Tune in TODAY, Wednesday 24 June, for the second installment of Trash Menagerie’s online radio show on TheHype.fm!! We’ve picked a special guest for this next one, in the form of Trouble & Bass artist, wonky Parisian, MiKiX The Cat!!
Radio show time – Wednesday 24 June at 4PM EST // 9PM GMT!!
What connects Norwegian death metal, French club anthems and London super-producer Paul Epworth? It sounds like a particularly intractable example of the six degrees of separation game. However, these seemingly irreconcilable points on the musical compass are linked by French dance rock four-piece Black Strobe. A simple enough answer. The explanation is going to take a little bit longer.
Not as long as it took the band – Arnaud Rebotini (vocals and programming), David ‘Siskid’ Shaw (guitars and keyboards), Bastien Burger (bass and keyboards) and Benjamin Beaulieu (drums) – to record their debut album, however. Burn Your Own Church is a record ten years in the making. Happily, it’s worth the wait. Few bands manage to combine guitars and electronics as successfully as Black Strobe.
Friday May 8th, 2009
BLACK STROBE (dj set)
ARNAUD REBOTONI (live)
JORDAN Z. (resident)
HOSTED BY: KDM, EVERYONEISFAMOUS & JEAN KELLY GO BANG! @ SONOTHEQUE CHICAGO
NO COVER – FREE COLT 45 FROM 9 TO 10PM
w/ RSVP TO:RSVP@GOBANG.BIZ
Thursday May 14th, 2009
BLACK STROBE & REBOTINI LE POISSON ROUGE NEW YORK
Daft Punk double DJ mix download! Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo on the 1’s and 2’s in Chicago at Route 66 in Chicago in 1997, download, love, and share!
…or is about to. Bruno Levy, who is currently getting buzz in the indie rock world for his video for The Walkmen’s Four Provinces, has let us in on Sialagogue, the first piece from his current project World’s End.
Bruno first won acclaim as member of video art crew SquareSquare, one of the most sought-after VJs in New York in the early 2000s. After landing mega-gig after mega-gig and garnering praise from the likes of Wired, he took a 4-year sabbatical in Nepal. Upon his recent return, he started this first-time collaboration between him and hi-profile drummer Deantoni Parks (whose resume reads like a Rolling Stone “best of” list).
To execute the visual complement to Deantoni’s instrumental composition, Bruno enlisted the help of the lovely Rila Fukushima (who you may have seen modeling for designers like D&G) to act as the stop-motion cell and central character for the video. Two days of animation, several ink pens, thousands of photos, and trips to the Paris Catacombs, Iguazu Falls and the New York Aquarium later, he created a video worthy of its name.
By the way, Bruno sent us the definition of the video’s name:
si·al·a·gogue or si·al·o·gogue (s-l-gôg)
n.
A drug or other agent that increases the flow of saliva. Also called ptyalagogue.
You can most certainly sense that as you watch the video. Be on the lookout for other videos from World’s End and from Bruno’s solo projects.
Freak You who has been featured on this blog recently sent over his latest work. Franck has given his touch to “Eagles Don’t Sparkl” by fellow frenchmen we are ENFANT TERRIBLE. This trio hails from Paris and is still unsigned. That might change pretty soon though as weEF are playing Club NME both in London and Paris in February.
While the original is a stomping electronic rock song with spooky vocals, the remix is haunting like New Order in their most melancholic moments. Freak You makes the song faster and adds a more driving beat. Nice work, though not for the light at heart.
We have 2009 and London/Manchester trio We Have Band, have a brave cover from the Buffet Libre Dj’s REWIND covers project, ‘West End Girls‘, by pop geniuses, Pet Shop Boys. They sing this so effortlessly, I don’t mind it being a cover at all. In fact, I’m rather glad they chose Pet Shop Boys to cover; perfect timing with PSB’s ‘revival.’
As 2008 neared its final months, there was a plethora of music that I didn’t get around to mentioning, including, We Have Band’s debut single, ‘Oh!‘, released 11/24, via the 50 Bones label. “Oh!” had a variance of remixes that came in droves from the likes of Micachu, Gentlemen Drivers, Andrew Friendly, Plugs, and Yo! Majesty.
While the repetitive “Oh!” was racing around in our heads, We Have Band’s “You’ve Had Band (Demo)”, was working its way ’round the blogs and “Hear It In the Cans (DIY Version)”, was picked up for the 6th compilation on the Parisian label, Kitsuné Maison. We Have Band is currently writing and recording songs for their upcoming album and have a list of gig dates (including SXSW in Austin, TX) that can be found on their myspace. Undoubtedly, the self described “disco-rock trio”, are taking shape, so keep an eye out!
I saw the New York premiere of “Justice’ A Cross the Universe” last week. It’s a documentary of the band shot & produced by award winning directors Romain Gavras (”Stress”), and So Me (”D.A.N.C.E.”, “DVNO”) during the last 3 weeks of their Myspace sponsored tour in North America.
The screening was supposed to start at 7, I got there 20 minutes late, I thought I was going to miss it, but it was just starting. Members of the Ed Banger gang were in attendance, Busy P, So Me, SebastiAN, Amandine, of course Justice – Xavier and Gaspard.
I really thought one of best “characters” was the enduring, Christian bus driver. 100% Americana, 55 – 60 years old, reminiscing about singing in the church choir, practicing his vocal exercises, snapping shots of mountains with his camera phone, dealing with blown tires, and “crap” . . . literally.
Now throw the bus driver in with Justice, and their tour manager, “Bouchon“, English translation = bottleneck, stopper, plug. Bouchon has an obsession with guns, (I swear on one occasion he was in a Walmart shopping for one.) I think he is the most “gangster” French person i’ve come across in awhile, if ever. He’s definitely over the top.
And last but not least, Justice. Some of my personal favorite moments – Xavier & Gaspard kissing – Gaspard having sex with an Asian girl that allegedly looked like Xavier. The duo shopping for 8 mil homes. (Can they really afford that?)
Lots of drunk girls freaking out, singing “We Are Your Friends” at the top of their lungs, lots of “OMG I love you guys!”, puking, fights, blood, and hotel room pillow fights. I learned that Xavier can play the piano, and quite well, he is also caught on film serenading Anthony Keidis from Red Hot Chili Peppers with his band’s own song “Under the Bridge“. The look on Keidis’ face is priceless. There are also cameo appearances by Diplo (using the bathroom), the Ed Banger clan, and various other “scensters”.
It was an entertaining movie, certainly one for the fans, and it gives you more or less accurate inside look at what it’s like on tour in the land of Justice. It’s well done, considering the time restrictions it took to film, produce, and release the documentary by December 9, 08. The tour they were shooting ended in April of 08. Gavras and So Me do a great job of capturing the intensity of Justice‘ live performances. Quick cuts from revving up back stage to being right in the middle of a live dynamic sonic assault.
After the premiere, everyone headed over to hear Justice DJ at Webster Hall with SebastiAn and Busy P, who rounded out the night with old school Chicago House. Fun was had by all, and I felt like I was living a scene right out of “A Cross The Universe“.
If you live in Chicago, there is a screening of “A Cross The Universe” at The Metro on Nov. 14th, there are other screenings to coincide with their DJ gigs around North America, for more info visit UR CHICAGO.
As we speak, there is a contest running “Justice for All” – win a trip to Chicago on New Year’s Eve to hang out with Justice and So Me and party at Revolution Number 9, or take home cash. All you have to do is create a video, and get the most votes. The final winner will be chosen by Justice, So Me, Busy P, and other special folks. Maybe they will like your work so much you’ll shoot their next documentary?
Sign up and get full info at www.industreate.com/contest, create a video of what you did that was “Great in 2008“, then upload your video to www.Vimeo.com and tag it with “JST4ALL” and “TRASHMENAGERIE“.
As Big Stereo points out – “This is a contest for us too! We wanna hang out with you in Chicago so this is important, ha!*”
* Trash Menagerie note to Big Stereo and the rest of ya’ll, may the best blog win!
