James Murphy Infiltrates More Than Disco . . .

PRESS STATEMENT FROM MARCH 27, 2007 BY MANUEL GOETTSCHING’S MANAGEMENT:

For the cover of his album “45:33″ LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy
has imitated the artwork of “E2-E4″ and thus inappropriately
exploits the reputation of the famous original!

Manuel Goettsching’s “E2-E4″ (recorded on the 12th of December 1981
and first released in spring 1984) is considered to be one of the
“most influential compositions” of the last 30 years and according
to US surveys also one of the most frequently sampled tracks. But
80% of the samples and remixes are illegal… and on top of all
that comes this plagiarism of the cover artwork:

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy has used the artwork of the cover of “E2-E4″, and unappropriately claims for himself the prestige of the famous original, not missing a chance to tell the press that with “45:33″ he wanted to create a work similar to Goettsching’s “E2-E4″:

From Wikipedia:

“45:33″ is a song by LCD Soundsystem. Commissioned by Nike, 45:33: Nike Original Run is an original and exclusive composition only available at Nike Music Store oniTunes.The publicity for the song described it as being designed to accompany jogging workouts. James Murphy later said this was a complete lie on his part, that he doesn’t even jog, and that he had simply used the opportunity to make a record like E2-E4 by Manuel Goettsching.” (Quoted from an interview with THE GUARDIAN, published on February 10, 2007).

Manuel Goettsching was caught off guard by this “artifice” of a fellow musician when journalists and fans asked him how he felt about the astounding similarity of the covers - the only difference in the design being NIKE’s logo on “45:33″, as well as of course the titles and artist’s names. Even the fonts used are identical. 23 years after its first release, (more…)

The Rapture left NYC on Sunday for a 2 month tour, that kicks off with dates on the other side of the globe, so we won’t be seeing them in these parts for awhile, but they left us 2 amazing remixes from their newly formed Throne Of Blood label, run by the ever so lovely James F!@#$%^ Friedman.

The first, is a Simian Mobile Disco Hip House rework of “Whoo…Alright! Yeah Uh Huh” (People Don’t Dance No More)

The Rapture - W.A.Y.U.H. (Simian Mobile Disco Rmx)

And up next, Serge Santiago delivers his take on “Get Myself Into It”

The Rapture - Get Myself Into It (Serge Santiago Rmx)

The band label launch party at Studio B in February still brings a smile to my face. More events are planned for the future, Whoo, alright, yeah, uh huh, indeed!

Lillica Libertine’s music exudes brashness. He’s like the young prince of chaos mixing complex edits, jagged riffs, with distortion on top of distortion. A musical mayhem that all comes together quite wonderfully; leaving you feeling like your head is spinning and your brain perplexed. Pandemonium at its best. Hailing from Nottingham this young whippersnapper is set to steal your soul and put us all to shame. We’re not feeding you trash, have a listen and get familiar because you’ll be hearing much more from him in the coming months!

Lillica Libertine - Limited Edition

Dead Kids - Fear and Flouride (Lillica Libertine’s Tried and Tested Remix)

Raspberry Beret and then some…

Lovestar: Where did that fetching name, “Lillica Libertine”, come from?
Lillica Libertine: The name Lillica Libertine is purely by chance. Alliteration is the only concept behind it.

LS: Tell us a bit more about your new monthly club night, ‘Fresh out of death,’ at stealth. (Nottingham, U.K.)
LL: Fresh out of death is basically a reaction to some of the more generic club nights that appear every so often in my home town. We are trying to build a scene where everyone makes the effort to dress up, splash a bit of glitter on, wear their sister’s jeans and rave’s it up to our up and coming dj friends and bands. The club night aesthetic represents this as well. We go to a lot of trouble dressing the Venue ‘Stealth’ up so it doesn’t resemble every other night and influences erratic behavior. I’m talking huge drapes wrapped in fair lights, 3d glasses/visuals glow stick glasses, Huge Glow sticks and face masks.

LS: Your productions are very unique. Do you like to sample from past records or do you create everything from scratch?
LL: I create everything from scratch the only thing I sample is vocal cuts. I used to be obsessively sample crazy now I’m a tweak fiend. It’s the way I don’t have the time.

LS: What is that one record that you absolutely luuuurve and breaks your heart each time you hear it??
LL: The one record in which I love has to be Raspberry Beret by prince. In fact, Any Prince Record ever. Burn Piano Island Burn by the Blood Brothers affects me in equal measures.

LS: Do any of your tracks have extra special significance? If so, why?
LL: I made a track for one of my friends ages ago called ‘Amy Don’t Know.’ But as far as actual meanings and significance go, they are clearly mindlessly dance orientated.

LS: What do you enjoy most, spinning as a Dj or producing your own music?
LL: That’s a toughie. I enjoy spending days on a track and then playing it out to a big crowd and watching them go crazy even if they don’t know what they are dancing to.

LS: How do you like to work your crowd? Do you use a lot of dance floor slammers?
LL: Hmm, I was never taught to dj so I have picked up a few weird and wonderful methods along the way, I never have a set list and songs are just bashed out one after the other as fast as possible, as long as I keep it banging then I Love it. I work a lot with acapellas over tracks to create on the spot remixes and just mashing tracks together over long periods of time.

LS: Do you have any interesting or unusual party experiences to tell us?
LL: I defy sound men and women from here to London. I don’t give a fuck, if they ask for one more tune, that’s exactly what I give them. Consequently I get into a lot of trouble with sound guys and promoters…
The opening night of fresh out of death was so rammed and jovial that we stayed open an hour and a half past legal closing time and at that point there were about 8 dj’s in the booth franticly mixing in tracks as fast as we could.

LS: What do you have in the pipeline?
LL: Releasing my first EP and Playing abroad. COMING SOON! xx (a bit of love sent to us all)

Timbaland says next record will cowbell-tastic

Producer Timbaland has said that Justin Timberlake’s next album will sound like The Rapture!

The two worked together on Timberlake’s 2006’s ‘FutureSex/LoveSounds’ album, and Timbaland mentioned that, after initial conversations, they want the new material to sound like ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’, The Rapture’s iconic single from 2002, reports the US edition of GQ.

The singer also comes onstage to the track during his current tour.

Timberlake continues to work with Timbaland on the producer’s new album ‘Shock Value’, which is set to be released on March 26.

The album will feature contributions from Fall Out Boy, The Hives, MIA and Nelly Furtado as well.

Timbaland also hit the road with the singer for US dates, performing a mini-set during Timberlake’s performances. He will also join his pal on UK dates in the spring.

Source: NME

The Rapture - “House Of Jealous Lovers”

It’s clear that the Trouble & Bass boys have no intention of slowing down anytime soon as their releases just keep getting better and better. This time around, we have a driving, bass-heavy, monster of a track from their golden boy, MathHead from his recently released EP, “Against All Odds”, on Trouble & Bass Records. This is by far my favorite release from T&B. Its got the wobbly basslines that we’ve come to expect, just the right amount of boompty house, clean as fuck edits, and four tracks that each have their own little niche to fill in our sets.

This tune is my personal favorite off the EP. It’s Passions housey take on a straight breakbeat tune with a nice, sharp, distorted bassline and an old school vocal. It’s not until the breakdown, though, that this tune really gets good. The track drops out and the classic old school pianos and rave sirens (Klaxons?) come in and it becomes a total peak time smasher that will, without a doubt, put everyone’s hands in the air and their heads in the clouds.

Mathhead-Do Damage (Passions remix)

Be sure to check out and buy the EP at JunoDownload so that these guys can afford to keep making these blistering tunes.

P.S. It’s starting to look like I’m the Trouble & Bass Crew’s press agent or something but I assure you that is not the case. They are just super, top guys who make great music and like to give it away and who are we to complain?
Keep an eye on the blog because I’ve got some excellent exclusives coming up including a brilliant Happy-Mondays-meets-Italo-Disco band from Spain, some of the best B-more you’ve ever heard, seriously, and much, much more.

Le Castle Vania (but you can call him Dylan) makes his first NYC appearance this week, playing Thursday at Hiro, and Friday at Studio B. To mark the occasion, Dylan is providing TM with 3 exclusive tracks to share with our trashy friends and family. For those who missed him at the SXSW Dimmak & Nylon party, we’ve posted a few pics from the night, the rest will be up later this week on LeCastleVania.com

Dylan gets the awwwwwww SNAP! @ SXSW

Exclusive 1 of 3:

Le Castle Vania - Trouble In Daylight (Young Americans Envy Remix)

Cheeky B*stard Presents
Dandi Wind (Live)
Le Castle Vania
The Glass (Live)
Paris, E. Frank and Alex English
Hiro Ballroom - Thursday March 22
371 W. 16th St. (9th Ave.) Doors @ 10pm

From the GHB website . . .
“Le Castle Vania wins our vote for ‘DJ/Producer Most Likely To Succeed’ - his remix of Snowden’s ‘Black Eyes’ is breathtaking, and we hear that he is an amazing DJ. He’s been spotted by Vice Records who have him doing remixes for 120 Days, he’s been finding himself on some great line-ups (playing with the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, Para One, The Presets, Chromeo etc.), his own productions are awesome, and he wears really cool sneakers.”

Exclusive 2 of 3:

Le Castle Vania - Trouble In Daylight (Surface2Air Remix)

FUN! Presents:
Guest appearance by Le Castle Vania along with . .
Holy Hail
Thieves Like Us
Resident Eamon Harkin
$10 at the door $5 w/ RSVP
Studio B 259 Banker (Calyer & Meserole), Brooklyn NY (Doors @ 10 pm)

SXSW: Le Crystal Vania w/ Le Castle Vania = Le Crystal Castles?!

Keep going, there is more!
(more…)

Blog House

I will have a few comments on this in the next few days, great stuff.
So does this mean I now have a proper Blog + Roster = Bloster?!?!

Any DJ/Producer out there, better hurry and get on board with MAS while the revolution lasts!

“Blog House is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged after (or just before) Justice’s Waters of Nazareth EP in 2006, which provided the genre its distinctive sound. Utilizing non traditional house drum beats, heavy electronic synth bass lines and incredibly dirty and distorted samples, “Blog House” is almost a complete opposite of the typical and stylistically clean French filter disco house that made Paris famous in 1996. This new sound culminating out of Europe has bubbled out of the underground with the help of predominant taste maker mp3 blogs, including Fluokids, Palms Out Sounds, Discobelle, and Big Stereo who compete with each other to post exclusive tracks and remixes. Although Blog House does get released on traditional 12″ vinyl singles, the genre’s popularity is driven by exclusive taste maker DJ/producer reedits and exclusive remixes that are leaked for promotional use. Many see this as a problem in the blogosphere since blogs sometimes rush to post songs, repost exclusive songs from other blogs without permission or recognition, and also sometimes leak songs that are unfinished or of lower sound quality. This is usually done with little regard to what the actual artist or label thinks.

This term was first coined in February 2007 by Baghdaddy (aka Fistfight) who is a member of the Low Bee message board. It was first used in retaliation on his blog when he was surprised that people were not appreciating the other aspects of house music that were coming out or more traditional classic tracks. It has been concluded, although not implied in the definition of blog house, that there is a negative connotation surrounding the usage of the word stemming from the fact that the music is sometimes over hyped on blogs and the people listening to it are scene hoppers. For some, hearing a DJ play blog house signifies that they know very little about the actual history of house music and are just playing, listening and talking about these particular songs since they have gotten hyped from certain taste maker blogs.

For others, Blog House has started an Internet and musical revolution where music enthusiasts and DJs alike are now able to download and DJ the hottest and most in demand house music coming out of Europe. With more and more bloggers and DJ’s using iPod shuffles at their DJ gigs, Blog House is quickly replacing Dirty South Rap as the new music du jour to wile out to at the end of your Saturday night. It should be noted that this term could become outdated when the Neu-rave scene takes over the blogosphere and eliminates its weaker cousin Blog House. This problem is also constantly debated since many of these record labels think that some of their fan base will jump ship when a new sound starts to dominate the blogosphere. This was hotly debated at the French based Institubes web based forum and has now been appropriated as a part of their forum which is subtitled “Enter Scene Hoppers”.

Much, but not all of the music originates from Europe, including songs from the French labels Ed Banger, Institubes, Record Makers, Arcade Mode and Kitsuné. In the UK Blog, House is finding a home on namestay Wall of Sound and on any label that has a Switch remix.

It also comprises a number of edits and remixes done by othe artists such as Mr. Oizo, Feadz, Kissy Sell Out, Van She Tech, Passions, Herve, Drop The Lime, Guns and Bombs, Vyle, Surkin, and Yuksek.

There is now even a monthly dance party in London devoted soley to blog house.”

Bloggers Delight

Daft Punk @ Even Further, Wisconsin, USA May 26, 1996

” Let me tell you about the first time I saw Daft Punk, and while it wasn’t at my house, it was pretty damn close.My first introduction to Rave culture was in my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dave Prince best describes what was happening in Milwaukee in his 1994 Request article “Milwaukee’s Rave New World”.“Ask your friends about Milwaukee and instinctively they’ll offer one word: beer. And while you can often smell the hops from one of the city’s many breweries while wandering the small but clean downtown, a true underground spirit exists just below the surface of this industrial working-class town. Unbeknownst even to most people who live within the county limits, Milwaukee is home to America’s hardest and perhaps strongest rave scene. Incorporating elements from the city’s residual punk-rock scene with heavy-metal sensibilities and a comfort with house music it has absorbed from neighboring Chicago, Milwaukee’s rave community has withstood the mainstream media indifference, police harassment, and quickly changing musical tastes that have stalled the movement throughout the rest of North America. The Milwaukee scene is an amalgam of hippie sensibilities (”peace, love, unity and respect”), punk spirit (”do it yourself”), and heavy-metal attitude (”f—king hardcore”)”. Full article

The event was called “Even Further”, produced by Drop Bass Network and Crew, and it took place Memorial Day Weekend, Friday May 24 – 27, in Eagle Cave, Wisconsin. Daft played in the wee morning hours on Sat May 26.

New York Times writer, Neil Strauss reported - “It rained every day; nonetheless, ravers danced in muddy tents to their favorite DJs (Frankie Bones, ESP Woody McBride, Scott Hardkiss, Apollo, Mixmaster Morris), marveled at how well electronics whizzes like Daft Punk and Laura Grabb could perform the music on live instruments and discovered that rock bands like Low and Poi Dog Pondering could also fit into a rave.” full article

Personal note on this: I was honored to be part of the 1995 Even Further production crew when I was running Ripe Productions with my partner in crime, RP Smack. I would be lying if I said I wish I could lay claim to being part of the 1996 production. However, I had brought my daughter, Aria into the world not yet a month before. This Further, was, in fact the first time had been back amongst my community of hardcore Wisconsin electronic music enthusiasts since that time, and made the 7 hour trek from my newly relocated home of Chicago. All of these combined factors made the weekend even all the more memorable for me.

“Generation Ecstasy” author Simon Reynolds was on hand to document the festival for Melody Maker, UK, (now known to us as NME) and stated “Saturday’s big hit, though is French unit DAFT PUNK and their sinuous, sine-wavey brand of industrial-tinged house” full article

Thomas & Guy Performing @ Even Further

I found this bit on Wikipedia regarding the above footage . . .

In the mid-to-late nineties, Daft Punk performed live without costumes in many places including the United States. In particular, a rare bootlegged video featuring the duo in Wisconsin matches the verified identity of Thomas Bangalter. Less clearly seen, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo is to Bangalter’s right and is mostly cut off from the camera. Comparing the artwork packaging of Homework to the video footage, one can verify that the album’s liner note photo was taken during this event.