I can’t say I’m not a little frustrated. The normal process by which I write a majority of my updates seems to have fallen through; In the past, my time was very rarely spent actively searching for new tunes to cover. In fact, the case was actually quite the opposite, in that most of the music I choose to share has found it’s way to me, simply due to the tendency of high quality music to spread rather easily through our tightly linked disco districts. Recently however, I’ve been lucky to encounter a track or two that I can even bring myself to listen to, much less love. Maybe it has something to do with this supposed “recession” we’re in. Maybe the contracting money supply is also contracting the creative pool of the many producers that most of us rely on to keep our spirits lifted. And yes, I can see how one might point out that my guess makes little sense, but how else should I account for the drastic change in the quality of music output? Seriously, check this out:

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.

I realize the Lemur’s probably going to egg my home for saying this, but I feel I owe you all the deepest of apologies for having nearly disappeared from the blogging world for more than a week! *Cringe* Now, I could go on and spend a bit of time assuring both myself and the disco starved kids around here that my excuse is within reason, however, I feel that it makes more logical sense to simply satisfy the collectively lustful hunger for audio that I’m sure we’re all likely experiencing, as soon as possible. (My excuse would have been lame anyway) As such, I’m proud to present to you, without further ado, Roger… Seventytwo!

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)

We all know the internet has had quite a large effect on the music industry; Sometimes I doubt that there remains a single soul left in the world that hasn’t contributed a dollar to Apple’s iTunes at least once in their life, but looking at this massive change from a modern perspective, it’s all good, right? Digitalization has allowed artists like Radiohead (and several other open-minded trend setters) to release their work upon completion and without corporate delay. Further, I feel it’s safe to say that a fairly large chunk of those of you who are reading this would find yourselves shit out of luck when it comes to discovering new music without the abundance of audio blogs on the net. In fact, you might actually be forced to (gasp) scour a record store. And I mean, yes, there’s the whole issue of creative copyrights, but seeing as it’s been discussed just about everywhere else on the net, I’m sure we’re all quite aware that merchandise and performance make up most of a musicians income anyway, so really, the only ones getting hurt by free music downloads (in most cases!) are the massive (although it must be mentioned that they seem to be losing steam) record labels. Point being, to sit back and accept the digital takeover as a collective win for the music world is quickly becoming an effortless feat, and this makes it twice as hard for the hesitant few to point out the complications that most certainly do arise.

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 just had a rather frightening thought: Am I being unreasonable, or have we actually reached the point in music history where the number of remixes and remix artists outnumbers the number of substantial original works being put out? Either way, the functionality of the music industry has undoubtedly changed quite a lot in the past couple years. It’s strange to say that I recall a time wherein a remix was a strange and exciting thing. I suppose it figures, though; We had little more than Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, and The Chemical Brothers to work with, and considering the large expense of equipment at the time, the field of remixes was, naturally, an empty one. At this point, however, the case is quite the opposite: It seems the bedroom producers nearly outnumber lawyers, and as such, I’m forced to cross my fingers each time I come across a remix of a song that I particularly enjoy in hopes that its bedroom producer hasn’t wreaked an excessive amount of havoc upon the once sparkling creation.

(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)

I’m usually not one with much too say in the way of hip hop, but I must admit that this post (and my life for that matter) have had some real hip hop trends as of late. I made a comment a while back, about the time that Ed Banger’s lone hip hop act DSL made an appearance, about how it seems as though France and the US have seemingly begun to swap music tastes (we’ve handed rap over to them in exchange for gnarly electro), and three months later, I’m only further convinced. Check it out:

DatA

A month or so ago, the venerable ol’ Ekler’o’shock artist known as DatA released his first single in quite some time, and to more than a bit of acclaim: His collaboration with Sebastian Grainger of DFA79[R.I.P.] put enough class into his classic French electro to push his beats to the top of The Hype Machine (and all those other lists that tell us what’s up), and all of us were most definitely thinking, “Wow, props to that kid. He’s come a long way from Aerius Light.” I think it’s safe to say, however, that what we definitely were not thinking was, “I can’t wait for the hip hop version of this track.”

“What!?”

Shh shh shh child, this is nothing to get upset about. I assure you, he’s pulled it off quite well. (In fact it seems as though DatA is quickly becoming one of those artists for whom you resign all forms of doubt and simply allow yourself to trust that whatever their endeavor be, it shall be phenomenal.) Essentially, the guy’s emulated a version of the synthesizer that has been the [oh so cliched] backbone of awful American hip hop for too many years, and combined it with a remarkably executed auto-tune effect on Grainger’s voice (think Romanthony’s part on Daft Punk’s One More Time) to stitch together a track that’s both fresh (for the French) and refreshing (for the US). It’s also probably worthwhile to mention that the hip hop style of Rapture Pt II really brings out an element of sadness and desperation in Grainger’s voice that was partly masked by the thick electro waves of the original; It really does give the lyrics a bit of an impact boost.

MP3: DatA - Rapture Pt II

So we’ve hit the hip hop side of disco, now how about the disco side of hip hop?

Aesop Rock

I realize I’m more than a bit behind in commenting on a track from way back in the 2007 era, but some strange form of supernatural has thrust the following across my path so many times in the last week or so that I simply can’t help but share. I’m sure that if you aren’t already familiar with the fast rising act known as Aesop Rock, that you’ve at least heard the name. Aesop has, in the past year or so, been summoned to participate in projects as large as Nike’s Running Man (the very same project for which A-Trak just finished a piece), so naturally, there’s no need to doubt that he has more than a bit going for him, but because that’s likely not enough motivation to get yourself down to Amoeba to pick up his record, I’m going to take the liberty of sharing with you the track that’s been on repeat on my playlist for days. It’s clear that the roots lie in hip hop, but a gently driving 1-2 beat pushes the feel closer to something that could easily have come from Kid Sister, or one of the many other hiptronica fusions we’ve been seeing so much of. I’ll leave you with this piece of advice, if you’re planning on traveling anywhere sometime in the near future, I highly recommend that you reserve the first impression of this track for your journey; I’ve found that it does an excellent job of making the wonder and beauty of everyday life astonishingly apparent.

MP3: Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

Much more to come later today.

Deepest apologies for my having been so sloppy with my posting habits recently. It seems as though “the man” has finally backed me into the corner and forced a “real job” upon my soldiers.

Regardless, I feel I owe you, the good people of the disco scene, not one, but two teaspoons of cherry flavored beats, both to make up for the sparsity of my recent activity, and to express my heartfelt sorrow.

Love Motel

A short little note in my inbox recently clued me in to a project that I’ve been unfortunate enough to have missed out on for much too long: Love Motel. Not only is the Swiss glam-rock / electronic band an intriguing new sound in itself, but they’ve recently finished a particularly large remix endeavor, to which many a distinctive producer (you’ve likely become familiar with the likes of Cryptonites and Be Trash, both of which were previously featured in the BuffetLibre Rewind project) has contributed. I particularly enjoyed the krafty little Kaz rework, a track that (after you’ve indulged of course) will have traveled all the way from Kyotango, Japan to reach you. Seems as though Japan has taken a quick liking to this trend toward the bouncier we seem to be seeing.

Love Motel - Dial God USA (Kaz dub)

The Cryptonites remix is more than a bit intriguing as well. Although it does employ a good deal of their usual heavy, grungy style, it manages to preserve the indie-ish feel, as well as the gratifying chord progressions of the original track, quite well.

Love Motel - Je Pleure (Cryptonites remix)

Keenhouse

(Thanks to Neonized for the image.)

Here’s a change of pace: I’m fully convinced that Los Angeles’s Keenhouse, who also happens to have been featured among the BuffetLibre remix artists, has either spontaneously become great friends with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo, or simply robbed them of their book of secrets, because his beats all seem to wreak of the Daft Punk chord progressions and overall style, and oh is it good. Nearly every track manages to capture the euphoric, positive energy for which we so dearly respect the masked duo, and as such, I simply can’t help but smile and bounce around a bit when these tunes present themselves.

Caution: Listening to these tunes on headphones may, in fact, cause you to look like an idiot, for you’ll likely find yourself getting your groove on at highly inappropriate times to music that no one else can hear. You’ve been warned.

Keenhouse - Deep in the Forest

Division Kent - L’heure Bleue (Keenhouse remix)

Alright my children. Whether you’re ready or not, it’s time to take a break from your nearly permanent, distortion-induced headache and prepare yourself to dive into the world of Sexuality. Not to say that grimy electro and sexuality aren’t connected in more than a few ways, but regardless, it’s always quite nice to have a few soft waves of poppy pleasure push your buttons every now and again. The problem is, you’ve probably already assumed I must be referencing something that isn’t heavy, and that’s related to Sexuality, and hence, “Sensual Seduction” is likely ready to play in your stereo. Bad child! See, while a good ninety percent of the world’s unfortunate population is being anything but turned on listening to Snoop Dog, you’ll be enlightened, and therefor, permitted to discover the meaning of pure satisfaction by way of Sebastian Tellier’s “Sexuality”.

Indeed, the French electro-pop star has returned to bring you his fifth album, a musical experience the likes of which are, unfortunately, quite rare as of late. Using techniques that are strangely reminiscent of a particularly famous Donna Summer track (and not to mention the oh so familiar touch of producer, Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo of Daft Punk), Sexuality will take your hand and assist you on an incredible journey to delusion, confusion, pain, ecstasy, peace, insanity, and back. As would be expected, Tellier’s approach is highly unusual; Never once will you feel like the album is forcing itself upon you, nor will you be able to chase it. It seems as though the best approach is to simply throw on some headphones, close your eyes and let those curious little chords approach you. But beware, if you let your guard down, they’ll truly devour you. In fact, I’ve nearly become entranced several times just in writing this little post.

If you missed the Donna Summers reference, a lil’ teaser might cue you in. Kinda makes you wonder who he got to do those “vocals”…

Sebastian Tellier - Pomme (Download removed by request)

And slated to be his first single release off Sexuality:

Sebastian Tellier - Divine

Though it should be available universally as of October of this year, Tellier has taken a somewhat strange approach on his release of Sexuality: The album is currently available as a promotional prerelease through Los Angeles clothing brand, American Apparel. Assuming you can’t wait until October for a bit of Sexuality, don’t you worry. You’ll be able to grab a copy of the album, as well as Tellier’s official line of tops, the Sexuali-Tee and Sexuali-Tank, at any of their retail locations.

Despite the fact that the genre consisting of all the electronic and electro music has assembled much of it’s popularity due to the hype around “new and original sounds”, it would be foolish to deny the appearance of more than just a few styles that could easily be called generic. Artists like The Bloody Beetroots and Crookers have, since the time of their conception stood fast on top of the sounds and styles that they created for themselves, and though I cannot say that I do not enjoy those particular sounds, they certainly do become a bit tiresome after an extended run. Now, please don’t attack me with your feelings on how a group without a definite style is a is a forgettable one; I couldn’t agree more. But when it gets to the point where you almost don’t have to listen to a track before you know what it’s going to sound like, one cannot deny that it does become considerably less interesting.

Ratatat

It’s because of these “ruts”, into which so many artists have begun to fall, that I was, and still am, so thoroughly impressed by the latest album from the likes of Ratatat, entitled LP3: In all actuality, the odds were totally against them. Think about it. A year or two ago, they had a bit of a following, but we all know they didn’t truly emerge until about the time they made a world tour with Daft Punk. (Who would have thought?) In the months that followed, they gathered popularity exponentially, to the point where your red neck friend, who only bought an iPod just last year when he realized that he was among the 3% of people that still didn’t own one, actually came up to you and told you to listen to “Wildcat”, acting like you’d never heard it before. And a few months after that? “Ratatat? Yeah, whatever.” To make things worse, a few underwhelming tracks surfaced on the blogs not long after, which gave people the impression that Ratatat had nothing left to offer. Their path was that of a one hit wonder, and so many people have made premature assumptions, I guarantee that the world is not prepared for what’s about to gush from its noise-making machines:

Ratatat’s LP3 is gorgeous, in the true sense of the word. Unlike the artists that follow the pattern in the aforementioned paragraph, Ratatat has managed to fulfill just about every request that one could ask for in a follow-up album. It has character, class, and depth, but most of all, they’ve evolved their style to the point that it’s completely fresh, while somehow managing to stay entirely the same. As a whole, the album is considerably lighter and more universally enjoyable, frequently substituting piano (and even an occasional clavichord) and strange and funky noises for some of the drums and extremely rich guitar sounds of their previous works. Nonetheless, you’ll never have to question who you’re listening to. It’s completely different, and it’s exactly the same. Commendable indeed.

Here’s a few tracks to tease, but I must inform you that the entire album is quite lovely. Do them kids a favor!

MP3: Ratatat - Dura

MP3: Ratatat - Mirando

LA Riots

And here’s a little toss in. For those of you who aren’t aware, a remix contest was staged a while back for “Lo Sforzo”, a querky electro track originally produced by IHEARTCOMIX’s Ocelot (who has coined what’s probably close to my favorite phrase, ever: “All the fun of trance without all that trance”). While many of the resulting creations were quite entertaining, one of them, which happened to be produced by the now-well-known remix team LA Riots, proved itself to be a particularly floor shaking brick of synthesizer-goodness. Unfortunately, that track has all but disappeared from the internet, and for a while I worried that I’d be forever doomed to living without it. My luck did turn, however, and I figure I should repay the spirits of karma (and the delightful LA Riots) by posting it up here. Be careful… this one bites.

MP3: Ocelot - Lo Sforzo (LA Riots remix)

The prospect of starting a blog in order to praise the incredible musical artists that I adore has been on my mind for what seems like forever, and honestly, it’s taken me far too long to actually get around to doing it.  There are so many things that need talking about these days.  The music scene, especially here in Los Angeles, is in the middle of what seems like a huge process of change, and for once, I think it’s headed in the right direction.  If anyone had asked me in 2006 whether I thought dance music could make a comeback, my answer (sadly) would probably have been no.  I never thought I’d live to see the day where frat guys choose to play Justice’s Cross album over the formulated hip-hop that’s ruled Los Angeles for so many years, but I was wrong.  Electro and Indie-electronic is popping up in little niches and alleys all over So Cal, and it’s happening fast.  Granted, Justice is now probably the furthest removed you can get from the heart of the hipster scene, what with these incredible producers popping up all over the place, but hey, when even the frat guys are taking steps in the right direction (tiny as they may be), you know it’s something big.  

So I suppose the primary reason I’m starting this blog is to hopefully rid our enlightened disco dj’s of the need to constantly turn down the angry requests for “Crank dat” (Don’t hold me to the spelling.. I still haven’t figured out how to write street language), and bless them with those carefree, euphoric requests for our beloved Daft Punk (no, not featuring Kanye West).

Disco is the second reason I’ve started to write.  There are still way too many people out there that, upon hearing the word disco, immediately dismiss it as a genre of music that died back in 1976, and that my friends, is a crime.  Disco never died.  You know what happened?  People got sick of the Beegees, and since they didn’t know what to call them besides Disco, they threw the whole genre out the window, and left all the dance producers stuck without a genre, wondering what happened.  In fact, the term dance was only invented because people needed a name for the style of music, but were unable to call it disco due to the fact that no one would ever listen to it if it were so named.  This definitely needs to end.  No one should ever have to call their music, “That kind of music that you can dance to that they play at clubs that isn’t rap or hip-hop.”  It’s Disco.  Disco Disco Disco.  And after thirty years, I think we might just be ready to admit it.  Uh oh!

On that note I’m going to leave you with a single track today.  I know it’s been around for quite some time, but if you listen to it straight through, I’m sure you’ll find that it’s more than relevant.  

Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix)