Adam Wiles, the man who’s globally-renowned alias, now has his own alias. Adam, better known as Calvin Harris, dropped a two-track EP credited to ‘Love Regenerator’ his new creative outlet.This ventures away from his acclaimed EDM King status and returns Adam to his rave roots.
‘Hypnagogic (I Can’t Wait)’ and ‘CP-1’ make up the EP titled ‘Love Regenerator 1.’ The tracks consist of some pretty dirty breakbeats, melodic house vocals and techno pulses that exuberate flavours of the early 90’s rave scene.
These are not the usual vibes that we tend to hear from the Scottish hit-producer, but nonetheless I think he’s given it a good shot and captured the essence of that era incredibly well. However, he did ‘stupidly’ release his new music into the music industry (god forbid, anyone ever tried this!) and in doing so, is now a hot topic for scrutiny, or should I say his alter-ego Calvin Harris is .
Calvin Harris is the stage name of Adam Wiles, it’s simply the brand. The Scottish DJ himself has even expressed his hatred for the name. He stated that he found being addressed that way ‘ridiculous’ and that it felt like nobody was ever truly speaking to the real him. Every trophy etched with a fictional character’s name and awarded the same; it’s no wonder that he grew apart from it.
Of course, launching Calvin Harris was far from a mistake. He’s had countless number 1 hits across the planet, worked with various music icons and enjoyed a shit tonne of cash. Having totally nailed current popular music and providing tunes that relate to such a wide range of people. He found a niche, exploited it to his advantage and perfected his method of doing so. It’s been 14 years since his first hit ‘Acceptable in the 80’s’ was released, so it’s no wonder he fancies a change of beat.
Even without the 14-year backlog, it shouldn’t be breaking news that an artist releases a track that’s not identical to the last. However, it seems ridiculous that the process involves such bullshit negativity. That even as an entirely separate entity to the music persona of Calvin Harris, Adam’s work under Love Regenerator will still be accredited and constantly compared to his alias.
Having been at a couple of Calvin Harris live shows last summer in Ibiza, it was obvious that this change was on the horizon with his sets following the same formula of top hits, followed by deeper techno-inspired tracks. Then just before his EDM-loyalist fans lost interest, he dropped more top hits. Clearly, testing the water at live shows suggested that keeping both projects separate was going to be a more practical way of doing things. With crowds struggling to grasp the concept of an artist creating music in more than one genre. The horror.
Practical or not, I do find it totally baffling that artists feel the need to have a layer of pre-calculated alter-egos for every avenue they choose to dabble in. Why not a solo identity that builds an organic tracklist of taste trends over an entire career- (?) Which I personally, would find much more interesting. Cut out all of the complicated names and name formations out, pick one, stick with it, and release whatever the hell you like from it.