While our OSCILLATIONS-related after-party for Battles, Black Dice and Gang Gang Dance last summer was a DJ-centric affair, self-titled has never thrown a dance party quite like the one we have planned this Friday at Studio B. With half the music industry away in Austin this week, we figured we’d fly two of our favorite DJs/remixers in from Belgium to headline a Brooklyn bill that also includes a DFA alum, one-half of Prime Time, and a Brooklyn band that sounds nothing like most of its current (Drop the Lime‘s live band) and previous (Men, Women & Children, Glassjaw) commitments. Here’s the breakdown …
“[An] encyclopaedic knowledge of disco oddities and interesting remixes, combined into a pleasing mosaic rather than a clueless hodge-podge. Their style is a bass-heavy take on the cosmic/disco/beard/Harvey-biting scene with a dubbier, more repetitive slant than many of their confreres.” – Resident Advisor
“Straight outta Belgium (Ghent as you ask), Mo Becha and David Carlos Fourqaert are enthralled to the myth of Studio 54, with their K7! mix plundering the disco annals and new wave vaults for dance floor agitators.” – Boomkat
“Like their erstwhile peers at Scotland’s Optimo, The Glimmers are scavengers, collectors who search for the needle in the haystack … modern dance music rubbing shoulders with neglected classics from the 1970s and ‘80s; surprising left turns and 180-degree twists in character, and an impressively broad aesthetic that keeps an eye to the floor and a hand in the bargain bin.” – Dusted
Now that we’ve gotten some obligatory pull quotes out of the way, here’s a run through of A-list artists the Glimmers have remixed: New Order, the Chemical Brothers, Roxy Music, Bloc Party and the Killers. Can’t forget underground favorites like Kaos, Calvin Harris, Padded Cell, Isolée or Mylo, either. Beyond that, Mo Becha and David Fouquaert have released a ridiculous amount of acclaimed mixes for DJ Kicks, Fabric, Eskimo, etc., and they even recently completed an “artist album” called Gee Gee Fazzi (featuring Princess Superstar, Freeform Five, Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, Optimo Espacio, and many more).
Some samples of what we’re talking about here …
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/01%20Word%20Of%20Mouth%20(Glimmers%20Disko%20Drunkards%20Dub).mp3]Padded Cell, “Word of Mouth (Glimmers Disko Drunkards Dub)”
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/02%20Forever%20LOST%20by%20The%20Glimmers.mp3]Isolée, “Lost (Forever Lost By The Glimmers)”
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/03%20Feel%20Like%20I%20Feel%20%20(Balearic%20House%20Dub%20By%20The%20Glimmers).mp3]Kaos, “Feel Like I Feel (Balearic House Dub By The Glimmers)”
At the moment, Olivier “Liv” Spencer is known for two main projects beyond Manthraxx. The first is House Of House, a dance music duo that released their their debut 12-inch (“Rushing to Paradise”/”The Rough Half”) on Whatever We Want Records (Quiet Village, Map of Africa) this winter. It’s already topped the charts of such major DJs as Radio Slave and elicited responses like this:
“‘Wow’ is the first word that you may find yourself saying at about the six-and-a-half minute mark of House of House’s ‘Rushing to Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets)’ … unabashedly dramatic, the track is almost ridiculous in its attempt to make you feel.” – Resident Advisor
And this:
“After a brief moment of calm, the vocals fade in from nowhere, instantly bringing the whole thing to a glorious peak, a peak that comes as if from nowhere. What makes it so incredible is that it feels like a truly organic piece of music; it just seems to grow into this epic form, a form which you never suspect has been created out of a load of loops on a sequencer, giving it a soul which is sorely lacking from a lot of music which is created for the dance floor.” – Urlaubshits (with a streaming version of the A-side)
Spencer’s other gig is Still Going, a fairly new DFA-endorsed project with Eric Duncan of Rub-N-Tug. The pair’s already been featured in the FADER and remixed such artists as !!!, the Presets, Low Motion Disco and the Doves. James Murphy is a major fan, which never hurts. In fact, he made the “Still Going Theme” the centerpiece of his Fabric mix with LCD Soundsystem drummer Pat Mahoney. According to Resident Advisor, it boasts “the kind of big hook that would inspire dancefloor singalongs, if everyone could wipe the big stupid grins from their faces for a minute.” Or as XLR8R added, “[‘Still Going Theme’] is a minimal, space-charged disco theme for the new millenium. Utilizing organic piano leads, clean acoustic percussion, and lots of spread-out arpeggios, these two New Yorker’s may have just produced the most mature DFA single to date. If Carl Craig’s remix of Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom rocked your boat, grab this now.”
Hear for yourself …
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/Still%20Going%20Theme_Still%20Going_1_Still%20Going%20Theme.mp3]
A: Still Going, “Still Going Theme”
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/Still%20Going%20Theme_Still%20Going_2_On%20and%20On.mp3]
B: Still Going, “On and On”
And a couple downloadable remixes …
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/kingdom-of-rust-still-going-remix.mp3]The Doves, “Kingdom of Rust (Still Going Remix)”
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/The%20Presets%20-%20Anywhere%20(Still%20Going%20Remix).mp3]The Presets, “Anywhere (Still Going Remix)”
James F!@#$%^ Friedman co-founded Throne of Blood Records with the Rapture and has released the band’s post-DFA singles as well as 12-inch sides from Zombi and Dances With White Girls. Here’s some more background info, via Defend Music, the New York label that released Friedman’s acclaimed Go Commando mix:
[James’] interest in rooting out new sounds also found him writing as a freelance journalist for publications such as the Fader, XLR8R, Vice, URB and the now-defunct Flyer, also working for !K7 records and later, as the US label manager for Trevor Jackson’s influential Output Recordings imprint.
In New York, James has hosted a series of influential parties that have increasingly grown to be known as stateside domiciles for the world’s left-of-center DJ talent. His long-running Refuse! Party at APT (with partner Ben “Dirty Dirty” Dietz) has brought over the likes of DJ Kaos, Juan Maclean, Dexter from The Avalanches, Matt Safer of The Rapture, Jackson, and Ewan Pearson, as well as Tiefschwarz, ATOC, Joakim from Tigersushi, Manchester legend Greg Wilson, Luke Vibert and Kompakt label boss Michael Mayer.
Through the recently established All Wrong night at the Tribeca Grand, James has emphasized bringing over live acts, and since its inception in early 2005, Annie and Tom Vek made their respective US debuts, with other performances from Cut Copy, Hot Chip, David Gilmour Girls and more.
In addition to this drive to help acts from around the world find a lively and receptive crowd in New York, James has grown into a truly eclectic, technically skilled DJ. On any given night, sounds run the gamut from punk-funk bass lines to spaced-out Italo disco, rock, and acid-tinged techno that could strip the polished veneer off of APT’s basement walls.
Friedman’s Tribeca Grand/APT days are over for the moment, but he’s been promoting the popular Prime Time party with Eamon Harkin. Together, they’ve booked such DJs and artists as Greg Wilson, Todd Terje, Ewan Pearson, Rub-N-Tug and Stacy Pullen.
For self-titled’s OSCILLATIONS event, James will be playing a special tag-team set with GLXY resident Benjamin Roeder. The artist/DJ is a regular at the Munich club Erste Liga–to give you an idea of what they book, Rex the Dog, Optimo and the Ed Banger crew are all spinning there this month–and rarely makes it over to the U.S., so this will be a special set indeed.
Speaking of special sets, Cubic Zirconia are performing at midnight to give your dancing shoes a bit of a break. You may have seen them open up for Michna at Webster Hall recently. If not, here’s some footage from that and a special mixtape from the group …
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/Cubic%20Zirconia%20Mixtape%20Vol%201.mp3]Cubic Zirconia Mixtape, Vol. 1
