Monthly Archives: May 2010

diskJokke & Jackpot

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diskJokke

If you think that the history of Scandinavian disco ended with ABBA, you deserve a swift kick in the teeth.  The amount of talent emerging from these countries is astonishing.  You may have hear of Prins Thomas, Todd Terje, Studio, Lindstrøm, Mungolian Jetset, etc.  Or maybe you haven’t.  All these guys are on the forefront of contemporary disco and never cease to rock my socks.  Today I’d like to highlight two more Norse gods, diskJokke and Jackpot.

DiskJokke (aka Joachim Dyrdahl) grew up in a small suburb of Oslo and is a classically trained violinist.  He started producing electronic music at age 15 and has since joined his friends Prins Thomas, Lindstrøm and Todd Terje in the burgeoning Norwegian disco scene.  After releasing a few tracks on Thomas’ Full Pupp label, he’s since release a full length, Staying In, off Smalltown Supersound.


Jackpot hails from Stockholm, Sweden where the trio started putting together tracks out of an apartment.  They describe their music as a fusion of italo disco and early-80s body music.  With recent releases off Permanent Vacation and remixes by Rory Philips and In Flagranti, these guys will keep you moving during those cold nordic winters.

Posted by Patrick

A Mountain of Awesome.

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I’ve always thought folk and dance music should have an arranged marriage at some point.  It would be mutually beneficial, combining the soul and lyrical integrity of folk with the movement and beat of disco.  If I had learned that damned production software, the first remix I’d have attempted would have been a balearic version of Fleet Fox‘s Mykonos. I thought it would be original, but alas, I bumped into A Mountain of One.

A Mountain of One is Zeben Jameson and Mo Morris working out of London.  They started with a couple of EPs that are a bit hard to come by, and later combined them into a pseudo-album titled Collected Works in 2007. Their first album, Institute of Joy, dropped in 2009 with rave reviews.

Think Pink Floyd meets Studio with a heavy dose of Krautrock.  They have everything you need, from ambient synth work to whining guitar solos, chugging acoustic strumming and that ever-steady kick that sets the pace… utterly satisfying.  While you enjoy these tracks, I’ll be pondering a new original disco-fused genre.  Any ideas?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvIfytPajw4]

A Mountain of One- Bones (Way of the Ancients Remix)

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Posted by Patrick

Gold Panda

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Gold Panda

OK so straight up this guy gives Daedalus and Four Tet a run for their $$$! I was wowed when I heard his ‘QUITTERS RAGA’ EP. Hailing from Chelmsford, Essex (London) ‘Derwin‘ better known as Gold Panda has been hard at work. Remixing the likes of Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, Health and The Field but somehow staying below the radar. The name, he says, comes from his love of Japanese culture (even going as far as living there to learn the language & customs)… Yeah yeah  pandas come from China but the Japanese love everything cute, so there you go! He just released his new ‘YOU’ EP (Notown) earlier this month, which includes the tracks ‘You’ & ‘Before We Talked’ along with three different remixes of the single ‘You’, which I must say are quite nice. It’ll feel good when you check him out and then be the first to tell all your friends!

Gold Panda is currently on tour w/ HEALTH. Check out his MYSPACE for all tour dates!

[vimeo vimeo.com/12068560]

Download these tracks:

Gold Panda – You (Seams Remix) | From the ‘You’ EP

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| From the ‘Quitter’s Raga EP

Gold Panda – Back Home | From the ‘Miyamae’ EP

Posted by Moshe

Pink Stallone

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When it comes to disco revival, Pink Stallone gets it.  Ranging from Chicago house to cosmic disco, this trio from New Jersey keeps it minimal, dark and dirty.  I first caught wind of them through the  Cosmic Balearic Beats compilations (highly recommended) by Eskimo Recordings and I’ve been hooked ever since. In the next two months, expect a limited edition vinyl off their self-release label and eventually a full length album.  We’ll be following up with these guys so stay tuned.

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Pink Stallone- New Fate

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Posted by Patrick

Ryan Evans Remixes Crystal Cadillac

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When DJs make the jump to producing, it’s always interesting to hear what comes out.  After years of digging through various sounds and genres you eventually have to choose what you’re going to sound like.  Ryan Evans has been on the DJ on the Miami circuit for 7 years getting his start at Revolver, then moving on to Spiderpussy, Buck 15, and now Vagabond on Saturdays.  His production is 15 years in the making; a journey some of us only hope to travel.  Expect only great things from this dude. He has a slew of original tracks in the works and a full-length album on the horizon.  In the mean time, these remixes will give you a taste of what’s to come.

New Times gets personal with Ryan Evans

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Posted by Patrick

Tobacco

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Tobacco

As you might know Tom Fec aka Tobacco is front man extraordinaire for the group Black Moth Super Rainbow, or maybe you didn’t know that? Well now you do!  As an electronic artist at heart he doesn’t stray far from his roots as a solo artist. Working with analog synths and tape machines, Tobacco can be maybe a bit hip-hop, a bit psych hop but surely a whole lot experimental. But little is known of both Tobacco and BMSR as they are all pretty low key musicians, rarely opening up for interviews. But what I do know is that Tobacco has just released a new album entitled ‘Maniac Meat’ (May 25th) on the Anticon label (one of my all time fav’s). On Maniac Meat, Fec acquired the services of the all mighty Beck for two tracks: ‘Fresh Hex’ & ‘Grape Aerosmith’ which are both stellar! Don’t let his sounds pass you by.

Download these tracks:

Tobacco – Six Royal Vipers

Tobacco  – Fresh Hex (Feat. Beck)

Tobacco – Sweatmother

Posted by: Moshe

DVA

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That’s right kids. Time to get worldly. So I was feeling pretty bummed that I hadn’t discovered a cool band out of my four month stay in the Czech Republic  to introduce to Miami. Before my last two weeks in the country were up, I went to the FM Belfast show in Prague, which was by far the most fun I had at a show in Europe. (I got to see Hot Chip in England, Vampire Weekend in France, The Subways in Prague)

Before the FM Belfast show, I heard that a Czech duo would be the opening act for Belfast. I had never heard music that could be compatible with FM Belfast come out of Prague before so I was quite the skeptic. However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Married couple Barbora and Jan are known as Dva- and from the little Czech I know, “dva” means two. It’s appropriate and simple- on their MySpace page they eliminate names, calling themselves “she” and “he”. On stage, He- wore socks with sandals, as many Czechs do, and She- wore a polkadot dress with jeans underneath. He stayed seated, playing an acoustic guitar and she danced around on stage and had a different instrument in her hands every five minutes. I was especially partial to the sax playing. But don’t be surprised if they subtract an instrument and mimic it with their mouths as most of their songs work off a loop of sounds they make themselves. Sometimes I don’t know if they are speaking Czech or just making up words but it creates a sound that’s catchy and you won’t mind hearing more than once. It’s experimental music at its finest but its earthy and raw- and no shit it’s creative. So na zdraví and enjoy the tunes.

Their two albums Kollektt 8 and Fonok are available for sale on their MySpace

mp3s:

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安田寿之 (Toshiyuki Yasuda)

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If you’ve been a fan of electronica since the early 90s you’ve definitely heard Toshiyuki Yasuda before even though you may not realize it. A few basic facts to bring you up to speed: he’s from Japan, he does just about anything creative regarding music (composer, arranger, producer,  he even sings robotic Brazilian tunes) plus he seems like a really nice guy (based on our email correspondence). He started with Fantastic Plastic Machine in ’94 during his college years and has since collaborated with and composed music for Pizzicato Five, Towa Tei, Isabelle Antena, Montag, Digiki, Little Nobody, Pecombo and two of my personal favs – Combustible Edison and Señor Coconut.

Yasuda’s music has been categorized as Japanese IDM,  Shibuya-Kei, Jazztronica, or experimental electronica but truth be told, it doesn’t fit in any particular box. Yasuda samples so many genres and amalgamates such different styles of music that he should have his own brand, make, and model. Actually, he does – Megadolly Label, established in 2003.  He says “The reason why I’m doing genre-less style is that I like various kinds of music at first. But the true/core reason is that I want to be a social hub in music scenes that connects interesting musicians/persons.”

I asked Toshiyuki Yasuda  my usual “what are you up to?” question and he sent back some very exciting bullet points:

My few latest news:

- Released a soundtrack album “STRANGERS (Soundtracks for Digi+Kishin, Vol. 2)”
- Released a remix album “RENIX”
- Collaborating with Señor Coconut

Well alright!!! Now enjoy some of his recent tracks:

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Posted by: Laura Sutnick (L of M)

Keeping It Slow: Low Motion Disco

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Low Motion Disco is quite possibly the most self-explanatorily named producers I will ever post.  There’s not much background info on Low Motion Disco.  Their “about” section in their blog simply states “we are low motion disco. we keep things slow.”  Fair enough.  Low Motion Disco cranks out the slow jams with that kick-snare-kick-snare that I’m so overly obsessed with. Their single Love, Love, Love has been remixed by Aeroplane, Soft Rocks, Still Going and L.S.B.- all stellar tracks that make you stomp your feet.  Recently they released a remix of Sally Shapiro‘s Let It Show. Enjoy the tunes!

Downloads:

Low Motion Disco- The Low Murderer Is Out At Night (An-2 Remix)

Low Motion Disco- Love Love Love (Soft Rocks Remix)

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Posted by Patrick

Alex Caso is: The Last Shoegazer

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Alex Caso has been a friendly face in the Miami nightlife scene for a minute. In ’93 as a student at the University of Miami, he started the much-beloved Electric Kingdom show at WVUM, UM’s college radio station. He was an original resident DJ at the infamous Revolver party up until 2004, a resident DJ at Poplife from 2000-2007, and now spins regularly at the Vagabond. Known for his diverse taste in music, Alex is our kinda DJ. Today we’re pointing you in the direction of his new mix The Last Shoegazer: Ambient Chill Pop Mix. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Also check out his live band The Waterford Landing.

Download The Last Shoegazer: Ambient Chill Pop Mix HERE.

Posted by Patrick