Peter Hook aka“Hooky”, legendary bassist for two of the most influential bands of the past 3 decades, New Order and Joy Division, is back in the studio working on a new project - Freebass. Spearheaded by Hooky, alongside fellow Mancunian bassists, Andy Rourke (The Smiths) and Mani (Stone Roses / Primal Scream). The debut album is set for release in late 2008 / early 2009. Contributing vocalists include Billy Corgan, Pete Wylie, Rowetta, Howard Marks, Tim Burgess, Bobby Gillespie, and Ian Brown. Recent addition, Liam Gallagher, will also reportedly be stepping into the studio to contribute to the project.

In addition to Freebass, Hooky is keeping the legendary club he co-owned with late Tony Wilson (Factory Records), The Hacienda, alive and well. While the club closed its doors in 1997, the music continues on, from Manchester and out to the rest of the world, as The Hacienda Tour finds Hooky DJing alongside long time residents and esteemed regulars, Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, A Guy Called Gerald, Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays), 808 State, Andrew Weatherall, Bobby Langley, and other special guests along the way. The Hacienda Tour will touch down for the first time in Miami at this year’s Winter Music Conference on Friday, March 28th.

Over the past five years, The Hacienda, and the Manchester music legacy have been portrayed in critically acclaimed British films. Michael Winterbottom’s, “24 Hour Party People”, and Anton Corjbin’s, “Control.” Hooky has recently penned his own memoirs on the exploits of The Hacienda, to be released this fall, 2008, titled, “How Not to Run a Club”. The book delves further into the trials, tribulations, and behind the scenes tales that took place between the years of 1982 to 1997.

Joy Division and New Order were responsible for generational classics, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, “Blue Monday”, “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “Thieves Like Us”, “Crystal”, and “Regret”. Both bands musical influence inspired countless artists, the likes of The Killers, Hot Chip, The Enemy, Primal Scream, Moby, Pet Shop Boys, Sasha, and The Chemical Brothers, to name but a few. The musical impact of the The Hacienda is associated with the rise of acid house and rave culture, and it is considered by many, to be the birthplace of the 90s sound.

Presently committed to Freebass and carrying on the spirit of The Hacienda, throughout the success of his endeavors, Hooky remains as passionate, and down to earth, as when he first started his musical career. “I’m astounded by the fact that we’re still here, and still sane. It’s a very rich experience without a shadow of a doubt. I’ve just been in America DJing, and the guy who’s promoting over there is an old friend of mine from The Hacienda days. It was funny cos’ we were both sat there chatting about it all, all the people you’ve seen come and go, it’s been amazing.” – Peter Hook

Listen to The Hacienda / Factory Records - Radio One Essential Mix

Info on The Official Hacienda WMC Party March 28th - Miami

Hooky on Freebass . . .
“Freebass is like a cross between Northern Soul, New Order, Primal Scream, The Stone Roses and The Smiths, which is a perfect cocktail, it’s a bit like The Stranglers’ Jean Jacques’ solo LP, “The Euroman Cometh”.

“We didn’t know what was gonna happen when the three of us got together (Hooky, Mani and Rourkie) and I thought it was quite important cos the three of are very well known in our own right as bass players to do it properly. On about four of the tracks, there’s about nineteen ideas already, the three of us are playing bass on it, and lo and behold, those two mesh together perfectly as one monster bass line, playing around each other and of course, as I have the luxury of being more melodic and higher I always appear on top of those two, to take all the glory I suppose.”

Hooky on The Hacienda . . .
“Rob Gretton loved being ahead of the time at The Hacienda, along with Mike (Pickering) and everyone else so when acid house happened, I think that to the people that mattered in Manchester that cultural change had already happened. They were just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. It was that coincidence of the Happy Mondays, New Order, Ibiza, Ecstasy and the music and it all came together. I don’t think it was down to one or the other. I think it was a very lucky combination of it all coming together, the convergence.”

Hooky on DJing, and The Hacienda Tour . . .
“Djing gave me a love of music again because I had a reason to go seek music out whereas I had gone off it., I like the challenge, the adventure, and also when you turn up at these places on your own it can be very exciting. You never know what’s gonna happen, I’m so grateful to the people who bring me over for letting me enjoy myself, they let me play my music and really enjoy it”

Hooky on the films . . .
“A funny thing about 24 Hour Party People, it caught only a little bit of it but not the whole thing, its fucking frightening, all the experience and how much you’ve actually been through.”

“Control is fantastic, I was really proud of Anton, he’s done an amazing job. It’s wonderful and so moving, it’ll definitely get you.”

Hooky on the continuing influence of Manchester Music . . .
“I don’t know why Manchester’s had such an influence. If you knew the answer to that, you’d be a very, very rich man. Manchester’s just very, very lucky. I just go round the world and I can laugh my bollocks off cos I can say I come from Manchester and people are like “fucking hell”. It’s a god given gift to come from Manchester, it’s ridiculous. Not only did they give us Joy Division, The Hacienda, New Order, and Acid House, but Manchester United, how lucky can you be in one lifetime”?

Blokgolf have gone and done it again. Yes folks, another great remix, this time a track off Dutch indie pop band Hit Me TV’s newly released album, “Maybe the Dancefloor”. DOWNLOAD IT NOW.

The album came out on 21 March and is on sale on iTunes — apparently it’s been going down with the DJs like a pack of wolves in ASDA’s meat section. I can believe it.

The Hit Me TV’s original track: imagine if Muse’s lead singer suddenly ditched emotions and got into acid and early 80s music instead. Pop sensibilities, tight playing, and strong vocals.

The guys credit their producer for ‘turning’ them: “Belgian producer Frank Duchêne (Soulwax, Ozark Henry, Mintzkov, Hooverphonic) helped us to get over our fear of pop” — oh yes!!

The Blokgolf boys remix gives the track an electro edge, and it sounds fantastic, with great production quality. I love how the first 30 seconds trick you into thinking you’re listening to Vitalic’s “You Prefer Cocaine” — I nearly cried, it was so good.

Maybe The Dancefloor - Hit Me TV - Blokgolf Remix

I’ve also included a YouTube video of Hit Me TV performing on Dutch radio station 3fm to give you a flavour.

Maybe the Dancefloor (Hit Me TV live @ 3FM - 29/02/08)

Roger and The Walk, photo courtesy of rogerseventytwo

Thanks to Aux from Blokgolf, I’ve discovered another lovely Dutch producer called Rogerseventytwo. He’s 22, lives in the Netherlands, and makes pretty nifty electro pop and is super super busy. Roger’s kindly given us two remixes (Daft Punk and Yelle) plus his uber-cool “Imagination”, which I love. I know what you’re thinking, there’s enough re-mixes of these songs to feed an entire country of music-starved people, but have a listen, and you’ll see what I mean.

When Roger’s not making music to make us all insanely jealous, he djs with friend and producer The Walk. In April, the boys are playing alongside Brodinski, Crookers, Boys Noize, Mixhell DJs and more. God, that’s gonna be a fun party !

Roger and The Walk also put on their own night in Amsterdam called WE LOVE, in which they invite upcoming new acts, djs, and producers (great name isn’t it?). So far, WE LOVE have welcomed Teenage Bad Girl, Les Petits Pilous and Aysam, and this spring the boys are partying with Danger and Breakbot.

Roger says of his music: “My biggest influences was the first Daft Punk generation like the Roule stuff and filtered disco house of Crydamoure. And I always been a huge fan of the 70s music. And furthermore I’m a big fan of the French scene nowadays like the Ed Banger andInstitubes crew. And of course not to forget Teenage Bad Girl and Boys Noize.”

Oh these kids. Do you remember what the rest of us were doing at 22?

Here are some dates for your diary, just in case you happened to be in town for Queens day, or you’re on of those lucky souls who actually gets to live in Amsterdam.

Imagination - Rogerseventytwo

Daft Punk - Technologic (Rogerseventytwo Remix)

Yelle - Ce Jeu (Rogerseventytwo Remix)

Ultra 8201 just made my day . . . I am so excited, I am so excited! (and perhaps living under a rock?!?!?)

I LOVE me some Presets, I wonder if their ears are ringing, because I was listening to their earlier releases, “Beams” & “Girl and the Sea” this afternoon and talking to my girl Lynnel about when they were finally going to release their new LP - “APOCALYPSO“. This news is wicked awesome.

The Presets were my first introduction to Modular, which lead to being turned on to Cut Copy, and all the rest. I very vividly remember playing “Girl and the Sea” to death the month I made the decision to leave Chicago and move to New York. It was a bittersweet time, and that EP, and particularly, the title track “Girl and the Sea” were the soundtrack of my life back then. I think I shed a tear or 2 on a few occasions. Luckily, “Girl and the Sea” was followed by “Kitty in the Middle”, and that track is all “sexy time”, so I didn’t stay emo for long. But, its cool, because whenever I hear these songs, it totally takes me back. *Sigh*, music is pretty amazing like that, the way it triggers memories, thoughts, feelings, experiences. Gotta love it!

Girl and the Sea - The Presets - Cut Copy Remix

I have been lucky to see them live several times, when they opened for The Rapture, and they’re even BETTER live, then when recorded and “studiofied”, which is a rarity for most acts. I don’t know which show to go to in NY? Maybe both?

The Presets Tour Dates

03-21 Manchester, England - The Warehouse Project
03-22 Middlesbrough, England - Empire
03-23 Liverpool, England - Chibuku @ Barfly
03-29 Sydney, Australia - V Festival
03-30 Gold Coast, Australia - V Festival
04-05 Melbourne, Australia - V Festival
04-06 Perth, Australia - V Festival
04-26 Maitland, Australia - Groovin the Moo
05-03 Townsville, Australia - Groovin the Moo
05-20 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre *
05-21 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine *
05-22 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
05-23 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge *
05-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club *
05-26 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge *
05-27 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club *
05-30 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub *
05-31 Toronto, Ontario - Anti *
06-01 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret Music Hall *
06-02 Boston, MA - Paradise *
06-04 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
06-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
06-06 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s *
06-07 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel

*with Walter Meego (I have their new album in my possession, but haven’t had time to listen to it yet, dammit!)

The Presets
The Presets Myspace

Whilst browsing the vast internet world for music, one never knows what gems will be found. They are always around, waiting to catch you by surprise and remain in your life, beating to the sound of it. So it goes, yet another talented DJ/producer from the South, Marseilles, France, is on the radar, Le Facteur.

At a young age, Simon, Le Facteur, began experimenting on a keyboard at the academy he attended. He explored many genres including, rock and roll, jazz, hip-hop and later, electronic music. Influenced by not one specific style of music, he enjoys what ignites the dancefloor and is an admirer of classic Swedish ‘chip-tune’ producer, Dubmood.

The entire ‘chiptune‘ world is pretty amazing with its digitized rythmns – Music created with video game synthesizer chips. We hear so much of this bleep and blip sound in a lot of the dance music out today – Crystal Castles being one of the more successful integrators of this video game sound. Although this style is a lot more popular in Europe, it has been growing in popularity in North America and I for one am quite keen on it!

Back to Facteur – He has created his own identity which embodies the perfect crossover between old and new school, with a choppy, cut up style that can be heard throughout his work, especially in “California”. Simon has played alongside notable acts such as, Detroit Gran Pubahs (poker flat), Orgasmic (Institubes), Terry Poison (ekler’o’shock), Strip Steve (Boyz Noise Rec), Detect (mental groove), Meisterfackt (Kitty yo), Leonard de Leonard (ekler’o’shock) – and has done an excellent remix of “Elephantizer”. Expect to hear a lot more coming out of Facteur, with more remixes, “Mr. SEIR - Cobra (Factor remix)” and a collaboration with Meisterfackt. Have a listen to his latest remix, of New Europeans, “Dr Rhythm”, which really brings this track to life and ready for the floor. Enjoy!!

Léonard de Léonard - Elephantizer (Facteur Remix)

Facteur - California

New Europeans - Dr Rhythm (Facteur Remix)

SxSW has come to a close and after viewing several photos off Clayton Hauck’s site, everyoneisfamous, I’d say this has become the year for Indie hipster kids to take flight (and grow belly’s) any chance they can get. It’s like the rebirth of the hardcore days when everyone at any of the shows was catapulting themselves off stage into the crowd. This is a lot less hardcore, much more mild because thankfully, this crowd isn’t sporting combat boots, rather the shoes of choice are trainers.

Although some may have missed the excitement, just picture yourself in any of these images amidst all the talent and madness that went on. As a reminder to myself for next year, plan way ahead to get a hotel room booked!!!! To view the rest, check the link above!

Boys Noize takin’ flight

Diplo gettin’ mad

Santogold glowin’

Toxic Avenger rockin’ DK’s!

Mixhell gettin’ loopy

Heartsrevolution beltin’ it + Kate Moross

The Death Set thrashin’!

Spankrock + Amanda Blank rhymin’

Gold grill mask wearin’

HOME VIDEO. They are one of my favorite bands here in New York, well, actually, favorite bands, period. I absolutely love their music. The production is incredible, their music is so damn lush and emotive, it makes you FEEL. Amazing bass, synths, melodies, vocals, lyrics, the full package. I’ve been waiting for the follow up to their debut LP “No Certain Night or Morning”, (Defend) for what feels like forever. (You know when you really want something, waiting can be angst ridden.) When I first heard their LP in 2006, I could not stop playing it, I listened, no joke, everyday, for at least a month. I STILL listen to this album often, and when friends come by, and we’re doing the “you know who’s really good” conversation, 9 times out of 10, I play them Home Video, and I have yet to have anyone tell me, “yeah, it’s cool”. Their reaction is always, “wow, they are amazing”. Their track, “Gas Tank”, incredible. If you want to hear it, (and you really should) do a search on our site, i’ve posted it before. I had them play during CMJ this year, and they told me they were working on a new album, (YESSSSSSS!!!!!! was the reaction in my head, I think I attempted to contain my excitement so I didn’t come off as a total freak).

So, the update is, the new LP is almost near completion, and “I Can Make You Feel It” is the first taste of what to expect. Its better than I anticipated, if that’s even possible. Why Home Video isn’t massive, is a mystery to me, because they should be. I am pulling that they breakthough with this next album, as it’s deservedly so, and about damn time people picked up on this stellar, gem of a band.

Oh, and I must mention this as well, if their music wasn’t enough, they also have AMAZING visuals that accompany their shows. Their overall ascetic is completely on point, i’m going to go on record as stating, this is going to be a very good year for them, “I feel it.”

“Sleep Sweet” - Home Video

Ok - so enough gushing from me, listen to this and you’ll understand . . .

I Can Make You Feel It - Home Video

“We’ve been performing one of our new songs live over the past few months and it’s gotten such an amazing audience response that we’ve decided to offer it as an unofficial (aka exclusive!) early single from our upcoming album (our second full-length which we are finishing up this spring). It’s called “I Can Make You Feel It,” and it’s the only song from our new album that we’ve been playing live (most recently at SXSW, all over London supporting our fellow Brooklyn-ites Yeasayer, at New York’s Studio B, Pukkelpop in Belgium and Border Noise in Mexico!), and our crowds have loved it so much we really want to share the recording with everybody now”

“I Can Make You Feel It” is an epic dance song about love and longing that has a massive, wall-of-sound-y ending that’s really fun for us to play (it’s our first song with a quasi piano solo). It’s also the first song we’ve recorded with our amazing live drummer Jim Orso, who brings new life to the beat.” - Home Video

For more Home Video, music, info, tour dates, and more -
http://www.myspace.com/homevideo

Ever babysit someone who thought nine hits of acid, an eight-ball, three pills and a room full of pounding music and visuals would be a good idea? I have and, in-between assuring them they’re friends haven’t become vampires, found myself explaining their failed attempt at the ultimate sensory experience with the old adage, “it works in theory, but not in practice.” Well, now that Todos Santos is kicking off a new monthly, I can just tell them “you should’ve just gone to Tozz–no substances necessary.”

The Brooklyn-based, Caracas-bred fiesta makers are bringing their “Tuzzy Bass” sound to Williamsburg dance party stronghold Savalas. That’s right kids! You, too, can step into a day-glo rabbit hole of bass heavy party tracks interlaced with zebra stripes, hallucinogenic projections and crowd-surfing South Americans–but without the trauma and all the fun!

The hyperreality begins Friday, March 28, 2008 with future dates TBD…

Peep the video for their Flamin Hotz release “Acid Girlzzz” to see what I’m talking about.