Pitchfork recently compared Australian dance band The Presets to Cheetos, saying that they’re not quite good and you know the product’s going to leave fingerstains (?) but they’re still totally awesome. I heart you, Pitchfork, but I don’t agree. They’re more like a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback. (Just kidding). Come on, PF! The Presets are totally satisfying. They’re one of the only bands that do the dancey thing without giving in to either side in that tug-o-war, while still sounding utterly and totally PRESETS and remaining at least somewhat organic (instrument wise). And their live show is pretty stunning. It makes me want to run chaotic circles around the dancefloor, banging my head to the beat.

So - hey! NEW ALBUM! That’s why I’m writing. And it’s goood. Gooooooood. Some are even calling it (titled ‘Apocolyso’) the dance record of the summer, but we’ll see, eh?

Free download!

THE PRESETS - THIS BOY’S IN LOVE (LIFELIKE REMIX)

Video!

(AND, if you can find it, grab fellow Aussies Miami Horror’s remix of Presets’ “Talk Like That.” God, I love them. More on them later. )

OK, so, basically, Justice recently did a mix for Dior’s new line, and every blogger this side of the Atlantic is feverishly trying to post up with their own point of view. Well this girl has a simple one: Justice is whatever. They did not have me at “bonjour.” I interviewed them in Miami in March and they were sweet and lovely up to the point when people tried to take their picture, causing them to storm off in a haze of French cig smoke, upset at some guy and his camera. And let’s think about this Dior Hommme mix now, shall we? Neither of these dudes nor their crew dress like they could even remotely afford Dior (check out Busy P) and yet they’re all over the place posing with icons like Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel). I understand the appeal, I get it. Phantom and DANCE were great tracks, but got so overhyped by everyone’s blind ambition to find the next Daft Punk.

Anyway, color me a hypocrite: The Dior Spring/Summer 09 Mix By Justice

Also — Busy P is rumored to be working with Santa Claus– I mean, Rick Rubin, who, as you can see here, is now old as fuck and quite possibly a Hell’s Angel.

I’ll never forget my first Chromeo show — both because it was totally awesome and also because it was nearly impossible to get into regardless of who anyone said they were. Lead vocalist Dave 1 was standing outside the Empty Bottle wearing his typical garb: V-neck tee under a tight leather jacket, skinny jeans, Capezios (LOL) and black shades. “Uh, hi? Hey?” he said in an unsure tone to the bouncer. “Um … I’m in the band, can I get in?” If I was the lead singer with Chromeo — heralded as one of the the hipster scene’s better truimphs (someone come up with a new name!!!) — I would certainly not be asking to come inside at my own gig. But Dave is almost self-depreciatingly down to earth. He’s “a skinny jew” full of jokes, and I had a chance to ask him about his upcoming LOLLAPALOOZA gig in Chicago (among other things). Check it:

What do you think of the Lollapalooza lineup this year? Are you excited to be on the bill?

Real talk? I have no idea who else is on there. If there’s anything we haven’t done before, we’re very excited about it. It’s been a long process for us to even have been considered to play this festival. We’re just very, very grateful.

When you’re not on stage here in the Windy, what do you hope to do? Any certain spots you want to hit up?

We have a lot of friends there, so that will be cool. But if we don’t hit up Hot Doug’s, it pretty much defeats the purpose of going to Chicago. Maybe you’ll come with us. Maybe it’ll be a Hot Doug date.

I heard through mutual friends that you were really, really nervous before performing at Coachella this past April. Is that true and if so, do you think you’ll be just as nervous in Chicago?

There was like 27,000 people standing out there — that’s a lot for me, you know?. I’m just a skinny Jew. I was a little verklempt. I’m actually not usually nervous. I used to be when we started. But Coachella was one of the first concerts we did that I was shook. So we’ll see what the scene is like at Lolla. Chi’s got a mellow vibe, and in many respects it reminds me of my home town of Montreal. I don’t feel very displaced when I’m over there.

What you do you think about all the Chromeo imitators out there?

There’s a lot now, I hear. For us, though, it’s more than just a sound. P and I are characters, you know? That’s why we did the video for “Mama’s Boy” in animation because people always say (that) to us. There are other guys who have a similar sound but with us it’s also personality. It’s also a friendship. The whole thing with me and P is that it’s a story that started when we were 15. You can’t replicate that. We’re high school best buddies.

Speaking of buddies, you also have little brother A-Trak in the biz. How has your relationship changed or stayed constant since you were kids?

I’ve always worked with my brother on music. Always. My brother and I are extremely close - we talk more than five times a day. This is not an exaggeration. I help him on pretty much all his projects. If anything it’s more fun now to be working with him because we’re in the same scene. When we were in that post-electroclash bad hipster scene and he was more on the hip hop thing it was less interesting than now where our audiences really intersect.

That’s interesting you say that — it seems you recognize a point where things shot off into a whole new direction for you.

I can’t figure it out. I just know that at one point when we were playing shows, people started liking us. I don’t know what happened. And then more people started liking us. I almost don’t want to overanalyze it because I’m afraid it’s going to change.

So things weren’t always cruisin’ for Chromeo, then?

Don’t forget that when we started Chromeo, we were two hip-hop kids who were reluctant to admit that this is what we were into.We spent a couple years on the grind when it wasn’t easy. We had no experience and very few fans, and now we’re are the most grateful band on the planet.

Do you feel freer to camp it up these days?

Yeah but I don’t think we need to force anything campy. I think we are growing into our personas. I look a bit different and dress a bit different than a few years ago, and so does P, but it’s all organic — we naturally grew into our aesthetic.

What project are you working on now? Is there a follow-up album already in the works?

We are just starting now to work on demos for the next album. But we just put out the “Mama’s Boy” video on MTV yesterday and it’s in their hands exclusively for the next 10 days. We did that Pete Wentz show on Friday night and that’s their new video-premiering kind of thing. It went really well. Pink was on the video jury and she was going on and on about how she loved it. It was cool. The current record still has a bit of steam behind it so we’re gonna ride that straight into the next one.

To buy Lollapalooza tickets (IT’S THIS WEEKEND), click here.

Watch the video for “Mama’s Boy” here.

These came out a few months ago, but Download.com is now offering all of the remixes of Ghostface Killah’s “Charlie Brown” track for free. No Zshare bullshit, either — click here to enjoy. My favorite is by far the DJ Mehdi remix — reminds me of the track Cassius did with GZA back in the day. I know you’re totally shocked — a dope electronic producer from FRANCE?? Get out! F*ck selling $2 bottles of water at parties — make it $5 and tell ‘em the water’s from a beautiful Parisian stream.

GHOSTFACE KILLAH - CHARLIE BROWN — THE REMIXES

Junior Sanchez is once again dropping the fire with this mix of current jams and unreleased Brobot tracks (IN BOLD). Tracklist and link below — you definitely want this one!

JUNIOR SANCHEZ - THE BROBOT MIXX

1. junior intro
2. santogold - creator
3. buy now - body crash jnrsnchz remix feat hollywood holt
4. soloman cortes - permanent lover- jnr gully edit
5. armand van helden- i want your soul - fake blood mix
6. junior sanchez feat joel madden & hollywood holt- beat drop
7. the retro kidz - new era
8. mia - xr2
9. felix da housecat - radio -jnrsnchz remix
10. tamborzuda - 3’s a crowd
11. the cool kids - black mags
12. style of eye - the big kazzo
13. herve - cheap thrills - armand van helden remix
14. human resourse - dominator - soulwax edit
15. n.e.r.d - everybody nose - sammy bananas mix
16. black sheep -strobelight honey
17. santogold - l.e.s artiste
18. lil wanye feat gory gunz - A milli

Unlike you, I am not an MIA fanatic. This is probably my only “favorite” MIA track — although I always thought Timbaland’s appearance on it felt forced and didn’t fit MIA’s style in the least (with Tim bringing dumbed down lyrics to the table e.g. “I just wanna break you off and say goodbye”). BUT! There is a new twist and it comes in the form of one of New Chicago’s hopfulest MCs - Mic Terror. If you’re not familiar, I hope this track will make you seek out some of his other stuff (like “Hioooo!”). He’s obnoxious in the wittiest of ways — kind of like Eminem was. Catch Mic in the Next100 Issue of URB.

Oh and PS… I didn’t ask the backstory on this one and initially I thought this was just an uncomissioned version of the song that came from keeping long studio hours, but apparently it is an “official” re-working of the track. Ooooh that ish is hot tho! Baby, caaaaalm dowwwwn!

MIA feat Mic Terror (and regrettably, Timbaland) - Come Around (zshare)

Who doesn’t love themselves a pair of cool Canadians? I interviewed Jokers Of The Scene (JOTS) at an Armani event last March in Miami and they made me laugh the whole time. I guess the name fits? Anyway, the Ottawa dudes — who are signed to ATrak’s Fools’ Gold recs — are coming correct with a new mixtape done for NY’s Mishka, launching a mixtape series called “Keep Watch.” JOTS have laid claim to the first installment. The mix apparently celebrates the duo’s 5th anniversary of their club night Disorganised, which hosted earliest Canadian appearances of such party heroes like MSTRKRFT, CSS, Diplo, Crystal Castles and Girl Talk. Cheers to S2DEF’s always-early friends the JOTS!

DOWNLOAD THE MIX HERE (Zshare)

Went to see seminal electro snyth band Yaz (a.k.a. Yazoo) LIVE at the Chicago Theater on Monday. For those who don’t know, Yaz is comprised of Alison Moyet — who inspired Hercules & Love Affair — and also stoic baldy Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode. Their biggest hits were “Situation” — which I could listen to every day til the end of time — , “Only You” and “Don’t Go” . I got video of the latter performed live at the show … Check it out!

There are two things you can count on when it comes to the current dance music scene in Chicago. Firstly, “World’s Best Dance Club” Smartbar will always bring in the best artists to play on its unrivaled sound system, and secondly, lanky young Milwaukee export James Amato — the club’s booking agent and new dad to infant label Potty Mouth — will always be wearing his hat curiously cocked to the side. Perhaps the latter is in homage to the rave days, we don’t know. But one thing’s definitely for sure — Amato’s Potty Mouth imprint is finding favor with house fans seeking an updated perspective and is bringing a burgeoning electronic sound called “fidget” to new heights through a bevy of talented producers. Artists like Santiago & Bushido and Crookers are fashioning tracks that represent a rich casserole of electronic genres and set dancefloors ablaze. So how did all this come about?

How did the idea for Potty Mouth music first come about, and where did you get the idea for the name?
My mother always said I had a Potty Mouth (which is very true). You can ask any of my co-workers and I’m sure they will all agree. One night I told my former roommate that he had a Potty Mouth and stumbled across the idea/concept of calling something/someone ‘Potty Mouth’ but at the time had no use for the name. A month or so later, in December of 2006, I hung out with Chris Santiago of ‘Santiago & Bushido’ from Chicago late one night who turned me on to the sounds of the Crookers. Early that year during a trip to Vegas, a friend of mine introduced me to the music of Dave Taylor aka Switch/Solid Groove. Both of those experiences were two times in a very long time that I got excited about music. My roots go deep with the passion I have for electronic music, but after living in a nightclub for 10+ years, you begin to hear it all and things can get a little stale. At the time I felt compelled and intrigued to invest myself and indulge into this new sound by launching an indie record label called Potty Mouth Music.

What do you think of the ‘fidget house’ moniker — and how does that term relate to the kind of music PM is putting out?
Potty Mouth artist Scoot Cooper said it best when he described fidget as “forward thinking house music” and I totally agree. I’m not necessarily a fan of the term ‘fidget’ but have accepted the fact of it is what it is and has been coined that name. It seems to be the only term people have been able to successfully describe/relate to on a global scale. I just got tired of calling it “you know, the kind of music that Switch plays.” I don’t really like calling it “fidget house” more just “fidget” cause I feel the sound is more then just house, but techno, electro, hip hop, breaks & drum n bass. The beauty of the sound is that it crosses over a wide variety of genres that flourishes the sound within its own. My artists come from such a wide variety of backgrounds. I’m signing artists who used to produce trance, breaks hardcore and about everything else between here and there. It’s refreshing to be apart of something that’s new, that people are excited about. It creates a lot of positive growth and networking between a ton of artists that might not have known about each other in previous years. It opens minds and attitudes.

chris santiago, crookers duo, james amato, tim bushido

Who’s on your label?
We have a few artists from the label that live in America and Australia, but a majority of the roster resides in Europe. Currently artists that are signed to the label include the Crookers (Italy), Santiago & Bushido (Chicago), Hijack (UK), Dj Fame (New York), The Bulgarian (UK), Heavyfeet (UK), Cops & Robbers (Chicago), Electric Soulside (Belgium), Andy George (UK), Scott Cooper (UK), Klaus Hill (Australia), Mightyfools (Netherlands), Adam Bozzetto (Australia), Alias (Toronto), Chris James (UK), Urchins (UK) and Pette Vaydex (Ljubljana, Slovenia).

The label earned international notoriety in January of 2008, when Santiago & Bushido claimed the number-one downloaded track spot for their Potty Mouth single, “Head Trick” it held the spot for three consecutive weeks on beatport.com (the digital download site is the second most-trafficked music Internet site in the world). Santiago & Bushido have a very bright future ahead of them, I think your really gonna seem some things pop later this year and into 2009.

What happened to “regular” house music? Do you think there’s still a market for upfront house in today’s genre-melding world?
To each his own. I respect house, I respect fidget. At the end of the day it comes down to whatever floats your boat and gets people on the dance floor. I get into both sounds. Personally for me though, fidget is a breath of fresh air. I’ve been a supporter/promoter of house music for over 15 years, but recently it all began sounding the same and the vibe just got a little too negative for me to want to be apart of it. Fidget definitely attracts a much broader and bigger crowd (from techno & house heads to dnb & electro heads, from commercial to underground). I can tell you from a promoter standpoint that house is not coming close to bringing in the amount of people that these newer sounds of electro/fidget/bmore/hipster are unless your name is Mark Farina.

America is in a huge recession right now and it’s human instinct for us to let if affect our music. As the country gets depressed, our music seems to get dirty/moody. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but at least in the states I think house music will continue to flourish however on a much smaller scale then to years in the past.

Crookers

How do you feel an imprint can survive in the face of free mp3’s on blogs across the Interweb? Have you come up with any interesting strategies?

And for that matter, what do you feel about the blogosphere in general?
We try and work with the blogs rather than against them. The idea of blogs is to promote ‘new’ music, artists, events, etc and not to give away free music. Usually the majority of blogs will put up whatever they can without having permission from the label, however will take it down per the labels request (if discovered & requested). Usually once you contact a blog once to inform them not to give away your music for free, they will respect your request and will not do it again from that point out. However with the growing culture of blogging, there are more and more blogs launching everyday and its harder and harder to keep track and keep an eye on things. By searching on websites like Hype Machine you can check out if you’re tracks are being blogged: http://hypem.com

I do feel blogs are important and do expose people to new music. It just needs to be done in away that everyone benefits from it — from the blog to the user to the artists to the label. I do work with several blogs in regards to Potty Mouth. I give those blogs specific promo versions of the tracks to post and put up for download. These are edited, low quality mono “promo” versions of the song. That way the blogs can promote the new music, the user can download/experience it in the comfort of their home or ipod and if they are really into it will hopefully encourage them to purchase a full length high res copy for download from sites such as beatport.com, stompy.com and djdownload.com to name a few. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. The blogs Potty Mouth currently enjoys working with are Discobelle, Electric Zoo, Palms Out, and Red Threat.

Who is one of your favorite artist/producer/djs right now and why?
Some of my favorite artists/producers right now are Santiago & Bushido from Chicago, Hijack and Stupid Fresh from the UK. They are all young aspiring producers that are all on the fringe of blowing up. Each of them can be classified under the umbrella of fidget, however each have their own distinctive sounds which makes them each unique and truly defines this new sound.

tim bushido, chris santiago

What makes a good fidget track?
Obviously besides strong wobbly bass-lines, a good fidget track exemplifies the concept of ’surprise.’ The less you can predict within the track the better. The track should always keep you on your toes and keep you interested. It’s kinda like electronic music for all of us who have A.D.D.

What is coming up for Potty Mouth music in the coming year?
We were averaging a release a month for almost 7 months, took a short 3 month sabbatical and are now back in full force releasing 2 EPs per month! We have a wide variety of releases that all fall under the term fidget, however each release indulges more onto either a techy side, electro side, housey side or even minimal side. Also keep your eyes out for a “best of remix album” this Summer which will include a Solid Groove remix of Santiago & Bushidos ‘For What’ track.

Last, but not least, we recently started a Potty Mouth message board and have received a tremendous positive response back! We like to bill it as “embracing the fidget community” - http://board.pottymouthmusic.com. Check it out!

Santiago & Bushido - Head Trick

Just wanted to get ya’ll up on probably the hardest gay rapper you will ever meet (no pun meant, but whatev). A dirty pop rap star, Johnny Dangerous is from Minneapolis and resides in Chicago (but attention old house fans: he’s not the ‘beat that bitch with a bat’ guy - although that sounds like something he’d rap). JD’s taking all haters captive with rhymes that’ll “steal yer man right out the box” and tells S2DEF his stuff “is like if Lil Kim, Peaches and Princess Superstar all mated [awesome visual] and had a gay-bie” — and I think, weirdly enough, he’s right on the money.

His new album is dropping in August and here’s an exlcusive on his new single. Mommas, don’t let yer gaybies grow up to be Johnny.

Johnny Dangerous - Take Your Man