Great look at who owns what, and how it will matter in the future of the intertrons.
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Chivas, Dunhills, Coke
What Hunter S. Thompson wrote on. Great googly moogly. It seems I have deep, drunken, raving lunatic shoes to fill. Though it is interesting he only started writing after taking acid so many hours into his day. The one gigantic meal is a special idea as well. Varsity usage. Jeez.
Ultra Weekend #2 may get the Ban Hammer.
This is the declaration by the City of Miami that, in no uncertain terms, the second week of Ultra Music Festival is not going down. I think it’s kind of amazing that the city is contemplating being just like NO. And while there is definitely still time for palms to be greased, I severely doubt the situation is going to be cheered forward, especially with fewer than 3 months to go. The breakdown of DJs was never posted, but what strikes me was the weird lack of thinking on the part of the festival extenders. I’ve been to Ultra twice, once when it was a one day festival & once when it was a two day extravaganza. Either I’m getting older or the Red Bull is getting stronger, but the idea that people would just continue to kick it in Miami for the week then rock out again the next weekend exhausts me just thinking about it.
I think we can sometimes forget just how completely psychotic the amount of detritus, destruction and dumb-ass people an event the size of Ultra Music Festival generates. The systems created to deal with the people are masterful and work as well as they can for the generally understood “long weekend of shenanigans” that UMF generally inflicts. The Winter Music Festival is a much more polite affair, without so much of the explodey drunk of UMF. The amount of time/manpower/resources the city consumes to clean up the event must be enormous and I think they took one look at what not only the second weekend, but the incidental week of ridiculousness that was incoming between them, and went, oh HELL no.
But, so, you heard it here folks, as of now, Ultra Music Festival may be back to a one weekend affair. Any bets on whether this will change or not?
EP of the Week – Leaving by Skrillex
It seems that the majority of r/dubstep misjudged Skrillex and his big room dub focus. Skrillex got famous for playing the kind of hyper-aggrandized dubstep that I lovingly describe as “Transformer Porn.” When you take the sounds Michael Bay gave the Transformers and you imagine them having sex, BAM, Scary Sprites. While people can hate on it all they want, Sonny’s hard work, playing the heartland of America and irrepressible positive outlook & joy for making the music is undeniable. You can see this in his Rolling Stone interview or his acceptance speech at the Grammys. And this week, Skrillex reminded us very hard how much he respected his roots, in addition to shaking up our identity of him pretty fundamentally.
Leaving is straight up some American Future Garage. I specify as such because most of the Future Garage that people are rocking out to these days is UK-based. And the inspiration for this kind of sound and in fact a lot of other artists in the space Leaving explores is the one and only Burial. He was featured on a previous EP of the week, and Skrillex has thanked/named Burial & the rest of the Brixton Dub crew for the work they did to blaze the way for Skrillex to shine and bring this stuff to America’s heartland. The track not only pays homage to Burial, but it does so in a very American, Skrillex-esque way. The signature style that allowed him to shine so brightly is being put into this minimized, stripped down beat, groove & heavily modified sample which works perfectly. I can’t wait to see what effect this has on Skrillex’s approximately 4 billion listeners.
Mix of the Week – Natural Drift by Yellow@theLight
Yellow@theLight is a project by a dear friend, Chris LaMear, who deserves as much credit and press for his work as possible. This stuff is freaking amazing. I was originally introduced to him over a year ago and could not ignore his attention to detail, perfect execution and absurdly good track choice. The mixes and produced tracks flow like wine, and even with what’s occurred in his home neighborhood of Breezy Point (one of the areas hit hardest by Sandy) there is a positive and joyous sound throughout his latest mix.
Flowing from deep house openers to some pretty fun disco & funky house, all in the first 20 minutes, followed by some progressive & electro’y goodness. This guy has range and I have no idea where he gets his tracks, but they all rock. One ridiculous groove after another. He knows how to create transitions and builds that lend a massive confidence to the dance floor. There is this aura of celebrity and fabulousness with a lot of his set work, and this is no exception. However, it’s got a huge heart, and there’s this really warm groove to where he goes throughout his mixes and live work. It’s never nasty or off-putting, and even the dirtiest of electro and dubby goodness still doesn’t grate at the senses. A very thin line to walk, and he dances along it.
This is central to where I think DJing is going to go over the next 5 years. Being able to maintain a recognizable sound, across different sub-genres & even genres of EDM. Flux Pavilion, DeadMau5, Skrillex and others all have a signature feel to them. They’re recognizable and you can get a sense on the dance floor of when you’re listening to one of their tracks or set work by them. Yellow@theLight is fast generating that same signature feel. 32min in is one of those moments. The massive, triumphant electro’y, dubby goodness makes me think of my man tearing it up behind the decks, to as large of a crowd as possible. The amazing breakdowns after 33ish combined with the mean as hell vocals & dubby build give way to some amazingly filthy electrohouse.
I still cannot understand how this guy hasn’t been picked up by Mau5trap or someone in LA. This sound remains absolutely ridiculous and I was given the extreme pleasure of living near a weekly residency he had in my hood for a little bit. This mix continues to win all over the place and you’re better off listening to it and the previous ones that have been put out all over the spot. Get at it. Tell em Terry Gotham sent you.
http://yellowatthelight.podomatic.com/
https://twitter.com/YellowTheLight
https://www.facebook.com/pages/YellowTheLight/125974349166
Why DJ Shadow was right, and so was Mansion
So just in case you hadn’t heard, DJ Shadow was kicked off the decks at a club in South Beach, Miami called Mansion. One of the promoters walked straight up and told him that his set was “too future” for the crowd. This, after Mansion did the same thing to Dennis Ferrer earlier this year. The crowd howled and he left. The internets exploded, Mansion apologized and Shadow uploaded the set that he was spinning to Soundcloud, which you can get at here. WARNING: It is NOT a club set.
To be frank, I saw Tiesto at Mansion in 2006 and I can state confidently, the music Shadow was dropping is quintessentially not the style of Mansion. As someone who has thrown a party, it’s hard to not empathize 100% with the promoter who was probably getting a deluge of shit from the VIP for this kinda sound. I would hate to be the guy, but I can’t say that if I was put in the same position, I wouldn’t be doing the same thing.
Apocalypse Wow.
I’m not really sure how it happened, but there I was. At the pulpit, a sermon of bass and beats was being extolled through massive speakers, the floor was populated (not packed or empty) with fabulously costumed, friendly people, blinky shiny lights & lasers everywhere, and the deco was reminiscent of Sensation, except…I spent significantly less to get in the door. The new hotness in Gotham Burner camps, Digital Native & Entwined were making a very big splash with this End of the World party, as I expected when I called it the party of the month here. After watching DK make some magic in the basement, I’d wandered up to the main floor where I was stunned by the perfection of it all.
The space, an abandoned church on Bushwick in Brooklyn was both decorated beautifully & functionally. Multiple bars, a smoking space outside (with the amenities you’d expect from a $40+ entry fee’d club), good flow/people traffic and stupidly good music. I mean, I usually find myself in a space that has competent DJs but this was a night where, start to finish, there was quality dance music where it needed to be. The door, watched over eternally by the Immortal Elven Guardian himself, Guncle, led through the coat check to the first bar & dance floor, where the fantasy of doing naughty things in a church basement could be lived out to your heart’s content. Up from the basement, into the main area, with flowered plants made of light paper & gumption peppering the front of the space, there was a certain something to dancing where pews used to be, under the watchful eyes of the paintings on the ceiling. 
Punk Rock & Gender Roles
I can’t say I find myself headbanging very often. My hair is pretty short and that type of behavior doesn’t really mix with a lot of the scenes I run through these days, but, there I was. Honest-to-goodness headbanging, beer in hand, maybe 3 feet from a giant speaker, standing in a bar on Houston Street. I’d not been to anything that resembled a punk, metal or thrash show in years, especially with the slow, agonizing death of CBGBs, but a friend had tipped me off to a new sound that was making its debut this evening, so I made my way over. Was he ever right, JENNCiTY is definitely an act I can’t wait to hear more from. The group has female lead vocals & lead guitar which is a sorely needed presence in this space, now more than ever. But, back to the punk rocking.
EP of the Week – “Staggering on Rooftops” by LuQuS
LuQuS is one of these acts that I can never nail down. I listen to a track, it squats in my mind for a few days and then disappears, without me adding it to a playlist or writing it down. But, thankfully, soundcloud reminded me his new EP got dropped so I made sure to put it in my face.
Roads is a really neat little tune that shows off the fantastic attention to detail LuQuS puts into their work. The melancholy Future Garage is a particular favorite of mine, especially when it veers into Burial-homage territory which definitely happens in You’ll Be, the second track on the EP. The echo work, pianos, beats, snare taps and distortions are all wonderful and definitely speak to that ambient, almost rainy feel that only a few artists/producers have really been able to capture.
We’re In the Dark pulls that same high production value in through an even more compelling vocal set, giving the sound this lovely & human quality that can sometimes be lacking in a lot of the more minimal end of downtempo, chill & garage. There’s also a sexy feel to the vocals that will get it added to quite a few playlists I wager. Black & Blue is one of the pre-released singles that had floated through my head before the EP was dropped that made me sit down and notice what this guy was doing. The fluid beat mixed with the ghostly dancing vocals really capture what’s possible when it comes to Future Garage as a genre. The beat moves along at just enough of a clip to keep you from getting bored/falling asleep, and the piano echoes off of the vocals which keeps the mind occupied, but not exhausted.
Masquerade is an absolutely lovely track that highlights all of the stuff on the EP but really allows it to grow out, like a tree in the sun over time. The bass taps & drum work are spot on as always and the chord progression goes only as far as it needs to as it accompanies the shimmering vocals. A solid addition to the genre and a great new producer makes his mark. Thanks LuQuS, can’t wait to hear more.
Terry Gotham 