"Wale Still Life" (photo) by Good Bully

So its kind of hard to ignore the rush of Wale’s tweets this morning about his new track:

 Penthouse Anthem by Wale from the forthcoming album “Attention Deficit” 

As per his words:  ”dis isnt no “hiphophead’ record..this is for people who watch strippers nd fall in love temporarily.and for the beautiful women who ant SHY”

So DIOYY (Does It Offend You, Yeah?) has been around for a while now, and established themselves last year with the lovely little diddy “We Are Rockstars” which I blitzed out eight billion times at gigs as a great way to confuse people that thought I was just playing electro.  People would get even more confused when I’d switch up to b-more and booty bass within the next hour.

we are rockstars video

So when I first ran into their music, that was my primary impression.  Weirdish take on vocals, a-la Battles, very solid rock song format but with pretty damn thrashable-danceable beats.  That continued on with their release of “Let’s Make Out”

lets make out video

So when it came to their two most recent singles “Epic Last Song” and “Night of the Living Dead” I was surprised to hear the other end of their dynamic, more like The Black Kids and Bloc Party got together and did a joint set of singles.  Sadly, I’m not that big of a fan, but the remixes of “Epic Last Song” keep me happy for now.

That and the video is goddamn adorable

Just remember, when you’re trying to outrun a fireball, or need a dude to hook you up with a sweet ride with wheels that don’t even have to move to get you where you’re going, he’s your man.

Here’s to his continued success in Khaledtropolis, the city in which this was filmed.

This and other tracks with 6+ mc’s on the bill

So two recent music videos I’ve seen have followed a theme that has been done through the years. Its interesting to see it coming back as an element, even though its not the most interesting stylistic behavior.

The most recent video was for the new Midnight Juggernauts single “Into The Galaxy”

Now the narrative of the video is vague enough (mysterious dirt-bike rider with crecendo of song firework superpowers) but the setting, and band cuts make it entertaining. Its a promotional tool, doesn’t really feel that amazing or inspiring, but I love the song. I do enjoy the overlays at the end of the head sillouettes singing. Doors album cover-inspiring. Though I feel like the Animals or someone else did that cover art first. The fourth wall breaking? Not sure if it’s all that necessary. “Oh sweet, let’s see what the band’s doing while on break. While we’re at it, can we see what they were having for lunch?”

Which leads me to my next recent video featuring the fourth wall break-out:

This track is the cause of eight billion bad redubs, fake videos, etc. Must mean that its appealing in some way. I’ll go with anybody talking about how much money they have the way weezy does it can bank on their single blowing up pretty big for a second. Then in two months we’ll all be very VERY glad he put some songs on Tha Carter III that have more intensive and inventive production behind them.

I love the “hand cam without the nausea” feel of the video, and the fact that it both makes fun of and supports the aspect of what goes on behind the scenes in music video production. publicicty, etc. The video is slightly more elaborate than the song itself, and Lil’ Wayne holds down the attention of the camera well even when he’s just doing guest shots on radio shows, so its still entertaining to watch him just go through the motions.

What I see with both though is a sense of imagination present on the part of the director, but very little statement of that imagination aside from a skeleton outline that leaves me wondering what could be done with a little more time, a slightly bigger budget, or just better editing.

The Midnight Juggernauts video is beautiful but feels like an 80’s fantasy film with only a few creative camera shots. Lil’ Wayne’s video leaves me wanting in on some jokes that I feel like I’m missing. Name drops, relevance. Whatever.

Demetrius and I started work on the new mixtape (we’ll just release them annually, its absurd to try to do it more often with the amount of detail we put into them, and yet the amount of time we aren’t in the same room.) Still, look out for it.

So, I loathe being simply an aggregator of information sometimes, but isn’t that the nature of humanity? We discover through exploration, and then history is made through the telling and retelling of the journey.

My old friend Gary Perkins (who used to go by Sweet P when we were doing house parties in Cincy) hit us up with this blog talking about the Attigo TT which looks pretty damn ridiculous. D and I have drooled over the interfaces Daft Punk uses, and this is just another step in reinvention and virtualization of dj interfaces. Something some djs are completely against.

Specifically, one friend of mine (Dj InForm) was talking to Dj Houseshoes of Detroit, MI, and related that Houseshoes HATES Serato. After hearing his set, I can understand why. His track selection was rarities of such quality and careful picking that you could tell he knew each record inside and out. He knew those tracks by heart, he probably knew the history of each one, as he dropped a 70’s synth reworking of Beethoven’s 5th (that I also have on vinyl) and slowed it down to match a track that sampled the arpeggiated bridge of the piece at 1/3 the tempo. A perfect drop. He swigged from his Hennessey bottle (part of his requirement to play) and let people soak it in. Things like that made up the meat of his set.

It caused me to realize that I have a history issue. I’ve only in the past five years really discovered hip-hop, punk, hardcore, soul, funk, psych rock. Up until then I was a total tech head, my loves were classic rock, industrial, deep techno, deep house, a touch of trance, prog house, funky and disco house, and club tracks. To learn the history of tracks in those genres was sometimes similar to that of hip-hop (sample roots, production methods, stories behind songs, beef between producers, jokes between producers.) Still, as I moved to working off of cds, learning the history and love behind the tracks became sparse. I felt myself disconnecting from some of the music. I was losing touch with what I was playing.

That comes out when a dj doesn’t “know” their material. If the love is there you can hear it. If you’re just doing it as a job it sounds mechanical, trite, and bland. The nights that I heard my sets sound like that were the nights that caused me to take a break. To sit down and learn my shit, to go home and practice, even if it wasn’t mixing, but to actually really listen to what the hell I had in my library. To start to play with my tools rather than to just start hitting the first nail that came along.

So the beef Houseshoes has with serato makes sense to me, but its more than just the technology. Its the people using it. To wit, this post has a good quote:

A lot of the old school dj/turntablists that I’ve interviewed are very careful not to slam Serato. “It means I don’t have to carry 80 pounds worth of records on the airplane with me.” said one. But they do say that you can’t polish a turd; meaning if you kill on the decks with 45s, then you’ll be great with serato. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you will still suck. Technology can sink or swim you.

So I was on schedule to move to Chicago in April so D and I could take over the city. Not so much at this point. Looks like it’ll be August or September before I start packing. This is due to many things, some of which are very good.

First off, dance party at my current “residency”

We’ll be hacking it up across styles and territories relentlessly.

Second, I’ve been busy on the music angle. Check out a new version of a classic and a questionable mash.

Third, new, old, and new old shit:

Lifelike doesn’t fuck around when it comes to synth-rich dance tracks, whether its remixes or originals. He’s got his head on straight for the crowd he’s speaking to, which seems to be the people that like getting dressed up and going out to party. My kind of people. He’s got one of his recent remixes free for downloading on his myspace and at Cazals myspace

After having this track and bumping it for two months at various gigs you’d think I’d be tired of Dave Nada’s ‘Go Girl’ remix. I am not. Currently Dave Nada is ripping up the West Coast with Dj Sega and Blaqstarr.

Hell DJ Self-Help blew out the party jams, including Blaqstarr’s “Shake it To the Ground” at the last party I djed featuring Time Machine. Time Machine killed it, ’bout time someone had some coordinated dance moves with their stage show.

So Chicago isn’t out of my sights, and not out of my mind. I’m just about to get into that territory where everything blows up.

Sonotheque is a venue I have yet to experience, though I apparently know billions of people that have either played there or been there.  (Me exaggerate?  Never.)   Simian Mobile Disco are playing there Monday night (3/17), and its going to be amazing.  At last glance it was sold out, so I’m going to have to charm my way in. 

I love The Internet Archive because it lets you find things like this which gives you a pretty good window into what was the indie underground sound at that point in time from the perspective of the Rapture.  Part of the reason I’m excited about their gig at Rehab tomorrow night (Evil Olive.)

And Tuesday, fucking Digitalism is playing with Guns ‘n Bombs.  Fucking-a.  I wonder if I can stay an extra day…

I hate fests. First your standing outside . its hot. if there is beer its probably really really expensive. It sounds like shit. And lets not forget to mention how retardedly crowded it isThe bands you are watching are probably playing later that night in an actually venue somewhere close.where they have decent sound. no sun. and a bar. And bars have burbon! I mean come on its a no brainer. and then this happened ………….

Friday, July 18 2008:
Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow’s Parties present Don’t Look Back

Public Enemy performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

…….Yeah….well shit. Looks like in going to a fest this summer

There are some other bands Ive never heard of playing as well

in a perfect world this will be their encore

So when i first saw the white Supra NS over atLeaders a couple of weeks ago i said to myself. Why are these dudes trying to sell me some skytops for 200 dollars?!?!?! And then i took a closer look and kind of fell in love. The NS line is killing it. I dont think i could ever bring my self to spend 200.00 on some fucking sneakers but if i was gonna do it……

Check out more detailed pictures here

The new French glitch:

These two have been on kitsune mixtapes before, and have thrown out some very odd but entertaining remixes of Kylie Minogue and most recently Daft Punk. If I can get my ass to New York in June, I’ll be seeing them at the Highline Ballroom (according to their myspace)

And yet more Canadian rolling electro basslines: YORK

So Eyes For Indie posted about Candy Coated Killahz back in February, but “IT Factor” just rolled through my playlist again, and I’m still not tired of it. In fact every time I hear it, I get really excited… I love playing it too, its got the smoothest feel as far as new tracks I’ve heard from the northern territories.

Your new party anthem creator:

Oh Snap got the discodust treatment at the end of February, and my friend Ken dropped some of his stuff on me when we were doing a brief stint of Sunday night gigs together through some of the coldest nights I’ve ever experienced in c-bus, which as D will tell you, ain’t shit compared to Chicago. People not only laughed their asses off at “I’m too fat to be a hipster” but also demanded more, as his production is clean, smart and simple, and his tracks are fun.