Bobmo is a young producer who moved to Paris from Bordeaux a couple of years ago. While in high school, with no musical training, he launched a short-lived rap career, making beats on his Playstation (no, really!), spitting awkward tales of murder and woe. Then he got himself a PC and found a new faith when he discovered legendary labels Dancemania and Trax. Promptly signed by Institubes on the strength of an early demo, he's released three widely-played and playlisted singles--Let's Go Bobmo!, To The Bobmobile and 3000% YES--and toured extensively, from small Australian clubs to Dutch mega raves.
It's always easier when people are living stereotypes, real-life equivalents of bad sitcom characters. Then you can just whip out the descriptors and tell the world how too-cool-for-school they are. The thing with Bobmo is that this doesn't work: he's a complex piece of work, a bunch of riddles wrapped in lots of contradictions. With Falling From The Crescent Moon, Bobmo moves to claim the throne: three new tracks and a bonus suite revisiting of one of the boy's greatest tracks: "Rock The" from 3000% YES.
As ever, Bobmo wears his influences on his sleeve: Detroit techno, Miami bass, electro and, most crucially, Chicago house. The funky "Back From the Grave" and the ravey "Turn On Drop Out" show that old idioms can always produce new and exciting sentences: this is clearly dancefloor-oriented, nineties-influenced house music, populated with gasping and woo-ing vocal bits, stabby synths and the occasional siren.
In keeping with Bobmo's fascination for all things Turkish, "Arabian Delight" is a mid-tempo journey through idyllic, rosewater-flavored mid-eastern lands. FYI, the 1900 book A System of Medicine, edited by R.C. Albutt, describes an event in 1886 when some students at the University of Cambridge obtained an imported "hashish candy" called Turkish Delight, and fell ill after overdosing on it. Just saying.
One day, Bobmo heard the feathery synths of one of his past glories--"Rock The"--and thought "My work isn't done here" (or something to that effect) and went on to fix up the track by enhancing the bold melodic moves of the original.
Ed Banger's Feadz has been one of our heros since his Bpitch Control days. If you've heard his remix work, you know he loves to totally upend the tracks he takes on, and this one is no exception. He summons a weird, flanging-rich digital storm and lots of percussive interference, in a bid to make dancing an uncertain and unsettling affair. Goon & Koyote's remix is way more sedate, linear even, in a good way. It echoes Bobmo's own revisionist take by upping the melodic mood and punching up the snare game.
Available now on Beatport:
And here's an exclusive 38-min mix by Bobmo, featuring music from the new ep and unreleased Bobmo and High Powered Boys tracks...
Nouvelle mixtape STUNTS DJs vol. 3 feat CrAiZ dans les bacs!
Sélectionnée et mixée par Orgasmic & Young Pulse aka Stunts djs.
Inclus freestyles et inédits de CrAiZ, Cuizinier, So Fresh Squad, Joke, Tekitek.
French producer Para One can't seem to stay still. He invented a whole new kind of rap with French hip hop phenomenon TTC, then dreamed up Epiphanie, an insanely complex solo effort which originated the French sound that stormed the world in the last couple of years. Next came the quietly beautiful surprise of Naissance Des Pieuvres, soundtrack to the acclaimed movie Water Lilies.
So it came to pass that, while on a U.S. tour with top allies Surkin, Orgasmic and Curses!, Para One couldn't stop thinking about the classic house, freestyle and electrofunk he heard on the radio--and, crucially, their direct connection to the post-punk pop his older sisters loved when he was a kid. Back in Paris and deeply inspired, he worked fast and furiously, roughing out tracks with synthesizers, drum machines and an army of percussion. As the ideas took shape, he sensed one day they'd be pop songs.
Around this time, a close friend turned Para One on to East Coast house singer San Serac, who made underground waves with his album Professional and his band Stereo Image. He asked Serac to write lyrics for one song, what the fuck right? Well. Two years, seven flights and countless espressos later, the pair had an album. They set a charter of leftfield pop you can dance to and wound up finding unexpected common loves along the way: early Ice Cube, late Japan, Chas Jankel, Drexciya, 52nd Street. Throw it in there was the rule of thumb.
The name "Slice & Soda"--a pizza-related code for the project whose significance only the duo truly understands--stuck. And when the last Prophet V note is played, what we have is a record of many styles tied together by San Serac's voice, oscillating between Byrne and Bowie, more nimble than ever in its shouty falsetto, funk cadences, cryptic poetry and impassionned slogans.
Gasoline Fire's manic disco funk and Year of the Dragon's nimble, addictive bassline are the first sounds to filter out the S&S compound and it's enough to make you feel young again.
Year Of The Dragon & Gasoline Fire will be at first only available on a very limited 12" picture disc next week.
The name Nouveau Yorican conjures up visions of dance music truthful to the patterns and grooves of classic house, but done with the technology and sounds of today, in the same way that the Art Nouveau movement used modern materials to forge classic and natural shapes.
Nouveau Yorican is the brainchild of two major players in today's house scene: the charismatic Gina Turner (also half of powerful DJ duo Staccato) co-produces the sounds and lays down slick vocals while godfather of modern Dutch scene Laidback Luke lends a hand, assuming the role of the quintessential "man in the shadows". For both of them, this is a small step away from their usual territory towards more jacking sounds reminiscent of the best of golden era Chicago House, with a twist of latin-flavored New York stomp and backed by the discreet presence of the almighty Dutch artillery. A modern take on New York's Puerto Rican artistic identity seen through the eyes and ears of an asian Dutch house virtuoso and a half-sicilian/half-latino part-time NYC, part-time LA resident? This is our version of the Puerto Rican house renaissance.
“Boriqua“ ties in to the Sound Pellegrino collection through a common bond to the great tradition of jacking house. "In the Beginning there was Jack, and Jack had a groove", that groove is the common ground for a lot of today's electronic artists no matter what direction they chose to take of whatever micro-genre they claim to represent. Combining synth stabs with elegant retro vibes, “Boriqua“ will please those in search of the most purist Chicago sound while clearly having the sonic firepower and modern crisp production it takes to find its way into every major DJ's playlist. Plus Gina's sensual spanish vocals will have all the fly ladies dig in their closet for that old "butter pecan" Wu Tang tee shirt.
Remixing “Boriqua“ is a challenging exercise, which Sound Pellegrino alumni Douster, Sandro Silva and Harvard Bass all executed brilliantly, each putting forward a different aspect of the track and merging it with their world. Douster manages to keep it sexy and minimal while taking it to the underground caves where the warp zone between Lyon and Buenos Aires is hidden, and where dinosaurs carry guns like in Jurassic Park IV. Sandro Silva unleashes the heavy dutch lazerfest on top of a groovy rickety carnival beat (expect more Sound Pellegrino action from Sandro in the near future). The Harvard Bass version brings back sweaty disco images from our childhood through a symphony of synthetic strings of life, swiftly mutating into a massive electro house banger. A little something for everyone, and lots of Boriqua love.
You might know the man from his frequent Mowgli and Crookers collaborations, his work as a sound engineer for Zombie Disco Squad, Riva Starr and Hanna Holland to name a few, his Deadfish and Dirtybird releases and his countless remixes. The thing that ties it all together is his genuine love for the exploration of sound, production techniques, and his search for the perfect sample. “Minimood” and “Rawmania” where both created by the Master in one night, they should be considered as a cohesive project rather than two unrelated pieces of music, they reveal two faces of the same beast, two emotions from the same heart, two sides of the same coin, two shadows at different hours of the same day, two meatballs from the same dish of rich musical pasta.
Remix-wise, our favourite Bern duo Round Table Knights provided a mini-funky-techy house monster, surpassing all of our expectations. A moving example of tasteful, intricate yet groovy dance music with an infrabass that will tickle your brain as much as it massages your butt. And French upcomers Beataucue delivered this merciless musical rollercoaster ride that has "hit" written all over it in day-glo stickers, making us all feel like we're 500 years old in the process. But it's all good.
Déjà le troisième évènement de notre maison rap au Nouveau Casino. Après deux nuits en formule sound system, nous investissons pour la première fois la salle en première partie de soirée.
Cuizinier, Joke dont le premier street album "Prêt Pour L'Argent" est déjà sold out, Craiz qui vient tout juste d'être mis à l'honneur dans la dernière mixtape Stunts DJs vol. 3 (sortie le 23 novembre) et So Fresh Squad qui préparent un street album et dont la So Net Tape vol 2 est imminente. Les Stunts DJs (Orgasmic & Young Pulse), cerveaux du label, assureront quant à eux le warm up.
The third volume, dedicated to Jacques le Majeur is still available on iTunes here.
Subscriptions are still available and you should get one right now on Rob's brand new page here: www.dodecalogue.com
This will also take you to the freshly inaugurated Dodecablog, home of esoteric visions captured by him and his tour mates.
After three records, we're starting to get a sense of who Das Glow is. Originally a jeweller, Damien Granier turned to music when he discovered the French Touch, Bpitch Control and German minimalism. His introductory salvo, Weiss Gaz, was one of the most unique-sounding electro record to date, and it attracted the most diverse and enlightened following, from Simian Mobile Disco to Boys Noize to Miss Kittin to MSTRKRFT.
After much touring and remixing, Das Glow came back with Sunburnt, a new attempt at building funk machines from tangled drum patterns, dismantled mech parts and faulty systems. When I Want To Wake Up With You appeared on Alan Braxe's famed Vulture imprint, the dance world discovered that in Das Glow's avant-garde chest beat a heart capable of turning a Boris Gardiner sample into a gorgeous homage to the original French Touch, complete with emoting filters.
Then came his remix for American synth-wavers The Faint, which went at the track so hard and mighty that it became an Erol Alkan and Boys Noize staple and launched tons of requests for the "Das Glow sound".
In Das Glow's imminent future lies Phase IV, an amazing new record which will once again redefine what we know about the man. For now, here is Lite Brite Remixes.
What's with the trend of self-revisionism at Institubes these days? Bobmo rewrites his own "Rock The" in his forthcoming EP, and here, right before revealing his new record, Das Glow whips out a new version of "Lite Brite", off his Sunburnt single.
The original was, as I said at the time, sweet, delicate and quirky, the sound of a perfect melodious morning being swallowed by a perfect bass storm and spit out as a perfect evening. "A Lighter Shade of Bright" is the dusky counterpart to this initial ray of light: a slow-moving, arpeggiated meditation, a viscous, mollassed funk piece.
Strip Steve is that French kid signed to Boys Noize Records and it's the third time he's shared a record with Das Glow, after their split Arcade Mode 7" and a Shadow Dancer single. He delivers a cut-up, swaggered-out reinvention of the classic Bangalter sound that manages to sound at once arrogant and laid-back, like some street urchin casually looking for trouble.
French newcomer Qebrvs offers a remix that sounds like a petulant child, jumping from bonus level to hidden lair before morphing into a hyperactive version of Sebastian.
And here's another treat: Das Glow's dj set from last week end in Antwerp, including many rarties and exclusive, among them --who knows?--- maybe of the new tracks from the fearsome Phase IV ep...
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