November CouchChart!

Hello friends! This is my top 10 for November. Now disco safely.

Golden Bug - Looklooklook (In Flagranti Remix)
Outlander - Vamp (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
The Phantom's Revenge - Absolute Ego Riot (FutureFlashs Disco Re-did)
Alicia Keys - No One (Pierce Remix)
Sebastien Leger - Off The Wall (Cannonball Remix)
PUZIQUe - Don't Go
Le Le - Disco Vraiment
Grum - Woah! (Clockwork Remix)
Daft Punk - High Life
BlackDisco - Go Girl!

NT89

Last week, when I was blogging about Gaspard's USB dick, I posted a NT89 remix of One Minute to Midnight.
Well that YSI file flew off the shelves and expired in less than 24 hrs. Back my popular demand, here it is again!

Justice - One Minute to Midnight (NT89 Massive Drums Re-Edit)

T-Day Chart

Food stuffed into other food? Thanksgiving FTW!

In Flagranti - Codependency

Leroy Hangofer - Pin (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)

Stay Ali - Emotional Day (FutureFlashs Remix)

Gejius

Ever since.... middle school, I've had an on/off love affair with Huey Lewis and The News. So when a mysterious laptop producer sent me some remix action I had to find out more. Here's a quick Q & A with and aspiring producer... Gejius!

Q: So, what do we in the blogosphere need to know about Gejius? What's with the name?
A: This is a project I began in 2005. I never was a dedicated 'electronic music' kind of guy before starting this project. The tools were given to me by my good friend Grant because, and I quote, "I can see you doing great things with these."

The name was a flub. I was saying something like "oh, Jesus" & "Genius" at the same time, and thus, Gejius was born.

Q: Your productions vary quite a bit from what I've heard. When you begin production do you start with an idea, a sample, a vodka-tonic? Where does the creative process in you stem from? (Man that question is good)
A: All songs start with an idea. Now, whether that idea stemmed from a subconscious idea or melody, a sample I harvested, experimenting with synths or just playing around, I couldn't differentiate which method has more positive end results. And drinking/drugs never bodes well for music creativity for me, personally. You just end up spilling your drink on your keyboard and mixer (done that once) and you kick yourself for it. Not worth it.

Q: The Heart & Soul Remix really stood out for me. Especially since I've been on a disco binge lately. Tell me more about how you went about producing that bad boy.
A: Haha, yeah, Disco has been a fun genre to see reinvented. I love the Italo Disco sound, but fail to reproduce it in the way I hear it in the beginning, but the track always turn out well nonetheless.

The Heart & Soul remix came about after joking about remixing that track. I've loved Huey Lewis & the News for a long time, and I thought it'd be fun to play with that track in particular, since it was dance-y to begin with. The song really developed after I had dedicated it to the Wet Set project with Sean Christensen, where it had purpose, a deeper meaning. It had to relay the emotions in his illustrations and what I saw beyond the neon streaks and star dust, and I feel like giving it a darker, more intense finale was more than fitting for it.

Q: Unlike the majority of the music I feature on my blog your productions aren't really dance-floor ready. But I have this feeling you would hit it out of the park if you tried. I have to admit, dance music tends to follow a cookie-cutter format (ie: intro, buildup, breakdown, build up, outro, all in nice 16-32-64-128 beat-grid segments). Do you follow any format/formula when your producing?
A: Not to knock your question, but I think labels are negative in the creative process. If you feel like becoming a dance producer- great. Do it. But try to innovate beyond the norm. You can't make an impact by following other people.

It's super fun when I write tracks that bust out a solid, continuous groove for people to get down to, but 3/4 of my music wasn't written for the dance floor in mind. I'm writing these for me. If they tend to get dancier, and I feel like that's where it's going, then I go with it. If it's going in a more ambiguous direction, then I see where it takes me.

The only format/formula I follow when writing music is listening. Once I have something that sounds interesting, I listen to what else should be there as well. The music in my head is often much better than what I come up with. The trick is keeping that idea in there long enough to translate it to MIDI or whatever before the original inspiration is lost.


Q: What are your thoughts on the cowbell?
A: I agree with Mr. Walken completely.

Huey Lewis and The News - Heart and Soul (Gejius Remix)

Gejius - Slip 'N' Slide

Fuerza Bruta

Like a lucid-dream during the peak of a decent LSD trip, the Fuerza Bruta experience is a confusing kick in the brain. I could rave about the over-the-top visual stimuli, the surreal sound-scape, or the cute nymphs splish-splashing overhead forever. But I would be hard-pressed to come up with anything that shitloads of other reviewers haven't already shouted from the rooftops.... if not for the extended "DJ-Connection" by NYC's "mack-daddy of mood" David Hollands.
Surprisingly the DJ-Connection isn't just a lame shtick to fill the auditorium on an off-night; Holland's DJ set actually linked the theatrics to the rave. Scenes of jarring gunshot wounds, exploding confetti, Blue Man Group stomping, and Matrix style wall-running, segued into a messy dance party lead by the aforementioned mood-daddy. After all that mise-en-scene, when shit finally began to make sense again, mood-daddy cranked up the choonz and the Daryl Roth theater began to piss on me. Not before checking the restrooms for a hand-dryer, I walked out to Union Square soaking wet. Did I mention its almost December and pneumonia has been known to kill. And the strobe lights!



Owing this experience to the generosity of New York City's rhytmism.com I was given the opportunity to witness a spectacle that makes up for the pneumonia.

I Love Noize!

This ones goes out to Optimus Grime.

Boys Noize - I Love Techno!


Nasty!

The Mustache Responds!

Hey! Remember that time I posted that thing about Justice's Gaspard Auge being useless?
Well Gaspard responded in a quick little dittie on beatportal.com.

“I couldn’t remember the city but I think it was in Manchester,” he said. “I didn’t notice at first, because as you can see I was looking at the computer to launch the next vocal hook and right after I realized that the blue screen went black, so there was no way possible it could work. So I plugged it back in, big deal! And the next thing you know is this picture.”

There are some priceless musings in the comments section also.

"I really have no issues with this as long as they add more lights and explosions to their live show."
-DMnookin

"I thought maybe the guy was practicing his fader and slider movements, before he went to do the real do… Kind of like a baseball player takes swings at nothing in the “on deck circle” before an at bat…"
-sparko8

Personally I don't really give a deuce if the USB dick came prematurely, was never inserted, or is magic. I would be way too smashed to care what was going on stage, just as long as Phantom Pt II is loud enough rattle my ribcage. But as long as we're on the subject, I'm gonna quash all this bullshit surrounding the whole WTF does Gaspard do when Justice DJ's thing...? I'll tell you what he does, and its exponentially more important than anything that can be done with Ableton and/or a MIDI controller. He's stepping up the Ed Banger Mustache Game.

Justice - One Minute to Midnight (NT89 Massive Drums Re-Edit)

Mind Dimension

Dance-pop super producer Tiga has been on top his game recently. His label has been on fire with Proxy's Dancing in the Dark and Raven EPs. Tiga's side project with Zombie Nation, ZZT, killed it with Lower States of Consciousness and more recently with The Worm. And now the man is set to release his first single since Sexor. Superstar DJ's like Erol Alkan, and 2ManyDJs have been hammering Mind Dimension for months now creating a shit-storm of blog-hype which has inspired a number of false alarms.

The douchebags at LA Friendly and Pedestrian TV wrongfully posted the details of the release.

Mind Dimension Promo Package:
01. The Future Mindimension (Radio Edit)
02. The Future Mindimension (Soulwax Remix)
03. The Future Mindimension (Scissor Sisters Remix)
04. The Future Mindimension (Thomas Von Party & Brad Bamborghihi Remix)
05. The Future Mindimension (Herve's Neverminded Remix)
06. The Future Mindimension (Original Mix)
07. Omnidance

Well I got my hopes up for a HUGE release with the likes of Herve and Soulwax on remixing duties. Unfortunately the release looks like it will only include two tracks. Mindimension 1 and 2. The latter with added production by Soulwax. More info on the forthcoming single here. I posted Mind Dimension 2 on my October CouchChart, its 320kbps but I'm not convinced its the official release ready version. Whatevs....

Anyway, a lot of people are psyched about the new single. Other DJ's are saying good things.
Dj Hell - "I will play it !"
Crookers - “COOL!!!! love both versions...dope traks!”
Brodinski – “amazing Track!!! it's a perfect TRAXXX for the Dancefloor!”
Digitalism – “full support for mind dimension yaman”
Pedro Winter (Ed Banger Recs) – “FULL SUPPPORT FROM THE ED REC CREW X”

Here is an edit to tide you over. Acid!

Tiga - Mind Dimension (Small Saul Edit)

Justice Loves Techno!

Hey Mustachio! Your MIDI Controller isn't plugged in and it ain't doin shit! Stop frontin, you ain't foolin me.

I kid, I kid. I'm sure the USB just slipped out moments before this shot was taken since you were rockin that bitch so hard.

Anyway, I just picked up a this tasty little excerpt from Justice's set last weekend at I Love Techno. It showcases their new Ableton setup and includes some really fun and interesting mixing. I Don't think its is quite as good as the Boys Noize I Love Techno masterpiece that I posted here, but its certainly a lot more French! We likey!

Justice @ I Love Techno 2008

I'll try and work out a track list when I get a minute.

Cross The Universe

Remember when we all got our hands on that Daft Punk @ Coachella Bootleg. You can get that beast here at 320kbps. Some of us were like this is the best shit ever." And some of them were like "this doesn't sound that different." Then when you first heard when Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger blow up into Around The World and the Coachella audience goes ape-shit-nanners, the haters all kept quiet. This is more or less how I feel about these mothers from Justice's forthcoming live CD/DVD shitter.

Justice - Tthhee Ppaarrttyy (live)
Justice - Phantom 1.5 (live)

Reckoner

So the Radiohead Reckoner Remix Competition has turned out quite a few gems. We've all heard Diplo's take on Reckoner, his best work to date IMO. My good friend Messica was kind enough to send me a 320kbps version of his take for me to edit into a dance-floor burner (I'm still working on the CouchFire! Edit, It'll be available soonish).

All this Reckoner speak is leading up to todays post regarding London DJ and Producer Synthetics who is looking for some of that good blog action. I'm glad to oblige since this remix is excellent and likely to land him a coveted spot on the Novemeber CouchChart.

Synthetics describes the remix in a very thoughtful email like such as:
Not quite sure where to begin with this beautiful mix from Synthetics... it's a slow builder that evolves into a warm and fuzzy cosmic jam transporting you away for 8 minutes - epic. Shades of 90's ambient group Seefeel with touches of the Orb-meets-Quiet Village and the Norwegian school of disco (Lindstrom and Prins Thomas etc.) Can't recommend it enough! Vote for it here.

Radiohead - Reckoner
Radiohead - Reckoner (Synthetics 24hr Remix)

Synthetics was also kind enough to agree to a little Q & A for the CouchBlog so we'll be hearing more from this cat. Promise!

Streetlab

Well after stumbling across Streetlab on Halloween somewhere in The Village fiddling with controllers I decided to congratulate them on their fantastic remix of The Chemical Brother's Galvanize. You know just to sound cool and "in-the-know." I heard that remix like a million blogyears ago and I felt somewhat embarrassed that I hadn't followed up on their productions or anything, so the following day, when my hang over passed, I did some myspace investigation only to find that they have been busy busy.... Soon after we got to interweb-chatting and the fellas at Streetlab were kind enough to give me an exclusive interview as well an advanced copy of their forthcoming EP. Here's the goods.

Q: When I saw you guys play out I noticed a ton of nobs and buttons. I'm assuming you were using Ableton, though i didn't notice a laptop. Give me a quick run down of you Live setup.

Coz: We have a laptop, but like to keep it at our feet so that no one can see Windows Media Player playing our whole set. We also don't even have a Mac - so we figured - yea, def hide the laptop and just play our whole 'set' off Windows Media. All those knobs and buttons are just to trick you into thinking we are actually 'performing' our songs....

Ryan: It is easy not to mess up when nothing really does anything. Really it is just about us looking cool. I guess if we wanted to we could have control over all the parts to each song and remix all the parts live, but that would probably be too much work...

Q: As I understand there are two of you in Streetlab. Tell me about your dynamic when you guys produce. Who likes to do play the synths? Do you sample other music? Who is that singing on NY Sound?

Coz: We haven't sampled yet for any of our original songs. A lot of our remixes though started out as sampled ideas - and then just developed into being a remix of the original song. We don't know who is singing in 'NYSound' - the voice just started coming thru the monitors while we were working on the song in the studio. Luckily I was recording and captured it all. We took it as a sign...it was kind of a supernatural experience actually...

Ryan: It really depends. We are both always trying out new stuff running this thing thru that thing etc..and sometimes sounds just come out of nowhere and mysteriously record themselves. We run Ableton on about 4 machines and just go with the flow. One being the master and then the other stations synched up to create ideas.

Q: I know when I play out I almost always get stupid drunk. It gets messy behind the booth.... I sometimes wish I DJ'd as part of a duo so my teammate could takeover. Have either of you gotten so plastered and forgotten what nob controls what?

Coz: This is why we avoid the booth! We have our own rig that we bring with us. No need to shuffle the DJ around for us. This allows us to better keep track of our drinks vs the DJs drinks. You know how that can be. In terms of forgetting whats what with the knobs/buttons etc - see the answer to the question #1.

Ryan: No shots = Control. So far so good. My irish % can handle all the guiness I can intake however I purposely avoid shots before playing cause they are bad news.

Q: What is your drink of choice when your performing? I like vodka-cran.

Coz: Guiness, always. I want a tap on our rig for each song change...

Ryan: Guiness or Harp if they got it but no one ever does.

Q: What was the best show you've ever played? What club/venue are you dying to play out at?

Coz: Ruff Club has recently been the most fun.

Ryan: Dying to play Coachella, WMC, and SXSW

Q: Do either of you have guilty pleasure artists that you listen to when you think no one is watching? I'll start, I really dig The Pussycat Dolls.

Coz: (scans thru his iTunes, I mean Windows Media player...) 311 - the song 'Amber'. I don't think im guilty tho - its a good song. Maybe some Hall & Oats...

Ryan: Hmmm I don't know. Sometimes I will get cheesy songs in my head and have to wash them out but I can't think of anything that I like that I wouldn't want my friends hearing....oh the latest was some song of the Trailer Park Boys movie by The Tragically Hip, Not a bad band but not really my style. I don't think that counts really, I will have to get back to you.

Q: Do you guys like to go to shows, concerts, festivals, and what not? What was the most amazing show you have ever witnessed? Mine is a three-way tie between Radiohead at Bonnaroo in 2006, Daft Punk at Coney Island in 2007, and The Chemical Brothers @ Hammerstein Ballroom in 2007. Radiohead has a slight edge since I was candy-flippin.

Coz: Radiohead (At that island in Montreal). Ive seen RH 3 or so times, and they are just SO on point, i swear they are better live than on record. BRMC also put on a great show - a great 3-piece, raw, straight up no-BS rock. NIN - u will leave exhausted - which means it was a good show :)

Ryan: I would have to say it is between these (The Chemical Brothers at Woodstock 99, NIN at MSG cause we got a private show and I caught a drumstick, STP in 97, BRMC, Daft at Coney was killer, Radiohead outside in Montreal, Pantera 2000 something, Soulwax @ Studio B, Deftones @ The Chance in the 90's, there is more but those stand out the most right now...

The Lightning Round!!

True or False... Disco rules!
Coz: false
Ryan: True

True or False... Trance blows!
Coz: true
Ryan: False

True or False... Wendy's is better than Burger King.
Coz: TRUE.
Ryan: False

True or False... NYC crowds are the best.
Coz: is there a 'NYC' crowd?? or just a lead?
Ryan: (asks magical 8-ball): Ask Again Later

Sarah Palin... 1-10 scale. GO!
Coz: uhhhhhhh the MILF factor u mean? If she doesnt talk: 7
Ryan: 2012 baby

Pirates or Ninjas?
Coz: Pirates - they dont need to be quiet or in the shadows - cause they just dont give a fuck.
Ryan: Ninjas cause they ain't skeevy

Yoga or Pilates?
Coz: Yoga. Pilates is like the "im cooler and different than you" form of Yoga. SO sceney...
Ryan: Both, Pilates first then Yoga. Actually about to do some right now...

LOTR or Star Wars?
Coz: LOTR - Star Wars = LAME! (argue me, come on)
Ryan: LOTR. Star Wars got killed with those last three episodes

And the most important question of them all...
Bassline or melody? There is a right answer.
Coz: Melody. A bassline could be a melody...its how u deliver it.
Ryan: Melody for sure.

Streetlab - NY Sound

Be sure to send Streetlab some myspace love.

I see the future

The much hyped Ed Banger label has been stagnant as of late (with the exception of Mr.Oizo of corse!). After about a year of riding the coatails of Justice's Cross Ed Banger has struggled (IMO) to step up and impress. Luckily Mr. Rihda's Boys Noize Records and Tiga's Turbo Records has taken over as the label du jour. I'm going to write a shortish essay (maybe) on rise and fall of "hype" labels sometime soon so I will keep this post short.

Basically I want to thank Tiga, Boys Noize, and Soulwax for their amazing ability to step up the game. Tiga's Mind Dimension, which is produced by Soulwax, will be my #1 for November for sure.

Tiga - Mind Dimension 2

Boys Noize - Volta 82