Sinden Tours Stateside, Drops Free Mix

London-based DJ, producer, and all around party-starter, Sinden (of The Count & Sinden) is set to bring his particular style of bombastic electro-house across the pond for a very—very!—short US tour. Not long after releasing his latest single with production partner The Count, a song entitled “Mega,” Graeme Sinden will be briefly parting ways with his partner to DJ four dates on the east and west coasts. He also put together a free mix for fans to catch an early glimpse of the kind of tracks he’s been spinning lately, and will most likely be touting along for these choice dates. Download that mix here, and check out the tracklist and tour dates below.

Sinden’s US Tour Mix:
Douster – Allelujah (Jay Weed Remix)
L-Vis 1990 – United Groove (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)
The Count & Sinden – Elephant 1234
WAFA – On My Lips
Boris Dlugosch – Bangkok
Bart B More – Romane
Partysquad – Rage
The Count & Sinden – Mega (Detboi Remix)
WAFA – 3 Man Dub
Mom & Dad – Judas (SonicC Remix)
His Majesty Andre – Spades & Clubs
Basement Jaxx – My Turn (Tom Starr Remix)
Zinc – Blunt Edge
French Fries – Gostoso
Mowgli – Paris To London
Hot City – Head Work
Kingdom – Mind Reader (Todd Edwards Remix)

TOUR DATES
Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Los Angeles – Arena
Wednesday, Feb. 10 – New York – Trouble & Bass Escape From NY @ Webster Hall
Friday, Feb. 12 – Boston – Middle East
Saturday, Feb. 13 – San Francisco – Tormenta Tropical @ Elbo Room

Loose Shus “Taurus”

The fact that several incarnations of “Taurus,” by San Francisco producer Dave Luzius (a.k.a. Loose Shus), have been floating around for years in live sets and on self-released CDs before receiving a proper release from Plant speaks volumes to its classic sound. The funky Quincy Jones bassline, smooth Donna Summer string section, and motorik Giorgio Moroder beat of “Taurus” all pay homage to the golden eras of pop and disco, yet the track remains new and original in its own right. Don’t miss Loose Shus when he brings his insane audio/visual live performance to San Francisco’s Grow Up party this Wednesday.

Taurus

Paul Devro, the Pride of Port Alberni

We tested the Mad Decent DJ’s Canadian pop cred—and we got schooled.

As music director for Diplo‘s Mad Decent label, Vancouver-born DJ Paul Devro is known for having a facile ear for global party beats. But whatever—we decided to challenge him on far-flung Canadian jams to see what kind of childhood flashbacks we could induce. Here, Devro dishes on everything from the Canadian Vanilla Ice to…the Canadian De La Soul.

loscil “Dub for Cascadia”

This March, Scott Morgan (a.k.a. loscil) will be unveiling his fifth album, Endless Falls. Lucky for us (and you), the folks at kranky decided to slip us a little preview in the form of “Dub to Cascadia.” True to form, the Vancouver-based producer burns slow rather than hot, as the song finds him meticulously layering ambient washes, digital fuzz, thudding bass notes, and haunting hints of melody. Need the perfect soundtrack for sullenly staring out the window on a grey winter day and pondering exactly what the hell happened to your life? This might be it.

04_Dub_for_Cascadia

Dam-Funk Toeachizown

Boogie revivalist and long-haired LA electro visionary Damon Riddick (a.k.a. Dam-Funk) wants to make music that lets your hair blow in the wind—a difficult task, but his massive Toeachizown offers just that kind of soothing experience. Full of retro-futurist ’80s funk filled with smeared keyboard melodies and dirty beats, it’s perfect for banging out of a souped-up hovercraft and is easy to soak up and get lost inside. Buoyant backgrounds and vapor-trail synths mirror the mantras and platitudes that double as lyrics. Prince-style falsetto and airy chords run throughout, create an inviting, optimistic atmosphere, especially compared to more inward strains of hypnagogic pop. Dam may be doubling down on a genre many discarded, but he’s got the style and sincerity to make it work.

Crosstown Rebels Launch Rebel Rave US Tour with Deniz Kurtel, Seth Troxler, and More

The UK’s Crosstown Rebels label started an online TV show back in the beginning of 2008 called Rebel Rave. The intermittent program has showcased the likes of Wolf + Lamb, Seth Troxler, Dinky, and Jamie Jones, and is now bringing a selection of those names to North America in their cross-country tour. The inaugural Rebel Rave Tour features Damian Lazarus, Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler, Deniz Kurtel, and plenty of special guests peppered throughout. Rebel Rave’s long-lasting party kicks off February 4 in Newport Beach before heading out for 20 more dates spanning across the US, Canada, and Mexico. In addition to a traveling light show and live performance, Deniz Kurtel will be doing an exclusive tour diary for XLR8R along with Seth Troxler. Check back in the coming weeks to catch photos and more from their wild escapades, and find the upcoming tour dates below.

Thu 04 Feb – Code – Newport Beach
Fri 05 Feb – Centro Convenciones – Mexicali
Sat 06 Feb – Space – Miami
Thu 11 Feb – Aqua – Washington
Fri 12 Feb – Pacha – New York
Sat 13 Feb – The Works – Detroit
Sun 14 Feb – Rise – Boston
Mon 15 Feb – Green Dolphin – Chicago
Thu 18 Feb – Loope Pt.1 – Guadalajara
Fri 19 Feb – Coahuila#149 – Mexico City
Sat 20 Feb – City Hall/2am – Denver
Fri 26 Feb – Mighty – San Francisco
Sat 27 Feb – Avalon – Los Angeles

Tue 02 Mar – Century Ballroom – Seattle
Thu 04 Mar – Cobra – Toronto
Fri 05 Mar – Stereo – Montreal
Sat 06 Mar – Secret Location
Thu 11 Mar – Loope Pt.2 – Guadalajara
Fri 12 Mar – Club 101 – El Paso
Sat 13 Mar – Wired Live – Houston
Fri 19 Mar – Quinta Balsay – Cuenca
Sat 20 Mar – Hola Ola Beach – Montanita
Sat 27 Mar – Electric Pickle – Miami

pictured Seth Troxler

In The Studio: Luciano—With a newly minted studio in Switzerland, Lucien Nicolet expands on his global sound.

Since the beginning of the decade, Lucien Nicolet (a.k.a. Luciano) has risen in the ranks to become one of the premier DJs and producers in the world, releasing countless records and highly regarded remixes, many of which found release on his acclaimed label, Cadenza. Along with a dizzying club schedule, it’s hard to fathom how Nicolet manages to find time to create music, but with his latest full-length, Tribute to the Sun, the Chilean-Swiss producer has brought the world to his listeners’ ears. Ranging from icy European techno and ambient warbling to sweaty African workouts and street-inspired South American jams, Nicolet’s third album is an eclectic, global compilation of sounds that truly does represent the much-traveled DJ’s globetrotting ways. XLR8R caught up with Luciano by phone at his new Swiss home near the French border.

?XLR8R: We’ve heard that you’ve just rebuilt your studio.
?Luciano: Yes. The thing is that I just moved houses again, and so I decided to move the studio into the new space. It’s really good, but I still have to get used to it. Like, just now I was trying to compose, but I have my son always coming in and saying, “Can I play, can I play?” And so just to install a little bit, and get back into that rhythm of work and feeling… it takes a little while. But I’m very happy with it!

So is there any new equipment?
?Well, I have a lot of new equipment, but it’s more a mixture of old and new. It’s sort of like a bridge between two worlds that took me a long time to build and to realize, like, I just finished work on a huge patch bay that will allow me to work between those two worlds—the digital and the analog.

The new album uses a lot more live instrumentation. What were the some of the challenges involved in working more with live sounds?
?It was more something that I did in three or four years, traveling a lot and playing a lot in different places. While I was traveling, I was making a lot of music, depending on where I was, so the album is more of a compilation to me of what I’ve been doing in the past few years. But behind all this, I wanted to make something to represent different places I’ve been to, and sounds that I really wanted the music to reflect.

That definitely shows. It has a global sound.
?Exactly. It was meant to be sort of eclectic, from electronic to more traditional sounds, with some ambient interludes here and there to provide transitions between tracks.

So what would you consider the most essential pieces of gear in the studio??
My speakers. They’re very special and handmade [by Martin Audiosystems]. They’re the most important thing, since the sound that you get from them is going to define what the listener hears. Then I have an old Studer mixer that I got from a radio station. That mixer is really my little magic piece, and then I have other little mixers to fine-tune certain sounds. Of course, compressors and sound modules are all over the place, too. What’s interesting for me, though, is to merge both worlds. Like, take out what you can do from the digital—for example, if you work a lot on plug-ins and whatnot, it’s great to start digitally and then drop them through analog systems and bring them up as an analog mix. I also have lots of older synths and modules that allow me to bring a different sort of sonic dynamic that you can’t get with digital equipment. But I think that the most important thing, really, is the room. The room is what defines and gives shape to the music and its levels.

What are your future plans for your work?
?For four or five years I’ve had this idea of doing an album without any kick drums, based more on sonic atmospheres and stuff like that. It’s still danceable, like, I just played one of the tracks at Fabric and it really worked out, but it has no kick drums. It has very strong atmospheres and melodies, and so that’s what I’m really trying to push for at the moment. The polyrhythmic elements are there, and give the music so much of its tension, but the melody gives any track its direction, really. That’s what I love about melody, in that you can be doing something that seems pretty monotone, then drop a little melody and it opens up whole new worlds, a whole new emotional thing, and that’s really the best part of music. ?

Luciano’s Gear List:

• Studer 28-track mixer
• Manley Slam compressor
• Soundcraft GB8 Series 48-Channel Large Venue Mixing Console
• Neve 8816 16:2 Summing Mixer
• Moog Voyager synth
• Roland JP-8000 synth
• Vermona DRM-1 analog drum machine
• Native Instruments Maschine

• Ensoniq DP/4 effects processor
• Eventide H8000 Ultra-Harmonizer
• E-mu Xtreme Lead-1 synth
• Nord Lead 2X Rack Sound Module
• Korg Radias synth vocoder
• Roland VariPhrase processor

Neurotic Drum Band “Neurotic Erotic Adventure (Dub Mix)”

The first New York edition of the Unsound Festival is just a few days away, so the festival organizers have been kind enough to stuff our inbox with all kinds of exclusive goodies from the participating artists. Take this previously unreleased Dub Mix of “Neurotic Exotic Adventure,” which strips the vocals out of the Neurotic Drum Band‘s original and takes its psychedelic, slow-motion space disco even further into orbit. The NY duo will be performing at the Brooklyn Electronic Music Showcase on February 11 with Morgan Geist and Blondes.

Neurotic Drum Band – Neurotic Erotic Adventure – Dub Mix_ 1

Inbox: Daniel Wang

This week, Inbox gets chummy with Germany-based nu-disco DJ and producer Daniel Wang. The right-handed East Berliner, who has also lived in places such as Taiwan and New York, designs his ideal college course, noshes on meat-centric German grub, grooves to Canadian disco, and sports sweaters that would make Bill Cosby jealous. The Best of Balihu 1993-2008, a two-disc compilation culling offerings from Wang’s independent label, is out now on Rush Hour. You can also get a taste of what’s good with Wang here with a track from our downloads section.

XLR8R: What is the last song you listened to?
Daniel Wang: Patsy Gallant—”It’s Gotta Be You,” from 1979, a Canadian disco hit.

What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself?
Except the bit about being born in Tibet, all the stories I’ve heard about me are true. I should be glad that the weirdest parts of my life have not yet been made public. Poor Tiger Woods!

What was the first concert you ever attended?
As a child I went to a lot of “serious” concerts at the annual cultural festival in Taipei—Japanese taiko, Viennese opera, Marcel Marceau pantomime… I didn’t go to my first “pop music” concert until high school, though. That was Erasure. It was okay.

Of the cities you’ve lived in, which has had the greatest influence on your
musical style?
New York, undoubtedly!

Favorite studio toy?
Korg vintage delay, SDD 1000. Synths sound best with a little echo!

What is your favorite item of clothing?
Oh, jeez. Recently, my “1980s suburban dad sweater” with heather and navy woven textures?

Righty or lefty?
Right hand. I’m sure lefties are superior.

If your music were given its own radio station, what would your station’s name be (i.e., Foxy 97.5 FM or Grimey 103.9 FM)?
98.3 Groooovy FM.

What is your favorite German food?
I think kohlrouladen (meat rolls in cabbage leaves). I actually find German sausages too salty and rather unhealthy, as well.

If you were to teach a college class of your own design, what would the name of the course be?
Oooh, that’s a good question! Serious, now! I think it would be “Intercultural Meanings of Music and Language”—something that connects the meanings of all these things we [sense] through our ears. I think it is actually one big continuum. From phonemes and accents down to microtonal scales and, of course, rhythms. The difference between a tonal language without articles and conjugations, like Chinese, and the European languages, is so huge; yet, humans often express the same thought in similar ways, despite these differences. The ancient Chinese and ancient Europeans both arrived at Pythagorean and, eventually, equal temperament tone scales, apparently independently. How and why?

What’s the last book you read?
Classic Bonsai of Japan, published by the Japanese National Bonsai Society. I bought a load of Bonsai books last week in San Francisco.

Complete this sentence: In life, one must _________.
Uh-oh, that’s hard. Honest response: my brain said, Enjoy life fully, and, Find love. But sometimes your brain spits out a cliché when confronted with such questions.

What is the strangest advice you’ve received in the last year?
I can’t remember any really strange advice!!

What’s next on your agenda?
Renovate my Plattenbau apartment in East Berlin!

Oy “Snake (Mexicans with Guns Remix)”

Next week, Switzerland’s Oy will be releasing her debut album, First Box, Then Walk. “Snake” is just one of 27(!) tracks on the record, yet its sultry vocals and warped take on electronic pop serve as a suitable primer. This Mexicans with Guns remix, taken from the “Snake” single, actually tones down the weirdness by swapping out Oy’s loop-based noodling with chunky basslines and warbling synth melodies. Oy still sounds like an oddball, but this version is a solid, mid-tempo head-nodder.

Snake (Mexicans with Guns remix)

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