Finland’s finest, Rico Tubbs, a.k.a. DJ Infekto is so hot right now.

Rico Tubbs began producing in 1994 and has dominated the Finnish scene. As half of pioneering Finish hip-hop/turntablist act, Skillsters, he earned his stripes and skill. Tubbs, always on the grind, also co-founding the ’90s label, Pyssy (meaning “toy gun” in Finnish), with a focus on hip hop, big beat, breaks and turntablism, akin to many ESL or Ninja Tune releases.

As a producer born into hip-hop sample-based production, Rico Tubbs has recently moved in a big-room synth-heavy filter-heavy club track direction—think similar to Crookers, Sinden or Hervé. Last month saw the release of Rico Tubbs first album, double-CD (mixed/unmixed), ‘Knuckle Sandwich’ on Menu Music. The first single is ‘Gangsters’—this massive track takes a nasty Nas sample and makes it big.

MP3: Rico Tubbs - Gangsters (Bad Boy Mix)

Simlarly, Rico Tubbs takes a classic line from the late-great Ol’ Dirty Bastard and pads it out into a big club track:

MP3: Rico Tubbs - I Like It Raw

Similar, but different, Rico Tubbs pulls a quote from ‘91 Dutch house jam, Human Resource’s, ‘Dominator’ and takes it to Bmore:

MP3: Rico Tubbs - Bmore Dominator

Winning remixes below! One brand new VIP remix of UK breakbeat head, Jay Stewart, a.k.a. Refunk. Another of New Zealand breakbeat/indie kids Minuit.

MP3: Jay Stewart - Don’t Do It (Rico Tubbs VIP Remix)

MP3: Minuit - A Room Full of Cute (Rico Tubbs Remix)

Shop for Rico Tubbs double-CD (mixed/unmixed), ‘Knuckle Sandwich’ on Amazon or yr favorite come up. Tracks also available a la carté from Beatport.

Visit Rico Tubbs on MySpace.

1 votes | Average: 3 out of 5

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British indietronica boys Hot Chip new record, ‘Made in the Dark’ dropped last week and, oh man, it’s the jam. Released on Astralwerks (they can do no wrong!), ‘Made in the Dark’ takes us through the the dark and the light—providing soft and thoughtful hymns that leave our ears dilated and inexpectant for the next blazing and glorious indie/dance groove. In other terms, the new record is a exciting and joyful music journey.

Anyone recall, ‘Shake a Fist’ that we hosted briefly last year? That track holds down track 2 among thirteen. Still fantastic, but let’s have another, a beautiful indie pop song titled, ‘Ready for the Floor’, with it’s official remixes by Floridian Hollertronix homeboy Diplo, the undeniably supreme Ghentlemen Soulwax and German houser Jesse Rose. Additionally a fine bootleg electro remix from one Marian Pramberger out of Austria.

MP3: Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor

MP3: Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Shake a Fist Diplo Mix)

MP3: Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Soulwax Dub)

MP3: Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Jesse Rose Mix)

MP3: Hot Chip - Ready For the Floor (Marian Pramberger Remix)

And for good measure—because we’re still not sick of this remix, and ’cause our missingtoof girl got a buncha Grammys last week—we’re bringing back Hot Chip’s remix of ‘Rehab’. So heat.

MP3: Amy Winehouse - Rehab (Hot Chip Remix)

Buy the new album ‘Made in the Dark’ on Amazon in either CD/DVD or Mp3 download formats.

Visit Hot Chip on MySpace or their official site, Hotchip.co.uk.

2 votes | Average: 4.5 out of 5

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Brooklyn’s Dre Skull is bringin’ some awesomeness to the west coast. If you’re not familiar, Dre Skull and his partner Juiceboxxx have been making some of the nicest club-jump-off white-boy rap on any coast. Best example being ‘Sweat’—a bouncy party track that consistently gets hipsters onto dancefloors and the sweat-sweat-sweat dripping off. For the 12″ single, Spank Rock’s Xxxchange (who happens to be playing at Modular’s ‘Party of the Year‘ in London tonight) and DJ Funk did remixes. Here’s one of ‘em:

MP3: Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull - Sweat

MP3: Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull - Sweat (XXXChange Remix)

But it’s not just like that, Dre Skull’s reworks of Motown era classics have become a staple of my iPod playlists, bumping through Civic speakers on late night excursions. And in a fine example of the levels of remix culture, L.A.’s Skeet Skeet took the work of Dre Skull (who use the music of The Jackson 5 liberally) and chopped it up even more for the party DJ. Also, Dre Skull gave some Classic-Rock-meets-Bmore flavor to Ol’ Dirty Bastard by mashing ODB with The Kingsmen doing ‘Louie Louie’:

MP3: Dre Skull - I Want You Back

MP3: Dre Skull - Want You Back (DJ Skeet Skeet Edit)

MP3: Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Got Your Money (Dre Skull Remix)

‘Cause of the way bloggernomics work, I had to wait ’til big bad Discobelle dropped the brand-new heat first. Big up to Discobelle! Now with tracks laid down, there ain’t nothing to do but jump aboard the bandwagon…

MP3: Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull - Center Stage

‘Center Stage’, of course, is the new track in the equation and the single’s artwork is pictured above. It’s released on Vicious Pop Records, and available on limited-to-500, one-sided, hand-pressed, clear 7″ vinyl with a remix by Pittsburg/San Diego group, Extreme Animals who’s subheadline and genre declaration, “Crunk / Punk / Funk” is surprisingly accurate. Keep yr ears peeled.

I caught Dre Skull for the first time last Thursday in L.A. at The Heist, a 18+ weekly where dance-kids loose their minds. Dre Skull plays tonight at another most favoritest party, IHeartComix event, Check Yo’ Ponytail (also 18+). Tonight, Dre Skull plays alongside Instatubes/Paris Terror Club electro-genius Surkin. Last time, I saw Surkin at Check Yo’ Ponytail it was insanity. Expect amazing things if you’re rollin’ out, Get hype’d up in our Surkin archive.

Visit Dre Skull on MySpace.
Visit Juiceboxxx on MySpace.

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