Boys Noize are a DJ/Remix group from Berlin who are causing quite alot of stire these days, now also with releases of their own. I saw them do a warm-up set for Soulwax a while back. A decent showing playing of their heavy Justice'ish sound to a mixed crowd - It would be a lie to say that everyone liked it, but in all fairness I think most people were there only for Soulwax.
First song of the day is a remix of The Living Things' Bom Bom Bom. Starting of a bit slow, sounding a bit like their remix of the Kaiser Chiefs, but the out of nowhere at around 0:42 you get this wonderful synth riff telling you that it is time too dance. This riff really makes the song, which then turns into some sort of heavy-electro version of some old Phoenix B-side.
Second song is the flip side of new single Kill the Kid. Sounding like a distorted chainsaw set atop a bass-rythm,this is a powerful dancetune that would be out of place in some futuristic 3D shooter on a Playstation 4. Intense and agressive, the way Distortion Disco likes it!
No big write-up today, thought I'd just share a couple of tracks that I've been listening alot to lately. At the moment I'm in the starting phase of my thesis writing and it seriously sucks. My professor has been on vacation, the data I was hoping to collect is delayed, so in other words, it's a bit of a frustrating standstill at the moment. Luckily there is always music to cheer me up. Van She is one of those oh so hot names, so I thought I would listen to an old EP of theirs, that I had lying around. It's from 2005, which in blog-terms is something like the early Cretaceous period. Anyways though, it is really good, french/Phoenix sounding pop.
Another track which has been a heavy feature on my Ipod as of late is The Devil of the new The Rapturealbum. As a whole I generally like the album, the leaked Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh Huh is really good in the finished version, and Get Myself Into It is grade A dancefloor material. For some reason though I find myself going back to The Devil - The guitar and blip-blop antics of this song is what you would expect and hope from the comming of the Rapture (Way to get biblical on your ass!). Funky as hell, The Devil is the prime example of what music should sound as, if Distortion Disco could decide.
Final track of the day is from none other than mr. I'm so fucking hot Trentemoller. Him being Danish, he is heraldred as some sort of Danish Royksopp, which of course is a bit overstating he qualities, but his new album is as a whole actually really good - probably the best Danish electronic album for ages, if not ever. The track Vamp has a really nice organic bass sound grinding along on top of which various blips, tweeks and snaps make their joyful way to school. A fulblown Tiga remix of this would be really good I think.
Todays post is a product of me buying the grade A+++ yearly kompilation by German minimal label Kompakt - The label that can do no wrong. Masters of taking the smallest piece of 'klick klick' and making it sound like a beautiful construction of crystals in the best none new-age meaning that can be thought about. Seriously though this is one of the record companies that you should be able to namedrop and at least have some rudimentary knowledge of - You might not even be a fan of techno, but you simply cannot deny the quality in the things released on this 11 year old label.
The Cologne based label was founded by Wolfgang Voigt, Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape is still a leading contender when it comes to minimal sounds. My way to Kompakt actually started pretty late with the catchy So Weit Wie Noch Nie song by Paape - one of those tunes that though a bit of from the mainstream is to perfect that everyone knows (or should know) it.
The label has just released it's seventh installement of the Total series. A compilation series which offers great value for money and lets you have all the great singles released each year on one handy album. This album comes with the greatest recommendations and should, if this was a more fair world, be under every christmas tree in three months time! One of many standouts this year is Paape's Take That which, though a bit of the normal Kompakt sound, is just about as good as it gets. Instantly catchy and with a great great bassline, enjoy:
Second track is fellow Dane Mikkel Metal's calm and tranquile delight Ulyt, which just goes perfect with a rainy day and some sparetime. Extremely aesthetic and simply a highly enjoyable listen. The track doubles as a display of the wide range of genres of the Kompakt Total series. Besides his homepage, there is also a few tracks on his myspace.
Finally I would again recommend that you spend a few dimes and nickles on the Kompakt Total album. It's going to be a good friend. Seriously this is more than quality for money, this is a must!
So these Klaxons are the latest thing apparently. They are presented here on a tip from a friend of mine. They hail from Britain, a modern rockband, taking post-punk, to a new post-post-punk phase.
I'm actually not sure, whether I like their brand of dance-indie, but the remixes send shivers down my spine, which is a start. As a matter of fact Klaxons seem to be a perfect example of how much can be added with a really good remix. Take the video on Youtube as an example. If you compare it to the remix by Third Eye Mafia it becomes desperatly obvious that this band was is missing that final something. Until they find this enjoy the remixes!
First song is Atlantis to Interzone in a Third Eye Mafia reworking, which adds that urgency a bit lacking in the original. So much urgency that if 2-Unlimited had kept their sound, reused here, they would be the greatest band in the world right now!
Second song of the day is the Van She remix of Gravity's Rainbow, starting of an unrealesed b-side by Mylo it turns into something a bit more wicked indie-like. The distorted vocals work like a charm (and when hasn't distortion done that by the way?), making the song infinetly superior to the origanal.
Having made his name with the infamous Trash club in London, Erol Alkan is now on his way, if not already there, to major stardom - At least as much stardom as you can expect from being a DJ/Producer/remixer.
Trash first came to my knowledge when a good friend who had been there the previous night, called me up and ranted about it for something that seemed like ages.
Since this piece of phonehype, Alkan has gone onto make himself a bigger name in the music industry as an A+ remixer. His first major outing was a remix of Mylo's now legendary track Drop the Pressure - A remix not really tampering with the sounds, rather just adding more of what was good with the original. This path has also been his favorite since, except maybe with a bit more Justice thrown in for good measure. This has proven a winning formula, and at the moment he is probably the most "it" you can get on the electro rock scene. If you doubt me check out his great remixes of Franz Ferdinand, Death From Above, Peter Bjørn & John, Hot Chip and of course Headman - among others! You might not have noticed that the rocking remix you were listening was an Alkan, since he is a man of many an alias: Erol Alkan a.k.a. The Wizards Sleeve a.k.a. Mustapha 3000 a.k.a. Curtis Rush a.k.a. probably some other names as well.
The music:
The first track of the day is a DJ-set from Tim Sweeneys excellent Beats in Space programme which you can find here. Nothing much to say except this is the first part of the show, the other played/DJ'ed by Sweeney himself. The tracks are cool as fuck, and there is even an oral tracklisting at the end of the set - how great is that?
Second track is his, now a bit old, but still insanely good remix of The Waters of Nazareth by Justice. This is probably one of my favorite songs the last year. So ferocious and deadly that you expect the USA to come and disarm your stereo everytime you play it! WMD's? fuck it, it's the Dur Dur Durrr re-edit Mr. President!
Today you even get a third song: Nothing much to write, but a minimal powerful remix of the great great great new Scissor Sisters single. Starts of like the theme of an old computer game, but slowly and steadily we are dragged screaming and jubilant at the same time into the disco inferno.
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