So Liverpool Music Week is back, and this time it’s bigger than ever. With 66 events, 16 venues and over 250 live bands showcased between 30th October & 6th November 2008!
Sponsored by Esprit, Liverpool Music Week is a collaboration between the week’s founder Mike Deane and Cream CEO James Barton. Showcasing a number of merging acts such as Black Kids and Kissy SellOut alongside established names like The Fall, the week will also be running a series of panels and seminars featuring some of the UK’s music industry movers & shakers who will come together to discuss issues and opportunities within the sector and to offer advice and support to a range of related music businesses, artists and individuals with a desire to enter the music industry.
Please find below a handy list of some of the gigs you should get your ass too:
Thursday 30th October – Opening Night
The Fall – Nation, Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool, L1 4JJ.
Thursday 30th October – Opening Night Martha Wainwright + Angus & Julius Stone – Liverpool Philarmonic Hall
Thursday 30th October *** SOLD OUT *** Opening Night
Vampire Weekend – Liverpool Carling Academy
Thursday 30th October Wolfgang Flur (ex Kraftwerk - wow) - The Tate Gallery
Friday 31st October
Goldfrapp – Liverpool University, Mountford Hall
Friday 31st October
MTV LMW & Evol present Bestival Reunion Tour @ Nation, Wolstenholme Square
Live acts: Mystery Jets, Kissy Sell Out, Cuban Brothers / DJ’s: Rob Da Bank, Sombrero Soundsystem, Plus special live guests: The Presets
Saturday 1st November
Black Kids + Ladyhawke + Magistrates – Nation, Wolstenholme Square
Sunday 2nd November
Dizzee Rascal + Newham Generals + Smurfie Syco + Chromeo Liverpool University, Mountford Hall d
Tickets for all events are available here. Go Go Gooooooooooooo!
Visit here for more detailed on Liverpool Music Week.
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.
This is what Trash Menagerie was throwing down during the month of September. Features, interviews, parties, and plenty’a mix and MP3 download. We’re snuggling in for the busy month of October. Have you started thinking about your Halloween costume yet? We’re looking for ideas, so please hit us up and let us know if you’ve got any. Last year we gave you a heads up on how to MAKE YOUR OWN DAFT PUNK COSTUME. Hipster Runoff offered up a bit of inspiration, “WTF SHOULD I B 4 ALL HALLOW’S EVE”, But is it “ok” to be a Justice this year, if you were a Daft last year?
A truly scary option, the United States Vice Presidential Republican
Candidate and current Governor of Alaska - Sarah Palin.
Hmm, I guess she didn’t get understand the memo regarding last year’s Halloween Party. It was a Nordic theme. Looks like she still won anyway, even though she didn’t really come close to qualifying.
Sarah Palin 7 Months Preggers “I can hide my belly in a sexy, yet sophisticated, little black business suit.”
Goodness, her belly is HUGE, she looks like she’s going to pop any day now, right?
This is what Demi Moore looked like when she was seven months preggers . . .
Photo: Vanity Fair
Sarah Palin’s Witch Doctor . . .
Other potential options - “Sarah Palin Mayor of Meth”, “Sarah Palin Miss Alaska”, “Sarah Palin Soccer Mom”. Wow, and to think, the election isn’t even over yet, we’ve still got a few weeks to go . . . goodness, i’m sure we’ll have so many more choices to choose from. Maybe i’ll pull off one of those “couple costumes,” and we can go together as “Foreign Palin Policy“. One of us will be Russia, and the other Alaska, and we’ll stand on opposite sides of the room and say “I can see ya over there, behave yourself!”
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!!
New Zealand is home to the flightless and ever so adorable kiwi, their national symbol, as well as Charlie ASH, the four-piece band with super charged, sexy vocals and music that encompasses dance, punk, rock, and pure fun.
The New Zealand music scene is thriving and Charlie ASH is exploding out from it. Formed in 2005, Charlie ASH consists of Rosie Riggir (vox), Mailee Mathews (bass and guitar), Dave Khan (guitar), and Ben Michelsen (drums). Currently in the studio, the band are set to release four EP’s this October. Yes you heard correctly, four EP’s! The first entitled ‘Lover‘, available everywhere in the world via iTunes. If you can’t catch them live, you’ll be pleased to know that they’ll also have videos and remixes for every tune!
Charlie ASH has supported New Young Pony Club, ChicksOnSpeed, Ladyhawke, OKGO, The Slits and Juliette Lewis & the Licks. On the gig front besides touring New Zealand, they’re headed to Australia two times before the year is up and planning their first European Tour for June 2009. They’ve been asked to play at the New Zealand Music Awards after party at the mighty Vector Arena this October in Auckland and Mailee says, “We’re thrilled!”
So what NZ acts should we be on watch for? Charlie ASH have given a list of a few familiar and unfamiliar acts, one band in particular, Bang! Bang! Eche! that I will be featuring shortly after this! Charlie ASH is keen on, The Ruby Suns, The Brunettes, Lawrence Arabia, Liam Finn, Ladyhawke, Cut Off Your Hands, So So Modern, Die Die Die, Bang! Bang! Eche!, Fat Freddys Drop, The Black Seeds, Greg Churchill, Magik Johnson, etc.
If you’re in the mood for listening to what New Zealander’s are listening to these days, then peep Mailee’s pre-recorded radio show ‘UPLOAD’, which goes out on George FM www.georgefm.co.nz. Mailee also plays host on an NZ Music TV Show on ALT TV called ALTearoa - every Thursday night 9 to 10pm (NZ Time). You can watch online www.alttv.co.nz.
You can be sure that we’ll be posting more on Charlie Ash as their new releases arrive. In the meantime, here’s your chance to break out those 3D glasses you’ve got buried next to the whistles and glowsticks, for a viewing of Charlie Ash’s “Ah-hA“, directed by Ed Davis. Purchase their Cd, ‘Can.Can‘ and listen to the hot tunes they’ve sent over!
Chicago’s Discosteed has done a video edit for the Danger remix of Midnight Juggernauts - “Into the Galaxy,” shot on September 11, 2008 in Chicago for the Danger/Spitzer show. Discosteed had this to say of his edit, “This song has a great message and mixed with Danger’s hard french electro edge, this song bangs! Needless to say I had to remix this video and share it with the world….. So enjoy.” Check out our blog peeps, Trashbagkids, where Derek aka Discosteed will be penning his love for music and more! More Danger here.
New TM face - “Aria” (yes, that’s really her name.)
I had a great week. I have been head over heels in love with The Presets music from the minute it reached my ears. This week, the gang was in NYC, I met up with K.I.M. and co. on Tuesday night, and the excitement was infectious when he told me that just an hour before they found out they won an 4 Aria Awards, YES, 4!!! Aria’s are the Aussie equivalent to the Grammy’s, and they were up against some stiff competition.*
* CORRECTION: The Aria’s confused me, and its difficult to retain proper information when you’re drinking champagne. Alright, so the gang took home 3 awards so far, and were nominated for 5 more, of which 4 still have yet to be announced.
Announced:
Producers Of The Year - Apocalypso - WINNER
Video Of The Year - My People (Kris Moyes) - WINNER
Best Cover Art - Apocalypso (Jordan Zawada) - WINNER
Engineer Of The Year - Apocalypso (Scott Horscraft) - NOMINATED
Aria’s yet to be announced:
Album of the Year - NOMINATED, winner TBA
Best Dance Album - NOMINATED, winner TBA
Best Group - NOMINATED, winner TBA
Single of the Year - NOMINATED, winner TBA
Yet another track that escaped us the past few weeks, this one from Brooklyn’s newest residents, Designer Drugs, who’ve remixed “Innerspace” by the Australian four-piece Mission Control. Signed to etcetc, Mission Control, who don acid wash, plaid and tie dye (hot trend in Australian fashion?), sit amongst some of our favorites – Chicken Lips, Datarock, Digitalism, Mylo, PNAU, and The Knife.
Designer Drugs take “Innerspace” and do plenty of good things to it, namely picking up the speed, making it Dj friendly, giving it a bigger sound. And, we like that. Michael and Theodore of Designer Drugs are sitting in the top 5 at numero quatro for the Mariah Carey remix competition for “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time“. Love you long time? Maybe not. I’ve never cared for the screeching pop queen; rather irritating to my ears. But I support Designer Drugs and would love to see them snatch up the contest win! Cast your vote for them right here!
Look out for the September 13th release of Mission Control’s EP ‘Innerspace‘ and enjoy yet another great remix by Designer Drugs!
Just in case you are not aware of the delectable Ladytron I have decided to do this rather lovely post about them!
This sharp electro tarnished foursome originally hail from Liverpool UK and are now in the midst of touring their new album Velocifero around Europe, which will be followed by a whistle stop tour around Australia and then back to Europe for seconds! Phew they are busy…..
Anyway if you haven’t checked them out before, please listen to the haunting tune (pardon the pun) that is ‘Ghosts’ its spookily addictive.
Oh and to give you an extra dollop of Ladytron goodness we also have delish ‘Ghosts’ remixes by Toxic Avenger and a chilled-out dreamy remix from Modwheelmood.
Hey guys! New contributor Jesse Mann here, writing all the way from NYC. I’ll be bringing you the bestest of the bestest in the realms of disco old and new, dirty house, and beautiful techno. For my first post I want to tell you all about an upstart duo making waves with their eclectic and organic sound.
The Canyons come from the magical land of Oz (that’s Australia to you and me.) Over down under, the hip and bright-eyed young kids are the ones that rule the musical roost. Canyons are no different in their youthful stature, but musically they are far more mature. Their debut EP on the wonderful Hole in the Sky record label called the “Lovemore EP” is a four-tracker of raw, soulful mid-tempo goodness. Elements of dubbed out disco, classic electro and psychedelic rock mix with pleasant grooves for a wonderful summery sound. I have been spinning “Apples and Pears,” the EP’s lead tune religiously for months now (I’m a DJ here in the apple) and it will instantly get feet moving and mouths smiling. These guys are not trying to fit into any hot trends of the moment, and the diversity on this EP is proof. They do whatever they please, and listeners are all the more rewarded for it.
Thank goodness someone else has taken notice! The boys have now been commissioned to remix a current blog darling from Modular Records. Their latest remix of Ladyhawke’s “Dust Till Dawn” has hit the blogsphere ahead of the self-titled debut album, Ladyhawke (released 22 September) and once again The Canyons show their versatility in spades. Rather than try to describe it, why don’t you just take a listen below? And for a different flavor see what Glasgow’s Linus Loves has done with the Ladyhawke original.
It is quite an honor for an artist to have their music played on BBC’s Radio 1. An achievement that would elate even the biggest fish in the vast music pond. So when a remix of The Death Set’s “Impossible” by Boston’s Etan was aired on U.K.’s Mary Anne Hobbs show in March and in June on Australia’s RTR ‘Out To Lunch Show‘ with Gemma Pike, feelings must have been high! Etan’s remix of “Morning Tide” by The Little Ones crashed the airwaves again on Colin Murray’s Radio 1 show in June. Indeed a start to a fine summer.
Prior to the radio hype, two of Etan’s remixes - The Death Set’s “Impossible (Etan’s Positive Outlook)” (on The Death Set’s ‘Around the World’ 7″) and Daedelus’s “Hrs:Mins:Secs (Etan’s Greenwich Mean Report)”, landed on long time favorite U.K. imprint Ninja Tune. But first came the Tronstep Remixes 12″ with bootleg dance treatment for Caribou, Crystal Castles, and Justice on Broader than Broadway Records – listen at Tronstep Remixes. With a full length in the works for Ninja Tune, out in 2009 - 2010, the future is looking day-glo bright for the young Bostonian.
Music has been running through the veins of 21 year old Etan (aka Nate Donmoyer), since he first heard the Amen breakbeat at age 13. Influenced by Grizzly Bear, Blonde Redhead, daft punk, Radiohead, and The Beatles, Etan describes his sound as “taking the colors I like from electronic music and using them in a song form that may not fit the genre from which they were stolen.”
Modest in stating that luck and a nice guy is what has brought him exposure, Etan has the talent and skill to back it all. “It’s all about being prepared for when luck chooses you,” he says “for me it completely began with two friends at a shop called Proletariat in Cambridge, MA who let me leave mixtapes on the checkout counter.” These mixtapes fell into the hands of a prolific Boston promoter/journalist named David Day who liked Etan’s sound and interviewed him. “He was the first guy to book me in clubs and invited me into the basstown crew. Everything has really been luck.”
Good fortune is on Etan’s side. Surrounded by a rising crew of talent, Basstown breed, consisting of Dj Die Young, Volvox, Red Foxx, Plus Move, Baltimoroder and several other talented folks, Etan continues to cultivate his craft and go beyond. He plays drums in a band called Passion Pit and has written music for “Lost Friend”, a short animation (see video below) by Susan Chien, which can be seen at the 2008 Boston Underground Film Festival.
With upcoming remixes for Radioclit, Micachu, Ghislain Poirier and his hands in a bit of everything, Etan is proving to be inspiring and unstoppable. If it all keeps up, I have a sneaking suspicion we’re all going to be pining for Etan in the coming year! Now check out the solid remixes kicking off with one of my favorite Death Set remixes!!
One of the catchiest songs you’ll hear this summer is “Cross the Dancefloor“, a really fresh track with a bit of funk and elements of filter house. It’s so infectious and feel good, that the dance floor is immediately filled whenever the song is played. The producer behind the track is Treasure Fingers, a former Atlantan that recently moved to Brooklyn.
While some may know Treasure Fingers through hard step/drum & bass act, Evol Intent, most people are completely unaware of his history. And even though there is a huge trend of drum & bass producers turned electro blog house producers, Treasure Fingers is completely different. Offering music that is more fresh and feel good and roller rink ready then pump your fist, stage dive, and wear neon.
“Cross the Dancefloor” and other productions were so ear-catching that Fools Gold scooped up Treasure Fingers for a 12″. Updating and remastering the track to be even better than before and getting superstar producers Laidback Luke, Lifelike, and Curses! to lend remixes to the release. Then they packaged it up and made it beautiful and ready to purchase through beatport, turntable lab, and itunes.
To celebrate the release, I met up with Treasure Fingers and we did an interview and he also provided us with one of the remixes of the 12″ single.
sirhan: so, you are in evol intent, why did you decide to start treasure fingers?
treasure fingers: i had always done some house/funk style production stuff on the side and just never pushed it. i played some of it for jordan (of Snowden) one day and he really pushed me to get it out there. The first treasure fingers remix I did was for Snowden’s “Anti Anti”.
sirhan: how do you feel about the way its going now?
treasure fingers: I love it, it just took off and everything started falling into place.
sirhan: you still tour with evol intent?
treasure fingers: yeah, it’s a little sparse with bookings right now because we are all working on other projects at the moment but we’ll have a couple new releases out later this year though and we just released a full length album in march.
sirhan: so you just released, “cross the dance floor” tell me a little bit about it and how did you get such awesome remixes?
treasure fingers: That track actually started out as just a funky instrumental house type tune, then one night I decided to put some vocals on it, then got the idea to have my girlfriend sing a part to play off mine. I meant to write out full verses and put into a pop song structure, but after I showed the rough draft version to Preston/Kiss Atlanta, he wanted to blog it as is, so I mixed it down and let it go as more of a club track. Fool’s Gold sorted out all of the remixes. Once I signed it to them, they hit me up one day and was like.. ‘hey what do you think about these guys to do remixes?’
I’m a fan of all those guys so I was pretty excited. Chromeo also did an amazing remix. It’s going to be featured on a Fool’s Gold CD.
sirhan: so whats the next thing you’re doing?
treasure fingers: I’ve done a bunch of remixes over the past couple months that should all be getting released soon. I’ve got 2 more that I’m wrapping up over the next week, then I’ve got an australian tour. When I get back from that, I plan on working on some original material again.
sirhan: so this is a typical question but who are some of your influences and who should kids go diggin for?
treasure fingers: lots of the 80s funk/disco era stuff. midnight star, shalamar, zapp & roger, dazz, carl carlton. I was really influenced by the 90s french house stuff as well.
sirhan: any particular records by those producers?
treasure fingers: carl carlton - swing that sexy thing / dance with you, most people just know ’she’s a bad mama jama’ by him, but he’s got so much dope stuff!
sirhan: what about new stuff?
treasure fingers: love a lot of the new lifelike stuff, symbolone, that really synthy euro sound, and miami horror also.
sirhan: so you’ve been to tons of places whats you best place so far?
treasure fingers: i think the best / craziest parties ive played have been in ATL or LA. I love traveling though, every city has it’s own charm. I think sometimes, the small towns that you don’t expect much from turn out to be amazing.
sirhan: so, any good stories from your travels?
treasure fingers: i’ve never had anything super crazy. there’s always something going wrong though. last time I was in LA, my door lock had broke after I had left for the gig and no one could fix it and I had an early flight the next morning. they ended up giving me another room, then breaking the door down at the last minute the next morning so I could get my stuff out… I’m not a heavy drinker so I don’t have any crazy club stories.
sirhan: music obiviously takes a lot of time whats your other passions?
treasure fingers: I used to paint/draw a lot. I’d like to get back to that when I get the time. that’s probably the closest thing to a passion, other stuff I do in free time is just for relaxation/fun. xbox360, movies, friends, whatever.
sirhan: so lets close off here any advice to budding producers or closing words?
treasure fingers: It’s kind of contradicting, but find a really good producer and copy them until you can get your engineering and mixdowns really tight, then switch it up and try to do something completely original and different. Most producers lack in one or the other, so I think the key is having something that sounds really fresh and original, that also sounds great sonically.
Closing words: go buy “Cross the Dancefloor” & bug your local promoter until they book me.
