For the Early Morning Risers

I’m the type of girl that needs to play music to wake myself up in the morning. It can’t just be any song though. Choosing my early morning wake up song is a serious decision.

If I choose something too mellow, it’ll make me want to crawl back into bed or it’ll put me in a somber, zombie like state for the rest of the day. If I choose something too loud, it will just irritate my ears and leave me with a daylong headache. There are very few songs that have the ability to put me in a “feel good, I’m ready for the day” kind of mood.
If it wasn’t for my dear friend Tali bringing home new fantastic music from Australia, I would have never found what I consider to be one of the top 5 songs to play before 7:30 a.m., and that is “Teenage Crimes” by Adrian Lux

This Swedish artist who started his career as a dancehall reggae DJ has gained a reputation for successfully meshing “minimal and grandiose sounds” in his music. His perfect balance of sounds has won over the hearts of music listeners around the world; it has even attracted the non house/techno music listeners (like myself) to not only bear this particular song but to love it to the point that it now holds a spot on the everyday playlist.

It’s the first few seconds of the song that make us reconsider whether this song should actually be labeled under the “dance/techno” genre. What initially throws the listener off is the introductory strumming on the guitar. That mixed with the incessant clapping produces this light and positive sound; it almost resembles what you would hear on an Edward Sharpe track (you know, where all you want to do is bounce your head back and forth to the catchy beat.)
At 0:15, this sound falls to the background as the pretty, female voice emerges and sings, “we don’t sleep when the sun goes down” in such a natural and effortless tone.
So already, just 15 seconds in, the song has you hooked because you have this simple, pleasant tune filling your ears from the moment you open your eyes… which I believe is much better than having your mother belt out your name numerous times from the top of the stairs.

Then, at 0:30 we begin to hear the techno beats creep in and intertwine with the guitar, almost making it seem they were there pulsating in our ears the entire time. As the lyric “we don’t sleep till the sun goes down, we don’t waste no precious time…” stays on repeat, the beats begin to rise causing every limb in our bodies to wake up. And finally, at 0:46 we are hit with a high voltage of sound screaming from the mixing boards.
It’s at this point that you realize why this is a perfect song to wake up to in the morning. The techno beats are bubbling in full force but they’re not overpowering the calmness of the female voice. The sweetness of her voice keeps you relaxed while these beats react to your body, providing it with the energy it needs to actually get out from under the covers.

And it’s from 1:20- 1:38 that we are awake and on such a high that we want to dance it out. Every beat is now unleashing on us, swirling in and out of the speakers, pumping up our energy while somehow mixing perfectly with the soft whimsical voice that’s singing “doooon’t goooo awaaaaaay.” At 2:31, the sweet female voice fades out as does the intense beat cycle and all we hear are those pleasant guitar chords drifting into silence.

So, how has this song changed my life? For starters, it pulls me out of my usual “mega grumpy, don’t want to speak a word to anyone” morning mood. And secondly, I have now acquired a taste for dance/techno music. But, it’s only because of the way Adrian Lux lays out the beats. They don’t hit you the second the song does, nor do they bombard your head making it impossible to hear yourself think. Instead, he slowly introduces them and only adds more once we are comfortable with the basics. He combines foreign sounds with ones that we could very easily hear on the radio, which makes any kind of music listener interested in this song.

Bottom Line:
1.    A big thank you goes to Adrian Lux for giving me another music genre to love.
2. This song can also be used as a good pre drink pump up.
And 3. Listen to this song…it’ll change your life… or at least your mornings.