New At the XLR8R Podcast DJ Mix Series: John Tejada

You know John Tejada as a longtime player in L.A.’s techno scene, and also as the boss of Palette Recordings, a label popular with the likes of Steve Bug, Josh Wink, and Sasha. Now that the recent ten-year anniversary celebrations of the label are over, Tejada takes some time out to make a mix showing off some of his best production work over the years. Many of the tracks here were made with labelmate and San Francisco local Justin Maxwell, as well as Arian Leviste.

Listen to this podcast via iTunes (recommended) or use the RSS reader of your choice by clicking here.

Tracklisting
1. John Tejada & Justin Maxwell “Higher”
2. Justin Maxwell “Bebop Cola”
3. John Tejada Justin Maxwell “Madness”
4. John Tejada & Justin Maxwell “Mind Bend”
5. Justin Maxwell “Can You Confirm It?”
6. John Tejada & Justin Maxwell “100% Post-Consumer”
7 John Tejada “Mono On Mono”
8 John Tejada “Forced Fiction”
9 John Tejada “The Zone”
10. Justin Maxwell “The Midnight Beep”
11. Justin Maxwell “Stegosaurus”
12 John Tejada “Mono On Mono (Plaid’s Marina Motel Mix)”
13. Justin Maxwell “The Tussincussion”
14 John Tejada “Mutation”
15. John Tejada & Arian Leviste “Ghetto Platypus”
16. John Tejada & Arian Leviste “Mind Bend”
17. John Tejada & Arian Leviste “Psycho Happiness”
18. John Tejada “Science, I Think”
19. John Tejada “The End Of It All”
20. John Tejada & Arian Leviste “From Empty Words”

Photo by Drew Reynold.

Kid Robot and JB Classics Collaboration

Kidrobot and San Francisco-based footwear company JB Classics unite for a new, limited edition shoe that marks the first collaboration between the two companies. Though an original creation, props must be given to French graffiti artist and lifestyle retailer Tilt, whose Bubble Hoodie, made for Kid Robot some months ago, inspired the shoe’s design. These leather kicks feature the Bubble design, along with a gold interior and insole print, and a Kidrobot print on the back of the tongue. They’re currently available–in limited quantities, mind you–at Kidrobot’s online store for $220 a pair.

Cameron Octigan

Dilla Collaborator Phat Kat Releases New Album

Despite some notable work with fellow Detroit native J Dilla (the two collaborated as First Down in the mid- ’90s), Ronnie Cash (a.k.a. Phat Kat) has spent several trying years attempting to make music amid complicated record company politics. Finally, it seems, he is reaping some rewards for his persistence. Carte Blanche, his second full-length effort, finds Cash on Look Records, a label that embraces his vision and gives him the chance to develop his futuristic take on hip-hop in a welcoming environment.

Always bent on showing the real Detroit to the rest of the world, Cash also makes a concerted effort on Carte Blanche to showcase local talent from the city, rather than seeking out the typical celebrity guests. (The only presence immediately recognizable on the album is the late Dilla himself.) He focuses on the spirit of Detroit, and what it means to have a unique sense of identity in a historically complex city. 

Carte Blanche is out March 20, 2007 on Look.

Cameron Octigan

Tracklisting
1. Nasty Ain’t It?
2. Get It Started
3. My Old Label
4. Cold Steel
5. Danger
6. Vessels
7. Lovely
8. Cash Em Out
9. Game Time
10. Survival Kit
11. Nightmare
12. Hard Enuff
13. True story Pt. 2
14. Don’t Nobody Care About Us

Samamidon’s Top 10 Album Picks

Plug Research’s multi-instrumentalist Samamidon loves folk as much as he does quasi-G Funk keyboards, floating pianos, and soft vocals, all of which he uses in his own work. Here, Sam gives us his top 10 albums of the last 10 years, proving his musical tastes are as much a mixed bag as the tracks on his new album, But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted (Plug Research).

Listen to his track “Louis Collins,” now at XLR8R‘s Downloads Section.

Samamidon’s Top 10 Albums of the Last 10 Years

1. D’AngeloVoodooVirgin
D’Angelo is probably the messiah. The absolute best rhythm ever in music is on this album.

2. Arthur DoyleElectro-Acoustic EnsembleNational Conspiracy (Carbon Records CDR series)
Contemporary music concepts and cultural dichotomies are funneled/obliterated through a funhouse lens of battered, free-jazz soul, screaming saxophones, turntables, and singing by my favorite American postmodernist or post-post whatever.

3. Filament29092000Amoebic
Flossing for your ears–it cleans them out, occasionally causes them to bleed, and allows you to contemplate microscopic regions of the universe that you never knew existed.

4. Missy ElliottMiss E…So AddictiveElektra

5. Chris WhitleyDirt FloorMessenger
This album was recorded near where Thomas and I grew up, in southern Vermont. It’s the Pink Moon of the current age, and is sadder and possibly better. RIP Chris Whitley.

6. Bruce Greene and Loy McWhirterCome Near My Loveself-released
A record of old folksongs–dark, sad, and strange–sung, acapella, in almost unbearably spare and close harmony by this reclusive and legendary pair. Bruce is the foremost collector of eastern Kentucky fiddle music, Loy is a printmaker and writer. The missing link between John and Yoko, Johnny Cash and June Carter, and Morton Feldman.

7. Bjork Vespertine One Little Indian, Yo La TengoI Can Hear The Heart Beating As One Matador, and Cat Power You Are Free Matador
You love these records. So does Samamidon.

8. Marc RibotSaintsAtlantic
I’m really enjoying talking with you about this topic! This is a solo record by the legendary downtown guitarist (Tom Waits, Lounge Lizards, etc).

9. Eyvind KangLive Low to the Earth/In the Iron Age Abduction

10. Mark Hollis S/T Polydor
Have you guys heard this record? I was just introduced to it by Shannon from Stars Like Fleas. Mark Hollis was the leader of the band Talk Talk. This is his solo record, from 1998, totally acoustic: guitar, piano, oboe, drums, violin, etc., recorded live to two stereo mics, chair creaks included. Beautiful songwriting exists right on this album.

Have a nice day! -Sam

SebastiAn Ross Ross Ross

After his “Smoking Kills” 12″ dropped, it was hard to believe that Ed Banger’s harshest producer could make an album that would rival his “killer” single. But on Ross Ross Ross, the Frenchman serves up a platter of drilling hits that keenly follows suit. While half of the album includes his remixes of other artists, from Annie to Uffie to Daft Punk, the other seven distorted bangers hit on the same plane of dance anarchy. You can call Ross Ross Ross fucked-up techno or chopped electro, but don’t say that it isn’t ahead of its time.

Scone Maze

Once upon a time, the fact that artists collaborated via the internet was a big deal. Still, the Scone project offers one of the concept’s finer results, fusing together Dutch electronic artists Funckarma (longtime believers of cyberspace production via their hip-hop work with Shadow Huntaz) with the elusive Kettel. Their full-length, Maze, conjures a super-slick universe where insanely tricky rhythms and sophisticated melodies collide: “Swieso,” “Do,” and “SNTH65” offer Scone’s stirring retakes on old-school IDM, while “Luttel” dissolves into 3/4 funk shuffles. A rare find and an absolute must for IDM aficionados.

Saint Etienne What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?

Though plastic and petrol were invented there, East London’s lower Lea Valley is now an unloved and derelict industrial wasteland. Nevertheless, Saint Etienne and collaborator Paul Kelly have documented the area on film, ahead of its redevelopment to make way for the 2012 Olympics. Scattered with dialogue from the area’s inhabitants, Saint Etienne’s soundtrack is a thing of unassuming beauty, chock-full of vaguely wistful instrumentals that neither romanticize nor disparage the subject matter. Saint Etienne has always been a group of collectors; somewhere along the way they’ve become social historians, too.

Scratch Massive Time

Having put their major-label romance with Warner well behind them, Maud Geffray and Sebastien Chenut advance their nouveau-electro agenda with an album of monumental proportions. Reeling from recent successes like “Girls on Top” (on the MBF label) and “Shining in My Vein,” the French duo constructs a vibe out of dark, electro caresses, acknowledging the roots of their craft while sidestepping any new wave or electroclash redundancy. The album gets off to a Kraftwerk-inspired start with “Fake Lesbian” before downshifting into the heavy, circuit-fried melody of “Shadows” and the ethereal helices of “Soleil Noir,” where luminous atmospherics and Geffray’s distant vocals are offset by a strobing analog rhythm section of unprecedented filth. These tracks are fresh and massive indeed, and with mastering from Berlin’s legendary Moritz Von Oswald (Rhythm & Sound, Basic Channel), the grit and body of the album is astounding.

Pigeon John Parties On The Road

There’s one thing certain about Quannum’s most hyperactive showman Pigeon John–he’s always worth trekking to the venue to watch perform. Last year’s Summertime Pool Party–which featured appearances from RJD2, Rhettmatic, and J Live–was a small taste of what the L.A.-based MC is capable of on the mic, and anyone who has been to a P.J. show knows his soul-infused hip-hop and spastic moves on stage only add to his artistic appeal.

He meets Macromatics, Slick Rick, and others on the road this spring. For those of you who are cash-poor, head to his MySpace Page to find out how you can win free tickets in his “Do The Pigeon” dance contest. Intrigued? You should be.

Summertime Pool Party is out now on Quannum Projects

Tour Dates
02/09 New York, NY: Knitting Factory
03/09 Madison, WI: High Noon Saloon
03/19 Chicago, IL: Abbey Pub
03/20 Detroit, MI: Magic Stick
03/21 Toronto, ON: El Mocambo
03/22 Ottawa, ON: Heaven Night Club
03/29 Gainesville, FL: Abbey Rd.
03/30 Miami, FL: Studio A
03/31 Orlando, FL: The Club At Firestone
04/01 Jacksonville, FL: Free Bird
04/02 Tallahassee, FL: The Moon

Photo by Verity Smith

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