Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Back from Riga


Last couple of weeks have been a busy time in terms of travelling, meeting friends and partying.

First of all, the festival of avant-garde and contemporary music Skaņu Mežs took place in May 11 & 12. Lots of good music, lots of good people. I'd say that at some moments it was even too crowded to enjoy music properly.

My biggest discovery was Planningtorock — a singer with strong, distinctive and beautiful voice singing on top of electronic hip-hop and electro beats and grotesque orchestral strings. Imagine Janis Joplin produced by M.Herbert and you will be on a half way there. All that accompanied by wierd outfits and simple yet effective background videos that interfere with her stage performance. No wonder that she was having gigs together with LCD Soundsystem and The Knife.




Probably the kickiest band was The Killl from Norway which performs a kind of electronically manipulated extreme metal music. The psychedelic lights and the intense sound wall was amazingly effective.



Another merciless sonic attack was carried out by the breakcore hooligan Venetian Snares, who did a DJ-set. I was probably expecting something more "intelligent", but nevertheless people was jumping around and even performing some stage diving. However, he was unstoppable — after playing one hour more than supposed he boldly ignored requests for stopping and letting other acts perform. He reacted by hitting a monitor speaker aside. Eventually the promoters somehow managed to get him away to the backstage.

The highlights of the other day were The Books and Mouse On Mars. While I didn't see much from The Books, I really enjoyed MOM. They were playing surprisingly dance-floor orientated stuff, not really experimental. But it was good.

Meanwhile, me and my DJ-friends (ZeDmitry, Android, FXZ, Kone) were rocking hard at the Space:Garage, where an unofficial after-party was on. The venue was full of friendly dancing people and the vibe was cosy. Thanks everybody who came and supported. By the way, now the Space:Garage is officially open, for more info check www.fuckforfriendship.com.

The last but not least, it was a pleasure to play records together with Kone at Pulkvedis on the following Tuesday. Thanks for inviting over, and long live Riga scene! See you next time.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Rave steps

A little tutorial how to dance at a rave party :)

2nite: deadly dub & last exitech


Hey ho!

Tonight - it's Saturday May 5 - two recommended parties are on.

First one is Deadbeat performing at Pulkvedis, Latvia, supported by all my friends DJs - netcords/no rest crew, fuckforfriendship guys and others. Sadly I cannot join them as I'm not in Latvia at the moment, however I will drop another party in Luxembourg (read below).

Canadian Deadbeat is probably my favorite electronica-dub-techno producer, he's got that special talent fusing and creating various kinds of beats immersed in deep, echoing soundscapes. Last time I heard him live at Transmediale, some 3 years ago. His music was so incredibly deep and groovy, perfect for a proper smoke. I was already quite stoned when noticed Vladislav Delay standing not far from me. I approached him, we started chatting and blew up another joint. He was back from Rio, and told me how fascinated he had got from all that favela ghetto booty style.

I don't know why but this kind of deep e-dub music often makes me feel as rain would come. Sort of ritual music with a purpose to bring rain, you know. First I had this feeling many years ago when I bought and listened to the fantastic Monolake's Lantau track (unfortunately I don't have it as an mp3 to share it with you, and I'm too lazy to rip off the vinyl record).

Deadbeat - Little Town Of Bettlehem

OK, back to present. My friends from Luxembourg are very welcome to the third and closing Exitech soiree at Exit07 cafe. Deep tech-house meets a bit more cheerful e-disco and other kind of electronic dance music. Actually style doesn't matter, just good music does.

Hugs, and let the good groove roll!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

April chart


Before getting down to the chart, a bit of intro. First of all - nice weather finally (pictured on the left).

Secondly, I'm back from St.Pauli Hamburg which was great as usually. Riga Party at the legendary Pudel Club was a sweaty and funky business, and great experience in general. Me and my DJ-friends, we fired out different stuff from freaky minimalism to epic melodies to classic oldschool bangers. Thanks Ralf for inviting us over, that was a true pleasure!

You can chech some pics at my Flickr site and at fuckforfriendship.com.


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OK, here are some trax which I've been enjoying lately. To some of them I listen, to some, cut on wax, I'm trying to make people dance, but mostly they suite for both purposes.

> Kalabrese - Rumpelzirkus Part 1 [Stattmusik]

A fantastic, highly recommended 4-piece EP, I just can't outline any single song, all of them are really good. Mellow, still groovy and innovative in the sense of blending together elements of "live" instrumentation and electronic production. Does anyone know something about Part 2?

> Junior Boys - In The Morning (Hot Chip remix) [Domino]

Junior Boys is one of the most melodic and catchy bands around, avoiding being boring or too standard though. Their In The Morning EP contained two astonishing remixes - by Alex Smoke and Morgan Geist respectively, and now there is the equally great Dead Horse EP that contains remixes of different songs done by Hot Chip, Kode9, Tensnake and Carl Craig. All are cool, but my favorite is cooked by Hot Chip - another outstanding semi-electronic pop band.

> Bruno Pronsato & Franco Cinelli - At The Club [Milnor Modern]

This track is from the newest Mod.Coop(erate) - the installment which stands for interesting and funky minimal techno records. Other featured artists are Mark Henning, Oleg Kastrow and Daniel Stefanik. It should be a sweet selection for any minimal lover.

> Alexkid - Love Letters (Marc Romboy Remix) [F Communications]

The original track and Tim Paris' remix are good, but as for me the ravey version by Marc Romboy works the best. It is rather straight and simple, but sometimes there is just a need for such tracks.

> Minilogue - Elephant's Parade [Wagon Repair]

This one isn't that fresh, but just can't be missed. Excellent kind of James Holden meets Mathew Jonson sound. An absolutely brilliant technojazz record.

> Booka Shade - Tickle

Well, whether you like them or hate them but one should admit that Booka Shade's new track is surprisingly good.

> Herbert - Moving Like A Train (Smith N Hack Remix) [Studio K7]

This crazy and funky remix came out already last year, but I've found who is the author just a week ago. And it's still a smashing hit, so couldn't skip it. It was played by Ralf aka Ruftata 110 in Riga last December, that's where I heard it first. Now again I heard it played by Tiefschwarz in Hamburg, by the way, and it is included in the last Body Language compilation put together by DJ Dixon.

> Simian Mobile Disco - It's The Beat (Luke Vibert Mix) [Wichita]

The remixers takes this slightly bold electrofunk dance bomb even further, masterly playing around with the original hook.

> Mistress Barbara - Barcelona [Border Community]

A sweet and uplifting neo-trance on the Holden's label.

> D.I.M. - Airbus Baby [Turbo]

A frenetic and energetic piece of distorted house (or how that French style is called?).

Some other goodies: Tejada & Leviste - Multiplier, Riton - Thor, Sebo - Beirut Boogie, Mark Broom - Ping Pong, Digitaline - Anticlockwise LP, Joel Mull - The End Has Begun.