Felix Cartal at Ruff Club tonight

If you missed him last night:

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Felix Cartal, L.A. Riots, and the Bloody Beetroots at Love 4/24/08

I hit Love with Busy Paul around 11. There was a decent sized crowd for that hour, but unfortunately the place never really got that full. Felix Cartal was on when we went in. He played a solid set. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely changed things up a bit from all the usual electro heard all too often lately. Also, the way he was manipulating the beats reminded me a bit of Passions at times. Not sure exactly what it was though.

I didn't really note the time L.A. Riots went on. For some reason only Daniel was there deejaying. I really wasn't too into his set either. He played some good tracks and all that, but something was just missing, especially when compared to many of their simply banging mixes floating around the net. At one point he dropped an old school track (can't remember which), which got Paul and I going on a tangent about how everything is coming back. I said in the next 10 minutes we're going to hear a disco siren. Sure enough we did:)

Also at some point in the middle of Daniel's set I recognized Lee from No Love Lost Records and got to chat with him a bit about his label. Keep your ears open. There should be some good stuff coming out of there over the next few months. Also, check out the NLLR Mixtape Project in the meantime for some fresh music. You can get to all the mixes from the Myspace page, but if you're on Facebook, I recommend joining the NLLR Mixtape Project group. You'll get a nice little email whenever Lee uploads a new mix (which is quite often, there are already 45!).

After taking a quick break from the increasingly steamy main room, Paul and I scurried back just in time for the Bloody Beetroots to drop a 2 hour mix of recent electro tracks all of which they delivered with their excellent Bloody Beetroots touch (and the help of a Kaoss pad). They played more of their own tracks and remixes than I am capable of remembering or naming right now. Towards the end of the evening they dropped Crookers' remix of Salmon Dance (WOW!) by the Chemical Brothers, a track I am incapable of getting sick of, and Flex by Dizzee Rascal whose music I have been very into lately, and Spinal Scratch by Thomas Bangalter, which is awesome. The Beetroots spun their little Italian hearts out and had me dancing until the end of their set at nearly 4 am, leaving me with aching feet and about 3.5 hours of sleep ahead of me before I had to wake up for work this morning.

One lone cellphone pic to remember the evening (Daniel of L.A. Riots, Bob Rifo, and Tommy Tea):

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Kavinsky at Studio B 4/19/08

(Most of this was written a little after 4am, but I didn't get all the media uploaded until now)

Just got home from seeing Kavinsky at Studio B. He was awesome.

I arrived at 12ish, the place was pretty empty, but quickly filled up over the course of an hour. It was the ideal level of Studio B fullness where the place didn't turn into the sweatbox from hell it has been lately, but there were still plenty of people there getting down. After Jen Lasher did a wonderful job warming up the crowd for 2 hours, Kavsinky went on at 2am.

I don't remember what he started with, but a few songs in he played the Mr. Oizo remix of "Merrymaking at My Place" by Calvin Harris, then D.I.M.'s remix of "My People" by The Presets. Then he played some stuff that wasn't all that recent, but what he chose, how/when he dropped the tracks, and what he did with them made it fun anyway. In the midst of it he also dropped some of his own stuff, a Santogold track, and a B-more-ish track I don't know the name of.

Then at some point there was a shift, where there was literally one awesome track after another all the way through until the end of his set. It was like every track was one you weren't expecting, but then once Kavinsky dropped them they made perfect sense.

I was able to identify almost all of the tracks, and I geeked out and saved a list of them on my phone. I was going to make a Muxtape of all of them, but then I realized you can only upload 12 songs...whack. I found this other site called Mixwit that is a bit different, and I was able to put all the songs on there except for a few that weren't available. You can stream the tape below. There's also a separate tracklisting with the tracks I wasn't able to find/identify in bold. Try to imagine it being well-mixed and banging as you listen to it and that will be vaguely like being at the B last night.

Tracklisting:

Daft Punk - Face to Face
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Jamelia - Something About You (Mr. Oizo remix)
Fancy - What's Your Name Again (Busy P remix)
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of (SebastiAn remix)
Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
SebastiAn - Momy
Boys Noize - Deny Selected
SebastiAn - Motor
ZZT - Lower State of Consciousness
Justice - DVNO (Justice remix)
?
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Chromeo - Tenderoni
Missy Elliott - Ching-A-Ling
?
Phil Collins - Sussudio
Paul Engemann- Scarface (Push It to the Limit)
Justice - Let There Be Light (DJ Funk remix)
Justice - Let There Be Light (demo version)
Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin
Daft Punk - One More Time
+ a few more tracks I couldn't i.d.


Sidenotes about Kavinsky:

He totally was Frannnnccchhhing it up - smoking and taking swigs out of a bottle of vodka the whole time. He was also having a good time, dancing a bit, bobbing his head, at one point he did the robot.

He played until maybe 4:05, then the bouncer got kinda nasty because he didn't stop right away. Then everyone that was left (the most people I have seen at the B at 4am in a while) kinda went nuts. A bunch of people started yelling stuff to him in French, he yelled back. Serious fun.

A few pics:

Kavinsky at Studio B

A few short video clips merged together that I shot w/ my cellphone:




Overall it was a great night - one of the best deejay sets I've experienced so far this year. I'm exhausted, my feet are aching, but I am so happy. Kavinsky really tore it up. I also think his set showed what a good deejay he is as many of the songs weren't particularly recent, but he made them work together amazingly well. More nights need to be like that.

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LA Riots, Bloody Beetroots and Felix Cartal Free Tour!

The tour is sponsored by Scion, which apparently has been commissioning deejays to create mix cds. The tour is actually a series of cd release parties for the most recent mix which was done by LA Riots, which Busy Paul Thump Thump has been telling me is awesome. You can stream it here.

The tour starts Wednesday, April 23rd in Chicago, then hits New York, San Franciso and Los Angeles. All the parties are free (just RSVP) and the New York one is on the 24th at Love!


I can't wait. Bloody Beetroots are going to destroy the place. Bring your earplugs!
There's a review of the Bloody Beetroots at Hiro here along with info and a download link for the dope mix they did for the great NLLR mixtape Project.

Also, LA Riots did a nice little mix a couple of months ago that you can download here. Looking forward to finally seeing them. Tracklisting:

Grooveman - House De La Groove
Heartsrevolution - Switchblade (LA Riots Remix)
Kylie Minogue - Wow (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Rolf Honey - Blast Up (Yuksek edit)
Sgt. Slick & Pitch Dark - Automatic Machine (Vandalism Remix)
Yelle - Tristesse (Rolf Honey Remix)
Das Pop - Fool For Love (Yuksek Remix)
Felix Da Housecat - Jack u (Angello & Ingrosso Remix)
Laidback Luke - We Rock Da House
Larry Tee (ft. Princess Superstar) - Licky (Herve Goes Low Remix)
Solid Groove & Sinden - Red Hot (Remix)
Aaren Sanz - Osc Low Nyzz (Blende Remix)
MSTRKRFT - Neon Knights
Count & Sinden - Beeper (A-Trak Remix)


Felix Cartal remains a man of mystery to me. Luckily Missingtoof seems to have him covered. I am really behind on my listening lately.

Do not miss this party!

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Ruff Club 2 year anniversary

Tonight is the 2 year anniversary of Ruff Club at the Annex. Should be excellent. A Touch of Class are deejaying (along with a bunch of other peeps, check out the flyer). I can't wait. They had me losing it at PS1 back in July. If you check out that review you will see that they play everything. There also should be some ATOC MP3 goodness in my 'Week in Dance' post over at Brooklynvegan at some point today, so have a listen.

I don't really remember what was played the first time I ever saw ATOC (which was also at PS1, the summer prior to the one I posted about above), but I do remember having a great time. Check it out:

ATOC live at PS1 08/05/2006 (part 1)
ATOC live at PS1 08/05/2006 (part 2)

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DFA Dance Party at the Moma 3/1/08 - Audio!

Remember that party I went to at the Moma last month? They recorded all the deejay sets! There are 4 - Justin Miller & Jacques Renault, Holy Ghost, T&T, and the Juan Maclean.

Download them here, cover your living room in Twister mats, and re-enact the disco madness.

ps - that pic is the first thing that comes up when you do a Google image search for "disco"

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Fool's Gold Tour 2 w/ Sammy Bananas, Kid Cudi, Sinden, A-trak, and Steve Aoki at Hiro 4/10/08

Arrived at Hiro at about 11:30 with Mike. We had missed Sammy Bananas and Kid Cudi was in the middle of performing. I wasn't really into it, just like last time. I did enjoy when he ended with Day'N'Nite because it went into the Crookers remix.

Sinden was on next and he was by far my favorite part of the evening. His set was a pleasant change from all the Frannnssschhh stuff I have been listening to lately. It was just UK, grimey, fidgety bliss. He played This is Sick (which was DOPE), Beeper, and Organ Grinder. He also played some stuff I didn't know, and stuff I knew (but not by name).

EVERYBODY was dropping Bloody Beetroots tracks tonight. Unfortunately I don't know any of their tracks by name, but I can tell when I am hearing one. It drives me nuts. I need to learn the names.

After Sinden, A-trak went on. His set is a bit very fuzzy. I remember being into it and the one specific thing I can remember is him dropping the Fred Falke remix of 'Golden Cage' by the Whitest Boy Alive (who incidentally are awesome - kinda mellow rock/pop - they might remind you of a hopped up version of Kings of Convenience because Erlend Oye does the vocals). It was perfect.

Right around when I was starting to get tired of A-trak's set he was done and Steve Aoki went on. Overall I wasn't impressed by his set this time. I feel like it was all the same stuff I've been hearing lately. There was a song here and there that I was into, but overall the set was just kinda ehh. I left early...

Overall it was a fun night. The crowd was a bit odd...seemed a little younger than usual. Whatev, they were relentlessly getting down and the floor was still pretty packed when I left.

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Justice's Xavier deejaying at Le Royale Saturday April 12th

$20 advance tickets here.

Highly recommended. Saw Xavier spin at Studio B after their Saturday Terminal 5 show this past fall. Serious fun. He plays everything.

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Sustainable Dance Clubs

A pretty cool idea:



ps - is anyone else freaked out by the hand/tree logo?!

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Degenerates - Tommy Sunshine, Moby, and DJ Mehdi at Hiro 4/3/08

Last night's Degenerates party was great. Headed in with Paul around 11:30. Tommy Sunshine was already on deck dropping a banging remix of SMD's 'Hustler'. He played a lot of stuff I didn't know (like last time), but his set was solid and highly danceable. Busy Paul and I discussed how though his set was great, you could tell he was holding back...like he really could've opened it up, gone all out, and made everyone lose their shit, but he didn't. He kept it fun, but not crazy and got everyone all warmed up for Moby's set. Big ups to Tommie for showing some restraint. If I was as talented as he is and had so much music at my disposal I don't know if I would be able to do that.

Around 12:30 Moby went on. He killed as he has been at all the other parties...a great mix of old school stuff with enough new to keep it interesting. He played 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' by the Chemical Brothers and I absolutely freaked out. He also played one of his new tracks - 'Disco Lies'. It's a good song, but it seemed a little out of place. Just a tad too disco-ey to throw in with what he was playing. I really like the song though. Also, the video is really funny/awesome/will make you feel really bad about eating chicken:



My only "gripes" w/ his deejay set...he played Bassment Jaxx 'Where's your head at' which I think he's played at every Degenerates party so far, and also one of his songs, I think it's 'We Are All Made of Stars', but I'm not sure. And really, these aren't really gripes...the crowd has a good reaction to both of them, they're a lot of fun to dance to, and unless you've been to most of the other parties you wouldn't know, so whatever. Anyway...

He killed it until about 1:45? Then DJ Mehdi went on. I can't remember what he opened with. Then he dropped that track that repeats "My baby is not at home" (that I don't know the name of). He also dropped in no particular order:

the songs that goes "this...is going...to make you freak", which I think is called "Freak" and is by LFO, but not sure.
the Chemical Brothers - Do It Again
Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco remix)
Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (original version)
Justice - DVNO (Justice Remix)(great to hear out for a change instead of the Phantoms, which btw were also dropped by DJ Mehdi and Tommie Sunshine. BP and I were discussing how they've kind of had their run...I love the Justice album, but I am really tired of hearing only those 2 songs and D.A.N.C.E. when I'm out. Especially from deejays on Ed Banger...I love their sets regardless, but don't they have access to any of the new music coming out?)

DJ Mehdi's set was serious fun, and he's so happy to be deejaying - always dancing around and smiling. Easily becoming one of my fave deejays. Obligatory cellphone pic:



Overall it was a solid party and a great night of dancing. Hiro was packed for a good part of the evening and everyone was dancing. As expected, after Moby finished his set a lot of people headed out, but the floor was still pretty packed with the masses getting down until the end of DJ Mehdi's set at 3:30.

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Soulwax to play Irving Plaza in August!!!

This post could alternately be titled "Mike you are my hero for telling me about this" / "David Bruno thank you for making me go see them last year" (you can read some of my post-Soulwax ranting and raving here. There's also a link in those posts to some Youtube videos from those 2 nights.

Anyway...Soulwax are playing Irving Plaza on Wednesday August 6th. Tickets go on sale here at noon this Friday (April 4th).

Their new show is supposed to be great. According to their myspace:

"Soulwax Nite Versions perform their remixes live exclusively for a limited time only. Following on from where Nite Versions left off, Soulwax will be playing most of the remixes they’ve made for other people over the years. This will include some that are hard to find, some people forgot about and some that haven’t been released yet, bits of that Gossip one you like plus Kylie, LCD, Justice etc. and a few new surprises thrown in for good measure... You get the idea."

This is going to be great. Do NOT sleep on this!!!

(photo of Soulwax destroying the B last April from here)

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