I may be one of the few non-potsmokers out there. The ridiculousness of a “holiday” just annoys me, though. I couldn’t care less about people that smoke. It doesn’t bother me. This notion of a “holiday”? Bothers me. I understand why some do it. Legalizing marijuana. Bla bla bla. Fine. Hell, I sort of agree with you. Tax that shit. Help get us out of the financial rut our country is in. Guaranteed that if it was legalized and taxed? Potheads would bitch about that, too. It’s our pastime.
So just to be a complete jackass, at first I was going to post the following song.
Why? Well, Adolf Hitler was born on 4/20. Somewhere, some little stupid prude would get all huffy and up in arms over how “offensive” it was, though. That and I didn’t have the song. So instead, I wanted to post something happy I was listening to to get my mind off of a whole bunch of bullshit. It really has nothing to do with 4/20. Or pot. Or much of anything. I just like the song. So go listen to it. And afterwards? Bitch me out for being “insensitive”.
So listening to an old mix I had kicking around, I felt as though I could share a quick one with you guys. Unfortunately, due to Christmas shopping and errands that have me behind like nuts, this is gonna be a short post. I will try to atone for it next week, however!
Anyone that knows Derrick Carter well may know his track “10”. The video below features it as it was taken from a mix.
Well, the track he sampled from? Is a relatively unknown band by the name of Quando Quango. Guys like Derrick, who pick through the obscure to find gems to sample, know gold when they hear it. The track “Love Tempo” is an infectious sort of jam. Disco meets new wave meets horns. You guys should check this one out.
Every so often, you run into something that amazes you with it’s purported simplicity. Only later do you find out how difficult the endeavor really was. That’s the case for Australian DJ and producer Pogo, whose real name in Nick Bertke. By now, unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard some of what this kid has done. When I say kid? I come close to being correct. He was only 18 or 19 when “Alice” was released, and is still a youthful 22 years of age. So we fully expect to hear a lot more from this guy.
Now, while his music is certainly one that catches your ear, it’s the videos he makes that are the true treat. By simply taking clips from the movie he also samples for the audio portion, he creates a very vivid connection of music to imagery. His first video for “Alice” was an almost instant sensation. Take a peek at it and you’ll know why.
Now, he was commissioned to work for Disney for a year. In part to make an agreement that his past work that sampled the Disney works would be taken down. Now that year’s up, and thanks to a friend of mine overseas, I found out about his latest track that samples some Disney goodness. The track is “Wishery” and the movie? Well, none other than Snow White. Take a listen, and the video is included, also.
On top of the sample heavy works, he does create his own tracks. One that I happen to like is his track “SplurgenShitter”. Odd name aside, this is a winner of a track. The piano riffs throughout are happy, light, and don’t overrun the rest of the wonder of this downtempo track. This time, he made a video of his own, so that is below, also.
Back in 2003, I had the chance to see Royksopp here in Boston. It was one of the better shows I’ve seen, to be quite honest. If I could find the pictures I took, I would share those with you in a heartbeat. That same night, I then went from the Paradise over to the Phoenix Landing to check out Fish Go Deep. Fitting that it was the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Just one of many amazing days I’ve experienced in my life where music was involved. I think we can all agree that music inhabits a certain place in all of our lives. It’s honestly a big reason why George started this blog, in my opinion. We get to share not just music with you all, but who we are, as shaped by the music we’ve grown up around. Well, I have shared just that. And hope to keep doing so for all of you. Do you guys have any good stories from shows? Shows or nights out that helped define the person you are? If so, let ’em rip.
With that said, it’s time to bring it back to the original topic, which is Royksopp. They’ve released a new album, entitled Senior. Fitting since their last one was Junior. The mood of this one is decidedly more mellow, and shows the scope of who Royksopp are. In fact, check out the video for the tune “The Drug”. Mildly disturbing, at points, but the music is pretty grand. Definitely a keeper of a track.
Now, this post? I’m actually going to dig back in time with these guys. You’re going to be treated to a couple of remixes off of their seminal album Melody AM. Those in charge of the remixes here? None other than Tom Middleton and Derrick Carter. Those of you that have been reading for a while may remember my interview with DLC, the Chicago house music legend. If you don’t? Hell, go read it now! And Middleton is a familiar name to those of us that have followed electronic music for a while. He was half of both Global Communication and Jedi Knights. Pretty good resume of music, in itself.
Anyhow, Derrick lent his boompty remix skills to the first track of Melody AM – “So Easy”. Middleton’s crafts are on display with his remix of the track most people would be familiar with – “Remind Me”. Enjoy these tunes, guys!
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?
This is going to be a brief one. I have to say I love the bootleg house remixes. A lot. I mean it. I heart the good bootlegs. Two of these are from the same EP. One of them? I have no clue about it and just heard it today. The last of the four? Is one I used to beat to death when I was still DJing.
The first two were done by Kaskade. Somehow, that man has blown up. And it’s not pretty. He’s helping to now make some pretty crappy electronic music. It’s sad, really. A basic attempt to make money. And he’s bought into it. Well, we can remember the good times. These are two off of the Lake Geneva EP. They are remixes of “Invisible Sun” by The Police and “Much Too Late” by Julian Lennon. They are what they are. Simple, fun bootlegs. So enjoy!
Next up is one I just heard. And it’s really pretty bad in a cheesy way. If anyone is old enough to remember Christopher Cross, you may cringe now. This is a remix I found of “Ride Like The Wind” that is just so damn awful that it’s good. I would play this in a set just to fuck with people. It would be funny if it filled a dancefloor. And come on. It’s fucking Michael McDonald on background vocals. That alone should make you happy.
The last one is a legitimately great bootleg. It’s one I picked up almost ten years ago on wax. Hall and Oates’ “Can’t Go For That” and we’re still trying to figure out who did it. A friend of mine says it was probably the artist known as Illicit, but that’s not certain. This is a seriously awesome track. You all should download this one ASAP.
So in the past, I had helped George with a website out in Las Vegas that covered the nightlife. Even after moving back to Boston in 2002, I worked out a number of interviews that were posted on the site until it went defunct. One of the many I got the pleasure of talking to was the subject of today’s interview – James Curd of the Greenskeepers.
Some of you guys may know that name from a video that became a viral sensation a few years back. The video was for a song called “Lotion”. Well, in this interview, there is even a pretty damn cool backstory to how that was made. I have left the interview in its entirety here, as it just wouldn’t seem fair to edit out so much when James did put a good amount of work into this! So kick back and enjoy!
Walt Zink – The last time I interviewed you was after the album ‘Pleetch’. What has happened and/or changed since then with the band and the style you’ve gone for?
James Curd – Wow! That was quite a few years ago! Greenskeepers is a band that is forever changing in form and sound. Pleetch was an album I wrote with Mark Share that featured many different artists. At that time Nick Maurer, with whom I started Greenskeepers was living in Germany, though he did appear on two tracks on Pleetch. After Pleetch Nick moved back to Chicago. With him in back in town we toured non-stop and wrote Polo Club. After Polo Club I focused more on my solo career. I think the sound of Greenskeepers is constantly evolving. Each album crosses many genres and I like the fact that audiences can’t put a label on the sound we produce.
WZ – Your video for “Lotion” became somewhat of an internet meme. Did you expect this? What was the thought process when making that song, and how did you get the rights for use of the clips from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ for that video? How hard was is to get and how long did it take to work that out?
JC– The Lotion video was something that I did for fun. I imported the movie footage into final cut and edited it to our song. We put it up on our server (this was before youtube existed) and and after one week it had been downloaded 100,000 times. It wasn’t long after that it reached one million downloads and became a viral hit. I never got the rights to the footage and actually received a fax from Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill himself) ordering me to take it down. I did, but by that time it had already spread and been re-posted everywhere and still is!
WZ – What is the future of Greenskeepers? Are each of the band members doing their own thing? Do you have any new news of future music for our readers? JC – Greenskeepers has always been a name that represents myself and the artist(s) I collaborate with. I released solo music under Greenskeepers for 3 years during the time I was building the G-Swing sound. Currently I’m releasing a new Greenskeepers album on OM and One Love that I wrote with the other original Greenskeeper, Nick Maurer. The new album is called Live Like You Want To Live and was co-produced by Tommie Sunshine. I have also just finished producing an album featuring Ziggy Franklin. I am currently in the process of mixing it down with Derrick Carter. WZ – Some DJs or musicians hate this question, but i always feel inclined to ask it: do you have a favorite song that you’ve made and what are the reasons for that song being picked?
JC – I would have to say my favorite song is “Low And Sweet”. It was the first time I experimented with blending swing music into my house production. It was successful around the world and opened the doors for me to DJ internationally.
WZ – Do you prefer DJing or a live gig? What do you find to be the advantages of each? And what about each do you tend to dislike?
JC – I like them both for different reasons. For the most part I don’t have to choose. I usually follow every live show with a DJ set. The live show is really fun and gives me a satisfaction in performing the songs that I have worked hard on in the studio, live on stage. What I love about DJing is that it’s been a passion of mine since I was 15 years old and I have so much fun doing it. I love being able to take the crowd to places they didn’t expect to go and being able to feed off of their energy. I love what I do, and I like to think that it shows in my performances.
——– So I have to thank James for the time he lent to do this, as well as having the patience with me for occasionally bugging him about it all! He’s a busy guy, as many in this industry are, so I am quite happy he was able to give all of you a glimpse into what he’s up to! Here is a little of what James has provided as a little ear candy for you all!
Om Podcast – James Curd (Child’s Play Edition) James just did a mix for the Om Podcast…for just a little bit of info (email/city/state) you can get in on that mix as well! Click the link to check the tracklisting!
And the usual bit applies here. I expect you all to crack open that wallet and buy some shit! Get to it!
If you also live up here in New England, you know we’ve been getting shafted royally by Mother Nature. Seriously, is that bitch on a perma-period? We here in Massachusetts set a record for the month of March with 14 inches of rain. To put that in perspective, the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico gets 14 inches all year long. Not the best example, maybe, since that’s in a pretty dry climate, but who cares. I tried. I’m nerdy.
Anyhow, I am like so many others up here that are truly sick of rainy, cold weather. I want the summer to come! So I figured I would give you all a little bit of summer in my music post! These are all songs that have to do with summer in some way, shape, or form. A couple are newer. And probably are songs you know pretty well. The other? Is a favorite of mine that I actually have on wax. Actually, now that I think of it? I have another nice little mint piece on wax that will get the posting happiness today, also.
The first two are the newer releases. The first is by Texas band Neon Indian. They started to make a bit of noise late last year, and it turned into an album by the name up Psychic Chasms on the Lefse label. The tour he has going even starts off with a bang! Two tour dates with Massive Attack? Yes, please! Well, this track is summer related, and honestly my favorite from this 21 year old wunderkind. It’s “Deadbeat Summer”.
Next up is from a band I’ve posted about before. YACHT is now on the DFA label (no surprise there) and they’ve made a full length album entitled See Mystery Lights. I’m still pretty iffy on these guys, but I admit I dig this song, so I think considering the theme of this post today? We can let it all slide. This one’s “Summer Song”.
Now come the real treats. Well, they are to me. So whatever. And such. Donna Summer? Anyone? And no, not that person calling themselves DJ Donna Summer. This is the legend from the days of disco and excess. Well, this song has been sampled and remixed to death, but nothing really beats the original. It’s her classic track “I Feel Love”. It’s one I picked up dirt cheap and played fairly often. How can you really diss Giorgio Moroder? Well, I’ve got the album version here, as well as the now underground legend of a remix by Glenn Underground. Well, because of some probably obvious issues with releasing a remix and getting rights to samples? This became a white label. It heavily relies on Moroder’s track “The Chase” from the film Midnight Express. This is a brilliant piece of work – remix or not!
Well, in light of the recent news of Gang Starr‘s Guru (real name Keith Elam) suffering a major heart attack, I figured it was time to dust off an old house bootleg I’ve had kicking around for a few years now and really never got to play it out enough.
Well, thankfully? It appears as though Guru is doing well, as he issued a brief statement to his fans. So with that being said, this post will be more of an appreciation for the goodness that was Gang Starr. The first track here is that bootleg I spoke of. It was created by house music’s Sona and released on the short lived Hook-Up Tunes. It looks as though this was the next to last release from the label, but they did have a few quality bootlegs. Here’s Sona’s remix of Gang Starr’s “Mass Appeal”.
Next is just another old track off of the same album that “Mass Appeal” appeared on – Hard To Earn. This one is “DWYCK”, which featured Nice ‘N’ Smooth. How’s that for dating yourself. You’re pulling out a one-hit wonder like them? Wow. But this is still a great tune. So enjoy it.
So the last day or so, I was reminiscing over some of the old house music tracks I either have or used to dance to. On my own facebook page, I posted youtube links to four separate vids that showed the talents of one Kenny Dixon, Jr. – otherwise known as Moodymann.
Well, while perusing through some of his old records on the discogs site, I found a few gems. Then, I ran across some folks making a claim that he had remixed Sade’s “By Your Side”. Well, that claim has been proven false, however. To be honest? The remix just doesn’t have the typical Moodymann sort of sound to it. Instead, it’s from the boys at Naked Music, which makes much more sense, if you think about it.
Anyhow, that will be one of the tracks listed here. The other is possibly the most well known of all of Sade house remixes. Ben Watt is part of the duo Everything But the Girl, and can you all believe the man is pushing fifty years of age? Wow. Makes me feel that much older, to be honest. Well, here you have his Lazy Dog remix of “By Your Side”, which has easily withstood the test of time. I played this track once at a small gig for a friend a few years back, not realizing that this song was a personal fav of his and his wife’s. So this one is, in a way, going out to Danielle and Fran. A great and unbelievably happy couple that just amazes me with how they do it.
Since I mentioned Moodymann, I think it’s only fair that I post one of my personal favorites of his. It’s the typical Moodymann, as it’s along the lines of “Shades of Jae” in that it works best as a tool over other tracks, but in the right place? It works on its own. Here’s “I Can’t Kick That Feeling When It Hits”. Seriously a legendary tune. You’d be making a mistake by at least not taking a listen.
