Word came through this morning that despite the popular belief that Daft Punk’s last several years were devoted to writing the soundtrack to Disney’s Tron, the Frenchmen have also managed to use that time to write a whole new album which, according to Virgin Records, is due out toward the end of 2011.It’s been nearly six years since Human After All was released, and there’s no doubt that a lot has changed since then. Will this new album succeed in escaping the confines of an over-saturated genre which, ironically, they themselves played a significant roll in creating? Only time will tell, but if this leaked preview track is any indication, I like to think they’ve got this one in the bag.

Daft Punk – Illumination

You just put a quarter in one of those Zoltar fortune-telling machines, and I’m about to pull the last five years of your life out of thin air. The year is 2005, and if the 2010 version of you were to travel back in time and inform old you that in five years you’d be listening to music that’s made almost entirely on a computer, the ghost of Christmas past would likely be heading home with broken nose. You are a firm believer that all good music is centered around a guitar in some way shape or form. That’s not to say that you’re morally opposed to synthesizers in a band’s lineup, but electronics can only compliment guitars and drums, not replace them altogether. Your collection of music includes a couple of electronic musicians here and there, though to be fair, most of them are the ones that are talented enough to prevent you from ever considering how their music is made.

You may permit the occasional M83, The Album Leaf, or perhaps you’re younger than that and are more keen on the untamable shrieking of the Blood Brothers. But mostly you’re attracted to bands like Bloc Party, Midnight Juggernauts, and VHS or Beta. Bands that are rather talented and trick you into forgetting they’re electronic at all. Long story short: while you may be able to pull it off on rare occasions, the majority of the time you wouldn’t be caught dead listening to anything more than The Faint for fear of being associated with (shudder) techno.

Then 2006 comes around and suddenly Daft Punk is okay. What’s the deal with that? They’re completely electronic, and there’s no getting around it, but for some reason, everyone you know has their discography, and it is not cool to make fun of them for it, nor is it cool for you to point out the fact that Homework was released in 1999. Nope, you’re supposed to eat your words and act like all three albums were released that very year. So what do you do? You accept it for what it is: Daft Punk = cool. Infected Mushroom = still not cool. Titanic theme song techno remix = definitely not cool. You’ve officially added all of Daft Punk’s albums to your collection. Other than that, not much has changed. You’re still wearing your hair like the dude from AFI (a haircut that would later make it’s way into the electronic music scene in the form of DJ Paparazzi), and you still can’t tell me what a four on the floor beat is. But here’s where the line really starts to blur.

Late 2006- Early 2007: The year your one friend who happened to know about the Hype Machine at the time discovered __________ (insert either MSTRKRFT or Justice in the blank). Now, this kid was always a little strange with his music taste, so when he hands you one of his two earbuds and plays you (Easy Love / Waters of Nazareth), you’re reluctant at first. That is, you know it sounds good, and you know it’s fresh, but at the same time, you’ve spent years defining yourself as one of those guys that respects music too much to sink down to the level of electronica, and you’re not about to just up and say you like it. You decide that “sounds interesting” is the appropriate response, and you put it on the back burner, intending to forget about it. But it haunts you. Every time you finish an album and consider the ever present “what should I listen to next?” enigma, your mind jumps to that “The Looks/Cross” torrent you downloaded a week ago. Is it the right time? Are you feeling confident enough in your musical masculinity? Eventually you cave, and you give them album a once over to get it out of your system–except your plans change, and somehow, it makes it into your daily rotation, and before you know it you’re listening to an entirely electronic album just as much as you listen to everything else. What’s going on? You’re not allowed to like this. You try even harder to convince yourself that you don’t like it, but it’s impossibly clear that you do, and there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do to change it. This feels even worse than that time you got caught telling your shampoo bottle to “Move bitch, get out da way.” The stone cold realization hits you: You’re going to have to change scenes, because (and trust me, there’s definitely no pun intended here) the “scenesters” just aren’t going to accept the person you’ve become.

Before you know it, your Misfits shirts have gone out the window, and you’ve replaced them with graphic tees depicting mostly naked women. (And it’s okay because the look is “artsy” and “in good taste.”) You’ve discovered house music, and with each new album you acquire your pants become a little bit more colorful. (I’d say they got tighter too, but that wouldn’t be fair to those who had already maxed out the slim cap by stringing dental floss through their leggings.) Suddenly, you find your music collection is growing as though it had invested in Google. By the time another year has gone by, not only has your music collection doubled in size, but you also find that listening to Avenged Sevenfold just doesn’t seem appropriate anymore. Even further, you now find yourself slightly repulsed by those who haven’t managed to follow the same path you did, and you’re constantly asking yourself how they can be satisfied listening to the monotonous drone of same-sounding guitars, when there’s a world of unlimited potential for sound into which they haven’t even considered wandering. However, the one thing you don’t consider, and likely still haven’t considered even now as were moving through 2010, is the impact that your transition into the hipster scene has had on your perception of music in general.

So Now What?

So here we are now. We’ve arrived in the present, and are now faced with a new set of rules. Give me an artist, and I’ll give you a number between 1 and 10, indicating how acceptable it is for a member of the hipster scene to listen to them/him/her (1 being completely unacceptable).

Daft Punk: 10
Slipknot: 1
Laidback Luke: 10
Sigur Ros: 9
Green Day: 3
Oasis: 7 (They’re not electronic, but they’re one of those bands that is, for some reason, accepted as remixable.)
Massive Attack: 7 (Electronic, but not so hipster-y. Minus three.)
Royksopp: 9
Paul Van Dyk/Oakenfold: 5 (Electronic but dated; better left for outsiders and the uninformed.)
Rusko: 9 (So-called purists would likely protest)
The Bloody Beetroots: 8 (Used to be a ten, but they’ve since been rejected by the mainstream opposition.)
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s: 8 (For the same reason as Oasis. though to be fair, remixes are more acceptable than originals.)

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea. The big picture themes are nothing more than:

A) Electronic dance music is always okay, unless it’s trance, drum ‘n’ bass, or was produced before 2006.
B) Rock is sometimes okay, depending on what the people in the band look like, and how remixable their material is.
C) Classics are allowed, assuming you either remix the tunes, or use them tastefully.
D) Metal, and all it’s derivatives, is never allowed, unless you make it with synthesizers and call it dubstep.
E) Dubstep is okay, unless it sounds too much like metal.
F) Punk is okay if it incorporates some kind of electronic component.
G) Hip-hop is treated like a controlled substance. It essentially boils down to circumstance, and depends on how far-removed from electronic dance music it is. Artist intelligence is also a contributing factor.
H) Classical is okay, as long as you listen with confidence.
I) Most everything else is neither acceptable nor unacceptable, but if you get too into any of it, it’s just weird.

So that’s how it works. By reading this blog, you’re defining yourself as a hipster, and as such, your music of choice is not, in fact, music of choice at all. It’s chosen for you. And just like so many of us were missing out on electronic music when we were busy convincing ourselves that it wasn’t okay, who’s to say we aren’t still missing out on a world of fantastic music by allowing our hard drive’s to be brain washed by the momentum of expectations? I won’t stand for it!

Today, for the sake of liking good music for good music, we’re bending all the rules and listening to all the tunes we technically shouldn’t touch with a ten-foot poking stick. And who knows, maybe tomorrow, we’ll still be doing it.

Spor – Aztec
[It's Drum N Bass, and I don't care]

Me Gusta – Megadrive
[It's Hip-Hop, and I don't care]

Flux Pavilion – Got 2 Know
[It's trancy, and I don't care]

Rusko – Da Cali Anthem
[It's both massively mainstream and poorly produced, and I don't care]

You know that awful feeling you get when you finally score tickets to see your favorite band perform and, after months of listening to their album in hopeful anciticpation, their live show just totally sucks? I’m sure you do; we’ve all been there at some point or another. The guitarists misses the chord, the lead singer can’t hit the right notes. Go to enough concerts and you’re bound to leave a few of them unsatisfied. The letdown of a live show is one of the worst feelings in the world. If you’ve ever stood at a concert thinking “I wish I had stayed home and listened to this in my room,” then the artist has, in some sense, failed.

The cliché ”I heard they suck live” translates to “the band isn’t talented, their producer is.” But the expression takes on a new meaning with electronic musicians because most of them are producers. Even the musical acts that aren’t strictly DJs but still have an electronic feel to them, think Animal Collective or LCD Soundsystem, still do a lot of the production work themselves. Every musican leads a double life: the studio where he makes the music, and the stage where he performs it.

Both are important in different ways, and there’s obviously a difference between being a great live performer and a studio wizard. Live shows combine lights and visuals; there’s a lot more to a concert than just the music. The context of a performance can have a huge effect on the experience, too. But great musicians still have to be great performers above all else. And the best musicians are doubly talented at both producing and performing. The line is becoming blurry, thanks to software like Ableton Live that allows both in-house production and live performance. But the old adage is still true: live shows prove who’s really got talent. At a time when record sales are falling, concerts are especially important.

It’s funny to think of the Bloody Beetroots wearing their masks alone in the studio, or Daft Punk working on the new album from inside the Pyramid. But both of those groups are as popular for what they do in front of an audience as for what they do alone in the studio. Sure, they make great stuff behind the scenes. But let’s not forget about the live show.

Laidback Luke

Here’s a great example of an artist who knows how to work the studio and the stage. It’s hard to “put on a show” as a DJ, unless your name is Steve Aoki and you spend most of your time standing and screaming into a microphone. Laidback Luke stands out as one of the premiere producers and performers working today. The Netherlands native has really taken off in the last couple years. His success is well-earned. He’s ridiculously talented at making original songs and remixes; and he performs with an energy you won’t find many other places. Listen to some of Laidback Luke’s stuff below. Then do yourself a favor and go see him live.

MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix) UhOhDisco.com

Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Laidback Luke Remix) UhOhDisco.com

Indeed, over several years, this little disco genre grew out of it’s status as an underrepresented and disrespected fad and began to earn itself a name, each day garnering a wealth of newfound believers. And the best part about it was the fact that everyone who chose to participate was able to build off of something someone before him had already done, and to keep us all moving forward. Boys Noize‘s debut album, for example, taught the world that a loss of bit depth is not necessarily a loss of quality; Oi Oi Oi was full of beautifully destroyed, and often times disgusting sounds that, when combined with an appropriate beat, came together seamlessly. And it certainly was not just Alex doing the work. For a while, it seemed like every new album release was a revolution in itself, and that dance music itself had become untamable.

Unfortunately, this “booming prosperity” (if I may) seems to have changed as of late. And while I’ve heard from many different people on many occasions that, “everything has been done, and it’s all just boring now,” this isn’t what I mean in the slightest. Rather, it seems that all the artists that we’ve grown fond of over the years have continued to provide a steady stream of great quality, creative compositions, but that they’ve somehow lost the ability to build off of and be influenced by other artists, and have become stuck making music in the exact same vein as all of their past work. To put it concisely, it’s almost as if the creativity and originality is still working strong, but that we’ve lost our compass, and with it, our sense of musical direction. Thus, for the last several months, we’ve been stuck wandering in circles like a line of ants with a stick strewn across its path. Sure, the music still sounds great, but where is it–and where are we–going as a collective?

If anyone feels compelled to share thoughts, ideas, or even music, I’m confident that the rest of us would welcome your ideas with open arms.

Fake Blood – Think I Like It

Felix Da Housecat – Kickdrum

Boys Noize – Kontact Me (Removed as per request)

Boys Noize – Gax (Removed as per request)

Boys Noize – Nerve (Removed as per request)

I’m sure the question’s been presented to all of us at some point in our lives (granted many of you are far less bizarre than I, and have likely managed to avoid the inquiry upon graduating the fourth grade), but in all honesty, have you ever been able to answer it? I mean, yes, there is the possibility that you happened to stumble upon this page at random, in which case your answer is likely an immediate, “I’d sacrifice my hearing, no contest,” and in fact, this is likely a good thing, seeing as the prevention of Soulja Boy’s voice from emerging from any form of speaker is always a win for humanity. However, for the rest of us (especially those of us who aren’t consoled by fast cars and football), it’s hard to imagine living life without either one.

Photo Contest

I can’t quite recall what got me thinking about all this, but I’ve been thinking nonetheless, and in doing so, I slowly became aware of a fundamental flaw in this lowly old website: Seeing as the disco scene is built around music and dance, I foolishly made the assumption that the best way to make a connection into this world was to share music, and though I wasn’t entirely wrong to do so, I had failed to address the many other fundamentals that make our nights out complete. Sure, Daft Punk does an incredible performance, but what would it be if they did the whole thing in pure darkness? They would lose the sparkle that transforms a simple collection of songs into an experience. Clearly, music alone is a mere slice of the pie we call disco, and as such, I have decided that UhOhDisco shall no longer lack the ingredients necessary to facilitate such an experience, and will, from this point onward, cater both to those who lack the support of a worthwhile tune, as well as to those who could use a visual compliment to complete their experience.

Children of the blogs: Photos @ UhOhDisco is born, and with it, I hope to bring the spirit of photography and the energy of the moment to UhOhDisco. I encourage you to check it out by following the link at the top of this page, or by clicking here.

Binärpilot

In all my enthusiasm, I do tend to get carried away sometimes, and what better remedy for a particularly disorienting tangent than a soberingly original artist?

He works out of Norway under the alias Binärpilot, and seeing as his sound is clearly inspired by more than just the collection of standard influences that have come to make less admirable artists produce bleak and uninteresting music, it would be among the most epic of fails in history to try and fit him into any currently existent genre. Where most artists manage to define their particular approach to music within the realm of a single track or two, Binarpilot keeps himself apart from his music, and though he certainly has a characteristic style, his sound and overall direction refuses to be in the least bit predictable. If I had to guess, I would likely go for something along the lines of 80′s hit single meets Aphex twin, however the drastic changes from track to track continue to thrust me into a state of pleasurable confusion.

Don’t you worry about this first one. I assure you, he hasn’t worsened the bedroom producer awful Daft Punk remix epidemic.

Daft Punk – Aerodynamic (Binarpilot Remix)

Binarpilot – Tokyomatrix 3000

Binarpilot – Bend

In a certain respect, I suppose there is a bit of sense in the concept of “appealing to a larger audience”, but who’s to say that English speakers would not buy it if they couldn’t understand it? Justice doesn’t seem to have much trouble making their way throughout the rest of the European countries. And I realize that some of your minds are likely filling up with fury at the fact that I would think to complain about having so much music written for me to listen to, but personally, I feel that though it is indeed nice to hear and understand words in my native tongue, that I have lost a part of music that’s even more important to me.

Think about it this way. Musicians (and don’t hold me to this, because I’m sure there are several significant exceptions), do not become musicians because of their overflowing need to deliver their poetry; They would otherwise simply have become poets. Musicians become musicians because they want to create, feel, understand, and live for the music, and as such, I don’t believe lyrics need to be understood for the message in a song to be delivered. Sigur Ros, for example, chooses to make use of their native Icelandic, a language spoken by less than 300,000 people worldwide, for most of their music, and this has allowed us as listeners to devote attention to the emotion in their vocalist’s voice, without the worry of being distracted by his words. Needless to say, the success of the band has, in no way, been hindered by the choice.

I suppose my goal here was to address this matter, rather than to provide an explanation. Considering I don’t have any real evidence with which to draw conclusions, I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who’s got anything to say on the subject, however, before you go commenting, I should leave you with my latest discovery to ponder…

Familjen

I’m entirely thrilled that a simple stroke of luck put me in touch with Familjen, a curious producer and vocalist from Stockholm, Sweden. His work, though it makes use of the expected driving kick drum like so many these days have come to know, captures a style that I believe its fair to say has not been heard before. His tracks develop in a fashion that could be considered highly simplistic, and yet the huge amount of invisible detail in them gives them a bit of a spark that moves them into an unusually satisfying dimension. The best part about it, however: His vocals (and just about everything else for that matter) happen to be composed entirely in Swedish.

Quality beats, indeed.

Familjen – Det Snurrar I Min Skalle

Two of my favorite artists of all time are Daft Punk and (to a somewhat lesser extent, due to their having not been around for quite as long) Crookers. Both artists have managed to put out works that far exceed the standard, to the point that they’ve created miniature revolutions within their respective niches, and both have done it on more than just a few occasions. After listening to their latest, however, I’ve found myself stumped (not to mention nearly brought to tears) as I wonder whether either will make a recovery from the extremely questionable tunes they’ve released.

Crookers

Crookers have always kept their style plain and simple. Their clean beats are well cut, and feature an exceedingly minimalist nature, but despite this, they’ve always managed to keep their tracks progressive enough that upon reaching the end, one feels as though he or she has been taken through the song, and not simply exposed to a couple of bland beats for three minutes. Their remix of Isa Gt’s “Pela O”, however, turns their reputation upside down. Literally none of what’s mentioned above is present in this track. In fact, with random loops that simply repeat and alternate back and forth providing the sole bit of substance for the track, it’s hard to find anything interesting at all.

Isa Gt – Pela O (Crookers Remix)

Daft Punk

As much as I hate to say it, I think the Daft Punk track I’m about to include is even more of a failure. I’m actually banking on the off chance that perhaps some lonely bedroom producer discovered how to recreate the Rollin’ and Scratchin’ synth line, and then proceeded to use the Daft Punk name to promote his mix, because I find it incredibly difficult to accept the fact the both Guy Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter would find this take on Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out suitable to release.

Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out (Daft Punk Remix)

Please children… work your magic. Make me feel better.

Edit: I can’t explain to you how relieved I am to have discovered that this “Daft Punk remix” is, in fact, a counterfeit. As such, in an attempt to halt the spread of an undeserving bedroom producer’s pilfered track, I’ve removed the download link. The stream, however, will remain up for some time, in order to make an example of this unfortunate experience.

Rogerseventytwo

So I realize I’ve I’ve been doing quite a bit of genre classification recently, and I’m not entirely too proud of it. Genre’s tend to be based more off of the mathematical side of music (how many beats in a bar, different repetition styles, etc.), and it’s only thanks to my rediscovery of this particularly festive Rogerseventytwo track that I’ve been able to regain control over my mind, so that I might return to appreciating and grouping songs based on the way they make me feel, and not the title that iTunes assigns them.

You might ask why it was this particular track that jarred me back into reality, and I could definitely spend some time answering that question if I wanted to. I could mention the sparks that flew the first time it came on. I could mention the peak hour, euphoric feeling that only a certain few tracks have ever allowed me to feel. I could mention how it was instantly categorized in the holy archives of my mind among the likes of Daft Punk‘s One More Time, and Voodoo Chili‘s I Need, as one of those triumphant, blissfully sustained cries of joy where no matter how many times you’ve heard the same 4 second loop, you’re always disappointed when the track winds to a close. But in this case, I don’t think there’s any better way to experience the wonder that our humble little Dutch friend has fabricated than first hand. I would, however, recommend that a buddy agrees to keep an eye on you before you let this little kicker do it’s thing. You’re going to want someone to find you when you get lost in your head.

DJ DLG – Paramount (Rogerseventytwo Remix)

Sure, there are thousands of complications here and there that I could complain about, but what’s really getting to me as of late is the notion that the ease of the transfer of music across the globe may actually be having a negative affect on the concept of culture that separates one nation’s musical style from another’s. Thinking back a couple years, ever since French artists like Justice pioneered the nu-rave electro sound back in late 2005, we’ve been hearing nothing but knock offs of that particular sound, regardless of the country of origin, and it’s only when an artist emerges that truly has pioneered a unique and individual style that it becomes easy to see what we’re missing.

Balkan Beat Box

Hailing from all over Eastern Europe, the project known as Balkan Beat Box claim a “strong urge to create a new musical breed that surpasses the old reality borders,” and after having a listen to a couple of their works, you won’t doubt that they know what they’re doing, and exactly how they’re going to do it. Their music incorporates the talents of 10 unique instrumentalists to create an almost Klezmer-fused electro style distinctive of the Eastern parts of Europe, and though you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed and confused at first, approaching these tracks with an mind will truly open the floodgates of possibility and leave you begging for more. In fact, the Balkan sound has so quickly become irresistible that several other artists, including the Italian Crookers, who were previously completely unrelated to the sound have already made the effort to embrace it within their own work.

Here’s a funky saxophone heavy Balkan Beat Box track, as well as the aforementioned Crookers effort.

Balkan Beat Box – Digital Monkey

Crookers – Gipsy P

Rayflash

Hopping back in the plane, I must say it’s certainly about time we return to Japan to follow up on the early summer post on the Japanese crunch god, Rayflash. Though I can’t go so far as to say that his music has much of a Japanese influence, I can certainly endorse the fact that Ray has truly extended his reach into entirely untouched areas of electro. His mixes are notorious for their audible pool of influences, reaching just as much into the Daft Punk library as they do into the heavy electro of artists like Circuit Freak and The Bloody Beetroots, and his latest track is certainly no exception. His nearly eight minute long remix of Artego‘s “Girl” will take you on a pummeling electro journey through crunchy, hair-raising worlds, and I can guarantee that, assuming you make it out alive, the place you end up will not be the one you expected. All things considered, I would advise that you make use of your seatbelt.

MP3: Artego – Girl (Rayflash Remix)
YSI: Artego – Girl (Rayflash Remix)
ZShare: Artego – Girl (Rayflash Remix)

And for those of you who simply can’t be satisfied by a paltry single track, I thought you might like to know that our good friend Ray has made a special effort to cater to your (and I do mean your; he loves us all) interests. He’s come up with a mixtape that will fill more than an hour of your life with the warped out glitches of his dj sets, and may I say that he’s done an unbelievable job. You may have noticed I’m not prone to posting mixes, but trust me, this one will take power over you. I simply couldn’t hold back.

YSI: Rayflash DJ Mix 2

ZShare: Rayflash DJ Mix 2

(I should mention that I really am very curious as to how other people feel about this issue. If you’ve got an opinion one way or another, feel free to express it!)

LAZRtag

Fortunately, I’ve recently been struck with an extensive good luck streak, and have been pleasantly surprised with my finds. As you may have surmised due to a recent post, I was thoroughly impressed by the job that Los Angeles’s Classixx did on their Ting Ting’s Shut Up and Let Me Go remix, and at the time that I posted, I would have argued that another artist making an attempt at an additional mix would be foolish (and would indeed further my statement about the lawyers)–In case you haven’t guessed, that’s no longer the case. Where Classixx was able to take the original poppy track and turn into something soft and elegant, the quick-rising group known as LAZRtag has chosen quite the opposite approach, and built a nine foot monster of sound that, to put things nicely, will inevitably consume you. Sure, it’s a classic, generic electro banger, but hey, who doesn’t love a fat synth to sweat to every now and again, especially when you’ve got the cute Ting Tings girl singing for you all the while.

The Ting Tings – Shut Up and Let Me Go (LAZRTag remix)

And while I’ve got you thinking heavy, I figure I owe the blog world a bit of a refresher: I spent a considerable amount of time yesterday searching for Boys Noize‘s 2006 remix of Tiga‘s Move My Body, only to be disappointed to find that it had all but disappeared. Boys Noize‘s latest works have indeed been inexplicably creative and fun, but when the cravings for his original home-brewed party techno arrive, they must be satisfied. *Sigh* Sometimes I just can’t help but miss 2006.

MP3: Tiga – Move my Body (Boys Noize remix)