COMUИE Spring/Summer 2013 Preview
What does COMUИE like, and hope you like as well? Avocados, tostadas, records, audio equipment, surfing and vintage magazines. Duh!
Protect-U Live Mix for Spinner – D.C. House
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this. Solid mix of old andnew with no predictable bits. From the DJs: “”A bunch of it is stuff I’ve recently found while digging, there is the mellow jam from our recent Planet Mu record on there, and the latest single Max D did on Future Times, which is the label I do along with Max (aka Andrew),” Petillo tells us.
“I can’t always play the latest unreleased material from the crew as I don’t have a CDJ, only two decks. Of course there are some essential personal classics in the mix as well. Aaron and I are big fans of the Günter Schickert LP ever since he snagged a copy a bunch of years back when his friend’s dad was getting rid of his collection — he had some really nice cuts obviously!”
Tracklisting
1. Günter Schickert “Puls” (Sky, 1979)
2. Protect-U “Invisible Halo” (Planet Mu, 2012)
3. Toto Coelo “Milk from the Coconut” (Virgin, 1983)
4. Logic System “Automatic Collect, Automatic Correct” (EMI, 1981)
5. Yas-Kaz “The Magical Stones & The Double Mirrors” (Gramavision, 1984)
6. Bell-Towers “Private Time (Dub)” (Hole in the Sky, 2011)
7. Peter & The Wolf “Peter and the Wolf (Instrumental)” (Carrere, 1986)
8. The Sleeping Pills “Elastic Fantastic” (Hangman, 1991)
9. Blake Baxter “When We Used To Play” (KMS, 1987)
10. Amy Jackson “Let It Loose (Loose Dub)” (Bigshot, 1989)
11. Last Floor Hotel “Track One” (Vibrations, 2012)
12. Spencer Kincy & J.T. “Not An Illusion” (Cajual, 1996)
13 .Dana “For U (For House Mix)” (Clubhouse, 1990)
14. Max D “Orgies of the Hemp Eaters” (Future Times, 2012)
15. The Answer “John (Acid John)” (Rockin’ House, 1989)
16. Yello “Homer Hossa” (Vertigo, 1981)
ALESSO STILL IN SHOCK OVER SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA BREAKUP — ‘IT’S CRAZY’
Posted on Jul 18th 2012 4:30PM by Jesse Ship
Alesso is the latest Swedish young EDM prince to do the North American summer festival rounds. His affiliation with EDM overlords and Swedish House Mafia is well known, but not even he can really grasp the news of the pending breakup they announced in late June.
“It’s crazy. It’s just crazy that they broke up, it’s hard to believe, but I respect their choice. I understand that they don’t want to be repeating themselves,” a begrudging 21-year-old Alesso tells Spinner.
When Alesso was 16, a friend’s CD with a few Swedish House Mafia tracks found its way into his player. “I’d never really heard anything like it before. I fell in love,” he gushed. Having only played piano until his early teens, he was quickly absorbed by the intoxicating waves of uplifting synths and rhythms, and took to the computer and keyboards to see what he could do to match what he was hearing.
Just two years later, the ambitious young swede stalked Luciano Ingrosso, owner of Joia Records, Sweden’s largest house music label — and also uncle to Sebastian Ingrosso of the aforementioned Swedish House Mafia — in a coffee shop and gave him his first demo CD. A day later he was called into the studio.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST ON AOL SPINNER!
KASKADE: OK WITH DJ PARIS HILTON, SAYS POP IS ‘RIPPING OFF THE UNDERGROUND SO HARD (AOL SPINNER)
Posted on Jul 20th 2012 2:00PM by Jesse Ship
Over the past 10 years, Ryan Raddon, a.k.a. Kaskade, has become a household name among EDM music lovers, and has one become of its strongest advocates. With a career that saw him starting off as an A&R rep for Om Records in San Francisco in the late ’90s, Kaskade has ascended to the point where he was voted by the people as “America’s Best DJ 2011” for DJ Times Mag and Pioneer DJ. Fire & Ice, his double-disc seventh album, contrasts his signature high-energy anthems with euphoric but artful and mellow “icy” remixes.He’s currently crossing North America with his massive “Freaks of Nature Tour” and has also just announced that his sold out performance at the Staples Center in L.A. on Friday, July 27 will be streamed live via Youtube, and recorded as a DVD.
Kaskade spoke to us while on the road on and told us why he feels sub-, or, micro-genres should be done away with, his view on why the first wave of EDM in the early 2000s didn’t take off, and how Paris Hilton‘s DJ tour really doesn’t bother him at all.
What exactly is EDM?
It’s a blanket statement. It’s good for people who haven’t been entrenched in electronic music for a long time. They don’t have to know the difference between moombahton, dubstep, house, progressive house, and electro house. We needed some kind of word that people can grasp onto. EDM is just as good as any I guess. It works.
How do you feel about micro-genres?
It’s just people with too much time on their hands. I’m always like “Who cares what it’s called? If it’s good, if you like it, why do you care what it’s classified as?” I think it’s more of a marketing tool than anything. Sometimes the audience gets too caught up on it. There are so many people coming to electronic music right now, I’d rather just put the music out. Don’t worry about what to call it, just enjoy it.
You recently released a drum ‘n’ bass remix of Katy Perry‘s “Wide Awake” on Soundcloud and in the comments, you wrote “If pop music could only sound like this all the time.” How do you feel about pop music right now?
I feel like pop music is super-formulaic and ripping off the underground so hard. They’re basically copying a sound that was big underground five years ago. To me it seems very passé and not very forward-thinking. I think the last pop act to be forward-thinking wasNirvana. Where are those guys right now? We need something like that, a breath of fresh air. Pop music is a bit stale right now.
But you could argue that people are embracing EDM as pop music now.
They are for sure. Here in the US we don’t have much radio play outside of David Guetta, so I feel that’s the final frontier, but people are recognizing the crowds that we are attracting. Which is similar if not bigger than what pop acts are doing.
I’m playing sold out shows to auditoriums like the Staples Center. Pop acts are doing this with millions of dollars in marketing and a huge radio push, but I don’t have any marketing! I think they’re really paying attention to that, and trying to figure out how they can cash in on it.
It seems like electronic music is getting a second run at popularity since the early 2000s rave scene. How’s it different this time?
I don’t think it was fully cooked at the time. The first wave had Moby, Chemical Brothers, and a handful of others. There wasn’t enough artistry at that point in time in the late-’90s when things were bubbling up.
There were only a handful of guys that were doing something interesting enough to cross over. Whereas now, so many guys are doing cool things in this space. I think that if they had the right partners, their music could get to a really wide audience. It’s like connecting the dots. For me, it’s no surprise that electronic music is as big as it is. I always felt passionate for it, but I didn’t know how big it could get.
As big as Paris Hilton DJing?
Every time something gets this big, people see opportunities to exploit it and there are many out there.
How do you feel about what she’s doing as a DJ?
It doesn’t really bother me. I remember back in the ’90s there were a couple of porn stars that started DJing, and some would DJ topless. I feel like it was very entry level, like, “Oh, I have some songs and I want to play them.”
But I have three busloads of people on my team, and I’m playing all original content that I’ve written over the last seven albums that I’ve written and produced. [Paris] is a much different act than what I’m doing.
I think that’s why Deadmau5 is making so much noise. I think what he’s trying to do is make a distinction. Although you call me a DJ, and Paris Hilton calls herself a DJ, the title DJ probably isn’t important to what I do. It doesn’t bother me because I grew up listening to this and honoring the craft and art. It’s not something that’s so simply understood. I write and produce all this music. She’s just going up there playing hits. It’s much different.
Where do you see the current interest going?
I think it’s going to continue to grow now that the cat’s out of the bag. There’s an active audience that wants to keep hearing this stuff. The audience will grow and we’ll enjoy a nice time at the top here. As far as where I see myself in the future? I don’t know. I’m enjoying the ride, but as far as longevity, hip-hop has enjoyed decades at the top. I’m not sure electronic music will be anything like that. With modern day technology people’s tastes and trends move a lot quicker. For me, I was doing this when nobody was listening as a kid in Chicago.
I’m going to do this regardless, because I love doing it. If I have to take a part-time job to supplement my income because music won’t support me, then so be it, but I’ll just keep doing what I love.
Reptile Youth: Black Swan Born White (S.C.U.M Remix)
Reptile Youth: Black Swan Born White (S.C.U.M Remix) (official music video) from hfn music on Vimeo.
Cinematic wonder from Reptile Youth of HFN Music, home to many great Scandinavian acts like Trentemøller, Darkness Falls and Kaspar Bjørke.
FUNNY ‘N RAW – OPOPO
Self-produced OPOPO vid playing on old school sci-fi styles and urban rooftop playgrounds. FUNNY ‘N RAW is the bassy b-side to their current single, EXORCISM.
Catch it here or buy it on iTunes!
FULL FLEX EXPRESS – TICKET 4 SALE
Ok, so you may have heard about this re-creational Janis Joplin-esqure tribute tour that Skrillex and Diplo thunk up one inordinately frosty LA winter afternoon called the Full Flex Tour. they thought to themselves, “Hey wouldn’t it be awesome to recreate her 1970 cross-Canada tour where she got freaky on a VIA RAIL train with the Grateful Dead and The Band?” (yes this really is how festivals are born.) Along for the ride will be Pretty Lights, Grimes, KOAN Sound, Tokimonsta and more.
HOWEVER! This tour is less about practicality than it is simply enjoying the ride. When asked about the run of dates, Skrillex said “we were really inspired when Mumford and Sons and Edward Sharp and those guys did a train tour. We wanted to do it as well and share this music with people across Canada. Just to do it and have fun.”
And fun will be had. So much fun that I have a friend’s ticket available for sale. Please contact me at ASAP as I hear the show is actually sold out. Original cost was $60.05, and because you’re awesome too, the $.05 will be waived, at your convenience. ;)
Locals Only Fest – Summer 2012
A dusty gravel pit outside the Amsterdam brewery corralled by gourmet food trucks served as a soundstage for dj/producers at Toronto’s very first Locals Only festival, a concept that combined up-and-coming promoters, dj/producers and bands, backed up by visual arts from the Everyone Is An Artist agency (EIAI).
House music (and electro) was at last brought to Housey St. with live PAs from a handful of Toronto-based artists like, Kevin McPhee, Ryan Hemsworth, Jesse Futerman, Coleco, Nautiluss, and Sean Roman. They may not be getting the local attention they deserve, but when it comes to international affiliations, all are hold their own weight.
Up a ramp, a vacant warehouse space inside the brewery hosted bands for the night like Last Gang’s Nightbox whose recent accolades include a track on MTV’s Jersey Shore. But the real showcase was Blank Capsule, the elusive gothic/synth-wave side project of Bryce Kushnier aka Vitaminsforyou and the Jokers Of The Scene, one of A-trak’s early signings to his Fool’s Gold label.
There’s a lot for Toronto to be proud of, and the festival’s concept should continue into years, or seasons, to come, as long as scheduling can be kept on track, and maybe a bit more promotion would have helped out as well.
Scarves Of Paradise – Evil Monito
Shot back in the winter, thanks Jen Tse!
Scarves Of Paradise
Photographer: Dwayne Evans
Fashion Stylist: Jen Tse
Make Up: Onna Chan
Hair: Dat Tran
Stylist Assistant: Jesse Ship
Model: Tsanna (Sutherland, IMG)
Scarf: JUMA
Necklace: Rita Tesolin
Scarf: JUMA
Earrings: Rita Tesolin
Scarf: JUMA
Earrings, ring, bone bracelet: Dandi Maestre
Gold bracelet: BIKO Designs
Scarf: JUMA
Earrings: Rita Tesolin
Scarf: JUMA
Chunky Bracelet, earrings: Rita Tesolin
Bracelet: BIKO Designs
Classicworks Split 01 – Cardopusher & Nehuen
Classicworks is a brand new techno-inspired label to emerge from Barcelona, founded by producers Cardopusher and Nehuen. Cardopusher first flew onto my radar via a remix he did for Kalup Linzy and James Franco on their experimental drag-er-iffic “Rising” , a story that I covered for AOL Spinner (read article here).
The guys are very proud to announce its first high-octane release, ‘Split 01’ showcasing four new tracks of theirs. The duo like to say that they combine with more force that Voltron to present a blueprint for their own twisted vision of retro-futuristic club sounds.
CWS001: Cardopusher / Nehuen – Split 01 Video Teaser from Classicworks on Vimeo.
On the remix are a shuffley and deliciously textured Nick Hook (of Cubic Zirconia) treatment and Hyperdub’s DVA. I’m definitely Advance support comes from some greats like Lando Kal, Ikonika, DJ Orgasmic (TTC, Sound Pellegrino), Murderbot and a bunch others. Sounds like things will be pretty stellar from the looks of it!
Full release is out July 23rd, get a taste of ’em here!
