One third of Restiform Bodies and purveyor of the ever-evolving anticon. sound, Telephone Jim Jesus has made quite a name for himself in the avant-garde hip-hop realm. Anything Out of Everything is an instrumental album of warm atmospherics and effected acoustic guitars, where dark and light constantly play off one another.
Pedro Winter’s career in the music industry is an iconic one. He was the longtime manager of mega-sensation Daft Punk before quitting to start his own label, Ed Banger Records. Home to celebrated artists like Justice, Sebastian, DJ Medhi, and Mr. Oizo, the four-year-old start-up has received international praise and has birthed and nurtured a distinctive French electro sound. But Winter’s production alias, Busy P–a tag that nods to the hustle that marks his career as a music businessman–isn’t a name that pops up too often on its own. That’s because Winter has only released a handful of original tracks and remixes so far. “I’ve been doing beats for 10 years, but my mission is all about Ed Banger Records,” he says. “I wake up for my artists first. My studio is in the basement–I [record] when I have time.”
His latest single, “Rainbow Man,” (on Ed Banger’s Ed Rec Vol 2. compilation) is a three-and-a-half-minute-long drilling repetition of a dark, circular synth sample with heavy compression. “Chop Suey,” from the first Ed Rec set, injects some particularly grinding, synthetics into a sample of 2 Live Crew’s Miami bass staple “I Wanna Rock”, preserving the original’s ass-popping tempo.
“I’m a kid of Kraftwerk,” says Winter. “Listening to the same loop for five minutes is not a problem for me. I discovered Run-DMC in 1989 during a trip to Canada. I went crazy–I bought all their albums. Then I discovered The Beastie Boys. My older brother taught me about Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Metallica. Being in love with two opposite genres makes me stronger, I guess. I can’t imagine a night without playing a hip-hop track or a track without guitar or a crazy drum solo. On my album, I’ll get MCs for sure.”
Splicing in a mix of cross-genre influences including heavy metal (Ed Banger takes its name from the MTV show Headbanger’s Ball), ghettotech, and industrial music, Ed Banger’s French electro style is harder and grimier than its predecessors’ house sound. “I like the little brother analogy,” Winter says of the new electro’s relationship to the French Touch scene. “Suddenly, people outside of France noticed something weird was happening here,” he continues. “At the same time, we were touring all around with our Ed Banger Records party. Kids came to it as they come to a rock show. I think we manage to bring the indie kids to clubs, and do raves in indie rock venues.”
Visitors to Paris typically all do the same tour. The Louvre. The Left Bank. The grands boulevards whose intricate stone façades stretch for miles, the perfectly manicured gardens, maybe an overpriced café crème or greasy cassoulet that makes you wonder why French cuisine is supposed to be the best in the world.
But there are plenty of nooks and crannies in Paris–some are hidden, but many are just overshadowed by the cold, calculating majesty of the city’s most recognizable monuments, and the frosty first impression locals give outsiders. Get to know some Parisians, though, and you could have the time of your life. They might take you to an underground hip-hop party in the catacombs or the best new boutique on the rue des Rosiers. You’re likely to find yourself with a verre and a cigarette in hand on some sunny quai-side terrace, followed by a long dinner where fresh baguette and the best cheese are compulsory. If they really know what’s up, you could get a picnic in the Buttes-Chaumont park, a feast of n’dole and jollof rice at a Cameroonian restaurant, or beer and pogo-ing at a hard tekno squat party in the suburbs.
In any case, you don’t need a guide to enjoy the lively streets of Belleville, with durian fruits stacked high in Asian markets and Algerian salons de thé down every side street. And though the nightlife in Paris has long gotten a bad rap–lots of rich clubs with corny music, racist bouncers, and crazy cover charges–a wealth of small, smoky DJ bars provide forward-thinking sounds. An equally good time can be had popping champagne with Karl Lagerfeld’s assistant and the Ed Banger DJs at jetset clubs like the André-owned Le Paris Paris or Hôtel Amour. Parisians don’t really believe in “slumming it” and after you’ve had a taste of the good life, you probably won’t either.
Paris may be dignified at times, but it’s definitely not squeaky clean like Stockholm or Switzerland. There’s centuries of grit baked into the buildings here and not just a little bit of sleaze in the culture, from breast-baring at the Moulin Rouge in sketchy Pigalle to Eyes Wide Shut-style swingers clubs behind mansion doors in the Marais, from loose-lipped American bohemians chasing the ghost of Hemingway to the clipped, nasal tones of elderly French men cursing Arab teenagers to the hisses of gypsy children pick-pocketing Teva-clad tourists on the Champs-Élysées. But this is Paris–even the sleaze is done in style.
The city is full of clichés but Parisians are fine with them–they’re just as easily swayed by the beauty of the Eiffel Tower, the romance of a stroll along the Seine, and a good pick-up line. As if to drive the point home, the subtitle of Respect Is Burning’s sizzling Summer of Love jump-off is “Dis-moi que tu m’aimes”; the catchphrase–taken from one of the most popular French chansons–means “Tell me that you love me” (even if you don’t mean it). We love you, baby.
At the intersection of indie rock and electronic music floats YACHT, aka, Jona Bechtolt, and the Team Yacht video blog. XLR8RTV catches up with the hyper-energetic chronicler mid-chronicle.
At the intersection of indie rock and electronic music floats YACHT, aka, Jona Bechtolt, and the Team Yacht video blog. XLR8RTV catches up with the hyper-energetic chronicler mid-chronicle.
The Australia-based noise-pop collective Architecture in Helsinki has kept itself well busy this year, with a tour, remixes for Bonde Do Role and YACHT, its third long-player, Places Like This, and now, another big handful of live dates, in which the band will showcase its frantic energy. With all five band members being adept multi-instrumentalists, fans should expect everything from analog synthesizers to clarinets on the stage. Electro freak Panther will rev the crowds up with his spastic opening performances, and Lo-Fi FNK and Glass Candy are also scheduled for select dates.
Places Like This is out now on Polyvinyl.
Read more about Architecture in Helsinki in Issue 109 of XLR8R.
Tour Dates
10/10 Philadelphia, PA: Starlight Ballroom*#
10/11 New York, NY: The Gramercy Theatre*#
10/12 Brooklyn, NY: Studio B*#
10/13 Boston, MA: Paradise Rock Club*#
10/14 Buffalo, NY: Traif Music Hall*#
10/16 Chicago, IL: Metro*#
10/18 Toronto, ON: Lee’s Palace*#
10/19 Montreal, QC: La Tulipe*#
10/20 Tempe, AZ: Soco Music Experience
10/22 Ann Arbor, MI: Blind Pig*†
10/23 Madison, WI: High Noon Saloon*†
10/24 Minneapolis, MN: 400 Bar*†
10/26 Denver, CO: Ogden Theatre*†
10/27 Salt Lake City, UT: In the Venue*
10/29 Seattle, WA: The Showbox*†
10/30 Portland, OR: Crystal Ballroom*†
19/31 Eugene, OR: W.O.W. Hall
11/01 San Francisco, CA: The Fillmore*†
11/02 San Diego, CA: House of Blues*†
11/05 Los Angeles, CA: Troubadour*†
11/06 Los Angeles, CA: Troubadour*†
11/07 Los Angeles, CA: Troubadour*†
11/09 Tucson, AZ: Rialto Theatre*†
11/12 Norman, OK: Hailey’s*†
11/14 Austin, TX: Emo’s*†
11/15 New Orleans, LA: The Republic*†
11/16 Tallahassee, FL: Club Downunder
* with Panther
# with Lo-Fi FNK
† with Glass Candy
Photo By Rene Vaile.
At the intersection of indie rock and electronic music floats former Blow member Jona Bechtolt (a.k.a. YACHT). For the past several months, Bechtolt has been chronicling his seemingly endless world tour on his Team Yacht video blog. Here, XLR8R catches up with the hyper-energetic artist mid-chronicle.
Previous Episodes
Episode 24: Fall Fashion Roundup
Episode 25: Dubstep 101 with DJ Youngsta
Episode 26: Maya Hayuk
Episode 27: Eats Tapes Return
Remixing is not exactly a new concept, but you have to give Scion props for trying to breathe new life into the practice. The automaker’s marketing powerhouse team has gathered five labels–Ninja Tune, Greensleeves, Strictly Rhythm, Light in the Attic, and Vice, namely–for the Scion Remix Project, in which artists and producers from their respective labels take turns remixing one another’s tracks.
Who are the chosen ones? Max Glazer and Federation Sound pepper Yellowman’s dancehall anthem “Zungu Zeng” with some electro flavor for Greensleeves. Ninja Tune’s Ghislain Poirier gets ahold of TTC’s hilarious “Telephone,” before handing remix duties over to Modeselektor for his track “Blazin.” Greg Ericco, Raashan Ahmad, and Headnodic add hip-hop elements to Betty Davis’ “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up,” for Light in the Attic, and Panthers’ “Goblin City” is remixed for the dancefloor by Holy Ghost! Now if only Scion hadn’t chosen to finish the project off by adding an Armand Van Helden track for the Strictly Rhythm portion of the series.
All five titles will drop on the same day at various digital download sites, with 100 percent of the proceeds going towards the artists and labels (a rare occurrence in the music world).
Scion Remix Project is out October 30, 2007 on Scion Audio/Visual.
The Greensleeves (left) and Ninja Tune installments of the series.
“Heart Entire” sees L.A.-based producer Nosaj Thing pitting gritty electronics à la Justice against sultry hip-hop undertones–and the two worlds meet with a surprising smoothness. Having already played with the likes of Daedelus and Eliot Lipp, self-released an EP, and promised us a full-length for later in the year, this is one producer worth keeping an eye on.
