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Album reviews Music

Kaskade

Rating: NNN


Over the last decade, Kaskade (aka Ryan Raddon) has gone from being a San Francisco deep house producer with a knack for pop melodies to one of the world’s biggest EDM superstars. On Atmosphere, Raddon tries to reconcile his stadium status with his underground roots, but the results are confusing. It’s rare to hate one half of an album so much while genuinely enjoying the other.

Most of the record is made for pyrotechnics and lasers: cheesy trance pop for big rooms with airy female vocals, dramatic buildups and zero subtlety. But then Raddon surprises with gorgeously arranged, melodic, instrumental house songs like MIA To LAS or LAX To JFK. (Plane flights are a recurring theme.) When he takes a rare turn singing on the title track, he turns out to be much better than most of his guests, with the exception of School of Seven Bells, who elegantly assist on Missing You.

Top track: MIA To LAS

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