Disco Horror

Hey guys—do you think the “joke” I make about how Jimmy & I are “famous” “rich” “good-looking” “bloggers” is “over”? Have I used it “too much”? Ha ha, of course not. “Irony”!

Jimmy & I were tandem windsurfing yesterday off the coast of the island from “Lost” (it’s real, and we get to go to it) when two golden-feathered doves landed on our respective shoulders and whispered in our ears: “RVNG is releasing a new mix, curated by Andre Bumrocks and Jason Evans from Hey Convict!, and it will be released simultaneously with a 7″ featuring some highlights from the mix, on purple vinyl.)” And then the birds, which were actually clockwork creations made in the distant past by unknown master Persian craftsmen, turned into MP3 players, and we listened to the mix, and then went back to the shore and made out, with babes.

“Irony”! Actually we got an email from a guy named “Josh,” and because we are a) big RVNG fans and b) suckers for people who make the mistake of thinking this website has any readers besides my girlfriend (hi Ari!), we decided to post a track off the 7″ (it’s a seven-inch because this is the seventh release in the series—also because Andre Bumrock’s favorite band is Avenged Sevenfold).

The mix itself (called “Purple Brain,” a reference to the great 70s rock band Deep Purple and the Steven Martin film The Man with Two Brains; that’s the cover up top) consists of what sounds like three dozen nameless brain-erasing parallel-universe beardo classics; it’s a little all-over-the-place, but if you’ve got a problem with all-over-the-place, you’re reading the wrong blog. Really, the problem is that an hour is way too short to actually get a grip on the ridiculous number of things going on in this mix, and more than once tracks get cut off just when you’re ready for more. Still: better to have listening to thirty seconds, and lost, than to never have listened to even thirty seconds, of a song, at all, right?

I didn’t recognize any of the tracks on my first couple listens, but I was able to recognize many instruments, including:

“Josh,” who is very nice, asked that we let you know when you can pre-order the fine merchandise listen above, so, please be aware, you can pre-order both Purple Brain and the Purple Brain 7″ on May 26.

The track I’m leaving you with is the B-side to the seven-inch, a happy, apolitical, message-less little ditty by the apartheid-era South African troupe the Bahumutsi Drama Group (founded by activist and playwright Maishe Maponya). I feel confident that when the Drama Group recorded this “joint,” they were hoping it would someday be played in a Bushwick loft to a bunch of drunk, mostly white, out-of-work “artists”/web designers! Enjoy!

An interesting thing happened yesterday, I had a track taken down and Blogger sent me a notice saying it had been in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). The track was Tom Croose‘s edit of Fleetwood Mac’s “Never Going Back Again.” I don’t know what brought this on, whether it was the Fleetwood Mac tag or what, and the file was removed from divshare too so I guess it wont be up anymore. But in the process of figuring out what was going on I contacted Tom Croose and he said it was totally cool that the track was up (he seems like a really nice dude too). He ended up sending me a few mixes and said more remixes and edits are on the way. Here is a link to his Stoney Baloney Mix recently posted at ISO50 and he is also one half of Worst Friends, a tropical balearic group with a Studio-like feel. I will be sure to keep you informed if his current projects as I find out.

Today we have a track from the first Bumrocks LP, El Bum. Bumrocks is the wonderful site hosted by two Chimneys out of NYC, Andre and Jeremy (one half of Tropical Computer System), that posts obscure gems regularly while hosting tracks from a very respectable list of guest bumrockers, the most recent being the UKs Phoreski. Their new LP features many mysterious tracks and reworks by a number of people ranging across proto-techno, disco, and more ambient downtempo textures. Our very own local vinyl guru The Beat Broker appears on the LP so I only found it fitting to share with you his masterful dub of Jeanne Shy’s “Night Dancer“. Enjoy this and check out the album here or I’m sure they have it down at Amoeba, it’s worth every penny for those of you with a taste for the obscure.

For a change of pace I’ve been listening to a ton of Italians Do It Better recently because Johnny Jewel is truly a genius with the production skills. Maybe it’s because it’s the perfect soundtrack for my walks to the train every morning in the melancholy San Francisco weather. Either way I have two tracks for you today from IDIB and you can track down a third soon-to-be-released dark synth masterpiece on ARAWA by newcomer Twisted Wires here. For now I have new/old Glass Candy off their new Deep Gems: Singles, B-sides, and Rarities which is basically some unreleased tracks, but mostly remixes/alternate versions of tracks off of their amazing album B/E/A/T/B/O/X. If anything this release is rather dancier than their other stuff, but Ida No’s haunting voice and lyrics still keep the mood wonderfully dark. This is the most dancey of the tracks and sounds similar to the vibe Gang Gang Dance achieve, but Jewel keeps it in his own style. I cannot force I cannot fight, the beat’s alive.

Taking it down a knotch on the energy level, I picked up this 12″ the other day of another IDIB project, Nite Jewel, aka Ramona Gonzalez out of Los Angeles. I heard this a little while back and it spurred me to purchase the 12″ when I saw it. It’s a slow mover with a similar feel to Glass Candy, but a charming walking bassline that keeps your head bouncing. Enjoy!