Felix Cartal, it’s been awhile since we splooged off on the Bopper blog about the Lil Feez…who well…ain’t so little anymore. A lot has been happening since we first heard leaks off his album Popular Music and even more since the release of the record/album…none of these words properly apply..but u get the drift..And in between I still can’t help but enjoy the MANY remixes and project Cartal has been getting into..including the one I’m sharing on the blog today…NROTB – Droplet…Enjoy

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Not to mention a series of remixes of Cartal’s ‘World Class Driver’ song hitting the digital airwaves June 15th…are they even airwaves anymore..I think my lingo is outdated. Anyways, Harvard Bass gives an In Depth at the man’s blog { check it here } …  Btw speaking of Felix Cartal’s blog…its a great resource for music PERIOD..beyond the clutches of his own motorcycly reverbing heavy bass hitting tracks. http://felixcartal.com because no one has ever been this ‘Good looking and Modest’ until Cartal hit the scene. (more info on World Class Driver remixes)

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 |

“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

Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Happy New Years Bopper Nation!
2010 a new decade, it is our decade. Wherever you are tonight/today make it last! Our painful decade of political follies, war, recession, celebrity deaths is over. Until of course we litter 2010 with new ones! Just kidding.
-wolf

Massive Tunes that shook us Hard.

Felix Cartal – Drone
Every time this mechanical beast is unleashed I am at awe. I’ve probably listened to this song more times than I should, put it on the back-burner and let it reemerge and it still feels like my first time listening to it every time.

Felix Da Housecat – Kickdrum
(in the words of Lil’ Feezy “An unbelievably simple and effective track. One of those ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ moments for me.” – (felixcartal.com)

Boys Noize – Starter
When the Starter/Jeffer package emerged I was insanely anxious for POWER, but worried these two tunes would dominate everything else on the cd. Well they certainly cast a huge shadow – but then again POWER is full of so many great tunes and Transmission is continually growing into a monster – cannot wait to hear the remixes

D.I.M. & TAI – Lyposuct
& so many people who made their list of 2009 favorites included Lyposuct…& with so many artist playing it out and none doing it better than Felix – one has to accept that D.i.M. & TAI teamed up to make something dangerous. In 2010 is it ok to ask, ‘Can they do it again!’

Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Chewy Chocolate Cookies)

& with so many remixes out there I have to pay tribute to one song that was just remixed so right that it completely crushed the original – in my opinion. This just in, song won [ details here ].

Daft Punk – Prime Time of Your Life (Tits & Clits Remix)
& in the silence of Daft Punk, with only small leaks of TRON tracks. How can we not appreciate Tits & Clits for bringing it back. Wishing you all a Happy New Year in the Prime Time of Your Life!

*image by Jenna Weinstein, Jdubphotography.com [ more show photos ]

We are hungry animals at Bopper Nation and as we await impatiently for the menacing Felix Cartal to unleash his thunderous beats we are blessed with slow leaking singles from his latest album. Songs such as ‘drone’ ‘dutch george’ & ‘grinch’ only further our raging desire to see what the mad scientist is cooking up! In the mean time we dine on bootlegs and remixes from the Lil’ Feez, including this mean remix of Xzibit’s X.

I want to say Felix Cartal took the best parts of the song ‘X’ and threw away the junk. And although I was longing at times for some vocals I did find myself quite pleased with the way the song is. The little piano riff is like sudden hiccups in a belly of a rockstar. Cuz after all, little Feezy’s music is nothing short of a rock concert and with those wailing sirens and heavy drops Xzibit’s ‘X’ will no longer strike up an image of corny cheese, but instead will bring the heavy shadow of the Feezy.

Felix Cartal

With over 80,000 people in attendance, the words MASSIVE are proper attire for the event that took place in Los Angeles on all Hallow’s Eve. In fact, so many people attended the event that two V.I.P. guests of mine couldn’t even get inside of the coliseum where Felix was playing and Raptor who also had V.I.P. passes could only view the performance from the stands of the coliseum. Despite all of this the rain and thunder of Felix Da Housecat’s massive performance still shattered and shook up the LA Ravers!

Anyone who has been fortunate enough to witness Felix’s performances knows that he IS everything a DJ should be and more. He knows exactly how to play off of the crowds energy and like any great performer he knows how to make the crowd play off of HIS energy. Every time that hallow barrel sounding drop of D.I.M. & TAI’s ‘Lyposuct’ emerges from his set, all sanity has exited the building and the participants have lost all control..the crowd is his. But it isn’t enough and when this Mad Scientist of a performer released the demon of Felix Cartal’s ‘Drone’ the venue itself is shaking and the listeners are too captivated by the music to care whether or not the coliseum will survive.

Out of many of the great songs at Felix’s disposal, ‘Kickdrum’ is one of the more memorable tracks and talking to anyone who has been to his show, each person remembers the instance it comes on and the kick that stirs up the crowd. From intimate venues, to medium sized ones and those venues like massive I can assure everyone that the level of his energy and passion in his playing is phenomenal.

[the inside scoop]

Felix not only put on an amazing performance, but prior to doing so he invited me, bopper heartscreams, Automaic Panic, DJ Cat, Steve Pross, & our photographer to his hotel for a little pre-partying. Of course he had no obligation to do this and we were extremely grateful. Each of us was well taken care of and with our own drivers to and from the venue we couldn’t help but feel like royalty.

To Automatic Panic, DJ Cat, Steve Pross, Liana, Nancy {Heart Screams} and Jenna [our photography]. It is always a pleasure to party it up with you and share the magical entertainment and kindness of Felix Da Housecat.

Warning: Listening to Felix Cartal & Dada Life while pregnant may result in fetal injury, premature birth and low birth weight. Not really, thats the surgeon general warning from a pack of cigerettes, but Bopper Nation will be drowning in a sea of sound-waves tonight as Dada Life and Felix Cartal conduct a mechanical orchestra in the City of Angels at the Avalon in Hollywood!

“Felix [da housecat] is the nicest guys you will ever meet. He truly has a heart of gold. I hope that they resolve this issue and everyone is happy in the end. Stay GOLD brotha!”- Panic

Automatic Panic: myspace|twitter

Listening to Felix Cartal tunes through headphones and on your computer is no justice to the experience of feeling them reverberate through your body in a live performance. The death siren of Skeleton sends chills down your spine as you anxiously anticipate the drop. Each track from the next becomes heavier and heavier as the ground shakes so hard from the bass and treble that cups are falling off the tables.

A two story warehouse and a double vodka redbull that cost $22; Danceism may have had the essence of a ‘frat party’ (analogy surfaced by Heartscreams), but with full access to the stage I wasn’t complaining. The intimacy of the small venue was filled with Cartal’s music and the way he conducted his mechanical orchestra there might as well have been thousands of people there. *Hats off to his deadly drops of FDHC‘s Kickdrum and Elvis as well as a personal favorite song of mine, Birdy Nam Nam- The Parachute Ending (Vitalic Remix).

Download:

.: For more information about both artists visit their websites:

Felix Cartal (click) / Motor (click)

*And click on top picture to buy tickets, or (click here), show starts at 9.30pm.
11.45 Motor, 12.30 Felix Cartal

audio:drone.mp3]Felix Cartal- DroneLil Feezy AkA Felix Cartal

This track is highly incredible, highly recommended and responsible for bringing in some serious traffic to Thee Nation. Felix Da Housecat has nothing but love for Lil Feezy and the two have been up in the DJ booth together. They are constantly sharing tunes to drop in sets and this being on of the more deadly ones that has been heard out in the real world but yet to touch the ears of the interweb until now. According to felixcartal.com it is leaking september 3rd at rcrdlbl.com. Until than enjoy the stream

Boppers, like what you hear? Check out Felix on itunes/Amazon/Beatport

Breakin’ Da Skeleton (Brian Lindsay v Felix).mp3

Boppers, like what you hear? Check out Brian Lindsay on amazon/beatport/myspace