Alternating Current / Direct Current

Ah blog. Where have you been.

Let's not talk of our brief separation and just work on getting back to having some sort of friendship. Let's go to all the things we find and then tell everyone the story. We're always there together, but I can't have you acting too clingy because that doesn't make me want to write. Let's be relaxed about it so you can be important in my life, but I need to get out there and do different things too. I know I want to write a book, but I know it can't be with you, and you know that too. You love all the same music I do, but dare I say that I need to look at the other blogs? I'm a man afterall. I actually have another blog. I never told you but there it is. It read you one day and it didn't like the fact that I was posting, but that was to be expected; I would imagine you would have the same reaction. Towards the end there I was writing over there more and I realized that I couldn't keep both of you up forever. We had a long stint at Coachella, then Soundset, and I'll see you again at Pitchfork for sure, but I need to write for the other one. I'm sorry it had to be this way. Can we just listen to music like old times?

Speaking of dreaming, even though Cut Copy hasn't made an album in ages.. AGES I say, Dan Whitford (Cut Copy * 1/2) and Joel Dickson (Riot In Belgium) have come together like hydrogen and oxygen to explode into this fluid fantasy for my aural entertainment. How could you not play this at eleven? You can definitely hear the Cut Copy arpeggiation, the signature synths, and catchy chorus. Can't characterize too much of Dickson since I don't know too much about him other than RIB's "The Acid Never Lies" (fantastic) off of Azuli records. Clicky!

Voltage - All Night

Voltage - All Night (Azari & III Remix)

Riot in Belgium - The Acid Never Lies (3PM Rough Rave Version)

Little note behind AC & DC. After the advent of the electric lightbulb, cities were considering switching from their night light fuel from gas in favor of electricity. One region in particular was around Niagra Falls where a hydroelectric plant was beginning to be built. (side note: did you know that because of all the generators in the area, the falls actually used to pump out about 20x more water and were that much more awe-some?) There sprung a debate about how to carry the electricity from source to bulb over the huge distances of demand via cable. On one side was Nikola Tesla (of the Tesla Coil), proponent of the AC system and on the other was Thomas Edison with the DC system. DC was what Edison's lightbulbs used, batteries inherently have DC, no AC motors were around, not to mention all of Edison's patents were using DC. Unfortunately, AC had the super-advantage since transmission costs ($ per mile) for DC were much higher than AC since DC required additional generators ever couple of miles because the power lines would lose current and heat up if you tried to push it further than 2 miles. AC needed a similar station every ~15 miles so building sending electricity in rural areas was much more economical. Niagra was a done deal with AC and Edison ate his hat. More.
I love being a geek.

More music devotion

I've always wanted to run a tracker for bands like on the side of conspicks for the rest of the country so it's easy to find good shows wherever you are. The flip side of that is me traveling around the country to see people that wouldn't normally come to Chicago / get a different vibe. Coachella has it's scene, Pitchfork & Lollapalooza their's, but after going to them year after year there becomes a twang of familiarity bordering on repetition. That's why I went to Soundset this year since I've never been to an all hip-hop fest, but my true desire is to go to Belgium or Japan for a quality electronic music fest. (I've never wanted to go to WMC in Miami due to massive bro-dom.) Well, I found out the other day that I am a lucky man.

Enter Sonar Music Fest - Chicago.

Based in Barcelona, I've always talked about going there with Larry but it's always been time/cost prohibitive (I already plunk $1k for Coachella and I think he does the same for Lolla). This year's acts in Spain that I wouldn't see anywhere include Air, Roxy Music, DJ Hell, and Booka Shade and I would gladly pay more festival bucks for. As it pertains to my town, they say that they are focused on cultivating the North American and Catalonian (not necessarily Spanish) scenes at the fest. In similar regards they did other versions already in New York and in DC, and are doing another take this year in Tennessee. I'm excited.

I should also honorably mention that North Coast Music Fest is also going to be around in early September. Not purely electronic in nature (it almost seems like they're jumping on the festival bandwagon) but I'll be happy to see Pretty Lights, De La Soul, Moby, Boyz Noise, and Chemical Brothers. Oh my.

As a sidebar, I should mention that Sonar is still looking at various venues to hold their event, including Millennium Park, Congress Theatre, and the Metro. WHY can't they revitalize the Uptown Theatre? I understand that cost to rehab the place is astronomical, but with the presence of something like Sonar or whatever other music fest, I would think that it would be a great place to have a show. Do other cities in the US / the world have as many music gatherings as we do? I'm ignorant to whatever street fests go on in NYC or Paris or London, but I would imagine that with their glut of talent that there would be something to go to. You know what the best way to find out is, right?

UPDATE:
I actually wrote this entry last month. Since then, it looks like Sonar is going to do their spiel at the Cultural Center (the city's old library) on Sept 10-11. Announcement here.

Ante Neo Post Neo

Nicked from bluewhale

Found on youtube, then led to the website of DM ecstasy, and after massive difficulty (via Rapidshare) and patience, I am pleased to present Dominatrix, aka Andrew Ektom. Man I love the internet.

This guy remixes Depeche Mode songs. But unlike many other remixers, he does it as if it were the second track on the B-side of the single. I feel like he had Martin Gore standing over his shoulder the whole time while he's making this stuff. Needless to say, I'm putting this on before my Saturday night Neo trips.

Depeche Mode - The Things You Said (Kernfusion) <--
Depeche Mode vs. Bronski Beat - Free (Smalltown Boy Mix)
Depeche Mode - Lie To Me (Madtracker Mix)

I'm trying to get more right now by cross-referencing via his youtube (he has 300+ tracks!) to make sure I'm getting exactly what I want. Check it out yourself.