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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