Melbourne’s yacht-house-making duo Damn Arms sends forth this breezy, handclap-heavy disco number it’s dubbing a “nautical dance ballad.”
The “Destination” 12″ is out now, via Gang Bang
Thunderheist “Jerk It (Megasoid Remix)”
Montreal-based duo Megasoid slides some future bass beneath the ’80s-influenced B-more beats on this remix of Thunderheist’s track.
From Thunderheist’s Jerk It EP, out March 9 on Ninja Tune
Photo by Ben Popjoy
Mikkel Metal Peaks and Troughs
Mikkel Meldgaard has been flirting with dubby studio effects since 2000, notably dropping several releases on Kompakt. Yet Peaks and Troughs finds the Danish producer known as Mikkel Metal tumbling into darker and murkier territory, with mighty fine results. Metal gets assistance from the increasingly gravel-voiced (and perhaps slightly overused but still brilliant) Paul St. Hillaire, who is featured on four of the albums best tracks (“Jeman,” “Never Run Away,” “Visions of Life,” and “Get Over”). On the instrumentals “Who-Man” and “Frico,” Metal really powers up the rhythm machine, building epic soundscapes and crushing basslines at the same time.
Cadence Weapon Drops New Album
Canadian alt-rapper Cadence Weapon (born Rollie Pemberton) has made his new album Separation Anxiety available digitally at his site for whatever price fans are willing to pay for it. The 70-minute album, a follow-up to last Spring’s Afterparty Babies, combines 20 exclusive tracks, remixes, and collaborations. Among others, this includes the Mix Mag exclusive Hervé/A-Trak/Cadence Weapon track, “Roll with the Winners,” a show-stopping remix of DB Buxton Revue’s “Sex with My Ex,” and remixes of The Cansecos and Roots Manuva.
Separation Anxiety
01 “Roll With The Winners (Prod. Herve & A-Trak)”
02 The Cansecos – “Rise Up (Cadence Weapon Mix)”
03 “Pretty Girls Make Raves (Prod. Stuffa, Mapei and Sinden)”
04 “Mini T.V.’s (Chad Vangaalen Cover, Live ft. Final Fantasy)”
05 Sailboats Are White – “SAW” (Cadence Weapon Hi-Speed Edit)”
06 Sally Shapiro – “He Keeps Me Alive” (Cadence Weapon Mix)”
07 “Bad Graffiti (Prod. Murge)”
08 Roland Pemberton III – “Rupture Vers Le Haut”
09 “The Morning After (Prod. C-Sekshun)”
10 RJD2 – “Sweet Piece” (Cadence Weapon’s Ladykiller Remix)”
11 “Kennedy Curse”
12 Kid Sister – “Damn Girl” (Cadence Weapon Remix)”
13 Shout Out Out Out Out – “Coming Home (We Do Acid)” (Demo)”
14 “Busdriver – “Sun Shower” (Cadence Weapon`s Raleigh Remix)”
15 Junior Bloomsday – “Your Perfect Gene” (ft. Cadence Weapon)”
16 The Wet Secrets – “The Chinball Wizard” (Cadence Weapon’s Samir-Themed Remix)”
17 House Music Medley – (Bird Peterson, A1 Bassline, The Cansecos)”
18 “Super Extra Bonus Party “Radar (Demo)”
19 Roots Manuva – “Buff Nuff” (Cadence Weapon Tuff Mix)”
20 The D.B. Buxton Revue – “Sex With My Ex” (Cadence Weapon’s No Sex Mix)”
Inbox: Michna
Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R’s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. Now, Adrien Michna is a busy guy, remixing for other artists, producing acts like Bonde Do Role, as well as DJing under his Egg Foo Young guise, but the Brooklyn, NY-based artist took a few minutes this week to talk shop (wood shop, that is), law enforcement, and super powers with XLR8R.
What are you listening to right now?
Adrian Michna: Audio selections from System D-128’s Check 1, 2 DVD.
What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?
AM: This Miami girl, who now lives in NYC, came up to me and said, “You know, I used to not like you, but now I like you.” So I hung out with her (it was just talking, dude) and once I got to know her as a person, I thought she was wack.
What band did you want to be in when you were 15?
AM: Ministry, Primus, and Parliament.
Worst live show experience?
AM: Seriously, put me in a dive bar in Nebraska and I’ll find a way to make the best of it.
Favorite city to play in?
AM: Budapest and Shanghai come to mind, and Miami is always fun.
Your bio says that you build furniture for a hobby. What is the last thing you made?
AM: Custom tables for the live show, with rounded edges, so you don’t snag your hip bone. I do a lot of uneven rounding with the electric sander.
What is your favorite thing you own?
AM: My SP-1200, my vinyl, and my whole studio.
Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.
AM: In the winter I need a hat to cover my ears, and APC jeans are a nice touch. I also [have] some B.U.M. equipment hot tops.
Which superhuman power would you rather have: the ability to fly, x-ray vision, or telekinesis?
AM: I’d like to be able to walk on water and walk on walls.
What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?
AM: As a teen, I got busted for trespassing, possession of marijuana, petty larceny, vandalism, and extortion. The American public school system should teach law starting [with] seventh grade.
What other artist would you most like to work with?
AM: Van Gogh.
What’s the last thing you read?
AM:I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max.
Complete this sentence: In the future…
AM: Electronic displays and interfaces will go holographic.
What’s next?
AM: Prepping a U.S. tour with Eliot Lipp; rehearsing with my four-piece live band (we’re called Michna with Raw Paw); doing music for an art show with Freegums in L.A. in March; finishing up remixes for Santogold and Daedelus; DJing at Andrea Parker’s Music Installation in London, May 2009; writing some new tunes with Diplo for his next record; trying to finish two mixtapes (one is with [Ghostly founder] Sam Valenti and another is with Dust La Rock); working on some infomercials; trying to be more regular with the yoga. Also, I am supposed to deliver a new EP to Ghostly for 2009. When the weather gets nice, I’ll try to soup up my bike!
Frikstailers “Baile Frik”
Argentinian duo Frikstailers (pronounced Freak-stylers) first rose to prominence as part of Zizek, the forward-thinking Latin collective who have been turning heads with their weekly party in Buenos Aires (not to mention last summer’s XLR8Rpodcast, which still sounds fresh months later). Apparently the bass-loving Frikstailers, who actually hail from neighboring Córdoba, managed to catch the ears of new Scottish label Revolt Into Style, which enlisted the boys for its debut release, the aptly titled Baile Frik EP.
Here on the title track, the Frikstailers energetically combine a tweaked baile funk beat with some finely chopped vocal samples and acid-tinged synth sounds. Grab the full Baile Frik EP to hear their reggaeton/cumbia remix of a tune by dancehall MC Zulu.
Buraka Som Sistema to Release Debut LP
Come April 7, the boys of Buraka Som Sistema (Lil’ John, Riot and Conductor, and MC Kalaf) will release their kuduro manifesto, Black Diamond. The album’s title references corruption in the oil and diamond businesses, subjects that are close to home for BSS.
Kuduro music arrived in response to Angola’s turbulent socio-political climate. With their song “Sound of Kuduro,” which featured M.I.A., DJ Znobia, Saborosa, and Puto Prata, DJ/producers Buraka Som Sistema introduced this grimy, twitchy genre of music to fans worldwide. On its new LP, BSS will include a message of hope for Angola as the country moves away from its sordid political past.
While MC Kalaf admits that the team’s primary interest is “making people dance like hell, sweat like hell, and scream like hell,” the album intends to accomplish much more. “Yes, you are in London, but it feels like Luanda, or Lisbon. It’s ugly, and embodies the beauty of the pure and the raw,” he says in “New Africas Pt.1,” one of the new album’s tracks.
Black Diamond will also feature British MC Kano, baile kingpin Deize Tigrona, and Angolan MC Pongolove.
Black Diamond
01 “Luanda/Lisboa”
02 “Sound of Kuduro”
03 “Aqui Para Voces”
04 “Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)”
05 “Kurum”
06 “IC19”
07 “Tiroza”
08 “General”
09 “New Africas, Pt. 1”
10 “New Africas, Pt. 2”
11 “Beef”
12 “Black Diamond”
Lorenz Rhode “A Little Something”
Düsseldorf, Germany-based Lorenz Rhode has “A Little Something” for us today, and in the immortal words of the press packet it arrived with, this track is like “Rick James dating Chaka Khan, dancing to Daft Punk and Technotronic, making sweet love to a Stevie Wonder ballad, when suddenly a group of German robots and a Yellow Magic Orchestra come rushing into the hotel suite and… they all decide to go to France instead.”
Interpret as you will, whilst enjoying the stripped-down and somewhat hypnotic synth melodies on this track, off Rhode’s forthcoming Motor Cortex EP. That release drops February 11 and comes packaged with remixes by Ben Mono and Minimow&Solo.
M83 to Play Solo Performance
Didn’t manage to score a ticket to see M83 on his current tour opening for The Killers? Fans, specifically those in New York, have another chance to catch him this month, as the man born Anthony Gonzalez has a solo show planned for January 24 at Irving Plaza.
A rare event, the performance will begin with a set of ambient music and be followed by the set Gonzalez has been playing around the world in support of last year’s Saturdays = Youth.
Tickets are on sale now, but given that his opening slot for The Killers the following evening is sold out, it’s best to snap one up this second.
Ruthless City feat. Jeremy Greenspan
Metro Area’s Morgan Geist commissioned Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan to do vocals for the track “Ruthless City” (off Geist’s Double Night Time release), and the result is a warm, nu-disco number that’s contrasted sharply by lyrics about fights and blood. The video is a visual reinterpretation of the latter two items, wherein a couple guys assault another man who’s minding his own business, carrying the groceries home. Suffice to say, some very bad things happen over the course of the song’s four minutes. It would all be considerably more disturbing if not for the upbeat feel of the music. One assumes Geist was aiming for this contradiction.
