YOUCANTSTOPAH

130. MAINTENANCE

2010-07-01T20:12:00.003-04:00

we'll be back someday hopefully. check out the blog list in the side bar if you still like music

129. YOUTHLESS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW + TRACKS

2010-06-23T22:11:00.006-04:00

i heard about youthless because zack posted their music video here a while ago for "good hunters." knowing a great thing when i see it, i contacted alex klimovitsky (vox + drums + synth + more) and he's such a great guy that he agreed to an interview with us AND give us a couple of tracks for us to share. in describing their sound, i steal from zack's description, which i couldn't agree with more. you can hear "a bit of hooray for earth and the rapture with a twist of metronomy." to further break it down: they've got that pseudo-grunge guitar and heavy bass going with lo-fi synth that hooray for earth has perfected, vocals and lyrics with the type of personality that those two dudes in the rapture bring to the table, and clever mastering of instruments like metronomy. i love those three bands, so of course i love a band that draws similarities to those three and still remains unique.

Youthless - Good Hunters (Download)

(preview in the video below)

Youthless - Golden Age (Acoustic) (Download)

(preview in the soundcloud below)

starting with portugal, the two guys in youthless are taking the world by storm. the music video we posted last month is currently #4 on the mtv portugal hitlist. we agree that it's a great fuckin video, but how come it can't beat out the bieber? you can do it guys! along with gearing up to beat out the tween prince and driving a concert around europe, they are zoning out to the beach boys and planning their lo-fi / acoustic covers of classic rock and experimental electro. youthless is two creative guys with dozens of different influences and an output that has a pretty huge range. we can't wait to hear (and see) what's next. here's the interview:

slam: I'm assuming you and Sebastiano met in Three and a Quarter and then continued on with Youthless. That band is more in the ska / dub category. What brought you guys together and to the different electro / rock sound you have busted out with Youthless?

alex (of youthless): Sab and i met in the same class in high school. We were the only two angalfone's in an all Spanish speaking school (I had just moved to Lisbon from NY via madrid and Sab had changed over from an English school a few years earlier) and had a lot of common interests: noise bands, skateboarding, ditching school.

Us and Guillermo, the third memeber of our old band, were all starting to play guitar at the same time so we used to skip class together and jam and that's how our first band started. Old Jamaican dub and 2-tone brit ska were big influences in our old band but we've always played loads of different stuff and have been in all kinds of different noisey projects together.

Youthless came about as a fluke, I wanted to learn to play drums so we decided to start a two person Black Sabbath cover band just to mess around.. that idea really only lasted 20 mins cause we immediately started making up tunes. I think the electro thing was a joint result of my upstairs dj neighbors feeding us minimal techno day and night for a whole year and the fact that i could only play 2 types of beats and sing at the same time when we first started. That and the effect that the monster two amp bass sound that Sab came up with had on the way we played.

slam: It seems like a lot of good music is coming out of Portugal; you guys and the Disco Texas Label to a name a few. Any bands from around there that you'd like to do a show with or that you're excited about?

alex: There is a lot of cool stuff going on in Portugal right now. PAUS is a band that we're close with and really love. They're on the same Portuguese label/booking as us, Enchufada, who also do Buraka Som Systema, Octa Push and Macacos do Chines, all fantastic groups. Batida is another local project that we're really fond of.. all definitely worth checking out!

Youthless - Good Hunters (on Vimeo, so what if we posted this before?)

slam: (I'll get on it!) I found out about you guys through one of our other contributors who featured the video for "Good Hunters" and it's been on repeat since. I was just watching the video again - it looks like you don't just sing and drum at the same time, but you also play the keyboard. Pretty rad. Other than that sax player in The Rapture (and bands like !!!), I haven't seen multi-tasking on that level in a while. Is this something you do in your live shows too?

alex: Yeah... there are a few tunes on which i play drums and keys at the same time. we also sometimes have people sit in on keyboards during some live shows (Shela from PAUS and Helena Fagundes from Las Dirces have played with us a bunch so far). we keep trying to come up with new ways to keep the songs interesting as a two man band so Sab does a bunch of juggling between his foot pedals on both amps he uses too.

slam: Sounds like an intense live show. Can't wait to see it when you guys come to the US. Any touring plans?

alex: yeah, live shows are super fun and always different. Sometimes they're really focused, musical and beautiful, but sometimes hectic, drunk and mainly about jumping off of high things onto the crowd. We've had a few offers to play in NY but we'd really need to get a whole bunch of shows to pay for our trips over, etc. and we still don't have any type of representation outside Portugal (label/distributor/booking/etc) so we're still waiting for the right opportunity to break out of "the little country." A lot of my friends have really great bands in BKNY right now and we'd love to come over and open for them but UK is a little more within our grasp at the moment.

slam: (Backtracking a bit) One thing I really like about the video is how it's basically a traveling party in a VW bus. What brought you to the idea for the video and would you consider Youthless a traveling party?

alex: The idea was Marco Espirito Santo, a good friend of ours who directed the video. We needed something we could do for free and we wanted something fun and relaxed that we could include our friends in, so it was perfect.

Youthless is just Sab and I, so the type of band we are has a lot to do with the mood we are in at the time. It also can have a lot to do with the type of entourage we have with us. We have a lot of really great friends who've known us since we're kids and travel with us to shows just for the adventure. Sometimes things get pretty rowdy with all of them around... which can be a lot of fun, or trouble (which is fun). But often Sab and I are more of a "chill and stare at the ocean" or "veg out and listen to the beach boys" type of band more than a party band.

slam: I'm loving your acoustic and minimalist electro tracks / covers. They are like lo-fi heaven. What made you guys start doing this series and what are your plans for it?

Golden age by YOUTHLESS (SoundCloud)

alex: the idea came about because Sab and I sometimes carry around our acoustic guitars to mess around before shows while we're waiting for other bands to soundcheck, so we were figuring out a bunch of cool covers and i asked a very awesome radio DJ friend of ours, Henrique Amarro, if he would like us to perform some of them on the radio. He liked the idea so much he asked us to do a whole week. He turned it into a show he calls "Jukebox" and now he invites well known Portuguese artists to come do covers of some of their favorite tunes and talk about them a bit (we didnt put up our talking bits on soundcloud cause its all in portuguese). we're actually going to put out all the covers on our first Youthless mixtape... probably through Enchufada's website (it will be a free download... check our facebook page and myspace for the link in a few weeks) and we might do another round of covers heavily featuring the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, Sam Cooke, Al Green and maybe even some Black Sabbath.

slam: When can we expect another EP or even a full-length?

alex: Recording wise, we're simultaneously preparing an LP an EP and a mixtape right now, we're just not exactly sure how we're going to release it all yet.. but we should have something new out relatively soon.

make sure you follow youthless on facebook, and listen to all of their music which they've generously put up on their soundcloud.

___________________________________________________

we've been around for 1 year now. pretty exciting!

please follow youcantstopah on FB, it's about time (links on the right).

128. EVERYTHING IS MADE IN CHINA - SLEEPWALKING

2010-06-23T14:38:00.004-04:00

i saw everything is made in china's music video for "sleepwalking" a while ago, but just got a memory refresh when it was posted on antville. EIMIC is from russia and plays music that blends shoegaze with folk-indie, sometimes some grunge sounds, and something erlend oye might have had his hands in (think kings of convenience, not whitest boy alive). lots of reverb, synth and electric guitar. if you click on the soundcloud link (below), you can preview their "automatic movements" lp in its entirety before you buy it. that's pretty cool of them.

Sleepwalking by eimic (on SoundCloud)

the video is really simple, but excellently executed and real entertaining. it's like one of those books where you can choose different portions of different people's faces to make other faces except it's a video and it's way more interesting (no offense, norman messenger). the director, modestnikov, has directed two different videos fro EIMIC that both focus on visuals and amazing editing. it makes you rethink what's possible with editing a lower budget video. extremely creative and very fucking cool. even cooler: they incorporate some of these visuals into their live shows and it looks like its the same director, good call. something definitely not to be missed. hopefully they'll be doing something stateside in the near future!

Sleepwalking from modestnikov (on Vimeo).

follow EIMIC on facebook.

127. MONEYPENNY IS COOL & THE GANG (NYC SHOW 6.26)

2010-06-22T18:36:00.005-04:00

moneypenny just released their new website and it looks pretty nice. they got a sexy web design makeover with new promo shots too. definitely hip + with it.

with the release of their new website, they've decided to give out their track "cool & the gang" for free. the track is like america's answer to yelle, but it's 2010 now and it sounds like calvin harris helped out with the production; all of those r&b, house and trance sounds fit perfectly into a really nice track.

126. BLOCKHEAD

2010-06-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

"The Music Scene" (Vimeo)

You got to watch this video - its super spectacular. The animation is solid, colorful, a bit mind-boggling and its synchronized to the music across the board. My hat goes off to the animator, A.F. Schepperd.

The music is by Blockhead, a busy producer. He has some solo work, but is most known for his work with Aesop Rock. He produced 9 tracks from the critically acclaimed album Labor Days, and has worked on a total of 8 releases from Aesop Rock. You can download a megamix of his album, The Music Scene, from the record labels website. I'm listening to it right now and its awesome.

125. BUBBLE CLUB

2010-06-20T17:13:00.003-04:00

So we got some brand new goods for you today. Bubble Club, the creation of West London producer Dan Keeling is sounding like a sure thing. The first of 3 planned releases "Violet Morning Moon" is a beautiful Balearic disco gem. The funky bass, breezy guitar and percolating percussion are about as tight and well orchestrated as you can ask for. This is most certainly not just dance floor fodder, (though the Dr. Dunks remix definitely pumps) this is a song you'll remember for a while and come back to summer after summer. Have a listen and make sure to stick around for the ecstatic finale.

Violet Morning Moon by Dan Keeling

Hit up Bubble Club's Soundcloud or Myspace to hear more including their next EP released on the 17th called Morning Star that's just as brilliant.

124. BROKEN BELLS

2010-06-19T20:01:00.002-04:00

how did i miss this?!? this side project duo has been around for almost a year and i didn't find out about them until today. what an embarrassment. i guess that happens when you never listen to the radio or read pitchfork. oops! broken bells is the project of producer danger mouse and the shin's james mercer. it's exactly what you'd expect from such a combination: greatness. in terms of production, you can expect some similarities to the gorillaz and danger mouse's other projects, but it's all twisted up with an indie + classic rock / oldies feel. the single "the ghost inside," which you can preview or watch the video for below, sounds most eerily familiar to me (listen to that bass and the percussive elements and see if it rings any bells). i'm loving it and you probably will too (if you aren't way ahead of me already).

they just released their debut self-titled lp this past march and you can grab the whole thing right here.

Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside (no download available, stream available from Rock The House)

the video stars christina hendricks (of mad men fame) and includes an appearance by mercer + danger mouse. the video is pretty cool - about a robot's dreams of going to a beautiful resort, and in order to get there, she has to sell off parts of her body. she must be a robot, right? it's a pretty rad video: great effects, directing, cinematography and acting.

Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside on Vimeo

123. CHK CHK CHK RETURNS

2010-06-18T15:02:00.003-04:00

after a while without any news of a !!! release, i was starting to get antsy. biting my fingers off sort of thing. boom boom boom / pow pow pow / chk chk chk are always touring all over the world, but their website and myspace hadn't really changed since myth takes came out in 2007. well, prepare for the future...

they're offering a free download of their new track "am/fm" right here and you can preview it below thanks to warp. you can expect a development of their usual sound; a hybrid of post-disco, dance-punk and electronica with the sexiest of vocals (think r&b). from the now 14 year old band, the new single goes back to their routes, but with better production values. makes me think of out hud and !!!'s self-titled lp, but they're definitely shifting their sound. the track is simultaneously environmental and funky; experimental and kick-ass. my little macbook speakers can't do this song any justice, can't wait to play it on my speakers when i get home.

their new lp, "strange weather, isn't it?" is coming out august 24th 2010 (USA). that's pretty soon. very very exciting news. you can already pre-order it right here.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - AM/FM (taken from Strange Weather, Isn't It?) by Warp Records (on SoundCloud)

if you aren't a fan already, here's !!! on facebook.

122. BREAKBOT

2010-06-17T18:02:00.008-04:00

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) (Vimeo)

So as you may know - we've featured Breakbot a few times here and with good reason! He's another long-haired Frenchman signed to Ed Banger, but his music is smooth... real smooth. To accompany his track, "Baby I'm Yours ft IRFANE", this video was released last week. Made up of about 2000 watercolor painted images, it's a solid bit of eye-candy. Enjoy.

121. ROCKETS CLUB MONSIEUR

2010-06-16T20:57:00.003-04:00

god damn, i fuckin love disco texas. here's another track from rockets: it's got the funk-disco guitar, the smoothest of bass lines and some solid beat mashing. this is a 5-course electronic meal. builds are perfectly spread out, not too far apart and not too long either. "club monsieur" makes you feel like you're getting down with chic in a futuristic discothèque. the song has 16th notes on the hi-hat and are those occasional claps i hear? it's got the slow up on the high-eq to a creative bass line that's almost always present, but shifts around throughout the entirety keeping you thinking. at about 3:00 a synth comes in before the final breakdown. this is a house track that has all the elements you're looking for. this is inspiration.

you can preview AND download the track below. high generosity from portugal.

Club Monsieur by rockets (on SoundCloud)

make sure you pay attention to rockets on facebook.

120. NEW SINGLE FROM BAD VEINS + NEW OUTLIERS EP

2010-06-16T10:07:00.005-04:00

first off, apologies for being out of it for a week. i went to get a little vaca action.

if you've been following us since early 2010, you'd know that we featured bad veins back in january. it was one of our first non-electronica posts that has since kept us posting indie music. they just released a new ep yesterday, "outliers" which you can grab on itunes right here. in similar fashion as bad vein's debut lp, outliers is creative, experimental and original. it's got orchestra instrumentation, electronic percussion, filtered vocals, melancholy lyrics, overdrive'd guitars, backing choirs, piano that will carry you for days, and muted horns. the song "blanket" sounds like bad veins grabbed some southern americana inspiration (in a good way). what i've liked most about bad veins is musically, not just lyrically, every song tells a story and what they've done with the outliers ep is no different. also, i love the cover graphic design.

they're also offering an additional free download from their self titled lp. the track comes in with some high-eq'd percussion that sounds like something from a 90s casio keyboard, then it jumps into serious rock and roll where the bridge between verses is led by a guitar riff that'll knock your socks off. the chorus has some serious beeping synth over the vocals and eventually, you'll be taken to the breakdown where strings come in, there's a build up, and everything comes back together. just what the doctor ordered this morning. in comparison to the other tracks we've posted from bad veins, it is a bit heavier and more up tempo.

Bad Veins - Falling Tide (Download)

you can buy the full lp (which we've reviewed before) here.

if that isn't enough for you, they're also touring throughout the summer with the dig, kevin devine and thrice.

June 15 2010 @ Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, ON

June 16 2010 @ Le National - Montreal, QC

June 17 2010 @ House of Blues - Boston, MA

June 18 2010 @ Toad’s Place - New Haven, CT

June 19 2010 @ Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA

June 21 2010 @ Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY

June 22 2010 @ Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA

June 23 2010 @ Trocadero Theatre - Philadelphia, PA

June 24 2010 @ The Fillmore - New York, NY

June 25 2010 @ Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ

June 26 2010 @ Recher Theatre - Towson, MD

June 28 2010 @ The NorVa - Norfolk, VA

June 29 2010 @ Cat’s Cradle - Carrboro, NC

June 30 2010 @ The Music Farm - Charleston, SC

July 01 2010 @ House Of Blues - Lake Buena Vista, FL

July 02 2010 @ Revolution - Ft Lauderdale, FL

July 03 2010 @ State Theater - St. Petersburg, FL

July 06 2010 @ Warehouse Live - Houston, TX

July 07 2010 @ Emo’s - Austin, TX

July 08 2010 @ The Palladium Ballroom - Dallas, TX

July 09 2010 @ Cain’s Ballroom - Tulsa, OK

July 10 2010 @ Midland Ballroom - Kansas City, MO

July 11 2010 @ Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO

July 13 2010 @ In The Venue - Salt Lake City, UT

July 15 2010 @ Marquee - Tempe, AZ

July 16 2010 @ House Of Blues - San Diego, CA

July 17 2010 @ Fox Theater - Pomona, CA

July 18 2010 @ House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV

July 20 2010 @ Club Congress - Tucson, AZ (Bad Veins only)

July 21 2010 @ Corazon - Santa Fe, NM (Bad Veins only)

don't forget to become a fan on facebook.

119. LIFELIKE EP

2010-06-09T17:13:00.004-04:00

can you believe it's been since april since we covered lifelike? right now, he's gearing up for the release of his love emulator ep off of the young french label computer science.

this guy is one of the few that never puts out anything that i am disappointed in. his work is always great, always smooth. the bass line makes you want to relax and to party - musically, it's hard to do both. it all comes from r&b and funk. even alan braxe and fred falke's intro (one of the best french house tracks of all time) isn't good to put on as "chill" music. somehow, however, lifelike has managed to become a master at the combo. it's electro french-touch / feel-good at it's best. his work is one of the reasons i wish that i could read french, so i could learn just a little more.

lifelike's music is all over the place, and he has created quite a following by releasing excellent remixes one after the other. starting with that beautiful original track "so electric," i've never looked back. he got us hooked - and now that we have to wait for this ep before we can listen to it on our ipods or whatever, it's killing us, slowly - me, anyway, for sure. as soon as the digital release comes out in the US, it'll be on my credit card (like everything else these days). this guy is a fuckin pro.

all of these songs are gems. perfect for the beginning of summer! my personal fave of the three below is "silicon love." grab the whole ep digitally on june 14th off of the computer science page (linked above). it will also be available on itunes, beatport, etc by mid july. i would definitely buy the ep in its entirity because it'll be packaged with a bonus track called "bright city nights." this is going to be a good one, mark it down on your calendars and become a fan of lifelike on facebook.

LIFELIKE / YOTA /NAMEBRAND Love Emulator (Club Mix) by LIFELIKE (on SoundCloud)

LIFELIKE / YOTA "Silicon Love" by LIFELIKE (on SoundCloud)

LIFELIKE / YOTA / NAMEBRAND Love Emulator (Original Mix) by LIFELIKE (on SoundCloud)

118. SIDWHO?

2010-06-09T14:23:00.008-04:00

After last year's "Vote Bowie For President" found it's way into the sets of such disco royalty as Todd Terje, Tim Sweeney and Prins Thomas we've all been waiting to see what Sidwho? would do next. And here it is, Pay For Love EP out on the Australian Future Classic imprint.

The EP has 3 excellent mixes varying from disco funk to classic acid house sounds. The Jamie Paton edit takes us on a 13 minute long white-hot funk odyssey. The group vocals, chorused bass line and squiggly synth lines add up too one hell of a boogie machine. Daddy like.

On the flip the Azari & Ill Remix cleans up some of the rough edges, throws some tight 909 drums in and pumps the bass for an all around crowd pleaser. My personal favorite though is Jamie Paton's Acid Remix. Here all the funky lines from the original get the attention they deserve leading to a slow burning spaced out acid-fest. With such a wide range of sounds lets hope Sidwho? keeps the goods coming.

Check the streams and be sure to pick up the EP on Juno or Beatport!

Sidwho? - Pay For Love by future classic

Be sure to hit up Sidwho? on myspace.

117. KNUCKLES + PAUL BRYAN

2010-06-07T11:28:00.000-04:00

KNUCKLES | BLAKE - WHAT I LIKE (Vimeo)

Slow motion relay race through the subways of Paris? Yes please! I can't really find much on this Knuckles guy besides the fact that he is now going by the name Sovnger. And apparently (according to his myspace...) DJs such as Diplo, Breakbot, Etienne de Crecy, and Alex Gopher play his stuff in their sets. He also has a mixtape on soundcloud and posts a new one each month.

And definitely check out the director, Paul Bryan. He has a solid collection of work including same great photographs of people.

116. THE NAKED AND FAMOUS

2010-06-07T00:45:00.002-04:00

oh man oh man oh man. i barely need to say anything at all.

just listen to "young blood" by the new zealand band, the naked and famous, and then buy it for a dollar. it's incredibly worth it.

this track is summer at it's best (even though it's cold in new zealand right now). it's fucking perfect. i loooovvvee it.

also: check out the music video for the song at the bottom of this post.

The Naked And Famous - Young Blood (on Vimeo)

become a fan on facebook please.

115. SPACE LIFE

2010-06-06T11:49:00.007-04:00

i love when i hear good music from bands that started in boston - passion pit, hooray for earth, yes giantess to name a few.

yesterday a friend of mine sent me an email about the boston based duo dubbed space life. they are chris and jeff, they've been friends since high school, and only started their collaboration four months ago. they work well together because they share a lot of interests and take their influences from the same genres (70s funk + disco).

their music grabbed and is still holding my attention. it makes sense because they are one of the freshest electronic groups around - as in they're rolling out AND yo that's fresh. the trouble with electronic music is that it's very easy for artists to pigeon hole themselves into a single style that they can't get out of it. like surkin or dj mehdi, space life doesn't make predictable choices with their music. it's all over the place.

Voyager III (on SoundCloud) you can download it! AND they're working on a music video for this track.

if you head over to look at the rest of their soundcloud and do a quick browse through all of their tracks, you'll learn that they have a real tight musical aesthetic and that they're very versatile. a lot of rick james + prince synth and guitar, but also a lot of french touch similarities. they use EQ'd out samples like classic french house: think alan braxe & fred falke, knightlife, or louis la roche. they also like to key the low-end and high-end and slowly bring it in (or out), it's one of the simplest things that happens in electronica - but they have it down perfectly and are creative about when (and how) they use it. check their remix of empire of the sun's "walking on a dream." out of what feels like hundreds of remixes of that track out there, space life's is one of the more original. in terms of the bass line, space life generally uses that funk-electro sound that you'd find with artists on ed banger - think a hybrid between justice and breakbot. sometimes you'll also hear that metal / electro style guitar that MSTRKRFT really popularized. if you listen to their remix of mj's "rock with you," you'll remember that jt really, really, wants to be the next michael. i like both of those guys, but yeah the correlation is a little crazy. the remix sounds like if pedro winter and jt's producers worked together on "off the wall." this is a very good thing.

what stands out most about space life is that if you listen to the first 30 seconds of a track, it doesn't mean that you can assume what the rest of it sounds like; you won't expect the obvious.

SPACE LIFE - Anatomy (Feat. MSF) (on SoundCloud) no download available. sorry!

become a fan on facebook.

114. NEON INDIAN

2010-06-04T15:31:00.005-04:00

obvi.

if you haven't heard of neon indian yet, you're really missing out. we first heard of alan paloma (neon indian is one of his projects) when he was a part of ghosthustler (remember "someone else's ride?) that song is fuckin' amazing. we blasted that at parties all the time in 2008. grab it for free off of missingtoof right here.

we were all waiting for ghosthustler to EXPLODE, but the band broke up and alan went on to produce music as VEGA, which is in much of the similar vein as ghosthustler. where he's been most successful is with his work as neon indian - which definitely carries some of the same electro sounds, but it's engineered in a sleep lab with hallucinogens and a dreamy-psychedelic induced future dropped right on top. since his appropriately titled psychic chasms ep release last april (and the lp in the fall), we've been stoked about what's to come next.

this isn't a new track, but it's being offerred for free right now and is a great introduction if you haven't listened to him yet. download Neon Indian - Sleep Paralysist on green label sound (mountain dew). look on the right side of the page and then drink some yellow / green soda. also: check out the video for the same song below - it's prettttttty dope.

Neon Indian - "Sleep Paralysist" Video Directed by Focus Creeps (Vimeo)

very happy it's friday.

113. HEY CHAMP MIXTAPE

2010-06-03T17:34:00.006-04:00

i love being subscribed to mailing lists. it's a huge part of bands marketing to have these lists and facebook groups and twitter and so on and so forth. up until a few years ago i was hesitant to join these lists because i believed that they'd be primarily junk mail, or that they'd sell my email address or whatever. some companies still do that - but i would say that musician's mailing lists are safe and really only reward the fanbase for joining. they grab your email or you become a fan on facebook and you get stuff like free tracks, mixtapes and discounted tickets. point being: signing up is the best choice.

hey champ is one of the better bands to subscribe to or follow on facebook because they give away free tracks and great house mix tapes. their jet set tape is one of the better house mixes i've heard in a while and the tracklist is great. it's also a legit dj set, all the tracks are remixes by hey champ. you're going to hear samples of the beastie boys and the gap band and that'll take you into yeasayer and t-pain... mmmmm it's 56 minutes of delicatessen. one of the best perks is that the tracks are split up! just make sure to think before you listen and set that shit up for gapless playback. i'm serious.

Hey Champ - Jet Set Mixtape (click the link, after you become a fan on facebook you get a .zip)

Tracklist:

1. Hey Champ DJs - In The White City

2. Prairie Cartel - Cracktown (Hey Champ RMX)

3. Hey Champ DJs - Strobe

4. Ying Yang Twins - Drop (Hey Champ RMX featuring DJ White Shadow)

5. Hey Champ DJs - The Way You Feel

6. The Empires - Howl (Hey Champ RMX featuring DJ White Shadow)

7. Hey Champ DJs - Metropolis

8. Hey Champ DJs - Early Sensation

9. Yeasayer - Sunrise (Hey Champ Remix)

10. T-Pain (ft. Lil Wayne) - I Can't Believe It (Hey Champ RMX feat. DJ White Shadow)

11. Hey Champ DJs - Shibuya

12. Hey Champ DJs - Fallujah

13. Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl (80Kidz Remix)

yoyoyo:

those of you in NYC + BK are lucky because hey champ will be doing a set tonight, june 3rd, with shy child (!!!!!) in the studio at webster hall (tickets) and tomorrow, june 4th, at the bell house (tickets). do it to it!

112. BIRDY NAM NAM

2010-06-02T14:15:00.003-04:00

Birdy Nam Nam - Abbesses (Youtube)

If you like The Avalanches or Kid Koala or DJ Shadow - you will like Birdy Nam Nam. They are four DJs from France and MASTER turntablists. If you can get your hands on their self-titled album - do it!

111. CEO

2010-06-01T00:32:00.003-04:00

from our favorite australian label (duh) comes ceo, the new project of the tough alliance's eric burgland. i love the new name.

coming out on june 29 in the US is ceo's debut release "white magic." i am stoked for it!

if you like bands like air france, the similou / plej or delorean you'll love ceo.

ceo - come with me (Download)

preorder the album right here.

also make sure you check out the music video, directed by marcus soderlund:

ceo - come with me on Vimeo.

110. ZOOT WOMAN

2010-05-31T13:00:00.004-04:00

you have to enjoy the UK electro group zoot woman.

putting out tracks like "it's automatic," "grey day" and "hope in the mirror" you know you'll love whatever comes next. today marks the digital release of their "just a friend of mine" remix EP which features remixes by the penelopes, dinamics and something a la mode. this is a single off of their LP "things are what they used to be" (released last august) and the second EP that "just a friend of mine" has been featured.

you know the original version of this track is exactly what you want, but i decided to feature the penelopes' remix instead because it pulls the smooth out of the original and takes it too an electro - beach - dream.

UPDATE 6/2/10, the corrected version of the remix:

Zoot Woman - Just a friend of Mine (The Penelopes Remix) (Download)

it's almost june. happy memorial day, americans. celebrate the temperature by becoming a fan of zoot woman / the penelopes on facebook / facebook.

109. FADED PAPER FIGURES

2010-05-28T19:17:00.005-04:00

one of my favorite things about working on a music blog is when we get a submission / recommendation that we follow through with and find some musical perfection. it's the best!

faded paper figures are a 3 person band based in LA that have a really interesting combination of sounds. they can be loosely put into the indie / electronica category. let me break it down for you: synth, 80s video games, lo-fi electro that you'd find on ed bangar, indie vocal harmonies / bells / guitars, occasional vocal samples like you'd find with the avalanches, and driving bass lines and percussion. they are hard to really lock down because their sound is really all over the place, but i can say that if you put them in a mix with starfucker and the whitest boy alive, you're making the right decisions in life. it's music you can dance to and listen to: our favorite combo.

Faded Paper Figures - Small Talk (on SoundCloud)

Faded Paper Figures - Invent It All Again (on SoundCloud)

their second album, new medium, just came out this past week. it's solid gold and a definite buy. for sure. grab it on itunes here. became a fan on facebook. i am!

108. MOULLINEX MIXTAPE

2010-05-28T10:38:00.003-04:00

one of my favorite mixes of all time is moullinex's "libère la femme vol. II." it's a dancing powerhouse and all you need to get the party started.

i just grabbed moullinex's new may mix - i've only listened to the first ten minutes and i already know it's going to be great. it's got some of the smoothest transitions i've heard in a while and it's funk / disco level is on the same page as breakbot's valentine mix. do yourself a favor and take a look at the tracklist and then download it for obvious reasons. you don't want to miss out on this!

Moullinex - Villains Have Feelings Too Mixtape (Download on SoundCloud - or click the arrow in the embedded player below)

Tracklist:

Pink Floyd - Time [EMI]

Blackstrobe - Back From Beyond [Supersoul]

Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere (Psychemagik Edit) [Shotgun Edits]

Fernando - Blade Drummer [Redux]

Toba - Moving Up [Connection]

Rainbow Team - Dreaming [Full Time]

Alexander Robotnick - The Dark Side of The Spoon [Crème]

Strip Steve - Breakin' (Lorenz Rhode Remix) [Exploited]

The Heels Of Love - Quiet Please (Fabrizio Mammarella Remix) [Mad on the Moon]

Giorgio Moroder - e=mc2 (In Flagranti Remix) [Discotexas]

Siriusmo - Femuscle [Exploited]

Azari & III - Hungry for the Power [I'm a Cliché]

Methusalem - Robotism (Edits Piaf) [unreleased]

Juan Maclean - Feel So Good [K7]

Ichisan - Global Pillage [Airtight]

Moullinex - Superman (Lorenz Rhode Remix) [Gomma]

Nightriders - A Love Feeling [OMG!]

Munk - La Musica [Gomma]

Spirit Catcher - Sweet Deal [20:20 Vision]

DJ T - Funk On You [Get Physical]

Professor Funk and The Chicago Hous'n Authority - Visions [DJ International]

Paperclip People - Throw [Planet E]

DJ Kaos - Love the Nite Away [Rong/DFA]

Rodion - D.I.S.C.O. Rewind [Gomma]

Fast Eddie - Acid Thunder [Westside]

Hard Ton - Flawless (Snuff Crew Remix) [Permanent Vacation]

Four Tet - There is Love in You [Domino]

Pulp - This is Hardcore [Island]

become a fan of moullinex on facebook immediately.

107. CASIOKIDS MIXTAPE

2010-05-27T16:14:00.006-04:00

anyone who spends any time in my apartment knows that i'm head over heels for casiokids. their musical aesthetic is all about fun - if you like the beach boys, metronomy, and hot chip - i promise that you'll love their music. it's indie music with up-tempo bass lines and a bunch of people harmonizing things like "yeah, yeah" and "la, la." unfortunately, most of their lyrics are in norwegian so i have no idea what they are singing about, but it's like riding your bike in the summer.

their new album "topp stemning på lokal bar" is a two-disc extravaganza. disc one is all original tracks and disc two is all remixes. pre-order it on polyvinylrecords right here - coming out June 8th in the US. my personal favorite is "togens hule." update: which you can download at the bottom of this post!

today, i found a featured mixtape by ck's own ketil kinden endresen.

head over to this is tomorrow (thanks guys!) to grab the tape and learn more. tracklist is below:

“The Blessing Song” – Build An Ark

“Loe Bar” – Bjørn Torske

“Sexual Healing” – Hot Chip

“Goldmine” – Sa-Ra

“Can’t Help It” – Michael Jackson (Tangoterje edit)

“I Like You!” – Arthur Russell

“1er Gaou” – Magic System

“Wing Body Wing” – Four Tet

“Love, Love” – Julian Priester & Pepo Mtoto

“Moonshake” – Can

“Inner City Blues” – Marvin Gaye

“The Highways of My Life” – The Isley Brothers

Also check out their video for "en vill hest" directed by kristoffer borgli. it's a pretty crazy video, with solid cinematography and some cool actions synchronized with the music:

Casiokids - En Vill Hest (on Vimeo)

update 5/28/10: i just got permission to post + share "togens hule" - it's really an incredible track **high rec**:

Casiokids - Togens Hule (Download)

106. ROCKETS

2010-05-26T11:23:00.004-04:00

the artist formerly known as discorockets, now goes by rockets. the bass lines are still smooth, funky and simple - the way they should be. this comes as no surprise as he is on discotexas, the same label that houses moullinex and xinobi. discotexas, though having no real affiliation with texas itself, is one of the dopest labels around right now - still small and with really talented musicians + producers. discotexas is french touch / electro / house at its best - on the same level as valerie, but with a different aesthetic.

i have a lot of respect for rockets because of his tagline: "are we in this thing alone?" woah! that's what we say too. also, his work is infinitely listenable.

Butterfly Bones - Crystal Caves (Rockets remix) (Download)

become a fan of rockets on facebook and check out discotexas' "forbidden cuts" featuring moullinex, xinbobi and rockets / their justin faust ep "holdin' on" on their label page.

105. YEASAYER

2010-05-25T18:40:00.001-04:00

Yeasayer - Ambling Alp (Vimeo)

Two words: spectacularly strange! This video employs a great mix of beautiful imagery, experimental visuals, and odd concepts. You got to love that drummer pounding away up on that ridge.

The band, Yeasayer, is an experimental rock band based out of good old Brooklyn. This track, Ambling Alp, is a single off their second album, Odd Blood, which was just released this past February. The album has this worldly and diverse sound to it - partly due to the help they received from Peter Gabriel's drummer, Jerry Marotta. He helped them record the album in a studio packed with synths and percussion from around the world. You can download a track for free from their site or by using the embed below. Enjoy!

104. JUL ET MAT

2010-05-24T14:23:00.003-04:00

Metronomy - On The Motorway - by JUL & MAT (Vimeo)

Here's a bit of eye candy to start off your week. This unofficial music video for Metronomy's On The Motorway was made by Jul and Mat, a director duo from France. Expect more to come from them - they've been pumping out some real simple and creative shit lately and I anticipate good things to come! Enjoy.

103. MONEYPENNY + HEY CHAMP

2010-05-22T11:38:00.003-04:00

here's a fast-paced saturday remix of moneypenny by hey champ.

both groups are from chicago. moneypenny is just getting started and has only released a few tracks. they fall under the pop / electro / club aesthetic, think yelle americana x2. hey champ has been around a bit longer and i would consider them electro / indie, think of bands like phoenix or penguin prison.

hey champ is giving away "cold dust girl" and "neverest" on their website for free right here. sure you have to sign up for their newsletter, but it's well worth it + all you're going to get out of it is more free music and info about a solid band.

Moneypenny - Say No (Hey Champ Remix) (Download)

Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl (on SoundCloud)

102. THE BUDOS BAND

2010-05-21T14:30:00.004-04:00

the budos band deserves vinyl treatment. you listen to a single song of theirs and you feel like you're going back to the future. they are ripe with retro sounds and are the contemporary funk band you've been trying to find for years. their sound is original and is the best parts of a quentin tarantino soundtrack. this eleven member soul / funk / jazz group comes from bushwick, BK and they are going to be huge. just wait for it.

on june 11th, they will be playing on the rocks off concert cruise in nyc. if i was here that weekend, it would be a priority to have some serious drinks cruising around on a boat in the nyc harbor. sounds awesome.

The Budos Band - Chicago Falcon (Download)

*highly recommended*

101. SAVOIR ADORE

2010-05-20T11:13:00.002-04:00

savoir adore is another band for you to fall in love with. look at how cute they are! it's almost disgusting. the duo hails from brooklyn and their debut lp "in the wooded forest" is available on itunes. savoir adore is something special, bringing a lot of electro dance + club characteristics to indie pop. it's a daring and wonderful combination and after listening to their myspace for a bit now, i can tell you that it is worth investigating. check out the original version of "bodies" in this lo-fi repping the miniDV music video:

Savoir Adore - Bodies (Vimeo)

and here is a remix by french horn rebellion, another brooklyn duo that can be put next to a decked out disco gang and a bunch of computers with artificial intelligence and still fit in just fine. a nice party tune.

Savoir Adore - Bodies (French Horn Rebellion Remix) (Download)

100. YOUTHLESS

2010-05-19T14:16:00.004-04:00

Youthless 'Good Hunters' (Vimeo)

Found these guys this morning - I like the video and I'm loving the track. I've been trying to put my finger on who they sound like, but I think in the end they're a bit of a mixed breed. I'm feeling a bit of Hooray for Earth and the Rapture with a twist of Metronomy. Youthless is a "club and garage" duo from Portugal and, at this point, relatively unknown. Check them out, you can download their EP for free here (upon registration of course).

And what about us reaching the 100th post?! Shots of Alexi vodka anyone? C'mon it says its distilled four times!

99. THOMAS BANGALTER

2010-05-19T12:27:00.004-04:00

i'd hope that you all know who the big leaguer, thomas bangalter, is: one of the biggest french house and electronic musicians / producers / one-half of daft punk + stardust ("music sounds better with you") + together ("a time has come to make a decision, are we in this thing alone, or are we in it together"). he is also responsible for one of my favorite remixes - dj mehdi's signatune (one of my favorite music videos too, btw).

obviously he's a bit busy right now, working on tron legacy's score along with the other half of daft punk. i'm real stoked, both for the movie and the killer sound track.

in this TB down time, i wanted to provide you with a bangalter classic off of his 1995 (woah) solo ep "trax on da rocks" and another off of his 1998 follow up "track on da rocks 2." this is french house at its best and the craziest part is that it won't feel dated because it's on the same level as (if not better than) a lot of today's electronica. since they are both great summer time kick offs, hopefully they inspire both mixed drinks and beaches:

Thomas Bangalter - On Da Rocks (1995)

Thomas Bangalter - Club Soda (1998)

99 posts on youcantstopah. i love you guys.

98. MIAMI HORROR

2010-05-18T14:51:00.003-04:00

miami horror blasts back into action with his "moon theory" single. when i first heard miami horror, it was just some dude mixing some perfect 80s influenced electro jams and doing some solid remixes for PNAU, stardust, the presets (and many more). lots of synths and electric guitars, sunglasses and red corvettes. now, miami horror plays live with a four piece band and the tracks he puts together in the studio have dynamic vocals that follow a similar aesthetic. if you go back you'll find some older miami horror that's a little less produced and has no vocals. he has definitely grown a lot as an artist, but don't forget the old stuff - it's good too!

everything off of his last ep, bravado, is fantastic. check out "make you mine" and "sometimes." they are some of the best summer jams - on par with bands like the similou.

what's coming next is a full length miami horror lp that i can't find any details on other then it's expected release is sometime later this year. "moon theory" is basically a combination of the 80s synth aesthetic and some epic western gun fight with clint eastwood feeling extremely lucky. i'm not sure why (probably because of the occasional twang), but it feels like sepia and neon, and it works well. vocally, it sounds a little bit like hercules and love affair. you will enjoy it!

Miami Horror - Moon Theory (Radio Edit) on SoundCloud

go to their fan bridge page here to sign up for their mailing list and grab the baby monster remix

97. MICHAEL LEONHART & THE AVRAMINA 7

2010-05-17T16:22:00.002-04:00

Michael Leonhart & Avramina 7 - Dreams Of An Aquarian (Music Video on Youtube)

michael leonhart is a songwriter, a producer, and a musician on truth & soul records - a brooklyn based indie label that specializes in contemporary funk and soul. YEAH YEAH! michael has worked with some amazing talent across multiple genres: mos def, brian eno, steely dan (those guys are picky), david byrne and has worked on over 50 truth and soul recordings. bottom line is that this guy is fucking talented.

the avramina 7 are a group of NYC studio musicians who have played with el michels affair and tv on the radio (to name a couple).

what they've done together is create a concept album "that would meld the styles of Bollywood funk scores, 60's psychedelic rock, and the mythical storytelling of artists like Peter, Paul, & Mary and Donovan." as far as i can tell, they did a great job - you can for sure hear the bollywood funk! it's reallllll funky.

here is one of my favorite tracks off of the album:

Michael Leonhart & the Avramina 7 - Scopalamine (on SoundCloud)

grab the whole thing, extremely well priced, on itunes right here.

96. ANTIVJ

2010-05-13T16:17:00.003-04:00

AntiVJ - ENGHIEN (Vimeo)

AntiVJ is a visual label that presents these incredible audio/visual performances. They're simple and spectacular, mixing electronic music and projection mapping. Like this video, they often make buildings come alive. Its fucking awesome - definitely the best mapping work I've ever seen. Check them out and expect more to come.

95. AU REVOIR SIMONE

2010-05-12T21:10:00.003-04:00

i fell in love with au revoir simone when i first heard the teenager's remix of "fallen snow." their vocals inspire good feelings! it's been a while since we posted some solid electro/disco remixes on here - where that bass line is so hot you could burn this disco out. this track has everything, the horns, the break down, the disco strings, and the part where you roller skate backwards. PUNCHES are from BK (let's hang out guys) and have only one other track on their myspace - that's equally as funky. definitely check that out!

this is another song i heard first through et musique pour tous. thanks for the education! they put together a stellar mix once a month called "le miel du mois" (french for-) and this was one of may's featured tracks. check out all the mixes here, you'll for sure have a good time. it comes highly recommended from me to you!

Au Revoir Simone - Only You Can Make You Happy (PUNCHES Remix) (Download)

make sure you grab au revoir simone's latest album "still light, still night" off of itunes.

94. MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD

2010-05-12T13:54:00.005-04:00

here's something that's a little different

martina topley-bird provides smooth and beautiful vocals over tracks produced by danger mouse. previously, martina has collaborated with gorillaz, common, massive attack and the prodigy. in other words, she has worked with some tight artists, and has nothing but super star value.

she's opening for massive attack and neon indian tonight in NYC @ terminal 5! tickets here. she's headed to the west coast afterwards, where she'll continue to open in LA, then san fran.

Martina Topley-Bird - Baby Blue (Download)

93. AMARI + FRANCESCO CALABRESE

2010-05-11T18:58:00.003-04:00

Amari - Tiger (Vimeo)

It looks like this band, Amari, was warped into a mixed-up alternate universe of Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and they're all living strange lives through the eyes of others. Rock solid video and loving the music too. Seems like they got their hands on a bunch of sci-fi films from the 80's and pasted the bands faces on all the characters. Nothing I recognize, but I wasn't much of sci-fi fanatic. I think I see some Russian writing in a couple of the shots... Great directing job by Francesco Calabrese.

The song, Tiger, is a single set to release this thursday (May 13th). It'll have accompanying remixes by Cècile, NT89, Bunuel, and Cerronza. Check them out:

92. CHANGES + SOMETHING GOOD CAN WORK

2010-05-10T13:17:00.009-04:00

things are changing with youcantstopah. today we become part of a bigger network of blogs (ran by our music video writer fwack) called "the king of clouds." oh yeah!

the only real difference you'll see here is that there's a navigation bar at the top of the page that'll more easily help you access some of the other pages within the network. this isn't some sell out plan, and it's not like we're garnering any type of advertising space that'll ruin the aesthetic of our pages. hell yes, i'd like to be making dollaz, but that isn't the immediate goal. what we're shooting for is creating a set of pages that hold many of your (and our) interests together in one place.

what are these new pages?

boombox - public art. any thing that can create a shared experience for the viewer(s) in public spaces. very excited to see this develop.

pixels - this page is made up of a select group of invited artists who post images, videos and photography (basically any digital art). the categories will range from bad photoshop to crazy digtal illustrations. i'm very excited about pixels because i'll for sure be using it as an outlet. think of it as a more collaborative and multi-faceted tumblr image blog (that also posts videos). all original and "remixed" material.

youcantstopah - we're not going to change, but you'll see some definite improvements, almost immediately, we will be adding new contributors and we're real stoked about it! we'll still be posting about music, music videos and events - only we'll continue to post even more than we ever have in the past.

emporium - merch and more, baby. mostly for the digital art that comes out of PIXELS, but maybe some youcantstopah will be up there in the future. we'll keep you posted.

here is some good music for you, you really deserve it for making it this far:

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (Download)

i put the twelves remix of this track up in april and had no idea the original was so good. moulinex did a remix of their "i can talk" - should have known - when both moulinex AND the twelves remix a band, the band has to be good. i just heard the original of this track for the first time a few days ago and am very impressed. the vocalist for these guys is original and creative, super quick delivery and real smooth. a lot of up-tempo, 16th notes on the hi-hat and positive guitar riffs. they are the parts of bloc party that don't depress you. two door cinema club's album "tourist history" just came out. grab it on itunes here, it's reallllly good.

91. GRIEVES + BUDO

2010-05-07T15:31:00.003-04:00

here are some sweet friday hip-hop remixes for you. grieves and budo worked together to put together this nice little ep that they're offerring entirely for free here. you can preview all the tracks below (unless you are using RSS)!

90. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS + ADAM SMITH + MARCUS LYALL

2010-05-07T13:43:00.003-04:00

The Chemical Brothers - Swoon (Youtube)

You most certainly should check out this video. It's simple but stunning, and probably one of the best uses of stock(-esque) footage. Released yesterday, the music video is for the single, Swoon, from The Chemical Brothers' upcoming album, Further, set to be released this June. The exciting thing about this album is that each of the 8 tracks will have a corresponding film that developed concurrently. The Chemical Brothers established this partnership with two of their long-time visual artist buds, Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall. Smith has been behind every visual backdrop for every Chemical Brothers concert since they debuted live!

Sounds like an awesome idea and I am excited to see the rest of the videos look like. The videos will be released as a special edition DVD. They will also be available for download with the LP on iTunes.

ALSO, if you don't already follow us via any of those social networks, might I suggest you check out our Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace?

89. MORE MITTEN

2010-05-07T12:15:00.004-04:00

i can't begin to explain how good brooklyn duo mitten is. they're still working on their debut ep, and it looks like their working realll hard. if you liked their other two tracks, "cavalcade" and "green" you will FOR SURE like "similar sense." it proves their versatility even more: it's up-tempo, the vocals are playful and gently bounce us around, the lyrics are meaningful for anyone who lives in this city, the melodic build takes you for a positive ride to the chorus and the percussion is interesting and innovative using more indie approaches with electronic influences that might make you think of aphex twin. i could keep going on and on! some other good news is that mitten is working on their live show - i can't wait for this - it's going to be glorious. the bad news is that this will probably be their last free track before they release their ep.

Mitten - Similar Sense (Download)

check out some more of their music on another youcantstopah post AND don't forget to become a fan on facebook. mitten is maia and joanna. they like things like kittens, whiskey, bicycles and oregon. they are love at first listen.

88. REAL GENIUS

2010-05-06T11:54:00.006-04:00

if you haven't seen real genius before, you're really missing out. i saw it for the first time in the late 90s, rediscovered it when i was in high school, and have been listening to these tracks over and over again since. real genius is kind of like if tron and revenge of the nerds had a child, where val kilmer and jeff bridges are most closely related and the story's backdrop is that of a college where nerds are "less than." if that isn't enough, there are lasers and the fashion sense is ray bans and irony. it's basically hipster porn.

these two jams are from the real genius soundtrack, some of the best representation of music from an 80s comedy cliché (but, yes, it's truly amazing). i love these songs. we go way back.

Chas Jankel - Number One (Download)

Cosmat Angels - I'm Falling (Download)

87. WALTER MEEGO

2010-05-05T16:21:00.004-04:00

i saw walter meego open up for the presets two summers ago in brooklyn and i really liked their music style, combining some more traditional (rock) guitar sounds with happy-pop-electro. their stage presence was good too: you know that stupid shit noise musicians do when they're pretending to be hendrix? it was the opposite of that. it was on the money.

it's great when you REALLY like the opener when you go to a bigger electro show. sometimes you find something new that you could be really into. i grabbed a bunch of their tracks, and golf carted around all summer in a narnia type landscape with walter meego as my perfect soundtrack. it was magical.

i'm sure most of you have "forever" (which is an awesome track) but "got me going" is something special. when i saw them live and wrote the words down on a receipt so i'd remember to find it. that makes it a big deal. sure, it's the live version, but that's really the only version i've found around. it's a little dark (in a good way) compared to some of their other stuff and it has a tight guitar solo that's some where in between my sharona and cliffs of dover.

walter meego's debut album "voyager" is real good. grab it on itunes. their blog says that their next album is mixed and recorded, but needs to be mastered. if it's as quality as voyager it's going to be a big release. also if you head over to their blog, there are a bunch of demo tracks to check out.

Walter Meego - Forever (Download)

Walter Meego - Got Me Going (Live) (Download)

86. THE KNOCKS

2010-05-03T17:06:00.006-04:00

the knocks are a new york city duo that specialize in bringing elements of hip-hop, electro and soul together. they've done a whole bunch of tight remixes for bands like passion pit, ellie goulding, and peter bjorn + john. in other words, they are crossing genre with their remix material and attracting the right attention all over the place: they even co-wrote and co-produced samuel's debut album. these guys are all over the place, and it's a good thing - they prove to be extremely versatile and enjoyable no matter the style of music they're working within. yeah, yeah!

after kicking ass with remixes and producing, they are finally dropping the single "blackout" and sharing it for free. good call, guys. i would call the track soul-electro-pop. it's the right stuff.

The Knocks - Blackout (Download)

oh yeah AND they're having a release party this thursday @ baddies for the "blackout" single. NO cover. GREAT music. click the image for more information or rsvp to the email address baddiesrsvp(at)gbh(dot)tv if you want to attend. for sure hit that up!

85. AUTOKRATZ

2010-05-03T11:55:00.002-04:00

autokratz just put up their entire new "kick ep" for free on their website. these guys are nice guys.

their track "it's on" is what introduced me to them - i think it was in some bangin' moulinex (or maybe it was alex metric?) mix a few years ago. since then, they've really developed and now their mostly remix / electronica sound has grown into original songs that have an almost up-tempo new order + the presets feel.

head over to autokratz.com to grab the two track ep + three remixes.

84. TIGA

2010-05-01T15:40:00.002-04:00

Tiga - Far From Home (Youtube)

tiga's far from home is one of my favorite music videos. the whole thing is really theatrical, very musical-comedy in its choreography and directing. god damn, he even does some jazz steps (or box steps? i can't remember that shit's called).

the video was directed by nagi noda, who also directed for scissor sisters and cut copy. she created some unique music videos, but unfortunately, she passed away in 2008.

the set is super simple, but the embellishment and set dressings provide for a clean and almost magical aesthetic. it reminds me of sets from 60s movies like peter pan (live action). the dopest part of the video for me is the birds on the electric wires serving as musical notes.

tiga recently came out with a new album, ciao! preview it on itunes. far from home is off of his first album sexor - one of the besties.

83. SUNGLASSES

2010-04-30T00:10:00.003-04:00

SUNGLASSES.

i really love this track and have been meaning to post it for a while. ever since forthebeat used it in their printemps mix, i've been rocking out to it - especially after i saw sunglasses live at forthebeat's spring party @ home sweet home at the beginning of april. it was real obvious that these guys know how to have a good time (shaking the stage type of guys) and they really engaged the crowd.

the two dudes behind sunglasses, 8000 bam bam and baby seal, worked on dialogue and original music for a thesis film together in college and found that they collaborated so well that they had to do it again. they made the right choice, thank goodness.

their ep will be out on june 15th on waaga records / lefse records. keep your eyes open.

Sunglasses - Whiplash (Download)

and check out the video for the track - it's got a strange connect to eastbound and down, the effects are interesting, and it represents the aesthetic of the band real well. if you know what i'm talking about, you'll know what i'm talking about. what's up, what's up:

"WHIPLASH" by Sunglasses (Vimeo)

82. KISSES

2010-04-29T12:53:00.002-04:00

spring romance = kisses

check out their 7" on surround sound records.

they are air france + bikini's love child. that's all that needs to be said. catch my drift?

Kisses - Bermuda (Download)

81. YES GIANTESS

2010-04-28T20:45:00.003-04:00

i was looking around today for information about the band BMX, and stumbled on the young paris label sister phunk which put together a series of promo videos when they released their compilation "18 airs du temps." unfortunately, the whole compilation still isn't available in the US, but grab the EP on itunes here. i only know about a few of the bands on there- BMX, the golden filter, passion pit and cfcf. this compilation is a definite must buy - it's on the same level of valerie and friends, but sister phunk crosses genre a little bit more.

anyway, one of the bands i'm just finding out about is called yes giantess - because sister phunk has one of their tracks on the compilation. these guys are fucking awesome / they're from boston. i've been listening to the tracks on their myspace for a while now - they remind me of a heavier and more serious version of MGMT's older (1st EP), and i'd say better, stuff. other things you might hear: a kavinsky style 80s heavy guitar ("the ruins"), occasional michael jackson sounding vocals ("can't help it"). in other words, yes giantess are of greatness. they are still unsigned - but are moving quickly forward. expect to see (and hear) more of them in the near future. i'm serious. they are going to be HUGE.

i want an LP so so so bad. right now, they've got two EPs available on neon gold records - check it here.

Yes Giantess - Tuff n Stuff (Download)

Here's a music video for another one of their tracks:

Yes Giantess - The Ruins (Vimeo) directed by Ben Mcintire & Danny Abel

80. DJ MEHDI + ROMAIN GAVRAS

2010-04-27T20:50:00.003-04:00

DJ MEHDI, Signatune (Vimeo)

At this point, you may or may not have seen the new M.I.A. video for her new track, Born Free, that seems to be popping up everywhere on the web right now. The video has already racked up hundreds of thousands of views after two days up on Vimeo. Its good, I like it, it makes a statement, but this director has done better work. Which brings us to tonight's post!

This video is one of my favorites and has been for a while. The track used for the video is Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk's edit of Signature by DJ Mehdi. This character is incredible and what it leads up to is even more so! That competition at the end, it's a real thing; they call it dB drag racing. They reach sound levels of 180dB inside the vehicles - that's 32 times louder than a rock concert.

Director Romain Gavras has some serious talent, and I think his greatest skill is making his music videos feel genuine. He casts some of the most real and regular looking people. That combined with solid cinematography, editing, and a great ability to tell a story results in some great videos. His directing credits also include Stress by Justice as well as their documentary A Cross the Universe, and the music video for Simian Mobile Disco's track, I Believe.

79. BUFFALO BUNCH / WE IN MUSIC

2010-04-27T13:14:00.004-04:00

house throw back to 2003. this remix is done with we in music (french house collaborations run by raw man) and buffalo bunch (raw man with play paul, now running as ryskee - that's paul de homem-christo, the brother of daft punk's guy manuel de homem-christo). in other words. i've been rocking out to this track for years and had NO IDEA who was behind it. i've, of course, been all about raw man and buffalo bunch, but have never heard of play paul. what an embarrassment. unfortunately, this dynamic duo is no longer together (they ran 96-03 apparently), but we can all enjoy a little history. not a lot of information out there about them-

bebel gilberto is a brazilian-american bossa-nova musician. great to hear some house tracks that aren't remixes of indie, electro, or other house music every once and a while!

with this track, the bass sweeps and isn't too heavy. the music will MOVE you. if you like earlier raw man and groups like cassius, you'll love this track. also, because of the way it samples from bossa-nova, you might also like it if you're a fan of the avalanches (come on new album!) or mylo.

Bebel Gilberto - Close Your Eyes (Buffalo Bunch/We In Music Remix)

78. UNKLE + JONATHON GLAZER

2010-04-21T23:48:00.004-04:00

UNKLE ft Thom Yorke - Rabbit In Your Headlights (Video)

This one is an old favorite that I would like to toss into the mix. The music video was directed by Jonathan Glazer. You may be familiar with his feature length movie Sexy Beast. He has directed a handful of solid music videos, don't be surprised if you see more of his work here in the future. The track, Rabbit In Your Headlights, is by UNKLE and it features Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Enjoy!

77. RÖYKSOPP

2010-04-20T11:51:00.003-04:00

Happy Up Here (Video)

Awesome awesome awesome music video. Röyksopp has such a solid sound and aesthetic and this music video follows suit. The stylization and concept are spectacular; the use of Space Invaders in the real world is a fantastic idea! I love seeing old video games come to life. If you've never seen the 1993 film, Super Mario Bros, I recommend you find it.

This track is from Röyksopp's Junior, their third and most recent album. Be on the lookout for Junior's counterpart, a new album, Senior. It was originally slotted to be released late 2009, but has since been kept under the radar with little info out there. It said to be more instrumental and atmospheric, much different than the bright and energetic Junior. Svein Berge (half of Röyksopp) called it "the senile sibling of Junior who lives in the attic."

ALSO, they just started this “Track Of The Month” which they refer to as a service where fans can get their hands on some free, unreleased & exclusive Röyksopp material. You have to sign up, but it is totally worth it.

76. MYLO

2010-04-19T11:52:00.004-04:00

i was introduced to mylo back in 2006 and i still look at "destroy rock & roll" as one of the better house albums of the decade. he's also one of the few scottish musicians of this genre (that i've heard of anyway).

it's a classic house track, with vintage sounding vocals and a constant beat. definitely a throw back to 60s inspired 80s rock. it wasn't ever released because the band he sampled from wouldn't grant him rights. what a shame!

not a whole lot of information out there - but it looks like he's working on a new LP. feel the hype.

Mylo - Salt Lick

75. WAVE MACHINES

2010-04-19T00:14:00.005-04:00

i keep a sticky note on my computer that has a list of songs and artists to check out. today, i revisited wave machines, and i'm really happy that i did. they've been around for a couple of years and i'm just hearing about them - come on now! they're following suit with a lot of music coming from europe right now, some of my favorite sounding stuff: smooth, funk style bass, and falsetto with an electronic feel. and that's just this single, not all of their music sounds the same. it's not all "smooth electro," they've also got a rock and an indie background. sometimes, i hear a little david bowie in there - check out the chorus for "punk spirit."

this single is a throw back to the 70s and disco, but it's also looking into the future. wave machines are for sure going to be around for a while. definitely check out some more tracks on their myspace and if you are REAL into it, make sure you buy some of their music on itunes.

Wave Machines - Keep The Lights On

i also put up their music video because the choreography is really inventive, the narrative of it is a little bizarre, and overall, it's just really good looking. i think that music videos are often half the battle for a lot of musicians, and this is a definite victory.

Wave Machines - Keep The Lights On (Youtube)

74. LIFELIKE ♥

2010-04-16T23:25:00.003-04:00

ok i know this is ALL over the blogosphere, but whatever, lifelike is in my top ten remixers - he is so good that he gets his own smart playlist in my itunes. so... i had to post this! every one of his tracks are solid - ever since i heard his fucking amazing track "so electric" from cut copy's so cosmic (also one of the best mixes of all time), i've been following him with a fiery passion. he's pretty versatile too, with roots in french house, but also he gets real nu-disco and he's feeling the 80s electro bidness too. sometime, i'll put some of his older stuff on here and i'm sure you'll love it too!!

Pony Pony Run Run - Walking on a Line (Lifelike Radio Mix)

BONUS BONUS BONUS

Cut Copy - So Cosmic (download via RCRD LBL)****

sorry we haven't been posting much this week - it's been a little crazy round here. we'll be back at it soon. big time.

73. EDDIE MURPHY + MICHAEL JACKSON

2010-04-16T11:37:00.002-04:00

Eddie Murphy ft. Michael Jackson - Whatzupwitu (Video)

I had to post this when I found it this morning. I had no idea this existed. I can't decide what my favorite part of this is... Eddie Murphy's style, the moment where Michael Jackson "sets the color free," the peace signs, or simply the name of the track. You got to love 1993.

72. THE APPLES IN STEREO

2010-04-13T11:20:00.006-04:00

these guys have been around for almost 20 years and i've never heard of them. i am ashamed, disappointed, and can't believe i've been living my life normally without knowing of their existence. as of yesterday, that's all changed. everything is right in the world now that i know about the apples in stereo, i'm happy and i feel more complete. they sound like a mix between the 60s, 70s, and 80s R&B, funk, electro, psychedelic music and disco. they appropriately refer to their sound as "70's AM radio filtered through a UFO."

their next album, "travellers in space and time" is out on simian / yep roc / elephant 6 (release april 20th). it's characterized with "intense pop hooks and electronic sounds, mixed with a pumping, get-up-and-moonwalk beat." the frontman for the band, robert schneider (the musician not the actor) says "i wanted to make a futuristic pop record, to reach out to the kids of the future." these guys are perfect - nailing that idea big time. i wish more bands created such great concepts for their albums.

i wasn't able to provide a download link here at youcantstopah for their first single, "dance floor," off of their LP, but here it is to stream AND if you head over to their portal website (www.stepthroughtheportal.com), you can download it there!

The Apples In Stereo - Dance Floor (on soundcloud)

i bumped into their video for "dance floor" over at antville and i was blown away by the style of the video, the acting and the directing. they take a simple idea and make it absolutely perfect; an alternate universe where wood and schneider are both scientists (teacher and inventor, respectively) and then wood is transported to another alternate universe where his character is an award winning televised scientist and schneider plays some great music with a tight and bumpin' band. the video is totally rad and keeps pleasing / keeps you smiling; revealing hilarious device after device.

The Apples In Stereo - Dance Floor (video on youtube)

also, be sure to check out alternate universe elijah wood's tv show "exploring the universe" right here. and check out their website too (www.applesinstereo.com).

and finally - they are touring. for you northeasters, there are plenty of places to catch them perform:

Apr 16 - Cosmic Charlies - Lexington, KY

Apr 17 - 123 Pleasant Street - Morgantown, WV

Apr 18 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington DC

Apr 20 - Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia, PA

Apr 21 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY

Apr 23 - Middle East Underground - Cambridge, MA

Apr 24 - Castaways - Ithaca, NY

Apr 25 - Bug Jar - Rochester, NY

Apr 27 - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH

Apr 28 - The Pike Room - Pontiac, MD

Apr 30 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL

May 1 - Turf Club - St. Paul, MN

May 3 - Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI

May 4 - Billiken Club - St. Louis, MO

71. HOCUS POCUS + WU YUÉ

2010-04-12T17:25:00.003-04:00

Hocus Pocus - Beautiful Losers (Video)

Here we have a music video for a new track, Beautiful Losers by Hocus Pocus. I believe the video, directed by Wu Yué, hit the internet just today. The animation and the sound-synchronized editing is great, and on top of that I'm digging the track. The song itself as well as the rest of the album (16 Pièces, released March 15th) is a solid mix of hip hop, jazz and funk. Reminds me of Karl Denson with some Tower of Power folded in. Enjoy.

Hocus Pocus - Recyclé ft Fred Wesley & Stro The 89th Key

70. MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS

2010-04-09T17:11:00.004-04:00

this track always reminds me of partying in the spring, great pump up, great build. it sounds like last minute BBQs without charcoal, cheap beer and then putting together a party that everyone hears from the streets and has to come dance.

one of my buddies called me last week and was like "what is that awesome track you used to play all the time about burning something all the way down?" well dude, this one is for you.

also midnight juggernauts are working on a new album. their debut lp is one of my favorites, so let's hope their sophomore will live up to it. no word on release, but they've released two really solid singles, "this new technology" and "vital signs." check out the music video for "vital signs" they do some really cool stuff using pixel tracking (i think) through their collaboration with krozm. they are a directing trio from melbourne and have worked with some amazing bands on some amazing videos - cut copy, van she, architecture in helsinki etc, etc.

VHS Or BETA - Burn It All Down (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)

69. !!!

2010-04-08T14:06:00.007-04:00

i wanted to do something hot + spicy for our 69th post. keeping track of our post numbers let us post with number associations which is kind of fun and also kind of irrelevant.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) is one of my all time favorite bands, i've been listening to them since 2003 or 2004, i don't remember exactly, just remember being young. they came up in my shuffle today and i felt like they've been neglected + they're from brooklyn. so here's some background - i was lucky enough to see them live in 2006 / 2007 when they were still rolling with most of their original line up (since then their 2nd drummer passed away and one of their vocalists left to pursue his equally kick-ass group free blood). i've seen a lot of shows and this still is the best ensemble show i've ever seen - a ton of people on stage - switching around instruments - the band dancing in the audience - nic offer grinding all up in their faces. i left the show with my ears ringing for days.

if you're unfamiliar with chk chk chk, they are often classified as dance-punk or post-disco with electronic bits and pieces. they have three albums and they're all amazing. check them out here and buy them too!

this remix was only available on a 12" single (when it was released in 04) and so its kind of a rarity - i ripped it myself by plugging a turntable into my computer. the quality is pretty "OK" because i ripped it long before i understood such things but i wanted to share the love anyway!

!!! - Hello? Is This Thing On? [Thomas N' Eric's Rub and Tug Throwdown]

68. NEUROSONICS AUDIOMEDICAL LABS INC.

2010-04-08T13:19:00.004-04:00

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. (Video)

This is an extraordinary project. It's so creative and so clean. Perhaps the strange future of beatboxing and scratching? Or not. For some reason it makes me think of commercials from the 90's for cereal or fruit snacks.

The video is a serious collaboration comprised of hip hop artists, DJs, and a handful of artists specialized in visual and sound effects. Too many people to name, but do check out the Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc site for links to all of their websites. The site also has production stills giving a bit of insight into how the project was done, but not too much. It leaves quite a few questions unanswered, which is kind of nice.

67. WE HAVE BAND + CARL CRAIG

2010-04-07T12:33:00.002-04:00

et musique pour tous released an amazing mix tape (grab it here!) last fall for CMJ that i've been listening to almost non stop since. i only knew a few artists on the mix tape (hooray for earth, the golden filter, delorean, sebastien tellier) and i'm finally going through the tracklist and checking out all of the rest of the bands that i'm into.

among those bands is we have band. coming from LONDON they have some solid percussion (think cowbell from the rapture) and some post disco sound - over all some very similar influences to chkchkchk. they also carry some similarities to the better parts of bloc party. naturally, i like them.

carl craig's remix also has some post disco sounds - but the bass is really steady and the tempo isn't too quick. the drums are a little arena rock. it's a good pick me up. perfect for beers + bright lights + hanging out on the roof on a hot night. kind of like tonight!

yeah man, it's fucking beautiful outside!

We Have Band - Divisive (Carl Craig remix)

66. RAD OMEN + NICHOLAUS GOOSSEN

2010-04-07T12:27:00.002-04:00

RAD OMEN - "Rad Anthem"

I want to hang out with these guys! Well maybe not. Ronald, Jack, Colonel Sanders and the King, may be a little too much for me to handle. This music video, directed by Nicholaus Goossen, is stupidly fun (and possibly explicit - I warned you). It reminds me of what's been coming out of France, like it should be a Justice video or something else Ed Banger.

I'm digging the tune too, sounds like Breakbot. I can't find much about Rad Omen beyond the fact that it's a side project of DJ Troublemaker. Rad Omen has no other music at this point, but Troublemaker has an album and a handful of remixes for artists such as Phoenix and Matt & Kim. Check it out, the whole album is there in the embed:

65. HOT CHIP

2010-04-07T00:12:00.005-04:00

the embedded version of this video was disabled (and therefore disappeared) because myspace + youtube won't allow it. watch the video HERE on youtube. this hot chip video for "i feel better" is amazing. something about hot chip sort of being played by a boy band, a crazy looking dude and a floating head is really confusing and rad at the same time. not sure what it means, but it's ballin.

i'm not going to host the track, but head over to hypem to see if it's around (i'm sure it is).

64. MITTEN

2010-04-06T17:12:00.005-04:00

thanks to twitter, mitten reached out to me, i checked out their music and fuckin LOVED it. it's outside of my usual aesthetic on here, but it's ok because they are QUALITY. mitten is from brooklyn (represent) and is just starting up. they've been together for about a year and are finally getting the ball rolling on an EP. below are the first two tracks they've recorded. they are both short and SWEET.

this is a band to follow if you like simple electronic sounds mixed with an indie feel / beautiful sweeping progressions and complicated percussion. their sound is relaxed, earnest and oh man, it makes you feel really good.

become a fan

Mitten - Cavalcade

Mitten - Green

63. ODAHL

2010-04-06T13:25:00.003-04:00

if you've been following here for a while, you know how much i love odahl. he sounds like a swedish + more electro version of solo fred falke of the past (i like falke's older stuff better anyway). you can also put him in the same category as UK's louis la roche. i don't know if odahl's hit their level on the blogosphere, but he deserves it and he's on his way.

i've noticed there's been some buzz lately about one of the biggest up + coming house artists, so i had to get my shit together and post some of his new stuff. he just hooked me up with this track like half an hour ago and i know you'll like it! "hold me" is a blog only exclusive so download it AND share it. it sounds like odahl's got an EP in the works (for the summer). it'll be awesome, i'm sure. i'll keep you posted, cuties.

ODahl - Hold Me

62. BLUEBRAIN + GABE ASKEW

2010-04-05T21:06:00.002-04:00

Ten by Ten - Bluebrain

Awesome music video here for the track "Ten by Ten" by BlueBrain. It looks great, the plot is quite absurd, and the modeling and texturing are spectacular! This video was directed and animated by Gabe Askew. He is also responsible for the music video for Grizzly Bear's track Two Weeks. Enjoy.

61. THE TWELVES

2010-04-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

i am convinced these guy do no wrong. always good. always funky. always the right bass. always the right build to the chorus.

the twelves are definitely the foundation of contemporary disco + electro and are nearly perfect every time. this will not disappoint!!

check out kitsuné. they give away great tracks + mini mixes frequently.

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix)

60. ZIMOUN

2010-04-02T13:01:00.002-04:00

Zimoun : Sound Sculptures & Installations | Compilation Video V1.7

This post is a bit off the beaten path, but this work is pretty incredible stuff. It's a compilation of sound sculptures and installations from Zimoun. All of the pieces adhere to a strict palette and often use similar materials. The precision and creativity of each sculpture is the most exciting aspect of the compilation. My favorites are the two that appear at 4:55 and 9:30 in the video.

59. MR OIZO

2010-03-31T23:13:00.002-04:00

WHERE'S THE MONEY GEORGE ?

This seems to be an incomplete video, but I like it nonetheless. At the end you'll be asking "But what's on the cassette??!!" This video comes to us from Mr Oizo of Ed Banger Records. I go through phases of listening to a lot of Mr Oizo (and many many phases where I don't listen to him). Regardless, I do love his work as a director. Ever seen Steak? I strongly recommend it.

Be on the look out for new work of his. Mr Oizo is coming out with a second feature film named Rubber. The soundtrack will feature Justice. Also, Oizo has also recently announced that he is recording a new album titled "2010."

58. WINSLOW TURNER PORTER III

2010-03-30T15:37:00.004-04:00

Winslow Porter: "The People, for the Record"

winslow turner porter iii is an up and coming dj based in nyc. not only does he create solid beats, he also does some more experimental djing - some of the cooler stuff i've seen. the sound in "the people, for the record" is like if a hip / hop dj started listening to house + electro and had some excellent production skills to top it off. i'm really into it, basically. here's what he has to say about his live performance (in the video above):

"I am treating my two musicians like records, keeping them in a cool, dry place. Actually, I am cuing, scratching and phasing them with the aid of vinyl control records...My 10 minute performance includes musical themes from the likes of Chopin and Aphex Twin. Each musician is isolated so that they can only hear the beat of the record that is next to them. Meaning that I can control each musician individually. My next goal is mixing entire bands together, each in sound-isolated rooms."

you're lucky for three reasons:

1. you can download a copy of his liveset so you can listen to it any time (there's a little clipping because it's a live recording, but it's still great to listen to).

Winslow Turner Porter III - The People, For The Record

2. you can grab one of his remixes:

Young Jeezy and Slim Thug - Diamonds (DJ Ayres and Winslow remix)

3. he is going to dj april 10th @ knitting factory in brooklyn. tickets HERE. facebook HERE. only $10 to get in ($7 w/ NYU ID). beer + shot special from 12-2am. light show + visuals + disco party!!! i'll be there. will you?

become a fan of WTP III on facebook

57. RENAUD HALLÉE

2010-03-30T15:10:00.004-04:00

Sonar from Renaud Hallée

This video really nails it with sound-synchronized motion graphics. Its one of those videos I watched twice the first time I saw it. Built in Adobe Flash, it's a solid use of basic keyframe animation. Props to Renaud Hallée. Enjoy!

56. FORTHEBEAT PARTY

2010-03-29T11:21:00.004-04:00

one of our favorite NYC music blogs, forthebeat, is throwing a party this thursday (APRIL 1st, NO JOKE) @ HOME SWEET HOME and they are so awesome that they are having an open svedka bar from 8-9pm. so get to that shit on time (8pm). tickets are only $10 dollaz. RSVP to forthebeat@gmail.com. PS: we will be there.

some rad bands that are playing:

hooray for earth (you know how i feel about these guys)

coma cinema

sunglasses

the royal chains

noel from HFE (who we interviewed over the summer) put together a mini-mix with tracks from all four bands so you can get a feel for what the evening is going to be like.

download this 12 minutes of fun

if are you unfamiliar with these bands let me break it down for you: if you like hot chip or discovery, you'll like sunglasses. indie rock that's for tough guys = coma cinema. you like the music on here? you'll like hooray for earth (i'm serious, they're real fucking good). royal chains = rock + grunge + pop. all good bands. definitely a great line up. i hope to see you there.

//////131 Chrystie Street (between Delancey & Broome)

Lower East Side, NYC\\\\\\\\\

55. NYC WEEKEND 3/27

2010-03-26T10:50:00.003-04:00

everybody's getting ready for the weekend. here's some of what's happening in brooklyn and manhattan:

feadz and krazy baldhead are playing at LOVE on saturday 3/27 @ 10pm and it looks like it's FREE if you RSVP (read the instructions!) before 11pm tomorrow. NICE.

miike snow are playing at webster hall on saturday 3/27 @ 7pm. tix. they are also playing this sunday at bowery @ 8pm.

we're going to try to highlight a few events for each weekend that we'd go to if we had the scrilla or the time. any time we're going, oh yeah, you'll know!

53. PENGUIN PRISON

2010-03-25T18:15:00.005-04:00

so i said that i wanted to really emphasize NYC talent. penguin prison is one of the many bands fresh and hot from this glorious city. they're pumping out funky bass driven remixes and their original material sounds kind of like if george michael (in his WHAM days) started doing some contemporary electro pop. basically, i'm really into it. it's fucking great. my favorite track of theirs is on the myspace (linked above) "the worse it gets."

penguin prison also DJs. i'd love to get myself to one of those shows. they're playing in NYC on april 8th and may 8th.

Penguin Prison - Something I'm Not

Marina & The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot (Penguin Prison Remix)

i didn't want to host everything of theirs that's free, but this remix is really good too

Erik Hassle - Hurtful (Penguin Prison Remix) (mp3 via SHEENA BEASTON)

BUY THEIR ANIMAL ANIMAL SINGLE EP!

52. TAKUYA HOSOGANE

2010-03-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

Vanishing Point

I enjoy this video tremendously; since I've discovered it, I can't tell you how many times I've watched it. It's a perfect example of sound-synchronized visuals, specifically motion graphics in this case. Created in Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D, the video is neatly stylized. The shapes and visuals move, morph, pulse and twitch to the music, folding in new material and ideas moment to moment. The music follows a similar stylization.

The creator of the video is Takuya Hosogane. He's part of Bonsajo, a visual performance unit from Japan. Do check out Hosogane's site; he's got other work like this as well as his work as a VJ. The music is by cubesato and Meine Meinung.

51. MASSIVE ATTACK + EDOUARD SALIER

2010-03-23T14:37:00.000-04:00

Massive Attack - Splitting the Atom directed by Edouard Salier

HEY! This post marks the beginning of my contributions to YOUCANTSTOPAH! As a kind of preamble, I want to toss out there HOW I will be contributing to the blog... I fucking love music, its basically a drug to me. And as a visual artist, there's nothing that gets me more excited than a solid connection between music and visuals. So, with that being said, my posts will mostly comprise of music videos, audio-synchronized visuals, as well as the work of VJs and other live performance shit that I find awesome.

Getting down to business, this music video for Splitting the Atom by Massive Attack, comes from artist/designer/director/photographer, Edouard Salier. The video is a great example of visual storytelling, holding your attention by upping the ante bit by bit. The entire video is this single frozen moment, like someone hit a big old pause button. The only thing moving is the camera which flies and swings through this scene, revealing a little more with each turn. By the end, you're asking yourself, "Wait, how did this start again?" Beyond the concept, the video looks amazing with strong aesthetic choices, awesome 3D modeling/rendering, and the camera movement is delightful! Massive Attack seems to always collaborate with the right folks for their videos. Years back, their video for Karmacoma, directed Jonathan Glazer, was among my favorites.

Definitely check out Edouard Salier's Vimeo as well as his website. He's worked with other musicians such as Air and Raphael Saadiq.

50. JAMAICA

2010-03-23T14:10:00.000-04:00

jamaica sounds real good. they sound like electro, but they play rock. you can probably put them in the same category as midnight juggernauts or datarock, but jamaica really uses the guitar in a great way that you don't hear in a lot of music of similar genres. they're helping to keep the guitar solo alive and keeping it up tempo! WOOOOOOO.

Jamaica - I Think I Like u 2

check out the music video here. it's pretty rad and explains what the band is about. directed by ed banger's So-Me + machine molle.

PS congratulations us: it's our 50th post. i hope you like what we've been up to so far. celebrate by following us on twitter or joining our fan page. the more fans we have and the more people following us, the more we'll post. so there's that too.

49. KAVINKSY

2010-03-15T18:15:00.000-04:00

kavinsky just rolled out a new single ep "nightcall" co-produced by guy-manuel de homem christo (1/2 of daft punk). still has the same feel as the tracks on his last EP "1986," but with the dpunk touch. solid work as usual. no download available for the single. you can only preview on soundcloud. preorder the single on itunes.

oh hey and check out this awesome remix of the track by breakbot. bringing on the smooth with that disco brass. this guy can't go wrong! there is a better quality version of this track on the ep, hook it up!

Kavinsky - Nightcall (Breakbot Remix)

48. GORILLAZ + ALEX METRIC

2010-03-11T16:33:00.001-05:00

old news: this has been floating around for a while. i've been listening to the gorillaz for 9 years and i'm convinced that damon albarn (also from the good, the bad & the queen and blur) is a motherfucking genius. the gorillaz new album, "plastic beach" (buy) is just as good as the first two albums (and d-sides). the first time i heard the single "stylo," i thought the track was written twenty years ago and PRODUCED today. it's amazing.

then i found the alex metric remix on hypem. i usually love his stuff too, and i have to say he's really developed his sound. the heavy is giving way to the funky. the original and the remix are totally different tracks and both totally ballin. rarely is there a remix on the same level as the original AND vice versa. download the remix, buy the original, watch the music video (with all american bruce willis) below.

Gorillaz - Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)

BONUS, an old favorite: Alex Metric Mix 2008 (via Livemix)

this mix was the ultimate power up in my college apartment for a solid six months

Siriusmo - Girls rock - Exploited

Justice - New Jack - Ed Banger

Alex Gopher - Aurora (Riot In Belgium Mix) - Go 4 Music

Autokratz - it?s on - Kitsune

The Rapture - The Devil (alex Metric Bootleg) - CDR

Alex Metric - In your Machine - Marine Parade

Sharam Jey - Message2love (Alex Metric Mix) - King Kong

Infadel DJ?s - Stress thriller bootleg - CDR

Black Daniel - Gimme What You Got (Alex Metric Mix) - Pices of eight

Blende - Peaches - CDR

Shiny Toy Guns - The One (Adam Freeland Mix) - Mercury

Splittr - All Alone (Alex Metric Mix) - Eye Industries

Alex Metric - Pins - Marine Parade

DJ Dlg - Paramount (Rogerseventytwo mix) (Re edit)

47. AIR + BREAKBOT

2010-03-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

breakbot has been slamming out some AMAZING remixes. he's done stuff for metronomy, pacific!, PNAU, van she and royksopp (to name a few). his original tracks are great too. this guy is signed with ed banger and is on the forefront of chillin. his work could be the future of smooth french touch and when he does a remix for air - it's almost too much.

Air - So Light Is Her Footfall (Breakbot Remix)

BONUS: Breakbot's Valentine Mix (via DISCOPUNK)

one of the best mixes so far in 2010 - short and sweet @ half an hour.

check out his single "baby i'm yours (featuring Irfane)" on itunes.

46. RIP COREY HAIM

2010-03-10T09:19:00.000-05:00

according to LA police, corey haim died of a possible drug overdose this morning. in tribute, i've posted a track from one of my favorite corey movies: the lost boys. track is by tim cappello, who is famous for portraying "buff sax" in lost boys and for playing on tour with tina turner, ringo starr and peter gabriel.

Tim Cappello - I Still Believe

45. DRAMATIC REDESIGN

2010-03-09T20:01:00.000-05:00

large hiatus because i still want to pump out new stuff that i know you'll like, but sometimes, time isn't on my side. that's what it is, man.

we've redesigned the blog. i think it's pretty rad. the design is by a small start-up company called aesDes. they're still designing they're own web page, and there's still some finishing touches for my page, but i wanted to show you what's been going on. come check it out if you're looking at the page with a reader.

i love bass lines. they're the foundation of french house. i remember about five years ago, i was given a mix cd called "french disco" and it changed my life. i had been listening to dpunk for years already, but this mix really expanded my horizons. most of the cd was tracks from the upper cuts, which is a compilation of french house tracks by alan braxe, fred falke, stardust, and the paradise. there was also some dj falcon and together tracks on the mix. from then on, i've always been looking for more of that PERFECT french house bass line. something that's on par with intro. every once and a while there's one that really gets close. gloves (aka G.L.O.V.E.S) sounds really promising - his remix of sneaky sound system's "when we were young" has been blowing up my speakers for what seems likes years. last week, i stumbled upon his remix of golden bug's "last dance in tokyo" and got PUMPED (the original is pretty solid too).

this is the stuff dreams are made of:

Golden Bug - Last Dance in Tokyo (Gloves ReWrite)

ps BUY SOME GOLDEN BUG here

44. SUPER MAL

2010-02-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

super mal throws down remixes and original tracks that put a smile on your face and put you in a great mood. they've got that smooth french touch sound but also have some of the partying sensibility and progression you'll find in french house. smooth, but not too smooth (is there such a thing?) i was originally introduced to their stuff through one of my favorite french house guys, lifelike, who remixed super mal's "bigger than big" and "light years." from two producers in the UK to your speakers. this is a great track. you will love it.

Dada Ft The Other - Majestic 12 (Super Mal Remix)

buy the 320s on beatport

43. THE METATRON

2010-02-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

this is a sure fire party mix, and it is extremely intense. like "hold on to your hats" intense. coming from austria, the metatron, is a guy who plays some different roles: a dj, a designer, and a party organizer.

from the metatron: "Skitzo disko is a party series and also a mixtape series! The beginning of skitzo disko was jan/feb 2008. Before SD I played with a friend: wave, new wave and electroclash as 'third wave disco!' I try to make people happy and dance! The blog scene is so overloaded with mixtape without soul. And I think, the people know the difference! The first track from the mix was exclusive made for me and skitzo disko. Made by “transformer di roboter” (berlin/germany), it’s a kind of mash-up-cover-song falco's “amadeus” and scenario rocks “skitzo dancer," but without samples, all selfmade, and the vocals are the best! It’s in german and english.... listen to it and you'll know what I mean!"

you should absolutely have a listen, but be prepared, it's a 90 minutes of HEAVY DUTY. this guy know how to party hard. serious stuff. since the metatron put it up on soundcloud, you can preview it here (download at the bottom of the page):

Skitzo Disko Vol.7 – Legacy of a Skitzo Dancer Tracklist:

01 Transformer Di Roboter - Rock Me Skitzo (Transformer Viva Austria Mix)

02 Hadouken - M.A.D

03 Prodigy - No Good (After Midnight Whats Really Good Mix)

04 Missill - We Don't Care

05 Tape Deck Bros - The Dance Of The Dead

06 Bestrack Productions - Oh Snap

07 Amanda Blank - Might Like You (The Black Dove Underground Remix)

08 Le Castle Vania - Zero Machine

09 Nelly Furtado - Maneater (Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Part 2)

10 Flo Rida feat. Nelly Furtado - Jump (Designer Drugs Remix)

11 Steve Aoki feat. [[[Zuper Blahq]]] - I'm In The House (Gigi Barocco Remix)

12 Bonaparte vs. Markus Lange - Anti Anti (Markus Lange Edit)

13 Franz Ferdinand - What She Came For (Drums Of Death Remix)

14 Vitalic - Your Disco Song (Docipede Remix)

15 ElectroSound - Harder, Harder, HARDER, HARDER!

16 Hey Today! - Wonderman

17 Fukkk Off - Rave Is King (Le Castle Vania Remix)

18 Lily Allen - Not Fair (Annie Nightingale - Far Too Loud Electro Mix)

19 Super Viral Brothers - Hot Chocolate + Polar Bear Rug (Dada Life Remix)

20 Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby (The Disco Villains Remix)

21 Super Viral Brothers - Hot Chocolate + Polar Bear Rug (Dada Life Remix) Reprise

22 Dada Life - Perfect Itch

23 Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Yellus Remake)

24 Grossstadtgeflüster - Laut Reden Nichts Sagen

25 SebastiAn vs. Lady Sovereign - Walkman vs. Love Me Or Hate Me (Overthrill NLLR Edit)

26 Tiga - Shoes (Mr Oizo Remix)

27 Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden - Bonkers (As Heard On Radio Soulwax Edit)

28 Enur feat. Natasja - Calabria (Hot Pink Delorean Remix)

29 Yuksek feat. Amanda Blank - Extraball (Duotone Remix)

30 Franklean - Nate River & MD Luffy vs. Beastie Boys

(DOWNLOAD HERE)

42. DEFEAT

2010-02-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

i heard about DEFEAT through a request from our facebook fan page (join plz). as usual, i'm always happy to hear requests - but when i checked him out - i was REAL impressed. this type of thing is really exciting, guys.

so imagine if mstrkrft's first album (i liked it better anyway), alex metric, russ chimes, redial (another up and comer) and danger were all able to have a super baby (a la the film junior) - that would be DEFEAT. his music is a little HEAVIER than some of those guys, but still has that funky sound. loving the axe-style synth! and this guy is going places. any time i'm able to ask a few questions, i do because it's effin' awesome to hear a little bit from the musician. here's a little DEFEAT interview:

slam: when i listen to your music i think of Emilio Estevez "dancing" in Breakfast Club. is that a pretty good way to describe it? running, psyched, fist pumping?

DEFEAT: Haha, that's an interesting way to describe my music in a picture. I would agree that in terms of Emilio's epic dance moves, I also strive to bring epic & emotional elements into my music. I feel that I need to transport the listener somewhere and take them on a journey. This is why I have such a love for 80's music in general. Pop/Glam Rock bands from that era made the most epic songs of all time and bands like Tears For Fears & Simple Minds are perfect examples of this. I guess I just love manifesting that nostalgic feeling you get from listening to 80'smusic, and injecting it into my own work.

slam: where are you from? how long have you been doing this?

DEFEAT: Perth, Australia. I've been making music for around 10 years now on and off, I had originally started making drum'n'bass which progressed over the years into slower styles of electronic music like nuskool breaks & house, and finally electro/disco. It's been quite a journey in terms of my changing taste in music and the learning curves & experiences along the way.

slam: what are some of your favorite artists and who do you draw influence from?

DEFEAT: Too many to list! I think when growing up there were some definite influences that I can recall, especially Michael Jackson & Quincy Jones' productions, I was obsessed with MJ when I was a kid, but who wasn't in the 80's? U2 and Roxy Music are two more bands that I think have influenced me a lot, and I would like to think that stems from Brian Eno's background work with both of the bands, he is a genius! More recent artists of today include Daft Punk & Justice. I just love the French-Touch sound.

slam: you have the material for an LP (or a couple of EPs) and the production level already seems pretty high. what's happening next?

DEFEAT: Well, I've had some interest from a couple of local Australian labels so far but nothing concrete and I'll be doing some light touring in March across the country in Sydney so we'll see how that goes for now.

slam: you collaborating with any other artists on any projects?

DEFAT: Personally I've never worked with anyone else in the studio before, I've had requests to do some official remixes at the moment so I'll definitely just be concentrating on those for the time being.

slam: Awesome - looking forward to it!

-----------------

i've listened to all of his stuff and it was very hard to choose only a few tracks:

DEFEAT - BNDTS

DEFEAT - LOST IN PARIS

DEFEAT - D.I.Y.

DEFEAT - DANCE

also, head over to trashbag kids and you'll find a DEFEAT mixtape!

41. BAD VEINS

2010-01-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

anyone who comes here often know that the majority of the tunes i throw up here are electronica. every once and a while, something comes along that isn't the usual for us, but it's something we really enjoy.

here we have ohio based duo bad veins. can't believe it's just two guys. i listened to their debut (self-titled) LP this morning and it's one of those perfect albums to wake up to. great way to start the day. it's not the type of album where every track sounds the same. you know, one track will be chill, good to relax to, and the next track will be like "stop sitting around." there's also great mixtape potential: how do you represent your affections? buy their track found and put it on a mix for your crush.

musically, they have some similarities to arcade fire, shout out louds, the killers, and a little bit of the thrills thrown in for good measure. comparisons, but damn, they have their own flavor. a lot of unique arrangements and instrumentation.

Bad Veins - Go Home

good morning. here they combine one some of my favorite things: horns, synths and strings. always good.

Bad Veins - Gold And Warm

hey, go to work, have a good day, ok?

also, guess what, they're touring:

We Were Promised Jetpacks / Bad Veins Schedule

2.11 - The Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY (hey that's here!)

2.12 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA

2.13 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC

2.14 - The Middle East - Cambridge, MA

2.15 - The Knitting Factory - Brooklyn NY (that's here too!)

2.17 - Casbah @ The Tremont Music Hall - Charlotte, NC

2.18 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA

2.19 - The End - Nashville, TN

2.20 - Maxine's Pub - Hot Springs, AR

2.21 - Hailey's - Denton, TX

i highly recommend the album, these two tracks are really just a taste. buy it here.

40. UFFIE

2010-01-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

i know many of you are already in love with uffie. those of you who aren't, her first single off of her upcoming LP may change your mind. i heard this track in a mix a little while back, (it's been around for a while) and loved it because its got uffie's vocals and lyrics on top of a disco beat. it's great to hear her over something a little different. return to disco, baby. she always works with great djs: feadz and justice to name a few, and this is no different! remember mr. oizo's "it takes two?" if you liked that (everybody did), you will love this track. makes sense, because he produced this too:

Uffie - MCs Can Kiss (orig)

hey, you should buy some of her stuff here, it's all good.

according to wiki, her album "Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans" is coming out on V day 2010. look out for it.

39. HELP US + HOLY GHOST

2010-01-26T12:50:00.001-05:00

we are always looking for new music, if you have any recommendations or have any connections to musicians you think we might like, please hit us up! you can reach us through many different ways, because we are EVERYWHERE:

email us

comment on our gross myspace

soundcloud (you can send us music that way)

(new) become a fan on facebook

we also really need to increase our following, because it is steadily growing, but isn't quite where we'd like it to be. we need your support! those who frequent the page, y'all should start commenting. also looking for people to join our team. currently, there's only really three of us. we want to grow!

enough of the boring stuff. holy ghost! (of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy's DFA label) did a two part mix of their remixes and original tracks and are giving it out for free! i've had it for a while. it's awesome. holy ghost! is producing tracks that have an original sound and aren't comparable to anything done in the last 15 or so years (you can hear some post-disco liquid liquid in there). they're helping prove that you don't have to have a tempo of 130 bpm to get your groove on.

WINTER 2009-2010

Holy Ghost! Mixtape

Side A

Side B

i am not hosting these myself, they are coming through this (the label's) death from above link. tracklist can be found there. also check out that link to listen to other holy ghost! radio mixes, there's a bunch. it will keep you occupied for a while! big thanks to DFA and holy ghost! for giving this out for free. also: from BROOKLYN. represent.

38. GHOST CLUB

2010-01-26T00:13:00.000-05:00

every once and a while, i feel like i stumble on something that's still hot from the oven. i think i've burnt my fingers here. ghost club has only been around for a few months, has yet to play any shows, but wow, some really promising stuff coming from idaho. you don't hear that very often. listen to the first 30 seconds of CONFORM! and you'll think this was coming from paris, where the streets are paved with glowing neon.

here are my first impressions: sometimes melodic like mylo, sometimes industrial like justice (and much of EB), sometimes all over the place like tots & hootch, sometimes similar in vocal effects to the presets.

i asked them some questions because there's nothing out there (yet).

slam: who are you?

GC: Ghost Club consists of Louie Bash and David Mikkelson. We saw each other at a coffee shop one day and we'd known each other in the past through mutual friends. I'd heard David had made music in the past but never asked him about it until then. We showed each other our stuff that we'd made just messing around and we were both really stoked and decided to try and put our ideas together. We both have been programming for awhile and David does vocals and I was super stoked on the way David sounded so we just went with it and it's working out better then either one of us thought. As far as what we both do in "Ghost Club" we both program, David does vocals and we're yet to play a show but when we do David will be doing live vocals. I'll be handling the "Dj" part of it I guess you could say and we'll both be playing live keys. We're just trying to incorporate as much as possible for a live show. We both think that's really important.

slam: I ask almost every artist this question: can you describe your sound? What music has influenced you?

GC: Definitely going for a harder sound. Trying to be as unique as possible at the same time. Really influenced by SebastiAn, Justice, Danger, datA and pretty much any artist that can make us jump. We're also just trying to bring a new sound to around were we live. There's not much variety in the music scene around here. Not many people have been introduced to Electronic based music around here let alone banging Electro music but we won't let that get in the way of what we're going for whatsoever. We just wanna be loud as fuck straight up.

slam: What are your plans for the future? Any EP or LP on the way? Any other projects you guys are involved in?

GC: Yeah we've definitely talked about it. Our main focus right now is just to keep making music and really try and mature in our sound. Of course it's on any artists mind to put out a E.P. or an L.P. but we definitely want to write a lot more music before any of that. We're not trying to rush anything by any means. We've had some solo projects in the past but nothing compared to what we're trying to do with Ghost Club. We'll always be putting new music up on our page so keep posted for sure!

for best listening pleasure, listen in the below order:

Ghost Club - Black Gloves

Ghost Club - Spinning Off

Ghost Club - Images

Ghost Club - CONFORM!

don't forget to head over to their myspace and say hello.

37. FEAR OF TIGERS

2010-01-23T16:56:00.000-05:00

fear of tigers is awesome and is giving out their debut LP for free. it's a great set of tracks - we here at youcantstopah headquarters like the album so much that we've considered using it at the end of every party we have. it's perfect to put on after hours of dancing, and it will assist you in getting through the last hour of shakin it. among your partners in crime, those guys and girls who never take a break, you'll get through that last lap. you all look at each other when fear of tigers comes on and say to each other "we made it." of course, you continue to dance because this is the music that will get you your final wind of the evening (even at 3am)!

Fear of Tigers - Cossus Snufsigalonica (sorry it's megaupload!)

I Can Make The Pain Disappear

Please Don't Leave

What Did I Do?

The Adventures of Pippi Longstrump

Friday Night at Geek Club

Cossus Snufsiglonica

Study Hard Drugs School

The Rich Cry Too

Sirkka

Calling Your Name

(EDIT: i left out a track! thanks for pointing out, gavin!)

36. TEAM RANDALISM

2010-01-15T12:48:00.000-05:00

geman duo, team randalism, (dominik + veit) sent me their new mixtape yesterday. they've been partying in deutschland now for three years. first as the underground "yeahyeahyeah club." now they're producing and remixing for artists all over the world, brazil and sweden to name a few.

this is the type of mixtape to bump and grind to, so throw it down at a party and let the crowd go wild. i'm talking fist pumps in the air here, pretty serious stuff. some of my favorite tracks in there! the mixtape takes you through the smooth and the rough, nice build of tracks. 45 minutes long. get ready!

Team Randalism - Le Baiser Du Tigre Mixtape Vol. II

Tracklist:

01 Intro / We Love Animals (Tons of Friends) - Crookers ft Soulwax & Mixhell

 02 Under Control (Zombie Nation Remix) - Adam Freeland  

03 Boom Da (Les Petits Pilous Remix) - MixHell

 04 Circle Jerk (Bloody Beetroots Remix) - Zoo Brazil & Adam Sky

 05 Computer Juice (TAI & D.I.M. Remix) - Riton & Seiji  

06 I Feel Cream (Proxy Radio Edit) - Peaches  

07 MCs Can Kiss - Uffie

 08 Sweaty (Shazam Remix) - Muscles  

09 High Together - Siriusmo  

10 This Is My Shit (Album Version) - 80kidz  

11 British Mode (Jester Mix) - Goose  

12 Forza - Zombie Nation  

13 Guess What - Revolte 

14 I Love London (The Slips Remix) - Crystal Fighters  

15 Petit Tonerre - S.P.A.

 16 Corporate Occult - Huoratron  

17 Papillon - The Subs

 18 Interplanetary (S.P.A. Remix) - Mickey Moonlight

 19 Sucer Danser – Mr. Oizo

 20 Waves (Chilly Gonzales Piano Remake) - Boys Noize & Erol Alkan

check it on facebook

35. CLEAST EASTWOOD (REMIXED BY KLADER AND VAPEN)

2010-01-12T14:18:00.000-05:00

look at these guys in disguise. you can't even tell who they really are. well... it looks like these guys are always donning the mustache n' glasses. it's kläder and vapen!

check out this new cleast eastwood track remixed by kläder and vapen.

definitely a similar sound to their last tracks i posted, but the track is realllll smooth (bass line sounds a little bit like studio and maybe a little classixx thrown in too). like the last set of tracks of theirs, i'm big into it. it is "my jam right now!"

Cleast Eastwood - Sad Machine (Kläder & Vapen Remixx)

34. KID MACHINE EXCLUSIVE MINI MIX AND INTERVIEW

2009-12-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

over the last few weeks, i've been speaking with kid machine about his current work, where he's headed and where he comes from. not only was i able to listen to his solid "Velours 77" EP, but he made an exclusive mini mix for me to share (at the bottom of this post). the mini mix takes you through a nice variation of tracks - house, electronica, funk. basically everything you're looking to do with the next half an hour of your time. kid machine also threw one of his remixes in there. be on the lookout for this guy!

the EP is an adventure through space and time. you can buy it online here for $4 (US). that's a big deal and totally worth it. i've included one of the tracks from his EP at the bottom of the post, check it out and then please support the artist!

here's our q & a-
slam: How long have you been making music and what got you started?

KM: I got my DJ break as a naive 19 year old on XMAS eve '99 (with a recovering broken leg, fuck it hurts carrying records boxes around like this) in Melbourne Australia. I played French filtered stuff and a bit of Trance. IT WAS '99! haha
I returned home to UK inspired by DJing I bought a PC and began to buy 100's of records from charity shops to sample the fuck out of. I became obsessive, and had my first vinyl EP out in 2001 on my own label Deluded Recordings. It was housey disco Filter stuff. You can still buy it online 'Maruko-NYC People' EP. Check it ;)
I was always in to Daft Punk, so they inspired me to produce. I left it for a while and became Kid Machine in 2007. Someone said I sounded like Kraftwerk, so the name Kid Machine derives from the track 'The Man Machine'.

slam: I ask all artists that I interview this question, and it's clearly a tough one- but I like hearing what they think: How would you describe your sound?

KM: Hmmmm. Well, Definitely Electronic. Definitely Nostalgic. Definitely Analog sounding. Definitely inspired... everything from Kraftwerk to Disco to Daft Punk to new wave to Italo to French Touch to House to Soundtrack scores . Definitely Dreamy. Definitely Spacey. Definitely Warm. Definitely Cool. Definitely ominous in places. Definitely always moving. Definitely Original. I hope.

slam: One of the reasons I'm into Velours 77 is because the three original tracks on the EP mix very nicely together - almost telling a story. When you listen to them in order, they take you for a ride. Was this intentional on your part and you can speak a little bit about the development of the EP?

KM: You're the only person who has 'got' this concept and mentioned it to me. I'm Impressed. It's a journey of influences and it just so happens it all happens in space. The track names give it a 'story' feeling, e.g 'Enter Exosphere' is like the start of the journey, 'Keepers of the Temple of the Sun' is maybe about having a laser sword fight battle with aliens as you travel unknown galaxy's, 'Velours 77' is a disco 77,000,000 miles away in deep space and is also the name of Kid Machine's Space craft.
The EP took about 6 months to develop. It was mainly written in the middle of cold,dark, clear starry nights over xmas / new year 2008. I was pretty obsessed with 'what was out there' at the time and I was given a book by my friend and label manager Mike TV from a Manchester band called Beats for Beginners. It was a 60's ex-library book explaining all about space, it had amazing words I could use for Title Tracks and illustrations and diagrams that inspired the music I was making. It only felt natural to steal and bastardise the imagery for the EP cover. I wrote about 9 or 10 tracks at the time, and decided to hold them back for an LP, so hopefully the EP is glimpse of light of what's to follow on the full album.

slam: I can hear a lot of similarities on your work to a lot of the stuff on Valerie (the Blog and the label). That smooth, french, 80s, electro, I'm in outerspace and it's great type of thing. I'm obviously a big fan of that stuff. Do you have any connections with them/ are you considering it?

KM: Wow, that's an amazing compliment. But, I discovered Valerie and it's artistes quite late on. My immediate reaction was, fuck, they sound like I do, but maybe better(?) I wish I lived in the same neighbourhood as these guys as kids. We'd have probably played around with DX7's, BMX's and Star Wars Figures. They are inspirational, but I can see where they have been influenced...most of the same places as I have. If they were to become interested in me becoming a 'friend of Valerie' then I would get my ass out to Nantes or wherever for a few beers and a studio session with them. The closest connection I have with Valerie is through Justin Faust, he remixed Velours '77, I THINK he has some connection with them anyway. I don't want people to think I emulate these guys, or even aspire to be like them. I just want to do my thing, and add a bit of Kid Machine to a typically claimed French sound.

slam: Your tracks seem like they would work well with some lyrics or vocal samples. Is that something you are considering for some of your future stuff?

KM: People seem to be split 50-50 on this with me. I personally used to think that my music was instrumental, but for the album and DEFINITELY the next EP, I'll have more vocal content. Vocals and song writing will come from Mike TV on next EP 'Pocket Universe', but I'd love to collab with someone like Doves, Interpol or more likely, a lesser known indie vocalist, I think that's where my sound will go next, more dark, indie influenced songs with my usual nostalgique synthy trimmings.

slam: You work with other artists to collaborate on other projects. Who are some of the artists you work with and what's different about the work you create when you work together?

KM: I have a collab track ready to go with Beats for Beginners. It's a clear split down the middle in terms of sounds. He has that kinda New Order thing going on, adding real bass, guitars and analogue synths, with some charity shop Yamaha toy keyboards plugged in to fx machines. Nothing has been released yet with any of the people I have collaborated with. Marc Remillard (an upcoming Canadian producer) and I have similar styles, but the track we did together takes a different spin when it comes to the final mix,he makes it more side-chained, pumping and French. Well French-Canadian.

slam: What's next for you? Any plans for an LP?

KM: I will get my head down and get busy with the next EP, so recording vocals to tracks that are already finished instrumentals. I aim to get an album out this year. I just listened to the tracks I worked on during 2009 that were meant for the LP, and decided not to put 'em out. So back to the drawing board.
I'm also waiting for the parts to a song called 'You Do Something' by label mates The 1,2,3,4's. I'll be having a go at a remix for that, but I guess it's all down to if they like it!
I'm just going to keep working, and If I'm successful, then cool, but if not, that's cool too. I never set out to become some kinda big name. I just enjoy making music that has all the influences from my first 30 years on planet earth.
This is only the VERY start of my music career and have been fortunate to meet a couple of great people in the music industry and great, fresh, talented people online with the likes of Myspace.

Kid Machine - Keepers Of The Temple Of The Sun

Kid Machine - Kid Machine Mini Mix Dec 2009
(bloggers feel free to repost, just let me know!)

33. INTERVIEW WITH BRANDT BRAUER FRICK

2009-12-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

late last week, i was over at my favorite music video blog, and found this excellent video for brandt brauer frick (check it out below, or click here to take you straight to youtube), a german group that produces music with elements of house and contemporary classical music- haven't heard anything like this before, really original stuff.

Paul Frick and i had a little q&a-

slam: What got you guys started and how long have the three of you been working together?

PF: Jan Brauer and Daniel Brandt have been making music together since school times. I heard a track of their project "Scott" on myspace and loved it. So I contacted them (well, not entirely sure who contacted whom...), and as Daniel and Jan happened to come to Berlin shortly after that, we arranged a meeting to exchange some records. In the meantime they had noticed that I also compose music for classical instruments, and they proposed to start a project together that combines techniques and aesthetics of techno and contemporary classical music. Our first studio session was in late 2008.

slam: What's happening in the near future - any LP in the works?

PF: Our debut album is almost finished and will appear in march on Tartelet Records. Before that several EPs are coming as well:
"Wallah / Button" on The Gym
acoustic rework for Bozeman on Doppelschall Records
"Bop / Paino Shakur" incl. Losoul RMX on Tartelet Records
acoustic rework for Emika on Ninja Tune
And apart from that: touring, setting up our BBF ensemble with about 12 musicians, working on a performative installation for San Francisco based Gallery GAFFTA amongst others... it has to do with several musicians in separate rooms, and it requires the manipulation of the visitor/listener.

slam: It's great to hear some work by electronic musicians that is self-sampled. You don't often hear musicians of this genre sample only themselves. There are groups who play a lot of instruments, but sample (like The Twelves), and then there are groups that are electronic influenced, but don't sample at all, or rarely (like Whitest Boy Alive or Studio). Your work is different and feels like a unique approach. What brought you there? AND there's a lot of real instrumentation, but with very strong house roots. What brought the sounds together?

PF: Being 3 people with instrumental skills in a nicely equipped studio, it feels rather natural for us to record everything ourselves. We are of course not the first ones to do this... But we hope that our colliding aesthetic visions help in creating something authentic. As a lot our pieces use prepared piano, I should mention that our detuned old piano has also become quite typical for us: playing normally sounds really bad, so we focus a lot on interesting sounds... In a similar way, various instruments that we use determine our sound. And about the house roots: in our separated projects we are all much more housy. On our album we have set the house influence a bit aside, but on our new EP on "The Gym" the house side shows a lot (like already on our EP "Iron Man"). Those tracks will not be on the album, as their style does not really fit to it.

slam: Where do you take some of your inspiration and what are some artists you listen to?

PF: Concrete musical inspiration comes for example from Gustav Mahler, Morton Feldman, Kevin Saunderson, Mr. Bungle, Matthew Herbert, György Ligeti, Helmut Lachenmann, Meshuggah, Steve Reich, Thelonious Monk, 4hero, A Tribe Called Quest, Akufen, Theo Parrish...
The forthcoming debut EP of the Dutch producer "Bozeman" has lately inspired me a lot.

slam: Any plans to tour in the US?

PF: Not yet, but hopefully soon.

slam: The Bop video is a beautiful complement to the many layers in the track. Did you guys come up with the idea? How was the shoot?

PF: The concept and realization of the "Bop" video was made by Daniel Brandt who is a professional director, besides being a musician. One aspect of the video was also to visualize how we want to perform in the future, with a larger ensemble. The shoot was really stunning for me, having had very few film experience before. it took two 16-hours working days, with about 30 people working on it: amazing! Daniel directed it together with Julian Schleef, who also makes incredible work.

Wallah:

Button:

currently only available on vinyl. upcoming LP will be in digital and CD. look out for it!!!
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if you are subscribing via RSS: click here to check out the tracks and video.

32. THE YOUNG PUNX R BACK

2009-11-20T18:18:00.001-05:00

welcome back.

after what feels like a long time since they've been in the studio, the young punx are back with a wonderful two track EP that features two singles "simple pleasures" and "like dat." both tracks are to be on their upcoming LP, "mashpop & punkstep." as i've said before, the young punx are extremely versatile, check out their new LP's name. even their press release calls them "un-genrefiable." these tracks are no different - but they're extremely different from each other - sounding like they're from two different bangin' artists. really though, unbelievable stuff - esp. the count bass d track

enough from me

The Young Punx - Like Dat (feat Count Bass D)
my favorite of the two tracks: lo-fi hip hop at its best. unlike any other track i've heard in recent memory. the signature young punx THRASHING guitar sounds great. check it.

The Young Punx - Simple Pleasures
electro-punk + acid house + dubstep = mash-pop & punkstep? check 1:15. crazy!

myspace
follow them on facebook

31. ITWONTSTOPAH - Mike Huckaby

2009-10-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

So this is the first of many ITWONTSTOPAH 'mix of the week' posts. And we're starting out big, with the Bunker Podcast Mix from one of Detroit's finest, Mike Huckaby.

While this isn't exactly a new mix, Mike Huckaby isn't really that well known and this mix is so spectacular the term 'timeless' is absolutely accurate. If you like Chicago house but would like a little more Kraftwerk and a little less Donna Summer this mix of Detroit Techno classics is for you. Huckaby's track selection is spot on, he just doesn't stop(ah).

Here's what the folks over at the Bunker Podcast had to say about it.

This set was recorded live at House-n-Home in Brooklyn on February 20, 2009. Detroit's Mike Huckaby is the man behind the Deep Transportation and S Y N T H labels, and became one of our favorite DJs with this set. You can read more about him here . Mike Huckaby for President!

Grab it here.

Also you can sign up for future Bunker Podcasts here.

30. EXCLUSIVE WITH ODAHL

2009-09-29T23:51:00.000-04:00

i came upon odahl totally by accident about a month ago while I was looking for some luther vandross tracks. since my first listen of his vandross sampled track, odahl has done some detail work and that bass line will still blow you away (download below - never 2 much). i couldn't believe how little this guy has been blogged about. he's done remixes of some of my favorite artists: cut copy, tesla boy, empire of the sun, and jay jay johnson. i've listened to all of them - many times. GOD DAMN; HOT. check out some of his tracks on his myspace page (linked above). you won't be disappointed - his remix of tesla boy's "electric lady" is reallll good.

i'm serious about this. this is some of the best french house inspired music i've heard in a long time: on par with fred falke.

ODahl - Never 2 Much
damn, odahl, where can I get this on vinyl?
BUY THE 320 ON BEATPORT AND SUPPORT ODAHL.

Cut Copy - Far Away (ODahl Remix)
remixes of cut copy keep on coming and they're still good!

ODahl - Happy Thoughts
check out that build!

i was lucky enough to speak a little bit with odahl about his work - some of which is on mullet records (sick label). here's a little excerpt:

slam: how long have you been producing music and what got you started?

OD: i started of making hiphop music in my young days, i was about 14 years old and my mom bought a pc where 'cakewalk express demo' came along. thats basically where it all started. i guess i was around 20 when i started to make electronic music, far from anything serious though. as 'ODahl' i'v been producing for 2 years.

slam: could you describe your specific sound?

OD: i think its hard to put a label on your own music, im not saying im THAT unique, you just unavoidably grow to close to it. i guess im always looking for that melody that makes you shiver. my goal would be making music which is equally good for your headphones as for the dancefloor.

slam: do you do any live DJing and/or have you made any mixes?

OD: at the moment no, but its under development...

slam: is there a possibility of an EP or LP in the future? Any potential release dates?

OD: 'nightwaves - fascination (ODahl remix)' 13 october. there is no "ODahl EP" on the way though, not right now anyway...

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keep your eyes peeled for new tracks.