The legend goes, that Dave Nada, one half of Nadastrom, was mixing the Afrojack remix of Moombah by Silvio Ecomo and Chuckie mixed with a slower reggaeton track, so it all ended up around the 108/110 bpm, and people seems to respond rather well to that. Since, noted artists like Skrillex, Knife Party, Diplo and the good sir Francis Dillon, to name a few, has been putting out moombah tracks.
Dillon Francis, in particular, has been the frontrunner for the new subgenre, and was the first to get the top spot on the Beatport top 5 release chart back in February 2012. I was so lucky to see Dillon Francis at UMF in Miami back in March, and was instantly smitten both by the subgenre as such and by Mr. Dillon Francis as a performer and artist. While Fatboy Slim and Justice were playing at the main stage, in front of 100.000 strong crowd, Dillon rocked the small, almost tiny, Annie Mac stage in the far end corner, right by the water, under the palm trees, with soothing sounds of moombah making the 200 or so dedicated moombah fans move in the evening heat. I can safely say, that this set was among my personal top 3 of the UMF, competing against mega-stars like Skrillex, Avicii, Armin van Buuren and Afrojack etc..
That was why I didn't hesitate a second taking the drive from Copenhagen to Gothenburg last weekend, when I saw he was playing a nightclub up there (thank you Siavosh!). He played a very varied set, not only moombah, like in Miami, but included hit tracks from every electro subgenre and we had a blast in the back popping the bubbles and dancing the night away. We were so lucky to meet him after the show and thank him for both the shows in Miami and that great night in Gothenburg. Very nice guy, I must say, who also likes to rock the suit and tie, as he said. :)
Please find a couple of my favorite moombah tracks below and enjoy!
Angger Dimas - Kitchen (Original Mix)
Valentino Khan & Will Bailey - Rukus
Clockwork - Hulk (Dillon Francis Remix)
Nadastrom - i!!
Bonus info
Kairo Kingdom, a brand spanking new electro group from Frankfurt, Germany, came out of nowhere this spring in 2012 on the Lazy Rich label Big Fish. So far they have released five tracks in different subgenres, from electro house/complextro (Crazy Rock), to glitch hop (One Two), drum n' bass/dubstep (Dead Sound), moombah (Boombox) to dirty dutch electro (Das Knarz). Each a very solid attempt in the respective subgenres. Especially One Two does it for me, I got it pretty much on repeat on the iPhone these days. They deserved a spot in this post, not only because of them jumping on the moombah-wagon and fitting the theme of this Journal, but simply because of their excellent display of versatility and the well produced music. There are the Swiss army knife of electro. They refuse to be categorized. Just like my beloved Knife Party did a year or so ago when they took my heart by storm (new EP Rage Valley out May 28th btw!). So go check them out on their Soundcloud and be the first of your friends to buy that shit afterwards!
Kairo Kingdom - One Two
Kairo Kingdom - BoomBox
Kairo Kingdom - Crazy Rock