We caught wind of this story a few months back, but didn’t think much of it, or that it would go anywhere, but apparently “Santo Gold” aka Santo Rigatuso, a former wrestler and founder of the “Blood Circus“, later turned jeweler, won’t let it go.
Now that the lovely songtress Santi White, know to us as Santogold is hitting her stride, the wrestler “got lawyer” and is going in for kill in an attempt to get some “blood money” from the name.
And apparently, he’s a real genius when it comes to the name game, and spelling in general, and stakes his claim for the “Gold” on his website www.santogold.com stating “THERE CAN ONLY BE ONLY 1 ELVIS PRESLEY, 1 WALT DISNEY, 1 EIMSTEIN, 1 HUDANI, AND JUST 1 SANTO GOLD!” Rigatuso is also now releasing his own album titled “I Am The Real Santo Gold.”
He also offers these “gems” of advice:
1. & NEVER HIRE MANUFACTURERS TO ATTEMPT TO MAKE A 24 K GOLD PROCESS THAT WOULD NOT TARNISH WHEN THEY SIMPLY COULDEN’T!
2. NEVER HIRE EMPLOYEES TO OPEN UP YOUR MAIL IN ORDERS, POCKET THE CASH AND THROW THE ORDERS IN THE TRASH CANS!
Santo Gold Infommercial
However, when TM’s Lovestar interviewed Santogold back in May 2007, this is what Santi had to say regarding the orgin of her name . . .
Lovestar: Upon doing a google search for ‘Santogold,’ the first entry I came across is an odd site about a man named Santo Rigatuso, who in the mid-80’s, tried to sell fake gold chains & promote his alien movie, Blood Circus. (ha!) Does the name Santogold have anything to do with that?
Santogold: Santogold was a nickname that I got when I was younger cuz I used to wear these huge gold name earrings. My friend who made it up said she got it off an infomercial for cheap gold, and that was it.
“A press release for the mtvU Woodies Awards is a weird place to mine your breaking news, but we do what we can. Yesterday we received a blast from MTV detailing the performers at their annual music-video-for-dorm-rooms award show, including Vampire Weekend featuring Chromeo, the Cool Kids featuring Asher Roth, Lykke Li, and “Santi (formerly known as Santogold).” Formerly known?”
Our TM sources told us that the press release MTV issued with the billing “Santi formerly known as Santogold“, did not come from the Santogold camp. So then, where did it come from?
I think at this point it’s a matter of personal preference, do you prefer “cheap gold” or the real thing?
Let’s get MADDDDD! The Mad Decent Fall Tour has finally arrived, kicking off tomorrow October 16 at Webster Hall in New York City!! DIPLO, Boy 8-Bit, Abe Vigoda, Telepathe, and special guests will be on hand playing a smashing array of tunes fit for all!
There is a lot about Mad Decent that we love and because we want to share that with everyone, Trash Menagerie is giving away 2 FREE GUEST LIST SPOTS (each spot gets a +1 for your best mate!) for the CHICAGO show on Thursday, October 23 at The Abbey!!!!
For a chance to win, all you have to do is answer the following questions, which has to do with one of the reasons why we’re so keen on the Mad Decent movement! The first two people to send in the correct answer to: partypeople@trashmenagerie.com, will win! In the subject line, write MAD DECENT TOUR - CHICAGO. We will notify the winners via email.
Our questions to you – What is Diplo’s non-profit side project called and what was the first single from this project?
** Congrats to the 2 winners that have given us the answers to our questions. The answers are HEAPS DECENT, an artist development program for young indigenous and underprivileged musicians, started by Diplo, Andrew Levins and Nina Agzarian, to help indigenous communities. And the first single to come from Heaps Decent is “SMASH A KANGAROO“! Learn more about Heaps Decent on Throw Shapes and an earlier article on Pitchfork!
Here is a taste of what’s to come on tour from the striking Brooklyn pair known as Telepathe, who have just released their latest EP ‘Chrome’s On It‘, the 14th of October on IAMSOUND. The 7 track 12″ features remixes by Mad Decent, The Mae Shi, Frankmusik, Free Blood and Bobby Evans!
MAD DECENT TOUR DATES
10-16 New York, NY - Webster Hall
10-17 Cambridge, MA - Middle East (Downstairs)
10-18 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret Musée Juste Pour Rire
10-20 Ottawa, Ontario - Babylon
10-21 Toronto, Ontario - Circa Nightclub
10-22 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-23 Chicago, IL - The Abbey
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-25 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre
10-27 Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
10-28 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
10-31 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
11-01 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
11-03 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-04 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
11-05 Phoenix, AZ - The Brickhouse
11-07 Austin, TX - Emo’s
11-08 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
11-10 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
11-11 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
11-12 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
11-13 Baltimore, MD - Sonar
11-14 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
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!”
With all this talk of the LHC creating a black hole that will envelop the earth I think it’s about time that I write about the latest of up’n'coming Chicago producers, Black Holes. They are rather new to the scene here but they show little sign of n00biness. They are clearly some of the best producers to arise from our fledgling electro scene and certainly a welcome change from the mash-up and b-more that dominates the city’s hipster nights.
I’m not trying to belittle their abilities here, but describing their sound is rather simple. They sound like Crookers. So here’s where you think to yourself, “Why would I listen to this if I can listen to Crookers?” Well, firstly, Crookers is good and these kids are almost just as good. Two Crookers is better than one, my grandfather always told me. Secondly, I’m not sure if you guys are old enough to remember but about a year and a half ago (feb 7, 2007; about 8 years ago in blog years) I remember the fluokids posting a little tune called “Massive” by a then unknown duo called Crookers (later released on Pottymouth Records) that was somewhat overlooked because the general consensus was, “Oh, no big deal, they are just trying to sound like Switch.” Well, look where that got them. And I feel like Black Holes are capable of the same thing in the near future if they keep plugging away and develop their own sound so, when you download and play these tunes out now, you will have future ammunition for when they get big and you want to assert your authenticity. Although, now that I’ve said that, does it negate ones ability to use this as snob-fodder?
Anyways, they have certainly caught folks ears here in Chi and elsewhere. They were tapped to open for MSTRKRFT on their upcoming Chicago tour date. They also happen to be the winners of the Trouble & BassLittle Jinder remix contest that recently took place. Here’s a couple of their tunes to whet your appetite and you can hear their winning remix on their myspace.
They picked a fitting band name, yeah? I’ve been getting hit by Hot Chip from all sides, and I like it. They are currently out on tour in North America, i’m eagerly looking forward to their New York shows at Terminal 5, Oct 3 & 4.
I could tell you what the band’s been up to, but the email below from the band’s Joe Goddard, sums it up nicely. It’s always lovely when the band themselves take time to write. I’m just going to tag on a track and recent photos from their show in Tucson, AZ this past Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.
And since I too love the Ewan Pearson remix, and it’s my pick of the lot, give it a listen.
Hi, we are putting out a package of great remixes of songs from ‘Made In The Dark‘ featuring some of the best producers around at the moment.
Dave Taylor (Switch) is obviously killing it at the moment, his recent mix of Mystery Jets and his work for Santogold were great and we have been friends for a while, he did a great mix of ‘Over and Over‘ for us under his Solid Groove guise and if anyone has not heard ‘This Is Sick‘ by Solid Groove then search it out, it is responsible for the sound of a lot of recent records.
(personal note, not from Joe, but 100% agreed, Solid Groove - “This Is Sick”, is REALLY, REALLY, SICK INDEED!)
Dave has completed 2 mixes of ‘Hold On‘ and we liked them both so they both feature on the package. Mock and Toof also remixed ‘Hold On‘ and again, have been friends for a while, their label Tiny Sticks is consistently excellent and they have already featured on Death From Abroad as well as previously remixing “Over and Over.”
I think their mix of ‘Hold On‘ is one of the best mixes we have ever had. Ewan Pearson takes on ‘Touch Too Much‘ and the quality of his mix shows through pretty obviously, I think this mix will be played out by alot of people. If you don’t know Ewan he has been DJing and producing for a while now and his Partial Arts moniker is particularly good in my opinion, especially the ‘Trauermusik‘ release on Kompakt a couple of years ago.
Kollektiv Turmstrasse are one of Felix and Al’s favourite groups, they have been making excellent, melodic, very funky techno for a while and whilst not being the biggest name on the scene have been consistently excellent and responsible for a lot of big DJs ’secret weapons’.
I hope you like this stuff!
We are also putting the finishing touches to our next release, which is an EP of songs from ‘Made In The Dark‘ featuring new contributions from Robert Wyatt, which we are very excited about.
Meeting and working with him was genuinely lovely, look out for that in the next month or so.
take care,
Joe
HOT CHIP ON TOUR
Fri 09/26/08 - Austin City Limits, Austin
Sun 09/28/08 - Metro, Chicago
Mon 09/29/08 - Metro, Chicago
Tue 09/30/08 - Koolhaus, Toronto
Wed 10/01/08 - Metropolis, Montreal
Fri 10/03/08 - Terminal 5, New York
Sat 10/04/08 - Terminal 5, New York, NY - Growing
Sun 10/05/08 - The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA - Growing
Wed 10/08/08 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - Growing
Thu 10/09/08 - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA - Growing
Here at Trash we are lucky to have readers gather together from all over the world. While many of us hail from the States or across the pond in the U.K., our ears are always to the globe and never with narrow minds. So if that isn’t hard enough, imagine trying to write about all the great things we’re hearing! But luckily for us and luckily for you, DJ’s and musicians are increasingly connecting the dots with greater ingenuity and listenability. One such exciting ambassador of world dance music is Brooklyn’s Uproot Andy, pulling together the infectious beats of the world in the forms of of Cumbia, Dancehall, Bassline, Hip-Hop and Electro.
Particularly fascinated with the Latino contribution to the rhythm and bass community, Uproot Andy has taken his chaotic salad of a New York community and paid tribute to it all. Not unlike the interconnections made by Diplo and M.I.A., there still exists an astute community of DJ’s and musicians interested in pairing down this massive planet into a more tangible community of artists inspired by one another’s subcultures as well as their similarities and differences.
In an effort to stay open minded and ever-inspired, here Uproot Andy offers two of his most notable remix credits, one of ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, and a remix of Roots classic Alborosie’s “Kingston Town.” PLUS, over at our All-Star Mix page will be Mr. Andy’s Guacharaca Migration Mix, a feverish journey up and below the world’s equator, surely to make all listeners hit that Hype Machine button in search of the tracklist. Good luck. Until then, we invite you to get out of your Electro-centric chair and try a new dance move.
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.
Summer is winding down and for some that means the end of great weather and lazy days. That doesn’t stop the enjoyment of some sun soak roller disco tunes that reminisce of the late 70’s era. Fan Death, provides these tunes in an almost eerie sense of authenticity. Perfect for the afterparty, the songs wash over you sense of warmth and romance and leave you wanting more.
Little is known about Fan Death, they are being presented to us shrouded in mystery, hopefully to entice us on their substance more than their style. They already have caught the attention and are being endorsed by superstar tastemaker djs like Diplo and Erol Alkan. With good reason too, they are great and could be easily compared to Glass Candy and The Chromatics as well as Cerrone or Gino Soccio. There great expectations to be had here because Fan Death should do some great things.
Be on the lookout for the “Veronica’s Veil” 12″ and future work, although with a group this exciting its unforeseeable that they will be able to ignore.
Please enjoy the following tracks and when the record comes out purchase it.
First tune “The Son Will Rise” is quickly reaching the top of my itunes most played tracks. It’s the infectious horn line and swagger the track has that keeps me coming back. It also is similar feel to rapper Young Jeezy’s track “Circulate“. Which for legal purposes I cannot post but seek it out for a comparrison.
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!
In the last 3 months New York City has felt a quiet roar coming from across the Brooklyn Bridge. Off the JMZ to Myrtle Avenue, deep in the heart of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, is a bodega. But this bodega doesn’t sell $1 40’s, $0.50 Twinkies, or cheap cigarettes, but it does sell an affordable time of your life. The Bodega is an up and coming project from the Chief Magazine boys Andy Smith and Ed Zipco, and it’s working. A cheap, out-of-the-way venue, in which lots of people somehow find there way to and go bat-shit crazy.
Arriving at The Bodega was for me as much of a whim as any other music-related gem I discover via the internet or word-of-mouth. Luckily the night I decided to attend, it was one something of a treat for The Bodega. Playing out that night was Morsy of Nanachill.com and a bright young B-More/Bootybass talent, as well as Famous Friends (Finger on the Pulse), and Mr. Andersonic with a live MPC-set. From the moment I arrived and felt the first trickle of sweat along my forehead, there was no doubt that this was the best party I’ve been to so far (exception goes to Diplo @ T&B for obvious reasons). More than even the urgent sounds of throbbing Booty Bass, it was the crowd that was staggering.
Certainly Daft Punk at Coachella 2006 was enough to make people lose their shit, not to mention the occasional Studio B performance by M.I.A., or most often at Death By Audio. But that Thursday night (yes, Thurs.) brought one of the more diverse (skull caps and dolphin floatees) and apeshit crowds I’ve ever witnessed. At even the slightest sound of the Baltimore Club clap and shake, kids were applauding and jumping with praise. At one point in the evening, the invisible and visceral ooze of crowd pleasure has reached a peak and out came a large stuffed horse, probably won by a lucky girl at one of the many Coney Island water-gun games. The horse, in a flurry of passion and impulse was thoroughly molested by a twosome of B-Boys in the middle of the dance floor. Between furious humpings and the occasional launch into the air, there was little if anything anybody could do to justify what was going on.
Arriving at Bodega at 1AM and leaving at 4AM felt short-lived. But walking out the door I made sure to ask a Bodega faithful what the deal was. I was then introduced to the General Manager Steve, who being extremely accommodating agreed to meet with me in the coming week. After a casual walk around Union Square and a few riffs on the current musical scene, Steve put me in touch with the founders/owner Andy Smith and Ed Zipco. And after a few $1 PBR’s at Soundfix, I came to understand the stoppage in time that was my Thursday night.
Much like any young party-throwers, Ed and Andy liked to throw big ones. At their old loft space in Bushwick they threw dozens of police-happy ragers. These weren’t just ragers though, they were concerts. With friends in bands and as DJ’s, they became notorious for their themed parties for events like the Super Bowl and Halloween. Unfortunately some of these ended with blacked out girls peeing on neighbor’s A/C machines and providing a golden rain to those unlucky enough to be nearby. As the ease of party throwing quickly gave way to the forces in blue, they took them to bars and music venues.
But like any established venue here in New York, these events came with large cover fees and $12 drinks. Dissatisfied with the traditional annals of party throwing, it was time for a creation of their own. With Chief Magazine as their original baby, Ed and Andy had already built a DIY space. And when they caught wind of a crooked bodega space going up for lease last April, they went for broke.
Rotted, dying and possibly full of dead, the space they decided would be their new project was more of an adventure than a project. Filled to the brim with junk, rotting walls, and surgical equipment(they don’t hypothesis on this one), they invited their friends and family to camp out inside and begin renovation.
Andy On His Lunch Break
Over a month later and 12-hr days every day, they rebuilt walls, hauled innumerable amounts of trash and filth from the belly of the bodega, and stacked more debt than all of it combined. By the first week of June they had their first party, and people showed up. Despite a broken stage their first night and a few construction errors, they had, for all they knew, the biggest financial mistake of their lives sitting on 1089 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Looking at the Myspace page for The Bodega, you’ll notice a series of dates for the month of August. Particularly though, you’ll notice that this week is booked in its entirety. Ed and Andy when I talked to them said they were willing to try anything at this point. That they haven’t had a “bad night.” (Save for a punk set ending in shattered glass and a bloody lead singer). At Santo’s Party House, Andrew WK’s mixed blessing, they require $8000 at the bar in order for outside booking to come play. Ed and Andy offered me a chance to play out before I left, ya know, just for fun. To the Chief boys, The Bodega is our space, and if you or I think we can throw a great party, they think so too.
Ed and Andy told me they didn’t have a grand vision necessarily, but just wanted to continue the success of their projects (Chief Mag, The Bodega, Chief Records) and see their musician friends garner the success they deserve. But if everything truly works out, the Chief boys have something unprecedented on their hands. With the excpetion of Fader’s rising FADERlabel, there is no other triad of business force like what they have begun.
With plans to have arts installations, a liquor license, and a fully operational basement space, The Bodega is most certainly here to stay. Perhaps next in line should be the Chief Rail, transporting the young and the restless from the Island and to the BK. But no matter, The Bodega location is almost like a filter, as only the dedicated and truly restless (passionate) come to witness what they’ve been itching for here in New York for a long time.
Friday night will mark the 2nd “Night of the Jams” since I’ve been here. DJ Tameil of the infamous Unruly Records. Unruly Records, for those who don’t know or are too lazy to click the aforementioned link, is the very first Baltimore Club label, started by Scottie B and Shawn Caesar. Other notable Bodega artists include, Chief Record’s family Ninjasonik, Japanther, Juiceboxxx, The Death Set, Danger, Spitzer, and The So So Glos.
On Friday night, the evening of Night of the Jams, take a moment in your “face-down-ass-up,” to look around the Bodega walls and around the room at those in attendance. Most likely you’ll see Ed and Andy, beers in fist, smiling and laughing at what they created, still in disbelief, but having the time of their lives for the 4th time that week.
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.
