Category Archives: electro

Why Barbra Streisand?

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Why her? Why her of all people? In the latest in a series of sample heavy electronic tracks coming out, we present the duo Duck Sauce – comprised of Armand Van Helden and A-Trak – and their track “Barbra Streisand”. Now, for those who haven’t somehow seen the video that’s been released for it? I’m gonna show it to you.

First of all, that woman is beyond annoying. More annoying than Barbra Streisand, herself. And Armand, you’ve got Boston roots, and do everything in your power to ignore that, now. What a fucking joke, man. The showing off of who’s who in this video is incredibly irritating, also. I don’t care who you guys know. Seriously. I know some cool and talented people, also, but I would never feel the need to boost my ego by showing it off. Some may say, “Well, they’re showing what’s what in New York City.” Fine. New York is one of the largest cities in the world. I would hope that they had some talent. Again, don’t shove it down my throat.

Now, how about we tell you where these guys snagged the sample from? Boney M‘s “Gotta Go Home” is the winner in this department. Check the video below, also. Seriously. Have producers gotten this lazy? Can’t you people use samples in a creative way that’s still catchy? No? Okay, I hear the message loud and clear. Armand’s foray into samples isn’t new, either. He’s done this for the better part of a decade, now. While it was cute to start off, it’s getting tiresome. A-Trak isn’t helping matters, any, by throwing his hand into this. Is this track catchy? Yes. But so is the Boney M tune it ripped off. And now we see a plethora of “remixers” doing nothing more than using programs like Ableton to lay down an acapella over it and viola! A remix! One of those “remixes” is here. While it still takes some talent to do this stuff, and a little ingenuity, doesn’t it smack of cheap when you do this to a tune that blatantly rips off another one?


Download Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand


Download Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand (Just Banks How Low remix)


Download Boney M – Gotta Go Home

And you may want to grab these quick. God knows how long before we get a nasty email wanting these off the site.

If It Ain’t Broken…..

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So everyone and their grandmother seems to be posting the new Broken Social Scene track “World Sick” that was put up online. Well good for you. You got the jump on me. Still, I think this is a great track from their forthcoming album Forgiveness Rock Record.

Anyhow, for anyone not all that familiar with this band, they are an odd sort in that it revolves mostly around a core group of members. The rest? Well, that all depends on the mood of the band, I’d guess. They’ve played shows with as few as seven members to as many as fifteen. If I’m wrong on the numbers? Please feel free to correct that.

Anyhow, their songs are many times on the verge of jam band-ish, yet it keeps more of the indie feel. Which is good to me, because I just can’t seem to stand jam bands. Dave Matthews Band? Hate them. Grateful Dead? Ditto. Phish? Makes me want to punch myself. A lot. Personal preference, after all. So it seems odd that this group is one I’ve liked for a few years now. They’re entertaining live, to boot. Their sound isn’t really that close to the aformentioned groups, however, so it has a pretty refreshing feel to it all. Well, since you guys have probably stopped reading? Here’s that tune. Go get that!

Download Broken Social Scene – World Sick

As an aside for a track this week, I just recently remembered a tune I have meant to post for a while. The track is “Velvet” by the band The Big Pink. Their one of the many from overseas that have started making a little noise in the underground here. This track? Well, it’s for you if you like a lot of the electro tracks that groups like Depeche Mode were making in the ’80s. Now, I am not comparing them to DM. Just a reference point and want to make that clear and avoid the flaming that sometimes happens with this stuff. It’s a great tune, though, so just kick back and enjoy it.

Download The Big Pink – Velvet

Yes. Buy some stuff. It’s cold. It’s rainy. It’s dreary up here in Boston. So I have no desire to put energy into making a smartass remark this week. I know. You’re disappointed. Now you know how my family feels.

Electro-break goodies!

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So this week, the theme will switch from the indie-rock to the electro kitsch. Pretty funny word. Kitsch. Sounds like something you use one pinch of in a recipe. Well, it’s not. It means funky. Weird. Whatever you wanna call it. This stuff is pretty cool. So, instead of reading my droll ramblings? How about I bring you this music?

First off is something I’ve recently stumbled on. If anyone isn’t aware of who the Stanton Warriors are, then here’s a good cue to what they may be like. Basically, it’s breaks. Toss in a bit of electro feel? There you go. Well, this is their take on the classic Beach Boys song “Good Vibrations”. It’s not bad, but definitely something a bit different than what you may expect. Give this one a listen!

Download The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (Stanton Warriors remix)

Next up is something from the boys of Soulwax. And of the robot helmet wearing duo of Daft Punk. Now, this is more a reworking than a legit remix. It still has a great feel to it, though. It’s been sped up, some rehashing of the samples throughout. More dance friendly. Which, for the Soulwax guys? Is what they wanted. If you’re a fan of either group, check out this stompin’ work. Dance your little butts off, children!

Download Daft Punk – Robot Rock (Soulwax remix)

Now, get your ass in gear. Help the economy. Stimulus shit. That crap. You’re not a real American unless you buy fifteen flags in various sizes and an album by the above. Big Brother is watching you! Don’t be a dick!

From Electro to Electro

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Well, today is more on the guy who is sometimes taking the moniker of the Thin White Duke. It’s Les Rythmes Digitales. I thought of it when I was listening to the On The Floor At The Boutique by Lo-Fidelity Allstars. I have had that album since it came out back in ’98 (or at least that’s when I first laid eyes on it) and I still crack it out every so often. Hell, those of you who dig through our blog posts will find the Jackson and His Computer Band track “Makin’ It Happen” on here. That’s thanks to that same CD!

Well, LRD seminal hit “(Hey You) What’s That Sound?” is on this disc, too. It made me wonder what else he’s been up to and I have to say I found a couple of tracks that I had forgotten about! Now, I can’t stand the group Justice. Sorry. They’re chodes. I mean, there was that whole deal where they basically faked their live set. Although that could be doubtful, too. I mean, if you and I drank too much or sniffed a tad more than needed? We’d probably look like the picture below, also. I can see his reaction now: “Wait. It wasn’t plugged in? Well. We still brought it proper.”

Anyhow, LRD did a remix of Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” that’s not all too shabby. And I fucking loathe the original. Whenever I hear the original? It makes me get in my car, drive to a local SPCA, walk up and down the halls of cages, pick the cutest puppy of the bunch, and kick it. Not really. And if you got offended by that? Shut the fuck up. I hear the low price guarantee at Wal-Mart does in fact cover a sense of humor, too. Here’s the track.

Download Justice – D.A.N.C.E. (Les Rythmes Digitales remix)

Well, the man also did what I consider to be a great remix of Cassius’ “Feeling For You”. Much more housey and happy, and I could easily drop this in a DJ set. If I played any more, that is. So you get to drop it in your set instead. YAAAY!

Download Cassius – Feeling For You (Les Rythmes Digitales Dreamix edit)

Lastly is a remix of “Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)”, but this is the Switch remix. When Switch was still any good. Ugh. They split in two, and next thing you know, Switch turns to shit. Sorry, but Switch hasn’t really made anything half-decent in the last two years. It’s depressing, but I guess that sound can only go so far. Well, this is a remix I personally adore. So have at it and enjoy.

Download Les Rythmes Digitales – Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat) (Switch remix)

Now go buy this stuff. I have illegitimate children to feed.

Hot Damn! New Hot Chip!

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Oooooh. New Hot Chip album is coming! February of next year, according to their site and the first single is the same as the album’s title, One Life Stand. So how does this one sound? Well, this all depends on what you think of Hot Chip. These are guys that make solid blippy electro pop that simply makes you want to groove. If you don’t want to groove? You’re probably white. But that’s okay. I’m not here to judge you. That’s what your mother is for. Here’s One Life Stand, their newest single.

Download Hot Chip – One Life Stand

Anyhow, their last album Made In The Dark featured a video that helped promote The Dark Knight. The song was “Ready For The Floor”, and despite the wooden features of their lead man Alexis Taylor, it’s a pretty cool video. That vid? Is below.

Well that song had a remix I had completely forgotten about by Jesse Rose. While I do love Rose, this remix starts off strong. Aaaaaand gets repetitive. Very quickly. It’s in essence nothing more than a glorified DJ tool, but that’s not such a bad thing. If you’re a DJ. Or have a short attention span. Here’s that nugget of goodness.

Download Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor (Jesse Rose remix)

Now go buy stuff. The lord commands you. And he left it a little “l” for a reason. Because if you need to be scared shitless to do good? You’re a moron.

Summertime, And the livin’ is easy…

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It’s hot, and whenever the weather warms up I think about parties and dropping records. In the comments, share with me your memories and thoughts of summer.

This one is for you!

A little mix tape for the fans. All the music I used was found on music blogs across the interwebs.

Some of my favorite dance music blogs:
– discodust.blogspot.com
– stereogum.com
– electrorash.com

Support your music blogs! Hope you enjoy!

To download some of the music in DJ friendly form, Right click and Save As to download!

SETLIST
Release Me (Tv Rock Edit) – Zoe Badwi

Spraycan (Sharkslayer’s Respect to Nassau mix) – Renaissance Man

Get Down – Original Mix Jack Beats

I Want Your Soul (2007 Wizard’s Breaks mix) – Armand Van Helden

Lady (Harry Choo Choo Romero’s Titanium Dub) – Modjo

1979 (GlowTape!’s 2009 Remix) – Smashing Pumpkins

Subway (Left/Right Remix) – Kilowatts

Junk (Flashover Remix) – Ferry Corsten

Break On Through To The Other Side (BT Vs. The Doors Remix) – The Doors

Get The Party Started (Tyas & Lawrence Partycrasher Mix) – Pink

Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough (White Label Mix) – Michael Jackson

Electroclash revisited

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So this post features a couple of tracks that I used to play years back when DJing. It depended on my mood, really, as I liked to bounce around between genres.

The first cut is by the pretty much unknown group Adult. I actually saw these guys live before they really became “in” with the whole electro crowd. Not bad, if I remember right. This song got them quite a bit of play, and resulted in a good Carl Craig remix of this track. I’ll even post that remix, also, as a little gift. So here’s Adult.’s “Hand To Phone”.

[Download Adult. – Hand To Phone]

[Download Adult. – Hand To Phone (Carl Craig Remix)]

Next up is more Felix Da Housecat. This time under his guise of Aphrohead. This song was an absolute bitch to get my hands on, but I’m glad I did. The Clashbackk label produced a lot of unbelievable stuff, and this one is no different. Here’s “Blindmanwilly”, a track that revolves around none other than a harmonica loop, which is pretty fitting if you think about it. One of Felix’s lesser known tracks, but probably one of his best, in my opinion.

[Download Aphrohead – Blindmanwilly]

And yes. Go buy stuff. It makes me smile. As does shiny things.

Weird electro and some new shit

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Yes. Chromeo is weird electro. They’re really hit or miss with me because they essentially update a type of music I drink heavily to forget. So now they make my drinking problem worse. Fuckers. This remix of “Me and My Man” I’ve liked since I bought it off of Beatport a few years back, however.

[Download Chromeo – Me and My Man (Fly Whitey Remix)]

Next up is the first track from the latest Yeah Yeah Yeahs release. Yes, I understand it’s not being posted here two months before it’s released. I don’t care. I like this. So there. I’m posting it because I like it. It makes me happy in my no-no spot. Which actually kind of creeps me out. The aforementioned drinking will come in handy.

[Download Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero]

Last up is just a really strange remix of the Designer Drugs track “Zombies”. It’s by the Montreal duo Nrotb, and considering the sound they have here, I found it quite odd that house label Coco Machete brought them on board. Well, perhaps they fit the niche since I last bought house records. Here’s their remix of “Zombies”. The oddly titled “Nrotb Dandy remix”. Lovely.

[Download Designer Drugs – ZOMBIES! (Nrotb Dandy Remix)]

Ah, yes. The time where I make some half-assed comment telling you to buy the stuff listed. Well, I’ve got nothing. Just go buy it. Now.

Thin White Duke post

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So this week it’s finally nice outside, so I’ve been doing nothing but fucking around. Boston weather is messed up, so a nice day of mid 70’s can’t be wasted. So I thought of an old remix that Jacques Lu Cont – otherwise known as The Thin White Duke – had done for Felix Da Housecat a few years back, so it made me curious about other stuff he had done. So here are three of his remixes. Two of which I do like, the other I find horrid, but eh, you all can choose if you like it or not. Hint: It’s the Killers song I hate. Then again, I hate the Killers to begin with. Terrible band, IMO.

[Download Felix Da Housecat – Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke mix)]

[Download Depeche Mode – Wrong (Thin White Duke mix)]

[Download The Killers – Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke mix)]

Everybody’s deranged…

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…and I wonder what happened the day that I fell from the sky.

I am lying on a tiny bed in a small hotel room that I am sharing with my brother in London. I’m reading Anthony Bourdain’s book, Kitchen Confidential, when my brother rips out his iPod headphones to exclaim, “The new Faint album is amazing!”

At this point my head is all messed up from jet lag and I just want some peace and quiet, but for all my brother doesn’t know… Music is one thing he does know.

It’s in his blood. Well, okay, that is stretching it. There are no musicians in our family. But from the moment he could crawl, I was pushing music all over him; giving him tapes and vinyl to hear. Discussing music when he was able to speak intelligently (some would argue he still doesn’t speak intelligently…) When I got the job in the music store, and was taking home every free demo from the record labels I could get my hands on, I did my part and shared it all with my lil’ bro.

We share many similar tastes in music, obviously. But I will point out that he was on the cutting edge of the emo/screamo movement, so he has shown me a few new things over the years. In fact, since he was the first person to ever say the word screamo, I thought for sure he had invented the name for this genre.

So when he is passionate about some music…I know this is the real deal. It’s like an air-raid siren going off!

Granted: I already knew about the Faint. He introduced me to Danse Macabre some time in 2001, and I remember thinking…he’s slipping! Well, let me explain…

I have been DJing for about a decade now. The Faint are a dance-punk/new wave/electro band. I was on the cutting edge of electronic music and playing electro style records since the mid 90s, and I mean the original electro was popular in the early 80s, so I felt like this was nothing THAT new or amazing. I already had some records in that same vein that would truly blow his mind.

But Danse Macabre was good! I would listen to it a lot, epecially impressed with the track Glass Danse. It wasn’t until maybe a few months ago that I realized there was a remix album for Danse Macabre! Here I found some of my favorite DJs getting in on the remixing! Junior Sanchez, This White Duke, Photek, Tommie Sunshine!

Back to London.

“There is a new album?” I say, eyes peering over my book to the bed on the other side of the room.

“Yeah…August 8th, it’s awesome. I can’t stop listening to it. I listened to it the whole way here non stop.” That was a 9 hour plane ride…and this kid doesn’t exaggerate. He continues, “I’ll let you borrow my iPod later so you can check it out. But right now I haven’t gotten enough of it.” He then puts back in his earbuds, and I don’t hear a peep from him until he is snoring loudly 2 hours later.

Apparently he never got enough of it. It wasn’t until I got back to the States that I even got to listen to the The Faint’s new album Fasciinatiion.

And I loved it instantly! It’s so damn good. It blows my mind that some kids from Nebraska could come up with something like this! They even broke off from their label and produced this independantly! DIY ethos!

No official remix album in the works yet, but hypem.com is filled with unofficial remixes of just about everyone’s favorite track: The Geeks Were Right. But for you, the original:

[Download The Faint – The Geeks Were Right]

…and my favorite remix so far of this single:

[Download The Faint – The Geeks Were Right (DIOY,Y? Remix)]

so now all you have left to do is buy the album…and you get to sleep well knowing that your money is going to the band and not some bullshit label executive.