Eric Prydz
photo: haydn curtis · cc by 2.0 ↗Eric Prydz is a Swedish DJ and producer, also recording as Pryda and, in a harder techno vein, as Cirez D. He broke through in 2004 with the UK number-one 'Call on Me', built around a filtered sample of Steve Winwood's 'Valerie', then grew into a progressive-house and techno auteur known for hypnotic, patiently built records like 'Pjanoo' and 'Opus' and for elaborate audiovisual live productions such as EPIC and HOLO.
The French-house move Daft Punk made famous — loop a slice of an old disco or soul record and ride a filter across it — is exactly the engine of Prydz's biggest hit. 'Call on Me' takes a phrase from Steve Winwood's 'Valerie', chops it into a repeating vocal hook, and filters it up and down over a house beat.
listen forListen to how Daft Punk's 'Da Funk' rides one gnarled, filtered synth line for its whole length; then play 'Call on Me' and hear Prydz do the same with a chopped 'Valerie' vocal, sweeping the filter open on the hook so a borrowed phrase becomes the whole song.
Kraftwerk's method — a stripped-down, relentlessly repeating machine sequence that hypnotizes through minimal change — is the DNA of the long, patient techno builds Prydz specializes in. His extended, arpeggio-driven tracks trade drama for the slow accretion of a single locked pattern, the way Kraftwerk's do.
listen forSit with the mechanical, endlessly cycling pulse of Kraftwerk's 'The Robots'; then play Prydz's 'Opus' and follow that arpeggio as it repeats for minutes, tightening and brightening by tiny increments until the room tips over — the same hypnosis-by-repetition, scaled up to festival size.
Moroder built dance music around a pulsing, sequenced synth bassline — a driving electronic throb designed to keep a floor moving — and that four-on-the-floor propulsion under a euphoric top line runs straight through Prydz's piano house. The relentless, machine-steady low end beneath 'Pjanoo' owes its logic to Moroder's template.
listen forFeel the driving, sequenced synth engine of Moroder's instrumental 'The Chase'; then play 'Pjanoo' and notice the same tireless electronic pulse underneath, this time topped with a jubilant piano riff instead of a film-score melody.