We’re reaching a point in the history of blog house where blog house is actually old enough to have a history. There was a time when new acts popped up 20x’s a day and sorting through the piles of electro crap to find that one gem and post it, only to see the maker of said gem fade back into obscurity. The ones that managed to hang on and keep making good music are now really showing their true colors. One of the prime examples of such success is our oft posted about Designer Drugs.
They used to be just another guitar/distorted electro duo among the many, but over the last couple of months we’ve seen their own unique sound grow and form. The running theme seems to be walking basslines, a favorite technique of mine, added to blisteringly hard, undead electro. The final product has that edge that the electro heads still crave while having the the funkiness that seems to regaining popularity on the dancefloor (especially with the infiltration of garage/bassline influences creeping into the most popular bangers). Designer Drugs has done their best work yet with “Zombies!” due on iheartcomix any minute now, but in an effort to destroy their profit margin, here it is for free. So, when you see Frankie Chan on the streets of LA, be sure to flip him an extra penny or two for this one.
Milwaukee’s greatest thing since beer, cheese, and sausage is production duo, The Glamour. Comprised of strawberry stud Asher Roth and handsome hearthrob Richard Gray. The Glamour takes a bit of french touch, LA Electro, and midwestern party rap and mix them together for some good clean fun. Always pleasing their audiences with genre bending dj sets full of energy and presence. They are also some of the nicest and most hospitable dudes around. They got the attention of Urb magazine, who named them one of the next 100 and also IHEARTCOMIX put one of their songs on the nationally distributed Scion mixtape.
It was only matter of time for a group of their caliber, with their looks, talent and positive attitude that they would get scooped up by a record label and release there tunes “officially”. And what a label to be on, turns out the boys were signed to Calamity Jane.
Calamity Jane Recordings, is Strictly Rhythm’s newest imprint. Run by Scott Richmond and Dani Deahl, the label works in an interesting way where they find new artists and pair them with world-renowned remixers, and represent them with some of the most respected names in house music.
And on “Fly by Night” the label achieves exactly what they envision. The Glamour has 2 original tracks followed by remixes from The House Moguls, Tommie Sunshine, and Hatiras. The record is definitely a must have for both young and old.
Check out the sample that the record label provided and purchase this record HERE.
If you’re a fan of The Mighty Boosh, then perhaps you’ve caught one of three episodes (”Jungle”, “Electro”, “The Call of the Yeti”), featuring the ultra-charismatic and androgynous Chris Corner, the English musician known for his work with Sneaker Pimps and his alter ego, IAMX.
Released in 2006, “Spit It Out” was the first single to be released from IAMX’s second album, ‘The Alternative’. A melancholic piece that ignited shivers then, and 2 years after, will rekindle the emotions brought forth from the latest addictive remix by Designer Drugs.
The Designer Drugs boys have been quite ferocious with a string of stellar remixes, hitting bloggers’ inboxes almost weekly, launching them into the minds of all. We’re anxiously awaiting their first original release, “Zombies“, (A side) and “Back Up in This“, (B side), arriving to the world via their new family iheartcomix, on October 28th! And if you’re not ready to let summer leave your site, then the Designer Drugs ‘Steroid Tanks” will do you well. Available for purchase on their MySpace.
Current Designer Drugs Gigs
Oct 14 2008 8:00P DESIGNER DRUGS @ Iheartcomix party at Studio B, Brooklyn, New York
Oct 16 2008 8:00P DESIGNER DRUGS @ The Party at The Loft, Dallas, Texas
Oct 17 2008 8:00P DESIGNER DRUGS @ Boondocks Bar, Houston, Texas
Oct 18 2008 8:00P The Famousish Present: DESIGNER DRUGS at Black & Tan, 18+! Austin, Texas
Oct 25 2008 8:00P iheartcomix CMJ party w/Toxic Avenger & Franki Chan @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 16+! Brooklyn, New York
Oct 30 2008 8:00P TBA ???, Switzerland
Oct 31 2008 8:00P DESIGNER DRUGS at The Social Club, Paris, France
*ALL POSTS WILL FOLLOW THIS ONE UNTIL AFTER THE PARTY!
June has arrived and we’ve got loads of exciting things in store for the devoted!!!! If you’re in the city of Chicago on Thursday, 26th June, get hyped as Trash Menagerie and friends take over Debonair Social Club for “TAXIDERMY“, the first Trash Menagerie party!!!!!
“TAXIDERMY” is an 18+ bash, so now that the kids are outta school, we’re ready to get ROWDY!! And with this stellar line-up, MAYHEM is sure to ensue!!! We’re also celebrating DEREK SPECS and DJ ANNALYZE’s birthday, so get ready for some party favors to add to the excitement, along with some sick visuals by KILLCHNL!!! Hosted by LOVESTAR of TRASH MENAGERIE, PAULY WALNUTS + NICK OF RED THREAT!!
ACID GIRLS– LA
It’s LA’s OG Bloghouse heroes’ 1st appearance in Chicago and they are liable to put together an eclectic, awe-inspiring set worthy of their taste-making reputation. They’ve been spotted remixing some of our favorites including Shit Disco, Hearts Revolution, Dizzee Rascal and most recently, Health. They’ve also got an upcoming EP of original tracks on iheartcomix early this summer that is spectacular and will solidify their place on top of the blogosphere. On a personal note, they are a pair of great guys that know how to party. They’ll definitely make our first one memorable!!
WAR GAMES– (Local Hero & Angel Alanis) – Chicago
TM’s very own Local Hero has recently teamed up with Chicago House Legend Angel Alanis to create some of the biggest tunes to come out of Chicago in years. We’ve posted a couple oftracks from them and their Noise/FlooR Crew and the response has been overwhelming. Their recent Dizzee Rascal remix has been blowing the doors off of clubs and their upcoming remix of HeartsRevolution’s Switchblade is liable to catapult them into the spotlight any moment now. We are lucky enough to be able to host their very first appearance live as War Games where these two veteran Djs can show us what the future of Chicago will be about!
HARVARD BASS– LA
Many knew him as Sleazy V, oft spotted playing massive sets all over the west coast and now, under his new moniker, he’s making some stupendously jackin house music. At a mere 21 years of age, he’s poised to lead the next wave of great American Djs.
SIRHAN– Chicago
One Chicagos talented up-n-coming producers and Djs and a recent addition to the TM writers roster. With a laid back style and a party rocking collection he’s the perfect choice to kick of the night.
We caught up with Drop The Lime today, all the way from Tel Aviv. Straight outta NYC he’s bringing his undeniable and incomparable Trouble & Bass sound, not only to clubs around the world, but to street markets as well. Droppin’ limes, and droppin’ bass, check out Luca’s antics filmed for Rafi Barbiro’s “The Black Market Column”.
And as an added bonus - a Drop The Lime/Curses! Remix Mega Mix to get your weekend started right. DROP IT!
Where in the world is DROP THE LIME?!?!?
Next up . . .
Vice & Colt 45 present - “Tales of Colt 45 Tour” feat. Drop The Lime @ special guests
June 2 - 7, 2008, USA www.vicelandandtalesofcolt45.com
iheartcomix @ Scion Tour feat. Drop The Lime, Radioclit, & Franki Chan
June 22 - 26, 2008, USA
When the iheartcomix/Scion mixtape hit the streets, it was passed around like a fat, freshly rolled spliff. Everyone was smokin’ it and word on the street was that iheartcomix had the goods! With a plethora of sounds to be heard – TheDeathSet, Radioclit, Gameboy/Gamegirl, LA Riots, Flosstradamus, Designer Drugs, Miami Horror, Heartsrevolution, Lies In Disguise, Acid Girls and more, we pretty much felt at one with iheartcomix for delivering. Everyone shared and it was a beautiful thing.
iheartcomix is like the perfect dealer, they keep spreadin’ the love, feedin’ us the bombs, gettin’ us hooked. Just when we think they’re about to let up, they send over, Radioclit’s remix of Matt & Kim’s, “No More Long Years”. The smiley Matt & Kim and the ever so tropical Radioclit. What a combination of love!
For those in the E.U. Matt & Kim are finishing up their U.K. tour, so catch them at a pub/club near you and grab a copy of their record which is out in Europe on Telle Records!
MAY 13 / Beat Club, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
14 / University of Sheffield Fuzz Club, SHEFFIELD, UK
15 / Great Escape Venue, BRIGHTON, UK
16 / The Luminaire, LONDON, UK
MARAL SALMASSI is one striking femme. She exudes talent and beauty, combined with a hint of masculinity, giving her a distinct edge in the music she creates and the way she styles herself. Founder of notable techno label, Konsequent Records in ‘97 and new media label, Art of Perception in ‘99, Maral’s past explorations in music have paved the way for what is her most exciting and diverse label to date, Television Rocks.
Born to Maral Salmassi and partner Fabian Stall, Television Rocks, is a platform for both artists solo projects. Maral has created a sound that she describes as, “funky, playful glamour tech which is more a combination of New York wave disco, old school hip hop and electro and french cut-up hop than Cologne Post-Minimal sounds and styles”.
The momentum for Maral’s sound has been building. Highlighted on notable blogs, Missingtoof, Discodust, iheartcomix, la decadanse and a slew of others, she is giving us a whole lotta reason to be intrigued. Read on as Maral gives us a peek into her collaborations, thoughts on music, inspirations, fashion, Cologne and my absolute favorite place to be, Spain. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for what’s ahead!! Cheers Maral! x
“I’m a DJ, musician and singer currently running the label Television Rocks together with Fabian Stall aka Zero Cash. We started our label in the beginning of 2007 as a result of our lives crossing their paths in many intense ways thinkable. Zero Cash and I live together and have our studios in the same building. We produced a lot together and are currently working on my album. Zero Cash has a long history as a producer for many different bands and projects. He started doing club music as we started with Television Rocks. His style is a blend of techno and electro, more straight and instrumental, but with a rock attitude. My style is more a mash up of all the music I love to dance to, mostly inspired by rocking electro and hip-hop.
I like anything, which has power and attitude: Music like old-school hip-hop and Electro, rock, metal, classic, good pop music, old blues, pompous new US hip-hop productions or traditional music like Magrebian, Gipsy, or Indian music, Also fashion, art, TV and internet are my inspirations. I don’t want to transfer any message with my lyrics, it’s all about fun, my actual mood with a touch of sarcasm in good fun.
I live in Cologne but except the Dom and the Carnival there is nothing spectacular going on in this city. The nightlife in Cologne can be described as a monoculture. Since ages they play the same old boring minimal bullshit in the clubs. Everybody is complaining but they all keep going to these parties, moving like sloths on the dancefloor. The DJ’s keep playing their lullaby and the German press keeps reviewing this stuff as the hottest shit. It’s hopeless! Well but there is one good thing about living in such a boring city: It’s the best place to work!
My favorite places to play are the clubs Stardust and Goa in Madrid at the moment. The Spanish crowd is the craziest and very stylish! Fashion is very important to me. It’s like music, a tool to express yourself individually. A club full of stylish people is a nice place to play, to look at and to hang around…”
This filthy banger remixed by Fukkk Offf swept the blogosphere and left us yearning for more from this collaboration.
Maral Salmassi Official Biography
Maral Salmassi, born on 24th July 1975 in Teheran, first grew up in Persia and later in Jordan. With the fall of the Shah’s regime in 1979, the family was forced to return to Persia and after seven years under the Islamic regime, they managed to escape from a country subverted by the war between Iran and Iraq and settled in Germany in 1986.
Among the many characteristically uncharacteristic Techno protagonists in Cologne, Maral Salmassi is the most uncharacteristic one: nothing in her work refers to the specific Cologne style or can be defined as “made-in-Cologne”. On her early label Konsequent Records for example, there were mainly straight Tool Techno releases in style of Berlin-based Tresor label sounds. Today, Maral produces funky, (more…)
If you stare at this cotton candy colored pink record long enough, you just might end up hypnotized!!!!! Ok, maybe not, but it sure is nice to look at, innit?! When you get too dizzy, run out and get it!! (Or stay in and order it online, like everything else) Just one of the many cool things HEARTSCHALLENGER has for you to collect!
We’ve been screaming HEARTSREVOLUTION to you for months now and there is no end in sight cause their camp just keeps bringing it!!! Music + graphics. Believe tha hype. Their 6-track Switchblade EP, is out on Kate Moross’ brilliant ISOMORPHS imprint. Full details here, HEARTSREVOLUTION - SWITCHBLADE EP.
“Switchblade” (LA Riots Remix) off the iheartcomix/Scion mixtape, has made its rounds the past few months and we’re not sick of it yet!! Will we ever be?! My instincts tell me NO. So here it is for you to enjoy, along with the official “Switchblade” video shot by Kitty Von-Sometime for The Weird Girls, out of Iceland. Cool costumes custom made by Tao Wei that you’re going to want to wear. Check out some of the video screenshots here.
It has been a while since the last feature on The Toxic Avenger and the timing couldn’t be better as he has sent over his latest grinder of a track, “Defeat!“, as well as some exciting updates!! To say that the Toxic Avenger has been working, would be an understatement. He has been relentless at gigging in the U.S. and Europe and still finding time to create new music, remixes and prepare for his forthcoming EP and LP.
Having just finished off 2 new remixes, Ladytron’s “Ghost” and one for South African group Playdoe, (side project of Spoek of Sweat.X + Sibot), Toxic is set to release his EP, 26th of May on Boxon Records. The EP will contain 4 brand new songs. “Bad Girls Need Love Too“, with remixes of the track by Les petits pilous and Leonard de Leonard. The 4th song is titled ” __________”. (that is the name) For now, you can have a listen to all of them at Toxie’s Myspace.
With a cast of talent collaborating on the video for “Bad Girls Need Love Too”, it looks to be a visual masterpiece! Styled by esteemed Parisian fashion designer, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, (also known as JC/DC), who has dressed some of our favorites, including M.I.A. and Yelle, we can expect to see some colorful pop art inspired fashion!
The above image is a video-clip of The Toxic Avenger – “Bad Girls Need Love Too”, created by Mathieu Danet of the talented Born To Film team. The video was shot in Paris on 7th of April, and is due out at the beginning of May. The EP photo cover was created by Hélène Giansily and the cover design by Anem. The model in the video is a young French girl named Solweig.
Toxic is also working on his LP, which he is hoping to have out sometime in late 08′ off iheartcomix. If you happen to find yourself hanging out in Aix, South of France, the 28th of June, festivities will ensue with the likes of: MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, Vicarious Bliss, Les petits pilous (LIVE), Toxic Avenger, Strip Steve, Uffie (LIVE), Paraone (LIVE) and ER2 (LIVE). Looks to be a swell time!
Something must be in the air. Lately I’ve been listening to a load of music with vocals. People singing about experiences, landscapes, animals, kingdoms. Perhaps it is the coming of the warm weather that alters something in our brains that provokes us to want to hear songs that tell a story; seems ripe for the season.
Who better to tell a tale, than Boston’s Protokoll, who are inspired by the 18th century British poet, William Blake. As their lyrics profess in “Moving Forward”, “Disarm the harm which comes along / It gives an arm to us with all its charms / With thoughts and crimes we strive to bind / What we can’t find upon the barren climes.”
Protokoll’s post-punk, gritty sound find the perfect marriage with the rework of “Moving Forward“, by Philly’s Designer Drugs. With a distinct style and music perfection, Designer Drugs sink their teeth in and kill it!! If you didn’t catch a listen off Franki Chan’s iheartcomix/Scion Remix CD, they’ve kindly provided it here.
Catch up on the latest feature, Designer Drugs on Mochi Beats and a January interview off Oh-Death blog, which reveals the album that influenced Patrick to become a music producer. Also, head to our MIXES section for Protokoll’s “No Men Mixtape“.
Make a purchase of the Protokoll EP, which was a re-release in 2006 off iheartcomix - One of the labels first releases!!
The entire video “I Want Nothing“, directed by Fantasista Utamaro of mashcomix, for The Black Ghosts is one big highlight and amongst the coolest videos I’ve seen in a long time!! From the moment the little character pops his head out the machine and the skeleton man starts sucking everything in his path, we’re taken on a brilliant journey. It’s a superb animation and you’re likely to watch it over and over, like I just did, to see all the bits that went into creating it!!!!
With warm weather ahead, there’s a load of things to get excited for!! The Tales of Colt 45 and VICE are coming to wreck havoc in your lives for the second consecutive summer!! From May through August you will get to experience FREE shows in the following cities:
The Tales of Colt 45 and VICE Present: The Black Ghosts and Thunderheist Tour!!!
5 May // LA // King King w/ DJ C-Town DJ Skeet Skeet (Eat Skeet.com) 7 May // ATLANTA // MJQ (Atlanta) w/ Brian Parris and Skooter 8 May // CHICAGO // Hideout w/ Willy Joy and Capcom and Lazer Crystals 9 May // PHILADELPHIA // The Barbary w/ Dave P (Making Time / FIXED) 10 May // BROOKLYN // Glasslands Gallery w/ dj’s Lauren Flax (iheartcomix) and Sweatshop Labor
Open by invitation only to partygoers 21+ with ID, the events will star headline acts curated by VICE music, including The Black Ghosts, Matt & Kim, Thunderheist, The Death Set!!!!!! (yesss!!!!) and others. The tour will return once a month to the same venue, creating a Colt 45 (love) summer residency in each market.
“Please spread the joy of kick ass music” – iheartcomix
We agree. What is sacred on the vast internet of music blogs? Anything? Or nothing. What is the most important thing for any and all artists of today? GETTING THEIR MUSIC EXPOSED through as many channels as possible!!!!! So to those that deem ‘EXCLUSIVE’ the ultimate, end all be all, it’s a hyped up word. Who wants to be ‘exclusive?’ For exclusive means nothing when there is a world of music fiends spanning this globe for music to saturate their brains with!!!! Those that have the attention span of a rat that may skip or miss a blog with the ‘exclusive’, just might catch it on another!! And for that alone my dear trashy faced friends (had to nab that Hostage) is why EXPOSURE for all music is the NEW BLACK and ‘EXCLUSIVE’ is on a fast pace to death!
With that, we welcome “Poker Face” by one of our favs, The Toxic Avenger, remixed by Dylan (Le Castle Vania) and Blake Miller (Moving Units/Weird Science) of Lies in Disguise. A fantastic track that has become decked out with this rework. Harder? YES. Dirtier? YES. Faster? YES. “We really went for a nice dirty vibe on this one with a hard crunchy bass line, some nice builds, hard drops and then of course i threw in some nice tweaky acid synths for good measure” – Le Castle Vania
What’s ahead? Toxic has a new EP coming out on Boxon Records on 26 of May and his full length will be out on iheartcomix in November. Thx for sharing with the world, boys! xx
