Yes kids you heard right, the effervescent and sublime Björk is releasing a very special DVD/CD/VINYL recording, Voltaic, to be released on 23 June, 2009 through One Little Indian.

Available in five different physical configurations, Voltaic will be a celebration of the past two years of Björk’s Volta activities and the subsequent two-year world tour. The DVD’s include footage of her live shows in Paris and Reykjavik and all the music videos from Volta, whilst the two CDs include live studio performances and remixes of songs from Volta.

We are very excited about versions of “Earth Intruders,” “Declare Independence,” “Innocence,” “Wanderlust,” and “Dull Flame of Desire”, by Simian Mobile Disco, Matthew Herbert, Graeme Sinden, Ghostdigital, and Modeselektor– WOWZA!

For all of you gagging to get your hands on this, the recordings are available in five different packages:

1. CD 1 only
2. CD 1 and DVD 1
3. CD 1 and 2 plus DVD 1 and 2
4. CD 1 and 2, DVD 1 and 2, plus a set of three vinyl LPs (with the contents of CD 1 and CD 2)
5. One vinyl LP (with contents of CD 1)

I love homemade videos that are oddly peculiar. Particularly this bizarre, unofficial video for the Peaches and Drums of Death track, “I Feel Cream”, which incorporates Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, The Shining, Carrie, Snow White, King Kong, scary clown faces, and more. Ah, such wondrous visions! It’s that dark, sick side of me that has a high appreciation for the perverse. “I Feel Cream”, is also the title for the upcoming Peaches album, to be released via XL, 4th May in Europe, and 5th May, in North America. The LP features exciting contributions from the likes of Soulwax, Simian Mobile Disco, Drums of Death, Gonzales, and more.

The hotly-tipped Scotsman, Drums of Death, will be supporting Peaches on her European and North American tour, 4th May through 17th June. Can’t wait. Check the dates on either of their myspace pages. If you didn’t catch the Drums of Death and Peaches mixtape, (made in Berlin and London, late 2008), out this past February, be sure to have a listen. “This is a nasty stew of screwed-up clunk beats, bass noise, electro freakbeat and more unlicensed samples than you can shake your copyright stick at,” says Drums of Death. We’re all about it. Check out Peaches and Drums of Death as they have a chat with Dazed Digital!

Now that you’ve learned a bit about Alex Sushon (Bok Bok) below, have a look at his latest creation with Kate Moross. The pair have teamed up to direct the video for Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Synthesise’. Phenomenal!! Totally trippy. Pretty much all you need projected on a blank wall, for your next mega warehouse party. I can’t imagine if the colors were flashing red and green. Rave on.

SATURDAY: DURAN DURAN | NERD | FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE | FRIENDLY FIRES | FAT FREDDYS DROP

SUNDAY: GROOVE ARMADA | LADYHAWKE | SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO | HORSE MEAT DISCO | SECRETSUNDAZE

DAY TICKET £42.50+booking fee
WEEKEND £75.00+booking fee

Allegedly, the music cognoscenti have dubbed 09 as the “year of pop”, which is a good thing, as if we believe the newspapers then any chance to be transported away from the miserable climate should be rejoiced.

Better still and by no mere coincidence we are ever so slightly pleased to announce a one-off UK exclusive festival performance from Duran Duran at Lovebox in July. ‘Kings of Pop’, ‘rock legends’, all terms apply as they top the bill on Saturday night; expect to hear all the classics of many a misspent youth from one of the biggest selling bands in the history of British popular music.

Adding more weight to the Main Stage on Saturday we have hip hop crossover collective N.E.R.D. featuring the ladies choice Pharell Williams. After witnessing first hand their Lovebox Dublin show last year, we’re definitely guaranteed an historic and super-charged performance.

If you haven’t yet heard of Florence and the Machine where have you been!?, she’s just picked up the Critics Choice Brit Award and will be making a Lovebox debut with her blend of quirky, eccentric and utterly brilliant blend of blues, soul and indie pop.

Over on the new improved and wildly unique Gaymers Stage, complete with bandstand, hammocks, and a tree top cider bar, Friendly Fires headline Saturday. This marks a return to Lovebox for the band, who first played back in 2006 while still newly formed, but who have subsequently gone a bit stellar with an amazing debut album and some amazing 2008 shows. We’re already looking forward to the show stopping hands in the air under the stars moment when they drop ‘Paris’ on Vicky Park.

Rounding off the first artists confirmed for Saturday are New Zealand’s very finest musical exports, Fat Freddys Drop who will be taking to the Main Stage on Saturday afternoon with their dubbed up reggae, ska, fat bass funk and lack of apostrophe.

On Sunday
As always, Lovebox Masters of Ceremonies, Groove Armada are back to lend a steady hand to the tiller; performing on Sunday with their only live festival appearance in the UK this year. As we have the inside track on the boys we can assure you that they will be showcasing sounds from the new album with an all new live show, which will continue to up the game of these dyed-in-the-wool festival showmen and bring Sunday to a shuddering climax.

Having experienced rapid success with her brilliant self-titled album since her performance at last year’s Lovebox, Ladyhawke is back once again. While we’ve still got loads more to announce on all the stages and soundsystems we can reveal that Simian Mobile Disco will be rocking one dance arena on Sunday, and since we’ve been after these dudes for a while now we expect them to step up to the plate and deliver us some sonic home runs.

And finally for now, Lovebox would not be Lovebox without two of London’s perennially popular party sound-sytems and muscical buddies secretsundaze and the house of Horse Meat Disco; you’d have to have been living under stone on another planet to have missed out on the fuss that both continue to cause with residencies and nights in far flung corners, radio shows, mixes, and fly-off-the-shelves vinyl releases. We haven’t yet decided which day they’ll both appear on yet so watch this space.

Stay tuned for more additions and friend us on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and all that jazz for news on line-up additions to what will be the best and broadest line-up London will see this year.

Lovebox Limited edition T-shirts
To celebrate kicking off the year and to clothe our backs while we graft into July we’ve released a tee-shirt to coincide with the posters appearing around town right now. These are a limited edition run of a hand-screened design printed on a beautiful, premium crew-neck white vintage washed Alternative Apparel t-shirt. So order one now before we sell out or they disappear into our wardrobes. CLICK HERE £15 + pp

Lovebox Allstars . . . . a few disco dates for your diary
If you are in London or Manchester in the next couple of weeks, The Lovebox Alllstars, Messrs Fillary & Butterfield, will be directing the dance at a few places: The REX Club at The Royal Exchange, Bank, Friday 27th February, 7pm-11pm, Superfilth @ 93 Feet East, Friday 27th February, 11pm-3am, Horse Meat Disco @ Eagle London, Kennington Lane. Sunday 1st March, DiscoDisco @ Label, Deansgate, Manchester. Saturday 7th March

Free music from Groove Armada
one of our headline acts… If you haven’t already done so – don’t forget to sign up to the new B-LIVE Share music platform so you can get your hands on exclusive new Groove Armada tracks 3 weeks before anyone else! It’s so simple – click on the link below, create a profile, download track one and then start sharing it with your friends to unlock further tracks.

Sharing is simple – you can simply paste your unique URL (given to you once you create your profile) into an email, send it to your friends directly from the site, install the Facebook app or the B-LIVE share widget.

www.bliveshare.com
Track 2 Pull Up (Crank It Up), which only requires 20 shares, is currently tearing up the dance floors worldwide.
- Love from Lovebox

2 Many DJs

2 Many DJs

Soulwax

Soulwax in mode Dia de los Muertos

Friday night, October 31, 2008. The weather was crisp, the girls were mostly naked, and the streets were lined with youths waiting to get into the HARD Haunted Festival. After a very thorough security search (including a pat-down on the chest), I was finally admitted in. One hour later the entire place was jam packed with smelly, sweaty bodies and loud sounds of amazing music vibrating throughout the festival grounds.

Navigating this place was a nightmare! There were four stages, and to get to two of them you had to go through one. People were scrambling and stumbling back and forth all night in a constant stream of, “I need to get to this stage where so-and-so is playing next!” while attempting not to trip over the semi-lifeless bodies of candy kids rolling like the ’90s still existed.

I ended up seeing 2 Many DJ’s throw down a killer set for my first show. Amazing. The crowd was enjoying it so much that even girls with too many rolls to be naked started peeling off their shirts and throwing them on stage! Fast forward to behind a different outdoor stage…
The Soulwax boys were getting dressed up for their show, and donning their white suits. There was velcro present and masks reminiscent of Dia de los Muertos. Justice was running around in the midst of it all trying to keep from being vandalized by a 16 year old girl with braces and a penchant for going overboard on drugs and screwing headliners. The Crookers gave me lessons in Italian, Simian Mobile Disco was wrapping up on stage, and my own search for booze went incomplete.
Their show in a word: fantastic. The kids were jumping, singing along, and the vibe was, for a small amount of time, pure music enjoyment.

After their set was done I followed the Belgians back to their tour bus and jumped into champagne, a Lucky Strike, and an interview to discuss their docu-film “Part of the Weekend Never Dies”. To put it into perspective for those of you unfamiliar… Take the energy of rock and sex appeal of electro, put it in a blender and that is SOULWAX, the Belgian group composed of David Dewaele, Stephen Dewaele, Stefaan Van Leuven and Steve Slingeneyer.

Most of us are familiar with Soulwax by their work as related to the band, 2 Many DJs, Radio Soulwax, and most recently, their docu-film “Part of the Weekend Never Dies“. It was an incredible film that captured the essence of life on the road, life in the party, and everything that encompasses the in-between. Commentary in the film includes the likes of Justice, Busy P, LCD Soundsystem, and the editing is done so well that when watching, your adrenaline shoots up and you feel like you’re back in the show with killer music and crisp colors.

And now, a brief discussion with Soulwax…

bisouK: How long did it take to edit “Part of the Weekend Never Dies”?
David: I’d say six (6) months.

bK: What has the reception been like thus far from audiences and fans?
DD: One of the things about the way the industry is changing is that I don’t think you get any bad response because now there’s so much output from everywhere that people who don’t like it just won’t see it.

bK: How did your performance ensembles come together?
DD: We think when people go on stage they should make an effort. And because it’s white it’s a source of light because when you put light on white, it reflects. And the tuxedos is because we like things to be classy.

bK: The girls shown in the film kind of give off a 60’s free love vibe, was this intentionally shown or is that really the feel?
DD: Honestly I don’t know the answer, we are visually influenced by so many things from that era, but it wasn’t a conscious effort.

bK: Are you guys feeling more of Soulwax right now or 2 Many DJs as far as work is concerned?
DD: Right we now I’m feeling food…but yeah it changes every day. Things happen, you don’t know why things happen…We don’t pretend like we know what we’re doing.

bK: Is it safe to say this film was your way of doing a film like a DJ set, based on the editing of the images and sounds? Was this the goal?
DD: Great. Thank you, that’s an intention. That’s actually, when we had all the footage of 18 months of this, it’s very hard to make something exciting that would stand the test of time and cover all the bases of what we wanted to explain… the show the boredom.. we wanted to show the other sides.. All these kids are here and they’re watching Justice now and they must think “Wow, to only be in that position would be incredible”. We tried to show that it’s not that incredible… It’s heavier, maybe, than people imagine. Especially the way we do it… There’s not many people that produce and DJ and play all at the same time. But, it’s logical.

bK: Who are you currently remixing and when can we expect those out?
DD: Honestly, it’s tough but we had to turn down some people that we really would have loved to have remixed and we turned down some really big names that would have been nice to remix.. but we did “Night Versions“, which is remixes of ourselves… basically the last two years all we’ve done is remixes. We’re a little remixed out, but who knows maybe in three months we’ll come out with something.

bK: What are the basic energy level differences in the crowds of the different countries you play in?
DD: Not that big of a difference. I’ll say that there are two exceptional ones: States and Japan. Not good or bad, exceptionally different.. for example here I feel like it’s really something of it’s time. For example, if we do a Radio Soulwax gig in Barcelona, it’ll be sold out and there’s a sense of understanding. These people know where we come from they’ve supported us from the beginning, and they’ll probably be there in two years time. But here in the States it’s like all of the sudden, they’ve seen footage of how kids in Europe are doing it, and they think, “This is how we should do it”. That makes for something you don’t really trust that much. I have a feeling we could come back in a year and people will be like whatever. And in japan it’s almost the reverse in respect but also similar in that it’s new. But they’re so obsessed in every detail. It’s not a bad thing, though.

bK: Who was most involved in editing with Kurt Augustyn?
DD: Steph did most of the editing for the whole film and then Steph and I did the music.

bK: Did he have more or less free reign or was there a specific set of parameters? Or he start editing and then you came with Yes or No?
Stephen D: A little of both. There was a lot of stuff I said no. At one point Kurt had done something and I had really really liked it. And we used that as a starting point and just went from there.

bK: Outside of music, what art/fashion influences what you are doing and/or who you are as a band?
DavidD: The truth is that everything influences you. It’s hard because we have, Steph and I, absorbed so much pop culture. We buy so many DVDs and books that it’s hard for me to say just one thing.

bK: If you had to give advice, after doing Soulwax, Radio Soulwax, POTWND, and 2 Many DJs…what would you say to those out there aspiring to be on such a level?
DD: Don’t do it! We don’t know anything about how it happened, things just happen. Either you go ‘once upon a time’ or you have no idea how things came to this.

bK: So after 120+ shows, one camera, editing, premiers, etc. is there the possibility of another Soulwax film?
DD: Nothing like this, nothing about us. We really want to get into multimedia. In fact, old media is what we’re interested in.

And with that the tourbus took off to Mexico.

Can’t get enough of HARD Haunted Mansion debauchery? Check out these fun photos by LA kid Caesar Sebastian…

deadmau5

Justice

Boys Noize

DJ AM

*Special thanks to the Soulwax group, Michel, Hugo for the Luckys, Maarten for helping me get around, Dana at Biz3 PR, and Caesar Sebastian for the use of his photos.

Record Label, Fools Gold is about to make this summer even hotter with a slew of new releases scheduled to come out in the next few months.

If you have been living in a cave or maybe some how stuck in time back in Soviet Russia, Fools Gold is the new indie record label started by Nick Catchdubs (who was just featured here on Trash) and A-trak. The label, so far is famous for bringing the world rapper Kid Sister and rapper Kid Cudi, who surprisingly are not related but both amazing. They have also introduced Canadian powerhouse producer/dj duo, Jokers of the Scene and Sammy Bananas a member of East Coast phenoms, Certified Bananas.

This is the kind of thing Fools Gold is about; introducing and breaking new talent to the scene and keeping things fresh. Not to mention the artwork is astounding because creating it is super designer, Dust La Rock.

They have recently released a Kid Sister remix ep with mixes by Simian Mobile Disco and JFK from MSTRKRFT. Head over to RCRDLBL to hear a preview.

Next up is the KAVINSKY picture disc vinyl “BLAZER”.

And it keeps getting better and better.

Atlanta’s Treasure Fingers is releasing his hit single “Cross the Dance Floor” with huge remixes by Laidback Luke, Curses! and lifelike.

Then Canada invades the scene with “Acid Bagg” ep by Jokers of the Scene. Almost everyone has been waiting to get there hands on a copy of “baggy bottom boys” and this will be the chance. Brodiniski and Destroy Disco will also be appearing on the ep remixing “acidrod”.

And speaking of Jokers of the Scene, they have just teamed up with NYC clothing company MISHKA for their new mix tape series “Keep Watch” – listen to the mix tape here – MISHKA explains, “Mix tapes have always been an integral part of NYC’s underground culture and burgeoning music scene, and as such, Mishka is proud to carry on the tradition with the launch of Keep Watch. Featuring top DJs hailing from every genre and geographic corner, Mishka’s Keep Watch party-mixes celebrates one of the most widely practiced American art forms. Released on a semi regular basis (usually to accompanying party), the mixes will be available for free download through our site, the Bloglin and very shortly podcast on Itunes.” The mix features a track from the “Acid Bagg” ep and one from labelmates, Nacho Lovers, ep.

other scheduled releases are:

FGR011 – Four Color Zack & Pretty Titty Sing Sing Breaks
FGR012 – Sammy Bananas Braids & Fades
FGR013 – Jokers Of The Scene Acid Bagg EP
FGR014 – Nacho Lovers Go On / Acid Life
FGR015 – Bag Raiders Big Fun EP
FGR016 – Trackademicks Enjoy What You Do
FGR017 – Crookers EP
FGR018 – Congorock EP
FGR019 – LA Riots EP
FGR020 – Malente I Like It

So keep a look out and be aware!

Also if you’re in the Chicago area on August 23, 2008, co-owner of Fools Gold, A-trak will be performing at Subterranean. It’s a 17+ show, so buy your tickets here. And grab those two tracks of his off his blog here.

The Black Ghosts are truly a multi talented pair. They’ve demonstrated their aptitude as both an electronic and a rock act, a dance band and a sit-back-and-think band, and had success crossing over to just about every major genre short of mariachi. Now to place the cherry on top, they’ve released a mixtape, thoughtfully named “The Black Ghosts Mixtape” (sorry, not available on cassette….well… unless you record it to tape yourself for authenticities sake). To promote it they have provided us with a mashup taken straight from said mixtape worthy of 2 Many DJs best mashes. Taking Lindstrom’s “I Feel Space” and, as the kids say, “mashing it up” with ex-Simian frontman, Simon Lord’s fun-turned-ethereal vocal from The Black Ghosts laid-back jam, “Something New” (go to their myspace to hear the original). It’s really amazing how Lindstrom’s signature stratospheric sound completely alters the vibe of the original. After downloading this exclusive, be sure to venture out in the interwebs and grab yourself a copy of the mix where all fine digital musics are sold. Oh and rumor has it that the album will be released in July in the U.S. on IAMSOUND Records!

The Black Ghosts vs. Lindstrom – Something New (Galactic Version)

While fully immersed in their new tour “Music Tastes Better With You”, Buffetlibre DJ’s have edited the sequel to one of the most celebrated sessions of last year – another helping from the Verbena Selected series. As with the last session, which received more than 15,000 downloads in less than 3 months, Buffetlibre DJ’s have left the task of choosing the tracklist to their favourite artists of the moment. With names such as Simian Mobile Disco, Midnight Juggernauts and Dragonette collaborating last time round, now it’s down to The Gossip, Dj Mehdi, Cut Copy, Shy Child and Busy P, founder of the French label Ed Banger. So, to discover Busy P’s secret love of Deee-Lite, Make Model’s weakness for Le Tigre, and the eighties touch that made Girl Talk fall for Jane Child.

DOWNLOAD :: VERBENA SELECTED 2

And as if that wasn’t enough, Verbena Selected 2 has arrived accompanied by Verbena Rewind 2. In this new set dedicated to the 80’s, Buffetlibre DJ’s have followed the advice of several national and international music sources in putting together the tracklist. Contributors include – Discobelle, Electric Zoo, The Beeb Blog, Discodust, Electrorash, Proyecto Batidora, Red Threat, Trash Menagerie, Get Wierd Turn Pro, Madrid, Acid Boys, Streetkiss, iheartcomix, Kidz by Colette, Pretty Much Amazing, Cause=Time.

DOWNLOAD :: VERBENA REWIND 2

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