Hip-hop heavyweights aren't the only ones making waves with mixtapes these days. Dance music has taken the States by storm, and world-class DJs are having a field day with the seemingly endless supply of fresh beats and distinctly unique sounds.
One of the best in the biz is veteran DJ/producer Junior Sanchez. After the massive success of "Where You Are," his collaboration with Harry "Choo Choo" Romero and Alexander Technique, and the forthcoming release "I Believe In," slated for Miami in March (both released on Steve Angello's Size Records), Sanchez has positioned himself to be one of the biggest names of 2011, starting with his powerful new mix CD, Seize the Fewcha.
"A lot of people build a CD and build it up, but I was like, 'Let's just go for the gusto and play all of these amazing tracks that people really don't get to hear,' " Sanchez told MTV News. "I don't have seven hours to build to that moment. So you just want to get to that moment and get to the moment where everyone is just kind of raging."
Junior dives headfirst into the meat of Seize the Fewcha, hitting heavy right out of the gate with the Armand Van Helden and Steve Aoki collaboration "BRRRAT!" and moving swiftly into a dubstep homage to dot-com dating with a remix of Christopher Just's "You Looked Much Cuter (On My Computer)."
"There's a lot of dubstep influence," he said. "I love cats like Rusko, and when I make dance music in general, I tend to borrow from a lot of different genres, because my palette is really pretty wide with music."
Sanchez dabbles in some of the freshest floor-fillers ever thrown on to one disc. From the digitally distorted and mind-bending "Attack Muzik" by Sanchez and DJ Reza to "Select Start," a techno-laden, infectiously hooked monster pumped out by up-and-coming Russians Hard Rock Sofa and Swanky Tunes, the level of intensity and off-kilter variety of Sanchez's track selection never ceases to amaze.
Garnished intermittently with Cirez-D "Total Departure"-esque infinite builds throughout "Elevator," featuring Joel and Benji from Good Charlotte, and "nEthang!," a classic electro groove that only Felix Da Housecat and Junior Sanchez could conjure up, Seize the Fewcha is a dazzling commentary on what is and what will be huge in dance music over the next year.
Having produced Katy Perry's "Ur So gay" and, most recently, Mya's upcoming album, Sanchez is a true renaissance man whose talents are sought after by some of the biggest names in the game.
"I'm working on her album; it's kind of like a rediscovery of Mya, a reinvention of Mya. We are doing some really interesting sounds," he said. "It's a lot of dance-influenced stuff, but there are some tracks that are really dark pop, like really industrial; kind of Depeche Mode-influenced, but it's still really dance-y. It's a gambit of creativity, but the main thing at the end of it is like the songs are there. The songs are amazing."
Sanchez is also poised to release an R&B /dance record with newcomer O'Neil McKnight entitled "Crazy."
"It's amazing. He's an amazing artist. And he's the future of R&B right there, for sure," Sanchez said.
"It's a dance track. It's kind of like what [Sanchez] does best: Dance music meets '80s," McKnight said. "Everybody who has heard it thus far has been going crazy. I was at Puffy's house a couple weeks ago, and he was playing it, like, 30 times just dancing around. He was like, 'This is so refreshing,' so it's a good feel!"
Pop-Ed: When I was 21 and first moved to New York City, I wanted to be just like Carrie Bradshaw. I headed to Macy's and bought the comforter she had on 'Sex and the City' -- it's Calvin Klein's "Bamboo Flowers," if you were wondering -- and hit the town with expectations of lavish parties and Mr. Bigs and Aidens on every corner.