Resonator Magazine

XGiving

shaun bateman — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:47:56 +0000

Dear Great TurkeyClaus:

This year, the Resonator family is on two different sides of the east coast of the U.S. for what we have come to term X-Giving. If you’re outside the U.S., this, in your native language, means “Thursday”.

I’d like to take a moment and tell you what we’re thankful for right now:

YOU, dear reader, YOU. We don’t think about you as often as we should, we don’t write for you as well as we should, and we sure as hell don’t send you pizza as often as we used to. We don’t bring you flowers, we don’t sing you love songs, etc. But we try-know that we try, and this is a two-way relationship, you. YEAH! A two-way relationship! What was the last thing you did for us? No, remixing that Free Blood song doesn’t count! You don’t write, you only have comments if we go missing for days at a time, and dammit what about that sweater?

*Sigh*. I digress.

The other, major thing that I, personally, am thankful for this year, Oh Great TurkeyClaus? Deerhunter. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to become something akin to one of the best bands in the world this year, and they’re right next door, basically.

Deerhunter: Octet (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)

Enjoy your Xgiving. Or your Thursday.

Lions and Tigers and Goshi Goshi (Oh my!)

hacks — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:16:28 +0000

Not much is known about Goshi Goshi -the newest release on the Young Punx’s label: Mofo Hifi- but what I do know, is that this track is hot in a ol’ skool rave kinda way. None of that masquerading as nu rave crap. As with the previous Mofo Hifi track we posted by Phonat, “The Lock Shot” is a genre blending journey of sound, culminating with a wicked little break down and tight bass line to satisfy all your deepest dancefloor desires.

Goshi Goshi - “The Lock Shot” (V0)
LINKS: Purchase 320 from Beatport

We also got hooked up with a pretty sick remix they did for The Young Punx themselves (maybe you remember the last Young Punx remix by Phonat?). It veers a little on the fidget side (but not far enough to annoy me) while still keeping a pretty solid destrocto house vibe. (That’s my new genre btw. Anything that takes a classic house sample, fucks with it so that its minor or discordant sounding, and then puts a warbled house beat to it without actually becoming annoyingly fidget [yes, fidget bothers me –it has since basement jaxx created the recipe for it]). ANYWAY, just listen; I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

The Young Punx - “MASHitUP (Goshi Goshi Remix)” (256)
LINKS: The Young Punx

Be sure to swing by their myspace page and friend them (yeah sub-100 friend myspace pages!) and to keep tabs on whatever they decided to do next. Also, swing by the Mofo Hifi page to see what else they’re offering, or you can check out all their releases via Beatport or Juno.

Enjoy!

< hacks />

A-ux It

hacks — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:07:28 +0000

Local New Yorker A-ux hit us up with some great tracks last week, and it would be a shame to let them languish any longer. They’re pretty diverse, with “Journey to New Hope” being something you’d expect to hear on one of the old Magik CDs and his Monosurround remix being a dance floor banger.

Most of his work his original and steams from his classical piano background mixed up with a solid technical prowess. You can tell he’s got the talent and the ear, since all his tracks are mastered well, produced well, are musically interesting.. and.. oh yeah! They kinda rock.

We’ll start with “Journey to New Hope” –its a total closet epic trance track. I say that in dearest affection as someone who owns enough Epic Trance records to feed a third world country (so shush all you rave haters who unknowingly dance to hard house). It definitely has a throw back feel for me, but the production is top notch and wouldn’t be too out of place in a lot of sets you hear these days. Hell, check it out for yourself:

A-ux - “Journey to New Hope”

“Neon Generation” is a slick track that kinda fits into the Valerie mold of tracks: dancey while being low key and still manages to get some funkiness into it as well. Pretty good addition to anyone’s playlist.

A-ux - “Neon Generation”

His Monosurround remix is the track I’m sure most of you will enjoy most. With a pounding 4/4 bassline, grungy FM bass synth and driving hi-hats, its got all the elements necessary to make the kids get down on the dance floor. Plus the gritty vocals of Monosurround keep up the energy and provided a nice vocal hook to worm its way into your head.

Monosurround - “Cocked,Locked,Ready to Rock (A-ux Remix)”
LINKS: Monosurround

Be sure and swing by his MySpace and leave a nice Resonator HELLO! for him. I’m sure we’ll hear more from him in the future as well.

< hacks />

i’d rather be sleeping

shaun bateman — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:51:54 +0000

There are some songs that are just right for a mood, or a mourning, or a gray, misty, cloudy-cold morning that wraps around the sky and the city like a hovering depression. I have found myself shoving my hands into my coat-pockets lately, turning my collar up to the cold and losing myself in one song in particular:

Grouper: Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping

Apparently, this song, and the rest of the surrounding, heartbroken morning fog-hazed songs surrounding it on Portland-based Liz “Grouper”Harris’ recently released album Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, is a departure in sound a bit for what Grouper’s known for. I won’t pretend like I have any frame of comparison whatsoever-my Grouper knowledge is limited to this album, suggested to me via Telefon Tel Aviv’s Josh Eustis in an interview you can read right here. What I found is a collection of songs displaced from time, haunted by flecks and echos of a distant 4AD past yet running full-on into a hopeless present. These are some of the drowsiest, prettiest, heart-tugging compositions I’ve heard this year-I say “compositions” because despite the presence of vocals the lyrics are often indescernable and serve as just another instrument in the mist-and “Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping” is by far the gem amongst all keepers. Even when Grouper is singing about massive intent, heavy hearts and the enormity of emotion, lids are still heavy and the sonic pallette is still mumbled and muffled and shot entirely through a clouded lense. This is a song for sleepwalkers, all those who have and all those who daily continue to do so.

Buy Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

The Kids Are Radioactive

hacks — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:56:44 +0000

Binary hit us up with some more fantastic tracks for your listening pleasure –this time from up and comer: The Kids are RADIOACTIVE!

He’s just a wee little lad of 17, but he’s making huge waves over in the LA dance scene. His tracks are fun, funky and dancey and if they don’t find their way into your sets going forward: you should be ashamed. ASHAMED I say! They’re house tracks that dabble some into the kids-love-electro sound, but end up being super bouncey with this propensity to get caught in your head. So get ready for not 1, not 2, but 3 great tracks to start your ~~Thursday~~ Friday (Telefon Tel Aviv trumped me).

“Higher” is my favorite of the bunch; it embodies all of the adjectives above and is catchy as fuck.

The Kids Are RADIOACTIVE - “Higher (Feat LexiconDon)”

“Cult Classic” is a bit more four-to-the-floor –more driving and less funky fresh. Great track to drop on a dance floor.

The Kids Are RADIOACTIVE - “Cult Classic”

“Time Warp” is just a great all around track. It may not be as dancey as “Higher” or “Cult Classic” but its super fun and a worthy addition to your collection. Great driving hi-hats to get you into it.

The Kids Are RADIOACTIVE - “Time Warp”

Be sure to leave him some Resonator Lovin’ @ the RADIOACTIVE MySpace and to visit the Biniary Crew’s MySpace as well to check out more of their great talent. Not enough? Check out our previous posts about the Binary Crew, or visit their blog for non-stop updates.

< hacks />

The Worst Thing Is The Best Thing

shaun bateman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:18:38 +0000

When last we spoke of the darkly lush electronic production duo Telefon Tel Aviv, they had just been signed to Berlin-based Ellen Allien-fronted Bpitch Control Records, the announcement of which is going to go down in history as one of my most-fanboyed-out moments…ever. I believe I may have actually fan-fic’d a conversation between Josh, Charlie and Ellen Allien. In the resulting hours/days/weeks, I’ve had a copy of their forthcoming 2009 LP Immolate Yourself on a near-constant loop in my headphones. In a fashion akin to their last full-length, Map Of What Is Effortless, Immolate Yourself is epic, aching and beautiful. This time around, though, the boys eschew the spliced r&b/soul of the previous album for more straight-ahead vocal efforts buried deeper in the much headier mix of synthetics and yearning. If Mr. West hadn’t already laid claim, 808s and Heartbreak would’ve been an equally fitting title for this collection of breaking-up-and-breaking-down chronicles, but that would have been both too subtle and not at all dramatic enough for TTA. When I say it’s an addictive album, my working definition of “addictive” only applies for those who’ve ever gotten lost in The Cure’s “Plainsong” as it washes over them, spilling literally and figuratively out of headphones (the only way to listen to that song, to The Cure, or to Telefon Tel Aviv, really, as this band makes albums that are solitary excursions, in no way meant as an experience for sharing, as intimate, personal and self-defined as the act of one’s own heart breaking is). The songs fade into one another, vocals fade in and out of view and the album coheres together into a snapshot of a final wave of “goodbye” on a darkened street corner. This is heavy, beautiful stuff.

I exchanged emails with Telefon Tel Aviv’s Josh Eustis about the new album, and the resulting half-conversation half-interview is below:

———-

ResonatorMag: It’s been a while since “Map Of What Is Effortless”. In brief…what have you guys, collectively and individually, been up to? I know there was a remix collection, and some production work…?

Josh: This is a bit of a long, sad story, but basically, after the touring for “Map” was through, we were also quite through with the band in general. There were no plans to make any more music. Our friendship was strained as a result of the band, and we value the friendship over the band in spades, so we decided to take a break in order that we wouldn’t strangle each other.I moved back to New Orleans in early ‘04 to get away from the cold of Chicago - broke, rock bottom. I had sold off most of my gear to make that record. I went home to live with my parents in New Orleans and get my life back together and work on music. I set up a little studio in my old bedroom and just started writing. i sent stuff to charlie but he wasn’t so into it, and in the end i think it was for the best.

Then Katrina hit in ‘05, and I had to get moving. I was in LA engineering the Black Light Burns record with Danny Lohner, and that took seven months. Afterward, I went to Iceland with Jimmy LaValle to get involved in the mix on his record “Into the Blue Again”, which we mixed at Sundlaugin Studios (Sigur Ros’s studio… amazing!)in Iceland with Biggi Birgisson. Then in Spring of ‘06, I moved back to Chicago and Charlie and I got a place, set up our studio and there you have it. I worked on records by The Race, Costa Music, The Depreciation Guild, Apparat, Milosh, Dark Party, etc. while we were in the process of writing “Immolate Yourself”. I also do a thing called Sons of Magdalene which is really self-indulgent tape music, essentially. Charlie had also done some remixes - one for Carmen Rizzo called “Too Rude” which had Esthero singing on it… a total burner. He also has another project in the works that is sort of Minneapolis-influenced dance stuff which is totally amazing and original but I believe he has a Freudian fear of success, so he won’t play it for anyone but our group of friends. Needless to say, it’s totally mind-blowing and we all think he’s silly for not getting it put out, ASAP.

ResonatorMag:On the last album, you were both in fairly dark places-thus, the resulting album’s sound. Immolate Yourself seems, emotionally, more…hopeful? If and TTA album can *ever* be called hopeful? Are either/both of you in better places, emotionally, with these songs?Josh: I think we might even be worse off than the last record - I mean - Immolate Yourself might SOUND a bit more hopeful, but I assure you in earnest that it is NOT. We wanted to dress up our very depressing and suicidal lyrics with quicker tempos and a vaguely upbeat vibe, but it should still be a bummer at the end of the day. I don’t want to complain and say “oh, my life is so dark, uuuhhhh, I can’t handle it anymore” - everyone is having a tough time right now. But there are personal things going on in our daily lives that are nearly catastrophic. We try to turn those things around into inspiration. I think if our lives were going perfectly, our music would be really lame.

ResonatorMag: One of the first and most immediate noticeable differences between Immolate Yourself and past TTA work is the re-focus from serious half-second micro-processing of the drums to more lavish, lush soundscape work everywhere else. What brought that new frame of focus? Also, some of the drums sound live on this-are they?

Josh: Well, I think that the move to more long-form sonic textures was a pretty conscious decision. We tried to do some of that micro-stuff on this record, just noodling around, but it sounded really silly to us. We are also lazy. There are so many musicians doing that sort of thing now, and software that will actually do it for you, that it lost its charm to us. It doesn’t sound new or exciting really at all anymore. Kids with Ableton and laptops are shredding their beats to shit. Autechre will always be 17 steps ahead of everyone else as far as expanding what can be done with electronic music moving forward, so any other attempt to show chops or shred or do something really wild is just vanity at this point, the way I see it. So while texture will always be very important to us, we feel that we have to try things that are new to us, explore territory that we haven’t before - hence the tape loops, all the crusty analog synths, mixing down to 1/4″, long, evolving textures, and a focus that leans primarily to the actual songwriting and NOT the production.

ResonatorMag:Bpitch Control is, without a doubt, my favorite label of the past few years-how did the signing happen? Are there any plans for you guys to collaborate with Ellen?

Josh: I have my suspicions as to how we got their attention - I think Sascha Ring (Apparat) had a lot to do with it, although he will deny it. We’ve toured with him and worked with him on tons of music - remixes, albums, etc. Ellen said to me that she knew our previous records very well, so I’m assuming that Sascha probably said at some point “hey, Ellen, you know, maybe you should try to work with these guys” - so when we met Ellen in person, finally, which was a few years ago, the very first things she said to me were “Hello, nice to meet you!” and “You should put your next record out on BPitch Control”. I love that Germans are so to-the-point. No bullshit with these people at all. We should all follow their example, it helps friendships. Needless to say, Charlie and I kind of looked at each other with looks of excited disbelief. We are huge fans, to say the least. It’s very exciting for us.

ResonatorMag:What are you listening to lately?

Josh: Grouper, “Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill”. Record of the year, hands down. I’m also very into the new LP by The Notwist, and also a record coming out on Ghostly International by The Sight Below called “Glider”. It’s also probably obvious that I have been literally living inside the Gas “Nah und Fern” box set. Everything that Wolfgang Voigt does is fucking ace, pure and simple.

——–

Telefon Tel Aviv: You Are The Worst Thing In The World

TTA have a ridiculous release schedule, always putting out winter albums due for release at the start of the year out as promos right at the beginning of the prior year’s fall. As such, Immolate Yourself is by far one of my favorite albums of 2008, though it’s not released on BPC until January of 2009. It’s going to make both my 08 and 09 lists, though, I can guarentee that, and this song is a big part of why that is. “You Are The Worst Thing In The World” is the perfect, epic, pop heartbreak song, washing above and under and over and through with those gorgeous vocals and the drums that, if they HAD been processed within an inch of their lives like on previous TTA records would sound stale and forced but here, given room to breathe, they’re as night-kissed and addictive as the unnamed female protagonist herself. This song is the focal point of a completely brilliant, painful, beautiful record.

Telefon Tel Aviv: Helen Of Troy

When I first listened to this song, the first single to chip off of the complex entirety that is Immolate Yourself, I only noticed how less clear and how much more shoegazing the vocals were on it than on the previous TTA record. Now, having lived with this song for much longer and having experienced it within the album’s context, as its mid-point, I’ve come to notice other things about this song. First: it’s a single, pure and simple. Second: it’s a complex piece of electronic Americana, complete with the two classic themes of said latter genre: cars and girls. As soon as the song starts and the percussion kicks in, “Helen Of Troy” is a different side of Springsteen’s “Thunder Road”, only here, as the song’s epic end chimes in, the car goes over the bridge and under the water. An exercise in futility, sure, but then again isn’t that either the start or the end of all heartbreak?

Immolate Yourself is out in January on Bpitch Control records. Not hearing this album in its entirety would be doing it, and yourself, a grave disservice.

Germaine Greer and Freedom? I don’t know what to think.

shaun bateman — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:57:19 +0000

If there is a narrative, any cohesive thread to the story Of Montreal’s front-man Kevin Barnes is telling with their current touring community theatre stage review of Barnes’ created pomosexual Prince jack Georgie Fruit (who also appears for the entirety of their recently-released electro horn-dog of an album Skeletal Lamping), it somehow must incorporate a vast number of pig-headed naked figures doing battle with ninjas for control of…glitter?

It also must include Kevin Barnes’ sexual suicide and eventual rebirth as a…puck-like character of some-sort who…has a funeral and…causes the parrot-headed beings to shoot the world with guns of…light?

I don’t know. I really don’t. Seeing this 2+ hour spectacle last night in Atlanta made the whole thing make even less sense than it did when I was just reading reviews or seeing photos (which you can do here, honestly) .

Of Montreal: Women’s Studies Victim

What struck me was how well this one, “Women’s Studies Victim”, my favorite from the new album, fit into the dreamfuck narrative Kevin had going. Unencumbered by set pieces or awkward blocking (Kevin: stage left. R hand Parrot Head when you sing “penis”), “Women’s Studies Victim” was the rare raw/raunchy+brainy moment from both the show and the album it dervied nearly all its’ source material from.

She took me home and spit in my drink
She spoke of Germaine Greer and freedom I don’t know what to think
I took her standing in the kitchen ass against the sink
She draped me in a stole…I think Malaysian mink

Yes, please.

There were a handful of other moments, too…first single “Id Engager” wasn’t one of them, but as it was the first song the set-pieces/insert-awkward-dancing-HERE moments were still completely novel and fresh. Tt must be odd to be anyone else in that band other than Kevin. “Wait, so, ok, I have to make sure my solo lasts long enough to take me stage left at the appropriate time to grab the hands of the man in the pink body suit standing on the platform and move one of his hands to his crotch. When you sing something about purple flying candylabia attracting the foucault of your soul, Kevin, I’m supposed to put my left foot up and one of the dudes dressed as a ninja will slide under me, and another one will come and sprinkle me with glitter, which will symbolize…
the time…
a ninja…
sprinkled…you…with…glitter?”

They were filming the Atlanta show for a tour dvd. That dvd better include looks at Kevin’s storyboard and blocking for that show, as well as coverage of any post-show notes sessions with the actors.

GRUM - Woah (Choyce Hacks! Remix) + Passion Pit Remix Contest

hacks — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:37:39 +0000

HAI GUYS!

I totally didn’t win the Grum remix contest (oh wells!) but here’s my remix for your listening enjoyment (hopefully). Congrats to The American Dream Team for their winning entry. Be sure to check out Finger on the Pulse or Palmsout for the full details and other runners up.

Grum - “Woah (Choyce Hacks! Remix)”
LINKS: Grum | Previous Grum Coverage

Their next remix contest offering is for Boston’s Passion Pit. I got to play with these guys when I was in Boston in January and they were great; the crowd totally loved them. They’re kinda blowing up now, so its only appropriate they make into in this remix contest collection.

Download “Sleepyhead” parts here.

Passion Pit - “Sleepyhead”
LINKS: Passion Pit

< hacks />

Wide awake in America

shaun bateman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:33:06 +0000

It’s Christmas Eve in America. Not literally, but for those who are outside the States, today’s the day when we attempt to end the 8-year mistake that has alienated this country from the rest of the global village.

Resonator doesn’t necessarily shirk away from politics, but we do tend to favor the dancefloor to the pulpit. That said, today is one the most important days of our lives, and to describe it as any less is to vastly underplay the importance of this moment in American history.

I was listening to The Enemy’s We’ll Live And Die In These Towns last night, and found myself caught up, for the first time since, really, since Barack Obama’s now-historical DNC speech, the one that brough him to serious attention, in the grand, sheer, child-like joy of what we as a country could be on the precipice of.

The Enemy: You’re Not Alone

And I guess that’s the point, really: for one moment, for one minute, let’s all stop and realize that we may have, in our life times, seen the power of people. The power of change. Granted, I’m picking a song about factory-town UK ennui to epitomize it, but I can’t very well throw up a Springsteen song. And besides, this is about the new guard, isn’t it?

Resonatormag is adding its voice to the list of those who, like bands, web sites, celebrities and Food Network stars, seem to think they have any influence whatsoever on the movement of political culture in America by saying: VOTE. Not because we told you to, kids in the U.S., but because you need to.

I’m wide awake in America, and I’m waiting to hear the news.

Throw Some Phonat on That B*tch

hacks — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:32:18 +0000

Phonat’s been getting a bit of well deserved play recently, so after a solid month of hoarding the track for myself, I figured it was time for some Res Love.

Phonat is an Italian producer who’s been recently signed to Mofo Hifi and has this incredible track out right now called “Learn To Recycle” –its this genre blending, slow rolling build up of a track that, to coin a an over-used phrase, is music to my ears. Seriously, the track is great. The underlaying idea is to take the same same sample and drum kit, and just run the gambit of genres and styles for an epix 6 minute adventure. Its a awesome addition to anyone’s playlist or deejay set.. if you’ve got the skills to mix a track with what sounds likes some varying tempos (ruh-roh!). Hell, even Annie Mac likes it.

Phonat - Learn To Recycle” (V0)

Also, not to be out done by those other blogs (or, well, most of them). We’ve also been hooked up with a sick 4 to the Floor remix of the track that’s destined for deejay mix heaven (I’m going to use it in my next mix, personally –and yes, that’s implies I’m actually working on one). It takes the core of the original, and turns it into a super friendly deejay version of the track. Grab it and start mixing away!

Phonat - Learn To Recycle (4 to The Floor mix)” (320)

Plus, as an added bonus, here’s a remix he did a little back of The Young Punx track “Fire”. Totally way more housey then either of the above and well worth adding to your remix collection

The Young Punx - Fire (Phonat Remix)” (V2)
LINKS: The Young Punx

You can check out more Phonat releases on XpressBeats and be sure to leave a hawt one on his MySpace

< hacks / >