Party Foul

I had the wonderful privilege of spinning at a gigantic and epic party last night here at Oberlin College. Joining me were two phenomenal DJs, Harry Bornstein and Mike McGill, and the amazing duo FX Unicorn. Everything was going just as planned, the music was hot and the kids on the dance floor were eating it up. Then, about 6 or 7 songs into my set, this guy spills my beer all over my computer. It seemed fine at first, but within 30 seconds my monitor died. Needless to say it is pretty much impossible for me to mix anything when I can't see shit on my screen. The whole party was screaming for more and I couldn't give it to them. Luckily FX Unicorn jumped into action and got people moving again. To top it off, McGill played a 3 1/2 hour set without missing a beat, and I think everybody just about shit themselves from dancing so hard. Despite the major party foul, it was a sick party.

Now that my computer is all dried out and functioning normally again, I decided to take some time and record the set that I would have played last night.

Listen up:

Woodland Party

1. Max Power - Intro
2. Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To (Erol Alkan Remix)
3. Melomanics - Get You (Mr Miyagi Remix)
4. Goose - Black Gloves (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
5. Muscles - One Inch Badge Pin (Ghetto Ruckus Remix)
6. Yelle - A Cause des Garcons (Riot In Belgium Remix)
7. Scenario Rock - Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix)
8. Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Edition)
9. The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon (MInitel Rose Remix)
10. Justice - Phantom
11. Le Castlevania - Trouble In Daylight (LA Riots Remix)
12. Might Dub Katz - Magic Carpet Ride '07 (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
13. Goose - Bring It On (MSTRKRFT JFK Remix)
14. Justice - Waters Of Nazareth (Erol Alkan's Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr Re-edit)
15. Chromeo - Tenderoni (MSTRKRFT Remix)
16. Riot In Belgium - La Musique (Revlover Edit)
17. Para One - Dudun Dun (MSTRKRFT Remix)
18. Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (ft. Au Revoir Simone)

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Super Inaugural Celebration Extravaganza

So we've got another sweet party for all you kids out there. This Friday, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings will be gracing SLC with their amazing funk/jazz/nu-soul ridiculousness. If you for some reason have been living under a rock or on Staten Island, the Dap-Kings have worked with Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse, The Budos Band, and Antibalas, and they're probably the single best R&B act since Otis Redding. That one starts at 8:30 under a big fucking white tent (and they play the Apollo on Saturday night), but be sure to stick around for the afterparty: 11:30 in the Blue Room. I, and quite possibly your boy Speakeasy will be spinning for some classy people. That means you.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Tell Me

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Electrotastic

Here's a little something I put together from some of my favorite electro tracks these days. Listen up:

930 Mix

1. Max Power – Intro
2. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (Lexicon Avenue Remix)
3. Pet Shop Boys – Sodom
4. Soulwax – E Talking (Rex The Dog Mix)
5. Tomcraft – Overdose (Lady Radio Version)
6. Alloy Mental – Alloy Mental (Boys Noize Remix)
7. Goose – Black Gloves (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
8. Hostage – Gluttony (Felix Cartal Remix)
9. The Living Things – Bom Bom Bom (Boys Noize Remix)
10. Superbass – I’m With You (Richard Dinsdale Remix)
11. Paul Johnson – Hot (Surkin Remix)
12. Justice – Stress (ZUER Edit)
13. Pryda – Rage
14. Eric Prydz vs. Pink Floyd – Proper Education (Dub)
15. Para One – Dudun-dun (Boys Noize Remix)
16. Trentemøller – Beta Boy
17. Nine Inch Nails – Capital G (Switch Remix)
18. The Chemical Brothers – Do It Again (Daft Mix)
19. Sneaky Sound System – I Love It (Riot In Belgium Forest Rave Mix)

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Rocking Without Vowels

The subject of today's musical exploration is, I'm afraid, kind of predictable--yes, its about remixes. Today we shall focus on our friends from the north, MSTRKRFT. The duo, Jesse F. Keeler (former member of the band Death From Above 1979) and Al-P (producer of Death From Above's "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" and former member of the electroish group, Girlsareshort), hail from the wonderful world of Ontario, Canada. For anyone who hasn't heard them, I guess it's apt to mention that I discovered MSTRKFT on a gay-centric blog some time ago, under a picture of Paris Hilton--in other words, they pretty much epitomize the whole happy gay sound. Lots of fun, in deed. Strangely enough though, these synth-and-keyboard-thumping-party-makers sound almost nothing like DFA 1979. So then, where did that gritty-guitar, wailing-ballad sound go? Where do these crazy Canadians vent their urge to rock the fuck out....? Well remixes, of course. Since the release of their first single in early 2006, MSTRKFT has produced a slew of rocky sounding remixes, selecting songs from an eclectic range of genres. Anyway, to make a long blog shorter, these remixes bring forth the best of rock and electro, creating a head-bangin, dance-inducing combination, that is sure to get a party bumpin'. If not, they certainly make for some fun listening (Or, at least, I sure enjoy them.)


MSTRKRFT - Got Love To Kill (Juliette & The Licks Remix)
Bloc Party - Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Edition)
The Gossip - Listen Up! (MSTRKRFT Relick)
Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)

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Nothing Special

Ok, I must admit, even I was suckered into the whole Spank Rock thing. I, whom for years tried to claim some form of status through hip hop snobbery, fell for the tricks and flashy ways of these dirty pseudo-Bmore beats. Perhaps it was their attempts to incorporate an electroish sound, perhaps, I just wanted to dance; who knows? Suffice to say that, at the very least, I have been quite excited about seeing the fabled Spank Rock perform for quite some time now. So granted, the Apple store in mid-town Manhattan is no real club, and for sure, free shows don't always prompt the best performances, but GOD DAMN, that was a real flaky show. I'll try to leave aside the uncontrollable factors--the hipster scummery, the faulty equipment, the tight quarters--but criticism is needed. I mean, I hate to say it, but the performance sucked.

First off, XXXChange, what's the deal man? I mean, as a DJ, and not even a very good one at that, I was kind of upset with some of the sloppy mixing and predictable choice of music. Stopping for 20 seconds because you fuck up, or dropping out the volume for a moment or two by accident, is no fun. I mean, of all places, it wasn't as if this was a high pressure show--there are no excuses for those kind of mistakes. Oh, and playing catchy Bmore stuff, that everyone's heard a million times, does not make up for a sloppy performance.

Next, Mr. Naeem Juwan, let me make this real clear---being a class A hipster, talking about vagina's and penises, and shaking your ass, does not make you a good MC. Do yourself a favor, go back, and watch all those late 70's, early 80's hip hop movies where all the hipsters steal their style from, and watch how a real MC rocks a show. I'll give you some hints, first: when you spit, do the whole verse, don't just start in the middle, or stop for that matter, and definitely don't just let Amanda Blank say your lines. Oh, try rapping over instrumentals rather than vocal edits, it kind of gives you the illusion of talent. Lastly, throwing water in a store full of computers, iPhone and iPods probably isn't the best idea.

I'm sorry if I sound like a complete hater right now, but I am REAL disappointed, and I've heard no real criticism of this group. So, Spank Rock, please get your act together.

Sincerely,

(speakeasy)

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Baby Got Bass: Volume 2.0

If you're not coming, you're lame. But seriously, walk, run, drive, fly, or do whatever you have to to be at Sarah Lawrence College tonight. If you're coming from New York, take the White Plains Metro-North to Bronxville, and then ask around for the school shuttle. Starts at 11.

We've got Max Neely-Cohen (you may know him as the Kleptonian), Manatee, DJ Pravo, our boy SpeakEasy and myself destroying everything until 2 AM. Don't miss it.


Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
Soulwax - NY Lipps

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Did you go to Hollywood Upstairs Medical College too?

Here are some back to school mixes for everyone:

Max Power - RemixMix

1. Max Power - Intro
2. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Soulwax Elektronic Remix)
3. Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (Trentemøller Remix)
4. New Order - Regret (Tocadisco Remix)
5. Freeform Five - No More Conversations (Mylo remix)
6. Noir - My Mtv (D Ramirez Evil Business Remix)
7. Riot in Belgium - The Acid Never Lies (3pm Rough Rave Version)
8. Mylo - Drop the Pressure (Max Power's Hot Like a Motherfucker Edit)
9. Franze Ferdinand - The Fallen (Ruined By Justice)
10. Benjamin Theves - Texas (SebastiAn Remix)
11. CSS - Lets Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
12. Claude VonStroke - The Whistler (Diplo Remix)
13. The Gossip - Standing In the Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)
14. Daft Punk - Da Funk (Casino Inc. Amazing Disco Remix)
15. Björk - Earth Intruders (Spank Rock Remix)
16. Diplo - Shake It Over and Over
17. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts (Troy Pierce Unofficial Business Mix)
18. Spank Rock - XXXs Speeditupussy (The xxxchange Exclusivo)
19. Spank Rock - Bump (Switch Remix)
20. Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe (Switch Remix)
21. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Eli and Diplo mix)

Max Power - DrunkMix

1. Justice - Stress
2. Mylo - Paris Four Hundred (SebastiAn Remix)
3. Teenage Bad Girl - Vacuum
4. Bloc Party - Banquet (Boys Noize Vox Mix)
5. Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again (Digitalism Remix)
6. Justice - Waters Of Nazareth (Erol Alkan's Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr Re-edit)
7. Boys Noize - Erole Attack
8. Tiga - Move My Body (Only 4 Erol Mix)
9. SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross
10. Teenage Bad Girl - Hands of a Stranger
11. Simian Mobile Disco - Tits & Acid
12. Franze Ferdinand - The Fallen (Ruined By Justice)
13. Bonde Do Role - Melo Do Tobacco

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Dr. Charles C. Lilly

New Balance 574JOB

I've gradually come to the realization that it's pretty damn hard to find a decent pair of kicks in my size. 16's aren't hard to come by, but it's really the width that'll getcha. I'm at least an EE or EEEE, and that's just not available most of the time. The Oddball Shoe Company has been working out for the most part, and the New Balance Classics are surprisingly dope, but beyond that, the land of giants has but limited options.

Soulja Boy - Crank Dat (Cousin Cole Remix)
Digitalism vs. B.O.B. - Pogos vs. Haterz (DJ Original Bozak Blend)

That Soulja Boy remix is going to be hot. REAL hot. And I'm just really into that mashup, for no reason at all other than it rocks.

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Oh My God, There's A RIOT IN BEGIUM!

If you haven't heard them yet, definitely give Riot In Belgium a listen. In addition to being talented producers, the duo are also fantastic DJ's. On, of all things, the Ministry of Sound label, can be found Mashed III (buy), the second disc of which is a killer mix of theirs (the first disc is a rather disappointing Tonite Only mix). Having torn it up at the After The Jump Fest yesterday, in September Riot In Belgium will embark on a magical mystery tour of Europe. Check out an interview at Product Shop NYC.

Riot In Belgium - La Musique
Riot In Belgium - La Musique (Revlover Edit)
Kim - Wet N' Wild (Riot In Belgium Remix)
Yelle - A Cause Des Garcons (Riot In Belgium Mix)


Also, apologies for the erratic posting. Things probably won't change any time soon, but we are aware of the delays, and wish things were otherwise.

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Baltimore Electro

OK, this one's finally ready for primetime. Goes out to all the kids.


Goliath - Bmorelectro

1. Justice - Genesis
2. Codebreaker - Exiled (Miami Horror Remix)
3. Mr. Oizo - Nazis (Justice Mix)
4. L'il Mama - Lipgloss (The Six Million Dollar Kid's Flipgloss Remix)
5. Daft Punk - Human After All (SebastiAn Remix)
6. Justice - Waters Of Nazareth (Erol Alkan's Durr Durrr Durrrrr Edit)
7. Para One - Midnight Swim (Surkin Drowning Mix)
8. Riot In Belgium - La Musique (Revlover Edit)
9. Heavy D & Friends - In Living Color Theme (Sta Remix)
10. Britney Spears - Toxic (Les Clones Club Edit)
11. CSS - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above (Spank Rock Remix)
12. The Who - Baba O'Reilly (Bird Peterson Baltimore Wasteland)
13. The Beatles - Twist And Shout (Diplo B'More Edit)
14. B-Easy - Bongo Joint
15. Say Wut - Bueller Theme
16. Tittsworth - September
17. Best Fwends - M.Y.S.E.L.F. (XXXChange Remix)
18. Scotty B & King Tut - The Almighty Unruly Simon Joint
19. A-Trak - Sir Duke
20. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Tittsworth Remix)
21. Herbie Hancock - Tell Everyone
22. Kano - I'm Ready
23. Sugarhill Gang - Apache

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Daft Punk/Brooklyn/icanneverlistentomusicagain

Daft Punk’s set in Brooklyn on Thursday night was beyond the normal adjectives describing such things. The normal descriptions of amazing, earthshattering concerts do not apply. Yes, Daft Punk’s set was downright apocalyptic. People would have kept dancing as a nuke hit central Manhattan, but even more so than that, Daft Punk’s set was a big fuck you to the apparent end of music as we know it.

The digital age, the decline of the record store, the death of the major labels, the rise of absolute pop crap, the ever-changing irrelevance of once prominent genres (dance), Daft Punk does not care. They do not care that they are electronic musicians, impure in their rejection of live instrumentation. They do not care that they are pop icons, subverting the music video and pop imagery for their own purposes. They do not care about their last albums bad reviews and initial fears of their decline. They do not care about any of this. They have two goals, make you dance, and make everyone else look pathetic. They are not just playing their music; they are putting on a show. The lights, the effects, and even the crowd are just as important as the music, and in its totality, this was absolutely ridiculous.

The set blew the famous one from 2006 Coachella away, approaching two hours with intense starts and stops and the most epic encore I have ever witnessed. They felt more live than when you usually listen. You could hear them actually arranging things with whatever samplers and keyboards they had. If you listened extremely closely, you could hear 3 or 4 missed cues, little inconsistencies, proof that they were working up there. This meant you could literally feel them turning knobs and pushing buttons. And the lights…fuck…the lights…yea…you just have to see that shit….

This was the closest thing in my lifetime to understanding what it would have been like to see Hendrix or The Beatles live. The show they are putting on now absolutely puts to shame everything else going on in music. They are touring, with no hit record, no hit single, no hit video, and no apparent goal than to simply conquer all of metropolis. There were groups of teenage girls at this concert. Not cool musical prophet outcast teenage girls but popular image driven partying teenage girls. Not all of them could have possibly known what they were going to (“just the group who did One More Time”), but, seeing a group of them rush over to buy t-shirts at the end of the show was an enlightening experience. It made me realize, you could take all the teeny bopper die-hard fans, and throw a show with Britney, and Christina, and Justin, and Kelly, and basically anyone you dared, put them up against Daft Punk, and Daft Punk would win all the fans away. Easy as pie. In the age of the lip-sync to help with your dance moves and computer enhanced backup tracks, Daft Punk are the true pop heroes. Right now, they are doing something very different in music. You should take notice.

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Amanda Blank

She's definitely not for everyone, but I find myself strangely attracted to Amanda Blank, MC extraordinaire and sometime member of Spank Rock. I know hypersexualized rapping is almost passé these days, but she does it REAL well. Seriously. I'm turned on. She's got the filthiest mouth you've ever heard, but it doesn't even matter, her rhymes are so tight.

Anyways, here are some tracks to help you with understanding Amanda's appeal. Cause there's a lot of it.


Amanda Blank - Get It Now
Amanda Blank - Get It Now (Robert Koch Remix)
Spank Rock - Bump (Switch Remix)
Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Goliath Edit Feat. Amanda Blank)

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There's Nothing Else

Lately it seems as though everyone has come down with a nasty case of remix fever, and I'm no different. In fact, I'm rife with disease. Here's a mix that, amoung other things, is peppered with several versions of Röyksopp's 'What Else Is There?'.

Listen up: Max Power - J28Mix


Tracklist:
1. Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
2. The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex The Dog Remix)
3. Allan Braxe - Love Lost
4. The Juan Maclean - Tito's Way
5. The Juan Maclean - Tito's Way (Linstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix)
6. Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (The Emperor Machine Vocal Mix)
7. Justice vs. Simian - Never Be Alone
8. Mylo - Otto's Journey
9. Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (Trentmøller Remix)
10. Claude VonStroke - Birdshit
11. Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (Thin White Duke Remix)

-Max

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Robot Aftermath

Well, it's been a while.

Our rooftop party in Brooklyn was pretty dope - for about two hours. Unfortunately, the building manager decided to put an end to the festivities around midnight, and only my man Max Power was able to spin at all. Check out the fun, though:































And, due to some damnable technical difficulties, we don't even have a recording of the show. Sit back, bump these two tracks, and imagine what the rest of the night might have sounded like.


Malente - We Came To Party
Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (The Emperor Machine Vocal Mix)

Carlo never quite made it...

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ROBOT DANCE PARTY

This Friday, you MUST head to Brooklyn. No questions.

Rooftop.

Brooklyn.

$5.

8 PM.

538 Johnson Ave.
And the cool kids are coming dressed as robots.

But seriously, Speakeasy and Max Power, along with at least one other DJ, will be spinning...out of control. Here's some music - listen up.

Codebreaker - Exiled (We Don't Need No) [Miami Horror Remix]
Heavy D & Friends - In Living Color (Sta Remix)

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Diplodocus

What the hell, it's everybody's favorite - Wesley Pentz, aka Diplo. I finally got a chance to see him live last week thanks to Apple's Midnight Mix series, at the flagship store on 5th Ave. He fucking KILLED it. Seriously, heads were going nuts. Apparently, he's also just announced a fall tour, so if you at all can, definitely check him out at a theater near you.

Aside from his mixes, Diplo is, of course, a fantastic producer. Supposedly his new album drops in time to coincide with the tour, and if it's anything like Florida, it should be hot. He's been responsible for some of the hottest remixes of years past, and so for your aural pleasure, here are a few.

Hot Chip - Over and Over (Diplo's Shake It Over And Over Mix)
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Eli and Diplo Mix)
Kanye West - Stronger (Diplo's Work Is Never Over)
Diplo Feat. Sandra Melody, Vybz Kartel & Pantera Os Danadinhos - Diplo Rhythm

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