As previously mentioned, Yoni Wolf’s WHY? project will receive the royal remix treatment on The Hollows, an EP that should whet the appetite of fans before the release of the band’s Alopecia full-length. While the likes of Dntel and Boards of Canada rework certain tracks on the EP, fans can hear the title track in its original format a couple weeks in advance.
Photo of WHY? by Sarah Cass.
Dropping a double-CD ain’t enough these days for artists. Either they must follow-up with a “deluxe” edition of the album that includes pointless remixes and boring video footage, or find other artistic mediums in which to prove their worth. If you’re Danish tech-house producer Anders Trentemøller, that means turning to fashion. An announcement from Poker Flat Recordings confirms that the Trentemøller Designer Collection is now available for purchase, through online retailer Conzoom.
Based on the artwork for Trentemøller’s recent Audiomatique release, The Trentemøller Chronicles, the line features Anna Rosa Hiort-Lorenzen’s designs on a selection of t-shirts, dresses, and other apparel for both men and women. Of course, the best news is that his foray into the world of design is actually quite successful. How many friends do you know who sport a Trentemøller scarf or hooded t-shirt featuring designs as sleek and minimal as the man’s music? Ellen Allien’s got some competition.
The great Dane will also be headed to Australia shortly, for a selection of live appearances that follow some Europe dates.
The Trentemøller Chronicles is out now.
Tour Dates
11/08 London, UK: The Forum
11/09 Aarhus, DEN: Voxhall*
11/10 Gent, BEL: I Love Techno
11/22 Tessaloniki, GRE, TBA
11/23 Athens, GRE: Fuzz Club
11/24 Eindhoven, NET: STRP Festvial
11/29 Brisbane, AUS: The Met
11/30 Sydney, AUS: Gaelic Club
12/01 Melbourne, AUS: Stereosonic! 2007 (daytime show)
12/01 Sydney, AUS: Ministry of Sound Annual Festival (nighttime show)
12/02 Perth, AUS: Ministry of Sound Annual Festival (daytime show)
12/05 Melbourne, AUS: Prince Bandroom
DJ/producer Diplo spent ten days recording everyone who’s anyone in Jamaican dancehall right now–Elephant Man, Turbulence, T.O.K., Gyptian–for an album he’s working on with UK producer Switch. What better place to talk to him about the current Caribbean scene than a cement parking garage in L.A. during a thunderstorm?
The concept is simple. Ask a bunch of known and unknown deejays to record a mix, then have them describe their reasons and methods. Thus, Modyfier music and art blog’s Process series was born. On Monday November 5, the series reached its 50th DJ mix contribution, a set by Hamburg, Germany’s Drei Farben House (pictured above). Previous contributors have included Kompkt artist Popnoname, German duo Exercise One, Montreal’s Pheek, LA’s [a]pendics.shuffle, Get Physical singer Chelonis R. Jones, and XLR8R Bubble Metropolis scribe M.L. Tronik. (Full disclosure: The author has participated in this series.)
DJ mixes run as long as an hour and as short as fifteen minutes, some with tracklistings and others with merely set titles. The artists’ self-penned written commentary is either fantastically detailed, or plainly in let-the-music-speak-for-itself mode. The Process series is but one aspect of this wholly remarkable web portal.
The Modyfier dame (we’re respecting her wish for anonymity) features her intricate, mystifying pencil drawings alongside written posts (often with accompanying downloads). Her artwork has been featured on Kupei Musika releases and embodies naturalistic, architectural landscapes. Although Modyfier blog may be a hobby for this San Francisco enthusiast, her aesthetic tastes and presentation are peerless. She even invites the listener to reconsider preconceptions about music itself.
“Thoughts about defining how music comes to me, the ebb and flow of sounds,” Modyfier states in her site manifesto. “Thoughts about remembering how to listen…about how music steps across genrifications to be about the everyday, the mundane, the routine.” Her philosophical tangents are extended throughout each post where, thinking aloud, Modyfier works through her ideas.
In a post titled “Rigor”, she muses, “I wonder about isolating ‘feeling’ all on its own, without comparison (see: a duck, a taxi, a school bus–how many shades of yellow?). However, I find this hurts my head and prefer, in the end, to let my emotions seesaw between my experience (doing things) and awareness (observing things), phenomenology aside.” Her writing is often the perfect compliment to the site’s minimal tech offerings, and vice-versa.
And if expertly chosen exclusive DJ sets weren’t enough to draw you in, the site’s extensive record label, MP3-blog, distribution, concert, and streaming mix link section is ridiculously hefty. Now, are you ready to be Modyfied?
Los Angeles-based dublab (a.k.a. a rad music/art collective, radio broadcaster, and breeding ground for some of the city’s most exciting events) is celebrating its eighth anniversary in style. In addition to launching an expanded website, the collective has also announced that it’s going non-profit, ensuring that it carries out its mission “to spread truly progressive music and art free-of-charge to open ears.” For those unfamiliar with Dublab, its radio broadcasts and podcasts have boasted studio sessions with the likes of Thomas Fehlmann, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, Animal Collective, and Matthew Dear, in addition to resident DJs like Dntel, Daedelus, and Nobody.
As part of the process of going non-profit, dublab is also hosting a Future Roots to Infinity fundraiser until November 19. The Labrats will be broadcasting live throughout the campaign, along with a series of surprise special guests. All donors will receive complimentary download sessions, an exclusive mix, plus other dublab swag. And what good would an anniversary celebration be without a total rager? On November 7, the collective is throwing an Echo Expansion party at L.A.’s The Airliner, featuring dublab resident Dntel, Nobody’s psych-project Blank Blue, Gaslamp Killer, and more. Viva dublab!
Event Details
November 7, 2007
dublab and Low End Theory Present
Echo Expansion
A celebration of dublab’s 8th anniversary and the creative power of now.
Music By
Dntel
Blank Blue
Gaslamp Killer
Additional Music By
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Andres Renteria
Dublab Soundsystem
The Airliner, 2419 N. Broadway, L.A.
10 p.m. – 2 a.m., $10 (Guests)/$5 (Low End Theory Members), 18+
Blank Blue Photo by Plastic Nancy
At what point does a side-hustle become a main gig? If it’s after the b-team releases a record that outshines everything the first-string ever did, then Spencer Krug’s marquee band isn’t Wolf Parade any more. Meet the frontman for Sunset Rubdown, whose latest 50-minute epic takes knotty indie rock to the 16th century (“The Courtesan”), uses it to battle vampires (“The Mending of the Gown”), score a Krueger flick (“Colt Stands Up”), and show prog a thing or two about restraint (the rest). Indeed, Random Spirit Lover does all that and so much more, dwarfing Wolf Parade’s scruffy Can-rock in the process, and easily cementing Sunset Rubdown as Krug’s most shining success.
The dusty record bag of tastemaker supreme Gilles Peterson has most DJs seething with envy. How nice it is that he once again lets others in on the stateside rarities that might have otherwise gone forgotten. Whether it’s some of his favorite artists (Lorez Alexander’s melancholic ballad “Wishin’”), early recordings from better-known names (Al Jarreau’s playful vocals soaring atop some top jazz on “My Favorite Things”), or gems from unknown talents (The Diddy’s spaced-out soul ballad “Intergalactic Love Song”), Peterson’s picks are astutely chosen with soul and jazz in mind. You can either personally search for each song and be out thousands of dollars, or just make it easier on yourself and dig this well-compiled volume of delights.
South London’s Roots Manuva has had a stronghold on the dub-meets-hip-hop realm for the better part of the last decade–collaborating with everyone from Gorillaz to The Cinematic Orchestra, in addition to recording for labels as diverse as Ninja Tune, 23 Skidoo’s Ronin imprint, and of course, Big Dada. “Witness (1 Hope),” taken from the Big Dada compilation Well Deep: 10 Years of Big Dada Recordings, is a taste of just how impacting Roots has been in many facets of urban music.
I said goddamn! The double-timed ‘tssk’ of a hi-hat halving a stark electro beat (an effect frequently heard from Crosstown Rebels, a label for which Dirt Crew’s Break 3000 and James Flavour have remixed) appears early and often on the Dirt Crew’s full-length studio debut. Only having produced together since 2004, they’ve nailed a sound that’s nostalgic for disco and feverishly sexy, particularly on “Big Bad City.” These up-all-night bangers will satisfy patient Dirt Crew-remix fans and the sweaty basements full of people who don’t know or care. It’s retro-futurism done exactly right–and it’s gonna give you shivers.
To call Sally Shapiro “mysterious” is a bit of an understatement. The Swedish electro-pop singer refuses to divulge her real name or age, has never performed live, and insists that we conduct our interview via Instant Messenger. (She blames her infamous timidity and unconfident grasp of English for this decision.) Sally also exclusively collaborates with producer Johan Agebjörn, who has effortlessly carved her icy vocals and bubbly demeanor into perfect slabs of sophisticated Europop.
A childhood fan of Swedish pop artists like Lena Philipson and Lili & Sussie, Shapiro jumped at the opportunity to begin a musical project when Agebjörn approached her. “Johan told me that I had an ‘Italo-disco’ voice, although I wasn’t familiar with the term back then,” she admits.
“Johan ‘discovered’ me when we sere singing Christmas carols together,” she explains. “It was just for fun. It was in December and we had a nice, funny time in front of the piano.” Even across the cold 1s and 0s of the internet, one can feel the warmth and creative intimacy between the pair. Shapiro is surprisingly candid about their musical relationship: She provides the themes and he puts them into words and music. “For ‘Find My Soul,’ I wanted him to write about how it is to have a boyfriend that doesn’t understand you,” Shapiro informs. “I also pointed out that the album should be disco. [Otherwise] a lot of the music would have [had a] house or electro touch.”
The record in question, Disco Romance (Paper Bag), was originally intended as just a single, entitled “I’ll Be by Your Side.” “We were shocked by the positive response we got. We only expected a handful of Italo-disco nerds to like it,” says Shapiro. The album, Shapiro’s first, pays homage to Italo acts of the past while keeping in line with the current Europop-influenced artists such as Lindstrøm and Michael Mayer. Just about every track combines heavy synths and processed dance beats with Shapiro’s sexy-sweet vocals and lyrics, conjuring a dreamy soundscapes akin to twilight raves on Scandinavian fjords.
“I like the sound of cool electronic bands with girl vocals, like Ladytron [and] Chicks on Speed.” says Shapiro who is also strongly influenced by sultry French ’90s pop star Mylène Farmer. “She is great! My favorite!” she exclaims. “Mylène has a huge influence on me. I often listen to her before I record to get into the right mood.” Surely, someone is doing the same with Disco Romance right now.
