polloxniner

Mixed Bag of Tricks

I don't know who the man in this photo is but I think he looks pretty pimpin' -- he's got the whole Goodfellas thing going on from the waist up. He's even rocking a vanity cane. Fom the waist down, he looks like he's ready to run a 10K marathon.
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Just a quick little post today to tide you over till the next episode. (God knows when that might be.) I've been obsessive about a couple of remixes from French duo Cassius (a.k.a. Zdar and Boombass). "Toop Toop" is an infectious little treat of a tune (you can hear it on their myspace), and the remixes of this single even more so. In total, I have six -- SIX! -- different remixes but I figured I'd post the two I like best.

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Cassius - "Toop Toop (Olivier Koletski Mix)"

Cassius - "Toop Toop (Cassius Reggae Rock Mix)"

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Yes, yes... typically, I'd fear the word "reggae" in this context too but this track is more rock and bouncy bassline than any weird reggae sympatico. No need to tread carefully.
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And damn if there isn't a better album to blast at 1:00am when me and my late-night boys are still at work than Soulwax's Nite Versions. My buddy Mike even has a disco ball at his desk just in case I feel the need to break into spontaneous dance. Equally as good is this lapcrusher -- a must-buy.
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Soulwax - "Teachers"
Buy here
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Take Radioclit for example. Nothing super new but still so ace! Always a pleasure to revisit these boys. Particularly gravitating towards "Sound of C" -- it's so electric boogaloo, makes me want to do the worm which I reckon would be rather unsightly.
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I'm sure you've heard of The Blow by now -- and I don't want to bore you with yet another rehashing of their bio. And truth be told, it's a good trak but nothing earthshattering. Sorry. That said, here's a track from their album Paper Television.

The Blow - "Pile of Gold"

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I'm so excited that the general response has been so great for The Rapture single, "Get Myself Into It." People, it's just the single -- imagine just how incredible the rest of the album is! Just wait until you hear "The Devil" (probably my other favorite track off the album) -- you'll flip your lid. Plus, the guys are playing the MTV VMA Afterparty on Thursday... woohoo! The VMAs are the same night as the Jamie Lidell / Rocks Off Concert Cruise so I guess I'll miss going to the actual awards ceremony to catch Jamie on a lovely cruise boat and then book it to the afterparty. Should shape up to be a lovely week, indeed.

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you're missed 

TRIPLETS: Las Islas Baleares

It's been a while.
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I've been busy. Even too busy to blog, if you can imagine that. There was once a time when I'd post every single day. Maybe even twice a day, if the spirit moved me. Fancy that.
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Faint and distance memories now.
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But by saving grace -- and just in the nick of time -- my good friend Howie who comes to us from London and works with some of the best producers, DJs, and artists this side of the equator, is launching a new series here on PolloxNiner called TRIPLETS. The premise is to take an underlying theme or concept and to post three tracks tying them all together. Rather than explaining it away, I'd just rather let Howie speak for himself:
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My relationship with this blog only started relatively recently. I work with a producer who had found his unfinished production of a great New York band posted up here (mentioning no names). But after it was so ‘rapturously’ received, and after officially berating the author for posting up said work, we quickly realised we had a shared love of the same music. I have been responsible for some of the music posted here already (notably Al Usher’s remix of Grandadbob) so it wasn’t long before Sunny cajoled me into putting pen to paper (as it were) and sharing some music and words with you.
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So for my inaugural post I follow on from where Sunny left.
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The summer.
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At one point is promised so much. So as a disappointing World Cup ends (for most), the summer really begins to heat up. It can only mean one thing --  the silly season is upon us.
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How I dreamt of this moment in February. The moment when the sun rises at 5am and sets at 9pm. The moment when David Beckham lifts aloft that famous trophy. The moment when I get my Birkenstocks out of retirement. And, most importantly to some, the moment when thousands of pasty faced, badly dressed Brits journey to the 'white isle' to get drunk of the streets of San Antonio or dive into the K-hole at DC10.
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Well 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.
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So. Ibiza. What an amazing place.
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With it's mystical charm and spiritual vibes, it has a special significance for me as I grew up on that magical Isle. I spent the first 10 years of my life on the beach at Salinas. It was an idyllic childhood and I like to consider myself to be an original 'balearic boy'.
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They say 'nostaglia is used by older people to take the fun away from younger people' and when I think specifically about Ibiza I can't help thinking there's some truth in that. It WAS so much better back then when Ibiza impacted on our cultural history almost 20 years ago. It was a simpler time. The music too was very different to the glitchy, k flavoured, minimalism that seems to the 'groove du jour' on the island today.
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So anyway, I was listening to a work in progress of a DJ Naughty remix of Grandadbob ‘Pictures’ the other day (the followup to Al Usher's amazing remix of their previous offering "Hide You" ). It's pure modern balearica. It'll get posted up here as soon as it's finished but listening to it (and general loving the fact that summer is here) has made me go back and dig out some balearic classics for my debut post.
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Here are 3 very different 'balearic' records that make this writer long for 'summers of love'. Hope you like them.
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Cocteau Twins – "Suckling The Mender"
A ‘Café Del Mar’ classic and one of those tunes that work perfectly as an aural sun-downer.
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Les Negresses Vertes – "Zobi La Mouche"
Dance music in its true sense. A true balearic classic.
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Fluke - "Philly"
Pure indie-dance. Real ibiza vibes. Shame their post Philly output hasn’t quite lived up to this.