An Atmosphere of Awesome

House veteran Kaskade is back on the scene with his tenth album, Atmosphere, out now on Ultra Records. Born in 1971 in the noble state of Illinois, Kaskade grew up to attend Brigham Young University, spent a few years in Japan on his mission, came back to Utah State University and begin dabbling in this new house music thing he was starting to dig. In 2001, Kaskade released his first single, “What Can I Say,” and from there his career has grown to include remix work with Jay-J and Robbie Rivera, collaboration with deadmau5, and a Grammy nomination for Best Remix Recording. So, where does Atmosphere fall in with Kaskade’s career-scape?

The album isn’t full of the heavy beats and drops that are smattered across most house albums. Atmosphere is more like bubble-gum house for those just becoming acquainted with the genre. This isn’t a slight in either direction—just an observation. The album still provides solid and well-executed dance music for a wide audience. The sounds are versatile and the collaborating artists such as Project 46 and Late Night Alumni add textures of their own styles to Kaskade’s.

Highlights of the album come with “No One Knows Who We Are,” which provides a somber ballad among the pop dance and plenty of chill for listeners with its rolling piano and strings. Another one is the title track “Atmosphere,” which showcases the best dance track on the album, and it’s sure to get you bobbing your head or full-on jumping around to its happy flows.

Atmosphere probably won’t go breaking records or be written about in the hstory books, but it’s a fun, catchy album you can go wrong with. It provides excellent dance jams with influences from indie rock—a perfect introductory album for that one friend you just can’t convince to give your stuff a try.