Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving


Wow. This was an amazing weekend. Honestly, I think year after year my life gets better and better. You know, I always showcase people from everywhere else and hardly from Chicago. Our local scene is fantastic. All the random house parties, the neighborhood DJ's, the local celebrities, and even the local-turned-national celebrities make my nightlife a true pleasure to live in. Sonotheque is a dream now but my other favorites the Hideout, Smartbar, Logan Auditorium, Debonaire and Empty Bottle are still going strong. Lincoln Hall just opened up, we're getting a Beauty Bar, and the Empty Bottle is opening a new place in Logan Square that has a place to nap? There's a new record store in my hood, I discovered Johnnie's Beef in Elmwood Park, I just ordered two Sergio Mendes and Brasil 65 LP's. Oh, and my roommate is great.

Although I still think Moneypenny together are just ok, divided they conquer my flabbergasted feet. Highlights from the weekend are:
Darkwave Disco DJ's
LA Riots
Rose and her flygirls at Dragonlady Lounge
Mother Hubbard (Chess Hubbard)
Bald Eagle (Chris Baronner)
Willy Joy
Hey Champ DJ's
Million $ Mano (Emmanuel Nickerson) even though he just hosted, he is still tight.


Prime dancing


Woo!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Chicago

I saw on my clock that it's Friday right now, but it's only just after midnight -- not before. I was worried that I was going to miss LA Riots and my Darkwave Disco dudes at Smartbar. This weekend has quite the compressed schedule into a couple of days. Just a quick calendar rundown now:

Right now I'm missing New Wave night at Neo. All my buddies are tryptophaned out.

Friday
10pm - My friend Mike Biederman is playing at Uncommon Ground.
10pm - NOMO at Schuba's
11pm - LA Riots and Darkwave Disco DJ's at Smartbar.

Saturday
8:30pm - Salt n' Pepa revival at Dragonlady Lounge featuring Rose Perez!
11pm - Life During Wartime at Hideout with Bald Eagle and Mother Hubbard
12am - Dim Mak dance party at Empty Bottle with Steve Aoki, Million $ Mano, Willy Joy, Moneypenny
12am - Nitzer Ebb at Double Door?? Wow.
2am - Neo.

Note that you can also see most of these on the right column. I don't know if anybody ever uses it (as no one ever comments) but chances are that I'll be attempting to show up to them. Be busy, folks!

In the meantime, check out the video. It's a little fetishy, so be forewarned.


Here are some jams to hold you over. I rediscovered a great site called NightMagnets by finding this post. Download everything off of it. (Read it too). Here's a smattering:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (James Iha mix)
Empire of the Sun - Standing on the Shore (Cassian Remix)
Datarock - The Pretender (Holy Ghost Remix Radio Edit)

All these foot-stompers should be on a Moneypenny mixtape. Not that I'm keeping my nose up because those pair are really good DJ's, but they should dabble in tunes that aren't just last month's hipster essentials. That was kind of mean; I should take that back... later.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Where is Cut Copy?



Occasionally along comes an artist whose work is so intertwined with certain facets of your life, particularly those that have become your foundational bricks, that a mere smattering of their samples can bring about both the savory reminiscence and the sting of repetition. It's been some time since I saw Cut Copy and much longer since In Ghost Colours came out. Naturally to assuage my selfishness, I hope that they are working hard on:

- Coming back to Chicago
- Making a new album
- Making sweet remixes
- All of the above

Fortunately for me, I've found a couple of gems that they have been putting their pen to. The latest of which (last few months) are:

Munk - Back Down (Cut Copy Jackmaster Remix)
The Juan Maclean - Happy House (Cut Copy Space is the Place Remix)
Mercy Arms - Kept Low (Cut Copy Remix)

Looking at their myspace, they are doing the DJ circuit in Australia and NZ now until the end of the year. Discogs' only 2009 entry is their remix of Move by CSS. Hypemachine gives only old mixes and other people's mixes of Cut Copy. I guess I'll have to keep waiting for something to happen. Here are some more from months / years past.

Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat (Cut Copy Mix).... can I repost this enough times?
CSS - Move (Cut Copy Remix)

Also, while pursuing these folk I found I Thought Of Numbers from 2001 -- quite a departure from their current polished melodically moving sound. This stuff comes out of the early 2000's electroclash introduction which Bright Like Neon Lights also takes some cues from.

Cut Copy - Rendezvous
Cut Copy - Sitting Down Standing Up

Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Remembering being chilled out



So I just got the blue Memory Tapes LP. It is great. This guy, Dayve Hawk needs to come into town for sure. I don't know if you're into sparsely dancy, electronic, dream-pop, but after a quality eve of finding a Hugo Boss suit (named The Connery on the tag) that fits me perfectly on the super cheap at consignment (had to brag) and some quality Cesar's and hookah, Memory Tapes is all kinds of fantastic right now. Here's a mini-mix from Aug09:

Memory Tapes - Magic Sequence

01. clip from See Magic bonus disc
02. Memory Tapes - "Green Knight"
03. East Hundred - "Hammerhead (Weird Tapes Version)"
04. Memory Tapes - "Bicycle (garage boombox take)"
05. clip from Seek Magic bonus disc
06. Memory Tapes - "Plain Material"
07.
08. Fools Gold - "Nadine (Memory Tapes Version)"
09. clip from Seek Magic bonus disc

(tracklist from p4k)

It is some sort of wonderful. Dayve is a very prolific artist with Wierd Tapes, Memory Tapes, and Hail Social all under his belt. Hail Social isn't around anymore unfortunately, but here's a track that I dig. Pulsating with melodic overtones and a simple yet effective bassline.

Hail Social - Paralyzed
also,
Hail Social - Heaven (Anoraak mix)

You'll recognize Anoraak from the Valerie Collective of folk. More winners. Dig through their folks' stuff.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Cute Jams

I get the feeling this blog is very male-centric, which I'm ok with naturally. Not that these are necessarily for the babes, but I think they have more feminine appeal than say... Soulwax? Give them a listen.

Devendra Banhart - Baby
Fats Waller - The Spider and the Fly
Girls - Laura
Candi Station - Stand By Your Man

I think it's important that you tell people where you found specific items in hope that they will utilize those sources for their future music pursuits. No idea about Devendra, but Fats Waller I was looking for Ain't Misbehavin' on hypemachine and came upon this, Girls I found from my friend's now-retired radio show on cfuv, and Stand By Your Man I was reminded from from the always awesome Alanna. Granted you are probably not going to be able to pillage from Alanna, but it is all the more reason to seek her out and extract what you can of her music and film knowledge.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Exhibit A: More Vitalic

I'm feeling very anxious right now. I've got so much energy that I decided to... blog. It is a gorgeous day (gorges!) and although I already had a promenade on the boulevard du Logan, I need more. I saw my friend Kevin last night with his brother and cousins, I had brunch with Ileya and her husband today -- who else is visiting Chicago now?

Since I was listening to the D is for Disco mix, it's high time I clean out my cupboards of all the albums from the last month or two I've been holding out on you guys with. Exhibit A is Flashmob. I can't really say that it's typical Vitalic because I only have one other album to base him off of, but I can say like OK Cowboy there is a healthy mix of what I would relegate into a dream-acid-jam category as well as the more intense hair-flaunting, armpit-licking, visage-punching intensity I (you) know and love.

Vitalic - Still
Vitalic - Poison Lips

Sweat Rag



It was this day last year that I started writing this post about a mix album with this man with a mane inside that I got back then. I immediately ripped it and lent it out to my cousin who kept it ransom for about 6 months. That's ok. That's ok.... and then I finally got it back and realized what a fantastic mix it was. Wow. I say that I'm starting in general to grown out of the whole uber-dancy genre, but I think that its just that it's retreated into the closet now since at clubs it's getting stale (think Soundbar and Vision, not to be confused with:

David Bowie - Sound and Vision (David Richards Remix 1991)

Back to the point, so I got my D is for Disco, E is for Dancing in the mail, complete with an Aussie perspiration cloth. It is some kind of wonderful. Dare I use the dreaded Nu-Rave to describe it? Plenty of pulsing distortion keys to propel your hips in their natural direction. On disc 2 (the E-disc), it is a jam without fail. Don't believe me? You really have no reason to but just in case:

5. DJ C - Juce (feat: Jorge Stylo)
6. Brodinski - Bad Runner (Crookers Gone Electro Remix)
7. Underworld - Ring Road (Fake Blood Remix)
8. M.I.A. - Jimmy
9. Digitalism - The Pulse (Derdiedas Remix)
10. Shit Disco - I Know Kung Fu (Dabid Rubato Remix)
11. Beni - My Love Sees You

Eines Snippette des Jams

Yeah yeah, some of the songs are a little stale but you really can't blame my laziness in writing this post can you? Don't answer that.