Design by Shayna Quinn

The frenetic music of the five-piece electro-pop-indie-rock band from Christchurch, New Zealand, Bang! Bang! Eche! (pronounced Bang Bang Etch), grabbed my attention even more than the slutty giraffe pictured on the cover of their self-titled EP. Their energetic shows with shouty vocals and dance-punk synth stabs make the hip kids dance wildly, jumping up and down like they’re on a pogo stick out of pure excitement. If fantastic noise-filled, high energy shows are your cup of tea, then you’ll fit perfectly amongst the raucous rabble at a Bang! Bang! Eche! gig.

“When the beats drop on the floor, you’ll be gaggin’ for some more…”- ‘4 To The Floor’. Born to the world on May 7, 2007, Bang! Bang! Eche! have settled in nicely with their current line-up: Charlie (guitar), Perry (keyboards), James (drums), T’Nealle (bass) and Zac (vocals). We get the Bang! Bang! part, but what does Eche at the end of it mean? BBE’s guitarist/synth player, Charlie explains. “ECHE is native Maori for “awesome partytimes”!!! It actually connects quite well with our lyrics, as our lyrics for the EP were all about what will happen on the 21st of December 2012. Some people see it as the date of the apocalypse, but they are mainly just crazies who spend waaay to much time stayin’ up all night, drooling over conspiracy vids on YouTube while buzzing hard on Adderall. We see it as a celebration. Test Icicles will have gotten back together and we will be opening for them. With Anoraak. Or something like that. Either way, it will be awesome, and our lyrics were just trying to convey the atmosphere we can feel in our hearts when we dream about this future event.” Long live Test Icicles.

Of their lyrics, BBE says, “Now we’ve started writing really hiphop influenced songs, and the lyrics are more abstract.. we don’t even really know what they’re about.. We think we like lyrics better that way, it’s less “HERE KIDS, RELATE TO THIS”. No longer a secret to be kept just for Nu Zilland, Bang! Bang! Eche! are pushing their sound to new territories, including NYC for CMJ this coming October, followed by Europe and the U.K.! But before heading out, catch them Oct 17, 2008, for their last show in NZ with Modular’s Bang Gang Dj’s at the SOHOMO Birthday Extravaganza! Some serious banging is about to go down. Prepare for some face melting.

10 fun facts about BANG BANG ECHE!!!!!

01. We started out in March 07, after some bands that we were previously in (a hip hop crew, an indie-house duo and an angry punk band) had disbanded!
02. Since then we’ve been touring NZ non stop, playing with superduper bands like Chk Chk Chk (NY), So So Modern, Cut Off Your Hands, Die Die Die, the Mint Chicks, and the Shocking Pinks etc etc!
03. Our synth player Perry used to be a prodigal drum & bass DJ named ‘Vitamin P’ when he was 6.
04. We released our debut self-titled EP in May 2008! You can download the whole thing for free, from our myspace at myspace.com/bangbangeche
05. Our first two ever singles ‘4 To The Floor’ and ‘Nikee’ went straight to #1 on the bNet (NZ college network). The third single ‘Time Mismanagement’ followed shortly after at #4, and even got to #2 on the mainstream Radioscope charts!!
06. Our bassist T’Nealle is fucking brutal. Her reputation in underground fighting circles is unparalleled. Usually she disappears for a few hours when we have just played a show and comes back with a blinging gold belt like wrestlers have, but waaay more ghetto. She has eight pairs of grills that all say “CRUNQ”. (T’Nealle is also said to have written two albums of new material in one week. crazy? yes.)
07. In late October, we are moving to New York to live with our hot managers Moose and M-Liz for a few weeks!!! We are playing at the CMJ Music Festival - you can see us at the CMJ NZMusicCommision Showcase with Cut Off Your Hands, the Ruby Suns, and Die Die Die.
08. After NYC we play some dates in Europe, and stay in London for 2 weeks! Check myspaz for dates!
09. At the same time in London, the ‘4 To The Floor//Fingers In The Till’ 7” vinyl is being released by Zarcorp Records!
10. After Europe, we then return to NZ to play the Rhythm & Vines festival in Gisbourne on new years eve!!

PARTY TYMEZ!!!!

Bang! Bang! Eche! - Time Management

Bang! Bang! Eche! - Nikee

Bang! Bang! Eche! - 4 To The Floor

Bang! Bang! Eche! - (You and Me) As Thick As Thieves

Bang! Bang! Eche! live at Mighty Mighty

With all this talk of the LHC creating a black hole that will envelop the earth I think it’s about time that I write about the latest of up’n'coming Chicago producers, Black Holes. They are rather new to the scene here but they show little sign of n00biness. They are clearly some of the best producers to arise from our fledgling electro scene and certainly a welcome change from the mash-up and b-more that dominates the city’s hipster nights.

I’m not trying to belittle their abilities here, but describing their sound is rather simple. They sound like Crookers. So here’s where you think to yourself, “Why would I listen to this if I can listen to Crookers?” Well, firstly, Crookers is good and these kids are almost just as good. Two Crookers is better than one, my grandfather always told me. Secondly, I’m not sure if you guys are old enough to remember but about a year and a half ago (feb 7, 2007; about 8 years ago in blog years) I remember the fluokids posting a little tune called “Massive” by a then unknown duo called Crookers (later released on Pottymouth Records) that was somewhat overlooked because the general consensus was, “Oh, no big deal, they are just trying to sound like Switch.” Well, look where that got them. And I feel like Black Holes are capable of the same thing in the near future if they keep plugging away and develop their own sound so, when you download and play these tunes out now, you will have future ammunition for when they get big and you want to assert your authenticity. Although, now that I’ve said that, does it negate ones ability to use this as snob-fodder?

Anyways, they have certainly caught folks ears here in Chi and elsewhere. They were tapped to open for MSTRKRFT on their upcoming Chicago tour date. They also happen to be the winners of the Trouble & Bass Little Jinder remix contest that recently took place. Here’s a couple of their tunes to whet your appetite and you can hear their winning remix on their myspace.

Black Holes - War Drums

Black Holes - I’m A Beast

Hollywood Holt - Caked Up (Black Holes Rmx)

Past flyer design by Gina Baber

Micachu performing live at DURRR on August 11, 2008. DURRR happens every Monday night at The End, West Central Street, London, WC. Previous Micachu on Trash!

This weekend kicked off MSTRKRFT’s North American Fist of God Tour starting with Friday night in boiling LA at the Henry Fonda theater and WHAT A SHOW!

It being an all ages event, the youngins were all afresh in their scandalous attire, nymph-like dance moves, and damn did they get there early. By 10pm the place was packed and it was a sold out show!

Italy’s Congorock kicked things off with fun groovey dance beats, followed by Felix Cartal throwing down teeth gritting hard tracks that had people jumping like a mosh pit, then LA Riots, A-Track, and finally the night capped off with MSTRKRFT. Different from a normal MSTRKRFT show? Yes. In their set they included a lot of tracks that are going to be on their upcoming album!

With that many dj’s playing, I thankfully only heard one very noticeable track twice: “Bounce Low feat. NORE”.

This tour is worth the money to go to, it’s quality and the lineup is almost festival like. They’re going all over the US, so check the myspace page of MSTRKRFT for tour dates, etc. in your city.

Oh- and the follow up show on Sunday night at the El Rey was also great, the visuals looked really fantastic so kudos to the tech guys on that. The after party at LAX was a continuation of fun times with MSTRKRFT hitting the decks alongside Steve Aoki at the Banana Spilt Sunday party. Highlight of the after party: people having a big enough sense of humor to play fantastically cheesey club hits from the early 2000s.

Check MSTRKRFT’s MySpace for Fist of God tour dates!

Here’s a great video from Chicago’s, Hey Champ a hot new trio in the scene making some fresh tunes. The video is for the band’s new single “Cold Dust Girl“. This is one of those sneaky songs that you hear at night and wake up in the morning with its melodies still infecting your thoughts. Then you immediately want to hear it again. It’s just that fresh.

The first exposure to the world for the trio was when a blog accidentally posted their remix of Scenario Rock’s “Perfect Love Antidote” as Ed Banger’s distorto super producer Sebastian. When the remix was discovered that it was really Hey Champ, the trio’s take on the song was strong enough to gain plenty of acclaim. It is even available on itunes (Europe only) and was put out by a major label Sony.

Their sound can easily be compared to the likes of Van She, Cut Copy, Fred Falke and Les Rhythmes Digitales. Mixing rock with elements of house all based over an abudant amount of synth action. Sometimes playing out as a full band and sometimes doing dj sets, Hey Champ is paying their dues quickly. Already featured in UR Magazine with an upbeat, good times mix. Gaining bookings more and more and even getting rapper Lupe Fiasco attention enough for him to write about them on his blog. It is also entirely possible that the group will be scooped up at anytime by a record label.

Enjoy the video and the mp3 and check the groups myspace to keep updated.

Hey Champ! - Cold Dust Girl

Even though September is coming to an end, streetwear supply company Krudmart’s September mixtape will continue to beone of my favorite mixes of the fall season.

Entitled, Autumn Love, Krudmart head honcho Steve Kream hand made this wonderful mix that stresses the feelings of fall. It’s getting darker earlier, the air is getting colder, leaves are changing colors and both sexes are wearing more clothing but romance, sex and love seem to be the highest this time of year.

Besides having great taste in music, Krudmart has great clothing and wares for purchasing. You can pick up a Mishka shirt, a pair of APC jeans, Sabre Vision Sunglasses, and head out on the town with Autumn Love playing on your headphones.

Krudmart also has a blog and twitter

http://www.krudmart.com/blog/

http://twitter.com/krudmart

http://www.myspace.com/krudmart

Tracklist:
1. The Jets - Crush On You
2. Fred Falke - Wait For Love
3. Holy Ghost - Hold On
4. Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love
5. Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Metronomy Mix)
6. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind
7. Herbert - The Audience
8. Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
9. Morgan Geist - Most of All
10. Spiller - Groovejet
11. Human League - Don’t You Want Me Baby
12. When in Rome - The Promise
13. Masters at Work - Deep Inside
14. Pnau - Baby (Breakbot Remix)
15. The Juan Maclean - Love is in the Air
16. Knee Deep - Big Love
17. Puzique - Don’t Go
18. Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
19. Luomo - The Present Lover
20. Royksopp - Remind Me
21. CSS - Lets Make Love (Spank Rock Remix)
22. Felix Da Housecat - Ready 2 Wear
23. The Similou - All This Love

PS cover art was made by Curtis Vodka.

Krudmart September Mixtape - Steve Kream - Autumn Love

Check out episode 1 of PLAYBACK, Andy Butler - Hercules and Love Affair, from our friend Nicky Digital. (Congrats on the new project, looking forward to more of the same.) Andy inspired me to build a diorama this weekend. I hope my characters turn out as interesting as his did . . .

TUNE IN FOR MORE & SMILE! www.NickyDigital.com

Photo Credit: Amy Wimmer

HOT, HOT, HOT, CHIP!

They picked a fitting band name, yeah? I’ve been getting hit by Hot Chip from all sides, and I like it. They are currently out on tour in North America, i’m eagerly looking forward to their New York shows at Terminal 5, Oct 3 & 4.

I could tell you what the band’s been up to, but the email below from the band’s Joe Goddard, sums it up nicely. It’s always lovely when the band themselves take time to write. I’m just going to tag on a track and recent photos from their show in Tucson, AZ this past Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.

And since I too love the Ewan Pearson remix, and it’s my pick of the lot, give it a listen.

Hot Chip - Touch Too Much - Ewan Pearson Vocal Remix

To buy the “Touch Too Much” 12″ click here

# # #

Hi, we are putting out a package of great remixes of songs from ‘Made In The Dark‘ featuring some of the best producers around at the moment.

Dave Taylor (Switch) is obviously killing it at the moment, his recent mix of Mystery Jets and his work for Santogold were great and we have been friends for a while, he did a great mix of ‘Over and Over‘ for us under his Solid Groove guise and if anyone has not heard ‘This Is Sick‘ by Solid Groove then search it out, it is responsible for the sound of a lot of recent records.

(personal note, not from Joe, but 100% agreed, Solid Groove - “This Is Sick”, is REALLY, REALLY, SICK INDEED!)

Dave has completed 2 mixes of ‘Hold On‘ and we liked them both so they both feature on the package. Mock and Toof also remixed ‘Hold On‘ and again, have been friends for a while, their label Tiny Sticks is consistently excellent and they have already featured on Death From Abroad as well as previously remixing “Over and Over.”

I think their mix of ‘Hold On‘ is one of the best mixes we have ever had. Ewan Pearson takes on ‘Touch Too Much‘ and the quality of his mix shows through pretty obviously, I think this mix will be played out by alot of people. If you don’t know Ewan he has been DJing and producing for a while now and his Partial Arts moniker is particularly good in my opinion, especially the ‘Trauermusik‘ release on Kompakt a couple of years ago.

Kollektiv Turmstrasse are one of Felix and Al’s favourite groups, they have been making excellent, melodic, very funky techno for a while and whilst not being the biggest name on the scene have been consistently excellent and responsible for a lot of big DJs ’secret weapons’.

I hope you like this stuff!

We are also putting the finishing touches to our next release, which is an EP of songs from ‘Made In The Dark‘ featuring new contributions from Robert Wyatt, which we are very excited about.

Meeting and working with him was genuinely lovely, look out for that in the next month or so.

take care,
Joe

HOT CHIP ON TOUR
Fri 09/26/08 - Austin City Limits, Austin
Sun 09/28/08 - Metro, Chicago
Mon 09/29/08 - Metro, Chicago
Tue 09/30/08 - Koolhaus, Toronto
Wed 10/01/08 - Metropolis, Montreal
Fri 10/03/08 - Terminal 5, New York
Sat 10/04/08 - Terminal 5, New York, NY - Growing
Sun 10/05/08 - The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA - Growing
Wed 10/08/08 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - Growing
Thu 10/09/08 - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA - Growing

More Hot Chip on Trash
More Ewan Pearson on Trash
More Switch on Trash

Ever since I heard Yo Majesty’s surprise breakout hit “Club Action” for the first time (and the following 80 million times) the thought that always rattled around in my mind, and feel free to call me a snob for this, was, “there’s no way they’ll ever be able to live up to this tune again.” Well, they have. “Booty Clap“, the first single off their album, ‘Futuristically Speaking…Never Be Afraid‘ is everything that “Club Action” was and more.

With the aide of the geniuses from Basement Jaxx, they’ve spit out a tense, high speed, jackfest that’s likely to get the tiniest booties clappin’. The Jaxx managed to capture that Tampa bump that made Yo Majesty rise above the fray in the first place, and they added their knack for creating tension and releasing it without alienating anyone. The vocals are uttered at speeds that’ll make Twista proud and the lyrics are as universally appealing as any dancefloor filler. I’d say this tune on its own has the possibility of getting mainstreamers across the world, getting low and juking at 155bpm.

Catch Yo Majesty at Barfly in Camden on the 17th of November. Purchase advance tixx here!!!

Yo Majesty - Booty Clap

Our friends at I AM SOUND sent us a remix of Little Boots (aka Victoria of Dead Disco) “Meddle” by TM fav’s Designer Drugs. “Meddle” was co-written by Greg Kurstin ( Lily Allen/Kylie Minogue/ and one half of Bird And The Bee) and Joe Goddard of Hot Chip.

Little Boots - Designer Drugs 80s Coke Jam Remix

Meddle is part of a new Little Boots EP “Aredibo” dropping mid-November
Arecibo EP Tracklisting
A1. Stuck On Repeat
A2. Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood Remix)
B1. Meddle
B2. Meddle (Ebola Remix)

More DESIGNER DRUGS on TRASH

I’ve never heard of VV Brown, or Hannah Holland, but apparently VV Brown is a new artist, so it’s good to know I’m not living in a hole. VV describes herself as a “do wop indie from outer space”

On remix duty - Hannah Holland, resident at the infamous Trailer Trash night in Shoreditch as well as running her own night Bastard Batty Bass. Hannah recently branched out into production, and for a first go, this his remix is solid. Watch out for the launch of Hannah’s new label Batty Bass, the first release ‘Shake It Up,’ delivered by Moody Boyz (aka Tony Thorpe).

The second remix, by a long time favorite of mine, producer and DJ - Andrew Weatherall. Also produces as Two Lone Swordsmen (Warp) and Major. He’s done numerous remixes, Beth Orton, New Order, FSOL, The Orb, My Bloody Valentine, and his Fabric mix rules. His 2006 release “The Bullet Catcher’s Apprentice” - Rotters Golf Club - is a must have.

VV Brown - Crying Blood - Andrew Weatherall Remix

VV Brown “Crying Blood” - Hannah Holland Remix

I pulled up Bullet Catcher’s Apprentice, “Feathers“, and I instantly heard influences from Death In Vegas - Hands Around My Throat, and !!! - Is This Thing On - Rub n Tug remix. Listen for yourself . . .

Andrew Weatherall - Feathers - Bullet Catcher’s Apprentice - 2006

!!! - Is This Thing On? - Rub n Tug Remix - 2004

Death In Vegas - Hands Around My Throat - Live - 2003

My favorite band, The Rapture, also DJ. They are soon releasing a mix on K7, and oops, it leaked. This is the un-mastered version. They have two of my favorite tracks back to back - Armand Van Helden “Flowerz” & Cajmere feat. Dajae - “Say U Will.” Paul Johnson’s “Get, Get, Down”, I think this was the tracks where he showed the world, not only could he produce, but also sing. Also included in the mix the unreleased track from the forthcoming - Dances With White Girls EP “Everybody’s Got to Make a Living”, which is soon coming out on their own label - “Throne Of Blood“, the EP is currently “in promo”, expect it to be making the blog rounds soon!

Gabe, cute fan, & Vito - photo credit: Amy Wimmer

Download The Rapture !K7 Tapes

THE RAPTURE !K7 TAPES
01. Earthquake Shake - The Undisputed Truth
02. Daytona 500 - Ghostface Killah
03. The Word - Junkyard Band
04. Holy Ghost - The Bar-Kays
05. Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll - Vaughan Mason & Crew
06. Tee’s Happy - Northend
07. I’m An Indian Too - Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rumble
08. Fantasy Lines - Arcade Lover
09. Disco Circus - Martin Circus
10. Club Soda - Thomas Bangalter
11. The Passion (Phonique Mix Down) - Kiloo
12. Flowerz - Armand van Helden
13. Say U Will - Cajmere feat Dajae
14. Where’s Jason K - Syclops
15. Township Funk - DJ Mujava
16. Cpstyre - Donk Boys
17. Everybody’s Got To Make A Living - Dances With White Girls
18. Why Not?! - Alter Ego
19. Get Get Down (Extended Mix) - Paul Johnson
20. Austin’s Groove - Kid Crème
21. Going Back To My Roots - Richie Havens
22. Afro Arps And Minimoogs (S2) - Galaxy 2 Galaxy

Also download and listen: The Rapture Retro Essential Mix - BBC Radio One

(and yeah, I just realized, this should probably be in our “mixes” section, another “oops”)