Slaying Dancefloors at Will .Count Zer0.

I first heard of French multimedia artist and noodle-fetishist Tampopo (pictured above) via this entry on mnml ssgs in which blogger Chris mentions the Tobias remix of his track “Helicopters Got Cameras”. I too loved that cut, so I went and found Tampopo’s discogs profile which led me to his MySpace. I sent him a message giving him props for the track and letting him know I was probably going to use it on an upcoming mix. (mix yet forthcoming, watch this space) He replied, which is rare, and even went so far as to check out this blog. Tampopo related a funny story about sharing a cab with L.B. Bad during which Lamont lamented the Sabres of Paradise use of the melody from his cut: “the New Age of Faith” (which I wrote about tangentially in this entry from a couple weeks ago)

Tampopo said:

“That’s a long story and I laughed a lot because LB ‘Elbee Bad’ was so funny telling me (he’s a black guy from NYC and it was like watching a good show on TV) the whole sh** on our way to Munich airport. He was pissed of course but in the end it seems that Warp gave him money for that and I think that he was credited on the record covers of the next editions… maybe you shld interview him…”

To which I replied:

“Maybe after I interview you first”

Imagine my surprise, then, when the somewhat reclusive Tampopo (in the tradition of some techno artists Tampopo is notoriously unphotographed) agreed to an interview! Things fell together relatively quickly and I emailed him a set of questions, he replied and then we went back and forth a bit. Interview and an exclusive unreleased Tampopo track behind the cut (more…)

Here’s a nice review by my friend Colby. Nothing like living raving vicariously!

“This year’s [Movement: Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival] had the most incredible soundsystems in every stage. INSANELY good sound. Zip was great on saturday at the festival, and the Egyptian Lover was fun as hell. I wanted to see Peanut Butter Wolf, but he was a no-show (I think?) [according to another source he did in fact play, so perhaps he went on a little late? -ed.] We left around 9:30 or so to eat dinner and get ready for the Interdimensional Transmissions party that night, which was (and I’m not mincing words here) the best party I have been to in 10 years — easy. Mike Servito (ex-pat Detroiter now living in NYC) completely DESTROYED IT. I’ve seen him a handful of times before, but on Sunday morning he blew the entire loft into another galaxy. It was all killer Acid, Chicago Jack and Acid House, impeccably mixed on an over-the-top soundsystem. I don’t think there was one post-1995 tune — I felt like I was 17 again, seriously. Servito was so [expletive deleted] relentlessly awesome, Derek Plaslaiko conceded his set time and let Mike play through it all. I’d estimate there was an average of 200-300 people maybe (maybe more?) dancing in the gritty loft that Bethany Shorb makes her Cyberoptix ties in. The crowd and vibe was alive and unreal. Everyone there couldn’t say enough good things about the night, and it was worth the trip to Detroit alone. We stayed there until around 8:00 AM, and it was busted by the popo shortly after. To make it even more surreal, [expletive deleted] MOBY walked in there around 5:00 and just hung out. It was, as Csaba would say, “the place to be”.

We slept until about 1:30 on Sunday, and then went to the plaza where the highlights were Heartthrob (absolutely incredible as usual) and the Cool Kids. Girl Talk was complete mayhem crowd-wise, but that (again) seemed to be detrimental to the set itself. Still, it was fun to watch for a bit.

Left around 10:30 with no distinct [after] party plans in mind, and actually just hung out at the hotel all night with our friends after deciding that the party choices weren’t all that mind-blowing. Stayed up really late again, and woke up at four PM or so. A few of the out-of-town friends had to leave, and we also had to run our friend Maggie back to Ann Arbor. By the time we got back into Detroit (around 8:30), it was rainy, and we decided to nix Hart Plaza altogether because of that. Petey and Amy and I ate some dinner and then hit up the Works for the Accelerate [label] party for a few hours, then headed back home to get a few hours of sleep before I had to catch my flight [Tuesday] morning.

Although we didn’t go to the Plaza at all on Monday, TOO FAR GONE…NO WAY BACK was so devastatingly bad-ass, everything after it was an afterthought. I would have loved to have gone to see Kenny [Dixon Jr.] @ Soul Skate, but honestly, it couldn’t have held a candle to the insanity that was Saturday night.

There was still a handful of acts I am shooting myself in the foot for missing, but all in all, A+, would rave again.”

Thanks Colbs for letting me post this here! Next year I’ll be there.  For the record, the above review does not necessarily represent the opinion of this blog (coughcoughgirltalkisajokecoughcough) but I wanted to post something about the festival despite what I saw as the weakest lineup in its nine years, and wanted to hear Colby’s report since I couldn’t make it.

For more Detroit coverage also check out ISM’s movement review.

this is absolutely ridiculous video of a drummer playing live jungle beats.

see, thing is, kj, you’re too humble. you play BETTER more interesting beats than (today’s) drum and bass. major props.

via datgazelleoverdereallveiledupanat. come again my selecta.

Fridays always seem to be good nights to make mixes, and I knocked this one out in one take the other evening. Recorded live to minidisc via Virtual DJ using timecode vinyl. All artists’ and most labels’ myspace profiles linked below.

artist - title - label - release date

1 babak shayan - one in a million (rene breitbarth ambient remix) - shayan germany (05-20-2008)

2 bvdub - remembering to forget - 3rd Wave Music (03-15-2008)

3 peret mako - scenic route - future classic (04-30-2008)

4 dske - natsukimari - wc recordings (05-05-2008)

5 dave aju - rubber oatmeal - mutek records (05-06-2008)

6 husley & gunz - wet yourself (inxec remix) - kismet (05-06-2008)

7 mihalis safris - interamerica - trapez (04-28-2008)

8 stefano valentino - nutella & ketchup - rejoy records (04-17-2008)

9 pure science - humanoid entity - p.s. communications (04-23-2008)

10 in flagranti - additional alpha blocker - speak recordings (10-08-2007)

11 tj kong and nuno dos santos - dropout - compost (04-18-2008)

12 greg parker - gim mick - plastic city (05-20-2008)

13 paul kalkbrenner - ick muss aus dit milieu heraus - bpitch control (05-24-2007)

In retrospect, I probably let the tracks play a little longer than I would normally, but overall I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. BPM range is 115-125.

Stream 64kbps here or select it in the player in the sidebar

Right Click to Download 256kbps here

I know I promised an entry about the Dance Parade on Monday. Better late than never.

So, you see, in New York there’s some historically racist bullsh** called the Cabaret Law. Here’s a good timeline of the important dates and facts regarding the legislation, a detailed academic piece, the actual text of the Cabaret Law, and a Wiki on other NYC nightlife legislation. Essentially, if you own an establishment where food and drink is served, and you want to also provide entertainment specifically for people to dance to, you have to obtain a special Cabaret License in addition to the standard liquor license and other necessary paperwork. That bears repeating for those of you who aren’t in New York and haven’t had any experience with it. If you own a bar, club, restaurant, etc. in New York City and you book a dj or band or the like, it is specifically illegal for anyone to dance in said venue unless you have a Cabaret License. I think at one point the law went so far as to use the terminology “two or more persons moving rhythmically”, though I can’t find the particular section of the text that mentions that, so maybe it has been removed. Regardless, you might be wondering why I called the law racist. Well, it was enacted originally in 1926 (1926! and still active today!) in a veiled attempt to crack down on clubs during the Harlem Renaissance, and more succinctly, it affected white people who wanted to go to Harlem to dance to black jazz. Giuliani’s administration (who else?) was primarily responsible for the resurgence in attention to the law during his infamous “broken windows” campaign to sanitize NYC.

So, as my girlfriend eloquently put it, some people decided to organize “protest disguised as fun”, and this is the second year we’ve attended the New York Dance Parade.

My favorite part of the parade is the cultural diversity, which you can see in the following photos, each of which links to the associated dance group’s website.

Fraternidad Cultural Pachamama Bolivian Dance Troupe, by far the most enthusiastic:

P.U.R.E. belly dance

Manhattan Samba

Asamed Middle Eastern Dance troupe

Sisters in Motion

Of course, you can check out many more on Flickr.

Unfortunately, this year there were far fewer techno-related groups involved, last year there were multiple house floats and even some hardcore, which pleased me to no end, you can’t really beat gabber parading down the streets of New York. This year the only techno float that I saw was the Pacha float, which was shockingly not awful, but I really would have liked some more representation. Disorient was there, but their float was slapdash and not as impressive as their showing last year. Regardless, the parade was quite entertaining, and colorful! If you happen to be in the city next year, please do attend.

Kids, keep an eye on Nick Bertke aka Fagottron. This feller is doing some very entertaining cut-up style tunes/edits and seems to have a lot of potential. I can’t wait to hear/see what he does once he’s matured a bit. Andrea hipped me to him just now via her Tumblr (getting a lot of attention over here these days aren’t we ms. grapes?). She liked the Alice video, which sort of reminds me of Orbital a bit, I think it’s the strings. Here it is: (before watching the video scroll down and to the right to pause the DJ mix that autoplays in the sidebar)

Granted, anybody with a computer, time, and the technical know-how can whip up an edit these days, but I really like Nick’s style and his subject matter. He’s not afraid to throw a little humour into his craft and he pulls from a strange, somewhat forgotten area of pop culture that few artists have attempted as of yet.

By the way, I know I still owe a Dance Parade review post. I’m working on trying to make it pretty comprehensive, and I also have a couple other posts in the works right now, including an exclusive interview with French techno producer and multimedia artist Tampopo, a new top 15 (or so), and a DJ mix that I just recorded last night.

Introducing a new feature on this here bloggity-blog: “Tasting Notes, with Full of Grapes”. Occasionally I’ll send my better half, Ms. Andrea Fullofgrapes, two tracks that I think she has the potential to like. Andrea has a unique perspective on techno, she describes Underworld’s “Mmmm, Skyscraper I Love You” as sounding “like large metal objects colliding underwater” and her tastes in electronic music are diverse and inexplicable, including Aphex Twin, Haujobb (Haujobb???), Tricky, Mr. Scruff, Rabbit in the Moon, Juno Reactor, and Massive Attack.

For volume one I picked two tracks that both have, in my opinion, really great things about them and really bad things about them. I found the Annie track on my least favorite blog that I read far too often, the unfortunately named Discodust (it’s important to know your enemy!) and the other I think I heard on Beatport or something.

Tasting Notes, Vol 1 Track 1: Annie - I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me (Get Shakes Remix)

Andrea said:

“This track starts out so well, with interesting percussiony bits that end with two quick whooshy sounds. I’m totally into it until the annoyingly repetitive synth starts, and that’s where the song loses me. And I love synth-pop. But synth is like sex; when it’s good, it’s amazing, and when it’s bad, it’s awful. The vocals are dreadful, too, a breathy British homewrecker chick who tries to entice a guy with her wares. Of course the dude’s girlfriend hates her! She’s a raging slutmobile with no regard for boundaries! Just when you can’t stand to listen to her anymore, the bad synth kicks back in and gives your annoyance a new focal point. The percussiony bits are the only saving grace of this track. They remind me of Aphex Twin’s Bucephalus Bouncing Ball, only more wooden and less metallic, and anything that reminds me of Aphex Twin is a good thing. In fact, I’m going to go listen to him now to cleanse my palate of this atrocity. On a scale of plastic jabby store-brand ear swabs to genuine cotton Q-tips, this track is a plastic jabby store-brand ear swab.”

Tasting Notes, Vol 1 Track 2: Rubies feat. Feist - I Feel Electric (Tiedye Remix)

Andrea’s opinion?

“This song is nice. I know that’s a lame way to start a review, but I keep coming back to that sentiment. It’s just nice. It’s not abrasive in the slightest. It’s soothing and pleasant and yet not boring, probably due to the pretty vocals. It sounds like they layered Feist over more Feist, and she’s harmonizing with herself. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. The title of the song is a little misleading, though. When I think of electricity in reference to music, I think you should be prepared to dance. This track is much more mellow than that. My favorite description of a wine is “a night walk through a wet garden,” and in keeping with that style, I’d say this track is leaning against the railing on the prow of a ship at twilight, feeling the wind in your hair and watching the twinkling lights of the harbor in the distance.”

Non-techno related post prompted by this atrocity.

What are some artists/bands who you feel just can’t be touched when it comes to cover versions? Maybe they just have a distinctive style or voice, or maybe you just worship them and don’t want to see them potentially sullied by a poor rendition. I personally think Bjork just can’t be touched. She’s an iconoclast, she is so unique that any attempt at her material is almost certainly going to fall flat on its face. Hendrix and Fugazi are two others off the top of my head. I don’t worship either (coughcoughmuchcoughcough), I just feel that nobody can really top their original versions, and that the voices in these cases (vocal and instrumental) are inseparable from the art.

Quite the opposite, here’s the classic “omg I can’t believe they did this and I can’t believe it worked” Schneider TM cover of “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” by the Smiths.

This is brilliant downtempo music that some people would call dubstep. “Outmost” is mediocre, but “beta” is where it’s at. Reminiscent of Mid 90s Irresistible Force or Spacetime Continuum, hell, it could almost be a remix of STC’s classic “Kairo”.

Call it what you want, dubstep still sucks.

I’ve been meaning to itemize my anti-dubstep manifesto for a while now, but the above linked entry finally catalyzed things.

Let’s run down the reasons:

1) Most dubstep is IDM wankery at the expense of danceability

2) Following the same route that DNB lamentably followed, dubstep has mutated from 2-step and the first few Tempa releases to become nothing but a “my bass is bigger than yours, my effects more prominent in the mix” dick waving contest

3) Similar to the worst of the “broken beat” phenomenon it’s a way for stuck up techno snobs to get away with still liking music without a four on the floor kick

4) Perhaps my biggest problem with dubstep is that I desperately want it to be dance music, like 2-step or jungle, but it’s just not. It’s listening music, chill out music, and even though I love ambient and downtempo, dubstep almost always ends up being ultimately disappointing.

Obligatory exceptions to prove the rule: I do particularly like what I’ve heard of Deadbeat’s Journeyman’s Annual album and DJ Dowee’s “D.R.E.A.M.” Mix which is quite nice, especially at bedtime.

I guess on some level what I really object to is over-genrefication. As far as I’m concerned it’s all techno. Except, of course, when it’s not.