The perfect little dash of flash for your subdued look or that cherry on top when you’re dressed to snap necks. They say he who has the GOLD will rule them all. So become a ruler!
The Future holds many exciting things for Mishka, this Wednesday 11/26 their Holiday 2008 Exotica Collection goes live in their online store. Then, come Friday, Mishka is re-stocking their online shop with whatever remaining stock our warehouse has of Fall 1 & 2 and then you’re gonna get the deal of a lifetime when you can purchase gear for 30-60% retail price for the entire weekend.
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
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: 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…)
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!”
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.
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 . . .
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!
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
May 15, The Death Set were welcomed near the end of the spring road by their Brooklyn family with an afternoon rooftop show for as many kids as could precariously crowd-swim the skies thereon. Ninjasonik, Bikes in the Kitchen, Newmore Switchblades, Rabbitfoot, and friends.
Pitchfork TV was there to capture it all in multi-angle full-frenzy view, part 1 of 2.
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!
Summer is coming to and end, its been a good one, kept me busy, got to do some traveling, made my way across the country and back a few times, ran into old friends, made some new ones, found myself at more day events and festivals than clubs, which was really great. Soon enough its going to be cold here in New York, and ill be taking shelter in a club and paying $8 for cocktails. Since i’ve been slacking in the post department, i’m going to try and make up for lost time with a “summery” of my 2008.
Santogold @ sound check for Radio 1 - Annie Mac show, WMC March 2008
Saw Santogold perform a few times, although unfortunately, I missed her dates with Coldplay. I did however see her just about everywhere else I went, on the side of buses, in the subway, in magazines, TV, on the wall of Terminal 5 when I went to see Brian Jonestown Massacre (Joel performed, it was great, nobody got in a fight, bummer.) Anyway, you get the idea, Santi is everywhere, repping in style for Converse Connectivity. I have to say, the campaign is pretty tight, they did good, no one is trying to shove blatant adverts your way, the micro site is crafty, there’s a lot going on, you can even design your own kicks, and sonically, the artists on board, I genuinely like and listen to. Someone in the marketing department did their homework.
Brian Jonestown Massacre, Terminal 5, New York July 25 08
Crowd gathering for Radiohead - Lollapalooza Chicago, Aug 1 08
Lollapalooza in Chicago was definitely one of the highlight’s of my summer, I traveled from NY with Spank Rock and crew - Amanda Blank, Devlin & Darko, and Natalie. Their schedule was as full as it could for the weekend, press, after parties, and of course, their Saturday performance on the Citi Stage. Everyone rolled in Friday night, and headed over to the festival site for Radiohead.
I ran into the Foals, which was a super unexpected and pleasant surprise. I grabbed a piece of lawn and had a few drinks with Yannis and Jack, caught up, talked about the past year, how things have changed since we had last had seen each other in New York, when they were recording their album. They’ve got the typical touring band schedule, traveling constantly, playing tons of great festivals, waking up and not knowing where they are. Yannis and I tried to recall what it was that we were debating a few months back in regard to minimal techno (we are both fans - Minitek!!! ), never did figure it out. Soon more Foals came to graze, a grass fight ensued, and it was truly an “Electric Bloom” moment when they started shoving chunks of earth down each others shirts, it was my “Warning Call” to make an exit, so I galloped away to wait in the mile long line for a Vodka and Vitamin water.
While I was waiting in line, Radiohead took to the stage, all day everyone I ran into was gushing in anticipation of their performance, I was no different. It had been almost 2 years to the day that I had seen them last, also in Chicago, but in a theater setting, this time, it was outside to a sold out crowd of well over 70k, I love festivals. When Radiohead went on, the masses were well into it as expected, I had a side view, so I wasn’t able to see much of the production, that being the massive LCD’s and light show, or even much of the band for that matter, but hearing was good enough. What I was able to see was the woman at the front of the stage signing Radiohead’s lyrics, dancing, and clearly having the time of her life. (Note to self - learn sign language, what a great gig to have.) During their performance I was filled in on the fact that Thom Yorke is in fact a big fan of Spank Rock, and listed the album, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, as one of his top 10 albums of 2007, my eyes bugged out of my head a bit. Really?
Spank Rock is also a big fan of Radiohead and Thom Yorke. For a slight second I wondered if there was anyway for the two of them to meet, considering they had this mutual artist respect thing going on. But I also realized it was probably next to impossible, i’m sure everyone and their mother was probably trying to have a chat with the band that night, plus, it was a massive show. I put to rest the idea trying to make the introduction, got back to reality. The band did a few encore’s everyone was blissed out, it was a very memorable evening. We took off right as they were doing their last song to avoid getting caught up in the mass exodus. 70k people all leaving at once is a bit much. After parties were popping off all over the city, Foals were DJ’ing, Bloc Party, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, all kinds of madness, but I was exhausted, and Saturday was going to be crazy so I called it a night.
Saturday, well, I ended up not hitting after parties, but went to a local bar and tied one on with some old friends. We made a late night run to Rockstar Dog’s, ordered a couple of “Los Lobos”, and “tots” and yeah, we felt like what we ingested. When we woke up the next day we asked ourselves what the hell were we thinking? Oh! We were not thinking, we were drunk.
No time to be hungover, there was stuff to do, no rest for the wicked. I headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel, to meet up with the Spank Rock crew for Spin & Metromix’s gifting suite. They threw down, excellent grub, fancy juices, energy drinks, spa services, and sweet schwag. This was good, I was starting to feel better. Then it was interview time, Ms. Amanda Blank was losing her voice, and was under Dr.’s orders not make a peep until the Lolla performance later that afternoon. She made a clever name tag and attached it to her shirt letting everyone know, hey, I can’t talk, and worked some sign language of her own. The girl is amazing, she still managed to convey what she wanted to say, and charmed everyone.
Spank Rock & Amanda Blank Interview for Metromix @ Lollapalooza, Aug 2 08
Interviews were over, the crew split up, Spank Rock (Naeem, solo) and I jetted off (actually crawled through major traffic) as he was DJ’ing at the Diesel store. It was his first gig outside of Philly, he’s been dj’ing regularly every Monday night at a party he started called The Jang House, it all goes down at the Barbary. I’ve been told by many this night is hot, and hella fun, so it’s on my “to do” in the very near future list. I’ve never heard Naeem DJ before, he plays an eclectic mix of retro, disco, mash-up’s, heard some Prince, said ‘oh yes, I love this too!”, when he threw on a remix of MGMT’s, “Electric Feel”, we both agreed the video was sexy as hell and wish we could have been in it.
It was nearing Spank Rock’s 5:00pm stage time, we high tailed it outta the Diesel store, jumped in a car, and headed to the Lolla site. The first thing that reached our ears when we got on site, MGMT, of course, go figure. We sighed, got over the fact we were missing their performance, and jumped on a golf cart that delivered us to the Citi Stage. Booka Shade was just wrapping up their set. For me, seeing them provided some solace for the MGMT loss, hey were amazing as always. Spank Rock took to the stage and performed to a charged up crowd, Amanda’s voice was in top form, the crew brought the party, Plastic Little jumped on stage and did a guest spot, everyone was caught up in their energy, the stage and the audience may have well been one.
The Lolla performance was over, but the day was is not, one more interview with Fuse TV, then back over to the Hard Rock for an after party performance with Mark Ronson and Spank Rock. We were starting to feel like we might be hitting the wall, festivals are fun, but they are hot, and have the ability to suck the energy out of you. Besides being tired, everyone was hungry, we had dinner reservations at the China Grill, which thank god, we didn’t have to go far for, as it was adjacent to the hotel. Dinner was excellent, but now we were really tired, time to rest. We made our way out the door mumbling about various things in our food comas, then everyone got really quiet. After we walked outside the door, we looked at each other, and all at once started talking - “hey that guy looked really familiar?”,”do you know that guy?”, “who was that?”, “was that Thom Yorke?”, “That WAS Thom Yorke.” We snapped out of our comas. Damn, It’s Thom Yorke.
All things considered, Thom being a fan of Spank Rock, and vice versa, we should go over and say hello, right? It was kinda too ironic that we were having dinner in the same place at the same time. But everyone agreed, interrupting him, or anyone for that matter, during dinner, who probably already has a hard time in the “peace & quiet” department, we didn’t want to go there. So we continued on to our rooms where we twiddled our thumbs. It was definitely one of those “what would Jesus do?’ moments.
We discussed the irony at hand. I thought Thom & Naeem should meet, it was kind of a no brainer. And I admit, I had my own selfish reasons, I also really wanted to chat with Thom first hand about music industry politics. I think i’ve easily done 20 + posts about Radiohead and/or Thom. When the band released In Rainbows, it was kind of a big deal.
Everyone I know carefully watched how the band’s, name your own price, self release, limited edition box set concept was going to unfold. For weeks it was the hottest topic of conversation. So the release day came, people got online and placed their order, and continued to watch the concept unfold. In my opinion, it was a beautiful. No, Radiohead didn’t fix everything that was wrong with the industry, and what they did, most bands can’t really afford to do. (I discussed this with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, read it here). They did kick open the door of the major labels, and sent a very strong message. They gave their fans a choice, they made room for both artists and others in the industry, to do even more inspired and creative things, perhaps even take risks they might not have before. They let people know, that yes, you can release music in a non-traditional way and it can work. Not only that, you can do it on your own, they exact way YOU want to do it, real freedom of expression. And isn’t that what everyone wants? Not only in art, but in life.
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I live for these kinds of moments, i’m all for pushing the envelope, DIY, thinking outside of the box, stick it to “the man”, all those common cliches. I feel i’ve fallen off course at this point, so let me get back to the story and how it all ends.
I lived in Chicago for 16 years, it just so happens that I know the manager of the China Grill, I figure I might as well take advantage of that, so I head back to the restaurant, tell him the story. He tells me that Thom and his friends were almost done with their meal, and adds that they are really pleasant, he offered to ask them if they would be so inclined to meet us. I agreed this would be appropriate, and so it goes, “Thom would love to meet Spank Rock”.
I made my way back up to our floor, and my heart fluttered a bit when I told Naeem, come on, we’re going to go and say hello to Thom, and so we did. I hung back as they spoke about music, production, the writing process, how it can be difficult and unnerving process. As an artist, you second guess yourself, wonder if what your writing is good enough, you feel pressure to create something and your not always sure where you’re going with it, or what it is you want to create. Thom shared that he most certainly felt like that, and felt most everyone does, its part of the process of creating, and if those moments where you question yourself didn’t happen, that would seem to be a bit odd, and that perhaps was when an artist should worry. So as it turns out, Thom’s just like the rest of us, word. We spoke about their performance the day before, I told him I really only got to see the woman signing, he said she was great, stole the show. I got my politics on, we discussed the interview he and David Byrne did with Wired Magazine, on the real value of music.
Thom said it was an interesting interview, rather quiet, not as much talking between the two of them as one might think. Which kind of surprised me, I would assume they would carry on for hours. However, I’ve seen a few live interviews with Byrne, he’s incredibly intelligent, insightful, (I closely follow his industry politics as well), but I could see why a bit of silence between the two, might be the case. There is a particular interview Byrne did that stands out, with Daniel Levitin (author of This Is Your Brain On Music), you can check it out at Seed Mag online. We also discussed the In Rainbows release, Thom was very humble, when I expressed how I felt about the release, he said the release was just a minor start toward rebuilding an ailing music industry, and that there is still a lot of work to be done, particularly when it comes to radio. We had been carrying on for some time now, espressos were to be had, they were off to a show the next day, and exhausted from a day of boating on Lake Michigan, we had our own show, call time was just an hour away, we said our goodbye’s and floated away.
Spank Rock hit the stage for the Spin & Metromix after party, the room was packed, but the crowd was a bit lethargic, however, when these guys hit the stage, it doesn’t take long to get a room going. Lindsay Lohan and Sam Ronson were in attendance with their posse, so in honor of the occasion, Spank Rock finished the set with Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge. I think the posse was caught off guard, as they exited the room before the song was over. Funny stuff.
Amanda Blank & Natalie - Hard Rock After Party, Aug 2
Naeem - Hard Rock After Party, Aug 2
I also hit a few Rock The Bells shows - saw Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Mos Def, Nas, even a stellar, surprise performance in Denver from Black Star. Nas - Rock The Bells, Columbia, MD July 27 08
Black Star - Rock The Bells, Denver, Co Aug 23
All in all, great summer, and as this post is quickly becoming a novella, I shall end it here, and leave you with this entertaining video of what I can only assume are cheerleaders learning new dance routines at summer camp to “Bump”. The dude the runs out to lead them rocks.
I was never into Baltimore Club. I am sick of hearing shitty remixes of stupid songs and I feel that once you hear one song you have heard them all. I never really understood it. However……these dudes somehow manage to get around the parts of it that I dislike. And I can listen to them all night without getting bored. Brick. Bandits. Kill. It. I have seen these guys go at it several times and I have never been disappointed. They are a serious party. All of them. Also for the record they do not just play baltimore club. I have heard Tameil kill it on the house music tip. So good.
Thursday 8/21 it’s SO on. I know this is last minute but the Brick Bandits have decided to pay Brooklyn a visit. I don’t know if you have happened to catch any of these DJs yet but you have no excuse. They have been all over the place lately and if you have missed them you need to switch your party schedule up a little. Time for some action. I am SO excited about this.
For you New York people, Galapagos is no more. They are under new ownership and the venue is called Public Assembly. They have exchanged their old sound system for some serious BOOM and Thursday is definitely the night to test it out.
I am 100% confident that DJ Tim Dolla, DJ Tameil and DJ Sega are going to rock a serious dance party so let’s do this. I will be there Djing as well. Most likely tag teaming with my favorite Philly kid Nick the V. Here is a little preview of what the night is going to be like. Get Wild.
Also the first time I heard the Digital Cable song I lost it. Brooklyn you know what I am talkin’ about!
