Elsewhere: ReSolute + Blkmarket Present: Oslo Vs. Freude-Am-Tanzen

Both Blkmarket Membership and ReSolute are dominating promotional forces in the New York techno underground. They draw from the same crowds and equally throw some of the most epic parties with some of the most sought-after acts from overseas. Over the following months, Blkmarket will bring Melon, Dixon, Masomenos and Half Hawaii (to name a few) as they celebrate their 4th year and ReSolute were responsible for the DJ Hell gig in March 2009 that many consider to have been a major turning point in New York's underground scene. Their second anniversary party in November, featuring Alexi Delano, was also something to write home - or here, rather - about.

But back in early April there were incidents of both parties getting shut down and rivalries being formed. The straight story never came out, but the more important fact is that no one cares - ReSolute and Blkmarket quickly came out to all of their followers and announced that they are brothers and nothing can change that. In fact, that was the slogan of the Freude-Am-Tanzen vs. Oslo Records showcase that happened this weekend; a joint effort between Taimur + Fahad (Blkmarket) and Nektarios + Nikola (ReSolute).

Utilizing a new space on the Gowanus Canal, not far from the Yard, the massive tent housed a giant, pristine disco ball with LEDs. On top of that, the promoters had supplied everything from an ATM to a barbecue with everything in between. Aside from a 10 minute walk to a bodega on Court St + Nelson, there was nothing else in sight and the atmosphere felt more like a festival than a lengthy party.

On the lineup was Monkey Maffia (Soren) of the Wighnomy Brothers, making his first appearance in New York since the WBs decided to call it quits as a touring duo. On the Oslo (from Berlin, not Norway, funny enough) side was owner Frederico Molinari and Vera. VERA! I cannot stress enough, in a number of ways, how incredible this woman is.

(a) She is the type of producer that you may not know off-hand, but if you check out her work you will instantly recognize multiple tracks from some of your favorite DJ mixes. Vera is definitely a DJ's DJ.

(b) Her set was perfectly mapped out, taking us on a proper journey to where many of us couldn't believe it was still her behind the decks - her styles were so diverse.

(c) Vera is lovely. I spoke with her briefly afterwards and I have no doubt that she belongs right up top with Ellen Allien, Anja Schneider and Cassy as one of the most deserving female DJs in electronic music. Personality goes a long way, and Vera radiates it like the fucking sun.



Monkey Maffia was pretty incredible as well. He's a truly talented DJ and there's a heaping amount of insight into both Brothers in Speaking in Code - a documentary that comes from Basstown founder David Day and Amy Grill. I've always said the best DJ sets are majoritively defined by the inability to tell when one song truly ends and another begins, and Soren is right up there with world-famous DJs that are known to rock any party. I didn't recognize a single track he played until Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" - a version he stretched out for at least 15 glorious minutes. Someone next to me took a video, and I will harass him into getting that on YouTube soon...

All in all, it was an incredible party. Perhaps not as epic as some of the other Blkmarket/ReSolute parties in the past, but ultimately a great place to be for many hours on end. My friend and I clocked in around 9 and both slept like rock babies, highly satisfied.

Jamie Jones @ Plastic People

Jamie Jones is un-fucking-real. Die Young first brought him up when he got his hands on "Summertime" long before it was released and played it out at Zuzu and other hot spots around Cambridge. Jones has since paired up with Crosstown Rebels, Culprit and beyond and is definitely a sought-after artist. He played the famous Plastic People venue in London about a week ago, and goddamn...just listen.

Jamie Jones Live @ Plastic People, London -16-04-2010 by R_co

K.atou Offers a New Podcast for Autobrennt, Continues to Reign

Starting out in Athens before moving to Corfu, K.atou is the Greek goddess of the turntables. She's been coming up fast for the last few years, and when we had the pleasure of seeing her for her first time in Boston at Midweek Techno two years ago she played an excellent set. Since then, she's only gotten better and made stronger associations with fierce artists in the underground techno and house scenes that are constantly cross-pollinating and reaching larger and larger audiences.

Utilizing her strong bookings in Greece, she founded collectives that pushed minimal into Athenian nightlife. She's also been doing her own music production for the last few years and had great reception towards her first release in 2007 on Einmaleins Musik. She now lives in Berlin and continues to kick ass, showing up at making everyone smile, whether she's behind the decks or on the dancefloor.

This latest podcast comes from Autobrennt, a NYC-based management/promotion agency that works with the likes of Midweek Techno (you may have heard of them, ya?), Plot (think Midweek Techno...in Miami), MNMLKTCHN, Buddies (Matt Dear + Philip Jung's new monthly) and many others. She's in good hands.

Download: Autobrennt Podcast 008 // K.atou

CORALCOLA .::. EGGGIRL (video + download)

A new video from Coralcola - an artist that Basstown can arguably take credit for discovering (thanks, Die Young) and unleashing on the public when he opened for The Field in June 2008.

Speaking of Die Young, he is one of the many local favorites that contributed to this long, impressive trackist.

1. Egggirl (Original Mix)
2. Tecmo
3. Arny Palm
4. Egggirl (Die Young Remix)
5. Egggirl (Christopher Wade Remix)
6. Egggirl (Space USA Remix)
7. Egggirl (Brothers Sunny Side Up Remix)
8. Egggirl (Nooka Jones Remix)
9. Egggirl (Kat Fyte Re-Rub)

CLICK HERE for your free download, and to keep your eye on Coralcola news.

CosminTRG @ Matter (London), January 2010

photo by Seze Devres, Bass Mutations 02.13.10

Back in February, Cosmin TRG performed at Bass Mutations as part of the Unsound Festival. He also spoke on the related panel along with Dave Q of Dub War and FaltyDL (Planet Mu), who happens to be playing Dub War in New York tomorrow night with Geoim. More of a 2-stepper with a penchant for house, TRG fit right in alongside Dave Q, Untold and 2562 that Saturday night in Brooklyn dropping techno at times (think Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey") within bass-heavy beats.

FWD/Rinse has another party coming up at Matter in London - with over 20 guests on the bill, believe it - and in return they've put up Cosmin's set from January. His discography is small (for now) and his DJ sets are a bit hard to find. On top of that, he lives in Bucharest so he's not hitting the states often enough!

A true original.

CosminTRG - FWD>> + Rinse, January 2010 by matterlondon

Trentemoller: New Album, Video and Remixes by Boratto + Schumacher

It feels like years since Trentemøller's timelessly breathtaking release, 'The Last Resort,' came out. In fact, it has and the electronic music scene has changed so much for Boston, Basstown and the whole goddamn globe. Still the master of beautiful music, Trentemøller's single for "Sycamore Feeling" will precede the release of his next full-length, 'Into the Great Wilde Yonder.' It includes remixes from Gui Boratto and Thomas Schumacher, and altogether these advanced producers build the anticipation for the Danish artist's latest efforts. Also loved by us was his remix collection, 'The Chronicles Of,' which came out on Audiomatique in 2007. Above is the new video for the original version of "Sycamore Feeling," and below you can click through to Ibiza Voice to hear the Boratto/Schumacher remixes.

Ibiza Voice: "Sycamore Feeling" Remixes

Making The Noise: Live in New York, January 2010

Making The Noise is no stranger to Basstown, and since we first wrote about him in 2007 the Boston native has made a name for himself as a great live performer and one of the top applications programmers for the Monome - the secret weapon for his MTN sound. Late last month, he came down to New York to headline the first installment of The Vectory, a new party in Greenpoint's Coco66. The East coast event draws its inspiration from Low End Theory in Los Angeles, which has garnered associations with the likes of Daedelus and Flying Lotus. Over the last few years, MTN utilizes his website to post live sets and new tracks, but the total pleasure of experiencing his music comes from his stage shows, which are paired with mesmerizing visuals and his unwavering enthusiasm. In many ways, the Warp-esque set in Brooklyn evoked similar reactions to seeing Aphex Twin almost 10 years ago. Any IDM fan that has grown to appreciate a wide variety of music can find a kinship in MTN's taste. Below, you can watch the closing track to his set, and be sure to keep an eye out for his rare but special appearances.

mtn - untitled track - live @ coco66 nyc 1-27-2010 from makingthenoise on Vimeo.

Fabric Goes Higher With 'Elevator Music'

fabric presents Elevator Music: Vol. 1 from Fabric London on Vimeo.

Fabric is a powerhouse among clubs and labels, and 'Elevator Music Vol. 1' is an authentic display that the institution is aiming to utilize the dawn of a new year and decade. Its press release states that the project "stands as an album in its own right, becoming more than just a collection of tracks. It's a collation of the variant strains of dubstep; a completely original and exclusive collection of future bumps that reflects the embracive nature of fabric's dance floor music policy." The mission is to - and I love this quote - "further the cocktail of sound that dubstep is currently thriving off of."

Featuring names well-known and obscure, this is a great compilation for newcomers to dubstep that have just sunk their teeth into Hyperdub's five-year anniversary release, which was lauded by tastemakers big and small in the last year. Bolded are the tracks that stand out, but Starkey's "Black Monolith" is by far the greatest track...quite possibly to 2010 what "Moth" was to 2009.

1: Hot City – If That’s How I Feel
2: xxxy – Sing With Us
3: Doc Daneeka – Drums In The Deep
4: Hackman – Pistol. In Your Pocket
5: Julio Bashmore – The Moth
6: Untold – Bad Girls
7: Octa Push – Doctor Bayard
8: Shortstuff – Behave
9: Skinnz – Ukraine
10: Mosca – Gold Bricks, I See You
11: Martyn – Friedrichstrasse
12: Vista – Elixir
13: Caspa & Rusko – One Of The Same
14: Om Unit – Encoded
15: Starkey – Black Monolith

16: Shortstuff & Brackles – Melvin Blue (Digital Bonus Track)
17: Hackman – Pistol In Your Pocket (Hypno Remix) (Limited Digital Bonus track)

DJ Die Young Remix Featured on Vice Blog

Just a quick post to let everyone know that DJ Die Young's remix of Zambri has been posted up on Vice's blog! Much congrats to Jamie, who has always been a solid remixer in the Basstown crew. His Teletextile remix was featured on XLR8R a bit ago, and his Frightened Rabbit remix went far within and beyond the Boston perimeter. Get a better feel for him over at his MySpace page.

Zambri - "Bang For Changes (DJ Die Young Mix)"

Eslewhere: the ReSolute 1+1 Anniversary

never go home.

This weekend marked the two year anniversary of NYC's ReSolute collective, who blew us away in March when they featured DJ Hell and Anja Schneider (among others) at a converted warehouse in Bushwick. Since then, there have been a handful of parties in that same location, and it was not only the home of their 2nd anniversary celebration but a special screening of Speaking In Code. Director Amy Grill was present, and it being my third time seeing the film, I have to say that it never gets old. Now living in Brooklyn, there are many scenes (sQuare loft, Thunderdome and various city shots) that make my heart leap with nostalgia for the community that still thrives at Make It New and related parties. It unabashedly exposes the very raw, human sides of Philip Sherburne and Gabor of the Wighnomy Brothers, which makes many feel incredibly honored to be able to view and understand the personal sides of these influential people.

But the music...the music!! San Francisco's Alland Byallo played a live set that completely rocked the house, and he was completely locked in to his controls. The hero of the night - or morning, rather - would be Alexi Delano, who played from 6am to 10:30 in the morning. There's little to say other than the set being absolute perfection, going hard and fairly fast for the entire morning. In many of these cases, people begin to filter out after 8 or 9 in the morning, but it's safe to say that there were just as many people there at 10am as there were at 7am. The crowd was really happy, and as far as I could see there were no fights or disturbances. Imagine being in one big, concrete room for 12 straight hours and being annoyed by absolutely no one...the bar never running out...the bathrooms never getting scary or gross.


Alexi Delano

ReSolute continue to conjure themed parties that really explore unturned stones in promoting events. Many of its regulars put their trust in Nektarios, Nikola and their partners to create not just an incredible line-up but an entire atmosphere that is safe, fun and mind-blowing.

Incyde Kicks Off Hot Flush Podcast Series

I'm not quite sure how old this is (though it is from 2009), but our friend Incyde kicked off the hot flush podcasts with his own mix. He not only runs the label with Scuba, but you can also catch him as a resident of DubWar (NYC) and often putting together and/or playing at Bassic in Boston. He also has a pirate radio show on Sub.FM and writes for Big Up magazine.

I guess you could say he's a busy guy...

Audible: Incyde - HotFlush Podcast 01

MySpace: Incyde

Dan Alcala Remixes Röyksopp

Dan Alcala has been a busy man. The Boston native is still stationed in New York, and has been working on mixes and remixes for the past several months. He received a lot of feedback for his track "Why So Serious?" which infused parts of The Dark Knight and techno. It was a smash at Make It New when he headlined last summer. Dan recently made a mix with his DJ crew, Rich Unkle Skeleton, which you can grab here. He's also made some strange YouTube videos. You can find just about everything on his MySpace page, but be sure to check out his latest - a remix of Röyksopp's "Tricky Tricky," which once again features Karin Dreijer Andersson (Fever Ray, The Knife) on vocals.


Audible: Röyksopp - "Tricky Tricky (Dan Alcala Remix)"
MySpace: Dan Alcala

Website: Dan Alcala

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.

Dev/Null's Summer Mix

Die Young: NEED TRACKLISTING
Dev/Null: oh
Dev/Null: for my mix?
Dev/Null: OK
Dev/Null: 1. NYOFB
Dev/Null: 2. NYOFB
Dev/Null: 3. NYOFB
Dev/Null: 4. NYOFB
Die Young: hahah
Die Young: ill post with a tracklisting at request and your myspace
Die Young: *tracklisting upon request
Dev/Null: you can put my email address if you want
Dev/Null: eh, I can type up a track listing I Guess
Dev/Null: gimme a minute
Die Young: doo iiitttt
Dev/Null: fuck yeah my laptop doesn't have wireless now for some reason
Dev/Null: even if I type it up downstairs
Dev/Null: no way to transfer it
Dev/Null: can you just say "email pete.devnull @ gmail dot com for tracklist/more info" or something/
Die Young: i gotta have a tl dude
Die Young: its kinda lazy if i dont
Dev/Null: no it's not
Dev/Null: you put up plenty of mixes w/o them
Die Young: live ones
Die Young: never premixed
Dev/Null: what's the difference?
Dev/Null: this was live
Dev/Null: in my apartment

HE HAS A POINT FOLKS.
Dev/Null rules. Mix rules.
Original remixes, old school, new school, hardcore, its all in there.

Audible: Dev/Null - Summer Mix 09

Virb: http://virb.com/bostonoldschool

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

If you take a one a day multivitamin after a night of drinking, you will not get a headache the next day

Here are a couple of great mixes from a Volvox and DSub, techno and glitch hop (although why does this term rub me the wrong way? There's gotta be a better name for the kind of stuff DSub is playing) DJs respectively. I was able to record these sets using the magic iKey device. I hope you enjoy.

Audible: Volvox - Make it New July 9th Set
Audible: DSub - July 10th Birthday Set

Setlists on request.

Collaboration Celebration

Mathew Jonson & Dandy Jack / photo: Reuben Sweeney

The latest podcast from Resident Advisor features Pisco Sour, a collaboration between Butane and Dandy Jack. In all honesty, I have yet to listen to it, but I was most interested in the interview, and particularly loved what Martin Schopf (Dandy) had to say about collaborations.

Q: You've continued your string of collaborations, play with Mathew Jonson at Mutek and here with Butane. Do you prefer collaborating to solo work? And are there any future collaborations we can look forward to?

A: Between two people there is always a challenge, mixed up between friendship, love and musical affinity. You go into something that could never happen in your dreams; it's an improvisation. This can be magic, but also a disaster. So you go to your gig, simply expecting full control or total chaos. In this case you are exposed to your partner and the public in a silent way, even if the sound is loud and unacceptable and you want to close your ears. There are not many people you are able to do this with.

You can read the entirety of it here, and download the podcast as well.


Mathew Jonson & Dandy Jack / photo: Reuben Sweeney

I'm happy to see his live Mutek set mentioned again. While I was unable to make it to Montreal after a perfect and long weekend in Detroit, I heard so much about their collaboration at Metropolis. Fortunately, it's all recorded, and now available here. Thanks to TNL for passing it over, and enjoy - Jonson starts things off with a slightly sped up version of his latest B-side, "When Love Feels Like Crying," which is a gorgeous and essential track for the mild and sunny summer we've been having in the Northeast.


Audible: Mathew Jonson vs. Dandy Jack, live @ Mutek 2009

Introducing: Secrets

A few weeks ago, the event Basstown is Dead put to rest the monthly residency at Great Scott. We're happy to say that reports of the death of Basstown have been greatly exaggerated.

Tonight marks the beginning of a new residency, Secrets, landing every other Tuesday in Jamaica Plain. The Milky Way Lounge has recently moved into glorious new digs at the Brwery Building, once home to Boston Beer Company (aka Samuel Adams) and now where they give brewery tours, the old Haffenreffer brewery has been reborn.

We're proud to be a part of such a tradition, and proud to bring three young and well-informed new resident DJs into the Basstown fold.

Will Lynch, aka Lynch is a contributor for esteemed blog Little White Earbuds. He's long been a supported of our weekly residency Make It New, but his regular show, Persuasion, broadcasts from 10pm-2am on Thursdays, exactly when Make It New takes place.

SarahJoy is his partner on Persuasion and a practicing DJ in her own right. During the Great Scott era, SarahJoy blew us away with a set at the now-legendary night The Revolution Will Be Feminized when she supported Lauren Flax--a night when out residency blew the power out of a city block in Allston.

Carrigan DB also had a radio show on WZBC 90.3fm, the most adventurous radio frequency in Boston. Her AM radio show, "The Following Aesthetic Reasons," was the first to bring techno to the morning commute. After a series of amazing house parties, she's a great host with a taste like none other.

These three will serve as the anchor of the new Basstown night, called Secrets. The opening party takes place tonight, with a candlelit photobooth, disposable cameras for the crowd and a cutting-edge DJ trio at the decks. Looks for special guests in the coming weeks, from Basstown and beyond.

Lynch and SarahJoy combined forced to make the first promotional mix. Here is the set-list:

Sound Stream - “Live” Goes On [Sound Stream]
Nekes - Cristal (Sascha Dive Remix) [Oslo]
Masomenos - Travel Master [Welcome to Masomenos]
Christian Burkhardt - Doubledub [Raum… musik]
Jus Ed - Yo, This Shit is Hot! [Underground Quality]
Kreon - Jauce [Cécille Numbers]
Matthew Styles - Palladium [Horizontal]
David Pher - Harare [Glueckskind Digital]
Delano Smith feat. Diamond Dancer - A Message For the DJ [Still Music]
Black Jazz Consortium - New Horizon [Soul People Music]
Melchior Productions Ltd. - Water Soul [Perlon]

Enjoy:

Lynch and SarahJoy - Secrets Promo Mix

Dave Siska's "Distant Lights" Mix

On a more personal note, I wanted to extend my apologies for not blogging much music lately. It's been an incredibly busy summer working and living on the beach (Fire Island), and you can imagine that there isn't much techno going on out here. I've missed Richie Hawtin, Claude VonStroke, Daniel Bell and have/will be missing a few House 'n' Home & Bunker parties. Believe me, it's no easy task, but thanks to mailing lists, FTP servers and having great friends, it's been easy to keep up with the Internet on hand. (When the beach is your front yard, though, it's easy to forget that it's there altogether!)

As of late, I've been revisiting Marc Houle's Bay Of Figs and enjoying new tracks by Deuce and especially the new Planetary Assault Systems release, Temporary Suspension. Oh, and the new Holger Zilske album is slowly but steadily growing on me. Of all of these things, Luke Slater's "The Watcher" - from Planetary Assault's 2LP promo for Temporary Suspension is hands down the winner of my concrete heart. I'll be featuring it in the near future, but be sure to check out the excellent feature on Resident Advisor with Mr. Slater himself.

But before I go, I wanted to leave you with a beautiful mix by Dave Siska, with thanks to JD Harrington for passing this along my way. It's titled Distant Lights, and I will let the mix speak for itself. I personally love where it goes past the 30 minute mark as well as the beat's ressurrection around the 42 minute mark. Gorgeous. Tracklist is below - enjoy!

My Bloody Valentine – To Here Knows When [vermilion endloop] 1991
Tim Hecker – Blood Rainbow – Harmony in Ultraviolet (Kranky) 2006
Vainqueur – Elevation [Original] – Elevations (Chain Reaction) 1997
Substance – Plate Element 3 – Sessions (Chain Reaction) 1998
Motor – 7 (Audio.nl) 2000
James Ruskin – Below – Further Design (Blueprint) 1998
Marcel Dettmann – A Req [T++ remix] (MDR) 2006
Marc Ashken – Roots Dyed Dark [Skream remix] (Leftroom) 2007
Burial – Distant Lights (Hyperdub) 2006
Porter Ricks – Nautical Dub [extract] – Biokinetics (Chain Reaction) 1996
Benjamin Brunn – Up the Escalator (Binemusic) 2005
Stephan Laubner – Portside Waves (Perlon) 2000
Convextion – Solum Ferrum (downLow) 2006
Exos – Orangeblue – U Can’t Stop Time (Statik Entertainment) 2003
7th Plain – Pearl – TEEX 3 (Volume) 1994
Pub – Summer [Arovane AMX 4] (Vertical Form) 2000

Audible: Dave Siska - Distant Lights mix
More Info: Sonic Sunsets

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...