Mash-up

Is Disney in the EDM World?

Disney music today is all about the new album from Walt Disney Records that features remixes of fourteen classic Disney songs. Disney Dconstructed includes music from Disney’s movies performed by top-name DJs. The track list includes Circle of Life (The Lion King) Mat Zo Remix, Let it Go (Frozen) an Armin Van Buuren remix, Pineapple Princess by Kinsey Moore Remix, Baby Mine the house version, and You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story) Alfred Montejano Hyper Remix. The Main Street Electrical Parade is pretty dang awesome and is an extended mix.

Disney’s Dconstructed features a somewhat “Lego” sculpture of Mickey Mouse with the tradition colors of black, red, white and yellow. You will recognize the iconic logo just as you will recognize many of your favorite Disney songs. Don’t be afraid, the changes are definitely not Mr. Past Disney, but they are today’s Disney

Disney Dconstructed

The perfect mix as stated by The Hollywood Reporter could be Armin van Buuren and Frozen’s Elsa or Kaskade and Dumbo. Disney announced earlier this spring that the new upcoming album gives a new sound to fourteen of their most memorable songs. Dconstructed was released on April 22, 2014 with award music coming from The Lion King, The Incredibles, The Muppets, and Sleeping Beauty, Mickey Mouse cartoons and Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy. Throw in the Main Street Electrical Parade music and Sabastian Ingross/Axwell interpretation of Monsters University.

A tremendously talented electro-infused group of artists including Avicii, Mat Zo, U.N.K.L.E., The Japanese Popstars, Au5, Shinichi Osawa, ShyKidx and Negin and so many more were invited to remix these award winning songs.  Van Buuren echoed the groups thoughts when he said, “I feel incredibly honored to have remixed an Oscar-winning song – though I didn’t know that yet when I started.” Avicii has always been a fan of Daft punk’s Tron: Legacy, and now he refreshes the track and emphasizes Negin’s voice.

Fans say, “This album is GREAT! Super fun and some of the tracks hit especially hard!” Critics feed off of Van Buuren’s remixes as he transforms Let it Go into a bass heavy number that thumps into the soul, He does an impressive job of incorporating Idina Menzel’s vocals. The sound is haunting and unforgettable. Pull together an impressive light show, and you have and insane EDM visuals. Who better than Disney to use light and sound? Watch Fantasia if you think they don’t already have the talent, lights, and sound.

DDM – Disney Dance Music

Will there be a new venue of electronic dance music? Disney Dance Music or DDM? Maybe not, but the new remix album Dconstructed is sitting high atop the charts. It includes songs from many childhood movies and included is a new take on Let It Go. Armin Van Buuren gives this song trance treatment. Trance fits this song from Frozen with its dance beginnings coming from Germany (Frozen somewhat resembles a cute German village). Bring together a tempo that is between 125 and 160 beats per minute, repeat melodic phrases like “let it go” and build up and down throughout a music track. Watch your kids sit hypnotized in front of the television as they watch Frozen. They might even dance crazily through the house. You get the idea. Now just play the remix version and mini-EDM dancers will have a ball.

Disney is attempting to bring their sounds from over half a century ago to the present time. EDM is the newest music craze, and this remix makes total sense. Take, for example, Stonebridge using the Mickey Mouse cartoons for his track, Hey Pluto! Mickey’s squeaky voice and Pluto’s barks are used as sound effects for the shuffling beat in the remix. Listen carefully, and you can hear parts of Sleeping Beauty’s hope song Once Upon A Dream interspersed through Trion’s modified remix. The Main Street Electrical Parade has always been a Disney visitor’s favorite and the feel good vibes are continued in this updated mix. Kaskade’s approach to Dumbo’s, Baby Mine keeps the emotion in the melody and lyrics alive, but brings the song into the present with building house rhythms and rounded beats. Don’t think you lose the sweetness; it is still there.

More Disney Dance Music is melding the orchestras of Disney with the synthetic sounds of the electronic world. You will recognize the roars of the Lion King in its epic song Circle of Life. The mix is heady with growling basslines and razor sharp synth stabs. Mat Zo works the remix perfectly. Daft Punk’s Tron Derezzed comes into the present day with continued vocals from Negin, and Avicii’s rhythms that almost make you feel as if you are falling into Tron’s world.

Critics highly recommend U.N.K.L.E.’s reconstructed Incredibles score. The music is taken from the film and turned into a club mix. The bass in this song has an awesome sound that is very cool when played at full volume or with headphones and eyes wide shut.

One of the darker remixes is the Muppet Show Theme. This mix uses the Muppets charms and makes it dark with low and fast level synthesizer. You can hear Kermit throughout the mix saying, “It’s a nightmare” as his voice moves back into the beats. Unique and does have fun distorting the Muppet’s message into a dark club beat. Don’t play this remix to your children when they are trying to sleep.

Pineapple Princess originally sung by Annette Funicello is one of the best remixes on the album. This remix uses the old vocals and backgrounds and blends it into a piece that gives off a tropical techno sound. Play it at your next summer rave and whirl around the dance floor in a trance.

Disney’s Dconstructed is just a great deal of fun. Some of the songs work in an electronic dance music mix and some fall a little flat. Isn’t that the way it is with all remakes and music albums? Not everyone will love this, but if you are into electronic dance music, it could be a hoot to introduce this at your next rave.