Hola! Me llamo 'Erik'...

My very first Disco Horror post! How exciting, amirite? Just want to say thanks to Ash and Max for welcoming me aboard the discohorror.blogspot.com company yacht, even though I already blew that Best Buy giftcard on the new Lionel Richie album (it has Akon on it!). Anyway, I figure I need to introduce myself a bit 'round these parts, but sometimes you can only express yourself through SONG. So allow me to introduce you to my new favorite jam, one that will no doubt end up as the soundtrack to epic summers around the world this year, the Tiedye mix of DJ Kaos' "Love the Night Away".

DJ Kaos - Love The Night Away (Tiedye Mix)

DFA and Rong recently issued the 12" vinyl release, which includes the original- a solid nu-disco banger in its own right, an instrumental version of the original, and this magical yachted-out Tiedye mix. You may remember Tiedye from their "Nothing Else Matters" 12 inch, or their remix of Rubies' "I Feel Electric," both released last year on Italians Do It Better. All of the mixes are good, but the Tiedye remix puts those gruff crooner vocals in their proper context- which happens to be a champagne-drenched balearic beach party. The lyrics are so ridiculous I can't help but smile on each listen and wish that I was actually listening to the tune on a sunrise-lit beach somewhere in the Spanish Riviera.

Another mega-jam of mine this past month or so comes from Beautiful Swimmers, a DC-based outfit with a slammin 12" out on the Future Times label. One side of the vinyl is designated for a theme-song of sorts, "Swimmer's Groove," which I swear samples "Wax the Van" by Lola (feel free to correct me here anyone) and can also be found on their excellent 'Lifeguardians' mix at the Future Times site. However, the side I favor the most holds a tune by the name of "Oh Yea" and features some great slo-mo new-beat drums and fx.

Beautiful Swimmers - Oh Yea

The duo have also prepared an excellent, rather psychedelic, exercise-themed music video for the track, which really drives the whole thing home if you ask me.

Finally, in order to fully introduce myself to Disco Horror readers out there, I have included a recent mix of mine that you all may very well dig. I did it solely with vinyl, and it's veers between EBM, oddball disco, slo-mo edits, and italo- here's the tracklist:

BEARDOBEAT Mix

Unfinished Business – Out of My Hands (Revenge Edit)
James Carmichael + Instant Funk – I Got My Mind Made Up (Instrumental)
Chocolette – Tell Me (That You Like It) (Party Mix)
The Popular People’s Front – My Baby Stays Out All Night
Les Edits du Golem – Eden Rock
The Tribe – Jungle Rock
Mark Shreeve – Legion (Space Mix)
Chris + Cosey – Arkade
Pankow – Girls + Boys (Betty Botox Edit)
Laid Back – White Horse
Severed Heads – Greater Dub (Hardway Bros. Edit + FX)
Tiger + Woods – Come Down
It’s A Fine Line – Woman (A Makhnovschina Reposession)

Celebration/I wanna be DFAmous

First and foremost, an introduction to a new contributor to Disco Horror, Erik (pictured with myself above), a fellow ILMer who we thought he could contribute some great tunes to the mass-media cultural phenomenon taking the country by storm that is Disco Horror! Not really, but he WILL be throwing down some mixes and sharing his latest purchases with Max and myself and he gets access to all the benefits of being a conributor to Disco Horror, like keys to the yacht, VIP-membership to all the hottest clubs, a life of general excess, and a $25 gift-certificate to Best Buy! Don't you wish you were all so lucky! So welcome! and now on to the tunes.

As I blawgged before, DFAmer and former Six Finger Satellite member, The Juan Maclean's new album is making some serious noise and I've been playing it quite a bit, but now it's time for the remixes! The One Day 12" features remixes by the Emperor Machine and Surkin. The Emperor Machine mix churns along like a train dragging you to hell, buzzing with bolts of psychedelic energy and giving you bits and pieces of the original track's vocals along the way. But MY choice of the release is the Surkin mix, which raves harder than those dudes with shirts off and gloves with lights on the ends of the fingertips. I feel like raving has been a theme of my recent posts, but this is a pretty special mix and he adds all these grainy effects, 808 cowbells, and what sounds like an Ozzy Ozbourne sample in a way that makes you want to forget your cares and dance the night away under the lazers and weirdos with elmo backpacks, or maybe a less lame scene, just listen to this and I'll stop writing.

The Juan Maclean - One Day (Surkin Remix)

Also check out Betablog's recent conversation with the man himself just about a week ago, quite a nice little interview AND for those interested he is currently touring and comes to SF on June 6th, I might be camping but if it's anything close to H&LAs performance you won't want to miss it.

Next a little bonus to go with this monster and to give you something different to bounce your head to from late last year. This Clinic 10" Tomorrow came out a while ago, but I've been playing it a lot and felt it might be worth sharing, a buzzy jammy reworking of some charmingly whiny vocals from the psychedelic folky original.

Clinic - Tomorrow (DFA Remix)

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY FROM BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND ST. ETIENNE

NOTE: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, USING HIS EMAIL ADDRES "DCMANOTICE" PERSONALLY CONTACTED US TO ASK US TO TAKE DOWN THIS POST--I THOUGHT THAT WAS PRETTY "GAY" IN THE BAD WAY--BUT HE TOOK IT DOWN ANYWAY. AND NOW I CAN'T FIND THE FINAL VERSION. SO YOU'LL HAVE TO JUST DEAL WITH READING THIS SHITTY FIRST DRAFT. THANKS A LOT "COPYRIGHT LAW."

SECOND NOTE: MY BEST FRIEND KIERAN SAVED THE POST!! HERE IS THE NOW-INFAMOUS DISCO HORROR MEMORIAL BLOGSPOT DAY POST, REPRODUCED BELOW UNEDITED--SARAH CRACKNELL DONT YOU DARE FUCK WITH US.

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Well, yesterday was my favorite holiday, Memorial Day, which is The Official Start Of The Summer, as decreed by basically everyone, and also The Day When Various Media Personalities Hector Us All About All The Dead Troops, as decreed by Various Media Personalities, who, desperate to be seen as Upstanding, Troop-Loving Types, talk about people making "The Ultimate Sacrifice For Your Country" a.k.a. "Dying In Iraq/Afghanistan Due To The Muslims" basically nonstop, especially on NPR, and really, NPR, who are you fooling, you fucking commies, I just want to listen to Car Talk.

How did you guys celebrate? If I know my reading audience well, I imagine that the Americans among you spent the day slack-jawed, hunched at your Macbooks, playing/masturbating to some kind of World of Warcraft/pornography hybrid, while our two or three British fans had tea on the barbie and saluted the Queen. I personally memorialized the Troops and the September 11ths and the George Washingtons by eating a hamburger made from red meat, helping contribute to my Classic American Impotence and Heart Disease, and listening to R. Kelly. Major League Baseball celebrated the blood sacrifice of thousands of nineteen-year-olds by holding Fred Durst Day, where every ballplayer was forced to wear a red hat, presumably symbolizing the color of Valentine's Day cards, which the troops sent to their "sweethearts."

The real question is: what America-loving music did you listen to? Given that most people who read this blog are dance music fans, and therefore closeted gays, and therefore terrorists making suicide attacks on marriage, you probably spent the day listening to "The Internationale (Osama Remix)" and Elton John. Fear not, though—as part of Disco Horror's service to this country, I'm going to provide you with two truly America-loving songs.

The first is "Born in the U.S.A. (Dub Mix)," by the all-time America-lover Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen wrote this song as a tribute to the fact that God had blessed him by not making him an immigrant, and as a celebration of our country's Greatest War (Vietnam). And I know what you're going to say! "Max, this is some kind of un-American remix! What would the founding fathers think if, for example, you remixed the constitution!" Folks: this is a "dub mix," which is the least gay/unamerican of all mixes, so please don't worry.

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (Dub Mix)

The other track is the terrific capitalist anthem "I Buy American Records," by the band "St. Etienne" (what could be more American than a God-fearing band who names themselves after a religious figure??). This track is all about stimulating the American economy by buying records—a terrific message for a difficult time.

St. Etienne - I Buy American Records

do you want 2 cds?

Today we have a multi-track posting. Haven't done one in a while, so here it is 3 tracks today for your listening pleasure! The only thing they have in common is that they are all shimmering examples of neon synth disco.

First up we have a chirping thumper that makes me feel like I'm wandering down a beach late in the night, following the sound of a distant thumping rhythm when I happen upon a beach cave rave where people covered in flourescent paint are dancing under stalagmites that shimmer as the moonlight reflects off the water. In Flagranti's new album Brash & Vulgar (the title track of which you can find over at 20JFG) begins like most of their awesome erotic italo grinders of before, but then delves off into deeper and darker realms of their dance voodoo. The album features short tastey reworkings of well and lesser known samples, along with longer dreamier sequences that are more reminiscent of the groups alternate identity, Oblio. I would highly recommend the album, and you can purchase it here, but for now here's a little taste to entice the senses.

In Flagranti - I Hadn't Screwed Around Before

Moving on with the hypnotic dark synths, we have an exclusive remix from Bottin, who's release No Static on IDIB is currently receiving much play on my tables (but for some reason I like it pitched down about -6). I'm always confused by tracks that use versus in the artist description, but for now I'll envision Codebreaker and Bottin weilding Juno-6s and Moog Liberations in a battle royale in the Tron arena. And what the fuck is that whirling synth that spirals in and out of the neon blue sonic gridscape, it sounds like a computer playing a trombone or something? I don't know just listen cuz it's rad.

Codebreaker vs. Bottin - Follow Me (Bottin Remix)

Ok now your all hyped up and if you don't drink 2 gallons of water you might dehydrate yourself and ruin the party for everyone! So we'll throw a cool down track in there so that you can mellow for a few minutes before the dancing ensues again. Milky Disco 2: Let's Go Freak Out is a collection of tracks by some of the best workers within nudisco or synthdisco or nubalerica or whatever you want to call it and far surpasses the first volume in quality and quantity. This time you get 2 CDs! 2 see deez nuts!!! No really though you do. Two CDs worth of material by names like Hatchback, Johan Agebjorn, Rune Lindbaek, Soft Rocks and much more! And the best tracks aren't even by them! Hilights in my opinion are Pollyester "You Are Amen", Gatto Fritto "Hungry Ghosts", Soft Circle "Don't Just Stand There (Eric Broucek Mix)" AND you get stuff like Nite Jewel's "What Did He Say" and Ghost Notes' "Pissed And Passed Out" if you missed the 12"s. And then there's this track by Canadian CFCF, a name that I remember first seeing back in the day on discodust. A name that has now come to much deserved prominence in the blogosphere. This track is just fucking beautiful and I'm not going to describe it because the title says it all, Cue montage of all the amazing moments that you've had while reading this lengthy post.

CFCF - Raining Patterns

I ONLY WANT TO SEE U RVNG IN THE PURPLE BRAIN

Hey guys—do you think the "joke" I make about how Jimmy & I are "famous" "rich" "good-looking" "bloggers" is "over"? Have I used it "too much"? Ha ha, of course not. "Irony"!

Jimmy & I were tandem windsurfing yesterday off the coast of the island from "Lost" (it's real, and we get to go to it) when two golden-feathered doves landed on our respective shoulders and whispered in our ears: "RVNG is releasing a new mix, curated by Andre Bumrocks and Jason Evans from Hey Convict!, and it will be released simultaneously with a 7" featuring some highlights from the mix, on purple vinyl.)" And then the birds, which were actually clockwork creations made in the distant past by unknown master Persian craftsmen, turned into MP3 players, and we listened to the mix, and then went back to the shore and made out, with babes.

"Irony"! Actually we got an email from a guy named "Josh," and because we are a) big RVNG fans and b) suckers for people who make the mistake of thinking this website has any readers besides my girlfriend (hi Ari!), we decided to post a track off the 7" (it's a seven-inch because this is the seventh release in the series—also because Andre Bumrock's favorite band is Avenged Sevenfold).

The mix itself (called "Purple Brain," a reference to the great 70s rock band Deep Purple and the Steven Martin film The Man with Two Brains; that's the cover up top) consists of what sounds like three dozen nameless brain-erasing parallel-universe beardo classics; it's a little all-over-the-place, but if you've got a problem with all-over-the-place, you're reading the wrong blog. Really, the problem is that an hour is way too short to actually get a grip on the ridiculous number of things going on in this mix, and more than once tracks get cut off just when you're ready for more. Still: better to have listening to thirty seconds, and lost, than to never have listened to even thirty seconds, of a song, at all, right?

I didn't recognize any of the tracks on my first couple listens, but I was able to recognize many instruments, including:

• The guitar

• The drums

• The flute

• The bass guitar

Bottom line: if you like any of those instruments, I feel confident you'll enjoy this mix.

"Josh," who is very nice, asked that we let you know when you can pre-order the fine merchandise listen above, so, please be aware, you can pre-order both Purple Brain and the Purple Brain 7" on May 26.

The track I'm leaving you with is the B-side to the seven-inch, a happy, apolitical, message-less little ditty by the apartheid-era South African troupe the Bahumutsi Drama Group (founded by activist and playwright Maishe Maponya). I feel confident that when the Drama Group recorded this "joint," they were hoping it would someday be played in a Bushwick loft to a bunch of drunk, mostly white, out-of-work "artists"/web designers! Enjoy!

Bahumutsi Drama Group - To the Comrades (Purple Brain Edit)

a lesson in literature

I see your italo Max, and I raise you one italo. You see the difference between Max and I, is that Max is clearly much less accomplished in the academic subject we like to refer to as "reading". While his song choice illuminates the struggles of players and nuclear disarmarment blah blah blah, I chose a lovely piece of italo that deals with the classics, fine literature from a finer era of art. Like Max already mentioned yo hablo español, so I chose the French Magazine 60's "Don Quichote", which skillfully brings a post-modern twist to the famous tale of the Spanish hero who ended the Spanish civil war, abolished slavery and brought order to the realm. People are calling upon the esteemed Don, but no está aquí, the hero never answers.

Magazine 60 - Don Quichote


Here's the video too, feel free to dance along.

Vamos a la Playa, Hater

HEY!

Y'all: summer is here. Basically. I mean, it's been a little rainy, a little chilly, but it's summer where it counts—in my heart. Right? I went back to Jersey this weekend, and, guys, I packed shorts. I didn't end up wearing them, partly because it was cold, and also because I didn't end up leaving the house. Also: some of my friends went to the beach. The beach! Obviously, I wasn't invited. But I bet they had fun!

And as I was sitting in my house on Friday night, re-watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother while my parents had a party, I couldn't help but think of my friends, at the beach, and wonder what music they were listening to. Probably Lady Gaga! But if I had been there, I would have made sure they were listening to something far more appropriate--something like "Vamos a la Playa" by Righeira.

Here's the video, starring a young Jake Gyllenhaal:

Now, as I'm sure you know, one of the great things about this blog is that we're very smart, and we like to teach people. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that Disco Horror is in many ways a "bilingual" blog (or, "el blog"): both Jimmy and I passed Spanish 102; Jimmy lives in San Francisco, which is a city with a Spanish name; my girlfriend's last name is sort of vaguely "Latin," insofar as it ends in a vowel, and has a "z" in it. So we're eminently qualified to translate the song, which turns out to be kind of a bummer:

We go to the beach
The bomb exploded
The radiation toasts
And blend with blue
We go to the beach
Everyone with hats
The radioactive wind
Dishevels our hair
We go to the beach
At the end the sea is clean
No more dirty fish
Or fluorescent water.

Jeez, Righeira, way to bum everyone out! Still, it's better than the Notorious B.I.G.'s song about disliking beaches, "Playa Hata"—plus, how many people actually speak Spanish. Can't be that many, right? Please enjoy!

Righeira - Vamos a la Playa

Here lies the Black Disco

So it's been about a year since I moved out of LA and one of the things I miss most about living down there was the Blackdisco parties thrown by Nitedog and Lovefingers. Seriously well-orchestrated fun that lit up the Mountain Bar in Chinatown or random warehouses in downtown where DJs like Prins Thomas played deep into the night, not to mention having the raddest flyers west of anywhere. While Lovefingers has relocated to NY, Nitedog still holds down the scene in LA and you can follow Blackdisco at their site here.

The reason I mention them is that they have a new release, volume 3 on their label. The first sports two great edits "Mars" and "Mexico", the latter a supreme edit of Sammy Barbot's "New Mexico". The second is a series of edits by Lee Douglas. This one doesn't feature Lovefingers, but adds Julien Love to the cast (who supposedly has a release on Internasjonal due out soon - see more about him here). Both Love and Douglas' edits are nice but Nitedog takes the prize here with his collaboration with Ryan Edwards, an edit that comes at you from every possible musical direction you could imagine. Is it soulful disco, is it chicago house, is it fuzzy beardo rock? You decide, enjoy.

Bionic Boogie - Chains (Nitedog Anonstop Edit)

STUDIO/WINDSURFsolve the economic crisis!

My titles more and more are sounding tabloidesque... Well it's not entirely true, but if five years ago people had been listening to more Studio and Windsurf, I think this whole problem might have been solved. All the greedy dickwads with their heads so far up each others asses trying to make a higher percentage or commission off a deal might have been dreaming about escaping it all to a beach where they could forget their cares and listen to the waves lapping against the shore. I guess I'm making Studio sound like the Greatful Dead of the new millenia, but seriously this music takes my cares away without fail so that's why I'm sharing it with you all today.

The new release by Windsurf "Bird Of Paradise" on Prins Thomas' Internasjonal is another chapter in the book of Studio are production gods and masters of the balearic universe. It seems the perfect marriage of artists as well, because Windsurf (the collaboration of San Francisco's own Hatchback and Sorcerer) are also princes of the beach-inspired kingdom of electronic music. Their original is a dreamy little piece with vocals that suit a sunrise by the shoreside. Studio take the song and spin it into over 13 minutes blissful minutes of magic. The Beat Broker also features a dub of Windsurf's "Light As Day" which is also worth mentioning. Corny as it may sound, this music has made my week, I hope it makes yours.

Windsurf - Bird Of Paradise (Version By Studio)


Also big live news!

Robots In Heat and I will be DJing another night at Laszlo in the Mission and guess what, it's on the WEEKEND! Saturday May 23rd, (that's Memorial Day weekend). So you have no excuse not to come out. We will be playing our usual mix of beardo disco with whatever else we fancy at the moment! It will be great fun if any of you can make it, join the Facebook group/event, or we started a Going event just to see how that might work out. Tell your friends and we hope to see you there!

SHAOLIN

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes.

Like many people newly arrived in New York, I have questions about Staten Island. Questions like, "Why?" And, "How?" And, "Really?" Sometimes, I think we should all call it, preferably in some kind of "spooky" voice, "The Mysterious Island." Or maybe some kind of "fantasy" "middle-earth" name like "Gathaladriel." Really, I don't know anything about Staten Island, except that (apparently) the only way to get there is via ferry, which is a kind of boat. I didn't even know we had boats anymore! But we do—and we take them to get to Staten Island.

So: the reason I bring this up is that last weekend Jimmy and I got an email from a band called Paragraph, a band from, of all places, Staten Island. And as shocked as I was that there were "musicians" from "Staten Island," I was probably even more shocked that they have email. Technology! And in this Staten Island email, this band, Paragraph, was an MP3.

Now—as famous, wealthy bloggers, we get a lot of emails, many from doctors offering us experimental sex procedures or jewelers who, recognizing our wealth, offer us Rolex watches. Also, publicists, and, sometimes, Nigerians, many of whom have lost their family fortunes. And because we are often having "sex" with "models," we're not always able to check our jewel-encrusted jPhones (next-gen iPhones) to see what emails we get. But when bands send us MP3s, and those MP3s end up being pretty good, well, we don't do much but post 'em.

So here it is: an MP3 from noted Staten Island band Paragraph. I've only heard four songs from these guys, I think, and this one is the best—less like a short-pocketed Gang of Four tribute band, the way their MySpace YouTube videos sound (not bad but, uh, it's not 2003 anymore, let alone 1983) and more like a tightly-wound R&B group with a very, very serious talent for grooves (the track is basically begging to be edited/remixed for the floor). The only hesitation is this weird little autotune bit at the end, which sounds kind of out of place, if not from an entirely different planet (it sort of reminds me of rap-rock favorites Crazytown); everything else I fully endorse (Jimmy hates the autotune part, deeply, with what I can sense is every fiber of his body). The song on their MySpace isn't quite as good as this, but its own WTF element (a sweet summery guest rap from a young lady named "Star's Da Limit") sounds way more natural (and good). And you know—I kind of can't be down on a band that's putting weird little bits of other planets in their songs. Especially because, you know, what else are you going to do on Staten Island?

Paragraph - VS.

Jisco disco, dub your friday

In my opinion, Jiscomusic is the best label putting out disco edits right now, and by best I mean consistently fucking amazing. There are plenty of one-off edit labels that may come out strong with a first release and then ride on it's success to impart upon us several releases of a lower caliber that really should never have touched vinyl to begin with. But if it wasn't telling that the third release of the label (I still have yet to track down the first two) introduced us all to Mark E (the new king of dubby disco, who has carved himself a serious corner in the 100-115bpm dance community), the label has consistently been releasing dance floor monsters since, introducing us to such names as The Revenge and 6th Borough Project.

Well now there's a new member to the family and his name is Eddie C. So far the artists on Jisco have all been from the UK, but Eddie C hails from Canada! Woot North America! Anyways, he has supplied three top quality edits to Jisco for it's 9th release, You're Welcome, and I decided to be nice enough to share the BEST ONE with you all instead of being selfish and keeping it for myself and for my mixes. This track sneaks up on you with a hypnotic loopy hum and a lovely guitar riff that lulls you into an unconscious head bob that has you thinkin' "you know house music is pretty rad", and then BOOM that fucking breakdown! DANCE TO THE DISCO BEAT! C'MON! DANCE TO THE DISCO BEAT! And that's when you realize you're having a legitimate freakout at your desk and your coworkers are starting to stare. Be careful with this one as it may set your mind free.

Eddie C - Let Your Mind Be Free

Why stop there? 6th Borough Project's second release on Instruments of Rapture, the aptly named Part Two contains the track I first heard when The Revenge guested on BIS a month or so ago (listen to that mix here). This track is for the beginning of the night when the DJ opening for you hasn't really got the place moving, so you jump on the tables and throw this one on. Before you know it people start to find their way to the dance floor, there's just something about those deep vocals that make you want to get down, and plus this has a record stop built into it! So you can look like a real DJ without even trying! No seriously, the record stop is that little nudge that catches your attention. Use this one wisely.

6th Borough Project - Do It To The Max

Last minute reminder too, Harvey is tonight at Project One, party starts at 10 and I couldn't be more excited so come on out and dance your cares away!