Levon Vincent To Mix Fabric 63

Posted by on 01/29/2012 No comments

DOPE.  Levon Vincent announced on his Facebook page tonight that he will begin compiling Fabric 63 tomorrow.  From the post: “Spent all day cutting dubplates, and TOMORROW I BEGIN RECORDING FABRIC #63 :) ”  Sounds like a plan to us.

John Digweed To Remember Slacker This Weekend on Transitions Mix Show

Posted by on 01/27/2012 No comments

No one played more of Slacker’s tracks years ago than John Digweed.  John posted on his Facebook page today that he’ll be celebrating the life of Slacker by playing a 60 minute mix Slacker did for him years ago entitled “Obsessive Sounds.”  You can check it out on John’s weekly Transitions show which airs on Proton Radio for those of us not in the UK.

Help Save Ministry Of Sound London

Posted by on 01/26/2012 1 comment

London’s Ministry of Sound is being threatened again this year as London mayor Boris Johnson is being asked to call in the vote that was denied last year allowing a developer to build luxury flats across the street from the club.  If the mayor does permit the developer to go through with the plans, it would almost certainly mean that the Ministry Of Sound would have to close this year since as those of us living in New York know, you can’t have a nightclub anywhere within a stones throw of residential housing without issues.  Please read below for more information regarding this, and let’s all do our part to help them out. Read more »

Mixmag Presents Mixmag Live With Richie Hawtin

Posted by on 01/26/2012 No comments

Mixmag is starting a new series of parties called Mixmag Live in London to kick off the showcase, they’ve invited Richie Hawtin (as Plastikman). Being the Mixmag Live artist also means you grace the cover of the magazine, do the covermount CD which comes with ever copy, as well as an awesome spread.  Read on to see a little bit of what you get, and more about the party next month at Village Underground in London. Read more »

Progressive House And Trance Producer Slacker Passes Away In Thailand

Posted by on 01/24/2012 No comments

We received some really bad news today via email.  Shem McCauley, better known to many of us as Slacker passed away in Bangkok this past weekend.  The email we received pointed us to a post that Sander Kleinenberg made on Twitter about the bad news, and it was also posted on Slacker’s artist page on Discogs.  There is no word of the cause but we’re really saddened as he was one of our favorite producers in the late 90′s/early 2000′s.  We spent many nights dancing to his remixes back when they were championed by the likes of Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, and Paul Van Dyk.  One of the greatest was his remix of Breeder’s “Tyrantanic.”  RIP. Read more »

Michael Alig And The Club Kids Remember The Limelight Ahead Of Tuesday DVD Release

Posted by on 01/23/2012 No comments

The New York Post caught up with Michael Alig, Peter Gatien’s daughter, Steve Lewis and others to reminisce about the Limelight ahead of the Limelight movie DVD release on Tuesday.  Not much else to say about the Limelight that hasn’t already been said here, but it’s always fun to hear stories from the people who lived them.  The Limelight movie overall received mixed reviews when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, but we’re still excited to see it. Read more »

Mixmag Releases Results Of Greatest Dance Music Act Of All Time

Posted by on 01/20/2012 1 comment

Mixmag ran a contest from September to December asking fans to decide who is the greatest dance music act of all time?  Thousands voted and the results are in.  The Prodigy has taken number one on the chart, with Daft Punk in at number two followed by the Chemical Brothers.  Personally, we would have taken Kraftwerk at number one, but they came in at eight.  This list goes to show you that dance music does tend to cater to a younger crowd, and many of them were not around when acts like Underworld and Orbital were ruling dancefloors.  From the press release: Read more »

Defected Presents Kevin Saunderson “In The House”

Posted by on 01/20/2012 No comments

News out of the Defected label; Kevin Saunderson is next to bat for the “In The House” series.  Kevin is a legendary DJ and producer in techno and has been an inspiration to most of the DJ’s and producers you listen to today.  You might know him best as a part of Inner City who released some of the best music of the 90′s.  Read on for the scoop… Read more »

Jamie Jones, MK, Dimitri from Paris, Art Department and Aeroplane To Remix Storm Queen’s “Look Right Through”

Posted by on 01/17/2012 No comments

Defected is on a roll to start 2012.  Following an acclaimed brace of releases in ‘Look Right Through’ and 2011’s follow-up ‘It Goes On’, Morgan Geist’s reincarnation as Storm Queen can surely be seen as nothing short of triumphant. Now, we’ve lined up an intimidating selection of artists to present their own interpretations of the debut Storm Queen release.

Dropping 1st February, Part 1 included remixes from Jamie Jones, Dimitri from Paris and Aeroplane. Jamie Jones had a phenomenal 2011, and has started the New Year in similarly explosive fashion, with his bass-heavy remix already receiving a World Exclusive spin on Pete Tong’s Essential Selection. An uplifting, piano-led reimagining from Dimitri from Paris and a driving, neo-house mix from Aeroplane complete the package. Read more »

We’re Backkk

Posted by on 01/16/2012 No comments

The holidays brings time to unwind from the crazy everyday life in these parts and as such, we took some time off to prepare for 2012.  Hope everyone had a good holiday and is staying warm.  Here is to a great 2012!

Skream Talks To The Quietus

Posted by on 12/22/2011 No comments

We’ll be the first to admit we used to love dubstep, but a lot of the stuff coming out there now is just plain questionable.  Some of it is just complete and utter shit, but there are always bright spots to every genre, and one of those is Skream.  Midnight Request Line is hands down the best dubstep track we’ve ever heard (and probably ever will).  Skream is still very active and still releasing on the regular as well as keeping up with his fans on his Facebook and Twitter pages.  The Quetus sat down with Skream to talk to him about Skrillex, and why people who sit online bitching about how dubstep is dead need to find something better to do with themselves.

Read more »

Joonbug Talks To Rob Fernandez About Promoting In New York

Posted by on 12/21/2011 No comments

Rob Fernandez has been promoting in New York for as long as most of us have been going out.  I remember signing up for his guestlist when he was the ONLY guestlist you could get on at Club Vinyl (besides Tenaglia’s of course) back when.  I also remember the insanely entertaining message board he had on his website which was one of the most entertaining boards back then.  Rob is still one of the biggest promoters in New York running the Dance Here Now party with Benny Soto as well as being the musical directory at Pacha NYC.  Joonbug caught up with him to talk about what its like to work the nightlife circuit in NYC, and plans he has for 2012.

Check out the article: http://joonbug.com/national/scenetracker/How-to-Succeed-in-Nightlife-Exclusive-Interview-with-Rob-Fernandez/Ddyhr2nAhgw

 

 

Slices – Pioneers Of Electronic Music Vol. 1 – Richie Hawtin

Posted by on 12/20/2011 No comments

Richie Hawtin is a DJ you must respect even if you don’t like his productions or DJ sets.  His ability to use technology to create some of the best techno we ever heard is a testament to how good he is.  He’s not contempt with simply getting onto a stage, playing some records, and running off to the next gig.  Instead, he has his Minus label, iPad apps, and is usually the headliner at any gig he DJ’s at (for good reason).  A new DVD series has been created named “Slices,” and Richie is the first to be featured. Read more »

Justice Artwork Taken Down By Facebook

Posted by on 12/19/2011 No comments

Apparently Facebook doesn’t do any favors, even if you’re one of the biggest electronic acts on earth.  That’s because they removed Justice’s artwork for their new single “On and On” from the social networking site for violating their terms.  Apparently a few people complained about the nudity in the artwork so the site took action.  Pedro Winter apparently was not too pleased with Facebook’s decision and took to the Ed Banger FB fan page to voice his concerns. Read more »

MK – House Masters Review

Posted by on 12/19/2011 No comments

If you were around dance clubs in the mid 90′s, then you know MK.  He was behind some of the biggest tracks and remixes of that decade, including Burning and the awesome remix of India’s “I Can’t Get No Sleep.”  Most of these tracks were released on vinyl, but unless you bought the vinyl back then, there is a good chance most copies are not in the best shape these days.  Luckily Defected brought MK on to re-release some of his best work in a double compilation entitled “House Masters.”

This review is a bit different than the other reviews we do for the simple fact that this release doesn’t have much new content.  All of the material is from years past, but the beauty of it is that you can now have a great sounding copy of some of the biggest bombs of the past 20 years.  If you take a look at this track listing, it’s amazing how many great remixes and original tracks Marc released.  If you were dancing back then, or are a new DJ looking to get into the old house sounds that have re-emerged from DJ’s like Seth Troxler, then this is a must have.  Make sure you pick it up.

(No rating on this one as it is primarily a compilation of older tracks).  You can pick it up by clicking here.

10 Best Compilations Of 2011

Posted by on 12/18/2011 1 comment

Wow, is it really almost 2012?  I mean I know they say time flies, but at this rate we’ll be 70 before we know it.  2011 was one of the best years for music in a while.  If I think back to two, three, even four years ago, there weren’t too many memorable tracks or compilations that would jump out at me.  But 2012 saw the re-emergence of down to earth, simple, good ass house music.  And while genres like dubstep really took off, it was compilations from the likes of Lawrence, Deetron, Henry Saiz, and Robag Wruhme that caught our ears and reminded us how much fun this music is.  Let’s get to the list shall we: Read more »

Wanna Join Our Team?

Posted by on 12/18/2011 No comments

We’re looking for a few friendly, talented, like-minded people to help us write about the things we love.  All you need is a computer and a good attitude (and it helps if you can read and write English).  We can’t pay you (keep in mind we don’t get paid either) but we like to get drunk and have late night DJ jams so if that is something you’re into it, we’d love to bring you on board.  We also do interviews with some of the best artists in the scene and access to some great music.  Click here to reach out to us if you’re interested.

Great Dubspot Tutorial On Understand Effects

Posted by on 12/02/2011 No comments

If you live in the New York area and have been wanting to learn how to produce music (or DJ), Dubspot is really the place to go.  While most of us already know the basics of producing, every time we visit the Dubspot blog, we learn more and more as they go in depth (as well as the basics) on techniques to improve your game.  This time around, they help the new folks learn about what can be a daunting topic, audio effects.  It sounds simple, but knowing the ins and outs of effects and when and more importantly, when not to use them, is the difference between a good track, and a stand out track.  They even give you some demonstrations of each (it used to really suck in the days before YouTube when you had to rely on the descriptions in a book to figure out what modulation sounded like.

You can check out the post here: http://blog.dubspot.com/understanding-audio-effects-an-overview/

Visit Dubspots site for more great tips, and for information on taking classes: http://www.dubspot.com/

Skrillex Nominated For Best New Artist Grammy

Posted by on 12/02/2011 No comments

Wow the man has gotten huge.  Dubstep star Skrillex has recently been announced as one of five candidates for this years Grammy award for Best New Artist.  Skrillex, born Sonny Moore in California, has really blown up in the past 2 years going from metal/emo shows to sold out festivals with a lot of his music appearing in commercials and even video games.  He’ll be up against Nicki Minaj, The Band Perry, Bon Iver and J. Cole (only one we’ve heard of on this list is Nicki Minaj because of David Guetta).  This is an absolute huge step up for dubstep where two years ago we didn’t know anyone who knew about it nor liked it, and now it’s as big as house music.

Our take on it is, the Grammy’s is trying to reach out to the younger crowd with this one, as well let’s face it, I don’t know too many people under the age of 30 that watch it.  In any case, we’re happy to see electronic music getting some notice in the mainstream (the whole dubstep is dead idea is stupid, let’s not go there).  Congrats!

 

http://www.bloodcompany.net/skrillexep/

Larry Levan’s Remixes Now Available On Traxsource

Posted by on 12/02/2011 No comments

Although the release date says 1999 (before Traxsource was even around), we were browsing around the website and noticed West End has released 9 of Larry’s greatest remixes in high quality format.  Surely this will piss off the vinyl enthusiast I bought 3 copies of this record in 1984 at Danceateria people, but it’s great for everyone else who has wanted to own a piece of history without having some half assed poor quality MP3.  It’s a true shame Larry was taken so young.

Check out the mixes here: http://www.traxsource.com/index.php?act=show&fc=tpage&cr=titles&cv=6121