As Steve Aoki starts to release music from his upcoming 12 track album, Wonderland, we’re starting to see why he is considered to be one of the best DJ’s around - he works very well with talent. Although Aoki has a very upbeat trance-like style, he’s proven over time that he can adapt this to accommodate different artist’s styles and genres, without taking much from their sound. In the albums latest pre-release, Cudi The Kid, Aoki takes this exact approach, still making his mark with Travis Barker handling all of the procession and leaving Cudi’s voice unedited (for the most part).
Travis Barker has personally been one of my favorite musicians since a very young age, as I was obsessed with playing the drums growing up and he always was able to stay relevant and push the envelope. Typically this has been much harder for drummers to do, (ie. How many famous solo drummers do you know), but Travis has always been able to carve himself a niche. Whether this has been offering drum lessons to fans and pros when he was a part of Blink 182, providing real beats for hip hop samples (Game, RZA, Drake), or crushing to a set to techno music, Barker has always found new ways to kill it (I mean listen to that cowbell). Aoki doesn’t just stop at Cudi and Barker for talent though, as the feature list is long on this album, including Chiddy Bang, Rivers Cuomo, Wynter Gordon and many more.
When DJ’s collaborate with artists and add their own value like Aoki’s been doing here, it shows why he’s considered an artist and not a producer – which is quite the difference when all is considered. Aoki has already spilled a few tracks from this EP, including the songs listed below. Get hyped, Aoki will also be in Toronto on New Years, playing a show at the Guvernment/Koolhaus. Bound to get cray.
Steve Aoki ft. Kid Cudi & Travis Barker – Cudi The Kid
Steve Aoki ft. Chiddy Bang & Lil Jon – Emergency
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