Heatseeker: Storm Queen

Storm Queen, a truly organic rise from the underground.

This week a favourite track of mine beat Eminem & Rihanna’s The Monster in sales to hit number 1 on the UK singles chart. The weird thing about that is that the track in question was originally released three years ago on a small underground dance label in the US, and was then remixed and released as a bonus track – hidden on the back-end of a compilation. The track I’m talking about is Look Right Through (MK remix) by Storm Queen.

Originally released in 2010 on Morgan Geist’s Environ imprint, Look Right Through made an immediate impact in the dance music community. I remember the buzz around it inside the clubs: everyone wanted it, and everyone wanted to play it. The original incarnation of the now popular number one was raw and edgy, unlike all of the other music being produced at the time; it harked back to a time when analogue reigned supreme, with a classic, gritty drum machine providing the rhythm. It enjoyed a long run in the club scene around the world.

Defected Records A&R Andy Daniell promptly picked it up and almost a year later gave it a re-release and remix packet. Enter MK, a prominent figure in dance music in the ’90s, who was asked by Defected to provide a remix for release alongside industry heavyweights Dimitri from Paris, Jamie Jones, Art Department and Aeroplane. He provided three remixes and, shortly after its release as part of the Deep, Down & Defected compilation in 2012, MK’s Dub III version of Look Right Through blasted off.

Fast-forward to the present day and the track has seen demand for MK’s DJ sets skyrocket, with the track a steady fixture in the sets of House DJs the world over, making it one of the tracks of this year’s festival and Ibiza seasons. It’s had nearly 1.5 million Soundcloud plays, nearly three million on YouTube, and all of this success has been almost completely organic – gathering momentum based purely on the fact that clubbers around the world love it.

Given this success, Defected teamed up with Ministry of Sound for the most recent release of the MK Remix, which was serviced last week. It’s seen the track added to high rotation on major mainstream radio stations across the UK and has been #1 on Shazam for seven consecutive weeks, as well as hitting the top spot in the top 200 tags, a further testament to the organic nature of the track, and lack of promotional spin that surrounded its rise. It’s currently the #1 single in the UK, shifting 105,000 copies in its first week and #1 on iTunes UK.