As usual our blogging pace slows down during the summer when I take a well-needed vacation from all the blogging I haven't been doing. We're all very thankful for Jonny who's left to fend for the blog on his own. But today I thought I'd kick off my 2014-15 season. We have a lot of things that we've liked during the summer, and some of it we'll try to give you even if it might be a little late. But of course we'll guide you through the current of new stuff that constantly washes over the internets.
SO, let's start with something brand new when we premier PWNDTIAC and Douze's collaboration "Nightvision". And by new I mean old, since this is a track that the guys made some time ago. It's also "old" in the sense that it has a lot of that classic synthwave sound that we used to listen to so much. And perhaps after a couple of years of deep house, we're ready for some sort of revival-revival? Download the track for free on PWNDTIAC's Facebook page!
One of the releases we've liked a lot (but didn't blog) is PWNDTIAC's catchy filter funk track "Hey Girl" that makes you think of greats like Shannon, Jellybean and the likes. Including a colaboration with Digitalfoxglove and remixes by Justin Faust and Douze.
"Hey Girl" also has an awesome video that really catches the mood of the track perfectly:
Some news from Young Empires. First, they're last single "Enter Through the Sun", which we wrote about last month, has been remixed by our friend Digitalfoxglove. Secondly, they already have a new single out, called "White Doves". Thirdly, they are currently doing a mini tour in France. After shows last weekend in Rennes and Besançon, you have a chance to see this awesome live band in Paris on December 8.
While it was a while ago since Fear of Tigers released some music of his own (hopefully he's making the finishing touches on his upcoming sophomore album as we speak), he has a couple of interesting side-projects. Firstly, he has set up a pretty nice-looking website (see link above). Secondly, he's been making a really cool podcast show for quite a while now. On the show he brings in some really cool and interesting guests who give interviews and exclusive first listenings on new music, while Ben Tiger gets to show off his great radio voice (he used to run a radio show you know).
The latest couple of shows have featured the likes of Futurecop!, Edwin van Cleef, Justin Faust and Alan Braxe, while we especially recommend podcast number 7 recorded in Stockholm and featuring Mille, Sound of Arrows and an interview with a certain really cool Swedish music blog. Modesty forbids us to say which one. Check out all the shows on iTunes.
As if a podcast wasn't enough Mr Tigers is having a remix contest based on his track "Adventure of Pippi Longstrump". If you think you have what it takes, download all the stems from his website and send over the finished result (preferably as a Soundcloud stream) for evaluation from the expert jury consisting of Justin Faust, Edwin van Cleef, Futurecop! and Diamond Cut. The competition is running to September 5, and all the details including download links for the stems are on his website.
This means you can probably look forward to a lot of great remixes of Fear of Tigers here on Tracasseur. Here's the first one, courtesy of Digitalfoxglove:
Got this spaced out 80s disco track from Digitalfoxglove the other night while chatting. As always with his stuff, it's that perfect craftsmanship building a lovely tune. So get into your car and drive along the coast or jump into your space shuffle and set off into outer space while listening to "Someone Else".
The latest Binary release is pretty darned dope. It features the collaboration of the British synthpop duo Futurecop! and Keenhouse, who is one of the main acts of the LA based label/collective. The original is a warm and sunny dreamwave tune with a chorus that is a generous dose of Prosac in sonic form.
The remix support comes from a pleasant new acquaintance in Swiss Show Your Shoe, and a couple of familiar names in super-combo Ride The Universe (Fiero + Digitalfoxglove), and our buddy ODahl, who we haven't heard from in a while. Well that last bit is not entirely true; we met in a club a few weeks back, and for some unknown but obviously completely unjustified reason Olle pinched my nose so hard that I looked like Rudolph the raindeer for almost a week, which obviously is a very dated look in January.
Digitalfoxglove's latest project is a collaboration with Californian trio Fiero, whose remix of "Beasts and Flowers" will be included on the EP that is finally coming out in 2011, and will also include remixes by Diamond Cut and other cool people.
They call their project Ride The Universe and they have a lot baking in the oven. They have just finished a remix of Panda People, but future remixes include a soon to be released remix of RÜFÜS (which you can listen to a preview of on Ride The Universe's Soundcloud page), the new Fenech-Soler single "Demons" that will be released in January, and a remix of the collaboration between Futurecop! and Keenhouse, also in January.
Our friend Digitalfoxglove from Germany should be nervous right now. His team is up against Ghana in only one hour. The first match against Australia was a walk in the park but they lost against Serbia in the second. So now they have to win and as Digitalfoxglove said to me in the chat a while ago: "dare them Germans if they lose".
Speaking of Australia, Digitalfoxglove doesn't seem that he was nervous making the remix of Australian Kids At Midnight. Like always with Digitalfoxglove, it's great stuff. If I should give a simple explanation, he's a pro.
So with this post I want to give all my best to Germany and Australia. But I also cross my fingers for Serbia, because we got a lot of great fans there and we are going there this summer to play at the Exit Festival. Go Germany! Go Australia! Go Serbia!
So, after the coldest winter in decades, and after ticking off spring in a few days, summer has finally hit Stockholm. I took the chance to spend the weekend out in the archipelago to charge the batteries before heading back to the blog mines. Ah, who am I kidding? Blogging is pretty smooth sailing for Tracasseur. Not least since we have a staff of a thousand monkeys to write for us. Just tell them what you have listened to recently, and they come up with these interesting and funny posts.
Today we're happy to bring you Tracasseur favourite Digitalfoxglove's brand new remix of Plasma's "Crazy". Plasma is a trio hailing from Chur, Switzerland who makes energetic dance punk. You'll have the chance to check them out when they play at Open Air in St. Gallen on June 26.
Pete's DFG remix is literally a couple of hours old and we're happy that he wanted to share it exclusively with our readers. The original is a couple of months old though, and great remixes by the familiar faces of I'm not a Band and Neo Tokyo have been out there for a while.
Tracasseur have been walking around on a cloud the last couple of days, ever since we got this love declaration from Digitalfoxglove in a pink perfume-scented envelope. This means he loves us back!
Well ok, this mixtape didn't come about exactly like that. It was recorded during another live-streamed mixing/chatting session, and DFG's original idea was to only use tracks from our blog. That idea had eventually to be abandoned when we got caught up in a vivid discussion on how to solve World hunger, the meaning of life (or whatever we were discussing), and Pete forgot to look for another Tracasseur track. So you can say I shot ourselves in the foot there.
I managed to get the following out of Pete though. The EP he 's been working on for a while now will be out around July on On the Fruit Records, where he's now teamed up with Franck Freak You currently working on a very exciting EP release with a freshly signed filter house duo, and which we will have reason to come back to. On the remixing front Pete's have made this official remix for Hiras, which you can stream here:
Tracklist: 01. Kris Menace & Fred Falke - Enamoured 02. Overthrill - Life feat. Miss Wonder (Flashworx Remix) 03. Miami Horror - Sometimes (Universe Remix) 04. Flight Facilities - Crave You (B-Xentric Remix) 05. Pony Pony Run Run - Walking On A Line (Lifelike Radio Mix) 06. Florrie - Panic Attack (Justin Faust Remix) 07. MBlack - Heartbreak (Diamond Cut Remix) 08. Oh Shit and Night Drugs - Everybody Needs (The Phantom's Revenge Remix) 09. Technologic (Lebatman Rework) 10. poka - Believe 11. Housse de Racket - Oh Yeah! (Barretso Remix) 12. The Vanish - Hold On (Russ Chimes Remix) 13. Titan - Star T (Lebatman remix) 14. Louis La Roche - Be Brave 15. Phonat - Set Me Free 16. Bit Funk - ?????
Today we proudly present an exclusive interview with German electro star Peter Vincenz Wenk, better known as Digitalfoxglove. The interview came about in a rather unorthodox way. We got an email from him with his new remix of Leeds indie-band Heads We Dance and an invitation to ask for more information. Some emailing back and forth led to an improvised chat interview, complete with the soundtrack of his live-streamed mixing.
I’ve edited out some off-topic discussions, like the differences between Swedish and German Christmas foods and favourite rum drinks, but if you’re really interested you could email us and we’ll be happy to indulge you. It still has a chatty feel to it, so bare with us when we're jumping between the topics.
When the interview starts below, Peter had already told me about his plans for an album release in the summer. He had also played me a snippet of his upcoming track “Synthetic Sunshine”, which we’re eagerly anticipating.
First off, how did you come up with your name? I thought about a name and I wanted something... poisonous. A Foxglove is a deadly flower and then I added "digital" since I make electronic music.
You’re German. Where in Germany are you from? I'm living in Darmstadt, a small town near Frankfurt. If you would translate it to English it would be "Gut city", so well, it’s the end of the world…
Gut city, eh? Yeah, 'tarm' is gut in Swedish so it sounds about right.
(here we had a linguistical discussion about the similarities between Swedish and German and the influence of German on Swedish from the Middle Ages)
So when did your interest in music develop? Oh, that started really early when I was around twelve years old. I had just got my first computer and a good friend from school brought Impulse Tracker 2.14 (for DOS) to me. I think it was around 1994 or 1996. I messed around a lot in that little program; sampled a lot of stuff, crazy work for a dumb kid but it was so funny to play around with. When I turned 17 and started my everyday work I stopped making music till I was 23.
I listened to heavy metal and stuff and went through almost every genre. Then I met Aleks from Discodust. We were working at the same company for a while and are now good friends. He brought back my fire for electronic music. I'm 26 now so that was in the 90s..
So how did you make contact with On the Fruit Records? That also happened thanks to Aleks. He got me in contact with Franck (Freak You) and we both loved each other’s 'trash and unfinished tracks' folder so much that we decided to do a collaboration. Now we are really good friends too. One of my best I think despite the geographical distance (Franck lives in Antibes, France).
Speaking of your music, it’s no surprise that you say you listen to metal. You can sometimes hear that sort of guitar walls in your music that sounds a bit like French trash electro, but with a twist. I think that’s because I overused distortion on for example “Brassionata”, but I’ve left that style a bit. On the other hand I'm a big fan of Rammstein. I just received a fat banner of their new album. It’s three meters wide and one meter high. I’ll hang that over my screen. It says 'Love is there for everyone'…
That’s nice. So, trashing your old music are you, hehe? Yeah I'm going to change my style a bit. I’m trying to get a bit more funk mixed up with dreamwave and also some heavy passages.
Yeah, that sort of trashy French electro has evolved a bit hasn’t it? Yeah it has definitely. Speaking of that, I'm working together with Slaughterbrains too on a new track that shows the direction that I'm moving in.
(Here Pete played a snippet of the upcoming collaboration)
We recorded it via Skype during a live jamming session while having some drinks…
Sounds great! I think that you have a great feeling for melodies and harmonies, especially in the track with Freak You. Thank you. Well, I’ve never played any instruments, except drums when I was younger. Because our family was not very rich, I never got my own drum set and I had to find another way to make music.
So your musical influences are metal and Rammstein? Haha, no not really. Sure, I love metal but if I have to decide which music really influences me then that is some work of Miami Horror and all that nice sounding 80s stuff. But I really don’t have fixed genres that I like – I'm always trying to do different stuff, like the little dubstep influenced breakdown in my “Take my Picture” remix.
Do you dj? Yeah sometimes, but I'm focusing on production. Sure, djing is fun too and I think in 2010 I will play some more gigs. But what I'm often doing is djing online!
(at this point Pete sets up a stream and starts mixing live online, with our chat sprawling out to discussions over track selections, favourite drinks etc)
Do you play in any clubs in the Darmstadt area? I’ve just had two gigs so far. One was in Salzburg the other one in Dresden.
What’s your favourite music right now? Miami Horror – “Sometimes”, some Justin Faust stuff, the new Monsieur Adi – “We are the Romans” and of course Freak You's remix of it.
Tell me about the collaboration with him. How did it work? For “Beasts and Flowers” it was like... I did some melodies, especially chords and leads and some bells. Then I was talking to Franck and he said wow, let’s finish this one together! I exported what I had so far and then it was just taken to another level. So let’s say he did the polishing of everything and also was the man behind the nice bassline and the long sweeping chords that starts at about halfway into the track.
What’s your relation to these 8/16bit sounds? I mean I grew up playing videogames with these sounds. Oh, I love chip tunes! I'm a passionate C-64 fan. I had one since I was 10. I used to play Kikstart (a motocross game) on it, and Giana Sisters of course. I had an Amiga 500 too. I played with Protracker on it. And Firepower 2000 and North and South.
So what do you think will be the direction of "French electro" in the future? You were talking about more dreamwave stuff… That's not an easy question, but I think Kris Menace, Alan Braxe and other big ones have put that music to a whole new level. I think it will just get more… 'real'. With real instruments; live played bass and that sort of thing.
Thanks for the chat and the great music and good luck!
So, I've tried to sum up the music year of 2009 in 15 tracks, and man oh man was that hard. Women giving birth often think that is hard. Luke Skywalker probably thought hitting that shaft on the Death Star with those torpedoes was hard. But none of that compares to having to weed down a 50 or 60 tracks long shortlist to just 15.
In the end people like Baxter, Chromeo, Neon Workout, Cassian, Lebatman, Beaumont, PH Groove, FM Attack, and Pelifics along with bigshots like Bag Raiders, Midnight Juggernauts, Lifelike and Fred Falke (and all the others I've forgot to mention) were axed. But I'll stop bitching and get right to it.
#15. Severin - The Edge of a Sunday (Breakbot Remix) Breakbot had a huge year in 2008, but there came a couple of gems this year too. I chose the Severin remix, even if the Yuksek one also was a favourite and also could have made the list. With an album coming out in 2010, expect to hear more from France's funkiest.
#14. Edwin Van Cleef - OvertakenEdwin van Cleef was another one who spit out excellent tracks on almost a weekly basis in late 2008 and early 2009. After some label troubles he finally released "Overtaken" on his own label this fall. Despite releasing a bunch of great remixes this was my favourite Cleef track of the year. It's just filled with such energy!
#13. GRUM - Runaway (Calling In Sick Remix) From Leeds to Leeds and to Van Cleef's roommate GRUM. There's a place that should have some decent music at the afterparties... Both of them manage to transform their sound beyond the trash electro à la Justice they both had come to master into something new, while not losing a bit of their star quality. GRUM made so many great remixes this year, with Friendly Fire's "Skeleton Boy" narrowly missing my chart. His own "Runaway" release was epic as well with the great original accompanied with just as great remixes. Calling in Sick's was my favourite though.
#12. Elke - Blue Dream Lover (Youth Remix)Elke is one of those Australian bands that really makes you realize that the success of other Australian bands like Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, Empire of the Sun and The Presets isn't just a fluke or an undeserved hype. The music scene down under really seems to be next to infinite with great bands a dime a dozen. The incredible thing is that the electro scene seems equally big with electro DJs and producers also a dime a dozen. That's two dimes a dozen! Brisbane-based Youth's nu disco odyssey is both beautiful and danceable.
#11. French Horn Rebellion vs. Database - Beaches and Friends (Hey Champ Remix) The Brazilian maximalism from São Paulo's Database made up a big part of the soundtrack to the spring. Their energetic disco edits were on high rotation and the Phyllis Hyman edit could have made the list. One track that did is Hey Champ's remix of their collaboration with French Horn Rebellion. Rockford's Cut Copy, who combines making great pop tunes with their band while making awesomely funky house remixes, continues to be one of the most underrated acts in the music world. Such a great bassline on this one.
#10. Friendly Fires - Jump In The Pool (Thin White Duke Remix)I haven't listened to that much indie rock the last couple of years, but when I rarely do one of my favourite bands are indie dancers Friendly Fires. Their self-titled debut from 2008 included so many great singles which in turn resulted in even more great remixes (I've already mentioned GRUM's "Skeleton Boy"). Stuart Price aka Les Rythmes Digitales made a string of great remixes under his Thin White Duke guise. The "Jump in the Pool" remix was a match made in heaven.
#9. Holy Ghost! - I Will Come Back (Classixx Acapulco Nights Version) Classixx had a great year with their hit "I'll Get You" and countless terrific remixes. Their blend of ultra-cool nu disco and lo-fi house was a big influence on the sound of 2009. Their remix of Brooklyn funksters Holy Ghost! took the cake though.
#8. Visitor - Los Feeling (Monsieur Adi Remix) Visitor's "Los Feeling" was one of the most blogged and most remixed tracks. Fear of Tigers, Flashmen, Gentlemen Thieves, Digitalfoxglove and Wonder, Flashworx and Freak You were among those who gave it a shot and did it well. Monsieur Adi came out on top though.
#7. Paul - I Feel Change Paul haven't got the attention he deserves yet, despite being posted on Valérie. He stood out as one of the major renewers of the French touch scene, combining the house sound of Lifelike with more of pop music. He released a string of great tracks so picking out a favourite was hard, but given that we hadn't posted it for some reason, I chose "I Feel Change".
#6. Miami Horror - Sometimes Miami Horror reinforced his standing as one of the greatest stars of Aussie electro. Fewer remixes this year than in previous years but some great releases on his own. Like the "Bravado" EP and of course one of the most epic singles of the year, "Sometimes".
#5. kamp! - Breaking A Ghost's Heart (ODahl Remix) ODahl was one of our finds of the year, even if I was tipped off by a friend in Poland. His remix of Empire of the Sun's "Walking on a Dream" was a big favourite, and was close to making the list. In the end the remix of Polish band kamp! was marginally better. Something I know Olle agrees with since he's told me he thinks this is the best track he's ever done.
#4. Digitalfoxglove feat. Freak You - Beasts and Flowers The collaboration between On The Fruit's Digitalfoxglove and Freak You resulted in one of the best intros of all time. Digitalfoxglove was one of all producers who moved away from the trashy electro sound to something else. In his case that gave him more room for his great sense for melodies and harmonies. Add Freak You's funky bass and you end up with this dancefloor stormer.
#3. Coeur De Pirate - Comme Des Enfants (Le Matos Andy Carmichael Remix) Le Matos was really one of the biggest favourites for all of us in the spring. They just had (and still have) such a unique fuse of beautiful pop melodies and pumping techno. They made a bunch of awesome remixes and tracks of their own (especially in the first part of the year), but when adding the delicate voice of Coeur de Pirate we got a track that was loved by everyone, no matter if you liked club music or not.
#2. Tesla Boy - Spirit Of The Night Tesla Boy must have made one of the more meteoric rises to stardom in 2009. I was on to them by word of mouth from our eastern European connection and was immediately hooked on their blend of 80s sounding electro pop and new wave. Then they were posted by Valérie and the rest is history. The promo EP (that we daringly posted) contained five tracks that were such great pop tunes all of them, so the favourite was a close call. But in the end "Spirit of the Night" narrowly edged out "Runaway Man". Now we're all looking forward to the album which will be out early 2010.
#1. Fear of Tigers - I Can Make The Pain Disappear Fear of Tigers really affirmed himself as one of the greatest and most innovative producers in electronic music right now. He made a couple of my all time favourite tracks in 2008 (the remix of Pnau's "With You forever" is still my top track on Last.fm), and yet the release of his debut album this fall blew my mind. He combines music from all over the place into such a unique sound. From the eighties and nineties to the naughties, from electro and house to indie, his music transcends all genres. From a whole album full of perfect tens the opening track was the eleven.
They duo are from London and Visitor is the name of the band. They used to be known as Cobra Dukes but not any more then. I really like the turn from the Dukes to a more kind of catchy indietronica with greater ambitions.
"Too Far Gone" is their second release and it's brand new. It's going to be a hot tune!
The song "Los Feeling" came out about a month ago and found the blogosphere right away. So now there is a lot of good remixes of that song out there. I have chosen to post these one's where I believe they are all pretty damn good in their own kind of way. The "Rough Mix" is actually the original song.
Freak You is Franck from Antibes. He seems to be leading quite an agreeable life; living on the French riviera, running a wineshop (naturally) and the excellent label On The Fruit, as well as producing great electro or French touch tracks. So, if Freak You is a bottle of well-aged Château Pétrus, Digitalfoxglove from Hessen, Germany would perhaps be a nice Riesling. Mix them together and you'll... well, ruin two fine wines, but get this little gem of a track. The bouquet is filled with synth strings that seem cut out of an 80's movie, a sawing bassline and long menacing build-ups. I especially love the sharp handclaps. Perhaps I should have brought this to you earlier, but I think a week of lying in our mp3 cellar while I was out of town did it good.
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