DFA are undoubtably one most widely recognized and respected dance labels in the world and certainly North America, responsible for providing the world with the output of bands such as Holy Ghost! and The Juan MacLean on one end, releases of particularly tasty disco cuts from rare acts like Justine & The Victorian Punks on the other end and modern disco from producers like Shit Robot and Black Van somewhere in the middle. It is this established image that made their next release, which was scheduled to drop on May 9th from the New York, NY outfit Invisible Conga People a particularly pleasant surprise.
Eric Tsai and Justin Simon’s second release under the banner of Invisible Conga People (their first was on Italians Do It Better in 2008) is entitled In A Hole, and thankfully their music sounds nothing like what their name suggests. The two tracks on the EP, In A Hole and Can’t Feel My Knees, are both solid records typical of the DFA label featuring immaculate calming vocals set to equally surreal backing tracks. The real shining star of the EP is the dub version of Can’t Feel My Knees, which is almost an entirely different song from the original. It is equal parts dark, weird and techno (if genres really need to be assigned.) Drop in spots of a rich, deep synthesized melody and you have a winner in my books. The good news is that the released ahead of schedule and can be purchased right here right now. Check’er out below.
Invisible Conga People – Can’t Feel My Knees (Dub)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Invisible Conga People | myspace | junodownload
Explaining what kind of music you listen to is always a difficult task I find. If you say electronic dance music (the all encompassing term) people generally seem to think of Sandstorm or something else along those lines. If you say you listen to techno they conjure up images of movies scenes of Russian raves or something equally strange. That’s why I’ve been known to settle on the term “anything good.”
This definition of listening to anything that is good is especially useful in times like these where I have a particularly interesting and different track that I don’t know how to define? Is it techno? Does the vocal make it house? I don’t know to be honest but what I do know is that this track by Clouded Vision is proof that the artistry and skill that goes into making electronic music is very much still alive.
Clouded Vision are Matt Walsh and Steve Cook and their label by the same name is about as interesting as their own tracks are. The genre-bending label spans just about every name beatport can manage to prescribe to it from indie-dance to techno. The third release on this label is the Truckin’ EP by Darabi – a bit of a funky funhouse track with a Matthew Dear-esque vocal (although admittedly more in tune.)
The label heads turned this one into a late night special with some big snares, bright hats and a powerful synth bass line to compliment it all. Clouded Vision is always a treat because it’s a stripped down, less structured versions of Matt Walsh’s productions in my opinion. While I’m not saying that this is better than Honey Comb, it’s certainly my favourite track to come from the producer and his label for the time being. It’s tasteful, groovy and the perfect amount of weird. Enjoy. Also, in addition to the preview below, you can grab The Love Supreme Reversion mix of Truckin’ off of Matt Walsh’s Soundcloud, free of charge.
Darabi – Truckin’ (Clouded Vision aka Matt Walsh & Steve Cook Remix)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Clouded Vision (label) | beatport
“Have you ever heard about my buddy Bambounou?” is the question that SP label boss Teki Latex asks in his own remix featured on the French-dreadlocked producer’s new Animism EP. I pre ordered this one so if you have not in fact heard of the Youngunz talent then you’re about to be very happy about this introduction.
Some of you may remember Bambounou from his remix of Romane with French Fries, for the track that the pair did a while back called “Coconut” that did a tour of the blog circuit or even from his huge remix of the track “Mamacita”. (If you haven’t you might want to check all of those out.) Basically, as Teki so eloquently explains, he doesn’t care about genres – the man just enjoys his drums. His big debut on the French Youngunz label which featured French Fries’ Arma EP earlier this year is equally as big as his label mate’s in terms of production, energy and playability. The tribal feeling Aladji and the mystifying pan flute masterpiece Flaly are the tunes I can see really making a big dent in a lot of sets from here on out.
Flaly is the track we have for you today and is also my favorite on the EP. It sets the kind of tone you’d want if you were exploring a jungle. It’s a bit too laid back to be a banger, but would go down a treat in so many different ways if it was used at the right time. It’s infectious and produced in such a way that you’ll most definitely be throwing this one in repeat on the first few listens. Please, do yourself a favour and check out the whole release. For those who are trying to save the pocketbook a little you can grab the tracks for 99 cents a piece here at 7digital. ALSO his Senta remix is available on Beatport finally! This is easily the biggest banger you’ll hear in months if you haven’t got your hands on it already.
Bambounou – Flaly
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bambounou | myspace | beatport
I know I’ve been gone for a very long time but I’ve finally returned. Back on the continent, back in the country and most importantly back in front of my computer for good. There is any number of amazing tracks I could post at the moment (as is always the case in the summer) but instead of going with the obvious route I’m going to bring it very low key on this lazy Saturday while the city recovers from TIME last night.
Just because we’re in the business of listening and dancing to EDM doesn’t always mean that it’s the same genre all the time as you most certainly will have noticed from reading the posts here and it also most certainly doesn’t mean that all the music we post always has to be dance-able. There’s something to be said about “chill-out” labels and artists such Wolf + Lamb Records as Seth Troxler, Matthew Dear and co. who continuously create music that is beautiful in the most simple form.
The track we have for you today is from the ever talented 19 year old Nicolas Jaar in his latest effort – a remix of Kasper Bjoerke’s new track Heaven. Jaar really lets his classical training shine through on this one, providing some beautiful piano laid under equally mellow lyrics to create an undeniably chilled out mood and consequently proving that sometimes simplicity is sometimes the key to creating a remix that takes an otherwise mediocre song to a whole new level.
Kasper Bjoerke – Heaven (Nicolas Jaar Remix)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Nicolas Jaar | myspace | beatport
We receive a lot of mail, music and love letters in the electroTO mailbox but it’s always nice when you haven’t checked it for a while and you return to something exciting like a new Deadfish Podcast from none other than the biggest thing in the west coast since the Vancouver Olympics. Neoteric popped us an email today and along with some kind words and the good news that he’ll be tearing down the social thanks to our boys over at the Faktory in September, he dropped us two exciting mixtapes of two distinctly different flavours.
Firstly we have something that we know you’ll love as much as we do. It’s no secret that we love Deadfish and everything associated with the label, but what makes it even better is that DJ Neoteric, the man responsible for Discobelle’s Turned on Compilation which featured our boys Gingy and John Roman, was in charge of this month’s Deadfish Podcast which is pleasing to say the least for everyone involved.
In his own words: “Tons of my favorite tracks from the past few months, plus some exclusives, and a healthy serving of the DEADFISH Family! Here’s a mix to get your summer started right!”
Tracklist
01. Para One – Toadstool (Jesse Rose Made to Play Dub)
02. Onno – Common Sense
03. Adam Porte & Sante – Own
04. Spice Girls – Holler (Masters at Work Spice Beats)
05. Crookers – Hold Up Your Hand (Renaissance Man Remix)
06. David Keno – Upside Down
07. Monkey Safari – Waiting
08. Pirupa – Whatever Girl
09. Senor Stereo – I Am The Beat (Edu K Remix)
10. Madkids – I Know
11. Playmode – Shimmy Shake
12. Camel – Cohiba (Nat Self Remix)
13. Belocca & Soneec – Bla Bla (Martijn Ten Velden Remix)
14. Tim Deluxe – It Just Won’t Do (Mowgli Remix)
15. Riva Starr – Splendido
16. Mowgli – We Think Its Cool
17. Richard Dinsdale – Boom Boom
18. Camel – Bamboo
19. Pleasurekraft – Tarantula (Hugo Remix)
20. Thomas Schumacher – Taxi (Riva Starr Remix)
21. Surfing Leons – Polis (LA Riots Remix)
22. Autoerotique – Record Breaker
23. Solid Groove – Throwing Stones
Grab it from the Deadfish site
You can download it for free from iTunes here
or if you don’t have iTunes from here
He was also kind enough to swing over a mixtape from a producer that I’ve really been digging lately by the name of Eli Escobar who just had a stellar release on Plant Music. The mixtape was for a series Neoteric himself runs called the “White Light Mixes”, which is basically a driving music themed mixtape renaissance of sorts which features a lot more downtempo music and a lot of DJs who aren’t afraid to let a song play out it’s duration. It’s an acquired taste but if you’re feeling up to it you may just end up really digging it and gaining some serious new roadtrip mixtapes at the same time. You can get the Eli Escobar mix here. Feel free to look around while you’re there (I quite like the Rory Phillips mix myself).
Anyways that’s all folks. Enjoy your dosage of mixtapes that should hold you out until Wednesday and the next installation in our Summer Sessions Series. Expect something Golden tomorrow. Hint Hint.
I’d heard of Firebeatz before but had never actually given their work a serious listen until today. I was doing some beatport browsing today when I quite happily stumbled across the latest remix from the Dutch producers. It seems to me that the Netherlands is not only the home of the team that will win the world cup [citation needed] but also the home to producers that make some extremely exciting dance music. Not all dutch producers need to bang out “dirty dutch” music and Firebeatz have been able to make quite a slamming rendition of DJ Gregory and Gregor Salto’s track Vem Rebola that reminds me a bit of something that The Subs would come up with.
The original, which features vocals from Dama Pancha & DJ Mankila, doesn’t really float my boat the Firebeatz instrumental excites me if for no other reason than it would get kids dancing. It’s pretty simple over all – just some solid drums over a fast rolling synth and a small snippet of the vocal sample for good measure. It’s just some good old simple electro done the way it’s meant to be. Enjoy.
DJ Gregory and Gregor Salto – Vem Rebola (Firebeatz Instrumental Remix)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Firebeatz | myspace | beatport
There’s nothing more exciting in the world of music collection than a good release surprise. That was the case when I opened up beatport today only to find that Sven Vath’s Cocoon Recordings label had released a new twelve track compilation which I was entirely in the dark about. The Cocoon Compilation J contains new tracks from Popof, Loco Dice and legend Ricardo Villalobos. As far as I’m concerned no label has perfected the art of creating low key opening set music alongside big house bombs in the same way that Cocoon has managed to do so over the years so the collection kicked off a great week of music alongside John Roman’s Reclusion Mixtape.
While hard to discern a clear favorite out of the compilation the 12 minute “Humusweg” by Ricardo Villalobos, which could easily find its way into an opening set or a sleeping playlist depending on your taste, was one of the most pleasing titles on the release. It’s a perfectly minimalistic combination of background noise, hit hats and various synth workings that manages to be “chilled out” while still having enough substance to not be deemed boring even for those who aren’t usually into the sometimes odd tracks the seasoned producer creates. For those of you looking for something a little more in the electroTO fashion there’s a brilliant track from DJ Koze on there that is guaranteed to please.
Ricardo Villalobos – Humusweg
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Ricardo Villalobos | myspace | beatport
Youngunz, as a label, may not have blown up quite yet but some of their artists are definitely on the brink. The French label behind the French Fries Arma EP from earlier this year, as well as the Lazy Flow Mambo Fever EP which we featured some time ago. Now they’re back at it with their their third release this year by way of 26 year old producer Digikid84. Since the label’ last E.P, released by Riot kid under the pseudonym Manaré, went largely unnoticed despite some big name remixes, I’m really hoping that this feel good throwback E.P. entitled Supernature Love turns some more heads.
Digikid84 has pumped out fire as long as I’ve known him and P.A.M.E.L.A. is a fantastic exhibition of his opinion. While the feel-good-summer-disco-house track isn’t exactly in line with his signature work, it’s hard to imagine somebody not jamming to this one all summer long. The whole E.P. is reminiscent of early house music – a blurred mess of disco and what we know to be house – high pitched vocals and all. This E.P. smashes and it smashes hard. Uplifting, infectious and not overly complicated, yet masterfully produced. Digikid really swung for the fences on this one.
Digikid84 – P.A.M.E.L.A.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Digikid84 | myspace | facebook | juno download
In a scene that is becoming quickly saturated by formulaic, unimaginative chart topping bangers, original and imaginative producers stand out like a sore thumb. Jesper Dahlback’s International Sound Laboratory label is chocked full of some of the most creative producers out there, and time and time again releases absolute masterpieces. It’s come to a point where you need only look at the names on the EP to know that it’s going to be at the top of your most played list.
ISL’s latest – the Wait, What? EP from Alexi Delano and Tony Rohr – was not only one of the best releases of May but probably one of the best techno releases of the year so far. The whole EP is wonderfully strange, containing arrangements of sound that wouldn’t even register as a possibility with most producers. Her Elastic Visions is not only a piece of music but a representation of intensity and urgency. It sounds more like the sound track to a mad scientist’s experiment than something you’d hear on a dance floor which lends to the ingenuity of it.
The fast ticking and strange siren-esque sounds creates an atmosphere which adds an addicting quality to the track – something which is shared by the other tracks on the EP as well. This is simply brilliant musical ideas combined with masterful production. I could just be crazy, but I think that it’s quite hard not to instantly fall in love with this one. As always you can, and most definitely will want to, check out the whole release at the links provided below.
Alexi Delano, Tony Rohr – Her Elastic Visions
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Wait, What EP | beatport
Nouveau Yorican (yet another superstar tandem) didn’t really impress me on first glance. Boriqua, the tune released on Sound Pellegrino, was most definitely eclipsed by the remixes on the EP but Laidback Luke and Gina Turner are back at it again – this time with a much better result. The fun original mix isn’t necessarily better than the Drop the Lime or Tony Senghore remixes, but is really worth a listen on a big system.
Jackit plays on the tried and true formula of excellent chopped samples and intelligently catchy vocals. What sounds to me like a sample of an old rockabilly tune carefully looped with some classic house elements really makes this one as entertaining to listen to as it would be to dance to. The Drop The Lime remix is easily the best part of the EP – worth every cent and with only a small fraction of the usual T&B sub-wobble. The Tony Senghore remix also has it’s place, but isn’t quite as good as his recent remix for Brodinski and doesn’t really improve on the original much for basic listening pleasure purposes. As always, both remixes can be purchased by following the Beatport link provided below.
Nouveau Yorican – Jackit
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jackit | beatport
