We’re reaching a point in the history of blog house where blog house is actually old enough to have a history. There was a time when new acts popped up 20x’s a day and sorting through the piles of electro crap to find that one gem and post it, only to see the maker of said gem fade back into obscurity. The ones that managed to hang on and keep making good music are now really showing their true colors. One of the prime examples of such success is our oft posted about Designer Drugs.

They used to be just another guitar/distorted electro duo among the many, but over the last couple of months we’ve seen their own unique sound grow and form. The running theme seems to be walking basslines, a favorite technique of mine, added to blisteringly hard, undead electro. The final product has that edge that the electro heads still crave while having the the funkiness that seems to regaining popularity on the dancefloor (especially with the infiltration of garage/bassline influences creeping into the most popular bangers). Designer Drugs has done their best work yet with “Zombies!” due on iheartcomix any minute now, but in an effort to destroy their profit margin, here it is for free. So, when you see Frankie Chan on the streets of LA, be sure to flip him an extra penny or two for this one.

Designer Drugs - ZOMBIES!

We got our hands on an infectious dance floor party starting tune – “Girlsbug“, the first track from the EP – “New Crack Swing“, produced by Dances With White Girls, being released on the new and improved Throne of Blood Records.

We’re happy to see NYC based, TOB alive and kicking after going through distributor drama along with well over 300 indie label worldwide, late last year. Unfortunately, we lost a few good one’s along the way. However, as they say, the strong survive, perseverance pays off, and good music reigns supreme, Throne of Blood is proof of just that.

The new New York based label is owned and operated by The Rapture. Originally created as a vehicle to release 12″s singles from the bands 2007 album – “Pieces of the People We Love.” The New Crack Swing EP is the first of many non-Rapture releases to come.

Dances With White Girls - GirlsBug

ALSO THIS HALLOWEEN, NOT TO BE MISSED!

10.31 GHOSTLY + THRONE OF BLOOD
SECOND ANNUAL HALLOWEEN BASH
With Live Performance & DJ Sets By:
Audion (Live)
The Rapture DJ’s
Daniel Wang
James F*cking Friedman
And More!
@ Studio B, presented by Ghostly + Justine D.
BUY LIMITED ADVANCE TICKETS

Mr. Oizo - Lambs Anger on Ed Banger Records - out Nov. 17th - Digital and vinyl, November 2 - CD.

Stay tuned!

The Presets - This Boy’s In Love

One of my favorite electronic duo’s, The Presets, continue to deservedly SLAY and solidify their standing as a musical force to be reckoned with. Yesterday, they cleaned up at the Australian Aria Awards. Recently out with Cut Copy, The Presets will be touring North America again this March. If you’ve not had the pleasure of seeing them perform live yet, (and you live in NA), catching the show is a must. They are not to be missed, as they deliver an infectious performance that has the entire crowd on their feet and dancing. You’ll have a hard time denying The Presets, and you’re destined to become an instant fan, if not one already!

Aria official release:
Electronic duo THE PRESETS has also had a cracking year with the release of their widely acclaimed second album Apocalypso. They fought off stiff competition in the prestigious categories of ALBUM OF THE YEAR and BEST GROUP to take out both for the hugely popular Apocalypso. The album has also seen THE PRESETS receive the pointy trophy in the category of BEST DANCE RELEASE taking their tally to three ARIA Awards, plus 2 ARIA Artisan Awards, including PRODUCER OF THE YEAR for Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. The self-produced Apocalypso, which spawned the gritty hit single “My People”, has sealed THE PRESETS as Australia’s premiere electronic act.

The Presets - My People

The Presets in a cheeky Uncensored Interview discussing American plumbing.

Summer is officially gone, I can kiss the days of tank tops goodbye. Chilling long winter days are ahead. I absolutely hate the cold season, but I can’t stop thinking about Canada and how much I miss lovely Montreal where it is even colder! Although chilly up North, our Canadian friends keep making some hot beats that generate some serious heat!!!

‘B4U’ is the first single off the tentatively titled “He closed his eyes . . . so he could dance with you” album by vitaminsforyou. And dance you shall. The remixes that come along with ‘B4U’, by Stop Die Resuscitate (who say ‘B4U’ has a hidden wink to Toronto), Jokers of the Scene, TMDP, NROTB, Bit Funk, Paul Keeley and the lone non-Canadian, Luis Flores, have more than enough energy to ignite any party. Each remix is a new experience, injected with elements characteristic by each artist, all of which will be magnetic to your body and lead you directly to the dance floor! Listen to each one and play them loud!

The new vitaminsforyou will be arriving soonish on Sfeericle Records, but in the meantime, have a listen to SDR’s ‘Stop Die Ride the Rocket Remix’ and NROTB’s remix below! Get your fill of ‘B4U’, and all the remixes, available for download on thebluehouse.org.

And to those in the lovely city of New York City, Stop Die Resuscitate are playing their first ever show tonight, October 17th in Bushwick-Brooklyn at Vanishing Point Studios, 240 Meserole Ave. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT!!!!!!

vitaminsforyou - B4U (Stop Die Ride the Rocket Remix)

vitaminsforyou - B4U (NROTB Remix)

Milwaukee’s greatest thing since beer, cheese, and sausage is production duo, The Glamour. Comprised of strawberry stud Asher Roth and handsome hearthrob Richard Gray. The Glamour takes a bit of french touch, LA Electro, and midwestern party rap and mix them together for some good clean fun. Always pleasing their audiences with genre bending dj sets full of energy and presence. They are also some of the nicest and most hospitable dudes around. They got the attention of Urb magazine, who named them one of the next 100 and also IHEARTCOMIX put one of their songs on the nationally distributed Scion mixtape.

It was only matter of time for a group of their caliber, with their looks, talent and positive attitude that they would get scooped up by a record label and release there tunes “officially”. And what a label to be on, turns out the boys were signed to Calamity Jane.

Calamity Jane Recordings, is Strictly Rhythm’s newest imprint. Run by Scott Richmond and Dani Deahl, the label works in an interesting way where they find new artists and pair them with world-renowned remixers, and represent them with some of the most respected names in house music.

And on “Fly by Night” the label achieves exactly what they envision. The Glamour has 2 original tracks followed by remixes from The House Moguls, Tommie Sunshine, and Hatiras. The record is definitely a must have for both young and old.

Check out the sample that the record label provided and purchase this record HERE.

The Glamour - kidz night (The House Moguls Remix)

Let’s get MADDDDD! The Mad Decent Fall Tour has finally arrived, kicking off tomorrow October 16 at Webster Hall in New York City!! DIPLO, Boy 8-Bit, Abe Vigoda, Telepathe, and special guests will be on hand playing a smashing array of tunes fit for all!

There is a lot about Mad Decent that we love and because we want to share that with everyone, Trash Menagerie is giving away 2 FREE GUEST LIST SPOTS (each spot gets a +1 for your best mate!) for the CHICAGO show on Thursday, October 23 at The Abbey!!!!

For a chance to win, all you have to do is answer the following questions, which has to do with one of the reasons why we’re so keen on the Mad Decent movement! The first two people to send in the correct answer to: partypeople@trashmenagerie.com, will win! In the subject line, write MAD DECENT TOUR - CHICAGO. We will notify the winners via email.

Our questions to you – What is Diplo’s non-profit side project called and what was the first single from this project?

** Congrats to the 2 winners that have given us the answers to our questions. The answers are HEAPS DECENT, an artist development program for young indigenous and underprivileged musicians, started by Diplo, Andrew Levins and Nina Agzarian, to help indigenous communities. And the first single to come from Heaps Decent is “SMASH A KANGAROO“! Learn more about Heaps Decent on Throw Shapes and an earlier article on Pitchfork!

Here is a taste of what’s to come on tour from the striking Brooklyn pair known as Telepathe, who have just released their latest EP ‘Chrome’s On It‘, the 14th of October on IAMSOUND. The 7 track 12″ features remixes by Mad Decent, The Mae Shi, Frankmusik, Free Blood and Bobby Evans!

Telepathe - Chrome’s On It (Mad Decent Remix)

MAD DECENT TOUR DATES
10-16 New York, NY - Webster Hall
10-17 Cambridge, MA - Middle East (Downstairs)
10-18 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret Musée Juste Pour Rire
10-20 Ottawa, Ontario - Babylon
10-21 Toronto, Ontario - Circa Nightclub
10-22 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-23 Chicago, IL - The Abbey
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-25 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre
10-27 Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
10-28 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
10-31 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
11-01 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
11-03 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-04 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
11-05 Phoenix, AZ - The Brickhouse
11-07 Austin, TX - Emo’s
11-08 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
11-10 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
11-11 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
11-12 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
11-13 Baltimore, MD - Sonar
11-14 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom

Brooklyn-based disco stalwarts Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani - otherwise known as Metro Area - are the latest in the line of artists to step up to the plate with London’s Fabric mix series.

Fabric 43, which is due for release in November, showcases the duo’s love of obscure disco, soul, house, and electronic music, spanning from the late 70s to the mid 80s, and reflects the substantial body of music they’ve produced to date. (See the end of the post for the tracklisting - they’re all quality choices.)

Morgan and Darshan’s first joint entry into the music scene was in 1999 with their self-entitled 12″ (featuring “Atmospherique”), and the duo moved swiftly on to the release of debut album Metro Area (Environ Records) in 2002. Although Morgan and Darshan have produced a number of singles since, they have not embarked on a major MA project like this until now.

I had a chance to talk to Darshan earlier this afternoon - unfortunately I talked a load of rubbish but he quite kindly discussed the Fabric mix, their next album, the global economic meltdown, New York nightlife, remixes, re-edits, and um, how to mix original disco records without making a complete mess of it - which neatly came back full circle to the Fabric mix again.

AN INTERVIEW WITH DARSHAN JESRANI, ONE HALF OF METRO AREA (15th October 08)

A: Can you tell me about the mix that you put together for Fabric? Obviously I listened to it and it was really cool. How did they approach you? What was it like - did you scream when you got off the phone? (laughs) I’m just joking! If I get this recording back, I’m just going to go ‘oh why did I say that?’

D: (laughs) We wanted to do a mix CD and Fabric had offered us a chance to do one a while back and we didn’t take it. We were kind of sitting on our hands a little bit - we didn’t know if we wanted to do one and we’d never done one before so we decided to do one with Fabric because they’re great. And because they’d take care of all of the licensing, which was save us a hell of a lot of time. We knew they’d treat the mix right and give it proper press.

D: We just wanted to represent all of the different angles of what we were into musically, which is something we try to do with our productions. They’ll be a little bit of soulful organic disco and then there’ll be some new wave angular synthesizer side to it. And then also there’ll be some contemporary weird tracky stuff going on. It’s what we do, from all different angles. It’s all about contrast. For every soulful element, we try to have something off to counter that. We try not to make anything totally homogeneous.

A: Yeah, I can really feel it. It just forces your brain into something else. I don’t know if people want that continuous three-hour club mix….(laughs), but if you want to listen to music, well….

D: That was another consideration - people taking it into their homes. There’s also a party mix tape feel to it. You’re right - a lot of mix CDs are continuous, which is just like one sound. Which is cool, but we didn’t want to do that.

A: There was loads of stuff I liked. There was this one section where you put a few tracks that had really great bass riffs – “I Can Feel It” and cloud something…. “Cloud Nine” ?

A: Yeah, and it was interesting, right at the end, the tempo sped up - it was like edging up to the diving board - it really builds you up to something else….

D: You mean it ramps up?

A: Yeah.

D: It speeds up because we wanted to include that Devo song “Freedom of Choice” and the tempo is pretty high. We didn’t want to stretch it - we wanted to play it as close to the original tempo so we had to work up to it and gradually increase the tempo. But that would be really cool if we did a sequel but start at the tempo that we left off and then gradually work back down.

A: (laughing) Yeah, fuck with people’s heads.

Album covers from www.environrecords.com

A: I just wanted to ask, because I know it’s a question that’s on a lot of people’s mind - when is your next album going to come out?

D: We’re looking at the second half of next year (2009). We’re going to be finishing new material at the beginning of the new year. So we’re hoping to have it all done by the end of the year.

A: Yeah, it can take a while to gestate.

D: There’ve been a lot of factors since our first album. I relocated to Brooklyn and built a studio from scratch. Morgan had to move also. So it’s logistics and also there’s also the art stuff - gestation, letting all the material (more…)

Dorothy’s Gallery located in Paris’ Bastille neighborhood has put together a collection of Obama inspired art with 30 French and American artists, viewable from the 3rd of October through the 17th of November.

Take a look at the Global Electoral College, What if the whole world could vote, featured on the The Economist, and the support Obama has around the globe. Viewing the world map really shows just how much the rest of the world is in favor for Obama. If this election were to happen in Europe, he most definitely would win by a landslide!!!! Hopefully for the U.S. we’ll do the right thing.

Dorothy’s Gallery
27, rue Keller, 75011, Paris
tel: 01.43.57.08.51
Open Tues-Sat, 1-8pm, Sun 4-8pm.

Update: Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP’s all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet.

Dylan Pattyn *, who is currently writing an article for Time Magazine on the issue, has official confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and is interviewing a marketing representative from TELUS who confirms the story and states that TELUS has already started blocking all websites that aren’t in the subscription package for mobile Internet access. They could not confirm whether it would happen in 2012 because both stated it may actually happen sooner (as early as 2010). Interviews with these sources, more confirmation from other sources and more in-depth information on the issue is set to be published in Time Magazine soon.

What can we do?
The reason why we’re releasing this information is because we believe we can stop it. More awareness means more mainstream media shedding light on it, more political interest and more pressure on the ISP’s to keep the Internet an open free space. We started this social network as a platform for Internet activism where we can join forces, share ideas and organize any form of protest that may have an impact. If we want to make a difference in this, we have to join together and stand united as one powerful voice against it.

Join the movement.

“…I guess music is more about making decisions than having skills. We are not great musicians. We are not great producers. We are not great songwriters. We are just nothing, but we have clear ideas of what we want to do, and even more what we don’t want to do.” – JUSTICE

Extraordinary things always happen when unexpected. French duo Justice spent 18 months touring following the release of their debut LP “CROSS“, and for the last 3 weeks of the tour, a film crew traveled with them 24-7, capturing those moments no one will believe or get the essence of, if you told them about it, unless they were there.

As Justice were about to embark on their second tour of the US, they enlisted multi-award winning directors and intimate friends, Romain Gavras (”Stress” director) and So Me (”D.A.N.C.E.”, “DVNO”) and taped every second of the 3 week tour. The documentary is about life on the road, the real deal, and about the extraordinary and unexpected things that can happen along the way.

“A Cross the Universe” live CD + DVD drops December 9th on Atlantic Records and will include recordings of Justice’s signature headbanging live sets along with show footage and various hijinks captured as the band toured the US in March 2008.

Justice Tour Dates:
10/28/08 - MONTREAL, QC - METROPOLIS
10/29/08 - TORONTO, ON - CIRCA
10/30/08 - NEW YORK, NY - WEBSTER HALL
10/31/08 - LOS ANGELES, CA - HARD FESTIVAL

Confirmed Screenings:
10/30/08 - NEW YORK, NY - IFC CENTER @ 7PM

Additional screenings of the film will be held in each city around the DJ sets late October.

On the horizon, Justice & So Me land in Chicago for New Year’s Eve 09 . . .

Justice - One Minute to Midnight

More info on NYE
www.revolution-nye.com
www.industreate.com

The London Film Festival premiere of Aaron Rose’s Beautiful Losers documentary. Arguably the most important/most inspiring North American art culture/movement in the last 15 years. The after party features art and photography from Cheryl Dunn and for the UK - Ben Drury, Will Barras, INSA, James Jarvis and French, music line-up - Squeak E Clean, Nosaj Thing, Take, Patchwork Pirates, and Vamanos, exclusive extra screenings from the Shepard Fairey vs. N.A.S.A Project (Squeak E Clean and DJ Zegon) ‘Money’ video, other N.A.S.A collabo videos from their forthcoming album ‘The Spirit Of Apollo‘, extra rare BL film footage, a stills room soundtracked by Money Mark’s BL score, and giveaways from RVCA and ANP Quarterly.

Tickets for Beautiful Losers premiere here.
Tickets for after party here.

As mentioned, one of the artists involved in the London Film Festival screening of Beautiful Losers, is Nosaj Thing - the moniker of L.A.-based producer Jason Chung. Producing since the age of 13, he got his start working off a “hand me down” archaic PC, that struggled even with word documents. With a “donated” copy of Reason, a demo version of Ableton Live and a computer mouse (he couldn’t afford a MIDI controller), Nosaj Thing began making music.

Proving, when your focus is strong, all you really need is a machine that works.

Now 22, Nosaj Thing creates beat driven, experimental electronic music, and has received Artist-to-Watch accolades from XLR8R, remixed Daedelus and Elliot Lipp, won Plastic Little/Turntable Lab’s remix contest featuring MF Doom, and won L.A.’s prestigious Project Blowed beat battle.

Comparisons run along with Ratatat, DJ Shadow, and Boards of Canada. A survey of his record collection will turn up pieces from Aphex Twin, Stereolab, Radiohead, Daft Punk and Eric Satie. Nosaj Thing has been kind enough to share some music with us. Check out the tracks below. They are masterly crafted, intricate layers, of gritty, yet warm beats, beautiful synths, techy tweaks . . . i’ll go as far as saying they are down right sexy. Nosaj Thing is without a doubt, one to keep your eyes and ears on!

Nosaj Thing’s self-released EP, “Views / Octopus,” is now available on iTunes.

Nosaj Thing - 1658

Nosaj Thing - Aquarium

Nosaj Myspace