[edit: I don't write like that (even on AIM), I promise]
Once again, Weezer raises the bar for pop culture-relevant music videos–this time paying grand homage to the biggest and brightest Internet celebrities with their video for “Pork and Beans.” Among what the band describes as “familiar YouTube faces,” include Tay Zonday, Daft Hands, Harder Bodies, Coke/Mentos lab guys, and (my favorite) the Peanut Butter Jelly Time banana. According to NME, it was directed by Mathew Cullen. I’m still trying to figure out whether or not Miss South Carolina’s lip movements are CG…posted just a couple days ago, it’s already gotten well over 2 million hits–I wonder if anyone else is wondering the same thing.
Weezer’s new Self-Titled “Red Album” goes on sale June 3rd, 2008.
If you haven’t been checking our MIXES section, GET ON IT!! New mixes up by UK’s Andy George, as well as a fantastic JOTS mix – both courtesy of No Love Lost Records!! Things must be good if the smiley man himself, Mr Kissy Sell Out tracks you down outside your party (see above video and BBC censoring the ‘Fucked From Above 1985′ tshirt worn by Jaymo). Nice one boys. Also, two mixes from Berlin’s Lars Moston were posted!
Speaking of good music, here’s a mish mosh of a few things I’ve been enjoying lately… Erhm, the UK, they’re just so fucking ON IT. Seriously. I was about to begin a rant about the music that prevails in the US, but I’ll save it cause you already know. A bit of Australia thrown in for some added goodness!
The latest Foamo remix of Primary 1’s “Hold Me Down” really hits the spot. “Very Vampyr” by Australia’s teenagersintokyo does as well. Partyshank bring plenty of scream, bleeps and blips – more please. The greatest thing I’ve come across lately is a superb German trio, MIT. Excellent, excellent!! Where have I been?! More on them later. Drums of Death is truly fascinating – you can read more about Drums of Death in a feature done by one of our new contributors, Terence Teh on Dazed & Confused. We can’t wait for him to get down!!
Speaking of new contributors, we’ve added on Sirhan who made his debut, “Charly Greane” a few posts down. Love it or hate it. We also snagged Lee of No Love Lost Records who is posting under the alter-ego, BristolBoi – makes sense as that is where he’s from! So yeah, loads of good and exciting things ahead, along with a full on Trash Menagerie party coming to a city near you!! Have yourselves a great drunken bank holiday weekend!!
Meet Lars and Duncan. Like most twenty-somethings with a dream, these two came together in the 24-hour party capital of Berlin, exploring and making music come alive in the quintessential heart of Europe.
Lars Moston was born near the city, with German and British parents. He has impeccable English. As well as DJing weekly in Berlin’s finest clubs, Lars produces under a few collaborations: one half of Moston & Malente and one third of The Killergroove Formula. His style ranges from loud banging techno to unabashedly kicking electro.
Duncan Whiteley, who goes by many names, was born near Manchester and spent a lot of time recently living and falling in love with Berlin. By day, he’s busy managing a well-known record label, by night he’s DJing (most recently with RZA & Cut La Roc) and pursuing his own, more avant-garde electronic music under this moniker, leaving his real name quite alone. Scary, fearless music with a penchant for the darker sensibilities.
Together, they’ve kicked around a few tracks and the results are rather interesting to say the least.
The boys peel off the distortion from the Raveonettes “Dead Sound” until you hear only the lyrics. Take away the scratchy pedals and the humming-bird insistent drum machine, and you’re left with a sweet song. Not what I’d normally expect, but it’s better than the original!
Going for a deeper vein, the guys dangerously fool around with Finnish grindcore Huoratron’s “$$Troopers” and the outcome is more what I expect from these two: squelchy arcade game blips and heavy beats produced with a common love of twisted, fucked-up dance music.
It’s early days for this production duo but I’d say the early signs are good ones and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the tracks I know they have hiding underneath the Chinese carpet in Lars’ living room.
Is this an Italian or Tronik Youth takeover? Must be both. In a quest to saturate my brain of all things Tronik Youth, I came upon yet another take on “LaughCryLiveDie“, by Italy’s EATER. If, like me, you are yet to tire of it, then your ears should be pleased.
Eater began making music when he was about fourteen. He played bass in a punk/hardcore band, switched to guitar and picked up some speed. As all ‘kids’ should have the joy of experiencing, Eater went on to discover ‘raves’ and electronic music. Fascinated by the sounds, he was led to try his hand at MIDI sequencers, eventually remixing and production. He’s on a fast track heading to your player, so stay tuned for more Eater, as we’ve got new music sent over by our dear Swiss friend Stefan, who helps keep us on our toes!
Upon hearing London-based DJ/remixer/producer Neil Parnell’s alter ego, TRONIK YOUTH, I was in some serious awe. The music he creates embodies all the right elements that are sure to please the discerning ear. Or I’m just a sucker for spacey sounds and Speak & Spell.
Tronik Youth has remixed (or in process of), just about everyone under the sun – The Gossip, Late of the Pier, Chromeo, Goose, Franz & Shape, The Rakes, New Young Pony Club, Headman and recent re-edits of Santogold, MGMT and Portishead. He has also been remixed by Punks Jump Up.
His first smash single, “We Are”, came out in November 2007 on Back Yard Recordings, followed by his second excellent single “LaughCryLiveDie“, this past March. Due for official release 2nd June on Back Yard, the single features remixes by Grum, Headman, Young Lovers and Acid Jacks.
“LaughCryLiveDie“, has had a riveting effect on my head since first listen. I’ve played it over and over and still, no signs of tiring from it yet. It’s one of those tunes that sinks into your entire being. And now GRUM has gone and worked his formula, creating a perfect tune into a triumphant slammer!! Excellent remix.
Be on watch for even more Tronik Youth, as he slaves away at his third single, LP and upcoming remixes of Shinich Osawa, New Young Pony Club, Midfield General feat. Lucky Jim and Punx Soundcheck Feat. Miss Odd Kidd. Make your Tronik Youth purchases from Beatport, juno and at all fine retailers.
Turn on and listen to any top 40 station in the US and perhaps even internationally and you will hear the syrup sweetness of auto-tuned vocals. The main offender of this trend would have to be T-Pain but even Lil’ Wayne and Kanye have joined in on the trend. They aren’t the only ones either, now the French have gone and upstaged the US rap/top 40 superstars. Which you could debate started the trend with Daft Punk. However, as much as France has influenced current sounds in electro and dance music, the US rap culture has influenced France.
Enter, Charly Greane, a 22 year old from Bordeaux who has just made his mark with “Première Classe (featuring Western Love)”.
The single has enjoyed many weeks in itunes (France) tops downloads and features everything that top 40 US rap/rb singles has – vocoder/auto-tune vocals rapping over gated trance style synth leads. However, the twist being Charly Greane is rapping in French and the song reaches a much higher tempo than any of the rap songs on the radio.
While Charly Greane has already been a name popping up here and there in the French rap scene and even has tracks with Institubes Bobmo, this single proves that he is an artist to keep tabs on. With his fashionable over sized t-shirts and high tops, his imagery fits right in with Santogold, M.I.A. The Cool Kids and even his country mate Yelle.
However, Charly Greane is more than just a streetwear advertisement. He’s a rapper who’s influences like Lil’ Wayne and Wiz Khalifa are worn on his sleeve but it’s all done in a way that unique.
A quick warning though, one listen can lead to many, many, many repeats and further an (un)healthy obsession with French rap, leading to the discovery of other artists like So Fresh Squad and the new Cuiziner mix tape. Even if you can’t understand a word of French, the music is a completely fresh and listenable take on the genre. Maybe, it’s that French touch?
The Bloody Beetroots and Crookers aren’t the only stars to come out of Italy these days. Milan’s 3 IS A CROWD are quickly creating a buzz with their production, as well as edits and remixes for the likes of Crookers, Congorock, Fagget Fairys, Yelle, Armand Van Helden, Amari and others. Things are lookin’ mighty good for them as they’re currently collaborating with Larry Tee, Bryan Cox, Chew Fu Phat and have several releases due to come out on a few labels!
Consisting of three members, Alberto, Francesco and Ivo, 3IAC are influenced by just about everything that is good in music today – house, fidget, crunk, electro, funk, breaks, broken beat and jazz. If you spend your time watching the music that is covered on the blogosphere, more than likely you’ve heard past 3IAC remixes for Congorock, “Exodus (3IAC Back to Home Remix)”, as well as the Fagget Fairys, “Uzela (3IAC Crunch My Crunk Remix)”. Both caught my attention and are fine examples of the kind of work these guys are making. Their latest, “Take It Back”, proves it!
So what is in the pipeline for 3IAC? Francesco clued me in on the latest happenings, along with how this Italian trio came to be and two of their latest remixes.
“News about us: We are finally about to sign a contract with RuNT Records for a release; the name of the EP will be “Amarillo EP” and will feature 3 tracks. We have received a proposal for a couple of releases on A New Hope Records; We still have to release our EP for Italian Indie label Mozzarella Records (this release will feature our tracks “Bullshit”, “Guns”, “Almighty Vibes” and a remix) and of course we are waiting for our remix for Bryan Cox’s “Where You At?” to come out on his Crux Records label. We are collaborating with his blog Crux Da House as well and we are working on several tracks including a remix for Larry Tee!
About gigs: We’ll be playing alongside Congorock in Rome the 23rd of May, with the Crookers the 1st of June and in Berlin the 6th of June and we have a gig in London in July that still has to be confirmed.
Start of 3IAC: “In 2004 we started the project 3 Is A Crowd as a dj collective where we could express ourselves and our different musical tastes both in djing and producing electronic music. We used to play different styles on the decks including techno, electro, hip hop, breakbeat and some drum ‘n’ bass too!
Things began to change after a Crookers Edit we made in 2007 that made us become a little bit popular in the blog world. So at that time we were interested in this new sound clash between house, hip hop and techno and that’s why we started working hard on our own tracks as well as remixes and edits: we started to rework different acts and artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Fagget Fairys, Congorock, Yelle, Amari etc.
We believe that every remix we have done so far has its own personality and a “3IAC” flavour: We are trying to make our production recognizable but at the same time we are putting different ideas around to make people enjoy what we do. The Tamborzuda remix we made starting from the original acapella, received compliments from Daniel Haaksman from Man Recordings. Other supporters of our music have been Drop The Lime/Curses!, Dj Fame, Dj Orgasmic, Dj Donna Summer, Scuola Furano, Blatta & Inesha, Bryan Cox, Larry Tee, amongst others.
“Now we are trying to get inspired from other styles: One of our two new remixes for the Italian indie rock band, “Perturbazione“, (”Nel Mio Scrigno Pianissimo Remix”) is showing our interest for a clash between electronic music and real played instruments that we would like to develop in the future, alongside our dance production. Anyway, we hope that we will make people dance and bounce around the globe! Make sure to check our MySpace for more news and don’t forget to take a listen to our special mixes!”
Radioactive Man’s second album GROWL was released on Monday, much to the patient anticipation from long-term fans. Already there’s a good buzz about it here in the UK. The album was released on his own label, Control Tower, in association with Fabric Records.
Keith Tenniswood dishes out a lot of squelchy electro in GROWL to satisfy even the most jaded raver, with healthy heaps of dubby bass to kick your teeth in for good measure. GROWL is electronic music for those times when you’ve had too much party and need to sit in the shade for a while and regain your sanity.
From the bouncy minimalist “Kristiina” to the ethereal “Up in the Air”, there’s a lot of depth and complexity to get into with GROWL. Old school electro lovers are really in for a treat. I won’t explain, just have a listen. Musical partner Andrew Weatherall sings on “Double Dealings”, while Dot Allison provides the St Etienne-esque vocals for “Nothing At All”, providing the largely electronica album with light relief, although I would have been perfectly happy without as well. It’s clear that the four-year period of gestation made this album a well-thought out, finely crafted piece of electro goodness. Nice one.
Tenniswood explained the reason for the 7 year gap from his debut album: “I’ve been so busy with Two Lone Swordsmen stuff and DJing, that I haven’t had the time to put it out, so this is a real culmination of a long period of time for me. I wanted it to be pretty dancefloor, but still the kind of album you can pop on at home and enjoy on headphones.”
Word of advice: skip the headphones, just piss off your neighbours!
ALSO: If you fancy catching Radioactive Man this summer, he’s on at Glade Festival’s main stage in July. He played at the recent 3-day neo-rave armageddon Bangface Festival in Camber, which I went to - his set fit in quite nicely amongst the INSANITY of Squarepusher, Alterego, Ragga Twins, Model 500, Venetian Snares, and co -MORE ON THAT SOON!
Here’s a selection of my favorite tracks - have a listen. Apparently, if you buy the album, you’ll get 2 free tracks via myspace.
