Norman Cook actually is not retiring the name "Fatboy Slim". Via NME:
"Norman Cook has denied he is laying his Fatboy Slim alter ego to rest.
In a statement his management said they "categorically" confirmed he will continue under the name and is getting ready for festival appearances at Rock Ness, Glastonbury, Wireless, Creamfields and Brighton Beach.
Reports appeared yesterday (May 14) that the DJ was killing off his famous name.
Fatboy Slim is currently finishing work on his album 'The BPA (Brighton Port Authority)'. No release date has been set."
More about "the BPA" and initial rumors of the name change here.
"Fatboy Slim, aka DJ Norman Cook, has decided to retire his famous moniker.
The DJ was cagey about explaining why he had made the decision, or what his new stage name will be. However, NME.COM has learned that he is working on a new album under the name Brighton Port Authority.
Cook told The Sun: "Yes, I am ditching the Fatboy Slim name, but I can’t tell you the new one. I’m going to take the Fifth Amendment on that question and not say because I'll get myself into trouble.”
Despite refusing to confirm his new title the DJ did, however, joke that he was changing his name to "Madonna"."
I just looked into Brighton Port Authority. There's a track in the player called "Toe Jam" that features David Byrne which isn't that surprising since they've worked on a musical together about Imelda Marcos called "Here Lies Love". The thing that shocked me was the song also features Dizzee Rascal. David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal. David Byrne makes me frequently stare at my computer in disbelief.
ps - Here Lies Love looks like it's in the process of actually happening. You can try to follow the progression of it here.
David actually performed some of the songs from the musical a little over a year ago as part of his Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall. I went to see it and it was really great. I never wrote a proper review, but here was my impression of it:
Saturday night was amazing. You could tell how much work everyone involved had put into it. The performance was flawless. The two female vocalists were very good. The percussion and band were dead on. From the beginning you could tell it was going to be good. David was dancing and playing the guitar. Everyone was moving and it was all very upbeat. David prefaced pretty much every song with a little bit of background information...in a very "entertaining, without trying to be" David Byrne-esque way. At the end of the night I was very moved by the whole experience. It was extremely entertaining and well performed. It also had a great narrative quality. Despite it being a "song cycle" and not a full musical or "disco opera", you really came out it with a picture of Imelda Marcos and some of her life. It's probably one of the best shows I've been to.
I really hope it gets made into a proper musical. I think it will be amazing. Disco opera!!!
Back to the Brighton Port Authority project:
There are also some other collaborations: "He's Frank" featuring Iggy Pop and "Should I Stay or Should I Blow" featuring Ashley Beadle
Also, I am kind of freaked out that there will be no more "Fatboy Slim". I've seen him deejay twice. He plays such happy, fun, sets and really gets into it. I hope he keeps doing them even though he's no longer Fatboy Slim. Also, someone please book him to deejay here again already. It's been almost 4 years.
The Black Ghosts were awesome. I could not stop dancing. It reminded me of when I first started going out to see deejays - every night was amazing and I would come home drenched in sweat, see the sun rise, and wake up with my feet aching. I would be in a euphoric state for weeks and could not wait to do it again.
They started out with "Something New". Then they dropped some good dance beats, would do that for a while, then Simon would sing another one of their songs, basically alternating like that from 12:30 until 2:00.
Some songs that I was able to recognize were...a Bloody Beetroots track (but not 100% sure), Mars Needs Women by Meat Beat Manifesto (which I recognized b/c of it being on the Chemical Brothers' 'Brother's Gonna Work It Out' album, which I highly recommend), and "From: Disco to Disco" by Whirlpool Productions.
The other original tracks that they performed were:
I Want Nothing Any Way You Choose to Give It Some Way Through This and one other that I hadn't heard before.
Here are some cellphone pics. Not great, it was really dark in there...and it's a cellphone:
Hello... Sorry for the lack of updates (this week especially). There was a fire in the apartment above mine on Sunday night. Serious fun. Thankfully everything is fine except for the kitchen and bathroom. Things have been a bit nuts this week, running around a lot and such. Feeling a bit tired and out of it. Hopefully things will start to normalize after this weekend. Looking forward to hitting the floor Wednesday and forgetting everything that is bothering me at the moment:
I hit Love with Busy Paul around 11. There was a decent sized crowd for that hour, but unfortunately the place never really got that full. Felix Cartal was on when we went in. He played a solid set. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely changed things up a bit from all the usual electro heard all too often lately. Also, the way he was manipulating the beats reminded me a bit of Passions at times. Not sure exactly what it was though.
I didn't really note the time L.A. Riots went on. For some reason only Daniel was there deejaying. I really wasn't too into his set either. He played some good tracks and all that, but something was just missing, especially when compared to many of their simply banging mixes floating around the net. At one point he dropped an old school track (can't remember which), which got Paul and I going on a tangent about how everything is coming back. I said in the next 10 minutes we're going to hear a disco siren. Sure enough we did:)
Also at some point in the middle of Daniel's set I recognized Lee from No Love Lost Records and got to chat with him a bit about his label. Keep your ears open. There should be some good stuff coming out of there over the next few months. Also, check out the NLLR Mixtape Project in the meantime for some fresh music. You can get to all the mixes from the Myspace page, but if you're on Facebook, I recommend joining the NLLR Mixtape Project group. You'll get a nice little email whenever Lee uploads a new mix (which is quite often, there are already 45!).
After taking a quick break from the increasingly steamy main room, Paul and I scurried back just in time for the Bloody Beetroots to drop a 2 hour mix of recent electro tracks all of which they delivered with their excellent Bloody Beetroots touch (and the help of a Kaoss pad). They played more of their own tracks and remixes than I am capable of remembering or naming right now. Towards the end of the evening they dropped Crookers' remix of Salmon Dance (WOW!) by the Chemical Brothers, a track I am incapable of getting sick of, and Flex by Dizzee Rascal whose music I have been very into lately, and Spinal Scratch by Thomas Bangalter, which is awesome. The Beetroots spun their little Italian hearts out and had me dancing until the end of their set at nearly 4 am, leaving me with aching feet and about 3.5 hours of sleep ahead of me before I had to wake up for work this morning.
One lone cellphone pic to remember the evening (Daniel of L.A. Riots, Bob Rifo, and Tommy Tea):
(Most of this was written a little after 4am, but I didn't get all the media uploaded until now)
Just got home from seeing Kavinsky at Studio B. He was awesome.
I arrived at 12ish, the place was pretty empty, but quickly filled up over the course of an hour. It was the ideal level of Studio B fullness where the place didn't turn into the sweatbox from hell it has been lately, but there were still plenty of people there getting down. After Jen Lasher did a wonderful job warming up the crowd for 2 hours, Kavsinky went on at 2am.
I don't remember what he started with, but a few songs in he played the Mr. Oizo remix of "Merrymaking at My Place" by Calvin Harris, then D.I.M.'s remix of "My People" by The Presets. Then he played some stuff that wasn't all that recent, but what he chose, how/when he dropped the tracks, and what he did with them made it fun anyway. In the midst of it he also dropped some of his own stuff, a Santogold track, and a B-more-ish track I don't know the name of.
Then at some point there was a shift, where there was literally one awesome track after another all the way through until the end of his set. It was like every track was one you weren't expecting, but then once Kavinsky dropped them they made perfect sense.
I was able to identify almost all of the tracks, and I geeked out and saved a list of them on my phone. I was going to make a Muxtape of all of them, but then I realized you can only upload 12 songs...whack. I found this other site called Mixwit that is a bit different, and I was able to put all the songs on there except for a few that weren't available. You can stream the tape below. There's also a separate tracklisting with the tracks I wasn't able to find/identify in bold. Try to imagine it being well-mixed and banging as you listen to it and that will be vaguely like being at the B last night.
Tracklisting:
Daft Punk - Face to Face Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You Jamelia - Something About You (Mr. Oizo remix) Fancy - What's Your Name Again (Busy P remix) Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of (SebastiAn remix) Daft Punk - Aerodynamic SebastiAn - Momy Boys Noize - Deny Selected SebastiAn - Motor ZZT - Lower State of Consciousness Justice - DVNO (Justice remix) ? The Who - Baba O'Reilly Chromeo - Tenderoni Missy Elliott - Ching-A-Ling ? Phil Collins - Sussudio Paul Engemann- Scarface (Push It to the Limit) Justice - Let There Be Light (DJ Funk remix) Justice - Let There Be Light (demo version) Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin Daft Punk - One More Time + a few more tracks I couldn't i.d.
Sidenotes about Kavinsky:
He totally was Frannnnccchhhing it up - smoking and taking swigs out of a bottle of vodka the whole time. He was also having a good time, dancing a bit, bobbing his head, at one point he did the robot.
He played until maybe 4:05, then the bouncer got kinda nasty because he didn't stop right away. Then everyone that was left (the most people I have seen at the B at 4am in a while) kinda went nuts. A bunch of people started yelling stuff to him in French, he yelled back. Serious fun.
A few short video clips merged together that I shot w/ my cellphone:
Overall it was a great night - one of the best deejay sets I've experienced so far this year. I'm exhausted, my feet are aching, but I am so happy. Kavinsky really tore it up. I also think his set showed what a good deejay he is as many of the songs weren't particularly recent, but he made them work together amazingly well. More nights need to be like that.
Read more...
The tour is sponsored by Scion, which apparently has been commissioning deejays to create mix cds. The tour is actually a series of cd release parties for the most recent mix which was done by LA Riots, which Busy Paul Thump Thump has been telling me is awesome. You can stream it here.
The tour starts Wednesday, April 23rd in Chicago, then hits New York, San Franciso and Los Angeles. All the parties are free (just RSVP) and the New York one is on the 24th at Love!
I can't wait. Bloody Beetroots are going to destroy the place. Bring your earplugs!
There's a review of the Bloody Beetroots at Hiro here along with info and a download link for the dope mix they did for the great NLLR mixtape Project.
Also, LA Riots did a nice little mix a couple of months ago that you can download here. Looking forward to finally seeing them. Tracklisting:
Grooveman - House De La Groove
Heartsrevolution - Switchblade (LA Riots Remix)
Kylie Minogue - Wow (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Rolf Honey - Blast Up (Yuksek edit)
Sgt. Slick & Pitch Dark - Automatic Machine (Vandalism Remix)
Yelle - Tristesse (Rolf Honey Remix)
Das Pop - Fool For Love (Yuksek Remix)
Felix Da Housecat - Jack u (Angello & Ingrosso Remix)
Laidback Luke - We Rock Da House
Larry Tee (ft. Princess Superstar) - Licky (Herve Goes Low Remix)
Solid Groove & Sinden - Red Hot (Remix)
Aaren Sanz - Osc Low Nyzz (Blende Remix)
MSTRKRFT - Neon Knights
Count & Sinden - Beeper (A-Trak Remix)
Felix Cartal remains a man of mystery to me. Luckily Missingtoof seems to have him covered. I am really behind on my listening lately.
Tonight is the 2 year anniversary of Ruff Club at the Annex. Should be excellent. A Touch of Class are deejaying (along with a bunch of other peeps, check out the flyer). I can't wait. They had me losing it at PS1 back in July. If you check out that review you will see that they play everything. There also should be some ATOC MP3 goodness in my 'Week in Dance' post over at Brooklynvegan at some point today, so have a listen.
I don't really remember what was played the first time I ever saw ATOC (which was also at PS1, the summer prior to the one I posted about above), but I do remember having a great time. Check it out:
Arrived at Hiro at about 11:30 with Mike. We had missed Sammy Bananas and Kid Cudi was in the middle of performing. I wasn't really into it, just like last time. I did enjoy when he ended with Day'N'Nite because it went into the Crookers remix.
Sinden was on next and he was by far my favorite part of the evening. His set was a pleasant change from all the Frannnssschhh stuff I have been listening to lately. It was just UK, grimey, fidgety bliss. He played This is Sick (which was DOPE), Beeper, and Organ Grinder. He also played some stuff I didn't know, and stuff I knew (but not by name).
EVERYBODY was dropping Bloody Beetroots tracks tonight. Unfortunately I don't know any of their tracks by name, but I can tell when I am hearing one. It drives me nuts. I need to learn the names.
After Sinden, A-trak went on. His set is a bit very fuzzy. I remember being into it and the one specific thing I can remember is him dropping the Fred Falke remix of 'Golden Cage' by the Whitest Boy Alive (who incidentally are awesome - kinda mellow rock/pop - they might remind you of a hopped up version of Kings of Convenience because Erlend Oye does the vocals). It was perfect.
Right around when I was starting to get tired of A-trak's set he was done and Steve Aoki went on. Overall I wasn't impressed by his set this time. I feel like it was all the same stuff I've been hearing lately. There was a song here and there that I was into, but overall the set was just kinda ehh. I left early...
Overall it was a fun night. The crowd was a bit odd...seemed a little younger than usual. Whatev, they were relentlessly getting down and the floor was still pretty packed when I left.
Last night's Degenerates party was great. Headed in with Paul around 11:30. Tommy Sunshine was already on deck dropping a banging remix of SMD's 'Hustler'. He played a lot of stuff I didn't know (like last time), but his set was solid and highly danceable. Busy Paul and I discussed how though his set was great, you could tell he was holding back...like he really could've opened it up, gone all out, and made everyone lose their shit, but he didn't. He kept it fun, but not crazy and got everyone all warmed up for Moby's set. Big ups to Tommie for showing some restraint. If I was as talented as he is and had so much music at my disposal I don't know if I would be able to do that.
Around 12:30 Moby went on. He killed as he has been at all the other parties...a great mix of old school stuff with enough new to keep it interesting. He played 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' by the Chemical Brothers and I absolutely freaked out. He also played one of his new tracks - 'Disco Lies'. It's a good song, but it seemed a little out of place. Just a tad too disco-ey to throw in with what he was playing. I really like the song though. Also, the video is really funny/awesome/will make you feel really bad about eating chicken:
My only "gripes" w/ his deejay set...he played Bassment Jaxx 'Where's your head at' which I think he's played at every Degenerates party so far, and also one of his songs, I think it's 'We Are All Made of Stars', but I'm not sure. And really, these aren't really gripes...the crowd has a good reaction to both of them, they're a lot of fun to dance to, and unless you've been to most of the other parties you wouldn't know, so whatever. Anyway...
He killed it until about 1:45? Then DJ Mehdi went on. I can't remember what he opened with. Then he dropped that track that repeats "My baby is not at home" (that I don't know the name of). He also dropped in no particular order:
the songs that goes "this...is going...to make you freak", which I think is called "Freak" and is by LFO, but not sure. the Chemical Brothers - Do It Again Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco remix) Daft Punk - Aerodynamic Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (original version) Justice - DVNO (Justice Remix)(great to hear out for a change instead of the Phantoms, which btw were also dropped by DJ Mehdi and Tommie Sunshine. BP and I were discussing how they've kind of had their run...I love the Justice album, but I am really tired of hearing only those 2 songs and D.A.N.C.E. when I'm out. Especially from deejays on Ed Banger...I love their sets regardless, but don't they have access to any of the new music coming out?)
DJ Mehdi's set was serious fun, and he's so happy to be deejaying - always dancing around and smiling. Easily becoming one of my fave deejays. Obligatory cellphone pic:
Overall it was a solid party and a great night of dancing. Hiro was packed for a good part of the evening and everyone was dancing. As expected, after Moby finished his set a lot of people headed out, but the floor was still pretty packed with the masses getting down until the end of DJ Mehdi's set at 3:30.
This post could alternately be titled "Mike you are my hero for telling me about this" / "David Bruno thank you for making me go see them last year" (you can read some of my post-Soulwax ranting and raving here. There's also a link in those posts to some Youtube videos from those 2 nights.
Anyway...Soulwax are playing Irving Plaza on Wednesday August 6th. Tickets go on sale here at noon this Friday (April 4th).
Their new show is supposed to be great. According to their myspace:
"Soulwax Nite Versions perform their remixes live exclusively for a limited time only. Following on from where Nite Versions left off, Soulwax will be playing most of the remixes they’ve made for other people over the years. This will include some that are hard to find, some people forgot about and some that haven’t been released yet, bits of that Gossip one you like plus Kylie, LCD, Justice etc. and a few new surprises thrown in for good measure... You get the idea."
This is going to be great. Do NOT sleep on this!!!
(photo of Soulwax destroying the B last April from here)
Busy Paul and I met up to see the Bloody Beetroots at Hiro, but first we witnessed Hearts Revolution. I didn't really know much about them. I'd heard about the whole Choose Your Own Adventure concept for the remixes, thought it was was a cute idea. Some pretty good people did remixes, so I figured the band itself would be pretty good. WRONG! It was probably the most painful show I have been to this year. The beats and everything are very good, but the singer, Lo, is HORRIBLE! This is not a matter of me not liking her voice or style...the girl could not sing.
She actually made me think of Yelle (whose performance at Hiro a few weeks earlier was the complete opposite - check out the French pop awesomeness) only because she was petite and her singing was more like YELLing. She then bitched about it being so late, being tired, and ended saying something like "this is our last song, I have to go to bed." Cry me a river. You are making music for a living and selling cool stuff out of an ice cream truck. I am sorry to hear you are tired at midnight on a Thursday night.
For once the masses at Hiro seemed to actually be listening to the music, and accordingly just kind of looked blankly in the direction of the stage. Nobody was really moving. You could definitely sense some crowd/vocalist tension.
Thankfully their set wasn't terribly long. Before I knew it the Bloody Beetroots were erasing any bad feelings with some wobbly, ill beats. They were really great. Their set was super energetic, one banger after another. I can't remember that much of what they played specifically this far removed from when the actual show was, but I can tell you there was a lot of their own stuff being dropped and a lot of stuff by fellow Italians, Crookers.
Got a couple of cellphone pics of the masked men below:
I wish I could tell you how awesome the Simian Mobile Disco show was on Friday, but I wound up standing in that spot...you know the one where everyone decides they need to pass through, so you are constantly moving out of someone's way? That is where I was.
Initially everything was cool...we were about 20 feet back, SMD was doing their thing...banging as always. And then we got shifted to the aforementioned spot and it pretty much turned into a shitty experience. Eventually we realized it wasn't going to get better so we moved to the back. At that point the show was nearly done.
As far as I know SMD didn't really change things up too much compared to the other times I've seen them. They played most of 'Attack Decay Sustain Release', their remix of 'Ladyflash' by the Go! Team, and their remix of Klaxons' 'Magick'.
My favorite part of the night was very nearly running into SMD (physically) as they walked past the guest list table (which we were just leaving) to take some photos near a big dinosaur skeleton. Chuck and I then lamented about how much we love them and how they are such awesome dudes. *sigh*
Sorry I don't really have much to say about the show given my whack experience. Luckily Mike and Paul were up front having an awesome time which they documented rather thoroughly (according to a text message I received mid-show about their "media whoring", lol). I will direct you to what will undoubtedly be more accurate reviews of the awesomeness that is a live Simian Mobile Disco show as soon as they post them.
Met Busy Paul outside the B at midnight. There was no line and the place was relatively empty. So surprising with the big guys from Institubes in the house and no other super big shows happening that night. New Yorkers and their weird dancing habits...eventually more people got on the floor once the Frenchies went on, but the B wasn't full at all. It was a nice change from the sweatbox it has been lately, but a disappointing turnout for such a talented little crew. Anyway...
Mathhead was spinning when we arrived, switched to the Captain shortly after. Both decent sets. I enjoyed the Captain's more (which probably had something to do with the fact that I was there for all of it, vs. 20 minutes of Mathhead's). At some point he dropped 'E Talking' by Soulwax (I am pretty sure it was that song, but my memory is fricken shot...I need to start taking Ginkgo) which was good to hear out. (ps - when are those Belgians coming back?!).
After the Captain, Bobmo (side note to Busy Paul - TO THE BOBMOBILE!!!) went on. At first we thought it was Surkin because he opened with a Surkin track (again, can't remember which one) and they are both little dudes, but then Shark yelled something like "give it up for Bobmo!!!" Overall I thought his set was pretty good...definitely had a bit of an old school feel which was nice, plus a hint of B-more. And then you remember that the dude is 17, so it was actually relatively amazing.
Para One was up next. There was definitely a shift...more electro/techy sounding and he was totally getting his knob twist on which was cool, but was getting a little eh by the end. It was a decent set, but wasn't really that into it for the most part. There were some parts that were very good...hearing him drop 'Dundun-Dun' was pretty amazing, and he dropped a TTC song towards the end.
Surkin closed out the night. I think his set was the best out of everyone's that night. Nothing mind-blowing, but definitely had me getting down in a way the other sets hadn't. He played some of his own stuff which was great - Hoes Get Down (which I think every dj dropped that night) and Radio Fireworks, some good French electro - Daft Punk, etc., and some old school stuff. Just a really fun danceable set. The party went until 3:30. A super quick car ride home from the B, the workings of a post about disco sirens, and a hilarious g-chat with Busy Paul left me going into today with a precious 3.5 hours of sleep! Yea-yuhh. SMD with everyone and their mother tonight should be dope.
ps - Paul was media-whore extraordinaire. Hopefully he will have some photos and videos to give you a full impression of the evening up on his blizzog soon.
If you've been reading this blog you have probably come across mention of "the electro triangle", "the triangle", etc.
In case you are wondering wtf I am talking about...the electro triangle is me, my friend Mike from themusic.fm, and my friend Paul who recently launched his blog Thump Thump on Thursday. We became friends through our shared love of electro. I've known Paul probably 2 months longer than I've known Mike. One night the three of us all wound up out seeing Guns N'Bombs at Hiro. That night "...introductions are made...it's like a ridiculous electro-loving triangle."
Friday I was off from work. Spent the day having an exhaustingly fun time going on adventures with Eddie. After doing a ton of stuff we went to see Tortured Soul at the Highline Ballroom. On their myspace they are described as "live soulful house" which I would say is accurate. They have a few songs that are really right on, they totally nail it and make you want to get down. Some are a bit more mellow and kind of ehhh. Overall definitely worth checking out though. Just to put things into perspective, if I wasn't totally exhausted by that point in the day I probably would be raving about them. The first few songs were really awesome and I was dying to get down, but my legs just said "Hmm, no, sorry. No dancing for you."
At that point I just kept thinking about how nice it would be to head home and go to bed. But I had bought a ticket to Modeselektor at the B, and Mike was already on his way over there. So we left the Highline around 1 and headed over to Studio B. Thankfully getting some fresh air and chilling on the train for a while brought on a second wind.
Got there about 2. Mike told me Modeselektor had only been on for about 15 minutes (unfortunately I missed everyone else deejaying that night). They had the place going nuts. Their sound was big and banging. One of the first songs I heard them play when I arrived was 'Une bande de mec sympa' by TTC (which is a track that Modeselektor produced). It was great to hear on a loud system. Super fun to dance to. I was bugging out that they played it because up until a couple of days prior it was the only Modeselektor song I had ever heard. I think it was also the only track I recognized the entire time they deejayed. The rest of their set was super hard and banging, but in a different way than what I've been used to lately. The tracks they were dropping were pretty diverse, but all had the bang in common. My only complaint...they only played until 3. Such a bittersweet ending. I guess when someone goes on that late I expect them to close out the night. Still an excellent experience. Would definitely go out to see them again.
A New York based music blog focusing mainly on good, banging, electronic music...and some rock and other stuff from time to time. Show reviews, news, upcoming shows, and event info. Tangents about dj's/bands/music I love.
I'm also the former writer (from 3/08 - 10/09) of the Week In Dance for BrooklynVegan.com
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