Archive for Diplo

Summerfest 2013: The Lineup Returns to Championship Form

Posted in Music News, News with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on Thursday, April 18, 2013 by Eric Gilardi

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One of the greatest music festivals in the world recently returned as a championship contender when they released their lineup for 2013. Lately, the festival seemed to rely mainly on its prestige alone. After all, it is a festival that spans over 11 days and has more than 800 acts performing on 11 different stages. The festival is a vision of the great late mayor of Milwaukee, Henry Maier, who wanted a massively relative festival that would compare to the joyous Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. He started the tradition that became Summerfest in 1968.

The lineup has been lacking the innovative music that the youth and many more have gravitated towards in recent years. This year after they released their headliners at the Marcus Amphitheater I had mixed feelings. So I was a little skeptical when I received the E-mail that their complete lineup was out but said, “What the hell” and clicked the link. To my astonishment, I was really impressed. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that they got some major electronic, Indie rock and alternative rock acts. All whom are currently relevant in their respected industries. This list includes Pretty Lights, Diplo, Empire of the Sun, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer and MGMT. They did this while still including a lot of the older talent (Alice Cooper, 311, Foreigner and Billy Idol) and mixing in many more talented up and comers.

Another thing you have to appreciate about Summerfest is the variety of music that they bring to the many ears attending the festival. They have done a great job blending country, pop, blue grass, electronic, rock and even a little bit of hip hop into the lineup. A few other artists that would be worth seeing are: Capital Cities, Atmosphere, Trampled by Turtles, Robert Delong, Matt & Kim, AWOLNATION, Imagine Dragons, Taliban Kweli and Cake. If you are the least bit interested after reading this head over to summerfest.com/lineup for a complete listing of this year’s lineup.

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Album Review: Major Lazer, Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do

Posted in Audio, Music News, Music Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 by Erik Burg

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In light of one of the world’s craziest ideas for a half-real concept album comes one of the more fun and plain enjoyable albums of the year… that is, if you enjoy techno infused reggae dancehall and auto-tuned babies (more on that later). I discussed the nostalgic video for the lead track “Hold The Line” a while back, but after hearing the entire album all the way through today I feel like Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do needs a full discourse.

So we all know by now the full story of Major Lazer, right? Well maybe not all of us. (You could just read the bold and get the point, such convenience):

Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984.  The US military rescued him and repurposed experimental lazers as prosthetic limbs.  Since then Major Lazer has been a hired renegade soldier for a rogue government operating in secrecy underneath the watch of M5 and the CIA. His cover is that of a dancehall night club owner from Trinidad and he enlisted the help of long-time allies and uber-producers, Diplo and Switch, to produce his first LP. His true mission is to protect the world from the dark forces of evil that live just under the surface of a civilized society. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket powered skateboard.

All jokes aside, what the hell is Major Lazer? Well it’s awesome. The team at Mad Decent always have great marketing and art production, and Major Lazer is no exception, it’s actually probably the best example. The album has action figures coming out soon of each member of the story from the above paragraph. It’s like a more danceable and more crazy Gorillaz, as Diplo and Switch lurk in the shadows of musty Jamaican dancehalls much like Alborn did for years in crowded opera halls. But musically Major Lazer is much more than one distinct sound. Due in part to the all-star cast of guests, Guns Don’t Kill People highlights many of the talents that Diplo and Switch enlist on their own. Diplo’s ability to take your breathe away and Switch’s ability to precisely fine tune any remix. Continue reading

Major Lazer release music video for “Hold The Line”

Posted in Audio, Music News, Random with tags , , , , , , , on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by Erik Burg

major lazerThe super group of Diplo and Switch along with “a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984 that cruises around on a rocket-powered skateboard and chills with nude Rihanna” have produced not only one of the most fun tracks of the year, but now hold the title for best music video of the year as well. It features a desperado-like entrance for one of the greatest fictional musicians ever, segueing into the amazing surf guitar and Nokia brick phone samples “Hold The Line” is now famous for along with Santigold on the mic (overload anyone?). The second half of the video also shows some of the coolest looking action figures I’ve seen in a long time, too bad Mad Decent doesn’t have any in production considering the way the Major Lazer shirt sold at SXSW. So check it out, have a laugh, and enjoy the mp3 if you loved the video. 

Major Lazer’s debut album Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do is out 6/16 on Mad Decent. Pre-Order.

MP3: Major Lazer – “Hold The Line”

BONUS! This awesome “N64 Kid” remix video set to some great “Hold The Line” chops. Enjoy to the max!

Album Review: Bassnectar, Art of Revolution EP

Posted in Music Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , on Monday, May 11, 2009 by Nicholas Blexrud

aorcover-smMesmerizing, transcendental, and hypnotic pulses of low frequencies and magnetic melodies ghostily grab my legs and make me move to the new single “Art of Revolution”; Bassnectar has done it once again.

Seated, I promptly pushed play on the single, “Art of Revolution”.  My heart slowly morphs from a lazy, bradycardiac beat to a rapid, tachycardiac pounding, as I soon found myself no longer in a seated position, but as a terpsichorean of mythical multitudes.

“Art of Revolution”, introduced with stick-beaten African drums and de-tuned Indian sitars, combusts into a cacophony of wobbly, intoxicated, insect-like buzzing of breaks and “slippery when wet” bass lines. This, paired with the unmatched voice of Jamaican Tapper Zukie, makes for a single that will soon take over every stereo and club. In addition to ‘Necters version of “Art of Revolution” and an instrumental mix, we are blessed with 4 other marvelous mash-ups of monolithic proportions. Remixes from Diplo, Chislain Poirier, 6 Blocc, and Product 01 all comprise an assortment of ingenuity and individualistic interpretations of this single.

I have to say, the wait for ‘Nectar’s new single to drop has felt eternal; similar to waiting in the doctor’s office. There you sit (highly anxious fan) with symptoms of melancholy-melodies, no-dance-ititus, and the bassnectar-blues, waiting for the doctor’s prognosis. The doc (Dr. Bassnectar) shows up just in time to tell you that everything is going to be fine, and serves you up a dose of “Art of Revolution”.  Ahhhh, you are better.

The Art of Revolution EP will be falling into digital music players through Beatport and everywhere else on May 12th (and turntables later on as a limited 12″ vinyl via Groove Distribution). However, if you cannot wait for this anthem to hit your eardrums, check it out a free download of Groove Armada’s Superstylin’ set to Bassnectar’s instrumental version of Art of Revolution” in Superstylin’ Smashup, here!

So by this point, you’re probably all asking yourself ‘what the hell does Bassnectar even mean?’ Well, according to bassnectar.net, it is: “A freeform project that merges music, art, new media, social involvement, and community values; dedicated to a constantly-evolving ethos of collaborative creation, self-reinvention, and boundary-pushing experimentation.”  This mission statement, however, does not do justice to the 150 + shows that Bassnectar perform on a yearly basis, and to truly understand this “project” you must be apart of it. You can catch Bassnectar at any one of these dates to experience and stitch yourself to the fabric of this majestic movement… Continue reading

New Material: Diplo and Blaqstarr

Posted in Music News with tags , , , , , , , on Friday, December 19, 2008 by Erik Burg

Diplo tearing up the tables in Minneapolis this fall

Diplo tearing up the tables in Minneapolis this fall

Mad Decent records, who grabbed my attention earlier this year with the release of full length LPs from the likes of Abe Vigoda and Diplo (also the guy who runs the label) have some new material coming soon to the public. Most of the time singles like this seem to leak out and about a million and half remixes come following shortly after, but Mad Decent have kept a tight lid on this one, which leads me to hope/believe that track will be absolutely banging. And why not, these two artists have been putting out tons of material lately that has been mind-blowing, and this is sure to follow in the footsteps.

Here is a look at some questionable behavior by the Pizza and Hot Dog during Diplo’s beyond stellar set at First Ave a few months ago. The Mad Tour just recently wrapped up and it’s a damn shame if you missed out.

The single itself, which is slatted to start shipping January 20th if you pre-order, will feature three songs on Side A (yes, it’s printed on vinyl only. no word on digital download yet that I can find) will feature the title track along with two remixes, one by DJ Rob3 and another called Bonus Beats. Side B will feature something called Serato Control Record that is 10 minutes long, and don’t ask me dive any deeper into that because I have no idea what it could be, ha. 

The page to pre-order this sure to be amazing limited-edition Pink Vinyl can be found HERE, if you plan on getting a copy of this I’d jump all over it soon because I’ve following a lot of their singles lately and they seem to sell out pretty quick.

I’ll send some Diplo mp3s your way too, get a feel for the guy and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Diplo- “Blow Your Head” Feist- “I Feel It All (Diplo Remix)” Kanye West- “Flashing Lights (Diplo remix)” and the crowning jewel of them all Spank Rock- “Put That Pussy On Me (Diplo Tonite Remix)

Mad Decent: Official Website, Myspace, Tour Diary