TheDopeFiend

Remix Rush: Flux

Call it Indie-Electro, call it electro-rock, call it the better than any song on A Weekend In The City, just don’t call it non-danceable. Bloc Party gets back to their up-tempo roots on their new EP Flux with the original version and four amazing remixes of the track. It’s no surprise that my favorite remix on the EP is by one-half of MSTRKRFT, the one and only JFK. This is not the first Bloc Party track JFK has graced with his remixing abilities. He and his MSTRKRFT counterpart remixed Bloc Party’s Two More Years, which probably got more play by fans than the original. It seems JFK has been doing some solo work lately having also re-worked tracks by Goose and Mr. Miyagi. I hope this is not a sign of trouble on the home front for MSTRKRFT, either way JFK is doing his thing and doing it well.

Bloc Party :: Flux (JFK Remix)

Buy the EP for only $3.49.

Super Heavy!

For local readers in Salt Lake City who are feeling the lack of variety in the club department, check out Super Heavy every Wednesday at The Mynt. This is a new weekly started by myself and musical partner in crime HOT NOISE!!! to bring something
new to the party people here in SLC. I won’t begin to try and list of the lengthy list of music genres that we play every week. I will tell you you won’t hear this shit anywhere else in this city, and if you like to dance there’s no better music. Besides, why explain the music when you can just listen to it?

Download the Super Heavy Mixtape!
(Feel free to re-post and share this mix!)

Super Heavy – Every Wednesday
The Mynt
63 West 100 South, SLC
Contact me to get on the guest list.

MUSCLES!!!

On yet another music related note – I bring you Muscles. I am a couple weeks late on this one, but I couldn’t resist mentioning the release of his debut full length album Guns Babes Lemonade. I am going to skip all the B.S. you are going to read everywhere else about how Muscles is bringing back the “sound of rave”. Instead I will jump right to how this music, regardless of the label you put on it, is just simply amazing! Muscles’ wailing, emotion-filled vocals are a perfect contrast to the synthy up-tempo dance beats throughout the entire album. I could go on about how this is probably my favorite dance album of the year, and how he could quite possibly be the best artist on the amazing Modular Records, but I will let the music do the talking. Check it out!

Muscles :: Sweaty
Muscles :: One Inch Badge Pin
Bonus
Architecture in Helsinki :: Neverevereverdid (Muscles Theme Park Lemonade Dub)

Purchase album on iTunes.

Lies in Disguise

Midwestern electro-disco wonderboy Le Castle Vania has been missing in action since the release of his amazing Troubleton EP release. You may have been lucky enough to have seen him while touring, but as far as new releases I (along with everyone else I am sure) have been anxiously awaiting. Well the wait is over. Le Castle Vania has found time between his live shows to team up with Blake Miller creating Lies in Disguise. Being known for his work with Moving Units and his colab with Steve Aoki (Weird Science) Miller has never disappointed in the past, and is not starting now. Lies in Disguise has released a dancefloor slaying remix of Penis VS Vagina by UK’s Party Shank. It’s an amazing follow up to the work both of them have done previous, and is a track I will surely be dropping next time I DJ.

Party Shank :: Penis VS Vagina (Lies in Disguise Remix)

XLR8R Facelift

XLR8R has given their website a facelift! For years now I have been a huge fan of this magazine. Being out of the country for the past year, and not having access to the print ‘zine, I have also become very impressed with their online presence. It is simply the best all-around resource for music and culture media that I know of. One could spend hours browsing the content on XLR8R’s website. With three frequently updated podcasts, free MP3s updated weekly, daily music videos, event listings, photo blog, album reviews and a huge archive of all of the above I would say that XLR8R’s website had better be on your list daily visits.

The Reminder

Just a friendly reminder (pun intended?) from Leslie Feist. Her new and much awaited sophomore release entitled The Reminder will soon be released! Hopefully, we’ll be hearing her wonderful tunes when May makes its way around the corner. For more information regarding her new album and projects, check out All Things Feist.

P.S. I am not dead. Just busy at work!

Sasquatch Music Festival: May 26-27

Honestly, what could be better than a road trip with your friends to go see some of the most amazing bands and artists in the world at a beautiful outdoor music festival? I really couldn’t think of many better ways to spend a weekend. If you agree with me you may want to consider getting some freinds together and heading to the Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge in George, Washington. The line-up for the 2 day festival is amazing, including Bjork, the Beastie Boys, M.I.A., Interpol, Grizzly Bear, Aquaduct, Electralane and a lot more. With a line-up like that and cheap tickets, starting at only $55, this should be a no-brainer for anyone living remotely close to Washington.

Thanks for the heads-up on this one Steph.

SellaBand

Are you in a band that has wanted to produce an album, but you just don’t quite have the means to get it done? Well, if you think you’re good enough you may want to check out SellaBand, and website designed to get independant artists and bands enough money to get the music produced. Here’s how it works: bands and artists upload their profiles and music fans or as they call them “believers” find artists they really like. Believers then are able to support the bands they like buy investing $10 towards the production of their album, when the artist or band reaches $50,000 (5,000 investors) the money goes towards the production of their album, and the investors receive one of the albums. Have a hard time believing something like this works? A band by the name of Nemesea just raised 50,000 big ones in just 3 months, crazy shit.

Slackin’ in the ‘07

It has been over a month since my last post, there is really no excuse for the slacking. However, if I were to attempt to make some sort of an excuse you could choose from one of the following: I was living in China were the internet got completely jacked because of a large earthquake in Taiwan, I had to suddenly move back to the States because of the internet and work, I now have no place to live and I am camping out on a mattress on a friend’s floor, I am slammed with make-up work that I was unable to do in China, I am trying to get everything done so I can go back to China. Regardless of the excuse, I have a bunch of cool-ass stuff that has been sitting in my bookmarks and inbox just waiting to share, so hopefully there are at least a few readers who have stuck with me through this slow time, stay tuned!

To the Fiends

Well, it’s hard to believe it’s already over, but here’s to another year of good times had. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and have an even better New Year. Thanks to all you readers who stay loyal even with my lack of consistant posting while on hiatus in another continent!

INDISTR

INDISTR is making “making it” pointless as they say. The website is the brainchild of Benjamin Gott, co-creator of The Brilliance. The concept of INDISTR is one that I have always known would come about sooner than later. Essentially INDISTR makes it possible for musicians to widely distribute their music, and remain truly independent. The artists have complete control over their music and keep 75% of the earnings. It is what I believe will be the future of music, the death of monsterous record labels reaping the benefits, and true freedom for the musicians. The website is in the pre-launch stage right now, and is said to be launching in 3 weeks, I am excited to see how it goes.

Modular People/Podcast

This is somewhat of a two part post. The first part is about the fact that Modular Records is basically taking over the world. With well known artists on their label such as The Avalanches, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Soulwax and MSTRKRFT to relatively new artists to the world like The Presets, Van She, New Young Pony Club and The Klaxons, Modular seems to be storming the world with its new sound. Quite honestly over half the tracks I played on a recent DJ set were by artists on Modular, and every one of them were welcomed with cheers and people dancing their asses off. I am much anticipating more releases by the label.

The second part of this post keeps with the podcast theme of the last post. Modular also has a great podcast by the name of Modcast. Modcast features singles released by Modular artists and some other great tracks too. It’s great for keeping up on the recent buzz at this awesome label that’s taking dance music to new places.

Tycho

If you are a member of the design community, then you know of the much successful
artist by the name of Scott Hansen, AKA ISO50. If you haven’t heard of him you should check out his work. And although his art is amazing, this post is about something you may not know about Scott Hansen, the artist/designer is also a musician. Scott has recently released his new full length album, following up his EP in 2002, under the name Tycho. Tycho’s soothing electronic, blippy soundscapes, with occasional vocals are just as good as his design. The album was recently released on Merck and is available here.

Genre Now Radio

For many the pursuit to find new music is endless, and luckily enough, so is the amount of music. Internet radio is a great way to find new music, and I was recently tuned-in to Genre Now Radio presented by aNYthing (who’s clothes are also worth a look) in partnership with Splay. Genre Now Radio plays a wide variety of indie rock, indie-pop, hip-hop, grime, electronic with an East Coast feel. Pretty much just good music, not focusing on all this genre/sub-genre bullshit.

Remix Rush: Le Disko

Hey boys and girls, sorry it has been so long. I made it safe and sound to Shanghai, China and have been getting settled. Hence the delay in posting. But TheDopeFiend is back in full effect. I am kick off the posting with a remix of the track Le Disko by Shiny Toy Guns. The track has been reworked by Boys Noize who is so incredibly hot right now. They cut nearly all the verses and vocals from the song, and add that crunchy electro-guitar sound we all love so much. Making for a hard hitting party anthem sure to make you shake your thing.

Shiny Toy Guns :: Le Disko (Boys Noize Remix)