Direct from the Winter Music Conference in Miami

So why am I missing the Man make music party posted below? I'd always have a good reason if I was missing something like that. We're hitting up the Miami winter music conference this weekend, starting off today with rooftop parties, followed tomorrow with bangin nights with Euro names like sinden, morillo, annie mac or yanks like low B, stretch armstrong and the likes. Thursdays a pool party with Richie Hawtin, followed by a night at Space miami with Eric Prydz. I haven't even gotten to friday, saturday and sunday yet, there really is no need to think that far ahead. WLTE will try and keep you informed on who rocked it, who topped it and who bopped it as we take a look into the american electronic music scene on the sun licked beaches of Miami. Only problem I see is waking up to write....

Thats one party I wish I didnt have to Miss

About a year ago was when man make music really really started going. Run by three talented heads by the name of sketch, sam and another amit, they had had a few warehouse parties that I heard about through the grapevine with a big one lined up for the beginning of march. The location, an abandoned warehouse in north east london (hackney wick) was out of the way, rented by 5 lodgers and set for demolition come the 2012 olympics. The party was... AMAZING... words can't really describe, the vibe, the people, the music, the way everyone was living just for that, the line outside the door stretching down the block at 2am, the party. It was HUGE, it was SICK it was Make make ILLNESS. Seriously seriously dope. Thing is it was SO DOPE that ever since every party MMM have thrown has been compared to this one shindig. I reckon everytime sketch throws a party someone asks him when his next Hackney WIck party is. There's an answer now... 29th of March in the location where it all started and I cannot really say enough to GET YOU TO GO!!!!! seriously get there before midnight cause its gonna pack out for sure! Anyway check out Man make music dot com to find out more and if your in london DO NOT MISS THIS PARTY...

Musical Marmite

Progressive House is musical Marmite - people seem to love it, or hate it.

I can see why people criticize it for being repetitive. A ProgHouse track will typically last 8 minutes, take 5 of those to evolve from minimal bleeps to something with a recognizable tune, go silent... Re-emerge with a subwoofy bass-line, and spend the last 2.5 minutes fading out. Yes, you could say it's pretty minimal.

But to me, that's the beauty of it. It's the subtle, intense beauty of waves lapping on a beach, of the sun slowly rising, of clouds passing by, almost unnoticed. Enveloping yourself in a ProgHouse mix slows the world down, which somehow clears the mind, accelerates thought, and makes everything go faster inside your head. Like people dancing under a strobe light, or the world gliding past behind a train window. If you don't get it, you don't: but for those fortunate enough to speak its language, Progressive House is a wonderful place to lose yourself once in a while.

If you haven't listened to much before and want to give it a go, I suggest you start with the following tunes to wet the appetite:



If you're ready to take it to the next level, I entreat you to check out the sound of Omni. A musical truffle I just stumbled upon, this Montreal based DJ/producer's Myspace features a few tunes + mixes that I soon hope to hear played all over London: 'Electric Music', as well a stunning trance remix by Nick Bugayev. Please buy them here - they're worth it.

Already excited about SONAR

Here's a couple reasons I'm going to Sonar this year:

-DIPLO
-Cause Barcelona and Berlin are the funnest places in Europe (we're all going to a festival near Berlin called fusion the weekend after)
-Cause Sonar 2007 was SICK
-Cause Mehdi vs A-trak with kid Sister is the best thing I've heard in the past month (except number1)
-Cause Yazoo are 80's Fresh
-Cause Ed Banger are gonna come back and Kill it Again
-Diplo
-My Fam lives there so I can see them too
-Cause its gonna be hot
-Cause everyone will go this year after I convince them
-Diplo
-Cause they got a bit of everything (see Konono no.1)
-Cause Yelle is this years Uffie
-Cause I wanna celebrate the end of an Era and couldn't imagine a better way of doing it
-Cause the city is ALIVE for Sonar
-Cause I know we are gonna love EVERY FUCKING MINUTE!!!
-Did I mention
DIPLO....
I'll see you in Barcelona come June...

Mo' gold digging

Yesh yesh y'all

This is my first post for WE-LISTEN-TO-EVERYTHING, so you know I had find a good gem worth bringing to light. I reckon the Switch remix of Santogold's track "Shove it" will shine nicely.

Keep digging!

RIGGIDY REZ FOR PEREZIDENT

A-trak: Turntablist by nature

So, Atrak, Here's the resume: When I was 13 I took my bar mitzvah money and bought myself some turntables and a mixer. I practiced for about 18 hours a day. Then I came out of my basement, packed my lunch and won a bunch of world championships. Joy! I formed a DJ crew called the Allies with Craze and friends. We toured the world for a while... I guess I've been touring for the last 10 years. Time flies.

Hilarious, not just cause of how he writes it, but how understated he is. He was 15!!!! Just 15!!!! when he won the world DMC champs. Dude then went on to win it a bunch more times, reaching a point where he was head and shoulders above everyone else.

So whats he up to now? Kanyes tour DJ (props to kanye for getting one of the best) and producing remixe's (check out SICK scanners tune on his myspace), aswell as tunes for kid sister.

That aint it though, last year he released Dirty south Dancing, a mashup of Hiphop/electro/Oldskool/Funk that is guarentee to get your body jacking.

All this shoulda gone to his head right? Nah man, check out his diary on his site.

Basically A-trak is a living Hiphop legend and certainly to go down as one of if not the greatest turntablist of all time(he even works on a notation system for scratching!!!!!!!). Mad motivated and mad skills,

Rise of the ElectroClash Giants

I'm going to do something I almost promised myself I wouldnt do: Give justice yet another blog mention.

A year ago Justice played with Annie Mac in Bristol. They filled out a club with maybe 2/300 people. It was a DJ set, amazingly well done, they smashed it and left town. Then comes the summer of '07 and the release of their Cross album. It was a good album. Great? I don't know, depends on your opinion.

Anyway, yesterday they come back to Bristol. They fill Carling on a Sunday with about 2000 people. 2000 people who came to only see them play for 2 hours and paying £14 to do so.

So what the hell happened over the summer of '07! Viral growth of two electroclash icons from DJ status to mainstream Rock act, picking up an MTV music video award in the act.

It's been an impressive rise for justice leading me to a couple questions. Firstly, obviously some people will call them sellouts, however their music hasnt changed, is this the mass-popularisation of Electro music?
Secondly what are Justice? They use guitar distortion on banging electro tunes to create a sort of Rock and roll meets electro atmosphere. So are they trendie indie electro, or the emergence of a new sort of Rockstar?

Im not gonna answer those questions, that would be boring. I'm just gonna sit back and try and take in more of Justice's meteoric rise and try and work out whether they will fall off.

As for the show, pretty decent, but nowhere near as maddecent as Justice at Sonar last year, is it the location or due to the fact that they played a 2 hour 'gig' and not really a dj set?

Here's to the frenchies...

ps There is an UNbelievable number of Justice remixes - Check em out on seeqpod

BMorphed

I've gotta say, I'm loving the way that all and everyone have embraced the Bmore-ification of our favourite chart-toppers. After years of putting the likes of Britney, Madonna and Kano through Electro and DnB remix machines, it seems the dawn of Baltimore Beats is upon us...

With some SWEET results. Check out neon-fresh Stuttgarters Bass Ill Euro: I'm loving their version of N.E.R.D - Everyone Nose (EuroJunk Remix). Visit their Myspace to download some of their utterly danceable Mixtapes. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face and blisters on your feet.


BITE-SIZED electro

First up, a couple of wicked remixes from the Masterful Craftsmen that are Mstrkrft:

Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Mstrkrft Remix)

Kylie Minogue - Wow (Mstrkrft Remix)

If rocking out to Kylie makes you want to revisit the 80s, check out this super smooth Chromeo remix by Paris based electro-heads Lifelike ("so electric"):

Chromeo - Needy Girl (Lifelike Remix)

For some more down-tempo shizzle, check out this lovely rework of a 2007 chart topper from badboy Chicago remixer Million $ Mano:

Digitalism - Pogo (Mano Remix)

What is Music?

"You call that music?! Sounds like a broken car alarm..."

Sound familiar? Something most people that are into Electronic Bangin Stuff will regularly get thrown at them from unappreciative friends/family. But maybe the idea of considering the bleepedy bleep noises that microwaves/computers/mobile phones/etc produce as 'music' isn't all that crazy. Take Apple Computer's Macintosh Startup sound; that's music to my ears.

To prove my point, a couple of guys from Berlin called Transformer di Roboter had the rather awesome idea of using Apple's epic sound (created by Jim Reekes) as the bassline for a cover of MJ's Stranger in Moscow. The original idea behind Transformer was to do covers of known pop hits, using cliches of contrasting musical styles and... musical language.

This tune is likely to raise a few eyebrows if played at the next family gathering: but despite being based on a 3-second synthesizer
chord, it's making me nod my head like a little chipmunk. This underlines that asking questions like "Is it Music? Is it Art" is often irrelevant. Whether it's a star soprano singing her final aria, a badly sung karaoke performance or my latest ringtone; they are all part of the musical language we know the world and our own minds by.

(Doesn't mean some of the stuff we rock out to IS pretty funny)

Let's get Krump

Following on from the 'whats goin' down in Paris' post, Sketch showed me a vid of Clowning. Sorta like krumping, it's hard to describe, kinda similar but involving more joking around. It's a complete contrast to Techtonik. While krumping started in Southside LA, clowning apparently started as just that, a clown dancing crazily and getting kids to laugh. Question is which one do you prefer? Clowning or Techtonik?