Everytime I walk over for a session, I still can’t past how slimmed down it is compared to the huge coffin and sprawling L-stands. Like trading in the Hummer for a Mini. But as different as it looks, the coolest part is that it hasn’t actually been much of an adjustment. All the controls that I’m used to using are laid out so intuitively that I just do my thing.
Here’s a mini mix that I recorded over the weekend. How badass is that Smashing Pumpkins re-edit???
I started getting way ahead of myself with crazy visions of the future, contemplating some different controllers after watching this Richie Hawtin interview where he walks through his digital setup. So it was great to hop back on ye olde xponent and feel right at home. I can recognize when I’m just having gear lust, but still. Four decks plus those Allen & Heath controllers is pretty hot.
Track Listing:
MSTRKRFT - Bounce (Mansion remix)
Audio Bullys - Flickery Vision (Extended mix)
N.A.S.A. - N.A.S.A. Music (LA Riots remix)
Lief - Limbs (Ian Johnson remix)
Le Castle Vania - Zero Machine (Smashing Pumpkins)
Public Enemy - Harder than You Think (NeOn remix)
Young MC - Bust a Move (Don Rimini Ravekid remix)
Kylie Minogue - Wow (MSTRKRFT remix)
Frank Sinatra - New York New York (Chew Fu fix)
This isn’t a political blog, but Adam Freeland is a political DJ/producer. I just got my hands on this remix that he dropped in his Coachella set, so I figured tonight would be a pertinent time to post it. Freeland rules.
Daft Punk vs. Adam Freeland - Aerobama
Next Thursday’s VP debate should be both interesting and entertaining. The training wheels are coming off, Sarah!
Enrolling in classes again has reminded me just how powerful procrastination can be… This is totally old news by now, but it’s not like this this blog tries to keep pace on late-breaking stuff anyway.
I was listening to Justice’s Planisphere runway epic for the Dior Homme Summer 2009 Fashion Show that made its way around a little while ago, and it reminded me of their rejected Fabric (aka “christmas”) mix that they leaked. The mix wasn’t a dance floor killer by any means, but it was very cool to hear some of the music that Justice likes, since Justice’s music is so unlike anything else. Influences perhaps?
So I thought it would be interesting to put said influences right next to the duo’s latest production efforts for comparison — it also proved to be a great way to not get reading done.
Sparks - Tryouts For The Human Race
Rondo Veneziano - La Serenissima
Goblin - Tenebrae04 Daft Punk - Ouverture
Surkin - Next Of Kin
SymbolOne - Love Juice
Korgis - Everybodys Gotta Learn Sometimes
Midnight Juggernauts - Ending Of An Era
The Paradise Ft Romauld - In Love With You
Justice - TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY (Acapella)
Chic - Everybody Dance
Frankie Valli - Who Loves You
Das Pop - Underground
Julien Clerc - Quand Je Joue
Daniel Balavoine - Vivre Ou Survivre
Richard Sanderson - Reality
Zoot Woman - Grey Day
Fucking Champs - Thor Is Like Immortal
The Rave - Mother
Fancy - You Never Know
Frank Stallone - Far From Over
Sheila - Misery
Todd Rundgren - International Feel
Please excuse my feeble photoshop skills. Chew Fu gave the new Kanye track his usual b-boy treatment and Annie Mac played it recently on her Radio 1 show. Here it is, along with his fix of the Sinatra classic.
Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Chew Fu small room fix)
Frank Sinatra - New York New York (Chew Fu fix)
Oh man, I have been waiting for blog eons to post this Kids remix, but wanted to wait until I saw it elsewhere first to keep my hookup out of hot water. So good, it actually lives up to the hype! I really need to see these guys live, especially after seeing the snippets from their forthcoming tour dvd, Part of the Weekend Never Dies.
Ok, now before you go judging this next one, give it a listen. Despite how kickass Designer Drugs are, I skipped over it until I saw it popping up everywhere. Made quite the ass out of umption, too!
Mariah Carey - I’ll Be Loving U Long Time (Designer Drugs remix)
I don’t listen to that much indie rock, but I do like the Kaiser Chiefs. So when I saw their new song remixed by blog darlings Cut Copy, I was excited. A nice little house groove once the piano kicks in — more up-tempo than most of the Aussies’ remix work.
Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat (Cut Copy remix)
Public Enemy’s recent album almost went totally under my radar, and I’m glad I caught this track. Really liked the horns sample they used. This remix sounds nothing like the original, of course, but NeOn’s electro banger version is just my style.
Public Enemy - Harder than You Think (NeOn remix)
Eric Prydz and the rest of the Sweetish House Mafia are royalty in the genre, and his Pjanoo has been quite the anthem lately. Here DJ Excel adds some bmore flavor for a great twist. Side note: I bet I love spreadsheets far more than him — I should have totally snagged that DJ name.
Excel vs. Eric Prydz - Excelarator’s Pjanoo
The Chubby Fingers track that they put out a while back totally won me over to these SF house DJs. Their stuff is so soulful, always make me think of a 70s roller rink with the disco ball and everything. Smooooooth.
Chubby Fingers - Here’s to You
Was a great week for french house in general, as I also found the latest track by The Juan Maclean. Who didn’t love Happy House?? Nothing but great stuff from that whole DFA label. Keep up the good work, James Murphy.
And I found this collision of french house heavy-hitters The Phantom’s Revenge and the wunderkind, Louis La Roche. My hips are swaying a little just thinking about it.
The Phantom’s Revenge - Absolute Ego Riot (Louis La Roche remix)
I think I’ve posted a Lykke Li track three weeks in a row now… Here is yet another great effort, this time by Black Kids. I’m still a little chapped that I missed them at Coachella.
Lykke Li - I’m Good I’m Gone (Black Kids remix)
The latest Modular explosion, Ladyhawke, is another lady that I can’t seem to not come across in the blogoverse. Let’s round out the week with something a little softer.
Now that I have been using the xponent, I can finally use the internal record function within Torq to send the digital tracks straight into a digital recording. So I have been recording the recent sessions, this one turned out a’ight
The mix is rather varied, from house to club tracks to electro. Still getting used to using jog wheels instead of the trusty 1210s, but they sure are handy for backspins!
Track Listing:
Surkin - Chrome Knight feat. Chromeo
The Young Punx - Fire (Phonat remix)
U-God - Ugodzilla (Yuksek remix)
Switch - Just Bounce 2 This
Copyright - In Da Club feat. Mr. V & Miss Patty (Jimpster remix)
ESTAW - Break it Down feat. J-Cast
Tiga - Sunglasses at Night (Brodinski & Yuksek remix)
Britney Spears - Radar (Hot Pink Delorean remix)
Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (LA Riots remix)
Larry Tee - I Love U (Bart B More dub)
Dead Prez - Hell Yeah (Audiostalkers remix) [Salmon Dance acapella]
Skepta - Rolex Sweep (Vandalism remix)
MSTRKRFT - Easy Love
T2 - Heartbroken (The Count remix)
Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You (TLGB remix)
Sweat.X - Jack (Purple Crush remix)
Sinden & Count of Monte Cristal - Beeper (Fake Blood remix)
Duke Dumont - Feltham (the Borstal Beat)
The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl (Soulwax remix)
New Young Pony Club - The Bomb (Villains remix)
I’m not posting individual tracks on this one since most are from prior BTs anyway. Email me if you want something and can’t find it.
Remember this song? It always find its way into my 90’s mega-mixes since it’s groovy albeit slightly melancholy at the same time. Kleerup maintains the original bpm but adds a nice beat and a Moogish Popcorn bassline.
Cardigans - Erase Rewind (Kleerup remix)
A) I love Jupiter. B) I’ve been hearing good things about the new indie band, Metronomy, perhaps my new fave since Mystery Jets. This song has been getting remixed like crazy, but A + B = Cool.
Metronomy - Heartbreaker (Jupiter remix)
These next couple gems come courtesy of DiscoDelicious, whose solid offerings of disco, disco-fied indie and French house are making it one of my favorite music blogs. Most of its artists are new to me, as is the case with Discorockets from Spain, and Greenskeepers from Chicago. Alas, Running to You gets caught off at the end, but both are gloriously groovy.
Discorockets - Running to You
Greenskeepers - The Color Pink
I’m usually so obsessed with remixes that Kitsune’s remix competition for Drugs in my Body a while back made me blow right past the actual artist, Thieves Like Us. Dumb! Particularly given how great this new track off their latest EP is.
Thieves Like Us - Your Heart Feels
Lykke Li has been gaining momentum since I first ran across a Sumo remix a while back. I like her voice, and I really like Punks Jump Up — their disco punk sound really perked my interest in that sub-genre, or whatever you call it. See above regarding A + B.
Lykke Li - Breaking It Up (Punks Jump Up remix)
Switch certainly needs no introduction. Have loved his productions in the past, including the epic rework of Hideaway, but I don’t remember them being as funky and housey as this. Very G-Unit style; reminds of me really early DJ Dan…
I thiiiiink Cryptic played this track for me a while back on an SF trip, so I gotta throw him a shout-out now that’s made its way into the blogoverse and these pages. I would have given it a listen just for Sandy Vee’s clever name alone, but it’s a banger and the Immigrant Song sample is awesome.
Perhaps this next track struck a chord after hearing U-Tern’s latest hip-house podcast… Higher tempo to the flow, with a minimal house groove behind it.
Copyright - In Da Club [Shake Shit Up] (Jimpster remix)
Expensive timepieces seem to be a motif with grime hits these days — Wiley’s big hit was about wearing his rolex, now Skepta is sweeping it… Electro-house gods Vandalism add their signature over-driven synth flavor.
After thinking about it for months, reading review after review and generally not being ready to make the jump away from the trusty technics, I picked up an Xponent yesterday. Guitar Center has a 14-day no questions asked returned policy, so I figured I might as well play with it for bit — if for no other reason than to put the issue to rest and stop reading about it all the goddamned time.
I have resisted CDJs for years out a love for both vinyl itself as well as the smooth tactile feel that a jogwheel simply cannot recreate. Not to mention that I learned on decks years ago and couldn’t image DJing without them… But after using Torq for a while (over a year already now), I began to realize that the turntable had been reduced to a simple timecode-reader. No audio was even getting pulled off the record in this system, and I was using the MIDI-mapped functionality of the Trigger Fingers far more as soon as I got things beatmatched.
So since I was manipulating tracks digitally in ways not possible before alone, perhaps I was ready to try spinning without the comfortable muscle memory of the turntables. Plus, I was ga-ga over this new controller when I first saw it.
Let me stop here for a moment and address the analogue vs. digital debate that I am soooo tired of reading about on the forums. Yes, hitting a sync button (I can’t quite bring myself to really do it) rather than matching beats by ear is easier and requires less skill, particularly if that is all one knows how to do. Yes, there are also magicians like Q-bert and Mixmaster Mike who play the turntable like an instrument.
But DJing is ultimately about playing and mixing music that the crowd can get down to, and beatmatching is a means to that end rather than an end unto itself. The fact that technological developments have made the basics of DJing easier do not take away from the fact that they have also made the nuances more versatile and exciting. I learned how and can do it the hard way, so I don’t feel guilty about taking shortcuts to focus on other elements of the mix. My $0.02 — and rationale to make the investment.
Well, this posted turned into more than just a “hey, look at my shiny new toy” snippet! I got so much resistance from my DJ buddies about the Xponent (my 8 year-old mixer is also crapping out on me, too. What to drop the cash on…) that I wanted to explicate my thinking behind it. To them and myself.
(Based on first impressions) I think this will be a cool, mobile addition to the arsenal, will make for easier digital recording and enable to me to play in far more places than I could while lugging the coffin around. Don’t worry, Mikes: the techs aren’t going anywhere, and I’ll pick up the Rane soon enough.
I love The Twelves. I’ve downloaded and enjoyed all of their remixes, and felt compelled to share this new mixtape of theirs as well. I usually don’t post mixes, but this group of tracks is way more emo than clubby, and doesn’t really include any blog hits of the week (except maybe Jupiter, but I can’t get enough of them or that song, so that doesn’t count!).
Looks like they’re sticking to Brazil for now, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for these guys.
Track listing:
Zeitgeist - Humanitarianism (The Twelves Replay)
Radiohead - Reckoner (The Twelves Replay)
Mirwais - Naive Song
Of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit
David E. Sugar - To Yourself
The Virgins - Rich Girls (The Twelves Replay)
Daft Punk - Voyager
Jupiter - CHIP
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (The Twelves Replay)
Metronomy - Heartbreaker
The Twelves - Works for Me (The Twelves Replay)
Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance (The Twelves Replay)
I hate to admit it, but all the remixing efforts after Wow by my boys, MSTRKRFT were starting to sound the same. I still get excited to see anything new though, and this track rocks. Reminds me more of the first couple times I heard their remix of Woman by Wolfmother.
John Legend & Andre 3000 - Green Light (MSTRKRFT remix)
This next track is fun. I’ve seen his name around the blogosphere before, but this is the first listen I’ve given to Kap10kurt. Obviously, the original track was quite alluring on its own! Cool vocoder, and this synthier version stays true to riffs and flow of the classic.
Kap10kurt vs. Original Hampster - Burning Down the Haus
After remaining nearly religiously focused on electro beats for so long, I’ve been warming quite a bit these days to the bassy club tracks. They are a nice bridge for EDM heads like me to cater to more hip hop-oriented party-goers if need be, and I was sold after hearing and lovingFake Blood’s remix of Beeper. Here are a couple minimally vocal remixes of hip hop legends by club giant Sinden and Audiostalkers out of Sweden.
Dead Prez - Hell Yeah (Audiostalkers remix)
Ravey stuff has been another sound that I haven’t really pursued, likely because of my hatred for hard house. However, I’m coming around. Good tracks by Larry Tee and Don Rimini have showed me the light. I like the child vocals on this one…
Pnau - Baby (Sam La More remix)
Not to be left out, here a couple sweet house tracks, too. Duke Dumont lays down a funky beat with good breaks and some ravey riffs.
Duke Dumont - Feltham (the Borstal Beat)
Shazam needs no introduction by now, but I felt compelled to show him some love on here after months of neglect. Very nice French/disco sound, groovy piano melodies — me likey.
The Aston Shuffle - Stomp Yo Shoes (Shazam remix)
Speaking of groooovy tracks, I was frankly a little surprised to see that Al-P put together this amazingly disco remix of the DFA 1979 hit under his (unbeknownst to me) pre-MSTRKRFT production alias, Girls Are Short. Groovy disco is kind of the opposite of MSTRKRFT.
Death from Above 1979 - Romantic Rights (Girls Are Short remix)
And to round out the post, here are a couple mellow tracks. I love the different names that get tossed around to capture this sound/genre — dreamwave, robot disco or to quote Disco Dust, “dreamy 80s disco-flavoured new wave”. Weird Tapes are new to me, but I got my hands on a Ssion track back towards the beginning of the year and used it in a podcast. Enjoy.