Tune in an Afternoon: Javelin

The resourceful Brooklyn duo makes a song from warped rip-off-artist cassettes.

Asking Javelin to do one of our Tune in an Afternoon episodes was a no-brainer. Cousins Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford are natural improvisers prone to mashing together found sounds on barely working boomboxes and magically turning them into timewarp dance hits that get stuck in your head for days. Here, we challenged Tom and George to make something catchy using only gear they had on tour and a handful of thrift-store cassettes. Download the result, “Me Thing Drawing Me” here.

Nocando “Hurry Up and Wait”

LA’s Nocando brings some slo-mo heat with the first single from Jimmy the Lock, his latest record and first for Alpha Pup. Produced by Nobody, “Hurry Up and Wait” features a prominent vocal loop, beats as chunky and wet as cat food, and Nocando’s lazy rhymes that somehow recall a more blunted Aesop Rock. With other album tracks produced by Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, and Th’ Corn Gangg, one of the latest LA beat phenomenons is still running hard.

02 Hurry Up and Wait

Lindstrøm & Christabelle Real Life Is No Cool

After hearing Where You Go I Go Too, a three-song, 55-minute opus, one might not expect Lindstrøm to follow it up with a pop-disco collaboration like Real Life Is No Cool. As it turns out, the Norwegian superproducer has been intermittently working with Christabelle since 2001 and all the years of back-and-forth were clearly worth it, as Real Life is simply stellar. While traces of Lindstrøm’s usual space disco dot the landscape, the album incorporates an ’80s disco-funk vibe that perfectly suits Christabelle’s loose and sultry vocal stylings. From the vocoders and horns of “Baby Can’t Stop” to the woozy synths and boy-girl vocal foreplay of “Let It Happen” to the sexy strut of “Lovesick,” Real Life is a carefree delight.

Inbox: Vitalic

This time around, Inbox chews the fat with French electro-house DJ and producer, Pascal Arbez (a.k.a Vitalic). The curious Frenchman ponders the power of the rumor mill, envisions a flash-mob mini-rave, remembers gardening accidents, and anticipates a boatload of touring. Vitalic’s latest full-length, Flashmob, is out now on Different.

XLR8R: What are you listening to right now?
Pascal Arbez: Nothing. I just worked on a remix, and my ears are a bit tired, so there is no music around.

What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself?
Some people said they saw my tour manager and me at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, drunk, dancing, and shouting along to “Gimme a Man” by Abba after the party, [while] the hotel [staff] was cleaning the place. All of a sudden, some friends in Spain told me they heard that story! It was true, yes, but it’s crazy how stories can spread so quickly, even to another continent. Also, we thought there were no witnesses.

What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
I wanted to be one of those “new beat” bands, or Jean-Michel Jarre, maybe. Later, Iggy Pop.

Worst live show experience?
There are many of them. I suppose that the Creamfields Poland festival last year was a nightmare: a big storm destroyed the main stage. Then water flooded everything and only two 4×4 cars could reach it. Of course, 2,000 people came instead of 10,000.

Favorite city to play in?
Barcelona. It is a very nice, pleasant place. They are real party animals, and you have the sun, the wine, the good food… Many musicians love Barcelona.

Favorite studio toy?
At the moment it is the Elektron Drum Machine—a Swedish company. I also love Predator, a soft of Rob Papen (Swedish too). Now I’m looking for a MemoryMoog. I’m sure it’s gonna be my new favorite.

What is one thing you couldn’t live without (excluding the obvious essentials, i.e. air, water, etc.)?
I don’t know. I can adapt, but I suppose that no computers or mobile phones would be a terrible step back.

What is your favorite item of clothing?
It is an orange zip sweatshirt from Paul Smith. I wear it very often, and I suppose I’ll have to get another one just like it soon.

If you could reduce your music to a single word, what would it be?
Epic. Not all my tracks are epic, of course, but I like high-pitched melodies and female voices, too.

Have you ever participated in a flash mob?
No, never. In Dijon, were I live, there are no flash mobs because it is a small city. I’ve seen most of them on TV or on the internet. In the beginning, with my record company, we thought about organizing some, but I thought it would be a bit too obvious; perceived as pure marketing. It would be fun to make a mini-rave, though.

What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?
For bad marks. My parents were angry at me because, until I was 17, I was a very bad pupil. That changed after I became interested in what I was studying.

Which other artist would you most like to work with next?
I am in touch with Jean Michel Jarre, and [we met] in December to make some music. I would also like to work with the vocalist for the Shit Disco band.

What’s the last thing you read?
Love Lasts Only Two Years, by Frederic Begbeder (French). It says at the end that you know when you love someone if you are able to be bored with that person, not when you have passionate feelings—useful and funny book.

Complete this sentence: In the future…
It will be forbidden to smoke anywhere, to have parties after 11 p.m., to drink after 10 p.m. I think the future will be a bad time for parties.

Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?
I cut my right foot with the electric grass cutter as I was taking care of my small garden. Now it’s better, but the right foot was quite destroyed. Someone takes care of the garden now.

What’s next?
Touring, touring, touring. And I love it.

Ernest Gonzales “When You Are Lost I Will Find You (matthewdavid Remix)”

The original is taken from Texas-based producer Ernest Gonzales‘ artistically ambitious forthcoming album, Been Meaning to Tell You, but the matthewdavid remix of “When You Are Lost I Will Find You” is a relentlessly warped piece of psychedelia that offers almost no intelligible connection to its source material. Instead, the LA producer guides us through a warbling haze until additional amorphous sounds that somewhat resemble a beat kick in. The track is one of 16 remixes—including offerings by Daedelus, Copy, and Yppah—that, along with a book containing notes and illustrations and the album’s 13 original songs, help complete Gonzales’ highly-involved album. You can find more info on the upcoming release here.

When You Are Lost I Will Find You (matthewdavid Remix)

Schlachthofbronx “Ayabo feat. Spoek & Gnucci Banana”

Munich’s Schlachthofbronx team up with South African MC Spoek Mathambo once again on a dancehall track inflected with some excellent moments of kuduro-inspired percussion. Perhaps what is most “ayoba” (South African slang for “cool”) about this track, though, are the vocal rhymings contributed by Spoek’s wife, Gnucci Banana, who brings a palpable sense of young, sexy fun to the beats. Take the cue from her, and stay out tonight!

Ayoba feat. Spoek + Gnucci Banana

Various Artists Elevator Music: Vol. 1

2-step, grime, dubstep, bassline, funky… the family tree of UK garage never stops sprouting new branches. The latest mutation to sprout up—an intriguing combination of classic house, atmospheric dubstep, and percussion-led funky—doesn’t even have a proper name, so Fabric has assembled this cheekily titled compilation. Pairing Untold’s blown-out bass with Hot City’s old-school rave flavor and Martyn’s emotive restraint may seem unusual, but together they make sense—it’s as though an entire crop of producers has stumbled into dubstep and UK urban music by accident; unrestrained by purist notions, they’ve infused the music with new energy and new sounds from across the electronic spectrum. Contributions from young guns Mosca, Shortstuff, and Hackman are especially strong, but the compilation is ace from start to finish.

Ableton Bridges Gaps With Serato, Plus a New Akai Controller

At the NAMM 2010 Conference in Anaheim, CA, Ableton has made two announcements that are bound to shape the way electronic music is produced and performed for the foreseeable future. The first announcement is perhaps the most exciting, as it involves what is being called The Bridge, a program that promises to span the gap between music production and DJing, creating a natural link between Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live/ITCH. More details after the jump! Going from Ableton to Serato, The Bridge provides Ableton Transport Control (ATC), giving DJs turntable-style control of their own multitrack productions. DJs can simply drag an Ableton Live set onto one of the decks in Scratch Live or ITCH and use their turntables, CDJs, or ITCH controller to control the transport. From Serato to Ableton, The Bridge provides the ultimate mixtape creation tool, too, allowing DJs to perform mixes in Serato Scratch Live or ITCH and save them as an Ableton Live set. Though no official release date is set as of yet, interested parties can follow developments here.

As though the announcement of this program wasn’t enough, Ableton also gave notice that it has teamed up with Akai Professional once again to create a new, more affordable, and more streamlined controller. The APC20, the successor to the eminently popular APC40, includes many of the same features as its ‘big brother,’ but is built especially for those who are working on a budget, already use multiple controllers, or have very limited studio space. More info about the APC20, including photos, can be found here.

Lali Puna to Release First Album in Five Years

Five years after their release of Faking the Books, the German quartet Lali Puna, which features Markus Acher of The Notwist, has readied their fourth album, Our Inventions. The record is a culmination of frontwoman Valerie Trebeljahr and her bandmates crafting soft-spoken, electronic pop together for 10 years, and will see its release on Morr Music come April Fool’s Day. In the album’s press release, it says, “Our Inventions is a defiantly complete listening experience—one that exudes craftsmanship and captures the band at the peak of their powers as songwriters.” Below you can check out Our Inventions‘ artwork and tracklist.

1. Rest Your Head
2. Remember
3. Everything is Always
4. Our Inventions
5. Move On
6. Safe Tomorrow
7. Future Tense
8. Hostile to Me
9. That Day
10. Out There feat Yukihiro Takahashi

Cosmin TRG “Love 2 Hide”

Romanian future-garage (or whatever you want to call it, someone needs to name this genre soon) producer TRG (a.k.a. Cosmin Nicolae) recently made the decision to de-simplify his moniker, expanding it to Cosmin TRG. Following the change comes this exclusive download of “Love 2 Hide.” The song’s repetitive beat utilizes a number of classic drum sounds along with chopped-n-screwed vocal samples, ambient synthscapes, and a throbbing bassline, all of which add up to a solid club track. Chances are, when Cosmin TRG takes the decks during his appearance at the next FWD>> + Rinse event, he’ll be playing plenty of equally tasty beats. Check out the party info here.

Love 2 Hide

Love 2 Hide

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