3LAU — songwriter, DJ, producer, and synthesis extraordinaire… for a cause
3LAU (Justin Blau, New York/New Jersey native, founder of Blume Records) is many things. 3LAU is a musician, a producer, but even more, 3LAU is a recording artist with a heart.
3LAU has been releasing material with the profits and proceeds going to many different non-profit organizations and charities for his entire recording career. That alone makes me love the musician for the unbridled altruism, but diving into the music, it is very apparent that the altruism isn’t some veiled attempt to make faltering material succeed. Ultraviolet is packed with fantastic material sure to please fans of many styles of EDM and dance music.
For starters, Ultraviolet was written for the “Fuck Cancer” F C Cancer Foundation. But don’t let the name of the non-profit fool you. This album is an amazing mix of delicate beautiful EDM along with high intensity dance, featuring female vocalist after brilliant female vocalist throughout the entire album. So many gems to go through, including “Fire” with vocalists Said the Sky and NÉONHÈART, and “On My Own” featuring vocalist Nevve.
The production quality is superb, the sound and style of the tracks could be described as “liquid EDM” and subs will definitely help bring out all of the rich bass end of the tracks. The lyrics throughout are catchy and rhythmic, easy to find yourself singling along with. Along with fantastic vocalist quality throughout, there are other fantastic instrumentals such as “Winter” and “Arcana.”
“Arcana” especially caught me as a must-listen to track, complete with a drop into a pumping deep end with frantic synthwork that really drives the production hard. I do wish the album had a few tracks that were a bit longer in length. I would really love to hear some material that is more drawn out and composed. But perhaps I am being greedy, as Ultraviolet stands firm on its own.
You can find 3LAU on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Soundcloud and iTunes. 3LAU also runs the charity label Blume Records. Previous 3LAU/Blume Records charity work includes raising over $200,000 for charity Pencils for Promise.
