful swearing to get the crowd going and Swanky Tunes India tour kicked off with the swarming mashup of “Let’s Go vs. Years (Hard Rock Sofa Bootleg)” by Calvin Harris & Hard Rock Sofa vs. Alesso feat. Ne-Yo & Matthew Koma.

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Mercilessly shifting bass gears, Swanky Tunes then dropped a massive bootleg of Nom De Strip’s ”Techno Saturday” with Red Hot Chili Peppers timeless classic “By The Way”. Giving us a taste of their own talent they dropped some of their recent collaborations such as the one with DVBBS & EITRO titled “We Know“, another with Peking Duk feat. James McNally called “You Are Like Nobody Else“ and their solo remix of Zedd’s ”Clarity”.

When it comes to Russian DJ’s and their mash-ups, they are top notch in their deliverables and we got a taste of that with some heavy uplifting smash-ups. Arston’s “Zodiac” with an acapella of Coldplay’s ”Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”, their collaboration with Hard Rock Sofa & Matisse & Sadko’s ”Chemistry (Turn The Flame Higher)” with Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party’s ”Antidote” & a cheeky acapella from Benny Benassi’s ”Satisfaction” and their anthemic collaboration with Hard Rock Sofa “Here We Go” with a raging acapella from Wildchild’s ”Renegade Master” and Swedish House Mafia’s “Miami 2 Ibiza” featuring Tinie Tempah.

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One thing that all major dance producers would swear upon regardless of the genre they play, would be the energy level of the crowds of Mumbai. Within half an hour of Swanky Tunes’s set, one quick glance around revealed sweaty shirts, pumping fists, ceremonial jumping, the famous “heart” gesture and people raised on each others shoulders. At the slightest of song fades or silence within a track, the audience would rise to cheer the Russians who acknowledged their adoration with equal surmise and applause.

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They further rewarded the audience with mashup’s like “Walking Alone” by Dirty South & Those Usual Suspects with Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl featuring Georgi Kay’s “In My Mind (Axwell Mix Edit)”, Helvetic Nerds’s epic “Blood Pressure (EDX & Leventina Remix)” with the careless acapella of Dirty South featuring Rudy’s “Let It Go” and a massive bootleg of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Moguai’s “Mammoth” with Inpetto & Sander van Doorn’s “Shhhh!” & Daft Punk’s immortal “Around The World”.

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With the smoke guns showering dry ice at the sound of the “drop”, which was quite frequent, and laser lights being chased by the raised hands of the ravers, Swanky Tunes continued to unleash anthem after anthem. With incredible mashups of Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin’s “Don’t You Worry Child” with an acapella of Scenario Rock’s ”Skitzo Dancer” and Andrew Bayer’s ”England” with an acapella from Axwell, Ingrosso & Angello’s ”Leave the world behind” we got a history lesson when Nicky Romero’s “Toulouse” was combined with Nirvana’s anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

Along with an artillery of mashup’s, Swanky Tunes would occasionally drop in a single or two just to allow minimal breathing space. Tracks like Alesso’s ”Clash”, the recent vocal mix of Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash feat. John Martin’s ”Reload” and Burns’s lovely “Lies (Otto Knows Remix)” kept the energy levels way above normal.

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Ending the night with Stefano Pain & Marcel’s ”Back”, Vadim took to the mic and asked the Mumbai crowd give a huge applause to themselves and went on to add, much to the amusement of audience members, “Mumbai…or Bombay, whatever you wanna call yourself…you guys were F**kin amazing tonight! “.

And as a proud raver at heart, to hear this from yet another artist in recent months, we beamed from ear to ear! Thank you Swanky Tunes for putting together a great show for your beloved Indian fans!

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Special thanks to WMS and Shark & Ink.

Reviewed by Hamed Khalidi.

Edited by Angelica Syiemiong Pereira.

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2 comments

  1. Pingback: The Best Of Bangin Beats: July 2013 | The Bangin Beats

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