What’s up dirty dancers? I hope your weekend was as good as mine. Personally, this was one of those weekends that was epic enough to make Monday suck even more. However, instead of trying to decide the least painful way to off myself, I have found that this particular Monday hasn’t been too terrible. Why? Because I have been bumping Marseille‘s new EP, Dak Dak all day long. A true breath of fresh air, Marseille gives us something new in a constantly over-saturated scene. The young producer has been turning heads with his intricate synthesis, complex song structure and distinct sound.
These tracks have been championed by the likes of The Proxy, Feadz and Das Glow. So don’t sleep on this dark and driving EP, it does not disappoint!
How does one describe Haezer? Only way I can think of is dirty, dirty, dirty, hardcore in your fuckin' face electro along the lines of early Proxy. I first discovered Haezer a few months back when he released his first EP rightfully titled "Who the Fuck is Haezer?" This past week he released his newest track "James Bond" for free over his Soundcloud, and trust me it does not disappoint. Its heavy, distorted synth is just perfect; if Soulwax had an evil twin they would sound like Haezer.
What is with all these Russian producers these days? They just love to produce in your face thrash electro and are fucking good at it. First we had the mysterious Proxy who all of us who attended Coachella got our face’s melted off by and now I present to you my newest discovery from the Russian thrash scene DJ Antention. I randomly came a crossed his newest EP “Jump!” released this past week on Crux records and it instantly had me craving for more. I could not find out much more information about him besides a couple of his old tracks which are in your face thrash.
After a manic weekend filled with music fueled debauchery in the desert, I’m finally coherent enough to tell the tale of how it all unfolded at Coachella…
Friday – Day 1
AfterLe Castle Vania and12th Planetsmashed up the camping grounds from Thursday night into the we hours of Friday morning, the ball was set rolling for three days of tunage. Finally gracing Indio with his hotly anticipated live set, MuscoviteThe Proxyleft the Sahara Tent in tatters mid-afternoon as he threw down one of the heaviest sets I’ve seen all year, highlights included ‘Raven’ and of course a rendition of the jam hot ’8000′. Angelenos, if you missed his set at Coachella, don’t fret; he’s just been added to theHard Summerbill. Get your mits on passes to thathere
I can’t help thinking that festival organizers got more than they bargained for in booking The Proxy, because he threw down the heaviest set during one of the earliest slots of the day. In my opinion I think he should’ve been playing a lot later, and not the set before a chilled disco-house duo like Aeroplane, who changed the vibe massively with another awesome set. I like to think that by this point, the bar was being raised at a prolific rate, Wolfgang Gartnerhammered out an intense set dominated by heavier dutch house, and a little later Erol Alkantook to the stage as the Sahara Tent was reaching fever pitch. Track of the day for me, was during Erol’s set with his manic drop of ‘Lemonade’.
photo cred:Rukes.com
With everyone throwing down super heavy on Friday afternoon, the ‘Mau5 failed to disappoint, creating the most intense visual experience I’ve ever seen. Evidently three years after the Alive 2007 tour, it’s easy to draw comparisons between Deadmau5 and Daft Punk: the helmet thing that both acts have going on is the most obvious similarity, also the fact that the Mau5 was set up on an lcd plinth in the shape of a large chunk of cheese that someone’s had a nibble at. Daft Punk’s pyramid anyone?! But time and technology has allowed Deadmau5 to up the ante, as he showcased his new lcd robomau5 helmet, making him the centerpiece of surrounding visuals which appeared to engulf him.
photo cred:Rukes.com
The trippiest moment of the set came when the lcd lights formed the mau5 face for the first time on the plain grey helmet, during ‘Sometimes Things Get, Whatever’. With each lyric mouthed on the helmet, the face twitched, then melted. For a better idea, I highly recommend you check YouTube, cos this visual spectacle was off the scale. I now can’t wait to see what Daft Punk will bring to the table with their next tour, I’ve a feeling it’s going to be mind-blowing.
Saturday – Day 2
Day 2 was off to a flier with Bassnectar, another heavy act on early. “All your bass belong to Bassnectar” ringing pretty true as his hectic dubstep launched an assault on the Sahara tent. He appears like the maddest geezer on the planet, with long hair flailing around as he dances, head bobbing wildly behind the 1s and 2s. One things for cert, and we like him because of it: This guy can definitely dance dirty. Probably the best set I heard on Saturday, he ended with this:
followed by a track which he told us he’d received back from mastering less than an hour before his set – so Fresshhhh. But seriously, Bassnectar throws down the sickest dubstep, I can’t recommend his shows highly enough – check it.
Playing the smaller Mojave Tent, Major Lazer packed the place out, Dave Switch and Diplolooking boss; taking to the stage in tuxedos, maybe a bad idea as temperatures soared to about 90 degrees in there. Heat aside, Major Lazer killed it with their set, which included everything from dutch house, to dancehall, as well as Ace of Base throwback classic ‘All That She Wants’ and this:
2manyDJs closed out the Sahara Tent on the Saturday night, blitzing a 50 minute set Radio Soulwax style. Each track that dropped brought with it visuals of the track’s corresponding album cover which had been doctored: jaws yawning, eyes rolling and body parts tweaking out. Highlights included Mustapha 3000 (aka Erol Alkan)’s remix of The Clash ‘Rock The Kasbah’ and the Soulwax remix of Chemical Brothers‘ ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’.
Sunday – Day 3
Rusko‘s sound has changed a lot in the last six months since he moved out to California, and this really lends itself to the vibe everyone was feeling by Sunday. Combining super heavy with mellow dub, Rusko played a mixed bag of classics such as ‘Jehova’, alongside brand new dubplates and material from his forthcoming record which drops in May on MadDecent. Back in the UK I was lucky enough to see Rusko playing to a packed out crowd on a regular basis, but now Stateside, he’s truly getting the appreciation he deserves, and has been more or less adopted by LA and the West-Coast crowd.
One particularly sick drop that stood out during his set was this:
The Sunday set I was really psyched about seeing was Club 75, the five piece Ed Banger supergroup consisting of Busy P, DJ Mehdi, Xavier De Rosnay from Justice, and Zdar and Boombass from Cassius. As a spectacle these guys threw down a killer set: 4 cdjs, 2 mixers, a laptop and an mpd was the setup, so with all five pitching in at the same time, it was kind of expected to get the occasional clang, but they made up for it in their track selection, throwing down a 90 minute set of (Ed) Bangers. Unsurprisingly, these guys can throw one hell of a party!!
The Aftermath
SweetFA’s overall picks…
Heaviest Act = A dead heat between The Proxy and Bassnectar
Introducing Mindgutter, A duo based in sydney Australia who have been penetrating the club scene pretty hard, supporting the likes of Proxy, Stereoheroes, Les Petite Pilous, Huoratron, Oh Snap and Passions in a short amount of time. We have been graced with a mix they have done in preparation for this crazy Australian summer new years.
This is a very happy clappy banger mix that is only appropriate at this time of year and Will get you in the festive spirit!
track listing after the bump
wow
Tracklist:
1. Albin Myers – Times Like These (Edu K Remix)
2. La Roux – Bulletproof (Foamo Remix)
3. Spencer & Hill – Cool (Afrojack Remix)
4. Fake Blood – The Dozens
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
6. Sidney Samson – Get On The Floor (Nicky Rome......ro Remix)
7. The Sterehoes – Juliette n’Est Pas Mortre (The Deficient Remix)
8. Miike Snow – Black and Blue (Tiga Remix)
9. Beni – Maximus (Bang Gang’s When in Rome Remix)
10. Deadmau5 – Moar Face (O-God Edit)
11. Wolfgang Gartner – Fire Power
12. The Count & Sinden – Mega
13. Major Laser – Pon De Floor (Laidback Luke Remix)
14. GTronic – Ironman
15. Miike Snow – Animal (Punks Jump Up Remix)
16. Act Yo Age – Night of the Hornheadz (Bird Peterson Remix)
17. Passion Pit – Little Secrets (Jack Beats Remix)
18. Crystal Fighters – I Love London (Paparazzi Remix)
19. The Big Pink – Dominos (Switch Remix)
20. MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix)
21. Jack Beats – UFO22. Florence And The Machine – You Got the Love (The XX Remix)
Many gems to get to for the weekly wrap list starting off with BNR prodigy Strip Steve laying waste to some Das Glow on the 'Lite Brite' EP. The young Frenchman builds a slow burner out of squelchy disco and thick chunky 'Homework'esque lines. LCD look out.. (Photos: Thomas Prior)
Switching gears to Turbo recording artist Jori Hulkkonen with and his full length album entitled 'Man On Earth'. 'Boying In The Smokeroom' is dark experiment of heavy synths and smooth textured loops. Powerful without being overpowering..
More Turbo here that could act as polar opposite to the sounds of Jori. The Proxy's track 'Who Are You' is simply a crash and boom affair that I would fear to play live whereas the cut '8000' is an interesting play on East Indian themes with Sitars and that Russian skull crushing production.
Something new here leaning more towards the sunny and smooth side of the house game is Pasquale Maassen and Remute. Deep warbling underwater disco line with a intelligent bump.
More heartfelt head banging house here with Dutchman Joris Voorn and a track that surfaced a few months ago and has been burning up the Beatport charts. 'We're All Clean' has a great disco guitar laying over the preachings of a guy that sounds like the intro track 'Wolves' on the Dead Prez debut album. All an all eerie and funky at the same time.
pic: 8mts After seeing his remix of 'Pon De Floor' gather a heap of hearts on hypemachine thanks to you awesome fans, Kansas City producer/DJ Spinstyles shot back to the studio and put together another hectic dubstep rendition of Proxy's 'Who Are You?'. He works in a little b-more 'whooo! yaaaa!' over a grinding bassline that's sure to blow a few speakers. Please let us know in the comment box if we owe you money for said damage. (actually, we're broke. but we heard duct tape can fix anything)
The guys from Evol Intent have just sent us over a nice dubby little remix of the ever-popular banger from Russian dancefloor murderer known to you as the Proxy. Evol Intent will be on tour around the US until the end of November before heading into the studio for an LP which they hope to release in 2010, and I'm excited to hear some new original stuff from these talented drum and bass boys.
Uh, I finally recorded a mix. It’s been a year since I’ve done one successfully. I tried in December and January with while holding my son but they didn’t go so well.
Funny though, I really wanted to make a mix of summer indie tunes but nothing came together the way I wanted it to. In the end, I ended up recording a wobbly electro something. It’s not perfect and but it’s still pretty fun.
