The lazy days of summer are here and I’ve been doing my part by not adding anything new to this blog for months! Lots of new music the last couple of months and a few great shows coming to Portland in the months ahead. First up is Chromeo at the Roseland on August 13th. Tickets are going fast and their new release “Business Casual” is set to come out in the next month. The Chemical Brothers released another great album this spring. They’ll be in California for two shows later this month but nothing in the Nortwest! Hopefully they’ll come back for a full tour soon. Aeroplane’s new album is coming out in January but until that time we’ll have to continue enjoying some of their older remixes and this Friendly Fires track is a great example of their remix prowess.

Two Door Cinema Club is coming back to Portland again and this time they will be at the all ages venue, The Hawthorne Theatre on November 5th. Ratatat will be at the Crystal Ballroom on September 16th. in support of their latest release, LP4.

Some new music from Aussie outfit, Voltage. They are being produced by Cut Copy and they’re also on Cut Copy’s label and I have to say…..they sound a lot like Cut Copy. Nice track though. New Cut Copy album is coming out in January as well and you can download a track off the forthcoming album right off their website

Enjoy the summer mix.

1. Don’t Turn The Lights On – Chromeo
2. A New Chance (Tanlines Remix) – The Tough Alliance
3. Another World – The Chemical Brothers
4. Paris (Aeroplane Remix) – Friendly Fires
5. Magic (Classixx Version) – Ladyhawke
6. Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix) – Two Door Cinema Club
7. Suffocation – Crystal Castles
8. On Melancholy Hill – Gorillaz
9. Drugs – Ratatat
10. Real Life (Memory Tapes remix) – Tanlines
11. Enjoy Music (Crazy P Remix) – Reboot
12. All Night – Voltage
13. Faith (Faze Action Remix) – Stretch Silvester
14. Regenerate – Booka Shade
15. Sun To Me – Faithless
16. Metropolis (The Twelves Remix) – Cicada
17. Hidden Treasure (Dj Vadim Rerub) – DJ Vadim

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One of my latest Cocktail Mixes for 94/7fm in Portland. Starting off with a great track from Spanish outfit “Delorean”. They’ve been remixing various artist’s tracks for a while but they’ve really created a nice sound on their own their own record. Holy Ghost! are from Brooklyn and you have to love the fact that we have such a great sounding electro outfit in the US of A! Great remix by Los Angeles band Classixx. Miike Snow is coming to Portland and will be playing at Doug Fir on October 1st. Lots of remixes of Animal out there but I think the Treasure Fingers Mix beats them all. Lifelike did a monster job on Moby’s latest track, Mistakes and I love what John Bourke did with Haddaway’s, What is Love. Brazil’s The Twelves added some heavy beats to Fleetfoxes and John Legend collaborating with MSTRKRFT was a pleasant surprise for me. Finishing off with a classic from X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne. This is a timeless track.

1. Seasun – Delorean
2. Hot Lips (Staygold Remix) – Pacific!
3. I Will Come Back (Classixx Acapulco Nights Version) – Holy Ghost!
4. The Girl And The Robot – Röyksopp
5. Animal (Treasure Fingers Remix) – Miike Snow
6. Bulletproof – La Roux
7. Mistakes (Lifelike Remix) – Moby
8. What Is Love – John Bourke
9. Behind The Wheel (Electroca$h Mix) – Depeche Mode
10. White Winter Hymnal (The Twelves Remix) – Fleet Foxes
11. Heartbreaker Feat. John Legend – MSTRKRFT
12. Lazy Feat. David Byrne – X-Press 2

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Here’s one of my latest cocktail mixes which was featured on 94/7fm in Portland. The Area54 Mixes are on every Tuesday and Friday at 6pm.  You can also listen online at 947.fm, or you can check this site or the area54 site for archives of the shows.

Been playing Lo-Fi-Fnk for a couple of years now but really like this track which I pulled off of the Maison Kitsune 6 compilation.  Number 7 is already coming out next month and it looks like another great compilation with some really ripping tracks.  I had to go back to the granddaddies of the genre with an older New Order track from their 1985 LP Low Life.  I remember playing that album so much that I had to get a second copy because I wore out the vinyl.  It’s amazing listening to New Order and realizing how influential they were for many of the bands that are currently getting airplay with the new electro 80’s sound that’s so prevalent today.

The Presets were just in Portland and put on a great show.  I like their live act but they are definitely a studio band.  Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just hard to reproduce their studio produced sound in a live venue.  I’m still up in the air about the new U2 album.  This is a nice remix by Fred Falke, but I’ve come to expect more from him.  I only have the edit so maybe the extended version offers a bit more but so far I’ve been left cold by both the latest U2 effort and the remixes I’ve been hearing.  Judge for yourself.

Moby has a new album coming out next month called ‘Wait for Me’.  I’ve heard one track from it so far and it sounds really mellow.  Seems like he’s following up his last album pretty quickly though.  Finishing off the set with some older standards by M.I.A and a great Plump DJ’s track featuring one of my favorite vocalists; Gary Numan.

1. Want U – Lo-Fi-Fnk
2. Forever [Feat. Neneh Cherry] – Kleerup
3. Sub-culture – New Order
4. This Boy’s In Love – The Presets
5. Magnificent (Fred Falke Remix – Edit) – U2
6. I Left My Heart In Tokyo (Fred Falke Dub) – Mini Viva
7. Lift Me Up (Mylo Mix) – Moby
8. I Remember – Deadmau5 & Kaskade
9. Boyz (The Twelves Remix) - M.I.A.
10. Pray For You (Feat. Gary Numan) - Plump DJs
11. Lights Out – Santogold

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I have so much recycling piled up that needs to be taken to the recycling center that all I can think about is recycled plastic.  Hence, the picture of what all our plastic products look like when they are all squashed together in a pile, ready to get melted down and made into new plastic consumer products again.  It’s a vicious circle, at least, if I can get to the recycling center!

Latest mix that aired on 94/7fm during the Cocktail Mix at 6.  Lykke Li is coming to Portland in a couple of weeks so we’ve been pushing her a bit lately.  Lots of great remixes floating around but I haven’t head the Chavez mix all that much so decided to start the set off with that one.  The Twelves are the new gods from Brazil.  They just make magical remixes and take the Black Kids to another level.  Love the Dizzee Rascal/Calvin Harris tune and Shazaam just makes it even dancier.

Afterlife takes the Eric Prydz smash hit and ads some new elements to it.  Surprisingly dance oriented considering Aferlife is known more for slowing their remixes down to the point where it’s almost ambient.  Okay, so I kind of missed the whole Vampire Weekend thing but I’m catching up with a great Chromeo remix.  I like their whole album, which is a pretty amazing feat to these jaded ears.

Metronomy is coming to Portland as well this month. They’ll be at Holocene on the 23rd.  I don’t know what it is about these guys but they seem to write songs just to get remixed.  Curious to hear what they sound like live.  The smash 2002 Shakedown track gets a remake from Seamus Haji and still sounds great almost 7 years later.

last song is a great mellow outro track from French DJ and producer Dimitri from Paris.  It’s from his brilliant 1996 album “Sacrebleu”.  It was recently re-released so if you don’t have it yet, now’s your chance.

Enjoy the mix and see you at some shows this month.

1. Little Bit (Diego Chavez Remix) – Lykke Li
2. Hurricane Jane (Twelves Mix) – Black Kids
3. Lights Out (David Rubato Remix) – Santogold
4. Dance Wiv Me (Shazam Remix) – Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris
5. Feel The Love – Cut Copy
6. Pjanoo (Afterlife Remix) – Eric Prydz
7. Lazy (Moto Blanco Remix) – X-Press 2
8. The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance (Chromeo Remix) – Vampire Weekend
9. Why (Wez Clarke Remix) – Shiny Grey
10.Heartbreaker (kris menace remix) – Metronomy
11.At Night (Seamus Haji Remix) – Shakedown
12.Toujours L’amore – Dimitri form Paris

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Wanna get the September mix in before the month is actually over.  Slacker!…Why do today what you can do tomorrow.  Guess I can’t wait because tomorrow is October.  Here is one of my Cocktail Mixes for 94/7fm.  It’s for the Tuesday program and they want more mainstream recognizable stuff in these mixes which actually makes them more interesting and at the same time, harder, since it takes a bit of work to find older, more familiar songs that work well with the new material.

Anyway, might as well start off with a classic song from the 1986 Pretty in Pink movie.  I don’t know if it was actually written for the movie, but it was only released as a single and on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack and later on the New Order compilation Substance.  Seems like such a long time ago.  Sweden is again a hot bed of new music and both The Tough Alliance and Lykke Li are a testament to some great music coming out of Scandinavia.   The Twelves are from Brazil and do great work on both the Black Kids and M.I.A. tracks.  Then later on we have the Black Kids remixing Lykke Li.  Do you also get the feeling that music industry is a bit insestuous?  Modeselektor has a great remix of Bjork’s Dull Flame of Desire.  One mix is for the boys and the other for the girls.  The girls one is a bit mellower so I ended up going with that one.

1. Shellshock – New Order
2. Something Special – The Tough Alliance
3. Back Of The Van (Fred Falke Mix) – Ladyhawke
4. New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84) – Simple Minds
5. I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance
With You (The Twelves Remix) – Black Kids
6. Boyz (The Twelves Remix) – M.I.A.
7. Remind Me (Someone Else’s Radio Mix) – Röyksopp
8. Where I Belong (Wookie Remix) – Sia
9. I’m Good, I’m Gone (Black Kids Remix) – Lykke Li
10. Dull Flame of Desire (Modeselektor’s RMX for Girls) – Björk
11. Never Miss A Beat (Cut Copy Remix) – Kaiser Chiefs
12. Into The Galaxy (Chateau Marmont Remix) – Midnight Juggernauts

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It’s supposed to be the dog days of summer in August but for some reason we’re already in a fall weather pattern which is not short of depressing. Just the thought of winter around the corner. Summer came too late and was too short! That’s life in the Northwest though and I’m not complaining at all about the great mountain bike trails this time of year and the the tourist windsurfers who have all gone home leaving nothing but wind and water all for me! Life is good. Music is good too. There have been some great new releases the last couple of weeks and I tried to throw a bunch into this latest mix.

The latest release from Australia’s Van She is called V and has been available for a while as an import. I heard it was being distributed domestically but I can’t find any info on it. For now it looks like you’ll have to get the import from Amazon or their older EP from iTunes. Opening up the set with their mellow aussie pop sounds ‘So High’. The more I’m listening to Toronto’s Crystal Castles the more I like these guys. I’ve been playing ‘Knights’ and ‘Crimewave’ on the radio for a while and most people are probably familiar with their remix of the Klaxons’ Atlantis to Interzone. For this mix I’m playing the mellow ‘Vanished”. Check out their full length debut album, simply titled: Crystal Castles.

More Aussie goodness with Presets and Ladyhawk. Okay, she might be a Kiwi transplant but it’s all down under for me. The Presets, ‘This Boy’s in Love’ is this years ‘Girl and the Sea’. There are already a bunch of good remixes of this tune floating around.

I saw the Black Kids when they opened for Cut Copy in Portland and I wasn’t super impressed. I don’t want to take anything away from their live set, but their overproduced studio sound is hard to reproduce live. That said, I like their latest track and Brazil’s ‘The Twelves’ add some nice touches to the remix.

I’ve been listening to The Black Ghosts for a while now and only recently read that Touche from the Wiseguys makes up half the band. No wonder I like these guys! Their songs have been remixed to death so I thought I’d go with the original which has been standing up against the remixes quite well.

One of my favorite breaks bands, the Plump DJ’s have a new release out and I pulled the hit track off their album. New Order’s Bernard Sumner is still around. His voice is starting to give away a bit but he still sounds better than Sting currently does. Check him out on Germany’s Blank & Jones track.

1. So High – Van She
2. Vanished – Crystal Castles
3. This Boy’s In Love – The Presets
4. Paris Is Burning (Cut Copy Remix) – Ladyhawke
5. I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
(The Twelves Remix) – Black Kids
6. A Bit Patchy (Eric Prydz Mix) – Switch
7. Out There On The Ice – Cut Copy
8. That’s Not My Name (LA Riots Remix) – The Ting Tings
9. Anyway You Choose To Give It – The Black Ghosts
10. Tribulations – LCD Soundsystem
11. System Addict – Plump DJs
12. Miracle Cure – Blank & Jones Ft Bernard Sumner

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Now that we finally have some summer weather here in the Northwest part of the country, I thought it would be a great way to celebrate the summer solstice this weekend with a fun and eclectic summer mix. The Management from Brooklyn might have changed their name to the acronym MGMT but their sound hasn’t changed a bit. Their new album is called ‘Oracular Spectacular’ and the second single to be released is ‘Electric Feel’. I can’t get enough of this song. They recorded the song with a layer of distortion that makes it sound like your speakers are blown. It’s not your speakers, so don’t worry about it the first time you hear it.

Ian Brown from Stone Roses fame does a great cover of MJ’s Thriller. If you remember this was one of the first music videos that had almost the same amount of production and cost of a major motion picture. Fujiya and Miyagi’s Collarbone is being used in a Miller Lite commercial. I imagine that they’ve made more money from that song being used in a commercial than they did in album sales. Congrats is in order though since it’s a great song nonetheless.

I had to throw in Yelle as an ode to one of my favorite bands from the 80’s, Heaven 17. Since we’re into that retro ’80’s sound, how about some old Gary Numan? From 1979’s The Pleasure Principle it’s ‘M.E.’ which some of you may recognize as being sampled by The Basement Jaxx in ‘Where’s Your Head At?’.

Parov Stelar’s lastest album is called ‘Shine’ a brilliant mix of jazz, Charleston and breaks. I pulled a mellower vocal track off the album with some great horns and changes. Last song in the mix is a classic Strike Boys track. This one has a great heavy bass line that blew up a stack of bass bins at an outdoor concert of few years back. Probably the most expensive song I’ve ever played.

1. Electric Feel – MGMT
2. Revolution Solution – Thievery Corporation
3. Thriller – Ian Brown
4. Valerie (Feat. Amy Winehouse) – Mark Ronson
5. Money In The Bag (K&S Remix) – Kraak & Smaak
6. Salvador Diaspora (Fort Knox Five Mix) – Rex Riddem
7. Collarbone – Fujiya & Miyagi
8. Reasons (Saturday Night) – Faithless
9. Ce Jeu – Yelle
10. M.E. – Gary Numan
11. Predict The Day – Ladytron
12. Good Bye Emily – Parov Stelar
13. Music Make me Feel So Good – Static Revenger
14. Cocaine Is A Sin – The Strike Boys

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1. Kingdom – Dave Gahan
2. See Me Now – Cassius
3. Ce Jeu – Yelle
4. Multiply (Herbert’s Hoedown Bump) – Jamie Lidell
5. Moisture – Headman
6. Stop Me (Album Version) – Mark Ronson
7. Happy Feet (Yuksek Remix) – Klanguage
8. Pictures – Sneaky Sound System
9. Love Sweet Sound – Groove Armada
10. Cut Right Through – Cicada
11. Overpowered (Seamus Haji Remix) – Roisin Murphy
12. Not Exactly – Deadmau5

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