Family man

Art by Lukira (site down, currently)

This past Friday night Justice tore it up at Smart Bar in Chicago. Rather than perform live they opted for a dj set — a wise choice, as they’ve mastered the talent of packing dance floors. Their selections were impeccable, encapsulating all the most sweat-worthy tracks from the reborn genre they’ve unwittingly spearheaded. While they didn’t play “D.A.N.C.E.,” which I was most stoked to hear, they resurrected a heavy jam ready for fresh spins: Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In the Name.” Who knew everyone wanted to mosh so bad? Justice played us out with “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To,” a “sorry we have to leave you at 3 am, catch you at Coachella” send off which left many with only smiles on their damp faces. This was the first concert I’d promised myself not to “cover” for anyone in a while. Blurb aside, it was nice to just be a participant again. Edit: Nick Sylvester points out Erol Alkan has been ending sets with RATM for years now; good catch.

Dada Life, “The Great Fashionista Swindle” (Serge Santiago remix) [Rise]

Einmusik, “Jittery Heritage” (Dominik Eulberg remix) [Nebula]

Joel Pryde, “Retroit” [Pointed out to me by essentialists, Basic Sounds; check him out on Myspace.]

The Rice Twins, “Poppers” [Kompakt]

Recently reviewed LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver and the remixes of Chromeo’s “Fancy Footwork” for RA; check those out if you’re interested. Have another big feature coming through the pipes I’ll be posting about shortly. For a good read about an excellent single, check out Janet Leyton-Grant’s review of Substance & Vainqueur’s “Reverberation/Reverberate.”

Divided by zero

Art by Wieden + Kennedy 12

Baby Ford & Zip, “The Riverbed” [Perlon]

Oliver Cheatham, “Get Down Saturday Night” (unreleased promo mix) [The Deep House Experience]

Lee Curtiss & Gadi Mizrahi, “Virgin Sacrifice” [Wolf + Lamb Music]

Alexander Robotnick, “Neighbor” [Hot Elephant Music]

Wobble, don’t fall down

Lusine, “Everything Under the Sun” (Lawrence remix) [Ghostly Intl.]

Whirlpool Productions, “From Disco To: Disco” [Ladomat 2000]

Narcotic Syntax, “Raptor’s Delight” [Perlon]

Bobby Baby, “The Some Place New” (Boy in the Cardigan remix) [Corpid]

Nevermind baby

Substance & Vainqueur, “Reverberation” [Scion Versions]

Jürgen Paape, “Take That” [Kompakt]

Ben Klock, “Czeslawa” [Ostgut Tonträger]

Throbbing Gristle, “Still Walking” (Carl Craig Re-Version) [NovaMute]

Kneeling ovation

Kaliber, “12.1” [Kaliber]

LFO, “Simon From Sydney” [Warp Records]

Lee Van Dowski, “The Strike Pandemonium” [Soma Quality Recordings]
Thomas Fehlmann, “Schizophrenia” (ft. Moritz Von Oswald) [Apollo]

Matthew Dear live @ the Empty Bottle

It’s probably rash of me to make a judgment like this; but even without hearing Asa Breed, Matthew Dear’s forthcoming album on Ghostly International, as a finished product, I’m ready to give it the crown of crossover album of the year. Last night Matthew Dear’s Big Hands (aka Dear with a drummer and bassist) made its second and final “preview” live PA in Chicago (Detroit being the first). Moments after he cued up the first beat in their set, I’d forgotten all about the unusually long wait before the first act, the high-school talent show abomination that was The Flesh, and the dj duo who spun nothing but crackling 80s pop tunes and looked uncannily like the villains of Superman 2.

As his Ableton-aided laptop cranked out dense beat kernels, Dear, whose DJ sets have found him rather stoic, stepped right into the role of frontman. He looked loose and energized as he swung his hands, threw down some claps and loosed his baritone bellow upon the crowd. His vocals called to mind a blend of David Gahan, Alan Vega of Suicide (the “ow!” shouts didn’t hurt) and Ian Curtis, quickly switching between foreboding and introspective delivery styles. Though the base beats were innately tied to techno, the full band sound also took cues from the aforementioned singers’ groups. Layered vocals and tenebrous synths were pushed to their greatest immediacy by the cracking percussion and fat bass tone, Dear sauntering at the front, curled locks trembling from the vibrations and gyrations. The tunes alternated between hypnotically danceable and firmly planted full-on melancholic meditations with resonating pulses felt in listeners’ jugulars. I could see why he’s cited David Byrne and Brian Eno’s samplepiece My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts as an inspiration. Everything about this new period in Matthew Dear’s career seems fully realized: Not one note/tune sounded out of place or still needing practice (though the drummer didn’t seem to remember any of the words), his presentation of Asa Breed material was as precisely entertaining as a Booka Shade set, even the album cover has me wowed. I’ve not been this excited for a record release in quite some time. Mark June 6th on your calendars now.

My friends over at Random Circuits have the Four Tet remix of Dear’s new single posted — a must hear. More of my pictures from the show are available here. And if somehow you’ve managed to not hear “Deserter,” do yourself a favor and stream it here.

Not quite, but ok, here

Out of order : Tyler, myself, our breakfast sponsor and Mica, resident WLUW goddess (from left to right)

Did you know mp3 recorders have many jacks in which you can plug in things? I did, but apparently not which one to utilize; sorry, Tyler. Anyway, here is a basic idea of what the Steve N’ Tyler experience whipped up for frenzied vinyl fiends. It’s probably a bit quiet, but I’m so happy to have ANYTHING I can’t be bothered to change it. Let me know what you think!

Steve ‘N Tyler (not really) @ the WLUW Record Fair 2k7

David Bowie, “Oh, You Pretty Things!”
The Raincoats, “Lola”
Of Montreal, “Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider”
Justice, “D.A.N.C.E.”
Junior Boys, “In the Morning”
Sally Shapiro, “Find My Soul” (Norwegian electrojazz mix)
Sister Sledge, “Lost In Music” (Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers 1984 remix)
Owusu & Hannibal, “What It’s About”
Hall & Oates, “I Can’t Go For That”(No Can Do) (Smizek edit)
Justin Timberlake vs. LCD Soundsystem, “My Love (for) Someone Great” (Diplo blend)
Ludacris & R. Kelly, “Woozy” (J.J. Brown mix)
Patrice Rushen, “Haven’t You Heard?”
Tracey Thorn, “It’s All True” (Escort extended remix)

Hoot

Picture by LJ_oumnique

Rayna of Modifyier and I had a nice chat today about tunes, San Francisco and a TBA collaboration (if you read her blog, you can probably guess what it is) this afternoon while both of us were kind of working. She also e-introduced me to Drei Farben House and Flavius E, excellent musicians and soon to be bearers of her artwork. I’ve included one of each of their tracks and urge you to dig into both of them. Actually, you can get a bunch of Drei Farben House’s singles and remixes for free on the Corpid Label site. Many thanks to Rayna for those recommendations and the conversation.

Drei Farben House, “Wearbility” [Corpid Extra]

Swayzak, “Blufarm” [Medicine Label]

Flavius E, “Spazio” (Leandro Fresco remix) [Casa del Puente Discos]

Wink, “High State of Consciousness” (DJ Wink’s Hardhouse mix) [Strictly Rhythm]

So close to the click

Vladislav Delay, “He Lived Deeply” [Huume]

Hombre Ojo, “Manejando Un Carrito Rapidito Por Santiaguito” [Perlon]

Maetrik, “Future Will Survive” [Treibstoff]

Jeff Mills, “The Dancer” [Purpose Maker]

I’ve got to figure out how to get more out of my day. I know there’s free time crammed behind the office furniture somewhere. The siren’s lure of the Internet is a seductive tune, kinda sounds like acid house.

High times for low spirits

My review of Stephan Bodzin’s “Liebe Ist…” single. Fairly eager to see how the full-length turns out.

Robot Needs Oil, “Volta” [Arts & Crafts]

Cerrone, “Supernature” [released on so many different labels it doesn’t matter]

Yello, “Oh Yeah” (Booka Shade remix) [Universal]

Psyche, “Neurotic Behavior” [Planet E]