Alan Hostage is a man that truly captures that DIY spirit! Along with all of the music he produces, he also has a knack at whipping up homemade graphics that accompany said music. Some of this art happens to be of food, but usually the visual is a play along to the track title.

If you’ve ever browsed through the graphics on Hostage’s page, perhaps you’ve seen some of these images – A man yacking for “Sick”, toilet paper for “Rip Shit Up”, a pile of knives for “Stab Up”, a large stadium filled with people for “Stadium”, a snake charmer for “Snake Charmer” and the one that just had me snarking was his remix for “Make it Clap” with an image of a dog wearing a jheri curl wig. Okay, maybe I’m just a bit mad or have an odd sense of humor, but it’s these little things in life that people do that make me grin. Head over to Alan’s page and humor yourself too.

So in other exciting news, a little bit o’ sunshine shining down on Hostage (which can be heard on his latest mix that I hope to be posting soon) as well as his latest tune “The Next Level” created with the Roccodisco Crew. Yayyyyy Hostage!!!!!

Hostage & the Roccodisco Crew - The Next Level

Title: Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Tocadisco/Nic Sarno/Hostage Remixes) (Alphabet City)
Artist: Tommie Sunshine
Label: Alphabet City

“On one of his many trips to Germany playing alongside Marc Romboy, Tommie Sunshine dropped by the studio of 45 Rocks and heard this tune they had been working on. 20 minutes later he had the lyrics and 30 minutes more they were put to tape sending him and Marc out the door in less than an hours. The track first saw the light of day in its original form on Tommie’s Ultra Rock Remixed in America and has now been transformed into a powerhouse package for every possible taste. On vinyl one, besides the original Tocadisco was chosen to send this track into outer space after he and Sunshine collaborated on ‘Chaos In The Streets’ on his last album. He has delivered both a remix and a dub that is destined to receive both massive worldwide club play and constant island rotation throughout the season. On vinyl two, Sunshine has been given the A&R reigns and has groomed this package for the fringe and beyond. First up is Alan Hostage from Edinburgh, Scotland who has a stranglehold on the blogosphere and delivers his Ravemix to delightful results. This is serious pumping madness and not for the faint at heart. Next up is Milano, Italy’s Nic Sarno (ESP/Tirk Records)! This is Fidget madness done proper and no less than fellow Milano man, Bot from world renowned Crookers to master his remake to assure full-on dance-floor destruction. This is peak-hour done right and takes your set in a whole other direction in all the best ways. Crookers featured Nic’s mix both on their 25000 strong downloaded may 2008 mix tape and their upcoming Essential Mix for Pete Tong’s show on Radio One. The flip is Tommie as his own Brooklyn Fire moniker delivering the secret weapon of the package in the form of a spaced-out exercise in acid-house restraint. This Odyssey pt. 1&2 is both a vocal and dub stretched over 9 minutes of madness.

Tracklist:
1. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Original) (Alphabet City)
2. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Tocadiscos Beach Club Mix) (Alphabet City)
3. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Tocadiscos Beach Club Dub) (Alphabet City)
4. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Nic Sarno Remix) (Alphabet City)
5. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Hostage Remix) (Alphabet City)
6. Tommie Sunshine - Limit Of Your Mind (Brooklyn Fire Odyssey) (Alphabet City)

Coming soon to all good record shops and online music shops yeahhhh!!!!”

Soulwax’ film/documentary “Part of the Weekend Never Dies”, was filmed in the summer of 2006 by Saam Farahmand using one video camera, covering about 120 live shows in clubs throughout Europe, Japan, the United States, Australia and Latin America. The documentary, which premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 24 April, 2008, takes a look at the relentless day to day routine of the Dewalee brothers and life on tour. It includes music, interviews and footage of 2manydj’s, Soulwax Nite Versions, James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Erol Alkan, Tiga, Justice, Busy P, So-Me, Peaches, Kitsuné, Klaxons and many more.

If at some point you tire from the back to back Sónar parties, the documentary will be screened at SónarCinema as part of Sónar’s daytime activities. Plan to catch the boys in action, as they’ll be performing on the main Sónar by Night stage, 21 of June.

SónarCinema / Soulwax’ “Part of the Weekend Never Dies” documentary screenings
19 June (Thurs) – 07:00pm
20 June (Fri) – 12:30am
21 June (Sat) – 04:15pm

Our French friends, Minitel Rose have released their ‘premier disque’, ‘The French Machine‘, a few weeks back on 28th May. The colorful EP was designed by The Zonders and contains seven tracks we’ve come to love and some new surprises! Unfortunately, the release isn’t available to the U.S. If you want it, you’re going to have to take a trip over to the other side, or ask one of your jet-setting friends to kindly pick up a copy for you.

Check the boys in action in their video for “Magic Powder“, directed by Syrine Boulanouar & Pierre Edouard Joubert, which can be found on “The French Machine“. If you haven’t had your fill, they’ve featured their latest remix “Concrete Residential” by Papier Tigre, available for download on the Valerie blog or you can have a listen at the Minitel Rose Remixes MySpace!

Photo courtesy of Clayton Hauck everyoneisfamous.com

It’s a beautiful day in the city of Chicago – the sun is shining, there’s a light breeze and absolutely no humidity in the air! Which means it’s perfect weather to be outdoors supporting the Chicago city schools at a rally at Soldier Field, where you will also get to see Flosstradamus and Kid Sister performing!!!! So wherever you are at, stop what you’re doing and get your booty over to Soldier Field – My old neck of the woods, I miss thee.

Ok Ladies and Gentleman it is official - Bigger Than Barry are on their way to conquering the world! After the success of their recent club nights based in little old Birmingham UK it seems they are now taking the Barry massive to Leeds and Nottingham, oh plus they have a range of filthy things planned for this summer.

I feel that now it is a great time to get a lowdown on Bigger Than Barry and find out who the hell is behind this Barry madness and also which deletable tunes are rockin’ their boats currently.

So here is an interview….

KMD: So tell us the Barry story…how did you guys get it together?

BTB: Barry started in Dec 06 at the Ben Johnson by Bob, Mac & Sam. Originally it was just a free party to get everyone in the mood for christmas for all our friends and friends of friends. We wanted to make it a bit of fun and Barry Austin in the news at the time for being the fattest man in Britain, so we thought lets throw a party that’s Bigger Than Barry… we all pissed ourselves so we thought it was a good idea.

Anyway that party was a mad success & the mix of music we played was well received, so we thought we would do another one in February. We started to charge £2 to cover the dj’s we were playing and it turned out a bigger success than the one before. A real nice buzz developed, so we really started to get into it and signed up Scott’e Bleepz to the team (Birmingham’s renowned electro DJ).

Scott fitted into the gang instantly and we started to throw monthly parties, which just got massive! Our best so far was at the Ben Johnston (Pikey Rave Mark 1) - it was the first time we threw a proper themed party and it was mental! Everyone got involved the vibe inside was pumping, we had big problems with capacity though we were packed twice over, at that point we decided to move things to The Rainbow because it was bigger. Our biggest gig to date was our 1st birthday party at the warehouse in Dec with 900+ people, it was crazy, we had live art in the second room from Trav and his crew in the main room, the place was jumping.

Our biggest this year was held at subway (800+) and we put on Dexplicit, Food Soundsystem, Tombcrew.

KMD: What is the ‘Barry’ philosphy?

BTB: Party raves and fun. The whole name is tongue in cheek and with our themes we try to get people to relax and go with the flow. Everyone loves a theme

KMD: Whose in the Barry massive?

BTB: The Barry massive is everyone involved with Barry, big props to Lucy Yeah, Tombcrew, Vinyl Is, Tapedeck, Desh 1, Trav and everyone else who has spread the word. A lot of people have helped us and that kinda of thing is never forgotten. ‘Barry massive’ is basically everyone involved and comes to the night

KMD: What do you think makes your nights so popular?

BTB: We reckon because its all fun and we put on some badboy dj’s and keep the kids dancing. Our crowd is diverse & it’s always a good vibe

KMD: What tunes currently float your boat?
Macca : Lady in red
Scott: Hideaway - Mystery Jets (Switch mix)
Sam: Zomby - spliff dub
Bob: South Rakkas crew poison dart

KMD: Any plans for barry merch?

BTB: Yeah people keep sending us amazing designs, so we are gonna hopefully put out some t shirts, well when Sam can be arsed.

KMD: Your based in Birmingham England - so what would you recommend a girl or guy to do when visiting? Any places to check out or local bands?

BTB: Birmingham is definitely worth a visit: there’s some good shops like Candystore & ATOO for the fellas, and all the chicas seem to be hittin the big yellow vintage shop, Macca got some real tight Addidas shorts there the other day! As far as music, there’s definitely a buzz in Brum right now; The Scarlet Harlots have got a big sound, as have bands like Mirror Mirror, Johnny Foreigner and Mayday. The live scene is perhaps in need of a little love however. There are too many older people running venues who don’t really care, and the venues are a bit boring, well besides The Rainbow

KMD: What does the future hold for ‘Bigger Than Barry’

BTB: Big tings! Now that we’ve been promoting the night for well over a year & have built up our contacts, we feel its time to step things up for our Baz. We intend to put on bigger & bigger acts each time & seek out new & unusual venues. We believe in moving Barry around location wise to keep it as fresh as possible. We’re (more…)

[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!!

‘Liquid latex’, has been making the rounds on several videos as of late (Santogold, “Les Artistes”, Huoratron, “$$ Troopers”). Here again, appearing in “Focker“, directed by Daniel Brereton, which is the latest single for LATE OF THE PIER. Erol Alkan has added his magical touches creating “Focker” into an immense tune.

Erol has co-produced “Focker” and a brand new version of “Space and the Woods”. Both tracks will be released as a double A side on the 19th May on 7 inch, 12 inch, CD, download. The Castle Donington quartet have hit the road once again, touring throughout May and June. Check their MySpace for complete dates and check out the making of the “Focker” video at Dazed Digital. Click here to purchase LOTP, Space and the Woods/Focker.

If you create wonderful sounds, your name happens to be Metronomy and you want a really fantastic video to accompany your latest single, “My Heart Rate Rapid“, who do you ask? How about one of today’s most creative forces, Dandi Wind! Known for their innovative, detailed, theatrical and artistic works, they’ve created a video that is a stimulating visual wonderland!

The bouncy body suit wearing dancers are having the time of their lives moving about in front of hot dogs being made, volcano’s erupting, fire burning, a carousel spinning, a train passing, pancakes and loads more. Gleefully dancing with their giant cassette tape and cut out kid faced masks, they certainly make you feel like your heart is beating at a rapid pace. So much movement happening, this one is packed with so much to suck in!

Just back from their Asia tour, (where Dandi was electrocuted, thankfully she is fine) Dandi Wind are constantly cooking up new works. Here’s an update on their latest 7 inch single – “We are super happy to have a limited quantity of our new Japan only 7 inch single to offer up for sale online. It features 2 exclusive brand new songs that will not be issued elsewhere and comes in a fab glossy picture sleeve. Also we are including a Dandi Wind button and .FLAC mp3 downloads of both songs which are incidentally titled ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Belly Cutting’ with your purchase.” As soon as the link is working, I will post for those interested in purchasing!!!!!

Metronomy’s 2nd LP will be out in the distant future on Because Music. Look out for it!!!!!

I’ve been enjoying listening to ‘Antidotes‘, the debut album from Oxford 5-piece, FOALS, which came out in March (available for purchase off Sub Pop). I’m very keen on “Olympic Airways” and the two bonus tracks, “Hummer” and “Mathletics“. Already featured on a Kitsuné Maison compilation, it’s understandable why the hugely bright young group have been hot on everyones tip!

Foals and last.fm have joined together (sometime in April) for a REMIX CONTEST in which they offer the chance to remix “Electric Bloom“, from their debut album, Antidotes. If you’re up for the challenge, you can grab the parts off last.fm and get to chopping and tweaking!

Here’s how they’re working it – The tracks will be narrowed down to the 10 most popular, then announced. From there, Foals will choose a winning track to be released along with a future single as a 7digital download bundle. There’s still time to get in on it, as the deadline isn’t til 25th May! I have to say though, it doesn’t seem entirely fair, as it’s hard to choose which to listen to. At the moment there are over 100 remixes that have been done.

Interesting Foals tid bits – Foals drummer Jack Bevan, posed for the iconic British fashion house, Burberry, for their spring/summer line. As did another favorite, Patrick Wolf, for the ‘07 autumn line, ‘British Medieval’. This is Burberry’s second ever full-color campaign. Pretty spectacular!

For those that live in the states and are fans of Foals and perhaps Barack Obama, you’ll be pleased to know that Foals have endorsed Obama (even though they won’t be voting). ‘Change’, is the motto from both camps. This is certainly a positive influence and possibly a good way to round up some of the younger generations to get in on the coming election! PLAN TO VOTE KIDS!!!!

Lastly, Foals are nearing the end of their U.S. tour, finishing off in Brooklyn, for a sold out show at Union Hall. They’ll hit Radio 1’s Big Weekend, head to Japan a few days, then they’re back in the states til May’s end, returning to the EU til mid July, then popping over to Chicago for Lollapalooza! After all of that, they’ll do a string of festivals, including Bestival, (the line-up is absolutely insane - sold out!!), then head right into their biggest tour to date in the U.K., culminating in mid-October at Brixton Academy!! Catch them along the way and be sure to check their MySpace for all event dates.