Can definitely hear the similarities.

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cant be arsed to investigate but I've heard a few straight underworld rips recently, somewhere somehow.

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He possibly found the guitary pluck preset somewhere, decided to "become inspired" and went for it. The pluck in Offshore has that little bit of air between the chords which makes it work much better. This one just simply doesn't groove at all. I've never knowingly heard Calvin Harris before, but I'd guess he's a heavy preset user like successful "producers" tend to be. He probably pretends to produce lots of his music in a room full of hardware synths, guitars, maybe even a real piano. The awkwardly placed Reese around 2:28 is the cherry on top. He just had to jam it in there for some reason. It doesn't seem to serve any real purpose. When it came in I literally thought the track was about to transition to something from 2006 Coldharbour.

Anyway, the whole track lacks emotion, the drums are too clean, and in general it just doesn't groove, though he's certainly tried to make things swing. The vocal is well-performed, and is in my opinion pretty much the only professional part of the track. The "composition" (if you can call a couple of chords and a stale bassline that) lacks any sort of imagination. A completely soulless piece of work, possibly like much of Calvin Harris' work. Might be a rip-off, but luckily it doesn't hold a candle to the original.

It's a similar rhythm and lead sound, but that's about it. Don't see why this is being blown up so much on social media. Plenty of people down the years have noted that Offshore is very reminiscent of Love On A Real Train, but nobody has ever accused Nick Bracegirdle of "ripping off" Tangerine Dream.

The track itself is typical Radio 1, Top 40 bollocks. The kind of thing you hear in a taxi on a Friday night.

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> Surface Tension [Progressive Trance]
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If you enjoy any of these sets and want to hear me live, I'll be playing a 2 hour progressive trance set at Basing House in Shoreditch, London on 11th October.
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Many people instantly mentioned Offshore and even Don't Give Up within a couple of seconds. Calvin Harris should have heard the resembles as well, it's almost impossible he didn't.
He could have avoided this easily, instead he even chose to react as a total prick.
That's my opinion.

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quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Plenty of people down the years have noted that Offshore is very reminiscent of Love On A Real Train

In my understanding some people find the simple ostinato dyads in Offshore similar to the melodic ostinato in Love On A Real Train, which seems like a reach. I've just seen Harris himself do this on Instagram, and it's quite painful to watch. If he has to try to justify the similarity between his track and Offshore by making this comparison � the flimsiness of which should be quite obvious to him as a musician � I'd say he knows he's borrowed a bit too much by combining the preset and the harmonic ostinato idea. Makes it seem deliberate. The only difference between the patches seems to be that the one in Offshore has a slightly longer decay.

Not that copying and "being inspired" is off-limits in something as recycled as dance music, but he might as well have owned it. People might have reacted differently.

"Yes, I was heavily inspired by Offshore and, like the worm that I am, copied a bit too much in my attempt at a real summer banger".

And he genuinely does sound like a dick, so to the dogs with him, I say.

Edit: so does Bracegirdle, so.. Let them rip each other to shreds � or boost each other's numbers for what it's worth.

Last edited by JEO on May-20-2025 at 21:41

To be clear, I don't think Bracegirdle ripped off any melodies or chords from Tangerine Dream, but the general style and feel of Offshore does come across like a spiritual successor to Love On A Real Train in a different genre, especially the original version, not the Disco Citizens Mix everyone is thinking of when they're having this conversation.

Also, I remember Bracegirdle kicking up a similar stink a few years back about someone ripping off the vocal in Saltwater, which he literally sampled from Clannad and then had to re-record. These kinds of references, echoes, nods and winks back to older records are built into the DNA of dance music. Bracegirdle should enjoy the fact his classic tracks have lived long enough in the cultural memory to inspire these homages, rather than kicking up a social media outcry to divert the limelight back onto him when he hasn't made a decent record in 25 years.

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Mixes:
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24
> Surface Tension [Progressive Trance]
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]

If you enjoy any of these sets and want to hear me live, I'll be playing a 2 hour progressive trance set at Basing House in Shoreditch, London on 11th October.
I'm also a resident at our bi-monthly party Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwUHZ_ISNmc

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