Duck Sauce – the collaborative guise of DJ’s Armand Van Helden and A-Trak – return with their latest single ‘Barbra Streisand’. While it remains unclear why the 68 year old singer in particular influenced the pair, they have delivered an instantly catchy slice of disco infused house. Following on from last year’s aNYway, Duck Sauce are slowly delivering on the hype that was lavished on them before any music had surfaced. Although it’s hardly surprising, considering the pairs individual cv’s; Van Helden has been responsible for some huge tracks over the past ten years – including his own ‘My My My’ and more recently Dizzee Rascals’ ‘Bonkers’ – while A-Trak has won pretty much every DJ title there is, toured with KanYe West and has remixed the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Boys Noize and Tiga.
The track’s video boasts an impressive array of cameos, featuring the likes of Pharell, ?uestlove from The Roots, KanYe West and Chromeo – which includes A-Trak’s brother Dave 1. While Barbra herself was clearly unavailable for a cameo, she is represented by a, slightly ditsy, impersonator. The track is released on 10th October through 3Beat and is currently available to pre-order on iTunes.
Duck Sauce, the collaboration between A-Trak and Armand Van Helden, has rocketed up to second place on our UK Pre-Release chart. The track has become a firm favourite within Shazam Towers and is sure to continue to win over more fans. Taking its cue from American 70’s talent shows, the video for ‘aNYway’ echoes Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ as well as a certain 5 piece called The Jacksons. In a similar fashion to Daft Punk, Duck Sauce have re-imagined a lost disco track and repacked it for modern dance floors – let’s just hope this excellent single isn’t a one off!
This week Dizzee Rascal reclaims the top spot in the Shazam Pre-release chart, removing Nneka who falls down to number 10 in the chart. Meanwhile new releases come from the likes of Muse, Mini Viva, Booty Luv and Duck Sauce – a track that was tipped for the top on this very blog over a month ago!
It’s been almost 15 years since acts like Daft Punk, Cassius and Alan Braxe came along with the French touch sound, instantly reinvigorating house music with a disco influenced nous. Now, with everyone from Tiesto to Black Eyed Peas using almost identical electro influenced sounds, it would seem dance music could do with another kick up the backside. Thankfully Duck Sauce, AKA Armand Van Helden and A-Trak, provide just such a blow by revisiting the glory days of 90’s filtered house.
As a dance music pairing you would be hard pressed to find a duo with such esteemed credentials as A-Trak and AVH. Van Helden has been behind some of the most important developments in dance music; responsible for defining Speed Garage, early Tribal House, chart topping Disco House and most recently club shattering Electro with Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Bonkers’. Armand Van Helden has been there, done it and bought a whole box of T-shirts. Meanwhile, A-Trak made his name as a 15 year old turntable prodigy; winning every scratch mixing trophy on Earth before he could shave. He went on to become KanYe West’s tour DJ and introduced the rapper to the sounds of Daft Punk – inadvertently spawning the hit ‘Stronger’ and the current electro-rap explosion.
‘aNYway’ has all the hallmarks of Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better’. Filtered disco strings, wobbly funk flecked bassline and a chorus that sounds like it’s been ripped direct from a long lost Ashford & Simpson classic (it’s actually sampled from a Final Edition track, but let’s not split hairs). The vocals feel instantly recognisable yet new and the constant groove is nothing short of joyous. In a nutshell it’s completely at odds with minimal/ electro sounds that tend to sound great in clubs but are unlikely to produce memorable cross over hits. If Duck Sauce starts a new vocal house revolution chart music in general could be all the better for it.
Here’s Duck Sauce talking about the inspiration for the record:
