The Aoki we all know and love is a crazy, vodka-wielding, crowd surfing DJ who plays the hottest “where-did-he-get-those” tracks. Right? Unfortunately, Aoki only brought the performance to Chicago’s Crobar on Friday night, and not the tunes. While he was able to rile up party goers by standing on tables and holding his bottle of Belvedere aloft like a battle flag, he also got us all cocking our heads and looking quizzically at each other.

read my full review for URB here

Additional photos not featured on URB below. By the way, my shirt says “Whisky Makes Me Frisky.” WOOOOOO! Oh yeah, and please enjoy these Weird Science remixes as well. I feel the need to post these after last night to re-affirm to myself that Aoki rocks my socks.

Snoop Dogg - Sexual Eruption (Weird Science remix)
Download

Young Love - Discotech (Weird Science remix)
Download

Bloc Party - Helicopter (Weird Science remix feat. Peaches)
Download

Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her (Weird Science remix)
Download

Sorry for the brief absence there - I have been super super busy with pending deadlines from URB and BPM for a combined five pieces that I have to write! Tonight I finally have a moment to myself, which means I can post a couple tunes for you all to enjoy. Accept this as my apology?

In any case, here are some tunes from Jon Kennedy, a Chicago native. Included is a remix of Deadmau5’s deliciousness that is called “The Reward Is Cheese.” Ooooooh! Jon has been quite busy and has a few tunes out on various labels. In fact, I was reminded that I reviewed one of his remixes for URB, stating that “Jon Kennedy seems to have thrown down the gauntlet with his glitch powered monster that sneaks in tiny surprises like complete moments of silence.” So here ya are, four new tunes from Chicago’s Jon Kennedy.

Jon Kennedy - Episode
Download

Jon Kennedy - My Mind On Empty
Download

Deadmau5 - The Reward Is Cheese (Jon Kennedy remix)
Download

Lars Wilhelm vs. Jon Kennedy - Russian Roulette
Download

Roccanova has chosen some sweet tunes to remix since bloggers started taking notice of him. Laying his fingers on everything from Modjo’s “Lady” to Chris Lake’s “Changes,” what I like about this guy is that he takes the house classics we know and adds a dirty ‘lil twist to them. This newest from the Miami native adds a twist to MSTRKRFT’s Neon Knights.

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“Take your glasses off.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re famous.”

Full news story here.

Link to the official post on KISSATLanta.com

Wrapping up….

a) Yes, as an URB writer I’m aware of the rejected Justice mix for Fabric. I lent a quote for the Red Threat blog on the matter, saying “The fabric mixes are usually so stellar because the artist is given the freedom (well, usually), to do whatever they want. And more often than not, that means delving into the crates and exploring their influences. Pat Mahoney did just that with his Fabric mix and put together a roster of totally obscure disco tracks. I don’t see the sense in Fabric essentially negating what Justice sees as a body of work that helped make them who they are.” Anyway, you can also download the mix via Red Threat if you want to take a listen.

b) The URB Next 100 list was released to us writers today and I’m stoked at a good amount of my submissions were accepted. Of course, I can’t say who else is on the list but overall it looks pretty formidable. Feel free to guess away with who you think is up on that list!

c) I’ll be playing for KISSATLanta.com’s Black Heart Ball February 9th, headlining alongside KISSATLanta.com’s own - Preston Craig. More info and a flyer to come!

d) If you’re in the Chicago area, come out to Debonair Social Club Wednesday night - good times!!

Rock The Vote is going indie this year. Pretty darn cool.

“Iggy Pop, Duran Duran and Daft Punk are among the musicians who have designed T-shirts to raise money for political charity Rock The Vote.

The stars have all come up with their own take on the world-famous Playboy magazine ‘bunny’ logo for the 2008 Playboy Rock The Rabbit T-shirt series.

The shirts will be sold at Bloomingdale’s stores in the U.S. and online at ShopTheBunny.com.”

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FatCat Films out of France sent me this film they did for The Art Pack webzine, featuring up and coming French Producers Luck on Strike (friends Bertrand and Gauthier). These guys jam, using live instrumentation along with insane synth work to create their own version of French Touch that’s a bit rockier, a bit grimier. Bonus - Pete Tong featured these guys in his weekly video as “unsigned band of the week!”

Here is a link to a three track sampler these guys put together with “In The 80s,” “Lights” and the Pete Tong selection, “The Devil In My Eyes.”

Luck On Strike Sampler (Zshare)

Over the past few months I’ve been following what has been happening with the major labels. Without forseeing how the internet was going to impact them (dummies…), the scrambling they have been doing lately is incredible. Here’s an overview of what’s been happening.

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Hyper Crush is a trio from L.A. with a long-ass bio that has almost entirely no facts in it at all. Charming. To quote directly,

Behold the greatest 50s doo-wop electro hip hop group from the 80s of all time. Three shit faced extra terrestrials known amongst the elite simply as Donny, Preston and Holly. A couple of real gentlemen and one broad with a steady diet of cotton candy and flat soda pop to calm the nerves. Hyper Crush is part of San Fernando Valley’s aristocratic super elite known as “Le Brethren De Molak” and are said to have ties with such people as Ralph Machio and the ever elusive Corey Haim.

Despite the cluttered mash-up of 50s, 80s, electro, hip hop and the occasional Delorian reference, these three seem to make it work. Of course, it could just be Holly’s massive boobage, but who am I to judge. In any case, almost every track Hyper Crush has come up with so far is near impeccable and totally dance-worthy! My favorite is Candy Store, a sweet tune with a bit of doo-wop throwback.

Hyper Crush - Candy Store
Download (direct link)

Hyper Crush - Disco Tech
Download (direct link)

Hyper Crush - Robo Tech
Download (direct link)

E-mail dani@danideahl.com to RSVP. Dani’s list will also receive a CD at the door!