We could really use a reference guide for classifying modern electronic music into microgenres…

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John Seroff: The majority of Madeon’s buzz circles around his age, with a “this is pretty good music for a seventeen year old” narrative. Truth be told, the lack of distinction between this and what people fifteen years his senior are pumping out at the moment underlines how low the bar is for electrohousedubstepwhatever. “Icarus” is a notch above the average Justice like-a-look; the false ending is well placed, the vocals don’t grate, the bass bounces and the hips do move… it’s just a bit too aimless to overwhelm. 
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Sabina Tang: Now you believe me when I say “dubstep” is the new word for “electro house,” right? This kid is French and everything.
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W.B. Swygart: The big, non-stick surfaces make it ideal Eurosport-house (n., electronic dance music suitable for advertising bobsleigh, minor WTA tournaments, the Le Mans 24 Hours), and there’s an impressive amount of tension and wallop… but after a while those jolts just sound like gearshifts in Gran Turismo (I have no idea if that’s what the 17-year-old French Kids are into these days). It’s a fun journey, but you always sort of know where it’s going.
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Alfred Soto: Compressing symphonic disco, the remains of Daft Punk, and dubstep, Madeon comes up with an engaging permutation. I do miss what a vocalist would have done.
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Anthony Easton: Abstracted electronic pleasure that swoops, retreats, moves forward, and then sidewinds through beats, vocals, swipes, and other instruments of desire. Gorgeous.
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Iain Mew: Da-da-dah! Da-da-dah! Twinkle-sparkle-twinkle-whooooOOOOSH-stomp-stomp-swizzle! A succession of great noises, and it even has some words (“raise your weapon”!) in case you insist on it maybe meaning something too.
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Pete Baran: Since this is the second track in a week that has given me a Jean Michel Jarre vibe, it’s clear I have to revisit Oxygene to get it out of my system. Mind you — this slab of glitchy house also does a pretty good job at scrubbing the old laser harp out of my mind too. Interested in building a mood beyond dancing, it uses the language of micro-builds and funky keyboard lines to build something rather magical. Clearly the title is not to be taken literally, as once this takes flight, it does not burn up.
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Brad Shoup: When the kid’s not messing with his filters, he’s got a fine nu-disco track with a slight violent streak. In between the French house-sounding bits are appropriately “spacey” passages, scuttled by the same thing that derailed his “Raise Your Weapon” remix: the shaggy indie vocal. I’m not saying he should have pulled a Conjure One or called Ted “Wizard” Mills — nope, scratch that, he should have called Wizard.
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Michaela Drapes: There’s a distinctive child-like quality that shines through here — in both a musical naivety and general lack of broad engagement with the outside world. Which is to say, I feel like I’ve been force-fed handfuls of gummi bears by malevolent teenagers who’ve spent a lifetime listening to nothing but Daft Punk and video game theme tunes.
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