Deorro mainstreams Melbourne bounce with ‘No More Promises EP’

In the electronic dance music world, fans and critics have positioned Melbourne bounce as the next generation of Dirty Dutch house. A product of this, producers across the globe have started adopting the sound, including a couple on this side of the pond.

Perhaps the most successful at it, Los Angeles-based Deorro manages to have one foot in the subgenre’s underground origins while forging a modest mainstream path, enhanced by “5 More Hours,” a recent collaboration with Chris Brown. To continue bridging both worlds, the producer put out the No More Promises EP recently on Ultra Music.

The EP nods more to Melbourne bounce’s origins, rather than attempting to be a fully pop-dance amalgamation in the same vein as Avicii’s, David Guetta’s, or Calvin Harris’ recent works. “Haters,” a collaboration with Australian producer Will Sparks, makes this direction clear from the beginning with Melbourne bounce’s seemingly-paradoxical structure – hard hitting and floor slamming yet uplifting and forward moving.

“Haters” offers a solid introduction to the subgenre, injecting what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill EDM cut with prominent marching band-style horns and chanted lyrics from iE-Z. Too, unlike the Dirty Dutch sound, this track exemplifies the subgenre’s penchant for trading in standard four-to-the-floor beats for hand claps playing off a bass drum.

“Without Love,” Deorro’s collaboration with Dirty Audio, organically emerges out of its predecessor – the sign of a quality dance music album. Even with the fluidity, however, “Without Love” stands on its own for two factors: adding Miss Palmer’s spoke-sung voice that resembles a lilting monotone and returning to the staple EDM format, a rise leading to a drop. Within that framework, the producers take a classic approach with a siren sample and, then, decide to strip out everything midway through. What results is about a minute of glitchy minimalism before the track picks up again.

“The Way You Move,” Deorro’s collaboration with ZooFunktion, closes out the EP. As a track, it references electronic dance music’s distant past: Think Depeche Mode’s mid-1980s period of sampled percussion experimentation in a modern context. From the start, the producers layer the sounds of something being hit with a hammer, oscillating sheet metal, and a slapping 4/4 beat, before the synths arrive with a squelch nearly a minute in.

Yet, its sharp cuts between octaves mark it as a distinct product of the Melbourne scene. Even Alan Wilder’s skilled keyboard playing couldn’t produce something this extreme 30 years ago.

Given that much of Melbourne bounce currently lives through singles and one-off Soundcloud cuts, No More Promises serves as comprehensive introduction that’s faithful to the subgenre’s roots.