Who doesn’t enjoy a good Bordeaux, especially when it comes to music? Boxon Records is Julien Minet’s dirty sexy record label out of Bordeaux, France that features prominent music artists (Tom Deluxx, Eclier, Toxic Avenger, Philipe de Boyer, Pro7, etc), and the incredible graphic designer Anem.
If you like teeth grinding, head banging, body shaking electro-trash music then this next one is for you. Coming out in late September, I had a sneak peak at the new Boxon album and it is fanfreakintastic. There are two separate and distinctive mixes of Tom Deluxx’s “Mushion Heroes” on here and they are both pure goodness. Who are the faces behind them?
First is Philipe de Boyar, the Suisse DJ/Producer who does a mixture of House/Electro/Breaks. He’s not a newbie to the scene, having already had tracks popping up in MIXMAG and is set to have releases on Erase Records, Hammarskjoeld Records or his own digital imprint Rockville Music as well as other labels. His version of “Mushion Hereos” is slap-in-your-face hard and reminiscent of the same energy you get with the Toxic Avenger.
The other version is by Pro7, an international party player who has already tricked with the likes of Sebastian, Teenage Bad Girl, TTC, and more. His version is very slightly lighter than the de Boyar one, with a little funky feel. Caution: these two tracks are not at all to be confused with each other, even if they stem from the same original! They are completely different takes and both quite enjoyable. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them both pounding in clubs in the next 2-3 months.
Also from Boxon as of late, the latest video from Paris production company Born To Film of the Toxic Avenger’s “Bad Girls Need Love, Too”. It captures perfectly the style of Toxic — edgy electro with a rock feel. Tattooed ladies and Lolita like nymphs are in the video rocking out in this beautifully shot video clip with amazing color saturation. C’esttellement sexy et j’adore!
In other news, Boxon veteran Tom Deluxx has a new EP coming out this October, and I’m on the edge of my seat to hear it, especially if it sounds anything like the remix he sent us, “Fake” by GRS Club, who also have an EP arriving this October!
Putain c’est la classe! Anem is doing the artwork for the album. Including the fresh preview up top Boxon sent us!
Rico Tubbs is a name that’s been floating around many of the blogs in 2008. Tracks of his have been popping up here and there and they have been met with great accolades from some of the biggest tastemakers spanning numerous genres and subcultures. Now, a brand new album, Knuckle Sandwich, packed with Grade A bangers, has just been unleashed to further his dance music domination. It seems, though, most people haven’t a clue who Rico Tubbs actually is.
He is by no means a n00b to the scene. He’s been DJing and producing in his native Finland since ‘94 starting in UK Hardcore and Hiphop and leading into Big Beat, Breakbeat and whatever else you can call his music now. In his home country, he is an electronic music legend producing under his real name Riku Pentti and comprising one half of The Skillsters, credited with producing the first Finnish Hiphop album in history. From there, thanks to his avant garde scratching abilities, Rico joined the venerable big beat troupe, The Bombfunk MC’s as their DJ/Producer/whatever else.
Once big beat faded, Riku reinvented himself again, always retaining that funky hardcore/hiphop vibe, and reemerged in the peaking breakbeat scene as Rico Tubbs and the pseudonym Infekto. Releasing records on KissFM DJ Jay Cunning and Atomic Hooligan’s label Menu Music, he immediately became known for making some of the best peaktimers of the heyday of new school funky breaks. Gradually, his unique breaky sound began to infiltrate the blogs and that brings us to the present.
What sets Rico’s sound apart from everyone else is that he clearly embraces every type of music that he’s ever liked and uses it indiscriminately throughout his tunes. It’s not fidget, its not breakbeat, its not hardcore, its not b-more, but it’s an amalgamation of all of those and more used in an unapologetic, bold manner. Rico’s new album exemplifies that fact and was purposefully filled to the brim with club bangers.
To celebrate said album, available now on Juno, iTunes or wherever else you might find proper music, here’s a taste of what Rico’s been putting forth; a VIP mix of his squelchy bass banger, Hot Girls Dope Boys, done especially for TM. And just to further solidify his authenticity and prove that he’s been doing this since many of you were just a glimmer in your fathers eye, here’s an oldschool hardcore mix that he provided us, containing some of the real classics. So sit back, have a listen, read this short interview and then buy the album. It’s sooooooo good!
01. Altern-8 : Evaporate (1992,Network)
02. Djs Unite : Djs Unite (1992 ,XL)
03. Shut up and Dance : The green man (1992,shut up and dance)
04. A Home boy, A hippie & Funky dread : Now is the future (1992,Rising high )
05. Two Undercover : Unite (1992,De ja vu)
06. Kaotic Kemistry : Space Cakes ( 1993,Moving Shadow)
07. Q Bass : Hardcore Will Never Die /E type version (1991,Suburban Base)
08. Sonz of a loop da loop era : Far Out (1991,Suburban Base)
09. The Prodigy : Full Throttle (XL,1993)
10. Dance Conspiracy : Dub War Chapter 1(XL,1992)
11. Run tings : Fires Burning (Suburban Base 1992)
12. Krome & Time: This Sound is for the Underground (Suburban Base 1992)
13. Acen : Trip 2 the moon part 2 (Production house 1992)
14. Manix : Alright Wid Me (1993,Reinforced)
15. Manix : Hardcore Junglism (1992,Reinforced)
16.Underground Software : Different ting (1992,Reinforced)
17. Cloud 9 : You got Me Burning (1993,Moving Shadow)
18. Soundclash vs Hackney Hardcore : Hear Gunshots (1993,Strictly Underground)
19. Foul Play : Finest illusion (1993,Moving Shadow)
20. Ltj Bukem& Tayla : Bang the drums (1992,Good looking )
Local Hero: Lets kick it off with an easy one. What are you listening to right now?
Rico Tubbs: Italo disco,”Dance Mania” Chicago house stuff , some 60’s psych rock and Bengas album have been on heavy rotation.
LH: You’ve been producing and releasing records since 1995 in your native Finland. Tell us about some of the early Rico Tubbs projects.
RT: When I got my first releases out it was the time of big beat - sample heavy fun party music. Not much different of what I do now - the hip hop samples and rave elements can be heard through all my production from day one.
LH: Not many producers from the breaks scene have been able to crossover to the electro/blog house scene as successfully as you have. Was this crossover success intended? If so what did you put into the music to garner the crossover appeal?
RT: The crossover was not calculated in any way. My production style is based more on chaos than clear vision and I think Ive done tunes in most genres of electronic music. As a producer/dj you should anyway be intrested in new things and it always amazes me how many purists there are who are stuck into their little box. Now I feel that electronic music is in its most exciting phase in many years.The trend now overlaps the most with what I love in dance music : big and quirky basslines,hip hop or rather hip house and rave.
LH: Seems like you’ve kept quite busy djing so far this year. Whats been the awesomest party you’ve played this year?
RT: I have to say Glade.That was the first festival of that magnitude Ive played. Everything was well organized and the atmosphere was great.
LH: What was the musical aim of your new album? What were you trying to accomplish with it?
RT: My aim was to get a coherent album full of club bangers. I tried to make it so tight that you’d want to get the whole thing - not just pick and choose just 1 or 2 tracks as often is the case among dance albums.
LH: You’ve always maintained an aggressive funky sound but without being cheesy. How and from what influences did you derive the Rico Tubbs style?
RT: When Rico Tubbs was born the sound was influenced by stripped down funk of JB’s and sillyness of Parliament - with some heavy fart bass. Its gone a long way from that during past 5 years but the heavy bass groove is still the core. Now you can hear more of the influence of my hardcore favourites : Altern-8, Manix and early Moving Shadow/Suburban Base. There also some speed garage/bassline there of which I’ve always been a fan of.
LH: Now that the albums done and released, what comes next?
RT: Theres been a lot of remix work of which the latest is for Tittsworth 12 Steps album. Theres also an EP coming on Herve’s label later this year and a track on Finnish b-more club label Top Billin’. There might be a remix album of “Knuckle Sandwich” as well if everything goes by the plan - first out will be Tes La Rok and Muffler remixes of “Gangsters”.
This Sunday marked the first ever Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, hosted by Street Attack, Famous Friends, andImpose Magazine. Covering local Brooklyn artists for some time now, Impose Magazine has come to be an important fixture in the Brooklyn community, and a trustworthy source for pithy coverage of the musical oasis that can be the Brooklyn neighborhood. Street Attack and Famous Friends, the primary hosts for this year’s BEMF, are an innovative and resourceful duo that pull all stops. So when the poster went up for BEMF recently, it should be no surprise that the list of sponsors ranged from Miller Lite to the Izze Beverage Co. Even less of a surprise though was the quality of electronic artists and DJs they culled to headline their very first electronic music festival.
Arriving in the late afternoon, just as the sun was letting up on a crowd of Sparks ignited Brooklynites, I felt what was a strong community of music supporters, friends artists, and the usual blog-league members making sure Ableton mixtapes sounded just as good live. Luckily for those drunk enough by the time Cobra Krames went on, it didn’t matter, as his blend of Blatimore Club and party mash-ups were perfectly crowd pleasing and genre-bending. Stringing together Top 40 Rap and Pop hits with his flavor of B-more stomp, I was surprised not to hear a Journey mash-up amongst his arsenal.
Following Cobra was The Glass, one of the live acts present that day. With their blend of slightly sweet electro-pop, they sung the kind of late-night drunken ballads you might associate with a group of Daft Punk loyalists, suffering from a night of blissed out synths. Unfortunately for The Glass, they spent too much time at the Sparks tent and not enough time at the Izze tent, and relied too heavily on their friends to hype their boozed-down set. Luckily Finger on the Pulse, DJ and producer of The Glass supplied a quick-set of Armand Van Helden remixes to give us a good taste in our mouths beforehand.
For BEMF attendees that day, Purple Crush was clearly a significant draw, and I too was excited to see fellow Islander (Bainbridge Island, Washington) Isla Cheadle and her beatman Jared Selter get freaky on stage in Neon and Nikes. Definitely a highlight of the evening, Isla brought the party, bar none, and got little girls to shake their money makers in feminine glory. Pairing slightly maligned synth-pop and chugging Madonna-disco, Isla rapped, sang, and hyped with a natural frontman femininity that won over the headier skeptics like myself. With tunes like “Fuck the DJ” and “Marry Me,” Purple Crush’s first album “Blog Party” is a must-grab in a sea of uninspired Justice-fallout.
After Purple Crush and after a French-house heavy set from Treasure Fingers, who by virtue of market forces or purely bass-blown ear drums, has been invited to join the ranks of the Fools Gold family, a tour de force in dance music’s finest. One third of Evol Intent, perhaps the State’s best and last contribution to Drum n’ Bass, Treasure Fingers had the presence of your classic UK DJ/producer: techy, cerebral, and an invisible hand on the feet of the crowd. And Treasure Fingers could have just pressed play and returned to the beer garden because his flawless set of ethereal electro had some long-time fans and a drunk-happy crowd brought to their knees that Summer evening at The Yard.
Best and last for me was Todosantos, the Venezuelan trio of young hearts, making the only progressive music that was played that day. Drawing on their love for the music of their hometown (Cumbia, Soca, Reggaeton), as well as the reverberations from abroad (Speed Garage, Baile Funk, Miami Bass, Bassline), Todosantos represents what M.I.A. could only start, and what people like Pharaoh (Todosantos producer), Mariana (Todosantos video editor), and their lead singer (?) are calling “Tukky Bass.” On the wave of their hit song and EP “Acid Girlzzz,” Todosantos brought on the warm-darkness of the night with a rip roaring set of colorful video editing from Mariana and a fiery collection of bass heaviness from Pharaoh. A part from their sing-along set of quick one-liners and hollers, they actually seemed in love with what they were doing.
With a diverse collection of musicians and extremely-well hosted party in a beautiful space, Impose’s first Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival has no doubt set the tone for an upcoming year of exciting music from the electronic sounds of the world. More than ever we’re seeing the synthesis of all things musical, and Impose, much like other music-forward artists and critics, see this synthesis as the great calling to unite under Summer sun, fueled by warm, thick beats and the nutrients of corporate money, an increasingly smart trick to support the arts. And stay posted with Impose Magazine as they post pictures of buckwild hipsters gettin’ down in the sun.
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.
If you’re skint like me, you like stuff that’s free right?
Well, for little more than the cost of denting you or your friend’s credibility, you can win a pair of tickets to see funk-tastic Chromeo LIVE at London’s The End/AKA on Thursday 21st August 2008.
We’ve got 2 pairs of tickets to give away.
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO WIN A PAIR: email me with a video or link to a video of someone doing some ‘fancy footwork’ . It could be you or your mum or your second cousin’s second cousin - we don’t care, as long as it makes us laugh!
Hell, if you’re really hard up for an unsuspecting victim, you could even rip it off Youtube - but you’ve gotta be a bit clever.
Hang with me and the UK TM crew (plus the ubiquitous PR types) and check out other acts specially picked by the dapper dudes, plus drink free beer all night long, courtesy of San Miguel!! It’s part of their yearly summer music series, Hidden Depths. Dave 1 and P-Thugg return to London after a sold-out gig at Camden’s Koko and wowing music know-hows as support on Bloc Party’s British Tour.
Email your vid to: writers@trashmenagerie.com, with FANCY FOOTWORK in the subject.
DEADLINE: Sunday 17th August 2008, midnight GMT.
I will email the two winners directly on Monday 18th August. In the meantime, to get you in the mood, download and check out these two Chromeo remixes of “Needy Girl” and “Tenderoni” from Lifelike and MSTRKRFT.
PS - Double your chances for tickets by going to the San Miguelsite. And if you miss out this time, they’re playing around Europe for the rest of the summer at the following festivals.
Ever since Trash’s KMD introduced us to the exceptional sounds of Birmingham’s Deluka, they’ve been on a hot streak and we’ve been HOOKED! Chances are you may have heard their tune ‘Sleep Is Impossible’ played in your living room over your last round of Grand Theft Auto IV. Beyond car chases, their album ‘Broken Sleeping Patterns’, released mid March on Japanese imprint, Fabtone, features a fine remix of “Flashbacks” by Hooker and De Freitas.
Where were you in 92? It was the year Michael Hooker of Hooker and De Freitas began his music obsession. “Music excites me and has since the first mix tape I was handed in 1992. The rave scene was in full swing and I was far too young to party, but the vibes from this tape was the start of my obsession.” And with that obsession, long time friends Michael Hooker and Elcias De Freitas, also producing under the name JE2, got to work combining their different styles to remix music by Deluka, Trash Money, Atelier Nouveau, Client, and numerous tracks by the gleeful Birmingham band Trash Fashion.
“I love the music scene at the moment,” says Michael, “I do not think that so many different groups of people have crossed into different genres ever.” Working with a plethora of styles is exactly what JE2 and Hooker and De Freitas like to do – mixing electro, breakbeat, house, classic party anthems, and more. Currently the Birmingham-based duo are working on their debut solo material and have completed the follow up to their recent track ‘Start The Beat’, with remixes by Jonze, Uncle Buck, The Hats and C.O.C. The newest track features guest vocals from Jet Storm of Trash Fashion. They’ll be out for digital download, September, on Italian label The Family Records. Meantime, Hooker and De Freitas plan to complete a few bootleg projects for free download and get to work on some old disco and funk tracks. Keep an ear out!
With a mutual love for old school bikes – the tricked out sort like BMX, Haro, Hutch and Skyway, it was only natural that Leroy Washington and Sevenfive chose Tuff Wheelz as the moniker they would use to create their music. “Skyway made these incredible colored plastic wheels called Tuff Wheels. That’s the reason of our name,” adds Sevenfive.
2007 marked the year Leroy and Sevenfive joined forces for the French label Discolor as the official label Dj’s and decided to team up as Tuff Wheelz. But by no means are the duo new to the music industry. With a long run as a top French D&B Dj, Leroy has been in the grind for over 10 years and Sevenfive producing electronic music since 1997.
Leroy is the curator of the monthly ‘Let Me Bang’ parties in Bordeaux along with Kazey and has played with Dj Funk, Para One, Surkin, Bobmo, Strip Steve and Dj Gero. Sevenfive is the co-founder of audio/visual collective, Neurosystem and has been edited by such labels as Soulseek, GC recordings and Digital Kranky. He has gigged with Modeselektor, Jean Nipon, Danton Eeprom, Ovuca and Yuksek.
Offering up a good dose of 90’s, acid, deep and filtered house, baltimore, electro and techno, Tuff Wheelz deliver a fine mix of flavor. They’ve edited Davina’s house classic “Don’t You Want It” and have done remixes for Purple Crush, “Fuck The DJ“, The Shoes “Knock Out” and Strip Steve “Ready Steady“. Check out their latest track “The Ride“, featured below!
Tuff Wheelz are currently working on a track for Damaged Good$ out of Texas and have some new original productions in the works. They’ll continue to provide bouncy music in the country of wine and cheese at their ‘Keep On Pumpin’ monthly in Bordeaux and they’ll be playing with the EATDISCO crew who will be celebrating their 1st birthday 11th July at The End in Newcastle Upon Tyne!!!!!!!
Over the past year, the masters of infinitely spastic sounds, The Death Set, have gone back and forth between U.S. and E.U. cities, wreaking havoc to all who’ve witnessed their assaulting, in-your-face sets. They spew the kind of energetic music that should be blasted during moments of skateboarding, heated love making, getting piss drunk, fits of happy rage, getting your first tattoo or simply being overjoyed that life is fucking good.
It was just a few years ago that New York City, and the thought of conquering the land of the free, was but a glimmer in Johnny Siera and Beau Velasco’s eyes. “We did an Australian tour with our old band Black Panda with Brooklyn band Japanther. It was really inspirational and pretty much decided that we would move to New York and tour and destroy the states,” recounts Johnny. With that motivation, the two friends picked up and left the Gold Coast of Australia and headed to America.
Destroy the states they did. In a short span of time, Johnny and Beau found their calling in the grimey warehouse scene of Baltimore. Since planting their feet there, they’ve done a good amount of globetrotting playing gigs with the likes of Bonde do Role, Monotonix, Team Robespierre, Matt & Kim (current F Yeah and VICE tour). In July they’ll rode trip with The Mae Shi in support of their recent full-length April release, ‘Worldwide‘, on Ninja Tune off-shoot Counter Records. Quite frankly, The Death Set have gone beyond conquering the states – they’ve chewed it up, spit it out and are still storming ahead.
With a penchant for noisy lo-fi punk flooded with distorted guitars and screeching vocals, drum-machine beats, with elements of dance-punk, The Death Set meld a pool of sickening sounds that could very well rob you of your hearing and quite possibly melt your face. They’re like the bratty, bastard kids of Ian McKaye that have taken bits of cool from Minor Threat, The Dead Boys and Le Tigre, and created a totally unique sound of their own – and unlike McKaye, they’re all for crowd surfing. The Death Set are maddening cool and will elevate your adrenaline 5 notches and bring on a sweat-induced frenzy to any party, basement, club, warehouse, living room or roof top bang-off – You’re sure to be chanting “TheMotherFuckinDeathSet” and feeling amped at the end.
Continue on for some photos, video footage, remixes by etan and Pfunkt, gig dates and an interview with Mr Johnny Siera (done in between The Death Set’s European tour in May, prior to their U.S. tour with Bonde do Role)… Yeah, it’s a head spin of a lot… Cheers to Johnny for taking the time to answer in detail, amidst a grueling schedule!
Q&A with The Death Set Lovestar: For those that don’t know, fill us in from point A of leaving the Gold Coast of Australia, going to Sydney, picking up and moving to the states; Brooklyn, then ending up in Baltimore.
Johnny Siera: So Beau and I met on the Gold Coast of Australia. It’s a surfing town near Brisbane on the East Coast. Really beautiful but pretty devoid of anything inspirational. We did an Australian tour with our old band Black Panda with Brooklyn band Japanther. This meant really only about 5 dates though. But it was really inspirational and pretty much decided that we would move to New York and tour and destroy the states. No doubt.. We first moved to Sydney, wrote a bunch of songs, put a picture of NY on the wall, then moved. After a stint of being broke and first hand experiencing how rad Baltimore’s warehouse scene was we moved down there. It was a fairly easy decision.
Lovestar: Any story behind ‘The Death Set’ name, how it came to be?
Johnny Siera: It was always meant to be a kind of gang or club type feel. But it has that kind of polar opposite thing going on which I like as we’re really the most un-scary band you don’t know.
Lovestar: How many key people in the group and who goes on tour?
Johnny Siera: Beau and I wrote the record. Beau doesn’t come on tour right now as he works and trains as a tattooist. So on tour it is me, Peter O’Connell on guitar, and two live drummers Jahphet Landis and Joey Sulkowski. Of course with all the electronic backing tracks blasting out of our system. We’re especially close with a bunch of peoples like Ninja Sonik, Matt and Kim, Bikes in the Kitchen, Chief Magazine, Tod Seelie and Emily Rabbit who we are in crew called the Newmore Swithblades.
Lovestar: You’ve just wrapped up another U.K. tour – What were some of the highlights? Did things get real rowdy?
Johnny Siera: Yeah it was real rad. Just like anywhere some places and shows are rowdier than others but kids were spazzing for real. The UK can sometimes have a “cooler” atmosphere so it was fun to fuck shit up.
Lovestar: Your full-length, “Worldwide” is already out in Japan and the U.K. and is about to drop in the U.S. on April 22 on Counter Records - Ninja Tunes offshoot. How did it happen that you ended up getting signed to Counter Records?
Johnny Siera: When we first moved to the states, we moved with our pal from Annapolis whom we lived next door to in Sydney, Sniper Dan He now actually runs a rad letterpress gallery called The Arm in Sydney. Through that contact we met Emily Rabbit who put out our first two EP’s. Through her we met Spankrock… Following? Anyways we crashed on Spankrock’s floor the first bit we were in the states and became friends. So when they toured we hung out and met the Ninja Tune (Counter) kids and I guess they just kept tabs on us because when the record was done I sent it to them and they were super stoked. In the end we worked it out to have the record come out on Counter and I’m super psyched.
Lovestar: How long did it take for all 18 tracks off “Worldwide” to come together and what went into the process?
Johnny Siera: The actual process of writing was probably a year but that included touring as hard and often as we could. Then probably another year and a half where I had to leave the states, solve visa stuff, mix and change labels. The process of writing was pretty relaxed. We recorded it ourselves and pretty much just ate rice and tofu, watched hip hop videos on youtube, went skateboarding then wrote for a bit over the course of a year or so. The whole process was real DIY and we were able to tweak it til we were happy. And yes, we wanted it to sound the way it does. With distorted vocals, synths and drums which is why it comes across as lo-fi.
Lovestar: What were you guys doing prior to forming The Death Set?
Johnny Siera: I was living in Japan for two years and traveling and partying, going crazy as much as I could. Beau was living on the coast DJing making electronic music. Its funny because we both made both electronic and punk music but at different times and we kind of met each other in the middle.
Lovestar: Does Australia have as great of a music scene as it seems? If so, what was your motivation to leave?
Johnny Siera: When I was living there it was more of a ecstasy drenched electro scene which was most prevalent. Which is fun and cool but not really too much of a scene that supported more experimental stuff. When we were playing Sydney it was more of the fact that we would just be playing the same clubs again and again and we wanted to tour like the bands we would read about like Black Flag etc. So the motivation was to tour. For me I wanted to be a band where playing shows defined the music rather than writing a record then touring it.
Lovestar: What triggered everything to come together and really start happening for you?
Johnny Siera: To be honest, it was positive thinking. I know it sounds cheesy but every day I would devote a time to affirm, visualize and feel out where I wanted to be and it was crazy to watch it unfold.
Lovestar: Discuss the music making process that you go through and who does what
Johnny Siera: Beau and I both write the songs. They are usually written in a rock way where the structure, and lyrics are written first usually on guitar or in a more electronic way where I will be sitting around messing with a sampler of synth then the structure is written on top of that. I would then work on the electronics with Beau stomping around the room giving input. Anything goes in there from the obvious organic guitars and vocals to outboard gear like MPC’s, synthesizers and laptop programming. Pots and pans on one track even. Whatever seems good at the time.
Lovestar: Would you say your music professes positivity, messages of hope?
Johnny Siera: Yeah definitely, but I wouldn’t say we profess it. A lot of it is just personal struggles going on in my own head and the songs I guess being the documents of dealing with it. As I said before I really do try hard to be aware of what’s going on in my head. I know how important that is, and how I’m the only one responsible for it. But sometimes it is simple spazzy punk rock with out swing on it. Most songs cull anything superfluous and is direct as possible.
Lovestar: Music influences – past and present and how you take these bits and apply it to your sound
Johnny Siera: Hip hop, electronic music and punk are the three styles that I have lived with pretty much all my life. I would like to think “Worldwide” is a little beast vomited out of the mish mash of those styles going on in our heads.
Lovestar: Have either one of you ever had your hand at Djing?
Johnny: Yeah Beau DJ’d for a while and I do it every now and then. More laid back and relaxed rather than dance floor burner style.
Lovestar: Between a lot of time spent making music, touring and performing, what do you find yourselves doing in your spare time? (if there is any of that!)
Johnny: Pretty much 99% of my energy is revolved around this band. And has been for a long time. But in my spare time I guess I like the usual things like hanging out with my friends, going out and getting crazy and the like. Riding bikes and skateboarding when I can.
Lovestar: This question is for Johnny – Do you feel you’ve mastered balancing on drum kits?
Johnny: Yep, Its one of the main reasons we got live drummers :)
Lovestar: What’s in store for the immediate future, do you have a secret mission?
Johnny: Tour TOUR T O U R ! ! ! It’s insane this year. After finishing this tour off with Bonde Do Role we head back to Europe and the UK then another US tour followed by two Japan tours including Fuji Rock and Australia. We are going for it.
Quick questions… LS: Tell us about… LS: Your worst battle scar from a show JS: Beau picked up a light and smashed his head till a bloodbath remained. Real gross. Pic on myspace. LS: Your special microphones JS: Are dead as they were too abused. LS: What makes a basement so special to play in JS: Recipe for a good show for me is simple… Small confined space, positive energy, LOUD music and a crew of crazy unpretentious nerdy kids.
The Death Set Tour Dates: (through July)
Thur 3rd July // Chicago, IL @ Hide Out w/ Matt & Kim, Vice Tour
Fri 4th July // Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary w/ Matt & Kim, Vice Tour
Sat 5th July // New York @ Hugs w/ Matt & Kim, Vice Tour
Sun 6th July // Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab w/ Fuck Yeah Tour Vice Tour
Tues 8th July // Kalamazoo, MI @ Rocketstar Cafe CANCELLED! Wed 9th July // Chicago, IL @ The Abbey Pub w/ The Mae Shi
Thur 10th July // Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick w/ The Mae Shi (more…)
DJ Kue seems to be a name that’s been popping up all over the place these days. His crowd friendly fidgety electro disco house has an incredibly broad appeal and his tight productions have been spotted in some the biggest DJs sets. This San Jose producer has been making tunes since 2004 but has been a well respected DJ in the bay area for 15 years. Most recently he has been added to DJ Dan’s label In Stereo and has shown quite a bit of success from his first release, My Way. He’s been kind enough to provide to you what I feel is the best tunes he’s made thus far, Lovers Break, with its bouncy bassline and funky sample breakdown this one has been a hit with everyone who’s gotten their hands on it. It was, just the other day, featured on Guns ‘n’ Bombs most recent mixtape; the series thats been such a mainstay in the rise of bloghouse. DJ Kue presents a bright future and will be poking his touch on many future remix and original projects.
Saturday, June 21st saw the Big Apple debut of no less than three of 2008’s most blogged about and lauded upcoming European dance music talents, the mysterious masked Frenchman DANGER, fellow countrymen SPITZER and Italian wonk scallywags CROOKERS. This one night only event unfurled to a sold out crowd of fourteen-hundred excited individuals in the main room of the city’s venerable, Webster Hall.
The evening kicked-off in fine style around midnight with an appropriately hyper set of wobbly bassbin havoc courtesy of Trouble & Bass stalwart THE CAPTAIN. Any opening set that includes freshness like FOAMO’S “Rockerman” and the generally upfront sounds that the Trouble & Bass crew are known for purveying, is sure to get people moving.
Following the wobbly mayhem of THE CAPTAIN, Chicago’s Grey Goose guzzling godfather of Ghettotech DJ FUNK, took to the decks. FUNK’S two-hundred mile an hour blend of jackin’ Juke whipped the already excitable dance floor into an even sweatier pool of smiling faces.
Next, the pulsating sound of Electro-tinged Techy-Trance heralded the arrival of SPITZER, who drove head first into their smooth Trance-not-Trance set, an admittedly jarring change of pace from the three-hundred beats per minute, booty bass of DJ FUNK, but this duo from Lyon (sorry for misspelling - fixed!), France quickly had the happy sea of up-for-it punters eating out the palm of their hand. Indeed, anyone smitten by SPITZER’S handful of original productions like the excellent “Rainbow Warrior” or their quality remixes of KYLIE MINOGUE’S “In My Arms” and SALLY SHAPIRO’S “Time To Let Go,” would have been more than happy with the set they played this night.
By the time SPITZER’S set bubbled nicely to a close, it was 2am and finally time for the Phra and Bot (aka, CROOKERS) to take to the CDJ’s.
Photo credit: lastnightsparty.com
Despite the positive buzz generated by CROOKERS DJ stints elsewhere around the world — download their superb BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and Gatecrasher Sound System mixes, from our MIXES section, for a taste of their established exploits elsewhere — expectations and excitement for their performance on this particular night was tangibly high. So did this much hyped Milanese production and remix team deliver the goods? Without hesitation I would have to say a hearty, yes! While not quite on par with their thoroughly brilliant, masterpiece of an Essential Mix, their Webster Hall set had the room in an utter frenzy, hundreds of people bouncing all around them on stage, feet stomping fists pumping until their last beat was dropped. Kudos to Webster Hall for allowing everyone to freely vibe and get up close and personal to the artist they’d waited so long to see perform in person. Finally CROOKERS had arrived stateside!
Anyone left breathless by the finish of CROOKERS thunderous set around 3:30am, barely had time to recalibrate their eardrums before arguably the line-ups most exciting and certainly most fascinating artists appeared out of nowhere in his trademark “alien creature” mask. It was time to experience DANGER and what better time than 3:30am in the morning!
With DANGER’S appearance the lights in Webster Hall dimmed, about half of the fourteen-hundred strong crowd dissipated and a very low-end rumble started to throb from the sound system. Fluttering images of a jungle suddenly appeared on a massive screen behind the masked DJ, through the jungle a charatcter runs fantically from an unknown danger. For an hour DANGER won the hearts and minds of those who had committed to staying late to witness his unique brand of what can only be describe as cultish, Prog-Electro Soundtrack-Techno! Think VANGELIS meets THE PROXY meets secret society paranoia. DANGER left little doubt that much bigger things are in-store for his hypnotic, if still somewhat lo-fi stage show. The eye-popping, staccato VJ storytelling concept alone will capture the imagination of clubbers, artists and industry types alike and the mind simply boggles at how impressive it all might become with a real budget thrown at it. Time will hopefully tell.
So there we have it, three very different but equally spot-on debut performances that drew seemingly everyone involved with dance music in New York City to the same venue for one night. It was definitely one of the most interesting and eclectic nights of electronic music the city has seen in quite some time. There is little doubt that when DANGER, SPITZER and CROOKERS make their respective return journeys to spin in New York again, they will each have a swollen army of dedicated follows to call their own, in part thanks to this impressive showcase.
Scan the vast interweb and you just may come across some serious appetite whetting sounds, worthy of mega artist Felix da Housecat to proclaim “I love that fuckinBlackChromeeeeee! I’m gonna play that shit 2nite at the Ed Banger party!” and Elite Force to chime in with “This is a brilliant track - proper chunky, rolling tech-funk nastiness. Are you gonna spill on who did it?”
“Who did it?” is the question of many these days. Seems like everyone is gettin all ‘Fake Blood‘ on us. Well this much we know, “Black Chrome” is the first single from LA-based Circuit Freq. Don’t expect them to reveal their identities – at least not yet. With a past that lists major credits that include platinum albums, remixes, major tours, as well as involvement in some influential projects, the two musicians seem perfectly content remaining a mystery. That said, I’ve done some research since receiving the track and their info and I’m pretty sure I’ve got them figured out… (sly grin)
“Black Chrome” is one of those jarring, tricked out electro tunes that brings you back to those warehouse party days when you’d hear a track that you’d bang on and on about. Well prepare to be destroyed when you hear the upcoming remixes of “Black Chrome” by Acid Jacks, Charlie Fanclub, Vandal and Electrixx!! I’ve got a thing for Charlie Fanclub’s music, so I’m eager to hear his version, which I imagine to be pounding!!
So what’s in the pipeline for Circuit Freq? Their main focus is amassing more material, remixing/collaborating, and developing their sound. Their new track “Push Button Reject” is in the mastering queue and they’re currently scouting out remixers, so get on it!! Their third track “No Headphones”, is in production and they’ve got an EP release planned for summer 2008! If you’re anxious to catch them on tour, CF has this to say, “We haven’t approached putting together a live show as yet, but when we do we’ll bring our experience in production & touring to the table. We’re looking into innovative ways of human-machine interface control that would push our live performance farther.”
So yeah, the question I asked the other day, are you ready to leave blog house just yet?? It keeps calling us back for more.
The Bloody Beetroots and Crookers aren’t the only stars to come out of Italy these days. Milan’s 3 IS A CROWD are quickly creating a buzz with their production, as well as edits and remixes for the likes of Crookers, Congorock, Fagget Fairys, Yelle, Armand Van Helden, Amari and others. Things are lookin’ mighty good for them as they’re currently collaborating with Larry Tee, Bryan Cox, Chew Fu Phat and have several releases due to come out on a few labels!
Consisting of three members, Alberto, Francesco and Ivo, 3IAC are influenced by just about everything that is good in music today – house, fidget, crunk, electro, funk, breaks, broken beat and jazz. If you spend your time watching the music that is covered on the blogosphere, more than likely you’ve heard past 3IAC remixes for Congorock, “Exodus (3IAC Back to Home Remix)”, as well as the Fagget Fairys, “Uzela (3IAC Crunch My Crunk Remix)”. Both caught my attention and are fine examples of the kind of work these guys are making. Their latest, “Take It Back”, proves it!
So what is in the pipeline for 3IAC? Francesco clued me in on the latest happenings, along with how this Italian trio came to be and two of their latest remixes.
“News about us: We are finally about to sign a contract with RuNT Records for a release; the name of the EP will be “Amarillo EP” and will feature 3 tracks. We have received a proposal for a couple of releases on A New Hope Records; We still have to release our EP for Italian Indie label Mozzarella Records (this release will feature our tracks “Bullshit”, “Guns”, “Almighty Vibes” and a remix) and of course we are waiting for our remix for Bryan Cox’s “Where You At?” to come out on his Crux Records label. We are collaborating with his blog Crux Da House as well and we are working on several tracks including a remix for Larry Tee!
About gigs: We’ll be playing alongside Congorock in Rome the 23rd of May, with the Crookers the 1st of June and in Berlin the 6th of June and we have a gig in London in July that still has to be confirmed.
Start of 3IAC: “In 2004 we started the project 3 Is A Crowd as a dj collective where we could express ourselves and our different musical tastes both in djing and producing electronic music. We used to play different styles on the decks including techno, electro, hip hop, breakbeat and some drum ‘n’ bass too!
Things began to change after a Crookers Edit we made in 2007 that made us become a little bit popular in the blog world. So at that time we were interested in this new sound clash between house, hip hop and techno and that’s why we started working hard on our own tracks as well as remixes and edits: we started to rework different acts and artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Fagget Fairys, Congorock, Yelle, Amari etc.
We believe that every remix we have done so far has its own personality and a “3IAC” flavour: We are trying to make our production recognizable but at the same time we are putting different ideas around to make people enjoy what we do. The Tamborzuda remix we made starting from the original acapella, received compliments from Daniel Haaksman from Man Recordings. Other supporters of our music have been Drop The Lime/Curses!, Dj Fame, Dj Orgasmic, Dj Donna Summer, Scuola Furano, Blatta & Inesha, Bryan Cox, Larry Tee, amongst others.
“Now we are trying to get inspired from other styles: One of our two new remixes for the Italian indie rock band, “Perturbazione“, (”Nel Mio Scrigno Pianissimo Remix”) is showing our interest for a clash between electronic music and real played instruments that we would like to develop in the future, alongside our dance production. Anyway, we hope that we will make people dance and bounce around the globe! Make sure to check our MySpace for more news and don’t forget to take a listen to our special mixes!”
