Showtrotta

The End

2010-11-10T10:21:00.003-05:00

Update

2010-10-05T10:49:00.004-04:00

Hola...

I dunno when/if I'll start posting regularly again, but I still update the shows list. Here's the latest (it's also in the left sidebar):

Sundays (6pm until late) - Nouveau York at Le Bain at the Standard Hotel

October 6 - Ella Wednesdays with Eli Escobar and Dominique Keegan

October 7 - Felix Cartal at Santos

October 9 - Cajmere at Sullivan Room

October 15 - Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 at Girls & Boys at Webster Hall

October 21 - Social Club Abracada CMJ party with Yuksek & Brodinski aka The Krays, The Aikiu (live), Pilooski, Mustang, and Mikix the Cat at Hiro

October 23 - Frankie Knuckles at Sullivan Room

October 27 - Underworld at Roseland

October 28 - Busy P at Love

October 29 - DJ T at Love

October 29 - Boys Noize & Rusko at Girls & Boys at Webster Hall

November 5 - Crookers, Jack Beats, and Star Eyes at Girls & Boys at Webster Hall

November 6 - Fixed with Boy 8-Bit at Public Assembly

November 13 - Tim Fite at Mercury Lounge

November 14 - Tim Fite at Knitting Factory

November 24 - James Zabiela at Santos

December 3 - the Sights at Rockwood Music Hall

Free Chemical Brothers "Further" Screening at Solar One on Monday!

2010-07-07T15:00:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard it yet...the new Chemical Brothers album Further is dope. It's quite possibly the best fusion of their old and new sounds to date. Flat Nose George (who has been responsible for many of the Chems' amazing tour visuals to date) has created what I've heard are some brilliant visuals to coincide with the tracks on the album. This coming Monday (July 12th) there's a free screening happening at Solar One. Info below:

Spacer One: This Thursday at the Tribeca Grand

2010-06-23T15:05:00.001-04:00

This Thursday (6/24) there's a launch party at the Tribeca Grand Hotel for a new art exhibition (Spacer: One) featuring nine great French artists (Geneviève Gauckler, H5, Bessy & Combe, Stéphane Manel, Supakitch & Koralie, and Imp Kerr) whose work will be on display for the following month (6/24 - 7/24).

Dominique Keegan (Plant Music) will be deejaying and there will be a screenings of Logorama (Oscar 2010 Best Short Animated Movie) and music videos for "Peace Running", directed by Bessy & Combe, and "Pacifics!" directed by Stéphane Manel. All the info is on the flyer below - be sure to RSVP!

DJ Falcon at Santos tonight!

2010-06-03T15:14:00.003-04:00

Go see him.

His set at Le Poisson Rouge in November '08 was great! (#10 in my 20 best shows of that year)

Info & tickets.

Resuscitate

2010-05-20T11:34:00.000-04:00

Every time I start writing an entry something stops me from posting it.

I'm not sure where this (blog) is going...I just updated the shows list though.

Get your disco on.

Love,

K

Chilly Gonzales in Piano Talk Shows at Joe's Pub

2010-01-22T15:02:00.003-05:00

Next month, Chilly Gonzales will begin a weekly series, "Piano Talk Shows" scheduled to happen every Thursday in February at Joe's Pub.

Back in September I witnessed Gonzales' piano battle against Andrew W.K. (video here) which also happened at the venue. I had virtually no exposure to Gonzales' music, knowing him more by name in terms of collaborations with Jamie Lidell and Feist. Fortunately, just a few minutes into his set he played "Take Me to Broadway" which I immediately recognized from an excellent old Simian Mobile Disco mix album. His live version was great and was just the starting point for a night of amazing skills behind the piano (and tons of witty, pleasantly snarky commentary - i.e. "The thing about Feist is...I made her...and I can take her away"). If anyone is equipped to be hosting a 4 night Piano Talk Show, it's Chilly Gonzales.

Complete info on the series below, along with some choice Gonzales footage:

Chilly Gonzales' Piano Talk Shows at Joe's Pub:

February 4 - w/ guest SIA
February 11 - w/ guest Andrew WK
February 18 - w/ guest DJ A-Trak plus surprise guest
February 25 - w/ guest Princess Superstar

All Piano Talk Shows will feature PianoVision, a video installation created by Nina Rhode, aka Ninja Pleasure. Reminiscent of a silent movie, PianoVision allows the audience to see a video projection of the piano’s 88 keys, along with the master’s finger work.

Gonzales Breaking the Guinness World Record for longest live piano performance by any individual (27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds)

(5 album release of the record-breaking performance available digitally here).

Gonzales - Take Me to Broadway

Check out Gonzales' piano remake of Erol Alkan and Boys Noize's "Waves" here which was released as a 7" in a limited pressing of 500 (with a spoken music lesson B-side), look forward to a new full-length, Ivory Tower, out in the US later this year, and definitely try to catch at least one of the Piano Talk Shows (I'm shooting for the 18th with A-trak) at Joe's Pub.

Findlay Brown at Joe's Pub, 1/13/10

2010-01-21T13:33:00.000-05:00

Last week Findlay Brown celebrated the release of his new album, Love Will Find You, by playing a wonderful show to a very full Joe's Pub. While I was impressed as always, with the consistency of Fin's talent and the solid performance at the beginning of his set (which featured many songs from his new album) it wasn't until he hit an oldie but goodie from his last album (Separated By the Sea) that I was truly floored.

Perhaps I was reading into Findlay's comparatively sparse banter with the crowd and the sweat on his brow a little too much after our interview touched on him being a nervous performer, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Fin had not fully eased into the show. About halfway through the set I felt my suspicions were correct. Upon immersing himself deeply into a familiar track from his last album ("Come Home") you could see the emotion pouring out of Findlay, and as he turned and faced his guitarist, an exchange of reassuring smiles marked a shift in the show.

From there Findlay and his band (who incidentally are newly-formed, this being only their second live performance), sailed through the second half of the set, delivering every song with deserving ease and passion. It felt like the whole second half of the show was a highlight, but a very unexpected and awesome, country-tinged cover of the Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" coupled with a beautiful solo performance of "I Will" cemented what wound up being a very solid set and wonderful celebration of Findlay's talent.

Love Will Find You came out on Verve Forecast on January 5th, but having been listening to it for months, it's one of my favorite albums of '09. I highly recommended it, along with seeing Fin the next time he's around...or if you happen to be in Boston, he's playing at T.T. the Bear's tonight.

Findlay Brown at Joe's Pub 1/13/10 - setlist

Love Will Find You
Holding Back the Night
I Still Want You
Nobody Cared
Everybody Needs Love
Come Home
Teardrops Lost In the Rain
That's Right
Sweet Dreams
I Will
I Had A Dream

encore:
Mystery Train

Mylo Mix (the Return of Mylo) for January issue of Mixmag

2010-01-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

Admit it...you've been wondering what's happened to Mylo...the one who made this great album back in '04 (?!) Well, he's back and has crafted a 17-track mix (the Return of Mylo) for Mixmag which includes numerous artists (tracklisting below) and perhaps most exciting all, a new Mylo track.

More info about this month's issue is here.

The Return Of Mylo - Tracklisting

01. Gatekeeper - Optimus Maximus
02. Turzi - Buenos Aires (Sebastian Tellier & Romain Turzi remix)
03. Strip Steve - AM FM
04. M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Donut (Boy 8-bit remix)
05. Pete Herbert - Yo Drums
06. Lindstrom & Christabelle - Baby Can't Stop (Aeroplan vocal mix)
07. Vitalic - Bluesy Tuesday
08. The Field - Sequenced (Rainbow Arabia's Dark & Dumb version)
09. KXP - 180 Hours (Of Love) (an Optimo [Espacio] mix)
10. Space System - Sorrow Show
11. Mason - Who Killed Trance (refurb)
12. Siriusmo - Wow (Modeselektor edit)
13. Units - High Pressure Days (Rory Phillips mix)
14. Mylo - Wings Of Fire
15. Maximilian Skiba - Monster
16. Telonius - Disco-Tec (Zombie Nation remix)
17. Den Haan - Russian Boat Commander

David Byrne To Lecture at the Bell House

2009-12-21T08:18:00.002-05:00

On Monday, January 11...

David will present a short video/audio lecture called "Creation in Reverse," speaking to the ways that venue and context shape artistic creation, followed by a Q&A.

The lecture is free (first come first served) and begins at 8pm. More info on the Bell House here.

Byrne spoke a bit about this subject at the Center for Architecture back in February of 2007.

DJ Mix from The Glass/Plant Music Xmas Party Tonight!

2009-12-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

In case you're on the fence about going to Plant Music's Christmas Party tonight at Ella, here's a great mix from the Glass. Dominique Keegan (who is half of the Glass) will be one of the deejays at Ella tonight. Download the mix & check out the tracklisting below. Also be sure to check out Eli Escobar's (who is also deejaying tonight's party) live set from the Ete D'Amour party in July in this post.

The Glass - October DJ Mix tracklisting

1) 'Count Your Lovers' (DJ Kue's Sunrise Mix) Plant Music Exclusive
2) Small town Romeo 'Boom' feat Shad K. (Sammy Bananas Remix) Plant Music Exclusive
3) Fake Blood 'Fix Your Accent'
4) Gossip 'Love Long Distance' (Riva Starr Vocal Mix)
5) Dj Wool 'Strobelight' feat. Subtitle (Arveene & Misk Remix) Exclusive
6) Tittsworth 'Here He Comes' feat. Nina Sky & Natalie Storm (Stretch Armstrong & Jaime Fanatic Remix) Plant Music Exclusive
8) Malente 'Little Secrets' (Jack Beats Remix)
9) Detboi 'Y'all Want Mo' (Sinden Remix)
10) Miike Snow 'Black and Blue' Savage Skulls Remix
11) Detboi & Foamo 'Girls'
12) Trevor Loveys 'Organ Grinder' (The Count's 'Big B Morgan' Remix)
13) Will Eastman 'Feelin'' (Nadastrom Mix) Plant Music Exclusive
14) Ursula 1000 'Rump' (Tom Piper's rump-a-dub-dub reFreshness)
15) Bonus: Casxio 'Seventeen' (The Glass Remix) Plant/The-Hours Exclusive

David Byrne/Fatboy Slim Collab "Here Lies Love" to be Released!

2009-12-14T10:48:00.000-05:00

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's collaboration, Here Lies Love, which has been in the making since at least 2005, is finally going to be released February 23rd on Nonesuch. Originally labeled a "song cycle" by David Byrne, the series of original compositions focus on Filipino political figure, Imelda Marcos.

Byrne performed the material as part of his curated Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall nearly 3 years ago. I went and was completely floored.

While I would love to see this produced as it was originally intended (as a performed "disco opera"), the physical release (which includes 2 CDs, a DVD, and a 100-page book) looks like it's beautifully done, and features tons of amazing guest vocalists including Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Sharon Jones, Róisín Murphy, and Cindy Lauper. Tracklisting, which includes the complete list of guest vocalists is below:

Here Lies Love Tracklisting

CD 1

1. HERE LIES LOVE
Vocal by Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine)

2. EVERY DROP OF RAIN
Vocals by Candie Payne & St. Vincent

3. YOU’LL BE TAKEN CARE OF
Vocal by Tori Amos

4. THE ROSE OF TACLOBAN
Vocal by Martha Wainwright

5. HOW ARE YOU?
Vocal by Nellie McKay

6. A PERFECT HAND
Vocal by Steve Earle

7. ELEVEN DAYS
Vocal by Cyndi Lauper

8. WHEN SHE PASSED BY
Vocal by Allison Moorer

9. WALK LIKE A WOMAN
Vocal by Charmaine Clamor

10. DON’T YOU AGREE?
Vocal by Róisín Murphy

11. PRETTY FACE
Vocal by Camille

12. LADIES IN BLUE
Vocal by Theresa Andersson

CD 2

1. DANCING TOGETHER
Vocal by Sharon Jones

2. MEN WILL DO ANYTHING
Vocal by Alice Russell

3. THE WHOLE MAN
Vocal by Kate Pierson

4. NEVER SO BIG
Vocal by Sia

5. PLEASE DON’T
Vocal by Santigold

6. AMERICAN TROGLODYTE
Vocal by David Byrne

7. SOLANO AVENUE
Vocal by Nicole Atkins

8. ORDER 1081
Vocal by Natalie Merchant

9. SEVEN YEARS
Vocals by David Byrne & Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond)

10. WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME?
Vocals by Cyndi Lauper & Tori Amos

Full info on the release is here. Also, brace yourself for what might be the artist formerly known as David Byrne:

In the meantime, I have decided to rebrand myself, inspired by Philip Morris changing their name to Altria, Blackwater to Xe, and the train I'm riding on right now that calls itself Acela - none of which mean anything, but they are cleverly evocative. When I decide on the magic word, you'll be the first to know.

Plant Music Christmas Party this Wednesday!

2009-12-14T10:21:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a big "holiday parties" post, but then realized there really aren't that many happening. In any case, what looks to be a great one is going to be happening in just two days, this Wednesday (12/16) at Ella thanks to New York label, Plant Music and Nicky Digital (who recently won Paper Magazine's People's Choice Award for Best Nightlife Blog):

All the info is on the scary Carol Channing flyer below:

Be sure to RSVP and also check out Plant's recently started blog for some great downloads and label news.

Findlay Brown Covers Wham's "Last Christmas"

2009-12-14T09:57:00.000-05:00

Findlay Brown (who you can read much more about here), recently did a whistle-y, beautiful, poignant cover of Wham's classic poppy holiday track, "Last Christmas".

You can download Findlay's version here and look forward to the US debut of his latest album Love Will Find You January 12th of next year. Also, if you happen to be in New York on January 13 stop by Joe's Pub to see Fin perform live.

This Weekend in New York

2009-12-10T12:55:00.000-05:00

Here are some dance-worthy happenings:

Friday

Always good disco with David Bruno and Robot Blair:

Saturday

I knew nothing about John Tejada until I read this interview, but one thing I have known for a while is that Justin and Eamon have yet to lead me wrong in terms of good times on the dance floor:

Meanred is throwing another one of their "Lose Your Shit" loft parties. I'm particularly excited that Eli Escobar is deejaying since the last time I saw him (at Ete D'Amour in July) he was great. You can download that set here. Info on Saturday's party below:

Have fun getting down this weekend! Also, there are more options that I haven't gone into detail about in the list in the left sidebar.

Air to tour North America in March!

2009-12-07T22:03:00.000-05:00

The excellent electronic French duo of Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel, better known as Air, are returning to North America for their first shows here since 2007! My first time seeing Air was at the Theater at Madison Square Garden when they were last here in May of '07. I was pretty new to the band at that point, and their live set absolutely floored me...so, SO good. I had three people (2 of whom I don't even usually ask for music advice) tell me to go and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Con for us New Yorkers...the show is at Terminal 5. After many debacles at that venue, the key is just to get there hellishly early and hold down a spot. It's worth it in the long run not to be far away or under that awful overhang. Anyway...here are the dates. GO SEE THEM (even if you are only into them *a little*). Their new album, Love 2 is out now on Astralwerks.

March 13: Fillmore - Miami, Florida
March 14: Hard Rock Live - Orlando, Florida
March 15: Centerstage - Atlanta, Georgia
March 17: 9:30 Club - Washington DC
March 18: Electric Factory - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
March 19: Terminal 5 - New York, New York
March 20: Berklee Performance Centre - Boston, Massachusetts
March 22: Metropolis - Montreal, Québec
March 23: Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, Ontario
March 24: Riviera Theatre - Chicago, Illinois
March 26: Fox Theatre - Oakland, California
March 27: 4th & B - San Diego, California
March 28: Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles, California

Update! December shows

2009-12-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been ages. Working toward making up for it, here is a breakdown of a lot of awesome things happening this month (& next year). The complete list (which will continue to be updated over the next few days) is in the column on the left, but some shows/parties I am particularly looking forward to are below:

Tonight and tomorrow the Sights are at Bruar Falls and Cake Shop. I first saw the Sights at Southpaw 4 years ago, where they were opening for the Caesars. Basically...they have a very classic rock sound, which is nice. Very good "hang out in a bar and down some beers with your friends" rock. At least that is what I am calling it, as of right now. Check them out.

Friday night (December 4th) Flashing Lights is happening at 88 Palace. I saw Boy 8-Bit there last year and it was one of the most memorable parties I've been to. Everyone was going crazy. It's in a dim sum restaurant in a mini-mall in Chinatown for crying out loud.

Anyway...the main reason I am going is Electrodrone is about to have a small stroke over Todd Edwards. I haven't seen him this excited (over anything that isn't dubstep) since Soulwax. And I had a pretty banging Todd Edwards remix of a Surkin track on my computer so...it should be good.

RSVP (& preview some jams)

The amount going on Saturday night is insane. Lately, seeing friends win out over who's deejaying, so I am forgoing much awesomeness to hang out with them at Sullivan Room (and also check out Mixer Assassin...half of whom I saw deejay at a friend's bday and was great!). Some other awesome things happening that I will be skipping, but recommend:

Ghostland Observatory killed it at All Points West this summer - very dancey and electronic, but delivered in a very rocking way live. They will be doing the same at Terminal 5 Saturday night. Friendly Fires have been great every time I've seen them (except maybe the last time I saw them at Le Poisson Rouge...though I might have just been cranky b/c of the ridiculous wait before their set) and are playing a sold out show at Webster Hall.

Ewan Pearson is excellent and is deejaying Mister Saturday Night at Market Hotel. Check out an interview here and Ewan's Groove Column.

Advanced tickets available here.

Also on Saturday, the aforementioned Sights are at Maxwell's and Fixed has brought over one of the less on the radar Ed Banger's, Breakbot to deejay the back room at Public Assembly:

On Sunday, (one of the best parties - vote for them at Paper's Nightlife Awards) Sunday Best rages on at the Bell House with residents Doug Singer, Eamon Harkin, and Justin Carter.

Looking ahead...

December 8 - Scion A/V Presents: A Night At Made To Play CD Release Party with Jesse Rose ( I ALWAYS miss this guy), Riva Starr, Zombie Disco Squad, Oliver$, Idiotproof, Gina Turner, and Alex English at Love. RSVP

December 11 - Brandon Eaves (Rude...has great taste in music) at Sputnik

December 18 - Lee Fields (is as close as you can get to seeing James Brown perform live) at Southpaw

December 20 - Tortured Soul (is a band that performs house music, live) at Santos

December 31 - Famous Friends New Years Eve with Trouble & Bass and Party Like Us Records hosted by Finger on the Pulse with AC Slater, B.Rich, Udachi, The Captain, Star Eyes, Jubilee, VDRK, and Bradley D (not thinking about NYE at all yet, but here is one option)

February 25 - Ulrich Schnauss (is fucking amazing!) at the Bell House. I always feel kind of ridiculous when I get THIS excited about someone who makes very mellow, atmospheric music. The truth is...it starts off mellow and works up to a beautiful bang. And the last time I saw Ulrich (opening up for Sasha...don't ask!) his set got really banging at the end...very synthy and crunchy. I loved it. Can't wait for this show in February.

Hopefully more updates will be on their way soon. Have an awesome weekend!

Sorry for the lack of posts

2009-11-13T17:10:00.003-05:00

I am going through some rough shit and it totally sucks!

Anyway...I am going to be out of town this weekend hanging with the fam, but if I were here, here's what I would do:

Saturday night check out 2020 Soundsystem at Santos. I saw them last December, and while it took me a little while to get into their set, I wouldn't hesitate to check them out again. Dominique Keegan from the Glass/Plant Music is going to be performing with them. It should be good. All the info is on the flyer and you can get tickets here:

Also worth checking out Saturday night, but I don't have time to go into detail right now: Russ Chimes w/ Famous Friends , Finger On The Pulse , kap10ku@t , VDRK and Bradley D at Le Poisson Rouge.

Have a good weekend!

Interview with Findlay Brown!

2009-11-04T13:53:00.005-05:00

Compared to CMJ's past, I found this year's schedule to be a bit tame. Despite this, there were some highlights, and Findlay Brown's show at Bowery Ballroom on October 21st was definitely one of them.

Findlay Brown at Bowery Ballroom - 10/21/09

As Findlay emerged from backstage solely with keyboardist Rob Gentry in tow, I was momentarily concerned since all the prior times I'd witnessed Findlay perform he was accompanied by a full band. However once the pair began, my initial worry immediately dissolved as the stripped down set-up allowed Findlay's talent for delivering beautiful Fifties & Sixties-influenced tunes to shine. Despite revealing that he was "scared shitless" to be playing without his band after the first few songs, Findlay effortlessly delivered track after track from his sophomore album Love Will Find You (out January 12th on Verve). I was fortunate enough to catch up with Findlay a week later to discuss the show, the new album, and much more. Check out the full interview below:

I saw your show Wednesday at Bowery Ballroom, where you said you were scared shitless...is that entirely true?

I was. I was totally unprepared to not have a band. It was a bit like, what are we doing? Remembering how to come in and what the arrangements were - I probably shouldn't say it, but I think I smoked too much weed when I was a teenager and I just have such a bad memory, especially for words or things like that. If something changes like that, it's very hard for me to get my head around it. I'm good at repeating things over and over and over again and then I get it. It takes me weeks to remember the arrangements and even my own songs, the chords. If I don't play it every day, I just forget it.

Had you rehearsed with Rob (the keyboardist) before the show?

About an hour.

Well, you really couldn't tell. I've seen you perform before with the full band and it was obviously different, but you didn't seem uncomfortable.

Well I wasn't uncomfortable when I was actually singing. Once you sort of get carried away by the feeling of the song...I got into it. I enjoyed the majority of it, but yeah, I was a little nervous. I'm quite a nervous performer really, or, I can be. I get very nervous before I go on, to the point where I can't imagine actually doing it. I just think, there's just no way. How can I get up on that stage? Do you know what I mean? And then, as soon as you get up there, some calm sort of comes over you somehow. You know, it's a bit like, well I've got to do this. Where am I going to go? And it must be something along the lines of you realize, that you know it's not that bad.

I know you used to be a boxer. Did you have the same kind of nervousness before matches?

I wasn't actually a boxer as such. I used to fight a lot. It's a bit blown out of proportion. I did do some kind of organized things when I was a teenager, but it definitely wasn't on a professional level. It was actually a kind of street thing, but it was organized.

When you did the other show on Sunday at Littlefield, was it set-up the same way, with just you and Rob?

It was just me, but Rob did get up and play a couple of songs. There was a piano there. I actually prefer it that way. I used to do a lot of acoustic shows in London when I was first starting out on my solo thing. I almost prefer this attitude - I don't know if I'm going to play tonight, type of thing. I'll think alright, I'll do something and not have it planned and it be very sort of off the cuff and go with the mood and then if I get someone else up to join me. It feels like the pressure's off. I'm not very good under pressure. So I was actually a lot more comfortable that night because it felt more unrehearsed in a way.

You recently toured with Duffy and Au Revoir Simone. Did you notice any difference in the way you were received by their fans? Were either of the acts' fans more receptive?

I think they were both equally receptive. We've been really lucky with touring of late with this sort of new sound. The difference is, when I was playing with Duffy, we were playing to around 4,000 people every night, sold out, and it was a bit of a more mainstream audience. I think that the atmosphere was probably different on some nights, but it went down well. People enjoy it. There's not that much of a difference really.

When we played with Au Revoir Simone, some of the nights there were only 10 or 15 people there but it went down well every night and it was more of a kind of muso sort of crowd with Au Revoir Simone, who were, I would think, harder to impress in some ways, but they really enjoyed it. With the Duffy crowd you've got more of the sort of hecklers and things like that, which I really thrive on. It's that thing we talked about before - it's more, kind of an improvised element. If I think, oh I've got to think of something to say between songs, or say something witty or charming, it's not very good for me, but if somebody shouts something at me it's inspiring. We can get something going. We can get some banter going.

Has there been any difference in the way you've been received at home in the UK vs. in the US?

I think people are a bit more enthusiastic here (US) for the kind of music I'm making. I think people are a little less cynical here. They like the classic thing. They don't mind if you're ambitious, if you've got an ambitious kind of sound. I think a lot of the music scene in England, especially London is very, sort of left-field. It's got to be quirky. It's got to be indie, sort of thing. I think it's gone down actually slightly better here, the new record. My first record wasn't released here. It was more of, like a folk thing and that went down really well in England.

Talking about the last album being more folk-oriented, was the move away from that sound to the more Sixties sound intentional or did it just kind of happen?

Well the thing is actually, the folk thing I think was a bit more of a...how can I put it? That was me going away from my natural sort of style, I think more than what I'm doing now. I've always been into a sort of bigger sound, a more produced sound. I was in a group before I did that first record and it was a very full sound, but it was more of like a psychedelic, sort of Sixties psych meets early electronica, kraut-rock sort of thing. I've always been really into strings. The Beatles have been my first love and still my greatest sort of love, so that kind of production.

But I broke my leg, I got run over by a taxi between records and things I'd been getting into a lot were like Phil Spectre and Roy Orbison. I didn't have any of my record collection with me because I was staying at my sisters house, so I just listened to a lot of stuff online. I was downloading a lot of stuff off of iTunes. I think it was mainly that kind of music, but I think this record is actually more true to the kind of music that I will make for the rest of my life than my first record.

My first record, I'd almost given up on the trying to make it, type thing. I had some records out with my other group, but it was a very indie left-field thing. I'd sort of given up on chasing the big deal and the success and things like that and I was going through a very turbulent time with my girlfriend. In fact, she was living in Denmark and we pretty much split up at that point. She's now my fiance actually. I've been with her, like 10 years.

Basically that record was almost like glorified love letters. Poetry, love letters, put to music. It was just like, look this is how I feel and I wasn't in a band. The band had split up, so I just had a guitar and started doing some demos and it kind of happened by accident, if you know what I mean. I wanted to do something intimate and beautiful just for her, so I wasn't going to do my old sound with loads of guitars and loads of noise because it wouldn't have had that quality that she could have really related to. And that's probably why I got a record deal and things started going well for me, because it was just a pure thing and I had almost given up on the commercial aspect of music. I was just doing this purely for her and then people heard it.

I think that's life in general. Even if you think about Buddhism or these zen guys. You've got to desire enlightenment to start with, but as soon as you stop desiring enlightenment, that's when you've become enlightened. You almost can't want something to get it. And I think that's why, in some ways, I don't know if you find it, but you seem to get things at the wrong time. It's like I'm not bothered about this thing anymore. It's like, god, two years ago if you would've told me I'd have had this I'd have been over the bloody moon, but now it's just like yeah, alright. Now I want this other thing. It's when you stop wanting it, that's when it happens I think.

You obviously have a strong connection with older Sixties music. Is there anything more contemporary that you're into?

Well actually I really like a lot of the sort of new disco stuff that's around at the moment. You won't hear it in my music apart from, I did do a track with Andrew Hodge and Lee Douglas. Andrew Hodge is Lovefingers. We did a track, last time I was in New York, together. It's going to be on a twelve inch. I don't know, hopefully it's going to be released here. It's kind of like a side project thing I wanted to do because he did a really good remix of one of my tracks. I'd been a fan of his for a while. I know he hasn't done that much stuff, but I know all his edits, I'd been a big fan of and like DJ Harvey, people like that. So I thought, oh well I'd quite like to do something similar, so we did a track with him and I also did a track with Brendan Lynch who's a great producer in Britain who's worked with Primal Scream and people like that. So I like all that type of stuff.

I think the modern stuff that I like is generally more experimental. People like Kieran Hebden - Four Tet, Warp's stuff, you know, glitchy music and other things like that. I think in my last band I was into so many different styles of music - a lot of exotica and world music and things like that and I'd try and put it all in one song. That can sometimes work. Some people can pull it off. For us it was a bit too much at times and what I realized from starting the solo project was what I'm really good at is melodic music - things with nice melodies. So it was like, I'll concentrate on that, and I'll embellish that melody and make that melody come out more and everything that I add to it has got to be pushing that melody and the voice and if I want to do any crazy stuff I'll do that in another scene, another way. It's been great just doing those two tracks recently. I want to do more of that, more electronic music - some stuff like Vangelis type style. I want to do some Bladerunner kind of music, but with vocals as well. Ballads with just synths and stuff at some point.

From the current record, you never would have guessed that.

Exactly, exactly. But I deejay sometimes, I used to deejay a lot and it was a lot of different music - electronica, African stuff, psych, funk, disco. I've got a very varied taste but like I said, with my own thing I've kind of realized what I'm good at and I just want to stick to that and make that as good as possible, rather than diluting it with lots and lots of influences. As far as stuff that's similar to mine - there's a guy called Richard Hawley from England who I really love. He's very much influenced by the Everly Brothers and Santo & Johnny and the whole Fifties/Sixties thing. I love the Fleet Foxes record. I know everyone did - it's nothing original. That got me big time. Around my first record I was listening to a lot of Will Oldham, Iron and Wine, James Yorkston, people like that. A lot of the kind of contemporary folk artists, but I generally listen to more old stuff.

I was surprised to see there were a lot of remixes of your tracks. What is your view of the process of remixing in general? Do you view it as a positive thing?

Yeah, I do. I think it can really add something. When you write something on your acoustic guitar at home, it's very exciting to think about how it's going to turn out when you record it, when you add some guitar, when you add some drums. Then there's another bit of other excitement when you give it to someone else and they do something completely different with it and it can keep just growing and evolving. The exciting thing is, possibly it can never stop. It can just keep going. People kept doing covers of it. People kept remixing it. It's got a life of its own. I think, anyway, where that song's come from isn't necessarily me. I think it's come from somebody else. I won't use the word divine or anything, or the word god, but I think it's come from somewhere. I've got like, this friend that's feeding me stuff when I need it. Sometimes he's not around and I'm like, look mate, what's going on? I'm here. I'm ready to go. I'm doing my part, what about yours? Come on, give me a bit of help here. Cause I feel like you have to almost coax it. Sometimes you sit there with your guitar and there's just nothing. There's just nothing and other times it's just coming. It's like going for a good shit. You have to brew it. You can't just fuckin' pop it out. You have to wait. Get it all nice and bubbly.

With the remixes, did the label pick who was going to do them or did they go to you for input?

They go to me for input. My label back home is owned by my management and they're a sort of dance-orientated outfit really. They've got A-trak and Simian Mobile Disco and a lot of other stuff like that and they actually know more about the deejay and the dance scene than I do. I'm a bit out of the loop on that stuff these days. So they definitely come up with a lot of the remix suggestions, but I had a couple of my own like Zongamin and Lovefingers was my first choice. I heard an edit he'd done of a John Martin song. I think it's called Summer of Lovefingers and it was just like, who is this guy ? I think I discovered him through the Beats In Space radio show and just thought this guy knows his shit. This guy's got taste.

Were there any other remixes that you were partial to other than Lovefingers'?

There was a Dimitri from Paris one that was really good. I did a cover of Joe Smooth's "Promised Land", you know, the house hit. It was for a B-side. I wanted to do something in my style but not like a Gene Clark song or an Elvis-type tune. I wanted to do something that's completely out of my genre, but do it in my style and then Dimitri From Paris did a mix of it and I actually prefer it to the original.

Wow.

Yeah,it's wicked.

I've heard it.

Oh you've heard it. Which one do you prefer?

I kind of view them as separate things.

They're totally different. He's pretty much replayed all the instruments.

It's so bubbly.

So poppy and not yet, summery. Yeah, I love it. I was really surprised. And he's done this weird tuning thing with all the harmonies and made all these chords with the voices. Really good.

Did you go to a lot of events during CMJ?

I didn't go to any. I went out with friends to places and got extremely drunk, but I don't think I went to one other gig when I was here.

The new album is coming out in January. What are your plans after that? I'm sure you'll tour...

Well, I'm moving here in January. We're doing the Letterman Show on the 12th. I think that's the same day as the album release and then we go on tour pretty much after that I think. I think I'm getting a couple of new band members from the States because I don't think the whole English band can make it.

Are you going to be touring solely North America?

I think for now. I think there's an east tour planned, all penciled and then a west coast and then maybe we'll work our way up to South By (Southwest).

Are you thinking about a new album?

Yeah. I recorded the new album that's coming out in January, a year ago, so it's been a while

Do you have an idea where the next record's going?

At the moment it's going to go more into the sort of spaghetti western kind of vibe, but with songs. Still very melodic. Still with similar influences. You know late Fifties early Sixties kind of thing, but big tunes. Big productions. I'm even thinking I might, going against what I was saying before, bring in a few synths, but it will be very subtle, like mood based things. Some kind of subby sounds, just to give it a bit of drama, a bit of darkness.

CMJ Friday Awesomeness (mini-post)

2009-10-23T13:34:00.000-04:00

Friday there are a ridiculous number of great ways to get down, but as much as I would have liked to, I didn't have time to write a post about them all. So...here are just three of the many awesome events happening tonight:

While it would take a lot to top the great time I had at last years Insiders, this year's looks pretty great as well. Hercules and Love Affair perform great live disco, in a way very few bands are doing nowadays. Aeroplane continue to look promising (though I have still yet to see them this week!). James Zabiela has been getting tons of positive feedback lately. I fell in love with his Utilities double mix album several years ago and am excited to get to see him again in a setting that is not Pacha. Shinichi Osawa's opening set for Fatboy Slim in June was great - very hard, but not too in your face. The Fantastic Nobodies' performance art, aka crowd-feathering, during Modeselektor's set at Bowery Ballroom back in January was quite an experience. All in all, it should be a great night. Tickets (plus the set times) are available here.

Plant Music, one of my favorite labels in New York & in general is throwing a CMJ party at Union Docs. The entire line-up looks pretty solid, but I am especially looking forward to seeing Nadastrom, Stretch Armstrong, and Kap10Kurt who I have witnessed great sets from before. Full info below:

Though it is technically not a part of CMJ, I think it is definitely worth mentioning that Dimitri from Paris is deejaying at the Rivington Hotel penthouse. I've seen him a number of times over the years (including a set at the Rivington Hotel penthouse back in May) and he never disappoints. Expect lots of great old disco, house, and awesome tunes.

RSVP here.

CMJ Thursday Awesomeness

2009-10-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

Last night at Bowery Ballroom Findlay Brown and Midnight Juggernauts were pretty great. Reviews will be up in the next few days.

Today (Thursday, 10/22) I am not too pumped about any of the "official" CMJ functions. A-Trak is deejaying at B.B. King's with lots of hip-hop oriented deejays...but that's about it. Here's some info on a bunch of parties that look promising:

Fixed always delivers. Their CMJ Freakout Chapter 2 is happening at the Tribeca Grand Thursday and while I have yet to check out anyone out of the line-up (save for Aeroplane)...I'm pretty certain you will have a good time regardless. If you don't trust me or them, preview some of Parallels', Aeroplane's, and Ian Orth's tunes, then RSVP to getrad@igetrvng.com to get in FREE. You can also download an October mix by Aeroplane here. Full info below:

Wednesday Fool's Gold continues with their strong CMJ presence, hosting a second showcase, this time at N8 in Williamsburg. The line-up looks pretty interesting. Be sure to check out Jokers of the Scene:

Free with RSVP.

Meanred rage on with night 2 of 3 at 88 Palace. If you haven't been there before, it is a dim sum restaurant in mini-mall by day, that's turned into a crazy party spot at night - so much fun. Check out their line-ups for the next couple of days, RSVP, and try to catch NROTB (some electro-brawlers from Montreal who have put together some great mixes, which you can download on their myspace):

DFA is having a CMJ party at Brooklyn Bowl (which is a great venue if you haven't been - try the milkshake with Bourbon & Nutella). Yacht is playing live and Special Disco Version, Still Going, Shit Robot, and the excellent disco duo Holy Ghost are deejaying:

CMJ Wednesday Awesomeness

2009-10-21T10:34:00.001-04:00

I've been going through a whole bunch of annoying personal stuff, so it's taken me way longer than usual to actually look into and get excited about CMJ. Thankfully it has finally happened! I'm not really looking forward to anything happening Tuesday, so here are some suggestions for Wednesday (10/21):

In terms of actual CMJ showcases, there are two I am really excited about. In the grand tradition of CMJ, they are of course on the same night with some overlap in terms of set times:

M for Montreal has hit the road and come to New York for CMJ. They are putting on a showcase at Arlene's Grocery featuring a bunch of bands from Montreal (and free poutine!). The line-up & set times are on the flyer below and more details on the bands can be found here. Out of the line-up I've only seen We Are Wolves, and wasn't really into them. I've heard good things about Malajube and my friend Eddie who has steered me wrong, maybe once in the 5 years that I've known him, has reported that Duchess Says (who is also playing the BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos on Thursday) is awesome.

Another showcase I am really looking forward to is happening at Bowery Ballroom. I'm not familiar with most of the line-up, but the two acts I do know of are really great. The first is Findlay Brown who manages to channel an array of great artists (Roy Orbison, Elvis, the Beatles, Johnny Cash) without being irritating or sounding clichéd. He was excellent when I saw him back in February, as well as the two times I saw him in April. Check out those posts for reviews as well as some downloads.

The second act I am very familiar with and delighted to be seeing again is Midnight Juggernauts. After witnessing their live show in many different venues in which the loud, almost metal-ish guitar and drums dominated, Le Poisson Rouge finally got the sound right last September allowing all of the bits of electronic loveliness that make Midnight Juggernauts so good shine through.

You can download some tracks from both Findlay Brown (including "Holding Back the Night" and a solo acoustic version of "I Had A Dream") and Midnight Juggernauts ("This New Technology" remixes by Memory Tapes, Nile Delta, and the Juan Maclean, plus a b-side - "Fantastic Valleys") here.

You can read more about the rest of the line-up (which includes Fanfarlo, The Postelles, TigerCity, and Freelance Whales) here and if you don't have a badge tickets are available here.

Also, FYI...Findlay is playing a second show at Littlefield on Sunday and Midnight Juggernauts are playing a bunch of other shows over the course of CMJ:

October 21 - Hype Machine Day Show at Santos

October 24 - The Windish Agency Presents at Santos.

Also on Wednesday:

Takka Takka are playing in a showcase at the Knitting Factory (which I still can't believe, is now in Brooklyn). The first and last time I saw Takka Takka was at last year's BrooklynVegan day party at the Knitting Factory (there are some pics and an interview here)...I saw maybe 2 or 3 songs, but that was enough to make me like them. Info on the rest of the line-up & ticket info is here.

They are also playing Union Pool on the 21st and Popgun's CMJ party on the 23rd at Glasslands.

Moving away from showcases and getting into more late night/dance-related activities...

I think my only exposure to Aeroplane has been their remix of Friendly Fires' Paris, which is honestly all I need to be convinced to see them at Fixed's CMJ Freakout Chapter 1 at Santos. More info below:

Aeroplane will also be at Fixed CMJ Chapter 2 the following night (10/22) at the Tribeca Grand Hotel and at Insiders 2009 at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza on Friday (10/23) (more on that later).

Also Thursday night, Fool's Gold is having a CMJ rager at 88 Palace with a pretty big line-up...though the only act I've seen before is Vega (who I didn't like live). The rest of the line-up looks promising though:

Nicky Digital is having his own CMJ showcase at Ella. I've seen Kap10Kurt deejay before and he's on Plant Music, so I'm pretty sure his set should be good and Bad Brilliance's live show is apparently a sight to see. The rest of the line-up & info is below:

Young Robots (a new label launched this year by Pittsburgh's Relative Q, Philadelphia's DJ Apt One, and New York's Skinny Friedman) is having a CMJ Jumpoff at Pianos:

Disco Social at Trophy Bar! Not sure about the rest of the line-up but Amir will play some good stuff:

High Rollers at Brooklyn Bowl - Ticket Give-away!

2009-09-10T13:34:00.000-04:00

This Saturday is the second edition of Flavorpill's High Rollers party at Brooklyn Bowl. It's a really fun spot, the food is great (try the poppers!), and it's LEED certified...and now it's going to be bouncing with some great disco tunes from Glass Candy, Mike Simonetti from Italians Do It Better, plus Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter. I have 1 pair of tickets to give-away, so if you want 'em shoot me an email at showtrotta at gmail dot com with "High Rollers" in the subject line and your first and last name in the body. Details on the party below:

Jamie Lidell Announced as Part of New York's Warp 20 Celebration!!

2009-08-20T07:41:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted about Warp's 20th Anniversary celebration in New York because I wasn't excited about the line-up until I read this, this morning (via Jamie Lidell's Myspace blog):

Hello Folks,

The little elves here in web-land would like to announce that Jamie will be appearing at the Poisson Rouge in NYC on September the 5th as part of the Warp20 celebrations. I know what you are saying, "but I saw the flyer and there's no mention of that..." Yes, well it's breaking news. You heard it here first.

More info on the line-up is on Le Poisson Rouge's website. Tickets are already on sale. Info on the rest of the Warp 20 events on the flyer below:

There is also more extensive info over on BrooklynVegan.

Royksopp to Play Webster Hall November 23 & 24th

2009-08-18T20:49:00.002-04:00

Norway's Royksopp are playing Webster Hall on November 23 and November 24. Pre-sale is tomorrow (8/19) at noon (don't know the password), regular sale is Friday (8/21) at noon.

The last time I saw Royksopp happened to be at Webster Hall, back in 2005...and I wasn't as into it as usual (though they were still good) because I had seen the Chemical Brothers just a couple of weeks before. But! the first time I saw them was at Irving Plaza in the spring of 2003 and it was awesome. There was a guy dressed up as Leno from Poor Leno...who came out and danced in the middle of the crowd when they played that song. Ah...memories! Don't miss them at Webster...and check out the video of the classic, Poor Leno, below:

Photo Update: Pilooski and All Points West

2009-08-18T12:48:00.000-04:00

I uploaded some photos last week:

From Pilooski at Plan B, 8/11/09

From All Points West - Day 3, 8/2/09

which were all great sets/shows. I also took a couple of videos of Etienne de Crécy's set All Points West which you can check out below:

Boys Noize Announces Power World Tour

2009-08-17T14:25:00.001-04:00

Boys Noize has just announced a tour in promotion of his new album, Power, due out in October on Boys Noize Records. Tour dates below (click to enlarge) as well as album cover & tracklisting:

Boys Noize - Power - tracklisting

1. Gax
2. Kontact me
3. Starter
4. Jeffer
5. Transmission
6. Nerve
7. Trooper
8. Drummer
9. Sweet Light
10. Rozz Box
11. Nott
12. Heart Attack

A mirror ball shining bright in a provincial disco on a Tuesday night

2009-08-11T12:25:00.001-04:00

Back in May I only managed to catch about 45 minutes of Pilooski's dj set at Mister Saturday Night, thanks to my un-wise decision to see Moderat at Music Hall of Williamsburg (which started way behind schedule). However, in just those brief 45 minutes I was absolutely floored by Pilooski's set - great selections and he absolutely tore it up in terms of mixing & manipulation (check out the video below).

Tonight he is deejaying Scion's free monthly at Plan B (21+, 11pm - 4am) along with In Flagranti (NSFW), Bullion, Cosmo Baker, and Blue Jemz.

If you aren't familiar with Pilooski I highly recommend checking out this post at Tracasseur (an excellent music blog, based out of Stockholm) which has a nice little round-up of some great Pilooski edits you can download. You can also grab a fairly new remix of Jarvis Cocker's "You're In My Eyes" (Discosong) over at BrooklynVegan, and a recording of Pilooski's set at Mister Saturday Night over on Eamon Harkin's blog.

If you're in New York tonight - DO NOT miss his set!

Mayer Hawthorne US Tour Dates!

2009-07-30T09:30:00.001-04:00

This fall Mayer Hawthorne will be doing his first, full US tour in support of his debut album A Strange Arrangement, out this fall on Stones Throw.

Recently Mayer played a few shows here & there, including one at Santos, which was awesome! You can read more about it at the end of last Week In Dance. Tour dates below.

Sat, Sep 05: Seattle, WA at Bumbershoot Festival
Thu, Sep 10: Los Angeles at The Roxy
Sun, Sep 13: San Luis Obispo at Downtown Brew
Tue, Sep 15: San Francisco at Rickshaw Stop
Wed, Sep 16: Santa Cruz at Catalyst (Atrium)
Fri, Sep 18: Portland at MusicFest NW
Sat, Sep 19: Eugene at WOW Hall
Mon, Sep 21: Salt Lake City at Kilby Court
Wed, Sep 23: Denver at Larimer Lounge
Thu, Sep 24: Omaha at The Waiting Room
Fri, Sep 25: Chicago at Dark Room
Sat, Sep 26: Ann Arbor at Blind Pig
Sun, Sep 27: Toronto at Drake Hotel
Tue, Sep 29: Boston at Great Scott
Wed, Sep 30: Philadelphia at Johnny Brendas
Thu, Oct 01: Brooklyn at The Knitting Factory
Fri, Oct 02: New York at Mercury Lounge
Sun, Oct 04: Washington DC at DC9
Mon, Oct 05: Chapel Hill at Local 506
Tue, Oct 06: Atlanta at Druken Unicorn
Wed, Oct 07: Orlando at The Social
Fri, Oct 09: New Orleans at Parish, HOB
Sat, Oct 10: Austin at Red 7
Wed, Oct 14: Scottsdale, AZ at Chasers
Thu, Oct 15: San Diego at Canes

Chromeo DJ-Kicks Tracklist Announced + Show at Irving Plaza!

2009-07-29T17:11:00.002-04:00

Check out the tracklisting for Chromeo's DJ Kicks below:

1. Kano: "Ikeya-Seki"
2. Pierre Perpall: "J'aime Danser Avec Toi"
3. Toba: "Moving Up"
4. France Joli: "Gonna Get Over You"
5. Donna Allen: "Serious"
6. Lovelock: "Maybe Tonight"
7. Chateau Marmont: "Solar Antapex" rework
8. Val Young: "Seduction"
9. Soupir: "Larmes de Métal"
10. Lifelike: "Sequencer"
11. Carmen: "Time to Move"
12. Shotgun: "Don't You Wanna Make Love"
13. Cheri: "Murphy's Law"!
14. Leo Sayer: "Easy to Love"
15. Shazam: "Luckier"
16. Chromeo: "I Can't Tell You Why"
17. Diane Tell: "Tes Yeux"
18. The Alan Parsons Project: "Pipeline"

And...the awesome pair from MTL will be doing just one show in New York this fall before their new album comes out (details soon hopefully):

Tickets available here.

Justice to DJ Webster Hall October 29

2009-07-28T19:51:00.003-04:00

I could say much more about this but I am exhausted & feel like I am catching a cold. In short...the last time Justice deejayed at Webster Hall it was crazy and a lot of fun. Exhibit A:

They will be back at Webster Hall on October 29th! Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon.

Showtrotta Interview with Pedro "Busy P" Winter!

2009-07-23T16:26:00.001-04:00

At the end of last month I had the opportunity to interview Pedro Winter (aka Busy P, head of Ed Banger Records & former manager of Daft Punk) following Miller's GFC (Global Fresh Collective) Vision event (a series of panel discussions curated by Pedro, focusing on both global and local issues affecting music) which you can read all about over on BrooklynVegan.

One topic that generated much debate at GFC Vision was piracy. Check out some of Pedro's thoughts on it, how Ed Banger Records has been affected by it, and how Pedro has been responding to changes in the music industry in the interview below:

Earlier when Matt Mason was talking in the first session about piracy you said you didn't like how kids are being made out as thieves when it comes to illegally downloading music. You said they were just consuming music in a different way. Can you explain that a little bit more?

Especially in France, but I think it's the same everywhere...politicians and society are trying to explain that when you're (illegally) downloading it's like you're stealing a cd in a shop or stealing a car or robbing something and it's not the same. I'm not a judge but I'm just saying be careful with using words like "thieves" and "stealing" because our society is already completely lost. We don't have any more boundaries and scaring kids even more will make them even more crazy and I think they are crazy enough. I'm saying all this just as an answer to all the politicians and all the major companies who oftentimes are trying to be a bit like the police. I prefer to be on the side of the kids.

Have you found that piracy is hurting Ed Banger?

Of course. I should not say "of course", I should say probably. It's too easy an excuse for major companies or artists who are not selling records anymore, who are not smart enough to find and to propose some new things. I think it's the role of the artists and the producers and the whole artistic team to scratch their heads and try to propose something...add some value to music.

Earlier we were talking about the value of music. Who is going to decide the value of music? The old value was a $20 cd or a $15 cd which was crazy at the time, and nowadays we realize it was nonsense. So when it comes to valuing one MP3 at $1, who decides if it's cheap or if it's not? Of course it's overpriced! $1 for nothing, for a digital thing! But we are living in a society and we need rules in order to all live together. With the the value of music there are definitely no rules.

What I'm dreaming up and I think we are lucky to be part of this, are new companies who can react to the market and who can react, more than the market, to our time, and this is what we're doing with Ed Banger. In the beginning my main money was coming from the sales of 12-inches. I used to sell a lot. Nowadays I am selling less and less...around 1500, which is nothing. It's still cool nowadays because most of the labels are selling around 500, so we are still selling but now I decided for about 6 months now when you are buying a 12" from Ed Banger you are getting a free digital. This is something we just came up with this because we realized it was a good thing. It's not forcing the kids, but it's telling them, follow us and we're making moves for you to also be happy and get your music on your ipod. With Justice we still sold 400,000 records worldwide which is still an amazing figure but I imagine if we would have been around in '97 we would have sold 1 million I think. I'm happy to speak about that but I'm happy to live nowadays. Some people can regret not being in the good old times, but I'm so happy to be in my time now.

What made you start offering the digital files along with the vinyl releases? Did it just seem like a good idea?

Yeah, it's a good idea. I've seen it with someone else - I didn't invent it. I think I've seen it with a Sonic Youth album or Radiohead...I don't remember exactly. I think I've even seen it at Other Music or a store like that. I looked at the sleeve and there was a sticker "free digital download". I thought it was a good idea and then I asked my team if we could make it happen. So now in all the Ed Banger records there is a little card with a private code to download the songs. It's a smart idea. It's a natural idea, a natural thing. Sometimes people are thinking too much or analyzing too much - they don't think about the simplest thing. Giving away a digital thing while people are buying a concrete cd or album - I think it's a smart idea.

It's just a smart thing. Me, I'm not scared about all this, about all those changes. It's good to change. There were way too many bad habits. I'm sure it's the same in the US - in France we are making fun of show business. We're making fun of 80's show business, how it was all about spending money. Like, "you want to go in the studio? Yeah, I'll pay for the studio." and artists asking for millions in advances.

At Ed Banger have you been doing anything specifically to deal with the piracy problems?

No. I didn't do anything to fight against it. I created more content, more attractive stuff to "fight" it. I will not go against it because, to be honest, I think it's way too late. There is no way we can stop it. I'm not going to fight against it. What we are to do is improve our creativity and what we are offering. I told you how I'm doing 12-inches with the download codes but I didn't tell you how now I'm not even doing normal 12 inches, I'm doing picture discs with the download codes, making it a special object. The kids are following us. I didn't speak enough about it today but it's important and I think this is what we managed to create with Ed Banger - to get the kids to feel they are part of a family, part of a movement and i think this is what is protecting us from the kids just downloading. They are happy to be part of Ed Banger because they have the cd at home. They have the t-shirt. They have whatever. I'm pretty happy. I didn't plan it, but I'm happy. It's all working out. But don't tell that I didn't plan it, because I like people to think I am a genius at marketing.

During Matt Mason's discussion, there was talk about the whole business model changing in terms of the music industry. Where do you think it's going to head in general and do you think it's different at all specifically for electronic and dance music?

To answer the last part I'm sure electronic and dance music is a special thing rather than urban hip-hop like Rihanna which is pop nowadays. We are still alternative music and I want to feel like that. This is how I feel Ed Banger is. I feel Ed Banger is more like an indie label rather than another dance label. I prefer to be next to Domino, XL...those labels, rather than other, boring, electro labels who are just putting out club hits. But again, it's a bit too early for me to speak about it now. We are only 6 years-old. We have stuff to prove and a lot of work to do, but I get feedback because I know the people at Domino. I know the people at XL and both labels welcome us as their little brother and I am happy with that.

The business model is definitely changing. We've been talking about it all day. To go where I have no idea, to go where I don't have a crystal ball and to be honest with you... I know the business side of it because I've been doing it for 15 years, but i don't care. Also because I'm in a good situation I manage to make projects that get enough money to reinvest and keep going. Maybe in one or two years I will wake up and my bank will call me and say "Pedro, you're out of money" and then I will be scared, but nowadays I have enough money. I set up my label with the money I made from working with Daft Punk. Then I got money from Justice and reinvested it back into the label. People know about Justice and Daft Punk, but they don't know about Krazy Baldhead, Mr. Flash, SebastiAn, Feadz, or DJ Mehdi, and I have a lot of other smaller projects that I hope are going to be big soon, but I'm not in a rush. I'm doing projects that don't make money, but I'm happy with it. The time when you would spend a lot of money on marketing or advertising and things like that is finished - there's no point. Having an advert in a magazine doesn't help anything. It's cool for you and the artist - "Oh, you have an ad in this magazine!" - it's nice, but it doesn't do anything. It's good for the head.

Is there any specific direction that you see Ed Banger heading in the future?

I just follow the flow. To be honest with you I am starting to feel a bit fed-up myself about all the noisy electro stuff we've been doing for the last few years, so now even when I'm deejaying I'm playing more techno, calming down a bit more. We are finishing albums from Uffie and SebastiAn at the moment and I hope we are going to surprise people. I'm pretty confident with what we've been doing, but we'll see. We'll let the people judge once it's out. Of course we're going to, not change - it's not a question of changing, but evaluate and grow up. But it's true, Ed Banger is definitely not going too much more into distorted disco stuff .

Can you talk a little bit more about your Cool Cats project that just started?

Cool Cats is a brand. Let's say it is a sub-label of Ed Banger Records - usually a music label can't give birth to a clothes brand but we did it this way. We created it in February, so it's still brand new. The simple aim is to be in a proper position with our merchandising. We've been doing it old school and a bit stupidly and now we've decided to do it well because there is a demand. There are so many people asking for it. We had to react.

Also, as with the label, it's just fun to do it. I'm not a clothes designer, but right now it's easy just to choose the t-shirt and So Me is designing. Now we are working on jackets and some more complicated stuff. It takes time but we are not in a rush. We'll grow slowly and slowly.

It's also a way to balance with the lack of record sales. It's a whole package. A lot of people are telling me we bring Ed Banger as a brand rather than just another music label and I'm cool with that. We have to be careful not to be overexposed, but again this is not something we are choosing much. The most important is that we manage to keep producing stuff that makes us happy and then after that we'll see if the kids are following it.

The Cool Cats website has you, DJ Mehdi, and all the other Cool Cats (Fafi, So Me, and Michael from La MJC) blogging - is that just to engage people? What made you add that element to the site?

For a long time I wanted to do a fanzine, but nowadays there is no reason to do a fanzine. We have our blogs. It's crazy because I used to blog on two other sites. I used to blog on the Japanese site, Honeyee, and for the Los Angeles based, Arkitip which I loved. It was cool and I said while I'm blogging for these other people we should do our own. It's the Cool Cats blog and it's just a funny way to share just a little bit more of what we are doing, with our fans and people who don't know us. It's a funny thing too. I like doing it it goes with the whole package of being accessible. It's something new. It's something that is possible nowadays, like a couple of years ago with Myspace and Facebook and all of that, where finally people are able to reach the artists. We've been pretty good at this game. Kids like the fact that they can be friends with us. At our stage it's still cool...it's not like we're as big as Justin Timberlake or someone like that. At our stage, this is what I like with this kind of fame thing with Ed Banger especially with Justice or with Uffie. People really relate to our artists and I like this new thing we've done with electro artists having a face. I know what I'm talking about because I've done it with Daft Punk. They were hiding and it was all about the music, all about the concept. Nowadays it's changed. Now I think the kids want to understand who's behind the decks, who's behind the machines and I like the relationship with the fans. When they stop you in the streets it's always lovely and funny, rather than just people that have seen you on tv. They don't know who you are and what you do - "Ah, you're the guy from tv". That would be so sad. I know that Daft Punk were scared about it, about this kind of fame, but nowadays with all these blogs relating our life, "Oh I was there yesterday. I was doing this. I am doing that." we are creating a bit of a normal relationship.

In the last part of the discussions today there was a lot of talk about collaborating and also merchandising and co-branding. Do you think that with music and labels now, sometimes you run the risk of those other things overshadowing the music itself?

No, no I'm not scared of this anymore. If you would have asked me this question ten years ago I would have told you the opposite, but nowadays it's not a problem anymore. Both brands and labels or artists understand they can find a good way for each other to take advantage of the collaboration. On the artists' side it's good to take the money as we don't have any more money from record sales. Brands spend half the money they used to spend on ad agencies and they go directly to the artists. Every week I have brands approach me to do things with Ed Banger...Coca Cola, Nike, Uniqlo, Eastpak.

Talking about the co-branding & collaboration overshadowing the music - I'm not scared of that because I am confident in the music that we are doing, but there is a negative point. I realized it myself. One day I was looking at myself and said we are going too far. I was deejaying with the Ed Banger headphones. My cd case was Ed Banger. I was wearing an Ed Banger backpack. I was wearing a Cool Cats t-shirt. I was wearing the Busy P Nike's. My girlfriend told me this actually - she told me, "Pedro I think it's too much now". It made me realize this is the point where we have to be careful. We make mistakes sometimes, but I'm not scared about co-branding and stuff like that. We have to make it original. But of course there is danger.

Chromeo to do next !K7 DJ Kicks Compilation!

2009-07-17T07:25:00.003-04:00

I didn't realize it, but it's been 2 years since the last DJ Kicks compilation (which was done by Booka Shade) was released on !K7. Dave-1 and P-Thugg aka Chromeo are set to create the latest installment of this great mix cd series. With such varied tastes and influences who knows what will be on it, but for starters, there will be an exclusive Chromeo cover of the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why," which is available for free download here after your sign up for email updates on the release.

Electric Zoo to Take Place on New York's Randall's Island!!

2009-07-14T09:30:00.002-04:00

One topic my friends and I come back to again and again is how New York doesn't have a proper electronic music festival. Detroit has DEMF. Montreal has Mutek. Europe has too many to name. But now, finally, New York has something!

Electric Zoo will be a 2-day, electronic/dance music event happening Labor Day weekend on Randall's Island. While I was at first a bit leery of the initial line-up, more and more acts (like Busy P, DJ Mehdi, and Tiga!!) have been revealed over the past few weeks and it looks to be a great weekend of electronic music and getting down outside (not to mention the closest thing New York's ever had to a proper electronic music festival). More acts are to be announced over the next month, but the current line-up along with more info is below:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th
Armin van Buuren
Deadmau5
Benny Benassi
Danny Tenaglia
Roger Sanchez
Luciano
Robbie Rivera
Tiga
Ben Watt*
Francois K*
Busy P
Marco Carola
Chus & Ceballos
Kaskade
Steve Aoki
DJ Mehdi
Paco Osuna
Mark Ernestus (Rhythm & Sound)*
featuring Milton Henry*
Chris Lake
Speedy J
The Whip
Martin Buttrich
Cassy*
Yuksek
Seth Troxler*

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th
David Guetta
Ferry Corsten
Richie Hawtin
Markus Schulz
ATB
Special Disco Version featuring
James Murphy & Pat Mahoney
(LCD Soundsystem/DFA)
Felix Martin & Al Doyle (HOT CHIP) DJ Set*
Andy Butler (Hercules & Love Affair)
Frankie Knuckles
Lindstrom*
Prins Thomas*
Steve Bug
Audion
Josh Gabriel
Desyn Masiello
James Holden
Adam Beyer
Tom Middleton
Nathan Fake
Heidi
Guy Gerber - Live
Menno De Jong
Chateau Flight
Jason Jollins*

*New additions

The festival will take place from 12 noon until 11pm each day, and will happen across 4 stages in Randall's Island Park.

General admission single day tickets are $55 each, or $100 if you buy a ticket for both days.

VIP tickets are $120 per day, or $225 for both days. VIP passes include a separate VIP entrance, access to VIP lounge with private cash bar, exclusive viewing area at main stage, and access to VIP-only deluxe bathrooms.

Tickets are available here and everything you need to know about Electric Zoo is on the website. Also be sure to follow Electric Zoo on Twitter for info on what some of artists appearing at Electric Zoo have been up to lately, plus opportunities to win tickets to the festival. Mark your calendars...this should be awesome!!

People Don't Dance No More with Alex From Tokyo - Wenesday, July 8 at the Annex

2009-07-07T14:26:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 8th) People Don't Dance No More is back at the Annex for the second party of their new monthly residency. Alex from Tokyo is guest deejaying. He deejayed Été d'Amour at the Rivington Hotel a few weeks ago and absolutely killed it. Never saw him before, hardly any exposure to his music...and thought his set was excellent. He played everything...it was super danceable and sounded great. Go see him at the Annex tomorrow:

RSVP to PDDNMNYC@GMAIL.COM to save yourself $5.

Jaunt

2009-07-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

Jaunt are a duo on Kris Menace's label Work It Baby. They have that lovely French sound a la Kris Menace/Fred Falke/Lifelike which you can hear in most of the songs on their myspace. In addition to those tracks I highly recommend their "Deep Slow Live" mix which moves a bit away from that sound (as the name implies), but is still really awesome. When was the last time you made it through, let alone really enjoyed a 2-hour mix?! Download below:

DOWNLOAD: Jaunt - Deep Slow Live mix (zSHARE MP3)

Jonebone & Hatchmatik - Obsession For The Disco Freaks (Freeform Reform) Video

2009-07-05T11:36:00.002-04:00

Reasons Montreal is awesome:

Jonebone (Jonah Leslie) and Hatchmatik (Matt Morein) in the studio for OLDgOLDBOUTIQUE.COM

music: Alexander Robotnick - Obsession For The Disco Freaks (Freeform Reform) Fools Gold Records

New Cassius EP & Video - "Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes"

2009-07-04T14:22:00.007-04:00

It seems like every day I realize that I love Cassius a little bit more. The awesome French duo of Zdar (who just finished producing Phoenix's excellent album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix) and Boombass have a new EP called Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes, out July 14th.

Cassius - Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes EP Tracklisting

1. Youth Speed Trouble Cigarettes (single edit)
2. Almost Cut My Hair
3. Y-S-T-C
4. Youth Speed Trouble Cigarettes (extended)

You can check out the video for "Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes" (which features footage from Gummo) below or stream the title track over at their myspace, as well as another track from the EP, "Almost Cut My Hair" which is great!

CASSIUS : YOUTH, SPEED, TROUBLE, CIGARETTES. "GUMMO MASHUP" from Macofil on Vimeo.

Sunday Best and the Beach Party LIC

2009-06-28T13:51:00.004-04:00

Sunday Best and the Beach Party are two dance parties happening in New York this summer. Sunday Best has been in full swing since the end of May (but I've been too busy going to/recovering from it to post about it, sorry!) and the Beach Party just kicked off last night. Both are excellent ways to get down outside this summer. Full info on each below:

About the guests...

June 28 - JUSTIN MARTIN, the dirtiest Dirtybird of them all
July 5 - LOSOUL, maker of European dance music with big nods to soul and jazz
July 12 - KYLE HALL, the 17-year-old, Detroit-based producer who's never played New York
July 19 - I:CUBE, a forefather of French house and one half of Chateau Flight
July 26 - OMAR S blows our minds every time
August 2 - MAURICE FULTON, the funkiest DJ we've ever heard
August 9 - MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE, a young German paying homage to Detroit
August 16 - TIM SWEENEY, the ever-eclectic Beats In Space man
August 23 - THEO PARRISH, a true master playing a long set
August 30 - JUSTUS KOHNCKE, a Kompakt artist playing a live set
September 6 - DJ HARVEY, closing it out crazily and properly

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
About the Residents
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

EAMON HARKIN and JUSTIN CARTER are the resident DJs and masterminds of Mister Saturday Night, a big party with live music and DJs that happens at nice places to party in New York City. They also collaborate on New Release, an entity that editorializes and produces music events in New York. DOUG SINGER, one half of the brothers’brothers duo, introduced New York party people to the Water Taxi Beach some years ago with Rebound, the first post-PS1 jam to happen at the now popular summertime spot.

_/_/_/_/_/_/
The Vitals
_/_/_/_/_/_/

venue BKLYN Yard, outdoors by the Gowanus Canal
address 400 Carroll St between Bond and Nevins, Brooklyn
if it rains (lets hope it doesn't!) The Bell House (around the corner)
dates Every Sunday from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend
food Tacos, Huaraches and other Latin American delicacies
booze You have to be 21 to drink it, but we’ll be selling it at the bar
ages All ages
time 3p – 9p
cover $10 // $8 before 4pm with rsvp OR $8 in advance
RSVP mailto:rsvp@sundaynestnyc.com

_/_/_/_/_/_/
Directions
_/_/_/_/_/_/

Take the F or G trains to Carroll St. South on Smith. Left on President. Right on Hoyt. Left on Carroll. Take the N, R trains to Union. West on Union. Left on Nevins. Right on Carroll. Just over the bridge.

About the guests...

Robert Hood is a pioneer from Detroit who’s often considered a founder of minimal techno. Along with Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills, he started the legendary group Underground Resistance. He’s a real American hero of dance music, and there couldn’t be anyone more appropriate for our July 4th celebration.

Carl Craig and Gamall are the two DJs behind Demon Days. Carl is a legendary producer, the most influential from the second generation of Detroit techno. He runs the Planet E label and has remained fresh and cutting edge in every moment of his career. Gamall hails from the UK but has lived in New York for many years, founding the Rude Movements parties in the early 2000s.

Lopazz is a producer from Heidelberg, Germany whose records on Get Physical, !K7 and the now defunct but always on point Output were among the finest in the catalogues. His live performances incorporate vocals and analogue synths.

Andres and Kai Alce share roots and a musical sensibility. Kai, who was born in New York, moved to Detroit in his teens where he found inspiration from legendary radio personality Electrifying Mojo and the revolutionary Music Institute. Andres has worked with Moodymann and is also known as DJ Dez, Slum Village’s deck man. This party will be a celebration of a new release by Andres on Kai’s NDATL label.

Abe Duque’s records are immediately identifiable to any crate digger, all-black vinyl with titles etched by hand into the lacquer. The mysterious DJ left New York for a long time, but he’s now returned, and this is his first set in the city since.

Dublex Inc is a quartet of producers from Stuttgart, Germany. They’re all experts in sound and design, each taking part in running Pulver records over the past decade. Tonight’s set features two of the quartet. Expect it to be organic and deep.

Bobbito Garcia aka Kool Bob Love has held down a residency in New York for nearly ten years—an eternity in the instable world of clubs and DJs. There’s no question why. His energy is fantastic and his depth impressive. Bob can go for hours, spanning everything from salsa to house.

Soundstream has released very few records in his many active years, but his reputation has remained untouchable due to the high quality of each cut he puts out. He’s probably best known as one half of Smith and Hack, the duo that reworked Herbert’s Movin’ Like a Train last year. His live set, never before seen in the States, is astounding.

Raoul K and Jerome Derradji are both strangers in a strange land. Raoul, who was born in Ivory Coast, relocated to Germany at the age of 16. Jerome, a Frenchman, now calls Chicago his home. Their outsider status is not the only thing that brings them together, though. They both head excellent underground labels, Raoul K, the excellent Baobab Music, and Jerome, the always on point Still Music, Past Due and hard-to-find StillLove4Music. They both happen to be excellent DJs as well.

Dennis Ferrer has a career that brings him respect from two different schools. The old house heads love him for his late 90s vocal tracks and his work with Kerri Chandler, and then there’s a new school that devotedly follows his moves on the Objektivity imprint, one that, in its short existence, has launched names like The Martinez Brothers and Karizma. Dennis’ set will be the perfect closer of the year—a little taste of the past present and future all rolled up into one.

THE VITALS
venue: Water Taxi Beach/Long Island City
address: 2nd St and Borden Ave, LIC, Queens
dates: Saturday, June 27 - Saturday, September 5
time: 8p - 3a
cover: $5 with flyer // $10 without

more info:
http://www.watertaxibeach.com
http://www.newreleasenewyork.net/beachparty

DIRECTIONS
On New York Water Taxi: FREE Water Taxis depart from E. 34th St in midtown on a varied schedule from 9pm - 3am. Go here to check it: http://www.nywatertaxi.com

On the subway: 7 train to Vernon Avenue/Jackson. Walk along Vernon Avenue to Borden Avenue, turn right. Look for signs for Water Taxi Beach.

On the bus: B61 and Q103.

From PS1: Walk south on Jackson from PS1 (Take a right with the museum to your back). Right on 51st Ave. Left at 2nd St. Look for signs for Water Taxi beach on your left.

DJ Mehdi to Release Remix Compilation

2009-06-27T00:10:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite Ed Bangers, DJ Mehdi will be releasing a remix compilation on September 9th, tentatively titled
RED BLACK AND BLUE - Some Remixes By DJ Mehdi.

Simian Mobile Disco discuss Temporary Pleasure cover art

2009-06-24T13:38:00.004-04:00

Recently James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco discussed the cover art (at right) for SMD's new album Temporary Pleasure with NME. Check out what he had to say here. More info on Temporary Pleasure, including tracklisting, release date, and video for the first single "Audacity of Huge" can be found in this post.

Fake Blood at 213 North 8th Street, Williamsburg 6/18/09

2009-06-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday Fake Blood deejayed at a new, unnamed spot in Williamsburg (owned by the same people responsible for Le Royale in Manhattan). His set was great (partial setlist below). It was way more diverse than the list indicates...a lot of the best stuff he played was stuff I didn't know...and he was manipulating everything. You should have heard what he did to Tiga's "Mind Dimension".

Fake Blood at 213 North 8th Street, Williamsburg 6/18/09 - partial setlist

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Look For the Woman (Fake Blood Remix)
Underworld - Ring Road (Fake Blood Remix)
Tiga - Mind Dimension
Green Velvet - Lala Land
Whirlpool Productions - From : Disco To Disco
Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood Remix)
Tetris theme song
Fake Blood - Mars
The Kills - Cheep And Cheerful (Fake Blood Remix)
Trevor Loveys & Sinden - Organ Grinder

Simian Mobile Disco Annnounce New Album & Release Video For Audicity of Huge

2009-06-20T12:20:00.006-04:00

Another great video for Simian Mobile Disco by Kate Moross:

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge from ISO FILMS on Vimeo.

Check out the other videos Kate created (along with Alex Sushon) for Simian Mobile Disco's Synthesize and 10,000 Horses Can't Be Wrong.

"Audacity of Huge" (featuring Chris Keating of Yeasayer) is the first single (out August 3rd) off of Simian Mobile Disco's new album Temporary Pleasure out on Wichita Recordings on the August 17th of this year. The album will be available on LP, CD and deluxe limited edition CD. Tracklisting below:

Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure

1. Cream Dream (featuring Gruff Rhys)
2. Audacity of Huge (featuring Chris Keating)
3. 10000 Horses Can't Be Wrong
4. Cruel Intentions (featuring Beth Ditto)
5. Off The Map (featuring Jamie Lidell)
6. Synthesise
7. Bad Blood (featuring Alexis Taylor)
8. Turn Up The Dial (featuring Young Fathers)
9. Ambulance
10. Pinball (featuring Telepathe)

Findlay Brown to Support Au Revoir Simone on June Tour

2009-06-04T11:57:00.000-04:00

Findlay Brown was excellent when I saw him back in April. More info (including some downloads) on him here. Tour dates below:

Findlay Brown June 2009 tour dates, supporting Au Revoir Simone:

June 11 - El Ray Theatre - Los Angeles
June 13 - Bimbo’s - San Francisco
June 15 - Berbati’s Pan - Portland
June 16 - Neumos - Seattle
June 17 - Richards On Richards - Vancouver
June 19 - Kilby Court - Salt Lake City
June 21 - Fox Theatre & Cafe - Boulder
June 23 - The Waiting Room - Omaha
June 24 - High Noon Saloon - Madison
June 25 - Logan Square Auditorium - Chicago
June 26 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland
June 27 - Bowery Ballroom - New York

APT Closed Tonight: Disco 3000 Moved to Le Poisson Rouge

2009-05-29T17:46:00.000-04:00

APT is closed tonight, so Disco 3000 with Trus'me and special guest Qool Marv has been moved to the Gallery Bar of Le Poisson Rouge. No cover!

Trus'me spun a great set back when he was last here in March (and also when he was at Le Souk in October & at the Yard last summer).

Expect to hear all corners of the record shop - from the past, present and of course the future...disco, afro, house, boogie, hip hop, techno, jazz, psyche, reggae, soul, brazilian, dub...

Go!!

Été d'Amour Returns To New York!

2009-05-27T13:49:00.001-04:00

Last year some of the awesome Respect crew came from Paris to New York to organize Été d'Amour...a great weekly dance party that happened Thursday nights at Santos (plus a few special events here & there). The line-ups were great and they were some of the funnest parties I went to all summer (which included Pharrell (Fluo Kids), 33Hz, and Alan Braxe at Santos, Busy P & Dj Mehdi at Santos,and Holy Ghost, Feadz, & Stretch Armstrong at the Yard)

Ironically, one of the few times I checked my email while I was in Paris earlier this month I saw a Facebook invite from Été d'Amour for their New York premiere...at the Rivington Hotel Penthouse...with Dimitri from Paris!

I love Dimitri from Paris. I first saw him back in 2004 at Crobar (yes, Crobar) and his set was awesome (and to add to the irony...I met the friend who I was visiting Paris with, at that party!). The Rivington Hotel is amazing and Été d'Amour have gone and combined the two, but better still! this party is not just a one time event, but a regular, weekly party just like last summer...with similarly great line-ups! Full info on the first party with Dimitri from Paris (happening this Sunday, May 31) below, along with the rest of the Été d'Amour parties that have been announced so far.

This Sunday (5/31):

RSVP and join the EANY Facebook group here.

Info on the series so far:

ÉTÉ D'AMOUR
A sunset celebration by Respect is burning
Respect is burning presents the new edition of ÉTÉ D'AMOUR
Every SUNDAY of the Summer 2009
At the Rivington Hotel penthouse

Dance drink eat & love FROM 1PM TO 1AM.

Sun. May 31st: DIMITRI FROM PARIS (playing at sunset)
Sun. June 7th: TONY HUMPHRIES (6 hour set)
Sun. June 14th: STRETCH ARMSTRONG (7 hours set)
Sun. June 21st: HOLY GHOST! (DFA)

Coming soon: Runaway (DFA), Rub-N-Tug, Alex from Tokyo, Neil Aline & more!

There is no cover charge, so RSVP is highly recommended through Facebook - look for the "EANY" group.
There will be a menu - if you need to book a table, please call 646 253 6636

Fatboy Slim to Deejay Terminal 5!!!!!

2009-05-12T19:20:00.000-04:00

Yessssss!!!

I have been waiting 4 years for Fatboy Slim to come back to New York and he finally is!

June 24 (Wednesday) at Terminal 5 (I am not even going to bitch about the venue)! There's a pre-sale tomorrow at 11am (I don't know the password). Tickets go on sale Friday (5/15) at noon. Shinichi Osawa is opening.

If you made a little chart of how I started listening to dance music it would go something like Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Fatboy Slim. In the early days I had Big Beach Boutique II and Live on Brighton Beach on all the time.

I've had the pleasure of seeing Fatboy deejay twice. The first was at the "Funeral" (closing) of Centro-fly, back in April of '04. There was a band playing "Taps", leading a funeral procession complete with a coffin, through the crowd, across the dancefloor. They opened it in front of the booth...and Fatboy hopped out!

He plays great, fun sets...and is a super animated deejay. He dances and hops around the booth like crazy (check the video from Centro-fly's closing below) and writes notes to the crowd on his record sleeves.

This is going to be such a good time. He's the first deejay who made me realize you can drop whatever the hell you want if you're doing a good job (like the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian") and people will freak the fuck out...get ready!

Findlay Brown at Mercury Lounge 4/14/09

2009-04-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday I witnessed an excellent set from Findlay Brown and his band at Mercury Lounge. Having first seen them perform at Pianos back in February, with very limited exposure to their music prior to the show, I was completely blown away by their performance. While Tuesday night's show at Mercury Lounge didn't come with that initial feeling of exhilaration upon seeing a great band for the very first time, the performance was still very impressive.

Over the course of the show Findlay and his band breezed through 9 tracks of original material each showcasing one of the many different sides of the man from Yorkshire's music. From the poignant, whisper-soft vocals & guitar on "Come Home" to the upbeat, "That's Right" brimming with Southern influence, Findlay demonstrated not only his appreciation for artists like Elvis and Roy Orbison but also his ability to create a sound that harks back to such greats while still maintaining an identity of his own and bringing an element of originality.

The performance was so good (but concise), that when I start to think of highlights I end up remembering nearly every song in the set. The slows ones are so beautifully drawn out with classic sensibilities that they can't be dismissed as sappy. The more upbeat tracks contrast perfectly, bursting with energy that is stomped, strummed, and sung out in minutes.

Findlay's excellent and varied set ended on a wonderful note with Findlay and the band delivering a brilliant "unplugged" rendition of Elvis' "Mystery Train" right in the middle of the crowd...the perfect ending to a set ripe with influence but not imitation. Setlist below:

Findlay Brown at Mercury Lounge - April 14, 2009 Setlist

I Still Want You
Love Will Find You
All I Have
Nobody Cared
Holding Back the Night
Come Home
Teardrops Lost In the Rain
That's Right
Everyone Needs Love
Mystery Train

Modeselektor Start Record Label + Moderat Tour Dates & Album Release Info

2009-04-17T11:40:00.001-04:00

German duo Modeselektor have started their own label, Monkeytown Records. According to their myspace blog:

On the occasion of the international financial crisis we decided to found our own label, Monkeytown Records, to create a platform for befriended artists.

Because: Anything Pharell Williams does, we can do better!

Our buddy Siriusmo personally invited himself to be the very first artist on Monkeytown Records and will be No. 001 of the still virginal label catalogue. Release date June 22.

Check it out: www.myspace.com/monkeytownrecords

Yours,
Bronnse and Perverseus

I assume the release date refers to the first of two EPs to be released by Siriusmo on the label with his debut album to follow at the end of 2009. The debut EP is titled The Uninvited Guest :

In addition to all of this, Modeselektor are currently touring with Apparat, performing music from their joint project - Moderat. Their self-titled album will be out in the near future on cd, cd&dvd deluxe, and vinyl (as early as April 20th, depending on location) on Bpitchcontrol. Album preview and tour dates below:

Moderat - 2009 European & North American Tour Dates:

Apr 30 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ CONNE ISLAND - LEIPZIG
May 1 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ L.E.V. FESTIVAL - GIJON
May 2 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ DONAUFEST - KREMS
May 8 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ DISSONANZE - ROM
May 14 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ WMF - BERLIN
May 15 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ ROUNDHOUSE - LONDON
May 19 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ NEUMOS - SEATTLE
May 20 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ HARRIET - SAN FRANCISCO
May 21 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ SALON COVADONGA - MEXICO CITY
May 22 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ PALADIUM - LOS ANGELES
May 23 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ BETA - DENVER
May 25 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ PARADISE - BOSTON
May 27 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ THE BOTTOM LOUNGE - CHICAGO
May 28 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ MUTEK FESTIVAL - MONTREAL
May 29 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ CIRCA - TORONTO
May 30 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ WEBSTER HALL - NEW YORK
Jun 4 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ LA BATACLAN - PARIS
Jun 5 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ SECOND NATURE FESTIVAL - AIX EN PROVENCE
Jun 6 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ KONGRESSHALLE - MUNICH
Jun 13 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ WILSONIC FESTIVAL - BRATISLAVA
Jun 19 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ ÜBEL UND GEFÄHRLICH - HAMBURG
Jun 20 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ SONAR FESTIVAL - BARCELONA
Jun 27 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ ARENALE ROMANE - BUKAREST
Jul 3 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ JAZZ FESTIVAL - MONTREUX
Jul 15 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ PARADISO / 5 DAYS OFF - AMSTERDAM
Jul 17 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ MELT! FESTIVAL - GRAEFENHEINICHEN
Jul 18 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ GLADE FESTIVAL - LONDON
Jul 31 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ NACHTDIGITAL FESTIVAL - OLGANITZ
Aug 7 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ AUDIORIVER FESTIVAL - PLOCK
Aug 21 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ PUKKELPOP FESTIVAL - HASSELT
Sep 4 2009 - MODERAT LIVE @ ELECTRIC PICNIC FESTIVAL - DUBLIN

Scion Party at Plan B tonight

2009-04-14T15:57:00.001-04:00

Be about it:

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Scion Radio Event – NY
Jokers of the Scene
Super Viral Brothers
DJ Tameil
DJ Ayres (The Rub)
Blu Jemz
Plan B (Corner of 10th and B)
339 E 10th St
New York, NY 10009
11:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m.
21+
Free! No RSVP needed.

These parties are great. Always end up staying until 3 or 4 with no regrets, even with work at 9 the next day.

Favorite Tweets 4/14/09

2009-04-14T15:31:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend I somehow got really into keeping up with all the people, blogs, etc. I am following on Twitter. Today there seemed to be a lot of good stuff so I figured I'd post about it. It would be nice to do this regularly, but I doubt it will happen. Ya never know though. Anyway...cool stuff on Twitter 4/14/09 (probably a few from last night too):

Michel Gondry draws your portrait for 20 bucks! (via asiandanblog)

Obamadog! (via thecultureofme)

Notable "New Yorkers" talk to New York Magazine about their first days in the city (via MarcSchil)

Daft Punk flash 2d platform game (via nedwin)

Soulwax radio show launching in June (URBMAG)

IF IT NOT FOR SITS (via ICHCheezburger)

Robots! (via ryanmuir)

Btw...in case you missed the post, I'm on Twitter.

Findlay Brown in New York!

2009-04-11T17:58:00.007-04:00

While this blog and what I've been listening to has become increasingly dominated by mainly electronic/dance music, every now and then something great grabs my attention and makes me remember that I used to (and still do) enjoy music removed from those genres. One who recently had that effect on me is Findlay Brown.

I don't remember how I even came across him or his music, but I found myself at Pianos on a Thursday night in February being completely wowed by Findlay & his band's somehow soulful, bluesy, and folksy performance. They channeled greats I didn't even realize I liked so much (Elvis & Roy Orbison) along with some I love (the Beatles), and did so in such a way that I was astounded rather than irritated by it.

Findlay is back in New York this week playing 2 shows - one at Mercury Lounge on Tuesday April 14th (tickets available at the door), and the other on Thursday April 16th at Union Hall (tickets available here). I highly recommend you check him out, but if you need some convincing:

A video of some footage from his time in the US in February (which includes clips from the show at Pianos) is below:

You can download Pilooski's edit of "Promised Land" over at RCRDLBL. You can also download some more tracks including "Promised Land" (Dimitri From Paris remix), "Holding Back the Night", and "I Had A Dream" (Solo Acoustic Version) from my original post about Findlay over at Brooklynvegan.

Findlay also recently compiled a mixtape of

...some of the stuff I was listening to while writing songs for 'Love Will Find You' my forth coming LP (out in June)...I started listening to a lot of stuff which I knew so well but almost took for granted - songs you never paid serious attention to because they are so well known. Songs like My Girl, Be My Baby, Stand By Me. I start listening to them in a different way, and working out what was so great about them. I’m not saying the songs I’ve written as a result can stand up next to them, but I’m not ashamed to try and aspire to those standards.

You can download the mixtape here.

Findlay Brown Mixtape Tracklisting

I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos
Comin' Home Baby - Mel Torme
Stamping Ground - Moondog
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Sleepwalk - Santo & Johnny
Borne On The Wind - Roy Orbison
Fool for You - The Impressions
I'm Your Witch Doctor - John Mayall's Blues Breakers
Born To Be With You - Dion
Baby It's You - The Shirelles
Please Stay - The Cryin' Shames
The Night - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton
Wishing for Your Love - The Voxpoppers
Deborah's Theme - Ennio Morricone
Mystery Train - Elvis Presley
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Be Not So Fearful - Bill Fay
Just for You - Sam Cooke
Born Free - Matt Monro
Who Has the Last Laugh Now - Bloodstone
Ballade De Melody Nelson - Serge Gainsbourg
Haunted Feelings - Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Updated Shows List!

2009-04-10T11:44:00.002-04:00

I added a bunch of shows to the list this week (that you might not have seen if you just read this blog using RSS). It's a good time to be in New York...especially this summer (Pilooski, Trus'me, David Byrne, SMD!) Here's the entire list:

April 10 - Crookers, Congorock, and Annie Mac at Webster Hall

April 10 - Rusko at Studio B

April 10 - the official Ladytron/The Faint afterparty with Tommie Sunshine at Le Poisson Rouge

April 11 - Mutek 10 Brooklyn Preview with Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts (live), Claro Intellecto (live), Andy Stott (live), MLZ (dj set), Pangaea (dj set), and Ezekiel Honig (dj set) at Studio B

April 14 - Findlay Brown at Mercury Lounge

April 14 - The Tallest Man On Earth at Union Hall

April 15 - The Tallest Man On Earth at Bowery Ballroom

April 17 - Etienne de Crecy and Feadz at Webster Hall

April 17 - the Juan MacLean (live), Black Meteoric Star (live), Holy Ghost (dj set), and Matt Cash (dj set) at Le Poisson Rouge

April 23 - Simian Mobile Disco (live and dj set!) at Highline Ballroom

April 23 - Alex Gopher at Studio B

April 24 - Moby (solo electronic/ambient performance) at Issue Project Space

April 25 - Mister Saturday night with Larry Heard and Justin Martin at Santos

May 1 - Discovery with Mowgli at Studio B

May 8 - Fixed with Aeroplane and JG Wilkes (Optimo) at Studio B

May 8 - One Step Beyond with Peanut Butter Wolf, James Pants, Mayer Hawthorne & Dam-Funk at the Museum of Natural History

May 9 - Stones Throw Party with James Pants, Mayer Hawthorne, and Dam-Funk at Le Poisson Rouge

May 15 - Trouble & Bass deejays (Drop the Lime, Star Eyes, The Captain) with DJ Class and B. Rich at Studio B

May 16 - Finger on the Pulse present Yikes! with Louis La Roche and Justin Faust at Studio B

May 29 - Disco 3000 with Trus'me & special guest at APT

May 30 - Moderat (Modeselektor & Apparat) at Webster Hall

May 30 - Mister Saturday Night with Pilooski at Santos

June 4 - 2020 Soundsystem (live) and Ralph Lawson (dj set) at Studio B

June 8 - David Byrne at the Prospect Park Bandshell

June 12 - School of Seven Bells at Bowery Ballroom

June 19 - Disco 3000 with Trus'me & special guest at APT

June 27 - Mister Saturday Night with Claude Von Stroke at Santos

August 9 - Simian Mobile Disco (dj set) at Williamsburg Waterfront

August 12 - Friendly Fires at Le Poisson Rouge

In 3 Weeks Exactly

2009-04-09T14:01:00.003-04:00

I am going to Paris with my best friend Eddie. We will be bugging out on various dancefloors at night...wandering all over during the day. We're arriving the morning of May 1 and heading back here on May 10th. Tell us what we HAVE TO do! Either leave suggestions in the comments or shoot an email to - showtrotta at gmail dot com

Erlend Oye Leaves The Whitest Boy Alive!

2009-04-01T09:48:00.003-04:00

From the Whitest Boy Alive's myspace blog:

erlend oye leaves the whitest boy alive
erlend oye has left the whitest boy alive today.
don't worry the tour goes on.
the singer from the new wine will quickly learn all the lyrics and will sing instead of erlend. he also is a very good guitar player so you won't hear the difference. actually he even is a better guitarist then erlend, all in all a big improvement.

message end

Pretty good April fool's joke...

Knightlife DJ Set at Ella Tonight - 3/30/09

2009-03-30T12:48:00.004-04:00

I saw Knightlife open for Cut Copy a couple of weeks ago and he was pretty awesome! Also...Cut Copy are deejaying too? according to the subject of this post...

Photo Update!

2009-03-28T22:47:00.004-04:00

I just uploaded a bunch of photos from recent shows/parties including Busy P at the Studio at Webster Hall, Busy P & the Prodigy at Roseland (review of this & the Webster Hall show here), and A-trak & DJ Mehdi at Studio B (review). You can find all of the photos here along with many others from past shows. Also, if you scroll down a bit there is now a "recent photos" section in the right sidebar that I will be updating.

Busy P to Deejay March 25th at the Studio at Webster Hall

2009-03-23T20:02:00.003-04:00

There's a lot happening this week, but I just wanted to point out that Busy P is deejaying this Wednesday, March 25th at the Studio at Webster Hall.

I'm beginning to lose track of how many times I've seen Pedro deejay over the past few years, but each time his sets are great. He plays a lot of current stuff, plus a lot of whatever he wants, often going outside of the dance/electronic realm creating sets that are interesting and make for really fun, memorable parties. Don't sleep!

Get tickets ahead of time!

Exclusive: Busy P to Open for the Prodigy

2009-03-12T18:05:00.003-04:00

I didn't think I could get more excited about the Prodigy playing Roseland on March 26th, but I just found out that Busy P will be the opening act!

Simian Mobile Disco "10,000 Horses Can't Be Wrong" Video

2009-03-09T13:55:00.004-04:00

By Kate Moross & Alex Sushon who also directed SMD's video for Synthesize. You can see a video in which Kate & Alex explain the making of "Synthesize" here.

ps - all the dots and lines in the video for 10,000 Horses... made me think of this:

Ed Banger Vinyl to include MP3's from now on!

2009-03-05T13:13:00.003-05:00

This is the best news I've heard all day!

And you may find yourself...

2009-02-27T13:53:00.002-05:00

without tickets to the David Byrne show at Radio City tonight.

I might have 2 extras. Shoot me an email if ya wanna go.

Man On Wire Wins Oscar For Best Documentary!

2009-02-23T12:21:00.002-05:00

Sorry this is not music-related in any way, but Man On Wire is the best film I saw in 2008...and definitely one of the best I've seen in my life...not exaggerating. Check it out if you can. In New York it's still playing at the Sunshine and it's out on DVD.

Making of Simian Mobile Disco's "Synthesise" Video & Interview with Director Katie Moross

2009-02-20T14:44:00.003-05:00

Katie Moross co-directed Simian Mobile Disco's new video for "Synthesise" with Alex Sushon. Check out a video explaining the making of it below:

Also check out a great interview with Katie over at NYLVI which is an awesome site that focuses on vinyl, but also posts about music in general.

WhoMadeWho Release New Video for "The Plot"

2009-02-20T13:45:00.002-05:00

The Plot is also WhoMadeWho's new album which is coming out on March 23rd! Check out more info on that here, plus the videos for "TV Friend", and "This Train".

Simian Mobile Disco Update - Synthesize Video, new track "10,000 Horses", North America & Europe Tour Dates

2009-02-20T12:27:00.006-05:00

Firstly...if you haven't already seen it, here's the live video/performance of Simian Mobile Disco's new track "Synthesize" at Area 10:

There's also another new Simian Mobile Disco track "10,000 Horses" which Pete Tong recently dropped on Radio 1. A rip of it has been floating around but is pretty scarce so check Hype Machine for it while you still can. Just to give you a preview...here's what Busy P had to say about it:

"I want to ride those horses naked on a beach with James & Jas! Beautiful track. It is already Summer thanks to SMD. Really like the Detroit vibes in both these tracks.. watch out Kevin Saunderson! I will play it, playlist it and i can't wait to kiss a girl in the middle of Space's dancefloor while dancing to '10,000 Horses..."!

I don't know if I'd go that far, but I do really like the track and can't wait for their show at the Highline Ballroom here in April (in the midst of a massive tour of North America with a small run of European dates in the middle):

Simian Mobile Disco - North America/Europe Tour Dates

Mar 12 2009 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver
Mar 13 2009 - SEATTLE, WA Neumo’s live
Mar 14 2009 - MEXICO CITY, MX MX Beat Festival live
Mar 15 2009 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA Mezzanine live
Mar 16 2009 - The Music Box at The Fonda, Hollywood
Mar 17 2009 - SAN DIEGO, CA Casbah live
Mar 27 2009 - MIAMI, FL Ultra Festival live
Mar 28 2009 - Ultra Music Miami
Apr 3 2009 - Marmande, France, Garorock Festival DJ Set
Apr 4 2009 - Platinum Club, Lille DJ Set
Apr 9 2009 - London AITBF @ Fabric DJ Set
Apr 10 2009 - London Mixmag @ Matter DJ Set
Apr 11 2009 - Spain Barcelona Nitsa DJ Set
Apr 12 2009 - Manchester, Warehouse Project, DJ Set
Apr 13 2009 - Deep Fried Funk DJ Set Derry
Apr 17 2009 - CHICAGO, IL Metro live
Apr 17 2009 - CHICAGO, IL Smart Bar dj
Apr 18 2009 - TORONTO, ON Guvernment live
Apr 19 2009 - MONTREAL, QC Club Soda live
Apr 22 2009 - BOSTON, MA Paradise live
Apr 23 2009 - NY Highline live
Apr 24 2009 - PHILADELPHIA, PA Transit live
Apr 25 2009 - BALTIMORE, MD Sonar live

Messing With the Layout

2009-02-15T11:58:00.004-05:00

Things will probably look crazy for a bit. Apologies!

Soulwax - Any Minute Now video

2009-02-14T17:52:00.001-05:00

I liked this song to begin with...and something about watching business people beat the crap out of each other is very satisfying:

Showtrotta Now On Twitter

2009-02-14T15:26:00.002-05:00

Follow away! :P

Spring Listening: Erlend Oye - DJ Kicks

2009-02-11T12:24:00.001-05:00

I can't tell you how many times I've almost written this post. The weather in New York today is BOSS (which is my overly used word for today). Don't mind that "Severe Weather Alert". It's awesome out.

Such weather ~~warrants~~ demands listening to this album:

Tracklisting:

1. Jurgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie
2. Erlend Oye - Sheltered Life (Remix)/Fine Night (Acapella)
3. Cornelius - Drop (Kings of Convenience Remix)
4. Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
5. Erlend Oye - Radio Jolly – Jolly Music/Prego Amore (Acapella)
6. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Rubicon
7. Avenue D - 2D2F
8. The Rapture - I Need Your Love
9. Erlend Oye - Lattialla Taas – Uusi Fantasia/Venus (Acapella)
10. Erlend Oye - 2 After 909 – Justus Kohncke/Intergalactic Autobahn (Acapella)
11. Erlend Oye - The Black Keys Work (Phonique Remix)
12. Jackmate - Airraid
13. Royksopp - Poor Leno (Silikon Soul Remix) / Erlend Oye - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Acapella)
14. Skateboard - Metal Chix / Erlend Oye - Always On My Mind (Acapella)
15. Ricardo Villalobos - Dexter
16. Minizza - Winning a Battle, Losing The War
17. Morgan Geist – Lullaby / Erlend Oye - A Place In My Heart (Acapella) / Ada - Luckycharm / Erlend Oye - Intuition (Acapella)

I remember finding out about this album 2 days before it was released. Picked it up from Virgin on my way to class on a beautiful spring day and bugged out the first time I listened to it. It's the perfect spring album. It opens with a chick singing German sweetness into your ears...the sounds of water droplets...and it just proceeds to get more and more awesome from there...with Erlend Oye singing over pretty much every track. Like so many things, it's great and not explainable.

Go get it. Listen to it today if you're in New York or somewhere that is suddenly and awesomely warm. The cd also has great liner notes from the Norwegian himself explaining things to keep in mind when you are deejaying which are definitely worth reading.

Best of 2008!

2009-02-09T13:22:00.000-05:00

Better late than never!

This was so much more difficult to do than last year's post, mainly referring to the top 20 shows list. Last year I had to narrow it down from 88 shows/dj sets. This year I had to narrow it down from 122. It took me 4 hours alone just to figure out who I had gone to see this year, never mind the deliberating...

A few things:

I didn't make a list of Top 10 Albums/EP's because there are quite a few that came out last year that I haven't gotten to listen to that would probably be in the running.

I will however say...Lambs Anger by Mr. Oizo is my number one album of 2008. I think it has a really complete, cohesive album feel. I also think it does a great job of showcasing Mr. Oizo's weirder side that is present in his earlier releases, but also includes a great crop of new bangers. I even don't mind the Uffie track which up until this point was something that was not possible. And of course, my four favorite little words - Vous êtes des animaux!

Some other albums that came out in 2008 that I got to hear and like to varying degrees (most, quite a bit) are (in no particular order):

The Rapture - K7! Tapes
The Whip - X Marks Destination
Cassius - CASSIUSPLAY: Nike+ Original Run
Surkin - Next of Kin EP
Soulwax - Part of the Weekend Never Dies
The Black Ghosts Mixtape
The Black Ghosts - self-titled
Jamie Lidell - Jim
Lord Skywave - self-titled
Boys Noize - Bugged Out! Presents Suck My Deck
Simian Mobile Disco - Live from Soho
Runaway - Wurst Edits #6
Eamon Harkin - Wurst Edits #5
Louis La Roché - The Peach EP
Friendly Fires - self-titled
Evil Nine - They Live
Des Peres - The Adventures Of Cowboy and Miniman
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
The Bloody Beetroots - Rombo EP
M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Top 20 Shows:

20 - Trus’me @ the Yard, 6/8
19 - DFA @ MoMa, 3/1 (you can download the dj sets from that night and check out some more photos and video here)
18 - Trevor Jackson @ the Mini Rooftop, 9/12
17 - Holy Ghost, Stretch Armstrong, and Feadz @ the Yard, 9/14
16 - Boy 8 Bit @ 88 Palace, 11/14
15 - Boy 8 Bit @ Glasslands, 3/13
14 - Fake Blood @ Plan B, 12/16
13 - Fake Blood @ the B, 12/12
12 - the Black Ghosts @ Glasslands, 5/10
11 - Busy P and DJ Mehdi @ Santos, 9/18
10 - DJ Falcon @ Le Poisson Rouge, 11/1
9 - Fred Falke @ the Tribeca Grand, 7/12
8 - Busy P @ Le Royale, 3/14
7 - Justice dj set @ Webster Hall, 10/30
6 - Justice @ the WaMu Theater @ MSG, 3/11
5 - M83 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 6/3
4 - Ulrich Schnauss @ the World Financial Center, 6/24 (check out some pics by Ryan here. Btw, Dorit Chryssler also played at that show and was awesome.)
3 - Underworld @ All Points West, 8/8
2 - Soulwax @ Irving, 8/6
1 - Insiders with Soulwax, Late of the Pier, and the Whip @ Irving, 10/24

From Insiders with the Whip, Late of the Pier, and Soulwax

Plus honorable mention to WhoMadeWho and Friendly Fires who were completely new to me and excellent during CMJ!

Non-electro shows (not ranked - all pretty awesome):
1/19 – Tim Fite @ Joe’s Pub
7/25 – Ween @ McCarren Pool
8/17 – Sharon Jones @ Central Park Summerstage
8/3 – Jamie Lidell @ Central Park Summerstage
8/8 – Radiohead @ All Points West
8/9 – Radiohead @ All Points West
10/15 – Jamie Lidell @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
11/9 – Jamie Lidell dj set @ Public Assembly

Jamie singing "Little Bit Of Feel Good" during his dj set:

11/20 – Sondre Lerche @ Bowery Ballroom
12/12 – the Tallest Man on Earth @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg

More bests and other random-ness:

Best of 2008 - Soulwax
Best Facial Hair – Paul (for the Logans)
Best Namer of Facial Hair - Busy George for coming up with "the Logans"
Best Nickname - Miqueeee Le Teque!
Best Electro Twinz - Busy George & Sebastien Tellier
Best People I’ve met through my blog – too many this year, though I think Mitch is the only one I actually hang out with.
Best blast from the past who I now hang out with regularly (yay!) – Van Scott
Best electro-related work moment: My boss asking if he should rub Vicks on his chest before listening to most of the music I put on.
Best family supporter of banging jams – my brother, through his incessant repetition of “Mr. Oizo” and “Busy P” in French accents, despite the fact that he would probably hate their music if I ever made him listen to it. Plus this year I even got him to listen to Soulwax and he has kept "Much Against Everyone's Advice"!
MVP’s – red bull, purple Adidas high-tops, and the purple & green low-tops.
Best Excuse to Dance during the daytime – Sunday Best at the Yard
Best Week Ever: Tie! The week of August 6th which included Soulwax at Irving Plaza, Underworld's Beautiful Burnout Art Jam opening, and All Points West. AND the week of CMJ which was awesome thanks to Brooklynvegan.
Best dj set by someone whose stuff I didn’t know at all prior: – Trus'me at the Yard
People who should come out of going out retirement: Busy Jason and Busy George

Also, thanks to Busy Paul, Miquee le Tequeee, and Eddie (shtuuuk) for hitting dancefloors all over the city with me. Thanks to BV for endless hookups. Thanks to Mike for letting me interview Karl Hyde (amazing!). Can't wait to see what '09 will bring!

Updated New York Shows List

2009-02-07T18:13:00.003-05:00

I just did a massive update to the shows list in the left sidebar. February & March look awesome and April is on its way. In care you're reading with RSS:

February 7 - Matthew Herbert at Studio B
February 7 - Josh Wink at Sullivan Room
February 13 - Xavier de Rosnay (Justice) and Busy P at Webster Hall
February 13 - Trouble & Bass Valentine's Death Prom with DJ Craze, Trouble & Bass DJ's (DTL, Star Eyes, The Captain), and a special surprise live act at Studio B
February 13 - Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings at Nokia Theater
February 14 - Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings at Nokia Theater
February 17 - Fujiya & Miyagi and School of Seven Bells at Le Poisson Rouge
February 20 - Primetime meets Fixed with Trevor Jackson, House of House, Eamon Harkin, James F&%^# Friedman, JDH, and Dave P at Studio B
February 20 - Felix Da Housecat at Webster Hall
February 20 - Tim Fite at the Bell House
February 21 - Cut with special guest Rye Rye at Studio B
February 27 - Dim Mak Night with Steve Aoki, Autoerotique, and Felix Cartal at Webster Hall
February 27 - David Byrne at Radio City
February 28 - David Byrne at Radio City
March 7 - Glass Candy, Nite Jewel, Twisted Wires, Mike Simonetti (dj set) at Le Poisson Rouge
March 7 - Alan Braxe at Studio B
March 10 - Guns ‘N’ Bombs, Heartsrevolution, autoKratz and Beni at the Studio at Webster Hall
March 13 - Calvin Harris dj set at Webster Hall
March 14 - "Infinity +1" Tour with A-Trak & DJ Mehdi at Studio B
March 20 - Boys Noize Records night with Boys Noize, D.I.M., and Shadow Dancer at Webster Hall
March 21 - Cut Copy at Terminal 5
March 21 - Mr. Saturday Night with Todd Terry, Ewan Pearson, and residents Eamon Harkin & Justin Carter at Santos
March 26 - The Prodigy at Roseland
March 26 - Friendly Fires at Bowery Ballroom
March 27 - Friendly Fires at Bowery Ballroom
April 1 - Sebastien Tellier at Le Poisson Rouge
April 3 - MSTRKRFT and the Bloody Beetroots at Webster Hall
April 3 - Deadmau5, the Whip, JDH & Dave P at Roseland
April 10 - Crookers at Webster Hall
April 15 - The Tallest Man On Earth at Bowery Ballroom
April 23 - Simian Mobile Disco at Highline Ballroom

Exclusive: Deadmau5, the Whip, and JDH & Dave P to Play New York's Roseland April 3rd!

2009-02-03T13:30:00.003-05:00

at Roseland April 3rd
Deadmau5, the Whip, and JDH & Dave P will be playing Roseland on Friday, April 3rd.

Tickets go on sale at 12 noon this Friday, February 6th via Livenation.com or the Irving Plaza box office.

Exclusive: The Prodigy to Play New York's Roseland March 26!

2009-02-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Prodigy are playing Roseland Ballroom on March 26th!!

Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 5 at 12 noon (EST) via Live Nation with a pre-sale from 10 am - 10 pm on Wednesday, February 4.

The group hasn't played New York since 2006 and is making the trip back in support of their new album Invaders Must Die, out March 3 on Take Me To The Hospital/Cooking Vinyl with a worldwide digital release on iTunes set for February 24. Check out the video for the first official single, "Omen" below as well as the Prodigy's album-dedicated microsite for the video for Invaders Must Die and additional info on the band's latest release:

Friendly Fires North American Tour Dates

2009-01-29T12:47:00.003-05:00

According to NME, Friendly Fires are coming back to New York (and North America) along with The Soft Pack, and White Lies in March and April as part of the NME Presents North American Tour:

March 24 - Washington - Black Cat
March 25 - Philadelphia - First Unitarian Church
March 26 & 27 - New York - Bowery Ballroom
March 28 - Boston - Paradise Rock Club
March 30 - Montreal - Les Saints
March 31 - Toronto - Lee's Palace
April 1 - Ann Arbor - Blind Pig
April 2 - Indianapolis - Radio Radio
April 3 - Chicago - Double Door
April 4 - Minneapolis - Triple Rock Social Club
April 7 - Seattle - Neumo's
April 8 - Vancouver - Richard's on Richards
April 9 - Portland - Doug Fir Lounge
April 11 - San Francisco - Slims

I saw Friendly Fires 3 times during CMJ and once last month at the Annex. They're dancey & poppy in a rocking way. Their album is great. Check them out!

New Whomadewho video for "This Train" by Chicks on Speed!

2009-01-27T12:30:00.002-05:00

WhoMadeWho has a video out for their track "This Train" (which was released digitally last week and will also be available on The Plot 7" out March 6th.

The video is totally weird, NSFW, and wild which is everything I've come to expect from the leotard-donning Danish trio, plus there are some extra creative touches as the video was done by Chicks on Speed (whose track "Surfer Girl" was recently remixed by WhoMadeWho which you can also read more about here). Check it out:

Exclusive: Booka Shade New York Show Announcement!

2009-01-23T15:23:00.005-05:00

Booka Shade will be playing the Fillmore at Irving Plaza on Friday, March 27th - 9pm doors.

$27.50 advance tickets go on sale 12 noon this coming Wednesday, 1/28 via Livenation.com or the Irving Plaza box office.

Valerie Collective at Webster Hall Tonight!

2009-01-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

Some great new (mostly) Frenchies are coming to Webster Hall:

The Valerie Collective is not just a music blog - it is a group of like-minded DJs and musicians from West France that fuse authentic 80s synths with modern indie/electronica. They sound like Daft Punk doing an '80s movie soundtrack... their tracks are startling in their consistency, mood and feel; they offer a sense of a time that never existed, but we all somehow understand… a future that once seemed possible. Their retro/futuristic artwork (by The Zonders) sums it up nicely.There are several artists under the collective's umbrella, (including College, Anoraak, Russ Chimes and Lovelock – all of whom will be performing).

RSVP here for $10 reduced admission.

You can download some tracks by Anoraak and Russ Chimes over at my dance post on Brooklynvegan, plus a new one - "Sentinel of Love" from 33Hz (who will also be performing live at Webster on Friday).

There's more info on Steve Moore of Lovelock, plus more College and Anoraak tour dates in a post by Black Bubblegum there too.

And...a good way to play catch up on your Valerie game (other than just checking out their blog) is to check out some informed suggestions from Dreamtard.

WhoMadeWho track "This Train" Available Tomorrow on iTunes + Info on "The Plot" single + remix of Chicks on Speed's "Surfer Girl"

2009-01-22T08:09:00.005-05:00

From WhoMadeWho's myspace blog:

This Train and The Plot Single Releases

Hey there….so things are moving forward….Tomorrow you’ll be able to buy “This Train” on iTunes. The track is from our forthcoming album “The Plot” which will be out March 23rd. Add to all this, that the single “The Plot” - yes, it’s also the name of one of the tunes on the album - will be out March 6th. It’ll be out on both 12″ and 7″, something for the young hipsters and for the hip youngsters as well. The track list “The Plot” 12″ : 1) The Plot Original Club Mix 2) The Plot Noze Remix 3) The Plot The Mole Remix 4) The Plot Discodeine Remix Gomma 1 The track list “The Plot” 7″: 1) The Plot (album version) 2) This Train (album version)

The band has also remixed a track called "Surfer Girl" by Chicks on Speed which recently became available on iTunes as well.

Studio B Is Not Closing?!

2009-01-20T23:52:00.006-05:00

According to the B's website, as of yesterday (January 19th):

Despite the rumors, Studio B is not closing and in fact has some exciting events coming up.

I'll say! Here's some stuff I didn't know about until just now:

February 7 - Matthew Herbert (dj set)

March 14 - Infinity +1 tour with DJ A-trak and DJ Mehdi

March 15 - Trouble & Bass with Jack Beats

Plus all the stuff that's already in the shows list on the left in the meantime.

One Step Beyond Ticket Giveaway!

2009-01-14T18:20:00.001-05:00

The American Museum of Natural History is having it's monthly dance party, One Step Beyond, this Friday with Tim Sweeney from Beats in Space and Bianca Grimshaw.

There's something surreal and awesome about having to walk past a huge dinosaur skeleton, and into a planetarium to get down. If you haven't experienced it yet, here is your chance to for Free! I have a pair of tickets to give away. Email showtrotta at gmail dot com with "OSB" in the subject line and I will randomly pick a winner and will let you know if you've won sometime before noon on Friday. Full info on the party is below:

Trus'me to begin New York Residency at APT this Friday 1/16!!!

2009-01-14T12:43:00.003-05:00

I first went to see Trus'me deejay on a whim after liking some of what I heard while researching for "the Week In Dance". By the end of the night he had packed the Yard's humble little dancefloor full of sweaty bodies, fittingly getting down to some perfect summertime house & disco grooves. It was one of my best nights out in New York last year (it made the top 20 which I hope to post sometime next week) which is pretty impressive considering I had very limited familiarity with his music prior to going to the party.

I impatiently waited for him to come back here all the way from Manchester which he thankfully did in October, and now he's back again this Friday for the first party of his new monthly residency at APT. Linkwood and Kon & Amir will be deejaying as well - definitely check it out if you're around!

All the info you need is on the flyer below. Also, if you're on Facebook be sure to add Trus'me NYC to your friends to stay in the loop about the future parties.

This Sunday 1/18/09 - Korrupt: Back to the Minimall

2009-01-14T12:12:00.004-05:00

This Sunday MeanRed (party throwers whose events make me reintroduce the term "rager" into my vocabulary with absolutely no regret) are bringing the party back to 88 Palace (a dim sum restaurant in a Chinatown mini-mall that they take over once the dining is done and turn into an awesome place to party). Their last party there was great and I'm sure this one will be nothing short of the same:

This episode of the dim sum-inspired dance party features THRONE OF BLOOD
(Dances With White Girls * Mattie Safer (of the Rapture) * Wiz)
And Special Guest: EBONY BONES

Sunday, January 18th - MARTIN LUTHER KING WEEKEND

OPEN ASAHI BAR (11pm - until supplies last)

11pm
$10 with RSVP : www.iamkorrupt.com
$15 without

Mr. Oizo on Cover of XLR8R's January/February Issue 124

2009-01-13T12:51:00.004-05:00

I was just reading the obscene number of blogs I read during lunch and came across a great feature on Mr. Oizo over at XLR8R (who graces their cover this month). I didn't do a Top 10 Albums list this year (top 20 shows and various ridiculous superlatives are on their way, hopefully next week) because I know there a lot of albums that would be in the running that I never got to listen to in full. One that I did get to listen to that definitely would be in the top 10 (dare I say, perhaps #1) was Mr. Oizo's Lambs Anger.

The article on him, Mr. Oizo: Master of Puppets, over at XLR8R does a great job of exploring his creation of Lambs Anger as well as some of his past, less accessible work (both music and film).

Not only is the article very well done, but the photos that accompany it are very fitting (good job XLR8R!). Can you capture the French/Quentin any more accurately than this photo?!

Go check it out already!

Phoenix Announce New Album Title

2009-01-01T19:23:00.005-05:00

Phoenix's new album will be called "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" and will be out this Spring, see?

You can geek out about it on the new Phoenix message board, and see a very dramatic intro with a soundbite (that is maybe from the new album?) here.

Philippe Zdar who produced their excellent album, United, is producing the new one. Should be good.

Chemical Brothers Create New Years Eve Edition of Midnight Madness

2008-12-30T18:14:00.004-05:00

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).

NYC Show List Updated

2008-12-19T12:35:00.002-05:00

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

Royksopp Celebrate Their Birthday by Giving Away New Track

2008-12-15T13:16:00.003-05:00

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.

Santos Party House/100 Lafayette has moved!!

2008-12-14T19:07:00.004-05:00

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."

Bloody Beetroots release track "Butter" from Rombo EP

2008-12-05T13:02:00.004-05:00

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)

Shockhound Interviews Justice In Bed

2008-12-04T16:20:00.003-05:00

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.

Mid-week Vids #13

2008-12-03T14:02:00.002-05:00

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...):

The Hives and Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel

2008-11-30T12:57:00.002-05:00

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.

Kylie Minogue to Release Remix Compilation - Boombox

2008-11-27T10:34:00.004-05:00

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!

Mid-week Vids #12

2008-11-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Fatboy Slim is Fucking in Heaven

2008-11-25T13:50:00.003-05:00

and by heaven, I mean a really nice yacht:

Barracuda Yacht Charter by Fatboy Slim

Download: Simian Mobile Disco vs. Deerhunter

2008-11-25T13:15:00.003-05:00

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).

Christmas d'Amour Details Annnounced

2008-11-23T08:58:00.008-05:00

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.

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

2008-11-18T14:29:00.003-05:00

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)!

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

2008-11-14T13:39:00.002-05:00

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.