Nuspirit Helsinki Our Favorite Things

Though it’s been a while since we’ve heard from this collaboration between Finnish DJs and producers, it’s exciting to see them return, even if not with their own music. Our Favorite Things is a handpicked compilation of, well, as the title suggests, songs they really like. And if you are a fan of the jazz undertones in their tasteful electronic hybrids, chances are you’ll appreciate these 10 tracks. The opening marimba-and-vibraphone pairing of Aisha Duo on “Beneath an Evening Sky” is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Things never really pick up after that, but rather maintain a serene, reflective pace–even Nuspirit’s electro-dub remix of Korpi Ensemble’s “A Moment of Love,” with its bandoneón and midtempo rhythm, is meditative.

Cut Copy, Roni Size Play Ultra Festival

As is usually the case, the Ultra Music crew will be in attendance this year for the 24th annual Winter Music Conference, and they’re throwing another bash to celebrate.

The two-day event dubbed Ultra Music Festival 11, will take place over March 27 and 28 in South Beach, Miami’s Bicentennial Park. It also seems that Ultra has stepped up the lineup this year, with Cut Copy, Crystal Castles, Roni Size, Busy P, and others slated to perform.

Tickets are currently on sale at the festival’s site. Limited two-day passes go for $99.95 right now, but will go up to $129.95, then $149.95, as the festival date approaches, so step to it.

And here’s the line-up so far: Santogold, Roni Size, Bloc Party, The Ting Tings, Tiësto, Cut Copy, Deadmau5, Crystal Castles, The Presets, Hercules and Love Affair, Simian Mobile Disco, Busy P, Carl Cox

Phantom II (Live)

Just in time for the release date of their A Cross the Universe documentary, the Justice boys have unveiled this clip off the DVD. The Romain Gavras-directed film captures life on the road for Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay during their March 2008 U.S. tour, and this clip pretty much says it all. While the footage of the duo playing live is certainly interesting, we were more intrigued by the sombrero hats, cops, pillow fights, and many, many, many ladies that crop up during the three-minutes here.

Of Montreal Takes a Nude Drawing Class

It’s a well-documented fact that the members in Of Montreal have been known to shed pieces of their colorful costumes while onstage. Appropriately then, the good folks at Q Magazine passed out the pencils and sketch pads to the band and packed the six art-rockers off to a college in London to take draw the likeness of a nude model. They also sent photographer Edd Westmacott along, who shot the band during this artistic endeavor. Under the tutelage of drawing master Hugh Barndon, Kevin Barnes and Co. attempted to capture the many curves of one Layla Rose, and the photos are kind of hilarious (you can also rate them, if you so desire). Check them here and judge for yourself how the crew fared in the visual art department.

Photo by Edd Westmacott

Squarepusher Readies EP

Tom “Squarepusher” Jenkinson will follow-up on his recently released Just a Souvenier with a brand-new EP he’s titled Numbers Lucent. Rave is apparently the inspiration for the six tracks on this release, though we’ve yet to see how he’s applied that. The EP will drop January 19 in the U.K. and January 20 in the U.S. on Jenkinson’s longtime label Warp.

Numbers Lucent
01 Zounds Perspex
02 Paradise Garage
03 Heliacal Torch
04 Star Time 1
05 Areterial Fantasy
06 Illegal Dustbin

Photo By Donald Christie.

Home Video “Maybe What You Need”

We are loving Home Video‘s It Will Be OK EP over here at the XLR8R office, not just for its melody-driven, lyrically solid electronic music, but also for the fact that David Gross and Collin Ruffino aren’t being stingy when it comes to letting the populace hear the tracks. The duo gave us this one earlier in the year, and, despite the EP being only four songs long, now hand over another, “Maybe What You Need.” This is the kind of music one listens to alone, in a dimly lit room, when the need to feel contemplative and melancholy takes control. Props to the boys for self-releasing the EP too. Pick it up December 16.

It Will Be OK
01 I Can Make You Feel It
02 Maybe What You Need
03 Every Love that Ever Was
04 You Will Know What to Do

Home Video – Maybe What You Need

Best of 2008: Cut Copy

Australia’s dance rock powerhouses, Cut Copy, got high on DFA’s disco and Ableton Live.

Who was the worst artist of 2008?

The Ting Tings are shit apparently. But I haven’t heard them.

What was the best music trend of 2008?

The return of disco and Balearic. I think everyone has gotten tired ears from the saturation of distorted electro over the last couple of years. Finally we get to dance together instead of making a mosh pit and spitting beer everywhere.

What was the worst music trend of 2008?

Blog house and indie dance… Not so much because I dislike artists labeled as such, but because we always get asked about them and I don’t really know what they are supposed to mean. However, I’m sure that next year they will be replaced by new terms that I’m equally confused by.

What was the best label of 2008?

DFA… again. Just when you thought you had them pegged, they come out with a whole new crop of floor-fillers. Hercules & Love Affair, Holy Ghost!, and The Juan MacLean have been staples of our DJ sets all year.

What was the best 12″ single of 2008?

The Juan MacLean “Happy House.” Piano wielding, steamy, shirtless house at its finest!

What was the best piece of music-making software released in 2008?

Ableton Live 7. Solid as a rock for mixes and for sequencing live stuff. It’s still probably the most intuitive and easy to use of any of the major sequencers… not to mention powerful.

Best of 2008
Drop the Lime
Abe Vigoda
Bradford Cox
Andrew Jeffrey Wright
eLZhi
Cut Copy
Fucked Up
Evidence
Vivian Girls
Matt Furie
dj/ Rupture
Telepathe
The Death Set
Holy Ghost
Mochipet
CTRL
Plump DJs
Jose James
Worship Worthy
Peter Beste
Hercules and Love Affair
Magda
The Alchemist
DC Recordings

Hatchback Colors of the Sun

The cosmic-disco revival continues to bloom, and Colors of the Sun adds another beautiful petal to the vividly hued flower. The project of producer Samuel Milton Grawe and guitarist Dan Judd, Hatchback grooves metronomically as if punk never happened. Colors luxuriates in billows of Vangelis synth fantasias and Tangerine Dream arpeggios while leisurely percolating over pastoral Autobahns. Besides these elements, Hatchback crafts sumptuous melodies that flirt with yacht-funk cheesiness, but ultimately fill you with tranquility. While “Everything Is Neu” telegraphs its reverent, revved-up homage to the Krautrock pioneers, much of Colors triggers memories of ’90s chillmeisters Ultramarine. Near the end, the disc dims slightly, but overall, it’s the sort of halcyon reverie that makes you want to dance–horizontally.

Lindstrøm is Headed Stateside

It may only consist of three dates, but Lindstøm is officially making a tour of the U.S. in the new year. He’ll play an East Coast date, a West Coast one, and a show smack in the middle of the country, thereby giving most of the U.S. something of a chance to see him (though you might have to drive a few hours in some cases). The shows are in support of this year’s Where You Go I Go Too, his three-track, beardo-disco opus that contains a 28-minute-long cut. Catch him while you can:

01/29 Brooklyn, NY – Studio B
01/30 Chicago, IL – Smart Bar
01/31 San Francisco, CA – Paradise Lounge

Photo by Lin Stensrud.

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