After the (Sand)storm: Darude’s “Beautiful Alien”

Whether you like it or not, Sandstorm is an electronic dance music emblem.  Your mom and your little brother recognize the tune.  And they both like it.  With a relatively simple beat made from an 8-bit sample and a Cubase distortion plugin,  it’s the song that is still played at countless sporting events fifteen years later.

Perhaps you know nothing more about Darude than the catchy “lyrics” dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dundun dun dundundun dun dun dun dun dun dun dundun dundun…Honestly, we don’t expect you to.  But what you should know is that Darude, whose real name is Ville Virtanen, has released a new track — his first since 2008. During an AMA on Reddit, Darude explained that he’s not trying to outdo Sandstorm.

I make music that I like. I made music before Sandstorm and after it … and didn’t try to replicate it. Feel The Beat has several similar sounds as it was worked on the same time Sandstorm was. We just happened to like those JP8080 and NordLead2 sounds and energetic drums. I think it might be impossible to gain similar level of success with another track by specifically trying to do it, music doesn’t work that way.

Darude’s newest track, Beautiful Alien, features just a hint of the same iconic synth sounds in the first few seconds, but then almost immediately transitions into a more modern sound, featuring the enchanting vocals from AI AM.

In just a week since its release, the song has already had more than 275,000 views and will undoubtedly increase, if only for the curiosity factor.   The track itself is a solid big room house anthem that  just might sneak onto the mainstage festival circuit. What do you think?  Does Beautiful Alien have a fighting chance at gaining popularity, or will it forever be in the shadows of Sandstorm? Share your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or Comments.