Local Voices : CHRIS DEVLIN

You may know him as C. Rockswell of Spank Rock, but lately he's been touring all over the world with Devlin and Darko Soundsystem and putting his real name up on flyers, Chris Devlin. When Devlin isn't jettin out to Austrailia for a New Years throwdown or flying into Seattle for a one-off friday nite jam, he calls the Southwest Boston neighborhood Jamaica Plain, home. He may have been born and raised in Baltimore and rose to fame with the city's now world-renowned music scene, but we couldn't be happier to have this Maryland transplant here in Basstown.

I was lucky enough to hang with Chris at a JP laundromat and get to know his story better and learn quite a bit about his experience in throwing a party and making a scene happen. I apologize for not presenting a formal interview and proper quotes, you can find those anywhere on the innernets, but i will try to relay what i learned in a three hour conversation with a DJ whose done some serious things.

Chris started DJin 12 years ago when his high school started a radio station, his show featured alot of hip hop and some jazz. After trying a traditional college path he took some time off and decided to try out art at Maryland Institute College of Art. He found it to be a great experience and it is said that at one of his art shows that he introduced MC Spank Rock (Naeem Juwan) and producer Armani XXXchange (Alex Epston) and the the landmark debut album "YoYoYoYoYo" followed in 2006. Chris modestly denies this story and says they had met before. Art took backseat to his music career as Spank Rock took off and since he has DJ'd all over the world with the group. With his DJ partner Ronnie Darko (Ronald Rubarth), the two perform as both a routine DJ crew and a four turntable party soundsystem. here's a video from Montreal's Igloofest last weekend, watch as they move 3500 people with Ghislain Poirier and Daedelus, despite it being outside and -20 degrees!


Now that Chris comes home to Boston, he has already started to make his mark in the Basstown community. His party SHAKE EM DOWN is an all around jump off that goes down the first thursday of every month at Jamaica Plain's Milky Way Lounge. He's brought in Spank Rock, XXXchange, and Pase Rock in the past and featured local Dj's Red Foxx and Emarce. When talking about what goes into what makes a local party happen, i learned A LOT about what it really takes.

I had been under the impression that a music scene is under the jurisdiction of the legal environment of the town in which it is located, more specifically the mandates against all ages and 18+ shows and the early closing times of many clubs in Boston. By telling me the story of Baltimore's Taxlo party and how it started withhout any real talented Dj or without a great venue (they are just as strict on IDs there) and how it was all about hard work and letting people know what was going on and getting them out to the party. It made me realize how ideal Boston is, there's tons of amazingly TALENTED dj's and great venues in every neighborhood, its all about letting people know when, where, and why. Here's a clip from Dj GHOSTDAD's show called MOFO RADIO (link to his fresh blog) on which Chris Devlin shared some records last week, to let you know why Chris Devlin and Shake Em Down is the place to be ona thursday nite in JP. Chris' edit of the show on his blog FULLY FITTED

Kylie Minogue: Onward into space

Wow wow wow wow! Is this what the future looks like? Kylie Minogue performs her song "Wow" as some strange, foreign awards ceremony, it seems.
I've recently seen the actual video (which is more Daft Punk-inspired than the song itself, it seems), but it's on Daily Motion and I am laaaayzeeee.
Enjoy.

Flax : A Heart-Healthy Addition To Your Musical Diet

Lauren Flax may not live in Boston, but the DJs up here love her equally for her personality and mixes. This March, IHEARTCOMIX - the pioneering label from friends DJ Franki Chan and Travis Hayden - releases the HEARTSREVOLUTION 12" for CYOA! or "Choose Your Own Adventure."

HEARTSREVOLUTION are the musical entity from the people who created the Heartschallenger Ice Cream Truck and Lifestyle brand, Lo and Ben. Sonically they sound somewhere in between HuggyBear and 'The Virgin Suicides' soundtrack by Air. They've already released 2 limited edition pieces of vinyl. First, was the CYOA! single on white heart-shaped vinyl and the 2nd was a 6" glow-in-the-dark split record w/ Crystal Castles. They already have a video for their single 'CYOA' which has garnered over 270,000 views on youtube. Hearts are also RVCA advocates this year and have a full line of merch sold online and exclusively from their ice cream trucks. IHEARTCOMIX will be releasing their CYOA! remix 12" at the beginning of March. The single contains remixes by Brodinski, Lazaro Casanova, CFCF, Lauren Flax and Dan Oh.


(Just) Before They Were Rockstars: Hearthrob + Lauren Flax

We absolutely love the CYOA! remix, and I've personally played it on repeat more than I'm willing to share. Also here is the "Let's All Feel Good" mix, from late December. The tracklist is:
1) Sunday Brunch - Midsummer Night (original mix) / SVEK
2) Blaze - Lovelee Dae (20:20 vision main mix) / Playhouse
3) Mood II Swing - All Night Long / Groove On
4) Isolee - Monitor / Playhouse
5) Lego - El Ritmo De Verdad / Afterhours
6) Cajmere - Chit Chat / Clubhouse Records

Enjoy.


Audible: HEARTSREVOLUTION - "CYOA! (Lauren Flax String Theory Remix)"
Audible: Lauren Flax - Let's All Feel Good Mix (zShare)
MySpace: Lauren Flax

Saturday, February 23rd: A very special headliner

Basstown Presents:
D I P L O



And some other very special guests
who we will announce shortly

In the meantime, be sure to go and
BUY. YOUR. TICKETS.

(you can purchase them with cash
at Great Scott if you want to avoid
the Ticketweb service fee - hollur!)

This event will sell out!


We love you so.
Cheers,
Basstown

MySpace: Diplo

Local Voices: PASSION PIT

Not much more than a month ago, a band opened at the Great Scott in Allston, MA and stole the show as the club filled with their fans screaming along the lyrics louder than the singers mic'd on stage, all while completely flooring everyone who was lucky enough to witness them for the first time. That was the first time I saw Passion Pit and since that nite they have ignited a buzz about them unparalleled in speed in the Boston music scene. They've also been in rotation at WFNX and NPR.

The band consists of Michael Angelakos (songwriter/vocals/synth), Ian Hultquist (vocals/synth), Ayad al Adhamy (vocals/synth/sampling), Adam Lavinsky (drums/sampling), and Thom Plasse (bass/synth). Last nite i got to sit down with four of the five members and get better insight to what Passion Pit really is.

BASSTOWN - So im under the impression that this was originally your (Mike Angelakos) solo project, how did Passion Pit evolve into what it is today?

Mike Angelakos - "Well I started making electro-pop on my own in 2006, Im a pop songwriter though, typical formulaic pop, but i started playing it for my roomates and dancing and i realized how much fun it was. So i released an album (Chunk of Change) the night before a show on April 20th 2007 and i played with my laptop and just sang along, and it went over pretty well. Then Ian [Hultquist] and Adam [Lavinsky] offered to be my backup band if I ever wanted one. I called them a few weeks later and we got a practice space. I still do all the recording alone and play live with the band."

BT - so what way have you found to be most efficient for translating your programmed recordings into live songs?

Adam Lavinsky - "by nt playing along with the track"
M.A. - "yea we're not gonna be Kate Bush, the songs change several times before playing them live"

BT - So how does the local buzz about you guys make you feel?

Ian Hultquist - "it makes me nervous"
A.L. - "we just do it to have fun, i dont think about that"
M.A. - "i was horrified, i didnt expect it, i get horrible stage fright too, i think the local scene expects so much but we will warmly embrace it as it has embraced us."

BT - who are you feeling in the boston scene?

Ayad al Ahamy - "Ramming Speed, a thrash metal band that sings about pizza and girls and Eureka Gold i miss them"
M.A. - "Tulsa is awesome and Benefit Friends is doing great things"

BT - definitely, so whens the next album coming out?
M.A. - "its called Pretty Penny and its #2 of 3 concept albums and it will include 2 discs, one with the music and one with a multimedia experience for each song as well as acoustic versions and such, my roomate Sam Pettibon is putting it together, he's a genius."
I.H. - "its coming out in April"

Yep i'd say 6 more months of Enzyte and this P.P. will be huge. You can catch em this Saturday January 26th at Basstown, February 4th at Northeastern Univ.'s After Hours Club with The Peasantry, and February 15th at Charter Oaks in Hartford, CT. Also check back here for the premiere of their two new music videos for "Sleepyhead" and "Cuddle Fuddle"! heres there myspace once again.

Local Voices: PLUS MOVE

PLUS MOVE is more than just the most blogged-about electronic duo in Boston, they are a truly progressive musical force that plans on taking over your next party's stereo/dj's setlist. While many highly blogged artists tend to find reassurance in the Blog-House or "Blouse" formula of sidechain compressed and sampling rate deteriorated cut-and-paste electro, these dudes have taste and don't plan on just making shit to make blogs happy. Luckily we have em calling Allston home and they are finally coming back out of their cave to play their newest tracks and shake up some Boston dancefloors. I was lucky enough to talk to them this week.

-while it's set in stone you're called producers in the studio, what would you call yourselves on the stage? [do you have a name for the blurring between djing and live performance?]

[PM]-As soon as we release our first EP we will be PLUS MOVE LIVE. We will be playing all of our material, including remix work and original songs.

-speaking of things demanding a proper name, what exactly do you call the genre of music you create and play? [people throw around blog house, blouse, blog electro, neu rave, TRONSTEP, etc...]

[PM] We have no idea what to call the type of music we make.

-how do you feel about the music blog movement and what its done for you? i did a search for you on elbo.ws and it returned 29 mp3 posts by seperate blogs about you guys.

[PM] Blogs have done a lot for us. They're an easy way to reach your audience directly. It's because of them that we are listening to so many different artists.

-how did you get into electronic music?

[PM] Daft Punk

-what artists influence you most?

[PM] SebastiAn

-who are you listening to right now?

[PM] Danger, Curtis Mayfield, a lot of hip hop

-so whats the deal with the new ep? when is it coming out? whats on it? any label talk? [ill probly be asking you alot more depending on your answer to this]

[PM] Soon.



well they may be be short-spoken, but if you are wondering when you can check them out,
dont miss Noise Makers 1 over at All Asia Cafe tonite in Cambridge TONIITE 12/20
and definately dont skip out on BASSTOWN at GREAT SCOTT where they will be killing it
alongside PASSION PIT and DJ CHOYCE HACKS on 12/26!!!

heres there remix they recently finished just for you.
Ocelot - La Sforzo (PLUS MOVE REMIX)

Remix Contest: Sasha...no, yeah, THAT Sasha...

A week or two ago, DJ Die Young told me that Sasha's new track is good stuff...that if people didn't know it was from him, it would probably be much bigger. Even for me, it took a moment for the whole Sasche Funke? "No, Sasha...." Like...Digw-- "Sasha-And-Digweed Sasha..." Oh...ohhh. Really? Hmm...

Nevertheless, finally got around to listening to it today, and it's actually quite good.



Coming out on his own label, emFire, he's teamed up with Beatportal to find a producer worthy to remix his new single, "The Mongoose." Says Beatportal: "What’s more the remix competition is open to producers from all genres – Sasha’s looking for innovative, cutting-edge and thought-provoking mixes of his track." Here here!

As well as having their remix released on Sasha’s emFire, the winner will also receive a copy of Ableton Live 7 and will be interviewed by Beatportal.

And the two runners-up will receive Beatport download credits, a copy of Ableton Live 6 LE, and some Beatport gear.

:-O

Beatportal Contest: Mongoose Remix
Pre-Sale: The Mongoose
MySpace: Sasha