Fans have been anticipating new music from Cut Copy since 2013’s critically acclaimed Free Your Mind. While they enter the final stages of finishing the follow-up, the band has surprise-dropped January Tape, a 44-minute ambient, instrumental piece of sonic art available as a 400-cassette limited edition run. A sample of the January Tape cassette can be heard at the Cut Copy website. Cut Copy grew from a bedroom project to an international festival staple and today’s collection reinforces that they are a rare combination of technical virtuosity and exceptional, eclectic artistry.
Dan Whitford shares, “Having worked for much of the previous 12 months on a new Cut Copy album, we decided this January it was time to give ourselves a well earned break. But instead of retreating to the wilderness or decompressing on a beach somewhere, we spent ten days in the studio making a collection of ambient instrumental works. We wanted to share outtakes from these sessions in all their unedited glory with you, and put them out as an extremely limited edition cassette, available mainly through our webstores (though you may see a copy or two floating around in the wild).”
Photo Credit: Michael Muller
National DJ Tour Kicks Off October 20
10/20: Chicago, IL @ The Mid
10/21: San Francisco, CA @ 1015 Folsom
10/22: Zapopan, Mexico @ Coordenada Festival
10/26: Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
10/27: New York, NY @ Good Room
10/28: Denver, CO @ Bar Standard
The Raveonettes have premiered the new track “This Is Where It Ends” on BlackBook who describes it as “a paradigm of autumn melancholy, pensive, wistful, yet august and opulent just the same. Echoes of the Cocteau Twins abound.”
“This Is Where It Ends” is the ninth track release from the band’s official RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTHplaylist where the duo will continue to upload a freshly recorded track on the last Friday of every month until December. The ‘anti-album’ will feature a collection of new tracks that aren’t bound by the constraints of the format. Join the RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH and subscribe to the playlist here.
The Raveonettes also continue their new Pledge Music Campaign where fans can pledge for the CD and vinyl of the forthcoming new album. Sign up for the Pledge Music Campaign at http://radi.al/TheRaveonettesPledge.
Hotel Garuda’s unprecedented rise to stardom quickly saw the duo establish themselves as a household name amongst the modern electronic music space. Now the pairing teams up with vocal starlet Violet Days for “Fixed On You,” their highly-anticipated return to the star-studded PRMD Music imprint.
Out today, “Fixed On You” is Hotel Garuda’s follow up to their first official release on the label, “Smoke Signals.” The former was a massive success, streaming over 4 million times and charting in the Spotify Viral charts globally, in the US, and the UK. Their newest single is the latest example of their ability to integrate their sound with artists of varying genres. Violet Days scintillating vocal control is on full display, with her tone and texture not being overshadowed, but being accentuated and brought to life in a way that only Aseem and Chris of HG could accomplish. Coming off a series of tour dates at high profile festivals like Coachella, Shambhala, EDC Las Vegas, BPM Festival, Snow Globe Music Festival, + Miami Music Week and having commissioned official remixes for Lana Del Rey, Galantis, BANKS, and Anna Lunoe, it’s easy to see why Hotel Garuda are touted throughout the industry as a true talent to behold.
Hotel Garuda, composed of DJ/producer duo Manila Killa & Candleweather, have epitomized the DIY culture of modern dance music. Scaling the online tastemaker world with an array of remixes and remakes, their versatile sound has continued to beckon attention far beyond the music forums, garnering them more than 25 million streams on SoundCloud alone. Their 4 official remixes & consecutive #1’s on the Hype Machine charts have also seen Hotel Garuda accompanied by critical acclaim from Billboard, Harper’s Bazaar, and Complex.
Hook N Sling has teamed up with international duo Galantis for “Love On Me,” their new collaboration out now on Big Beat Records.
“Since remixing ‘Gold Dust’ for Galantis last year, we’ve been talking about collaborating on something. ‘Love On Me’ is here!” – Hook N Sling
“Love On Me” has the makings of yet another bonafide hit for the native Australian to add to his seemingly endless catalog of successful releases. The bubbly pop single features an irresistible vocal sample, reminiscent of a perfect sun-shining day. Hook’s studio chemistry with Galantis is impressively on display throughout the song, featuring a steel drum beat that doubles as the melody, along with hook-laden vocals and a massive drop that’s destined for club play for years to come.
This release comes at an exciting time for Hook N’ Sling aka Anthony Maniscalco. His proven history of releasing chart-topping records that cut through the saturated electronic dance music space show a constant evolution to his sound, staying two steps ahead of the game at every turn. With an ARIA Music Awards nomination, a DMC Buzz Chart #1, a Beatport #1, and a Hypem #1 under his belt, Hook N’ Sling continues to make a statement as to the versatile appeal of his music. He’s earned tens of millions of spins across Youtube and Spotify, earning support from respected peers like Kaskade, Axwell, Don Diablo, The Chainsmokers, and more.
Lucas Nord is a 24 year old producer and singer from Stockholm that’s already got a number one single — “Run On Love” featuring Tove Lo in 2013 (see video below). Now he’s got another one coming with his second album Company, called “Do About It” with Naomi Pilgrim. The song includes pop, R &B and house all rolled up into a burrito.
Speaking about the track Lucas said: “When I came up with the idea of having a feature on this record Naomi instantly came to mind. She has that soulful touch I’m always looking for. We have known each other for a while and have discussed doing some kinda collab in the past so when this came up I think we both felt it was the right time to do it. I’m very, very excited for it to finally come out.”
Thrival Festival just continues to get better and better every year. This year we were introduced to a new venue, the Carrie Furnaces. The festival also brought it’s largest lineup yet. I’ve saved you guys the trouble of reading all the other articles and posts out there, I’ll tell you the gist.
Friday wasn’t the best, and there’s a lot of feedback on social media to verify that. There were long lines galore; for drinks, for wristbands to GET drinks; and some heavy confusion around drink tokens. Oh, and then they ran out of water. BUT ALAS, no fear, they fixed everything all up for Saturday which was amazing! It’s not very often that an event like this fixes up main complaints in time for the following year, let alone Day Two!
The music has great feedback from Friday (shout-out to Lettuce!!!) EXCEPT for one MAJOR setback. Hmm…let’s see, we have Daya performing and we have The Chainsmokers performing. Daya and Chainsmokers have the hit song “Don’t Let Me Down” and yet they definitely let everyone down by not performing that song together! Whyyyyy? Blasphemy! I seriously don’t get it, can someone explain this to me? There was a chance for some legendary shit right there. *big sigh*
But, here’s a video of them performing their brand new song, “All We Know” featuring Phoebe Ryan:
Anyway, according to festival goers, Saturday ran much smoother and they nixed whatever the hell those drink tokens were about (Thank goodness because no one has time for that when they’re going to have a good time and listen to music!)
I did not make the Music Festival for Day One. But, my main passion was Thievery Corporation who was headlining on Day Two. You know how in your car, if you have Sirius, you can set “alerts” to let you know when certain artists or songs come on, and you can set it to auto-tune to that station. Well, Thievery Corporation is one of the groups on my “alerts” list….and lemme tell you, that alerts list has maybe 3 artists on it. So, that’s how excited I was, if that puts it into perspective for you.
I would have never known the fiasco of Day One had I not read about it, because Day Two was a dream. The weather was perfect; anyone from Pittsburgh knows that’s a huge accomplishment to have good weather for an exciting event. The crowds weren’t as big as Day One, which I attribute to the Chainsmokers crowd, but I welcomed the much more relaxed flow. Especially since only a week before, I was in California for the Kaaboo Music Festival (which The Chainsmokers also performed at) and it was way oversold and overcrowded. So much so that we were forced to leave the event early. Womp Womp.
I also did not deal with any of the parking or shuttle woes thanks to Uber. Though I very much like that a shuttle service was available. So, Uber dropped us off at a designated drop-off area and we marched on down to the entrance. The entrance brought on a teensy bit of confusion, since there were different locations for general admission, will call and VIP, but nothing major. I just have a really bad sense of direction. Once inside, we were thirsty (duh) and while I’m happy with almost anything, my friend was bummed about no liquor, unless you were VIP. BUT, it was still a step up from last year because this year there was wine. Maybe next year everyone can have access to liquor, who knows. Oh, but there were, however, two Skyy Vodka gals there though giving out free shots of a watermelon vodka of some sort, so we took advantage of that (again, duh).
I love that this festival has two stages with only one band playing at a time. This way, there’s no conflicts of interest and you can hear the band playing from anywhere on the festival grounds. And there’s no long waits in between the bands because the next one is already setting up on the other stage. Ty Dolla $ign was supposed to perform, but sadly had to cancel due to a death in his immediate family. But, there was lots to check out besides the music. There were vendors set up selling different items including clothing and coveted flower crowns. Rivers of Steel Arts created live iron pours. The Wheel Mill Stunt BMX team put on a show. There was even a tent with a virtual reality simulator to check out.
Metric put on a fantastic set and wowed us with some of their best songs. Here’s a video of “Breathing Underwater” from Shawn Glass on YouTube:
When it was getting to be that time (Thievery Corporation), the place was noticeably and expectedly even more crowded. I can’t even express how excited I was to see this group that’s been together for over 20 years and yet this was their very first time performing here in Pittsburgh! Their set exceeded mostly everyone’s wildest expectations and hopefully it doesn’t take them that long to come back! They were the most perfect close-out for a sensational Thrival Festival.
After their set, everyone wafted around seemingly walking on clouds. And then suddenly…something more happened. Over yonder, music started playing. The strange but cool artsy thing that everyone had been looking at all weekend sprung to life. It was the Squonk Opera! And what…pray tell, is that?
Squonk Opera is a group of interdisciplinary performing artists from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Led by artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, Squonk Opera’s shows consist of music, visual art, and acting elements in an attempt to make a form of opera accessible to all people. The group “like to think of ourselves as a wacky, provincial opera company,” says Dempsey, who named the group “Squonk” after a description of a jazz saxophonist’s playing as a “squonk-fest”, rather than the legendary creature of the same name. — From Wikipedia
Check out this little tidbit video of Squonk Opera performing from their Pneumatica show:
I’m so glad that Pittsburgh keeps moving up that cultural ladder and bringing more and more awesomeness, especially in the music department. There’s always going to be little hiccups but this festival was overall a huge success and I can’t wait to see what next year brings!
(P.S. I’m sure I’ll think of more suggestions, but I’d love to see Lotus come perform next year! — Here’s a video of them performing “Anti-Gravity” at the Summerdance Festival in Ohio this year!)
Following on from his recent remix of “Wild Heart” (see below) by Brisbane songstress Romy, Australian house producer Cliftonia has delivered an incredibly infectious dance-floor treat called “I’m Looking For”, which is just the first track off his forthcoming debut ep.
Cliftonia had a goal in mind when he began writing this track, and that was to create a house record with Jersey and future-bass influences, a record with that certain infectious flare that just makes people want to get up and move.
“I wanted to make a song that showed my love for House, Jersey, Hip-Hop and Future Bass. I have a huge love for artists like Trippy Turtle, Vices and Brenmar, so when making this track I had those influences in mind, and I feel that I’ve accomplished that with this song”– Cliftonia
An infectious future-bass beat takes the lead as Cliftonia draws us in with his house-driven grooves, warm summery sounds and thumping production, while its feel-good vibes get your body in the mood for a bit of a groove.
“I’m Looking For” is available now from iTunes or Spotify, and you can also score a free download via Cliftonia’s Soundcloud, where you’ll also find the above mentioned remix of Romy’s “Wild Heart”.
“There are 8 million stories in the naked city.” The ones about two irreverent best friends from Brooklyn are soundtracked by just as many beats. Curated by music supervisor, Matt FX Feldman, the official soundtrack for Comedy Central’s acclaimed series “Broad City” captures the show’s (and New York’s) wild style with such precision to the point where the songs become truly instrumental to the storytelling. As The New York Times quoted Matt on working with the show’s creators and stars, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson: “Our tastes are a Venn diagram, and that middle circle is really, really big.”
Broad City’s Original Series Soundtrack, released via Milan Records in association with Comedy Central Records, is executive produced by Jacobson and Glazer alongside Matt FX. The trio selected from a stellar roster of under-the-radar artists as diverse as New York itself and include Chile’s DJ Raffand Ana Tijoux, Toronto’s Tasha The Amazon, Baltimore’s Normaling and Rye Rye, Rick Owens & Mad Decent-affiliated queer hip-hop sensation Zebra Katz, and beatmaster RJD2 who famously provided the theme to AMC’s hit “MadMen” himself.
Both the tropical flavored banger “Tigre” by emerging Dominican/Canadian artist Jarina De Marco, as well as “Dat Gyal” by prolific producer Tony Quattro were previously show favorites, and are available for sale for the first time exclusively on the soundtrack. The release of both tracks will come as a welcome of relief to devoted fans. As one noted on Reddit regarding “Tigre”: “Can’t seem to find it and it’s driving me crazy!” When asked about the tune, Feldman had this to say, “Tigre came to me originally as a demo that Jarina wasn’t even sure she’d ever release! Luckily, the song hit like hot fire when the episode aired and people are still hitting Jarina and I up to this day asking where they can find the track! Happy to be able to get it out there finally.” For his part, LA-based Tony Quattro has contributed over 10 cues in 3 seasons to “Broad City” so far, including many composed bespoke for the show.
Of his inclusion of “Latino & Proud” as Broad City’s theme, DJ Raff has said, “When I saw the ‘Broad City’ clip I felt that it fit very well in terms of the graphics, the storyline, and the characters. Everything went well together and the song felt perfect on the show… I’ve seen a lot of positive comments on SoundCloud, YouTube, and other social networks saying, ‘Broad City’ got me here.”
”The colorful international vibe reverbs through all the featured artists’ aesthetics, from Zebra Katz’s ode to “Marijuana,” to the album’s artwork and packaging featuring an insert with spliff-rolling instructions (printed physically on green paper!) designed by artist Mike Perry.
A verified tastemaker (and foodie), Matt FX approaches the show’s music as a master chef, slicing and dicing and mixing together indie, hip-hop, and electronic vibes into a vibrant compilation befitting the lead characters’ larger-than-life personas and city they call home. When 24-year-old Matt isn’t music supervising shows like “Broad City” or Hulu comedy “Difficult People” (both executive produced by Amy Poehler), he is an in-demand DJ and producer in his own right.
A show like “Broad City,” that trades on the city’s transitive energy and ephemeral connections, necessitates a soundtrack that can keep pace. For the last five years of his young and prolific career, Matt FX has proven to be that ear to the ground, absorbing a dizzying sonic zeitgeist with uncanny accuracy and zeal.
Broad City’s Original Series Soundtrack Tracklist
1. Latino & Proud – DJ Raff (Intro)
2. Tigre – Jarina De Marco (Soundtrack Exclusive)
3. Marijuana – Zebra Katz & Kashaka
4. La Nueva Condena – Ana Tijoux
5. #NOTYOURS – Scooter Island Ft. Junglepussy
6. YES Bitch – K Rizz
7. Steady Now – Tasha The Amazon (Cubby x Karman Remix)
8. Let ‘Em Say – Lizzo & Caroline Smith
9. Dat Gyal – Tony Quattro (Soundtrack Exclusive)
10. Low Drop – Normaling (Ft. Rye Rye & TT The Artist)
Is there anything that T/W/R/K can’t do? As if theircontinued success in the electronic space wasn’t enough, the duo from NYC (also known as their solo aliases Benzi & eSenTRIK) are once again fusing the worlds of hip hop and dance music together with the release of their new single “Hands On It,” featuring Migos, Sage the Gemini, and Sayyi.
Premiered via Billboard and BBC Radio 1 Diplo & Friends, T/W/R/K’s “Hands On It” is somewhat of a return to glory with their signature club sound. It’s a veritable goldmine of talent – Atlanta’s biggest export Migos contributes a hectic but flawless first verse, followed by a lyrical smackdown by Bay Area champ Sage The Gemini. Rounding out the tune is a catchy hook from rising starlet Sayii. If you like what you hear, you’ll be happy to know that T/W/R/K’s newest single is set to be part of a forthcoming EP, which will contain an extensive star-studded feature list comprised of names likes Fetty Wap, Eva Simmons, Sliink, Rich the Kid, and more. Stay tuned!
Eclypse Records began in 2015 by Grammy Nominated DJ/Producer duo, Feenixpawl (Josh Soon + Aden Forte) and Jason Forte. The label, launched in conjunction with Wind-up Records in April, have released singles and remixes by Feenixpawl and Jason Forte, and are developing a reputation as well-known curators.
Together, Josh, Aden and Jason have been hand selecting music from a fresh batch of up and coming DJ’s, releasing tracks from the likes of Bynon, Michael Brun, Reez, Corey James, Joakim Molitor and more. The singles, which have garnered attention from major EDM and electronic outlets like YourEDM, EDM.com, Magnetic Mag and Earmilk, have also gained recognition from the likes of Billboard and other tastemakers in the blogosphere.
The label arrive today with their second compilation of original tracks, Eclypse Volume Two; available for free download now and featuring original tracks from Maxum & Simon Alex, Badr Avsar, Jose De Mara and more. Speaking of the download initiative, label bosses Jason, Aden and Josh noted, “We launched our free download initiative to release some of the amazing music we get sent every single day and it’s been an incredible success so far. We are so happy to give the opportunity to some upcoming producers who we are sure you’ll be hearing more from in the future.”
The Eclypse Records label bosses have been busy working on their own music on the label as well. Feenixpawl recently released a new single, “Quicksand” with APEK, which continues to grow across all streaming platforms, with the track being added to several select Spotify playlists, as well as play-listing looks from Proximity and Zoedic. To compliment the track’s major buzz and success, Eclypse launched the “Quicksand” Remix package following the release and an official WAVO Remix Contest. Additionally, Feenixpawl once again prove their remix abilities by releasing a Fitz and the Tantrums REMIX for “Handclap”, premiering via Blackbook. The remixed track was recently added to Spotify’s New Music Friday and Fresh EDM, and ‘Best of the Week Pop’ on apple music and currently at 146k streams in just 9 days. To further confirm, Feenixpawl’s remix of Rihanna’s “Kiss It Better” hit #1 at Hype Machine.
What’s next for Eclypse Records? “We feel the journey has just begun and we’re constantly pushing ourselves to take our music and Eclypse Records to even further heights,” adds Josh Soon.
Musically Amusing 