When we first got here, American pop music was linear and minimalistic, with few chord changes, and no big lift in the chorus. If you listen to radio today, there are big breakdowns, buildups, instrumental parts, and more tempo.” That is due in no small part to Stargate: by bringing a European remixer’s sensibility to the crunchy beats of hip-hop, they created a new kind of urban pop.

Stargate and Ester Dean, Making Music Hits : The New Yorker

Somehow missed this fantastic John Seabrook piece earlier this year. Thanks, Jad Abumrad.