It was late. The road seemed never ending, white stripes leading nowhere. He knew he had to stop soon for his eyes were becoming weary. The flickering neon sign of the Calisto Hotel seemed to be the answer to his prayer.
Not knowing what would become of the rest his night, he parked the car in the lot. The place looked vacant, abandoned almost. He treaded up the steps and smirked at a dingy grey welcome doormat. He opened the heavy door, a stale scent in the air. He tapped the bell. It rang out with a terrible cry…
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Without a beat, an old man appeared in the lobby. His vest was moth eaten, but at this point it didn’t matter. “I need a room”, he muttered, handing blindly his ID and credit card. In what seemed a moment, he was sinking into his bed for the night. “Finally some rest”, he thought.
Suddenly, a blaring siren echoed in the silence of the night. Panicked the man sprung to his feet and raced to the door. He peeked out from the peep hole. Nothing…
As quickly as the siren had screamed out in what seemed to him as agony, it disappeared.
He was awake. He couldn’t help but think, “Had it be a dream? Had he made the entire thing up? No one else seemed to have noticed…”
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He turned back around to a room with no furniture, not even a bed. He stood there in a daze of complete confusion. In a reluctance to stay around long enough to figure out what’s going on, he reached back for the door and fell to the concrete with a loud *thud*. The door was gone…
The breeze of the cold night rushed by his face. It made his hair stand straight up and he let out a great shudder. He closed his eyes in order to escape this nightmare.
He heard a car door slam and then the sirens came rushing back. His eyes opened…
A police car drove past him and he was sitting in the back seat.
I’ve got two gems out of solo acts to share today. Both of these guys I’ve actually done a post about other remix acts they are a part of. This will be a bit of contrast in sound, one being very clean and the other being dirty. Both have excellent production quality that fills the sound spectrum.
Kill Paris is a electro producer out of Sarasota, FL who has been releasing some HEAVY tracks lately. The drop in “Ellipse” just destroys everything in it’s path.
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Pao Pao is a new project out of Fredrick Carlsson. Best know for his “1901″ remix, Carlsson has decided to take more of an indie approach with this act and has been releasing material that isn’t necessarily defined by one certain genre of music. The production on his “0011″ remix is very clean, this allows you to enjoy all the different tonalities that are present in the track.
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THE KANYE WEST VIDEO FOR “POWER” DEBUT ON MTV NOT TO LONG AGO AND IN TRUE KANYE SPIRIT THIS POST WILL BE IN ALL CAPS. THE VIDEO IS A “MOTION BASED PORTRAIT” WITH HEAVY SYMBOLISM THAT VENTURES INTO THE SUBCONSCIOUS DEPTHS OF THE MIND.
DIRECTED BY MARCO BRAMBILLA, THE VIDEO ALSO TRIBUTES SALVADOR DALI’S PIECE WITH PHILIPPE HALSMAN AND SETS AN IMPENDING TONE OF INEVITABLE CATACLYSM AND SLOW BURNING CATASTROPHE.
I WASN’T AWARE MTV PLAYED MUSIC ANYMORE.
WOULD I BE A FOOL TO GET MY HOPES UP FOR A MTV MUSIC COMEBACK?
I’ve been glued to the television this week watching Shark Week. Was browsing around and came across this picture and was just mortified at what I saw.
What, she doesn’t have any friends to tell her that sharks mostly feed at dawn and dusk?
Doesn’t she know that about 61 Shark attacks happen per year?
Would you ever be as risqué and take such dangerous chances with your life?
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What a daredevil. Could she be the next Evel Knievel?
I’m genuinely concerned for her safety. Please still be alive and don’t risk your life again.
On a separate and non life threating note, I’ve been going through my old playlists lately and couldn’t believe I haven’t blogged about these two remixes yet. These Electric Lives is an stunning electro rock band out of Toronto, CA who have been remixed by some outstanding artists, the most notable coming out of TMDP and OPOPO.
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James Curd is no new face to the Chicago dance scene. I got a chance to catch him live back when he was with Greenskeepers at “Meltdown” here in Dallas a few years back. Recently, he teamed up with his old time buddy Ziggy Franklin to record some new material. The result was a distinguished album, a tour, and a record being released with Smash Hit Music.
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Last month we were introduced to the next chapter in music from Chromeo. “Don’t Turn The Lights On” is the second single on their LP set for release on September 14th entitled Business Casual. They are currently on a tour until the end of August in support of the upcoming release. We got a chance to chat with Dave on the phone before his set last night in Boston about the album, the state of music, and cultivating their brand of imagery.
You guys have a new album coming out soon, “Business Casual”. What can we expect and do you have any personal favorites on the album?
In both our cases, our personal favorite is “J’ai Claque la Porte”, which is the french ballad on the album. It’s sort of a new “Momma’s Boy” if you will, being something different from our more traditional sound that we’re really proud of and happy with.
I could tell from the video it had more of an upper class feel to it.
Yea, exactly. We just put out another video yesterday, we’re just trying to go somewhere we haven’t gone before. There’s something a little more darker and sexier about it. The last record was really bubbly and fun.
Is dancing a big part of you or was it something you learned for the video?
My friend, I’m going to disappoint you greatly and if you hang up the phone I completely understand but there’s a dance double in that video. He’s also 1 foot and a half shorter than me and when we finished the video, Pete and I were convienced that everyone was going to be able to tell. Sure enough, nobody was.
What’s the wierdest thing that’s happened to you guys while on tour?
Recently, we went to Serbia and played an amazing festival over there, it was one of our favorite gigs. But the whole experience of getting into that country, our crew waiting at the border in the middle of the night for hours and having to bribe people to get in. This wierd hotel which was really chic but in a very sorta soviet post communist era way with the hookers in the lobby.
That was slightly surreal. A little David Lynch meets Soviet block. Not to mention the fact that you couldn’t get ketchup at the restaurants.
What gear and do you guys use for recording and live setups?
A bunch of 80′s and late 70′s analog equipment. Anything from the Moog and even more modern emulators of those vintage synths. We definately try to keep everything vintage.
Chromeo has a very defined artistic style. What are the main inspirations behind the visuals of the band?
All the 80′s and 70′s iconography. We would sit and look at record covers for hours and obviously in the 70′s and 80′s they had different technologies. Something that would be more on an arcahic technologoy of creating album covers where you would have to actually do some collages, manually cut, superimpose stuff and get really striking results.
There’s a design company called Hypnosis and they did a bunch of really classic early 80′s album covers. That’s a huge influence on our aesthetic. Anything from that all the way to Classic ZZ top, Micheal Jackson, Robert Palmer movies, to 90′s Hip hop actually.
Anyone recently you would say you grab influence from?
No, I think we admire other comtemporary bands that are equally as stylized as we are even though there style is different. That could be anyone from Daft Punk, to Kayne, to Justice, to Vampire Weekend. They all have really defined styles and make strong stylistic choices even though it looks nothing like us. That’s what we really respect.
What kind of animal are you and why?
A girraffe cause I’m tall and skinny.
Today with electronic music, just about anyone is able to produce a track in his or her room and throw it up online. Do you think with music being so available, it has decreased the shelf life of singles, albums, and the artist’s overall time spent in the lime light?
No, I don’t think so. I think it’s great from up and coming musicians to make their stuff available and heard. I think we all benefit from it because we hear stuff that we never had access to before. I don’t think it really hurts established artists because first of all, they have a bigger promotional machine behind them for better or worse so they can afford to stay in the lime light longer. Obviously there is a huge amount of information out there but I think it’s up to us to learn how to filter through it and select the stuff we deem the most interesting.
Where did the name Chromeo come from?
I came up with it one morning quite a few years ago and it’s a mix between Chrome and Romeo.
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Other than getting Lindsay Lohan out of jail, what is the most important thing we need to fix as a society?
Education system and Health Care.
Is there sense of a brotherly rivalry between you and A-trak? Has it been a driving factor for your career choice?
No, there’s no rivarly, we’re extremely close and we work together on everything.
What is the best advice you an offer to upcoming musicians?
Perseverance and integrity. I don’t want to get preachy but if there’s anything that anyone can learn from the career we’ve had is that if you keep doing what you do long enough people might not take you seriously at first but then there’s an enormous amount of respect that comes with that perserverance and continuity.
So until about 15 minutes ago, I wasn’t really down with the whole Cody Simpson thing. I mean the whole “let’s be like Biebus and do what he’s doing” was already given a try with that Greyson Chance kid. But today, I got an email that changed the entire game. I’d like to introduce you to 10 year old rapper, YUNG POPPA.
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What’s this have to do with the Simpson kid?
Please, what doesn’t it have to do with him?
Look at that picture of Poppa, this kid’s Already counting his dough. I don’t see pictures with Simpson and money… and Bieber has already admitted he hasn’t made a million yet…
+1 Poppa
Then we have the “OMFG YOUR HAIR” factor. Bieber has got this one. I would go further in depth about this but with a video of him blow drying his hair that has 146k views there isn’t really a contest.
+1 Bieber
I’m watching tour footage of Poppa, look to the skyline, and can’t help but notice all of Egypt showed up with their pyramids and shit.
You think these other kids can say that?
+1 Poppa
Next thing to consider, the foreign factor… Simpson you win this one hands down.
+1 Simpson
But, Bieber is from Canada so how do you figure Simpson wins?
Let’s be honest here and admit we did the same American thing with Bieber that we do with all Canadian stars. Adopt them as our own. In our book, he’s American.
At this point, I get it, Poppa in the lead. Just when I think it’s all over, I press play on the second track and find out he has his own dance. Now, this one a tie because the Biebs has his own signature dance as well.
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Justin, you still have all the tweens drooling over you but be very careful. We all know how the saying goes…
I like to cheer for the underdog and Simpson is clearly the underdog. So congratulations, YUNG POPPA changed my opinion of you Cody. Thank him when you get a chance.
I’ve been addicted to “The Fire” from The Roots ninth studio album “How I Got Over” since I first heard it. The beautifully shot music video debuted a couple days and just furthers my appreciation for the song. I’ve been pretty obsessed with post apocalyptic scenarios for quite awhile now so this is right up my alley.
Ever thought about how you would survive at the end of the world?
Would you cook S’mores?
With no more Walmart, would you be SOL?
Last month, “Astrowave EP” was released as a follow up to the album Dreamatic. The album was a feature release on beat-port and received quite a bit of press. As of July 12th, FM ATTACK signed a deal with Chrysalis Music. We recently caught up with 80′s-esque producer Shawn Ward to ask him a few questions.
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With a name like FM ATTACK, should AM be afraid of what comes next?
It would be cool if my music got played on am radio someday!
Favorite show you’ve ever played?
Hmm thats a tough one, but probablly at Lost in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
What gear do you use for your music?
I use logic pro on a mac for sequencing. I dont use any software synths,I know alot of people have made cool music with them and its a personal preference but I’m pretty old school with my recording and a big fan of outboard gear.
I love the esthetics, the feel/sound and experience of programing analog synths. They are a big part of my sound.
My favorites that I use are the Roland Jv-1080, the Minimoog and the Roland Jupiter 8 which is everywhere on the Dreamatic album.
Hello FM ATTACK, Let’s play a game. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
Add tequila, triple sec, bananas, strawberries and swim….margaritas?
Your EP “Astrowave” was recently released, which song was your favorite when you were writting the album and has that changed with live performances?
I enjoyed writing “A Million Miles Away” , I’ve really been into a lot of faster tempo new wave lately and finally got to write a song with that kind of feel.. I’m still working on my live set.
What’s the last book you read?
The Shack.
If you were an instrument, what would you be?
Fender Stratocaster.
What inpires your sound?
Everything from blues to 70s rock, brit pop, new wave, 80s synth pop, disco, deep house, disco. jazz and funk.
Favorite artist and-or album your currently listening to?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Ultravox lately, Midge Ure is awsome. for newer stuff I really like what Tesla Boy are doing and their new album is great. They have their own unique style but sound straight from the 80s.
How would you describe the FM ATTACK sound in three words?
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With That Knife is a post punk band out of Manchester, UK. Their sound is a combination of all the favorite bands you had before they changed and released a sub-par follow up album. If your near Manchester or London, make sure to catch these guys at one of their upcoming shows.
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There is a place in my heart for music that doesn’t follow traditional formula and isn’t afraid to take a journey into the raw emotion of the singer’s words.
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