The Swiss – Mix for Studio Brussels

Tracklist

Ratatat – Drugs
Ilija Rudman – In Motion
D-Train – You’re The One For Me
Tensnake – Coma Cat
Tiger & Woods – Gin Nation
Felix – Tiger Stripes
Sidwho? – Pay For Love (Jamie Paton edit)
Gino Soccio – Dancer
Luke Million – Up Down
Le Knight Club – Holiday On Ice
Simian Mobile Disco – Flea In Your Ear
Tiga – Beep Beep Beep (The Emperor Machine remix)
In Flagranti – Business Acumen (Holy Ghost! cover version)
The Golden Filter – Thunderbird (Villa remix)
Joakim – Come Into My Kitchen
French Fries – Predador
Armand Van Helden – U Don’t Know Me
The Swiss – Bubble Bath (Glimmers Plastic Edit)
The Swiss – Bubble Bath

They have also got a paid soundcloud account so now their superb first EP is available for download again aswell

The Swiss – Movement Part 1

The Swiss – Movement Part 2

The Swiss – Movement Part 3

This Sunday (Queen’s Birthday Weekend) Canyons will be gracing Sugar with their presence. These guys are really nice as well as being amazing DJ’s. They were here about a year ago playing the Ed Castle and the select crew of music lovers in the know  had an amazing time. They are signed to Modular, had a release on DFA and run their own label; Hole in the Sky.

Here is a taste of what to expect. The mix is from Melbourne radio show Death of a Disco Dancer and has quite a few jams.

Canyons’ Death Mix

Link via H.I.T.S.

The Swiss – Bubble Bath (Glimmers Plastic Edit) by The Swiss

Winston: First off I would like to say how amazing I thought your show was last year with Cut Copy.

Juan MacLean: That was actually or first bit of touring that we did in almost 2 years – that was sort of the warm up for the album tour.

Winston: You were playing the theremin a lot is that something you still do?

Juan MacLean: I put it through a lot of delay and wah wah pedals sometimes on  the record – live I play it quite a bit. It’s a hard thing to stay away from actually – I find myself playing it more than I should. I have been playing it since I was a teenager.

Winston: Are you still touring with the guys from Holy Ghost?

Juan MacLean: No, they had to bow out because they were doing their album, which is going to be coming out probably at the beginning of next year.

Winston: Are you working on new material I think it was in the Dummy Magazine interview you mentioned something about an acid house track with Nancy Whang on vocals?

Juan MacLean: That’s actually the next 12” that I’m working on now. I’m not sure when it will come out. It’s basically like the acid house version of Happy House in some ways. That’s all I can say about it now.

Winston: Is acid a direction you are going with other songs or just this one?

Juan MacLean: It’s funny I had always used like a 303 as a bassline  on a bunch of things on the album – a lot of the time it just doesn’t sound like one because I’m not being that extreme with it. It’s a little more prominent – where as Happy House was sort of a piano house track updated. This one will be like an acid house track updated.

Winston: DJ Pierre of Phuture 303 was just in Adelaide … I just love the sound of the 303.

Juan MacLean: Yeah it’s a classic thing

Winston: It’s inescapable but it can still sound fresh.

Juan MacLean: For one thing it is always funky – it’s just the way it works it makes everything a bit bouncy. Just the sound – I think when people hear it in clubs they don’t know what it is but they get excited.

Winston: You are going to be on the Australian festival circuit – which Australians take their outdoor festivals very seriously. My question is what’s your favourite festival experience as the Juan Maclean?

Juan MacLean: Oh God it’s so hard to say – one of my favourites was recently. We played at this festival called the Flow festival in Helsinki. We were headlining the big dance tent there. We were the last people to be playing. We got to see Grace Jones play right before us. Everyone was really excited from that and it was like 10,000 people just really going crazy at 4 in the morning.

Winston: Wow

Juan MacLean: Coming from the United States people here don’t tend to get very excited about things here for a variety of reason. One of which they think they are too cool to get really excited. Its always really fun to go overseas.

Winston: At the same times you are bigger overseas – which is probably the way it is with a lot of American electronic acts.

Juan MacLean: Yeah for sure – I think for a variety of reasons. The United States has always had this thing where it has always been really stratified depending on what kind of music you like. It used to be if you were into indie rock you certainly wouldn’t like any kind of dance music. That has changed a bit but it seems like dance music still is not as much in the mainstream as it is everywhere else in the world. It won’t get played on the radio.

Winston: It also has roots back to the backlash against disco as well – people have similar connotation about house music

Juan MacLean: Most people when they hear the words disco they start laughing and think it’s this comical really campy kind of music – like the Village People.

Winston: I was wondering if you started producing dance music before you were a DJ?

Juan MacLean: I didn’t start DJing until 2000 – I had my first studio when I was 20 so I had always been engineering and recording. It wasn’t until the late 90s until I got into electronic music production like sequencing stuff with the computer.

Winston: Does that give you a different perspective as a DJ like you began as a producer and just moved from there?

Juan MacLean: Yeah – I don’t really understand how to make a 12 inch until I went out and DJed in a club – that’s how you can really see how they work and the effect they have. You can find out what’s effective and not effective

Winston: DFA records have been around for a decade or so and I wonder if it will be like Warp Records where it is a permanent fixture or its popularity might wane?

Juan MacLean: I am surprised that it has maintained the place it has for this long. What the DFA has going for it is that the release schedule is very slow and deliberate. There is just not a lot of stuff coming out. It’s a very small roster that release.

Winston: You get lot anticipation for each new release that way

Juan MacLean: Yeah exactly

Winston: Like everyone is clawing for the new Holy Ghost! track.

Juan MacLean: That’s something that they are conscious of – putting out a couple of 12” before you put out an album. Also there is such a heavy filter in place for everything. When I’m putting together tracks for my album James Murphy, the Holy Ghost! guys and other people at the DFA traded them around and everyone goes through them and offers their opinions. It weeds things out. It makes DFA a pretty bullet proof model. I think it will stay around for another 10 years. It’s funny because it has kind of had a renaissance starting with Sounds of Silver and then Hercules and Love Affair, throw in my album in there and then the Holy Ghost! album will be coming out the beginning of next year.

Winston: A lot people on the DFA have done a few re-edits on labels like Mindless Boogie and RVNG Of The NRDS. I was wondering if you had a hidden back catalogue of re-edits or do you not touch on that sort stuff?

Juan MacLean: I have been asked to them but never have I think mainly because I haven’t really had the time. Other stuff has taken priority but I’m doing a DJ Kicks CD next year and in that there will be a bunch of tracks re-edited

Winston: That will been something to look forward to

Woolfy is DJing tonight at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Adelaide.

Winston: Do you consider yourself part of an international “cosmic disco” scene or do you just do what you do without any outside influence?

Woolfy: I look at myself as an international DJ cause I probably get more of my gigs overseas. When I think of myself as part of a crew I think of myself as part of my LA crew and a couple of heads in New York. Like Eric Duncan, Harvey and all the Sarcastic (Disco) guys. Basically that’s what I see myself as fitting within a family of DJs. I have heard incredible things from people like Todd Terje and Prins Thomas. To be compared to those guys is amazing.

Winston: How did you first get into electronic music?

Woolfy: Basically when I was 18 or 19, I think it began at a Primal Scream. I was a fan of them before the made dance music, kind of like The Jesus Mary Chain side of things. One of my friends asked if I wanted to go this after party, and I was like “sure” because at 18 that seems so amazing. I went this bar called Flammable Liquid and it was the start of the house scene in LA. At that stage I got into dance music before that it was pretty much rock and roll or grunge.

Winston: I noticed a move towards “indie guitar pop”, side of things on the new album was that a conscious shift?

Woolfy: I kind of like to just leave it open, because I’m one person. When I’m making music it’s not like it’s for guys in a band that are trying to make a certain sound. The music is an open pallet. Sometimes I will be DJing indie stuff mixed with like dirty disco. Other days I’m on the beach and want to play music that works with that, that sort of translates into making the music. I just go with it. The next album will also be guitar stuff, it’s almost there but it’s going to be atleast 8 months or a year. I’m not going to go for any sound in particular on the new album because that will seem contrived, but a lot of the stuff I am feeling right now in the studio is post punk.

Winston: I have seen some YouTube videos of the live show, was that just a one off thing or is it something you do often?

Woolfy: The live show is a real thing. Last time we went out, as a band we toured Moscow, Berlin, Los angeles, Holland, Austria and Switzerland. We went as a 3 piece which was cool for clubs cause we relied on a laptop. We are just trying to get the name big enough so we can have a full band like a 4 or 5 piece. Travelling with the lads is so much better; they are both (DJing and live touring) unique experiences but with the lads is a lot more fun.

Winston: Is it lonely touring as a single DJ?

Woolfy: There’s a certain degree of loneliness where you go to a new club every night. It’s ok to be moving like when you are going from 1 city to the next. There is usually someone to show you around, and take care of you. I was stuck one time for like 6 or 7 days, because I only had one gig booked in Berlin. During the day it was cold and gloomy and I pretty much didn’t know anyone.

Winston: How did you get signed to Rong/DFA?

Woolfy: I was playing Turntables on the Hudson which a New York spot, it’s like Nickodeumus and Moriano. That night I was walking through the Meat Packing District and it was getting all quiet and I was like “whoa where the fuck am?” I walked into this one bar because I heard some disco music from outside. I went up to the dude behind the deck and said “yo,that’s a great track” all very trainspotter-y. Then we hit it off and it was DJ Spun, the head of Rong music. I slipped him a cd it was like 4 projectionist tracks and I threw Oh Missy on there as a joke on the end. And he called me back and said we want more tracks like that one (Oh Missy). That put me into the DFA/Rong family.

Winston: What are you going to be playing on your Australian DJ tour?

Woolfy: I think I can fit 70 records in my bag. I don’t really play CDs. All my dance stuff is on wax. Bring a bit of everything, if it’s a big club I’m going to hit floor on the floor and keep the momentum going. If it’s like 300 people we are just going to have a good time and go on a journey.

Winston: How did you get into DJing?

Woolfy: It was a progression; you go to a club and decide that you want to do that. It was a natural progression, that why there are so many DJ’s these days. Everyone is like “I can do that too”.
Winston: It also has to do a lot with the technology making it easier and easier, now all you need is a pc.
Woolfy: I don’t think I will ever move to Serato, it’s amazing how far DJing technology has gone, it was records for so long then came CDs but they weren’t there for very long. ‘Cause then Serato came along and you can bring a million track now. 70 records is good enough for me, you can make that last forever.

Winston: What’s the creative process to make you tracks?

Woolfy: I start with the beat basically, once I get drums that I like that I’m feeling than I will just … whatever can be first you know maybe a keyboard. It can be the day after a long weekend, those can be emotional days. I like to call them “Sonic Mondays”. There was so much cool shit that happened over the weekend, but there is a lot of emotion that comes with it. Woolfy is usually the beat is made first. I have a whole other collection of stuff that starts with the vocals or is written on guitar – that’s not going to come out for a couple of years yet.

Winston: So is it mostly live instruments or sample based?

Woolfy: For the first projections album it was definitely sample based, that came out in 2002 on guidance records. It was great way, home studios were very knew. Now a days it’s just start from scratch and make the beat.

Originally Article appeared in Onion Magazine, which is one of the best street press mags in Australia.

The Loin Brothers are a pretty sweet act to coming out of Sydney. So far they have released Heavy Helmet a space-y Moroder-like jam. They are playing Saturday the 5th of September at Sugar, which is probably worth your while dropping by to check out.

Winston:How did you guys first get into electronic music?

Saliva: I think the first time I heard synthesizers in music was listening to “War of the worlds” when I was about 8 or so, and was always intrigued how the space sounds were made. When I was a bit older I used to hang out at a studio this country and western band had set up. (the town i grew up in had a population of about 150, so I took what I could get One of the guys brought in this little Korg synth and let me play around on it, and I think from there on i started obsessing about them.

Silvio: An intersting question to answer for me as there are few tunes that I like that are purely electroinc. There is usally a live intrument component to the stuff I like. I got into dance music say 12 years ago tho and have not turned back. Nothing Earth shattering really, just found myself at a dance party, dug the hypnotic grooves and got my dance on.

W: Really love the new single are there plans for anymore?

Silvio: Absolutely. We are constantly in the studio of late. Our remix of the Aston Shuffle has just been released and we are just putting the finishing touches on our next OG now. We make music because we have to. It’s much more preferable than a padded cell.

Saliva: Yeah, we have got a few things in the pipeline, we are keen to play around with different styles, such as Prog rock, some more housey stuff, which should be fun.

W: Where did you get the idea for Heavy Helmet?

Saliva: One night I was up late watching “Mysterious cities of gold” and must have fallen asleep, when all of a sudden Esteban appear in my lounge room holding a bass with golden strings. He told me that the bass contained a powerful spirit. He said that only one man could release the spirit and he thought that I was the one, and to unleash it I needed to play from the heart. So i started jamming away and from there everything got a little hazy… and all of a sudden i woke up lying on a beanbag clutching my bass, and everything was covered in coconut oil. I got up and plugged in my bass and started playing the bass line to heavy helmet, I thought it sounded pretty sweet, so I showed it to Silvio and took it from there…

Silvio: Long John came to me with this bassline… It spoke of space violence and cosmic stallions with multiple throbbing gristles and it’s story had to be told.

W: How did you get Mock and Toof to remix it?

Silvio: Nathan from Future Classic hooked that one up. They were out here playing a show, and somehow heard our demo and really liked it… i think they said something about it havin a Rub n Tug vibe. nice words to hear for first time producers.

W: So you guys are involved in Paradise Lost, which I hear is quite a party. How did that start?

Silvio: I met Brut33 (Cosmic Seadog) around hmmmmmmm 4 to 5 years ago or so. We hit it off straight away, i guess we were at the same kind of headspace, a little bit baffled as to why Sydney did not have a solid disco/house etc party happening at the time. Going to dance parties and leaving wanting more. Sure there were parties going on but none seemed to focus on this groovy fun stuff. Too many parties and DJs taking themselves too seriously, playing all tough, riding on the name of a big DJ and not focusing on the needs of the party. So Paradise Lost was formed – the name obviously a statement at the time referencing the Paradise garage and asking where has the love gone!

So a year or so onwards we decided that PL needed more ideas, more resources to realise our vision. Mikey Miutante, Harry Sounds, James Bucknell, James Weirick and Mike Masters joined our crew. This enabled us to take ourselves out of the clubs and into warehouses, art spaces and other alternative spaces and use a non-profit model to boot. While working with so many people on what really is a somewhat of an urban ritual is very much a challenge, we have found that its often those parties where in the lead up there is the most tension between members that the party is at it’s peak.

We have been blessed in that a venue always seems to come about for us, and encountered many amazing helpful people along the way – though still takes alot of hard work to get a party of this nature happening.

Saliva: I first heard about PL when I moved down from Brisbane to Sydney, my girlfriend told me about a party that I should check out, so I went and checked it out and was blown away by the vibe. ever since then I have been a big fan, and admire the guys for the effort they put in.

W: I guess you could loosely be called ‘new disco’, how do you guys feel about that term? I always find it a bit derogatory because what a lot of the acts that are called that are really doing something totally different than just recycling disco.

Silvio: It’s cliche I know in this scene to say it but I’m really not into genres. If it’s good I’ll play it. There is something about the word “Nu” that makes me cringe tho I must say. It sounds clinical and sleazy in a music nerd kinda way. But hey, people can call our music whatever they like really. Once it leaves our studio then it’s out of our hands in a way. We throw the lil baby turtle into the ocean and off it goes…. hopefully destined for a long life of sweet seagrass, barnacles and lady turtles and not sucked stright into the silent nothingness of a dark abyss!

These categories are there i think tho often just to make record stores more manageable. So when you are in there you know it’s more likely you’ll find stuff you are looking for in the ‘Nu Disco’ bins rather than the trance bins. The record companies label the music to make this selling process easier. The listening public / DJs etc well they got no excuse. Take back the music people

The other thing is, hell I’d love to hear some people do some more classic sounding disco stuff. Proper live band stuff, with wobbly expressive tempos, lively strings, super powerful diva vocals and top notch production etc.

Saliva: I think Silvio pretty much summed it up there, I guess any new music is NU whatever, cause at the end of the day I think at the moment most music is derivative. I am really intrigued to see where the future of music lies, hopefully some kind of musical revolution….

W:Lots of DJ’s release tracks to increase their presence outside of their native city, have you guys found this happening after Heavy Helmet got released?

Silvio: Well since putting out our track we have played in Brisbane, Melbourne and playing your fine city this weekend so really can’t complain. We’ve also had some nice random interest from blogs around the globe.

W: I asked The Juan maclean this question and it got a really interesting response :- Which seminal disco re-editor/remixer would you most want to remix one of your tracks: Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Shep Pettibone or Larry Levan and why?

Silvio: To be honest, a remix from any of those guys would be very well received by us. For me though if I was forced to pick it would have to be Larry. Not only is he the patron saint of Paradise Lost but I really do love his touch, particularly in that 1981-1983 period. He just had a special way about how he mixed things, he knew what to accentuate to make bodies sweat.

W: On a recent interview with Nicky Siano (coming soon I promise) I asked him “ what he thought of re-edits?” and he said that “ he usually found himself preferring the original”, how do you guys feel about the current re-edit culture at the moment?

Silvio: Well last year Paradise Lost put out an EP of edits so obviously I am up for them. To me edits have always been there. You can certainly hear the tape chops in some of those classic original 12′s. Some of those disconet versions of tracks are the seminal versions for me.

With the rise of the PC iIguess for better and for worse this now means anyone can put a tune under the blade. I do like the bootleg aspect of it all. I do like it how DJs can put material out that is made purely for dancefloors and it can bypass pretty much all aspects of the music industry in getting into other DJs hands. It’s all very DIY. Alot of these edits have become the quintessential version of the tune for the current dancefloor.

On the flipside, it’s a real shame that the original artists don’t get paid and there are alot of superflouos edits out there. However there is nothing worse that a person sayin how things ‘should’ be in an area that is a creative landscape and thus has no boundaries. The music wilderness is rich because it is just that – wild.

Saliva: I guess it all depends on what gets edited, some edits take a almost unplayable record and turn it in to something that will blow the roof off, and others I find suck the life out of a otherwise great tune. I have discovered a heap of new music through listening to edits, and then digging deeper and finding more heat by the original artists. I really like alot of the Loud -e edits, that guy is certainly a wild man….

W: What sort of tunes can we expect to hear at Sugar this Saturday?

Silvio: Before we play anything it must go through the scrutiny of the Loin Brothers auditioning couch. .. one of the toughest audioning couches going I can assure you. If you don’t have serious talent in making bodies move then you won’t be getting a follow up phone call from us.

Saliva: it’s gonna be hot and sweaty, rough and ready. Expect everything from Willy De ville to Herb Alpert.

NEWS

Jamie is Playing Huntleys & Palmers Audio Club this friday night at the Horse & Groom in Shoreditch, along with stellar guests including Andy Blake and Ali Renault from the Dissident stable, no C&A live this time just him playing records. They asked him to put a mix together to help promote the party – It’s being hosted on the Allez Allez blog, home to lots of tasty earworms, and the selection is a mostly house affair – some new, some old..

Enjoy this, recommended by our friends Cage & Aviary.
http://www.allez-allez.co.uk/

Forthcoming releases
Sidwho? – Vote Bowie for President / Violet Run – TWHE / Sept
C&A – Beat N Path / Low Noise (inc Brennan Green remix) – Tiny Sticks / Oct
Sidwho? – Same Game (C&A remix series, pt 3 of 6) – TWHE / Oct

Already out there
Truck – Radio (C&A remix series, pt 2 of 6) – TWHE – buy vinyl
C&A – Television Train / Suburban – DFA – buy mp3 & wav / vinyl

Many more….. head to www.twhe.co.uk and subscribe to their mailing list

myspace.com/cageaviary
myspace.com/cageaviaryremixes

Lost Valentinos are hands down one of the most interesting indie bands in Australia at the moment. After what seems like an eternity of waiting their debut album produced by Ewan Pearson is finally upon us – it almost felt like waiting for the Avalanches second album.

After the success of every single song on their debut EP being exceptional (Man With A Gun, Kafka!, CCTV and my favourite Sell Yourself) it seemed like an album of “Silent Alarm” Proportions was imminent.

Instead they released another EP where their sound had completely changed and chose lush shoegazing textures over angular dance punk. The album wasn’t without its killer single – Nightmoves which featured some cool remixes form Comets ( one of the dudes from Riot in Belgium and one from Cut Copy) as well as their own remix under the Knifemachine moniker.

The album is finally arriving on 09.09.09. I haven’t listened to it yet but from what I have heard from its producer Ewan Pearson ( a really amazing electronic producer and DJ) makes me have high hopes – “it’s a really diverse record with loads of character and excitement. They were really ambitious and went wherever their fancy took them really; it doesn’t sound like another identikit indie-dance record”.

Midnights is one of the first singles from the new album and is being released on 12” by Dummy. The song is very strong but it’s the superb remixes that make it amazing. Clocking in at over 13 minutes the Emperor Machine remix extends the groove for a sonic journey through time and space. The Fan Death remix is a prime piece of (conquista)disco, the opening synths are to die for.

Lost Valentinos – Midnights (Part 1 and 2)

Lost Valentinos – Midnights (Emperor Machine Remix)

Lost Valentinos – Midnights (Fan Death Remix)

Links graciously provided by Dummy Mag.

A preview of what Thursday night may look like.

It would be easy to speculate that the recent turn of events in the States has brought some older acts out of the dust ( the good kind ) and seen them get back on the road to pay the Rent. Pros & Cons of the GFC. These guys have a deeper history with us here.

Attempting to cover the ” translation of music ” to the soul in this blog is ambitious to say the least. Most of us have our life experiences left to draw apon in  times of  reflection and many of us have a cross roads at one point or another in our lives and when it comes we often have a Song / Artist we attach the moments to. For me the guys that helped save my life as a confused teenager or as a down and out Adult is Steely Dan.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are geniuses of the literary and music kind. They weave rich narratives that unfold over years of listening not just minutes. The musical content isnt bland or badly recorded…ever. Their masterpiece is Aja. Whilst many great albums followed and a few before prevailed this record was the touch stone for me in the face of adversity.

Donald’s voice sounds a little like Jerry Lewis sometimes but you get over and used to it quite quickly. The phrasing and chordal changes are the signature core of every song, accessing the groove with some amazing players, different on every track. Take some time out and listen to the fabric of these timeless titans.

They are playing some shows across the Americas for their Rent Party 09 till mid Sept http://www.steelydan.com and we highly recommend you see them live – They are amazing in the flesh

Listen

Deacon Blues
Black Cow