The past 12 months have seen a lot of interesting collabs! As 2013 winds down to a close it’s time to reflect on the year that was. Without further ado here are the top Rock & EDM collabs of 2013!
5. Tommy Lee & AERO – #MSND
Legendary Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee teamed up with electro/hip-hop producer DJ AERO to form an interesting live DJ act and production duo. The two released the electro house banger “#MSND” on Deadmau5′s Mau5trap imprint earlier this year. As for their unique live shows, AERO said “When deejaying, I’m using Traktor Scratch Pro to control the music. Basically, I select the next track, send the signal to Tommy, and he does whatever the hell he wants with it and sends that affected signal back to me. I use the mixer to control what the room hears. When we’re onstage, we’re mixing and creating audio and video content. We’re really busy up there! We’re not having cocktails and blowing air-kisses to the girls.”
4. Fedde Le Grand & DI-RECT – Where We Belong
“Where We Belong” is a collab between house music pioneer Fedde Le Grand and Dutch rockers DI-RECT. I recently asked Fedde how the track came about, “It was really, really cool, they actually came down to the studio and we jammed a little bit instead of you know how so many tracks are made like you send something over the internet and someone else does a little bit then you go back and forth. That is cool, but in this case it was nice to actually jam like a band. We could sit down and change something then they would work on it and we would all get together again and I would work on it. I’m really happy with the end result!”
3. Chuckie & Betatraxx vs Slash – Rocktronica (Instrumental)
Famed Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash surprised everyone by appearing on stage with Chuckie at TomorrowLand and Ultra Music Festival Miami. Chuckie and Slash have actually been homies for a while so it was only fitting they would get together in the studio for a collab. Chuckie told Billboard, “been working on it for quite awhile, as we had the idea last summer. We finally managed to do it and it was a lot of fun. Betatraxx definitely put his stamp on it as well…I think (rock) mixes well with house music. Slash’s wife calls it Rocktronica.”
2. Steve Aoki & Linkin Park – A Light That Never Comes
“A Light That Never Comes” was produced/written by Steve Aoki and Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda over the course of 6 months. Because of their hectic work schedules the track was made entirely online, sending files and ideas back and forth until the song felt right. Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington, and Steve Aoki performed the song together for the first time ever at Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, Japan. The three performed together once again on November 26th on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
1. Avicii & Mike Einziger (Incubus) – Wake Me Up
When Avicii debuted “Wake Me Up” at Ultra Music Festival Miami, he was accompanied by a country blue-grass band and Aloe Blacc, a non-EDM singer. His Facebook page immediately erupted with criticism from disappointed fans who didn’t know what to think of Avicii’s new style. Despite the negative initial response, “Wake Me Up” has sold over 1 million copies and is the fastest selling single of 2013. Mike Einziger spoke to Radio.com about how the track came about, “Over the last six or eight months that Incubus has been on hiatus, I’ve been writing lots of music with lots of different people, the connection that Avicii and I have with each other was unexpected. I think it was surprising to a lot of people that know me and also know him. We seem to operate in what seems to be different musical universes but when we got together the way that we started writing together, it couldn’t have been more organic and effortless.”
What do you think of the list?