Cast your mind back to two years ago – we were just coming to the end of the summer of 2020. It was a strange time – the first Covid-19 wave of March and April had largely subsided and case numbers during the summer were low, yet many feared a potential tsunami of illness would emerge over the forthcoming winter.
In the dance music world, the focus then remained eerily similar to what it is now – on survival. Labels continued to release music despite there being almost no clubs open to play them in, knowing that the alternative could be even worse. Which is why certain labels started releasing tracks which, in any other times, they wouldn’t go anywhere near.
In Defected’s case, they opted to sign a track by Brighton-based producer Dan Hardingham. It was called “Fur”, and it was released in October that year under his alias of Endor. The song sampled the 1810 composition “Für Elise” by Ludwig Van Beethoven, which played alongside some of the most painfully bland, generic tech-house we’ve ever heard – which in a dreadfully packed field is really saying something.
The song did quite well for Defected, and Ears To The House has been told more than once that the label signed it for “strategic reasons”. It now appears that Spanish producer Juan Carlos Cruz Lopez – who produces under the name Wade – has had a similar idea. He put out a preview of a new song called “The Hook” recently – and unless we’re very much mistaken, it samples “Symphony No 9” by Beethoven…
You just know someone from Defected’s A&R team is watching this and thinking of bringing it to Wez Saunders’ attention, don’t you?
