Dungeons & Dragons

So last weekend I moved into my new place in the Mission and I could not be happier about the location. Amazing restaurants all within a short walk and countless bars to explore. I'm still looking for a home to host a disco night, but living in the city will help move things along. I've been putting a few mixes together that I will be recording shortly and posting for your enjoyment. Until then I have a few tracks from records I've purchased over the last month.

Mindless Boogie, the edit label that has featured the names of many of the biggest producers/DJs around at the moment, including Prins Thomas, Skinny Joey, Woolfy, Peter Visti, Wade Nichols (Todd Terje), Maelstrom, and In Flagranti. The latest release has the UK's Bonar Bradberry editing some mysterious psychedelic boogie tracks to create a soundtrack fit for a cosmic journey across jagged landscapes under purple moons, where Heavy Metal babes await rescue by the heroes of nerdom. The three tracks included are a departure from the track that introduced me to Bonar, "Beat The Bed" which is one of my favorite tracks of the year, a super slow-jam rivaled only by Lovelock's incredible "Don't Turn Away (From My Love)". Here I offer the A-side track "Dungeons", whereas the B-side offers my favorite of the release "Tumbledown" and the complementary "Dragons". Sorry I could not locate or recognize the original, but enjoy the edit for now.

Bonar Bradberry - Dungeons (Bonar Bradberry Edit)


Another track from the realm of unknowns comoes off a new label devoted to exposing lost gems, History Clock. Started by Nathan Gregory Wilkins and Jonny Burnip of London, the label now has three releases and Woman is the most recent (a track from one of the two Fitzcarraldo Variations releases is available on 20JFG here). The track featured is quite a peculiar one in that when the track begins it's hard to figure where the track is headed, but gradually it moves along a balearic trajectory from its minimal dubbed out beginnings to a beardo vocal chorus. Perfect for late night train rides spent gazing out upon glittering cityscapes.

It's A Fine Line - Woman (A Makhnovshchina Repossession)


In light of my last Sebastien Tellier post I also wanted to share, for those who haven't seen it, the video for "Sexual Sportswear" as it is one of my favorite videos of late. Dance videos have a tendency to star hot nude women, but the beauty of this video blows my mind. The already epic track is perfectly complemented by the shots that slowly pan across the neon curves of the dancers. Truly incredible video directed by Fleur and Manu.

Divine

This Friday I had the privilege of watching Gang Gang Dance perform at Bimbo's in North Beach. It was easily the best live show I've seen since Hercules & Love Affair. I would recommend attending if they come to any city near you because the Brooklyn-based (and you can tell it from their accents) foursome play a unique brand of dance rock psychedelia that has a severely raw energy that many other electronic acts lack of late. Also as previously mentioned, please go pick up their new album, Saint Dymphna, it is easily one of my favorites for the year.



As for upcoming live performances, Sebastien Tellier is gracing SF with his bearded presence on Thursday, December 4th at the Mezzanine. He will be joined by BEAT ELECTRIC DJs Black Shag, BT Magnum, and Safety Scissors so it should be an awesome party as well. For those of you unfamiliar, Tellier released his newest album Sexuality earlier in the year and it is a French pop masterpiece produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. I just found the music video for his single "Divine" which was shot at various locations around LA.



The rest of the album features darker synth-pop infused with piano and tastefully topped with erotic moaning. I have heard quite good things about Sebastien's live performances and if his performance at the 2008 European Song Contest are any indication of what his show will be like there is reason to get quite excited. Bearded backups + golf cart entrance + helium verse... you do the math, it adds up quite nicely.


Also this week our very own SF natives Windsurf (the long-time alliance of Hatchback and Sorcerer) have released their full length album Coastlines. The album is a collection of luscious beach jams in the typically dreamy Windsurf fashion, transporting me to an island oasis where I can enjoy pina coladas, white sand and blue water as far as the eye can see. They truly have captured the soundtrack to paradise. Anyways, thought I'd share an old favorite that shows up on the album, their track "Pocket Check" was released on Internasjonal (PT's other label) on the Windsurf EP earlier this year, enjoy and go check out the album!

Windsurf - Pocket Check

Vamp Fad?

This weekend I caught the new Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In and I must say I loved it. The story follows a bullied young boy who finds his first love in a young girl who happens to be a vampire during a long and cold Swedish winter. But over the course of the weekend I have found out that quite a few of my friends think that there is some sort of vampire fad that is taking place, citing the new series True Blood (which I must say I am addicted to) and the new film Twilight. Maybe it's the horror enthusiast in me trying to protect the artistic validity of a few films and series I have seen of late from the "fad" labeling which seems to instantly disqualify them from serious consideration. Either way, I would recommend both Let The Right One In and the new HBO series True Blood, both for different reasons, but both focusing on vampires.

I also thought it fitting for a track I wanted to post for some while now. It comes off of a new 12" from R&S Records, the hard-hitting famous dance label that began in the 80s, featuring two reinterpretations of classic rave tracks, Outlander's "Vamp" and Capricorn's "20Hz". As I've said before, I'm a sucker for piano house and techno tracks from the 90s, and the hit "Vamp" from 1991 is no exception to the rule. This high energy classic features a piano sample I'm sure some of you will have heard before and was featured in several Justice mixes over the last few years. Here we see it remixed in the Prins Thomas diskomiks style, replacing the drums and bass with more organic instrumentation to give it a truly scandodisco flavor, while keeping the original samples and structure fairly untouched. I must admit I was a little surprised to hear the king of kraut, cosmic, and all things boogie turn to a rave track for inspiration, but then again he has recently remixed the Ricardo Villalobos track "Fitzpatrick" in similar fashion. Rave? Minimal? What could be next for PT? Enjoy this for now.

Outlander - Vamp (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)

Have A Horrific Halloween

Sorry for the long delay between posts, things have been busy as I have been collecting pieces of my costume from thrift shops around the bay, but I wanted to share a party and some music I have been quite stoked about for the past few weeks. Tonight Gun Club, the painfully hip party organizers are throwing a Halloween party and the guest of honor is Greg Wilson, the famed DJ from Liverpool. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the UK dance scene and is recognized for introducing electro, or electro-funk, to the UK in the early 80s. The party is at the Paradise Lounge (a new place I believe at 1501 Folsom St) , starts at 10pm and goes til 4am. Regular Gun Club DJs Ryan Poulsen and Travis TK Disco will be in attendance as well SF resident The Beat Broker. I will be in attendance and so should you.

Recently I have bought several records with GW's edits, including the new release by DFA/Rong Music newcomers Free Blood, who are, surprisingly out of Brooklyn! DFA seems intent on acquiring more and more of these new punk funk acts LCD Soundsystem has spawned. Some of them shine through with a track or two, but for the most part fall flat in my opinion (such as The Shocking Pinks and Prinzhorn Dance School). But Free Blood is offering something slightly different and reminiscent of The Faint, a darker brand of punk funk that is less centered around noise elements and more around thick vocals that bounce back and forth between shouting and whiny. I picked up their Royal Family 12" and thought it would be a fitting contribution seeing as Greg Wilson shows up on it. So here are two tracks from the 12", the new single by Free Blood "Royal Family" and Greg Wilson's version of their track "Grumpy" which takes it in a funkier direction.

Free Blood - Royal Family

Free Blood - Grumpy (Greg Wilson Version)

Also here is the video for "Royal Family". I love it, primarily for the amateur dance moves, the desert setting and the mass amount of tape machines.

So please come out tonight and celebrate, cover is $15 but I assure you will not be disappointed, and Happy Halloween!!!

Live Medicine

Since I've begun posting I have been sharing a lot of dance music that comes off of the records I've been buying, but today I figured I'd share some of the music from the albums I have been listening to lately. In particular the music of a few artists that have released new albums this year that you should definitely go and search out if you like what you hear.

First up is a track off of the remix album //Disco by Los Angeles-based noise rock group HEALTH. The album is by no means disco, but features several different bastard children of the recent nurave/electro movement in a clusterfuck of distortion, acid, glitch, and haunting Crystal Castles-like vocals. All in all it is quite excellent. In fact Crystal Castles shows up on the album as well, so if they are up your alley then definitely check this album out. The remix here comes from Pictureplane (who according to their myspace, hail from Denver) brings in some serious flavor to the noise in their remix.

HEALTH - Lost Time (Pictureplane Remix)

Moving along with more genre-bending artists we have the duo from Brooklyn, High Places. They have been around for a couple years now creating music within the vein of "new primitivism" (according to them) and have released their new self-titled album earlier this year. I hear the music more as a surprisingly successful fusion of tribal drums, nursery rhyme folk lyrics, and bell-like electronics and percussion. The textures they create transport you to a jungle paradise where the rhythm of the water in the stream nearby combines with the faint voices of forest nymphs singing lullabies to each other in the setting twilight. Listen to this track off the new album and you will know what I mean.

High Places - The Tree With The Lights In It


Similarly inventive with sonic textures, yet achieving a completely different result, fellow New Yorkers Gang Gang Dance will release their new album this week I believe and it is quite possibly one of my favorites of the year. I first heard of this group on 20JFG, but was never really blown away until I heard their new material. Their new album Saint Dymphna (which is supposedly the saint born to an Irish pagan chief and his Christian wife in the 7th century) combines clever electronic production with tribal percussion, live drumming, indie vocals and subtle hip hop influences. Dance under the pagan moon with Saint Dymphna.

Gang Gang Dance - First Communion


As you dance the night away and lose yourself in the stars you can dive into the progressive disco of Kelley Polar's I Need You To Hold On Why The Sky Is Falling. The album came out earlier this year from Environ, the wonderful label on which nudisco gods Metro Area release most of their material. Polar leaves the binds of dance beats behind on this album for a more free-form canvas of tempos and structures, but succeeds quite amazingly. His classical training comes through in the meticulousness of his compositions, but that is also his greatest challenge on the album. His voice at first didn't sit well with me but the more I listened the more I became enamored with how the elements of his music fit piecewise together. However, the vocals on this surging track fit quite perfectly with the production and sweep you away to a cosmic landscape of lights and music.

Kelley Polar - Sea Of Sine Waves

While I linked you to several convenient online locations for the albums, please go buy them at your local record store if you get a chance, Rasputin, Amoeba, or whatever you have around the corner. Help support your local record shops and they will continue to help you access great music.

Disco Adventure Aftermath

Last weekend I saw Harvey at the Mas Disco party in Oakland (which happens the first Saturday of every month or so I have been told) at the Oasis Restaurant and Lounge. The venue is awesome, with an outdoor patio surrounded by windowless soaring cement walls attached to the dance floor. Harvey was amazing, as was to be expected, combining lost remnants of disco, electro funk and house together with incredible ease. Several of his aforementioned Black Cock edits were played as well including "Disco Adventure" which is featured on Harvey Sarcastic Disco. I hadn't been to this fun of a party for a while, I only wish it could have lasted longer.

Last week Alain Finklekrautrock posted two new edits by Pilooski, one of the most exciting edit producing DJs of the last few years, here on their blog. The first is quite an incredible edit of Elvis Presley's "Crawfish" which has been on repeat for me all week, definitely on the order of his Pointer Sisters, Del Shannon, John Miles, and Frankie Vallie edits. Both of the tracks have been leaked and I will be sure to let you know when they come out for purchase, but until then I will share with you the track "WCTBL" by Pilooski and Cedric Marzewski (one half of the exciting new Discodeine act) under the alias Pski. It comes off of the 7" WCTBL pressed on blue vinyl and I am unfamiliar with the sample, but the soulful voice of the woman singing combined with the churning fuzz and pops produce quite a little jam.

Pski - WCTBL

I never followed Badly Drawn Boy as much as I probably should have, but the other week I picked up the Promises Remixes release because of the three artists doing the remixes, Reverso 68, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, and A Mountain Of One. All three have been mentioned before on Disco Horror, and all three deliver in a big way on this release, giving distinct, amazing interpretations of the original "Promises". Today I've decided to share with you the Beyond The Wizards Sleeve remix, as I have shared a Reverso 68 remix and several AMO1 tracks before. Enjoy this beautiful rendition that where BTWS back off on the brash percussion and chopped song structure they often opt for on their other reanimations such as Simian Mobile Disco's "Love" and Late Of The Pier's "The Bears Are Coming".

Badly Drawn Boy - Promises (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Reanimation)

Lastly I'd like to share a few versions of the song "Why Can't We Live Together" by Timmy Thomas which my friend over at Robots In Heat shared with me last week and which coincidentally sprung up over at Dilated Choonz around the same time. First, Robots In Heat shared with me the hauntingly beautiful and sparse original version from 1972 with nothing but organ and a drum machine supporting Timmy Thomas' wonderful voice. Then RIH posted a version of the song by Sade from 1984 which adds more orchestration to the song with guitar, bass, and what sounds like live percussion, mellowing out the orgran but bursting into a funked out chorus later in the song. Then Dilated Choonz posted an exclusive new edit of the original by edit master Underdog here and then! they posted another version by Mike Anthony from 1982 which much more overt in energy and takes the song in the disco direction. Quite amazing to see the three interpretations of an incredible original.

I Feel Electric

I first heard of Rubies earlier in the year when I picked up their I Feel Electric 12" for a version by Studio of their track "Room Without A Key", which is absolutely brilliant, but I don't need to go on about Studio any more. That release also came with "I Feel Electric", an upbeat track with shimmering synths and sweet harmonies. Today I have for you a remix by Tiedye, the new act off of Italians Do It Better, who, like Studio, hail from Sweden (on an aside... why is everything out of Scandinavia so fucking cool?). Tiedye extend Rubies' original with verby guitars similar and beautiful vocals, but where the Studio version keeps the energy at a typically mellow level, the Tiedye remix builds to a momentous climax like a wave surging over you, sweeping you away to a tropical sunset. I really can't put it into words so just give it a listen, you will not regret it.

Rubies - I Feel Electric (Tiedye Remix)

Italian disco god Daniele Baldelli needs no introduction. He is respected as one of the greatest DJs of all time and revered as the father of cosmic disco. Earlier this year he released a mixed compilation on Eskimo with fellow Italian Marco Dionigi titled Cosmic Disco?! Cosmic Rock!!. While I haven't heard the mix yet, I did pick up one of the samplers (there are two) and it has enticed me to seek it out. The title is quite on the money with the three tracks included in Part Two so I won't bother you with a description, so here is one of the B-side tracks by electro, new wave group The Dream Syndicate off of their 1986 album Out Of The Grey.

The Dream Syndicate - 50 In A 25 Zone

Maurice Fulton has been a force to be reckoned with in house music since the late 1990s and now he has a new album released by DFA under the moniker Syclops, where he produces and works with several studio musicians. The new album, I've Got My Eye On You, has an organic feel for electronic music, including live drums, piano and acoustic bass in addition to wild synth work. At times it can be a little too progressive and freeform for me, but this track holds down the fort with a classic house feel that I am truly a sucker for lately. The track then drifts off into a jazzy realm that doesn't get too caught up in itself like other parts of the album.

Syclops - S Out