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ONES TO WATCH - CULOE DE SONG

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:01:20 GMT

Born on South Africa’s east coast, Culoe’s musical future seemed ordained from a young age, with his family christening him Culoleth (‘Our Song’). His career began in earnest when aged 16, he started playing out in the clubs of his hometown Durban. Apparently, the owners ‘didn’t notice’ his youthful age.

Mentored by South African scene legend Black Coffee, he started getting props for his production on the 2007 release ‘Have Another One’. It was clear this was no ordinary wannabe DJ. Then came the moment in 2008 when his application to the influential Red Bull Music Academy was accepted; the academy snatches upcoming talents and shapes them into fully formed artists (previous alumni include Warp’s Hudson Mohawke and Flying Lotus).

“The RBMA had a big effect on my life. Before, I was just doing my thing in South Africa. It took me to a wider audience in Europe and helped me adapt to a different atmosphere. It took me to a world I’d always dreamed of.” That world was Barcelona, the only European city the young South African has ever visited and the HQ for that year’s training camp – think the clubland version of police academy.

His industry breakthrough came in October 2008, when he mesmerised the crowd at Barca’s Macarena club with his soulful deep house grooves. The closing track, ‘Bright Forest’, a homemade Fruity Loops creation, was picked up by the mighty Innervisions imprint and released earlier this year to rave reviews.

Showing a maturity that belies his tender age, Culoe seems to take success in his stride. Ego, and the various pitfalls it entails, don’t seem to be an issue for this soon-to-be-superstar. “I will never forget getting that email from Dixon. I was very grateful he liked my music. The effect of that release was huge. It’s helped my career a lot and was part of the reason I got the gig at Sonar, which was the biggest event I’ve ever played. It took everything up a level for me over here.”

For a while it looked as if Culoe de Song might be one of those acts, who achieves international acclaim but remains in the shadows of his home scene. While his Osunlade-referencing beats stand out amid the minimal house tracks bleeping out of sound systems across Europe, in South Africa it’s the dominant sound.

But his cool confidence and unfaltering belief in his own abilities appear to be carrying him forward: “I’m getting better known at home with the release of my album on Soulistic which is an offshoot of Universal. There’s one track on there that’s more commercial and a wider audience can relate to. The album’s title is A Giant Leap, which signifies how far I feel I’ve come in the last three years, and is a celebration of everything I’ve achieved.”

With an EP out on Japanese label Mule, plans to tour Asia, a host of European dates played end of last year and his album released, the future looks retina-scaringly bright for this naïve talent. All he wants, he says is: “For people to connect with my music and to see where the journey goes. I will never stop dreaming. If you dream, you have a wider picture of the world and that vision can carry you far.”

21 SAUCES OF INSPIRATION - Sally Shapiro

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:29:17 GMT

Sally Shapiro’s delightful mixes of disco and pop have always garnered a strong reaction from the online music community. Which is somewhat expected, this publicity shy Swede injected credibility back into disco music with the help of long time producer Johan Agebjörn.

Back in 2007 her first album Disco Romance seduced the music press with the devilish Pitchfork giving her a rare 8.5 out of ten. She then went on to have her album remixed by fans such as Junior Boys, Jon Brooks, Lindstrøm, Holy Fuck and Juan Maclean.

Her most recent album Guilty Pleasure is chock full of delightful hooks, pop decadence and a dash of Swedish kitsch.

We sat down with ‘80s obsessed Shapiro and Agebjörn to find out that pop star Dido, cult act The KLF and cheese A-lister Hugh Grant all permeate their delicious disco world.

1. What gets you both going in the morning?
Sally & Johan : Coffee.

2. What five records would you take to a desert island and why?
Sally:
Mylène Farmer “Les Mots (CD 1)”
Suzanne Vega “Suzanne Vega”
Dido “No Angel”
Madonna “Immaculate Collection”
Mecano “Descanso Dominical”
Because these are some of the (very few actually) records I mainly listen to.

Johan:
Kraftwerk “Radioactivity”
Pet Shop Boys “Introspective”
Various Artists “The Italo Disco Collection”
Voodoo Child “The End of Everything”
The KLF “Chill Out”
Because these records represent my favorite genres: disco and ambient.

3. What inspires you to create?
Sally and Johan: Other music, and all experiences of being in love or other important moments in life.

4. What book or piece of literature are you reading at the moment?
Johan: C.S. Lewis: “Out of the silent planet”
Sally: Erlend Loe: “Blåst” (“Tatt av kvinnen” in original language)

5. Favorite piece of literature and why?
Johan: Science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov. They are imaginative, smart and somehow realistic.
Sally: “Naiv. Super.” By Erlend Loe. Well, mainly all books by Erlend Loe and Inger Edelfeldt.

6. Favorite club?
Sally: Doesn’t go out so much these days. Different synth pop clubs the times I do.
Johan: Skoldisco in Gothenburg.

7. What one historical figure inspires you or would you like to meet?
Sally: I´m not so much into history. Maybe some old communist thinker.

8. List five movies that you couldn’t live without?
Sally:
Music and lyrics
Bridget Jones diary
The Sound of music
Bagdad Café
Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain)
Mamma Mia
Midvinterduell and Saxofonhallicken (two short films by Lars Molin)

Johan:
Solaris (2002)
Space Odyssey: 2001
Magnolia
Mulholland drive
Logan’s run

9. Favorite director or actor?
Sally: Actor(s) – Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Meryl Streep, and Colin Firth.
Johan: Director – David Lynch.

10. Favorite piece of architecture or building?
Sally: That would be an old cottage from the 1800´s century in the countryside.

11. Favorite combination of food or recipe?
Sally: Soy burger, boiled potatoes, carrots and green beans, mushroom sauce and lingonberry jam. And then pancakes with whatever.
Johan: Fried tofu with peanut sauce and rice.

12. Favorite musical genre in the last 100 years and what would you mix it with if you could?
Sally: 80s disco. It would just get worse if it would be mixed with some other genre.
Johan: Italo disco. Would like to mix it more with ambient, like in my remix for Glass Candy.

13. Favorite Internet site?
Johan: MySpace. Such an easy way to get in contact with musicians all over the world – I doubt we could have made two remix albums as easily without it.
Sally: Wikipedia.

14. Who has had the biggest influence on you in your life?
Sally: My parents probably.

15.What is one record you should never be seen dancing to in a club?
Johan: Anything by Eminem.
Sally: Any boring repetitive drums-and-bass-with-no-melody-techno. (I do like Eminem though.)

16. Favorite 5 music artists currently listening too?
Sally: Madonna, Dido, Au Revoir Simone, Belle and Sebastian, Doris.
Johan: Bogdan Irkük, Lindstrøm, Au Revoir Simone, Friday Bridge, Sandra.

17. Favorite piece of art or artist and why?
Sally: Mylene Farmer.
Johan: Aphex Twin. Probably the greatest artist of the 90s. He did such a lot for electronic music and even though I make music in very different genre I’m taking influences from his fantastic building of melodies and twiddling of synths.

18. Artist you’d most like to collaborate with?
Sally: Maybe Leonard Cohen. It would be a nice mix of voices.
Johan: Richard X, but he keeps ignoring my MySpace messages.

19. One obscure band you think should be more popular?
Johan: Intellivision (who released a CD on spacesynth label Hypersound a few years ago).

20. What’s your ringtone?
Sally: The first one that is pre-programmed in the phone. I seldom have it on. Just checking SMS once in a while.
Johan: My cellphone was stolen at a DJ gig, so none at the moment.

21. Does Sally Shapiro have a favorite sauce?
Sally: Swedish brown sauce.

MY MUSIC MOMENT - Daniel Wang

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:41:25 GMT

Daniel Wang is the head of the label Balihu Records. He is also one of the most in-demand disco DJs in the world, playing in a style that recalls the greats of the genre and showing a deep respect for how disco music should be presented. Daniel was born in Oakland, California, “which was basically where all the blacks and Chinese lived”, but moved with his parents to Taiwan when he was seven years old. A mere six years later at the tender age of 13 Daniel was inducted into the secret world of illegal Taipei clubbing. Here he recounts the early experiences that shaped his future.

“I was always known as the ‘American boy’ at school in Taiwan, and was exposed first hand to the indoctrination practised by allies of the United States in the seventies, against the perceived evils of communism. we were taught that the Chinese communists were terrible, horrible people, and had to write essays about the evils of communism. It was pure indoctrination. Our teachers told us really cruel and horrible stories about the Cultural Revolution, which of course were true, but it’s kind of heavy stuff for nine-year old kids.

Taiwan was supported by the peacekeeper of the region, America, but also had strong economic and social ties with Japan. What I got, without really realising it, was a huge dose of really cool Japanese pop culture. There were always crazes sweeping through in the early eighties, like everyone dressing as sailors with little hats and insignia, or dressing head to toe in black or something.

At this point, musically, I was drawn towards the disco grooves of commercial pop acts like Leo Sayer, Bee Gees and even The Carpenters. We were getting stuff from the radio mainly. I remember at the time that ‘Upside Down’ by Diana Ross was always playing. That record, the groove! I was so crazy about that record. I must have listened to it 40 times in a row.

When I was 13, I moved to an American school in Taipei. Through some older classmates, I was introduced to a small group of vidal Sassoon hair stylists, who opened my eyes to a much more underground culture. They were all super stylish, wearing head-to-toe black Comme des Garçons – I mean: Comme des Garçons in Taipei in the early eighties!

These older girls took me under their wing, and took me out partying in illegal clubs and secret back room discos, that technically existed as ‘tea rooms’. One of these clubs was called The Diana and another one was called Billie Jeans. These were super cool discotheques, all black-and-white chequered floor, neon-coloured lights, everything super professional. Technically, dancing was illegal in Taipei, so the police could come and raid these places; just dancing was seen as an offence against public morality.

I was still only 13, but had the benefit of being slightly taller than most kids my age. By now, I was getting down to slightly more cutting edge sounds like Freez’s ‘I.O.U.’, Hazel Dean and early Madonna – amazing songs that I still play in my DJ sets today. The crazy thing was that somehow as American kids, we had a kind of immunity, which enabled me to be brought in by friends who were that little bit older. One time, I was at a club when it was raided – it was crazy; they turned on all of the lights, rolled carpet on the floor and brought out tables with tea, melon and cookies. When the police came in they just said it was a café! It was funny, because I never drank at these clubs. People would give me cigarettes and I would pretend to inhale, but just blew the smoke out. There were also no drugs, or not that I knew about anyway. It sounds silly at such a young age, but it really was just about the music. I must have only gone to these clubs four or five times in six months, but that experience totally changed my life.”

EB OFFICE FAVOURITES - February 2010

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:29:41 GMT

For February we will again showcase songs that have sneaked into our ears and kept us musically content. From artists who range from Johnny Cash to Cobblestone Jazz we keep our ears open to the new and old to the popular and obscure.

The EB office team is: Carlos de Brito (CDB) Project Director, Gareth Owen (GO) Music Editor, Ari Stein (AS) News Editor, Marc Zedler (MZ) Intern.

Black Van - Yearning (Emperor Machine Remix)

(Taken from the upcoming single Yearning (2010) on DFA)

Return to form for DFA, who (in my humble opinion) had a bit of a wobble last year. Studio bust ups, walk outs and the death of LCD Soundsystem (apparently); all matter not, when music like this is still getting released by the New York label. Andy Meecham turns in a surprisingly tough remix, that is still dripping with the Emperor's charms. (GO)

Butch – Joy (Original Mix)

(Taken from the EP Butch’s Super Fluff Disco Stuff (2009) on BangBang!)

The much-applauded EP gives me a smile whenever I hear it. Disco/house love from Butch is mega and this crowd pleaser gets everyone dancin’. (MZ)

Johnny Cash – Ain’t No Grave

(Taken from the album American VI: Ain’t No Grave Out (2010) on American Recordings/Universal Music

Cash cries out beyond his own grave, calling to all the tortured souls working the railroads. (AS)
You can buy the album here.

Cobblestone Jazz - Chance

(Taken from The Modern Deep Left Quartet (2010) on !K7)

Is it Jazz with an electronic twist or Jazz-infused electronic music? However you perceive it, the teaser single for Cobblestone Jazz' upcoming longplayer The Modern Deep Left Quartet has the potential to become an instant classic. It manages to be laid back and uplifting as well as haunting and dreamy at the same time. (CDB)
You can buy the album here.

Deep Sht – Sidetripping

(Unreleased (2009))

East London has a new hero and he comes in the form of Deep sht, hell-bent on bringing back the DIY to music. It’s like The Radio Dept. mixed by the homeless. (AS)
You can download and listen to his track ‘Sidetripping’ here.

ONES TO WATCH - Los Amparito

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:00:48 GMT

Not much is known about this Mexican virtuoso who hails from Guadalajara, other than that José Carlos Pesina Siller goes under three pseudonyms Pesina Siller, Pepepe and his newest and greatest alias Los Amparito. Siller has been making music since 2007, but I reckon he’s only now hitting his stride.

Like a Mexican version of Animal Collective, this one-man band makes music for people who need to move, dance and philosophize at the same time. Although he has remixed Animal Collective, Los Amparito seems to identify with the anarchistic music culture we now live in, taking in elements from all the different trashcans of popular culture. Maybe a post-Animal Collective/Pitchfork mosaic if you will.

This will be definitely one of the big names on everyone’s lips in 2010. When I first heard his featured SXSW track, ”Por Medio De La Lectura”, I honestly had to make sure I wasn’t listening to The Books, El Guincho or even The Avalanches. Just a trippy and enlightening journey into the wide-open vistas of Mexico.

How can such a talent go so unnoticed? What a crime.

Under Pepepe he was giving his albums away for free for gods sake! But under Los Amparito he has yet to release his debut LP. Of all the three pseudonyms Los Amparito seems to be the most articulate and confident, choosing traditional and psychedelic melodies to fly away on. Amazing tunes like ‘4500 milliones De Anos De Soledad’ really show his strengths and the acid drenched Cajun tune ‘Las Miradas De Magaly’ forces you to take notice.

Check out all three of his MySpace’s and make sure you help out this obscure independent artist, not that he’ll need it soon.

Los Amparito – 'Por Medio de la Lectura'

ONES TO WATCH - Elektro Guzzi

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:57:47 GMT

Vienna, techno and a vaguely Italian sounding name. Three geeky looking guys and bass lines so fat, they practically jump out the speakers, grab you by the throat and demand you move your hips. Something is amiss surely?

According to their MySpace, Elektro Guzzi have been “challenging preconceptions of how techno can be performed live” since 2004, but after devouring every video and mp3 of theirs I could find, I think techno alone is not sufficiently descriptive. The addition of three or four more adjectives along the lines of funk, ghetto or rude bway would be more of an accurate assessment.

The components are simple: A bass guitar, a drum kit and guitar. Three people, three instruments. No computers or prepared loops appear to be in use. Three musicians, playing in a way that people have fundamentally done for the last, what, 50 years? Sure, there’s bound to be some effects boxes hidden amongst their (undoubtedly smart and sensible) shoes, but the rhythm, the groove, it’s all live.

Which, in itself is not unusual – ‘live’ dance music has been around since before the days of ESG. But to hear such stripped down, raw and funky dance music, which as far as I have heard is all instrumental… Well, I have not seen too much of that lately. So, although not that similar sounding, there is a definite musical link to be found between Elektro Guzzi and ESG. And can that ever, ever, ever be a bad thing…!?

With an album on the way for Macro Recordings, which has been co-produced by Patrick Pulsinger, Elektro Guzzi look like the kind of guys that are straight edged, without even knowing what it means (though they probably aren’t being from Vienna, and they almost certainly do know what it means). They make music for sweaty basements and shady characters, with their relentless pounding funky techno that never seems to get boring. However, they currently seem to be playing to people who are vocally appreciative, but, well…, look incredibly similar to them. Which makes them all the more intriguing.

Only knowing two tracks , “Hexenschuss” and “Elastic Bulb”, I can only wait in anticipation of an album - I just hope that their move to the studio won’t clean out the gritty funk from underneath their fingernails.

Elektro Guzzi’s limited 10inch Hexenschuss / Elastic Bulb is due to be released on March 8, 2010 via Macro Recordings.

21 SAUCES OF INSPIRATION - Das Pop

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:06:42 GMT

Those pesky Belgians... always so crafty with their pop music! First it was Goose, then Millionaire, and now 2 Many DJs who completely rule the airwaves. Das Pop isn't an exception, the Ghent based band channels their affection for British pop with a life affirming electro-pop sensibility.

The first time I saw them live was at Berlin’s techno mansion Tresor, but then that’s the kind of band they are, quirky, unpredictable and entertaining. Two things you might not have known about Das Pop: Their guitarist Reinhard Vanbergen has a most excellent beard, but not only that, they also have their own range of knitwear which hit the shops last year.

The band share a love for some damn good music taste and when we sat down with the lead singer Bent Van Looy (pictured second from left) and found out that Jason Falkner was his hero, I sat there paralyzed well until after my lunch break.

We also found out that he digs good films, Belgian bolognaise sauce and oozes love for Bill Murray. Mhhmmm... Belgian bolognaise.

1. What gets you going in the morning?

The hum of the city. It calls like a Lorelei of stainless steel and soft concrete. Her breath smells like the exhaust pipe of a thousand cars. In the best possible way.

2. What five records would you take to a desert island and why?
Become What You Are by the Juliana Hatfield Three, I am slightly in love with her voice and it could keep me company in my solitude. Il Clan Dei Siciliani by Ennio Morricone to gaze over the ocean to. Rumours by Fleetwood Mac to fill possible hole in my soul. Off The Wall by Michael Jackson to enjoy wall references where on an island there are none.

3. What inspires you to create?
Walking around Paris, being on a train, on a bike, moving about in general. The writing on shop windows and buses in foreign cities. The guilty look in a greyhound’s eyes. The end credits to a bad movie. A Walkman. A glimpse of a girl’s unshaved armpit.

4. What book or piece of literature are you reading at the moment?
Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenberg is not a disappointment so far. I am 240 pages in.

5. Favorite piece of literature and why?
I love Stone Junction by the American recluse Jim Dodge. It’s a brash tale of wonderful weirdness, very ambitious and baroque but never failing to touch the very core of the soul. For its brevity, clarity and sophisticated kookiness I love J.D. Salingers Franny and Zooey. Great short fiction in Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower. And if you can get your hands on anything by Dutch writer Arnon Grunberg, never hesitate.

6. Favorite club?
To play in: Koko in London. To sip ridiculously overpriced cocktails in: Le Baron in Paris.

7. What one historical figure inspires you or would you like to meet?
This may be a boring answer, but I think Andy Warhol defined our crazy times first and best.

8. List five movies that you couldn’t live without?
Short Cuts - Robert Altman
Human Highway - Neil Young and Devo
Starship Troopers - Paul Verhoeven
Rushmore - Wes Anderson
Beauty and the Beast - Walt Disney

9. Favorite director and actor?
Paul Verhoeven is criminally underrated. What he may lack in subtlety, he makes up for with bravado and power. Bill Murray is great because he just oozes sovereignty and not-trying-too-hard.

10. Favorite piece of architecture or building?
The Atomium in Brussels is both gorgeous and hilarious, a golden combination!

11. Favorite combination of food or recipe?
Less can be more. A good spaghetti vongole never sucks.

12. Favorite musical genre in the last 100 years and what would you mix it with if you could?
Is pop a genre? I don’t think so. It summarizes all popular music (yes that means you too, Mr. Nu Metal and Mrs. Lambada). It exists because it’s cross-pollinating with itself all the time. I cannot help itself and all we can do is give it a little hand.

13. Favorite Internet site?
I visit Pop Candy pretty much every day. It is Wendy Matheson beautifully blogging about pop culture. Also amazing: 1001 rules for my unborn son by Walker Lamond. It will appear as a book on October 27th.

14. Who has had the biggest influence on you in your life?
Girlfriend, family and a never-ending parade of loved ones. Musically: Stephen and David Dewaele (2 Many DJ’s).

15. What is one record you should never mix into a set (for DJ’s) or be seen dancing to in a club (for other artists)?
In both cases the answer clearly is The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”.

16. Favorite 5 music artists currently listening too?
80’s paisley pop band - The Three O’Clock
Old Bossa Nova guy - Joao Gilberto
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Tiga
The Jacksons

17. Favorite piece of art or artist and why?
Manets'Dejeuner Sur l’Herbe. It builds a bridge between the past and the present, it makes me cry and it has nudity.

18. Artist you’d most like to collaborate with?
Jeff Koons. His exhibition at Versailles was one of the strongest things I’ve ever witnessed. He never dabbed in music as far as I know, but a collaboration of whatever kind would be a dream come true.

19. One obscure band you think should be more popular?
This guy is a band in himself. I hate that he is the well-kept secret he has remained all these years. His name is Jason Falkner and he is a hero.

20. What’s your ringtone?
A fragment of a soundtrack we composed for theatre maker Pol Heyveart. It is nice when people ask me what it is.

21. Does Das Pop have a favorite sauce?
The bolognaise as made by Martino’s in Ghent. A truckload of bay leaf is the key, apparently.

TODAY WE LIKE: DJ Ellie D

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:07:07 GMT

A three year old girl rocking the turntables like a pro - DJ Ellie D is in the house! We haven’t seen anything quite like this before.

Ellie’s father Michael Higgins aka DJ Lenny introduced his little daughter to electronic music while she was still in her mother’s womb. “She was rocking in the womb and doing the caterpillar instead of crawling; and when she walks, she moonwalks” he states. It seems like DJ Ellie D has a big career ahead of her.

For now father and daughter have short jamming session whenever the little princess pleases. We are amazed by what we hear so far and it seems like other people are too: Ellie has her own facebook fan page and is already a little star on YouTube.

Watch the little lady in the mix here:

Get Ur Freak On - An interview with Freaks

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:13:26 GMT

Freaks, one of the most innovative, daring and funky electronic acts to emerge from the British house music scene in the last 20 years, are back with a new album. Created over 15 years ago by DJs Luke Solomon and Justin Harris, Freaks were without doubt one of the first electronic acts to break down the barriers between clubbers and gig-goers. Just as happy playing at indie clubs as they were at dance music institutions such as The End (R.I.P.), the Freaks bubbled away on the underground fringes until a re-working of perhaps their most well known track ‘The Creeps’ became a commercial dance hit across the world.

However, a series of unfortunate events saw the band lose most of the income made from the ample worldwide sales and airplay. A poppier musical direction then confused potential label partners. So, it was back to the drawing board for some fresh ideas and a back to basics approach. The result is a couple of new 12” records on Crosstown Rebels and a new CD, Best of Times, that takes in some of their classic back catalogue and new Freaks music that signals a return to their original DIY, underground aesthetic.

I caught up with founding members Justin Harris and Luke Solomon to find out what one of my favourite ‘dance’ bands has been up to.

Totally loving the new CD - a bit of old and some new. Is this a new dawn for Freaks? Do you have any kind of plan?

LS: We always have some sort of a plan. Kind of! It just changes a lot. Really though, yes. This is the precursor to a string of new singles - the first being on Crosstown Rebels.

Can you tell me about the ideas behind the new songs you've been working on? Your songs always seem to have a theme or a story.

LS: ‘UMakeNoSense’ in particular was written as a tonic to our success with ‘The Creeps’. We felt we needed to write an anti-pop song. Something that was fun and felt like us being freaks all over again.

How did it come about? Was there a reason for combing old and new material? Did you want to add some context for people who maybe only knew The Creeps?

LS: We both felt the time was right, and it was partly out of necessity. A need to generate some income, that then flowered into something a little more than that…

What have you been up to the last couple of years, apart from secretly working on Freaks music?

LS: Me personally - working on a follow-up to The Difference Engine for Rekids, which I have just finished. I also co-produced Damian Lazarus's album for Get Physical. And, as usual, a whole stack of remix work.

JH: I've been concentrating on remix work for artists like Timo Garcia, Sawtooth Suckas and Chris Coco to name a few, and I also have solo releases coming out on Disport, Pin-Up Records and my own label which I run with Lil Mark, Paranoid Records. I'm also working on an EP project with Nigel Casey as DJs North and South (from back in the day).

Are you planning on doing any live shows?

LS: We haven't really thought about it as of yet.

The new CD is called Best of Times - were they the 'best' times with Freaks?

LS: The title is kind of ironic, as is most of the music we make. It's a reaction to the state of the music industry, which has hit our record label once again. A great amount of income from ‘The Creeps’ was lost recently through a company going into admin. It was the "Oh no, here we go again" that led to the concept of the album.

Are you going to be releasing (or re-releasing) any of the music on record?

LS: There will be a 12-inch released on Crosstown Rebels that will follow the album. We haven't really thought about releasing any of the material on the compilation.

There is a mention of using old and new technology in the studio such as an iPhone. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

LS: Justin and I both have iPhones. We had been messing around with some new applications, and thought it would be fun to incorporate them into new songs. There are some great synths and drum machines.

Do you think it's time for a bit more fun to come back into house music? Dance music is getting pretty serious in some corners, I reckon. What do you think?

LS: Music should always be about fun, escape, whatever. There is a time for the serious stuff, too. It’s all about a balance. The funk was lost for a while, as were vocal songs and DJs mixing up their music. We never left that world. We have just sat and waited for it all to come back round again. Which I think it is starting to.

Was the rather popular version of ‘The Creeps’ part of your decision to take a hiatus? You didn't have any control over that, is that right?

LS: We didn’t really take a hiatus. We worked our asses off writing new music! The majority of it with a pop approach, which we spoke to various labels about, but nothing really came of it. We kind of dug ourselves into a hole with ‘The Creeps’. People couldn't really get with the new direction. After a whole heap of knock backs and a lot of cash spent, we decided to go back to our roots, and take the DIY approach once more.

Out of all your experiences with Freaks so far, what has been you personal highlight?

LS: John Peel playing two records off The Beat Diaries on one show. Without a shadow of a doubt that was the highlight for me.

JH: Playing live at Homelands in (I think) 2005 and seeing De La Soul rocking out at the back of the tent!

Best of times is released via Music for Freaks on the 1st of March 2010

ONES TO WATCH - Drums of Death

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:09:45 GMT

With his unkempt shock of hair, ghostly-white face and vicious black slash of a mouth, Drums of Death is one scary musician to behold. He looks like a cross between Jason Voorhees and something from Live and Let Die. Throw in a splash of Haitian witch doctor and the ensemble couldn’t be more unnerving. It’s difficult to believe that beneath the undertaker’s outfit and Halloween greasepaint lurks a softly-spoken Scotsman by the name of Colin Bailey.

But Drums of Death’s striking visuals isn’t just a cheap thrill: “my name, my face, my music. It’s all part of the same idea. Without one there wouldn’t be any,” explains Bailey.

Bailey grew up in Oban, an idyllic spot in northern Scotland. rambling through the misty Highlands of this part of the world you’d expect to run across the mythical township of Brigadoon rather than come face to face with this monochrome Jack-o’-lantern. Thank metal for transforming shy Colin Bailey into the engaging presence we know him as today: “I urge everyone who has never done so to start a band. you will learn so much about people and maybe one or two things about music,” he says. “I was in bands when I was a timid boy, learning to express myself. I was socially awkward and being in a band was a way to engage with people. The bands I was in were pretty much all terrible. What I try to do now is harness the energy of the music I loved when I was 15 with the intelligence of the music I love now.”

Bailey himself describes the Drums of Death sound as “big and brash and crippled with self-doubt” but there’s also a ‘surging megalomania’ present which prevents it all collapsing into a messy heap of self-loathing. A quick trip to his myspace defines it as tropical/grime/techno. None of these explanations fully does justice to what Bailey is all about. The metal influence is clear but there’s also banging synths, ragged electro hooks and aggressive rabble-rousing vocals; part political rally, part hip-hop MC. Bailey’s visits to Germany have added a Teutonic splash into this hell-brew of a mix: “Germany has greatly inspired my music. The cities have been backdrops and therefore directly influenced some of the music that shaped me. I’m talking about Neu, Kraftwerk, Tresor, DAF, Modeselektor, Rhythm & Sound.”

Bailey takes to the stage with an array of technology; pulsating machines right out of a mad scientist’s laboratory, which create the Drums of Death aural vortex. sometimes though, man can be too dependent on machine; often forgetting the showbiz element of what they do and tending to look like they’re checking Facebook. Not Bailey, who again draws on his band experiences: “It’s important to get people involved. I try to make sure the show is big and fun and engages everyone in the room. I grew up with hardcore shows. I grew up with everyone sweating as much as the band. I want to deliver something special to the crowd, especially in clubs where it’s easy to fall into routines.”

"He's like some English Fantomas stealing across the rooftops of Berlin at night. A charming thief in white slacks. He's a charlatan, a silver-tongued, devious mastermind..."

A Drums of Death mixtape fell into the hands of !K7’s Alex Waldron and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip (who together mastermind the Greco Roman label), and an appearance at a typically apocalyptic rave in Manchester followed. One thing led to another and now Bailey is putting out music on the label, starting with debut EP, step into the ring. He praises the label – which he describes as being constructed of “man flesh” – and enjoys a good working relationship with the gaffers, although confesses to be slightly in awe of Waldron: “He’s some kinda of cursed fakir! He’s like some English Fantomas stealing across the rooftops of Berlin at night. A charming thief in white slacks. He’s a charlatan, a silver-tongued, devious mastermind whose language is all smoke and mirrors. I do work well with him, though I never get used to those moments when he comes up with some crazy scheme and flashes that wild-eyed, black-toothed grin. Even I shiver at that!”

As for the future, an LP is in the pipeline with Chilly Gonzales and Peaches due to pop up in guest slots, which is currently priority number one – “It's a big vision and the end is now in sight” – and Bailey is currently putting together a band for a real Drums of Death live experience. With so much still to come in the future how does our Halloween phantom sum up the current decade, which is soon to draw to a close? “The last ten years saw technology loosen the grip the music industry had over artists and music in its physical form. Whilst I think this is a good thing, in the long run we have seen a slump in record sales. If some majors go down, then let them. This itself has shaped music just like the advent of the 12". The way music is transferred, and the use of things like myspace has altered how music is managed and released. This will be how this time is remembered, I think.”

EB OFFICE FAVOURITES - January 2010

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:37:48 GMT

Welcome to our new monthly playlist where we share with you the songs that have provided the soundtrack to our last month in the office. From the latest promo releases, to cherished favourites and songs from the classic cannon, if it has been on heavy rotation at Electronic Beats, it will be on our list.

The EB office team is: Carlos de Brito (CDB) Project Director, Gareth Owen (GO) Music Editor, Ari Stein (AS) News Editor, Judith Busch (JB) Lifestyle Editor, Marc Zedler (MZ) Intern.

We hope you enjoy sharing what we have been listening to.

Nebraska — Soho Grand
(Taken from the 12” A Weekend On My Own E.P. (2010) on Rushhour )

I can’t really say it’s the prime cut on this EP, as all four tracks are pure bliss. However this is a perfect example of the deep, melancholic house music that I love. (CDB)

Herman Schwartz – Back 2 Black
(Taken from the compilation International Deejay Gigolos CD 11 (2009) on International Deejay Gigolos Records)

A melodramatic dark lullaby, that shakes you emotionally and leaves you teary eyed. (MZ)

New Young Pony Club — Lost A Girl
(Taken from the upcoming album The Optimist (2010) on PIAS)

"Lost a Girl" is a song with a great melody and a lot of power. It calms me down when walking on ice-covered roads thinking about dumb boys. (JB)

House Of House — Rushing To Paradise (DJ Harvey Streets Remix)
(Taken from the 12” E.P. Rushing To Paradise (2009) on Whatever We Want)

Head and shoulders above the other crap people are hyping as part of the house 'revival'. (GO)

Emika – Drop The Other
(Taken from the 12" single Drop The Other (2010) on Ninja Tune)

Heart stopping tune from a BIG new talent. Nuff said. (AS)

Fuck Buttons - Thunderous Squalls

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:08:59 GMT

Fuck Buttons is not the kind of name you forget in a hurry. Neither, for that matter, is their music. Comprised of art school graduates Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power, the band have garnered something of a cult following since releasing their “sounds-like-the-end-of-the-world” debut Street Horrrsing, on the All Tomorrow’s Parties affiliated label ATP Recordings. The overwhelming potency of their music – described by one magazine as “an adrenaline-pumping, ear-purging slab of towering pristine noise” – has been underlined by their scintillating live shows (they toured with Mogwai in 2008), and confirmed by their recent sophomore effort Tarot Sport. Produced by veteran auteur Andy Weatherall at his Rotters Golf Club Studio in London, Tarot Sport blends the duo’s trademark melodic electronics and searing ‘toys and noise’ shtick, creating something that’s as unhinged and ecstatic as it is thrilling and unique.

How did you come up with such a charming and evocative name?
AH: We both used to work in this chocolate truffle factory and the boss, who was a real arsehole, used to call all of the workers “Fuck buttons” to demoralise them or whatever. That’s where the name came from.

What are the best ‘censored’ versions of your name you’ve heard?
BJP: They call us F buttons on the radio. It’s fine.

What elements of your educational or vocational backgrounds feed into your music?
AH: I studied Fine art specialising in Video, and ben studied Illustration. I guess not having formal musical training and instead having broad creative outlets, we’re not constrained by what we think constitutes something as “music”. That word is so open to interpretation as it is anyway. If you’re talking about the institutions that we both started the music in, then none of it, although it could be argued that our environment facilitated us to do so. If you’re talking about our practices, then it all feeds into each other for sure.
BJP: We still create all our own artwork and videos. We like to be in charge of our visual side.

Your live shows have been as raved about as your recorded output. Was that something you’ve tried consciously to master?
BJP: It was never intentional for this to become our jobs. our only impetus to make music ever has been the desire to write music and experiment with sound together. The rest kind of fell into place around us, but having the opportunity to do what we do on a day-to-day basis is a blessing which we are both humbled by.

What have been your best gigs so far? Any highlights from the current tour?
BJP: Highlights from this tour include the discovery of the word ‘daggy’, courtesy of our touring buddies HTRK.
AH: Haha… this is a great word. It’s an australian word, and a dag is literally a piece of shit that hangs off a lamb’s arse. What it means is something that is embarrassing but equally endearing. Most dads are daggy for instance.

How did you come to link with Weatherall for the new record. Why did you choose him?
BJP: Andrew made a fantastic remix of [remixing] Sweet Love for us and upon hearing the great job he did we realised that he had a strong grasp of our music and displayed a special sensitivity to the sounds we use. It was a great month we spent down at Rotters Golf Club.

What specific input did he provide for the new album?
AH: Well, he was a filter and facilitator. He understood space and distance in order to work and judge. Like us, he was interested in his sensibilities being achieved prominently. So we were constantly communicating and articulating each other’s ideas, so that the ideas generated were an amalgamation of all of our conversations.

Crate digging the future

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:05:46 GMT

For music lovers across the world, the Internet has become an almost indispensible godsend. Whatever your background the net provides a resource for any style of music you happen to be into – ambient, dubstep, techno, funk, rap or even Brazilian samba.

In the midst of all the ballyhoo and debate surrounding the “illegality” of downloading, music lovers across the globe are united, downloading music whenever they feel like it. They gain access to artists they may have never been exposed to. In a way similar to exploratory archaeologists they are involved in a process that uncovers seeming mounds of levels and sub genres not normally seen on the surface of the music landscape.

So whilst celebrities, rock and pop stars writhe in angst over this widespread and illegal file sharing, there are a thousands of artists who are enjoying a small but warm return to the spotlight courtesy of the Internet.

Let's put all this into context, the governing body for the global music industry IFPI recently stated that forty billion music files were downloaded without payment in 2008, meaning 95% of all digital music was downloaded illegally. A spurious fact, but nonetheless quite startling. It is also been reported that sales of albums in the last decade have halved. Any artist beginning in today’s climate doesn’t really stand a fighting chance of commercial success. This is of course unless you tour your behind off and you capitalize on the lucrative world of publishing.

Many unknown artists, who existed prior to the development of the Internet, have cemented there small but indelible place amongst the world of crate diggers. Crate digging is defined by DJs to refer to the activity of checking record stores for old, rare or unusual music on the vinyl format, which can be used by DJs, turntablists, or be sampled.

But now, the world of crate digging has been updated; these people use album blog websites to do their digging alongside their large hard drives and mouse. The amounts of niche blogs and genre specific sites have grown enormously in the last few years. Dedicated to ‘80s fusion jazz, Japanese death metal, Russian blues, Greek pop, you name it, it's all out there.

The people behind these blogs know their shit. They spent years waiting behind the scenes to finally upload their unbelievably organised and large collections and give the content out. It can be thought of as a beautiful thing, music from all sub continents available to all people. In this way the floodgates have opened, and I can’t see the Internet shutting down any time soon.

ONES TO WATCH – Bullion

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:01:44 GMT

It’s quite uncommon that someone can take apart one of the greatest bands of all time - the Beach Boys and blend the results seamlessly with the beats of visionary producer J Dilla. Yet that’s just what English producer Bullion managed to pull off back in 2007.

Hailing from Acton in England, Bullion took the Beach Boys’ symphonic masterpiece Pet Sounds and intertwined it with the beats of the late great J Dilla on his 25-minute mix, Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee. The short, anonymous EP set the blogosphere on fire, raising the question of “Just who is this kid?”

Well, we were asking the same question, until one Nathan Jenkins raised his head after finding himself on the excellent One-Handed Music label, home to Fulgeance and Paul White.

Bullion is only a newbie, but he has already made an indelible mark with consistently top-notch remixes, 12” and EPs, such as 'Say Goodbye To What' and 'Get Familiar'. Like AM radio blending into FM, Bullion delves into back catalogues, seamlessly channeling the past right into the present. His critically acclaimed 2009 EP Young Heartache won the hearts and minds of skeptics right across the scene.

In 2009 heavyweights Tricky and Amadou and Mariam came out the woodwork, asking this young man for a helping hand. Check his remix of Amadou and Mariam’s ‘Ce N’est Pas Bon’. You can also get your lucky mitts on this lovely mix Bullion recently did for Fact magazine.

And finally, check out this fantastically hilarious interview right here. Lets hope an album follows soon.

Jimmy Edgar - Motor City Houdini

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:49:04 GMT

Jimmy Edgar is a bit of a musical Houdini. Prone to doing the odd disappearing act, the one-time wunderkid’s career is littered with tantalising glimpses of greatness. Snapped up by Warp Records in 2003 at the tender age of 18, this pale-faced prodigy was hailed as proof of a new dawn for the Detroit scene. But a serious drug addiction, a feverish temperament and a creative calling outside music have all held him back. After all, when you’ve started your career off playing at warehouse raves with legends on the scale of Derrick May, where is there to go but down?

And down this creative maelstrom eventually went. after the release of his critically acclaimed Warp debut, 2006’s Color Strip, whose R&B-tinged electro was a hit with critics and fans alike, Edgar went silent. Swept away on a tidal wave of heroine fuelled destruction, for a while the Motor City son’s future looked as bleak as his hometown.

Rewind back to 1999, a 16-year old Edgar has releases out on Germany’s mighty Poker Flat label, hip NYC imprint Isophlux and Miami’s renowned Merck Records, with the latter winning the right to put out his debut LP My Mines I (2002). With his star burning brightly, the mysterious prodigy, who claims to have been laying down beats from the age of ten, caused a stir at the 2003 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Making his first live appearance as a Warp artist, his now legendary performance ended with burly security boys getting down with the local b-boys. It was the stuff that musical myths are made of.

Now, this enigmatic maestro who calls himself a ‘dancefloor designer’ is back with a new, clubbier sound, a breathtaking live show, an almost-ready album, and a slew of releases on upcoming labels. Ten years on from his first success, he’s managed to escape the tortured artist cliché, kick the drug habit and find himself included on Warp’s 20th anniversary album with his classic track ‘I Wanna be your STD’.

In the flesh, he’s full of feverish energy and promises it will be my “wildest ever interview”. He seems sober, but who knows, and in reflective mood: “It’s an honour to be included on Warp20 and be considered one of the defining artists in electronic music. Getting an email from Steve [Beckett, Warp head honcho] when I was just 18 was really cool. I cried, jumped up and down and hugged my art school roommates a lot. Warp set my career up and I have a lot of respect for the guys there.”

But despite Jimmy’s positive chat about Warp, it’s still not clear if he will release his long-awaited new album on the iconic label. He says “maybe”, they say “definitely not in the next six months”. Undeterred, Edgar claims he has got all ten tracks fully polished and is carefully weighing up his options.

“The industry has changed so much, you have to do more than sell albums. you have to think. I’m deciding whether or not to give the tracks away for free via my website. unfortunately, much as I love my art, I do need to make a living. My creative master plan is to create a multimedia package of art, music and design which will give my releases more of a multi-sensory impact and earn them the recognition they deserve.”
According to the Detroit troubadour, this isn’t really a comeback because he’s never been away from his art, be it photography, design or music. In true Houdini style, he’s just made himself a bit hard to find for his fans, adopting elusive aliases, honing his fashion photography skills, moving to New york, and working on various mysterious side projects.

First, there was the acclaimed ‘secret duo project’ Plus Device in 2007, whose electro pop-funk styles had Edgar written all over it. Released on Chicago’s innovative Hefty Records, it generated a big online buzz. Then there was the sexual synths and live instrumentation of Her bad Habit, which evolved the Edgar sound in a new direction. and these are just the tip of the iceberg – there’ve been numerous other rumoured collaborations. But doesn’t having all these different personalities leave him feeling a bit, well, confused?

“Isn’t being fucked-up the norm nowadays?” he retorts. “I like to think of myself as more quadripolar. I’ve come to terms with it. Everyone knows I’m part of Plus Device, Noir Friction, Her bad Habit and Creepy Autograph. you can expect more from all of those soon.”

“Recently, there’s been my project with the beta band’s Steve Mason. It’s called black affair. He had a big budget so I ended up doing all the production, mixing the whole album and designing all the artwork. I was busy but I just found ways of getting things done, without sleeping ever.”

Chronic insomnia has plagued Edgar throughout his life regardless of his drug use. “I’m happy to be clean. I still sleep very little but I find it easier to focus and create new art and music. I thought drugs opened up gates, I used them to be inspired, but now I’m off them my creativity is really flowing.”

This does indeed seem to be the case. The musical magician looks set to pop up in several places over the next few months. He’s got releases coming out all over the place. Snap up a copy of his ‘fave ever’ track Funktion of Love which is out on techno goddess Magda’s Item & Things imprint. And keep ears peeled for sexy electro-soul number ‘Hush’, which is due out mid-November on Dalston newbie Glass Table, complete with a video by hot directing duo Hope Audikana.

Aside from producing his own work, (he’s also got three paintings hanging in Detroit’s 555 Gallery), he has of course been remixing others. There’s talk of some seriously hot pop collaborations. Which he absolutely, definitely can’t talk about. Ok? “I can’t talk about Justin Timberlake. When I did, I got in trouble – it ended up on over 100,000 blogs. Not good. I’m trying to get at Cassie, and Missy Elliot heard some tracks and loved them, but this is all unconfirmed, ok?” Whatever you say, Jimmy.

His detractors might say Jimmy Edgar is full of hype, and at times I’d be inclined to agree (apparently there are ‘8,000’ unreleased tracks on his hard drive). But even with the ups, the downs and the embellishments, this 26-year-old has achieved a remarkable amount in a career which has spanned one of electronic music’s most innovative decades.

Love is in the Air

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:22:06 GMT

Air are touting their new album as a ‘rebirth’. Paul Sullivan chats to Nicolas Godin about their brand new studio, growing wise and how – despite their best efforts – they can’t stop sounding like Air.

It was ten years ago that Nicolas Godin and Jean-benoît Dunckel drifted on the scene with their coruscating, cockle-warming debut Moon Safari. As inaugural albums go, it was quite the sonic statement. The prevailing downtempo sound at the end of the nineties was still defined by introspective, sampladelic trip hop acts like Massive Attack, DJ Shadow and UNkLE. Then suddenly, here was this pair of elegant, floppy-haired Frenchmen with a sound every bit as life-affirming and breezy as their name suggested.

After a decade of urban music that reflected anomie and angst, Air’s music-for-reveries came as an enlightening experience, allowing us to indulge in a little romance and some gentle escapism for a while. Ten years and several albums – The Virgin Suicides soundtrack, 10 000 Hz Legend, Talkie Walkie, 2007’s Pocket Symphony – on, the duo are back with a fifth album that sees them move (or at least try to) away from the trademark ethereality that has made them such a household name. The new record, intriguingly, is called Love 2.

“It was time to start a new love story,” explains Godin. “We felt Pocket Symphony was the end of a cycle. When Moon Safari exploded 10 years ago, we travelled a lot and met musicians and producers, singers and songwriters, collaborated and had lots of side projects. We wanted to get back to the feeling of being in our bedroom, back to that intimacy. I have a lot of nostalgia for those early times and it felt right to start something new. So we built our own studio and took all the kit we’d assembled over the last 20 years and went crazy.”

Some of the key differences with creating Love 2 include the use of a spanking new Paris studio (they’d previously recorded in rented places) and the avoidance of big name guests (Beck and Jarvis Cocker have been collaborators in the past); the only other person on the album aside from themselves is drummer Joey Waronker, who does a stellar job of supplying extra swing and groove. The other notable difference is the absence of their regular producer, Radiohead / Zero7 don Nigel Godrich, which must have been quite a leap for the band. Was Godrich’s presence and input sorely missed? “I miss him as a human being and a friend, and for sure many things could have been better,” laughs Godin, “but that was not the point. This was about rediscovering the essence of the band. It was important to make a record for ourselves, and ask ourselves along the way: “Why do I want to do this? Why would I want to make a record right now?” These kinds of questions don’t depend on a producer or anyone else, they depend on your heart and mind.”

The net result is that Love 2 does sound a bit like a break from the old routine, especially after the mega-mellow Pocket Symphony – but not that much. True, opener (and single) ‘Do The Joy’ sounds fresh and invigorating with its loping, krautrock rhythm and heavy Moog action. And there’s extra weight and funk in tracks like ‘be a bee’, ‘Eat My beat’, and the DJ Shadow-esque ‘Night Hunter’. “It’s the most upbeat album we’ve done,” asserts Godin, “which is a direct result of the new freedom we found. We just don’t feel like making slow music any more, maybe because we’ve made too much of it. The last album was influenced by Eastern styles, more Japanese or oriental music. This one is more located in the equator, in South America or Africa. It’s a return to the roots, but on the other hand it’s of course very different from Moon Safari.”

That’s as may be, but tracks like ‘Heaven’s Light’, ‘So Light Is Her Footfall’ – which is way too easily read as ‘So Light Is Her Football’ if you’re not paying attention – and ‘Sing Sang Sung’ are typical weightless air confections, the kind of insouciant soufflés that the band have long been serving up. In fact, for all its nuanced differences, Love 2 remains unmistakably an air album. Godin replies with a defeated chuckle. “We try very hard sometimes to make a different-sounding album but it always ends up sounding like us. We don’t really know what to do about that.”

Incredibly for a band so popular, the air sound hasn’t managed to yield many copycats, something Nicholas puts down to the band’s unique way of approaching music. “In France we don’t have pop music in our culture so much, so when we throw ourselves into music we don’t think about writing songs like normal bands do. We don’t care if something comes out as a song or not, which I think is very French. We like pop and pop songs, but we don’t have that tradition. This gives us a lot of freedom. We can have classical music on our albums, for example, and it creates a very thin line that is hard to emulate.”

It seems so long ago that Moon Safari’s gentle fireworks exploded inside our eardrums. yet for the band it has “all gone so fast – it’s felt like being inside a tornado. That’s why we want to do things for fun again. We don’t want to suffer from having a career. It’s now time for some wisdom.”

ONES TO WATCH - Emika

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:36:48 GMT

I will go on record and state that Emika’s ‘Drop The Other’ is the first great single of 2010. Likely to scare off competition for the coming months, this young Berliner has all the qualities to make it to the top of the heap. By November last year she had inked herself to preeminent electronic hip-hop label Ninja Tune, and now this purveyor of dreamy dub-pop and is readying her haunting debut, which I believe is worthy of some serious anticipation.

Classically trained and brought up with a healthy dose of techno, the story behind this artist is illuminating to say the least. She nearly lost her life in a botched operation in London, somehow survived being hooked on morphine and then found herself being courted by her bank, who offered free flights to any European destination after “upgrading her account post graduation”. She chose Berlin and has never looked back.

Since then, she has been enjoying heavy support from BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs who has also commissioned a radio mix from Emika, which will be streamed online from Friday the 22nd till Friday the 29th of January.

We’re convinced her flirtatious vocals mixed with a commercial flair, and an underground sensibility will give Emika that extra leg up. Add a sublime remix from dubstep’s golden boy Scuba into the mix and we think that this young Londoner has found the recipe for success. You can listen to the Scuba mix here.

Her single ‘Drop The Other;’ was released on the 18th of January on Ninja Tune; soon to follow will be her next single ‘Double Edge’ which is set to l have even more tails wagging.

21 SAUCES OF INSPIRATION - Buraka Som Sistema

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:53:48 GMT

Portuguese quartet Buraka Som Sistema have whizzed through the last few years of their career, enjoying the fruits of their success with their debut 2008 album Black Diamond. Their infectious mix of raucous and abrasive electro have won the hearts and minds of not only the mainstream press but also the underground world.

The group specializes in an updated form of the traditional African/Spanish genre called Kuduro, a worldly brew best proven on their new single “Restless” released on the Fabric label last year. Their homeland has showered them with five charting singles and an MTV European Music Award in 2008 for best Portuguese act. They are gearing up to release their own take on Fabriclive soon and ready to get down and dirty for their sophomore LP.

Through all this Lisboan mayhem we found some time to sit down and chew the fat with one quarter of Buraka themselves, Kalaf Ângelo.

1. So, what gets you going in the morning?
Beside early checkouts? All sorts of professional obligations such as interviews, flights to catch and etc.

2. What five records would you take to a desert island and why?
Broken Flowers (OST)
Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (OST)
In the Mood for Love (OST)
Rockers (OST)
Superfly (OST)

I would just take albums that I associate with images.

3.What inspires you to create?
The curiosity to know and understand why do we consider certain things beautiful and others ugly.

4. What book or piece of literature are you reading at the moment?
Drown by Junot Díaz.

5.Favourite piece of literature and why?
Poems by Paulo Leminski (1944/1989 Brazil). Because of poems like this one:

“Between external duty
And eternal doubt
My commercial
Heart goes
Roundabout”

6.Favorite club or bar?
Right now: Mezzanine, San Francisco. The cosiest venue we ever played at.

7. What one historical figure inspires you or would you like to meet?
I would like to meet Emile Berliner for a tea and show him the iPod.

8. Five movies that you couldn’t live without?
Chungking Express - Wong Kar Wai
Tuvalu - Veit Helmer
Citizen Kane - Orson Wells
La Haine - Mathieu Kassovitz
Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazaki

9.Favorite director and actor?
Director - Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
Actress - Fernanda Montenegro (Brazil)

10.Favorite piece of architecture or building?
Casa da Musica by Rem Koolhaas in OPorto-Portugal.

11. Favorite combination of food or recipe?
Nothing fancy. A sea food barbecue - Angola style and for desert some of Conductor's (Andro Carvalho) mother home made ice cream.

12.Favorite musical genre in the last 100 years and what would you mix it with if you could?
There are only two types of music, the one I listen to it and the one I don't listen at all.

13. Favorite Internet site?
http://www.youtube.com

14.Who has had the biggest influence on you in your life?
My friends.

15. What is one record you should never be seen dancing to in a club?
Dragostea Din Tei (Numa Numa Song) by O-Zone.

16. Five music artists currently listening to?
Clipse
Lady Chann
Lvis 1990
The XX
Devendra Banhart

17.Favorite piece of art or artist and why?
Empty Faces collection by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. Because of the simple reason that I'm a proud owner of one of those pieces.

18. Artist you’d most like to collaborate with?
Banksy

19.One obscure band you think should be more popular?
Nastio Mosquito

20.What is your current ringtone?
My phone is constantly on mute but it vibrates when I receive a call.

21.Do Buraka Som Sistema have a favourite sauce?
Home made Gindungo sauce. Something similar to the image that you can see at the cover of our latest single "Restless". Which basically consists in hot Chillies swimming in a real good Portuguese olive oil mixed up with some other herbs, species and some other secret ingredients.

Best of the Noughties - Sounds noughty

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:30:48 GMT

The noughties have been a tempestuous and adventurous decade for music. In the last ten years we’ve seen pop get creative, alt. go mainstream and the entire traditional music industry get roundhoused by the digital realm. Paul Sullivan reports…

If the eighties were all acid-washed jeans, exuberant hairdos and chintzy synth pop, and the nineties were all hands-in-the-air house, sing-a-long Brit pop and retro chic, the noughties have been all about innovative pop, the ascendancy of the independent and the domination of the digital.

It’s been a tumultuous decade all round, what with the constant terror alerts, the spurious warmongering, the ever-impending Gaia-geddon and our ongoing global recession. Thinking about it, we can be pretty lucky we got through it alive, unless of course the powers-that-be and the mass media were exaggerating slightly (they wouldn’t, would they?).

There have certainly been some major upheavals within the music industry. The noughties were also the 2.0s – an era of, to quote Wikipedia, “web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies.”

The inexorable advance of the digital revolution, which seemed so quaintly haphazard at the start of the noughties, went on to rock the system to its very core. Ten years and a few false starts after nascent P2P services like Napster and Kazaa allowed us to share our music collections at the click of a mouse – how novel it all seemed! – CDs really have given way to MP3s and the print media has finally begun to bow to the power of the blogosphere. Subsequent (legal) music services like Last.FM, Pandora, Spotify and iTunes, and social media sites like MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have changed the way we listen to, consume and share music (and more) forever. Not bad for a decade’s work when you think about it.

Music itself underwent seismic transformations. The fag-end of the nineties was an odd time, especially in the UK where the pop charts looked like they’d been in an M25 multi-car pile up. The Spice Girls first lost a limb (Geri), then disintegrated completely. Brit pop’s moribund corpse was given a final death blow by The Gallagher Brothers’ tumescent Be Here now (1997); and dance music, with its irksome ‘let’s-’ave-it-large’ mantra felt like some middle-aged, drug-addled uncle trying to look trendy at a party he hadn’t been invited to. By 2000 the tide had turned in favour of young, shiny American pop stars. Jlo, Slim Shady, Britney, Beyoncé, Timberlake, Christina and the not-so-young-actually-no-not-even-back-then Jay Z all stepped on the scene like a breath of fresh pop air – or at least a breath of freshly airbrushed pop.

Their bright, glossy “Pro-Tools” sound – characterised by increasing amounts of audio compression to make the sound literally ‘pop’ – gradually set a new sonic standard and simultaneously ushered in another new era: that of the super-producer. Sonic innovators like Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, The Neptunes and Kanye West (the latter two introduced to the world on Jay Z’s 2000 release The Dynasty: roc la Familia) stepped from behind the boards to reveal themselves as production paragons, broadening steadily out from rap to inject r&b and pop with new and interesting sounds. Noughties pop was thus born.

Britain’s response, at least at the beginning, was ashamedly underwhelming. With such dynamite movers and shakers as The Bedingfields, James Blunt, Emma Bunton, Corinne Bailey Rae and – *shudder* – Charlotte Church representing UK “pure” pop, it was obvious that the apogee of Cool Britannia had passed (for many it had never existed). A nation knows it’s in trouble when it starts feeling grateful for Robbie Williams.

Thankfully, by mid-decade the digital revolution had taken root and was changing the scene at a rapid pace. The Internet gradually rendered the music industry more transparent. Fans could now get closer to their favourite bands and artists via personal blogs and social media nodes like MySpace (they would soon be able to monitor their every move thanks to popular ‘stalking’ tool Twitter), and artists were able to use the same kinds of tools to intensify communication and build up broader, and at the same time more niche, fan bases.

The first examples of the MySpace phenomenon were the Arctic Monkeys (who denied it) and Lily Allen (who accepted it), both of whom bothered the charts severely after building up large fan bases through social media activity and live shows. These bands opened the gates for a slew of independent acts to follow suit. Finally, indie bands could get a look-in.

The burgeoning digital realm was certainly paramount in fostering the noughties alt./indie rock explosion, heralded in the UK by Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000), and massively catalysed by ‘garage-rock’ bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes, who dropped their hugely influential albums Is This It? and White Blood Cells respectively, in 2001.

This paved the way for a seemingly never-ending trail of guitar wielding man-bands that favoured long hair, punk-era skinny jeans and names beginning with “The” (see The Libertines, The Killers, The Horrors, The Vines and Krillions of others).

Non-“The” bands like Jet, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Bloc Party, Kings of Leon and Interpol also had success channelling influences from pop and post-punk to rockabilly and rave, while Sigur Ros, Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, You Will Know Us By Our Trail Of Dead and Sunn O))) – among many others – chased rock off into more esoteric directions.

Night Music - An interview with Etienne Jaumet

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:32:21 GMT

Etienne Jaumet is probably most familiar as one half of French electro pairing Zombie Zombie. However, a penchant for vintage analogue equipment and an unexpected period of having to work alone has resulted in one of the best albums of space techno that I have heard in recent times. Add Carl Craig into the mix - literally, as he mixed the album, and you have on your hands a bona-fide classic. Perhaps one of the first of the decade. Electronic Beats just had to know more.

Hey Etienne. At the moment, you are probably best known as being one half of Zombie Zombie. When did you decide that you wanted to release an album of solo material?

It was Gilb-R, the boss of Versatile, who encouraged me to do my own album. After I had finished my first EP, Repeat Again After Me, Neman, the drummer of my other band Zombie Zombie, was on tour with Herman Dune, so I had the time to work alone. It was actually not my idea!

Ah, okay. So it was not something you have been working towards for a long time?

No, not at all... I probably expected it would happen some day, but I had never worked on it before the recordings for Night Music started... I’m not an amazing instrumentalist, so I always try to develop my own expressions with my own technique... This album was recorded after years of experimentations.

So were you trying to capture a certain feeling? The songs conjure up very strong images in my head.

I only try to have fun and play, in the first instance, with my instruments. I don’t really have images in my head. My music is instrumental, so I need to find other ways to build a song without 'a verse, a chorus, a bridge' etc. I prefer to try and build a kind of story with the sound...

Did you have a particular approach to making the songs on Night Music?

Yes, well I improvised all the songs during the recording! All tracks are the first takes. 75% of each song was recorded live and I’ve only done overdubs where I felt something was missing. I can’t do in any other way - I’m a saxophonist, I love free jazz very much, and improvising is what I do the best...

It was mentioned in the press release that you were influenced partly by the idea of working to fit two sides of a record. Was this restraint helpful to the creative process?

On a LP you can only put a maximum of 22 minutes on each side. The LP is the best support for music. 45 minutes is plenty enough for me as I don’t like it when an album is too long. I love very much those album in the 1970’s with a long song one side and few little ones on the other side...

Were the sounds created mainly with analogue machines?

Only analogue keyboards: Arp, Roland, Moog, Yamaha and acoustic instruments like the voice and my saxophone.

If you could go to one place in space - where would it be?

Not far - the moon.

Were you interested in space when you were growing up?

Yes of course, but much more by life under the water in fact. More real and poetic for me.

What was it like to work with Carl Craig? And what input did he have on the album?

I would just send the separate files to him with a rough mix of each song with no instructions! He then did what he felt was right. Carl imagined the mix differently than me, but that’s what I was expected. I wanted him to push the songs in another dimension. I know very well my instruments, and the sound he has done is so much better that I can ever do – he is a master!

Did you reject any of his suggestions?

No, but you know, there is not only one-way to interpret a song. And his way made my songs more effective...

Do you plan to perform any of the Night Music material live?

I already have done! It’s not too difficult because all the songs were composed live. There's a lot of instruments involved. Sometimes when it’s possible, Emmanuelle Parrenin plays some hurdy gurdy with me! Real instruments just sound so great live...

Night Music is available now on Versatile.