RELEASED 25TH JULY 2019

Favourite Track: Butterfly Effect

This album is so energetic that you feel like you’ve taken a pill that has made the world intensively colour saturated and you feel every vibration on the ground warping the world around you

As a fan of the hit song ‘Taki Taki’ (featuring Cardi B, Ozuna and Selena Gomez), I had come across French producer, DJ Snake, before. His focus tends to be electronic music but his commercial success meant that his second album Carte Blanche was certainly of interest to me. The cover art shows what I think might be the edge of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris but I could be totally wrong (lol) however he was the first ever artist to perform on top of it according to Spotify so I mean, it makes sense. The title translates to something like ‘the freedom to do what you want’ apparently even though the literal translation is ‘white map’ (if my French isn’t that appalling of course).

The opening track ‘Butterfly Effect’ sounds like a rainforest which then had a gradually building bassline and electronic synth effect coming through. At around 50 seconds in, the melody comes in with a sharper and higher pitched synth. It then builds into an insane beat and bass drop at around 2 mins 10 in. I was like WOW this album is being saved when I heard this. I’m not even a fan of this kind of electronic music but he did this so well my mind’s been changed. I can only imagine what it would be like live as it then instantly quietens down. ‘Quiet Storm’ featuring Zomboy is a powerful song with a strong bass and claps with repetitive vocal chants. The build is hardcore. But the drop is nowhere as near as good as the previous one. However, it’s far more sci-fi, electronic, gamer style EDM madness so if that’s your thing, you’ll love it. Same story for ‘When The Lights Go Down’.

‘Recognize’ (featuring Majid Jordan) is slowed down and has that atmospheric feel to it. Jordan’s vocals work nicely with it too as the song adds layers at each line. This one is a more commercial sounding RnB/Dance song. It’s funky and one you can definitely dance to which I like. ‘No More’ featuring ZHU has a nice echo-y guitar opening with a Dance beat that comes in the second verse. The beat in this is very chilled out and a great one for a night out in a hot country by a bar I think. There is a solid EDM beat to the song ‘Made In France’ (featuring Tchami, Malaa and Mercer) which is another intense build into Dubstep drops. Sheck Wes, Offset, 21 Savage and Gucci Mane all feature on the track ‘Enzo’ which is a Hip-Hop song with a hard beat and bass alongside a subtle electronic background instrumental.

Bryson Tiller features on ‘Smile’ has a Trap/Hip-Hop sound to it to accompany the rapping. It’s not bad at all. ‘Try Me’ featuring Plastic Toy is more of an electronic, atmospheric one with great vocals and a piano backing that then incorporates a conventional Dance build. But the drop is so cool on this one. It’s weirdly subtle and invasive depending on the instrument. ‘Loco Contigo’ featuring J Balvin and Tyga has that Latin sound with the beat, lyrics and bassline but the electronic vocal effects in the background add the DJ Snake touch to it. You can definitely dance to this one too. Perhaps the most famous song on the album ‘Taki Taki’ blew up this year and is another one with Latin influences with a solid beat and rhythm that forces you to move. ‘Fuego’ (featuring Sean Paul, Anitta and Tainy) is yet another Latin track. Once again, get ready to dance. I love the opening to ‘Magenta Riddim’ which almost has an Arab sound to it which I LOVE in this. The Eastern influence is working for me here big time. If you don’t dance to this, you’re boring. ‘Frequency 75’ has one hard bass drop. That’s all I have to say. Eptic is featured on ‘SouthSide’ which includes some big synth chops and another build to a very Dubstep ending. Amazing stuff for a festival. But all of a sudden on ‘No Option’ featuring Burna Boy we’re hearing Reggae music. This is another one you need to move to which combines Reggae with Electronic/Dubstep/EDM music. Weird but it works. Finally, ‘Paris’ featuring GASHI is a slower one but it has elements of Dance to it with some nice melodic electronic synths.     

This album needs to be performed live at night (yes, on top of the Arc de Triomphe).