For those New Zealanders that couldn’t make it to Burning Man, some of us made a party on a hill in the middle of the Southern Alps called Melting Man, and yours truly DJed – good friends, good strangers, and general fun dancing in the cold under an almost full moon with a spectacular view all round.
Most likely this’ll happen next year too.
I often wish I was in Australia for the veritable assortment of tasty musical acts that go there.
Now it’s Daft Punk, Kavinsky, SebastiAn, Muscles, and The Bang Gang Deejays… I’d so love to go, but no idea if I’ll have the cash to make it. I reckon I’d probably head to either the Sydney or Melbourne show – but what would be really cool is if someone knew of club owners, event organisers who wouldn’t mind having a New Zealand DJ playing that kind of music for their punters. Shameless self-promotion but it might justify to me the trip over for Daft Punk (as if I needed anymore reason).
Before there was Crazy Frog – there was a song called Axel F. This post is to reclaim some of the brilliance of that track before it was tarnished by a stupid frog. To tell the truth though, I’ve never actually seen the video or heard the clip – and I’d like to keep it that way. There shant be anymore mention of Crazy Frog, but if you desperately need to see it, it’s here on YouTube.
The original Axel F was done as a theme song for Beverly Hills Cop in 1984, and was produced by Harold Faltermeyer (who also went on to do the Top Gun theme) and was made using 3 synthesizers (a Roland Jupiter-8, a Roland JX-3P, and a Yamaha DX-7).
The only copy of the original I have is a remake done as a .mod file. Do you remember those? If you don’t then I’m older than you or showing the early extents of my geekiness as a 10 year old.
Axel F original (.mod file) (play using the BASS Winamp plugin, or download a standalone player MODPlug)
Retro 8-bit remixes from 8-bit people, these guys did an ep and here are a couple of my favourites:
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sabastian boaz – axel f (foulmouthed? fuck you)
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mesu kasumai – axel f (foley hearty)
These are all fun to listen too, but if you’re in a club and want to keep the crowd pumping, you need this EPIC version:
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Yeah, I don’t even know who it’s by, if anyone can tell me, please let me know!
There is even a version done on toy pianos and electronic things by the toy piano band Twink.
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And finally if you check out the wikipedia page, there are a whole lot of other remixes. AxL f 4evah \m/ bwaha, sorry even I can’t take myself seriously when I do that.
She Wants Revenge have just released the first single off their forthcoming second album This Is Forever and it sounds like more of the same.
Thankfully that isn’t such a bad thing given their first album was really quite good, there hasn’t really been anyone since that has mimicked their sound, and most of the songs on the first album sounds the same anyway.
What is unfortunate however is that you’ll have to traipse across to their myspace page to check it out, as it doesn’t seem to have been released as an mp3.
So instead we’ll take a look at the more readily-accessible Written In Blood.
You needn’t feel let down. This is arguably the better of the two songs, because it sticks more closely to the strong bass lines and rhythmic thumping of Red Flags And Long Nights.
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She Wants Revenge – Written In Blood
… or you can check out their music video instead. Such is the tyranny of choice that comes with the multimedia experience.
This Is Forever is set for release 9 October. Colour me expectant.
Posthumous Props is I guess our way of remembering those artists / genres / movements in music / whateverelsewehappentomiss that once were great but have now come to be dearly missed.
Kicking things off is the former-DJ formerly-known as CASIO.
Although the more recently intermittent Chazology was my entrée to CASIO, the ever-brilliant missingtoof helped bring CASIO’s Sexy Friends and Unicorn War mixes to a wider audience.
And yet, for all the aural goodness that CASIO has brought to the masses, it was with Unicorn War that he decided to “give up the game” and focus on a new life with KIDZONFM. Their myspace sports an anti-turntable image, but the photo below from grnappletree suggests he hasn’t completely abandoned the way of the DJ (CASIO’s the scruffy one in dire need of a haircut on the right).
In case you are still wondering why I give as much a damn about CASIO as I do you should know that his Unicorn War mix has been rocking toe-to-toe with the Midnight Juggernauts’ new album Dystopia (and how much do I love Dystopia? I love it this much).
I snagged it off missingtoof almost a month ago and it’s been on high rotation ever since. My iTunes says I’ve listened to it 21 times, which isn’t something one can say too easily about a 53 minute long mix when you need to listen to it all the way through for it to count.
CASIO may not have been around for long, but my god do I miss his magic mixes.
Fingers crossed KIDZONFM deliver just as tasty treats.
Midnight Juggernauts @ myspace
UPDATE : links and tracklists for Sexy Friends and Unicorn War after the cut Read the rest of this entry »
So we’ve seen what the LGG duo can do at home (previously, previously, and previously) now check out what they do live. Missingtoof bet us to the punch on this one, maybe next time our guns’ll be quicker. This is a set from the Modular Weekly in London:
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La Greve Generale – Modular live set, August 2007
Tracklisting behind the cut…
Keeping with the antipodean theme of previous posts, Australian DJ duo Riot In Belgium are garnering a fait bit of attention on the blogosphere these days and it is easy to see why.
My entreé to Riot In Belgium came with a snippet of a song buried deep within one of the many mixes I had a habit of downloading around the end of last year. The song was La Musique, and it is easy to see why this song might be the release of this year. It stonks and it stonks hard. I’ve had the pleasure of losing it on the dancefloor to this song and finding yourself in the midst of a frenzied mob screaming the lyrics almost beat-perfectly is as close as I’ve got to the positive side of mass hysteria. Relish Recordings are re-releasing the CD Single for La Musique sometime this year so keep an eye out for it.
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Riot In Belgium – La Musique from La Musique CD Single [ buy ]
The only other original work I’ve managed to come across is the hypnotic The Acid Never Lies. This is another instance of a gem being buried amongst a larger mix, with Cut Copy’s Fabric Live session nicely weaving it between Grauzone’s Eisbär and Midnight Juggernauts’ Shadows. Try it, you’ll like it. Relish Recordings have released a CD Single for The Acid Never Lies but it doesn’t seem to feature the original, and arguably better, version of the song.
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Riot In Belgium – The Acid Never Lies from Fabriclive 29 : Cut Copy [ buy ]
Of the many remixes that Riot In Belgium have provided for the work of other artists, their reworking of Yelle’s A Cause Des Garcons is the one garnering the most attention at the moment. It sticks quite faithfully to the original but manages to drag it up from its teen-pop roots to something more appropriate in a mature dancefloor setting. The kind of music made to be played in a setting resplendent with hot people, cold alcohol and less licit substances. I don’t know about you but I enjoy that kind of music.
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Yelle – A Cause Des Garcons (Riot In Belgium Remix) from… well… I really don’t know where you can buy this remix.
Sneaky Sound System are another Australian act getting a fair bit of attention (they even wrangled a spot on Live Earth – see the live performance of UFO on youtube here) and although I Love It is a good pop song, Riot In Belgium have added enough grit and synths to make it dancefloor magic. I couldn’t stop listening to this while travelling by tram around Melbourne a couple months back.
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Sneaky Sound System – I Love It (Riot In Belgium Forest Rave Mix) from I Love It CD Single [ buy ]
The last time I was in Melbourne, I had the chance to see Riot In Belgium live. It’s only a shame that Surkin‘s live set almost killed me (it’s hard for us old farts to keep up with the kids these days) and I had to call it quits before they came on stage.
Fingers crossed they play live somewhere relatively accessible to our tiny hamlet of an island nation. And soon!
Well a while back I got the confirmation that I’ll be playing up in Wellington at the end of September for Weird Pscience. If you’re in the area, do join us – it should be a fantastic night. I also hear that the World of Wearable Arts festival is on the week prior to it, so I strongly invite the models to come along with their costumes, as well as the other people in town to see it.
From the Wellington Dance Collective website:
Come join us for a night of strange experiments in sound and visuals. Tesla coils, lab coats, and strange coloured liquids are all likely to feature at Weird Pscience. Special guest COSM (Certified Organic Sound Machine) will be performing his unique live psy breaks spectacular. With support from Helix who’ll be taking us on a journey through trance, and JetPilot who’ll be breaking out the electro.
Update: Two more Wellington DJs, Nick Pearce and fiDJit , have now been confirmed! Weird Pscience is shaping up to be one wicked and dance-fantastic event.
So, Carry Me Home, is new gem to land in my mitts from Blamma Blamma who’ve sent some sweet remixes in the past, from the heavy electro build ups, to the rock-tastic. Suffice to say I’m a fan.
This one is stonking electro if ever I heard such a track. Apparently it’s a couple of years old, and their first song. They were holding the track for a proper release, but got bored with, so thought they’d show it our way… and I got no problems with that! Look out for a 10 in and iTunes release of their new stuff apparently coming out soon.
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Australian band and personal favourite, Midnight Juggernauts have announced the Australian release of their first album Dystopia, and I must confess to being quite excited.
The excellent Tombstone (is it a war zone? is it a tombstone?) was my entrée to their work through the the Ed Banger Records vs Institubes event Alors Les Filles Et Fête Noël? (it really is a rather good mix), and Joel seemed to like the song enough to mention it earlier this year.
I could rave about the tracks on the album, but that wouldn’t be fair to Midnight Juggernauts or to you. Well, at least not until my copy arrives from Melbourne (shouldn’t be long now).
So allow me to share with you some of the better remixes they’ve done of other peoples’ work.
Starting things off is a remix I caught on Sydney-based radio station FBi’s Beforecast, a semi-regular podcast showcasing new Australian music. Nestled deep within their third beforecast was a stunner of a track with great beats, killer synths and a chorus-line that would leave you screaming on the dancefloor. I haven’t heard the original, but as this is the sound of two Melbourne bands making sweet sweet love together (thank you Dan Zilber) I don’t really need to hear what it came from.
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Damn Arms – The Cormorant (Midnight Juggernauts Remix) from Home Wrecker CD Single [ buy ]
Next up, we have one of the many remixes I dug up when I ‘discovered’ Sydney’s vanguard electro duo The Presets. Down Down Down is a track everyone came to love very quickly after they were immediately won over by the handclaptastic Are You The One (still my favourite Presets song). Of all the Presets songs to have been remixed, Down Down Down seemed to garner a fair bit of attention. I don’t know that the song needed it myself as it is a fantastic track in its original form.
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The Presets – Down Down Down (Midnight Juggernauts Remix) from Resets [ buy ]
Finally we have a more recent remix from the Midnight Juggernauts as they take on I Get Around by Canadian pop group Dragonette. The original, much like the rest of Dragonette’s album Galore, is really quite poppy. So much so their music is quite hard to listen to if not through the destined-for-the-dancefloor remixes by Midnight Juggernauts, Van She Technologic, Alan Braxe and Kissy Sell Out among others. This remix features on Kitsuné Music’s brilliant fourth compilation, Kitsuné Maison 4. It takes too long to kick into the song proper (the one and only problem that also features in their remix of Electric Six’s The Future Is In The Future), but its well worth the wait.
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Dragonette – I Get Around (Midnight Juggernauts Remix) from Kitsuné Maison 4 [ buy ]
Midnight Juggernauts are everything that’s good about the Australian sound that is rocking the dancefloors around the world right now.
It’s just a shame they never cross the Tasman to tour here *sighs*
Until then, find someone in Australia who can get you your own copy of Dystopia or enjoy their many singles, remixed singles and remixes they’ve done of other people’s singles until they announce when the album is ready for worldwide release.
Midnight Juggernauts @ myspace
