Fight All Night

Thanks to Midnight Energy for turning me on to this Cooly G mix of Ke$ha.  It sounds like Green Velvet relapsing in a small metal room in London and holding club kids ransom for drug money.



Cooly G is a UK producer who has been on a roll lately.  She's associated with the UK funky movement but apparently doesn't associate herself with the genre.  After reading this XLR8R feature on UK funky and dubstep, I've found this quote from Geeneus particularly helpful when thinking of the UK's consantly mutating dance music genres:

“Things come back around, and even though funky is called funky, really you could say it's not that much different from garage,” offers Geeneus. “It's just another full circle. With America, hip-hop is hip-hop, and even though the music changes and new sounds and people come into it, the flow remains hip-hop. But in the U.K., as soon as something new comes along, it’s like, “Oh, that's new music—let's call it a new name!” when really, it's all the same thing. We just progress along. So I'm doing funky, Skream's doing dubstep, Wiley's doing grime, but we're all together. We're all on the same radio station, we all come from the same place, and we've all got the same influences. It's really all part of the same continual flow.”

For more Cooly G, check out last week's podcast for XLR8R. It drifts in and out of different textures and percussive motifs and makes for a refreshing listen. She also has my favorite moniker in recent memory.

ACTUALLY IT SHOULD JUST BE "BOY NOIZE"

I never thought I'd be happy to see an email with the subject line "Fuck Booka Shade," but that was the case last week. I got a heads up from my friend Jon, and instead of going to see Booka Shade at Studio B last week, we hit up Cheeky Bastard at Hiro Ballroom for an Institubes party. Performing were Boys Noize, Para One, Curses! (a.k.a. Drop The Lime), the late-announced Freeform Five, and some others. I figured our odds for fun were a lot higher with that many performers - plus a trip out to Brooklyn wasn't the ideal concept for a night out, considering the weather in Manhattan.

Overall the night was fun, but a bit disappointing. I'm used to going out in Minneapolis, where everything (except for Too Much Love of course) closes at 2 a.m. Knowing bar close was at 4 in New York, I figured headliner Boys Noize wouldn't go on until pretty late. However, when we arrived a little after midnight, after a few minutes I realized Boys Noize had started at 12. The bummer was that we missed Freeform Five, whom I was curious and excited to see since I like his remixes and some of his original work, and we missed Curses! who I was unsure of but at least wanted to see for a bit.

That said, we were there for Boys Noize, Para One, and Lauren Flax. Boys Noize has always been a bit secretive about his identity. I can see why. He was the ultimate incarnation of what I imagine the German techno nerd to be: tall and thin, unibrow, and wearing a t-shirt that moved to the beat of the music. He played a great set full of his own work and remixes, everything tweaked and smashed together in pretty incredible ways. It was as close to a live set that a DJ set could be, I think. I just wish he had hit more of a groove. It seemed that every minute or two he was dropping out the bass and building it back up, so often that it was hard to really get into what he was playing. Still, an impressive set.

I dig the less-extreme of Para One's work, so I was looking forward to seeing his live show. He went on at 2, and it ended up being the electro equivalent of a death-metal show. It was just too intense to really enjoy. We probably needed different drugs or something, I don't know how people could really get into it.

The surprise of the night was Lauren Flax spinning a great set at 3 to close out the night. I hadn't heard of her before this event since she's mostly an NYC fixture, but even if the crowd had thinned out by then she definitely knew what she was doing. To me, it almost sounded like one long SebastiAn remix, in a good way.

Kind of a bummer: she was robbed and had her laptop stolen the next night. Ok, not kind of a bummer, a really big bummer. I think I'm going to send her at least a buck or two on paypal - that just really sucks.

Overall I don't regret going to the show. Boys Noize is another act I can cross off from the list of artists I wanted to see at this year's Coachella, and I was a little bummed about missing Para One in Chicago this Thursday until this came up. But I do wonder how Booka Shade was, since I hear they can be marvelous live, and I wonder if I'll ever have a chance to see them again. Hopefully.

Oh, and does anyone know what the deal is with Daft Punk and Lollapalooza? Are they just waiting to announce that or is not happening? Because if not I need to figure out which show I'm going to instead.

STEPPIN' OUT

Gaaahdamn. This night in Chicago is going to be absolutely insane. I think I might call it "Justice Weekend II," which is misleading since Justice won't actually be there. But the line-up is fucking crazy. Swedish keyboard popsters Lo-Fi-FNK just got added to the bill, which I will run down hyah:

SATURDAY MARCH 24

METRO @ 9 PM
*Lo-Fi-Fnk
*Crystal Castles
*The Presets

SMARTBAR @ 10 PM
*Guns'N'Bombs
*Digitalism

To expand... the Lo-Fi-FNK record Boylife was definitely in my top 25 albums of last year. Synth-pop where every sound just twinkles and pops and snaps. Should be fun live; I don't know if the chick will be with them or not. Tour dates for the FNKrs:

06-MAR-Los Angeles, CA Safari Sam’s
07-MAR-San Diego, CA Beauty Bar
08-MAR-Seattle, WA Atlas
09-MAR-Vancouver, BC Shine
10-MAR-Portland, OR New Noise
11-MAR-Eugene, OR Indigo District
13-MAR-San Francisco, CA Mezannine w/ Fujiya & Miyagi
14-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Super! Alright! Space
15-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Beauty Bar
16-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Urban Outfitters - 1 pm
17-MAR-Washington, DC Rock’n'Roll Hotel
18-MAR-Baltimore, MD Sonar
20-MAR-Charlotte, NC Fit for Use
21-MAR-Atlanta, GA Kiss Atlanta event
22-MAR-Gainesville, FL Common Grounds
23-MAR-Miami, FL Pier 14
24-MAR-Chicago, IL The Metro w/ The Presets, Digitalism & Crystal Castles
27-MAR-Toronto, ON Drake Hotel w/ Crystal Castles
28-MAR-Montreal, QC Club Lambi
29-MAR-Boston, MA Square
30-MAR-Philadelphia, PA Making Time w/ Datarock, The Presets
30-MAR-New York, NY RUFF Club
31-MAR-Brooklyn, NY Studio B

I don't know what the deal is with Crystal Castles. All blogs love them, and I feel like they shouldn't. And I feel like I shouldn't like them, but I really do. Errr they must be good or something. Glitchy and screamy but still melodic and madly driven by the beat.


I've dug the Presets ever since I saw them open for Ladytron (actually no, since I saw the mind-blowing video for "Are You The One?"). They were good then, they were great when I saw them open for the Rapture, so I expect a very fun headlining performance from them.


Guns'N'Bombs is my associate Johnny Love's project, sort of like a bastardized, post-post-apocalyptic Daft Punk. The guy drops everything he's doing in Chicago, moves to LA, and a few weeks later their debut single is out on Kitsune. Go figure. The A-side "Nothing is Getting Us Anywhere" is fun and scary and visceral, and the B-side "Crossover Appeal" makes me anxious to hear the forth-coming LP (assuming they finish it). In the meantime their latest mixtape is here for download.


Digitalism... Digitalism Digitalism Digitalism. Once I found out I'd be catching these dudes, any regret about missing Coachella this year instantly vanished. Last year's single "Jupiter Room (Martian Assault Edit)" never gets old for me, all booming bombast and echoing beats and synthesizer destruction. I actually hope their forthcoming LP follows the path laid out in "Jupiter Room": throbbing beats with the sound of collapsing buildings, add the hi-hat, then enter the puking synths, then the prickly synths, then everything builds and builds until it dissolves into this distorted mess, which coalesces into a huge roller-coaster peak which rides out into the sunset. Yes.

I DON'T USE T'S, I USE ANNOYING CROSS WINGDINGS

I don't want to read about any more remixes of Justice's new single, "Phantom." I don't even really like the original one, although I wll say it is growing on me.

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Ellen Allien is coming to the U.S., and because of my Ellen Allien obsessed friend I will most likely show up at Smart Bar (Friday 3/23).

In fact, dance music is finally coming to the Midwest in general. Exciting shows we know about at Smart Bar include

Alex Under (live) (3/8)
Para One with Johnny Love (3/22)
Ellen Allien (3/23)
Digitalism with Guns'N'Bombs (3/24)
M.A.N.D.Y. (4/6)
the return of Justice (4/27)

Actually, I'm just doing some thinking in print here, but we are definitely going to hit up both Ellen Allien and Digitalism, and maybe even get in for Para One if we can. That is awesome. Extremely awesome. Ok we are talking really fucking awesome.

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TOO MUCH LOVE on Friday was the best it's ever been. That is, until the brand new soundsystem overheated and we had to close early. That, of course, will NOT happen in the Mainroom in February.

Check photos of the event right here at vita.mn.

Next month:



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And finally, some good writing... on the internet, of all places. This month's techno column is up at Pitchfork, written by the untouchable Philip Sherburne, and it is remarkably well done. He covers new-rave without any bullshit whatsosever, which until now I thought to be impossible.

There's a bit on Fluokids about the Rex the Dog remix of The Sounds' "Tony the Beat," and for once, a blog nails it exactly right. I almost want to repost the all-caps excerpt but I won't, you can read it over there. Funny because I was going to play that track until the speakers went to shit on Friday. I should play it out within the next month however, so according to Fluokids' guidelines I'm good.