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CAMELPHAT, Elderbrook

Cola - Club Mix

The full-length club mix of Cola, the 2017 Defected single that became one of the defining tunes of Ibiza that summer: moody pads, a bouncing bass line and Elderbrook's hypnotic vocal, later nominated for the Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

By korczis 3 min read
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Review

Genre and Mood

CamelPhat and Elderbrook made Cola, and this is Cola (Club Mix), its full-length version: house with the weight of tech house, built for DJs rather than radio. It is hypnotic in the voice, groovy in the bass and dark in the pads; Mixmag warned that it is not your typical sugary summer anthem, which is part of why it became one.

Song Summary

Defected released the single in June 2017. Wikipedia puts it at 122 BPM with a debt to Chicago house; Defected’s own note promised lush, saturated beats under Elderbrook’s crystalline voice. The lyric has been read two ways. Some critics heard the chorus as a reference to spiking drinks; Alexander Kotz, who sings as Elderbrook, told the Los Angeles Times it is about a woman too drunk to get into a club who is handed a Coca-Cola to sober up and thinks it is rum and Coke.

Musical Breakdown

The sources describe the track’s elements and one moment of its form, not a timeline, so the breakdown keeps to them.

Intro

At 6:56 the club mix gives a DJ room to blend in and out; no source describes what the opening bars contain.

Main Section

Mixmag heard Elderbrook’s vocals as hypnotic and pensive rather than lush, the pads as moody rather than ethereal, and on a big rig the bouncing bass line coming to the fore. Will Adams of the Singles Jukebox heard a polyrhythmic pulse spanning the crisp beats and an eerie chord progression.

Breakdown

Kat Stevens, also of the Singles Jukebox, singled out a lull in the music designed to build suspense, the pause a dance floor waits through for the beat’s return.

Outro

The sources say nothing about the ending; listen for how long the groove runs on after the last vocal line.

Concepts in Focus

This version is the long one. Like an extended mix, a club mix keeps the intro, the instrumental passages and the ending at DJ length. The radio edit runs 3:44 and the album edit on CamelPhat’s Dark Matter 4:03, against 6:56 here; compare the short form of Format:B – Chunky (Radio Edit).

The bassline is what Mixmag heard rise to the front on a big sound system, and the lull Kat Stevens described is a classic build-up: take the beat away, let the tension gather, bring it back.

Artistic Context

CamelPhat are the Liverpool duo Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala; Elderbrook, the singer and producer Alexander Kotz, co-wrote the track and, as EARMILK put it, brought his indie roots to CamelPhat’s bigger underground beats. Solomun, MK and Radio 1’s Danny Howard all supported it early.

Impact and Reception

Cola became, in Mixmag’s words, one of the defining tunes of Ibiza 2017, played at Pacha, Ushuaïa, Amnesia and beyond. It reached number one on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, number 18 in the UK, and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Play the club mix loud and wait for the lull.

Learn from this track

Introductory

What you will learn

  • Explain the difference between a club mix and a radio edit of the same track, and who each is made for.
  • Hear how a bass line and a pause in the music build tension on a dance floor.
  • Describe how a dance track with a dark lyric can become a summer hit.

Listening guide

  1. the vocal Mixmag found Elderbrook's hypnotic vocals pensive rather than lush; Defected's own note calls his voice crystalline.
  2. the pads Moody, for Mixmag, rather than ethereal: the reason it heard Cola as no typical sugary summer anthem.
  3. the bass line Mixmag's Ibiza correspondent heard the bouncing bass line come to the fore on a big club sound system.
  4. the break Kat Stevens of the Singles Jukebox heard a lull in the music designed to build suspense before the track returns.

Concepts in this track

build-up

35 tracks

A passage that raises tension toward a release: rising pitch, faster drum rolls, opening filters, added layers. In dance music it prepares the drop.

extended mix

15 tracks

A longer version of a track, with extra intro, outro or instrumental sections, made for clubs and DJs rather than radio.

radio edit

40 tracks

A shortened version of a track for radio and streaming: a quicker start, fewer repeats, usually three to four minutes.

bassline

67 tracks

The lowest melodic part of a track. In dance music it often carries the hook as much as the vocal does, and its rhythm against the kick drum defines the groove.

Listen next, and why

Questions for discussion

  1. The club mix is almost twice as long as the radio edit. What does a DJ need from those extra minutes that a radio listener does not?
  2. Critics read the chorus as being about drink spiking; Elderbrook says it is about a woman given a cola to sober up. How does knowing either change the song?
  3. Mixmag thought the brand name in the lyric helped the track with an international Ibiza crowd. Can one word make a hit?

References

  1. Wikipedia. Cola (CamelPhat and Elderbrook song). Encyclopedia
  2. Mixmag. CamelPhat's Grammy-nominated 'Cola' was also the sound of Ibiza this summer (2017). Article
  3. The Singles Jukebox. Camelphat & Elderbrook – Cola (2017). Review
  4. EARMILK. CamelPhat and Elderbrook debut a stunner in "Cola" (2017). Review
  5. MusicBrainz. Cola (club mix) (recording). Database
  6. Defected Records. Camelphat & Elderbrook 'Cola' (2017). Label

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