The day after Detroit Movement festival I hopped on a plane and headed to the gorge in Quincy, Washington to play Sasquatch festival. This is one of the most beautiful sites that I’ve ever performed on. Check this photos… first of the road from Seattle to Quincy and then of the festival itself.

I barely played any gigs in May. You could say I went into isolation for a few weeks… I’ve been putting together some new material for my summer tours which I’ll start revealing soon. After about 4 weeks in the batcave, I came out to play the Detroit Movement festival (formerly the DEMF). I was surprised to see the intensity of the raver costumes…

The Midwest does feel like another world sometimes. However I gotta say it really felt great to play live, test out some new tracks and feed off a crowd’s energy! My stage was right next to the waterfront and I played as the sun was setting. I took this pic right before I started spinning.

Here are some pics of my set courtesy of Dustin Downing and Nick Schrunk.

This news is a bit old but I wanted to make sure it got immortalized in the ol’ blog-a-roni.

The results are in from the 2010 Beatport Music Awards and my Yeah Yeah Yeahs remix won Best Indie Dance/Nu Disco Track! It’s always cool to be Nu-anything. Not only that but I’m also runner up for Best Indie Dance Artist (behind the homie Boys Noize). So to anyone who voted: thank you!!!!

If you didn’t vote and are feeling the itch to express yourself now, you could always vote for me in the America’s Best DJ awards! *wink wink* Either me or Pauly D.

For their new music issue, Nylon asked me to recall a summer memory and make a playlist of summer songs… not new stuff, just some sort of summer playlist for the ages. Here goes!

Nick Catchdubs “Pink Lemonade” mix

I’m not just posting this because Catchdini is my partner in crime at Fool’s Gold. This is really an excellent mix. Presented by Asian Dan, this strikes a great balance between head-boppy, home-listenable and flat-out weird.

Head over to Asian Dan to download.

Tracklist:

1. Flying Lotus “Do The Astral Plane” – Warp
2. Out Hud “Put It Away, Put It Away Dad” – Kranky
3. Matias Aguayo “Rollerskate (Sanfuentes & Alex Thunder Version)” – Kompakt
4. Li’ll Bo Tweak “The Funky Beat” – Loungin
5. Consistent “Instant” – Exploited
6. Markus Nikolai “Bushes (NT89 Remix)” – Southern Fried
7. KLAM “Funky 4 (Martin Brothers Donkey Punch Remix)” – Fool’s Gold
8. Caribou “Sun” – Merge
9. Mickey Moonlight “Love Pattern” – Ed Banger
10. Ratatat “Neckbrace” – XL
11. Little Dragon “Blinking Pigs (1-O.A.K. ‘God Made Me Funky’ Remix)” – white
12. Delorean “Real Love” – True Panther
13. Sia “Clap Your Hands (Diplo Remix)” – Monkey Puzzle
14. Ellen Allien “You” – Bpitch

Vin Sol “WIZARD H.O.U.S.E 2″ mix

Good Peoples Presents WIZARD H.O.U.S.E 2 by Vin Sol

San Fran to New York transplant Vin Sol brings us the 2nd installment of WIZARD H.O.U.S.E and it’s more of what we’ve grown to expect from the homie: quality, tasteful selections in the realm of connoisseur disco, rare groove and boogie. I’ll take it.

Tracklisting:

1. Vin Sol “Intro”
2. Elkin & Nelson “Jibaro”
3. Skyy “First Time Around (Original Larry Levan 12″ Remix)”
4. Mugwump “T-Coy Jelly Drops”
5. The Police “Voices In My Head”
5. Fresh Band “Come Back Lover”
6. Electra “Feels Good (Carrots and Beets)”
7. Steve Shelto “Don’t Give Your Love Away”
8. Vin Sol “Want You Back”
9. Gayle Adams “Stretchin’ Out”
10. The Idjut Boys “Jazz Fook”
11. Toney Lee “Love So Deep dub”
12. Wish Key “I Remember Last Summer 87′ Remix”
13. Four Tet “Sing”
14. The 202 Machine “Get Up (Rock Your Body)”
15. Motor City Drum Ensemble “Raw Cut #4″
16. Candido “Dancin’ And Prancin”
17. Alexander Hope “Happy Days”
18. Moodymann “Joy pt.2″
19. The SunBurst Band/Joey Negro “Journey to the Sun (Dennis Ferrer Beats)”
20. Idris Muhammad “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This”
21. Osunlade “Momma’s Groove (Jimpster’s Hip Replacement Mix)”
22. Collins and Collins “Top of the Stairs”

Andrew C’s comment the previous blog post brought my attention to this other iPhone app, Tonetable. This one plays the control tones of most DJ software so that you can use your iPhone to control (I’m guessing) Serato, Traktor, etc. I like the design on this one.

It was only a matter of time before something like this came out.

I like the little crossfader. I also feel like this privileges people with tiny fingers, but such is life.

The app is called Baby Scratch, it’s free! I wonder if they made it free in light of sample copyrights.

Here it is ladies and germs! The mixtape has landed and it is yours to enjoy at the click of a mouse.

You can use this snazzy lil’ widget to preview all the songs and download the album as one complete zip with artwork and all that jazz. If you prefer seeing this on a full page you can also go straight to Bandcamp, that’s like the home base for the operation.

Feel free to post the mixtape on your own blogs and sites. Preferably, use the “Share” link to get the embed code and spread the love.

I hope you like the mix! As you probably know this is a sequel to the first Dirty South Dance CD that came out in 2007. For the die-hard collectors I’m teaming up with Obey again to make a deluxe pack that includes a poster, t-shirt and physical CD in sexy digipak format. Stay tuned for the exact release date, it’ll be in about 3 weeks.

Also, if you choose to download the audio in Ogg Vorbis format you’re a weirdo.

RIVA_STARR-BACK_TO_THE_BASS_MIXTAPE by Rivastarr

Today, friend of Fool’s Gold Riva Starr dropped a free mixtape called Back To The Bass with simple yet strict instructions on Twitter: “NO LAPTOP SPEAKERS PLEEZ!”

Grab it here — just click the arrow on the right of the Soundcloud player.

I really like the mix, it’s full of that Made To Play / Dirtybird style of cooky bass music. In fact, around the 54 minute mark, you’ll hear the Martin Brothers remix for Kicks Like A Mule’s upcoming FG release, “Funky 4″.

Speaking of free mixtapes, mine is coming on Monday!

As the hip hop community continues to mourn the loss of Keith “Guru” Elam, today I stumbled upon this interview by complete happenstance, a conversation between him and Run-DMC dated to 1993. I have to say, after reading some deeply disturbing Solar business over the weekend, it was a nice change to go back to better days and enjoy this slice of time with these icons of our culture.

There isn’t much editing in this piece. Admittedly it starts off a bit slow, with just Guru and DMC. Then Run joins in, followed by Jam Master Jay. By the time they’re all there, you’ll find some real gems. I think my favorite part is when JMJ gets crazy intricate talking about how they used to dress:

Jay: You got on the freshly dipped gear, that could be a pair of Lees, and a fresh alpaca, you know what I’m sayin, to match the Adidas, and a velour or a Panama, with the ribbon that’s matching your sneakers…
Run: That’s that pimp shit.
Jay: But the pimps ain’t rockin the Lees.
(…)
Guru: Before you guys, rappers were more like stars, with the flashy costumes
Run: They were trying to be like Rick James.

Real the full interview here.

R.I.P. Guru, R.I.P. Jam Master Jay.