Merry Christmas

This mix was meant to go up on my birthday, but all the wav. to mp3 conversion programs were really just spam programs trying to get me to buy porn. That never quite worked out, but I was finally able to squeeze this 1.3 GB in a smaller file just over 30 MB. Now I'm having copyright problems with Ableton Live ;) ;) :)

Tracklist:

Queen - Bohemian Rapsody
Walter Murphy & The Big Apple - Fifth of Beethoven - Soulwax Edit
Myster Jets - Half in Love with Elizabeth - Foamo Remix
Kid Cudi - Day n' Night - Crookers Remix
Lykke Li - Little Bit - AutoErotique Remix
Chemical Brothers - Salmon Dance - Crookers 'Wow' Remix
Mr. Oizo - Positif
Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat - Fake Blood Remix
Mr. Oizo - Gay Dentists
Gonzales - Working Together - Boys Noize Dub Mix
Don Rimini - Let Me Back Up - Crookers Tetsujin Remix
Jean Nippon - You Call It Love
Don Rimini - Ohow
Fischerspooner - Danse en France - D.I.M. Remix

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Download -->WHITE CHRISTMAS MIX
Download -->WHITE CHRISTMAS MIX
Download -->WHITE CHRISTMAS MIX

These Boots Are Made For

Beats me who reads this who actually lives in San Francisco, but if you do you're as cold as I am and you need a little whiskey and dance music to warm you up. Well if you're free tomorrow night and you can get there, head to the Attic on 24th and Mission for DJ sets by yours truly and the other lovely faces above. I'll be going on at around 1 am.

You can certainly expect the one that's been stuck on repeat at least for me, one of the gems of this year, also known as Little Boots. On her "Stuck On Repeat," Little Boots takes a page from Róisin Murphy and our Swedish favorites that have fallen into darkness lately, The Knife; like them she's not afraid to combine organic, seasonal sleigh-bells with an electronic, haunting melody. Then her voice comes in, almost reassuringly. The song has a kind of chill to it that I imagine will be at the top of many wish-lists this year.

Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (alt)

All Too Distant Present

Making the the Top of 2008 lists is not easy; I've been seeing others, and it's safe to say that for the most part, people's tastes even within the same blog scenes are variating. I find this a good thing, hopefully tastes dissipate even further from previous trends, and I hope that music in 2009 sounds a lot more like this, at least for my sake:

Le Knight Club - Rhumba (alt)

Professor Genius - Orange Coco (alt)

Check out these guys' myspaces here and here.

Scylla, Charybdis and the Archduke of Austria

The boys from Franz Ferdinand are releasing their new single Ulysses soon, and they are having a remix competition in order "be surprised by the geniuses out there that no one has heard of yet.” Though I don't doubt their good intentions, the competition will most likely turn out thousands of amateur remixes, with only one picked, and the rest done by more "official" producers, which kind of sucks for those "geniuses". Oh well, if they turn out as good as the one below, I guess I can't get too upset:

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses (Mickey Moonlight Remix) (alt)

Thanks to FYOF for the track.

Give some love to the boys (remixeur as well) and buy their album, releasing on 01/26/09 in the UK and on 01/27/09 in the U.S.

Royksopp - Happy Birthday

It is a sad thing I have to think about it, trace back and reflect, but Royskopp was a romantic experience for me in college. This was approximately seven years ago. I can clearly recall the time when I went to my first "rave," whatever that means. My friend Joe had coerced me to go, with a broken ankle, into a bus with, of course, some number, probably between useless "1" and and another useless number, somewhat greater than "1," giving us little confidence, not knowing how we would get home as naive and innocent freshman in a particular part of a city that's not so inviting at night, Sacramento. The only thing that can be mentioned here, and the only thing that has any lasting semblance seeing it's made its way this far, seven years, is that on that night, from a drugged and defective someone, I received a flyer advertising and promoting a new certain duo that had just started to attract attention, Royksopp. Here we are again.

Royksopp - Happy Birthday (ALT)

Royksopp & Erlend Oye - Poor Leno - Silicon Soul Remix - There is a Light that Never Goes Out Acapella (ALT)

The as-of-yet untitled studio album is rumored to include contributions from among others Sweden’s much-hyped act Lykke Li.

Thanks a Million, OhhCrapp. You're always up on things! ;) ;)

Upper Cuts, No Pun Intended

Conversation on WAVESATNIGHT

"Hmm. kind feel bad for dude. It became so clear after him and Falke seperated, who the true talent behind their tracks was. 1 decent Braxe track in the past year…20 or so amazing Falke originals/remixes. This isn’t bad by most standards but bland just like all of his solo work…Falke basically said this was the reason for splitting up."

"I know Braxe has kinda fallen off the wagon lately, but for anyone to dismiss him because you think Falke was “the true talent” behind their collaborations is downright absurd. Take a look at some of his Falke-free tracks. The Paradise’s “In Love With You,” (The Paradise is just Braxe and some dude named Romuald Louverjon), is an absolute classic. And then he’s got a host of solo remixes that are pure quality: Shakedown’s “At Night,” Annie’s “Heartbeat,” Ben Diamond’s “Let’s Get High,” Britney Spears’ “Anticipating,” John Lord Fonda’s “So Far Away,” Shakedown’s “Lonely Road,” and Space Cowboy’s “That’s What Dreams Are Made Of” are just a few of the many that I noticed as I quickly glanced down my itunes library. So show a little more respect for the man, please."

"I don’t feel it’s absurd. Let me clarify my reasoning. Braxe in undeniably a solid producer and engineer. However, the only track he has done solo that has that braxe and falke magic is the Paradise track (possibly also Anticipation chord work). All of the others have no memorable melodies, and no real progression. Annie remix is terrible btw…hardly different from the original. I am very much against people who put their name on something they didn’t create, so when I heard this implication (Triple J interview) , i immediately lost respect for Braxe, and the past year has done nothing to contradict that implication. Braxe is indeed a talent, but Falke has had 10 or so “absolute classics” in the past year alone…"

The Paradise - In Love With You (ALT)

Keith - Mona Lisa's Child - Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix (ALT)

Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Rubicon (ALT)

Discoscape

Escapist, dreamlike and evasive are some of the few attributes that have been given to Lindstrom and Prins Thomas' work. Their sound is a bit of a hybrid: it never seems to be full on Balearic, though heavily associated with the scene and it doesn't seem quite italo either, though reminiscent of that genre as well. An elaborate disco instrumental boom box, with several rhythmic sections of singular instruments playing and combining one by one, with one and then another and another for long, spatial segments, only for swooning synths to direct the changes of pace and melody into another realm. These guys have too many tools, too many directions of pace and too many well-implemented ideas to not regard them as essential dance musicians.

Lindstrom and Prins Thomas - Mighty Girl (alt)
Lindstrom and Prins Thomas - Turkish Delight (alt)

Bamboozle their myspaces here and here.

Kilometers Away

Time and time again Sébastien Tellier satisfies that warm spot in our gut where beards are king. A few nights ago I set up camp at a bar called the Attic in the Mission, ordered a Nagrony, and read an article by my friend Brandon about Tellier. The idea of Tellier reaching for the "master subject" I think is apt, yet in doing so he streches himself too thin. While his albums have many gems, others, like Kilometer, require a little polishing before it's as charming as reading a Tellier interview in English. And Moulinex has the goods. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the beginning reminds me a bit of U2, the good U2 of the 80s. But then come the vocals and the song falls into a definite groove. Moulinex has fun with the clip of the moaning woman in the original Kilometer. That night I read the article I ran into Brandon and we discussed the comparison between Tellier and Serge Gainsbourg. I found this video of Gainsbourg performing in the eighties, and from a distance, it might as well just be Tellier himself sans beard.

Sébastien Tellier - Kilometre (Moulinex remix) (alt)

Not your average bears

Seriously, they are making the best of 2008 lists too easy:

Fleetwood Mac - Never Forget (Cut Copy Lifelike Remix) (alt)

Hit 'em up here and here.

Missed Connections

I'm not sure what place comparative music studies have on the mp3 blog scene, but driving home late last night with the iPod on shuffle I made a connection between two, at first glance, vastly different artists that I would like to share with you. So, as part of my "Missed Connections" series, here is your official LTBN personals.

You: walked in to the bar late last night, right before last call, with a plaid shirt muscle-tee and navy blue keds. Made a name for himself after remixing Yelle's cover of "A Cause des Garçons" and in 2005 released Côte Ouest. His instrumental originals sound a little midi-ish, often reminding one of the "Demos" you hear on cheap keyboards. But Tepr, or Tanguy Destable as he is known to some, has fresh, funky vision and it works. Melodies overlap one another, and he lets song build itself up quite satisfactorily.

TePr - Deutschland to italia (1987) (alt)

Me: the English chap sitting at the bar, slightly balding with thick rimmed glasses, clutching a gin and tonic. Michael Nyman, fringe-classical musician and minimalist, published a study on experimental music and John Cage in the seventies. Best known for his film scores in which he developed a distinct style of mathematical baroque sound. Each note, although played by a full orchestra, seems to have been entered as part of a logarithm in a super computer. Nothing is accidental, and his compositions--such as "Wheelbarrow Walk" from the soundtrack for Drowning by Numbers--unfold in the same way a computer loads up. Like Tepr, no note is improvised or accidental, and yet there is something inherently organic about their songs. If interested, want to meet for coffee?

Michael Nyman - Wheelbarrow Walk (alt)

Happy Birthday

Today is birthday. It's shortly after twelve but I've been feeling the familiar but invented feeling that is inescapable during and around this time, yesterday, and will do so even more once I get some rest and wake up into a sea of formalities. Besides the birthday that even spills into this here blog, I want to post a song. If you're thinking to hard about what the lyrics mean, I will tell you you're missing the point.


Michel Polnareff - Love Me, Please Love Me (ALT) 1966

Lassen Sie es Gibt Nacht

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is the the pet project of Riton, who this year has given us some great remixes for Hercules & Love Affair and Mickey Moonlight, and I have to say, I am surprised. Not because it's well done, Riton usually never lets me down in that regard; rather, I'm surprised of the song choice. La Serenissima is a famous Italian song by Rondo Veneziano, and was featured in Justice's rejected FABRIC Live mix. Riton keeps the focus of the original and embellishes on the rhythm section, making it a more dynamic and deeper track with a more modern tone.

Peep it:

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - La Serenissima (alt)

Bonus:

The Sunshine Underground - Borders (Goodbooks Remix) (alt)

P.S. Sorry if my German isn't top notch, my German-literate sister is in Berlin time, hence my being lost in translation.

Bombs Over Blog Land

Seems to me like Guns N' Bombs has done enough (Kitsune work, remixes for reputable artists and some outstanding, high energy mixes) to deserve a little more hype than they get. Sort of a shame that they've been confined to a secondary role while others within their genre receive all the accolades. I guess since they don't whine for themselves, we will do it for them in hopes to raise a profile that is already high enough to be recognized but is inconsistent in exposure.

Dig on some of this stuff:

Guns N' Bombs - Riddle of Steel (alt)
Guns N' Bombs - Riddle of Steel (Para One Remix) (alt)

Bonus:

The Teenagers - Homecoming (Guns N' Bombs 1996 XTC Remix) (alt)

Hit up the guys at their official myspace.