Since July 7th, 2011 —the date when Madeon’s 38-song sampler, “Pop Culture,” was first uploaded onto Youtube—the 20-year old DJ has steadily been on the rise. Between remixing deadmau5 songs, performing at major Music Festivals, and working on Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP, Hugo Pierre Leclercq has had little time to release more than just a handful of singles and an attempted E.P.
This hard-hitting floor stomper, however, marks a major change in the young producer’s career; “Imperium” is Madeon’s battle cry of a lead single from his much-anticipated debut album:
“’Imperium’ is probably one of the hardest sounding songs I’ve made. . .It was inspired by the past couple of years of touring around the world. My intention was to write something that was fueled by the energy of dance music but with a narrative element. It doesn’t sound like anything else on the album yet it’s an important part of it, it’s the transition between two phases. I wanted to capture the feeling of ‘confidently walking into adversity.” — Madeon, On “Imperium”
True to the latin phrase, Madeon storms into the last quarter of 2014 with a synth anthem for the masses. Madeon blends sax samples, brass riffs, and squelchy synth stabs into a 3-minute electro-stomp that never risks too much repetition. The tracks mainstay, however, is the bold bass line which completes Madeon’s vision of a rebel yell to herald in an undeniably formidable debut LP.
Aaron Tremper 