Swedish producer Zoo Brazil, a.k.a John Andersson, is a celebrated name in the world of melodic house, boasting Grammy and Brit Award nominations, and over 160 singles and 8 albums. This summer, he’s not only been remixing, including Mistier’s “We Can Dream,” but also preparing an EP for his relaunched John Henry Records. From underground clubs to iconic venues, his beats keep the dance floors alive.
July 2023 marks a thrilling time in melodic house, and who better to guide us than Zoo Brazil? With a rich history in dance and pop music, he’s curated his 15 favorite tracks that define the season. Join us as we delve into these selections, showcasing the energetic pulse of melodic house in the summer of 2023.
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Whitesquare – Lessleep (Higher Ground)
Big fan of Whitesquares work, always on the edge and playful, super good EP here, as always.Sometimes it sounds like Sabrina in an Italian pool in 1987, and sometimes like a rave in Krakow 1992 sometimes like Liverpool 1983. Always at the right time and place – Love it!
Zoo Brazil – Nova (Dub Mix) (John Henry Records)
From my new EP coming out end of Aug, wish is a relaunch of my John Henry Records label after beings silence for almost 10 years, so glad the promo mailout had amazing feedback from Marco Carola, Jamie Jones to Maceo Plex in just a few days, This version of Nova is more stripped down and in some way a tuffer take of the original bubbling Arp2600 synths all over.
Acid Jerks – Remote Area (Nu Groove Records)
If its classic and effective its does not need to be more then that, and just what i need in my sets sometimes, perfect dj tool, to get things jacking and moving.
Zoo Brazil – Tomorrow (Bedrock Records)
Out on John Digweed’s Bedrock, super happy about it, vocals here but there is also an instrumental floating around. Not sure what to type more about it, have a listen, thanks.
Radio Slave – Wild Life (Disco Mix) (Rekids)
Summer vibes, Radio Slave always a producer that you can trust, in a ll kind of genres, such a great track to play start of the set, or just a middle as a nice tool going back and forth, good stuff. Rekids one of my fav labels for years.
Kadosh – Walls (Monaberry)
Nice surprise on Monaberry, well never a surprise on Monaberry the Super Flu guys and team always deliver good records after records, and here Kadosh delivers one, love the bouncy feel of the Walls song on the EP and the one i go for, but rest is also super! mixture of electronic sounds, kind of italo vibes and a breathing dark vocal in the breakdown,, I’m totally into this one.
Butch – Quiet Storm (Butch Backstock)
When i got asked to make this list of tracks, it always so hard to pick, but then i find this oldie by buddy Butch in my computer i just had to show it for you, for me it never gets out of fashion, i have a version without drums, not sure if that’s the only version out there, but when you Dj and have some drum loops you can play on top of this version and drop it in and out, its just magic and so much fun.
Mistier – We Can Dream (Zoo Brazil Dub Remix) (Mistier Music)
A new remix i just finished for Mistier just the day before i went on holiday, can’t wait to get back and play this out, hypnotic and uplifting i think, I always need to distance before i can pinpoint music i done, great vocals and fun to make.
Floormagnet – Kiss Me (Acid Dub Version) (FM Recordings)
A notch to Madchester here, been working great and people really understand the buildups first time around they they hear it, heard Fatboy Slim play it out a lot , its kind of acid rocks, in a good way.
Luca Lozano – Make Peace (Klasse Wrecks)
The track makes me move back to early 90ísh listen to b-sides on commercial dance records that i could find in the local record store, not much records around in the small town, but there was always a quirky kind of rave version that was the best track ever, Its just like that with some of Luca´s work, i just love this attitude of DIY, punk feel best of all worldsand all genres mixed together, and you can’t tell when its made 1991 or 2032, big fan.
Impérieux – Ferishtah (Pampa Records)
You can always trust Dj Koze´s Pampa Records, you never knows what you get but there is always quality. This hypnotic techno track has been in my set for sometime, always nice to play it, like a breath of air, lots of things going on stil so simple, hmm well its not that simple after all.
Floormagnet – Deeper (Zoo Brazil Remix) (FM Recordings)
My good friends Floormagnet asked me to remix this, great end of the night track, euphoric and uplifting and now made sure you can hear it to, well i hope, hard to type anything about your own remix, but a track in my sets right now, that i feel very proud about.
Zoo Brazil – Don’t be Afraid (MoBlack Remix) (Dear Deer Records)
Signed and out on the great Ukraine label Dear Deer, they have been good friends of mine for years and they have done some amazing releases over the years on the label. I signed the track just before the war broke out, and released in the middle of the war times, crazy, so when you buy this all royaltys goes to the label, MoBlack delivers an amazing haunting take on the original track i think, also great remix from Th3 Other3s, pick your fav.
Nick Curly – Skyfall (8Bit)
Deep and moody, and very effective, like always when it comes to Nick Curlys releases, timeless and they always work, nice vocal hook, you can always trust 8bit records and Nick, nice guy and super great release.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
