Justin Blau (stage name 3lau) was first introduced to dance music listeners with his first mashup and bootleg mixtape, Dance Floor Filth. The mixtape showed 3lau’s obvious chops when it comes to mixing different tracks together. Over the years, he has impressed us with his monthly 3lau’s Haus podcast (our favorite is 3lau’s Haus #22: March Mayhem) and more recently has started delving into original production. In 2014, How You Love Me feat. Bright Lights became a progressive house anthem that charted internationally. His collaboration with Botnek in electro banger Vikings was played by every dj under the sun. 3lau returns for his latest installment of Dance Floor Filth by releasing Dance Floor Filth 4 just several days ago.
Electronic dance music has become extraordinarily popular over the past couple years; so much so, that it has been thrust into the mainstream music scene. More popularity means more money. Record labels, managers, producers, promoters, you name it; everybody wants a slice of the pie. It’s hard to entirely blame any of these parties for doing so. Whether you like or not, that is simply the nature of business. That is why it is so refreshing to see artists give back to either their fans or to charity. For 3lau’s Dance Floor Filth 4, the Las Vegas-based producer teamed up with the non-profit organization Pencils of Promise to raise $1 for every download of the mixtape. His goal was $10,000 and was reached in barely over a day. This money will help build a school in an area of need. 3lau has already helped build one school in Guatemala through Pencils of Promise by donating all proceeds gained from his 2012 remix of James Egbert’s Back to New. 3lau’s charitable work is beyond commendable and regardless of how you feel about his music, it should instantly make you a fan.
Dance Floor Filth 4 features mashups of artists like Zhu, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix and Tchami. 3lau blends many of the more prominent dance tracks for the past year and the result is a mixtape that will definitely be perfect for clubs and house parties. If mainstream electronic music is not exactly your cup of tea, Dance Floor Filth 4 might not be the best listen for you. However, you have to at least respect 3lau’s uncanny ability to mix together so many different songs to generate an almost entirely different product.
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