Where electronic music meets indie-sleaze, he's been there for us. Now, he's taking a turn away from the gritty streets of New York and straight into the club.
Ever since his first single as The Dare was released in 2022, Harrison Patrick Smith has been on an unstoppable trajectory.
I’m talking UFO-levels of shots into the sky. In just a couple of years, he’s released a well-regarded full-length album, produced for Charli XCX, and hosted his own series of dance parties dubbed Freakquencies—which, coincidentally, is also the name of his first fully instrumental EP.
Unless you've been lucky enough to attend a DJ set, these songs are a whole new side of his repertoire.
His first album, What's Wrong With New York? hypes you up on the taxi ride, and Freakquencies: Volume 1 is what's on when you walk into the club. It's a response rather than a continuation of his previous work, showing his complete range of production skills that are bound to draw in a new crowd of enthusiastic listeners.
Fast-paced and heavy, the EP wastes no time in silence.
The first song, "Kick," is synthy and danceable–with just a hint of rock n' roll, sampling of MC5's 1969 hit "Ramblin' Rose." It flows seamlessly into "Modelizer," which can only be described as the perfect callback to early-2010s electro-house and techno.
The third song, "Tambourine," is darker and more aggressive, focusing on the noisier side of trance, with elements of acid-house that bring you straight to the after-hours. The Dare finishes up the sequence with a sure-to-be club anthem, "Exhilaration," which falls into the lines of current electro-pop more than any other song on this release.
Each of the four songs plays to a slightly different sub-genre of EDM, but they fit together like an interesting little puzzle littered with buzzing bass lines and upbeat synths that could easily get even a worm to bop its head. If you're someone who enjoys a night out that turns into a sunrise cab ride home, this one's for you.
