Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) needs no introduction, especially since he is one of the most prolific artist's of the year. But on the other hand I just cant be sure that you have or are aware of his early remixes and deep cuts; and that's simply a risk I am not willing to take.
So I will put up some of my favourite classic Four Tet tracks and remixes to warm you up to the hot new remixes he just put out. If you hear something you like, you know what to do.
Fridge - Of (Eph LP, 1999) (Fridge was Kieran's band before his solo work as Four Tet)
Untangle (Pause LP, 2001)
Everything is Alright (Pause LP, 2001)
She Moves She (Rounds LP, 2003)
(personal fave) Unspoken (Rounds LP, 2003 - Piano from Tori Amos' Winter)
Swimmer (Ringer EP, 2008)
Burial and Four Tet - Moth (Moth/Wolf Cub EP, 2009)
Thought I would round off and bring clear focus to the sound found in these two older posts (here and here). Dont worry, no o.c.d'ed attempts to start a series this time :)
I will leave it up to you discover the artists below if you hear something you like.
My brief intro is this: Over the past 4 years a sound has emerged that has more recently been picking up momentum and therefore attention. Inspired by Burial's epic emotive genre-evolving [dubstep] Untrue LP and The Knife's edgy-yet-melodic Silent Shout LP, this sound-now-genre is best described as 'ghostly slow-moving electro-pop', but has come to take on a few other handles, like 'drag', 'witch house', or even 'haunted house'. The term 'drag' seems most relevant, but only for its historical import as it was the word used to describe the screwed, chopped and syrupy hip-hop style of DJ Screw and others in Houston in the 90's. Salem, seemingly the first band to bring attention to this slow and dark electo-pop, used this name to describe their sound because they were making twisted and chopped hip-hop but with heavy, spooky synths and creepy vocal samples. So in spite of the sound now being a kind of pop, it more closely resembles hip-hop, Houston hip-hop, but with the added elements of dub, goth, electro, ambient house, and contemporary pop. Interestingly, its twisted, drudging and druggy poppy hip-hop sound is creating a global non-local scene that is independent of the indie scene and is connecting and building through the internet. And for some ephemeral reason through the music the dissenting and scattered bedroom community is palpable and generating a kind of warm nostalgia for the halcyon days of the genre's underground and subversive beginnings that were intimately and seemingly innocently 'tied to [cough] syrup abuse' and budget mixtapes.
The take home point here is that, at present, this genre is populated by just a handful of artists, Salem, OoOoOO, Balam Acab, White Ring, Creep, and Fostercare, all of which (except for Salem) have started up in the past year and all of which (including Salem) have come from different musical backgrounds and influences. These previously unconnected beginner producers provide the genre with a refreshingly varied musical soundscape in spite of the fact that all are working from the same dark, thick and twisted aesthetic. The one thing that is obvious in the sound is the thing that in my mind ensures the artists and the genre relative longevity - the artists love and respect for music of almost any genre.
Balam Acab - See Birds EP (fs) "fear, nostalgia, bliss, sadness, euphoria, beauty, peace, dreams, loneliness, longing, i want you to get lost..." See Birds by BALAM ACAB
Pink Priest - Tell Me Something Awesome Before I Go to Sleep (Balam Acab Remix) (right click save as here here)
BONUS: Salem - Streets of Philadelphia (Springsteen cover) (right click save as here) Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia (fs) (Official Music Video)
I just put it together that the sweet track Heaven from Danish born proto-sensation Kasper Bjork is a cover of a 1981 Rolling Stones track - off the Tattoo You album. Everyday I like the Stones more.
The Rolling Stones - Heaven
Kasper Bjork - Heaven
Kasper then commissioned Nicolas Jaar and Prins Thomas for remixes. (DL''s at the bottom)
Lee Jones is a seasoned stalwart in the dance music business. Starting in Essex, England from parents who 'were never that into music', Lee managed to be playing the piano at a young age and soon after took up guitar and bass. Growing up he gravitated towards easy-listening and 80's pop, preferring the softer side of things to the heavy rock of the time. So he got big into melodic bands like the Smiths, the Cure and Depeche Mode and expanded into the melodic beats of hip hop while studying theater and film at university. His love of hip hop bled into trip hop in '94 when he heard Mo Wax and the first Portishead album Dummy.
Being taken, as most of us were by the burgeoning downtempo movement, Lee got involved musically and in the late 90's started producing and performing as Hefner (named after Hugh Hefner, who Lee thought was the 'coolest guy on the planet' at the time). As Hefner he released 3 EP's, one LP entitled Residue and a heap of remixes for heavyweights like 4Hero, Zero 7, Cinematic Orchestra, and Lamb. To say the sound of Hefner was warmly received is a gross understatement, as Residue became a quintessential piece of the downtempo movement.
So lets take a moment and hear some Hefner.
Controversy, a Prince cover, is one of Lee's personal favorites. It features Josée on vocals and was released on a compilation called If I Was Prince on Rex Records (a sub label of XL) and more recently on K7's Tribute to Prince Compilation (2008).
Lee wrote a follow up LP to Residue with Josée on vocals and writing the lyrics, but the label didn't like it so much. So it was released under Josée, and titled Lost Souls Dancing. It featured Shuggies Shoes, Lee's firm salute to the legendary Shuggie Otis.
As Hefner, he toured extensively with a band and became a resident at the London club Plastic People. There he dj'ed along side J Swinscoe (from the awesome Cinematic Orchestra)playing soul, funk, broken-beat, trip-hop and downtempo. But it was around this time at Plastic People that downtempo began boring Lee, so in 2002 he moved to Berlin to develop his dj skills and be exposed to the minimal house and techno club music. As he says, he 'heard Dixon playing and the rest is history'.
But roughly, the history goes that inspite of Hefner's success Lee still had to work his way up as a dj in Berlin. It wasn't until 2007-08 that he got to play at peak time. Helping this rise was his work with/as MyMy, a collaboration started in 2005 between Nick Höppner (now Panorama Bar resident and Ostgut Ton label-head) and for some time Carsten Klemann. The three-then-two released a bunch of EP's, a ton of remixes and in 2006 a massive but modest full length entitled 'Songs for the Gentle'. The album was universally praised as a refined take on post minimalism with expert use of micro-sampling. (Seriously, go buy Songs for the Gentle)
MyMy had a monthly party at Watergate and toured a total of 26 countries. But in 2010, after 5 years together, MyMy split and their monthly party ended. However, during his time with MyMy, Lee worked as a solo artist producing and remixing a bunch of tracks, a solo album and even mixing a 2008 RA podcast (fs).
Here are a few Lee Jones tracks to play while your read the brief Q&A below:
1. Who are you going to be remixing in the near future? Just finished the Ritornell [Fancy Friendship] remix [due out in March]. Also just done one for Compuphonic from Brussels, on Union Match. Just started one for Philip Bader on Bar 25.
2. About how much of your time is devoted to remixing versus your original compositions? (is it 50/50 or what?) I spend 99% of my time writing and developing my own ideas... when i work on remixes it's more like doing a job. I do it in a few hours usually. I don't spend a lot of time on my own tracks either, but I'm starting stuff all the time.
3. Which do you like more, remixing or producing your own stuff? I like both. When I get nice parts to work with, a remix takes away that problem of starting with an empty page. You can get straight in to building a track, instead of having to create or find the sounds first.
4. Will you be playing live on the Watergate tour or djing?? Mostly djing. playing live in Zürich at the Hive.
5. When you play live what do you use? Laptop, korg nano controller, sometimes my Machinedrum, sometimes a midi keyboard.
6. What are your thoughts on filesharing/torrents? Share the love I say. It's only 1's and 0's. But make people pay through the nose to see gigs and own nicely packaged recordings.
7. Any tips on which new artists to watch out for next year?? Emika, Brandt Brauer Frick, Andri, Wareika, Suso Flores.
Anyway, as you might have noticed, Lee has just mixed the new Watergate compilation and has included on it a bunch of exclusive edits and collaborations as well as a new one from him. The compilation was released today (or sometime this week?) along side the Peacock EP, which features 6 full tracks from the mix. Lee was so kind as to allow Graefestr make two EP tracks downloadable. So what follows now are Lee's tour dates, his new track, two free tracks from the Peacock EP (hit the arrow to download), and then a track-by-track breakdown of the mix as printed in the cd booklet. I have also included some bonus downloadables at the bottom.
Buy the compilation here and the EP here and check his myspace and soundcloud for more release and tour info. (Specifically look out for the 2nd Peacock EP featuring Lee's supersick Brandt Brauer Frick remix because its one of the best dance tracks of the year - the mix doesn't do it justice!) And if your in Berlin come out to Watergate tomorrow and celebrate the release of the mix and also Lee's birthday! Shonky, The Cheapers, Daniel Drier and Paul Frick from Brandt Brauer Frick will also be dj'ing. But I think Lee will be dj'ing from 4-6 upstairs.
01 Lee Jones - In The Water (Intro) :: Sets the scene with clips from a documentary about the Watergate break in. Also with vocals from Frazey Ford who I worked with for the Hefner project... 'Wade in the water / We're gonna trouble the world...'
02 Flowers & Sea Creatures - International (Lee Jones Watergate remix) :: The promo to this song from a Montreal band caught my ears a week before the deadline for the cd. Fortunately i noticed it was produced by old friend Ewan Pearson. A quick phone call and he sent me the parts so i could make an exclusive remix.
03 Andri - White Sunday :: I'm proud to call the Cityfox label one of my home bases, and their club in Zürich, Alte Börse, is one of the few clubs in the world that rivals Watergate for sound quality. Due for release in the near future, this track fits perfectly into my dj sets at the moment.
04 MyMy - Closer (exclusive) :: After 5 years together, having toured in 26 countries, myself and Nick Höppner recently decided to go our separate ways. This is the last track we worked on together, which i finished off for this mix. R.I.P. MyMy
05 Matthias Meyer & Lee Jones - Basic Chord Tool (exclusive) :: One of my favorite producers, I asked Matthias if he had any new tracks i could use. Instead he sent me a new track he'd started a few weeks ago and to my delight entrusted me to finish it off.
06 Ray Okpara - Short Stick Can :: I met ray this summer at the June Festival in Sardinia, where we played back to back. We hung out afterwards on the beach, watching the sunrise. I asked him to send me some new tracks, one of which fit the mix nicely.
07 The Cheapers - Being Eaten (Watergate edit) :: Ruede Hagelstein was kind enough to make this special version of their track in a different musical key from the original so it was tuned perfectly to the tracks before and after.
08 Daniel Dreier & Lee Jones - Lullaby (exclusive) :: Fellow Watergate resident Daniel and I made this track nearly 2 years ago as a follow up to our upon you release 'A man and a woman'. I dusted it off and updated it for this cd.
09 Brandt Brauer Frick – Melancholie II (Lee Jones Watergate remix) (exclusive) :: I picked out this unreleased track Paul Frick had sent me, but i was having problems fitting it into the mix because of it's slow speed and strange jazz harmonies... so I asked to have the parts so i could take out the conflicting elements. I ended up making a completely new remix.
10 Patrice Bäumel & Lee Jones - Voice Scatter (exclusive) :: I met Patrice when I played at Trouw in Amsterdam earlier this year, and we got talking about his track Roar, a dj Tool which i really liked. He said he had a lot of these kind of tracks and offered to send them to me. I dropped this one into Ableton and by pure luck a beat was playing on my machinedrum which fit perfectly, so I turned his tool into a track.
11 Alex James vs Los Updates - The Blind Busker (exclusive) :: This arrived in the Watergate office somehow and was forwarded to me. It fit perfectly into this jazzy section of the mix. I'm a lover and collector of jazz since I was young, and the piano is my first instrument, so this track is music to my ears.
12 Lee Jones - YOYO (Watergate Version) (Cityfox exclusive) :: This gave me the chance to release an updated version of my well received cityfox single with a few subtle changes from the original i always wanted to make. No one ever noticed, but there is a glitch every 16 bars on the original, which i have now removed.
13 Mark Henning - Gibson Said (exclusive) :: A fellow ex-pat and label mate on Cityfox, Mark also made a superb remix for my track 'Closed Circus', which I played out a lot, always to amazing reactions.
14 Acid Pauli - December (exclusive) :: I asked Acid if he could supply something to the mix because his Euphonium track had been a pivotal part of my 2008 resident Advisor podcast, really setting the cinematic tone.
15 Gregorythm and Greenbank - Lion Dreams :: Gregory and I are both huge fans of each others music.. So I had to include something from him, here with our Cityfox label boss Billy. This is due for release later in the year.
16 Lee Jones - KreuzBerg (exclusive) :: I moved from London to Berlin in November 2002, when Watergate first opened it's doors. Both the club and myself have gone through many changes since then. This track was written especially as an homage to Kreuzberg and Watergate, my homes for the last 8 years.
Lastly, Lee's timeless track YOYO appears in Damien Lazarus' Fabric 54 mix and is featured in the promo clip. Nice!
Fabric 54: Damian Lazarus - out :: UK/EU Oct 11th, USA Nov 9th Tracklist: 1. Ryan Crosson - Metro Bunker - Eklo 2. Four Tet - Love Cry - Domino 3. Appleblim & Ramadanman - Void 23 - Aus / Simple 4. Kenny Larkin - Glob (Claude VonStroke Mix) - Planet E 5. Swayzak - Ping Pong - Swayzak / 240 Volts 6. Canson - Sleeping (Demo Version) - Cityfox 7. The Martinez Brothers - Broke In The BX - Objektivity 8. Roska - The Sheppard - Roska Kicks & Snares 9. Soul Clap - Break 4 Life - Crosstown Rebels 10. The Mole - Nervous Disid - New Kanada 11. Cajmere - Freaks & Stars - Cajual 12. Art Department feat. Seth Troxler - Vampire Nightclub - Crosstown Rebels 13. Deetron - Sing - Circus Company 14. Guti & Dubshape - Every Cow Has A Bird - Crosstown Rebels 15. Soul Keita & Nicolas Jaar - Para(sol) - Greta Cottage Workshop 16. Damian Lazarus - Diamond In The Dark (dOP Remix) - Get Physical 17. Lee Jones - Yoyo - Cityfox 18. Agaric - Run (Ostern Jam) - We Are 19. Su Kramer - Magic Dance - Teldec Schallplatten 20. Bill Holt - Program Ten (Part Five) - Stone Theater 21. Bill Holt - Program Ten (Part Six) - Stone Theater
EXTRAS: Download Hefner - Residue (2000) :: part 1 and part 2
In case you forgot how good Paul's Boutique is (the album from which Hey Ladies is from) or if you haven't listened to the album, grab the 24-bit remastered 20th anniversary re-release on rapidshare. Some seriously timeless gems in the Boutique; like Car Thief, 3-Minute Rule, Egg Man, and Sounds of Science.
Thanks to Andy over at Disco Delicious (a kickin disco-oriented blog and label!) for the heads up on this one. Head over there and grab the low quality download.
Hello. Today is (seemingly bi-annual) master plan day, which means I will be diagramming practical personal shit. What that means for you lovelies is that the two bigger thematic posts I have almost finished cooking up (a fleshed out Mumbai and Psychedelic Folk Pop vol. 4) will be moved to the back burner for now. Its possible, even likely that I could get one up tonight if planning goes smoothly, but that's unclear. So this post is just to give you something nice for now to say thanks for reading and also to say that after our foray into P.F.P.'s and other not-dance, non-disco stuff we will be returning with a vengeance. And then there will be that hipster post.
Fritz Kalkbrenner - Facing the Sun EP (hotfile) Facing the Sun
Fritz is of course the brother of Paul Kalkbrenner. They worked together and with the above vocalist on this big track from 2008 that featured in the maybe-not-so-recommended film Berlin Calling. Download the very-recommended soundtrack at hotfile.
Time to pay some more respect to our roots (the first homage was here). I feel something profound should be said about how the blues closely relate to tragedy and how tragedy relates to deep-rooted and historical metaphysical (i.e. supernatural) views about freewill and determinism, but I think here is not the place. I will only say that I after reading Bernard Williams I am much more open to the idea that tragedy is a necessary, fundamental, absolute and even good part of reality. Grab these two gems (yes and yes) if this kind of talk interests you.
Back to the blues. Saw this documentary on a plane a while back and have been meaning to share. It Might Get Loud is a look into the styles and influences of Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page. Recommended!
Another nice documentary on the blues centered around Eric Clapton's and his styles and influences is Martin Scorsese Presents Nothing but The Blues (in what looks like 5 parts).
Surprise! This will be the third installment of a retroactively initiated series called Psychedelic Folk Pop (or P.F.P. for short). This series, created more for me than you, is loosely based around current artists that create music that is both old and new sounding for this developing genre. The first two (secret) installments were Mickey Moonlight and Connan Mockasin.
The third is Django Django, a four-piece London-based band, but originating from Edinburgh, Fife, Derry and Leeds. One of the band members (Dave Maclean) is the brother of one of the members of the legendary Beta Band (John Maclean), which could explain the easy comparison. But their sound is more diverse than the Beta Bands', drawing from a wider range of direct influences, such as Arthur Russell, Moondog, Sun Ra and Devo. There is not much more credible or sensible info on the Django Django project, as searches quickly lead you to the same four mp3's, hyped-up fluff bloggers, and the bands official overzealous and utterly unhelpful self-description.
So then we'll just let a few fun facts and trivia found in a Pinglewood interview round off the research-based portion of this post.
3 FACTS
Dave Maclean: "1. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
"2. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.
"3. Hitler was a vegetarian."
2 SONGS
DM: "My one would have to be Purple Haze [by Jimi Hendrix]. I found this really bright, exciting looking record cover in amongst my dad’s old albums when I was really young and when I put it on I was blown away by how raw it sounded. I was used to listening to Black Lace tapes on my massive walkman, so it was a real turning point. I also dug out the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd and um..... the Humble Bums. I think this may be a familiar introduction to great music for a lot of our generation.
Vinny: "I was about 13 or 14 when I heard Radio Babylon by Jack Dangers [AKA Meat Beat Manifesto]. Until that point I'd a pretty traditional outlook on song structure, melodies and instruments, listening to a lot of 60's psychedelic stuff. That song was so exciting and changed a lot of my views. A simplistic two chords change on a massive sounding bass, with cathedral like drums and a 'wooo.. alright' dropped in intermittently. On paper it wouldn't work. But it did, and really emphasised the importance of what a good beat can do for a song. It’s still what I look for in music I love today."
Personally, my interest in the band is mild to lukewarm. I suppose they fit into the more-important-than-good category for me, as what they are doing is unique and inspiring, but a bit too spaghetti western. I really like their track Storm, and have been playing it for a while inspite of the strange looks I get when I do. I am trying to warm up to the other tracks now. Their live show is helping with this.
My Tiger My Timing - This Is Not The Fire (Django Django Remix)[right click, save as here]
Clock Opera - White Noise (Django Django remix) [right click, save as here]
Stated as one of Dave Maclean's early influences, I had never heard The Humblebums before. Cool stuff for the 60's. Here's Rick Rack by the Humblebums. Sweet.
