Domino Dancing - "You Are My Sunshine"

Another track going back to the summer of 2009 and my time spent over seas is Domino Dancing's clever mix of that good old children's song "You Are My Sunshine".

Not actually intended to be only for children "You Are My Sunshine" is a track that goes back to the 1930's South and has been creatively involved with musicians, singers and song writers from the likes of Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell, Oliver Hood to Bing Crosby and Gene Autry!

This summer that I spent abroad on the Mediterranean found me in Lebanon hearing this tune with its poppy beat nearly at every corner of night life that I turned. Domino Dancing's "You Are My Sunshine" was a hit in Beirut Clubs the same time that Edward Maya's "Stereo Love" started taking off in popularity abroad as well.

With that said, curiosity does strike my fancy that Domino Dancing and their "You Are My Sunshine" has not quite caught on here. I will remain curios to see if it does!

Either way, it is a great poppy, feel good track that imparts a little bit of "EDM" love and sunshine on all those that hear it!

Robbie Rivera & Fast Eddie - "Let Me Sip My Drink"

Though a bit of a throwback from last year, DJ wonder Robbie Rivera and House master Fast Eddie's little team up still stands as a great weekend anthem!

Edwin Smith, better known by the name of his musical personality, Fast Eddie, has done so much for the music since the early days of Chicago House back in the 80's. Same can be said for Robbie Rivera, who hailing for Puerto Rico has been as active for just as long and has produced everything from tribal, jungle and funk to house, trance and progressive.

The two masters on the wheels of steel have to come together to capture what simply expresses everyone's inherent instincts to desire a condition or state of satisfaction. In some ways the spirit of this track almost is a memorable reincarnation of the classic, "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones.

Regardless, it is defiantly a beautiful birth from the labors of both Rivera and Fast Eddie. What truly makes it all stick? Fast Eddie's command of those rhyming words and solid lyrics! The video itself is fun to watch too! With its snap crackle pop beat and vibe, it is a definite playlist must for any pregaming festivities and to keep a buzz going throughout a night's adventures.

2 Days with Late Night Alumni (short film)

Great documentary short following Late Night Alumni around for a couple days!

Here is some exciting footage of the group conversing together and working in the studio. Also some personal interviews, expressing themselves individually, about their roles together in the group and what all that means for their music as well as what it meant to be making music before they cared about making money.

Mad props as always to Becky Jean Williams for vocals and lyrics, Finn Bjarnson for the "sparkles" and John Hancock as the orchestrator "add[ing] stuff" as well as the patriotic name!

Kaskade's role in all this? He "shake[s] the tambourine really loud"! ;-)

We are all reminded that Ryan Raddon really is a rockstar!

Personally exciting highlight...

Kaskade and I use the same studio headphones!

Checkout their newest album, Haunted!

http://www.latenightalumni.com/

Bob Sinclar Made In Jamaica

Now the previous post leads to another curiosity. Where are you Bob Sinclar? Evidently in Jamaica!

Though Bob Sinclar never fails to deliver fantastic electronic dance music and feel good beats a very interesting project for him last June 2010 was his work with Ministry of Sound Deutschland to put together the album "Made In Jamaica". It seems Bob Sinclar has a fancy for reggae music and the meaning behind the music! This being his last album most recently produced is a compilation of his greatest hits but mixed completely in a reggae style! Quite a distinctive and fascinating project to say the least!

Where Are You Ben Onono?

Where are you Ben Onono? Ah, there you are with Monsieur Le Fraint, Bob Sinclar!

And seemingly the both of you are in a somewhat trippy slightly psychedelic 1960's cartoon-esq world as per your most recent collaborations.

Some time last year, the British musician, singer and song writer with West African roots, teamed up with French wonderboy Bob Sinclar! The two of them made as one could quite possibly expect a really feel good track that could close the credits for a Disney movie! I don't mean that at all sarcastically either! It's a really nice song with a really cute video! Seriously, gather the children! :-)

While Ben Onono expels the Ziggy Marley-esq sensitivity I will still always remember the first track of his that I heard when he worked with Saffron Hill back in 2003. "My Love Is Always" there for you Mr. Onono.

Rebecca & Fiona

Perhaps I have recently developed a Swedish sweet tooth (considering my Adrian Lux fancy), but just this past January, Rebecca & Fiona came out with a new track and it was tasty!

The Swedish dj heroines came out with the track "Bullets", which was personally long awaited after they released "Luminary Ones" last year.

The pair started working together only in recent years and have seemingly started both of their musical careers together. Rebecca Scheja is actually only 21 years old herself and before music, has spent her career as actress active since 1995. Fiona Fitzpatrick is not much older at 24 years old, and spent most of her young life's career as a champion rock climber. Both girls, daughters of musicians, seemingly came together with their first track of "Luminary Ones" just only in 2010. But in such a short time have started taking the Swedish club scene by storm! I am most eager to follow their careers! And considering their young age looking forward to a long and fruitful life in the in the electronic music community! It is wonderful to have a fantastic feminine presence such as these two ladies out there in the dj/producing industry and electronic music world over all! So keep the beats coming ladies!

If you can read Swedish here is a link to their blog: http://rebeccafiona.se/blogg/

Edward Maya Desert Rain Forecast

Having just posted about Edward Maya, his new found popularity and my frustrations with why it took so long, I am tickled pink to be posting this today!

Romanian son of Bucharest, Edward Maya, seemingly has received his audio passport into the States and will be gracing us with his presence in the Los Angeles area! Gigging at Vanguard in Hollywood, a club known for bringing some big names, the nights festivities are scheduled to begin at 10:00 PM, on Saturday March 19. If Edward Maya was not enough to interest you, Vika Jigulina will be there too! This event has promise!

Who is making this possible? A young and upcoming promotion company in the Los Angeles area, Elite Entertainment or otherwise known as Elite VII. A young start up entertainment group, the folks at Elite have been active for the better part of 4 years now all over Southern California and the Los Angeles area. An event like this featuring such a big and rising name as Edward Maya speaks volumes for the professionalism and success Elite has experienced. Seemingly they are moving in the right direction!

For More Information: http://www.elitevii.com/

Edward Maya Event: http://www.nowthatselite.com/EdwardMayaFeatVikaJigulina

Tiesto In Concert 2005: Event Flashback

A little stroll down memory lane for this post way back to my very first electronic music event, Tiesto In Concert back in 2005!

Still only 16 years old, not even a junior in high school, a good friend of mine invited me to join his brother and a group of friends for the nights festivities. Having been listening to the music for several years and at the time recently starting mixing music myself, I was beyond wide eyed and ecstatic! One of the first excursions of my young adulthood into nightlife, the experience was one that I will never forget!

Riding shotgun in my friends beamer down to Los Angeles the night began with our blaring of our own beats all the way. After parking and stopping at a McDonald's for some of our crew to cure their case of the munchies and enjoy some cigarettes we finally made our way towards the madness brewing that was at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Even before entering the arena, the nights fun began with the adventure that can be people watching waiting in line outside the door. Past security, pairs of florescent candy kids, go-go dancers, and tons of international tourists we made our way up to our lodge seats to brace ourselves for audio orgasm and musical impact!

The arena filled up till nearly 20,000 people from all walks of life and backgrounds came to join together in the spirit of unity that the music Tiesto spins brings. As the chants calling for the Dutch King of Dance to come out on stage turned into rants, just at the right time the god of electronic music himself came out to take his place at his throne in his massive dj booth of towering light.

The full night of Tiesto's several hour set was not just limited to a musical or rave experience, but truly was a concert with all the bells, whistles and showmanship anyone could imagine! The show featured lights, lazers, smoke and a bass so loud that one's breathing needed time to adjust, all also complemented by Circ de Sole -esq acrobats performing stunts from across the stadiums rafters! Also part of the show were distinct theme adjustments in accordance with the theme of going "around the world".

To top it all off, when one could have hardly expected the night to even get any better, Jes Brieden came out from behind a mist of smoke to perform several songs included her signature from collaborating with Gabrielle & Dresden, "Motorcycle"!

Tiesto finished us all off with brilliantly teasing climax as he abruptly left stage at the time reported to have been the end of the show. And, as people started leaving some umpteen minutes later came back out on stage for a glorious encore with signature tracks such as "Love Comes Again". A fitting track for Tiesto's encore stint of the night coming back out on stage as we all "came" in our hearts, souls and pants from all that beautiful music.

Adrian Lux - "Can't Sleep"

Though a bit of videographic masterpiece, what makes this song is the track itself! Featured in the FIFA 2011 video game soundtrack, it does not disappoint!

Opening with a bit of a shrill voice, "Can't Sleep"'s piercing intro is not at all harsh, but simply lets it be known to the listener that Lux's track is here to tantalize your ear. The track then proceeds into that feeling of fresh crispness that a cool night air can breath into your lungs. Though this relaxing grooveability is eminent in the track, it definitely does not at all put you to sleep (after all the title is "Can't Sleep"). If the great danceability and beats of "Can't Sleep" don't make you want to move, then the track's underlying dilemma of distance or separation should at least prompt attention.

The lyrics of "I can't sleep, when the sun goes down", "Just want to feel like we're together", speak volumes to anyone who has ever experienced time away from a loved one, a fond location of comfort or even just a desire.

The track's full lyrics are as follows and bear a multitude of poetic prowess...

The video does just as much justice as it is steeping with social commentary. Right of the bat, our dilemma is staged within the context of 2 male protagonists each grappling with their own illusionary case of loss and separation anxiety. What one at first would guess are 2 sorts of case studies to be analyzed as they are compartmentalized into their darkened shadowy dwellings. Both, seemingly hiding from the terror of their separation. Yet after ample preparation and thus a presumed accumulation of courage to venture, the protagonists race out of their homes that were shrouded hidden in the dark, out into the night. At this point, our 2 case studies become one as they encounter and rendezvous with one another in the darkest twilight at of all places a playground or schoolyard. At first seemingly confrontational the video throws any heterosexually biased viewer for a loop as our 2 protagonists join together in romantic embrace.

It is now that all the details of the video leading up to this point make much clearer sense or at least are explained in greater detail by the video's conclusion.

Our protagonists "Can't sleep when the sun goes down" because they need the night and nightlife more than ever to be able to finally be together and unite in their affection for one another. It is only in darkness or a sort of periphery of life that their relationship can seemingly exist or be actualized. Hence they remain hidden from not only the world that does not accept but one another during the day when all is more easily visible. Beyond that, perhaps the necessary night time meeting and empowerment that the night time brings is reflective of electronic music's history and relationship to the Gay community which contributed much to night life and electronic music culture. Additionally what also perhaps could be drawn from this concluding scene is the setting at a playground which simply might just infer how couples just want to play and have carefree fun. Or perhaps it is even less stipulated than that, and is just mirroring how love should be as innocent of an experience as our childhood play dates at the schoolyard were.

Clearly a piece championing gender rights and freedom of relationship, the video however does not at all need to be anything complicated. It is simply one hell of a damn good track and one intelligent video.

NPR does electronic justice!

See: Electronic Music Stars Take Their Talents To South Beach

So, my previous post which I put up after having caught Tiesto's name being mentioned in the news on the radio, intrigued my curiosity as to how much exposure in news the electronic music community was actually receiving from sources like NPR. My curiosities were most pleasantly addressed by another report specifically focusing on electronic music a couple days ago on NPR.

The great excuse to have a news report on electronic music, is the Winter Music Conference happening right now in South Beach and the upcoming Ultra Music Festival! NPR's Guy Raz and Sami Yenigun discuss electronic music's status in the world, a little bit about it's history, some typical misconceptions about the genre, as well as the music conceptually.

If ever I have heard anyone else in media express my intentions as a member of the electronic music community and the spirit of this blog, it was Yenigun in this report!

Tiesto featured on NPR

See: The Real Value Of 7 Million Facebook Fans from NPR

Tiesto makes the news! Literally this time, as part of a NPR broadcast on the relationship between music, the internet and social networking/media. "Blog Buzz's" importance to music and musical artists is featured in this broadcast as per a research project done at McGill University. The relevance of this story is its great focus on dj'ing, producing, promoting and electronic music with a spotlight on Tiesto!

Another point to realize is how this story's focus on the future of communications and social media technology also featured what anyone from a musically technocratic perspective could see on the other side of the same coin as the future of music!

I find it great that the music featured and artists focused on in this report was in fact electronic music and a dj! Something that I don't think would have happened even a year ago! So, what a pleasant surprise it was to hear Tiesto's name on the radio and of all stations, NPR! Perhaps another sign that electronic music has finally come into greater public consciousness!

Benny Benassi & T-Pain?

You are "electroman" T-Pain? Really? Or perhaps you just wish you were. As does the rest "mainstream" "artists" that completely ignored electronic music for the past 20 years so they can try and cash in on the future of music that is finally catching up in the States.

Is this another sign following his collaborations with Kelis and others that Benassi is trying to go the way of David Guetta into the "mainstream"? I don't think it is so much him, or other dj's selling their souls to get into the mainstream as much as it is the mainstream selling it's soul just to get a ticket onto the electronic rocket ship into the electro sphere of heavenly bodies.

Thus, Viva Benassi! What you have done for house and electronic music will always be appreciated even while you work with any stinting rappers...

See: everyone is electro 

"Illmerica"

If Wolfgang Gartner's "Illmerica" video doesn't blitz your senses simply by way of its videography, its educational lesson should!

Amidst the flashing lights and seizure bearing animation is a commentary on a history of violence, moral and economic corruption in America. Not arguing either for against the opinions of this video, it no doubt objectively reminds all how history is often created at the edge of a sword and out of the barrel of a gun. "Civilization" is built upon the backs of less fortunate minority others while mass delusion and misinformation is what keeps the masses at bay from ever intervening in this process against the powers that be.

Corporatism and economic greed have always impacted this process whether it was the exploitation of the virgin land that was once the Americas, the extraction of wealth from whole populations or the falsehoods that drip down as industry suckles government's breast all point in the direction of Wolfgang Gartner's point at the end of the video. That we are all a sort of intellectually zombie nation, with a functioning body but useless minds that are so easily distracted by airwaves and images. (kind of ironic since we are talking about a music video).

Orwell would be proud of this artistic representation of his prophecy.

Stereo Love... 2 Years... Really?!?!

Has it really taken Edward Maya nearly over 2 full years to receive an audio passport into the States?!?! The brilliant track of "Stereo Love" has finally graced American airwaves in recent months after being a hit abroad for quite a while now. Having danced to this track in clubs all throughout Beirut way back in the summer of 2009, I have been shocked to hear Edward Maya on American radio. Even more shocked to hear whole populations that emphatically rejected electronic music only a couple years ago, rave about how much they love "Stereo Love".

Rad Omen's "Rad Anthem"

What does Ronald McDonald, the Burger King "King", "Jack" from Jack In The Box and Colonel Sanders all have in common? It's not that they are all fast-food chain mascots but that they are all the stars of Rad Omen's new video, "Rad Anthem".
Not only does this track jump your bones and sing you a lullaby all at the same time, the video to go along with it is simply brilliant!

Almost sexually neurotic, a sort of mission for sexual healing/gratification is inferred right off the bat as the "King" of Burger King starts stroking his scepter. This, of course in addition to a beautification process and pregaming for a long hard night of partying.

Further primal satisfaction is achieved long well before this as a brief physical confrontation breaks at at the first venue of the nights adventures.

But all this is erotically remedied when the crew arrives at the strip club to partake in the visual and physical feast that their dollars can buy.

The sexual representation that this video pacts is simply compounded by the literal "chicken head" stripper giving Colonel Sanders some most desired attention. Obviously before he takes her home, strips off her feathers, covers her in batter and fries her ass up.

The sexual mockery is not necessarily sexist or gender biased however, as a cross dressing pigtailed barmaid who happens to be "Wendy" as in from the Wendey's fast food chain takes his/her place on stage for his/her own turn of exotic dancing.

The night conclude most successfully for our protagonists with a hearty meal to wash down all the substance abuse at what is seemingly a diner where a Super Mario looking fellow is a cook in the back.

In conclusion, this typical party night narrative perhaps is just a whimsically humorous portrayal of nocturnal adventures. But perhaps what all the sexuality in this video is really trying say, is that corporate America is simply just a bunch of sluts.
None the less, it is a brilliant track and a most creative video!

DJ Highlight: Adrian Lux

Coming right out of Sweden's capital city of Stockholm, is personally a new favorite of mine for the past several months. Young and upcoming producer as well as dj, Adrian Lux. Considered part of the new cultural movement known as the La Vida Locash, Adrian Lux's music and productions have coupled nicely. Son of two musicians himself, Lux has often collaborated with his own parents for some of his musical productions. Racking up quite a few outstanding remixes, Lux still has yet to produce an albums worth of tracks himself. Something I am hoping he really does do!

For lack of better words, his tracks tingle all the senses with a sort of refreshing crispness; like crunching into fresh produce from the market chilled from refrigeration while still having that soft sweetness fruit can offer after being plucked off of a tree in the warm sun. His music sooths and invigorates yielding dance-ability as well as relax-ability.