How Was Your Summer?

Make It New had an excellent summer and Basstown returns in October. This time, the party that brought you The Field, Gui Boratto, Lauren Flax, Diplo and others will take place at the Good Life in downtown Boston, providing two floors of complete chaos. Facebook event details can be found here.

In the meantime, Nate (formerly Etan but now Shuttle) has been touring the world with Passion Pit, including a late night television performance on Jimmy Fallon's gig, where they played "The Reeling." (This is the closest I can get to linking, since it seems to have been taken down everywhere around the Internet...). They've been attracting a good amount of press, and Basstown has been brought up here, here and especially here, where the Examiner took time to talk to Nate, specifically.

Make It New recently featured Mark Ingram for the second time, a good friend of the Basstown crew and local Boston DJ who has been making a name for himself. Premiering at the party during August of 2008, he returned as Sleekit last month, and we recorded the night. You can also grab both Baltimoroder and Die Young's opening sets.

Audible: Sleekit @ Make It New, 08.20.09

Speaking of opening sets, Resident Advisor has a very interesting feature up on the matter. Definitely a worthwhile read for all. Editor Todd Burns also conducted a great interview with Richie Hawtin, but I want to send you that way mostly because of the lulzy photo they accompanied it with. Hang ten!

One other miscellaneous announcement of significance - our lovely Lauren DeVain has moved from Gigolo Records in Berlin over to Sportclub Music, which features a roster boasting the likes of Axel Bartsch, Oddvar, Sian, Alex Niggemann and Gabriel Ananda.

Axel Bartsch Mix

Last month at Make It New, Bar 25 resident and founder of the Sportclub label Axel Bartsch played an energizing set of new and unreleased Berlin techno for the party people of Cambridge.

Earlier this month we released the recording of Volvox's opening set as the After After Mix, and now we are pleased to present you with the headlining set of the night.

Perfect for the sunny summer weekend! (We even made some nice art for your iTunes)

Axel Bartsch Live at Make It New July 9

Raster-Noton @ Make It New

Once again, members of Raster-Noton graced our Middlesex Lounge for a very well-attended night of experimental electronic music. This year, we caught a lot of it on video, as well as photographs. You can view Ricardo DeLima's shots here, and Byetone bits below. Alva Noto video to come in a bit...

Minimal According To Magda / Bunker Brings Ben Klock

I got an interesting e-mail from Beatport today. Not exactly a chart, Bp proclaims Magda the "undisputed queen" of minimal techno (hey, I'm not arguing this), and attached a list of nine tracks which she feels provide a strong definite to the question: What is minimal techno?

1. DBX/Daniel Bell - Beat Phreak
2. Plastikman - Plasticity

3. Bruno Pronsato - Open Your Eyes

4. Eight Miles High / Roman Fluegel - In This Place

5. Basic Channel - Phylyps Track II/II*

6. JPLS - Combination 03

7. Studio 1 - Gold

8. Farben - Live At the Sahara Tahoe

9. Jens Zimmermann - C30*

*such a goddamn good song

I don't disagree with Magda's list. These are all classics and at least half of those mentioned are of legendary status now that minimal techno grows and grows in popularity. One artist worth mentioning here is Ben Klock. Lately, Boston's Make It New and NYC's Bunker have had some incredible guests over the last few months, but Ben Klock - whose recent album, One, has been released on Ostgut Ton - has me most excited. This Friday he'll be joined by an incredible lineup in Brooklyn for the April installment of Bunker. Below is the first track from his new album, which you can purchase here. If you've got good headphones, this will be a moment of pride for spending that large chunk of money.

Audible: Ben Klock - "Coney Island"

MySpace: Ben Klock

Website: Bunker

Tonight: Hostage in NYC & Make It New in Boston

The name Hostage started buzzing around when Volvox and Die Young spun "Blockhead" during a Basstown residency in the spring of last year. Since then, we've been waiting for him to come out to America, and finally that wait is over. While he isn't hitting the Boston circuit, he has visited a handful of spots around the country, landing him squarely in New York City tonight! With the latest release of Shake It - an EP that features remixes by AC Slater and Acid Jacks, along with three other originals - his name has become more widespread, and he is destined for bigger things in 2009. Somewhere between Drop The Lime and Berlin techno in style, "Shake It" is pretty anthemic all across the board despite its title making h8rs predict 5+ minutes of pure electro. "Leathered" is also one of the better tracks, and reminiscent of Proxy at certain points. Overall, it's obvious his taste is vast, and we can only expect more from him.

Audible: Hostage - "Shake It"
MySpace: Hostage

+++



Much like every Thursday in Boston, the Middlesex Lounge is going to feature some of the best techno in the world. Our own little version of Berghain, tonight's edition is a farewell to Doria Grace, who is leaving our transient city of Boston after being a hardcore attendee of all things Basstown and beyond. Come for hugs and drink. Joee Irwin recently called us "Boston's premiere techno party" - excellence. You can read about it here (as well as download some sets) at Palms Out Sounds, who are putting on the Hostage show in NYC tonight (small world, yo).

Make It New / Vincenzo

Tonight's installment of Make It New is as high-end as always. With no cover, good martinis and some of the best DJs in the city playing at the Middlesex Lounge, it will be an incredible 5 hours. If you're looking for some dinner before, head next door to Royal Bengal and find a friendly face. Otherwise, just play the featured mp3 below while getting ready and you'll find it hard to stay indoors past 9pm. It's a favorite, and captures much of the wild energy you'll find on any given Thursday night at Make It New.

Audible: Vincenzo - "Fruit Fly (Fruity Bug Mix)"
MySpace: Make It New

Our Joy & The Anger

While I often prefer the photo to be somewhat relevant to the post, I simply loved this. As you can see, our new President-elect Barack Obama is fighting off sharks, cars exploding into helicopters and the approaching possibility of death dude to falling from great heights. Seen with nunchucks and a skateboard, it looks like he'll be juuuust fine.

With that aside, last night Make It New took over Rise. Joined by Mark Ingram - a recurring guest and good friend - the residents filled the top and bottom floors of Rise with gorgeous sounds and endless techno. Truly a good fit for the club's soundsystem. A climax was when Ingram dropped Stimming's "The Anger," which was released in early August of this year. Subtly dark and brimming with intensity, this is will be a great track to properly usher you into the cold, hard weather that's just around the corner.

Turn off the lights. Turn up the bass.

Audible: Stimming - The Anger
MySpace: Stimming

Raven Disturbs and Delights the Middlesex

After the Red Sox caused a cacophony of screams and hugs within the Middlesex Lounge, the environment at Make It New shifted into a pure celebration mode. Baltimoroder and DJ Die Young manned the decks all night, and it was during a peak that DY threw out "Raven," a track that hasn't been played out nearly enough. Dark, heavy and pulsing, Baltimoroder calls The Proxy "that Russian guy that everyone loves." It's hard to explain how such a wide variety of techno heads can take to a version of electronic that is so blatantly rooted in horror, goth and industrial subculture, but the general cross-over appeal is as obvious as the mass-army marching chant that leads the track through most of its choruses.

File under...music to go apeshit to...

MySpace: The Proxy

Jan Krueger (Berlin) @ Make It New, this Thursday

This Thursday, Berlin-based Jan Krueger debuts in Boston at Make It New, and following the excellent guests the Thursday night has had this summer, it will be quite a closing. Re-entering the residents season, Krueger pulls us into a dark, pure corner of Berlin techno with his recorded sets featured below, and you can be sure to find more of it at the Middlesex Lounge on the 9th. The Bunker mp3 is top notch!

[Editor's Note: Jan Krueger has got to be THE nicest DJ any of us has ever booked ever in the history of everyone. Thanks Jan!]

Audible: Jan Krueger @ Bunker
Audible: Jan Krueger - Ibiza Voice Podcast
Facebook: Event Page
Legible: Background on Jan