Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

I've listened to Daft Punk "Random Access Memories" a few times now. Here's my super brief simple review - what you need to know: I like it. It's a pure musical experience. It's very true to Daft Punk's foundational style - simple, catchy, repetitive hooks & rhythms that sink in over a few listens. Get it and listen! Here's a great short interview with Daft Punk about their approach to the music and the recording process with their collaborators:

Ninja Tune Label Showcase - New Tracks & Mixes in 2013

Ninja Tune has been a "go to" label of mine for many years. It was a key inspiration of mine when I first started to discover "downtempo" music and forms of electronic and international fusion. I had heard a Coldcut track (the artist duo who founded Ninja Tune) on BBC's Radio 1 and Blue Room show back in the early 2000's and I followed the trail...it led me to Ninja Tune.

I subscribe to Ninja Tune on Drip.fm - an amazing service that allows users to pay a monthly subscription to a label an in return get ALL of that labels releases in turn as they come out. Ninja Tune releases music from so many amazing artists, including Bonobo, Emika, DJ Food, Kid A, Toddla, Leatherette and more.

Here's a huge set of amazing tunes and mixes that Ninja Tune has released in 2013 from these artists and more. It's 5 hours of amazing music - vibes ranging from downtempo, trip hop, grime, chillout, lounge house and more:

New DJ EROK Mix - The Tripnotic Conclusion

Just in time for the weekend...my latest mix, recorded live last week at Natt Spil lounge in Madison...

New Pretty Lights Album out July 2 - "A Color Map of the Sun"

Pretty Lights' latest album "A Color Map of the Sun" will drop July 2! And it will be available for free at www.prettylightsmusic.com as has all of his albums - but only on the DAY OF RELEASE! This album, if the latest single ("Around the Block" ft. Talib Kweli) and this album trailer is any indication, will stay true to Pretty Lights vintage sound. What's different is that this album will be original recordings with live instruments, written by Derek and his collaborators.

Pretty Lights - Around the Block (ft. Talib Kweli)

New Pretty Lights single "Around the Block" - from new album coming out July 2! Free download here

Daft Punk - "Get Lucky" - new song trailer debuts at Coachella

No question that Daft Punk's new album is one of the most anticipated of the year - and they released a new song trailer this weekend at Coachella. The trailer for "Get Lucky" features Pharrell and that vintage Daft Punk sound.

The Fugees X Cali Swag X Henry Pope - Ready to Dougie

I heard this edit/mashup of Fugees vs. Cali Swag District vs. Henry Pope in Henry's Source Festival set and I wanted it - I wanted to rip off his idea and put it into my sets, haha! It's a perfect balance of classic and chilled hip hop, with modern bumpin bass and electro beats. And then I just got an email today that he put this Edit on Soundcloud for all to hear and use - it's f***ing DJ gold! I've got three gigs coming up in the next two weeks and this will fit perfectly into two of them - I can't wait to play it. Thanks Henry!!!

Keep em coming! Listen and download here:

Friendly Intentions - Beautiful Clothes

I have a love/hate relationship with Dubstep these days. I hate that it's generally overused and so many producers and labels have taken good artists and just thrown dubstep into their music and devolved into "wall of sound" imitation crap. But when I hear dubstep done really well, with some finesse and character, especially downtempo melodic dubstep, I f***ing love it! And Friendly Intentions shared a new track that falls into the latter category - "Beautiful Clothes" - a "vintage dubstep" downtempo track sampling the Beach Boys. Friendly Intentions is a Toronto production duo with experience in DJing, EDM and metal/rock bands. They're like a Canadian version of Skrillex. Listen to the track and learn more about it from the duo themselves: 


I asked Friendly Intentions about the inspiration and "vintage" theme behind the track and here's what they had to say: "We are big fans of older songs particularly groundbreaking songs. This [Beach Boys] song was released in 1966 and was extremely innovative for its time, from its composition to the instruments used. We are also fond of the beach boys singing because often they use well thought out vocal harmonies and the two brothers: brian and carl wilson, have excellent voices that punch through a mix well.

The inspiration from the song came from the warmth that the intro had. It presented a deep and wonderful atmosphere which we felt we would work into a relaxed unique song. We felt like that the main chorus of the song did not fit so well with the intro of the song since the released version of this song was recorded in 4 different studios giving each part its own defining character. It seemed like that part stood out the most of the original song. Rather then doing a remix we decided to more or less sample the intro/verse and expand it. All the composition was done with derivatives of the current existing melodies and a new chord progression. We also wanted to keep the vintage and warm essence of the track so the way the song was mixed was something similar to the way songs were mixed during the mid to-lade 1960's using vintage analogue equipment with not so much eqing and more dynamics. The result of this was something we decided to name "Vintage Dubstep" since it has the warm feel of the 1960's and the elements present mimic earlier synth sounds in terms of timbre."

Here's another side of Friendly Intentions, a great electro-house track with a funky vibe, produced to get you GOING!!!