3 Of The Week: Beast Mode

3 Of The Week: Beast Mode

What is beast mode? Beast mode is tapping into a wild primal force of nature hiding beneath the mild mannered you. Beast mode is activating the lizard part of the brain to accomplish a Herculean task through borderline inhuman means. Even though it’s been years since the Beast Wars have ended, the need to transform from your robot-human form to your animal form will always arise. Whether you’re trying to outrun a pack of dogs, dancing to win a high-stakes illegal dance tournament, or just channeling your inner Marshawn Lynch, these three tracks will maximize your ability to go beast mode.

1. “The Way We See The World” by Afrojack, Dmitri Vegas, Like Mike & NERVO

[youtube width=”720″ height=”400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eChdxmjHoMw[/youtube]

Going beast mode isn’t as simple as claiming its morphin’ time, however. To tap into the creature that dwells beneath the floorboards of your mind, you’ll have to coax it out by performing the proper rituals. “The Way We See The World” is the first step of this ritual, a medley formed by some of the best EDM DJs lending their strengths to produce this self-proclaimed Tomorrowland anthem.

“The Way We See The World” is an auditorial chimera, with Afrojack, Dmitri Vegas, Like Mike, and NERVO producing a beautiful slow burn of a beat, starting out as a single metal drum that gradually evolves into a jet-powered juggernaut. It’s the lyrics however that call out the animal within.

Speaking from first-experience at the front of a NERVO show, the lyrics hinge on reverse psychology, with NERVO providing a disclaimer designed to weed out any runts in the audience: “Don’t stay if you don’t want to!/Cause I’ll stay, yea if I want to!/Nobody’s making you! Nobody’s making you!” It’s like when someone tells you to give up when you’re trying your hardest — you’re just motivated to go even harder.

Sure, you’re tired. It’s 2 AM. You have work tomorrow, and NERVO only just now took the stage. You don’t have to stay upfront where it’s packed and sweaty. You can go, if you can’t handle it. If you think you have the mettle for it though, and decide to stay? You gotta go beast mode: “On this night/ I wanna be the one who’s in command./ On this night/You’re gonna be the one who understands”. The lyrics are a call to action — making you want to push yourself harder, well beyond the vanishing point of humanity and into the savage woods of beast mode, as you want to show NERVO & Co. that you can handle their perspective.

2. “Humans are Such Easy Prey” by Perturbator

[youtube width=”720″ height=”400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8DekFFCE5c[/youtube]

You know you’re in for a primal song when the only lyrics is a snippet from The Terminator, describing the eponymous automaton.

“Humans Are Such Easy Prey”  by Perturbator is a two-headed beast: a hard-hitting metallic beat, and a time-hopping flurry of ’80s synth that relentlessly pursues as the song rampages on. Breakdown sections provide brief moments of rest, but before long that electric nemesis of a beat is hot on your heels again, forcing the beast part of your brain to take command if you want to dance your way out of this jam.

Additionally, in proper horror movie fashion, just when you think it’s all over — the great and terrible beat smashes through the wall, stronger than ever before.

3. “Animals” by Martin Garrix (Milk N Cookies Festival Remix)

[youtube width=”720″ height=”400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhH14jSHbv0[/youtube]

Real talk? We need a modern day “Eye of The Tiger”. Not to diminish the 1982 Survivor classic — one of the most beast mode songs of all time — it’s just overplayed, all but a cliche when it comes to pump-up songs.

Nowadays, times are tougher, so we need more than a tiger’s eye  — we need the whole goddamn animal. Cue Milk N Cookies‘ remix of Martin Garrix’s “Animals”, which throws in a harder hitting baseline, and an intricate bass drop that makes the original seem bare-bones in comparison. This remix taps into a beast mode for every occasion, making you want to hit the gym and the party simultaneously with a simple declaration: “We’re the fuckin’ animals”.