Clarity

Top Three Songs:- Clarity (feat. Foxes)- Lost at Sea (feat. Ryan Tedder)- Push Play (feat. Miriam Bryant)To say the least Anton (a.k.a. Zedd) has been very busy lately; with his recent success with his Clarity (2012) album, the song, "Clarity," is huge with the public, working with Lady Gaga on her Artpop (2013) album, and now going on his "Moment of Clarity" world tour. He has come a long way from entering remix contests on Beatport (and wining them) and just releasing singles on minor labels. It is now near the one year anniversary of Clarity and it looks like Zedd is celebrating with the "Moment of Clarity" tour and releasing a deluxe version of Clarity. I think we already know that Clarity is a huge success, but is releasing just two new songs with two old remixes really worth re-releasing Clarity a year later? We start out this timeless album with the song "Hourglass" which starts out with the sounds of the ticking clock being accompanied with a toy keyboard, is followed by marching band snare with Liz's vocals, goes into a progressive house style of song during the end and fades into the next song. "Shave It Up" is a remake of Zedd's single "Shave It" from the OWSLA label back in 2011. It follows the same basic melody, beat and synths, but it goes from being an electro house track to a classical/orchestral track in the end with a verity of horns and string instruments. The next song is the first confirmed single of Clarity and one of the most popular songs from the album aside from "Clarity, "Spectrum". It has amazing vocals and lyrics from Matthew Koma, plus the unique bass and synths that Zedd is so famous for and adding some stand out melodies that make this song magical. "Lost at Sea" is progressive house track with vocals from Ryan Tedder, basically making it a calmer song compared to "Spectrum" with still out of this world vocals and lyrics, and keeping it very simple with, again, child-like keys and pads that just make you want to let go of your worries and get lost at sea. The flagship song "Clarity" is nothing short of amazing. With Foxes relaxing, but powerful vocals with lyrics you will find yourself repeating because they hold so much meaning, a male choir adding more presence to it and Zedd's own unique style of synths, again, making this song something we don't hear often. "Codec" and "Stache" are both instrumental songs that probably best describe Zedd's electro house style before Clarity. "Codec" is a very jumpy, electro house type song that you can't help yourself to move your head to its drumbeat, electro bass, string plucks come out from now where, and vocal glitches; it is classic Zedd style song. "Stache" really focus on the talking like bass and lead synth that sounds amazing and with a classic electro house drop. Zedd teams up with another amazing female vocalist, Ellie Goulding, and electro house artist, Lucky Date, to make "Falling into the Sky." The song starts out with an amazing grand piano and pads that make you feel like you are in the sky, then you fall with the drop that both Lucky Date and Zedd both put in their own unique style into. We start to calm down with "Follow You Down" with vocals from Bright Lights and progressive house synths that just keep the song upbeat, but at the same time still relaxing to listen to. And we end this album with "Epos" is a great ending track combining all Zedd's styles that you have been hearing on the album, with relaxing synths, out of this world pads, electro bass, the marching band snare and the clock from the beginning to wrap it all up.But we are also including the two new tracks that Zedd has made and quickly becoming popular; "Stay the Night" with Hayley Williams of Paramore and "Push Play" with vocalist Miriam Bryan, plus the two remixes from Empire of the Sun, "Alive" and Skrillex & The Doors "Breakn' a Sweat". "Stay the Night" follows the same formula from "Clarity," an amazing vocalist, lyrics that are catchy, a piano you can get lost in, and synths that just make you want to dance. "Push Play" is an electro house song that almost breaks the "Clarity" formula that everyone has loved, which I love that Zedd is doing, still having vocals that stand out, an Zedd electro bass which I have been waiting to hear again, but still adding key plucks to keep the song relaxing and pads to keep that "Clarity" feel. The remix of "Alive" from Empire of the Sun fits in with the album and feels very Zedd-like making it more electro house instead of progressive/mainstream house that everyone has been hearing from him lately, glad to hear it again. I haven't been the hugest fan of the "Breakn' a Sweat" remix that Zedd has made, I just personally prefer the original, it shows off that electro house sound that Zedd fans love, but still keeping some of the elements that I like from the original song. Yeah this is one of my top ten favorite albums of all time. It has enough of Zedd's old and new sound that makes it unique, but at the same time a totally different experience that I have never really hear in an album, more so that this is Zedd's first album and he has done it so well. From "Hourglass" capturing your attention with the soundscape of the clock and the marching band snares to going the traditional house formula that makes you want to dance, to the very end to "Epos" with it going back to the same formula of "Hourglass" making a full circle. The remake of "Shave It" is really great also, showing that even though this is an EDM album it still has classical/orchestral parts. Zedd also does a great job producing tracks that are very festival and mainstream house ("Clarity," "Stay the Night," and "Lost at Sea"), making tracks that has his own electro DNA too it ("Codec," "Stache," and "Fall into the Sky"), and mixing the two together ("Push Play," and "Spectrum"). I do not feel like Zedd didn't need to release "Push Play" and "Stay the Night" on a re-release of Clarity at all, I think they would have done well with just being standalone singles or an EP with remixes. The remixes are good, but again just don't see any reason for being on the deluxe edition. A song that I think really should have been put on this re-release was Zedd's Union Mix of "Clarity" which shows a softer and again classical/orchestral side of the song that we could sorta hear from the song already, but really bring it out and just transforming it all together. Clarity is defiantly one of the most unique albums out there, bridging sides of the popular sides of the EDM genre and the parts that are not shown as often. Zedd is one of those few producers that can do that and so can't wait to see what he does next.

To start the vinyl came in perfect condition and had no scuffs. Since this is a double LP the first vinyl played perfectly and had no problem or physical scratches. However, the second LP was warped in a way where the center of the vinyl as raised higher and basically needed to be pushed down by constant pressure to lay flat. Because I didn’t want to do anything extreme to see if I could fix it I still got it to play and to be completely honest it played just fine! Definitely one of my favorite albums but hopefully with time I could get the vinyl to eventually sit flat but we’ll see!

I've listened to the songs and I haven't even gotten the CD in the mail yet! The ripped mp3 files that Amazon provides is an excellent service. OK...the songs! Awesome! I listened to the concert Zedd did at Coachella with his mix of songs and then listened to the studio versions of the same. I love them all! And I am getting into the ones I hadn't heard before and really digging them. Great entertaining and dancing music. Really gets one moving. Thanks Zedd for the great music. Spectrum, Clarity, Shave It Up, Stay The Night, Alive, Breakn A Sweat are the popular ones but the others too like; Hourglass, Lost At Sea, Fall Into The Sky, Push Play are really getting me totally into it too! Great album!! Highly recommended!!!Update: The 320k bitrate from the CD is better!! Picks up more of the lows than the MP3 256k files. The recording volume is higher too. For instance, I turn the volume to 40 with the MP3's and the CD 320k disc is at 20! With that said the ID Tags on the CD did not display in my vehicle so I changed the ID Tags to V2.3 and then burned the changes to a new disk! Whew! Now the tags display with the Title and Artist.

I'm a classic rock guy in his mid 40s. Not the usual audience for 'House' music. But this album is so unlike any other House music. There are only a few musical numbers (i.e. dance only music) but most have vocals. The vocals are WONDERFUL. My very favorite is the song Clarity featureing Foxes. She has a fantastic voice. If you saw her on Letterman, erase it from your mind. She must have had a cold or something because she didn't sound very powerful during that performance. However, on this album, the girl has range as well as volume! Love her voice. I also love the songs Hourglass and Spectrum. The rest of the album is great as well. I'm serious about being addicted to this ablum. I bought it about 2 months ago on recomendation of a young 20 year old less than half my age. Took a listen to Lost at Sea and decided to buy the album. Seriously haven't listened to anything else since then. My 7 year old daughter loves it too and I'm so glad that even though this is club music, it's completly clean and I don't have to worry about my kids listening to the lyrics. I hope Zed continues to put out great music like this!

I first heard of Zedd maybe a year and a half ago with his song "Slam The Door", which is a very catchy, dancy electro house tune. Since then, he's produced several HUGE anthems, with "Spectrum" and "Clarity" being my favorites. "Spectrum" to me was pretty much the defining song of the Summer of 2012. When I look back at that time, when I remember going to EDC and other festivals, that song is what comes to mind. It's such a beautiful song. Just when I thought he topped himself with that song, I heard "Clarity." This song is absolutely AMAZING. Zedd just excels at making feel good music. And I'm not sure how to describe his music other than it is very "detailed" with so many different sounds. You can tell he takes time to perfect his craft. Zedd certainly deserves to be mentioned when you talk about the top DJ's in EDM today, his music speaks for itself. Buy this album if you want treat your senses over and over again.

With 'Clarity' Russian-born producer Anton Zaslavski (aka Zedd) hasdelivered one of the very best dance albums that we will hear this year.The term "uplifting" might well have been invented for his addictivebrand of melodic mayhem. He really does know how to construct a goodtune and there are ten of them in this tightly-structured collection.Nothing is allowed to trundle on too long; there is an economy in hisarrangements which gets to the point quickly and succinctly and leavesus wanting more. The beats are massive, as if carved from blocks ofgranite; warn the neighbours and play it loud for its intended effect!There's not a bad egg in the hen-house! Opening track 'Hourglass' kicks offwith a metronomic tick tock and martial snare drum framing solo vocalistLiz's rich warble and when the full force of the main subject kicks-in onecan easily imagine a thousand hands punching the air and the the dancefloorbending fit to bust. A big, fat crowd-pleaser if ever there was one!Single 'Spectrum', too, features a splendidly tuneful central performancefrom Matthew Zoma, engaging our emotions as well as our desire to gyrate.The stripped-down driving aggression of 'Codec' is every bit as good as anyof Mr Mau5's creations and Ellie Goulding's distinctive voice makes a welcomeappearance on the cataclysmic 'Fall Into The Sky. For my money, however,the final instrumental track 'Epos' is the icing on the cake; a model ofwhat it is possible to achieve when a refined musical sensibility is alignedto a deep understanding of what it takes to make us bump and bounce and burn!Teriffic stuff!Highly Recommended.

Time for some me tinks !!!

Love this music great cd.

excellent product. well packaged, quick delivery thank you

Zedd shows a lot of potential and I'm sure with such feel good tracks and great features, this album will soon be fully exposed and Zedd will rise into prominence in the EDM scene. Well worth a purchase.