Quick heads up: my very first cover story for XLR8R is out, and it features German rave guys MODESELEKTOR. Read the piece here!
Below is some footage of the dudes playing the TTC collaboration “Dancing Box”. Rave vibez omg!%$@
…or he just got hacked. Either way, Reynolds’ blog has been nothing short of insane, chronicling the pseudo-fascist genre jumpstyle and a (presumably) fake artist called DMZ.
Watch the above video for a good introduction to jumpstyle. Or watch this. Then, please tell me what the fuck is going on.
Boomkat has the audio scoop on the new album from dubstep don, Burial, and it sounds just as great as I’d hoped. Granted, I’m a total fanboy when it comes to anything Burial-related, but I think the leaked clips of Archangel justify the devotion…
Aside from Burial and a few other exceptions, I feel like dubstep really shit the bed over this last year. The genre’s least interesting elements—bass pressure and rasta skank—became cornerstones of the new track “formula,” and the results of have been incredibly boring.
Case and point: the new Soul Jazz compilation, Box Of Dub. Jesus Christ is that stuff serious. I think it might very well beat out IDM as world’s most pretentious music.
Not to be over-dramatic, but it’s taken me a long time to reconcile being a raver in the late 90s with the boredom of day-to-day “normal” life. Nowhere else have I found shit as ridiculous as happy hardcore and/or people doing ecstasy/ketamine/acid cocktails in one night. And to be honest, it bums me out to think I’ll probably never get to see anything quite like that again… even if it was ultimately destructive and retarded.
About a year prior to Minneapolis’ big rave downfall, my friend Ryan and I did a breakbeat hardcore thing called Hoverproject. At the request of my friend Eric, i’ve put everything I still have online below. Hopefully some other people might be into this stuff. It’s pretty fucking ravey.
Hoveproject - Straight From the Bedroom Pt.1
Hoverproject - Straight From the Bedroom Pt. 2
For a brief moment this morning, I thought Minor Threat / Fugazi lead singer Ian Mackaye was dead.
Thankfully, it was just a lame internet rumor. Mackaye lives!
Some relationships end in tear-out fights and buckets of burning clothes, but breaking up with minimal techno will never be that severe. Unlike trance or new rave, there’s just nothing to get upset about with minimal. No one really minds subtle synth lines that sneak in at 6 minutes and 35 seconds—in fact, everyone can agree they’re pretty cool sounding.
Unfortunately, minimal has always been pretty cool sounding, and that’s the problem. As the default club music of Berlin, it’s perfectly non-offensive—precisely the reason why ravers there are wearing t-shirts that read “MINIMAL MY ASS” in big, black letters.
The last decade hasn’t been a kind one for punk, but it’s been even worse for the scene’s suburban bastard child, hardcore.
Just try going to a show, and you’ll notice two distinctly stupid camps: pamphlet-educated Vegans with an Agenda and/or homoerotic jock types that flip out over stuff like scene purity. Needless to say, neither option comes up with good music.
Of course there’s always exceptions to the rule, one of which is Austin’s Total Abuse.
I’m not a big fan of Britney Spears (strange, I know), but it’s hard not to be impressed by the total absurdity of one of her new songs, Cold as Fire. Take a listen and see if you can catch what I’m talking about:
According to the lyric sheet, Cold as Fire is g-rated to the max. However, in the beginning of the song, it sure sounds like she’s saying:
“I’m just the girl with the ability to drive a man crazy, Make him come in my mouth, Make him my new baby”
Right on! I guess I won’t be mistaking Spears for Eve Libertine any time soon…
What do you guys think of bands with 3-4 drummers? Like, 3-4 actual kits set up.
Part of me wants to hate on the whole idea, but in practice, it’s pretty awesome. Post-rock bands have been doing it for years, but now guys like Big A little a have discovered how fucking loud a mountainous heft of drumming can be.
If you’re a music gear nerd, serious Monday bummer time: Daniel Hansson, CEO of Elektron, passed away.
I had the pleasure of dealing with Daniel over the last couple years for product reviews, and he was always amazingly helpful and cool. He once wrote me a 1500 word email on how to use some new features on the Machinedrum, and it sounded like he was out of breath with excitement. The man’s enthusiasm was contagious, and I think his products will stand the test of time because of that…
