THINGS YOU CAN DO

An abundance of events in the Twin Cities this weekend. Check it:

THURSDAY

Talk Radio's new night at Memory Lanes (2520 26th Ave S) debuts this Thursday, and I'll be helping him with DJ duties. It's cheap bowling, cheap drinks, cheap food, and cheap awesome electro jams from 10-2. There's no cover, and you're not going to find anything better to do, so come hang.


FRIDAY

Friday is going to bring some serious heat... this is one of those events where so many of my friends are involved I'm, like, already there, or something. It's the end of the month, which means it's time for my boy Nyteowl's party in the First Ave VIP room, Night Flight. This is a very special edition, as our main Milwaukee dudes the Glamour are coming up to celebrate Asher Diamonds' birthday. To top it off, the whole thing is curated by one Jonathan Ackerman. This is going to be the fucking shit. Click on the flier by Mint Condition to enlarge.


SATURDAY

Then on Saturday is a special edition of Too Much Love in the First Ave mainroom. We have special guests from Dark Wave Disco in Chicago coming in to DJ, and it is going to be nuts. I'll be playing, then Trancid, Mark Gertz, and Greg Corner will be taking over for the rest of the night. Mayhem is assured. If you haven't been to TML lately, it's been crazy every week, and this one should be no exception, if not crazier. There may be some after party business as well, which I may or may not be involved in, so hit me up later in the week if you're interested...

LINKS: I FEEL SPACEY

In this edition, Jack White talks to Pitchfork, Busy P talks to YouTube (or whatever), a review of the excellent After Dark compilation from Italians Do It Better, some truly great photos of Daft Punk, and this random blog post I just found where Elijah Wood talks about electronic music.

• Vampire Weekend - Hi! - Stylus Magazine
  Stylus' newest musical crush talks Swedish meatballs, serial commas, and Lygeti...
  
  
• Pitchfork Feature: Interview: The White Stripes
  We speak to Jack White about smoking, "The Simpsons", haggis, red-headed women, upholstery, and how hard it is to find a guy who plays bagpipes in the key of D.
  
  
• House Is A Feeling: Elijah's Year in Dance
  Uh, Elijah Wood on techno...
  
  
• HEDI SLIMANE DIARY
  Daft Punk photos
  
  
• YouTube - Pedro Winter (Busy P) interview


• Various Artists: After Dark: Pitchfork Record Review
  Possessed by a genuine love of classic dark electro and vintage electronics, the new Italians Do It Better label reimagines the Italo-disco of the 1970s and 80s as stark, retro-futurist noir electro. Sparse, skeletal, and consumed by a constant sense of...
  
  
• Dazed Digital - Incoming Blog: Art, Events, Film, Music
  The duo tell us about their time in Japan, while Daniel Askill explains his video for 'Pogo'.
  
  
• Dazed Digital - Andreas Nilsson
  Swedish artist-cum-director Andreas Nilsson, best known through his work for The Knife.
  
  
• A Band Minds Its Manners, but Is Coy About Its Suits
  Carlos Dengler, better known as Carlos D., the bassist and keyboardist for the moody New York band Interpol, is out of his self-described hedonist phase.

LINKS: FOXXY

Funny to look at the differences between the Stylus and Pitchfork reviews of Simain Mobile Disco's LP. That, and the Stylus review of Era Vulgaris comes the closest to hitting it on the head of any review I've read so far, although I would have graded it slightly higher.

• Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Dance music your average indie kid wouldn't be ashamed to dance to...
  
  
• Simian Mobile Disco: Attack Decay Sustain Release: Pitchfork Record Review
  Following Klaxons and Justice, the third of this year's big indie-dance crossovers issues its debut album. SMD's debut maintains an unerring devotion to always-hooky pastiche in the name of a good time and to pop's unbreakable and road-tested formalism
  
  
• Pitchfork: Robyn Talks New Album, Artistic Freedom, Swedish Pop
  She told us a little bit about her upcoming projects, a little more about her struggles to get her music heard outside of Sweden, and a whole lot about what it takes to be a pop star who cares equally about her craft, her image, and running her own busine...
  
  
• Pitchfork: MC Spank Rock Talks Downtown Signing, 2 Live Crew
  So where to next, Spank Rock? As Juwan told Pitchfork in an interview yesterday, the only direction to go is forward. "We're gonna start making a record," he said. "Round two."
  
  
• Music For Robots: Foxy Music
  Interview with Kitsune Music dudes
  
  
• Vice magazine: INTERVIEW - DAFT PUNK
  Not only have rarely-sighted French dance titans Daft Punk conquered the music world and given their mini-me pals Justice a helping hand, they're also currently slaughtering festivals all over the world with their amazing robot revue and are about to rele...
  
  
• Mobilee/Spectral Rooftop party at House Is A Feeling
  cool review of a cool party, with videos
  
  
• Down in Front: TV in the Park
  A gruff but still inspiring Television set: perfect for Father's Day weekend
  
  
• Panda Bear: Beneath the Bucolic Gurgling, Throbbing Electronica
  Open the CD booklet of "Person Pitch" (Paw Tracks), the marvelous recent album from the Animal Collective member known as Panda Bear, who played the Bowery Ballroom on Monday, and you won't find any song lyrics.
  
  
• Vampire Weekend: Preppie Afro-Pop and Other Odd Blends
  Even without an album Vampire Weekend has made one of the year's most impressive debuts.
  
  
• Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Josh Homme ditches the garish woods for the glitter of the city…

NANNERS

Tonight:


Certified Bananas
Mike the 2600 King
Willy Joy
Millions Billions

First Ave VIP Room
10pm / 18+ / $6

Doesn't get much better than this.

LINKS: WHOLE LOTTA HISTORY

I love Girls Aloud. nEwayz, here are some links. Some albums are coming out, and many are about those albums.

• JUSTICE @ MEAN FIDDLER, LONDON, 11/06/07: Fact Magazine
  If there's a universal truth in dance music, it's that as the drugs change, the music changes. If the recent popularity of Justice and the rest of Ed Banger label is anything to go by, dancefloors are getting very, very boozy.
  
  
• The White Stripes - Icky Thump - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Jack and Meg again mine the garage blues revivalism and the brief electric storms of the De Stijl-Elephant trio on their first record for Warner...
  
  
• Digitalism - Idealism - Review - Stylus Magazine
  German electro duo plays their hand in the search for the next Daft Punk…
  
  
• The White Stripes: Icky Thump: Pitchfork Record Review
  After the straightforward radio-rock trappings of the Raconteurs, the back-to-basics Icky Thump packs an unexpected freshness, resulting in the best White Stripes album in years.
  
  
• Interview: Klaxons
  We talk to Simon Taylor-Davis about everything from his band's debut, James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco)-produced Myths of the Near Future to the "ball of love" that is Charlotte Church to his Lovefoxxx tattoo.
  
  
• YouTube - Apache Ultimate Re-Remix (Prodigy - Breath)
  This is currently the funniest thing ever

OLDER LINKS:

• White Stripes Put Trust In New Label For 'Icky Thump'
  As the June 19 release of the White Stripes' new album, "Icky Thump," approaches, Jack White is less concerned about "indie cred" than at any other time in the band's 10-year history.


• [adult swim] | Music | Warm & Scratchy
  free album


• The Singles Jukebox » The Gossip - Listen Up! (MSTRKRFT Remix)
  A hard-to-resist groove.
  
  
• FLUXBLOG: We Can Normalize
  LCD Soundsystem @ Webster Hall 5/14/2007
  
  
• BLOGS：MASATOSHI UEMURA｜MONDO GROSSO(モンドグロッソ) Official Website
  Kate by Ryan McGinley

LINKS

Old old old today. Look out for the piece on Jerry Fuchs in the Voice; he's a very nice dude and involved in some cool shit.

• Palms Out Sounds: Sample Wednesday 36: Missy Elliott
  Sample Wednesday 36: Missy Elliott
  
  
• Beatz by the Pound » Thinking Out Loud: Physical vs. Digital
  Thinking Out Loud developed from a series of open-ended email conversations and ruminations between Beatz staff members. In this article, Michael F. Gill and Peter Chambers discuss the merits of dance music on vinyl and MP3.
  
  
• Hot Chip - DJ-Kicks - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Relentlessly genre-hopping dancefloor enthusiasts relentlessly genre-hop on their entry into the DJ Kicks series...
  
  
• Bizarre: It's all a Blur for rocker Alex
  ALEX JAMES reckons he spent £1million on champagne and cocaine in the Nineties.
  
  
• Live @ Springseven Festival 05/16-20 - New Mixes - MP3 Download, Tracklist
  Springseven, festival for electronic art & music, Graz Austria. Sets from DJ S2, E-Z Rollers, Digitalism, Anthony Rother, Mister Flash & Ed Banger Crew.
  
  
• Kavinsky: 1986 EP: Pitchfork Record Review
  Conceptually heavy French Touch producer follows his outstanding Teddy Boy EP with a far less rewarding effort.
  
  
• Pound for Pound: Philadelphyinz, Blow Up LA and more
  TML plug
  
  
• The Wake Student Magazine - Wakemag.org - Klaxons
  England's newest hype band hits the entry [with sovietpanda]
  
  
• Interview with U.K. dance-rock band Klaxons - Nerve.com Screening Room
  
  
• RA: And Justice for all.
  "We were graphic designers, then one morning we woke up and we were musicians."
  
  
• RA: Ewan Pearson mixes Fabric 35.
  Fabric choose Ewan Pearson for the latest installment in their mix CD series. 'Fabric 35' is out in July.
  
  
• FLUXBLOG: You Can Put Your Trust In Me
  Prinzhorn Dance School "Up! Up! Up!"
  
  
• Hot Chip: DJ Kicks: Pitchfork Record Review
  This London band's lovable hybrid of dance and pop craft a DJ Kicks that's a mulched-up whirlwind of pretty much everything they hold near and dear-- cartoonish fun, drivetime FM soul, goofy techno, and big synthpop moments.
  
  
• From Goth's Black Magic to, Uh, "Magic"
  The Motherfucker impresario sets out solo and wistfully recalls Olivia Newton-John
  
  
• Primal, Feral, and Mobile
  On the Paleolithic clockwork of Brooklyn drummer Jerry Fuchs
  
  
• Pitchfork: Daft Punk and Kanye Team up for Song, Video
  The producer/MC's third album will include a song titled "Stronger" and credited to Kanye West featuring Daft Punk. Yes, it's built around a sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" from Discovery.
  
  
• The Singles Jukebox » Digitalism - Pogo
  M83 if they were Germans who play pop songs rather than French folks who make shoegazery sound smears.
  
  
• R.E.Load Baggage & custom handmade messenger bags
  
  
• SOULWAX / 2MANYDJS: Fact Magazine
  
  
• KELLEY POLAR: Fact Magazine
  
  
• !!! - Gangly Exultation, With Punctuation
  There was a crash course in disco-punk groove construction on Wednesday night, when !!! began its sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom.

MOTOR AWAY

Motor (Mute) are playing tonight at Candelabra (1517 Central Ave NE) with some other mpls peeps. Check it.

LINKS

Pitchfork has been trying to step-up their electronic music game. Not sure if they're doing a very good job, but at least they're trying...

• Various Artists: Speicher 3: Pitchfork Record Review
  The latest collection of recent Speicher singles-- digitally mixed by Kompakt's Michael Mayer and Jörg Burger-- features tracks by German techno heavy-hitters such as Superpitcher, Jürgen Paape, and Mayer himself.
  
  
• Pitchfork Feature: Guest List: Matthew Dear
  Known by various monikers, and responsible for this year's excellent Asa Breed, Matthew Dear gives us his favorite Adult Swim show about cephalopods, tells us the best place to buy sweatshop-free tees (you guessed it!), and reveals his obsession with Town...
  
  
• Status Ain't Hood: Is Disco the New Noise-Rock?
  The one time I saw Glass Candy, I didn't really see them...
  
  
• QOTSA - ERA VULGARIS
  ILM Thread
  
  
• Queens Of The Stone Age: Era Vulgaris (2007): Reviews
  Metacritic entry
  
  
• Justice - † Pretentious symbol = french dance?
  ILM thread
  
  
• Justice - † - Review - Stylus Magazine
  The debut full-length from Ed Banger's greatest export…
  
  
• Various Artists: Kitsuné Maison 4: Pitchfork Record Review
  The latest compilation from Paris-based label Kitsuné is another solid collection of previously 12"-only releases that stretch across the indie-dance axis, including tracks performed or remixed by Feist, Thieves Like Us, Crystal Castles, Dragonette, Boys Noize...
  
  
• Pitchfork: Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Release New EP of Old Songs
  their best songs finally get released...
  
  
• The Month In Techno
  Eight years and four continents into its run, the MUTEK Festival enjoyed one of its most successful episodes yet, as DJs resumed their place at the center of the proceedings and techno ceded some of its ground to dubstep.

LINKS: E LEC TRONIC

Maybe I should change the format in which I present these... oh well. I'm anxious to read this feature on Digitalism. Also, the reviews for Justice that are coming in are pretty interesting to track, and older interviews with The Rapture, Kelley Polar, and James Murphy.

• Black Strobe - Burn Your Own Church - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Foul-mouthed club noise from a bunch of abusive Frenchmen, now at full length!
  
  
• Justice: †: Pitchfork Record Review
  The French duo-- who have received hilariously horrified reactions from some in the dance music community-- take French dance and blows it out by embracing 21st-century stadium-rock production, filtering heavy rock through disco until it sounds more Judas Priest...
  
  
• RA: DIY Digitalism - Feature / Interview
  Hamburg duo Digitalism have been embraced by dance rockers and nu-ravers alike, but they're doing it on their own terms, writes Steve Mizek.

OLDER LINKS:

• RA: Sounding Off: Why vinyl can't survive - Feature / Interview
  In the first of RA's new series of rants and raves, Tyler C. Hellard explains why the writing is on the wall for hard wax...
  
  
• RA: Sounding off: Vinyl will survive - Feature / Interview
  Following on from Tyler C. Hellard's pro-digital screed last week, this time around record lover Peter Chambers explains why, like Gloria Gaynor, vinyl will survive…
  
  
• RA: Pieces of The Rapture
  The DJ half of The Rapture sit down with RA in Singapore to talk rock music, dance music and tropical fish.
  
  
• Kelley Polar - Hi! - Stylus Magazine
  Stylus talks to the disco pop purveyor about his upcoming new album, Chartres cathedral, and evil twins...
  
  
• The Agenda » PHRASES TO OUTLAW IN MUSIC WRITING
  
  
• The DL: The Great LCD Soundsystem Debate
  See what happened when James Murphy had to go nose to nose with an angry blogger.
  
  
• RA: Riton & Serge Santiago love... Ibiza. Music News
  Space Ibiza's long running all day/all night party 'We Love... Sundays' releases its first compilation 'We love... Ibiza' next month.

NIGHTVISION

Holy fucken shit, new Daft Punk suits.


Photos here, link from here. If you find other ones, send 'em my way.

LINKS: TITTSWORTH ON THE RADIO

Stylus talks to Gui Boratto, DJ Ayres and Tittsworth get on MTV Canada (you can say "Tittsworth" on TV!?), and Missing Toof nails down the history of Simian in its many incarnations.

• Gui Boratto - Hi! - Stylus Magazine
  Stylus talks to the Brazilian techno producer about Garth Brooks, Leonardo da Vinci, and pretending to be Peter Hook...
  
  
• TTL: Big In Sweden
  Ayres and Tittsworth of the Rub interviewed on MTV Canada
  
  
• Simian, not Mobile, nor Disco, nor Vs. Justice at WWW.MISSINGTOOF.COM
  The Justice Vs Simian story is usually a bit fuzzy, so I'll try and set it straight once and for all:

OLDER LINKS:

• Pitchfork: Prinzhorn Dance School Reveal Debut LP Details
  DFA duo Prinzhorn Dance School have graduated from the heavily punctuated beginnings of second single "Up! Up! Up!" to release their first full-length record.
  
  
• Interview: Comets on Fire
  The five member San Francisco-based group sits down to discuss charges of mellowing, the power of getting loaded, their critically lauded 2006 album Avatar, and how they might not be as psychedelic as they're made out to be
  
  
• Top Ten Postrock Albums - Staff Top 10 - Stylus Magazine
  Stylus presents an alternate canon for the genre/not-genre...
  
  
• director jonas|francois | D.A.N.C.E. by justice
  Interview with directors/collaborators of music video
  
  
• Music For Robots: It's the LIVE!
  Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation / It's The Beat / I Believe (all recorded LIVE on Radio 1)


• The Office (UK) vs. The Office (US)
  The two TV shows square off...
  
  
• The Hood Internet: DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 vs THREE 6 MAFIA
  dr. j - Stay Fly Bloody Fly


• NargoTheBort's Deviant Subculture
  Live shows for download
  
  
• Tubes. Connect Instantly.

LINKS: PISSING OFF THE ROBOTS

I'm going to try sticking some old links in with the new ones. Things of interest in this batch include the Times feature on The White Stripes, their review of a Kompakt gig, and the YouTube tour of the Daft Punk office, which apparently really pissed off the robots. Also, it looks like SOaP had hella fun at DEMF.

• Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight - New York Times
  The drug may have faded from the public eye but it is very visible on the social scene.
  
  
• Still True to the Red, White and Black - New York Times
  Forget progress. The White Stripes is sticking to its (simple) principles.
  
  
• YouTube - Episode Eleven: Babyman & Kocky visit the Daft Punk office
  When Babyman & Kocky went to Paris they were of course invited to the Daft Punk offices, where they hooked up with Jean of Kitsune!
  
  
• SOaP - DEMF 2007
  Detroit Electronic Music Festival Review
  
  
• Flip Flop Flyin' - Minipops
  little pictures of little people
  
  
• Discophilia
  SCENT OF A RECORD COLLECTOR.
  
  
• Kitsune Maison Vol. 4 - Review - Stylus Magazine
  Devastatingly relevant? Dangerously outmoded? Either way, Kitsune's got another compilation out…


• Making the Minimum Sound Like More [Music Review | Michael Mayer - Gui Boratto]
  If a dance party ends up feeling more like a concert, is that success or failure?
  
  
• Matthew Dear: Asa Breed: Pitchfork Record Review
  Techno star Matthew Dear's latest album further explores pop accessibility, bringing a new sense of songform to his shapeshifting production work and drawing comparisons to LCD Soundsystem, Beck, and Caribou.
  
  
• Matthew Dear - Asa Breed - Review - Stylus Magazine
  America's top techno producer comes up with a wealth of open-window micro pop fit for summer gusts and unexpected flints of lightning...

LINKS: BACKLOG

I've been concerning myself with other matters and forgetting to post links here. There are a ton of old ones that I might post later. Anyways... of note in this batch is the RA feature on Ed Banger and that allez-allez site which has some sick names doing mixes for them.

• RA: Ed Banger: Teaching the rock kids to dance again - Feature / Interview
  Not to mention teaching the dance kids to pogo. Stephane Girard profiles the Parisian label putting the umlaut into nü-rave: Ed Banger.
  
  
• RA: Dubstep 101 - Feature / Interview
  Professor Kiran Sande offers a quick primer on the newest bass-heavy contender on the dancefloor: Dubstep.
  
  
• allez-allez
  holy shit - mixes
  
  
• Various Artists - Get Physical 5th Year Anniversary Compilation - Review - Stylus Magazine
  German house luminaries celebrate five years by loosening the belt a couple notches…
  
  
• Fall Out Boy - Heartthrob Swooning and Concert T-Shirts
  Pete Wentz,the bassist and lead celebrity of Fall Out Boy, seems like the perfect rock star for our age, as self-conscious as he is shameless.
  
  
• Animal Collective - Coming of Age and Showing a Much Sweeter Side
  Animal Collective played as a three-piece band on Friday night at South Street Seaport, and in the absence of its guitarist, Deakin, its music grew even sweeter.

VAN DICK

It recently came to my attention that I had disabled friend requests from bands on MySpace a long time ago. Wondering why I had done that, I enabled them. I swear to god, the very first request I got reminded me why I had disabled them in the first place. The first one!

YEAH BLOG-HOUSE

Here's a neat trick! See the same post on four different blogs, all in the same day.