Music Plant Records has been consistently providing us with fresh new faces and hot new songs for quite a few years now. Lauren Hildebrant, Jacinta, Fredrick Ford, and clubland mainstay Georgie Porgie have all been introduced to us via this label. Their latest addition to the roster is Jason Antone, a singer/songwriter and native of Chicago. After limited success with his first single, the follow-up "Be Free" has been sent out to the DJs. With mixes by the aforementioned Georgie Porgie, Josh Harris and others, this single has already begun its ascent to the top of the charts.
Georgie's Original Club Vox is the first full mix on the single. In his typical style, it's a filtered house romp full of guitars, violins, and a chugging bass line. The song is a very uplifting one in general and this mix only adds to that happy vibe. Following in that same vein, the Josh Harris mix also uses the filtered house sound to full effect, including a funkier guitar in the intro and a more electro synth line throughout the mix. While both of these mixes are good, neither one has that booming club sound. Next up is the Solar City Club Anthem. Despite the title, this mix never feels very anthemic to me. There are more drums and vocal manipulations here, but the mix always feels likes it's building into something bigger but never gets there. About halfway through, the track does lead into a synthesizer solo, but then just goes back into the same groove. Anthem is not the right title for this mix. It's much too subdued for that description. The TNT Club Mix moves the song in a more electro sounding style, but this doesn't sit well with Jason's vocals. The beats and the bass seem to overpower his voice. This song is upbeat and happy and this mix loses that completely with a sound that's just too heavy. Finally, the Blaine & Barona Big Room Mix attempts to give us that thundering club mix that seems to be eluding the listener here. This ends up being another erroneously-titled mix in my opinion.
Jason Antone's "Be Free" is a fun happy song and unfortunately only a couple of mixes here reflect that energy. Georgie Porgie and Josh Harris create grooves that are befitting of this track, while the others try to go in a direction that is either too heavy or too monotonous. For best results, stick with the first two mixes. These are the ones that are propelling this song up the charts as we speak.
Georgie Porgie & Josh Harris mixes - 4 stars
All other mixes — 2 stars
