Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (Hercules and Love Affair Remix)

If AC ran the world, all remixes would be by Hercules and Love Affair. See their insanely syncopated afro-futurisms on their remix of Goldfrapp's "A&E", their slick shiny Chicago bonk on their version of "Whispers" by Aeroplane, the list goes on and on. Above all, it's H&LA's ability to thread any song through perfectly tailored first-wave house that's equally mellow and infectious, never overbearing, always addictive, that renders them peerless. Here "Bad Romance" gets toned down, from a cannonball blast of pop to a light Chicago jack, neatly balancing mainstream hooks and underground bump & grind. SO FUCKING GOOD.

The Blank Generation: Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1985

This first-time ever compilation of producer Bob Blank's work from his legendary Blank Tapes studios showcase a wildly diverse sonic menagerie - you got everything from underground disco like "Over Like a Fat Rat" and the Arthur Russell-helmed "Wax the Van" to Sun Ra's cosmic free-jazz to gritty no-wave skronk from Lydia Lunch and James Blood Ulmer. A collab from two venerable institutions, Strut records and DJHistory.com, it's a glorious insight in the fast, cheap and out-of-control realm of underground music in New York City.

for more visit Strut Records, where accounts by Blank of his time behind the board are in abundance. for example, here's Bob talking about recording the disco classic "Go Bang!" with Arthur. It's a fine example of Arthur's application of the Zen precept "First Thought Best Thought" to music composition - they rolled tape as soon as the musicians sat down, although they thought they were merely jamming it out and warming up.

"First Thought Best Thought" underscores a valuable lesson in creativity - that will is the opposite of grace. It's a theme most exemplarily explored by Kleist's brilliant short text, "On the Marionett Theater" which stages a number of scenes that circle around the problem of the first thought. Like, for example, a handsome young man who notices the grace of his accidental pose in the mirror, and then struggles in vain to repeat it. If only Bob had the tape running.

little dragon

little dragon - feather

stone cold dream-pop head-nodder. Like Glass Candy/Nite Jewel, airy and glistening, with bricklaid beats. recalls "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, aka the best song ever recorded. Thanks to Matt at Blackout Bar last night for pointing out the Swedish group Little Dragon to me, as well as their recent release on Peacefrog, "Machine Dreams." Consider "Feather" on deep repeat at A/C/K/C/L.

Greenpoint newcomer Blackout Bar has already racked up visits by a number of salted local DJs, including James Murphy and Marcos Cabral from Runaway, not to mention an enlightening set last night from Future Hunter, which yielded this delight, a sort of half-speed glistening Blondie jewel. Blackout Bar is bedecked in the old-tymey dark-wood German/Dutch gemuetlichkeit style, popular these days as a respite from the suffocating posh of modern chic. On tap are multiple Koelsch beers, including the storied Gaffel, whose crisp, near-appley flavor is well-suited for a mid-fall friday.

wolf + lamb

Wolf + Lamb are a Brooklyn-based musical duo and label. They especialize in moody, sexy, low-bpm house, like slinky, candelit-cocktail booty-movers. This isn't easy to do because if you set your sonic sights on such a target you can go south into euro-lounge hell real damn quick. Seth Troxler is a musician. Sometimes he has songs on Wolf + Lamb. His 2008 jam "Love Never Sleeps" had a no-contest top 5 slot for me from last year. Troxler's all Wolf + Lamb podcast is extremely good: like whoa. My only compliant is that some of the tracks contained therein are unreleased: WTF. The Wolf + Lamb team also took a totally run-down space near the BQE and turned into their own private musical party universe experience place called the marcy hotel. The website makes it look like it's an actual hotel but I suspect this is not true. Anyway there's a party there late sunday feb 15th.

http://www.ibiza-voice.com/music/podcast/Seth_Troxler

http://www.wolflambmusic.com/

Oh and PS W+L likes to perform at burning man, for which they have their own futuristic buckminister fuller-style polygonal tent constructed. I'm disappointed they don't sell scaled-down versions at their online store.

Quiet Village Disco Mix

Andrew L. sent me this, knowing I'm sure that me and my AC are long-riders for Quiet Village: Joel Martin turns in a serious disco voyage for Fact Magazine to accompany his highly informative article on the 20 best disco records. Including Cat Stevens' Was Dog a Donut? which is pretty much unbeatable in terms of weirdo disco classics. 

Joel Martin's Disco Mix for Fact Magazine
Martin's list of the 20 best disco records

A Compulsion to Repeat / Marcel Dettman, Berghain 02

Berghain by day

Marcel Dettman - Berghain 02

A fan of techno can, in certain situations, become an occultist without any easy frame of reference for those in his company. Any doctor, however, who would grant me even the most cursory of examinations would be hard-pressed to miss a fairly simple biological explanation for why I personally keep company with techno, with repetitive music in general, with things of great duration and minimal variance. 

My own mind has at times a marked scattershot rhythm, which like any other mental condition is something one must learn to accommodate and to utilize, to put to work according to its strengths and its limitations. This is why, for example, certain substances or activities that put others to sleep tend to sharpen otherwise occasionally diffuse mental activity in my head, leaving me unable to shut down, leaving me restless in the dawn, while my evening's friends lay silent all around.

And this is why, I'd say, I find myself so often turning to repetition in art, in pictures and in words and in sounds - suddenly a space is opened where a single phenomenon commands terrific attention to the minor subtleties of its unfolding. of its modalities. Like holding a precious stone to the light and turning it slowly. 

In life, a predilection for tangents, for horizontal connections, for the subterranean resonance between disciplines. In art, the depth plunge, dragged by the sudden gravity of one event, hardened as if into a dense stellar body, a steel-grey neutron star. A weight and counterweight, a balance. 

But of course this is only one example of how art and life respond to one another, one exchange in their infinite conversation. 

Regard for art must consider biology, aesthetic criticism must become medicinal. This is not to limit the discussion to art therapy, but to expand the force of those two terms, until therapy loses its self-help connotations, until it expands to become a material science, concerned with the regulation and evaluation of humors, of speeds and intensities.

- - - - - - - -

Marcel Dettman is a resident at Berlin's Berghain club, recently voted the best overall techno club by readers of Resident Advisor. A hoary, hulking form in the urban desert of East Berlin, walking distance from what remains of the Wall. His new mix, out on Berghain's own Ostgut label, is a testament to minimal techno, trying to balance landmark tracks with contemporary developments. There are some at times off balance transitions that result from this, but the track selection is amazing, and shows all the exciting potentials and rich contours of a genre which most Americans still associate with wearing neon synthetic pants in high school. Ride for it. 

Mix: Rooftop Special

Weekend Prince - Rooftop Special

1. Peaches and Prunes - Nightlife Unlimited (Ron Hardy edit)
2. Faze Action - Hypnotic
3. Photonz - Trembler (Discodeine mix)
4. Cappucino - Hell Dance With Me
5. Frankie Valli - Beggin' (Pilooksi edit)
6. La La La - Segun Bucknor & His Revolution
7. Paul Kalkbrenner - Bingo Bongo
8. Jessie Rose - Evening Standard
9. Gotye - Heart's a Mess (Supermayer Remix)
10. Goldfrapp - Train (Ewan Pearson Mix)

A commemorative mix.
A belated thanks to those in attendance last weekend, who helped us enjoy amazing food and discover beats. Gratitude to James a gracious host, and Wade, whose athletic, adventurous cooking efforts made the day such a success.

Special commendations:
Jesse: Medal of Bronor
Jonathan: MVB

Bonus tip: This mix opens with a disco burner, Peaches and Prunes, edited by Ron Hardy, one of the grand wizards of early Chicago house. You can listen to a bunch of his mixes from the early 80s here:

http://www.deephousepage.com/

thanks to Markverydisco @ Devils Discoid for hooking a brotha up with P&P

http://devilsdiscoid.blogspot.com/