throwback

Here's a little 2 part collection of some leftfield and retro disco shit.

Part 1














Part 2



... wherein you can find this badass gem
Lemonade - Vet by Rude Movements









Bonus
Guy Lafleur made a disco album of hockey instructions.

Guy Lafleur - Album Disco von Discodandan
More info here.

sol

That last post I turned to proper classics and psuedo-kitch for some kind of release. Unsurprisingly, the move was not wholly satisfying. So for a deeper clean, let us turn today to a bit of soul.

As for 'tomorrow', we will be a venturing into an odd realm of throwbacks before straight-lining directly into some slow and fresh disco-tinged house... Finally. Thank you for your patience through this dry spell.

You Abandoned Me [LNTG Rework] by Late Nite Tuff Guy


Electric Wire Hustle - Again (Scratch 22 Remix) by Scratch22
Check the forthcoming Rampa edit of this remix, featured at 31 mins of this


The Isley Brothers - Footsteps In The Dark (Vins edit) by VinsDJ



Hot Chocolate - Emma - MyVideo


Who Is He & What Is He To You (Leftside Wobble Edit) by Leftside Wobble


Marlena Shaw - Woman of the Ghetto (DJ Raw Sugar Redub) by DJ Raw Sugar


Eyes of a Stranger by Georgia Murray
(Georgia Murray rocks... Check her nail this acoustic Alanis cover)

(This is a cover of a soul/disco song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert and made popular by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The Thelma Houston version is also superclassy.)

Post-script
A few Billie Jean covers for you. Chris Cornell from Soundgarden,

an orchestral version from Aloe Blacc here, and the best for last, a slick reggae version by Shinehead.

weathered

Hello,

I would like to refrain from making any self-conscious statements, programs, or apologies of the sort that I have often done in these pages, and instead say simply that I honestly don't know how bearable life would be without music, either inside or out.

So for those of us feeling weathered, here's a little something.
















...and this is for someone great.

bostro pesopeo

Munich's Bostro Pesopeo is easily one of my favourite producers over the past 3 years. Bostro, or Florian Peter to family and friends, has been slowly building an impressive catalog of remixes and originals that fall somewhere in between house and indie, but do to his musical eduction and overall respect for quality sound his immaculate productions land on the on the classier and even cosmic side of both genres. While its hard to verbalize his exact style, his tracks are consistently special in a similar way; intelligent, crisp, unique, forward leaning might be some words to get us going. His rare releases often surface on and fit nicely into Munich's Permanent Vacation, a label which started in 2006 and quickly became one of the kingpins in the left-leaning house explorations. However, in 2009 under the name Ueberschalle, he released an EP entitled Dolore on Roccodisco Recordings which tended to be a bit more techy than his Bostro releases, but still contained a Bostro feel. Curious about Bostro's future music plans and general thoughts on and approach to music, I made contact and threw some questions at him. Check them below.

Zodiac Free Arts Club - Ein Lied Für Popol Vuh ( Bostro Pesopeo Remix ) by Bostro Pesopeo

Bostro Pesopeo - 0000 by Bostro Pesopeo

1. Who are you going to be remixing in the near future and when can we expect the releases?
I've just done a remix for a band also from Munich called 'High Voltage Humans'. Not sure where it's gonna be released though.

2. Have you got plans for another original EP or even LP? If so, can you describe the style?
Yes I'm currently working together with Pional on an EP. He contributed some great vocals and additions and overall it's gonna be a little more poppy I guess..

3. When making your original stuff do you feel at all constrained by the pressure to make dance music? That is, would you like to make non-dance music but don't because its more difficult to make money in it?
I find it more difficult to make dance music than non-dance music, but I like the idea of people also moving to the music. I don't really make money in it anyway so that doesn't matter.

4. About how much of your time is devoted to remixing versus your original compositions? (is it 50/50 or what?)
I usually only work on one project at a time and with original compositions you don't have any deadlines whereas with remixes you do. So I guess I spend more time on original compositions simply because I have as much time as I need.

5. Which do you like more, remixing or producing your own stuff? Why?
I find it easier to get started with remixes than to start your own productions from scratch, especially if I'm remixing a song with vocals. I really enjoy trying new chords with the vocals... but in the end my original productions are still more important to me.

6. Do you have a live show or do you just DJ? If you do preform live or will in the future, what would your live act entail? (controllers? instruments? musicians?)
Right now I only DJ, but I'm really thinking about doing live show. Would be cool not just to do a laptop show (I don't even have one) but i haven't taken the time yet to find a proper set up.

7. What are your thoughts on downloading music illegally?
As long as labels still have to spend money on the music for mastering, distribution or whatever, not paying for the music doesn't really seem right to me, so I don't do it. But I'd rather have people listening to (my) music they illegally downloaded than not listening to (my) music at all...

8. Any tips on upcoming artists to watch out for?
Pional!!!!

9. When and where are you playing next? Any Berlin dates?
I'll be playing some parties in Munich, no Berlin dates so far.

Check out all Bostro's tracks on his soundcloud page, but for now here are some of my favorites.

Appaloosa - The Day We Fell In Love (Bostro Pesopeo Remix) by Bostro Pesopeo


Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (Bostro Pesopeo Remix) by Bostro Pesopeo


Worst Friends - Pillows of Wind (Bostro Pesopeo Remix) by Bostro Pesopeo

Bostro Pesopeo - Basic by Bostro Pesopeo

Bostro Pesopeo - Reprise by Bostro Pesopeo

Rodion - Hold On Rodion (Bostro Pesopeo Rewarding Remix) (excerpt) by Gomma

edits. vol 6.2

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a collection of lovely classic rock edits... and also to notify you about a little piece I have in the works which focuses on one of my favourite remixers and producers over the past few years. So check back shortly for that.

For now I would like to just send my kindest regards and warmest wishes to those of you who are reading this. Hope your making life something nice.


The Byrds_Triad )dj steef edit( -Magic Wand vol.3- by fred berthet


The Doors - Riders on the Storm (Joe Malenda's Quiet Storm Mix) by Joe Malenda


Edit Parade by Kompleks


Them - Grolia Dimitri From Paris re-edit by dfp


Diamonds (PrivateEar re-sole) by LUKAS


Queen and David Bowie - Under Pressure (Virgin Magnetic Material Edit) by Virgin Magnetic Material


Missing You [Lexx's Liquid Night Edit] by Lexx (Zürich/Switzerland)

unconsolable

Recently I stumbled upon a group from Brooklyn, New York called Ambassadors, and since then have had their acoustic version of Unconsolable and their Let's Get Married cover on repeat. While their studio stuff will undoubtedly end up sounding a bit too 90's radio-rock and/or unnecessarily heavy for some of us, what's below gives me hope that given the right producer these guys will have a bright future.

Jagged Edge "Let's Get Married (Remix)" Cover - Ambassadors by Ambassadors


Listen/get the studio version of Unconsolable here

pop

A brief visual foray into some likely familiar pop culture.

Part 1


A Chore - Amateur Best REMIX by Tom Vek









Part 2

In May the Beastie Boys came out with a new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. I just got it and I have to say that its a solid Beatie Boys album, maybe even verging on classic. It's rough, raw sounding and manages to incorporate all of the things that made the Beastie Boys first four albums awesome. That said, there is nothing really new here, but that's just fine, as the Beastie Boys have a sweet original style and in the world of garbage pop and rap music, having the Beastie boys stay Beastie is actually pretty fucking great. So we get tracks like Long Burn the Fire styled after Pass the Mic and Jimmy James and Say It high-fiving Sabatoge.

So here is the interesting but mildly disappointing full length video promo starring basically everybody.

Click here if you don't have time for the 30 minute video.

And here is the pretty awesome Spike Jonze directed video for the reggae-tinged lead single Don't Play No Game I Can't Win, featuring Santigold.

(The sound sucks because of some fuck up, but if you live in North America, the B Boys put up a fixed version on their site)

leftfielder

Naica Mine

How are you today?

POMPEYA - Cheenese (D-Pulse "paranoid" mix) by D-Pulse


Pilooski - AAA by palms


40 Thieves - Crystal Mountain ThunderfuckCLIP by LengRecords


Liberal Bite by Leftside Wobble

soul

Just a few funky soul jams for you today.
Easy.
xo

CB006 - Easy Come, Easy Go / Ain't No Love Lost by Cosmic Boogie


William Bell - Never Like This Before (The Apple Scruffs Edit) by The Apple Scruffs


Otis Redding - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (scratchandsniff re-rub) by scratchandsniff

(Otis didn't know the lyrics of the song, saying 'I use a lot of words different than the Stones' version... That's because I made them up.')

Ben Sidran - Lust (Ole Smokey's Mellow Mood Edit) by Ole Smokey


And lastly, check out the amazing new Charles Bradley album, out now.






Carson Daily interview with Charles Bradley, here.

hq

Hello all,
Graefestr headquarters has changed location once again and in the process has weathered serious storms of internet disconnectivity. Now re-relocated in Berlin and armed with wireless lightning, the team is set for another wave of action.
Unsurprisingly, there is a continuing thread within the seemingly global enthusiasm for slow house. Naturally, some more big names are emerging: Till von Sein who has been relatively on point lately and Israels Double Hill, who had one of the stand out tracks on the mildly disappointing Soul Clap / Wolf + Lamb DJ Kicks album.

Looks like Baby Prince, the artist formerly know as Gadi Mizrahi found nice timing with it here.

daniel bortz

I included a nice Daniel Bortz track in my last post and because he's a solid up-and-coming producer, I thought I would throw a few more of his tracks/remixes at you. He is from Ausburg, Germany and has been producing for over 15 years, releasing his first remix in 2005. Since 2007 he's had a few releases here and there culminating in this Aprils' huge EP on Suol. I'm looking forward to hearing much more from this guy.

If your in Berlin catch him June 23 at Golden Gate and July 7 at Watergate.

Limit to Your Love edit
D.B. - LIMIT (KR003) by Daniel Bortz

Off his fantastic The One EP
Daniel Bortz - Other Guys by GetDownGood

Whats the original sample here?
D.B. - ANYTHING (KR002) by Daniel Bortz

Portishead edit
D.B. - GLORYHOLE (KR002) by Daniel Bortz

P.S. cko his Nirvana remix

puddle

Hallo.
Hope you're all doing alright out there. Keeping cool and staying sane.
To help I've got a few melt-worthy tracks to share today.

Vicious Traditions by Daniel Bortz


Fiakun 001 - Fiakun Team - around your neck feat Paul Omaetxebarria (original mix) by Fiakun



Post-Script
I have been waiting for the right time to post this Motor City Drum Ensemble remix. Had a chance a while back and actually psyched myself out by reading too deep into the lyrics. 'Had' to hold it back. But that's the magic of it all though right? Life is what you make it.

NuFrequency - Fallen Hero (MCDE Mix) by invrs

vacant

Been on a bit of an internet holiday. A regroup of sorts. Reflecting hard. Trying not to beat myself up. Regardless, it's time for one of those big life decisions. Sounds heavy, and it is at times, but I know it doesn't have to be.

Anyway, thank you for your patience. Things should get more regular here as the next chapter unfolds.

Turn this one up.

love: side b

This will be the first installment of a pilot mini-series acknowledging the two sides of love. It was semi-initiated back in February as an outlet for my anti-valentines day sentiments. Respectful of the 'magic' of the day I attempted to channel those frustrations into a tasteful critique of the whole institution of love to see if I could get anywhere. Electing the evolutionary stance I found plenty of ammunition, but after chatting with a good friend there was still a gap to be found between an explanation of it's prehistoric existence and the subjective pleasure it brings: grinding the former down its bare bones seems to do nothing to belittle the latter (and this is not even to mention the interpretive problems inherent in an evolutionary critique of this nature). As a result of the explanatory gap, my inability to justify spending days/weeks working on the gap, deep interpretive issues, my desire to not come off as a bitter scrooge, and my respect for the near-global day of subjective 'magic', I decided not to air the piece. So a corresponding playlist of anti-love songs sat dormant until I heard some pro-love songs and thought to run a pilot contrasting the two sides. So here we are, starting with side b, the dark side, my original beef, minus the stuffy controversial editorial. Happy Mothers Day!

Just A Bitter Love- The Dead Rose Music Company by TheDeadRoseMusicCompany

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Taste Of Bitter Love (scratchandsniff re-rub) by scratchandsniff
Here's a low quality live original



Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin' (AC Re-Edit) by Andrew Clarke Mediafire Download

Keep Forgetting (Alzheimers Stripped Dub) by TheDeadRoseMusicCompany





Aloe Blacc - Loving you is killing me (Mano le tough remix) by manoletough









Check out the nice International Feel edit


The Classic


The original

fresh cuts

As promised, some fresh edits. Vinyl-only. Please enjoy.


Onur Engin - Square Edits Vol. 3 [buy]




Nocturnal Edits - Love Explosion / Southern Nights [buy]




DC La Rue - Reworks Vol. 3 [buy]

Do You Want The Real Thing (Richard Sen & Cazbee Edit) by DC Reworks

I Don't Want To Lose You (Jacques Renault Edit) by DC Reworks




Post-Script: Summer in the City extras

The Original


Nightmares on Wax version


B.B. King version


Joe Cocker version

The famous Pharcyde track

Peter Visti Edit

edits vol. ?

Got a bunch of edits for you today - one is new (Lonely Heart), the rest are long overdue. A bag of fresh cuts will be along shortly.


FAM007 A1 How We Walk on the Moon by Young Edits // Youth


[1983] Yes - owner of lonely heart (Disco Syndicate's no owner edit) by Disco Syndicate


Christopher Cross- Ride Like The Wind (SMQEdit) by SleazyMcQueen


Barbara Keith - All Along the Watchtower (Rayko edit)



Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long - the 'Not At My Age' re-edit by Ed Zone


...And here's a nice Kay BC-approved Captain Beefheart edit for good measure - Observatory Crest (Fear of Theydon's Indian Summer Dub) . Godspeed you Kay BC!!

bottomless milkshake

Hola,

So I graduated! I had to streamline my life down to just the bare essentials this month to get through finals, but now finished I can redefine what goes into the new streamline. This means the blog is back on the agenda and I have had some new insights regarding it which I will roughly sketch for you now in a brief focus statement.

You see, as a DJ I have found myself in some sort of conflict of interest, wherein I hold back posting great tracks out of the fear that my DJ sets would seem less original because you had heard the songs before and because other DJ's who read the blog may play them more and water them down so to speak. This had me posting lots that I wouldn't play out and holding back from you all the (hopefully) great music that I do play out. I soon realized that this is a stinky scenario based on irrationality and fear and I am over it.

To use a famous analogy: Its as if my music collection is a milkshake, my milkshake. And I have a straw, which is my computer I guess. Now my blog is another straw that goes from your mouth all the way over to my milkshake. Now. You. Drink. My. Milkshake. You drink it up. The more music I post on my blog, the more milkshake of mine you drink. When I DJ I need some fresh milk to shake for people and if you drink my milkshake then I wont have any. So I need to limit the amount of access you have to my milkshake so that there will be enough to share when I play out.

This analogy is obviously weak. My milkshake is not finite, as almost every time I go online I get more milk to shake. Furthermore, most of you don't DJ, nor get to hear me DJ so it is just not obvious that the more milkshake of mine you drink the more watered down my milkshake gets. So I want to apologize for this previously unspoken wrinkle in our relationship and ensure you that the iron is warming up and will have things smooth in no time.

That said, I find alot of house music boring when not in a dance environment so don't expect a sudden influx of it here. There will just be more DJ-friendly house tracks popping up in the future alongside the usual bag of reworks, classics, randoms and psychedelic shit. You can leave a note in the comments if there is any particular kind of music you would like to see more of and I will try to post it.


So to celebrate this coming-out of sorts, here are some tracks from the past couple years that did it for me every time.

Lee Foss - U Got Me (Original Mix) by STm

thom yorke -Eraser xxxchange remix by xxxchange



...which samples my favourite Talking Heads song of the same name. This is taken from their excellent and highly recommended Stop Making Sense Live DVD.

Check out covers by the Arcade Fire and MGMT pre-fame.


Post-Script
A quick word about downloads. I haven't been linking to free downloads lately, not because I'm lazy, but because it's so damn easy to download anything these days. So if you really want any of these songs legally or illegally, I leave it up to you to find them. I may still link to the occasional mp3, but these days I am more inclined to dodge the whole gray zone that is filesharing and err on the side of the artists.

r.i.p. lcd?

I'm sad that LCD Soundsystem is kinda leaving us. Last years This Is Happening is allegedly their last album, their Valentines day appearance on the Colbert Report was their last television performance and they played their "last show ever" early this month (and got screwed by scalpers).

I spent the past few days listening to LCD Soundsystem non-stop and re-watching James Murphy interviews. Thought I would share some highlights and LCD odds-n-ends as an ode to the past 10 years.

But first the obvious question: what will James do next?

Oh.. :) Did you hear that? He will actually be "making some more LCD Soundsystem stuff, just not [as] professional rock band". Nice! As he says in The Fresh Air Interview: "That doesn't mean LCD will stop. It just means I'll go back to the beginning: releasing a track here and there or being more fluid about my decision-making rather than albums, videos, singles, tour. Rather than this professional arch of being in a band, I'd like to go back to being a person who decides what he likes to do and pursues something new once in a while."

Personally I'm looking forward to some more DFA remixes, culminating in a Chapter 3 release perhaps. And I'm glad he's gonna get back into dj'ing (and making special disco edits to play) - he already has a bunch of festival DJ gigs booked.

M ss ng P eces Interview (from 2006)

m ss ng Murphy from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

Thats Cool, But Can You Make It More Shit? with aesthetic interview



Live Alone (Franz Ferdinan cover)
LCD Soundsystem - Live Alone (Franz Ferdinand cover) by DominoRecordCo




....and possibly my favourite LCD track.


(check the live version from the last show here)

zambon

It's been awhile and I know some words are in order, but today is not the day.
Soon though.
Until then, please enjoy these tasty reworks from Mr. Zambon.

Six Bladed Knife (Zambon Playing With Knives Rework) by Zambon

Zambon - Soul City Dub by Zambon

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House (Zambon & Mental Rework) by Zambon

soft and warm

Some soft and warm for you (aka informal installation #4 of my drag series).

NYC's up and coming How To Dress Well makes a firm salute to the lusty moments of Top Gun in his cover of Matthew Dear's Slowdance, the highlight of Black City. The track will be properly released April 5 on Dear's Slowdance EP.
Matthew Dear - Slowdance (How To Dress Well Seance) by ghostly


Check out an interview with How to Dress Well and some of his collaborations with Parisian videographer Jamie Harley





Sun Glitters soft-focus take on drag is pretty convincing.






No Modest Bear has a couple tracks off the album, Everything Could Be Fine up for download.


Lastly check out this nice Kodak to Graph track (which sounds like its working out a Jackson 5 sample?)






Post-Script

Jamie Harley's video for Canada by Prizes



Recent Matthew Dear interview

surfacing

Some nice things surfaced this week...

A new Four Tet single on the A side of this
Pinnacles by Four Tet
...The b-side is a jackin' track from Caribou as Daphni called Ye-Ye that I am still unsure about.


A super nice new Burial/Four Tet/Thom Yorke release (as ripped from London-based Rinse FM). All three collaborating on both tracks.
Burial, Four Tet, Thom Yorke - Ego by colorante

Burial, Four Tet & Thom Yorke - Mirror by ListenBeforeYouBuy


A surprise Thom Yorke DJ set at Low End Theory Club in LA, alongside Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer.

His DJ set included tracks from Burial, Modeselektor, Kraftwerk, Squarepusher, Madvillain, Major Lazer and lasted about 80 minutes. Check the LA Times report.


Post-Script
I am absolutely loving that new Radiohead 'album'. Here are some extras.




Radiohead - Codex (Mojib Remix) by Mojib

appreciation

What you appreciate, appreciates.

Brandt Brauer Frick is a German trio specializing in acoustic minimal techno. Daniel Brandt and Jan Brauer played together in school jazz ensembles and later formed the jazz-influenced dance group Scott. Paul Frick was heavily trained in classical music at a young age and went on to study composition with Friedrich Goldmann at the Berlin University of the Arts and write house music sampling orchestral instruments. The three joined forces in 2008, formed the labels Doppelschall and The Gym and began releasing EP's - culminating in their full length debut album You Make Me Real released on !K7 in November, 2010.

'We had felt for years that most instances of combining techno and classical music lack an authentic approach,' says Paul Frick. 'Instead of using only the typical epic orchestra or piano sounds, we love to explore the dirty and percussive sides of those instruments, adapting techniques from composers like John Cage or Helmut Lachenmann: preparing our piano with screws and rubbers, knocking against every single part of an instrument, until we find that one great sound.' - From bio.

Snippets of You Make Me Real



Brandt Brauer Frick - Teufelsleiter by elninodiablo

(A bouncy, cinematic Lee Jones BBF remix here )


One of my top 5 non-dance oriented songs of the year, from Paul Frick's solo I Mean single/EP



paul frick - process part 117 (steal my heart feat crawford) by modyfier



Post-Script


The above Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers was the 2001 short film that lead to this:

Synopisis



Bonus

vinyl only

Some fresh and not-so-fresh vinyls for you.

Out soon!
CB005 - You Make Me So Hot / Sunrise by Cosmic Boogie


Out soon!
The Horses Edits KAT011 Samples by KAT Records


Cosmic Metal Mother - Rat's Poem (buy)