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.
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:
- No Path To Follow
- We Are The Night
- All Rights Reserved Ft. The Klaxons
- Saturate
- Do It Again Ft. Ali Love
- Das Spiegel
- The Salmon Dance Ft. Fatlip
- Burst Generator
- A Modern Midnight Conversation
- Battle Scars. Ft Willy Mason
- Harpoons
- 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:
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:
