It may seem obvious that Tiësto’s new, compilation album, AFTR:HRS – Mixed By Tiësto, would sound like a rave in your headphones. After all, Tiësto is one of the biggest DJ’s in the world, and electronica is synonymous to clubbing. Yet, I still affirm that After Hours captures the EDM scene better than most records because it transforms any moment into an electric one.
AFTR:HRS – Mixed By Tiësto was curated and mixed by Tiësto, who selected 14 tracks that epitomize what his label is about, and is, basically, a seduction technique to make you fall for the artists and music of his heart/label. Like Diplo and Skrillez, the top DJ’s of the world are trying to corner the market that has made them, EDM, by creating labels that recruit the brightening tales of the scenes. Hence, the record features a range of deep house artists from breaking to established, including Sultan + Shepard, Alex Schulz, MOGUAI, CamelPhat and Baggi. The AFTR:HRS album like, the AFTR:HRS label, are Tiësto’s passion projects aimed with the goal to show dance music has a softer side.
Tiësto has always stood out as leader of dreamy dance music. His songs sound like sparkling visions of love that would give La La Land a spellbinding competition. When most of us enter a club, we see a dimly lit lounge and a bar, but Tiësto sees his musical home, where he can play the sounds of his mind into the hearts of listeners. Thus, he has a much more visionary and elevated take on what dance music should be, which explains why AFTR:HRS is 14 tracks of absolute club perfection. he has made sure that if he is going to compile the best of him that he literally does that. Again, this may sound trivial to you, but not every compilation album shows an artist’s best, especially when it is their 20th time doing a “greatest hits” record. Yet,Tiësto is trying to make you love both him and his imaginative label, which he does successfully.
The album begins excellently with “Another World”, which, literally, sounds like the opening track Tiësto could use if he were coming onto the club stage and trying to take you to his world. The song transports you to the excitement and cheers that occur when the headlinersyou have been waiting for, Tiësto finally walks on and proudly readies to get you hyped. Soon, the dancing begins and tracks like “Benny Camaro”,”One Day Hero”, and “Baggi” feel like the mid-section of your night out, where Tiësto releases mix after mix of songs that make you feel like life is something you can touch. Thus, his mission to show the depth of dance is to make you see that when you are moving carefree, you are more open to experiencing life like something you can have. By the time Tiësto reaches his final, most climactic song “Back In The Day”, you feel the child-like glee and inspiration for life that makes you want to raise your hands and touch the air like it were an ocean above you: clearing, crashing, and felt upon your skin. While most people struggle to see life as tangible or touchable by their hands, Tiesto makes music that brims with optimism.
In mixing rhythms that are naturally starry in sound, Tiësto has become an icon for “dance positivity.” This what I call the opportunity you give yourself and others to “JUST DANCE!”. It is that moment when the music strikes your spirit so well, you wonder if the music has always been apart of you. AFTR:HRS – Mixed By Tiësto is one hour elongation of that “moment”. Now, you are no longer waiting for your “fave” song because Tiësto has compiled 14 of them. Hence, my affirmation that this record will transform a Christmas Party into a rave, but I understand if you world rather it have a more wholesome Christmas carols. Thus, buy the compilation disc for Christmas to put it on New Years. AFTR:HRS is definitely a playlist for then so that you can enter 2017 with exhilaration. What better way to open a New Year then with the joy of music? Click Here For More Information On Tiësto and To Buy AFTR:HRS – Mixed By Tiësto.
