Sidhwo - Pay For Love

1/3rd of The Swiss = Sidwho

Sid is known in faraway mystical disco lands for his brand of organic house music, check out this jam below, a remix by Cage & Aviary's Jamie Paton

download courtesy of ultimatelegendbros Future Classic

Sidwho? - Pay For Love (Jamie Paton Edit) by future classic

a new mix by DJ SIP CHAMPAGNE

very loosely affiliated with the Really Real movement is "emerging" "industry-based" "deejay" Sip Champagne.

he recently eviscerated this roughly one hour (LP in the old language) mix.

it's interestingly titled You Be You, I Be Me

we asked DJ SIP CHAMPAGNE a few questions to get some insight as to why he chose the tracks he did and where he thinks the future of the industry lies. unfortunately the email landed in his spam folder.

With any luck, he'll post clues as to a tracklist in the comments section

Ambition is fairly important I think. Everyone has ambition to some degree. Imagine if you didn’t.

What was your first job? Hungry Jack’s? If you had no ambition you’d still be really happy delivering Domino’s pizzas and living with your parents at age 35. I don’t know too many people like that. So why is it that a lot of people start a band or start making music or deejaying or whatever, without any real goals in their mind?

When you got your first gig at the Ed Castle hotel, did you ask yourself afterwards “What do I want out of this?” Fair enough to be happy only going that far. You’ve probably got more important things going on, like a real job or a degree to finish. But some people work a dead end job to fund their glamorous lifestyle of playing guitar in a rock n roll band. Do they ever think whether the sacrifices they’re making are gonna pay off? Or is it like retiring from the SANFL due to injury at age 29 and it suddenly dawning on you that you have no real world skills, no money and no prospects. Pretty heavy huh?

About as heavy as being the same age and thinking back to the highlight of your musical career when you got that gig in Melbourne and there was that dude from that record label there who left halfway through the set. I’m just trying to say that if you want to dedicate a large amount of your valuable time to something, you should probably work out what you want to get out of it and realistically assess how you’re going to go about achieving those goals.

There are a lot of people in the world that spent 20 years playing music and don’t really have anything to show for it. And who knows, if you plan for something, you might even be able to make it happen.

good art

If you want to make it as an artist, you need to make good art.
Good means different things to different people. But in general, people know what they like and people don’t often like crap. You should always make sure everything you put your name to is the best possible product you can create. If you’re not able to create great product, you should stop wasting your own and everyone else’s time. There is absolutely no point in making something that is a poor imitation of what everyone else is doing.

Whether you’re a street press publication in an already overpopulated marketplace or you’re a DJ who has decided to start making your own music. If there are plenty of others doing the same thing you are but better, you should find something else. Music is a funny thing; it’s different to other markets. The first rule of marketing is to find out what people want then figure out what the best way of getting that product or service to them is. Not to create a product then try to make people want it. That never works. But with music, people don’t seem to do it that way. Musicians tend to follow their inspirations and peers, try to do a good job of it and then hope people like it. Maybe a smarter way to do it would be to analyse trends in sound and create whatever is popular. That would seem to make more sense, but, you’re probably not going to find too many artists that wouldn’t think that was a pretty effective way of compromising their integrity. Maybe it’s a matter of striking a happy median between the two philosophies.

As long as the art you create is really good, you’ll probably do okay.

The Swiss in the Boiler Room, Adelaide Big Day Out 2010

Whatever the genre/band/venue, there is pretty much always a dick standing up the back left of the stage.

shut up louis

While I was compiling my top ten albums for 2k9 recently (as seen in Onion magazine) I came to a bit of a realization. I’m not into dance music, I’m into pop music. It just so happens that at the moment, pretty much all good pop music is influenced by some sort of dance music. Whether that record be a hip hop record or if it’s just some drum machines and synths buried in the mix. I know it’s just part of the revolving cycle of fashion in pop music’s sound (it was like this not that long ago, until The Strokes sent Daft Punk packing). But, it feels pretty much unstoppable right now, in between Lady Gaga dropping single number 6 of 312 singles off her debut album and not really any guitars in the entire US top 40. Even the Black Eyed Peas sound like Tiga now. It looks as though the only thing that’s gonna get rid of electro anytime soon is disco. But maybe, in the next couple of years a new Strokes will come along and save pop music once again and Electric Circus will be full of kids in leather jackets with long hair and I can start playing Stooges records again.

Louis' top twenty albums for 2k9

Pretty much in no particular order whatsoever (also there are 21)

1. WOOLFY - If Ya Know What’s Good for Ya! (Rong DFA/Stomp)
2. JAY-Z - The Blueprint 3 (Roc Nation)
3. THE JUAN MACLEAN - The Future Will Come (DFA/Inertia)
4. KIM - Selected Jerks (Modular)
5. TIGA - Ciao! (Different/Liberator)
6. SALLY SHAPIRO - My Guilty Pleasure (Permanent Vacation)
7. JOAKIM - Milky Ways (Versatile)
8. THE VERY BEST - Warm Heart of Africa (green owl)
9. THE XX - XX (Young Turks)
10. RIHANNA - Rated R (Def Jam)
11. BOYS NOIZE - Power (Boysnoize)
12. GIRLS - Album (True Panther)
13. YEAH YEAH YEAHS - Its Blitz! (Interscope/Modular)
14. COLD CAVE - Love Comes Close (Heartworm Press)
15. LADY GAGA - The Fame Monster
16. THE GLIMMERS - Disko Drunkards (Glimmertwins.com)
17. DANIEL WANG - The Balihu Years (Rush Hour)
18. PHOENIX - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
19. WHO MADE WHO - The Plot
20. VITALIC - Flashmob (Citizen, Different, PIAS, Liberator)
21. NITE JEWEL - Good Evening (Self Released)

Onion Column

I have broached the subject of “Normies” with friends a few times. Mostly I get this totally blank look. I thought everyone was familiar with the concept of a Normie but I guess not, which is kind of awesome because it’s a really useful term and I’m happy to let you all know about it.

So, a Normie is a term used to describe a certain kind of person, a demographic sub-culture, if you will. It’s short for Normal Person, you know, the people that vote and shop and live in houses and drive cars and have jobs and go to the beach and the pub and have children when they’re a bit older and visit their grandparents and like music but don’t really get it and other stuff like that. They’re different to bogans in that they often live in the Eastern suburbs and they dress in blue jeans that aren’t too tight but aren’t too baggy and they have haircuts and decent shoes and stuff. They can often be identified by the things they love, which include custom numberplates and nights out with the girls. They really love going to uni and getting a degree. While they’re at uni they may spend some time at the Uni Bar having a few beers with their friends. Their friends probably include an Asian one and maybe even a black one, but not more than one.

Normies love going out on a Saturday night and having a few too many drinks, they may even have some drugs if their friends are going to. Normies are great. They make the world go round. I love Normies. I have a few Normie friends. I bet you do too. with their friends. Their friends probably include an Asian one and maybe even a black one, but not more than one. Normies love going out on a Saturday night and having a few too many drinks, they may even have some drugs if their friends are going to. Normies are great. They make the world go round. I love Normies. I have a few Normie friends. I bet you do too.

The Swiss - Movements (Brennan Green edit)

This is NYC DJ Brennan Green's edit of the original Swiss release 'Movements'
A thankyou to all the Swiss fans

The Swiss - Movements (Brennan Green edit)


also, check this video of Connie from Sneaky getting up to do a song she wrote with the guys

REALLY REVEAL Vol. 4: ARITHMATIX!

Join me, known ARITHMATIX! fanboy Roland, as I direct some fairly pedestrian interview questions towards top-shelf individual of anthemic proportions ARITHMATIX! about why he is so great and what he's doing at the moment:

We’ve seen your post-romantic side in Van She, had our 4ams 4am’d by your Van She Tech output and felt the silky feel of your inner dimension with Touch Sensitive, where is Arithmatix going to end up?

Somewhere between 90 and 130bpm, I think it's good to vary in tempo plus it's a challenge to make things swing at slower tempos. Guitar solos are well and good but it's not until you slow things down that you are able to separate the men from the boys, I guess low-med tempo disco.

Should we be expecting an eventual live show?

It's funny "live" these days is not live at all, it's more "real time". I think that a guy triggering scenes in Ableton is boring unless they are dressed in Dior leather suits and robot helmets.

How about an EP?

Yeah I just finished a remix for the Future Classic label and I'm working on stuff in between other stuff…

What gear have you currently got on high rotation in the studio? Is the Memorymoog+ still at the forefront?

I love your attention to detail, there are raging debates on the net as to what's more stable; a + or a standard, but mine has been fine apart from a couple of issues here and there. High rotation: the Dave Smith PEK is always turned on and so is the Studio Electronics Code 8 which is sort of like a CS80, Oberheim, Moog and Arp in one box. I also love my MPC3000LE with the Vailixi OS from Mansell Labs but at the end of the day all this gear means nothing if you don't have an idea but sounds to inspire you to play a certain thing or a certain way so...

Yourself being someone who owns and adores a significant slice of the Prelude catalogue in a world where people come up to the booth and request Bloody Beetroots, is the tightrope between perceived DJ snobbery and your own enjoyment a difficult one to walk?

Haha no not really, whenever that happens I just play a Shazam track. Something becomes pop when it becomes popular.

It’s widely acknowledged that you’re a stylish individual – forever on the front foot but never flash in the pan. With so many looks in such little time, where do you draw your inspiration from?

My uncle Francesco Di Francesco is a tailor and the most stylish man on the planet, he wears white, drives a white car and lives in a white house.

At present, who are you feeling?

Helen Neville on the weekends and anything by Claudio Simonetti.

Do you have any other projects or collaborations planned at the moment or do you have enough on your plate right now with everything you’ve got on your plate at the moment?

Yeah always doing different things otherwise it becomes stale, doing another Van She record between that and whatever other activities occur, the plate is full. Maybe a small plate with a few good things as opposed to a massive bowl of shit is the way to go.

The Swiss at the Enmore

The Swiss absolutely tore it up at the Enmore (supporting Ladyhawke) on Saturday night. I have some pretty rough Blackberry videos but coolhandluque on YouTube seems to have done alright with what I am going to guess was a rectangular silver digital camera. It starts off with the end of the current version of "Manthem" before blooming into the summertime wonder of "Bubble Bath".

Prior to "Bubble Bath", Connie Mitchell joined the boutique disco trio that we all love to love on stage and did a pretty solid job of grabbing the bull by the horns and knocking it out of the park.

Pop Muzik

One of the coolest "dont care" pop songs of all time, put out by M in 1979 has been re-released for its 30th anniversary. There's like 50 billion remixes by heaps of awesome legends like Devo & Cage & Aviary. And this 10 minute mega-jam by Todd Terje.

M - Pop Muzik (Todd Terje remix)

check them all out here

REALLY REVEAL Vol. 3: Spruce Lee aka Toni Toni Lee

In case you're unaware, Australia's most satisfying DJ has just released his debut EP (the first release on the much anticipated Sounds of Goodgod label) and it's pretty incredible. On this audiovisionary outing Spruce Lee has taken a Bobby Digitalian approach to solo output and slid into the persona of Toni Toni Lee - club king, lounge legend and sultry producer (which is, to be honest, not really much of a departure from reality). I can very easily imagine Toni Toni Lee programming drums in an alter ego supergroup also featuring Jamie Starr and Devin Dazzle on keys and filters respectively.

A few days after his mindblinding EP launch party marathon jam set we had some email dialogue regarding drum machines and West German mixing desks with Spruce to get a sniff behind the curtain on the EP and this is it:

Killer EP, thank you. Is it something that you've been letting marinate for a while or quite a recent effort in terms of writing and production?

It's kind of a combination of both, there's some tracks on there that I've had floating around for a couple of months in various forms and a few that are less than two weeks old.

It's pretty all over the place, ranging from G-House to a bundle of other hyphenated genres that I could invent names for - were you aiming for that sort of variation from the beginning or did it just happen?

Well I guess you could say that this EP is sort of summing up what I've been doing in the past with my remixes, DJing and club production and pointing to the new direction I want to head in as "Toni Toni Lee". I had so much different unfinished material to draw on and I guess this was like a "cleaning out the musical closet" in a way so I can move on to something more cohesive. Saying that, I do like that there is a lot of diversity to the record and I think it kind of shows elements of a lot of digging I've been doing into the history of dance music because I missed a lot of it growing up.

Can you give me a bit of a breakdown regarding some of the gear used on the EP? What other gems make the magic happen beyond the LinnDrum?

I don't have a LinnDrum! I wish I did, it's actually a Sequential [Circuits] DrumTraks 1984 machine, which I love. I think it's on most of the tracks on the EP and it has a very early Prince sound to it, particularly the clap. I also use a Roland JX-3P extensively throughout the EP and I think it's the only outboard synth I used. "Overflow" is completely Jx-3P and the drumtracks and maybe a few external drum samples here and there. The JX is a really underrated analog synth. I use an old West German 70s desk which had awesome EQ on it and nice warm pre-amps for tracking. On some tracks I've used an old budget tape delay that runs off 8 track tapes! It makes some pretty cool delays. Everything that wasn't outboard was sampled, recorded, mixed and arranged in Ableton Live.

Is it you playing and sequencing everything on The Intercom or did some friends get involved?

Beyond any samples all the synthersiser and drum machine programming, playing and sequencing is me. I love drum sequencing. The only person who contributed to the EP was Jimmy Sing and he helped with some of the arrangment and acted as "Executive Producer" seeing as Sounds of Goodgod is his label. But i recorded, mixed, arranged, sequenced, programmed and mastered the whole thing.

Are there things that you can't do right now which you really wish you could? (eg: personally I [Roland] would like to be able to write a bassline that doesn't bore people into a black hole of depressive indifference)

Yes! I wish i could play keyboards like a demon and not have to edit my lines!!! I've been listening to a lot of Dam-Funk and older 80s boogie and funk and the keyboard playing on those records is just phenomenal. I'm gonna start taking lessons so I can step my game up.

Is Toni Toni Lee your Long Beach Ziggy Stardust?

Hahaah I guess you could say that. That is a fair assessment.

What's next?

Next is more Toni Toni Lee! Finishing this record has got my debut out of the way and now I can move forward with a more cohesive sound and style. Saying that, I'm also gonna get back in the studio with Catcall to finish some long overdue tracks and also I wanna get some more work happening with Killaqueenz and K1. I really wanna just get some interesting shit happening locally.

tracks

visual "the music got me"
thompson twins "sugar daddy" (shep pettibone's velvet rail dub)
lifelike "the cult"
nicolas makelberge "dying in africa"
andre cymone "livin' in the new wave"

classics

Here are some old songs you should definitely get involved with

Arthur Russell - Get Around To It

CAN - I Want More

Claudja Barry - Love For The Sake Of Love