A path divided

I'm in the midst of an mp3 purge. I've taken on a lot of blog bulk and I hate deleting music, but I don't want to capitulate into getting a new computer / upgrading the HD / etc. So while sifting through this, I found a bunch odd stuff (maybe next post) but I also came upon and idea for auto-DJing. The concept is basically you preprogram your sets and this program would capture your track paths as a sort of roadmap as to how to mix automatically without you there. The result would be a database of cues and mixes done by yourself, or your favourite DJ's or randoms. You'd have all of your songs that you like in a list and the program puts the same sort of effects, loops, cutoffs, etc that, say, Devlin and Darko use. Granted this is all cheating, but instead of downloading mixes done by folk that sound the same every time, you are playing music that is can be more entertaining based on how the DJ's have done there various performances. A sort of choose your own adventure.

Example:

From a Soulwax mix (Radio Soulwax #5), these 3 tracks work together well.

Junkie XL - Check Your Basic Groove
New Order - Confusion
Super 2000 vs. Daft Punk - Around the World

However, I would not put 'Around the World' there, but rather work Gerri into Confusion's bassline:

Gerri and the Holograms - Gerri and the Holograms
Santogold - Anne (Switch Mix)
Santogold - LES Artistes (XXXchange mix ft: Movado) <-- Fantastic

which come from the Diplo Dub of Santogold. Now, since these both come from mixes themselves, they have 'paths' of their own, it's just that you forked your way from one to another. More popular songs will have more deviations (like Around the World) and that path might lead you to some other interesting (you know if a guy likes Daft Punk as much as I do, he might have something else up his sleeve that I'm unaware of).

This is what I'm getting at:


I don't know, it sounds like an interesting product if someone were to make it, but what DJ would sign themselves up for it to give their secrets away and who would judge what makes a good transition? Ok, how about something smooth now instead (again a la Radio Soulwax #5)...

Dennis Edwards - Don't Look Any Further
TLC - Unpretty

Oddly enough, on the mix, these two precede the Junkie XL track from above.

Birth of Tektonic?

The year: 1994
The band: Sebadoh
The scene: Downstairs.


cred

Oh le French, you are so le late.
Oh shit. Yelle in boy shorts. Stop it already, my pants aren't fitting now.

Coco

I just read wikipedia's blurbs about Coco Chanel after making sure that I was spelling haute couture correctly in an email. In the spirit of Coco's designs, and the last post with the basic structure, here's another one that was spared the virtual rubbish bin from my current mp3 darwinist actions due to too much blarghing.

Moby - Disco Lies (The Dusky Kid's Fears Remix)

Don't forget to throw some stuff on top of this in the 3:30 - 6:00 region, otherwise: repetition kills you.

Second Coming

K, more of The Rapture's !K7 Tapes. I think overall the mix is pretty good, but this song especially is tight. It's simple with two keyboards tops and a drum machine going. I feel like it's something akin to an Intro Body set. At 3:49, it is especially sweet with the driving keys on bass and just the kick. I wish I had more on the guys as their myspace page paints them as a really sweet dancefloor group.

Syclops - Where's Jason K

No joke, buy the mix. It's that good funk.

Analog Hunters

I tried to steal the code to put the google map in my blog (and give credit don't worry) but I stink at HTML. So instead, here's the full site: Find Vinyl. I'm only interested in Chicago's, but the link will list a multitude of cities for you. Cred to Tim.

Overchill, Overdue

A sorry goes out to all 3 readers of this blog. I've been sitting on this song for over a month now and haven't posted it. Floating with the clouds of gentle waves of the airy organ, an underpinned drum beat eggs you on. I really enjoy chilled out electro tunes like this one. For some reason these don't show up as often as they should. I don't think I'd want an entire album of the same style, but just a collection of little beachcombed finds.

Sisters of Transistors - The Don (Hot Chip Remix)

By the way, please don't listen this song through sub-par speakers. At least use decent headphones because otherwise the kicks are too pronounced and that's not what this track is about.

As a bonus, you should have this one too. I don't think it was released on any !!! album, just as a single and they've never performed it at any of the concerts I've seen them at, even though you kind of need Stephen Merritt's (of The Magnetic Fields) voice. By the way, Nic Offer (lead !!! vocals) puts on a damn good show and his white guy dancing rivals even Tim's.

!!! - Take Ecstasy With Me

P.S. Original Magnetic Fields version:


P.P.S While we're on the subject of chill tracks, I sent this one out to the Canadians last month. It follows the theme, although this one has a more driving drumline and is not really that relaxing towards the end.

Hot Chip - Boy From School (Erol Alkan's Rework)

By the way, you should really buy these tracks. I got Take Ecstasy With Me for the cover, and I had to do an LP rip of the Erol edit.

Soulwax Offshoots

Naturally, you should be listening to mixes not only because the DJ is fantastic, but also to garner new tracks. Radio Soulwax has been a fantastic provider of both. I don't know why it took me so long to look these guys up, but maybe it's because I focus my attention too much on people like Vitalic or Disco this and Disco that. The Undertones are the kind of guys where they should play it at Lipgloss in Denver or now, the Hideout dance party in Chicago (or if you remember, Pure Pop for Now People from 2003-2005). They are an Irish group of power pop / punk who apparently have the perfect album according to this guy (whom I should read more of). Here is the track from get your yo yo's that Radio Soulwax uses.

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks

Now, time to get their album... and if you haven't yet, get get your yo yo's out!

By the way

Here's something you should check out from a place that is pretty good in LA: Turntable Lab. I picked a bunch of stuff while I was there. Very happy.

In Flagranti LP from Kitsune... not bad.

Also from Kitsune, dig her:


La Roux

She's got sweet hair to match her voice. One person thinks that she's the 2009's Ladyhawke.


La Roux - Quicksand (Autokratz Drags to Riches Mix)

What a vertical post.

Adventurous

Endlessly searching, forever finding, constantly chucking, my web searches led me to this blargh. I'll just show you the video I'm extracting. Excellence!




I never knew this show existed, but it's too bad that the soundtrack wasn't made by these guys, Adventure. The video, myspace, and 2 songs were enough for me to get the album they've got plus a Beach House 7". I'll let you decide on your own.

More later...

Late Night Bars

Ugh. I've got a bunch of unfinished, saved posts that I need to polish. Just so busy. However, tonight after colluding with Christopher we concluded that it was too late to go out since it was already 1am and where to go?

I've always wondered where all the late night spots are in town. After looking them up on this site (and after cityofchicago.org failed me with lack of robustness), I made a google map of 4am's. Here you go.


View Larger Map

I didn't put some of the spots up as of yet since technically their licenses have expired according to the site (I'm looking at you Estelle's), so I'll update it perhaps later. There aren't too many more around that show up, although I don't know if a particular bar went belly-up with the info from the site. What this map doesn't have is all the late night spots that don't have a liquor license but still operate after 2am, like the Pick Me Up cafe. Maybe I'll make a under-21-friendly version later.

Enjoy! ...especially you iPhone/blackberriers.

New (Rapture)

I haven't heard the mix at all, but Tapes by our favourite post-punk pals The Rapture looks to be quite intriguing. What's funny is that I haven't really read any buzz about it at all. I don't want to say that The Rapture is decaying, but hopefully they'll expand on their past success (man if I hear House of Jealous Lovers ever again...) By the way, it comes from this site K7. They've got some other guys in their DJ Kicks series i.e. Booka Shade, Hot Chip, Tiga, Annie, Erland Oye... oh my. Let's get it!

Here's a sample track via the hype:

Vaughan Mason And Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll (Part1 & Part2)

If any of you folks know of other mixtape collections like this or Fabric's, let me know.

P.S. Here's another review of it.

Sloan out

Ok, it's time to flush out all those tabs that I've been for all these weeks. I haven't had ANY time lately. Not to brag, but the past couple of weeks I've been going out a lot... even for me. Going to Neo two saturdays ago and Rehab again that Monday turned out to be really draining. Still, Christopher and I met a really cool pair of W Canadiens (at Sonotheque naturally). We literally spent the entire weekend together. Sorry Aaliya's ma; I'm sure your food was excellent, but hey, so was Chicago Diner's.

First off, here's a guy who orchestrated a surprise wedding at his Halloween party and he acts like Beetlejuice during the entire thing (except vows and I Do). Neat.


Next, I was speaking with Larry about festivals. I don't know if we are old, or just that we've been there done that, but Coachella and Lollapalooza just didn't cut it for us the last go around and we need our yearly reunion somewhere, preferably music-oriented. SXSW is a little too long and other ones around the states I think will give a similar experience to what we're used to (Daft Punk set the bar really high. Twice.) So one idea he had was to go to Summerfest in Barcelona. Plus, the fest is only the weekend and we can stay there for a week or so. Winning hand so far.

Lastly is where I got my Mission Control pic for the prior post. Those guys are awesome... they just need more songs out. Hopefully I'll get word which Tuesday their album will exist.

P.S. One more... this copy of the NYTimes.

Oy...

Oh, and I can't hold this back any longer. Yo Majesty's album is alright, even though I plopped the $20 for 2 tickets at the Bottle; it should be a good show. But listening to this track I just need to tell someone that they used a re-organized version of Booka Shade's Body Language for the backing track (or at least the same keyboard patch.)

Yo Majesty - Don't Let Go

Listening to their album Futuristically Speaking, I think they should have spent a little more time outside the studio on this one. Anytime you have a whole TRACK on an album dedicated nowadays to tell people to 'move to the music' or 'get your hands in the air' it makes me think less of the artist. Save it for the live shows honey.
You know every time I listen to music that I think I should like, I feel that later on I actually will like it and I need to give it some time. They've got some good tracks (Booty Klap, Leather Jacket, Don't Let Go, Club Action) don't get me wrong, but I think these guys will fare better in the remix circuit since they have the unique sound of being female, lesbian rappers that hipsters have adopted. They have excellent flows (even hearing when I said that in my head, I'm shaking at my whiteness), but they are trashing the track anytime they try to sing. Just get somebody else to do that; the hard part is the writing and rapping. Hopefully they're not like Chali 2na and take forever to write stuff (my theory on why he only seems to be a featuring on tracks) and they can rap the same way if they're doing a battle. Now THAT would be sweet to see at the show. A Battle!

P.S. They need a new producer.

P.P.S. Reading Pitchfork's review of them at a festival in Norway (Øya), it seems that they're a fan of taking their tops off at shows. Now, I agree with Pitchfork when they say that hopefully people will go to their shows and listen to them for their tunes and appreciate their message/attitude/background/GLBT-friendly ways and not for the tits. Personally, I think I might just close my eyes with the occasional peek like a horny 10-year-old hiding in a closet. Wow... I can't believe how much that summarizes my sex life.

Because it's funny...

And because I'm a stinker.

Costume Comparisons

Stuff to do. Check Le F'book for specifics

Peter Porno's party he proxied me to 2116 W. Concord
Martina's F'book'd party 2125 N. Whipple
Halloween at Neo
Zombi Disco 3 w/ DJ King Drake (10pm, 1621 N. Kedzie)
Joe's Party at Chief O'Neals
Shenita's Party
Spandexxx #10 at Sonotheque w/ Moneypenny
Loft Party for 18 year olds. $20 for guys?

Oldie

I have to post this one.

Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (Digitalism Remix)

I first heard it on Radio Soulwax's Get your Yo Yo's Out like 2 years ago coming back from my first Coachella. Wowee! Took me some time to find it though...

Man, it's such a good mix, here is every last bit of it...



Radio Soulwax - Get Your Yo Yo's Out part1
Radio Soulwax - Get Your Yo Yo's Out part2

I'm blogging this on a Sat night, that's how good this thing is.

Launch

Mission Control are a couple of Aussies (again) whom I befriended a while back on myspace, but didn't really take stock at the time in what they were doing. Well while being sick, they popped up again for me and after hearing this track below a while back, it really kicked me in the head this time (in a slow motion blissful-type way). A quick hypemachine lookup gets you the remix.

Mission Control - Innerspace
Mission Control - Innerspace (Designer Drugs Remix)

This Designer Drugs guy is everywhere. Follow him!

Tonsilus Maximus

What have I been doing? Off for a week from work already and I haven't written about anything here? The last thing I got in the mail was from Australia (did you know that if you're Australian, you can work in England no problem?) and it was this album by Cut Off Your Hands. It is not electro, sorry, but powerpop (is that like intelligent dance music but less pretentious and more authoritarian?)

Cut Off Your Hands - Happy As Can Be
Cut Off Your Hands - Expectations

I think they're pretty catchy and should be played on the WLUW. I honestly don't know how I heard about these guys, although I do know that I've got D is for Disco E is for Dancing (made by Modular's Bang Gang DJ's) that comes with a 90x40cm sweat rag coming from the same place I got COYH. That should be here by Halloween hopefully. That is more typical Conrad. If the teaser does its proper foreshadowing, this is to be highly recommended.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Quietly I got the Reader's early warnings page and what stuck out for me was that the rumor was true about

JUSTICE PLAYING NEW YEAR'S IN CHICAGO!!!

I missed them last time they were in town, but I saw them twice already at Coachella. They do not disappoint. The crowd is going to be crazy. This is also a 17+ show so it's going to be even more ridonk.



If anything you can sell your ticket to an aspiring yup. But the DWD boys and So Me will be there!

A voice to be heard.

..image nicked from here.

Strangely enough, Robin Pecknold was wearing the exact same thing at the Metro that he has on in this pic from a show from 6Oct. He even made the comment that for whatever reason, an audience member shouldn't come up to him because he "isn't hot" due to the fact that his clothes were worn wet since there was no dryer at the Metro.

Man can that guy sing.

He's also fantastic at guitar since he can use all his fingers and not just strum. What was kind of cool was that they had an on-stage conversation about corn (which digressed from who would win, Corn or McCain?, and an audience guy said, naturally, Corn) and they started talking about whether or not there were any songs about corn (excluding Jimmy Crack Corn, which apparently has a storied past). Anyway, he then started to play "Colours of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahontas. Damn. That guy can sing.

I think the best song that was there was this one, which was just him soloing.

Fleet Foxes - Oliver James

I have to say that this album version doesn't do it justice on stage. His voice just pierces your soul. I kind of just wanted to sit down and pass out from a wave of an aurgasm. Or maybe it was his clothes...

Dhakfu

As promised, here is that UK Grime CD from 2006: Organized Grime. If you don't know anything about the genre, this is probably a good a place as any to check it out. I've gotten Roots Manuva albums, the TY single, and some Wiley, but I wasn't that enthralled with the bulk of it other than a couple of songs. Like I said prior, this mix has a certain sentimental value for me since I picked it up the first time I went to Sonotheque (with Phrank no less!). Dhakfu's myspace is a little lacking in content, but credit goes to that guy.

Organized Grime Part 1 (mixed by Dhakfu)

Organized Grime Part 2 (mixed by Dhakfu)

Phoenix or Redemption

History by Robotnick

Simply fantastic. I posted this mix before, but I'll do it again here as a reminder of how great it is. Before Alexander Robotnick went on last night at Sono, I didn't really know the songs that were being played, nor did I really dig them. Then he came on. Night. and. day. He killed it with Fun Fun, but when I opened up my eyes, the only person dancing was me. I felt like I was at home playing a set, but with ridiculously loud speakers and more people. So much fun.

By the way, this is a song I heard last night and is on my list of stuff to find that I kind of found, but apparently this is the original version and there is a newer edit except I don't know who it's by or where to get it. To all 2 people who read this blog, if you know what I'm talking about, let me know!

Gino Soccio - I Will Remember (Original)

I discovered this song from "Erol Alkan Live On Radio 1, September 2006" in iTunes for podcasts. (how do you do an iTunes html link?) It should be the 2nd to last track, with the last track being Erol's remix of 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing'. Right now the bearing for the tone arm on my MKII is being lame. Otherwise I'd do the LP rip. Maybe I should hook up the spare...?

Foxy

I couldn't fit this one in with the last post...

Little Boots - Meddle (Designer Drugs Mix)

Designer Drugs puts out some good stuff. If he comes to town (maybe I missed him) he should be pretty good.

Easy Combo

Replace Wiley's chorus with Santogold's Shove It (acapella) chorus and you have an easy mix folks. It's begging for it! (only do it once though else you know what happens). Where is dancehall now? I hope juke and mash-up didn't kill it. Maybe I should find a new spot to hang in. (thinking about it now, maybe it should be a zhoostice minus, I mean meenoose).

Beenie Man & Wiley - Rolex it Up (Heatwave Refix)

This song was my first exposure to 2step. I picked up a cd from Sonotheque a few years back (2005?) and that was the first time I heard UK grime which Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, and M.I.A. (Arular days) were prominently featured on.


When I find that cd or the rip, I'll post it up. Right now, I'm lazy.

Speaking of Slavery...

...last night I went around town to say 10 different bars, 3+ of which I've never been to: 50/50 on division, Exit on north ave, Neo on clark to be specific. Damn it was dead almost everywhere I wanted to be and full everywhere I didn't (save Davenport's on Milwaukee which had a 6-person karaoke party in the back). I think we spent more on cab rides than liquor.

Anyway

the discovery of the night was Neo. I've wanted to go there for a while now, but never had the chance to. Dark, industrial, electro, rave, darkwave, goth pumpers (bangin' w/o bangers, jamming w/o jams). Seriously, I have not gone that legitimately nuts while sober in a while. I danced for about 2 hours straight and I actually went to the DJ and asked for Underworld. "This is Underworld, buddy." Ha. I really am not part of that scene, just butterflying to it for the music, but I have to go there again.


dubnobasswithmyheadman.

If you don't have this, GET IT. Oh man just listening to it right now puts me in a chill frenzy.

P.S. For the non-techie readers: the link is in OGG format. If you have iTunes, I recommend installing this guy. You copy the file from the mounted disc image into your /Library/Components directory and restart iTunes.

Pete Tong & Soulwax

Soulwax was doing a popularization spot with Pete Tong for their movie Part of the Weekend Never Dies (which is really good by the way if you love Soulwax like me) and it got posted online. The first 4min is like an intro/interview, but the rest is good music to be sure. If you get a chance to find the DVD which is only on sale now officially in the EU, definitely get it. Me being the slave to dance music forced me to pre-order it 3 months ago when I found out about it. Half of it is a following of their tour and interviews with various who's who's in the electro world (Tiga, Erol Alkan, Justice, etc.) and basically tied together by James Murphy. The other half is a video mix of a set from all around the world. I recommend turning the subtitles off since you can (maybe just because I feel like I have ADD and can't help looking at them). Shit man, rent it! Get it! or Find me!

Live on Radio 1 with Pete Tong

Yo Champ

I really don't know much about the juke-booty house-y jams, but Yo Majesty is pretty tight. I get the feeling you'll be hearing it more and more about town. They already did a feature on it on perezhilton.

Yo Majesty - Booty Clap

The other folk worth talking/blarghing/sharing is Hey Champ from Chicago. They were at the Black Swan weekly wino event in Wicker Park last night, but I only realized it when I walked past and remembered that I didn't RSVP. This song is their winner, but the other one (Face Control) I don't care too much though. I can't take it for what it is only because I feel like I can make the song at home. Seeing as I don't know chord progressions or know how to play the guitar, this song is excellent! (and it's dancey).

Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl

What was that about Italo?

More stuff not to ignore. You've probably heard the back beat or the first minute mixed many a time:

Giorgio Moroder - I Want to Rock You

And why don't I have this album?

Glass Candy - Digital Versacolor

And I was going to link to the youtube Italo megamix, but it got taken down. That thing had the original videos and songs mixed together! Oh man. Fun Fun and the girl from Radiorama are so hot! Follow this link for another Italo mix series.


Did Fun Fun switch the girls in the videos? Look at this one for Colour My Love and this one for Happy Station and tell me they didn't do a swap?



No 90's revival yet please... I'm not done yet with this stuff!

I love this guy.

Goofy!



and because I actually want that stuff and I've got too much time on a tuesday, go ahead and put this stuff in Excel:

[Fuzz] Records, Zed - Plastic Love, Booby trap, Mya - & the mirror, Alexander Robotnick - C'est la Vie, Danser! naif orchestra, Gina & The Flexix - I wanna believe, Il Generale, Ludus, Anski? - Stupefacente, Living On Video - Trans-X (Digital World), Boys next Door - Lady of the Night (Louisa), Cliff Turner - Moonlight Affair, Time, Stop Jap ...The Stalin, Lärm - Campaign for musical destruction, I Pofondo? Rosso, Kraftwerk - I'm the operator of my pocket calculator, B.G.K. - Jonestown Aloha!, Nervebreakers, Nipdrivers, Phantasm - You're Already Dead (Blood Stained), Greenskeepers, Silent Circle - Stop The Rain [Koda], Tea ês - Captain Terra X (24 More Hours), Kirlian Camera - Blue Room, Maro Fruttero - Fairyland, Kylie Minogue - The One, Modem - Your Fux, Phil Sun - Danse? on the ___, Rockets - Galaxy, [Flash] Records?, Easy Going, New Romantique - Amy Like An Angel, Joy - Hello, Why are you hurtin' me so much, Paul Rutherford, Atlas - UFO Robot, Francesco Salvi - C'e Da spostane? una macchina, Unit4, Magic fly - Space, Menergy, Giorgio Moroder, John Carpenter, Harry Thumann - Underwater, Laser Dance, fizz, Lugio Battisti, EvitaEvitaEvita, Ken Laszlo, The B52's ?, Magic Fly, Passion, C 365, Spatla Disco 2008, Superb Super Pop Session #2, Star Peace - Droids, Black Devil

and another winner by him sans le danse,



If you're in Chicago, the only two places I know of to get stuff like this is Grammaphone and Hot Jams. Hot Jams is ridiculously under the radar with north side folk. Go down Archer already! Oh by the way, Robotnick is coming to Sonotheque on 10Oct. Yes. Last times when I saw him at RedNo and the warehouse party near the river and belmont/elston killed. I don't think people are into Italo as much as I am, but people were really going for it with him.

Spirits...

After reading fluokids, I find my blog not to have as many good looking girls in the pictures. AND she's polish! This shot comes off ffffound!, which is an interesting pic site. Most of the stuff is more artfully-inclined from a photographic sense. You probably won't find too many party shots, but rather more beautiful or thought-provoking things.

and how have I not posted this song yet?

Mystery Jets - Young Love (Shoes Mix)

New Years

I understand that it's not even October yet, and that the Christmas season probably will start on October 30th, but who is thinking about new years now?

me.

I don't know where but I have a good inkling that these guys will be playing in Chicago somewhere. Tonight I'm going to try and find out at good ole darkwave.

Remember dear readers, it's off the record, on the QT, and very... hush hush.

Speaking of which, has anyone seen Andrew lately?

temporary fix

Blogspot barfed my posts yesterday from existence, but at least I'm not the only one that it affected.

Here are the links that I had that were worthwhile:

The Kooks - Kids (MGMT Cover)

Katy Perry - Electric Feel (MGMT Cover)

The Yellow Bellies - I Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry Cover)

MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Edit)
Different from the previous version posted, which is a live version. This is out of the studio.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes (DFA Edit)

Mariah Carey - I'll Be Loving U Long Time (Designer Drugs Remix)
This is the mix that got honorable mention, but didn't win the remix contest due to not being like the other stuff on the radio.

Oh blogspot. Redeem thyself!

Martin Minus M

Expanding on the policy of 'borrowing' from other blogs, I found this triad of new songs from Fabrizio Moretti's project Little Joy:

Little Joy - Brand New Start
Little Joy - No One's Better Sake
Little Joy - With Strangers

On a side note, no discussion of Fab would be complete without this guy whose early college years I corrupted with Larry:


"Christi, I want to make love to you."

Death

Not that I knew or even heard of Nagi Noda, but I do know some songs that she directed into music videos like:


Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire



Tiga - Far From Home


Or this silly one: Meg - Precious


...no I never heard of that one before.

I like finding out about new-to-me music video directors, preferably not a the time of their departure...
...obviously.

Another really sweet music video director is Michel Gondry. If you want to know more, you should really see the aptly-titled "The Work of Director Michel Gondry". He did all these and more:

Daft Punk - Around the World


White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl


White Stripes - Dead Leaves on a Dirty Ground


White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button


Cibo Matto - Sugar Water


He's got commercials under his belt too. Go rent the DVD!

The Holdover

I'm in Michigan right now, but this video stood out. Thanks to Tim for this one. It is really chill.

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

On my random bike ride this morning with Sammy we passed by the Congess and marqueed-up was the declaration of free-fighting (which turns out to be actually free) this Saturday (6th). Find your belt with the massive buckle and the rest of your ropas de caballeros and let's go!

Buddy Akai - Cut me up (Villains Remix)

Teenager - Alone Again feat: Ladyhawke
(note the lack of the 'the' and 's')

Rich's Throwback

So a buddy of mine Richardson had a birthday on Fri. Nothing fanciful, just folks hanging out. The highlight of it, for me and a few others, was when this came on:



and then this came on:



There were more, but I'll spare you the details. Day off tomorrow!

Too Long

Ever since I read that hipster article, I've been trying to distance myself from the electro genre. But shit, who am I kidding? Why deny the polish in me of bangers?

So without severe introduction...



Busy P - Pedophilia (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Nite Version)
M83 - Graveyard Girl (Yuksek Rmx)
The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl (2ManyDJs Remix Ver2)

Futurecop! is cute!

Off of Monday's Oh Crapp... which I saw this morning...



Apparently the song (Futurecop! - Transformers) is unreleased and this is an unofficial fan video. I don't know too much about Futurecop! other than this video and this song:

Crystal Castles - Alice Practice (Futurecop! Remix)

I'll let you be the judge. However, the video is ubercute.

Oh, and this morning I was getting 1200kbps off of Comcast. I wish I was awake this early more often. No I don't.

Safehouse

My general experiences with Milwaukee dictate that there is absolutely nothing to do there. I remember being there one saturday when I was about 12 years old and remembering that the streets were devoid of cars and all the business were closed at about 2pm save a burger king. I never went there for the summerfest and I never went to the Rave. During my most recent trip to learn about rubber design and molding at UWM (which was highly informative), that opinion was dramatically changed.

In wandering around with my co-worker buddy Steve, we were looking for an interesting-looking bar for some whistle-whetting. I went down this alley next to this place called the News Room looking for the door to enter. Instead I found this plaque


and I also saw a sign next to it with 'Welcome' in a dozen different language. I thought it was odd, however I figured that this is not the door to the bar, so I proceeded to turn around and go back through the front. I was legitimately drawn to explore this bar. There was karaoke on the other side of the bar, but there was also a room past that that looked like a 007 memorabilia museum. Interesting. I kept going to find that there was another smaller bar room with just a bartender but no one else. I asked the guy what this place was and he said "This is the Magic Bar." His name was Ivanovich. "What happens at the 'magic bar'?" "Give me a $1 bill and I'll show you." Right. The smallest I had was a 10.

"Now", Ivanovich said "I promise to give you your money back..." and he proceeds to fold it up into a very small rectangle. All the time I am looking at him folding this bill of mine and then he unfurls it into a $100! "Oh, but I said that I would give you back your money..." and he folds up the 100 bucks and turns it back into my $10. At this point since I've been gone a while, I got Steve to move from the other bar to this one.


What this place was, was the Safehouse, located near Water and Wells street behind the News Room and its entrance was in the alley just past all the Wilkommen's and Witamy's. Now I don't want to reveal any more because I HIGHLY recommend you go experience this place yourself. Safe to say, this place has totally turned around my opinion of this town.

The Scene

Damn.

Dancing at danny's last night was excellent. I need more more more of that. Where is our chicago equivalent of this show?


The song is: Kano - I'm Ready (off of FabricLive.33.)

Look up The Scene on youtube; it's a detroit version of Soul Train but with better music/show-offmanship.

Yeah!

Song: A Number of Names - Sharevari

This stumbleupon came due to Strut Records' Disco-Not-Disco compilation from the last post. Some more videos are on there. Check it!

Dancing with Rome

I got this email from Strut Records the other day with them touting a new compilation of Italo that they have, called Disco Italia. Two of the songs they have videos for are:

Kano - Queen of Witches (Youtube)
La Bionda - i Want to be your Lover:

The video reminds me of the animation style of Mstrkrft - Work on You

Stumbling off the Italo stuff, they always tend to point to Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb or similar folk.

Front 242 - Headhunter:


Nitzer Ebb - Control I'm Here:


Two things I read over the weekend that are slightly depressing: Adbuster's review of hipster culture and the Reader's (old) review of retro trends. I'll write my own treatise later. In the meantime, get some sleep and do a detox diet. It helps your brain.

Post-Lolla

Apres a storm, my internet was down and I feel slightly guilty doing this at work.
Comparing my desires before going to Lollapalooza versus the shows I actually saw, there was some severe discrepancy (mostly due to laziness and a guy).

Friday
The Kills - I'm sure the comparison can be made to the White Stripes, but beyond the guy-girl hard(er) rock duo similarity, I prefer the WS. I thought these guys were ok, and I think that the lady's hotness makes up a lot of that. I think the fact that they used a drum machine soured the show for me. I could probably stand them being the opener for someone else like...
Mates of State - who were excellent. Perhaps familiarity with these guys got the best of me, but they are talented for sure. The backing strings only helped their cause of aural excitation.
Bloc Party - I don't know why this show wasn't that memorable. Was it my general lack of recollection skills? Was it the audience around me's apathetic attitude? To their credit, the didn't play Banquet (man, I used to love that song!) (Tim says they did) but they did play Helicopter which seems to always be a winner for me. Honestly, I can't get excited about a band if the folks around me aren't going nuts for them. Maybe I should just close my eyes the next time. You know what's terrible? Every time I see Kele Okekere's face
I can't help but remember that he's gay. I wish I was more accepting of the fact or with that I never knew, but I remember a time where I was listening to his music and that's all I would think about. I wish my innate homophobism would just vaporize. The guy is so cool!
Radiohead - From Innerview "...At this point, what more can be said about Radiohead that hasn't already been said? They suck?" That was an excellent show. I only wish that they didn't split up the screens so the folks in the back could see what was going on.

Saturday
Spank Rock - Dirty! I wished he MC'd more. I wish the crowd loved that ghetto shit more. Amanda Blank's hotness was just right, although I always imagined her to be black. I was jumping up and down for sure. I need to go find more of his stuff because I just have YoYoYoYoYo and Amanda on the Diplo Dub mix.
Broken Social Scene - Worth napping to.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Worth dancing to. She is really entertaining. I find it very impressive how tight the band is with her. I don't know how much they practice or what hidden cues they use to do certain things, but it was flawless. After inviting a guy to come on stage after saving him from security, this random dude came up to dance and she said something to the effect of "You can't just walk into my house without being invited!" and the band didn't miss a beat.
DJ Momjeans - You know, something about celebrity DJ's just doesn't work. Maybe it's the fact that they aren't actually DJ's. After a poor transition one time and hitting the volume knob accidentally another (within 3min) I walked away.
Wilco & Rage - I don't like Wilco and I don't like RATM, but here I am saying that I saw them.

Sunday
What Made Milwaukee Famous - I stayed only halfway to see what it was all about. Not very memorable, but maybe I'll hear them some more on the myspace. I really wanted to see Octopus Project but I got there too late.
The Office - I was actually expecting to see the Weakerthans, whom Innerview had some good things to say about, but these guys showed. I think their cd is alright, but their show is lacking.
Tally Hall - Best new band I saw. They are young and have a young following (oh man i'm old). They can wail on guitar, they have sweet hair, they can sing, and they have a gimmick (different colored skinny ties). They reminded me of Weezer but without the 90's feel. I heard a riff they nicked from the Beatles, but the crowd loved every minute of it. I don't know if they have a suburban following, but I could be persuaded to get in line.
Chromeo - Yeah, while seeing them I remembered why I liked their Coachella show so much: I got there at the end when they played their two hits. I think it's safe to say that if I had to choose between seeing chromeo and playing Uno...
(nap)
Franki Chan - This guy knew what he was doing for sure. If you see the founder of iheartcomix ever in town, go see him. He's got a mix cd through Scion right now that is pretty good.
Girl Talk - I think I saw this guy at Coachella. He kills. I noticed that he's a little cheap on the effects (TP and leaf blowers, and glitter) and equipment (a laptop and a midi interface), but he can work the crowd. Someone give this guy some more money! He deserves it! He got like 40-50 people on stage going at it, crowd surfed, danced, glitterized; yup, it was a good show.
(That's it.)

Lollapalooza

This weekend will complete my holy trinity of music fests. Coachella, Pitchfork, now this guy. The whole schedule is here, but here is my route:

-Friday-
Black Lips
Willy Joy
Yeasayer
Million $ Mano / Cat Power
Bloc Party / CSS
Radiohead

-Saturday-
Devlin & Darko
MGMT / Devotchka
Spank Rock
Uffie / Lupe Fiasco
Sharon Jones
Wilco (lawn)

-Sunday-
Octopus Project / Office
Kid Sister
....
Chromeo
....
Flosstradamus
Kanye West

Even if you can't make it, look on the left at 'Coming Up' and you'll see a bunch of shows that will be in the around town.

Speaking of Chill

My buddy John sent out this song the other day.

The Yellow Bellies - Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry Cover) ...(myspace)

It took me about 2 listens to warm up to it, but I think it's good. I heard the pop song only about once, and even then it was because I had to search it out (B96 is balls) after I saw a report about it on WGN News in the morning. (P.S. I'm already there for that lyric in MGMT - Time to Pretend "this is our decision, what else can we do?, get jobs in offices and wake up to the morning news." Yeah, that me. Shit.)

Speaking of being bored at the office...

Black Ghost cafe

So tired. I went to see Black Ghosts on Thurs and I couldn't take a nap beforehand. I got a album by them at the show. Best new-to-me song off of it:
The Black Ghosts - Until it Comes

Happy Birthday James

Last night I went to John Barleycorn in fucking Schaumburg. Yup.

Their cover band was pretty talented (7th Heaven) and it was cool to see James; I just wish that I could see him make out with a cougar.

Chill

I was craving some really chill tracks just now. I tried to sleep, but I'm too excited about next week. Just thinking about the Lollapaloozing and going out is making me writhe in my bed. I can't tell what needs more rest, my body or my brain, but neither are getting it. So before a shower, let's do a little post.

M83 - Kim & Jesse
Feist - Inside and Out. The first part is Larry's cell ring. (probably the best part...
Yelle - Ce Jeu (Paul Gold Remix). This is one of the top 10 remixes that she posted around the new year.
These United States - First Sight

Bonne nuit.

Playing Live Pt.2

After reading this thread, which is a discussion stemming from Jesse from MSTRKRFT, it got me thinking about the electro scene even more. Personally, I am indifferent to an extent of the 'integrity' of the show as long as it is what I consider good music. If I start to analyze what the group does and they start losing their mystique, then I start to feel disappointed because I feel that I could then do it at home or something. I don't have or use Ableton, so if an artist incorporates it (or uses it as their entire backbone) then I'm ok with that. Maybe that's how they appear to the majority of non-musicians of the world that just want to hear what they play. Should I care more? I'm perfectly fine with where I stand. If I started to use some of the equipment that Soulwax uses, would their stuff not sound as good to me anymore, or would I appreciate them more?

After seeing Pitchfork this weekend through the lens of trying to appreciate live shows more, maybe I'm finally getting it. I didn't see Cut Copy to compare them to the likes of the Dodos or Ghostface, but seeing these people play more familiar instruments (including a trashcan) makes me appreciate them more. Is it the risk of making a mistake what makes a show more live? If I program a sequencer incorrectly on the fly, does that make it more live? The guitarist from the Dodos, who is very talented by the way, was using a boomerang pedal or sampler to loop his sound and create layers of himself. It was neat, but not really novel. I was digging it; though if I did something like that through an electronic drum set programming a drum machine and not using traditional sounds, would that fly? I've noticed that at these electro/techno/house shows that there are a lot of visuals. Who wants to see guys on MIDI controllers pushing buttons? Kraftwerk stands perfectly still while their background goes nuts, Daft Punk has their pyramid, and VJ's are common at more noteworthy DJ events. I get the feeling that if you are watching these folk, you want to see them doing something really involved with their hands otherwise you're under the suspicion that it's all premade. That may be true, but people (including me) don't understand the technicality of all the tricks of using Ableton. People see an instrument that has strings and get it (guitar, violin, zither). Same goes for the chambers open at one end with skins on the top. I wonder what people's reaction was to seeing Giorgio Moroder live for the first time (not that he played many shows), although back then the concept of programmed sounds was rather foreign I'd think.

I'm trying to defend electronic music in general, but in doing so I'm re-discovering what I already know in that there's a lot of shit out there that basically sounds the same because it's easy to do. Mimicking the Rolling Stones requires a decent amount skill, whereas redoing Chemical Brothers requires finding the correct sounds and saving the sequence... you just won't be original and you will sound like you're just playing their track. Maybe that's it; you can't properly equate a live rock/hip-hop show to a live electronic show; the rules are not the same.

By the way, I just got this Santogold Diplo Dub in the mail. Some of it is pretty good. First two play in order:
1. Aretha Franklin - Save Me
2. Devo - Be Stiff
Santogold - Guns of Brooklyn
Dixie Cups - Iko Iko

Bowie

Earlier today I heard a Bowie song that I didn't recognize. I just saw this one on my computer and remembering it was a winner (by the 4 stars I gave it on iTunes) I was reminded of that excellence. It turns out that subconsciously hearing David Bowie brings back memories of when I was hanging out with Tim and Dan and walking around Denver and... well. Anyway, this one guy we met on the street told me what kind of music he listened to and it was "Bowie" and gave us some "christmas cheer".

David Bowie - Five Years (live) off of 'Stage'

the next track on the album is also awesome.

David Bowie - Soul Love (live)

Playing Live

So last night I went to the Empty Bottle with a little group of folk and made it to about the door to check out Guns n' Bombs. I guess they had just came on, but everyone outside was saying that there wasn't anybody really inside, let alone people dancing. My prediction was incorrect... I guess everybody had gone to darkwave. By now it was about 12:30 and it wasn't worth it to go. Interesting.

Furthermore, there was a guy from Abe Vigoda that we were talking to was basically slamming New Rave in general saying that it it's annoying, isn't original, and just a strange phenomenon in general. People were expecting me to really dig into this guy because they know that I really like the stuff, but what he was saying was true. There is a lot of stuff out there that falls into the genre that gets repetitive. I don't know how true that is for GnB, seeing as I do think their remix style has some originality. Thinking about it today, there is a rift between the punk crowd and the electro crowd, which could be an easy excuse to explain away the guy's comments. However he said that Justice just uses Ableton and that's basically it. Really? ...really? Looking online this morning, I see similar info here and here saying they use Ableton, a microKorg, a Lemur, and some pioneer cdj's. I don't know what I should think about that. For comparison purposes a la the googlepedia:

Justice:
Live:
Ableton
JazzMutant Lemur
Korg microKontrol
Pioneer CDJ-1000's
Studio:
Apogee Ensemble
Cubase SX
GarageBand
cre.dit

Daft Punk:
Live:
Ableton Live
Behringer BCR2000 MIDI controllers
(4) miniMoog Voyagers
Studio:
Roland TR-909, TR-808
Emu 3, ARP Odyssey, AMS Phasers
Among other stuff
cr.ed.it

Soulwax:
Live:
Regular drums and crazy synths for Nite Versions.
Studio:
Uhh.. watch this:


By the way, one of the girls in our group, Eleni, said the #1 song in Brazil while she was there was this:

Saturday

Welcome to today. Pitchfork is upon us, however I sold my tickets and am going to my 2 friends' bday party that starts at 4. The theme is Keith Richards with a wooden leg. Anyway, I've been on a Soulwax kick on here so here's another little segment to get you going tonight. It's only 7min long altogether, but it's a true winner so play it in the middle of whatever set/playlist you have and not at the beginning... you can't blow your load that fast.

Soulwax - Saturday Set ...off of Hang All DJ's 5

The Venue

There's a new venue around town appropriately called... The Venue. The only reason I know about it is because the Smashing Pumpkins are playing there. I don't think I'm going. Their opening lineup for August seems to suggest that they're the new Tinley Park: Bette Midler, STP, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Idol, Liza Minnelli, Kenny Rodgers. By the way, where is this place located? Horseshoe Casino. Wow. Now when you want to see Ratt you don't have to go to the Radisson Hotel and Star Plaza right after the discount art expo with the $10 paintings. Ok, ok... this is not a pitchfork review. The place hasn't even opened yet. But if you're cougar hunting, you've got a new place to do it.

For something a little lighter, go to www.bekanyenow.com. Can you guess who sponsored the site?

P.S. I don't know why but I was really craving this song this morning:

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Guns n' Bombs Remix)

If you look on the right column in going out, those guys (not chromeo) are going to be playing at the Bottle on the saturday eve of Pitchfork. Darkwave is a standard, but I'm guessing that with Johnny Guns Love coming back into town, all the nutty coked-up hipsters will be at this one. I'm all for that American Apparel promenade.


So in the process of just typing up this blog, so much music has gone past. So play these two in order, both from 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't be Wrong:
#1 Valletta Fanfares
#2 Requiem For a Hit (Soulwax Edit)

and you can't forget about the original version of this song Benni Benassi made a career from:
#1 Who Made Who - Satisfaction ...mixed into
#2 Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (Justice Edit). Both of these are from 2ManyDj's Get Yer Yo Yo's Out.

And for my ambassador for foreign relations, A.G.J., The Turkish Satisfaction

Hyperbole

Some stuff is just too funny...

Lil Wayne - Lollipop
by lil-wayne-official

The English Velvet

Yesterday I received my periodically-arriving music sampler from Fabric. You pay an auto-fee of £8 (i think) and this club/label sends you a mix. Granted I don't plan on ever queuing up there anytime soon to pay 5 quid for a nukey brown (P.S. Brits hate the stuff), but their mixes from Cut Copy, Diplo, Spank Rock, Devlin & Darko, etc. are true winners. Next one coming is from Simian Mobile Disco. I've got some DnB turkeys most recently, however there was a diamond in the rough (I'm not a fan of drum n' bass) from Noisia:

Noisia - Brown Time

I think my dislike of DnB stems from the fact that I like to dance to tracks (versus having a seizure) and that the focus is on the beat, rather on the song as a whole. Maybe it's too complicated for me and I like that poppy shit. Probably the closest I've come to liking it would be The Prodigy, although their stuff is all over the place.



The Prodigy - Ruff In the Jungle Bizness .........credit

So back to Fabric. The other track that I wasn't aware of that is simply badass (according to spellcheck, badass is supposed to be hyphenated to bad-ass) is, naturally



Daft Punk - Face to Face (mixed in).

Shit this song is so tight I can't believe I didn't post it earlier. Now that I installed my new Blaupunkt soundsystem in the Accord, it will be even more bad-ass.

So that's why they wear tights...

Remix of the title song of Flash Gordon by Queen.
Jamie Fanatic - The Flash

My first

So once upon a time, I was on the internet between junior/senior years of college and I (somehow) found this magazine called Useless. It looked kind of interesting and so I made the impulse buy for their ~$10 premier issue. It was a bit on the weird side, but it was interesting nonetheless. However, it wasn't the magazine that changed my life, it was the CD inside: Larry Tee's Distortion Disko. I won't describe how it sounded only that it was the first time since blasting the last part of Hendrix's Bold as Love at DU in my headphones that my eyes rolled in the back of my head, I opened my mouth slightly and felt my legs start to go numb. I was hooked on electro. Using Useless #1 as my guide, my life began.

I have since lost the CD in the music purging cab ride, but here are the tracks. These are meant to be listened to gapless. Enjoy.

Larry Tee Distortion Disko - track 1
Larry Tee Distortion Disko - track 2
Larry Tee Distortion Disko - track 3

P.S. To Sam, Tim, & Christi - This is the CD we had playing while we did the auto dancing and the utterly gracious Sam drove to Smartbar.

Larry Tee used to be part of a group called the Now Explosion. I don't know what happened to them, but here's a track of theirs that hasn't fallen through my mp3 cracks of loss.

Now Explosion - Rhythm Within Em

I'm a moron

babycakes just informed me that the hotdog song in a prior post is actually a hand-slapping game that she learned on sesame street. I never payed attention to stuff like that. Oh well.

Check It.

Black Girl

...title works with our format on racial understanding on Con Spicks.

Here's a new video by Black Ghosts, 'Repetition Kills You'. Man these guys are awesome.



And, if you haven't heard already, Girl Talk is/has releasing/ed his album on illegal-art.net and he's using the Radiohead pay whatever you want format. The experiment lives on, even after Thom said that he probably wouldn't release another album using that technique (story here, but that's just what I found on google, not who broke it).
Initially I didn't like the fellow, but I always liked mashup, but after having a dinner with Alanna (p.s. Happy Birthday), she said I should take another look at the girl in the red dress. So here it is. If I could give half-stars on iTunes, the bulk of this would get 3.5 . As I've heard elsewhere, this is the kind of album you'd listen to on the way to going out, not necessarily when you're there yet (which I agree with).
If you like this guy, you'd probably like Z-Trip, who was my first modern-day exposure to any sort of mashup, although his cuts are lengthier whereas Girl Talk's average sample from a track seems to be about 20-30sec.

Eddie

So after playing Apples to Apples last night, this only seems appropriate.

Harold Faltermeyer - Axel Foley
When I actually DJ'd more often than not, it worked really well with Billie Jean in a mix. By the way, I lost a lot of MP3's a while so I actually didn't have this song, however I found if off of this post which has a lot of old 80's soundtrack songs, which are super neat.