kid kameleon: January Rundown

I was fortunate to musically organize and play at a totally awesome party last night for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's 17th birthday. It was at the "venerable" 111 Minna and the place was packed. (300-400 people I'd guess? Don't really know). 6 artists that all were adventurous but kept in mind the crowd and the early hour. But the most impressive thing? 5 technology systems on a pretty crappy 2 channel / 4 input mixer.... Ableton, Torq, IDJ2, Serato and vinyl. All with about 30 seconds of silence once over 5.5 hours. w00t! Thanks to Ripley, Qubitsu, Jimmy Tones, and most especially our special guests Adrian and Mysterious D of Bootie! Favorite pictures below.

Been meaning to do a "best of" for January, a "currently feeling" as I work on my Baltimore Club mix (although I have to admit that I'm once again revisiting The Coral Sea since I'm in a thoughtful mood... when's the next album coming doods?) I just keep finding good stuff, or luckily people just keep passing it along, and since I don't do a radio show I might as well write about it. So 16 things I'm feeling, with links where I can get them.

* DJ C and Zulu - Dear John
This is upcoming at some point from Chicago-based (yipe!) DJ C and the awesome Zulu on Mashit. A dancehall beat transformed into jungle and back again while the Zulu lays out the story of an over-the-phone break up, bouncing back and forth between his gruff voice and croon. Don't know when it's coming, but for now check out the collab that's coming out from them next week on Mashit. It's called "Darling" and it's total bouncement, playful fun.

* Kuma - Dawn Stepped Outside / Dawn Stepped Outside (HORSEPOWER REMIX) / Lost in Translation (Immerse 006)
Yup, you read that right. The first original material to see a release from Benny Ill in maybe 4 years. Real dark operatic material and not a whole lot of dub in the step, but still very cool to hear and definitely of a level of quality not matched by many others. This is also Kuma's first release, and his two tracks are well deserving of a listen too, fusing the dreamy with the step-y.

* Flying Lotus - Golden Diva
I've made no secret of my love for Fly Lo, and it sort of because my impression of him slips sideways, kind of like his music ... I can't quite get my mind around what it is that I love about it. But I do. Golden Diva should be forthcoming at some point, but for now check the myspace page for a preview of what the new album is gonna sound like.

*Ghislain Poirier and Zulu - Go Balistic
My favorite track from the upcoming album also features Zulu, but the production stands on its own. It's a lot like other stuff you might have heard from Ghislain, but that just means it's good! Check his website for the releases, but it should be out by the end of the month.

*Dubmood - Everything!
If you ever see Everything! in my current top 10 list it's usually because I've just found out about an artist and am currently trying to acquire everything by him or her. I'd heard of Dubmood before through the chiptune scene and even had an mp3 hanging around my hard drive, but Jan drove it home to me as he always does by giving Dubmood the most recent release on Jahtari! Get Atari-Ska L'atakk here. 6 chip tune cover of some ska classic songs like "Exodus", "Pressure Drop" and the Tetris Theme. Yes, it's a bit goofy. But that's the awesome thing about the chip tune scene, cheesy isn't bad, it can be a plus, and measures of authenticity are VERY different than many other scenes.

Dubmood is a Swede living in France, and has a blog here. He's got some tremendous art, and has recently collected a bunch of his best tunes from the last 4 years. It's all really rich stuff, full of crazy swooping synths and lots of noodling that if you ever spent time working your way through Mega Man or 1000 other games from that era will sound totally familiar to you. But then he musically quotes other stuff while he's doing it, almost as though it's an after thought. I pulled a little clip from "Razor Comeback" to demonstrate.

It's like, why did 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." show up there? The answer is probably "because it could". Anyway, check him out, he's one of the most accomplished chip tunes artists I've heard, up there with Bit Shifter for meeting other music styles head on and taking the chiptune aesthetic to 'em, right in the face!

*Secret Agent Gel w/ Warrior Queen - Body
Corey and Sharmaji finally get their new label Low Motion Recordings off the group with mind boggling raunchiness from Warrior Queen. You got to hear it to believe it, but it's good music and I have give Warrior Queen props for taking it there. You can hear the track on Secret Agent Gel's Myspace page.

*Ikonika - Please / Simulacrum (Hyperdub 008)
Just amazing stuff from a new name to me but that doesn't mean she hasn't been holding it down in London for some time now. Kode 9 has signed her for the next release for Hyperdub, which is coming off of a perfect record for 07. Got to check "Please" out on her myspace page, it's like the best, weirdest parts of Detroit mixed with the dubstep vibe. Totally unique.

*Pacheko & Cardopusher - Harp Shaped Box
Don't know when this is coming, I think it's still looking for a home, but I adore this kind of creation that skirts the line between heavy and hypnotic and being manipulated and ever changing without sounding crunchy or nood-ly. Big up to Caracas! Tune is on Pacheko's and Cardo's myspace players. Another track, "Lemna" by them is great as well

*Cloaks - Rust on Metal / Against
Cloaks are back! The world probably knows them only through some murmurs and their one EP "Hi Tek Buzz" on Werk from last year. Well, they've been hard at work and have totally taken their sound to the next level... it's a sort of combination of digital thrash with the low end and beat of dubstep and the disintegration of analog gear run through 1000 MAX patches. "Rust on Metal" is really a throbbing creation, but gets you with its subtlety. In other words, they don't have to get some MC to scream "We're frakin' hard!" at you to get their point across. Check out their tracks on myspace. Reminds me a bit of Kush's stuff at his darkest.

*Tittsworth - Thunderstruck Remix
Yes. That "Thunderstruck". The one by AC/DC. It is off the chain. Best application of B-More to rock. I don't know how he keeps doing it. You got to check it out. Glorious cheese. I can't wait to play this out.

*Leaglize It (East Coast and West Coast Versions)
Argon is finally getting the two dubstep versions of "Legalize It" out there. What I love is that they're samples of two different versions of the same song, one by Peter Tosh and one by Barry Brown, one of my all time favorite singers. Nice to finally have these out soon, although it will probably be several months yet.

*MachineDrum feat. Yo Majesty - Oohee
It's up on Machinedrum's myspace, it's so good. RnB filtered through Drum's 8 bit brain with the three best ladies out there for the job. Check it! Twista style...

*German Wasteman - Short Dick Man Rmx and Neva Eva Rmx
Real simple, but real fun... Chicago trash talking classic reinterpreted in a german techno club dubstep style. But it's more than just taking the piss, it's actually a good track, and anything that pokes fun at dubstep's seriousness is fine with me.

*Fracture - Phone Call
Finally finally released, amazing track by junglist Fracture on Compound One. This one's a bit older but I just found out that it's finally gotten a release. It's got the most killer vibe to it, plus this awesome skippy break that gets introduced in the second time through. Really really spooky stuff.

DJ Amazing Clay - Baile Funk Masters #4
Only one man in the world can make me like Baile Funk. And that man is Daniel Haaksman of Man Recordings. And as usual he has bought an absolutely amazing new artists to my attention, apparently a boss man in Brazil for decades. Check out the whole thing here and Amazing Clay's myspace page for a preview of more things to come!

*Digital Woods - Mogadishu series
Ever since I sort of discovered the wonders of 80s dancehall and the ridiculously simple fun of reinterpreting it this summer I've been on the look out for more stuff like Maffi and The Firehouse Crew. And of course I found it, once again, in Denmark, this time with Digital Woods. It's very simple stuff and it might not be for everyone, but I find it totally beguiling and know the power of playing stuff like this on a big system. Check it out.

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That's all for now. Here are some other pictures from the party last night (all taken by me).