hot mess!

the latest mixmag podcast just went up today, it’s got some great tunes and an interview with a-trak. it’s a bit sloppy, but worth a listen all the same. check the great michel cleis remix of river ocean’s love and happiness, as well as the embarrassing diddy impression. also – duck sauce (armand and a-trak, if you didn’t know it already) have mixed the next mixmag cover cd. holla!

Mixmag Podcast No. 14

i’m not a zero

everyone’s going crazy for duck sauce, but i think, as may be the case with major lazer, people seem to be more excited about who’s behind it than the project itself. armand and trizzy both go way back, so their reputation is unquestionable. i still have an armand poster on my wall from around the time you don’t know me came out – i don’t remember what the magazine was but i remember there was an interview with lisa simpson in it… hmm. anyway i found this today – an interview with armand from the now-defunct ministry magazine. june 2001, just before gandhi khan came out. the same magazine gave that album a panning, but why can’t you free some time is a stone cold classic.

the interview features his side of one of my favourite dj-related stories – when armand got booed off the decks at space in ibiza in the summer of 2000. for playing hip-hop at one of the biggest house clubs in the world. while for most people that story cemented steve lawler’s reputation as the king of space (lawler quickly took over and brought back the pounding pounding techno music), in my eyes van helden became king of not giving a fuck. hero.

Ghostface Killah – Cherchez LaGhost
Armand van Helden – Why Can’t You Free Some Time

crowd pleaser

apparently most people who happen upon this blog are looking for little boots, blair waldorf or amerie. i figure i may as well give the people what they want, and do a little write up on these three very lovely ladies.

i included this remix in my chart this week – a-trak blogged it as part of his pre-infinity +1 tumblr, and to be honest i wasn’t really feeling it at the time. it wasn’t until i heard the girl play it herself last weekend in a dark and smokey club that it really made sense to me. with its blue monday-esque kick and soft, spacey synths, it’s a worthy reworking of victoria hesketh’s best song. far better than the truncated and heavily reverbed version that found its way onto her album…

Little Boots – Stuck On Repeat (Alexander Robotnick Remix)

apparently (so i’m told) a sex tape “starring” one leighton meester (aka gossip girl’s blair waldorf) surfaced recently, but hey, this is a classy blog, so that’s not my concern. after a week in which i watched all of the first season, i kind of lost interest in gossip girl mid-way through season two. the unscrupulously manipulative blair is probably the most compelling thing about the show, so have a wee look at this.

and as for amerie… what’s she up to these days? her website is trapped in 2007, but in fact she’s about to release her fourth album next month, called in love & war. ahead of that she’s dropped a mixtape called what chu know about amerie, and a single called why r u. while previously some of her hits have seen her singing over funk and soul heavy beats, this time around she’s appropriating an old masters at work’s sample and sounding all the better for it. i found that her best tracks are the party stormers like 1 thing, touch, because i love it etc. when she slows it down and thanks the lord, great as her vocals are, it gets just a bit dull. thankfully this track stays on the right side of righteous.

Amerie – What Chu Know About Amerie (via Mark Edward Nero)

half bar loop

it’s no secret that i’m a huge fan of a-trak and armand van helden. i’ve had my eye on (and off) armand since you don’t know me and then that story about him getting kicked off the decks at space (which is why i love cherchez la ghost so much), and have focused my attention in his direction since ghettoblaster. and we all know a-trak has been killing it for the last few years with fool’s gold – see my last post. so when they get together to make music, you know it’s going to be special. aNYway and you’re nasty hit beatport today so check out this awesome interview and make sure you cop the tracks. summer anthems for sure.

Duck Sauce – You’re Nasty

Duck Sauce – aNYway

what a day

i thought mondays were supposed to suck? i had an excellent interview (completely non-music related), found an excellent charity compilation with tracks by diplo, lcd, eli and devendra banhart, and when i hit up my google reader i saw some innanet-gems.

buraka som sistema are giving away a new mixtape, and fool’s gold have rounded up ALL the free tracks they’ve given to rcrd lbl in advance of a party the two are putting on tomorrow. shame it’s in nyc. anyway my personal favourites have to be the surkin remix of acid life, a-trak’s remix of bounce, and pretty much everything involving kid sister. one in particular is her freestyle over green velvet’s shake and pop, the standout from the otherwise mediocre pillowface mix cd. apparently her album is on the way – see here for an insightful interview.

Sometimes you just gotta let it marinate. I need to make something I’m proud of. So don’t hate! We’re doing it as fast as we can. In the meantime, let’s tell knock-knock jokes on Twitter: Knock knock. Who’s there? Your album. Oh, wait– just kidding. It’ll never end.

EDIT: oh yeah and there’s a oizo remix of n.a.s.a. floating around too

XXXChange Interview

To say I’m excited about XXXChange’s upcoming show at Transmission would be a massive understatement. Over the last few years, few other DJs and producers have impressed me as much as this man, as he effortlessly switches genres and styles without ever suffering a drop in quality. He first came to my attention as the producer in chief for Spank Rock’s Yoyoyoyoyo in 2006, and since then his remixes have been a permanent fixture in any of my sets or mixes. Disco remixes of Pase Rock and Thom Yorke (his own personal favourite); funky reworkings of Björk and CSS; full on rave banger remixes of The Virgins, Bloc Party and Panda Bear. Not to mention his collection of re-edits with buddies Devlin and Darko as part of the Fully Fitted crew.

As a DJ he first caught my attention with the riotous Spank Rock contribution to the Fabriclive series, but it was his guest spot on Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space show that truly showed his versatility and willingness to eschew any sense of genrefication. While DJs like Diplo and A-Trak explore genres and throw together hip-hop and electro, XXXChange is more likely to look for some 70s disco or 80s punk. See Voila, his mix with Chris Rockswell. Featuring tracks from ESG and Led Zeppelin alongside Destiny’s Child and, of course, Spank Rock, it is a musical journey unlike any other. Alex himself cites this, alongside Couche Tard, another mix done with Chris, has his favourite mix project. “Hopefully we’ll do another one of these soon. The Fabric one was a royal pain in the butt because you have to license all the songs and we usually like to be pretty free and unrestricted about what material we use, and also we really like to put in a ton of records, which the licensing process doesn’t allow for.”

Since Yoyoyoyoyo his work with Spank Rock has calmed down, as Naeem (Spank Rock’s hyperactive frontman) branched out and worked with Benny Blanco on the 2 Live Crew-influenced Bangers and Cash EP: “I don’t travel with them on tour anymore but I’m still helping out in the studio. Naeem wanted to retain a little more creative control over the project for this album so I’m just trying to help him out whenever he gets stuck.” Which I guess means there’s a new Spank Rock album in the mix – something to look forward to. As for his own solo work, it’s also on the way. “I’m working on a solo LP right now except I seem to be constantly in the studio working on other people’s stuff. so I think it might take quite a while to finish it up.” As well as that there’s a 12” due this summer on Turntable Lab, and if it’s anything like his production work to date it’s something worth waiting for.

While his own work hits the blogs on a regular basis, there’s an abundance of material splattered across the internet almost every day. How is it possible to separate the wheat from the chaff when there’s so much to get through? “I think the amount of stuff that’s worth checking out is about the same as it’s always been. Since most of us find out about music from the internet the absolute glut of information can be overwhelming. I find it’s a bit easier to just wait a few months and see what rises to the top, see what people are still talking about. Obviously with DJing you need to be on top of new music so it’s nice to find a few good sources to filter the information for you, there’s a few good music blogs and also you can look at different DJ’s playlists, whose taste you trust, to find out about new stuff too.”

Surely someone like XXXChange will be a little but more discerning than most: “As far as what it takes to impress me it’s just when you hear someone doing something original and taking risks etc. I’m not really interested in scenes.”

When it comes to his own DJ sets, Alex takes each night as it comes. “Usually I just try and play stuff that I’m feeling at the moment! But of course it depends on who’s in the room. In Europe I usually end up playing more electro and house type stuff which you can’t always do in the US.” So I guess that means that come Saturday, we’ll be hearing more rave than slow-burning disco. And you know, who ever said that was a bad thing.

Meanwhile, check out these XXXChange mixes, one put together just this month, and another live in the mix on Authentic Shit, enjoy the laughs from Eli, Pasey Pase and angry man Rocktacon.

XXXChange Live In The Mix on Authentic Shit, East Village Radio 2008-08-01
XXXChange – Quickie Mix 2009-06-05

claude von stroke – fabric 46

i had my first nctj exam today – newswriting – and i think it went well. i can’t really call it, i think i got everything in on the news pieces, and i answered the online questions word for word what they asked for in all the marking schemes i saw. so that much is assured. as for the rest, well, we’ll see. public admin tomorrow and law on thursday, and then it’s all done. i think shorthand is the only thing i really have down, everything else is a bit iffy. oo-er.

anyway after the exam finished i put on claude von stroke’s new mix, fabric 46. i’ve always enjoyed what i’ve heard from cvs, like the ubiquitous who’s afraid of detroit? and the whistler, which of course featured in that t-mobile ad, but i’ve never had the chance to see him, bar a few minutes in pod when i took a break from the tag team assault of djs mehdi and a-trak. generally the fabriclive mixes tend to be upbeat, frantic party mixes (spinbad, diplo, craze etc) while the fabric mixes are much more techy and minimal (andrew weatherall, ewan pearson). this one is definitely on the right side of the fence, but it’s the kind of mix that has a smile on its face and a glint in its eye. from claude’s yabadabadooza with bootsy collins and the sexually charged robag whrume remix of peter lauer’s free entry for girls, it’s got drippings of twisted vocals throughout, and the dirty bird layers completely disparate tracks together, lending melody and personality to otherwise bleepy minimal. the best example of this is the pairing of dinamoe’s maceo and clara moto’s silently, as alone each track sounds bare and almost simplistic, while this collision gives both a sense of warmth and excitement.

while most fabric releases are of a solid standard without being stellar, it looks like this one will be buzzing in my ears for months to come. it’s even sent me digging for more tracks by the artists on the mix, and it has me keen to hear cvs next time he plays anywhere near me. you can’t really ask for more than that.

yo dj pump this party

listened to trizzy’s infinity +1 today. well it’s better than his fabriclive anyway. some of it is ok, some of it isn’t great, but there’s a section in the middle that’s really special. the following section encapsulates everything i love about mixing tracks together…

7. Kid Sister “Life On TV”
8. Sébastien Tellier “Kilometer” (A-Trak Remix)
9. The Golden Filter “Solid Gold”
10. Bag Raiders “Nil By Mouth” (Knightlife Remix)
11. Holy Ghost! “Hold On”
12. DJ Mehdi “Pocket Piano” (Joakim Remix)

maybe it’s just me, but i love it when two tracks sit so well together, in key, and one just seems to grow organically from the other. whenever i put mixes together this is exactly what i try to do – i’m even working on a mix right now where if this doesn’t happen, i’m scrapping the tracks. seriously. so since the above six tracks sound so perfect together, i’m a little disappointed the rest of the mix isn’t up to that standard. particularly disappointing is the mix from siriusmo’s housemeister remix into stuck on repeat. but i guess you can’t have it all, and if this is at all representative of a club situation there are bound to be some fluffed moments.