Posts Tagged ‘prins thomas’

Dance via kraut in 2010

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Tonight is July’s edition of Beards of a Feather.  If you didn’t hear about it last time we were crashed by LCD Soundsystem.  Gavin Russom played some records while Pat Mahoney and James Murphy invited their friends and partied with us til closing.  I can’t promise any international dance superstars this time, but I couldn’t really promise you that last time and look what happened!

What I do have planned for the evening, however, is one of the raddest dudes San Francisco has to offer.  He is BT Magnum, he is one half of Beat Electric, and he is responsible for some of the best parties the city has to offer.  The Mezzanine regularly features artists he has booked and his most recent project is the Beat Electric Dance Show, which is a modern dance manifestation inspired by the legendary Detroit TV show The Scene.  Here is the FB info, so dress the part and come to dance, the music will be curated by the best boogie DJs in SF, the Beat Electric crew.

Now for something in an entirely different direction.  Higamos Hogamos are Londoners Steve Webster and Toby Jenkins, brits with an affinity for heavy krauty psychedelia.  They already have several releases on DC Recordings and their new mini album Sorcery (available on a limited CD pressing complete with pentagram printed on the disc) comes packed with this jam.  Drums that sound like they came straight from a CR8000 and rolling synthesizers churn to create the perfect dark neon soundscape meant for cruising zombie ridden deserts in your Knight Rider.

Higamos Hogamos – Sorcery (Version)

Then a little piece of Prins Thomas’ latest work on his label Full Pupp following his amazing self-titled album from earlier this year.  Lengthy drum workouts with wonky instrumentals these are further proof that PT is the king of cosmic dance.  How I wish he would take these jams on the road with a band… one can dream.  Enjoy this for now.

Prins Thomas – Atter en Trall

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Hustle and bustle over Tussle

Friday, July 17th, 2009

tussle post
Today is a cause for celebration. “Why is that, Ash? Tell us, tell us!” Well my dear disco freaks, first off it’s Friday, which means I can drink my troubles away tonight as I do most regularly on Friday evenings. But tonight I get to enjoy San Francisco’s cosmic krautrock messengers Tussle play live just a few blocks from my home! The show is at Bottom of the Hill, starts at 10, and costs $10. It would be quite the way to kick off the weekend, so come join if you feel so inclined.

tussle

In honor of tonight’s show I will be sharing with you a remix of Tussle’s “Night Of The Hunter” (named after the incredible film), which is off of their most recent album Cream Cuts from last year (highly recommended). Quite the rad album if you are into the krauty leftfield disco aesthetic, but what’s even better is when one of the best bands making this kind of music right now gets remixed by the one of the most amazing jammy Scandanavian producers, my personal favorite, Prins Thomas. This cut is also off of the Smalltown Supersound On Fire comp that Erik posted the Bjørn Torske track from earlier this week, so this is added incentive to track that shit down. Find it here.

Tussle – Night Of The Hunger (Prins Thomas Remix)

Also, in about a month Tussle plays again, joining forces with San Francisco’s other krautrock talent Jonas Reinhardt and beach music masters Windsurf at Amnesia. More to come on that later so stay tuned.

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MORE LIKE, LINDSTRØM & PRINS ANASTASIO, AM I RIGHT

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

Well, we are basically just, like, best friends with Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas, and when we’re not going out on double dates and playing Settlers of Catan together sometimes they’ll just, like, send us some music that they’re working on, because that’s the kind of relationship we have. Well—I mean—their publicist sends us the music. And, I guess, it’s not really, like, a lot of music. Just one edit. But: it’s a good edit! Straight from their new record, II, we’ve got the “Groove Edit” of “Rothaus,” which is track 2 on the album and a highlight for me.

The thing about II that you need to be warned about, going in, is that it’s, um, a jam record. Not Phish, haters, but, you know, second cousins. And—and this is hard for me to say—I’m OK with that. Really. On first listen, this edit doesn’t do much: tightens the track a little bit, makes it easier to take in—and probably easier to dance to, in a sort of obtuse way—but it’s hard to take something this “jammy” and straighten it out. So what you get is a lot of cautiously sloppy live instrumentation and synth noodling, which is what we in the biz call “rad.” Perfect to listen to while cooking, jogging, throwing a coke-fueled week-long orgy, going to space (literally), going to space (figuratively), cleaning your house, etc.

And, you know, there was a time in my life when “jammy” shit like this would have received a derisive sneer and possibly an exaggerated roll of the eyes. I am no longer that small-minded person. In my old age, I think I can say—I think we all should say: I welcome the jam. And: guys: “Rothaus” is the jam. Enjoy.

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – Rothaus (Groove Edit)

NOTE: Founding partner Ash Williams is on a trip to THE FOURTH DIMENSION for the next couple weeks—he’s going to try and post some from the road, but till then it’s all me. Expect some Steely Dan, Pat Metheny, MP3s of me making fart noises, etc.

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OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

Hey y’all—apologies for not posting for a month! Been busy—but OMG have I got some shit for you.

I livetweeted the first five joints on Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas’s new album, imaginatively titled II, but I didn’t get a chance to give my 140-character reviews of the rest of the tracks—luckily my reaction to those tracks, and the album as a whole, can basically be summed up with this picture:

Yes, it’s that good. I’ve only had it for about 48 hours now but I’ve listened to it a dozen times and I’m sort of floored. I don’t expect everyone to love it like me (though I do expect people to love it)—it’s just that, it’s like they made it for me: everything I’ve ever liked about the two Scandos packaged together in a beautiful little box.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to write about it later. But what is killin me—and I mean, really, killin me, like, I am dead from this fuckin song, is the first track, “Cisco,” and if I can be more specific, the synths that roll in at around 3:00. The whole thing is a really beautiful example of the power of layering, and it spends a lot of time building itself up—bass line, congas, guitar here, guitar there—but that synth drop (so quiet! So sinister! Like gathering clouds! Landing spaceships!) is like +1000XP—level up.

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – Cisco

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Vamp Fad?

Monday, November 10th, 2008
This weekend I caught the new Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In and I must say I loved it. The story follows a bullied young boy who finds his first love in a young girl who happens to be a vampire during a long and cold Swedish winter. But over the course of the weekend I have found out that quite a few of my friends think that there is some sort of vampire fad that is taking place, citing the new series True Blood (which I must say I am addicted to) and the new film Twilight. Maybe it’s the horror enthusiast in me trying to protect the artistic validity of a few films and series I have seen of late from the “fad” labeling which seems to instantly disqualify them from serious consideration. Either way, I would recommend both Let The Right One In and the new HBO series True Blood, both for different reasons, but both focusing on vampires.

I also thought it fitting for a track I wanted to post for some while now. It comes off of a new 12″ from R&S Records, the hard-hitting famous dance label that began in the 80s, featuring two reinterpretations of classic rave tracks, Outlander’s “Vamp” and Capricorn’s “20Hz”. As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for piano house and techno tracks from the 90s, and the hit “Vamp” from 1991 is no exception to the rule. This high energy classic features a piano sample I’m sure some of you will have heard before and was featured in several Justice mixes over the last few years. Here we see it remixed in the Prins Thomas diskomiks style, replacing the drums and bass with more organic instrumentation to give it a truly scandodisco flavor, while keeping the original samples and structure fairly untouched. I must admit I was a little surprised to hear the king of kraut, cosmic, and all things boogie turn to a rave track for inspiration, but then again he has recently remixed the Ricardo Villalobos track “Fitzpatrick” in similar fashion. Rave? Minimal? What could be next for PT? Enjoy this for now.

Outlander – Vamp (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)

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