Chemical Brothers Create New Years Eve Edition of Midnight Madness

From the Chemical Brothers' blog:

The brothers and all at Chemicals HQ thank you for your loyal support in '08, and we wish you peace, love and happiness in 09!

As the year winds down, we have one last surprise for you here at The House Of Chemical. As the track is already a must play for ringing in the midnight hour, The Chems have whipped up a special New Years' Eve edition of "Midnight Madness".

This version has been serviced to DJs only for NYE, however we'll be posting the track up here tomorrow for your streaming pleasure. It will no doubt turn up in some of your favorite DJs sets tomorrow night as well (and do be sure and support your local DJ and local music scene).

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NYC Show List Updated

Sorry things are quieter over here than I would like. I have December 24 - January 4th off from the 9 to 5. I'll be spending a good chunk of it in suburbia hanging out with the fam and nerding it up on the internet so there will probably be a lot of updates then. In the meantime I just added a ton of dates to the shows list (stuff for tonight and this weekend too, so don't let the snow keep you from hitting the floor!). Here's what's up for now - keep checking back, I'm usually always updating it:

December 19 - Fool's Gold Family & Friends Holiday Bash at Twelve21 with DJ Premier, Cipha Sounds, the Brothers Macklovitch, Sammy Bananas, and Nick Catchdubs

December 19 - My Cousin Roy and Jesse Mann at APT

December 19 - DJ Harvey at Love

December 19 - Play It Loud at Lounge 87 with DJ Drilla, Darshan Jesrani of Metro Area, Son of Sound, and Doug Gomez

December 19 - LA Riots at Le Royale

Decemeber 20 - Fixed with In Flagranti at Studio B

December 21 - Frankie Knuckles and Danny Krivit at Cielo

December 20 - 33Hz live at Le Poisson Rouge

December 26 - Ladytron dj set, Le Castlevania, and Grandmaster Flash at Webster Hall

December 31 - Studio B New Years Eve with deejay sets from Sinden, Jokers of the Scene, Scott Henry, Reid Speed, The Captain, Star Eyes, Cowboy Mark, Alexander Technique, and Van Scott. Grandmaster Mele Mel, Mickey Factz, and Ninja Sonik live. Afterhours with Echospace and Taimur & Fahad.

December 31 - Prime Time New Years Eve at Santos with Invisible Conga People, Mike Simonetti, James F!@#$%^ Friedman, and Eamon Harkin

December 31 - Matthew Dear, Drop the Lime, Michna, and Mike Servito at Le Poisson Rouge

December 31 - Rude New Years Eve at Glasslands with Heartsrevolution and Nick Catchdubs

December 31 - Famous Friends ' & Palmsout Epic New Years Eve at Europa with Kill the Noise, AC Slater, the American Dream Team, Udachi, Bradley D, and VDRK

January 2 - One Man Party (Steve from Soulwax) and So Me at Webster Hall

January 3 - Afrika Bambaataa at Le Poisson Rouge

January 16 - Disco3000 NYC with Trus'me, Linkwood, and Kon & Amir at APT

January 17 - Fixed with Max Tundra at Le Poisson Rouge

January 23 - No Big Deal with Moulinex and Xinobi at Europa

January 24 - Modeselektor and Housemeister at Bowery Ballroom

January 24 - M83 at Irving Plaza

January 29 - Fixed at Studio B with Lindstrom

February 6 - Fixed with Little Boots (live) at Studio B

March 21 - Cut Copy at Terminal 5

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Royksopp Celebrate Their Birthday by Giving Away New Track

Awesome Norwegian electronic duo, Royksopp, are celebrating their birthday today and giving away a new track (their first studio release since their last album the Understanding came out in 2005) at their website. The site is being re-designed soon, perhaps to coincide with the release of their new album? which did not come out 2 months ago.

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Santos Party House/100 Lafayette has moved!!

The wonderful new venue that opened downtown this year has shifted from 100 Lafayette Street to 96. According to the Santos Party House blog:

"...we have been able to recreate the exact same club, only 8 feet further down the block, simply by shifting the walls and parts of the ceiling to accommodate the new location.

Our patrons will notice a slight shift in the sidewalk, as well as a wider stairway leading down to the lower level. As a result of this move, we now have a larger amount of space on the left side corridor of the club. We were also able to shift the entire front entrance and windows of our building, leaving the upper portion intact."

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Bloody Beetroots release track "Butter" from Rombo EP

Awesome Italian dj/production duo the Bloody Beetroots have just released a piece of heavy, piano-ey bliss in the form of a track called "Butter". Butter is featured on the Beetroots' Rombo EP (tracklisting below), which gives you an idea of what to expect from the pair's full length album, scheduled for release on Steve Aoki's label, Dim Mak in 2009. Check out the dope EP cover from Turbo Krapfen on the right and download the track below:

The Bloody Beetroots - Butter

The Bloody Beetroots - Rombo EP Tracklisting:

1. Rombo (feat. Congorock)
2. I Love the Bloody Beetroots (Radio Edit)
3. Butter
4. Yeah Boy
5. I Love the Bloody Beetroots (Extended)

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Shockhound Interviews Justice In Bed

Shockhound (which looks like a pretty interesting new site for following artists) recently interviewed Xavier and Gaspard of Justice from their hotel room bed. Yet another enlightening and entertaining (much like the duo's documentary, A Cross the Universe, which is out in the US in 5 days. Did you pre-order your copy ?!) experience:



Transcript of the interview if you'd rather read it here.

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Mid-week Vids #13

I haven't really gotten into Passion Pit, but came across this video that Etan (from Passion Pit) created with a friend. It's short and sweet...and has robez (aka robots...):

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The Hives and Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel

The Hives and Cyndi Lauper have recored "A Chrismas Duel" together. It's pretty fucked...and awesome. You can stream the track over at the Hives' website and download it for free after registering there. You only have until the end of the day though, as tomorrow & Tuesday it will be released for purchase in the UK and US respectively.

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Kylie Minogue to Release Remix Compilation - Boombox

Out on January 5th.

Tracklisting:
Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head (Bootleg with New Order)
Spinning Around (7th District Club Mental Mix)
Wow (Death Metal Disco Scene Mix)
Love At First Sight (Kid Creme Vocal Dub)
Slow (Chemical Brothers Mix)
Come Into My World (Fischerspooner Mix)
Red Blooded Woman (Whitey Mix)
I Believe In You (Mylo Mix)
In Your Eyes (Knuckleheadz Mix)
2 Hearts (Mark Brown's Pacha Ibiza Upper Terrace Mix)
On A Night Like This (Bini & Martini Mix)
Giving You Up (Riton Re-Rub Vocal Mix)
In My Arms (Sebastien Leger Vocal Mix)
The One (Britrocka Remix)
Your Disco Needs You (Casino Mix)
Boombox (LA Riots Remix)

Where is the Soulwax KYLUSS Remix of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"?!

Btw - Happy Thanksgiving!

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Mid-week Vids #12

Yes, I skipped 11...it was in the works last week but then I got sidetracked. It will be up soon though. In the meantime, I'm jumping straight to #12. This video combines many of my loves, namely:

1. Adidas (seriously...the blog colors are inspired by a pair I had, the kicks the "t's" in "showtrotta" are wearing in the header are another)
2. Pilooski
3. Pilooski's edit of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons' "Beggin"



Ups to Miquee Le Teque for (unknowingly) bringing this to my attention - btw you can download that fine Pilooski edit over at his blog.

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Fatboy Slim is Fucking in Heaven

and by heaven, I mean a really nice yacht:

Barracuda Yacht Charter by Fatboy Slim

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Download: Simian Mobile Disco vs. Deerhunter

I'd never (to my knowledge at least) heard a Deerhunter song despite them being blogged about all over the place recently, until yesterday. Check out this edit the lovely British duo, Simian Mobile Disco, did of their their track "Octet":

Download: Deerhunter - Octet (Simian Mobile Disco edit).

It kind of reminds me of some early Chemical Brothers stuff (though a tad more noisy).

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Christmas d'Amour Details Annnounced

Ete d'Amour, the people responsible for booking all the amazing deejays that had Santos rocking every Thursday night this summer have announced the line-up for their Christmas d'Amour party happening December 18th:



I was hoping/expecting a more France-based line-up, but whatevs. Should be good.

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Alan Braxe Added to Bill for December 12th Lifelike show at Webster Hall

Remember how I told you about this? Well...Alan Braxe, who killed it at Santos back in August, has been added to deejay at Webster Hall the same night as Lifelike (December 12th)!

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Soulwax Documentary - Part of the Weekend Never Dies Available for Pre-order

The Soulwax documentary, Part of the Weekend Never Dies is finally being released here in the US! It will be released December 9th, but you can pre-order it from Insound,
here.

You can check out 2 different trailers for the film here, read a lot of Soulwax-related posts here, and read my review of their most recent New York show (along with other bands at the Insiders "micro-festival" last month) over at Brooklynvegan.

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Justice Documentary - A Cross the Universe DVD + CD Available For Pre-order

Insound has the new Justice documentary, A Cross the Universe, available for pre-order here. It will be released on December 9th.

It's one of the best films I've seen this year and it comes with a live cd of a show they did in San Francisco. You can check out the trailer and tracklisting here, and read my review of it over on Brooklynvegan. Get up on it...

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Mid-week Vids #10

Whomadewho is my favorite new band I saw at CMJ this year. Here is the video for their new single "TV Friend". It will be released on the 24th of the month (along with a remix by Hot Chip) through Gomma. Their new album The Plot, will be out March 2nd.


WhoMadeWho - TV Friend from Leroy Hanghofer on Vimeo.

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Mid-week Vids #9

Horribly late with the mid-week video this week, considering it's Monday.

Last summer I was sitting in my apartment in a funky mood, not really feeling like going out...and then I saw this video on New York Noise and it instantly put me in a good mood - I went to Studio B (don't remember who I saw) and had an awesome time:

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Lifelike coming to Webster Hall December 12th!

Lifelike who was great at the B back in June returns to New York next month (December 12th to be exact)! this time at Webster Hall.

Do it!

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December 18th - Save the Date!

Été d'Amour presents CHRISTMAS D'AMOUR in New York!

I'll post more info as I get it. These guys threw amazing parties at Santos all summer.

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Mid-week Vids #8

Sorry this is a day late! I started this post yesterday, but never got to finish it until now. Anyway...

Was anyone else very unhappy when Simian (the band, before James and Jas decided to properly mobilize their disco) broke-up? I was!

Luckily we got SMD, the Black Ghosts, and Lord Skywave, as well as Alex Macnaughton's band,
Doloroso (who I am long overdue to give a listen to), out of the deal, which pretty much makes up for it.

I'm sure many of you are aware that Simon Lord (former lead vocalist of SMD, and current member of the Black Ghosts and Lord Skywave) did guest vocals on the excellent SMD track, "I Believe". This is probably as close as we'll ever get to the original Simian :( Here's a video of James Ford, Jas Shaw, and Simon Lord (3/4 of Simian!) performing it together, enjoy!:

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Busy P Nike Air Force 1 New York Launch

On Thursday the BUSY P 1 WORLD AIR FORCE 1 makes its North American debut exclusively at 21 Mercer Street.

Ed Banger Records’ own Busy P, So-Me and Justice will be there to celebrate. Music will be provided by Ed Banger Records.

Hold on one second! It's not so easy. If you want the shoe then you're gonna have to be quick! Busy P is ready to take
to take on all challengers in a game of BUSY P-ICTIONARY. Those daring enough to take on and defeat him by being the first to guess what Ed Banger Records Designer So-Me is drawing will earn the chance to buy one of the limited pairs available that day.

First come, first challenged.

Thursday, October 30. 4pm.

Nike Sportswear
21 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10013

I am out of vacation days otherwise I would totally be 'ousing Busy P at Busy P-ictionary and beginning my first foray into sneaker collecting as opposed to dancing them into the ground.

Peep the rainbow man's kicks here and if you go, make sure he doesn't chshit!

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Puma Presents: My Favorite Things with Trus'me at Le Souk 10/21/08

In the midst of the beginning of CMJ madness here in New York I managed to sneak off to a non-CMJ event - Puma Presents: My Favorite Things with Trus'me (& a bunch of other deejays I wasn't familiar with - the only one I saw last night was Gino Grasso who spun some good disco!). It was originally going to be at APT, but had to be switched to Le Souk at the last minute for some reason. I was initially excited about the change of venue because the past few times I've been to APT it's been absolutely dead, but then I remembered being at Le Souk once a few summers ago and it being pretty hellish. Luckily last night was an exception. I walked in right around 1 and the place was packed with people (a few of whom were questionable) dancing...on a Tuesday night...in New York...the way things should be. Anyway...Trus'me's set was very good...lots of good discoey/housey stuff, classics, edits, etc. Serious fun to get down to.

I first saw Trus'me deejay at the Yard back in July. There's a review of it here along with a link to download part of his set from that party.

And...I have finally gotten a digital camera. No more shitty cellphone pics! Here are a few from last night:

From Puma Presents: My Favorite Things with Trus'me at Le Souk 10/21/08

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Mid-week Vids #7

I saw these guys, Friendly Fires, at Bowery last night and they were REALLY good...even more rocking than in this video:



If you're in New York you should check them out this week. They're playing a bunch more - the dates are on their myspace.

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Positif announced as first single to be released from the new Mr. Oizo album, Lambs Anger!

Positif is going to be the first single released from Mr. Oizo's new album, Lamb's Anger. It will feature the original version as well as "Negatif" - a remix of the track by Mr. Flash (a snippet of which is streaming on his myspace), an LFO remix, and a track called Lambs Garbage (unfinished). Here is the cover art:





Check out my previous posts about Lambs Anger for more info.

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Mr. Oizo - Lambs Anger Promo Video

Here's a promo video for Lambs Anger, the new album from Mr. Oizo, out on Ed Banger Records November 17th. More info on the release including the tracklisting and cover art can be found here. Since my previous post, another track from the album "Two Takes It" has been made available for streaming on Mr. Oizo's myspace. Check that out and the promo below:

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Hipster Bailout! - Specially Priced Tickets Available For Pete Tong Presents "Insiders Music Series" Live At The Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza

New York, NY- The economy may have fallen on hard times, but that is no reason any New Yorker should have to miss the premiere of Pete Tong's "Insiders Music Series" on October 24th at The Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza which has become one of the most anticipated events of CMJ week. To prevent this impending crisis we are introducing the "Hipster Bailout" plan. Beginning today a limited number of tickets will be made available for $30.00 while supplies last. Once exhausted, a second limited allotment of tickets will be made available for $40.00 with all tickets returning to normal pricing once these allotments are fulfilled or the day prior to the event, whichever comes first.

The new ticket prices haven't gone into effect yet, but should be here at some point today. Get up on it!

In case you were wondering/obsessively planning your CMJ-ing:

Pete Tong Presents "Insiders Music Series" Set Times:
Doors: 7PM
Soulwax's 'Part Of The Weekend Never Dies' Screening: 8:00-9:00
Rob Da Bank: 9:00-10:00
The Whip: 10:00-10:30
Rob Da Bank: 10:30-11:00
Luciano: 11:00-12:00
Late Of The Pier: 12:00-12:30
James Lavelle: 12:30-1:30
Soulwax: 1:30-2:30
Pete Tong: 2:30-3:30
2manydjs: 3:30-close

Another awesome related development:

In a ground breaking move; international top rated radio program, BBC Radio 1's "Essential Mix" will be recording the entire performance to broadcast globally on Friday, October 31st. The Essential Mix has established a tradition of broadcasting the hottest live dance and DJ events throughout the world; from Ibiza to the UK and now the Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza, attendees of the premier Insiders event will become a part of history.

Also good to know:

With an extended night of music, The Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza will be implementing a special re-entry policy. Ticket buyers will be guaranteed re-entry until 12AM. After Midnight reentry will be allowed on a first come first serve basis. A limited number of CMJ badges will also be honored.

In case you missed 'em, here are some previous posts about Soulwax.

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Mid-week Vids #6

I will spare you another "I <3 Soulwax and can't wait until they are back here in New York in 9 days" tangent...but here is a video, or rather some stills accompanied by David Dewaele explaining exactly how they sonically devastate the crowd:

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Justice - A Cross the Universe New York Screening and DVD Release Dates

Just found out from Pitchfork that Justice will be screening the documentary A Cross the Universe while they're on a dj tour of North America in the next couple of weeks. One will screening will be happening at...

NYC's IFC Center at 7 p.m. on October 30, and also features a post-screening Justice Q&A.

This also the same night as the already sold-out party at Webster Hall featuring dj sets from Justice, Busy P, SebastiAn, and So Me.

Will keep ya posted w/ info re: the screenings. Here's the trailer for now:

JUSTICE - A CROSS THE UNIVERSE (teaser)
by edbangerrecords

Tracklisting for the CD accompanying the DVD release (Dec. 9th US, November 24th for most of Europe):

01 Intro
02 Genesis
03 Phantom Part 1
04 Phantom Part 1.5
05 D.A.N.C.E.
06 D.A.N.C.E. Part 2
07 DVNO
08 Waters of Nazareth (Prelude)
09 One Minute to Midnight
10 Tthhee Ppaarrttyy
11 Let There Be Light
12 Stress
13 We Are Your Friends (Reprise)
14 Waters of Nazareth
15 Phantom Part 2
16 Encore
17 NY Excuse
18 Finale

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Mid-week Vids #5

I love Busy P for a number of reasons removed from him being a great dj. One of those reasons is he acts totally crazy:

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Mid-week Vids #4 and New Mr. Oizo Album (Lambs Anger) Info

D'oh! I knew this would happen eventually! Sorry this is a day late. I actually thought about posting a video yesterday, multiple times, and just never did it.

Today's mid-week vid is an oldie but goodie - Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat". The main reason I'm posting it, aside from it being great, is I've been reading a book called French Connections: From Discotheque to Discovery which has been very interesting so far and has clarified a lot about French dance music that happened before I was listening to any electronic music at all. Yesterday (when I originally intended to post this) out of nowhere I got to a part in the book where the author recounts the events leading up to Mr. Oizo's signing to F Communications which include his father selling Laurent Garnier a car! Crazy stuff...



Some other things of note: Mr. Oizo has a new album coming out on Ed Banger Records on November 17th. It's called Lambs Anger and the cover features a particularly less-animated version of Flat Eric.

Two new tracks from the album ("Z" and "Positif") are streaming on his myspace. I absolutely love both of them. "Z" is great, especially the breakdown around 2:30. "Positif" is awesome too - I seem to have developed a thing for computer generated voices. (if you have too, I highly recommend checking out Fardoche whose stuff is in a similarly weird vein as Mr. Oizo's and features tons of cgv's). Tracklisting (with some crazy titles) for Lambs Anger below:

Tracklisting
Lambs Anger - Mr. Oizo

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James Ford discuss new Simian Mobile Disco album with NME

You can read all about it here, but the main points are:

Beth Ditto from the Gossip and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals and Neon Neon are doing guest vocals on the new Simian Mobile Disco album.

According to James Ford via NME:

"The song [Ditto sings on] is not very Gossip-y. It's more electronic and poppy, a bit old-school.

"The song Gruff sings on is more psychedelic, with a Todd Rundgren-esque edge."

and my favorite part of the article:

Ford added that the band have completed about half of the album, and aim to release it in early 2009.

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Moby writes open letter to EMI regarding their refusal to sell music on Beatport

via Moby's myspace blog.

i'm writing this as a sort-of open letter to the people at emi.
i'm signed to mute records(for the last 15 years, actually), and as mute is owned
by emi that makes me an emi artist.
as some of you might know, the record business is falling apart.
revenues are down, cd sales are plummeting, people are losing their jobs, etc.
things at the record companies, especially the major labels, aren't looking so good.
one bright spot in this dismal retail firmament is the sale of music on-line through
portals like i-tunes.
the dance music equivalent of i-tunes is a site called beatport.
beatport, and other similar sites, enables you to preview dance tracks and then, if you like, buy them.
the average cost for a track on beatport is twice or three times the cost of a track on i-tunes(which
makes sense, as the tracks are a lot longer).
emi happily allow their music to be sold on i-tunes, but they don't allow their(and, by extension, my)music
to be sold on portals like beatport.
for over a year now i've been asking people at emi why they won't allow their electronic
dance music to be sold on beatport and i still haven't received a good answer.
one might think that in a time of rapidly dwindling revenues that a viable
and proven outlet like beatport might be greeted ecstatically at emi and the major labels.
but no.
very simply, i don't know why emi won't allow their(and my) dance tracks to be sold on beatport(for
an average cost of around $2.00 per track), but i do know that by not allowing their
electronic dance music to be sold on beatport that emi have denied themselves
very considerable revenue and have limited the audience for their electronic
dance artists(not to mention remixes done for their non-electronic dance artists, like
radiohead and coldplay).
many dj's live in urban areas with great indie-dance shops, and many dj's buy vinyl
and cd's on-line from great indie-dance shops, but there are thousands and thousands
of dj's who pretty much only buy their music from sites like beatport.
and with emi refusing to allow beatport(and similar sites)to sell their music it basically
means that tens of thousands of dj's around the world don't have access to any of
the dance records being released by mute and emi artists.
so this is my letter to anyone at emi who might be reading: by not allowing your music to be
sold on sites like beatport you are losing money daily and seriously compromising the careers
of your electronic artists(like, for example, the chemical brothers, me, massive attack, etc).
i can't see why you(the people at emi)wouldn't remedy this immediately and allow
people to buy your records on beatport and similar sites.
thanks
moby

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Lord Skywave remixes Radiohead's "Reckoner"

Radiohead is having a remix contest for their track, "Reckoner" from In Rainbows like they did for "Nude" a few months back. More info on the contest here.

One entry that was brought to my attention that I think is quite good is Lord Skywave's:



FYI...Lord Skywave is Simon Lord (formerly of the bands Simian & Garden) of the Black Ghosts, but the music he's created under Lord Skywave is very different, with a unique sound that incorporates elements from 3 generations - Lord himself, compositions by his grandmother - Madeleine Dring, and the Skywave synthesizer which was created by Simon's father, Jeremy. Good stuff. Check him out and the remix too.

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1 month until Soulwax!!! +A Fifth of Beethoven + Mid-week Vids #3

Exactly one month from today Soulwax will be hitting Irving Plaza yet again, this time doing both a live show, as well as a 2ManyDJs set along with a bunch of other outsiders.

I have to say the Dewaele brothers have been cranking out all sorts of goodness in the meantime, making the lead up to October 24th even more pleasant and exciting...and they're not showing signs of stopping. If you've seen One Man Party (Steve, the drummer from Soulwax) deejay anytime recently, or have listened to any recent 2ManyDJ's sets you've probably heard what I have now discovered is their own wonderful re-working of the disco classic "A Fifth Of Beethoven" by The Walter Murphy Band. I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear one of my favorite disco jams re-done in a way that could make me love it even more. I found out about this release through an excellent resource for all things soulwax - soulwax.info (check it out!). From there I was directed to VoulesRandom where you download the track directly as well as Soulwax's remix of "Phantom Part II" by Justice.

*EDIT* I was at work when I saw that the remix was posted so I couldn't actually listen to it - turns out it is actually a mix of the track by Hidden Cat which is based on the Soulwax edit. Apologies! Soulwax hope to release an official version soon.

Please take this lolcat (Hidden Cat!) as a peace offering:


more animals


In addition to it being 1 month until Soulwax, it's also Wednesday which means - Mid Week Vids! I am fittingly posting a clip of Soulwax peforming "Miserable Girl" from when I saw them for the second time (the day following my first) on 4/18/08 at Studio B:

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DJ Mehdi and Busy P at Santos Party House 9/18/08

Just got home from an amazing 4+ hours at Santos.

DJ Mehdi went on around 12. He spun a good hour of current, brand new, and just a few months old, electro which included tracks from Crookers, the Bloody Beetroots, and Surkin among others. He also dropped what had to be some old school disco track which had Paul and I absolutely losing our shit...unfortunately I can't remember any specifics at this point. For his solo set Mehdi was the good spirited dj that I love...bouncing from side to side, smiling, and singing along. This part of the review would have been much more specific and probably more favorable had I not ended up in a super crowded part of Santos, where everyone seemed to be passing through.

At 1:30 Paul went home like a responsible adult and I grabbed another drink and worked my way toward the front of the floor from which I witnessed most of Busy P's set, as well as the hour+ that he and DJ Mehdi switched on and off. Somehow they managed to put together a set that was as excellent as I imagined it would be, yet totally unexpected. Here are just a few selections (there are gaps between some of these tracks, while some were actually played one after the other) from the mix they spun of dance classics, brand new tracks, and everything in between (a few of the tracks in the beginning of the list might be from Busy P's solo set - it was a bit of a blur):

Justice - Stress
Daft Punk - Oh Yeah
The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy, Hey Girl (Soulwax remix)
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
Armand Van Helden - Necessary Evil
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Intro
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax remix)
The Chemical Brothers - Do It Again
Justice - DVNO
Daft Punk - High Life
Rye Rye - Shake It To the Ground
Klaxons - As Above, So Below
Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place
Trevor Loveys & Sinden - Organ Grinder
Franki Valli & The Four Seasons - Beggin' (Pilooski edit)
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?


So awesome and so much fun.

Some pictures:

From DJ Mehdi & Busy P at Santos Party House

Here's one by one of my readers, Jose:


Check out a bunch more he took here.

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Busy P & DJ Mehdi at Santos tonight

Just a friendly reminder:



The last time I saw Busy P in March he spun an excellent, diverse, fun set.

Every time I've seen DJ Mehdi, his sets have been great and also really fun.

I've seen them Busy P & Dj Mehdi deejay together (for only 10 minutes) and it was great.

So tonight...if you can...you should go.

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Mid-week Vids #2

Somehow I had never heard the classic Prodigy track, "Charly", until a week ago. This is the British cartoon where they got the cat sample. I love it!



In case you missed it: Mid-week Vids #1.

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Feadz surprise guest dj set at Arlo & Esme tonight

This was just announced last night:



Feadz killed it at the Yard on Sunday. KILLED. One of the best deejay sets I've seen in a while. He played everything...electro, house, classics, b-more, UK stuff, French stuff. It was really varied and wonderful. If I didn't have an f-ing cold from going out from Thursday-Sunday (and wasn't saving my energy for Busy P & DJ Mehdi at Santos tomorrow) I would definitely be going to this tonight. More info here.

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Chemical Brothers NOT Producing MGMT's Next Album

Thanks to a tip from the Chemical Brothers forum (which I should've checked to begin with), according to a recent post on MGMT's myspace blog:

"Also, contrary to another internet rumor, though they be rad dudes, the Chemical Brothers will not be producing MGMT's next album."

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Panda Toes Deejays in New York tonight!

I read way too many blogs. Panda Toes is one of them and tonight they are deejaying at Plan B in the East Village. They post some good jamz so I imagine their deejay sets would feature the same...check it out!

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Trevor Jackson at Mini Rooftop NYC 9/12/08

By the time I heard about the Mini Rooftop, all the events I was interested in were already filled up. So I basically got over it right then and tried to forget about it.

Then Friday afternoon, out of nowhere I got a message from the the été d'amour facebook group:

Party tonight.
7pm to midnight.
Music by Trevor Jackson (London) & Chateau Flight (Paris).
Open bar all night.
RSVP ONLY:

yea-yuhh! There were only a couple of events I wanted to go to on the Mini Rooftop and this was one of them. I have really wanted to see Trevor deejay again, ever since the debacle at Love in February.

I arrived around 10. The party was moved indoors from the roof since it had been raining earlier in the evening. The roof was left open so you could go up and hang out, but the deejays and bar were inside, 1 floor down. There were two long backless couch/bench things to lounge on. People were mainly chatting. There were literally three people dancing. I was a little concerned because while I didn't care so much at the moment, I really hoped more people would be dancing by the time Trevor started.

A little bit before 11 he went on, opening with a banging remix of "Situation" by Yaz, and spun a blissful funky electro set until the party was over at midnight. Thankfully by then five people were dancing and the delicious free booze made me feel like that was enough for me to hit the floor. So I danced my ass the entire set and had a great time. For the most part the place stayed in chat/mingle mode...at most the floor got maybe 15 people full.

I talked to Trevor for a minute before I left. I thanked him for the great set and asked if he was deejaying anywhere else in NY this weekend. No :( He thanked me for dancing which was pretty awesome.

I went to see Linus Loves at Le Royale afterwards, but could not shift gears from funky to regular electro so I left after 30 minutes or so.

Here a couple of pics of Trevor deejaying:

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Who are "Outsiders" now headlining the Soulwax show on October 24th?!

nobody! just a stupid Ticketmaster/Livenation listing error!

The name of the event is "Insiders" and it's being curated by Pete Tong:



see?

Tickets are officially going on sale tomorrow at noon through Ticketmaster, Livenation, as well as all Ticketmaster locations, and the box office at Irving Plaza.

On October 24th during New York City’s CMJ Music Festival, UK DJ extraordinaire, forward thinker and BBC's very own Pete Tong will be teaming up with Live Nation and launching the premier of a new music platform; the Insiders Music Series. “INSIDERS brings together an exciting combination of the hottest electronic artists and dj's for one extended night in the legendary Irving Plaza venue. A cutting edge 'micro' festival in the city.” Explains Tong who aims to showcase some of the worlds biggest and burgeoning electronic acts from all over the world, all under one roof and for one night only this October at New York’s historical Irving Plaza.

“This is an exciting and groundbreaking opportunity for the business of electronic music...” - Pete Tong


With only a handful of artists breaking through into the “big time” in America, it dawned on Pete that with a little help from his friends and associates in the music business, they could join forces with a mainstream heavy weight promoter such as Live Nation and bring together the worlds best electronic and indie acts of our time. "I am excited to collaborate with Pete who has had unprecedented success and remains one of the celebrated architects of modern electronic music. We each bring a unique yet complimentary perspective that will not only set this event apart from all others but lay the foundation for several years to come.” states Live Nation New York Senior V.P Jason Miller who jumped at the opportunity to work in conjunction with one of the worlds most instrumental voices in exposing and developing electronic music globally "this event brings some of the worlds most cutting edge dj’s together with outstanding live artistry” Miller continues.

The goal is to highlight and celebrate a cross pollination of genres, all somewhat considered left-of-center but each possessing the potential to gain mass appeal in the mainstream arena - Insiders is destined to provide a jam packed, quality festivalé of fun and music, redefining the future of electronic music. William Morris Electronic brokered the deal.

While I think it would be great for electronic music to experience the more mainstream success and acceptance it has in other countries, I'm not certain putting together a single evening event with a $55 price tag and 7 acts (8 if Soulwax is doing separate live and 2manydj's sets) is the way to do it. I could go on, but I'm going to stop there. I'm excited to see Soulwax again. I think they're worth the $55. I'm interested in seeing the Whip and I'm sure once I look into the other acts further, I'll probably be looking forward to seeing at least one more of them. When you do the math it's not that bad.

In other math and perhaps the more pressing question than the one of price...with this many acts and Irving's curfew...how long can everyone's set possibly be?! When Soulwax headlined last month their set was only an hour long...an awesome hour that left me satisfied at the time, but needing to see them again ASAP...

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October 24 Soulwax Tickets Update!

BAD NEWS: I just tested the Livenation link to purchase Soulwax tickets at noon and it is not working.

GOOD NEWS: Livenation is offering exclusive "Back to School" pricing of $10! on select shows at the the Fillmore at Irving Plaza (as well as at the other venues listed below) and I think Soulwax might be one of them because of the yellow "special offers available" ticket next to the show. The promotion ends at 10pm tomorrow so I would try getting tickets at noon tomorrow which is the time Ticketmaster has listed for them to go on sale. Other venues offering $10 pricing on some shows below:

Blender Theater at Gramercy

Roseland Ballroom

Hammerstein Ballroom

Warsaw

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Soulwax Tickets for October 24th show at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza on Sale Tomorrow (9/11) at noon!

Tickets for Soulwax's October 24th show at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza go on sale here tomorrow (September 11th) at 12 noon!

The bill is listed on Livenation's website as follows: Outsiders, Pete Tong, Soulwax with Rob Da Bank, The Whip, Luciano, Late of the Pier, James Lavelle.

BUT!

On Ticketmaster the show is listed as "Outsiders featuring Pete Tong and Soulwax", going on sale here at 12 noon on Friday (September 12th). Tickets are $55...worth it, but DAMN!

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Chemical Brothers to produce new MGMT album

...excuse me...WHAT?!?!

I am not sure how I feel about this. Hadn't really been feeling MGMT but in all fairness I've heard maybe 2 tracks...might've been remixes too...and I kind of liked one of them but wasn't sure. Hah. I guess I will have to investigate. I also need to check out Soulwax's remix of MGMT's "Kids".

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Mid-week Vids #1

'allo! I am going to try to post a video (music or otherwise) that I find awesome every Wednesday. Here is the first one!

An unofficial video for Patrick 122 (Mr. Oizo) featuring a crazy Russian animation with sheep!

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Ete D'Amour Outdoor Party at the Yard w/ DJ Feadz, Stretch Armstrong, and Holy Ghost - Sunday September 14th

A nice line-up to rock the Yard!



Feadz, Stretch Armstrong, and Holy Ghost

Advanced tickets available here.

Not to mention the already insane amount of awesome stuff happening next week - if you're using a feed reader click through to the full site and check out the shows list on the left!

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Chemical Brothers' best of, "Brotherhood" out today!

The Chemical Brothers' best of album, Brotherhood is out today!

It includes some of their hits from past years as well as recent tracks "Keep My Composure" featuring Spankrock (previously only available on the "Heroes" soundtrack) and "Midnight Madness".

I love the Chemical Brothers but there is a lot of overlap with this album and Singles 93-03, BUT! there is also a deluxe double-CD version of Brotherhood which includes Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10 which is awesome:

Since '96, Electronic Battle Weapons have acted as the laboratories for the duo's pioneering musical high-jinx, not to mention providing some of The Chemical Brothers' most memorable mixes. Until this album, the Electronic Battle Weapons series has only been available on limited formats, and this is the very first time they have been widely available in single format.

The tracklisting for Brotherhood is below. Titles that appear on both albums (Brotherhood and Singles 93-03, so you can see what I'm talking about) are in bold:

Brotherhood Tracklisting:

1. Galvanize
2. Hey Boy Hey Girl
3.Block Rockin' Beats
4. Do It Again
5. Believe
6. Star Guitar
7. Let Forever Be
8. Leave Home
9. Keep My Composure
10. Saturate
11. Out Of Control
12. Midnight Madness
13. Golden Path
14. Setting Sun
15. Chemical Beats

Still worth buying for the 2 new tracks + I cannot stress the awesomeness that is getting all the EBW's.

Also, check out the video for the Chems' newest track, Midnight Madness below. The goblin totally freaks me out, but the track is boss, especially out on a big system:

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Random shite - Volume 1

I have discovered a couple of things recently, mainly relating to music production, mixing, etc. that have been surprising, awesome, and made me go "hmm" all at the same time.

This first happened about a week ago when I was exploring my new favorite website, Soulwax.info. I was going through the "Productions" section and found that Soulwax had produced some stuff I've been digging for a while now, ie Das Pop's "Fool for Love" and "Disco Sirens" by Midfield General.

THEN...just a few moments ago I read this on Phoenix's myspace blog:

***** ALBUM UPDATE *****

We've chosen the path of most resistance
We're late but happy
It will be worth the wait

Ps: We're about to start mixing with our friend Zdar (United!)

Zdar?! as in Philippe Zdar? aka 1/2 of Cassius?! Yes...that is the Zdar they are talking about.

It's a small world...

Check out Philippe's solo myspace here.

You can download a new-ish Phoenix track, "Twenty One One Zero" after you give a bunch of info to Cartier.

And check out some great footage along with commentary from Stephen and David Dewaele, from Soulwax's recent Myspace Secret Show in London:

Soulwax: MySpace Secret Shows

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Pharrell (Fluo Kids), 33Hz, and Alan Braxe at Santos 8/28/08

Alan Braxe at Santos Party House - 8/28/08
This past Thursday night at Santos was one of the most fun nights out I've had in a while. The vibe at Santos was great. Got their early to beat the cover. It was already pretty full and people were merrily grooving to Pharrell's (from French electronic music blog Fluo Kids) excellent set that was a melodic blend of more groovy house/slightly discoey jams than I expected - really a great set.

33Hz went on close to 12:30, and as much as I hate to say it - it was not one of their best sets. They opened with one of my favorite tracks - "Crazy All the Time" and it took me a moment to notice because it sounded totally different - as did all of the tracks, because they added some robotic vocal effect to ALL the vocals for the entire show. It just sounded bad and drowned out/took away from everything else good that the band was doing.

A little before 1:30 Alan Braxe went on. The past couple of times I've seen him over the past year I didn't have the greatest time. The first was more my issue, and the second time the set just wasn't doing it for me. Alan's set at Santos Thursday made up for any shortcomings of the past two. French fire from beginning to end - a perfect balance of classic and updated French house with tasteful hints of electro. It was a blissful set. Can't remember too many specifics of what he dropped other than his & Fred Falke's remix of "Bossy" by Kelis, teased with "Music Sounds Better With You", Lumberjack by Alan Braxe & Kris Menace, and the banging ending of his set which consisted of Soulwax's "E Talking" into "Hung Down" by the Presets. The whole time Alan was really into the set, clapping, smiling, etc and the crowd gave it right back. Another night of serious fun.

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Download: Sebastien Tellier - L'amour Et La violence (Boys Noize remix)

I've recently been reminiscing about Sebastien Tellier's excellent New York debut performance at Hiro last month. Boys Noize also has recently reappeared on my radar as he is coming here in October with A-trak for the Attack of the Unibros Tour. Now imagine the immense joy I felt when I saw that two of our Best Beardsmen of '07 joined forces in the form of the Boys Noize remix of Sebastien Tellier's "L'amour Et La violence". Download it below!

Sebastien Tellier - L'amour Et La violence (Boys Noize remix)

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James Ford, Klaxons, and Simian Mobile Disco (new album for end of '08!) News!

Simian Mobile Disco debuting their live show at Studio B last July

You can read the whole article here on BBC Newsbeat, but here are the main points:


Regarding James Ford producing Klaxons' second record:

He told Newsbeat: "I think they're still trying to push forward so I don't think it's going to sound too much like the last record." ...

Ford said: "They're trying to keep it melodic and vocal because that's one of their great strong points.

"It's going to be really exciting."

Regarding the Last Shadow Puppets:

Ford produced The Last Shadow Puppets' self-titled debut album and played the drums during their sets at the Reading and Leeds Festivals this weekend. You might remember that James was the drummer for Simian.


Regarding a new Simian Mobile Disco album:

Ford also revealed his own band, SMD, are working on getting an album out towards the end of the year.

He said: "We've already done a track with Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals, which is great, and one with Beth Ditto from The Gossip.

"It's looking good so far."

And...James is getting married next month! Congratulations on all accounts!

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New Royksopp album due out October 2008!

For as far back as I can remember I've had really wild, intricate dreams...nearly every night. Sometimes they involve bands and deejays. Recently I had one in which I was going to see Royksopp at Irving Plaza (which I have actually done twice in reality), got separated from my friends, nearly got in a fight with some crazy girl that was dancing with her hand in my face, and then walked past her to find my friend Jason whom I had no idea was going to be at the show or that he even liked Royksopp.

Anyway...that got me thinking. What the hell have those Norwegians been up to? Seeing Soulwax made me remember how much I love live electronic music and Royksopp was one of the first live electronic acts I ever saw. The first time I saw them (which was at Irving Plaza) the only other electronic act I had seen live was the Chemical Brothers. Despite having only the Chems' monstruous live show to compare it to, Royksopp still totally blew me away.

Their last release was a contribution to the Back to Mine compilation series which came out in April of last year, and their last studio release was The Understanding waaay back in July of 2005 with a great live EP, Royksopp's Night Out released in between in June of '06. So I did some sleuthing on the internets and found an article posted YESTERDAY from the Music Information Centre Norway:

Röyksopp set to return in October!

Some more info on what it might sound like:

From an interview on BBC's Radio 1 last April: "I think, it's safe to say this a bit more uptempo, there aren't that much vocals compared to other two albums. We are back to more instrumental bits. It's more progressive; not progressive like in "progressive house", but more progressive as in "progressive rock"."


Both Robyn and Lykki Li have been confirmed as contributing vocalists.


And according to a news article written in Norwegian (that I thankfully found translated along with much of this other info on the Royksopp Forums):

"We have spent a lot of time in the kitchen, where we have made music in a well-known Röyksopp-outfit."

"It (the music) will be some summer-fresh, accesible salads, but also some heavier, not too accesible elephant beefs."

"We think that robin is very good, especially her newest album is great!"


A couple of tracks called "I Wanna Know" and "Korene" leaked at some point. I managed to find footage of Royksopp performing both of them live for the first time last October:

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Soulwax 2 Many DJ's remix of Hey Boy, Hey Girl by the Chemical Brothers

I can't believe I forgot to mention this in the past 2 posts. My all time favorite deejays/producers - the Chemical Brothers have been remixed by one of my new favorite deejays/bands/producers Soulwax. It's the Chems' classic, "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" and you can download it for free here after signing up for the Chemical Brothers' newsletter. I've only listened to it once so far and am still figuring out what to make of this marriage between two of my favorite artists. Despite that about halfway through I realized how devastating it will be once someone drops it in the middle of a set on a good, loud system. I can't wait!

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Soulwax October North American Tour Dates!

Soulwax is coming back here (and Canada and Mexico) in October! Big ups to Mitchell for giving me the heads up on this!

Oct 24 Irving Plaza, New York
Oct 25 Opera House, Toronto
Oct 26 Double Door, Chicago
Oct 28 HIFI Club, Calgary
Oct 29 The Plaza, Vancouver
Oct 30 Mezzanine, San Francisco
Oct 31 Hard Haunted House, Los Angeles
Nov 1 BorderNoise, Juarez (Mexico)

None of the tickets are on sale yet, but definitely stay up on it. Their show here at Irving Plaza just over a couple of weeks ago (though it feels like forever to me) was the best show I've been to this year. Check out the review if you haven't already.

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Soulwax at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza 8/6/08

Soulwax @ the Fillmore @ Irving Plaza - August 6, 2008 (CRED)

Sorry for the delay on this review!

Because of the amount that I go out, I don't get as excited as I used to about shows that are coming up. With the number of good events happening, one after the other, there's really not much time for a lead up - there are no pre-show countdowns anymore. I get really excited months ahead of time when I first find out an act is coming through New York and the next thing I know the show has come and gone. However, with Soulwax, anytime I heard a remix of theirs in the past month I found myself getting excited for the show. When it was finally August it only got worse, and the day of the show I was climbing the walls with anticipation.

Whereas there were a few instances this year in which other acts I was similarly excited about disappointed, Soulwax did no such thing. They were the complete opposite. Not only did they fulfill every expectation I had of them based on my 2-night Soulwax bender last spring, they crushed them. When I saw them last April, Soulwax was essentially playing their Nite Versions album live, straight through, which was awesome in and of itself. This time around they mixed up some great tracks from Nite Versions along with some of their always awesome remixes, which as impossible as it seems, only got better when performed live. From the second the brothers Dewaele took the stage along with Stefaan Van Leuven and Steve Slingeneyer it was a sheer eruption of live guitar, synths, bass, and menacing drums which had the crowd continually losing it for the entire hour+ Soulwax was on stage. Soulwax's live show is great because they take their excellent standalone tracks and remixes, far from being in need of resuscitation, and deliver them with a fury that seems as though their lives depend on it. This was hands down, no contest, the best electronic show I have been to this year. Not one of the best (which I've said about a few acts already) the best.

True to last year's form I've been having trouble letting such an amazing evening go, resulting in watching tons of live Soulwax footage on youtube. Here's some from last Wednesday night that really captures the live Soulwax experience (and gives you some idea of what they played - nobody stopped dancing long enough for a setlist):

Gundamfrenzied was right up against the stage which is a great way to experience Soulwax. Just to warn you - clip #2 gets very shaky almost immediately, but really makes you feel like you're there and gets a good shot of the crowd. Clip #3 - Get Innocuous! Clip #4 - great footage of the segue from Miserable Girl into Another Excuse.

I'm surprised I have yet to run into divinejudge1 at a show - we are at all the same ones and I always end up watching his videos afterward on youtube. Here are 10 great ones he took from the upper level:



These are the last two I promise - some great live versions of Soulwax's great remixes (in the thick of things on the main floor):

Gravity's Rainbow

Phantom Part II

You can find more footage like that in Soulwax's documentary, Part of the Weekend Never Dies, which chronicles the band's tour over the course of 120 shows as well as interviews with fellow musicians, and footage from the road. It's been screening in Europe and at all the shows on this tour (I unfortunately missed it at Irving). It comes out on DVD in the US on September 9th. And I know I've already posted them, but I love the trailers:



Radio Soulwax - Part of the Weekend never Dies - Are You Filming


A little bird told me they were coming back in the Spring, but it actually looks like it'll be sooner than that. More info in a post to follow immediately!

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Vote for Fardoche!

Remember when I posted some new, weird, electronic goodness from Fardoche back in February? You might not (I can't believe how long ago that was), and if you don't it's definitely worth checking out. Anyway...he's entered a contest to come up with the new "sound signature" (basically a little sound clip that will be associated with the brand) for Sennheiser. He's one of the 30 finalists. There are judges for the contest as well as an online voting element. I really like his entry so I voted for it. You can vote one time and I'm pretty sure voting is open until the end of August (I just can't find where I originally read it to confirm). You can check out all the entries here and vote as well. The prize is a 5,000 euros or 30,000 euros if Sennheiser chooses to acquire the unlimited user rights to the sound signature which needless to say could really help him crank out his new record. So please check out Fardoche's entry and consider voting for it!

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