Memphis-based punk and indie-rock musician Jay Reatard was found dead early this morning in his home. The cause of his death is not yet known. The talented yet overwhelmingly negative Reatard (born Jay Lindsey) leaves behind a legacy of garage-punk and synth-trash records, as well as a host of friends and fans. His last album, Watch Me Fall, was released on Matador last August. For more about Reatard and his often tragic life story, read the 2008 XLR8R profile on him.
New York’s low-end loving Trouble & Bass crew has been putting on its No Escape from NY parties for awhile now, but for 2010 the T&B gang has decided to up the ante. Starting tonight, No Escape from NY will be going down at the Studio at Webster Hall, and residents Drop the Lime, Star Eyes, The Captain, and AC Slater will be joined by a new crop of eardrum-rattling guests each month. The January edition will feature global basshead Uproot Andy (who we recently profiled) and electro-hipster-hop act Ninjasonik. They won’t be slacking in the months ahead either; in February Sinden and Chrissy Murderbot will be coming through, while March will have 12th Planet & Flinch, and Emalkay is lined up for April.
All the details for tonight’s festivities can be found here, and the full flyer can be perused below.
Brazilian producer Gui Boratto will see his first official compilation released in February as part of the esteemed Renaissance Mix Collection. Featuring exclusive new material—including a collaboration with Bomb the Bass—as well as tracks from electronic luminaries such as Gabriel Ananda, Tricky, and Dominik Eulberg, the two discs will only raise Boratto’s stature further. Tracklisting after the jump!
Renaissance: The Mix Collection—Gui Boratto comes out February 8 on Renaissance.
Tracklisting:
Disc One
1. Oliver Koletzki Feat. Fran – Hypnotized
2. Gui Boratto – Take My Breath Away (John Tejada Remix)
3. Paul Kalkbrenner – Azure
4. Bomb the Bass Feat. Paul Conboy – The Infinites
5. Dominik Eulberg – Daten-Übertragungs-Küsschen
6. Lusine – Double Vision
7. Gabriel Ananda – Schnee
8. André Sobota – Forgotten
9. Mathew Jonson – When Love Feels Like Crying
10. Gui Boratto – Telecaster
11. Gorge & Dubnitzky – Smile In My
12. Oxia – Sun Step
13. Robert Babicz – Astor (Gui Boratto Remix)
14. Ada – Lovestoned (Gui Boratto Remix)
15. Gui Boratto – Azzurra
Disc Two
1. Gui Boratto – Trills
2. Christian Smith – Milky Way
3. Kiki – Immortal Feat. Pirica (Anja Schneider Remix)
4. Guido Schneider Meets Jens Bond – Eijeijei (Original Mix)
5. Ben Klock – OK Feat. Elif Biçer (Kenny Larkin Remix)
6. Josh Wink – Dolphin Smack (Martin Buttrich Remix Part 6)
7. Hatzler – HNO (Lemos Remix)
8. Gabe & Marcello V.O.R – Funky Zeit
9. Stimming – Chemistry (Original Mix)
10. Gui Boratto – The Glam
11. D-Dub – Deep Blue (Stimming Remix)
12. André Lodemann – Vehemence Of Silence (Motor City Drum Ensemble Perspective)
13. Max Cooper – Stochastisch Serie
14. Tricky – Past Mistake
That other east coast music festival, Boston’s Together: The New England Electronic Music Festival, announced today the first wave of headlining acts booked to perform February 8 – 14. Among the impressive list, music lovers will find DJ /rupture, Sinden, Neon Indian, the Dirtybird crew (including Christian Martin, Worthy, and Voodeux), and Untold, just to name a few. There will also be special DJ classes, panel discussions, and producer competitions in addition to the week’s dance parties and performances. Check out Together’s full schedule here.
Just as the producer/MC duo of Meanest Man Contest has one foot in SF and the other in LA, the group’s new track, “Partially Smart,” straddles the line between hip-hop and electro, not to mention humor and critique. The video for “Partially Smart” opens poolside with some of the City of Angels’ hippest (characters from the web series Txt M3 B1tch) declaring their good-bad intentions for the day before cutting to MC Eric crashing the party and directing all attention square on him. It’s a cool guys’ “us vs. them” presented humorously, but, when the video ends, you still get the feeling that Meanest Man Contest just had to get it all off their chest.
Grasscut‘s “Muppet,” the first single from the duo’s forthcoming debut album for Ninja Tune, is a lo-fi, hyperactive, electro-pop number that quickly brings to mind the lovable sounds of Eats Tapes and DAT Politics. In the hands of fellow UK producer Nathan Fake, however, “Muppet” takes on a more somber tone with a more straightforward dance beat and subdued synth melodies—sounding more like a slow-burning rave anthem than a slice of tongue-in-cheek, electronic twee-pop.
The strange live electronics of LA two-piece Jogger, who is less than a month away from kicking off the Magical Properties Tour with Daedelus and Nosaj Thing, are reformed to fit the palette of Eliot Lipp and his Brooklyn-based side-project Dark Party in this remix of “Napping Captain.” Originally from Jogger’s debut album, This Great Pressure, the track was an eight-minute, sing-songy number until Lipp and his partner, Leo 123, took out the vocals and transformed the instrumental into an atmospheric, 8-bit dance tune.
Though the packaging—turquoise, this time—eschews personnel details per usual, it’s widely known that the ninth album from Supersilent was completed without their drummer Jarle Vespestad. This absence has stirred the remaining trio of Helge Sten (a.k.a. Deathprod), Arve Henriksen, and Stale Storlokken to discard their expected instruments (including trumpet and electronics) in favor of Hammond organs. Across a quartet of tracks, the improvisers dredge a series of ominous, otherworldly sounds from the innards of the instrument that probably weren’t envisaged by its inventor, Laurens Hammond: The rumbles, burps, blasts, farts, and growls of 9 are portentous, hard-going, and strangely fascinating.
“Where’s that spit bucket?”
British house producers James Connolly and Alex Sushon (a.k.a. L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok) may be experts in what’s going on in the ever-shifting world of London club music, but can they tell PG Tips from Lipton tea? Here, as they talk about their influential London party (and now record label), Night Slugs, we force-feed them American and British chocolates, ciders, and baked beans to see how culturally refined their palates truly are.
We’re not really sure how Warsaw-based producer Sekta and South African MC Spoek Mathambo managed to cross paths, but we’re sure glad they did. “Jabajaws,” the lead track from the pair’s new EP, is full of buzzing bass, kwaito synth flourishes, and enough dirty raps to make your mom blush. Finally, there’s a track that electro banger kids and the global bass crowd can enjoy equally.
