December 18th - Save the Date!

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

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

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Mid-week Vids #8

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

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

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

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

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Busy P Nike Air Force 1 New York Launch

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

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

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

First come, first challenged.

Thursday, October 30. 4pm.

Nike Sportswear
21 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mid-week Vids #7

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



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

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

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





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

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Mr. Oizo - Lambs Anger Promo Video

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another awesome related development:

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

Also good to know:

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

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

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Mid-week Vids #6

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

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

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

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

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

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

JUSTICE - A CROSS THE UNIVERSE (teaser)
by edbangerrecords

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

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

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Mid-week Vids #5

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

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

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

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



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

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

Tracklisting
Lambs Anger - Mr. Oizo

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James Ford discuss new Simian Mobile Disco album with NME

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

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

According to James Ford via NME:

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

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

and my favorite part of the article:

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

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

via Moby's myspace blog.

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

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Lord Skywave remixes Radiohead's "Reckoner"

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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


more animals


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

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

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

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

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

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


So awesome and so much fun.

Some pictures:

From DJ Mehdi & Busy P at Santos Party House

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


Check out a bunch more he took here.

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Busy P & DJ Mehdi at Santos tonight

Just a friendly reminder:



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

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

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

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

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Mid-week Vids #2

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



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

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Feadz surprise guest dj set at Arlo & Esme tonight

This was just announced last night:



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

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