I am a huge Holy Ghost! fan. I mean it – huge. In fact, I have to DJ across town at Crescendo on the night that they’re playing but will be driving my butt over after my set is over! Holy Ghost! is coming to Chicago next Wednesday, on 2/10 to play at Smartbar for The Chicago Workgroup’s monthly night “All Systems Go!” (there’s a lot of exclamation points involved with this particular night).

If you’re not familiar with Holy Ghost!, they are pair of talented Brooklyn-ites who make brilliant disco music fine tuned for today’s dance floors. The two have scored accolades for the indie-disco anthem “Hold On” as well as remixed for Cut Copy, MGMT, Phoenix and Curses! Big thanks to The Chicago Workgroup for putting this together – Holy Ghost! Chicago appearances are far and few between.

Red Bull Music Academy Radio will be in the building recording the entire event live and the the musical content will be available after the show for interested bloggers and media types to rehost via their websites.

CONTEST CLOSED! Yet again, you guys are wicked fast. Congrats to Carlin for winning the tickets! The answers to the questions below are 1) Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and 2) Van She. You all rock :-)

Holy Ghost! recently did a remix of a cover of a song from the 70s. Got that? A clip is below…tell me 1) what the original song is and 2) who did the cover that Holy Ghost! remixed. The first person to email the correct answers to dani@danideahl.com will get the pair of tickets!

The write up below will explain everything – thought I’d share it with you guys first ;-)

-Dani

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On January 28th, hip hop artist Kanye West’s blog posted an unreleased Daft Punk song called “The Crash” and offered it to fans for free download on kanyeuniversecity.com. In actuality, the song was not authored or performed by Daft Punk, but by Calamity Jane Recordings artist Pilotpriest, and its not called “the Crash,” its called “Body Double.”

The song can be found on Pilotpriest’s Myspace page, and is the first song on the player. When Pilotpriest heard about Kanye’s post, he commented, “Really, really flattered, but this is just a Myspace rip or Sendspace hack of my track.” Likewise, Dani Deahl, co-owner of Calamity Jane Recordings says, “We love the comparison of our artist’s production to Daft Punk, but the claim simply isn’t true. The song was composed by, and belongs to Pilotpriest”.

The post by Kanye spurred rumors that Daft Punk produced the song for their upcoming project – scoring the remake of Tron. Several commenters on the blog assert it as fact and videos have appeared on youtube.com with combined hits of nearly 30,000 in three days. In the wake of the song’s popularity, Calamity Jane Recordings is rushing release of “Body Double” on iTunes.

Calamity Jane Recordings discovered Toronto-based Pilotpriest in 2007 through his bootleg of Run DMC’s “My Adidas”. Since then, Calamity Jane Recordings has worked with Pilotpriest supporting him in developing a sound that straddles the spectrum between the dance floor and more musical productions. The result has been a string of acclaimed remixes, including re-released Pilotpriest vs. Run DMC: “My Adidas”, a remix for American Idol’s Blake Lewis, and debut single “Zipper”.

Links:
Kanye West Blog Post:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=244159_-1__0_~0_-1_1_2010_0_0&em3298=&em3282=&em3281=&em3161=

Pilotpriest Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/pilotpriest

Calamity Jane Recordings:
http://www.myspace.com/calamityjanerecordings

Youtube “Tron” Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsex5IKU5LM

Hello, lovely readers! Some delicious tracks for you in time for Saturday night. I don’t know about you all, but I’m definitely going out tonight. I’ve had some…unusual…nights out in the past week or two and I feel like I need something to counteract it all. Case in point, I had one night where a hired escort BIT the guy she was with, causing the cops to come in and carry her out, and another night where I inadvertently went to a club that was, yes, a Jersey Shore party. I walked in only to hear over the system, “Hey Chicago this is JWoww from the Jersey Shore! Who’s ready to parrrrrty!” Totally surreal. Wish me luck tonight…who knows what might happen. On a side note, if you haven’t submitted a question yet for the video round table, please do so! And watch this weekend for a contest to win tickets to see Holy Ghost in Chicago on 2/10!

This remix of MSTRKRFT’s “Breakaway” by Blende is holy terror in the best way possible. The looped intro is worth actually including in a set with angry synths that build up in the first minute only to open up after a little over a minute. Here’s a rare instance where I actually think the vocal as it sits detracts from the track. Would have liked to hear more distortion on it, but that’s just my opinion. Overall, this track is not for the faint of heart and Blende does a fantastic job of making a simplistic melodic hook interesting for the duration of the remix.

MSTRKRFT: Breakaway (Blende Remix)
Download

Diplo and Sinden are all over group So Shifty and one listen to the remix below should make it obvious why. Another dancehall-electronic fusion group with a twist – they’re from Germany? This Top Billin remix of “Clap” has its ups and downs. I’ve never been a fan of over-compression (which the snare suffers from) but I can forgive in favor of the fun Nintendo-esque fillers and the damn catchiness of the vocals. Plus, anyone who reads this blog knows I’m a sucker for heavy drums.

So Shifty Feat. Ward 21 & Natalie Storm: Clap (Top Billin Remix)
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Barletta’s steadily been going in a direction different from the uber-heavy bangers seen from him in the past. This newest with Gianni Marino – “Drop Out” – sounds more Calvin Harris in nature than vintage Barletta with dreamy echoed out glassy notes and soft pads in the background dropped over an electro base. Sounds ripe for some acapella action. I’m wondering why the sound transition has been so drastic for Barletta…even as recent as six months ago, remixes of his posted here (of Sta and Metric, for example), were much crunchier and grittier.

Barletta & Gianni Marino: Drop Out
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Grum has been a name I’ve been hearing more and more of over the past few months, and with good reason. This newest remix of “Show Me The Night” by Jump Jump Dance Dance is a wonderful example of building around vocals instead of a producer creating a remix and then trying to make the vocals fit. In fact, it almost sounds like an original in its own right – love the placement of everything. The subtlety and restraint in the composition and inherent thoughtfulness really shine.

Jump Jump Dance Dance: Show Me The Night (Grum Remix)
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Larry Tee has been churning out the remixes as of late (and alternately, sending over lots of remixes of his own work by others). This time, he teamed up with Alexander Technique and Kassiano for a rework of Major Lazer’s “Keep It Goin’ Louder.” I’m actually glad they picked this song – it’s one of my least favorite Major Lazer tunes. The trio add a slight Dutch influence without it sounding like it’s right out of a DJ Chuckie set. Stripped of extraneous sounds, a strong clap becomes the central percussive element while touches like panned drums and  utilization of the vocals help make this punchy and fun.

Major Lazer: Keep It Goin’ Louder (Larry Tee, Alexander Technique & Kassiano Remix)
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I’m a huge fan of the original of “We Love Animals”, and Religion takes it in a parallel direction where the integrity is conserved but a tilt towards straight up electro house is introduced. Funny enough, listening to the remix, I kept thinking, the sound of the synth line that Religion put in sounds eerily familiar. It’s very reminiscent of the Punks Jump Up remix of Miike Snow’s “Animal”. I’m going to get all mixed up with these animal references, yeesh. Anywho, take a listen below and see if you dig the remix as much as I do.

Crookers Feat. Soulwax & Mixhell: We Love Animals (Religion Remix)
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I am a huge Ellie Goulding fan, and am a huge Russ Chimes fan (his remix of Crystal Waters really put it over the top for me) so when I saw the two names together on one file I had an ‘oh, gimme!’ moment. Russ Chimes does not disappoint, with epic piano lines, giant whooshes and release and decay used liberally. I do wish it had been mastered a bit better with the vocals popping more and better stereo definition between the highs and mid ranges, but overall I am a fan.

Ellie Goulding: Starry Eyed (Russ Chimes Remix)
Download

Bonus tracks:

The Streets: Trust Me (GMGN Remix)
Download

GMGN: On My Mind
Download

So the first round table will take place a couple weeks from now. The topic? I thought it would be fitting to ask this question: how has blogging affected electronic music culture? Simple, but oh so open ended. One commenter had previously suggested that I alert you early to the topic so I could compile questions to bring up during the round table. So here we are – you have the topic, the panelists involved are listed below. Let’s hear what you want to have asked. Leave your questions for the panelists in the comments.

The topic:

How has blogging affected electronic music culture?

The panelists:

Joshua Glazer: Editor of URB Magazine and contributor for the Huffington Post, Glazer has most recently been involved in the revamp of the URB website, which not only features the digital magazine but is heavily influenced by a music-based blog format. In fact, many of the blog contributors for the site not only post news but approved singles and mixes for download.

Josh Ferguson: Nightlife editor for TimeOut Chicago, Creative Director for dialogueinc.com and event promoter, Ferguson has been a staple in championing relatively unknown artists and is a supporter of the way the blog movement has brought them to light. In fact, on the topic of blogs, he recently wrote in TimeOut: “Never before have DJs had such unrestricted access to talented producers and remixers whose work would otherwise never see the light of day.”

Preston Craig: Atlanta native but recent New York transplant Preston Craig was credited with reviving the underground Atlanta club scene. Not only did his blog kissatlanta.com gain incredible popularity (to the point where he was literally a local celebrity), but his events consistently dominated the Atlanta market. How do blogs like kissatlanta.com impact the music market? Says Craig, “I think that [they're] currently turning it upside down; all of the rules have basically been thrown out. You no longer need a massive PR machine or a huge marketing budget. You need good content (music) that you can get into the hands of bloggers.”

Jesse Tittsworth: DC-based, Bmore-loving Tittsworth has gone from a gray market remixer to a globally touring artist with a full length album (”12 Steps” on Plant Music) in just a few short years. In an interview I did with Tittsworth in 2008 he said of blogs, “It’s a huge tool that has changed the way we do business…However, I think with blogs there is also something to be said about quality control, and I think a lot of the music’s historical context gets lost in the rapid pace of blog culture.”

Dsquared needs your input! We are going to be doing new video series – a round table with different panelists and topics each month that all revolve around electronic/indie culture and music. The first one will be in a couple weeks and a couple of the panelists have already been picked, including a magazine music editor and a blogger/promoter. I promise you that you’ll be stoked to see some of the high profile and varied industry professionals and artists that are lined up.

Here’s where I want to have you chime in – what topics would you like to see discussed? The role and responsibilities of blogs in modern music culture? Are labels still necessary? Should music be free? Is music simply DIY now – is expensive equipment or a studio needed? Etc…

Let’s hear it!