Here’s some  Just Blaze tracks that we’re feeling. (Wish we could find a version of Allen Anthony’s Alright without Freeway all over it, but it wasn’t meant to be.)

Regardless of the references or locality, it’s a sound that has it’s own associations that are remarkably modern day. I doubt that many of the 20-somethings that play in these bands even considered that they’d be lumped into a genre, let alone have anything in common with their counterparts. Still, humans being what they are, yearn to lump things into piles, boxes so they can easily associate and try to feel a commonality with the bands.

Coincidentally(?), music blog Aquarium Drunkard has organized a festival aptly called Waved Out, which features many of the bands being lumped into this psuedo-genre. It is appropriately going to begin on Saturday afternoon, March 27th, and end on the early side. Apparently “chill-wavers” don’t stay out late, or maybe they enjoy the sun too much to miss the next sunrise. Whatever the case, though the music isn’t the charging BPM that you may want to take your daily run to, the eternal pop-timism is helpful booster fuel for your mood. Think of it as green tea to the highly caffeinated coffee. Contrary to the title, I’m not even sure you can run to chillwave, but now that Spring has sprung, I’m easily convinced to take those vibes and make a move.

Waved Out, Saturday March 27th 3PM

16 band, two stages

Lineup: Surfer Blood, Best Coast, Turbo Fruits, The Sandwitches, Dirt Dress, The Coathangers, Active Child, PoPo, Moon Duo, Gamble House, Family Portrait, Tape Deck Mountain, Apes of Wrath, Pizza!, Giant Cloud, Superhumanoids.

The Echo / Echoplex

1822 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 413-8200

When the White Stripes do something, they do it fully, as was clear when Flux’s Cinema Tuesdays presented a special sneak-peek screening in Los Angeles of the Detroit-bred duo’s epically brilliant new concert documentary, Under The Great White Northern Lights, at the Egyptian Theater on Tuesday, March 9th. A live bagpiper heralded audience members as they entered and special red-and-black, White Stripes-themed cupcakes were also served. Yes, no detail goes unspared in making the vision of Meg and Jack White tangible, as the film itself makes abundantly clear. The White Stripes are one of the most gloriously idiosyncratic of all rock bands, doing things their way or the highway, and sometimes those highways are fascinatingly odd: Under The Great White Northern Lights captures moments from the pair’s extensive nationwide 2007 tour of Canada—not just the big cities like Toronto and Vancouver, but also smaller out of the way places in the Yukon like Yellowknife, and an Inuit reservation—places, director Emmett Malloy noted in a Q&A after the screening, that many Canadians don’t even go to.

In addition to the more typical rock shows depicted, the White Stripes played a free, impromptu show in each town, from a show in Newfoundland where they literally played one note (the audience chanting “one more note” as they exited the stage) to a hootenanny on a Winnipeg city bus. Indeed, it’s these moments, and the pauses between concert sequences, that prove most revelatory—like an offhand moment capturing Jack playing boogie-woogie piano backstage while Meg smokes and bobs her head to the rhythm, the chat with a city mayor about the gory joys of local buffalo hunting, or watching Jack White eat (and enjoy) raw caribou. The little details prove deliriously charming as well—like the Canadian flags custom appliquéd to White’s amps, or the fact that Meg’s drum stool has her name emblazoned on it in leather (as if it could be anybody else’s). The film’s style also perfectly suits the subject. Malloy shoots the band in varying patchwork film stocks, alternating between video, grainy black and white and color sixteen millimeter film; even the color sequences have a shockingly lurid, graphic quality that suits the band’s aesthetic just peachy. As well, the editing creates a perfect rhythm: a jump-cut medley proves utterly kinetic, but the action also lingers when necessary to render a moment. Most of all, Under The Great White Northern Lights distills the awesome, visceral power of the White Stripes’ live playing, whether banging out “Icky Thump” in a packed hall, or finger-picking a Blind Willie McTell blues in a reservation rec room. The band’s homemade charisma and sheer work ethic also bleeds through, and staggeringly so; as Malloy noted in the Q&A, “Your brain starts to forget there’s only two people doing it.” The Canada tour was set up to honor the White Stripes’ first decade of existence, and there are candid, fly-on-the-wall sequences, like when Meg White sheds a tear as she sits next to Jack playing a heartfelt piano, but Malloy doesn’t give away too much. Best of all, from the light, humorous moments to the energetic concert sequences, the film manages to impart everything great about the White Stripes without taking away the mystery that makes the duo so compelling—if anything, it adds to it. “Watching the film, you get a little more, but you still know nothing about this band, which is why we all love them so much,” Malloy stated, and he couldn’t be more correct.

They were the scourge of the ‘80s, and eventually disappeared as a music format. But cassette tapes are back as the latest hipster accessory, as clear by a recent Pitchfork article. “I only listen to cassettes,” hipster godfather/Sonic Youth majordomo Thurston Moore states in the piece, a reasonable barometer of the cassette medium’s buzz for sure. The Pitchfork piece also points out the growing presence of cassette labels: while seven-inch vinyl labels were the indie fashion of yesterday, today’s hipsters want their chillwave on cassette! Meanwhile, indie bands are using the seemingly obsolete medium as a signifier of cool—why else would trendy Aussie electro-popsters Cassette Kids use it in their name? In Dallas, someone even opened a museum devoted to eight tracks, where it’s possible to examine 500 copies of Rutles eight-tracks still in shipping containers and an autographed Led Zep tape, among other curios. So why the sudden upsurge in this once dead, now instant classic object? Like vinyl, tape actually holds sound, unlike how CDs reduce music to digital numbers. And it’s an object with easily identifiable nostalgic markers: unless you’re really young, who doesn’t associate the hiss of tape leader with adolescence? Cassettes, eight-tracks, cassingles—they hold too much John Hughes-style youthful associations to ever really go away. And, like so many classics getting resuscitated in our recession era, they’re cheap. Doesn’t get more indie than that…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Noel Gallagher is a well-known enthusiast of Oasis’ hometown hero team Manchester City, so it was quite an insult when his younger brother accused him of “doing a Keegan” in regards to Noel’s abrupt departure from the band after a recent Paris concert. If Liam wanted to bait Noel as a disloyal traitor, he couldn’t have picked a better metaphor: football (soccer to you Yanks) fans know he’s referring to Kevin Keegan, the former Manchester City manager who left the team in 2004. Many Man City felt he’d left before finishing the job he’d started – the clear implication in Liam’s salvo. Oh, these Gallagher brothers play dirty, on and off the field. Liam’s latest penalty kick, aimed right at his brother’s head: he’s claiming to take the name “Oasis” for himself. We’re just waiting to see how Noel will respond – get out the yellow cards – we’re in for a hell of a game.

The full album is available for download at thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com with a great story on the acquisition of the album to read while you wait.  I doubt the validity of Richards story, but always secretly wish for things like this to be true!

This could be 2009’s internet fad producer, our very own mysterious new Dangermouse boasting a new mashup album with a wacky story; constructing a new conceptual album using rare, unreleased and canned old Beatles tracks, pushed forth with triumphant horns and tight, quantized drum beats.

– Richard Russell, head of XL Records, via his Twitter

Music needs events, and a Gil Scott-Heron comeback, while not on the scale of a new Jay-Z album, is definitely a welcome one. In fact, Jay-Z wouldn’t exist without Scott-Heron, who arguably helped create rap with his groundbreaking track from 1970,  “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Scott-Heron’s soulful spoken-word style, outspoken lyrics, jazzy flow and funky percussion created a foundation for hip-hop; his combination of political poetry and rhythm influenced everyone from Chuck D to KRS-One, and he’s even collaborated with rappers like Blackalicious.

While he’s no Sly Stone when it comes to reclusiveness and addiction issues, Heron has seen his own share of troubles. His oft-radical politics have kept him controversial, and he’s had his share of drug problems, having spent time in jail for cocaine possession. But his influence has kept his legacy alive, so it was not without some small excitement that news of a new album had hit the Interweb. This time, to honor the spirit of the moment, however, the revolution was tweeted: Richard Russell, the owner of XL Recordings, who will be putting out Scott-Heron’s new material, revealed its existence via his Twitter account. Not only did he break the news, he also posted an extensive preview of the comeback record, which can be heard here. It sounds like classic Gil Scott-Heron, with the occasional retrofitting for modern tastes: there’s the poetic flavor, the spoken-word truth telling, the jazzy, smoky backgrounds, but also a heaping helping of contemporary hip-hop influenced beats and electronica grooves. Not surprisingly, he sounds great over the modern grooves – especially considering he had no small part in originating them. So welcome back, Gil – these times need you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Congratulations Speech and your whole team of musicians, producers, label and fans – well deserved in our opinion with a fresh and exciting debut album ‘Speech Therapy’ (Big Dada) and an inspirational and genuine story. Enjoy these vids and explore more of Speech who looks set even more so now to do great things moving forward.

Notorious for nominating more pioneering (and often relatively fringe) artists than the long-standing Brit Awards, 2009 finds Mercury rounding up a panoramic cast to round out this year’s nominations.

Here’s a closer look at four potential winners of the coveted award

La Roux

With a gravity-defying coif that takes old-school cartoon character Tin Tin to a bright orange extreme, Elly Jackson and her band La Roux were a surprise nomination. La Roux’s bouncy brand of quirky analog dance-pop revives the classic synthesizer sounds found on early Depeche Mode records and marries them to Jackson’s yearning vocals. At their best, they play on the same dance floor as Erasure.

Friendly Fires

Powered by a crowd-slaying live show, this UK outfit combines angular guitar funk with big, anthemic hooks and rave-tastic dance-floor energy from singer Ed Macfarlane’s past making dance tracks for labels like Skam. Boasting a clutch of great songs (most notably their single “Paris”), these fellows are bursting with potential.

Speech Debelle

This year’s only black nominee comes with a press-ready angle. Born Corynne Elliot, this South London rapper was homeless only a few years ago. Mining a litany of substantial subjects, her thought-provoking lyricism is supported by space-jazzy tracks from Big Dada label-mate Lotek Hi-Fi. Speeche Debelle could easily prove to be this year’s Ms. Dynamite and take the award.  Let’s just hope she has better follow-through.

Florence and the Machine

Somewhere between Feist’s indie gospel and Joanna Newsom’s symphonic flourishes, Florence Welch crafts ornate and orchestral pop songs rife with genuine emotion and artistic dexterity. UK institutions like the BBC and NME have been fervent supporters of Welch’s music (“The Machine” is an amorphous band of musicians). Her quirky and free-spirited persona has made her an early favorite to take home the award this year. She also arguably feels like the artist on this year’s list with the best chance of really having an impact in America

A complete list of nominees:

Florence and the Machine – Lungs

Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

La Roux – La Roux

Glasvegas – Glasvegas

Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy

Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires

The Horrors – Primary Colours

Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew

The Invisible – The Invisible

Led Bib – Sensible Shoes

Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men

Click here to view the embedded video.

June 6 – La Bellevilloise, 19,21 rue Boyer, 75020 Paris (film
screening) / La Maroquinerie, 23 Rue Boyer, 75020 Paris (Quantic DJ set)
June 7 – La Voile, Marseille, France (Quantic DJ set only)
June 10 – El Sol, Madrid, Spain (Quantic DJ set only)
June 11 – Watershed, Bristol
June 12 – Audio, Brighton
June 13 – Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

more news and views as they unfold and as always a chance to WIN something sweet !

Woe to anyone in Southern California who tries to put on any sort of non-basketball related event on the night of a Lakers game during the finals. Even the electronic-music nerds couldn’t tear themselves away from the Lakers crushing Orlando Magic 100-75, as was evident to The Field playing to 30 people exactly (yes, I counted) last night at the Glass House in Pomona. Come all the way from Sweden for this? WTF? Isn’t Pomona a college town? Where were all the dorm-room producers? The blog-house DJ geeks? Are they secretly jocks, too? I mean, yes, one Field band member was sporting a beret, but that’s no reason to stay home (they are European, after all…). Sure, LCD Soundsystem/DFA main man James Murphy, sporting a white linen suit, was in the audience taking a break from recording his new album in Hollywood, but still…

Regardless, The Field – main man Axel Willner and an band alternating on bass, drums, keyboards and Mac – devastated the miniature crowd anyway with their lush modular synths, swirling surround-sound ambience, and sweetly nostalgic ’90s tribal house beats. Indeed, the Field’s channels were minimal, but hardly basic: hypnotic bass guitar drones built on layers of synthetic sound, and Monsieur Beret even rocked a xylophone, giving a whiff of a Steve Reich chamber orchestra as remixed by 808 State. It was a fairly kinetic performance, despite the fact that Willner left the stage for what seemed to be a bathroom break during a particularly thrilling synth arpeggio. The intimacy of the crowd and offhandedness of the performance felt appropriate to the meditative, intimate intensity of Willner’s grooves.

The crowd swelled a bit, however, for headliners The Juan Maclean, riding high with one of the year’s best albums so far, The Future Will Come. Excitement in the crowd could be gauged by the number of bearded trainspotters surreptitiously photographing Maclean’s amazing vintage analog synth equipment in systematic fashion – no surprise considering one of the greatest analog synth dealers ever, Analogue Haven is just around the corner from the club. Juan Maclean himself did not disappoint the beards, ripping amazing extended, deliriously funky theremin solos on tracks like “Give Me Every Little Thing.” Juan’s co-star Nancy Whang was also an effectively robo-human diva frontwoman, throwing angular shapes like she was starring in Liquid Sky and resplendent in ’80s vintage pastel jumpsuit. There’s nothing like a cool chick whose formative punk rock moment was high-end electroclash, and I mean that as a sincere compliment, with no disrespect, to paraphrase Whang’s other band, LCD Soundsystem, incorrectly. Live, Whang is in fact less Miss Kittin detached than she is on record, displaying a more Yoko Ono-ish emotive caterwaul, making the vibe a bit more punk rock than synth pop. The best part of the show, however, was the percussion orgy that seems to be a part of every DFA act’s live show – it’s one of the greater spectacles to become orthodoxy in the neo-pop pantheon. Juan Maclean’s great blog-house smash “Happy House” provided the ecstatic climax, with Juan’s epic space-synth workout showing he’s an M.D. when it comes to “doctorin’ the tardis”. Best of all, both Juan Maclean and The Field managed to actually rock truly danceable beats while making music that proves both challenging and humorous; small crowd or no, each band made sure there was a sweaty party on the dancefloor and the stage. All in all… so excellent.

“The most successful improvisation happens like the most successful ball when every person really knows the function of those plays from their perspective. We’ve seen great ball players, but I don’t think we’ve seen individual brilliance at every position. That would be an unbeatable team. That like the John Coltrane quartet.”

(video via New York Times)

Salsa Scratch – Rob Swift ft Bob James & D-Styles

two these boys with the largest record collections ever, don’t exactly drop by every day and here we have Bobbito on 4th April droppin hip hop & old school funky Latin joints at Bitterzoet all night long  with papa Rich droppin’ mad crazy Afro-beat ‘Jump ‘n Funk’ style 5th April at the newly Up-ed Club Kring for an untamed Sunday Session – both brought to you by BBoy Connection

Let It Roll – AIFF

um have we hit the third reason yet, well it’s all part of the NY400 celebrations of 400 years of Holland on the Hudson – yeah you can blame it all in a good way to that restless Captain Henry Hudson who hemed the Half Moon to the new country way back when -The Connection indeed !

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://www.kspace.tv/music/bobbito-and-rich-medinas-connection/feed/ 0 http://www.kspace.tv/music/mandy-enjoyed-carl-cox-playing-soul-at-wmc/ http://www.kspace.tv/music/mandy-enjoyed-carl-cox-playing-soul-at-wmc/#comments Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:52:14 +0000 Tim http://www.kspace.tv/?p=1378 Just a few days after the M.A.N.D.Y. boys arrived back from Miami, we had the chance to talk to Philipp about his impressions of the gigs and trends at WMC and how they live sports.

Q: You guys just arrived back from WMC in Miami. How was it this time?

It was very special this time. We had huuuge problems on the whole organisation front, but we managed to do it at the end. We had our Rooftop Party on Thursday which was beautiful and one of the best locations for sure, but we only had 5 hours until the Police shut us down. right when Damian Lazarus started his Live Show. We played the BBC 1 party, Pete Tong was a great host as always, so this was fun. And then we had our party at Studio K on Saturday with Italoboyz, BronnT, Audiofly, Matthew Dear and us. We only had 9 days to promote the Party, but luckily all went well and we had a blast.

Q: Miami is also great fun, pool parties, loads of girls . Tell us something funny happened there

Don’t know where to start. Everything was so stressful, but in general you can say the whole WMC is very funny. Tiefschwarz, Patrick and me were booked on the Ultra Festival and we thought we get a proper set up for each of us. At the end we had to share one set up with 4 people which was kind of funny. And we only had one hour, so each of us could play 2,5 cds which looked pretty rediculous i’m sure…

Q: Is there a special musical trend coming, a special sound maybe?

Nothing new in my perception. Nothing i haven’t heard before. But of course you can say it gets more and more house-ier. Away from super minimal tracks to a more melodic and percussion orientated songs, which i like more.

Q: WMC is a classic event in the DJ Schedule. What does classic means to you in general?

Classic is something that exists for more than a short period, that got some value and is lasting for a long time. The opposite of a hype i’d say.

Q: Who are your favorite DJ´S /producers currently and what kind of Sports do you imagine they are doing?

This changes quite a bit over the years. But i know from experience that not a lot of DJ´S do any kind of sports as djing is a mega endurance sport already. I saw Carl Cox last Sunday and he played funk, soul and r&b. it was fantastic!!!! Super nice! Very surprising and everybody was laughing and dancing. Very communicative. Like in the old days. I could imagine him in a boxing ring for instance!

Q:  Which Sports do you like and does Sports inspire you sometimes?

My Partner and myself got to know each other doing sports. On a tennis court. The  only thing we did was sports when we were young. In Summer, we were every single day on the tennis court, and in winter squash. We went snowboarding and skiing whenever there was a chance, i played golf in a Team. Now, i’m more into running. When running for an hour, you achieve this steady state where you are able to release a lot of stress and it gives you a lot of power back…

Q: What can we expect from M.A.N.D.Y. in the Future?
We are more in the studio again. Finished a couples of remixes, playing our first live festival season… So, lots of work and still lots of fun!!!

Thank you Philipp ! Check out their MySpace !

It’s def a ‘Sort of Revolution’ time these days and we’re all workin’ on our own kind of revolution to handle what’s comin’ down – and so we love our good friend Fink even more for sharing his new song of his soon to be released album on Ninja Tune in May. Catch Fink on Tour in Germany and Austria where he no doubt will be playing all the new tunes – righteous !

If you’re in the Amsterdam area on April 9th, the biggest sin may be if you do not make your way out to the celebration album release of Wicked Jazz Sounds baby at the newly opened club Trouw. The WJS crew have been keepin’ the canals dancin’ with a smile with their excellent compilations and their each & every Sunday night sessions at Sugar Factory with Dj’s Phil Horneman, Leroy Rey and special guests from Gilles Peterson to Recloose to Nickodemus together with many of the top jazz musos. It was only a matter of time before those musos officially formed the Wicked Jazz Sounds Band with 13 funky fresh tracks making up their Debut ‘The Bigest Sin’and taking their live show on the road, including a spot at North Sea Jazz in July. C’mon out on the 9th and show us your biggest sin and you could win a snazzy WJSB t-shirt. Meanwhile enter to WIN a pair of tix by simply naming 2 of the musicians in the WJSB.

Wicked Jazz Sounds Band – Come To Me

‘Runnin’ – The Pharcyde’

Happy holidays and a very gorgeous New Year to you all.