aaand another 180.....

This just happens to be my first blog post ever, am I doing it right?! I'll make this one short and sweet so I can only go up from here. WOODHANDS is the band....DANCER is the song. I was lucky enough to catch their show at the Sled Island music fest in Calgary and they really surprised me. Unreal analog synth action, enough said.

Woodhands - Dancer

Electric Youth

Toronto seems to have no shortage of dreamy, synth-soaked electro-dance acts these days. Latest on the scene is high school sweetheart duo Electric Youth, whose single "Faces" has just been released on a 17-track compilation from the new French collective Valerie. The collective includes a host of increasingly popular producers, including dreamwave posterchildren Anoraak, Keenhouse, Russ Chimes and the inimitable Futurecop!

But enough talk. Have a listen to Electric Youth's "Faces", and you too will probably be hustling to the nearing "download" link for the rest of the compilation. Enjoy!

Electric Youth - Faces

Joy Orbison

What up.

Dubstep moved from its dnb/garage/dubby roots to the metallic sounding bangers of 2007 and 2008. Some saw this as the end of a genre which at one time had the promise of saving dance music from its predictable formulas, foraying riddims and tempos into slower, syncopated, uncharted territory. These naysayers were wrong of course. Dance music always reinvents itself. The filthy dubstep coming out in the past couple of years was in part a response to the maxed out electro blasting in clubs next door. What's cool about dubstep is that it seems to have already moved on from '08. 2009 is all about breaking convention and bringing back the funk. It started off in January with the wonky reworking of Scuba's Twitch by Vex'd. Now, garage/dubstep/house/tech/breaks and everything in between is fair game to weave into a setlist, and the tracks coming out of this free for all bend the rules on all sides. One getting lots of hype is an unreleased anthem from Joy Orbison. The best way to get into this track is to listen to it in the context of Ben UFOs Hessle Audio promo mix (available here). It closes out the set, but is worth the wait.

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo (mp3)

You can also find a lot of the music mentioned in this post at my sister blog here.

Etienne de CRAZY

I know what you're thinking: "That guy is DJing in the set for Hollywood Squares! WHERE IS WHOOPI GOLDBERG." Well I don't know where Whoopi Goldberg is, and I don't care because centre square or not, I bet you she is a shit DJ compared to this dude.

Etienne de Crecy is a French electronic producer, which in my books means he is awesome. In fact talking about a French electronic producer is sort of cliche on this short lived blog already, but this guy is legitimately pretty great. I wish I had some sort of biographical information to pass on, but my info stops at the French part, so I will simply share a couple of his tracks so you can share in the sweetness.

scratched - Etienne de Crecy

Tenderoni (Etienne de Crecy Remix) - Chromeo

As a bonus here is a cool picture I found

99

I beak Calgary pretty frequently, but every once in a while this redneck town gives me a nice pleasant surprise. Usually this surprise comes in the form of horse poop in public places (especially during Stampede) but recently I was given a rare treat: two bangin' electro tunes from a local producer!

A friend pointed me in the direction of 99, who has already been featured on much more prominent and widely read Binary. Clearly a fan of French bangers, Ed Banger style, 99 delivers the goods pretty majorly on these two tracks.

The first track, Sans Fil, features a big nasty relentless bassline, spooky vocals and stabby organs. A recipe for success if ever I heard one.  

Sans Fil - 99

I think I prefer this other track, though, with its never-ending climactic bassline and Oizo-style driving synths. And a cheeky dirty female vocal around the one minute mark doesn't hurt either.

Daftenhalfedit - 99

Stay tuned, consistent posts coming soon!

James