We like Dayton, Ohio son, Ruckus Roboticus. Massive! This turntablist and cut-and-paste producer crafts audio gems on par with the O.G.’s: Kid Koala, Prefuse 73, Cut Chemist, The Avalanches, et. al. If those names ring a bell, how about the endorsement of the biggest O.G., Steinski who said, “Holy Shit! …Very impressive!” upon listening to Ruckus Roboticus’ debut long-player, ‘Playing with Scratches’.
In the recent swarm of remixes for indie rock staple Bloc Party’s ‘Hunting For Witches’, it was hard to view each mix objectively on their own merit. Ruckus Roboticus released his take in the midst of the frenzy and it was largely lost on us. I liked it—but now I like it even more. Some cuts go sour as they age—this one just marinated in the dope sauce.
The Canadian duo MSTRKRFT gave the electro world a shock with their last album ‘The Looks‘ which was filled to the brim with hits. Fans have been fiending for something new from their camp ever since. Word on the e-street is that the pair is in currently in the studio working on their follow up album. We eagerly await.
Fortunately MSTRKRFT’s JFK has been blessed the blogoshpere’s ears with two dancefloor ready remixes; one of UK based indie rockers Bloc Party and another of Swedish electro knockers Mr. Miyagi.
If you don’t have MSTRKRFT’s full length ‘The Looks’ don’t admit it, just go get yourself a copy here and pretend you got it the day it came out.
Bloc Party is on myspace of course. Mr. Miyagi is currently touring Sweden, check them out if you are able. If you can’t make it be sure to download their Super Mega Laser Mix.
As promised in the introduction earlier this month, more Villains coming at you. Today we have their first mix, ‘Vol. 1′ for your speakers. So, crank ‘em up and get an earful of this electro set that the Villains “can almost call … a ‘classic’ mix wrapping up what was hot for 2007″.
This mix is atypical for an electro set for two reasons: First, it has an emcee, LA’s own D’n'B champ, Whiskey Pete, who spikes the beat-punch with a few shots of party raps. Second, the Villains can cut a mean record and they bring that turntabilsm to the table—or pair of turntables as it were.
‘Vol. 1′ is also one of the few places you’ll hear the mastered version of the Justice’s ‘DVNO’, LA Riots remix—that will be appearing on an upcoming Ed Banger EP.
Tracklist
Justice ft. Simian Mobile Disco - We Are Your Friends
Villains - Thrilla
Kraak & Smaak - Money In The Bag (Sharam Jey Remix)
Blamma! Blamma! - Carry Me Home
Micha Moor - Music Is Dope
Sneaky Sound System - Pictures (Tonite Only Remix)
Stanton Warriors ft. The Beatnuts - Shake it Up
Does it Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
Mystery Jets - Diamonds in the Dark (LA Riots Remix)
Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix) [tease]
Villains - Rock It
Justice - D.V.N.O. (LA Riots Remix)
SebastiAn - Ross, Ross, Ross
Le Castle Vania - Trouble in Daylight (LA Riots Remix)
Digitalism - Idealistic (Original Mix)
Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches (Villains Electro Banger Remix)
Daft Punk - Harder Faster Stronger (Deadmau5 Edit)
Chicken Lips - He Not In (Vandalism Club Mix)
MSTRKRFT - Street Justice [tease]
Superbass - Don’t Be Silent (Workidz Remix)
Subsource - This Town (Hook & Sling Remix)
N’fa - Get Doh (Frew Remix)
Aquasky Ft. Acafool - Have a Good Time (Original Mix)
Noisia - Gutterpump (Original Mix)
Sgt Slick, Pitch Dark - Automatic Machine (Vandalism Remix)
Micha Moor - Space (Klass Club Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (Original Mix) [tease]
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name (SebastiAn’s Late Night Laptop Edit)
LA/OC, join the darkside! See Villains at Trust on Saturday, Dec. 8th (located at Proof Bar in Santa Ana) alongside their partners in crime, LA Riots and Atlanta’s party-captain Treasure Fingers.
Check even more Villains dates on their calendar at Villains’ MySpace.
Dang! That song is a dastardly juggernaut! I loved that ‘Hunting for Witches’ RAC remix we put up in April and of course we loved the Crystal Castles one that we up’d later, but folks, I love this one. It’s a new favorite mix of a new(ish) Bloc Party classic!
Villains have also tore apart a Michael Jackson sample from ‘Thriller’ and made it their own—’Thrilla’. As Vincent Price said, “no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller.” Bwahaha.
You like? Next week promise to have more from Villains. Same time, same channel. POW!
LA/OC heads, you lucky bastards, you can get the full experience and catch Villains DJ at Trust on Saturday (located at Proof Bar in Santa Ana) or at Tilt on Sunday (located at Jimmy’s Lounge in Los Angeles).
Chromeo is the duo of fantastically talented best-friends Dave 1 & P-Thugg. They are frequently referenced for their only-half-way-kidding self-description of being, “the only successful Arab and Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time!” Dave is the Jew and Pee is the Arab, but I don’t care about no things but the music!
Chromeo is back in 2007 with their critically-acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Fancy Footwork’. An album that follows “Electrofunk” trend established with their debut album, 2004’s ‘She’s in Control’.
The video above is their first official video from ‘Fancy Footwork’. Directed by Jérémie Rozan & Martial Schmeltz with the Surface 2 Air agency in Paris, ‘Tenderoni’ is fun and fresh. Surface to Air is also responsible for all the recent Chromeo artwork for the singles and album, not to mention a little video called ‘Never Be Alone‘ by Justice vs Simian.
Take the tune from the video with you. You love it! Or, maybe you’ll like the MSTRKRFT or Sinden remix instead?
The track ‘Tenderoni’ has remixes and is catching up, but, still not nearly as many as their dance-party pleaser, ‘Fancy Footwork’, which got re-works by Guns’N'Bombs, Surkin, d.i.m. and more. There are many different ways to get yr footwerk fancy:
And for good measure (cuz we we were long overdue on a Chromeo post!), a Bloc Party remix of ‘Needy Girl’, the single from ‘She’s in Control’. I adore this remix!
Now everything Chromeo does is brilliant and we highly recommend the albums, ‘Fancy Footwork’ and ‘She’s in Control’ from Amazon. Additional sources to buy (and sample) are found on Chromeo’s MySpace or their official site.
Here’s another good CC related track. Leif, half of Aries Noise and contributor at ChazBlog put together a little mash-up EP last month and it’s kinda fucking excellent. We posted a couple tracks before and told you where to grab the whole thing, but this mash-up of Crystal Castles and Aries Noise deserves more push:
UK’s John B is one of my favorite DJs. He is the electro-rocker-glam boy of Drum & Bass. Over the past 11 years, his records have cycled through the jazzy, the dark and the techy through the first half of his career, then his signature Electro/Drum&Bass sound was defined with his 2002 LP, ‘Brain Storm’ and has continued on since. His sound is sometimes called ‘Electrostep’ Drum & Bass—it combines the sounds of sounds and themes associated with Trance, ‘Electroclash’ and New Wave with Drum & Bass. Often adding humorous tongue-in-cheek topics in his songs and employing some of my favorite low-key rapper chicks, including stand out performances by Star Eyes of Syrup Girls. It all makes for one very fun package.
John B. found cult status in 2005 via MySpace with his laugh out loud ode to internet stalkerdom titled, ‘I’ve Been Stalking You On MySpace’. This song exists in several forms and mixes, but this is my favorite. It isn’t new, but it’s still relevant and it’s certified banger, so turn the volume to 11:
I must confess that a motivating factor for this post was so we could tack on the fact that we just added links to our profiles on our favorite networking sites for you to get your stalk on. Please get at us though MySpace, Virb, Facebook or join our group on Last.fm, and while you’re there you can check my personal Last.fm and Disaster’s personal Last.fm and applaud and/or snicker at our listening habits. Stalk us!
Now back to John B.! Here’s another one from 2003’s ‘In:Transit’ LP that features Star Eyes and she talks like my dream date, or something:
John B. released his latest LP, ‘Electrostep’ in 2006. The title, of course, is borrowed from the term that was coined to define his unique sound (buy the album from Amazon). On it John B. tackles a pair epic 80s tracks for some interesting cover versions. Hear John B.’s take on Toni Basil’s ‘Hey Mickey’ and Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’:
The ‘Tainted Love’ vocals are provided by Marcy Meow, a former go-go dancer from S.F. (namely BootieSF), turned stripper, turned Spanish-language video-vixen. How’s that for multi-talented!
John B does remixes too, re-vamping my favorite Dirty Sanchez track, and slapping it on ‘Electrostep’.
John B. tours a grip and he’s about to roll through Europe and the US with dates in L.A., N.Y., Hawaii, and Dallas in the near future. You can can peep the details about the upcoming tour and stream more tracks on John B.’s MySpace. John B. owns several record labels, most prominently Beta Recordings. This label also serves as his personal website. You can cop many of his records from the Beta Recordings website. Also, view the official I Been Stalking You on MySpace profile and his more complete discography on Discogs.
Want lots of lots of free John B mixes? Get your’ Electrostep’ D’n'B O.D. starting with this 2.5 hour set from April on his site, available for free, with even more to be heard by clicking around the ‘audio’ and ‘news’ links in the sidebar.
We fell totally in love with The Remix Artist Collective’s remix of “Hunting Witches” & now we are completely smitten with their remix of “Song For Clay”. & the Ed Banger boy SebastiAn lays his paws on BP’s I Still remember.
Bloc Party’s ‘Weekend In The City’ was not the hot hipster blockbuster everyone thought it was going to be. And while we were fans of their debut album ‘Silent Alarm’, the track that had everyone’s attention was obviously Phones’ remix of Banquet.
It appears that again, the best track from their new album is a remix. & it’s not even on the album! Do we smell a WITC remixed album?!
Kid Alex (a.k.a. Alexander Ridha and Boys Noize) the electro-tech prodigy has been dropping bombs on fools with his hard hitting tracks since he was signed to Gigolo Records by Dj Hell himself back in 2003.
Under the moniker Boys Noize he’s remixed the likes of Bloc Party, The Kreeps, Tiga & he produced a mind bending remix of the Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘Everyday I Love You less and Less’. Go cop that KC remix if you can find it.
Download these tracks off his 2006 Restless release and just try not to do the chair dance.
and pretend you got it the day it came out. 
Photo credit: 
