Sara Churchville's Blog

Posted by Sara Churchville

As Suite101’s Pop Music feature writer and blogger extraordinaire, Heather, has already mentioned, Rihanna’s “Umbrella” is the "Hottest Song on the Planet."

I saw Ms. Rihanna, as surely we all did, on the MTV Movie Awards, and was suitably mesmerized. I gather Jay-Z was performing with her, but honestly, whether Jay-Z sang or played or rode a pogo stick, I couldn’t say. Didn’t much notice him, you know?

I’ve been scouring mp3dom since then for remixes of this song (these are, of course, legion), and for my money, the two listed here are the most interesting to date.

Divide & Kreate: This is an “electro-rock” remix of the song from Stockholm-based mashup and remix artist, Divide & Kreate. Yes, in the great tradition of singular DJs with plural names, he's one guy. See his MySpace page for more of his tunes.

Rihanna – Umbrella (Divide & Kreate remix)

Jody den Broeder: This DJ has worked with Giorgio Moroder (of Donna Summer-producing fame), among others, and he has about six different remix versions of “Umbrella.” Hold out for the long version of his progressive house “Destructive" (or "Destruction," depending on where you see it) club mix, however. You should have no problem discovering it for download. Seek and ye shall find, if you see what I mean.

I can’t swear to it, but it sounds like he may have sampled a bit of Sander Kleinenberg's remix of BT’s “Somnambulist” – if not, it has a little of that feel to it. You can also watch the Rihanna video tricked out to match his remix on his MySpace page.

Rihanna -- Umbrella (Jody den Broeder Destructive club mix)

Posted by Sara Churchville

So, in case you missed it, “The Hoff”—he whose musical career represents the squirming underbelly of globalization, the nagging reminder that there remain dark pockets of humanity whose tastes and preferences will never dovetail with those of the enlightened world—has been legally suspended from visiting his teenage daughters.

The offending forensic exhibit: a videotape of the former Baywatch star trying and largely failing to eat a fast-food hamburger. The shirtless singer mumbles and grunts as the sanctimonious and SAT-prepping seed of his loins grills him about his eating and, primarily, his drinking habits.

His singing and acting habits she touches upon only insofar as they are threatened by the aforementioned drinking habits.

The “performance,” as I choose to characterize it, is funny and shocking and pitiable in equal measures, and there’s also something seedily familiar about it. Ham tapes Noah as the Arkmeister fumbles with a hamburger, anyone?

Just another one to add to the growing list of “aging stud loses shizz in front of kid” moments, you might think, and I might be apt to agree with you were it not for another videotaped gem I found recently.

What you’re about to witness is something infinitely more inexplicable and far more frightening than a mere drunken fast-food sit-in on the floor of a rich man’s condo (fast food that, as a sad codicil to a sorry will, is not from Fatburger or In-N-Out Burger or even Jack in the Box…respectable places all, where a hard-partying L.A. celebrity need feel no shame at being photographed exiting the drive-through—but a Wendy’s in Las Vegas, where, we are somehow not surprised to learn, the Hoff now lives, apparently at considerable inconvenience to his children).

Click, if you dare, and open yourself to the possibilities of a counterfactual yet uncomfortably plausible universe where Sanjaya has won, Gliese 581c is the new Prague, and Alec Baldwin’s watch costs more than your car, aka KITT.

Messieurs/dames, je vous présente: David Hasselhoff’s rendition of “Blue Bayou” vs. Boards of Canada’s “An Eagle in Your Mind.”

Posted by Sara Churchville

So, as you surely know if you care anything about the Brothers Chemical, Tom and Ed are nearly ready to release "We Are the Night" on Astralwerks, with mid-June as the anticipated drop date. Astralwerks is describing the album as "twelve tracks of psychedelic warehouse party acid music,"

The songs have all been floor-tested, apparently, and the track listing is already out:

1. No Path To Follow
2. We Are The Night
3. All Rights Reserved Ft. The Klaxons
4. Saturate
5. Do It Again Ft. Ali Love
6. Das Spiegel
7. The Salmon Dance Ft. Fatlip
8. Burst Generator
9. A Modern Midnight Conversation
10. Battle Scars. Ft Willy Mason
11. Harpoons
12. The Pills Won’t Help You Now Ft. Midlake

Meanwhile, as the boys gear up for their European tour to include Summercase and Glastonbury (U.S. tour sometime in the fall), they've been leaving electronic trails on the Internet.

Here's Ed chatting at an Ali Love show, and Tom on Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 show.

And lastly, because why should you be the last to hear it? -- here's the first single from the album:

Do it Again feat. Ali Love(Extended Mix)

Posted by Sara Churchville

Between now and August, these two will be touring North America and Europe, separately and together. Primarily Dubfire will be out and around, since he’s promoting his Global Underground release, Taipei. (Sharam toured for GU-Dubai last year, and of course together they did GU-Toronto a few years back.)

Dubfire is playing Ministry of Sound in London, and they will both be in Malaga, Spain, later in the year; Cannes is the last stop on the GU tour in late August. At various points in his solo tour, Dubfire will be joined by Paolo Mojo, Paul Woolford or Cedric Gervais. Here are their American tour dates:

Dubfire

• Apr 20—Seattle (Last Supper Club)
• Apr 21—Denver (Vinyl)
• Apr 22—Las Vegas (Beatles Revolution Lounge)
• Apr 23—St. Louis (Dante's)
• Apr 24—Nashville (Velvet Ultra Lounge)
• Apr 25—Philadelphia (Fluid)
• Apr 26—Cleveland (Sinergy)
• Apr 27—Detroit (Bleu)
• Apr 28—Chicago (Crobar)
• Apr 30—Indianapolis (Therapy)
• May 1—Columbus (Sugar)
• May 2—Charlotte (Eden)
• May 3—Providence (Club Therapy)
• May 4—New York (Pacha)
• May 5—Washington, DC (Fur)
• May 7—Kelowna, BC (Flashbacks Nightclub)
• May 8—Winnipeg, Manitoba (Empire Cabaret)
• May 9—Calgary, Alberta (The Whiskey Club)
• May 10—Edmonton, Alberta (Fever)
• May 11—Vancouver, BC (Celebrities)
• May 12—San Francisco (Ruby Skye)

Sharam

• May 18—Dallas (Lizard Lounge)
• May 19—Atlanta (Fever)
• May 24—Newport Beach, CA (Tentation Ultra Lounge)
• May 25—San Diego (Belo)
• May 26—Los Angeles (Vanguard)
• May 27—Las Vegas (Jet)

Deep Dish

• Jun 29—Tijuana, MX (Mexitlan) w/Cedric Gervais
• Jun 30—San Bernadino, CA (NOS Events Center)
• Aug 5—Baltimore (Virgin Festival)

Posted by Sara Churchville

Depeche Mode seems to have joined The Beatles and Pink Floyd as one of the must-mash essential groups. In James Zabiela's mashup, "Future Dream," their 2001 single “Dream On” is mingled to irresistible effect with 1998’s “Future of the Future (Stay Gold).”

You might remember this last tune. It emerged from a collaboration of D.C. house music duo, Ali “Dubfire” Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi, better known as Deep Dish, with Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl.

Been a while since you thought about Everything But the Girl, I’ll bet. Ben Watt is doing Buzzin’ Fly compilations and organizing giant house-music clubland parties now, and he’s got everything and the girl—three kids with Thorn.

EBTG did the vocal production on “Future,” (and there’s a David Morales mix with the then little-known Satoshi Tomiie on piano).

A Dave Gahan vocal is probably the last thing you’d expect on this upbeat, more or less basic house-music tune. Needless to say, when Depeche Mode is involved, everything becomes just a little bit darker.

In this mix, “Paying debt to karma/You party for a living/What you take won’t kill you/But careful what you’re giving/Can you feel a little love” abuts against “Get the funk, funk on baby, get the funk on baby” and Thorn’s ethereal dream of the future—and it’s a future that looks kinda sorta like the present.

Meanwhile, in the future of the present, Sharam and Dubfire are on tour this spring and summer, separately and together, in North America and Europe. Dubfire is touring in support of his new Global Underground-31-Taipei compilation (Sharam had last year’s GU-29-Dubai; 32 is, yes!, Adam Freeland in Mexico City.)

Check out their American tour dates, individually and as Deep Dish.

And lastly, what talk of the darkness of dreams would be complete without a little Waking Life? Enjoy a couple of scenes:

• Linklater, Lady Gregory, Puke and Pinball

• Greater, Greater Mind (Yes it’s Empty With Such Fullness)

Posted by Sara Churchville

Just a quickie note for those who don't have tickets and still want to go: Coachella 3-day passes are on sale again as of 3pm EDT today. They're not cheap--about $300 after Ticketmaster takes its cut--but what a lineup!

Although these tix were officially sold out, apparently the tickets on hold for the artists' guests are now being released. Grab 'em while you can. Tickets for Friday only, as before, are still on.

Here's the full lineup.

Still too much and too far? Enjoy it from your laptop instead--AT&T is running a live webcast of all three days of the festival. Aren't they just the bees knees, old AT&T? Something tells me some prodigious ad- slinging is collateral to this offer, but whatever. I'll take it.

Related articles:

• Look Who's Playing Coachella

• Q&A with David Guetta (he's playing Friday)

• Just Get Yourself High (legally!)

Posted by Sara Churchville

Now, obviously you’re no stranger to this Depeche Mode tune, first released in 1990 and subsequently covered, remixed, reimagined by...all. Mike Koglin’s instrumental version, “The Silence,” inspired Sasha to bedazzle the beats into a new mix he called, once again, “Enjoy the Silence.”

And here, for your listening pleasure, is techno/breaks DJ James Zabiela’s own homage to his mentor, Sasha, with a mashup of Sasha's own “Wavy Gravy” and Sasha's remix of Mike Koglin's remake of Depeche Mode's original tune: "Enjoy the Gravy."

Zabiela’s having a bang-up year. As you must know by now, he's teamed up with Nic Fanciulli to become the next Sasha & Digweed...or perhaps dance music’s answer to the hottie Proenza Schouler pairing. Anyway, they released “One + One” last week, with a few of Zabiela’s, a few of Fanciulli’s, some mashups and some mixes. An Ibiza residency might also soon be in the offing.

Watch Zabiela in action giving a master class on his gear. Most likely, he and Fanciulli will be laptop-synching, Gabriel & Dresden-style. Should be interesting, next-level even.

North American Tour Dates

• May 2—Vancouver (Plaza Club)
• May 3—Edmonton (Fever)
• May 4—San Francisco (Ruby Skye)
• May 5—Los Angeles (Vanguard)
• May 6—Las Vegas (Revolution)
• May 7—Los Angeles (Monday Night Social)
• May 9—Scottsdale (Axis)
• May 10—Albuquerque (Club Seven)
• May 11—Chicago (Spy Bar)
• May 12—Denver (Vinyl)
• May 15—St. Louis (Dantes)
• May 17—Austin (Sky)
• May 18—Houston (Planeta Bar Rio)
• May 19—Dallas (Seven)
• May 20—New Orleans (Ampersand)
• May 23—Atlanta (Eleven50)
• May 24—Charlotte (The Forum)
• May 25—Washington, D.C. (930 Club)
• May 26—New York (Pacha)
• May 27—Providence (Club Therapy)

And lastly a Sunday supper recipe; it’s very much appealing to the literalist in me right now. Enjoy the gravy.

Posted by Sara Churchville

French house DJ David Guetta has been doing the serious festival circuit this year. He's already performed at SxSW and WMC (at his “F**k Me I’m Famous” party in Miami).

Next up, Coachella (he's playing Friday, April 27, so there are still tickets), as well as the season in Ibiza, where the FMIF parties began.

And for you anime aficionados, an enterprising vid set to Guetta’s “Love Don’t Let Me Go,” just because.

Swedish DJ Eric Prydz is having a busy summer of his own, planning a tour of Europe as he prepares for the release of his first artist album.

And now on to this week's blue plate special, which has quite the history.

“The World is Mine” was the tune that got Guetta noticed by the DJ who launched his U.S. career: more on that in my interview with Guetta.

“A Bit Patchy” is a reference to “Apache,” a “bit” of which Switch samples on this tune. “Apache” is a Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band conga drums tune from the 1970s that was itself a remake of an earlier The Shadows version.

Before Switch, the Viner version was famously reworked by Grandmaster Flash, as in, “Apache, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it.”

About this Tommy Seebach version from the 70s...well...see for yourself. No, really. Go look now.

So you can see this beat’s been around the block a time or two, and it’s still thumping. Here it is:

Frasier Manning’s mashup of David Guetta’s “The World is Mine” vs. the Eric Prydz mix of Switch’s “A Bit Patchy” : The World is a Little Bit Patchy.

Posted by Sara Churchville

Congratulations to Oscar G., native of Miami and attending DJ at Miami’s Space, for winning Best Resident DJ at Club Systems International mag’s Club World Awards 2007. Not to be confused, of course, with the 22nd annual International Dance Music Awards.

In honor of this momentous occasion—momentous at least for one night, until the IDMA winners are announced—here’s a banging, if not new, mashup:

French Kiss to the Dark Beat—the Murk Monster Club mix of Oscar G. and Ralph Falcon’s “Dark Beat” vs. Lil’ Louis’ “French Kiss.”

Dinner is served; get it while it’s hot.

Posted by Sara Churchville

I probably write about Air entirely too much, but I have become obsessed with Pocket Symphony.

I gather I'm not alone in that, because for the week ending March 24, Pocket Symphony is the number-one electronic album on the Billboard charts, and number 40 on the Billboard 200, having sold 17,000 albums in the first week.

Here's Billboard's top 10 electronic CDs for the week:

1. Air--Pocket Symphony
2. Gnarls Barkley--St. Elsewhere
3. !!!--Myth Takes
4. The Good, the Bad and the Queen--The Good, the Bad and the Queen
5. The Riddler and Trevor Simpson--Ultra.Dance 08
6. Imogen Heap--Speak for Yourself
7. Various Artists--Forever Freestyle
8. Gorillaz--Demon Days
9. Depeche Mode--The Best of Depeche Mode: Volume 1
10. The Countdown Singers--Forever Disco

Posted by Sara Churchville

UPDATE: June 28, 2007

Air has recently added some California tour dates for the fall:

9/20 -- San Francisco (Bimbo's)

9/21-- Los Angeles (Greek Theatre)

9/23-- San Diego (Street Scene)

9/24-- Anaheim (Grove)

I saw them in May at Madison Square Garden -- phenomenal!

March 12, 2007

Air’s playing the Garden! OK, in all seriousness, they’re actually playing the Theater at Madison Square Garden, which seats 5,600. Still—that’s quite the audience for a techno pop band.

I love Air, as you may have noticed from my constant attention to their doings, but I’ve never seen them live and have to wonder what that would be like. I did see the documentary of their Moon Safari tour, Eating Sleeping Waiting & Playing; it was pretty, um...soporific. The title kind of said it all.

I guess it’s not like they’d be smashing guitars or anything—especially now, when they’ve taken to playing special Japanese stringed instruments.

I would suppose the show will feature some great lighting and video effects as well as the guys playing—that the effect will be “Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping,” as one of their Pocket Symphony songs is called.

Here’s a video of their first single, called Once Upon a Time, where you can get a look at the new instruments.

Southern Californians, you’re out of luck, unfortunately, since Air is only playing Coachella in your area—and the date they’re playing is long sold out; but you can catch them in Vegas or San Francisco if you’re willing to make the trek. On the East Coast, they’re not heading south of D.C. They probably know who their audience is.

Anyway, I will do my best to get tickets for the Garden show and report back. Meanwhile, if you've ever seen Air in concert, drop us a line. What did you think of it?

Tour Dates

4/21-- Vancouver (Richards On Richards)

4/22-- Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom)

4/23-- Tacoma, WA (Pantages Theatre)

4/25-- San Francisco (Nob Hill Masonic Center)

4/26-- Las Vegas (The Joint)

4/27-- Phoenix (The Marquee)

4/29-- Coachella Festival

5/02-- Minneapolis (First Avenue)

5/04-- Chicago (Riviera Theatre)

5/05-- Toronto (Kool Haus)

5/06-- Montreal (Metropolis)

5/08-- Philadelphia (Theatre of the Living Arts)

5/09-- Washington, DC (9:30 Club)

5/10-- New York (Theater at Madison Square Garden)

Posted by Sara Churchville

Digweed and MSTRKRFT are on the road together pretty much every day this month for the first ever Diamonds 07 Tour. They started on the West Coast in Portland, OR, played San Francisco yesterday and L.A. tonight, and will have made their way through 19 cities--including stops at SxSW and WMC, by the end of the month; last stop, Pacha NYC.

Tickets are on sale here.

Upcoming Tour Dates

• March 4 - San Diego (Belo)

• March 7 - Phoenix (Axis/Radius)

• March 8 - Las Vegas (Jet)

• March 9 - Minneapolis (Myth)

• March 10 - Denver (Vinyl)

• March 13 - St. Louis (Dantes)

• March 15 - Houston (Warehouse Live)

• March 16 - Austin (Spin)

• March 17 - Dallas (Karma)

• March 18 - New Orleans (Ampersand)

• March 20 - Miami (Pawn Shop)

• March 27 - Atlanta (Blue)

• March 28 - Nashville (Club Play)

• March 29 - Charlotte (The Forum)

• March 30 - Washington, DC (9:30 Club)

• March 31 - New York (Pacha)

Posted by Sara Churchville

If you haven't bought your ticket to the Coachella Music Festival yet, you might be out of luck. Although the organizers anticipated a banner year for the fest and added a third day, it wasn't enough it seems--the three-day passes were gone three weeks after they went on sale, and one-day tickets for Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29 are also sold out, leaving only Friday's lineup for us latecomers.

Thank Madonna. In a bid to connect with a more,er, tangential (cooler?) fan base, she headlined the festival last year and, some might argue, ruined it. That Madonna would show up to such an MTV-unfriendly event was pretty shocking, at least to me.

After all, Coachella--begun in 1999 as a reaction to the greedy, cynical merchandising debacle that was Woodstock 99 ($5 bottled water?!)--was, inasmuch as the word can possibly have any meaning these days, counter-cultural. It was camping out in the desert near Palm Springs, Calif; it was all very 60s-meets-rave. Water, at least the first year, was free.

But of course Madonna's marketing moves, as they nearly always do, at least in music, paid off. Confessions on a Dance Floor sold 8 million copies and counting worldwide, won the Best Dance/Electronic Album at this year's Grammys, and debuted at number one in 28 countries.

So basically, Coachella has now become the mainstream hot ticket: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul van Dyk, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson (!), Lily Allen, Air and Jose Gonzalez are just a few of the performers those of us without tickets will be missing on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are the bios on each performer from the helpful folks at Coachella. General admission tickets for Friday only are $86 each. The $45 campsite tickets, however, are sold out.

Posted by Sara Churchville

South by Southwest, the annual festival of music and film in Austin, TX, isn’t exactly on the go-to grid for electronica fans. For one thing, it’s held in March, which everyone knows is already consigned to WMC.

It’s hard enough to consider doing WMC and Coachella practically back-to-back, but SxSW, too? And for another thing, SxSW is strictly for indie and alt-rockers, right?

Well, not entirely. If you can’t bring yourself to brave the crowds and expense of March in Miami, Austin is offering quite a variety of electronic music this year. Three of the acts—Purple Crush, Au Revoir Simone, and Caural—are actually from my recently adopted town, Brooklyn.

It’s a measure of how far Brooklyn’s come that musicians and artists now have no problem owning their city; not so long ago, a sheepish “New York City” is all Brooklynites were willing to own up to.

Anyway, by far the biggest act there will be Thomas Dolby. Yes, “Blinded Me with Science” Thomas Dolby from the 1980s. He was definitely early-adopter “electronica”—in fact, most kids like me thought he’d invented Dolby sound :-).

He toured last year to promote his Sole Inhabitant CD, which is his older songs remixed with modern technology. People who heard him in concert, especially his Berklee College of Music performance, which was recorded, seemed to love it.

Well-known DJ Amon Tobin is also going to be at SxSW, which at first seems strange. I mean, he’s a DJ—his rightful place is at WMC! But it seems he’s gone somewhat experimental with his upcoming album, Foley Room—it’s a CD created from “found sounds” and such, and the few songs from the album on his MySpace page are very IDM indeed. Not bad.

The folks at SxSW have been good enough to provide bios and listening pages for nearly all the acts, and some of them—Lesbians on Ecstasy, The Pinker Tones (from Barcelona), Metalchicks (electro-metal, from Japan)--will draw you in on name alone. Let me know what you think.

Posted by Sara Churchville

A mere thirty minutes into the show, and already the winners in several categories are posted on the Grammy.com Web site...apparently, they want to make room for actual performances this year, rather than showing musicians actually accepting awards.

So, although it hasn't actually been announced on the program, "Sexy Back"--Justin Timberlake and Timbaland--has won for Best Dance Recording, and Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" takes the title for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

How daring and forward-thinking of the committee to single out these struggling artists for such a coveted honor.

Posted by Sara Churchville

The Grammys may be expanding every year—this year there are 108 categories in 31 fields—but in a world where somehow Mexican/Mexican-American, Norteño, and Tejano music have each been deemed worthy of a separate category, poor old dance music is still relegated to the rafters with two—count ‘em, two—categories: Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronic Album.

The nominees are:

Best Dance Recording

Get Together—Madonna

Suffer Well—Depeche Mode

I’m with Stupid—Pet Shop Boys

Sexy Back—Justin Timberlake & Timbaland

Ooh La La—Goldfrapp

Best Electronic/Dance Album

Supernature—Goldfrapp

Confessions On A Dance Floor--Madonna

A Lively Mind—Paul Oakenfold

Fundamental—Pet Shop Boys

The Garden—Zero 7

I thought it would be easy to pick my favorite, but I find I’m really torn. As a child of the 80s (yeah, OK, and somewhat pre-80s as well :-), I’m loving the return of the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and never-say-grownup Madonna. On the other hand, “Ooh La La” is delicious, and Timberlake’s song is infectious, no question.

I think it might be somewhat easier for the Grammy judges to choose. We all know how the committee loves to venerate those in the industry who can really push product and, let’s face it, Timberlake is by far the best-seller in this category.

Funnily enough, Madonna seems to have cast her vote for Goldfrapp—she named “Supernature” her favorite album of 2005 (Gotta love how old these nominated songs are, eh? October 1, 2005-September 30, 2006 was the release date range). And it’s been widely reported that everyone from bloggers to Madonna’s own people at Warner Bros. London had taken to calling her “Oldfrapp” for what they see as her copying of Alison Goldfrapp’s style. Should make for an interesting evening on Sunday, no?

But I'm going to stop wishy-washying around and choose: "Sexy Back" and "Get Together" both mix incredibly well and work well on the dance floor; I love, love, love the other three songs, but I think it comes down to these two. And I'm going to reluctantly go with "Sexy Back." There, I said it.

For dance album, I think Goldfrapp will win, but I'm kind of rooting for The Pet Shop Boys anyway--although, seriously, this album is very much in tune with what they've been doing all along. When did they become a "dance" act? So here's a 2-part question for you: 1) Who do you think should win? 2) Who do you think will win?