After making a name for himself on the indie dance scene thanks to a raucous debut, Spiderman of the Rings, and even wilder live shows, Baltimore’s Dan Deacon heads down a new path with his latest album, Bromst, due in March. In this exclusive story, Deacon talks about his new sound and determination not to rest on his laurels. Stay tuned for more info on BS26 which will be out in a hot minute.
Big Shot Magazine
Tribute Record Planned for D’n’B Producer
Months after the tragic and untimely death of New Zealand based drum ‘n’ bass producer Jonathan Beck, who was one half of CERN, Cyanide Recordings, with the help and dedication of Phace, Misanthrop, Bulletproof, Teknik, and most importantly, Jonny’s closest friend and production partner, Ollie Cern, will pay tribute to their fallen friend with a special memorial record. Proceeds from the memorial single will go to Beck’s mother and brother.
Vulcanic would have been a dream come true for Jonny. Started in NZ in December 2007 by Phace Misanthrop Bulletproof and both Jonny and Ollie Cern, and completed by Florian Phace after hearing news of Jonny’s tragic passing in July 2008, the creation Vulcanic and chance to work with two of his greatest influences was one of the highlights of Jonny’s career.
After Jonny’s passing, three of his closest friends came together in remembrance to honour, to mourn and to heal. Scatter the Ashes is Bulletproof, Teknik and Ollie Cerns expression of sadness and loss during a time when things were still so raw and painful.
Both tracks are a true testament to not only the influence and inspiration and happiness an encounter with Jonny Cern would leave you feeling, but also, we hope, a true testament to the love and admiration we had for our dear brother and friend.
Clone Records Calls It A Day
Dutch imprint Clone Records has announced that it is closing. The label released high quality, underground electronic music that didn’t follow fads or trends. But let’s have them explain their decision to quit the record biz via their press release:
After running the label since 1993/ 94 we recently noticed that we were going to repeat ourselves. We started as a label influenced by the first wave of techno and house labels who were just releasing music for the sake of good and personal music (we cloned what they did… by just having fun and release music which we enjoyed ourselves).
We have started very immature and without having an idea in mind that we we’re going to make this a business…At that moment we were exploring the field of minimalish techno and acid. Then our attention slowly moved to electro, post Detroit techno and the new sonic territories with modern electronica. We’ve had the return of disco in the late 90’s and the nu-disco thing and a fusion of styles in the early ’00. Simultaneously we’ve released dark electro techno, campy nu-disco ,advanced modern electronica and personal favorites in the rebound.
Artists developed into different directions and there is not much we haven’t touched in our field… from very ‘obscure’ records to ‘underground’ dance floor hits that got big festival crowds and balearic holiday ravers moving.
So what is there left to do? Basically there is no challenge at this moment… we can continue releasing everything we like (from people we like) without a marketing strategy and without a potential buyers in mind as we used to do… but we already did so for many years.
At this moment we don’t understand the popularity of many artists and releases….or… actually we do!. We do, to a certain level, because we’ve tried many things when we just started our journey into music when we were teenagers and when we started the label +/- 15 years ago! By now we do understand the tricks and formulas of dance music and the different users. However using these tricks and formulas just to ensure maximum effect would be betrayal to our own musical ethics because our goal with Clone records is to entertain ourself with the music we release (and to be clear… with the music…and not the side effects). Somehow we feel we’ve had an almost complete life cycle of personal evolution in dance music and thats also how we developed the label into a versatile label which is releasing different styles of dance music for different purposes. Its a difficult decision because the label is doing very well and we get warm reactions from the strangest places in this world and we could do this for another 10 years!
But in order to remain passioned about what we do, we feel we should not continue the label as it is.. so we won’t.but no worries.. there will be new things coming, but its just not exactly clear what, how (and when). More news on that in a few weeks time!
There will be to two remaining releases (scheduled for Februari.)
C#55 – I-f ft Fred Ventura/ Ajello – I cut my heart out (Craig Richards edit)/ I’m ready
C#56 – Marco Bernardi – Mystery Of Nazerus (plus a limited Marcus Bernardi rmx 12″)
then it will be quiet on the label…oh… and Clone Clasic Cuts still has some releases lined up (incl a Unit Moebius CD release), so for now we don’t know what will happen with that.. but most likely we will continue with the Classic Cuts Series.
ps. no worries about the rest of our activities!! the store, the distribution, publishing and digital distribution are continuing as they are!
A moment of silence, please.
Animal Collective / Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
When critics are clamoring to dub an album released in January the best of the year, they are either completely caught up in the hype machine or they have a legitimately incredible record on their hands. In Animal Collective’s case, the latter holds true. Merriweather Post Pavilion is the group’s ninth full-length release, and it finds them taking a full stride forward with their sound. Panda Bear is back at the helm this time out (replacing Avey Tare, who was the primary force behind the Collective’s lackluster 2007 effort, Strawberry Jam) bringing his newly discovered passion for electronic dance music into the mix, and the results blow away pretty much everything else the band has done to date. The rough-hewn ambiance of their earlier work has been all but abolished, while the raucous drum circle routines of more recent releases have been reined in to create a lush and hypnotic listening experience that is alternately propulsive and meditative, flitting between droney balladry and mantra-esque pop constructions. If there was ever any doubt that Animal Collective are a Beach Boys for the new generation, Merriweather Post Pavilion should silence the last of the naysayers, while landing the group quite a few best of ’09 nods come December.
Carl Ritger
File Under: Caribou, Beach Boys, Gang Gang Dance