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On a rainy San Francisco evening, I was able to see one of the most up and coming acts in the scene today, the boys of N.A.P.T.  The guys, Tomek and Ashley, are dressed as dapper as two UK blokes can when travelling around the world spinning some of the hardest, beatiest, dirty break and house music imaginable. Tomek in a white t-shirt and light jacket, Ashley in one of the nicest charcoal peacoats I’ve ever seen. Quaffed and trimmed, offering up European double kisses to the ladies, I was hinted by my inner monologue to temper my brash American attitude.

Now, while most people will mistakenly call them Napt, as the word, technically they should be referred to as the acronym N.A.P.T.  Why, do you ask? Well, let’s let the boys speak for themselves.

Bn:
Thanks so much for giving us some time to talk. Such an amazing show. We’ve been really watching you take off the last couple of years.

So everyone says 2008 is when you really hit it big, but when did you realize what you guys were doing? That it was getting noticed?

Ashley:
Around then. Well, a bit before. But around then is when the hype started getting bigger.

Tomek:
What it is, is we started doing it, basically because the label we were on.. well, we were kind of floating around. We started making records when we were in university, right? We were just kind of putting things out here and there. Didn’t really know what we were doing that well. Just making dance music. Then the label came on and said, ‘Listen, I want to develop you, I’m gonna do a series for you, and you’re gonna do really well out of it.’ And we were kind of like ‘Is this what we’re gonna do?’ ya know? I mean, we’d been doing some, like, other studio work for other people before that, and so forth, and we were like ok, yeah lets do it. So we did the EP series, with each one kind of getting more people on.

Bn:
Is this the idea where you were releasing everything in 4 parts? N-Funk and such?

Tomek:
Yeah, yeah, the one before N-funk, actually.

Bn:
The contr–

Tomek:
Contrast, yeah.

Ashley:
That was leading up to 2008, that’s what really kind of put us on the map.

Bn:
So it really was that time.

Ashley:
2006, 2007, is when we kind of built. And then 2008 is when it kind of took off.

Bn:
So you guys started in like 2003, just producing in your bedroom?

Tomek:
We went to school together.

Bn:
Did you meet in college?

Tomek:
High school. We’ve known each other since we were like 13. And we’re 30 now.

Bn:
And you guys still like each other. Amazing!

Tomek and Ashley laugh.

Tomek:
Yeah, we really started doing music seriously like 10, maybe 10 and a half years ago.

Ashley:
It’ll be 11 years in January.

Bn:
Well congratulations on that!

Tomek and Ashley both laugh, take a look at each other, seemingly realizing that yes, they still do get along and really do like each other. It’s like two gradeschool friends that never stopped hanging out. I eased up a little. The two of them, and their demeanor, relaxed me and really showed me that despite all the recent success, these two guys were just enjoying the ride.

Bn:
The Cee-Lo Green song. Big song, right? So where’d you get this from? It’s like ‘Oh, I like this YouTube video, I’m going to make a song out of it.’

Tomek:
Well, we started getting this idea that we wanted to, kind of, get the music out there to a few more people.  Because, breaks is a bit of a ghetto. So you can do really well with breaks.. we sold a lot of records on Beatport. It was going into the top 20 of Beatport, and that’s cool, but no one really likes… well, other people just want to look in. They go ‘What the hell is a breaks records? Oh, cool, maybe I like this…’ but other than that, it’s hard to get it out to people. So we were looking to do some stuff that we really enjoyed and just give it a spin. But rather than do an edit, since there’s a lot of people who just do edits, we wanted to change a few things. So we were like ‘fuck that’ let’s just sample it..

Ashley:
And make gold records with it.

Tomek:
Yeah, exactly.

Bn:
The old style.

Tomek:
Yeah, as if we were sampling an old disco record. We’ll take a sample of it, we’ll use it in a section, build a whole tune around it, just to try and show people. And we’ve been giving it away for free, as well. Which, is a bit controversial. I mean, it’s other people’s work as well, so we can’t have people pay money for it. But the whole idea was to just get more people, who might be into the more wider variety of good music. You know, the ‘Hey, this is cool music, I’ll check it out, I like these guys.’

Bn:
Well, you get marketed strangely sometimes. The breaks kids know about this but the electro kids don’t. But I know a lot of electro kids that would love to come see you guys. And if it was marketed correctly…

Ashley:
Yeah that’s what we’re doing with these records.

Tomek:
We’re just trying to get the sounds to the moment, we’re doing some more. Releasing a bunch. Cee-Lo Green is like a four to the floor house record, essentially. It’s got loads of breaks in there. So the idea is we’re doing a lot more stuff. Like now, we’re doing like a pop single, at the moment, with a rapper named Bashy.

Bn:
So he laid his vocals over an already existing track? Like an MC?

Ashley:
Not quite the motive. There’s quite a load of that in Europe. And not always an MC. D. Ramirez did it.. No, no Bodyrox did it. You know that tune from 7 or 8 years ago, the electro-house remix that he did. About 2004? Well that went to the charts. Then they put the vocal on it. They do it all the time in Europe, quite a popular thing to do.

We take a moment to just talk, as some of the other artists wander into the interview and start chatting. The conversation flows from the breaks of the songs, to how everyone first heard of N.A.P.T.  A good 10 minutes of laughing and enjoying the cool night air after a very hot sweaty night in the club.

Bn:
So where are you guys off to now?

Ashley:
Calgary. Then home. Then, Italy. Then where, fucking Rome? No, Sicily. It’s like 24 degrees.

Bn:
Do you have anything else coming out?

Ashley:
The Bashy track.

Bn:
Well, of course. But everyone has a crate of unreleased material. Anything new coming out you can talk about?

Tomek:
Yeah, the next release is going to be one called Emotion. We’re going to do a three part release. And it’s like two mixes.. one’s like a breaks, musical breaks, authentic KSH-tikata-KSH-tikata-tikata kind of thing. The other mix is more a four to the floor one. Then a dub bpm kind of one.. we play quite a lot of different genres in our stuff, so the idea is to kind of bring it all together, put our stamp on it.

Ashley:
We’ve done a remix for a band called 2000 Fast Women. Go check them out.

Tomek:
It’s a UK rap band that’s a bit scarry, a bit indie. Really cool. And we did their remix.

Bn:
Wow. We definitely will, guys. Thanks so much for taking time to talk to us. Have a safe trip!

For the next 20 minutes, all the artists from the evening got involved and spent the time geeking out on quantizing, the gear and musical production.  It was a mess of discussion that happens late at night only between DJs. Tomek and Ashley said their goodbyes and got their ride back to the hotel, before their AM flight.

Just a bit ago, we highlighted the recently released Make My Day with Bashy. We also have the N.A.P.T. remix on there for you. And now, you can pre-order the actual release!

So what about something different from the breakmasters of N-Funk? How about a NAPT vs BASHY vs 2Pac track?

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Also, N.A.P.T. recently released a free mix on their website. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

The Event Free Mix by NAPT

Make sure you check them out, see them live and take in the music they have coming up! You will thank us!

N.A.P.T. – website | myspace | facebook | twitter | beatport

“We’re the best ever. Of course, we’re fucking cunts in other ways.” -Lee Plump

The duo that began with the old skool breaks over a decade ago, continue to show audiences worldwide why they can pack any house in the land. Lee and Andy continue the mission of having a great time playing music. And it’s not just to take on the bass splitting, syncopated hitting drumstyles of a single genre anymore, either. For the past few years, they’ve expanded into other parts of House, Electro and even some Epic House (albeit, in the form of some seriously dirty remixes!).

The boys gave me a few moments to sit with them and pick their brain about what’s been going on in their musical world, and I couldn’t have been more excited to hear what they had to say.

Hearing the Plumps play is ever enjoyable as always. They play by instinct alone, catering to the crowd’s yearn for deep bass, glitchy electro synth or ear splitting kicks. When Lee and Andy dive into the decks, they each take on different roles, Lee hyping up the crowd and pulling songs from a virtual case of awesome. Andy deftly spinning the orchestra of beats and laying it down like a wash of insanity. Watching the two glide across four (4) CDJ’s is an amazing sight to behold.

It has been 12 years since they began, and the San Francisco crowd, one of their favorite places in the country, was hungry for both the old and the new from the Plump’s catalog. “Think about it,” the Plumps exclaim, “‘duf duf duf duf’ or ‘duf da duf duf’ .. it’s way more interesting! They just get it, here!” YOu wouldn’t have known it was 12 years since the SF crowd experienced the music, as they were loving every beatlicious drop. And with the expansion of the Plump sound into more House, Electro and even Epic House, the audience was loving it all. Forget the old archetype of the word ‘break beat’ because what the Plumps are playing now is only meant to defy it. And no matter the song, the style with which they go from track to track takes you from one massive emotion to another.

Speaking of tracks, we also asked them about their new label Grand Hotel, and what kind of music they’d be looking for. They spoke plainly about there being no limitations on the styles of music they’d be signing. “Grand Hotel is going to be all types of dance. So we still want it to be quite free and exciting. More often than trying to think about genre and stuff, it can be restricting, we just go by the ‘he likes it,’ ‘i like it’ kind of thing.”

And just for fun, if you’re curious what the guys like for breakfast in the morning?  Andy is partial to Weetabix while Lee likes to take on a full Scottish breakfast. Basically, that’s meat, meat, meat and meat on top of that meat. With a dash of toast (Maybe).

Thanks to the guys for their time. I had blast! And of course, a warm heartfelt thank you to our good friends at Seismic!

How about some music?

First, let’s highlight the Grand Hotel Mini-Mix the boys did. It’s like pure liquid bass fantastic.

Data Transmission Mobile- Grand Hotel Mini Mix by Plump Djs

Recently, we posted their fantastic remix of their very own plump song, and I wanted to highlight it again for you, if you missed it.

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During our discussion, the Plumps mentioned that one of the favorite tunes they’ve made, and still love to play, is Scram. In case you boys and girls don’t know why, pop your ears and take a listen.

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And for some old school sounds, I’d like to give you a fat tune from the land of yesterday. The lovely 303 sound of Fatboy Slim, Plump style.

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There’s some serious stuff coming out from them in the next week or two, so keep your ears open!

Plump DJ’s – website | myspace | facebook | twitter | beatport

Released by: Amorphous // Music Oct 19th 2010

Loren aka Bassnectar takes nostalgic melodies & styles and transforms them into modern pleasures. Whether its remixing the classic rock/metal I grew up on, Metallica, to creating original tracks with that sound or diving into the underground raw hip hop of the Bay, Bassnectar always comes in smashing it all to pieces with his unique dubby basssssss!

A couple tracks including the first two on Wildstyle EP focus more on that Hip Hop aspect I love, but it’s NOT Hip Hop. And just as I’m about to nail Bassnectars’ style down, Loren throws a curveball, the third track: ‘Falling ft. Paper Machete.’ Its got the spacey vibes of Radiohead, that I love, with the trailing vocals to match, but when that bass kicks the unique sound can only be one!

’808 Track ft. Mighty High Coup,’ is catchy as hell, I already see the crowd moshing and singing along! There is a more Housey feel to ‘Underwater ft. Tina Malia’ but again Bassnectar SLAMS us with the Bass!

This EP reeks of Bassnectars’ diversity as an artist, switching up styles and tempos, hitting us softer and harder than ever simultaneously! And although a few tracks may have similar moments, each one is uniquely its’ own and there is no overuse or abuse of sounds and samples, its’ 100% Fresh!

Wildstyle EP by Bassnectar

Seven Tracks, some would say that it isn’t enough, but the playback ability on this EP is great and the greedy fans are always going to starve themselves for more even when they are more than satisfied. A well balanced release guaranteeing to have a favorite song for everyone. Softer tones of ‘Fun with Synthesizers’ and catchy vocals in ‘Underwater,’ as well as an anthem cheering ’808 track.’

Enough of my own opinons, catch it for yourself: [Purchase]

Bassnectar

Insomniac’s 16th annual Nocturnal Festival brought in a “record breaking 42,000 fans.” There were several unique additions to this year’s festival which took place on Saturday September 26th, 2010.

“We are committed to making each festival even better than the last one. For Nocturnal, we presented fifty of the world’s best DJs and brought this amazing new tent all the way from New York. We also offered all our guests free filtered water and we look forward to continuing this program at our other festival venues.”

“Insomniac super-sized the main stage area by introducing the most enormous tent structure ever seen on the West Coast. With black interior walls, 56 foot high ceilings and 78,000 square feet of space, the tent creates the ideal space for special effects, multimedia concert performances and, of course, dancing music fans.”

Although we had planned to be in town in time to see Bird Peterson (4-5pm) and Hudson Mohawke (5-6pm) at the Upside Down Room stage we barely caught the bitter end of Felguk‘s (6-7pm) set. Luckily we had already seen them perform before, but for those unfortunate ones who haven’t seen them perform, we highly recommend the enlightening experience. These two get down and dirty creating a wave of energy that shocks the crowd into dancing throughout their whole set.

Next in the Upside Down Room stage was Kavinsky (7-8pm), who for reasons unknown (to us) didn’t begin until 7.15pm. Dan Oh (3-4pm) kept the crowd going after Felguk’s set til Kavinsky took the stage. It was worth the wait, unfortunately a big chunk of the crowd went to other stages when they impatiently thought Kavinsky wasn’t showing.

Kavinsky is one of the more talented underrated artist I know in the electronic scene. As a french DJ he payed tribute to Justice, playing ‘Stress’ a tune I hadn’t heard in awhile. He also played his signature original tunes, ‘Testarossa’ followed by the newly appreciated ‘Nightcall.’ In preparation for the next performer Kavinsky dropped TC’s ‘Where’s My Money’ and then took us back to our Nu Disco.

Still in the Upside Down Room 12th Planet (8-9) took the stage opening with the famous Network (1976 film) quote, “So I want you to get up now, I want all of you to get up and out of your chais. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell I’m as Mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” He then proceded directly into into his heavy fast-paced pounding dubstep. Fortunately, I’ve had the pleasure of watching this performer deliver his electronic attitude several times and I am always satisfied with the performance. His dubstep comes in hard, mean and fast paced. Heavily paying tribute to the roots of Drum n Bass.

The next stage we ventured into was the Queen’s Ground. The electronic band Autokratz (8.05-9.05) was playing to an emptier crowd, but their hearts were fully in it. I always respect artist who use real instruments and have unique styles and Autokratz is definitely one of them. We made sure we stayed long enough to hear them play ‘Speak in Silence’ one of our favorite original tunes.

The next stage had more to offer than just great performers. Inside sources told us prior to expect amazing visuals by Vello Virkhaus at Alice’s House. The Alice’s House “stage this year will be something never seen before.  The designer and main stage lighting director, Stephen Lieberman, has created two isometric platforms (one on each side of the stage), giving the look of something out of the video game Q*bert.”

We checked into Alice’s House just in time to catch the end of the Bingo Players (8-9pm) set. Giant blown up champagne bottles were brought on stage followed by one of our favorite duo’s Dada Life (9-10). We’ve had the pleasure of seeing, reviewing and meeting Dada Life, but I do have to say that their set at Nocturnal this year was the best set I’ve seen them perform and the hardest. We made sure to stay long enough to hear their newly appreciated tune ‘Cookies with a Smile’ before venturing to the next stage.

At The Labyrinth, Markus Schulz (9.30-11) was performing an awesome set. We tuned in for a few tracks, grabbed a couple good photos and headed to The BassRush Arena where Noisia (9.30-11) was performing a heavy Drum n Bass set.

Two Mc’s up on stage and as I sat and listened I thought to myself, the powerful Aphrodite’s Dub, DnB, style still rocks hard even with the evolutionary Dubstep is performing just next door.

We then made our way back to a much more packed Queen’s Ground stage where the Plump DJs (10.25-11.25) were rocking the scene. I was happy to hear Bangkok and surprised to hear the duo drop their remix of Deadmau5′ ‘Strobe.’ A highly original tune and their work on it is just up my alley. (I love contrasts, so when one can successfully take a smooth, soft, rhythmic tune and mash it with a heavy, dirty sound…that’s art!)

We took a quick break from the Plumps and made our way back to the Upside Down Room, where Chase & Status(11-12.30) were performing. Their style was more DnB then I had expected, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable.

Even after seeing them perform just a month earlier at HARD Summer, we made our way to the Sunken Garden in time to catch a little Skream & Benga (10-12am). Delivering nothing less than original dubstep madness we stayed until it was time to catch a behind-the-scenes moment with the Plump DJs.

[intermission]

Thanks to the beautiful and wonderful Melissa Mac, we were given the opportunity to sit in on an interview with the Plump DJs. As we waited for the people ahead of our interviewers Less Than 3, fireworks were going off above our heads. Less Than 3 is a website that tries to act as a content filter, “like the Rolling Stones.” We appreciate this, since the internet is the least filtered public resource in existence. And it plays a huge role in the electronic scene.

From the interview we learned that the duo has been working together for some 10 years now and has a primary focus of innovation in the scene. They mostly use Logic to produce and a little of Ableton. I believe they told us that they come from a Pop music background, which was funny to hear because Pop music itself, despite it’s catchiness…is not what I would at all describe the Plumps as. They described the UK music scene as being ‘monopolized,’ which made a lot of sense, with the strong influence of BBC and the clubs themselves, i.e. Fabric. So it was a great move for them to start up Grand Hotel and have a place to innovate and create a family of artist sharing the same ideals. Personally I want to add that the two were very humble and had a great sense of humor. They were also very generous in sharing their time, thank you again.

[back to the show]

Now back at The Labyrinth we watched the ending act for this stage, Ferry Corsten (12.30-2am). I myself am not a HUGE fan, but I don’t dislike this artist. So hearing him perform was a great experience, but I was glad to be able to switch over to the Upside Down Room ‘s last act Green Velvet (12.30-2am), who also performed only a month or so prior at HARD Summer 2010. Less crowded, but still a good show.

Of course though, I had to end my night at the Sunken Garden stage with the deadly dubsteppin’ mad Caspa (12.30-2am). I already knew what to expect, having seen him perform just earlier at HARD Summer, but I was happy to feel the heavy vibrating bass as we made our way into the early am. For the curious, he ended his set with his remix of Swedish House Mafia’s ‘One (Your Name) ft. Pharrell.’

In Conclusion, the festival was a HUGE success. I saw a couple people being helped by paramedics, but I feel that the energy and vibes are much better with the new 18+ restriction. As always, the only real con with festivals is the conflict of set times with performers, I listed each performer’s set time and stage when mentioning them so that you could get a feel of the festival process.

The festival process: When there is 50 DJs and six stages it is highly likely that one is forced to pick and choose who to see or to run around like made men/women. That being said, the only artist I really regret not checking into, that performed while I was there, was Steve Angello, according to many he provided an outstanding performance. And I really regret not making it in time for Bird P and Hudson Mohawke after hearing Plump DJs positively mentioning his name during our interview.

Insomniac Website

Nocturnal Website

Get a MAP of the event [ Here ]

The Labyrinth

Ferry Corsten: 1230-2am
ATB: 11-1230am
Markus Schulz: 930-11pm
Simon Patterson: 8-930pm
Menno De Jong: 630-8pm
Felix Krocher: 530-630pm
Joaquin Gallahn: 430-530pm
Tritonal: 3-330pm

Alice’s House

Eddie Halliwell: 1-2am
Steve Angello: 11-1am
D Ramirez: 10-11pm
Dada Life: 9-10pm
Bingo Players: 8-9pm
Donald Glaude: 7-8pm
TocaDisco: 6-7pm
Treasure Fingers: 430-6pm
Jason Blakemore: 3-430pm

Queen’s Ground

Pretty Lights: 1-2am
Rabbit Live: 1135-1245am
Plump DJs: 1025-1125pm
DJ Dan: 915-1015pm
AutoKratz: 805-905pm
Uberzone: 645-755pm
Dusty Kid: 525-640pm
Trent Cantrelle: 4-520pm
Freddy Be: 3-4pm

Sunken Garden

Caspa: 12-2am
Skream & Benga: 10-12am
Plastician: 9-10pm
Ikonika: 6-8pm
Deco: 4-6pm
Kether: 3-4pm

Upside Down Room

Green Velvet: 1230-2am
Chase & Status: 11-1230am
JFK of MSTRKRFT: 10-11pm
LA Riots: 9-10pm
12th Planet: 8-9pm
Kavinsky: 7-8pm
Felguk: 6-7pm
Hudson MoHawke: 5-6pm
Bird Peterson: 4-5pm
Dan Oh: 3-4pm

Bass Rush Arena

Loadstar Feat. Xample: 1230-2am
AK1200: 11-1230am
NOISIA: 930-11pm
Sigma: 8-930pm
Hive: 630-8pm
Fury: 5-630pm
Mystical Influence: 330-5pm
Hazen: 3-330pm

*Linked names in the Set Times above will take you directly to tracks and former post from the artist we have already featured on our site. You will find many great tracks for listening & downloading. Enjoy

Many artist attending the show are great fans, supporters, boppers and artist we have already had the fortune of covering on our website (and will always promote again). A couple artist we’ve already had the fortune of press access to prior events and the rest are artist we LOVE and cannot wait to cover!

Felguk put on an amazing show in the club atmosphere of the Avalon, opening for Grum earlier this year and I’ve heard from many they destroyed EDC.

On my personal list: Plump DJs, Chase & Status and Kavinsky are the main artist that we have NOT had the pleasure and opportunity of seeing perform yet and cannot WAIT to enjoy!

Aside from the hot content that we have had the pleasure of releasing, Boppernation.com has been leaning more towards a heavy focus on the ‘scene‘ itself by developing articles consisting of interviews and reviews of shows and albums. This has been the hottest, most unique part of our website  and it has helped to separate us from being just another ‘internet’ music blog.

Among the many artist listed, I myself will admit my love for DUB and am quite thankful that I already got to see Caspa, Skream & Benga earlier this year, because their time slots conflict with a lot of the other artist I am excited to see! (But for those of you who are into the Dubstep scene, these people are DUBSTEP! So their acts are NOT too be missed!

Inside sources have told me that the Labyrinth Stage is going to be filled with visuals that are out of this world. For those who fell in love with Etienne De Crecy’s Cube, Daft Punk’s Pyramid and recently Deadmau5′s stage & L.E.D. mask debuted at EDC, be ready to see a stage that will remind people of the video game Q*bert! ( We will be sure to get pictures of this madness)!!!!

Anyways, I hate to leave any names out, so let me rant a bit more:

I’ve heard Pretty Lights puts on an amazing show, as does Rabit. I’ve always been very curious to see NOISIA and Steve Angello, who rightfully so already has a great reputation so we honor this and deliver you the respect you deserve!

Anyways, Expect a FULL report from Wolf as well as a great deal of photos from our latest Photographer, Kozzik. Maybe I’ll sneak in an interview or two, pray that I have a great time and stay professional! As being involved in more Insomniac events would be amazing, EDC, Audiotistic, etc etc. Afterall, these people know how to do it right and were the first to remove the teeny boppers and put the 18+ cap! *Thank GAWD and be SAFE!

Insomniac puts on a lot of great shows and we gotta give them a good impression, so Boppers give them love!

This may be a month late, but hopefully entertaining nonetheless.

I spent this summer studying law in Paris on a scholarship. I got to spend 6 weeks in Europe, during which I lived in Paris but got to visit other cities in France and Spain. Months before I even got to Europe, I had one thing on my mind: IBIZA. How can I get to close to Ibiza and not go there? I went on www.ibiza-spotlight.com and looked into the club calendar, and what do I see? Swedish House Mafia’s Masquerade Motel, featuring Felix, at Pacha, on Monday July 26^th. How can I turn this opportunity down? So, I booked a roundtrip flight from Paris to Ibiza along with my better half, @amykayyy. My buddy @DanielSrourian, who was going to be studying in London over the summer, also booked a ticket to meet us there. Since I am a debt-ridden law student on a scholarship, I was basically ballin on a budget. Therefore, weeks (maybe months) prior to this, I contacted Afflicted Wolf to see if he could get us on the guest list for Pacha the night Felix was playing. Of course, Wolf was more than gracious and guaranteed that he would take care of everything. Flight booked, hotel reserved, liquor is packed, masks on… Ibiza here we come.

As we boarded our flight Sunday evening, I noticed Felix had just tweeted that he is also on his way out to Ibiza too. I replied to him asking what there is to do on a Sunday night in Ibiza, but I really didn’t plan on going out that night since we were landing around 1AM and we wanted to save our energy (and money) for the Masquerade Motel the next night. However, when I turned on the blackberry as we touched down in Ibiza, I noticed Felix had replied to me suggesting that I head to Space after 3:00AM. To our surprise, Space was literally 50 feet away from our hotel. So we took Felix’s advice, and walked over to Space at 3:30. At first, our names were not found on the guest list, and we were really not looking forward to paying the 65 Euro ($85 USD) cover charge. But one tweet to Felix took care of everything. Although he was tired, jetlagged, and had just landed, he was still somehow able to pull some strings and get us onto the guest list instantly. We were truly blown away by his generosity and consideration. Thanks to Felix, we walked right into the club and got a sudden rush of energy from Miss Kittin’s and Steve Lawler’s back-to-back set.

Appropriately enough, one of the first tracks Miss Kittin dropped was Felix’s remix of Nina Simone – Sinnerman. We were also lucky enough to hear her play a version of Felix’s Elvi$ that incorporated some live vocals by her.

After two or three hours of enjoying an amazing set and exploring one of the biggest clubs I have ever seen packed with the nicest, warmest, friendliest people I have ever met, we decided to head back to get some rest. As you can see, we were greeted by the sunrise as we walked out. While walking back to the hotel, we realized this was just a typical morning in Ibiza. People heading back from clubs, wiping foam off their outfits from the foam party they just left, or heading to the beach to get some rest… at 6:30AM.

After less than 4 hours of sleep, we woke up to this view. Enough said.

As we walked around the beach town of Playa D’en Bossa that day, the excitement was building up for that night. Posters and flyers everywhere, people selling tickets, people asking others what they’re up to later that night and just a good buzz and a great vibe in the air.

We spent the day just lounging/drinking at the beach as local DJs played some great Balearic beats, talking to the local vendors that sell everything from CDs and coconuts to MDMA and weed, and just trying to understand that we were finally in IBIZA. Later in the day we took a 20 minute cab ride over to the west side of the island to watch the sunset in San Antonio. Unfortunately, we were late, but we still got a breathtaking view of what I would have to say is the most beautiful sunset in the world. We had some great sushi and some great local drinks on a terrace overlooking the water. What more could I ask for?

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was already midnight. Usually, this would mean we need to get dressed and head out already. In Ibiza however, this is a perfect opportunity to nap. I had never taken a nap at 1AM before, but it is a great feeling to wake up at 2AM and head out to a club. Not just any club, and not just any DJ. We got ready and headed out around 3AM and made our way to the Masquerade Motel at Pacha… the Swedish House Mafia and Felix Da Housecat awaited us.

We had a pretty interesting problem at the door. After I told the doorman that we were on Felix’s guest list, he immediately said that the guest list had closed at 2AM. I made it very clear that this wasn’t some BS discount list… this was Felix’s own guest list. At this point, he proceeded to tell me that he didn’t know who Felix was. I pointed out that Felix was the person that was DJing at that precise moment inside the club he was working for, but he wouldn’t budge. In total disbelief, I immediately asked the doorman for his name: “Louie”. Afterwards, I looked down at my phone and started trying to contact Wolf to see if there was anything he could do. After thinking about how stupid he sounded for saying he didn’t know who Felix was, and realizing that right after asking him for his name I had pulled out my phone, Louie approached us, apologized, and let us all in.

We walked in to the middle of Felix’s set. We were lucky enough to hear ‘Thee Anthem.’ Another special moment was the end of Felix’s set. Earlier that day, I had listened to Justice – Phantom Part 2… sure enough, Felix closed his set with that track. The main dancefloor hit us like a wall of sweat and heat… well that’s actually what it was. The pictures cannot convey how hot, sweaty, and amazing it was.

We also got to enjoy the Swedish House Mafia’s set as we drank some cold 14 euro (over $20 USD) Spanish beers with @DanielSrourian. And yes, each of the beers in the following picture cost over 20 dollars each!

After the clock struck 6, we visited to the Pacha gift shop for the obligatory Pacha t-shirt, and we decided to head back to the hotel. And the rest is history…

In conclusion, if you are reading this, you should visit Ibiza. Go there, swim in the water, lay on the sand, drink the drinks, listen to the music, and enjoy the island. It is affordable (aside from the drinks in the clubs), it is fun, it is relaxing, and it is beautiful.

My visit to Ibiza couldn’t have been this great without people like @amykayyy, @DanielSrourian, Afflicted Wolf, and of course, the king, Felix Da Housecat. Special thanks to each one of them.

Until next time…

Shant K”

Stepping into the shoes of the ‘Rich n Famous’ for a weekend is a dream that many will never know and for someone like me, coming from a humbled background, it was all too much.

I spent the first day in a state of stupor, shock and I can’t say I progressed past that. But I also got to experience a very REAL domesticated side of Felix, and his family, all very great people.

The first segment DAY 1 I actually wrote, while still drunk on Mezcal at some AM Odd hour of the fist day there:

Day 1

Full Service. I feel like a king, I experienced things today that I’ve only seen on television. Upon my arrival, near the baggage claim/transportation (which by the way stretches for miles in Atlanta), my driver held up a sign ‘Sean Mullen’ written on it. I pointed at him and smiled. (I drink a lot when I fly, I wont spend too much time on the details of it, but wine, double jager bomb, double jack n coke, etc). Anyways once I find my bag he grabs it from me and we head out to his car.

Now let me start from the top. Black man, black full suit, black lincoln, black leather interior, opens the back passenger side door, large amount of space, big black leather chair, with a cold Dasani waiting for me and klenex. I tell him I’ve never had service like this. Prior to this Felix had told me to tell the driver to go to Buckhead, instead of his house. I put the driver on the phone with Fe, so he knew where to go, the driver smiles at me when he’s done and says “Dallas Austin is there too.”

Bistro Niko, a full table of Celebrities Angie Romansanta, Dallas Austin, Nas, Nese Djouma, Felix Da Housecat, Bulent, my favorite queen Steve, turned out to be an awesome guy, The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, def one of my FAV’s who i met this weekend) I got the pleasure of sharing many conversations with during our trip from the first SUV ride all part of the royal treatment I had earlier.

Back to the dinner…which I don’t eat, but I go over to one of the tables grab an empty wine glass and start pouring myself Chardonay (There is tons of Chardonay on the table as we leave, I just would never let it go to waste…OH yeah let me not forget juan, or one or w/e his name was, Dallas Austin’s cousin who flashed his penis several times..and lets not forget to mention Dallas Austin. Drives a pimped out all black Charger and built the music scene in Atlanta and is the reason Felix is in Atlanta, according to Felix..now that’s four things and I’m moving on.

Once at Felix’s house, which of course has an impressive Tequila bar, including a bottle with his face on it. Several photos of Nese and Felix blown up and put around the house, Classic style wrap around staircase, I’m stationed in the Spaceship or rather next to the Studio…which is insane..So many speakers, lights, glass table.

Anyways its 606am EST, my heads at 3am pacific. This is Wolf out…Today’s the big day, Felix’s Birthday Bash show in ATL. Everyone will be there and this year that includes me.

xo
Wolf

The next couple days I’m going to blend into one segment, not to take away from the Richness of them, but because now I am writing from memory, rather than shortly after my experience.

Things that must be noted, Nese Djouma, besides being an attractive awesome young lady, is also an exquisite cook. Most wealthy people live off of take out food, have others to do their cooking, I was very impressed that Nese not only knew how to cook, but cooked extremely well. The meals I had from her were straight out of a restaurant and her brother is also a deadly force in the kitchen. The Dessert he made was INSANE and intoxicating. I am a food addict.

Felix’s daughter, is the smartest and most well behaved baby I have ever met. I’ve never been a fan of kids or children, especially babies, but this future Diva is a major exception. I only heard the baby Cry maybe enough times to count on my hand and she easily was able to be made quiet or would go from crying to smiling and laughing in a short period. I lived in the house with a baby for a weekend, but it was nothing like living with a baby for a weekend. I wasn’t awoken at night, I wasn’t bothered by loud tantrums, it was very impressive.

Anyways, I know what the Boppers want..the nitty gritty, the DEETS, the dirty deedsssss… YOu want to know about the PARTY!!!! Felix’s Bday bash, commercial, but sexy venue. Opening DJ couldn’t hold his liquor, was a mess, Wolf Bop Copped him outta the DJ Booth. Wolf 1 him 0.

*Interesting Fact: Felix doesn’t own turntables, CDRS or any DJing equipment in his pad, he just has his serato on the laptop. So when setting up in his studio prior to getting out and Groooving, he doesn’t even practice this wicked transitions out there, or build up sets like you ableton scum! ;-) He’s 100% natural talent. When asking him about this information he said ‘he never owned any djing equipment’ and just got up there and did it and at first was horrible, people booed at him, “shoes in a laundry matt.” Now look at him!!!!

Felix’s DJing has become even more unique and set apart from the many other DJs out there on the scene. One certainly will not hear the same damn songs played in Felix’s set if at a Festival as the other DJs are playing. He keeps it fresh, still grooving with Prince tunes towards the end of the night, but focusing heavily on ‘booty shaking’ and house tunes. With much minimal, Minimal and Disco baby. A little electro, just a little.

Much Mezcal later, we went to Dallas Austin‘s Studio, we went to Big Poppa’s Mansion, we partied hard, in fact so hard the Wolf was KO’d and Felix got a picture of it.

Highlights: Felix powered up his Spaceship Studio for me. I finally met a lot of people I only knew from Twitter, Dallas Austin, Angie Romasanta, etc. I got to hang out inside of an insane studio (Dallas Austin’s), party in a mansion (Big Poppas), partying with celebs JLS, Nas, many more, but most important of all I got to see Felix in his natural habitat, meet his family, his wonderful Sister, hang out with Nese and meet her brother, his boyfriend. It was all surreal, unreal, the giant Bean Bag chair, the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, etc etc.

Back 2 Reality.

*just a heads up I love my friends and didn’t mean any offense in the original RAW script, I just have a poor sense or humour and as a writer am a VERY open person. Steve and Bulent I hope to meet you again in London TOWN.

Included here for listening and downloading. Eskimo Twins offers two original tracks Droid and Judas off of their Judas EP due to hit beatport August 23rd following a full release in September. It includes the original tunes plus a radio edit of Judas and remixes by Ado, RipTidE, Justin Robertson, Matt Walsh & The Sonic Emporium.

Droid, the original is squeaky jumpy fun, I feel very mechanical as I listen to this track.

Also included on the EP are 2 remixes of Droid: The Ado remix raped me with surprise. The song almost stops then starts up like the humming of a chainsaw right before the drop, which is pure beauty. RipTidE’s remix focuses more on the squeaks and is equally fun and the build up and second wave 2 minutes in kills me every time ah but the 3rd wave 3 minutes in is where it’s at.

Judas, the original, is Minimal Tech with a PULSE. There is so much noise porn in the music that I am literally getting high off the energy.

I wont talk too much about the Judas remixes, because I’m only teasing the poor souls even more who haven’t a chance to hear them until the 23rd of August. I will however be a bitch just a little more and tell everyone reading this that The Sonic Emporium one is well worth the wait.

Each remix off of this EP is in itself it’s own song which is very rewarding. Gnaw at them nails impatiently and until then ENJOY these!

Eskimo Twins Tweet Tweet | Myspace

For the full 320 version of the two songs posted, pay by tweet [link here]
*As for the rest of the tracks they will be Exclusively Available from Beatport: August 23rd 2010 following a Full Release Date scheduled for the 6th of September 2010 [more info here]

“Rot10 Musik & the 18 yr old Dutch Wonder-kid, Breekpunt are proud to present you with Funkular. Its everything from electro to minimal to dutch to tech house, big room and more. These tracks are meant for big clubs and huge festivals. Funkular features 4 original tracks from the man himself and 4 remixes from Four Four, ETC!ETC! & Mr. Vega, Mike Stone and new-comer Mat Sayers. All feedback is appreciated and we hope you enjoy this release as much as we do.”

Listen to the Whole EP [Here] & Purchase [Here]

Tracklist:
Breekpunt – Funkular
Breekpunt – Lets Get Native
Breekpunt - Dasent
Breekpunt – Encode

Included Remixes:
Breekpunt – Funkular (ETC!ETC! & Mr. Vega remix)
Breekpunt – Lets Get Native (Four Four remix)
Breekpunt – Encode (Matt Sayers ‘F-Wit Remix)
Breekpunt – Encode (Mike Stone remix)

Bonus Tracks for Download (not included on EP):

-

-

Well after listening to this EP all the way through I can see why the track ‘Encode’ was remixed by multiple artist, by far one of my favorite tracks off the EP and we all love to take something beautiful and refresh it under new lights. As for giving out ‘Dascent,’ every artist has to sacrifice and release a great hit for free to get the music out on the interweb waves, this is the new radio after all.

What Can I say about ROT10Musik, they know what they are doing and there is nothing I respect more than the labels constructed by artist themselves, removing the middle man was a concept that came out not too long after Napster destroyed Tower Records and physical releases….but my respectable friends are still buying vinyls and cds. And then of course releasing on Beatport, we pay extra money for the damn good quality and its our modern way of paying the most respect to the artist we truly love.

Back to the EP, Lets get Native is dirty and with an EP full of the Conga Dutch sound that is taking over the clubs these days, Breekpunt and the Rot10 team are doing a great job of conquering the scene. This artist, at the striking age of 18 is making all of us who have years and decades on him wonder what the fuck we were doing with our lives back then.

This EP doesn’t include a single track to skip over and all the tunes that I know we all are hitting repeat on are revived, refreshed and given original light by our friends and Boppers, Vega, ETC!ETC!, Matt Sayers and recently added to the Bopper team Mike Stone & Four Four! Welcome.

Xo
-Wolf

“Listen”

My favorite remix has to be the Funkular remix by ETC!ETC! and Mr. Vega, hate to choose a favorite in the gorilla misty jungle of the Conga Dutch EP, but those missile dropping sounds really turn me on.

Breekpunt Tweet Tweet | Mr. Vega Tweet Tweet | ETC!ETC! Tweet Tweet |

Matt Sayers Tweet Tweet | Four Four Tweet Tweet | Mike Stone Tweet Tweet

Junior Sanchez, Felix Da Housecat. What the hell can I say about these two that hasn’t been said before?

“Now try nEthang!” Available Now [GET YOURS]

-

Anytime another artist releases something giving them ground and footing in the electronic and house world, Junior Sanchez and Felix individually drop bombs that separate them far from the rest and set everyone back again.

Then they decide to join up together and make music and no one has a chance to breathe.

nEthang! has the funk, the dirty, the heavy, the disco and the electronica house all wrapped up in one. In fact I feel poor even classifying it as any of those, but I’m trying nEthang! to describe this sound.

“Now try quiet”

Felix Da Housecat Tweet Tweet | Myspace | Facebook

Junior Sanchez Tweet Tweet | Myspace | Facebook

Big ups to Bassnectar, Dances with White Girls, Treasure Fingers, Harvard Bass, A-Trak (DUCK SAUCE baby), Riva Starr (via Young Punxx), Sonic C & Harvard Bass (via our DANR crew and his Mom & Dad remix).

We’d like to extend an arm out to Rusko & Nero who aren’t really considered our supporters, but we support them and since Bopper Naiton is just barely easing into the Dub we figured we’d point em out and baby these two know how to BOP [More Here]

And of course big ups to all the artist performing at the event!

Get MAP of Event [Here]

The Boom Box

DJ Sin 6pm – 6.55pm
Eskmo 7-7:50pm
The Cool Kids 7:55pm – 8:45pm
N.A.S.A. 8:50pm – 9:40pm
Talib Kweli &
DJ Hi-Tek 9:50pm – 10:50pm
Nick Catchdubs 10:50 – 11:30

Massive Attack - Risingson (Bassnectar remix)

Set Time: 11:35pm – 12: 35pm

Kid Cudi 12:40pm-1:35pm
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Rusko - Hold On ft. Amber Coffman (Sub Focus remix)

Set Time: 1.40am – 2.40am

Sound Arcade

We A.R.E. 6pm – 715

Set Time: 7.15pm – 8.45pm

Drop the Lime - Devils Eyes (Dances with White Girls remix)

Flosstradamus 6pm – 7.15pm
AC Slater 9.45pm – 10.45pm

Set Time: 10.45pm -12am
Mom & Dad - The Whole Sh'bang (Harvard Bass remix)

Set Time: 12am – 1.30am
The Young Punx - Juice and Gin (Riva Starr remix)

Set Time: 1.30am – 2.45am
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak remix)

Set Time: 2.45aam – 4am
Ocelot - Our Time (Treasure Fingers remix)

Speaker Temple

Lenny V 6pm – 8pm
Sonic C - Stickin'(Original mix)

Set Time: 8pm – 9pm

Chris Lake 9pm – 10pm
Donald Glaude & Kill the Noise 10pm -12am
WippenBerg 12am – 1am
Cosmic Gate 1am – 230am
Marco V 230am – 4am

Bass Frequency

Dumbsteppaz 6pm – 7pm
Camo UFOs 7pm – 830pm
Star Eyes 830pm -945pm
Breakage 945pm – 11pm
Craze 11pm – 12am

Set Time: 12am – 1:30am

ED Rush & Optical 1:30am – 2.45am
TC 2.45am – 4am

Tracklist:
Sommer
IckSchnallUp
Famous
Verflixt
Hyperactive

EP now available on 12″ Vinyl or digitally through: Beatport & Deejay

Where to begin with this one, where to end? If you like backyard drum sets, drum machines and infinitely long melodies then Premium Cuts is more than right for you. I mean one really needs to be ready for bouncey beats when they enter the realm of Hyperactive, but with a title like that there is little room for deception.

Now what really pulled me along and kept me humming were the crashes, the phaser, the effects that pushed the Jerky through creating the perfect collection of tunes.

Sommer, seasonally pleasing, making music into more than 1 dimensional, creating the necessary aura required for one to FEEL the music and taste it, not just hear it. And those Nintendo coin sounds puts me and my imagination into a fantasy world powered by the melody of Housemeister’s Premium Cuts.

And just incase things may have been too soft for those of you hungry dirty ones, IckSchnallUp comes in pounding HARD! Bass Bass Bass Bass Bass!!!! Just keep marching along to the rhythm. And Verflixt too, WOW!!!! is that a machine gun? A drill? Dance Dance Dance!!

Overall this EP is an awesome follow up to the first Jerky EP, released just recently in 2009 and Housemeister brings a lot of originality in his music, stepping outside the boundaries of many producers out there who cling dearly to their overused/abused samples. But the Boys Noize team knows their shit and Housemeister is a strong part of their crew.

Housemeister
Tweet Tweet | Facebook | myspace | Boys Noize Rec

I’ve been to Ozzfest, Slayer & Slipknot concerts and I’ve never had any problem lasting the whole show, or at least a whole set in the front, buried among the many sweaty, swaying bodies. However, at the Beetroots performance in San Diego, House Of Blues..I found myself for the first time ever having to TAP OUT! The crowd was so horny for the roots…and with their Deathcrew 77 LIVE set…who couldn’t be.

That night we were all victim to the energy each song carried and when every song echoed throughout the venue, we were all puppets on a string, forced to jump, chant and repeat. Warp 1977; 1 , 2, 3   MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!!!!

Bob Rifo is a spider. There is no other way to describe him. Skinny body, 1977 etched into his chest..arms outstretched across the keys playing the song, with the guitar on his back…he swings the guitar around and plays along to the song, then he begins to sing into the microphone. While Tommy Tea up at the controls playing along, jumping off the stage and providing the dying fans with bottles of water. And lets not forget the drummer, who kept up with all the electronic madness playing on a real borrowed House of Blues set.

If one was ever curious what it is like to be in the recording studio with the roots when they make their music..all of us got just a taste and feeling that night at the House of Blues and it was mind NUMBING!  And thank god San Diego had the balls to respond to it *(the last show I had watched in San Diego was more commercial than a fucking superbowl sunday…people standing around with champagne glasses looking pretty and snorting coke behind the scenes)..give me a break…this place had literally had BLOOD and when I exited the venue there were cops…girls in handcuffs and more than enough noise to make me more satisfied than an electric pig plugged into the biggest power outlet! I felt like the audience in Rome exiting the Collesium, and I hope those Italian Basterds, the mother fucking Bloody Beetroots, felt like glorified gladiators causing a great bloodbath of music….and it was only Friday for the roots, they still went on to play two more shows back to back in Los Angeles at HARD with great success!

*Deth Hertz, what a pleasure it was to finally meet the two men behind the music. More than awesome set and glad to see the boys got a fair amount of time up on stage. Opening up with the doors to the venue and wrapping up right before the start of Shark Attack’s LIVE set. Which opened with ‘Second in Line at the Used Needle Exchange’ followed by ‘Northern City Riot’ two songs I’ve only heard digitally and never seen physically strewn out before me with live instruments.

The Treaty has been Enacted

Hot off of weeks of Kissy Sellout dropping PeaceTreaty track after PeaceTreaty track, the boys are hitting the clubs with their tunes. They’ve been mad busy in the studio creating amazing sounds that hit hard, and now they’ve begun to pound your ears with bass, siren and true to form Dutch inspired awesomeness.

Their Funk in Deep EP will be released May 3rd, with two tracks, and they’ve hinted at another coming out in the near future. So what does Boppernation do with such an amazing artist? We interview them and ask them to do our next Bopcast, that’s what.

So Boppers, I bring to you, the PeaceTreaty interview. Look for the Bopcast soon and listen to the Treaty DROP!

Bn:
First, guys, we really want to thank you for taking some time to talk with us. We’ve really been impressed with the productions you’ve been putting out!

PT:
- Sam: No problem, man. We’re really glad for all the support Boppernation has been giving us.
- Josh: Totally.

Bn:
As far as everyone knows, Josh, you started PeaceTreaty. How did you end up with the name and how did you two get together?

PT:
- Josh: Well, I started out with a track called Cheaters. See, I used to be engaged, and then that ended because I fucked that up. And a few other relationships. So, I did that Cheaters track. And then, once I got the hang of it, I started doing all this production stuff. So one day Sam and I were at Dim Mak and we were like ‘Why don’t we get together and work from there?’ so that’s how it started.

Bn:
So, we’ve been seeing your name all over the place, recently. But it’s never spelled quite the same. Which is it… with or without the space?

PT:
- Sam: *laughs* No space, two uppercases. It’s been difficult, especially since on Twitter we have that underscore in it.

Bn:
Speaking of that, what about your Myspace links to that PeaceTreatyUp?

PT:
- Sam: That was our original link, that Josh had started. It didn’t really work for us, so we changed it. We couldn’t get PeaceTreaty though, because some girl already had it. Maybe she’d be nice enough to let it go for us? *laugh*

Bn:
You guys have put out a great set of tracks. What’s your favorite gear in the studio? Or what about when you’re playing out? Is it different?

PT:
- Sam: My monitors. *laughs* I dunno, we use it all, man!
- Josh: I dunno, man. My mini USB. Without that I can’t do nothing!
- Sam: When we’re playing out, we gotta have Pioneer CDJ 1000s. Fuck Serato!
- Josh: Yeah!

Bn:
Don’t you use Ableton in the studio?

PT:
- Josh: Yeah. Sam uses Ableton, I’m on FL Studio.

Bn:
FL Studio? Have you always used that?

PT:
- Josh: Yeah, all the tracks are done so far in FL Studio. I just learned it really well, that’s all. I know what to do in Ableton and Logic, too. Logic, though, is where we want to go. There’s no walls. In FL Studio there’s walls in automation, global automation. Single channelling VSTs and plugins on one channel, it’s kind of hectic, because globally you can’t tweak it how you want to, like you can in Logic.  Laidback Luke even states some of the dilemmas in FL Studio. You can only go so far. It’s frowned upon deeply in the production side, so whatever.

Bn:
Well your productions have been fantastic. What about playing out? I know you were both playing solo before doing PeaceTreaty. How is it different?

PT:
- Sam: Well, there’s a lot you can do with two people you can’t do with one. I mean, you only have two hands. Depends what you can do on the mixer and the CDJ at the same time. So..
- Josh: Effects would be the biggest thing.
- Sam: Yeah… or the scratching. When you’re one person, it’s harder to worry about beat matching and effects.
- Josh: Effects.
- Sam: When you’re one person you can’t worry about beat matching… can’t throw in a cool loop and start tweaking it and throw in an effect too, ya know?
- Josh: I scratch…
- Sam: He does a little bit. He’s the looper-master…
- Josh: Well, he’s the beat master. *laugh*
- Sam: We each have our strengths, so it works well, to be together, I think.

Bn:
What about all the Kissy Sellout stuff that’s going on? He’s been giving you mad props and plays…

PT:
- Sam: He likes PeaceTreaty! *laugh*

Bn:
I mean, you’ve gotta have fans over there in the UK. Are you planning on making it over there?

PT:
- Sam: Well, yeah we had a blog over there that did a write up on us and has a sponsorship at a club. So theyr’e trying to set up a mini-tour with a bunch of other promoters in the UK in September. Play a different club every night, between England and Scotland. But Kissy has been a huge supporter. In fact, we’re doing a remix for his label, the new Hot Pink Delorean track that actually just sent for mastering today.

Bn:
And when can we expect that to be released?

PT:
-Sam: That’s up to Kissy, I’m not really sure… They were pretty adamant about the deadline.. *laugh* so I assume fairly soon
- Josh: We actually remixed that song like 5 or 6 times, up until we finally got some feedback from Hot Pink Delorean, going back and forth, to where they were like, pretty involved.
- Sam: Yeah, we had a version we were happy with and Kissy talked to Hot Pink, and they had a few suggestions and things they wanted to see, so we went back and did some of that stuff. I think what we came up with is pretty great.
- Josh: You can, like, levy off them.. it balances…
- Sam: If someone was remixing one of our songs, I would want to approve of what they did. I’m not going to let someone put out a remix of one of our songs that we hate. I don’t see the point of that. We were more than willing to hear what they had to say.

Bn:
What about any of the other bootlegs that you’ve done? Have any of the other artists given you flak for them?

PT:
- Sam: Eeehhhhhh…
- Josh: Uuhhh…
- Sam: Well, Bart B More loved the one that we did. *laugh* There’s one artist, that shall remain nameless, that objected to a certain aspect of it, but, we don’t need to go into that. It wasn’t the track that he objected to, it was more the fact that we called it a remix, and not a bootleg, because we used samples…
- Josh: And then that shit gets played out, and Kissy plays and tweeted it out… so, I mean it’s that way…
- Sam: Some people care, some people don’t. I mean, we apologized. And we have that Laidback Luke bootleg, which we’ve actually done 2 different versions of also, and we’re waiting for feedback from Luke on that. He knows that we did it, he’s talked to us about it, he’s just sifting through a pile of 5 or 6 hundred other promos that people have sent him. He’s really cool, cuz he listens to almost everything. He’s one of the few people that will literally everything that everyone submits him. We’re just waiting for him to get to ours in the stack. He’s eager to listen to it.

Bn:
Well, people have been playing your tracks out. Is there anyone you really want to have play your track?

PT:
- Sam: Oh, god… well, we heard a rumor that Wolfgang Gartner dropped one of our tracks at Coachella, but we have yet to be able to verify that? Friends of ours who were there, who said he did, were in various states of intoxication, so we’re not sure we can really trust whether or not it was actual. *laughs*
- Josh: That would be pretty massive though.
- Sam: Yeah that would be pretty great. But we’ve had some pretty cool people drop them. Hot Pink dropped our New Disco Villains remix, and they liked that a lot. Swedish Egil’s dropped our tracks, Hyphy Crunk’s dropped our tracks. We get hit up all the time by people saying ‘Oh, we used your track in our podcast’ and stuff. Mustard Pimp used two of our tracks on their recent mixtapes that they put out. So that’s a big supporter right there. And then, of course, there’s Kissy. I mean, we’ve had our tracks played almost every week on his show for the last, you know, 5 or 6 weeks.

Bn:
Alright, what about collaborations? You’ve done a lot of remixing. Do you have any collaborations happening?

PT:
- Sam: Well, we have the EP coming out, with the two originals that’s being mastered right now. Comes out in May, from Ho-Ju Records in Australia, called the Funk in Deep EP. And the tracks are Funk in the Ganja. Meditation, inspiration, creativity if you will. And the other track is called Deeper Insider and it’s kind of our take on the classic Deep Inside by Harddrive. And that’s the one we did with DiskJoSlim. It’s sort of our modern Dutch take on that classic, so…

Bn:
Why did you guys choose those two tracks?

PT:
- Sam: The ganja track, you know, we just wanted to write something about something we love.

Bn:
*laugh* Wasn’t that what the 420 song was for?

PT:
- Sam: *laugh* Yeah, but that was more as a DJ tool, something for fun…
- Josh: Yeah.. *laugh* that was from Sam and I sitting in the car and we heard something on the radio and he goes ‘This would be a cool one to do.’ and ‘Aw, yeah, we’ll try it.’ Next thing we know, we’re throwing in all these different sounds from different tracks..
- Sam: We got a Sublime sample in there, Peter Tosh..
- Josh: And then the bad battery. The laptop battery less.. So we hit the cord halfway through what we were doing, and it went out.
- Sam: We lost everything.
- Josh: We had to recreate the whole thing.
- Sam: But it came out better than when it started, so it worked out.
- Josh: Yeah, definitely.
- Sam: Anyway, so we have a couple other original tracks out now. One on Beatport, actually, called Cheaters that came out on Not Small Records… and Silly Boppers This is a Killer is a track we have on our Soundcloud…

Bn:
Don’t worry, we didn’t take any offense. *laugh*

PT:
- Sam: *laugh* Yeah, well… We also did another track with DiskJoSlim, which was a bootleg we released of French Fries. The track is Senta. And then, our next collaboration is probably gonna be another EP of original tracks, probably 2, that we’re gonna hope to get Whiskey Pete to do vocals on both of them. That one is going to kind of be inspired by … well, I don’t want to give too much away, but inspired by a certain gendre of music, from LA, from the 90s. But what genre of music that is, will remain a secret till it comes out. If it turns out the way we’re hoping it will, it’s going to be unlike anything else that anybody else has ever really done.

Bn:
Is there anyone you really want to collaborate with?

PT:
- Josh: Actually yeah, I hit up the Squatters, they’re on Kissy’s label. Dem Slackers, I’ve talked to them. They’re all like young funny producers coming up on Kissy’s label. So we’re doing those guys, like French Fries. They’re on that level, and we want to get on their level, and also want to help ‘em out.. do a remix of somebody, like the Mowgli one.
- Sam: Well, Pete definitely, because he’s a good friend, so that’s why we have that one on the books. Other than that, we haven’t really talked to a lot of people about collaborating. *laugh* We’ve had a lot of people hitting us up, asking if we wanna do tracks, but we’ve been so busy right now with all these other remixes we’ve been doing that haven’t been able to say yes to any of them, yet. But we’ve kinda of been collaborating with this guy, Kissed With a Noise, who’s from Canada, and we played a remix tonight, of a track we remixed for him. An original he did, with a Young Buck vocal. He reached out to us and asked did we want to remix it for an EP package, and it’s gonna include remixes from us, Disco Villains, Skeet Skeet, Marletta and B Rich, so that’s all going to come out and it will be free.

Bn:
I heard about a remix for Disco Villains. You tweeted about that.

PT:
- Sam: We finished a remix of Disco Villains’ Crickets and it’s been getting a lot of good response. They’re currently looking for a label for that release, so we’re kind of just waiting along with them until they find someone.

Bn:
Rumor has it you have some Big Name Artist that you’re doing something for?

PT:
- Sam: Ah, yes. Well, he’s actually … well, that’s got to stay a secret for now.

Bn:
So what new gigs are coming up for PeaceTreaty?

PT:
- Sam: Well we’re doing Mode 7 with DiskJo Slim, our good friend and also Colors and Sir Charles on May 7th, at the Glass House in Pomona, CA. Santa Cruz at a club called Motiv, on May 1st. Josh is playing at Stanford on April 28th, yeah, next Wednesday. So that’ll be half of PeaceTreaty. And we’re doing a big rave at the end of May, called Nu Disko, with DJ Bam Bam, Paul Ahi, Cold Blank and a bunch of other local DJs. We’ll also be doing the House of Blues in San Diego with Designer Drugs in July. And hopefully the UK in September and in Canada with Dmitri Vegas and Like Mike, both soon. Lastly we’re also doing another gig with the 1107 folks, who put on Dance, the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, at the Glass House again, with Paparazzi and Religion.

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Fantastic guys! Thanks so much for talking with us!

PeaceTreaty tracks are all over the internet, so here’s just a few of the awesomeness… And don’t forget to look for their new release EP, and on Beatport for their already released tracks!

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PeaceTreaty
myspace | twitter

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I’ve always been around music my whole life! Having the traditional “black family” growing up, I would always hear the great grooves by Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind & Fire, and Chaka Khan at all the family functions. It was drilled into me at an early age! Then I hit my teenage years. I wanted to know how music was created. It was naturally in me. I remember I got this little Yamaha keyboard one Christmas and this kicked off my producing skills early on. I stayed up hours practicing, learning notes and chords, which instruments sounded like what. I learned best from studying my favorite producers at the time. The more I learned, the more my taste for music grew. I always loved music that brought energy and attitude! The movements and feel of Rock, Funk, & Disco were always appealing. My love of Electronic based music began when I discovered such acts as Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, The Human League etc. I dug the futuristic un-conventional sounds they would produce. I try to transfer the same elements into today’s Electronic music!

Certain Electro has a real sense of disorder and rebellion! It’s the new punk rock! With experiencing great shows and festivals within the past few years, I saw how kids would react and just go crazy over the energy the music brought. You can’t experience it until your in the center of 5,000 people and your all collectively jumping and wilding out too a Daft Punk track! That’s when I discovered “damn, this is what I want to do!” So Coin the term “Twisted Youth”. This is a reflection of our generation. Vigor, rage, protest and excitement! This also influenced my album artwork and mascot “The infamous Chihuahua with a red Mohawk”, music that just don’t’ give a F*! That’s why I tried to chose track names that described that attitude, “Radio Revolt”, “Detroit Riot Rock” “Driving While Intoxicated” and so on. I wanted to create a certain mood and atmosphere. I made this for all of those kids! This is to be played live and mixed into DJ sets. As Liam Howlett, (The Prodigy) put it, “Your little laptop speakers are cool, but this is intended to be banged!”

I first got wind of Mr. Vega while I was working with a Finnish female pop vocalist named Kississing on a project called “Vodka N’ Cran” back in 2007. Me and her would create a sound I would call “80’s dirty disco”, which you could probably find floating around the net somewhere. I heard a mix of a track Mr. Vega created with her. I thought he had great music then. When I first started this project the first song I did was “We Don’t stop” featuring. Becci, who is an Australian female rapper that I collaborated with on other projects, look her up! I first sent her the instrumental, which starts with a bass driven, sexy moan- filled arpeggio synth lead. The song was complete, but I still had the dry vocal parts and reached out to Mr. Vega for a more “housey” feel, versus the more underground clubbish sound the song originally had. He was familiar with some of my work with kississings, so we made it happen!

Making music is all about feeling good, having fun and being inspired when you make it. I aimed for that when putting together “Twisted Youth”. I didn’t want to get too technical or focus on any particular part or song too much. Didn’t want to over analysis it. Ask any artists, there’s always a part in which they’d wish to go “re-do”. I can honestly say I had fun doing it and I feel good about it. I never obsess over creating music or how others will judge it. This could stop your creative flow! “We Don’t Stop”

No Stripping or selling dope here! Although strip clubs are great inspiration! I currently operate two recording studio’s with my brother. I am a studio tech nerd! Recording other artist music from hip-hop, gospel, radio commercials, and voiceovers Helps more learn way more then just creating the music I personally like. I attended FullSail (Media arts school) a few years ago, which I learned a lot about audio engineering, production etc. as well as the business of music. I also DJ clubs. Looking too tour this summer! Book me in your town!

I play keyboards pretty good, as well as drums and guitar, which I sampled and processed certain grunge riffs on “Kurt Kobain is alive”. I always try not too limit myself and learn all I can. I’ll put on some Jimi Hendrix or Prince and try to groove along with it!

Producing for friends and artist when I first started. They would say “That kid has some “Nasty” beats! Also, Nazz was a term used on David Bowies “Ziggy Stardust” describing a hip magnetic being.

I’ve learned it’s becoming more about hype, timing and support and less about quality of music, which is really just an opinion. There are pros and cons with the direction of “getting your music out” these days. For one the Internet is over saturated with music. This even makes giving it away for free hard for some artist, let alone selling it. But the Internet is always a great tool too niche-market your audience and really learn what people want. It also opens up a whole new world for people too discover their personal likes in music, not just what MTV or your local radio station shoves down your throat! That’s why Blog’s, Youtube and social networking sites are so great! Wink* BOPPERNATION!  My advice would be too just flood as many relevant sites on the net as possible and leave your cyber mark! With enough buzz, distributors like Beatport, Traxsouce and Juno download will contact you to distribute your music. The key is the make them come to you! Also, because of the net, touring and live shows has risen. Altho

Chalk it Up… Work it Out…

We’ve highlighted Angel before, and it’s time to highlight him again, as he’s released a fantastic collection of beaty tunes, all available to the masses for free!  Angel never disappoints, with his glitchy, fun, squeaky clean beats, fast and furious tempos and interminable stylings.

As we’ve mentioned before, he’s collaborated with DJ Rush, Colette, Sinead O’Conner, Greenskeepers, Julia Fordham, Robbie Rivera, Pole Folder as well as Felix da Housecat, so he’s in excellent company. He is a true bopper. And in keeping to his musical roots, he makes music he loves and that he wants others to hear.

Lately, he’s been busy with his new M-too label, focusing on minimal techno and house, and working alongside DJ Pierre and the Afro Acid team on Pierre’s solo album. But that hasn’t stopped him from putting together an amazing set of tunes for these albums.

Freedom Series Vol. 1

01. Good Old Days – Chicago
02. Get On Down
03. Let’s Dance
04. Dig This
05. Deputy Power
06. Frag Grenade
07. Like That
08. Chitown
09. Turn It Out
10. Chunky Soup
11. Majik (Unreleased)

Bandcamp

He’s a master of the two and three word song titles, each name seemingly simple, yet each one also offering up only a hint as to what the song might be about. While listening to the album, you continually think back to the title, and can immediately visualize what Angel is trying to musically explain. Each track has a very different feel, yet you can tell the minimal styling, and they are able to deliver a very rich new take, but with that old school techno break you remember.

He drives the beat hard! Makes the tempo fast… and he forces you to listen to the transition of each and every song. The amazingly precise technical aspects of the songs aside, they are extremely mixable tracks, even in a set that wouldn’t necessarily know it.  Anytime you drop one of these in, you’re certain to get the crowd dancing…

And yes, you’re right. Let’s Dance is a take on Bowie. If you want a SOLID David Bowie remix, this is the track for you. Fantastic! Grindy! Heavy! Nice one, Angel!

Notables
Get On Down
Dig This
Work It Out

Freedom Series Vol. 2

01. Harvey Mckay – Tribal
02. Angel Alanis & Cpen – Alright (Alan Barratt Delicate Dub Remix)
03. Jhon Doe & M.N.L – Ak47
04. Angel Alanis – Angel Alanis vs Jet Set Groove & NIN “God Sent”
05. Angel Alanis – Resolutions (Punisher Remix)
06. Adam Jay – Come To The Tone
07. Joe Irwin – Punch Card
08. 10,000 Watts VS Dust N Haze – Pendulum (Mustafa Avdic & Matt Rissi Remix)
09. Kaufmann und Ferdinand – I Am Soooo Mad
10. Angel Alanis – Buggin feat. Harrison Crump
11. Submerge – The Drive
12. Angel Alanis – Kasper Da Ghost

Bandcamp

For Volume two, Angel collects songs which have either had limited release or are completely unreleased, as of yet. The feeling of the album, while musically across the board, keeps to the beats and the essence of what Angel’s music is about. Driving bassline, glitchy effects, masterful vocal drops and an unending push to the next step, next break, next rise. These tunes never let you relax, while still giving you some breathing room. It’s an amazing collection of artists from Angel’s personal and business stash.

Being a personal NIN and Trent fanboy, I was excited to hear the Angel Alanis take on God Given. Definitely not disappointed at all. Trent never sounded so good.

Notables
Jhon Doe & M.N.L – Ak47
Adam Jay – Come to the Tone
Submerge – The Drive

As always, for our loyal boppers, we have some unreleased exclusive tracks to share! Cage Me In, both Original and Tribal Mixes are amazing, as Renee’s vocals are ethereal and beautiful, all over very different bassy synths. The remix title “Tribal” fits perfectly. Too Bad So Sad, is an epic tune, giving you some longform rises and driving, hart hitting noisiness. Make sure you turn up those speakers!

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Make sure you check out both albums, join his fanbridge, and buy some of his released tracks. Let’s keep this man making music! He truly is keeping to his core love of sound, and doing it spendidly…

And if you join his fanbridge, you never know the types of secret things he might send out…?

Fanbridge | Beatport | Myspace | Facebook | Twitter

And just for fun, here’s Dave Clarke dropping Angel’s song Xcite Bike (both a personal favorite old skool NES game, and Angel Alanis track) at I Love Techno 2008.

“The only act that would open an album with a drum and bass, heavy metal, pop and Cuban track ‘You, You, You’ and make it enjoyable and accessible.” – (read more + FULL album)

But…before we continue further on this pattern of splicing genres, let me just give way to their surprise. This pattern is a big part of their whole album: Track after track of Mashed up music, with the punk mentality of breaking barriers and riding outside of the lines. And who are we but fools for trying to label each track as a multi-layered genre crossing animal, when what we are experiencing is music as a whole, free from the chains of conformity.

But still paving respect to all things Music Theory, and giving the listeners that Pop.

Catchy vocals, ‘Sugar Candy’ ‘Super Nova, Super Nova’ light the way with almost too familiar titles ‘Juice and Gin’ but it’s nothing you would expect and certainly far from anything you’ve heard before. The Young Punx are delivering everything good about music and doing it with more than awesome drum and bass breaks in between the disco, guitar riffs and vocal journeys at least for one song, then another breaks down with a guitar solo!

Judging from the more than high and fun feeling we get from the music, one can assume the Young Punx made sure to have fun and let loose while composing this album at least I find it hard to imagine any different. But as much as the Punx let loose, their mastery of music is displayed in their power to BRING it back and keep things in an awesome awe of Equilibrium. Take the the track, ‘O Mio Babbino Caro,’ suddenly the hyper fast-paced beats are replaced with a romantic opera giving us all a chance to catch our breath before we return to the get down and the dirty, with ‘Like Dat.’

.:Q & A:.

So much talent in The Young Punx, from the music created to every face behind the curtain. This latest release is not only a display of artistic talent, but a full on demonstration of music, free from the chains of a single genre.

BN: On the Album. Starting with the track, ‘You, You, You’ how does one keep a song together, in key and on beat, with so many different styles of music?

I think this is pretty easy really because the tracks tend to grow out of realising the hidden similarities between different types of music. The track You You You includes elements of Heavy Metal, Pop, Drum and Bass and Cuban Timba but the beauty of if it is that it isn’t really difficult to put them together. They actually all have very similar musical pulses running behind them and they sit together very happily. What stops people putting these sounds together is the cultural tribes we make up, saying “I’m into this sound, but not that sound”. The music itself WANTS to mix together and move without walls.

BN: And do you intend on putting all those ‘genres’ in the music or is it just the way it comes out?

When it comes to making the music it is partly just the way it comes out. I have a broad background that spans leading an orchestra, playing drums in a jazz band, piano in a Cuban band, playing bass with Dizzee Rascal, and DJing at Pacha, Eden, Privilege, Ministry of Sound, Fabric etc. When I make a track its always painful to close the doors to any of these different influences. And since the mash up scene took off in the early 2000s, people have taken in interest in the sound clashes that happen when you put together 2 things that were never EXPECTED to be put together. I do however like finding ways of getting unusual performances out of people by deliberately putting them in a new environment. What happens when you take a rock guitar player and tell him to play on a Drum and Bass record? What happens when you put some classically trained choirboys on the same record as a rapper from a tough estate? Its a mischievous approach that can deliver surprising results.

BN: Are you completely satisfied with the way it [Mashpop & Punkstep] turned out?

Well I’m a pretty happy with it, but an artist is always wanting to move forward onto the next thing, so what I am really into at the moment is the music I am doing now that will be released later this year, not the music I did last year that is being released now! That said, I hadn’t listened to the album since we finished it, until this week when we launched the album, and after the rest it is enjoyable to hear again.

BN: What was the main direction/goal/aim in creating this album. What did The Young Punx want ‘Mashpop & Punkstep’ to be?

It started off as a random collection of tracks that seemed to have no connection. You couldn’t even recognise them as the same artist. But as the songs came together over time a bigger picture seemed to emerge. We had all the track names on post-it notes on the wall, and we kept moving them into different collections and different orders.

Eventually a certain set of them seemed to add up in a way that made sense to us as telling some kind of story, in which we have a love of all things musical, but have a love / hate relationship with clubland and the dance music ‘scene’.

Its definitely designed to be heard as a whole album, from start to end, as 45 minutes of music that takes you on a specific journey. Though this is very out of fashion these days when people just download single mp3s etc.

We noticed a great deal of support from other artist, in early on remixes, not to mention those who may have been a part of the actual production.

A lot of the tracks on the album are kind of 50% club mixes. They are inspired by dance music, but aren’t 100% for the club (will it depends on the club!). Therefore an important part of making any track for us is to get a second version of the track made immediately that is 100% club friendly so we can DJ it. We usually A&R 100% based who WE want to DJ and so before the album was released we invited our favourite producers like Riva Starr, Black Noise, Gramophonedzie, Shinichi Osawa, Phonat and Shir Khan to make club versions of the tracks for us.

BN: Very strong support group, I even noticed a Shinichi Osawa remix, were artist approached to participate or was it something the artist themselves requested to do?

It varies, but its basically us inviting our favourite people to create their own takes on the tracks.

.:On the Punx:.
BN: How did this talented group of artist get together?

Well it started as myself and Cameron Saunders working as the classic DJ  / producer partnership making bedroom dance music productions. But over time it has slowly grown. First we needed singers for our original music. Then we needed to perform live so we got a band together. Then we wanted more variety of sounds so we started to collaborate with more vocalists and producers. It’s like a wagon rolling down the road that more and people keep climbing on to over time, or hopping off when they have done the bit of the journey that’s right for them.

BN: The Young Punx, a physical trio of artist, a symbol for music as a Genre-less and free spirit, or ??  (abstract question, run with it rebel child)

Its very hard to say who is and isn’t in The Young Punx because we are a loose gang working together on a specific project with its own identity. However we find the ‘spirit’ of the project is best represented by the trio of me (Hal Ritson), Nathan Taylor and Simon Bettison.

I come from a ‘traditional’ music background – playing lots of instruments etc. Nathan has a DJ background in underground club music. And Simon (our drummer) is a bit of joker and entertainer.

Between the 3 of our different personalities it kind of makes a good metaphor for what the act is about : We aim to combine real high quality traditional music content, with inspiration from the sounds of the clubs, with a good time, fun party atmosphere.

You can hear this coming through when the 3 of us present our regular podcast. Check it out here:

http://www.theyoungpunx.com/podcast/

Find out more about the album Mashpop and Punkstep here:
http://www.theyoungpunx.com/site/about/mashpop-and-punkstep/

Thank you very much for your time! We really appreciated the answers and gladly support the release of the new album, which again is available for listening here: [ Mashpop & Punkstep ]

Be sure to purchase the album as well:  iTunes | Amazon: .COM | CO.UK

And enjoy these gifted remixes!

And….as if the results of the evening weren’t clear enough for us during it’s participation, the after effects have sent a tremor of success! The Cat’s Meow was a HIT! To be continued..

Thank you DG!

&

Friday!

Bonus* Cat’s Meow intro

Let the games begin!

Today marks the official kickoff for WMC with Malo’s Bomb Giggity at the heed! And at Bopper Nation we are HUGE supporters of many of the artist attending WMC this year, including our very own Felix Da Housecat. But right now we want to give love to Malo, who has been more than kind to us Boppers as well as our familia, Disco Villains!

Bomb Giggity
************************************************** ****
March 24th at the Lilly Leon Hotel!
15 hour event!
this party is invite & RSVP only
Please RSVP to bombgiggity@gigabeat.us “Subject RSVP BOMB GIGGITY”
WMC Badge Holders Free all day!
Broadcast all day and Night live on Techno FM
Hosted by: St Marc from Miami Techno City & Ms Easy
Live Video & Visuals by:
DarkIntersection

Lineup:
Disco Villans
Hot Mouth
LAZRtag
Jen Lasher
Breakdown
Viro & Rob Analyze
MALO
Pusher FM (Wizard Sleeve DJ Set)
Eartight
DJ Icon
Lunatik
Timoshii
St Marc
Jali
Milk Bros Live (Pill Popper Remix Contest Winners!)
Auditory Groove
Nadia Nitro
Onyx
Structure
BMV
INFECT
Sean Weeks
John Blais
Esteban DaPhunk
Gimme Samoa
Shock To The System
Irish Mike
Innate
Mondo

With More to come! & Suprise Guest Headliner~

Facebok Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ical/event.php?eid=343705417166
View Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e…mi+Beach%2C+FL
Please RSVP to bombgiggity@gigabeat.us “Subject RSVP BOMB GIGGITY”

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And for all those who cannot make it out to the show enjoy these tracks!

*Bonus

**Bonus

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.:Interview of Anthony Ross, by Steve Pross:.

Hello Boppers, introducing Anthony Ross, the man behind the Grey Ghost remix of Felix’s “Everyone Wants to Be Prince” remix. Mr. Ross is starting to make a few names for himself so I asked him how he does it.

Q: Anthony, you’ve had a #1 track at HYPEM with your remix of The Passion Pit’s “The Reeling” under the name Bubblegum Sci Fi and a #35 placing on the Billboard Dance Chart on the remix of “Everyone Wants To Be Prince” under the moniker Grey Ghost and now I’ve discovered you also have released tracks under your own name, Anthony Ross. Can you tell us Boppers how this works?

AR: I’m in love with all kinds of music and rather than be stuck in a tiny little shadow under the giant electronic music umbrella i decided to do some side projects. I knew I couldn’t put 80s sounding records under my real name so that’s why I started Grey Ghost. Then Lee (DJ Groundfloor) got in touch with me and we started the Bubblegum Sci Fi project together. We spent a lot of time refining the BGSF sound and same goes with the Anthony Ross & Grey Ghost. I just wanted to make great, uniquely identifiable music for each alias. With that said the Anthony Ross stuff is all house music, club focused, big room ala Steve Angello, Axwell, Dirty South etc. The Grey Ghost records are dedicated to that vintage french house sound a la Lifelike, Kris Menace. The Bubblegum Sci Fi project is about indie electro.

Q: What are your roots in electronic music? What lead you to want to produce electronic music?

AR: I’ve been into electronic music heavily since 1998, I think the first three records i owned were Prodigy, Moby & Crystal Method (in that order). I was turned onto Basement Jaxx & Armand van Helden and then I got swept up in the trance scene, but I’ve slowly gotten back to my roots and I’m producing all good things in house.

Q: What are your DJ sets like?

AR: Anthony Ross DJ sets are all house focused, that big room Ibiza sound. Grey Ghost DJ sets are still taking form, but right now I’m doing it in Ableton with some live keyboard playing. Bubblegum Sci Fi DJ sets are done by Lee as he’s a master indie DJ.

Q: When will we able to listen to Grey Ghost and Bubblegum Sci Fi tracks. All we know now are remixes. Will the original tracks have a similar direction to the remixes?

AR: I’m working on a 4-track Grey Ghost EP as we speak, so far two of the tracks have vocals and i’m waiting on a few things before I wrap it up. The Grey Ghost EP is a collection of sounds used in the remixes plus a few more added things. I definitely wanted to encompass what I’ve been doing over the last year and put it all together. Bubblegum Sci Fi has a few originals planned, but we’re focused on remixing bands and other indie artists at the moment, more vocal oriented with big hooks.

Q: Any new remixes coming soon?

AR: Yes, lots of material coming up. For the Anthony Ross records I have four remixes and three originals coming out in the next three months. Those are all geared towards WMC including a Bob Sinclar bootleg I just finished with Lazy Rich and the “Voyeur” track I did with Darren Mase. Grey Ghost, I’m finishing up the EP and working on a Chromeo remix. Bubblegum Sci Fi — we have our Crystal Method remix coming out soon, a new Designer Drugs remix, a Jinder remix for AC Slater’s label, a Steve Aoki remix for Dim Mak and a few others i can’t quite announce yet :)

Q: Who do you want to remix or collaborate with in the future?

AR: Super Mal is coming into the studio at the end of this month so iIm sure that will be fruitful! I’d love to remix The Knife, Radiohead and Hot Chip. If I could just spend a week in the studio with Philippe Zdar i think I’d die a happy musician.

Tunes:

Karin Park - Ashes (Grey Ghost & Mezzir Remix) Jinder - Youth Blood (Bubblegum Sci Fi Remix) Glycerin - Aftertaste (Anthony Ross and Yan Lhert Remix)

Anthony Ross | Grey Ghost | Bubblegum SciFi | Steve Pross & Disco Pinata

Re:Vamped is his latest project, recently released to the public by his label Used and Abused. It’s quite an idea to take so many artists and mash them all up into a big melting pot of electronic goo and hit the blend button… because the business is made up quite a bit by remixes, mashups, refixes, re-edits and the like of not only you’re own music, but others as well. What happens if you did an entire album like that? Well, Simon wanted to find out, apparently. And to make sure he got top-notch music from the project, he got top notch talent, with the likes of Popof, Dylan Rhymes, Stanton Warriors, Propellerheads, Meat Katie, Classixx, Datsik, Bar 9, Wolfgang Gartner, Roland Clarke, Layo & Bushwacka, Deadmau5, Caspa and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just to name a few of the roster… Some are remixes of songs, some are collaborations of songs and some are remix collaborations of remixes of songs both of his own, as well as theirs.

So how does it sound?

Well, it sounds pretty awesome, actually. If you know the dub, tech, bigbeat bass-ee sound of Simon’s music, you won’t be out of that territory. Each song is definitely stamped with his landmark quality beats, but there are several attempts to stray from the typical sound.  Some of the songs are built on heavy drum ‘n bass, with dubstep influence, enter Bar 9, Benga and Caspa, for example. Others are much more traditional remix fare, such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Maps, which will sound absolutely fantastic dropped into a set for an added build up and drop.

Simon’s aesthetically chosen use of bass and rhythm has never been doubted, and with each track you want to hear the next sound, the next loop, the next drop.  While some of the drums are a bit similar between the songs, it does more for keeping the album smoothly connected than it does sound uninteresting. And, because there are so many different artists, the album never gets stale.  If you’re looking to wake up and move, this is definitely the album for you to put on repeat, in your car. There isn’t a sleeper song in the entire mix, and the whole album will keep you dancing, even when you’re in traffic. Don’t mind the looks from other people as you boogie in the drivers seat; you’ll be enjoying the rumbling sounds of Calvertron or Stanton Warriors. Don’t mind them, they’re just jealous.

And Boppers, don’t forget, when you’re listening to it, don’t forget to smile when you hear the Fireball sound from Mario Brothers.

Listen to the album:

//

Bn
Thanks so much for talking with us!

The act of “remixing” is different for each artist (thus making it personal and subjective) — but what do you consider the difference between a remix vs. an edit? vs. a refix? vs. a mashup? vs. a bootleg? vs. your re:vamp?

EF
Generally speaking a Remix is an official re-working of a track for which you’ve been given individual stems / parts, and you’ve been commissioned to do it … everything else falls outside of that ‘official’  tag really. A re-edit can be something as simple as a re-ordering of the track or just cutting out a few bars here & there whilst a mashup tends to involve two or more tracks in the same piece. A bootleg is more an unofficial release of one of the above, whilst this album really focuses more on using elements of existing tracks to create completely new productions, so in that sense it’s perhaps as close to an artist album than a mix album!

Bn
So what’s the remedy you use when you completely hate the way the remix you’re doing is going? More booze? Re-edit the edit? Start over?  Ever had to remix a song you dislike?

EF
lol @ more booze. If I was drinking booze I wouldn’t be in the studio for sure – I work 8am – 6pm as a rule. It’s very very rare that I hate the way something’s going – it can be a struggle to make all the pieces fit together but after doing this for a number of years you tend to have quite a clear vision of how you want something to play out, and the rest of it is just spent getting there. I have started stuff over before a few times though, when the route I decided on didn’t play out as I’d hoped.

When you take on board tracks to remix, it’s really not about how much you like or dislike the song in the first place, it’s more about what you can do with it.

Bn
Are there any really inaccurate things ever said about you that still pisses you off to this day?

EF
Nothing springs to mind – I try not to hold grudges!

Bn
You’ve been in music a long time. What’s changed in YOUR music since you started creating music? (were you DJing prior to producing?)

Pretty much everything! I started making music (releasable music that is) back in 1994 and whilst I was first & foremost a musician I really got into electronic music through Djaying, doing parties at the local Student Union back in 1991. Those sets were a proper education as I was expected to play for 5 hours, and people would want anything from Nirvana to acid house … great fun though and gave me a love of DJaying for life.

In my music I think the core to what I do has always been there  – I don’t like purism. I’m more interested in what happens when you explore the edges around different genres, where they cross-pollinate with one another, and in that sense my interests remain surprisingly true. The first thing I released was a techno EP back in ’94, the next thing was a rap/rock hybrid EP, the next thing a breaks white label, but even within each of those releases they perhaps didn’t hit the BIG audiences because of that unwillingness to replicate the same sounds that other people were using in each of those fields.

Bn
So… Vinyl? CD? Mp3? Is vinyl dead?

EF
I use CDs nowadays & have done for years now – I’d happily live without the constant burning, but that’s all part of the job I guess! Vinyl’s far from dead … on this project we’re on the third repress now of both of the vinyl samplers we’ve released and there’s another one coming in a couple of weeks [ed. check store link below]. I mean, it’s been in decline for a long time but look across the dubstep, drum & bass and techno genres in particular and you’ll see a thriving market for vinyl. MP3s have revolutionized music’s dissemination, but they are more a product of limited bandwidth and data storage than anything else – they’re just digital audio that don’t sound as good as the WAV files.

Bn
Any tracks, when DJing, do you ALWAYS try and fit into your set, or what track do you HATE spinning?

EF
Music’s always shifting … I’ll have a few months where I’ll have key tracks I can’t do without, and then slowly they become superseded by more current ones. Why on earth would I play something I hate?

//

Boppernation wants to say special thanks to Simon for taking the time to talk with us.. We’re really excited to hear the new stuff he’s putting out, and so should you!

.

Check Elite Force out:

Twitter | Myspace | Blog

Buy the album or Tracks at any number of places:

Re:Vamped Store | Beatport | JUNO (Buy Postage Free CD)

Following the release of Felix Cartal’s Popular Music, we here at Bopper Nation are donating a review for those who care to bury their heads in our thoughts on this release. We are also offering a couple selected tracks off the album and including and exclusive Q & A with the man behind the curtain, our favourite Dirty Maestro from the Canadian Provinces, Felix Cartal.

-Enjoy

Review:

Woa! All previous expectations of this artist have been mutated and shattered with this release. From the early assumptions inspired by the album’s first leak, ‘Drone,’ to the bending of the ‘Solo Travelers’ way. And although the theme is ‘Popular Music’ Cartal completely disregards anything that popular music is meant to be. Obviously he ain’t rapping about bitches n hoes or using celebrity gossip/drama to boost his image, but if ‘Popular Music’ by definition is a well-rounded album with a ‘song for everyone’ then Cartal wins!

There are many components that make this release Epic beyond the hype of the word. For starters, this album can be played from the first track to finish without having to hit the skip button. In fact it’s encouraged. Unlike a lot of Dance record releases or many releases in general this isn’t a random compilation of works by Felix Cartal, it is a well thought-out, engineered, themed, journey through Cartal’s version of ‘Popular Music,’ touching on multiple styles and illustrating Felix’s versatility as an artist.

Right from the gates of the first track,  ‘Popular Music’ our journey is set, giving all listeners a glimpse of what this release will be, from start to finish. Combining a well structured system of catchy vocals and heavy synthesizers, ‘Popular Music’ the track,  foreshadows the album’s style and pattern as a whole. A well mixed, not stirred, blend of musical ingenuity that is Felix Cartal’s Popular Music.

On versatility and building a well-rounded album, tracks such as Berlin, World Class Driver, Drone and Grinch all satisfy the heavy and dirty, while tracks such as ‘I believe In’ & ‘Why Wait’ satisfy our ‘all arounders’ and give in, if only just little, to the poppy crowd, without at all selling the soul..or the dreaded ‘selling out.’

The album was full of many surprises and based on assumptions from the first leak ‘Drone,’ it was HARD to imagine that there could be anything else on the album that would exceed it and it was only fair to assume the album would be full of songs that simply build off the dirty style. However, after one listening of Popular Music as a whole, I can no longer think of ‘Drone’ as the high point of Felix Cartal’s latest album, nor can I even find ONE track that sums it all up…except maybe the track ‘Popular Music’ as mentioned earlier. *Only because it serves as a great foundation for the album in it’s entirety and also it foreshadows and represents the albums style as a whole. Giving in to the dirty dirty, get it poppy, blend those vocals with the maestro’s heavy synths and Wa La, ‘Popular Music.’ But don’t get me wrong, ‘Drone’  is still a great track, but without a doubt there are too many great tracks on this powerful album for any one track to stand out above em all.

The second big surprise from this release was a talent we at Bopper Nation didn’t even think existed. Besides the obvious, an album showcasing Felix Cartal’s ability to produce great music; there was an impressive  and astonishingly unexpected twist, The ‘Solo Traveler’s’ ability to collaborate with the right people. And not just collaborate with those people, but do it well…extremely well.

For instance, in the track ‘I Believe In’ ft. Beta Bow, the vocals compliment Cartal’s heavy synths harmoniously and the way the artist trails his words is almost Radioheadeque and I nervously make this statement..since Radiohead is GOD and we all know what happened when someone tried to compare the Beatles to GOD….apples and oranges though, listen to this track, it’s Radioheadesque. That being said, Cartal may still retains his infamous status as the  “Solo Traveler,” but he has proven with his most recent release that unlike many solitary artist, he knows how to play well with others…extremely well.

Quick Q & A:
-Bopper Nation and the Extremely Good Looking and Extremely Modest Felix Cartal

BN:
I found the album to be well-rounded, digging into multiple styles of ‘popular music,’ but still retaining to the dirty dirty many Cartal fans have come to know and love…that being said,
What were some of the difficulties in piecing these tracks together?

Cartal:
One of the main difficulties for me was trying to use some new structures to keep the album varied. Most dance tracks are quite formulaic, with mix-in mix-outs, but I felt it was important to work outside this formula to keep the album listenable as a whole. Most of the vocal tunes follow a verse-chorus-bridge structure and it was refreshing to have a medium to write songs in this nature.

BN:
On working with others (bending of the ‘Solo Traveler’s Ways’:
Most independent artist run into difficulties while collaborating with other artist, any moments that stand out in the process of recording these tracks worth noting.

Cartal:
Well all the tracks we did online, I was never actually in the studio with the other artists. So the hardest part was communicating the forms to some of the artists and making changes to certain parts to achieve my original idea. The positive side to this though was it opened up the vocalists’ interpretations of the instrumentals into ways I may have not originally heard. The next album I would love to get in the studio with the artists and be part of the lyrical/harmony process.

BN:
Awesome, Can you offer any tips for other artist looking to bring in outside talent? What provoked you to bring in these artist, did they just happen to be handy? Close friends, did they contact you or did you contact them?

Cartal:
A bit of both, a few artists I’d really looked up to when growing up and others were friends of friends.

BN:
In your own words, what was the overall goal/aim in structuring this album.
-Were you looking to make a release that was composed of ‘a song for everyone’ because that is the feel we got while listening to these tracks.

Cartal:
I think I wanted a mix of variety with continuity. I tried to make each track have its own identity without making any of them seem out of place from each other. The ‘song for everyone’ comment makes sense, I wanted some of the music to be playable by DJ’s, and other ones to be listenable by people who may not want to go to clubs all the time. Finding the balance between the two was the biggest challenge in making the album for me.

BN:
The Cliche Q, we just have to drop…What is your favorite track off the album and why?
-Is there any one tune that just blows you away?

Cartal:
I Believe In with Beta Bow turned out to be one of my favourites… I’ve always loved a track with a good shuffle beat and have been toying with doing one for awhile with no success. I feel like it finally fell into place on this one, and Guenther’s vocals really helped hit it home for me.

BN:
One of the main concepts we were looking at while reviewing this album was how huge of a SHOCKWAVE Drone delivered and now listening to the album in its entirety, Drone still is a great song, but its not ‘thee’ track of Popular Music.
-How did the massive response to Drone affect your feelings towards the albums release as you were still in the lab working on the album?

Cartal:
If anything it made me excited that people were digging the first preview off the record. I don’t feel like there is one ‘main track’ off the record either.

BN:
Anything you would like to say to your fans out there, words of wisdom, Keep it Good Looking and Modest.

Cartal:
Thank you for all the support on the record so far, it’s been overwhelming!

-

Thank You for being such a great sport and look forward to seeing you this Friday at the Avalon in La La Land!

Felix Cartal | Beta Bow |Gunther | Jaguar Love | Johnny Whitney | The Faint | Todd Fink | Dim Mak |

Everyone likes a good party.  And Groove Thursdays, which happen at the Arena in Hollywood California, are no exception to the rule. What started out in September 2009, the brainchild of investors DJ Sole, VeeVeeMarie and SayFresh, a local promoter, has turned into a weekly epic party for Hollywood, California to enjoy.  The venue is good, the parking was run well (security was quick on those trying to cause trouble!) and the line to get in was handled in a professional manner, even given the number of people.

The weekly event is 18 and over if you want to get in, so teens, so sorry, but you have to be 18. Obviously, 21 and over is a must if you want to drink. Once past the door, there’s VIP access above and around the stage, a place to chill outside for everyone, and several bar locations up and down.  On the side, there is an on-site photographer (who is there every week) snapping pictures for posterity, viewable online after the event, on the photographer’s Flickr site. The ubiquitous raving dancing go-go girls are doing their thing, grinding to the rhythm and helping everyone get into the mood to bounce.

While there are three rooms to The Arena, the main focus will always be on the main stage. But, don’t let the perhaps unknown DJ or closer quarters fool you, there’s a lot of boogie to be had in the back. And later into the evening, the back rooms are partying it up with lights and music to hypnotize you, with lots of local talent spinning their sets. While the party doesn’t stop back there, the main focus is always on the main stage in front.  And, with the bass heavy JBL sound system, the main stage was definitely rockin’…

But, as with any weekly event, it’s all about the music.

Examples of previous acts appearing have been Klaas, Dan-OH, Blake Miller, Disco Villains, Shark Attack, DMNDAYS,  DJ V-Tech, Nadastrom, Deejay Sam Hiller, Religion and Felix Cartal.

But the resident DJ’s are nothing to scoff at. On the bill are such great times as DJ Sole, Rocke and Messy Vndlz. And, because they drop weekly, their sets are ever changing, each with its own feeling… with the obvious favorites thrown in for some heavy phat clubbery. Wouldn’t want to disappoint the regulars, right?

The night that Boppernation took to the Groove on a Thursday, the bill was DJ Sole, B Rich, The Italian Sensation and finally LA Riots. Each started their set right from the other, only once or twice having a chat mid-set with the other entourages on stage. The sets were tight, each featuring the personal select brand of electronic love for the crowd. Some heavy bass, some raving pitches, some wah-wahs for the hot mah-mahs… The crowd was loving it. By the time the LA Riots took to the decks, the crowd was really craving more but couldn’t get enough.

For those that have never heard the LA Riots, their brand of dance is one which is sure to please, with focus on explosive sounds, some fancy heavy bass, longform mixing and pure get-down fun, making you want to do nothing but move your body with the crowd. They dropped an impressive set, having fun with the beats and the audience was loving the attention they put on playing the songs instead of jumping from track to track.

Groove Thursdays was a fantastic time. Whether there’s a major act performing or not, you can’t beat the price for some of that electro thunder that Groove Thursdays provides. Make sure you check out their myspace for special deals, and to keep up with the acts they’re laying down. Trust us, you’ll have a blast!

Check out more photos in the gallery! (photos by HeartScreamS and KngtRdr)

Groove: myspace | twitter | facebook

The Arena

Can you feel it? In the air?

With all the great tunes coming out lately Boppers, it’s no wonder that we have another review hitting thee nation! This time, it comes from Dada Life, the fantastic duo from Stockholm.  The single, taken from their album Just Do the Dada does everything that Dada does. Fills you with electricity, soul and makes you dance your ass off!

LOVE VIBRATIONS

- 12 Inch Edit
- D.I.M. Re-Loved Mix
- Dimitri Vegas Like Mike Feel It Mix
- Phatzoo Remix
- Savage Skulls Remix

And so the Dada comes back again, now with a banger of a tune, Love Vibrations. The EP, which includes the original 12 inch version and four stellar remixes … is just asking to be spun everwhere and in the air! No matter what kind of set you drop, the remixes are bound to please one of the crowds, as each mix has it’s own distinct feel.

DIM, always one to take an interesting direction with a tune, chooses a particular portion of the vox, then notches and twists it into an unreal and fantastic foundation for the tune. You would think you’d get sick of it in the background, but the rest of the tune builds around it, and the bass shakes the speakers just the right way, with a nice whirring interlude to send an audience ballistic. A definite crowd pleaser.

While Dimitri spends some time twisting the vocals, his synth is what builds his tune into the high-raver that it will be, if someone places this into the peak of their set. The trancers are going to go ape-crazy with the middle build of this mix.

If you’re looking for some drrty bass and house then Phatzoo has the mix for you. His remix builds slow and hits hard, giving you a reason to get on the dance floor.

But what if you have a raving techno crowd who just can’t enough? The Savage Skulls hear your plea, and grind your happy hardcore self to a pulp, even offering some woops, blips and hollahs to boot.

I really gotta hand it to Dada Life, who care little what you think, as long as the music makes you move and you have a great time!

.

official | myspace | twitter | facebook

MMMatthias - James EP Teaser

What I love most about EP releases that work with a single track and bring in different artist to bat is that they not only showcase the talent of the individual artist who’s track is being worked with, but it also shares with us the circle of friends who influence/are influenced by respect/work with the artist. ETC.

James is MMMatthias first release on German ‘Kiez Beats Records’ which officially drops for all February 9th 2010.

The original has a great kick with an awesome and simple riff as it builds up. Light screeches and above else leaving much room to be one hell of a mixable track. And after hearing MMMatthias many remixes from recent Yeasayer, aUtODisco, Boys Noize & Killer on the Dance Floor it is quite nice to hear an original work, which is nothing short of impressive.

The EP starts off with aUtODisco’s rendition of the song ‘James’ and it what starts off as a quiet tone picks up to more a heavier and louder tone as the track progresses. Really awesome breaks about 2 and half minutes into the track.

LaClopeAuBecs version was a bit scattered and chopped, but I kind of got into it starting to imagine the sounds of nuts and botls was the assembly of a machine..maybe a machine named James? at about minute in the song drops and there is a lot more control in the heavy thunder of LaClopeAuBec’s remix, it then starts getting choppy again. See how you feel about this style? I do like the clicks though boys noizey sound is a favorite.

Kolt13′s remix was much needed break in the middle. It has a much softer  and longer melodic piano riff. While it does hold to the screeching of ‘James’ it slowly starts to clear up the clouds and focuses more on the funk! Making room for my favorite version of the song by Dead Disco Drivers which brings in a very fun wah guitar sound as it keeps some of the bits and pieces from the original. Making it more of an upbeat Disco song!

Then Sick Boy comes in and tears it up with arcade pulses! Sounds like a cross of lasers and those tube toys you get as a kid where movement from side to makes a waaaaaah sound.

What stands out in TENKAH’s version is the jazzy piano riff about a minute 30 in and I’m very impressed with the way it fades in and out from this work to the home sounds of ‘James’ the original.

MMMatthias - James (Sabotage remix)

Sabotage’s version is very similar to the original, but it of course builds off of and adds more to it.

When we get down to it, an important part in combining remixes together into an EP is making sure that each one of them pays respect to the original while maintaining each own originality. We don’t want the listener to pick up an EP with 8 versions of the song and barely be able to distinguish a difference between each of the artist and their version of the track!

James EP has a version for everyone. From the more disco, to the heavy dirty to the light melody. The original track is awesome too and it was a great pleasure to hear and review this EP.

Official Promo:

The second Release on KIEZ BEATS comes from German Mastermind MMMatthias, The German Artist who started his Career in the Hip Hop Scene as a Producer of great international Artists like Samy Deluxe and Afrob switched totally into the Electro Scene in the Beginning of 2008. As a DJ he played in many Clubs in Europe like Flèche d’Or in Paris, Scala Club in Berlin or Case-a-Chocs in Neuchâtel and he shared the Stages with such fantastic Artists like Steed Lord, Streetlife DJ`s and Ben Mono.

Now only producing Electro Tracks and Remixes, his Remixes of MGMT or Bloc Party have taken the Electro Scene by Storm and have climbed many Times the most popular List of the Hype Machine. He did official Remixes for Azzido da Bass or Autodidakt & John Disco and now his first EP “James” comes up with a great Remix Pack from aUtODisco (aka aUtOdiDakT & John Disco), Sick Boy (has released on DIM MAK and worked together with Motor, Dirty Disco Youth and many more), LaClopeAuBec (Fukkk Offf Remix Contest Winner), Dead Disco Drivers, Kolt13, TENKAH aka The Noizy Kidz and Sabotage.

Man oh Man. One hell of a show this weekend (1/23/09) in San Berny D with Felix Da Housecat and Junior Sanchez. Little did we know that both players would be unleashing some amazing tunes. Including a hot new tune from Junior Sanchez ‘They Live’ which will be available for stream only on Bopper Nation and a sneak peak at Felix Da Housecat’s Rudephoto release ‘Dark Room (Mr. Lightman).

It was my first time hearing Junior Sanchez at work and I have to say he had an awesome arsenal of tunes. I enjoyed his combination of multiple genres including some touch downs in Underground Hip Hop! There was no doubt that either of these two performers knew their music selection and in a way we got to have two sets back to back of both genius’ at work. With Junior playing tribute to Felix with Thin White Duke’s remix of ‘Silver Screen’ and then Junior later getting involved in Felix’s set picking out a couple tunes including the second to last tune of the night, ‘Knights of Cydonia’ by Muse.

Felix’s lineup included the classic tunes we all expect him to play each show, Elvi$, Kickdrum but then instantly he started pulling out tricks from his sleeve when he dropped a never before heard remix of Silver Screen. I turned to Steve Pross (Disco Pinata) to find out what this monster was and even he wasn’t aware. After the show though Felix did tweet out to DJ Chuckie about the remix so it’s only fair to assume he is responsible for this beast!

When Felix threw up Deadmau5 ‘FML’ I had to join him and Junior up in the booth and one deadly tune follows another and Felix Cartal’s ‘Drone’ is always a great way to tear up the audience! But once again Da Housecat decided to surprise us by breaking away from his usual arsenal of tunes and pulling out another hidden gem. This time it was CaTekk’s monster of a tune ‘Funny Little Clouds.’ He then took it back with Raven and brought in a little DJ Sneak.

It was an awesome night for Xmix Productions with Junior Sanchez (XMIX), Felix Da Housecat (XMIX) and songs from other Xmix Artist, DJ Sneak. But there was also some Old School favorites brought out for the evening, Daft Punk ‘Rolling & Scratching’ tore the audience up. Felix must have been feeling that mezcal and the audience was feeling the music because when Nirvana ‘Lithium’ dropped this hardcore heavy electrofried crowd was suddenly transported to the grunge of the 90′s and we all had to salute the man and pay tribute.

All in all it was a successful night and I hope everyone has moments to stop and appreciate great talent when it comes and stops by because there is a lot of cheese out of there in the electronic world and if you think you know good music you better open up your mind, stop and listen. And above all else prepare for Rudephoto, Felix closed that evening with ‘Darkroom ‘Mr Lightman’ and no joke that tune is good, but on a loud sound system in the wee hours of the night that tune is one massive monster tearing the audience apart bit by bit. But it’s truly that Underground Sound of Aphrohead, get ready 2010.

Junior Sanchez | Aprohead | Felix Da Housecat | Xmix

UPDATE:

If you want to see some of the craziness, check out the photos now added in the Gallery!

The Kandy Festival 2010 with Felix da Housecat and Junior Sanchez

We have been summoned to participate in an amazing innovative mission with The Midnight Socialite. What say you we join the cause!

For more details: The Midnight Socialite

“The release date for my first record ‘Popular Music’ has been confirmed for a digital release on February 23rd! Hard copy release to follow that shortly. Here is the tracklisting for the record…” (Felix Cartal)

01. Popular Music Intro
02. Berlin
03. I Believe In (feat. Beta Bow)
04. World Class Driver
05. Volcano (feat. Johnny Whitney of Jaguar Love)
06. Drone
07. The Grinch
08. Love
09. Dutch George (Horn Version)
10. Why Wait (feat. The Faint)
11. Boy And His Computer
12. Something Nice

Grince, Dutch George & Drone are the only three songs I’ve been blessed to hear/know off this release & each of those blew me away respectively. I cannot imagine what this release has to offer and knowing the abilities of Felix Cartal and his perfectionist behavior this work will be nothing short of a master piece.

I am very happy to see that there are 12 tracks on this release, it will be overload and I know that it is a compilation I will find myself playing all the way through multiple times so having more than a few tracks will keep my neighbors from killing me for playing the same songs over and over again.

Oh and track 10 Why Wait ft. The Faint. I am very excited to see where this goes! I often wonder what The Faint are up to and then a release from their side project Depressed Buttons touches down and then I see them being featured in Felix Cartal’s album. Gotta love.

What more can I say, mark your calendars, Feb 23rd 2010!

Oh and don’t forget Feb 11th Cartal’s Popular Music Tour officially begins!
Feb 11 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – VERTIGO VICTORIA, British Columbia
Feb 12 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – GOSSIP (W/MSTRKRFT FOR 2010 OLYMPICS) VANCOUVER, British Columbia
Feb 18 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – HABITAT CALGARY, Alberta
Feb 20 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – EDMONTON EVENTS CENTER EDMONTON, Alberta
Feb 23 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – TATTOO TORONTO, Ontario
Feb 25 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – ELEMENTS WATERLOO, Ontario
Feb 26 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – OPUS GUELPH, Ontario
Feb 27 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – LE BELMONT MONTREAL, Quebec
Feb 28 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – DIESEL LONDON, Ontario
Mar 5 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – SOL ST LOUIS, Missouri
Mar 6 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – SMART BAR CHICAGO, Illinois
Mar 10 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – W LOUNGE SALT LAKE CITY, Utah
Mar 11 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – V20 NIGHTCLUB LONG BEACH, California
Mar 12 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – AVALON HOLLYWOOD, California
Mar 13 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – VOYEUR SAN DIEGO, California
Mar 17 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – THE MINK HOUSTON, Texas
Mar 19 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – SXSW AUSTIN, Texas
Mar 23 2010 8:00P
FELIX CARTAL @ WMC MIAMI, Florida
Mar 24 2010 8:00P
FELIX CARTAL @ WMC MIAMI, Florida
Mar 25 2010 8:00P
FELIX CARTAL @ WMC MIAMI, Florida
Apr 15 2010 8:00P
POPULAR MUSIC TOUR – BETA DENVER, Colorado

Felix Cartal

Long Over Due!

Last Friday I was in Los Angeles at King King in Hollywood. A nice little venue with an entrance located in the back near a $20 parking lot of the 6500 block of Hollywood Blvd. An intimate venue where the noise officially began at 10pm, but it wasn’t until 1.30am that Housewives (Adeline Supreme & La Fleur) took the decks and reigned control of the dance floor.

The scene was more minimal tech and I know that electro crowd usually hungers for more, but I have to say that Housewives set fulfilled my musical desires. By 130am that same crowd, which had already been shaking the dance floor since 10pm began to move with a sense of rejuvenated energy when the two beautiful women began spinning out their set. And they danced hard, up until the very end of their set the momentum was constantly energetic. With minor pauses to catch our breaths before we were pummeled with noise again! Both Adeline and La Fleur kept moving and shaking as they took turns picking out tunes and spinning them at the controls. My favorite part though was the last half hour or so. It was much harder and thus satisfied my own youthful longing for those heavier tones and deeper bass!

All in all I recommend anyone in the US keep a watchful eye for their next visit! Until then enjoy this killer tune and the Jad Cooper remix is here for those meaner boppers! But be sure to keep on the up & up with their website and lets go to the next show!

Housewives | Purchase Dirty Dancing Release