Track of the Week: Rodriguez Jr. Remixes Worakls 'Nikki'
French performer and producer Rodriguez Jr. has spent over twenty years a the forefront of dance music, absorbing myriad styles and enlivening each with his expertly tuned ear. He started as a mentee of the legendary Laurent Garnier as an artist for the esteemed F-Communications imprint.
Through the years, he's reinvented himself first as part of French electro duo The Youngsters and then again as a solo act and imaginative purveyor of melodic house. His powerful live performances bring his studio to life for the dancefloor as he weaves together a patchwork of vivid synth work and indulgent rhythms.
Worakls "Nikki" rework raises the slow-burning cinematic epic into a transcendental dance floor groove. Rodriguez Jr. lays down a thumping beat with just enough shuffle to move your hips to. Layered atop are disco-tinged string hits and a grinding bassline groove—it crescendos into a lush orchestral break before laying the powerful back on for a strong finish.
The original track is from Worakls acclaimed debut album Orchestra. It came accompanied by a music video pulled from the French short "Nikki Marianne," for which he wrote the score. The intensely emotional video with his original further proves how the young artist can translate the breadth of human emotion into a sonic masterpiece.
