[bleep] music

FYE testing new CD pricing model, part 1

headphoneboy — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:10:28 +0000

I normally avoid trying to spend money on music at retail chains such as Best Buy or FYE, opting to support independent record stores instead. But I do make the odd exception when a decent sale presents itself. While at the mall today, I couldn’t resist checking out a sale advertising “All CDs just $9.99″ at FYE. I ended up picking out a few things I’d had on my list: Daft Punk – “Alive,” Zero 7 – “When It Falls,” & Ulrich Schnauss – “A Strangely Isolated Place.” On my way out, I asked the sales person whether they were having the sale because they were closing the store. But as I was told, this particular store was testing out a new pricing model, with all single disc CDs being sold for $9.99, and that FYE corporate was considering implementing it across their entire chain.

I was really shocked to hear that a music and media retail chain the size of FYE would consider such a model, and my initial reaction was to assume it was BS, which led me to confirm the statement with a second store employee. After finally settling on the possibility that this might be true, I began thinking about the reasoning behind it, and the implications it might have.

Anja Schneider DJ Set @ Mobilee Rooftop Party, WMC 2008

headphoneboy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:11:48 +0000

blaring through my speakers and headphones this week on the DJ set tip has been this gem from Anja Schneider, label head for Mobilee Records. easily one of most respected techno and tech-house DJs around these days, she’s right up their with the likes of Magda and Kate Simko for the honors of reigning “Queen of Techno”. i got turned on to her as of late after spending quite a bit of time at work trying to figure out what DJs are on top of the techno scene at the moment, and she’s definitely made her mark with the best of them. to add to that, i was doing some record shopping via Beatport and spent some time combing through the Mobilee back catalogue, eventually finding Anja’s track “Belize” which is one of the best cuts i’ve heard in a while. i’m a fan of scouring and discovering good back catalogue releases from labels i respect, and the instant i heard the sample of this one it caught my ear and had me clicking BUY.

this set is from the Mobilee Records party from this past WMC, where they teamed up with event production company Listed for a rooftop event @ the TownHouse Hotel. from what i can gather, Listed seems to be based out of both Chicago and San Fransisco, but of course they hosted the obligatory WMC event (for any production company based in the US) and they picked an excellent German label to team up with. as the ol’ saying goes, “i was a bit late to the party” on this one, as i didn’t really tune into Mobilee or its DJ roster until after WMC. in any case, don’t make the same mistake i did of missing that event by checking out this gorgeous 1 hour 45 min. set of beautifully programmed tech-house and techno (i think the last 15 min. of the set are someone else, but i could be wrong). the mix is hosted on Listed’s set archive which also features mixes from that same event by Sebo K, Pan-Pot and the Listed residents. i haven’t checked out those other ones yet, but i’m sure i’ll come back to them fairly soon….

Listed Productions DJ Set Archive

[bleep] party location photo

headphoneboy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:19:57 +0000

stay tuned for info on the first Ann Arbor [bleep] event.

Jona’s latest single on Get Physical

headphoneboy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:56:36 +0000

as far as my beatport buying habits are concerned, Get Physical seems to be my favorite dance music label these days, and with good reason. i checked out their latest single by Jona featuring tracks “Take Five” and “Sunset” and both are absolute bombs. Jona’s been on my short list as of late with his track “Manta” on GPM not too long ago, and even more recently a killer remix of Junior Boys’ “No Kinda Man” off of their Body Language mix.

this latest release takes things up a notch, with the perfect combination of summer sounds and tech house beats that will feel right at home with the rest of my collection. worth checking out is the Get Physical Podcast, which currently features a mix of recent and upcoming tunes that provides a good taste of the sounds being offered up by this seemingly unstoppable dance label.

Get Physical Podcast (opens in iTunes)

the freshly redesigned Get Physical website

Telefon Tel Aviv

headphoneboy — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:56:07 +0000

i’ve been on a bit of a Telefon Tel Aviv kick lately, having both re-visited their two full lengths and freshly discovered a handful of their remix work. one of the tracks on their MySpace page music player entitled “You Are The Worst Thing In The World” is one of the most compelling songs they’ve ever done, slated to be on their upcoming third album (its also been picked up for Sasha’s Involver 2 which i mentioned yesterday). also in their player, I came upon for the first time a great remix of Carmen Rizzo & Esthero’s “Too Rude” off of Rizzo’s debut full length “The Lost Art Of The Idle Moment” which I really enjoyed. i shot over to the iTunes Music Store and bought it immediately, $0.99 well spent.

other remixes of theirs that i’ve had on repeat are the two remixes they’ve done for Apparat, one of which is of the standout track “Arcadia” off his most recent Walls album, and the other being of a track called “Komponent”. both of those remixes are available on the Apparat remix compilation “Things To Be Frickled” and both are unquestionably the two best tracks there.

Telefon Tel Aviv on MySpace

Carmen Rizzo & Esthero – Too Rude (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix) on the iTunes Music Store

image from the Flickr page of Josh Eustis (one half of TTA)

Sasha’s Involver 2 due in September

headphoneboy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:04:57 +0000

Sasha’s Involver record released back in 2004 was one of the early reasons i got interested in dance music, with its eclectic palette of sounds that took me on a listening journey of sorts. the release of the second volume in the series was recently announced to be in early September. having attended the Global Underground Involver 2 Preview Party at WMC this year, i’ve definitely been anticipating hearing more of the music from that night in detail. my first taste since is now available for listening on Sasha’s Facebook Page, featuring samples of his remixes of M83′s “Couleurs” and Ladytron’s “Destroy Everything You Touch”. the M83 track doesn’t really do it for me, because I don’t think Sasha’s remix really adds anything to the original, but the Ladytron track is a real gem. not having heard the original, i don’t have much basis for comparison, except to say that it’s a damn fine piece of production from what i have heard of it. it’s the one track from the Preview Party that i distinctly remember, and it definitely got a strong response from the crowd at Mynt Lounge that night.

read more about Involver 2 in an interview i did with Sasha & John Digweed for Progressive-Sounds back in April during the early stage of their US Spring Tour which kicked off during WMC.

check out the interview

Freerange 100 // Milton Jackson – Ghosts In My Machine

headphoneboy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:23:17 +0000

I first read about this track on a pair of beatportal news items, one of which referred to Matthew Dear & Ryan Elliott playing it at the WMC Beatport Pool Party during their tag team set. the track hasn’t left my iPhone since the day I bought it, almost two months ago now.

needless to say, it’s an absolute gem, and the perfect example of good tech-house.

Minitek Festival in NYC September 12, 13, 14

headphoneboy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:21:44 +0000

there’s a new game in town. and by game I mean “electronic music festival.” and by town I mean “the US.”

a well recognized but equally underground event promotion group based in NYC named Minimoo has taken on the challenge of bringing a proper techno festival to the city. seemingly on a scale and quality level comparable to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Minitek looks to be a promising first time event.

Flavors Of The Moment

headphoneboy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:53:49 +0000

producers:

Stimming
Henrik Schwarz
Milton Jackson
Ewan Pearson & Partial Arts

labels:

Diynamic
Innervisions
Buzzin’ Fly
Freerange
Get Physical

Turbo 054 // Moby – I Love To Move In Here

headphoneboy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:33:50 +0000

i got a taste of the upcoming release on Turbo Recordings, headed up by Tiga, which happens to be a remix package of a recent Moby single. i was definitely a bit hesitant with this one at first, it’s been quite a while since i’ve genuinely enjoyed anything Moby has put forth, but the crew at Turbo selected a really strong cast of remixers, most of which were able to do something enjoyable yet different with the track. the standouts for me were remixes by Popof, Style Of Eye, and Holy Ghost!

the Popof and Style Of Eye remixes were pretty straightforward, dance floor techno tunes, while the Holy Ghost! brings the usual DFA-esque sound to the table with a slightly less aggressive, more disco-tinged take.