Uberzone “Organik”
Jedi Knights “May the Funk Be With You”
Icee “Love”
Wink “Higher State of Consciousness”
Mondo Scuro “Algorithm”
Green Velvet “Sometimes I Want to Leave My Body”
Rebirth “Pigs and Penguins”
Bassbin Twins “SF2UK”
Size 9 “I am Ready”
Martin Bisi is a famed producer who built a recording studio with Brian Eno three decades ago, producing albums for some of the best bands of the 1980’s and early 90s underground rock movement, including Sonic Youth, The Swans, Dresden Dolls and The Boredoms, to name just a few. Bisi, who is also a musician, songwriter and engineer, recently jumped into the sound tank himself to record tracks with folks like Fiery Furnances’ dummer Bob D’Amico, prolific producer and bassist Bill Laswell (The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger and many others), and members of The Dresden Dolls and Balkan Beat Box. Laswell was also instrumental in creating the studio with Bisi and Eno.
In fact, Bisi and Laswell collaborated with Herbie Hancock to record the 1983 Grammy Award-winning song, “RockIt” – the first hit song to feature turntable scratching. Jumping forward to this year, all of this talent in one room is a combination sure to result in something interesting, which is exactly what these next songs, “Mile High – Apple of My Eye” and “Drink Your Wine,” prove to be. The songs are from the recently released five-track digital only EP Son of a Gun, and were sent to IRC by Bisi himself. The first song featured below is a perfect track for Halloween, or even The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack, while “Drink Your Wine” is more of an uptempo rocker that is fun and infectious at the same time (watch the video above).
Of the recording of the EP, Bisi said: “With Laswell, I did the ‘modern’ approach of sending him files, letting him do whatever, and then adjusting. He really surprised me. I was expecting his usual very groove or dub oriented bass, and he gave me something very ambient, laden with effects and trippy. That pretty much sums up the M.O. on this EP…With “Mile High- Apple Of My Eye,” I asked Butterface (the keyboardist on the EP) to give me some programmed rhythms and sounds with a trip-hop vibe, specifically for Laswell to play on, and he turned it around in 30 minutes.”
Wow…the next three years were pivotal. For me, and many others, these were some of the best in part because of the emergence of funky breaks and in 1994 there were two records for me that summed it up best. First, the huge bass heavy sound of the Dust Brothers’ “Chemical Beats” (we now know them as the Chemical Brothers). There is no doubt this track helped guide the slower, groovier break scene to the spotlight. There is still another that has just stuck with me for years as being the sickest of 1994, a track off Jim Hopkins’ Twitch label and produced by artists Courtney Nielsen & DJ Spun under the name Central Fire. I included both versions of the track “Central Fire (Yes People It’s Time: Part 1 & 2).” Part 1 is especially good and it brings back great memories of some bad ass years in dance music.
Here’s last Friday’s playlist – I did a full hour from 8p-9p, then rushed over to Congress for our show with Toby Roberts, Damian Mntle, Early Black & Static Session. A packed and wonderful Friday night full of music.
TV: Gotta say Curb Your Enthusiasm. Sunday night’s episode was really just top notch. I’m a recent convert to the Curb cult, but with episodes like “Table Reading”, I’m pretty sure that I’m in for life.
Music: “The Dark End of the Street” by Dan Penn and Chips Moman. Holy shit that’s an amazing song. I’ve probably listened to 5 different versions of this song within the last week and, even though I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, the Commitments and Cat Power versions are my favorites. There seems to be two different ways to play this tune: really digging into and embracing the minor chord built off the 7th scale degree in the verse, and shying away from it. These two versions own that chord and the melody around it so hard, and it makes me shake to hear something that beautiful.
Books: Kurt Vonnegut’s Hocus Pocus. This is a book that I’ve probably read 5 times in as many years, but every time I read it I get a little more out of it. That man has an uncanny skill for tackling pretty much EVERYTHING in one book while still providing a really entertaining and focused plot.
Food: Trader Joe’s Mac’n'Cheese. A blend of 4 non-dairy gourmet cheeses on top of delicious noodles. Who’s gunna argue?
Bar: SkyBar. It’s not really too fancy, and the gimmick of the telescope is not too in your face. That’s why I dig that place. Also $2 wells are pretty sweet too.
Restaurants: B-Line. Eat one of their carne asada breakfast burritos with their salsa and tell me it’s not love. I dare you.
Here’s a video cause that’s how I roll:
Here’s the best:
Here’s the worst:
Jesus, I love Ryan Adams but this is one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen!
Dark, deep, techy, housey, acidy, sexy & truly groundbreaking…things are getting interesting! Felix might just find himself on this chart 10 or so years later…a true trendsetter:
Aphrohead (Felix Da Housecat) “In the Dark We Live”
I’ve Embedded a You Tube post…my copy is sadly too worn and skips Which means it got a lot of use
KXCI 91.3 FM Tucson, AZ
kxci.org
“Clearstatic” – Fridays 8p-10p AST
November 13, 2009
9:00:00PM
White Lies
Death (Chase & Status Remix)
Death (single)
Fiction
easily one of my favorite songs of this year
9:05:00PM
Black Box
Ride on Time (Bass Weazel Dub Remix)
Ride on Time (single)
After the great treatment of Morgan Page’s “Fight For You,” Bass Weazel returns with a slick remix of this classic Black Box tune
9:15:00PM
Und
Fox in the Box (Christian Martin Remix)
Trapez 100
Trapez
9:20:00PM
Chemical Brothers
Do It Again (Oliver Hunteman Dub)
We Are The Night
Astralwerks
9:22:00PM
Deepchild
Death Panel My Ass Ms Palin
Trapez 100
Trapez
9:30:00PM
Fedde Le Grand
Let Me Be Real (Kraak & Smaak Remix)
Let Me Be Real (single)
Net’s Work International
9:30:00PM
Maxi Valvona
Revolve (Darin Epsilon Remix)
Night EP
Low Battery
9:35:00PM
Subotic
Shamari
Showdown EP
Beatmodul
9:41:00PM
Kerowack
A (FC Kahuna Remix)
A (single)
Thunderfin
9:40:00PM
Kenny Large & Jason McRiod
Get Dirty (N.O.T & F-dub Remix)
Day & Night
Episode
9:48:00PM
Wildchild
Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim Remix)
Renegade Master (single)
Hi Life
this weekend was so amazing for arizona drum n’ bass!
on friday a group of us went up to pheonix for Planet of the Drums with Dara, AK1200, Dieselboy, and MC Messinian
i danced my booty off and had an amazing time and ran into a ton of old friends
the music was classic potd…i like it so much that their style as a group has remained consistant over the years and they incorporate crowd classic pleasers along with new hard hitting tracks
on saturday in tucson, we had Atlantic Connection play at Sport’s on Congress which was just a blast. DJs Whiteboi and Tarzan as always got the crowd dancing! everybody did an amazing job and the place was packed, drinks were flowing, people were dancing, music was booming…..
all i can say is what an amazing weekend (and my legs are sooo sore from non stop dancing hahahah!)
1992 was a big year for electronic music expanding beyond Techno-rich cities like Detroit, Belgium and London. In the DC area (where I was at the time) the raves were officially ON. Warehouses, abandoned churches, parks, W-U-S-T! More distinguishable styles started to emerge and many of the BPM’s were getting faster and the breakbeats more prominent. Drum and Bass is beginning to crown. Sampling is king…the hits are being mashed and remixed…opera, classic rock, kids tunes (ahem…a little song about a muppet ‘hood).
A few artists that stood out for me:
Breakbeat: Acen, Prodigy, SL2, The House Crew, N.R.G….
Techno & Trance: Praga Kahn, Eon, Jam & Spoon…
Deep & Tribal: Jaydee “Plastic Dreams” the Wonka label…
And the years best? Well…it is close. I think ACEN’s “Close Your Eyes” is one of the best breakbeat tracks of all time. But the following, a white label mash up of SL2’s “On a Ragga Tip” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” (along with other fun samples in this version…Meat Beat Manifesto, Soft Cell, Cheech and Chong!) was the quintessential track highlighting all that was happening in ‘92. An unauthorized remix perfect for an unauthorized warehouse party:
Tonight I went to the Hangart and saw Madame Zero and the band LAKE from Olympia. Karl Blau and Great Job were also playing, but I’m trying about this new thing that I can “Old Man Sheik” where I go home early all the time. LAKE and Karl Blau are both on K Records and are great. They’re not really BikiniWax fare, but I was told I could blog about whatever I choose, so here we go.
The stand out track tonight from LAKE was “Don’t Give Up”, which you can listen to here: http://www.laketheband.com/LAKE_Home/Listen.html
It’s not exactly the focal point of this song on the recording, but live, this song’s got soul. It’s a pretty rare thing to see a bunch of dirty hippy lookin folks jamming out some soul in a venue like Hangart, and it really blew me away. “Word on the street” is that everyone in LAKE and Karl Blau are best friends, and to see them perform together, you believe it. Every member of LAKE, excluding the drummer, switched instruments with every song. I saw everyone in that band play guitar, keys, bass, and horns throughout the show, and I wasn’t even there the whole set. The bands demeanor on the stage was really priceless; very relaxed, joking around with one another, lots of little, sly, hipster half-smiles.
It was a good show, but, as I mentioned before, “Old Man Sheik”-ness is in effect, and so, with that, I leave you for the night.
My name is Zach, and I intern at Bikiniwax. My assignment for today was to revamp the BW blog, which seemed like a no-brainer.
Zach’s Inner-Monologue: “How hard could it be to make a blog look nice? Not that hard, right? Right?”
It was actually kinda rough. WordPress is a great blog platform, one of the better ones I’ve used, but they’re not very into customizing their layouts unless you’re into paying for extra features, which, as an independent record label we’re not entirely too keen on. So Leah and I set about choosing the most agreeable pre-fab layout, and 10 minutes later, Ta Dah! The blog went from looking like a plain Jane “I blog about indigenous frog species’ of Arizona!” blog to a “Hey, I’m a hip young record label that happens to also run a blog” blog. Rock.
And yet there was still one element missing: a breath-taking banner for the top of the page. The banner is the one truly customizable component of the layout for us, so Leah and I took finding the perfect banner image very seriously. We searched the internet with unbelievable scrutiny and thoroughness, trying every single viable search phrase we could think of on Google Images. We found some really amazing artwork out there, but everything was either too small or too low-resolution for our uses. So what’s a lowly intern and his direct superior to do in this situation? A thought occurred me…
Today I am proud to announce the first Bikiniwax Records “Help Us Make A Sweet Blog Banner” Contest!
Here’s the details: The dimensions of the banner must be 760 x 151 pixels. We love artsy stuff around here, so if it looks like someone in a great deal of emotional pain made it, all the better. Ideally the banner will involve bikinis, music, turn tables, things of the like. Leah wasn’t really feeling the color red today, so let’s shy away from that pigment. Also, included in this post is a JPEG file of our logo, winning banners will include this logo, ladies and gents. Sound good? Let’s talk about what you get if you win, cause I know that prizes are important.
IF YOU WIN!!! You’ll get a copy of the new Bikiniwax Records 8-Track Compilation, BW’s clever little throw-back to the glorious era of the 1960’s. The Bikiniwax 8-Track Compilation is a monthly mix featuring 8 songs from the Bikiniwax catalouge, and the winner of the banner contest will get a copy of the very first 8-Track Comp. Pretty sweet huh?
Submissions should be emailed to info@bikiniwax.com with the subject “Help Us Make A Sweet Blog Banner” Contest Submission.
In the mean time, I’ll leave you lovely people with a video that blew my mind last night when I got back from Optimist Club and did the requisite drunkenly-playing-around-on-the-computer-before-passing-out deal:
Come one come all this Saturday to Sports on Congress. Doors open at 9:00am. There will be open turntables between 9 and 1o for those who spin drum and bass!
One of the artists who introduced me to bhangra wrote the soundtrack for THE NAMESAKE. I just finished this amazing feelgood film (it features Kal Penn, from “Harold & Kumar….”
There are more and more hard ass ravin’ tracks coming out and although the legit selections are expanding, this is by far the easiest choice for me: T99’s Anasthasia absolutely DESTROYED the dance floor when it first came out. Eventually played itself a bit, but it’s bound to happen with such a massive song. The breaks, the keys…oh my gosh! Some of the other biggies from 1991 are on the 12″ charts below…as you will notice, the “dance rock” is slowly being taken over by rave tunes.
It will be a little harder over the next few years…so much was coming out now, and it was all seriously dangerous club music! Three themes seem to prevail for me in 1990. First, the clubby, enormous hits such as the ones released by rebel producers KLF. Also the first coming of Warp records and their low frequency blip-bleep jams. Finally the great techno sounds influenced from the Belgium techno scene, including Frank De Wulf and seminal home town producer Joey Beltram.
So it began 20 years ago, November 1989. I was a high school student already listening to and interested in a lot of underground music. I was knee deep into the industrial and progressive scene at the time when I started to go downtown to the dance clubs. The biggest and best at the time was the infamous Tracks in Southeast Washington, DC. It was there I started to hear DJ’s mix everything from Madonna to Skinny Puppy in one set and knew it was a path I wanted to follow. I spent much of the time trainspotting the city’s originators such as Earic Patton, Mowhawk Adam and Michael Meacham. I also spending a great portion of my weekends at the greatest record store ever, 12″ Dance Records. For the rest of the year I am going to post the most influential song [for me at least] from each year that I have had the pleasure to be a DJ. Today I start with one of the original crossover Italian acid house anthems of 1989,” Airport ‘89″ by Wood Allen.
Well, upon first hearing new ‘09 Black Box electro remixes of “Ride on Time” are out, I sensed potential disaster. I am happy to say the song has been handled expertly, and although I didn’t love ALL of them (none were overly cheezy or offensive ) here is my favorite. The Bassweasal Tribal Mix…great mix of Loleatta Holloway’s signature diva vocals, old school piano & drum roll samples and booty shaking ‘09 electro.
I’ve enjoyed this song for a couple of years, since Dragan played here in Tucson.
Each day I learn more about the way I feel about myself, and my place in this world.
“Let It Go” brings joy and a love of kindness into my life.
If you love Kaiserdisco as much as I do, you will not be disappointed with this. The first track on the soon to be released “Cocktail EP”, Amalfino is a storming track with a cool vocal chant and hype builds…seriously bouncy and groovy. The production is top notch on this release. (My Best Friend Records)
“Drown in the Now” – Crystal Method (Scoop DeVille Rmx.) Tiny e Records - Breaks/Hip Hop/Electro
Continued hope for hip-hop in 2009…this excellent collaboration between CM & Matisyahu has already made it’s mark. Now just add re mixer Scoop DeVille. I like this wound down version clocking at 104 BPM’s…great for slipping in a hip-hop set or breaking down a massive dance floor.
Listen tonight to “Clearstatic” on KXCI 91.3 FM, from 8pm – 10pm Arizona Standard Time (or listen online at KXCI.org) for the debut of Malente in Tucson.
Hello all…I’m going to be contributing my picks for some of the most interesting, hottest tracks being released. Enjoy!!
Angel Mora & Ralfus “Life Goes On” Senssual Records #24 - House
Angel Mora & Ralfus are a duo exploding in the Spanish/Mediterranean house scene. The original is my pick for this release: a lush, affecting house track full of emotion. The original features sweeping soundscapes and a driving yet deep drum pattern. Re-mixer Coxswain kicks the energy up a notch with pitched keys and bubbling percussive sounds.
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