DOWNLOAD: Dada Life - Giant August Mix 2009 (MP3)

Pilooski @ Brooklyn Bowl - Sept. 26, 2009

Last week was great music-wise! On the less dancey side of things, Gonzales showcased his great talent behind the piano, not to mention a hilarious sense of humor at Joe's Pub friday night. Early Saturday night Phoenix rocked Central Park to perfection, followed by a late night dj set from Pilooski at Brooklyn Bowl, completing the weekend's trifecta of musical talents from Paris.

Pilooski's set lived up to the two I witnessed previously. Starting at 1:15, and deejaying nearly 2 hours, Pilooski treated the modest sized but seriously moving crowd to a great variety of highly danceable tunes. From some of his own expert edits ("Crawfish" by Elvis, "Beggin' " by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, etc.), to disco, to even some harder sounding electro, Pilooski yet again, showed New York how a wonderfully diverse dj set could still be extremely cohesive and get everyone dancing. Yes, he's already been here three times this year, but I can't wait until Pilooski is back again. In the meantime, here's what's going on this week, starting with Thursday (10/1):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) (Dada Life, Tim Exile, Annie Mac, free Martyn & Micachu tickets & more) "

DOWNLOAD: Marcos Cabral DJ Mix - OTPMIX02 (MP3)

Josh Link is remembered @ Santos this Wednesday

Hopefully you've had a good week in dance so far. I've yet to hit any dancefloors this week, but plan on making up for it on Saturday (9/26):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) "

Esser & Datarock on stage together (rugbarn)

Hopefully you made it out Thursday & Friday. I did not, so we're heading right into what's happening this weekend:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

DOWNLOAD: Tim Sweeney Live @ Sunday Best - August 16 (MP3)

Joakim

It's been a very exciting week in dance, with both Bassment Jaxx and Royksopp show announcements. Unfortunately we still have to wait a few months before those happen. In the meantime, here is what's going on this weekend:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) (Joakim, Michna, Theo Parrish, Holy Ghost, Soul Bowl, the Drums & more) "

Pilooski @ the Scion Radio party @ Plan B - August 11, 2009

It's been an interesting week in dance so far. Tuesday night Pilooski was great, as expected, at the Scion party at Plan B. Unfortunately nearly everyone there was in "hang out & BS" mode instead of dancing. At any given time there was probably a maximum of 5 people dancing which was frustrating. You can lead a horse to water...I had an excellent time anyway and hopefully people will dance more when Pilooski is back here on September 26 (location tba).

Wednesday night at Le Poisson Rouge was the complete opposite. The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band opened for Friendly Fires and there was a pretty good amount of dancing going on during their set. Their sound is kind of like a blend of classic rock with hints of funk & soul which I'm not sure how I feel about yet. They were super enthusiastic and fun to watch though.

Unfortunately, immediately after their set, things started to go downhill. Set-up and sound check for Friendly Fires was over an hour and I was standing next to a very drunk & annoying girl (not to be confused with the one at Thursday's show) and matching friend. Despite the extensive set-up, when Friendly Fires finally started the sound was not great! The vocals sounded off to begin with and lead vocalist Ed McFarlane's habit of intermittently pulling the mic away from his mouth as he sings (which usually is not a problem) sounded like a cd skipping at times because the band was so loud. The band's addition of a little horn section to the mix was interesting at first, but ultimately seemed unnecessary most of the time. Removed from these couple of things everything else was typically awesome Friendly Fires. Everyone was dancing away, but I couldn't really get into it after the hour+ wait.

Hopefully things will be better this Saturday (8/15), but before we get into that...last Saturday was the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival (BEMF). This was my first time going to the festival, which is now in its second year. Heading there after Dark Disco in the Park, I arrived at the Old American Can Factory around 8 to see a decent-sized crowd hanging out in the courtyard. There was a nice set-up of food vendors in the back, opposite the main stage, a bar down a little alleyway, and a second stage indoors. Nobody was really dancing when I got there as Jupiter One's set had just ended, but within a few minutes that changed when OCD Automatic went on, playing a nice little mix of some electro favorites (like Mylo, which I haven't heard out in ages).

At this point I was still exploring the space and getting my bearings...when I went inside and saw Plant Music's Kap10Kurt was on I was really excited as I've come very close but have never actually succeeded in seeing one of his sets. Unfortunately this time was no different since he was done by the time I figured out the bar/drink tickets situation and got back to the stage.

Young Love (who I've seen before and am not a fan of) was on the main stage and I was beginning to realize that forgetting to print out the schedule of performers was not the best move. I spent most of the night scurrying inside and outside to see who was on and hit a lull pretty early on where I didn't like the acts on either stage for a while.

Thankfully around 10, Free Blood (who I had never seen before) went on. I really enjoyed the live guitar over the electronics in the background and Madeline and John have a really good dynamic.

From there things really heated up. JDH & Dave P were deejaying when Shy Child soundchecked over them pretty loudly (which I thought was really rude at first, until I realized that's how pretty much everyone was doing it the entire night). Thankfully JDH & Dave P were able to resume where they left off after Shy Child's set, bringing the packed courtyard's dancing to a frenzied pace by the time the Juan Maclean went on.

At that point I was exhausted and wasn't really looking forward to their set, since the last time I saw the Juan Maclean back in October I did not enjoy their performance at all. The only reason I stuck around was to see how the show would compare to that performance. As soon as they began I was glad I decided to stay.

From the get-go I could tell it was going to be a totally different show. All the somber, underwhelming slow disco jams were gone, and Nancy Whang wasn't straining her vocals this time. Juan and the band played track after upbeat track including newer ones like "One Day" and "Happy House" (which you can see videos of, along with the Juan Maclean tour dates here) and oldies but goodies like "Give Me Every Little Thing". The whole set was very lively & bouncy and everything sounded great (from the synths to the drums to...the theramin) as the modern disco's vibes permeated the crowd. The crowd was accordingly losing it, and it was the most wild Juan Maclean show I have ever been to. It was a great ending to BEMF (for me...the festival went on for hours more, but I was done for the night).

This weekend there is no rain in sight and there are plenty of opportunities to dance outside! Make the most of this good weather (though there are some indoor events too), starting with Saturday (8/15):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

DOWNLOAD: Jarvis Cocker - Angela (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jarvis Cocker - You're In My Eyes (Discosong - Pilooski mix) (MP3)

Jarvis Cocker kicked off a very short North American tour at V Fest in Vancouver last night (7/26).

British singer Jarvis Cocker is a funny dude. The former frontman of Pulp, he's as witty as they come. He questioned whether the audience had been struck by lightning last night, then quipped, "You look remarkably well."

Musically, too, he and his band were solid. (Rumour has it a conversation Richard Branson had with Cocker back in the '90s was the impetus behind the original V-Fest in 1996.)

Although, I have to say, I'm enjoying Cocker's banter with the audience (a bit one-sided, however) more. "Did anyone go swimming in the lake?" he asked. "Good, it's forbidden."
[The Vancouver Sun]

There was rain and lightning in Vanvouver over the weekend too. In NYC Jarvis's show is on Thursday, July 30th at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg (moved from the much larger Terminal 5). Little Joy opens. It is sold out. It was sold out the second they moved it from T5 which means people that waited to get tickets (or who would have bought tickets if they knew it was going to be at Music Hall in the first place) got shut out. There's now one more chance to get in. We have one pair of tickets to give away. Details are below.

And speaking of giveaways, Cocker is currently giving away a remix of a song off his new album, Further Complications, which came out in May on Rough Trade. The remix in question, "You're In My Eyes (Discosong)," done by French DJ Pilooski, is available at jarviscocker.net and above. "Angela," off the new record, is also above.

Contest details and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Jarvis Cocker time - win tickets to MHOW, get a free remix"

DOWNLOAD: 2020 Soundsystem - Sliding Away (Johnny D remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Moodymanc - Facing Forwards, Looking Backwards mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Viking - April Showers Bring May Flowers mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kid Cudi - Dat New New (Viking remix) (MP3)

Moderat @ MHOW (poejarker)

Last week in dance was by far, one of the best I've had this year. Things were off to a rocky start Friday night when APT's last minute closing left Disco 3000 temporarily homeless, before it was moved to Le Poisson Rouge. Unfortunately word didn't seem to get out fast enough, leaving very few disco revelers on LPR's dancefloor. Fortunately Disco 3000 will be back in just a few weeks (June 19) and Trus'me will be back deejaying here next weekend for what seems to be a dance party meets circus, And Everyone Laughed.

Back to last weekend...after a fairly tame Friday night, Saturday night was very busy. I started my evening by heading to Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Moderat. From there the plan was to head to Mr. Saturday Night (which was thankfully at a loft not too far away) to see Pilooski.

Unfortunately things did not go exactly as planned. Moderat were supposed to go on at 1. Modeselektor's shows usually clock in around an hour so I figured Moderat's would be similar and I might be a little late for Pilooski (who I heard was going on at 2). Moderat's show was about an hour...but it didn't start until 1:50! I had made the decision to attempt to go to both, fully aware that this might happen so I just crossed my fingers that Mr. Saturday Night was running behind and tried to enjoy Moderat.

continued below...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) (2020 Soundsystem, Moby, Chromeo, Moderat & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Damian Lazarus - Dr. Whiskers Theme (MP3)

Pilooski @ Mutek in Montreal - May 28, 2009 (Thesorus)

No dancefloor destruction to report yet, but that will definitely be changing this weekend. There's so much good stuff headed our way, starting with...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) "

by Finger on the Pulse

DOWNLOAD: The Pointer Sisters - Send Him Back (Pilooski Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Franki Valli - Beggin' (Pilooski Remix) (MP3)

Pilooski made a big splash on international dance floors last year with his smoothed out electro remix of Frank Valli's classic hit "Beggin"....

The out-of-print edit just got picked up by UK label 679 for an officially licensed re-release; they call it an "euphoric fusion of emotional Northern soul stomper and end-of-the-night, hands-in-the-air rave moment...simply great feel good dance music that's set to sound as good on daytime radio as it already does at a club." We agree! [FADER]

Now he's back with another amazing remix of another classic jam, "Send Him Back" by The Pointer Sisters. Download it above, check out his Pilooski Edits page for a sneak peak of more to come, and watch the Franki Valli remix video below....

Continue reading "Pilooski remixes The Pointer Sisters - MP3 & Franki Valli too"