Pacific!'s "Sunset Boulevard" Gets Remixed by Lord Skywave
We were sold by the first second of Pacific!'s debut single, "Hot Lips," a year or two ago. The Swedish duo has since gone on to push its surfer-meets-electro-pop LP all across the globe, from the U.K. to the U.S., and even to India where they're now enjoying the number one slot on the nation's MTV and VH1 music rotations. Not too shabby!
There've been many remixes of Pacific!'s work, but this new one by half of Black Ghosts, Simon Lord, a.k.a. Lord Skywave, is one of the most stunning we've been graced with since Breakbot's stellar effort. As Daniel -- half of Pacific! -- aptly puts it, the edit is reminiscent of "an old Bollywood soundtrack somehow." How perfect, then, that they're a Hindu hit!
Check out the remix of "Sunset Boulevard" below and be sure to pick up the debut, Reveries, when it hits the States on July 22!
Yesterday, I received an especially brief message from a certain 16-year-old kid named Adam, who makes music under the moniker prds. With a copy of Fruity Loops as his instrument, the Swede pumps out sublime, melancholic instrumental pop gems that shimmer like the setting sun reflecting off a placid ocean. "Lionfish" is a tad repetitive and flat; "Bahamas" is a bit choppy and doesn't spotlight the throbbing bass line that drives the tune quite enough; prds is a work in progress, but with some assuring signs of a positive and creatively fruitful future.
Check out two MP3s below and grab another pair at the guy's Last.fm page.
When I was younger and on a major Pizzicato Five/Shibuya-kei rampage, I remember taking a great liking to Ursula 1000, partially due to the fact that he used a P5 sample in one of his older cuts.
I'm not saying that the loungey heyday of Ursula 1000, Thievery Corporation, and other related artists has come back full swing, but many DJ's seem to be attracted once again to the swanky melodies and rhythms of old jazz jams ... Latin American stuff in particular.
One such act is Ray Mang, a.k.a. Raj Gupta, a London-based disc-jockey who contemporizes the bossa nova and swinger lounge vibes of old. Imagine a Westernized Fantastic Plastic Machine or Konishi Yasuharu in 2008. That's essentially what this guy's like. (He actually toured Japan last year!)
Check out a few cuts below. "Praia do Londres" is pretty old -- it was originally released as an R&S Records 12" and later included on an Eskimo Recordings LP -- but certainly worth putting on repeat. I'm including "Angel" as a sort of joke -- I'm assuming that Gupta intended it as such himself ... Gupta accidentally sent me a bad copy of "Angel," so download it again now and you'll have the authentic MP3. It's a slower jam that just is all at once soothing and exceedingly catchy.
Lather yourself with some sunscreen, throw a linen shirt and Fedora on, grab a Corona, and relax to the smooth beats of Ray Mang on an island in the sun somewhere.
The Awaji Island native is an incredibly mellow electronic composer who merges the peaceful calm of the Lost In Translation sound Westerners have come to associate with Japan and the curious energy of fellow folk musicians like Shugo Tokumaru, for example. There's an ethereal quality to the songs that makes them seem other-worldly, but the deeply personal qualities of the syrupy slow arrangements brings them back to real life.
Check out one MP3 below and download the entire three-track EP, Fragments, right here.
I put together a rather lengthy post on Service Records on the Anthem Online site, and since I know not all of you read that Web publication, I'm excerpting some of it here and offering the same MP3s. Read the full article here.
First and foremost, the Swedes' control of the English language is subversively contrary to ours. When Lykki Li or Jens Lekman sing of love, they express different experiences, conveniently constructed in a pop manner than alludes to unilateral and exact understanding; when Shout Out Louds or Peter Bjorn & John write of relationships and breakups, they transmit entirely different meanings conveyed through the mechanisms of mainstream indie-rock that imply only one meaning.
If only it were that simple! The Swedish experience is vastly different from the American experience, and any word a Swede pens intrinsically contrasts any word an American does.
So don't think of Service Records as another New Order-loving, post-punk-adoring collective that's prepared to pump out electronic pop ballads and guitar-driven rock songs in order to quench our undying need to always have music blasting.
Where in the U.S. will you find a manifesto like Service's, centered around the following slogan?:
Service is a permanent vacation, catalog its only luggage.
Nowhere. These Stockholm natives are in an orbit of their own, and we ought not attempt to bring them under our fold and stick them in our system.
Service brought us Studio, The Embassy, Jens Lekman, The Tough Alliance, and many more creatives, and for that alone, we must be thankful.
Now, the independent label's got a chain of new releases to doll out to listeners or all varieties, and Anthem wants to make sure you all know that and buy in to the utterly from-the-heart company.
First, there's a Jens Lekman remix release, Sipping On the Sweet Nectar, the Epic Remixes. The three-track digital download is a disco reinterpretation of our favorite European crooner. Stream one of the Bogdan Irkük edits [below] and buy the thing already!
Third, there's The Embassy's newest single, "State '08," an electronic-infused jam that's reminiscent of New Order cuts of old paired with the beachy vibe of TTA. If you're looking for a sweet and melancholic gem for those Summer days at the beach or road trips down the 1, you've found it with "State '08." Stream the song [below as well].
Fourth, Kool DJ Dust has made a killer joint, "The Quest" that has us finally convinced: the Swedes ain't all that bad on the dance floor. You can download [and stream the single below], but why not head over to the Service page and grab if from them?
Finally, Anthem would like to request that all its readers join Service. For the low price of €21 you'll be granted access to all of Service's digital offerings and opted into a music community that is truly rewarding. Plus, you'll sleep easy knowing you've helped them perpetuate. Sign up!
The Embassy - State '08
Jens Lekman - Sipping On the Sweet Nectar (Bogdan Irkük Love Nectar Remix)
Who would've thought that Swedish darling of lo-fi pop ballads Jens Lekman (MySpace) would sound so good to disco instrumentals?
Rollerboys Recordings' Bogdan Irkük had the bright idea of setting Lekman's sweet vocals to spacey disco beats, with the resultant 12" being pretty awesome. Each edit is a heavy Balearic-infused slow jam that could easily fit in a Studio set or Prins Thomas Italo-disco mix. Check out the Love Nectar mix of "Sipping On the Sweet Nectar" below and buy the whole release on iTunes or at Service Records' online MP3 shop!
Jens Lekman - Sipping On the Sweet Nectar (Bogdan Irkük Love Nectar Mix)
You would think that Sweden's long past with utterly cheesy pop acts and botched disco efforts would catch up with the small nation again and everyone would go soft in the head, form Abba cover bands, perm their hair, and bring back bell-bottoms. Alas, the Swedes are still possibly the slickest people on this planet, and they refuse to release anything that might tarnish their collective identity and name.
TieDye is the latest entry to the sounds-like-Studio category, but the Italians Do It Better Records signees have something unique to their aesthetic, even if they initially sound like copycats. "Nothing Else Matters" is a Mettalica cover, for example, and TieDye's first remix, "I Feel Electric" by Rubies featuring Feist, is about as unorthodox as you can get.
Whatever TieDye's got up its sleeve, BBBD's curious. Very, very curious. A group this good can't just release one 12" (with no b-side!) and a remix and then disappear. TieDye has summer slow-jam wired into its DNA, so here's to hoping they're release more ...
Ed Banger Records got too big, too fast. In a flurry of hype, I-was-there-first banter, and musical inbreeding, the Parisian collective represented an alternative cool one minute, a trendy frat boy favorite the next, and an utterly passe aesthetic the next. Instead of turning it down a notch, though, and hiding out for a while (wouldn't some woodsheding help with the creative process?), the crew's insistent on touring forever and releasing something new every couple of weeks. While Justice has been laying lower than their labelmates, their embarrassing remix of MGMT certainly isn't helping restore their once strong image.
Busy P (who's on tour through late-August, by the way) keeps pumping out the jams, too: June 23 marks the release of Pedrophilia, an EP featuring two original songs and four remixes. (At least it's not as bad as Justice's "DVNO" release which had what, three hundred remixes of the title track on it?) "To Protect and Entertain (feat. Murs)" is the title song on the record, and boy does it suck. Busy P sets up a snake-charmer-esque, gritty electronic hip-hop beat for Murs to flow over and that's pretty much the extent of the thing instrumentally. I guess the dynamic duo thought it'd be quaint or silly to write a song about how hard they kick it overseas ... "To Protect and Entertain" is a horrendous cut that revolves around name-dropping ("Hit up LAX and got in no hassle/We left there and hit up Cinespace," "Tomorrow morning I'm gonna be on Cobra Snake making out with a chick my girlfriend hates"), astoundingly stale metaphors ("I've got a dick as big as Texas"), and in-your-face flaunting of "coolness," "hipness," and globe-trotting finesse ("DJ AM, Steve Aoki, got the dance floor packed/And it's mostly girls, girls, every day/From Paris to L.A./I snatch one up and we dance for hours.")
"To Protect and Entertain," in short, is one of the most sophomoric and egotistical songs imaginable. Here's the Ed Banger et. al. finally kicking the bucket. Jerks.
Studio - Yearbook 2 from Information on Vimeo. Sweden's Studio (MySpace) enraptured us with Yearbook 1 last year (released on the guys' own record label, Information), and for good reason. Their post-punk-done-electronic-dub style is all at once captivatingly melodious/poppy and experimentally alluring. While most of the songs hoovered near the ten-minute mark, none felt too long and not accessible or radio-friendly. A work of genius, to say the least.
While Studio's yet to release new original material, they did a handful of remixes since they found fame, and chose to release the seven edits as Yearbook 2. The LP flows like an original work ... Studio applies such a unique sound and aesthetic to all music they touch -- whether it's their own or someone else's -- and that's what holds this full-length together. Working with mega pop-stars like Kylie Minogue is no more difficult than sprucing up a folky single by California's Rubies or trancey cut by fellow Swedes, A Mountain of One.
Keep an eye out for more Studio news on BBBD. We've more to bring to you all ... for now, though, just get pumped for the release of Yearbook 2 on June 23, check out this preview video, and download or stream one of the remixes that appears on the release below!
What BBBD believes to be a "summer jam" is oftentimes quite different from others' conceptions of the surefire pool party hit. That Julian Casablancas, Santogold, and Pharrell tune, "My Drive Thru," for example, was hailed by Stereogum, but is, in actuality, a steaming pile of crap.
There're plenty of instances, when BBBD's preferences overlap with other bloggers', critics', and general music listeners', though, and New Zealand's Ladyhawke is (fingers crossed) just one such case. She's got an album coming out on Modular Records, and while the two singles so far ("Back of the Van" and "Paris Is Burning") have been spectacular odes to ramshackle funk cuts and Abba-infused post-punk dance tracks, the LP as a whole might not hold muster, unfortunately. But that is the reality of the one-hit-wonder, so deal with it!
For those of you who've not heard the original "Paris Is Burning," download or stream it below and get your feet tapping on this sweltering hot day. It'll only get hotter, sweatier, and brighter, though, and when that times arrives, crank up the Cut Copy remix of the original -- it'll get you fist pumping to the stars and showing off a few more moves than the minimal head bob. As usual, the Australian trio has dolled out catchy space-disco beats and synth ditties for this edit, conforming the song to their futuristic aesthetic while reverently maintaining and hailing the strength of the remixed artist's work. Ladyhawke ought to sing on one of their compositions.
There are exponentially more mixes made during the summer months than any other season of the year, for obvious and good reason: July through September is hot, sunny, marks the fiscal year's halfway point, and is endowed with far more galas, BBQs, rooftop pool mixers, and and offers a much-anticipated excuse to whip out the blender and make some margaritas! With all the festivities, tannings, and general good will, mixtapes are inevitable.
BBBD is very impressed by don Simon's "Summer Kick Off Mix." The Swedish producer/DJ put together an hour-long, thirteen-track set that features a substantial number of his compatriots' work (i.e. Lykke Li, Sally Shapiro) and plenty of artists one wouldn't expect to find on such a light-hearted party jam (i.e. Kelly Polar, Booka Shade, Justus Köhncke). Somhow he brings it altogether with a distinctly summertime aesthetic and tasteful energy that doesn't overwhelm or exhaust. This is perfect. Download it, please. A tracklist can be found after the jump.
1. Sally Shapiro - Jackie Junior (Junior Boys remix) 2. Headman - Hostage 3. Kelly Polar - Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City) 4. Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone (Fred Falke remix) 5. John Dahlbäck - We Are The Duo 6. Claude VonStroke - The Whistler 7. Solomun & Stimming - Eiszauber 8. Booka Shade - Dusty Boots 9. esa axel - Asthma Star (Socket Science remix) 10. Justus Köhncke - Parage 11. Marascia & Dusty Kid - Sineless 12. Swen Weber - The Pusher 13. Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso Vs Laidback Luke - IT
Sweden's Hybris just can't stop releasing awesome stuff! Sayonara, Labrador Records -- Hybris is the new stronghold of Swedish tunes. From the quirky and lo-fi melodies of Elias & the Wizzkids to the Michael Jackson-esque ballads of Juvelen to the bizarre a capella of the Sweptaways to the sweet pop music of Kalle J, the smallish label simply can't turn out an unwanted single, EP, or LP.
Now they're proudly releasing the Kid's sophomore album, Transient Blood. This is BBBD's first time listening to the Gothenburg quartet, but boy are they good. Imagine Sambassadeur merged with New Order circa 1987. The Swedes have a penchant for churning out tracks with heavy, super-catchy bass lines, playful synth riffs, and rhythm guitar parts that sound so in motion, so fresh and not boring like rhythm guitar tends to be. And the Kid does it best. The first single off the record, "Transient Dance," is a stunning jam that's reminiscent of cutesy European exports like Bonnie & Clyde and more recent New Order cuts like "Krafty." It's charming beyond belief, and the rest of the release holds muster well.
Transient Blood is out on June 18, and you must purchase it if you hope to have an enjoyable summer ... or if you're looking for that perfect soundtrack for a house party, BBQ, whatever. It'll work. Listen.
America's strangest musical entity, Bradford Cox, AKA Atlas Sound/frontman of Deerhunter, has worked his remix magic on the Chap (MySpace), London's closet thing to the Sparks, 2008. Atlas Sound, known for its bizarre breed of flowing, atmospheric shoegaze, constructed in a soft-spoken and shy lo-fi/bedroom recording sort of way may not be the most likely remixer for the Chap's "They Have A Name," but the result is more compelling than one would originally thing.
Whereas Mega Breakfast's opening track is a gooft kraut-rock-inspired sing-along sort of ditty, the Atlas Sound interpretation is a glitchy, laptop-pop, "folktronic" sort of mix that's a bit more soothing and melodious. It's completely different (there are no vocals on the Atlas Sound remix, for example), but well worth a listen.
Grab both the Chap's original tune and Cox's altered one below.
It's a stupid name, sure, but Prins Thomas' forthcoming Full Pupp compilation, The Greatest Tits Vol. 1, is pretty spectacular.
The Norwegian space-disco innovator put together a twenty-five track two-disc release that is mesmerizing in its ability to keep you listening even though every song is ultra-slow, relaxed, and chilled out. The Italo-disco/space-disco/whatever-disco resurgence we've seen over the past couple of years is alluring and baffling for that very reason: listening to any good cut by the likes of DC Recordings folks or Lindström or Prins Thomas or Glass Candy or whomever is like listening to a jam band circa 1997. The stuff chills you out and is purely aesthetic ... something to facilitate your mind's wandering and sedate you like no drugs can. It's almost unfortunate that some critics and fanatics try to over-conceptualize the music -- there's just not a whole lot going on there!
"The spirit of a DJ bio is boring, self-centered, and egotistical. Prins Thomas knows that all too well and fears the result: someone who makes him sound like the best DJ in the world ... although most people would love such a comment on their skills." In short, Thomas is just trying to construct some tracks that'll ... get you jamming and nothing more. So ... sit back and indulge in these sultry, warm disco experiments and buy the deluxe compilation when it's out!
Remixes ought to serve a purpose of utility. When an artist requests another artist to remix his or her song, he or she is hoping for -- ideally -- a reinterpretation of his or her work that adds a fresh spin to the tune. A Swedish pop single might be freshened up or dumbed down for dance floor grittiness; an industrial rock anthem might be funked up for a highfalutin vinyl crowd; a hardcore electronic jam might be softened for easy iPod indulgence. Again, this is the ideal and rarely the reality ... in fact, good remixers have been few and far between since the art's modern dawn in the late-1960s. (Early remixes tended to be of Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae tracks.)
It's obvious to all that a good remix -- one that is appealing in that it either (a) adds a new layer of enjoyment to the original song or it (b) adds a new level of functionality to the cut -- is unusual, but unfortunately, the Internet age has made such an edit even more unordinary. BBBD's personal thought is that it's simply too easy to pump a remix out. Remixes can be too offhandedly constructed sans stems and knowhow today, and that's not necessarily a good thing. A pair of drunken teens thinks it'll be cool to drop a "banger" on the Web, so they break into their parents' liquor cabinet, take a few swigs of Beefeater, and get to it on their pirated copy of Ableton; a couple of turntablists looking for credibility knuckle one out in their basement "studio" and blast their massive list of blog contacts with a "Please Post" pity request the next morning.
Have we forgotten what a remix ought to be? They're not intentioned to be publicists' cheap-and-easy way of further promoting their mediocre unsigned act and they're certainly not the only way one can make the leap from Adult Contemporary radio to the JBL's of dance clubs (we're looking at you, Feist). BBBD will be bold and say that remixes ought to only be made upon request by either the artist or the remixer and approved before leaking to online journalists.
Want to hear some terrible remixes and edits? Go here and attempt to sit through the homepage's MP3s without puking. Or maybe go to this respected Web taste-maker and sift through their finds without being befuddled as to why so many (a) choose to spell their names with "z"'s in lieu of "s"'s, (b) think that the longer the moniker they select, the better, and (c) believe neon hues to be the only way to grab a reader's attention. Originality, folks -- you can do it if you put your mind to it! (Or maybe, as Ice Cube would advise, if you put your back into it.)
Below are a few spectacular remixes (no, the art's not completely gone down the toilet, and yes, BBBD loves some boss remixes here and there). These tracks are lasting in that they pose themselves to be authentic and original songs, not half-assed attempts at 2008's crummy version of drum and bass. First and foremost, they seek out and successfully find character unto themselves ... they don't sound like a trashy mess of bass and low-res sequenced drum beats or a confused jumble of guitar warbles, synth ditties, and vocodered half-baked sonic experiments. Learn from them.
Want to tell us differently? Go for it! We beg you -- try and explain to us why we're so, so wrong. We've resolved to stop downloading every remix we get and/or see in our RSS reader, though, that is for sure.
It's obvious to regular readers of BBBD and first-time newbies that this blog is undergoing a massive overhaul and reinvisioning of itself. Today, we present you a new column, Watch, that tries to make sense of the music hype machine. (So now we've three core columns: Watch, Reverse, and Don't Start A Band ... more features will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months.)
Music buzzwords pop up with extraordinary regularity -- like daffodils in Summer -- to the benefit of no one in particular. It's of no use to call Sonic Youth an "experimental No Wave drone- and/or noise-rock ensemble" unless you're Jack Black in High Fidelity or an especially compulsive CD store clerk who doesn't trust computers' ability to search for and find inventory. If we push aside our stack of Pitchforkmedia record reviews, click out of our Of Montreal Flickr photo set tab, and disregard the constant blogger feedback (which, in all honesty, sounds more like bickering that any sort of constructive writing), we'll remember that music is there to be enjoyed and -- first and foremost -- listened to.
Not everyone realizes this, though, and perhaps the people most likely to succumb to overly complex genre classifications and musical stylistic breakdowns are the musicians themselves. Once an old style is deemed cool again (the grunge of the 1990s, the trip-hop of the same era, the shoegaze of the 1980s, the old school punk of the 1970s, the garage of the 1960s), a few bands lead the way and respectfully reintroduce us to or remind us of the greatness of our musical forefathers. Then an uncanny number of hangers-on, copy-cats, and wannabes looking to make a buck hop onto the bandwagon, and voilà, we've hit critical mass!
Italo-disco is this year's buzzword, and we couldn't be sicker of it. First, let's figure out exactly what the heck Italo-disco is and then second, let's pull some goodies from the massive heaps of crap we've not got ourselves boogieing to in that super-embarrasing and definitely not ironic-in-a-funny-way Saturday Night Fever manner.
When one hears or says "disco" one immediately thinks of the early-1970s right on up until about 1977. No other duration of time was hit so hard by the sleazy guitar riffs and husky bassline funk jams of disco originators like the Blackbyrds, George McCrae, and the Sunshine Band. Europeans had the bright idea of perpetuating the genre (yay posterity!) for some odd reason in the early-1980s, and, to gloss over way too much history, Italo-disco was born. (OK, maybe it was the late-1970s, but who cares? The term itself comes from a 1983 megamix called Italo Boot Mix, so depending on how technical one wants to get, Italo-disco wasn't even brought into this world until a few years into Reagan's first term.) The style is markedly different from straight-up disco, though, in that it is noticeably (1) spacier, (2) synth-heavy, and (3) infested with vocoder choruses. Talk about something that didn't age well! A handful of producers including Cerrone, Giorgio Moroder, and Didier Marouani sort of set the bar for Italo-disco tracks, and honestly, that's all the world needed.
Because of the style's aesthetically clean, dancey, and genuinely fun appeal (but not for its heinous associated fashion and way, way too gimmicky videography style!), though, the movement has stayed alive in some way, shape, or form for the past couple of decades. There's nothing uniquely wrong with that. But really, we don't need the tradition of [anything]-disco to mount any higher, and a respectful laying to peace of the genre would make everyone happy. If we can't all agree on that, at least let's nix the sucky second wavers while we can.
A few people are doing some justice to the Italian-only-in-name music ... so, yea of little faith, don't lose all hope quite yet! BBBD's absolute favorites of the past few years have been Professor Genius, Padded Cell, Studio, Chromatics, Glass Candy, and Justin Miller. On a good day, we might throw Arthur Russell into the mix as he both helped start and revive the scene when he was still with us.
If you've not heard Professor Genius' extraterrestrial Space-/Italo-disco mix for This Is Not An Exit, grab it now! Padded Cell is coming back in a major way, adding fresh elements of kraut-rock to the otherwise staleing disco resurgence. Studio has a new the-Cure-cum-dub-outfit compilation of remix tracks coming out entitled Yearbook 2, and that's bound to be an absolute pleasure. Justin Miller (and all of the D.F.A. posse, for that matter) has been blowing our socks off with his mixes. If you weren't one of those lucky devils who actually got to attend the D.F.A.-DJ'd Dance Part in early-March, at least download the four-hour mix that MoMA was kind enough to make available. Your brain will be melted. BBBD always would like to endorse DC Recordings' forthcoming Death Before Distemper compilation at this point.
Now ... on to the bad stuff; the side of the Italo-disco rebirth that we wish never happened. When people try to specifically make money off a idiotic trend, you know you're in a bad place, and that's exactly what Strut Records did with its shot-in-the-dark, shameful release, Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics. Do not buy the disc! Strut Records -- bafflingly -- came out with a thirteen-track compilation that supposedly elevates the decaying Italo-disco style, but winds up only making it look and sound really, really stupid and bland. Five Letters' "hit" (?), "Tha Kee Tha Tha" is an embarrassing love song that makes my libido all but disappear. Easy Going's "Do It Again" ought to appear in Austin Powers Pumps Up the 1980s! ... or maybe used as the backing track to a cute "My Baby Can Dance!" video on YouTube. And whoever Firefly was, he deserves to spontaneously combust. Not kidding.
But enough with the Strut Records release. There are limitless groups today trying to compose their own Italo-disco hits ... and failing miserably. Hacks. I Guess I'm Floating's Hot Pick for 2009 is, confoundingly, Century's "Apachwalk." Just because they're labelmates with Studio and from Europe -- which always gets an artist way more Cool Cred than being from the States -- doesn't mean they're any better than these fools. (On a side note, this author's father showed him the "Apache" video while at home for the holidays several years ago ... and frankly, it never deserved to even leave the meme he discovered it in.)
While this first attempt at figuring out the trends that we immerse ourselves in is by no means complete -- and no future column will claim holistic knowledge, either -- it ought to stir you up a little. Just be conscious of what you're being fed by the hype machine you've inadvertently subscribed to. Until next time ... a little Arthur Russell (dudes -- if you think Hercules & Love Affair or Antony & the Johnsons came up with that vocal style ... think again).
