Just made this for upcoming gigs and because, shit, it’s been AGES since I made any sort of mix. I have two more coming this week. Watch me! This is the first time I’ve done a uk funky/kuduro/tropical mix and I had a bunch of stuff I had to leave out so there’ll probably be a part two soon. Feel free to share this with your friends.
edit: I should probably mention this was put together on the train in Ableton. I have no qualms in admitting that. Most of the time that’s the only means I have at my disposal. But I WILL be doing some real-time DJ mixes now that I have a table-mixer setup at home for the first time in years.
NGUZUNGUZU – moments in sex [CDR]
fourtet – love cry (joy orbison remix)
hardhouse banton – sirens
emvee – glitch (bonjay’s feisty rub) [CDR]
miike snow – silvia (sinden remix) [sony]
marcus price and carli – Mat, Bira, Kvinnor, Weed (Kingdom Remix) [CDR]
octa push – doctor bayard
rusko – woo boost (douster remix) [mad decent]
l-vis 1990 – united groove (buraka som sistema remix) [mad decent]
thunderheist – LBG (toy selectah raverton remix) [big dada]
bassanovva feat. spruce lee- chicken lover [CDR]
cubic zirconia – josephine (egyptrixx remix) [CDR]
prince zimboo – santa flaws! (cocotaxi remix) [CDR]
wiley feat. emeli sande – NBYM (soloUK ‘loves garage’ remix) [CDR]
marvin brown – jack it up riddim [CDR]
erup – click my finga (grahmzilla remix) [truckback]
major lazer feat. nina sky – louder (so shifty remix) [downtown]
miike snow – animal (mark ronson redo) [sony]
I have always been a big fan of this math wiz turned psych rock beatmaker geek. He’s got a new album on the way! It’s called Swimand it’s coming out on 4/20, dude. Also, if you have never seen his live show), it’s pretty incroyable with two drummers and whatnot. Someone tell him I want to do a remix!
The first single is titled Odessa and it’s 7 shades of awesome. Disco beat, loose bassline, haunting vocals. Kind of reminds me of Whitest Boy Alive, but on drugs.
I didn’t want to turn this place into an obituary but too many talented people are dying and I just need to have some sort of final tribute to them.
Teddy Pendergrass, who grew up in Philly, first rose to fame as the low-register lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. He later went on to a fruitful solo career. A car accident in 1982 left him paralyzed from the waist down but he continued on, releasing another 7(!) albums before retiring. Truly a testament to the determination and commitment the man had to his craft. I’ve included a few of my favorite songs from the baritone crooner.
I discovered this song a while back when I went on a tear looking for anything Reggie Lucas put his magic touch on. (Reggie Lucas being the genius behind most of Madonna’s early hits)
Let’s talk about Jean-Marc Cerrone, a french disco song-writer/producer. The man played a significant role in the rise of italo in the early 80s. I have been obsessed with his song Supernature for more years than I can count, but never actually did any research on it until today. Supernature was released in 1977 on Cerrone III and is a sci-fi thriller about the rebellion of mutant creatures created by human scientists in order to combat starvation. That’s Cerrone playing the Ludwig drum kit in the video!
The vocals are supplied by American song-writer Lene Lovich, best known for her hit single Lucky Number. He later went on to score some film soundtracks including Brigade Mondaine. Another staple in my disco sets is Strip-Tease, a dark little instrumental tune which reminds me of Zongamin’s Bongo Song.
t was re-released in 1988 as Supernature ‘88 with a remix by Simon Harris which uses Roland drum sounds to give it a more house-y feel. This is the version I have been playing forever. Erasure covered in 1989 and really went all out when it came to performing it live! (see below)
Got a chance to see the man live this past weekend Sydney. Super tight band, vocals spot on. Just a feel good time had by all. It made me want to go home and listen to old Stax/Motown and kiss my girl.
“These are just for display”. I hate you. Interesting side-note: his first keyboard was a CASIO CZ1000. I own the 5000 and it’s a really unique sounding synth indeed. Super hard to program but if you are patient, it can sound really great.
Ah, yes, Krautrock. Like it or not, this name stuck. I find the evolution of music in Germany through the past 40 years to be fascinating (as demonstrated in my earlier ramblings about Kraftwerk). This covers the larger umbrella of groups that consisted of the Krautrock generation: Faust, NEU, Can, Amon Duul, etc. and is definately worth watching!
Zomby is that dude. I feel like this is exactly the type of music I would be making if I had continued on with Metrix. 8-bit + drums + dreamy synths = heaven.
Marc Moulin is a legendary jazz musician and electronic music pioneer from Belgium. After spending the 60s in many succesful Belgian jazz bands, he formed his own band with friend and guitar specialist Phillip Catherine named Placebo. They were a blend of funk, soul, jazz and electronics. He was also the first Belgian to own a Moog.
After Placebo disbanded he tried his hand at a solo project along with some of the band members from his former project. His first album was called Sam Suffy and this I think this song was particularly stunning:
He steps away from the jazz scene and instead spends time producing pop records for such french stars as teen sensation Lio and Alain Chamfort.
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In the late 70s, Moulin would help found electro-pop pioneers Telex with the aid of programmer/sound engineer Dan Lacksman and vocalist Michel Moers. The combination is a winning one and they go on to create some timeless pop songs that still sound great to this day.
He passed away due to cancer in September of 2008 at the age of 66. May he rest in peace.
Designer: Burton Kramer
Client: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Date: 1974
This is easily one of the most recognizable company logos in the country and has been used by the CBC since it was launched decades ago. The logo is affectionately known as the “exploding pizza” for obvious reasons and I have been able to dig up some a few examples of it in use (The motion graphic story board, a billboard from the launch and a couple of fleet applications). Innovative and fitting for its time (CBC was using colour broadcasts and was expanding from coast to coast), the logo was one of the first designed to be usable in motion and flat. it used such a beautiful metaphor, colours and image radiating from the source, like transmission waves reaching out to the country. Beautiful!
-Todd Falkowsky
This DVD reviews the career and music of Kraftwerk, from their inception in the late 1960s [as pre-Kraftwerk ensemble Organisation], through their most celebrated period in the mid 1970s, and culminating with their resurgence during the 1980s with the popularity of synth-pop and techno. The film further explores how Kraftwerk both fitted in and pulled away from the electronic wing of what is often lazily referred to as ‘Krautrock’. This programme presents a fascinating story previously untold on film.
I bought this documentary the other day at Rotate This in Toronto. I was looking for some inspiration and I figured a documentary on such a ground-breaking band would do the trick. And I was totally right!
Kraftwerks two main members were from Dusseldorf and whereas most artists would do anything to be associated with their sorted history, Kraftwerk didnt shy away from it. From their name, to their appearance, to the art direction, they were german efficiency at its best. It’s kind of scary how you can listen to a Kraftwerk song and it sounds like it was made last week.
What I didn’t realize that the Kraftwerk portion of the doc is actually only a small part of the footage. This documentary spends a good hour explaining how the 60s American/British rock influenced but gave rise to an entirely different movement in Western Germany with their own interpretation of psych rock and eventually Kraut Rock. Aside from a few Can songs, I didnt really know much about the genre. I always had a fondness for Tangerine Dream’s synthy cosmic bliss but had no idea they were German. I was unaware of how the early experimentations of Pierre Henry and Shaeffer ended up insipiring them to use instruments as vessels instead of the more traditional way. This video helps fill many gaps and also really gives you a primer on the growing german music scene of the late 60s and early 70s by the new youth. Having spent quite a bit of time in various parts of Germany, this was a real eye-opener into the cultural differences between western and eastern sections and how that affected the art.
e monome 40h is a reconfigurable grid of sixty-four backlit buttons.
buttons can be configured as toggles, radio groupings, sliders, or organized into more sophisticated systems to monitor and trigger sample playback positions, stream 1-bit video, interact with dynamic physical models, and play games. button press and visual indication are decoupled by design: the correlation is established by each application.
we share a growing collection of applications we’ve written specifically for the 40h.
we also provide examples for writing your own applications. the 40h uses usb and talks serial, midi, and open sound control. it plays well with max/msp, pd, processing, reaktor, flash, java, ruby, and many others. all 40h software and firmware is open source. we aim to facilitate a community of shared exploration.
New batch of these just went out and sold out in 4 seconds. Anyone want to hook me up?
One of my favorite things about Canada is the cornucopia of knowledge that is the NFB. In Toronto and Montreal there exists an NFB store where you can go and watch as many documentaries as you want in a super futuristic a/v station for 2$/day!!! There’s also the possibility of renting videocassettes and taking them home, which i did a few times and madesongsoutof.
Irving Penn was unbeknownst to me until last week when he passed away. Upon speaking to the wifey about it, I came to find out that he was one of the most famous photographers of the last century. He was shooting for Vogue in the 40s and 50s and defined fashion photography for generations after him. Rest in peace.
