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

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)

One of the greatest things that modern electro has done for the music world in the few short years that it’s been around is open one massive door to a whole new realm of remixing potential. I mean, yeah, there have always been remixes in the past, but what they usually boiled down to was just some new rapper covering some older guy’s track, and needless to say, we all got sick of that pretty fast. And then there were (God help my soul for bringing this up… what am I thinking?) those cult-status metal remixes of Britney Spears songs. I’m not even gonna go there. The point is, that up until recently, the entire concept of “the remix” has been largely limited. With this new remix culture, however, a great song is released, and then you get to hear it forty-three more times as every other producer in the world takes their shot at crafting it to their liking. Who could complain about that? The reason I’m getting all nostalgic on you is because remixes have been getting even crazier. People are starting to rip it up with tracks that have never before been considered; They’re pulling from nearly every genre, from hip-hop to pop to the truest So-Cal rock, and as such, they’re allowing Disco to consume everything in it’s path. Survival of the fittest I suppose.

Crookers

First things first: The Busy P remix I did a post on a week or two back has finally busted out of it’s cage, foaming rabies gums and everything. There isn’t much information on when, if ever, it is scheduled to be officially released, but until then, we’ve got the full length, 192 kbps leak at our disposal. Do with it what you will… just keep it clean [As a side note, it's been confirmed a Crookers remix--it was not done by The Bloody Beetroots]

Busy P - To Protect and Entertain (Crookers Remix)

On top of that, there have been some rather impressive genre-bending releases from the likes of LA Riots, VNDLSM, LAZRtag, Man Eat DJ, and Jizm. Who’d have thought we’d hear Kelis remixed? I guess her Milkshake brings all the boys to the club, as well.

Weezer - Automatic (la Riots Remix)

Kelis - Milkshake (Man Eat Dj & Jizm Remix)

Rhianna - Umbrella (VNDLSM Remix)

Rhianna - Don\’t Stop the Music (LAZRtag club remix)

And finally, Oh SNAP! (the guys who brought us the infamous “Bill Cosby Sweater” track) did a little edit of MSTRKRFT’s “Bounce” for those turntable savvy kids out there. A few added vocals and some edited synths make it an absolute wonder to dj with, so if you’re planning on throwing down, make sure you pick this one up.

MSTRKRFT - Bounce (Oh Snap Bootleg Vocal Remix)

The Bloody Beetroots

If you haven’t heard The Bloody Beetroots by now, don’t worry, I’ve already taken the liberty of devising a rather simple solution for you. It goes like this: Cancel your World of Warcraft account for just one month (If this proves too difficult to handle, you might want to look into Craftorette. It’s this really neat gum that supplies you with WarCraft replacement hormones and makes quitting easier.), and use that money to either buy their EP entitled “Let Your Washing Machine Speak”, or if you’d rather not be seen buying a somewhat old album, you can put that money in a jar and save it for the release of their full length, which I’ve heard is no longer too far off. In the mean time, you can check out their latest 2008 mixtape. The mix isn’t spectacular, but the sneak preview of their remix of MSTRKRFT’s “Bounce” will leave you anxious and frustrated at the fact that the next Cinespace Dim Mak Tuesday isn’t for 48 hours! If, on the other hand, you have heard of these guys, you might be excited to hear that their remix of Audioporno’s “Choo Choo” is no longer an artifact that you have to go to a MSTRKRFT show to listen to. As of mid July the track, which was originally not intended to be released at all, will be available in 12″ format through the German record label, Exploited Records. Why’d it take so long? Basically, the band that produced the original track had not planned on ever letting that song out of their hands, which naturally led to difficulties getting the remix published. Needless to say, they’ve found a way around it. If you’d like to pick up a copy, you can grab it here. You’ll have to have it shipped from Germany, but hey, that’s a small price to pay to get your hands on a track that people have been after for more than a year, right?
If you’re still not convinced, you might have to listen to this little teaser:
Audioporno - Choo Choo (The Bloody Beetroots remix)
And here’s their mixtape:
minimixxxx-june-2008

And just for the sake of completeness, here’s one of their newer remixes. (You have to remember that the word “new” means almost nothing when it comes to these guys. By the time you finish reading this post, they’ll probably have put out another one)
Shit Disco - Virgins (Bloody Beetroots remix)

In other exciting news, the 80’s are back.

What!?

Yeah, they’re back. If Chromeo and Calvin Harris aren’t proof enough, you might want to check out the most recent remixes from the often overlooked French producer, Danger.

The guy’s a beast. I mean god’s sake, he’s managed to squeeze incredibly cliche 80’s pad synths into “American Boy” and it actually sounds damn good. Better than damn good. It’s most definitely worth the download, so don’t be shy. Use up my bandwidth and download that shit.

American Boy feat. Kanye West (Danger Remix)

And since we’ve briefly mentioned Kanye West, I figured this video is relevant and good for a laugh.

Kanye West gets way more respect than he deserves. His ego is disgusting.

One final note:
My roommate invented two new words recently. Normally this wouldn’t be anything to post about, but after hearing these words, I was almost angry that they weren’t already in the dictionary. If you have nothing to say about the rest of this post, at least tell me how awesome these words are, and how happy you are that they’ve been invented:

• swervature - A unit measure of an object’s ability to swerve, usually a skateboard.
• bomblet - A damn good omelet. The kind that leaves you feeling like the rest of the day doesn’t even matter, because your breakfast was enough to be able to tell people that you did something today.