Solotechne

Mike O'Shea from North Carolina is the architect behind the brand new Solotechne Records.

Solotechne Records features solo electronic music artists and features three artists one of which is the previously Motif-ed, JVG

JVG, a brilliant electronic music-maker from St.Pete, Florida, has been making music for as long as he can remember. He started making musically electronically around the end of his late band New South Whales. Anyway, his sound has come a long way and seems to be maturing exponentially in myriad ways.

His debut EP, Last Night I Had A Dream We All Died and Became Trees is finally up for streaming on the Solotechne bandcamp page. CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!!!

Also you can download the first Solotechne mixtape featuring tunes from Kinjac, Toaster Bath, and JVG. So be good listeners and spread the word like peanut butter!

Enjoy!

http://solotechne.bandcamp.com/album/solotechne-records-mixtape-001

DJ Name/ Last Night's KPCW Setlist

alright readers,

Epaulettes, my defacto DJ name until now, has officially been declared too hard too spell. For that reason I am changing it among other reasons.

The new name will be Torso, a name I've been into for sometime. As of April 30th the url of this website will be changed to torso.blogspot.com

The blog will be continued to go under the name Motif.

Also last night, I did a substitute gig on the radio. Nice for a change to play a Saturday night.

Hour 1

Tits & Acid- Simian Mobile Disco
Born Free- M.I.A
Changes- David Bowie
Drunk Girls- LCD Soundsystem
The Plot- White Rabbits
Bodysnatchers- Radiohead
Y Sabes Bien- Los Zafiros
Cell Mates- Mariachi El Bronx
Deadbeat Summer- Neon Indian
What Would I Want? Sky- Animal Collective
Quitter's Raga- Gold Panda
Serged (Faltydl Remix)- Mount Kimbie

Hour 2

Accept the New- Theophilus London
Olympics on Pot- The Ruby Suns
Salamero(for JVG) mixtape (excerpt)- Epaulettes
Red Lady- Phil Cordell

Mini Mansions, Here We Go Magic, White Rabbits concert review

April 20th @ The Urban Lounge

Rarely does a concert with three bands appear to have such a definite theme as this one. While each bands makes very different music the common thread was the use of stand-up drummers.

Pounding away on a double floor tom, cymbal combination Michael Shuman and his band Mini Mansions were the un-announced opening-opening band. Not knowing what to expect these guys took the stage and proceeded to play five or six numbers. There songs really floored me in their sophistication. This LA band takes its music quite seriously. Surely these guys are going to get bigger. Afterwards I talked with Michael about the set and the LA indie rock scene. It appears that we have a mutual acquaintance in the band Red Arrow Messengers whose show at the Phoenix Gallery in Park City was a venue I DJed at during Sundance.

Before their set, Luke Temple, obviously not partial to green room apartheid was walking about the venue with a frosty beer enjoying the opening band. I briefly discussed his Here We Go Magic project's first album with him. Truly one of my favorite 2009 albums, the opener Only Pieces didn't disappoint.

At about 10:30, Here We Go Magic took the stage with Pete, the rather tall drummer, Luke Temple out front and a keyboardist, back-up guitarist and bassist. Additionally on percussion was Matt Clark, who kept the night going with it percussion theme.

Indeed Here We Go Magic lives up to its reputation as a live act. While their sound on the album wouldn't appear to neatly translate to the stage, the opposite is true. These guys brought such fresh exuberance to their show that the audience couldn't help but be into it. Indeed Here We Go Magic did something I hadn't seen in some time and did it quite succesfully I might add, and that thing is jam. Most of their songs have sort of hypnotizing vamp somewhere in whether it is the the slow chant of "Only Pieces" where the highlight was two members of White Rabbits plus Shuman from Mini-Mansions on percussion adding a dynamic tribal thunder, or "Collector" the single from their upcoming album, Pigeons, which has a krautrock-esque pulse. By the time they closed with "Tunnelvision" everyone was craving their stuff. The venue which had been relatively empty for Mini Mansions was no semi-full and wouldn't only get more full as it approached sold-out capacity for White Rabbits.

Having heard their new album It's Frightening, I must admit I had low expectations from these guys. The album on first listen came across as sort of derivative, especially considering the Britt Daniel production duties. However, with percussionist Matt Clark leading the energy along with his fellow well-dressed comrades, I was pleasantly surprised. Openly with the opener off of their first album "For Nightly" these guys for one thing know how to write a setlist. Each preceeding tune felt like exactly what needed to be played. The band, a six-member affair, wastes no time between songs and played an intense set with no breaks until about one in the morning. At which point it was time for the dark and windy drive back up the canyon from SLC to Park City.

Bringing a Screening of Beyond Ipanema to Park City

For those who read the post about the new doc, Beyond Ipanema, you might have detected a despondent note. Well fear no more. I am taking matters into my own hands and bringing a screening to Park City (SLC Area).

The screening will be a true event, with a possible cocktail hour/DJ Set/party to follow the screening.

In order to get the screening here I need to gauge an initial response. I need to make sure I get enough response to cover costs. Please if you're interested, or know anyone who could be interested, please let me know via either post comment, or e-mail.

Recommend Listening

FaltyDl- Love is a Liability
LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening (available for online streaming)
Max Richter- 24 Postcards in Full Color
Archie Bronson Outfit- Coconut
Dosh- Tommy
Gold Panda-Quitter's Raga EP
Delorean- Subiza
Monguito- "El Unico"
Maria y Jose- Kibose EP
Poirier- Runnin' High

Radio Setlist from Monday 4-19-2010

hour 1

Buffalo Springfield- JVG (www.myspace.com/jvgmusic)
Winter '05- Ra Ra Riot
Drunk Girls- LCD Soundsystem
Stranger- Dr. Dog
Boy Lilikoi- Jonsi
Real Life- Tanlines
Vibrationz- Javelin
Sun Lake Rinsed- The Ruby Suns
From Africa to Malaga- jj
Heaven can Wait (Grizzly Bear Remix)- Charlotte Gainsbourg
Chorus- Primary 1

hour 2

Sweet Disposition- The Temper Trap
Stay Close- Delorean
Home- The Suzan
Maximalist- Baths
Quitter's Raga- Gold Panda
You Belong- Hercules & Love Affair
Embers- Praveen & Benoit
Dance to the Music- Sly & the Family Stone
It's Alright (On the Suez Canal)- Leisure
Cell Mates- Mariachi El Bronx
Collector- Here We Go Magic
Theologians- Wilco
Alerta- Isa ft. GT

hour 3

Thieves in the Night- Hot Chip
Stylo- Gorillaz
Weak for Me- Nite Jewel
Deus e o Amor- Gal Cost
Foux du Fafa- Flight of the Conchords
Dear Friend- Emanuel and the Fear
Sitting Here- Slow Animal
Beast of Burden- Rolling Stones
Staying in Love- Raphael Saadiq
Monguit0- Vida, que Beso!
Dusty Fruit- The Ruby Suns

tune in a week from next Monday for the next show.

Some Dubstep Recommendations

In the current dubstep-idm-"post-whatever" beat scene explosion, there is a wealth of great material.

Dubstep, the vague catch-all term for this current style, has been around for a couple years and comes out of the UK Garage scene. While there are some common traits (starting with skittish beats, and subchaining, or that "breathing quality" to the track) the sound can be wildly different and in my experience breaks down roughly (very roughly) into two camps. First you've got your slower more "wonky" dubstep (wonky because it has that wawawawawa synth sound) as characterized by Rusko. On the otherside you have what Praveen, founder of Percussion Lab, calls "Lovestep". This "Lovestep" is in my eyes epitomized by Burial's "Untrue". Burial, arguably the first dubstep great, hails from Bristol, the semi-official birthplace of dubstep.

However these categories quickly break-down when one considers the scope of the sound. From the Dub (as in the kind from jamaica) flair of The Bug to the glitchy-tendency of many Warp veterans, the current electronic music vanguard is as all vanguards are, beyond any neat description. Hyperdub's "5:Five years of Hyperdub" compilation indeed takes a look at a large swath of this sound. However, Joker, with his simplistic melodies and low BPMs seems to be onto something completely different from Flying Lotus's idiosyncratic "post-hip-hop" stylings or Zomby with his strange "post-club" offerings. Yet both appear on the same track. Perhaps at the heart of the sound is a certain urban quality, as if the music represents the fractured souls of our metropolitan climates.

As a sincere fan of the "album-as-a-coherent-statement" view, I of course have to offer my list of favorite dubstep albums. It is here, I must make the disclaimer, that I am no expert on the music, indeed I almost doubt that anyone truly is, the way one could be an expert of say a romantic-era classical music. The music is characterized by being in flux; an elusive set of new tracks, sounds, new micro-genres, sub-genres, scenes, etc.

Anyway here are some that have gotten to me

FaltyDL- Love is a Liability
2652- Unbalance
Burial- Untrue & S/T
Flying Lotus- Los Angeles
Zomby- Where Were U in 92?
The Clonious- Between the Dots
King Midas Sound- Waiting For You

Embedded here is an entertaining video posted by Xlr8r a while back about featuring FaltyDl talking about his music while rolling an Atlantic Roll.

This is Happening: New LCD Soundsystem Record

Well its finally available for listening. LCD Soundsystem's third album is available on the band website for streaming at www.lcdsoundsystem.com/thisishappening

Indeed expectations are high for James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem. This is to be his third record, with his last two being two of the finest records of the past decade (which is now technically over).
A more detailed review of the album will come later. As of now, all I'd like to say is that anyone and everyone should go on and stream this new one. It is that good. Fittingly, the album will only stream straight through, or, in other words, no skipping around for singles. It is a dynamic album with only nine tunes but only one tune below five minutes long.

Delorean and Miike Snow at the Urban Lounge

April 10th, 2010 @ Urban Lounge

No one could ever hold the Urban Lounge's intimacy against it. As my first concert there, I was pleasantly surprised at how the venue with its stage at the perfect height, condensed wooden dance-floor, and dash of grunge factor add up to a first-rate enjoyable concert experience.

First things first, I was there to see Delorean. As I've confessed before I have an automatic affinity for bands from Barcelona. Delorean definitely fits the category. I've posted the video to their newest single "Stay Close" off of Subiza, which is available as a pre-order on the Matador Records website. For obvious reasons, my excitement to see them was palpable.

Logically, when I saw Ehki, the lead singer/bassist, walk over to the bar inconspicuously for a drink, I took the opportunity to introduce myself. Sure enough five minutes later they were to go on and we were to continue our conversation after the show. I was struck at his kindness and utter lack of pretension.

Delorean's set was short but sweet. It was anchored by three blissed out versions of "Grow", "Real Life" "Stay Close" as well as two other tracks off of Subiza. What they may have lacked in soundchecked levels they made up for in intensity and fun.

Sure enough after the show I spent thirty minutes or so chatting it up with the guys from Delorean. We chatted about everything from overdevelopment on the Spanish Coast, why Menorca is cooler than Mallorca, making music professionally, the strange influence of Pitchfork, the craziness of New York, and why La Barceloneta is such a cool neighborhood. Go out and support these guys. They are good people making good music. en fin.



After Delorean's set, the crowd thickened as the folks in peripheries migrated towards the stage to witness Miike Snow. Indeed the crowd was pretty well liquored-up by the time the lights dimmed and the smoke machines turned on.

Miike Snow's debut album isn't bad. That said it didn't blow me away either and my expectations were subsequently non-existent. However from the first moment where the band descends in matching white plastic phantom masks, you could tell these guys meant to bring it live. And they did.

Their live show oscillates manically between a trance-inducing heart-pumping DJ set and a rock show. The band has three members however their are six people on stage for the live performance. Two men are off to the side turning knobs as if they were some plotting electro DJs while lead-singer Andrew Wyatt moves between the mic, a keyboard, and his elvis-costello style hollow-body guitar. Additionally there is another guy on drums and two more guys playing assorted electronic gizmos.

What makes the show beyond the scientific maximization of every musical moment they have, is more specifically the light show, which moves in impressive sync with the music. During the fan favorite set closer, Animal, the strobe-light crescendo had the entire audience in a strange brew of awed disbelief and trance-inducing dance.

After the show I had the chance to ask Andrew about the performance to which he responded, "Hard work. This whole thing is really little more than an enormous amounts of practice and effort." Indeed it pays off big time.

All the photo credit belongs exclusively to Peter of Salt Lake City.
Go out and support these bands and live music!

This Week's Recommended Listening

The Oscillations:Sine- Muhsinah
Mess Detective- Primary 1
Songs Spun Simla- Praveen & Benoit
No Mas!- Javelin
When Man is Full He Falls Asleep- Epstein y El Conjunto
Listen- Emanuel and The Fear
Dark Rift- Pictureplane
Slow Animal EP- Slow Animal
Liquid Liquid- Liquid Liquid
Bossa Cubana- Los Zafiros