Stuff

These past two days have been pretty awesome.  For the first time in what seems like, ever, I actually have money, and money that I can spend on what I want.  Needless to say I headed straight for the record stores.  Although, I don't actually buy 'records', just plain old CD's, sorry.  I know that some people will probably think that this makes me worse than Mao, but you can't please everyone I guess.

But anyway, back on topic.  Some stuff was just catching up on ridiculously old stuff, 'Meat Is Murder', 'Neu!' and 'Sound Of Silver'.  Then there was just buying some pretty standard, but good, stuff: 'Teen Dream', 'I Will Be', 'Liquid Love', 'The BIg Black & The Blue', 'Magic Chairs' and 'Serena Maneesh 2: Abyss In B Minor.'

Then there was the pretty cool, well I think so anyway: 'Red Black & Blue' which is a collection of some of DJ Mehdi's best remixes.  I really enjoyed the way that it plays like a mix tape or dj set and is completely gapless.  Full of great tunes, but the highlight for me was '21st Century Life' which has the string element from 'Stress'/'Night on Bald Mountain' (Disney really isn't what it used to be) just rumbling away underneath.  Next was the apparently limited edition and exclusive to Rough Trade MEN demo EP and remix EP featuring  'Simultaneously', 'Off Our Backs' and 'Credit Card Babie$' and the remix EP includes Lauren Flax remix, Jeppe's Money Is A Major Issue Remix and Stereogamus Remix of said songs.  That shit be good.

And, in my opinion, saving the best until last is 'JJ No 3' which is the second offering from balearic dream-pop merchants JJ.  But, that's not the best bit.  The good people of Rough Trade were giving away 'JJ No 2' with it for absolutely nada, and apparently it was previously only available on super-expensive import where you probably had to pay for it's seat on the plane, in-flight meal and taxi from the airport, so that was a major bonus.

Not an illuminating post, but I got me's some exams to pass so for the next six weeks I'm probably better served making sure I know Maths than Music, but I'll do my bestest.

Eine Kleine House Musik

Howdy doodle, peeps.

Last night, something occured to me as I was staring at a poster, is it 'rit-on', 'right-on' or is it 'brighton' with a silent 'b.'  All this time I've always assumed that it was the first pronunciation, but he's English, not French.  If you haven't already worked out, I am of course talking about Riton; DJ, producer and musician extraordinaire.

Recently he's been busy making some squelchy and banging electro beats with Seiji.



Computer Juice (official video) from Riton Time on Vimeo.

Nice.

But, that's not what I'm talkin' 'bout Willis!

I am of course on about his latest collaboration with super Coolcat DJ Mehdi which is an all house project called 'Carte Blanche.'  I was of course a little apprehensive at first, I mean, when I were a lad, it sounded like this:



But, let's not forget that it can sound like this:



I have to say that after listening to 'In The Mix', the first track to be 'leaked' from the upcoming EP sounds pretty nice and is definitely on the Daft Punk side of the spectrum and is very condusive for move-bustin' and I expect to be throwing some crazy shapes to it next Friday.

And by the way, according to his wikipedia page I was wrong with all my guesses, it's actually pronounced reet-on.  Which kinda makes sense, seeing as he's from the north of England

Decked Out

Roasting hot potatoes!

That was awesome!

Last night/this morning, I had the privilege of going to the Decked Out 10th Anniversary Party at the Elephant and Castle Coronet, and it reallly did not disappoint. Although for me, the awesomeness of that day started at about quarter to 4 in the afternoon when, whilst on the phone to my Dad by the Savoy Gardens, who should I see walking towards me? None other than Clara 3000, in full Coolcats gear and to top it off, I too was in full Ed Rec apparel! Naturally, I kept on the lookout for other members of the Ed Rec crüe, but alas no more where to be found, for now ...

I prepare to leave and as I bid farewell to my housemates, my attire did bring about a few laughs, but I'll be the one laughing soon (I got my photo taken by this lovely girl and fingers crossed I'll make the cut!)

I arrive eagerly anticipating Busy P's special French Touch set which would get the night off to a flyer, ut I also manged to catch the end of Justin Robertson's set and it sounded pretty solid. But, when Monsieur Winter took to the decks the floor filled up pretty quick and the highlight was most definitely the crowd singing along to 'Da Funk.'

Next up were Feadz and Brodinski, who played a hip-hop set which went down pretty well and it was good to hear some Uffie on a night out. Although, Feadz definitely stole the show with his dancing on stage which really livened things up.

Taking the decks at 1 was Dave Clarke and I have to admit I didn't stay for much of it because I was eager to catch Aeroplane, who were playing in the second room at the same time who played a nice mix of more disco-y dance music.

And then, at around 2 in the morning, something very special happened: Erol Alkan and Xavier de Rosnay took over and all hell broke loose, but in a good way. From the very beginning, when you heard that monstrous opening to 'Genesis,' you knew you were going to hear something special. They brought all of Justice's big tracks: Genesis, D.A.N.C.E., Waters of Nazereth, DVNO, We Are Your Friends and Stress (but no Phantom Pt. 2, but I'm not going to be that guy and complain when the rest was so awesome). Then there was the moment when they slapped down 'Zero' (err it was 'Heads Will Roll' actually you moron!) and silver glitter paper rained down from the ceiling, but the highlight had to be their closing track, 'Roxanne,' which went down a treat!

Taking possibly the hardest job of the night and following these two after a hour of sweaty moshpit-like madness were Boys Noize and DJ Mehdi, who played a set of slightly more techno-ish music, which although couldn't match the hedonistic atmosphere of Erol and Xavier, kept the party well and truly banging.

Unfortunately, that was where the night ended for me as by that time I was hungry, thirsty and tired and decided that since I'm not a huge Crookers fan I'd call it a night and be happy with what I'd already got.

Oh yeah, just remembered I had a slightly cryptic ending to an earlier paragraph relating to meeting the Ed Rec crüe. Well, whilst walking around the place I only managed to stumble across DJ Mehdi and Gaspard Augè and they very kindly agreed to give me a photo each, and although I may have my 'special' face on, I don't care!

End Transmission
(part 2 coming 5th March!)

¡Vámonos Chicas!

Whilst getting my daily intake of NME tv the other day a band called Music go Music popped up. Unfortunately, the first thought that came into my head was that they look like a band your mum and dad might have been in about 30 years ago, such were the hair and clothes. But, that could just have been their style because we all know how 'in' the 80's are right now.

But, I gave them a chance and whilst not exactly ground-breaking, they're nice enough. After all, you could do worse than take Abba and Blondie as your main influences and I'm sure they'll pick up a nice niche following and manage to play to some full crowds, albeit in small venues, for their upcoming London dates. Yet, I'm not sure they'll shift many records in the UK judging by what makes it into the charts these days.

Completely unrelated, but worth mentioning anyway, a while back DJ Mehdi released 'Black, Black and Black,' his bootleg remix album, as a prelude to his 'Red, Black and Blue' remix album and he was giving it away for free and if you haven't got it yet, it's on his blog.