Earplug


	News Reviews Events Listen Feature Charts Credits		June 5 - 18 Earplug is a twice-monthly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features to the international electronic-music community. Like "baile funk," the house-music subgenre known as "Baltimore club" has racked up plenty of MySpace mentions, thanks largely to proselytizing on behalf of M.I.A and Diplo. (Blaqstarr, one of the scene's heroes, shares production credits on the former's Kala.) Of course, it's hard to find much writing on the genre that's not just namedropping. That's why we're thrilled to have Baltimore City Paper music editor Michael Byrne sit down with Baltimore club veterans Scottie B and Shawn Caesar, whose Unruly label helped define the city's sound. This issue also goes in-depth with reviews of Detroit's Movement festival and Hercules and Love Affair's recent live debut at Brooklyn's Studio B. Our album reviews, meanwhile, cover techno, hip-hop, and pop from Ellen Allien, Steinski, Midnight Juggernauts, the Notwist, and Adam Beyer. Our Listen section wraps up live sets and DJ mixes from Lindstrøm, the Herbaliser, and more. Round it out with the usual news, links, and an expanded DJ chart from Portland, Oregon's Linger & Quiet, and you've got plenty to chew on.



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Jorge González Presents Los Updates
Los Prisioneros frontman goes minimal with Luciano, Villalobos

Every few years, Chilean iconoclast Jorge González takes an unexpected turn. In the late '80s, his period-defining, Pinochet-baiting band Los Prisioneros split at the peak of their popularity, leaving González to pursue a series of densely arranged solo albums unsuited to his former band's histrionics. In the wake of an improbable Los Prisioneros reunion in 2001, González has again embarked on a new mission. Now part of Los Updates, a Mexico City-based collaboration with Loreto Otero, he's fusing refined songcraft with minimal house. "Most of my old DJ friends do this sort of thing," González told Earplug, "so I assumed I would at least be in good company."

One such friend is Chilean DJ/producer and Cadenza Records founder Luciano. "My friendship with Luciano dates back to 1997," said González, "when some talented characters decided to move from different places to an old battered house in Santiago." Several of these "characters" — including Atom Heart, Tobias Freund, Dandy Jack, and Ricardo Villalobos — collaborate with Los Updates on First If You Please, a series of 12-inch singles debuting this month on Cadenza. Due out on CD this autumn, Los Updates' debut full-length will expand on the songs being released (and remixed) on vinyl. - Andrew Stout

Coldcut Switch Things Up
Dave Taylor to produce duo's next album

"Just when people declare dance music dead, we thought it would be fun to funk them up," says Matt Black, half of the pioneering sampledelic duo Coldcut. As such, the legendary sample-based mayhem makers recently announced that their next album — the first since 2006's Sound Mirrors — will be produced by Dave Taylor (aka Switch). A frequent guest at London's Fabric club, Switch has recently twiddled knobs for M.I.A., Tricky, and Santogold — imparting each with what many are calling his "fidget-house" aesthetic. "Having been playing out Dave's tunes for a while," Black told Earplug, "we know [he] gets a heavy sound that melds well with the Coldcut kitchen-sink style."

The first single from the as-yet untitled album is tentatively set for an autumn release. In the meantime, we can place bets on which Switch super-production will first see the light of day: the new Coldcut album or his hotly anticipated double-disc collaboration with Diplo. In either case, expectations are high. "A bit patchy?" Black asked, in a nod to Switch's signature track. "Not at all." - Andrew Stout


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Artist:

Ellen Allien

Title:

SOOL

Label:

BPitch Control

Release:

May 25

Breezy and incessant, "Einsteigen" kicks off Ellen Allien's latest full-length with impatient beeps and the sound of commuters jostling inside Berlin's Alexanderplatz station. It's an appropriate intro, one that marks SOOL as the work of an artist in transit. While Allien's recent Boogy Bytes mix was subdued, bubbling, and spectral — many shades removed from Berlinette's techno-pop — SOOL often sounds like a phantasmal vision of minimal dance. Airy brushstrokes and pneumatic beats are in danger of fading away; on songs like "Out," a solitary beat is augmented with pops, percussive strikes, and spare vocal flourishes. Going this minimal often makes a record fall flat, but, as the reams of metallic scrapes and the melancholy woodwind melody of "Zauber" indicate, Allien and co-producer AGF have lovingly sculpted what remains, creating a record with surprising space, texture, and color. It's not always the most engaging journey, but the destination remains intriguing enough. - Pat Sisson

Artist:

Steinski

Title:

What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective

Label:

Illegal Art

Release:

May 27

Tight mixes, pithy dialogue, and rapid-fire vocal samples are apropos for his day-job as an ad man, but it's Steve Stein's delivery and sense of humor that have made him a crate-digging icon. Better known as Steinski, the DJ/producer launched his landmark "Lessons" mixes with Douglas "Double Dee" DiFranco in the early '80s. Challenging copyright and mocking pop culture, What Does It All Mean? collects his many sampling milestones alongside an animated Solid Steel mix and two decades' worth of solo work. "It's Up to You (Television Mix)" — a loony and literal drumbeat to war featuring the first President Bush's platitudes alongside media criticism and Mario Savio's revolutionary bile — remains relevant and hilarious. Meanwhile, his Kennedy-assassination collage "The Motorcade Sped On" and somber 9/11 record "Number Three on Flight Eleven" show the Lessig-loving blogger is still in control of the podium. - Pat Sisson

Artist:

Midnight Juggernauts

Title:

Dystopia

Label:

Astralwerks

Release:

May 6

Saying it's not Vincent Juggernaut's fault that he sounds a lot like David is sort of like saying it's not his fault his name is Vincent Juggernaut. (He certainly wasn't born with it.) On the Melbourne-based trio's Dystopia, Vincent's sonorous croon hovers inside an over-amped, post-Daft Punk onslaught with blindsiding synth arpeggios, big ol' four-on-the-floor beats, garishly filtered backing vocals, lead keyboard doodles, and gated '80s snares. The group hits a solid double with "Road to Recovery," lining up its entire arsenal and picking it clean for six-and-a-half minutes, and, as mimicry goes, it isn't terrible. But with so much actual Bowie and Daft Punk (not to mention Justice, LCD Soundsystem, and so on) available, it's hard to imagine an immediate need for more. - Michaelangelo Matos

Artist:

The Notwist

Title:

The Devil, You + Me

Label:

Domino

Release:

June 17

If German outfit the Notwist's follow-up to 2002's gray-day, electro-pop opus Neon Golden is at all disappointing, it's because expectations are nearly insurmountable. No, The Devil, You + Me doesn't top its predecessor, but it does make a commendable effort. While the sharp bursts of sad melody are more submerged here — owing largely to a shift from keys and plucked strings to acoustic guitars — the group's other tricks are much the same: sharp IDM percussion, electronica-corrupted folk, and the calm, near-therapeutic vocals of Markus Acher. The ensemble has also expanded to include Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, rubbing away the sharp lines for a lusher, and certainly less electronic, sound than anything on Neon Golden. The moods are harder to find, but maybe no less rewarding in the end; Acher's no longer asking forthright if we've "ever been all messed up" — six years later, it's assumed. - Michael Byrne

Artist:

Adam Beyer

Title:

Fuse presents Adam Beyer

Label:

Music Man

Release:

May 19

Between the return of deep house, the rise of hip-hop-flavored electro, and the increasing ubiquity of minimal, it seems techno proper has begun to fall out of favor. Accordingly, Sweden's Adam Beyer leaves his heavier tendencies behind on this mix for Belgium's Fuse club. That's not to say the 22-track set isn't a high-intensity affair; surveying material from producers as diverse as Joel Mull, Jackmate, Schneider & Galluzzi, and Mathew Jonson, Beyer folds tightly syncopated grooves into origami-like shapes, his overlapping percussive riffs suggesting an army of angular figures marching in lockstep. While the lack of melody may baffle listeners unaccustomed to such stripped-down fare, the emphasis on bright, glassy tones and textures — not to mention the rip-snorting tempo and the interplay between white-knuckled hairpins and fluid cruising passages — makes for an invigorating, occasionally hair-raising experience. - Philip Sherburne


	EARPLUG FAVES Various 5 Golden Years in the Wilderness Buzzin' Fly 2562 Aerial Tectonic Martyn "Natural Selection" 3024 Daedelus Love to Make Music To Ninja Tune Truckasauras Tea Parties, Guns and Valor Fourthcity Various Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump Strut Alter Ego What's Next?! Klang Icy Demons Miami Ice Obey Your Brain Toby Tobias "The Feeling (John Daly Remix)" REKIDS Photonz "Trembler" Dirty

REVIEW: Hercules and Love Affair
May 17
Brooklyn, NY
www.clubstudiob.com/

Hercules may be the love affair, but Antony is the man on everyone's mind. Will he or won't he? As bodies pack into a sold-out Studio B, the room is abuzz at the prospect of an unannounced appearance. It sort of makes sense: the Antony and the Johnsons frontman added a bit of semi-star power to disco dilettantes Hercules and Love Affair's recent self-titled debut, tempering five of the group's funked-up dance tunes with the fuzzy warble of an androgynous underworld. But he was quick to pull out of the picture — disappearing into shadow like the starch-white specter he so clearly embodies. So what's the big deal? Sure, Antony made a pretty kickass collaborator, but the band itself remains centered around twentysomething mastermind Andy Butler.

Hitting the stage without his marble-faced muse, Butler seems well aware of the overarching sense of anticipation. While Hercules and Love Affair's wax slab is quickly becoming a club mainstay, this is the first time the band has sauntered onto a real, live dance floor. As such, Butler is understandably anxious, peeking from behind a slate of keys and audio equipment.

Nomi is less fazed. The gender-bending singer, a transsexual temptress with curves to spare (really, she's the envy of every woman in the room), struts onto the stage in a black mini-skirt. Backed by a live rhythm section, two sets of keys, and a pair of blazing horns, Nomi and co-singer Kim Ann raise their arms, drop the cue, and the disco machine lurches into action. With the exception of Nomi (who switches mid-set into a tasseled, flamenco-pink ensemble), the band members are decked in matching Hercules tees — black cotton emblazoned with white Roman-figure outlines. The stage, meanwhile, is framed on each side by a pair of speaker-perched dancers. As the band blazes through set-opener "True False/Fake Real," the dancers' ghost-white outfits shake with a smooth, calculated motion of vogue dancing — rigid affectation reincarnated as art.

keep reading »

REVIEW: Movement
May 24-26
Detroit, MI
www.myspace.com/detroitmusicfest

In its ninth year, Detroit's three-day Movement festival has grown bigger than the city itself. Much to purists' chagrin, this year's bill included populist dance acts like Moby, Girl Talk, and Benny Benassi, but the 100-plus-acts (not to mention the equal number appearing at afterparties) still encompassed nearly every iteration of dance music. And damn near everywhere you turned, there was something worth hearing. Standout sets included Bruno Pronsato and Perlon's Sammy Dee's funky minimal duo Half Hawaii, Dan Bell's resurrected live set as DBX, Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts going gospel, and Cobblestone Jazz.

For many, of course, the set of the weekend was Sunday night's big finale: Carl Craig at Hart Plaza's main-stage amphitheatre. Joined by pianists Kelvin Sholar and Niko Marks, as well as Wendell Harrison on saxophone and clarinet, Craig delivered a series of extended improvised vamps on tracks like "At Les" and classics like "Throw." Those familiar with Craig's live performances leading up to the festival know that he's had other players sit in, including "Mad" Mike Banks of Underground Resistance, and has played a wide array of covers of techno standards. The form — live improvisation of well-known arrangements that stretches tracks beyond their original length — shows promise as a new approach to live sets. After a weekend in which very few performers seemed to have brought vinyl, Craig and company's take on "live" was much more refreshing than the loopy, often-boring efforts of others.

keep reading »


	MORE EVENTS Venn 08 June 5-8 Leeds, UK Bonnaroo June 12-15 Manchester, TN Meltdown June 12-24 London, UK Celebrate Brooklyn! Summer Series June 12 - August 9 Brooklyn, NY Synch June 13-15 Athens, Greece Central Park SummerStage June 13 - August 17 New York, NY Sunday Adventure Club June 15 Berlin, Germany We Love Space Opening Party June 15 Ibiza, Spain Sónar June 19-21 Barcelona, Spain After the Jump Fest June 21 Brooklyn, NY Les Siestes Electroniques June 25-29 Toulouse, France Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival July 3-5 Sete, France Pitchfork Festival July 18-20 Chicago, IL

Lindstrøm: Live (stream)
A very lucky few caught Lindstrøm live at last month's Samurai.fm five-year anniversary party. To satiate those who didn't, here's a rare live set from the Norwegian disco king himself. It was recorded a few years back, but it's still as fresh as it gets.

LISTEN

The Herbaliser: Flavour Mix (stream)
Coinciding with the recent release of their new album, Same as It Never Was on !K7, the Herbaliser put together a celebratory mix including Gang Starr, Eric B. & Rakim, Quantic, Erykah Badu, and plenty of their own material.

LISTEN

Norman Nodge: mnml ssgs mx02 (MP3)
Berghain resident Norman Nodge turns in an absolutely storming session for the mnml ssgs blog's new mix series, counterposing current highlights (Marcel Fengler, the Mole) with classics from Ron Trent, Baby Ford, and Jeff Mills.

LISTEN

Geko Jones, Live on WFMU (MP3)
Brooklyn's Geko Jones schools us on a style he calls "New York Tropical" with this powerful fusion of cumbia, electro, dancehall, and kuduro. All popping and no posing, this is how all new genres should announce themselves.

LISTEN

Johnny D: GTC25 (MP3)
Mannheim, Germany's Johnny D, of the hotly tipped German label Oslo, burns down the house with this rippling, percussive live set for Paris' tres chic blog Get the Curse. Internationalism was never so footloose.

LISTEN

Looking for more hot mix sets and fresh new tracks? Check out Blentwell for an ongoing document of the evolution of blended music online.


	WATCH Time Lapse Plantlife, "Time Traveller" watch » Blind at Studio B Hercules and Love Affair, "Blind" watch » Reich and Role Steve Reich charts with Thurston Moore watch » Desert Dance Excepter, "Any and Every" watch » Justice League Wale, "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. (Justice Remix)" watch » Bare and Beautiful Sigur Rós, "Gobbledigook" watch »

The New Old Baltimore Club Sound
Scottie B and Shawn Caesar help a homegrown style break out

From Berlin and Finland to Philadelphia and New York, from Jason Forrest to Diplo to Baltimore native Blaqstarr, the distinctive breakbeats and raw mashes of a style called simply "club" are finding their way onto the most unlikely dance floors. While it's news to the rest of the world, the style has actually been packing venues in Baltimore since the early '90s. It was back then that hip-hop and house music found themselves wed on the decks of two of club's earliest originators, Scottie B and Shawn Caesar. The pair are now partners in B-more's Unruly Records and collaborators in house/club hybrid project Chavy Boys of London. Earplug's Michael Byrne sat down with them in their South Baltimore offices to talk about the spread of club music, keeping it underground, and Philly's sister scene.

Earplug: Club is moving, growing, and changing a lot right now. Where do you all think it is at this moment?

Shawn Caesar: There's two parts to the sound now. There's the raw Baltimore sound, and then there's the part that kind of gets touched by the world — a little electro, a little house.

Scottie B: I think there's even a third part: the mash-up. The Baltimore stuff is a DJ sound anyway, but this part is like a DJ, make-it-for-tonight, mash-up, remix play. The Baltimore sound is really the root for the dance mash-up. The second part of club, the worldwide spread, does its best to keep it not commercial and not mainstream. They include their own stuff with it, and I can appreciate that a lot.

keep reading »


	MORE FEATURES The Sound of Skint Denied commercial success, grime retools more » In Control Daniel Bell reports from the 7th City more » White Lines Raster-Noton redefines glitch more » Crate Balls of Fire James Pants details his surefire jams more » Tropical Trance Ghetto Palms explores Côte d'Ivoire's Coupe Decale more » Minimal Pinup FoeWeel cozies up to Heartthrob more » Why Not? Why? open up their sound more » Mucho MUTEK Michael Byrne blogs the fest more »

Each issue, Earplug sneaks a peek inside the crates of our favorite DJs. We'll even help you beef up your own bag: click on selected titles to preview tracks, download MP3s, or purchase vinyl.

Linger & Quiet
(Nightclubbing)
Portland, OR
www.myspace.com/nightclubbingparty

Portland, Oregon, isn't exactly a hotbed of electronic-music activity, but that hasn't stopped Linger & Quiet (aka Genevieve Dellinger and Matt Kwiatkowski). The duo has built a steady platform for everything from disco and ambient to house and techno, drawing in the Pacific Northwest's curious indie rockers and veteran ravers alike. In just 11 months, Linger & Quiet have presented DJ sets and live performances from the likes of Italians Do It Better's Mike Simonetti, Glass Candy, Chromatics, Beats in Space's Tim Sweeney, Midnight Juggernauts, Hercules and Love Affair, White Williams, HEALTH, Simian Mobile Disco, and Earplug's own erstwhile Portlander, Philip Sherburne. On Friday, June 6, Tim Sweeney returns as part of the Holocene club's five-year anniversary. Brooklyn heroes Chromatics, meanwhile, hold court in honor of Nightclubbing's one-year anniversary in July.

Mark E, "Slave 1" (Running Back)

Tobias, "I Can't Fight the Feeling" (Wagon Repair)

Mike Dunn, "Phreaky MF" (Robsoul)

Runaway, "Brooklyn Club Jam" (Rekids/DFA)

Foremost Poets, "Moonraker" (NRK)

Woolfy, "Pain Killer" (Mindless Boogie)

Chaz Jankel feat. Laura Weymouth, "Whisper" (A&M/Strut)

Funky Nassau — The Compass Point Story

Minilogue & KAB, "That's a Nice Way to Give Me Feedback (Wighnomy Brothers Quintenzirkel Remikks)" (Audiobahn)

Nicolas Jarr, "House Party 2 Promo" (Wolf + Lamb)

Osborne, "16th Stage" (Spectral)

Managing Editor
Philip Sherburne

Deputy Editor
Andrew Phillips

Contributing Editors
Doug Levy

Cover Art
PCP

Production
Axel Anderson
Morgan Croney
Sarah Steele
Daphne Yang

Founder
David J. Prince

Contributors
Todd L. Burns
Michael Byrne
David M. Cotner
Andy Cumming
Jonathon Dale
Rachel B. Doyle
Jorge Hernandez
Marc Gilman
Aaron Leitko
Martin Longley
Steve Marchese
Michaelangelo Matos
Colin James Nagy
Nick Parish
Tomas A. Palermo
William Rauscher
Bernardo Rondeau
Christian Rose-Day
Joe Rudkin
Jesse Serwer
Patrick C. Sisson
Oliver Spall
Andrew Stout
Bruce Tantum
Neal Ungerleider
Toby Warner

	About Us
	Earplug is an email magazine dedicated to electronic music and its many dynamic styles and influences. Published twice-monthly, it features a handpicked selection of music news, cultural spotlights, tip sheets, CD reviews, original reporting, and music festival previews and reviews. Earplug offers only pure editorial and unbiased news — no money is accepted from any artists, labels, promoters, or companies seeking mention.

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	Tell us what you think is exciting and worth including in Earplug by dropping us an email at tips. Writers interested in getting even more involved should reach us at contribute. To criticize, praise, or generally comment on this publication, please send an email to feedback. In addition to this twice-monthly digest of new electronic music, Flavorpill publishes a series of online magazines, covering ART, BOOKS, NEWS, and cultural events in six cities — NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, SAN FRANCISCO, CHICAGO, MIAMI, and LONDON. Coming soon: STYLE/DESIGN and FILM. Subscribe now.

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