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Asian Dan Interview: Housse de Racket

Victor & Pierre of Housse de Racket were kind enough to answer a few questions of mine to shed some light on the epic pop rock that they create. Find out how they are connected to Air, Phoenix, Gonzales & Sebastien Tellier. Great guys and hope to see them on American soil sometime soon.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Jan%202009/Housse%20De%20racket%20-%20%20Oh%20Yeah!%20(25%20Hours%20A%20Day%20Remix).mp3]
Housse De Racket – Oh Yeah! (25 Hours A Day Remix)
Houssee de Racket Myspace

Asian Dan Interview: Housse de Racket

1. Who is Housse de Racket? How would you describe your music?

We’re two guys who grew up in suburb of Paris, city of lights. We met when were teenagers at music school. Victor was wearing a Pearl Jam tee shirt and Pierre loved it.

We play stadium music in very small rooms.

2. What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

We love black music especially Stevie Wonder, Prince and (of course) Michael Jackson… but we cannot sing like them so we play very loud with huge distorsion on the guitar and a double kick drum.

3. The French Music scene is at quite a peak now, where do you see it going and are you guys going along for the ride?

We started playing music when Daft Punk, Air or even Phoenix started to raise. We considered them as (hidden) older brothers… So, it has always been part of our vision of the french music.
Now, Justice, Yelle, The Teenagers, Soko prove that something still happens in France.

We sing in french so we’re different from these bands. The past few months we realize that it’s not a problem anymore… We recently signed with a big english booking agency (Primary Talent) and we plan to play worldwide !

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Soulwax x Mixmag: Part of NYE Never Dies

Download: Soulwax x Mixmag: Part of NYE Never Dies

01. The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl (Soulwax Remix Edit)
02. Zombie Nation – Forza
03. Tame Impala – Half Full Glass Of Wine
04. Tiga – Mind Dimension 2 (Ghent Version)
05. Mr Oizo – Pourriture 7 (Soulwax Edit)
06. Esser – Headlock
07. In Flagranti – Business Acumen
08. Flairs – Truckers Delight
09. MGMT – Kids (Soulwax Remix)
10. Das Pop – Fool For Love
11. Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – Feurprobe (Rory Phillips Remix)
12. Mickey Moonlight – Interplanetary Melodies
13. Late Of The Pier – Random Firl
14. Ali Renault – Our World Is

Cheers, Soulwax.info

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Late Of The Pier – Very Wav

Late Of The Pier – Live @ Pete Tong Presents Insiders – Irving Plaza – 10.24.2008
Photo by SoundBitesNYC

Late Of the Pier were amazing live. They are quite a bunch of young energetic blokes that really know how to put on a show and the drummer is quite a beast. Bathroom Gurgle and Focker were highlights of their performance. They definitely left quite an impression on America. Stay tuned for a full review of Pete Tong Presents Insiders CMJ 2008 Showcase.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Oct%202008/03%20Very%20Wav.mp3]
Late Of The Pier – Very Wav (Japanese Exclusive)

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Pete Tong Presents Insiders – Irving Plaza, NYC – 10.24.2008

Tomorrow is the day. One of the most hyped and most epic shows at CMJ this year. Soulwax, 2 Many DJ’s, Late Of The Pier, The Whip, Rob Da Bank, Luciano, James Lavalle, and Pete Tong, all in one venue, all in one night. Epic. I cannot wait. Stay tuned for full and thorough review of the crazy night to come!

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Oct%202008/10%20Washing%20Up.mp3]
Soulwax – Washing Up

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Late of the Pier Invades America

Late Of The Pier are making their first US appearances next week in NYC as part of CMJ and in Philly. I shall be seeing them on the 24th with Soulwax and 2 Many DJ’s as part of the Pete Tong’s CMJ night which is quite an epic line up. Checkout these remixes of LOTP, I was expecting more from the Boys Noize remix, it is more of an edit. I love Breakbot and whatever he does so check out his remix of Bathroom Gurgle.

October 22 Brooklyn NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg (CMJ)
October 24 New York NY Irving Plaza (Insiders)
October 25 Philadelphia PA Pure

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Oct%202008/Focker%20(Boys%20Noize%20Terror%20Remix).mp3]
Late Of the Pier – Focker (Boys Noize Terror Remix)

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Oct%202008/Bathroom%20Gurgle%20(Filthy%20Dukes%20remix).mp3]
Late Of the Pier – Bathroom Gurgle (Filthy Dukes Remix)

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Oct%202008/bathroom%20gurgle%20breakbot%20rmx_256kbps.mp3]
Late Of The Pier – Bathroom Gurgle (Breakbot Remix)

Checkout this candid chat between Late Of the Pier and Breakbot. Breakbot reveals that he use to make music back in the day with Xavier from Justice when they were classmates at graphic arts school.
“It didn’t really work out, I wanted to make smoky trip hop and he wanted to make gay house music.”- Breakbot

The-Fly.co.uk: Late Of the Pier and Breakbot chat

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Midnight Juggernaut – Annie Mac 5 Minute Minimix

Midnight Juggernaut – Annie Mac 5 Minute Minimix

Peep the Ninjavids.
Midnight Juggs x Glenjamn

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Asian Dan Interview: Who is Dubka?

I was speaking to Daniel and Luca C. from Cazals and told them that Asian Dan might as well become the official Cazals fan page. They are a fantastic band and released a fantastic album this year, one of my favourite. Anyways here is the next installment in the Cazals band profiles, introducing Martin the bassist and producer of Cazals who also goes under his electronic moniker, Dubka.Here are 2 great Dubka remixes, very pop and 80s. He did a great job nailing those classic 80s drum and synth samples. Catchy stuff
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202008/Late%20of%20the%20Pier%20-%20Space%20&%20The%20Woods%20(Dubka%20Remix).mp3]
Late of the Pier – Space & Woods (Dubka Remix)
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202008/Pin%20Me%20Down%20-%20Cryptic%20(Dubka%20remix).mp3]
Pin Me Down – Cryptic (Dubka Remix)

www.myspace.com/dubkaisdead

Asian Dan Interviews: Dubka
1. Who is Dubka? What is your first musical memory?

I’m Dubka, I’m a musician and producer. My first musical memory is lying on the floor in front of my dads hi-fi speakers, listening to “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel. I remember the feeling of the bass in my chest and all the amazing contrapuntal vocals.

2. What are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?

I’ve always loved Francis Bacon’s painting and just the way he saw the world and thought about art. Mark Rothko is another influence, which leads me to Morton Feldman and John Cage. I find some of the things these people wrote just as inspirational as their art. Sometimes more so. Musically, I love Stravinsky, Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Strokes, Bartok, Ligeti, Penderecki, Talking Heads, Daft Punk, Laura Branigan, Prince, John Carpenter, Devo, Ariel Pink, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Eurythmics, Stan Bush, Tel Jeroen… I could go on all day.

3. Who are your favorite Producers/DJs?

I think Daft Punk are so far ahead of everyone in so many ways, it’s impossible not to admire them. And I kind of see Oizo as the ring leader of all the new French guys. Nile Rodgers is great, the Persian guy who did the best Chaka Khan stuff, Brian Eno especially with Talking Heads, Phillipe Zdar, Prince, the guy who did MGMT sounds great. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think right now. I’m more into music than production.

4. What are your top 5 tracks you put on to dance?

Well, like most people, it changes all the time but right now I would say:
Once In a Lifetime – Talking Heads
Lucky Star – Madonna
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Savin’ The Day – Alessi Brothers
Dare – Stan Bush
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202008/04%20-%20Stan%20Bush%20-%20Dare.mp3]

5. What to you is a perfectly produced track? Any examples?

That’s a tough one. I don’t think there’s any such thing as perfection. Production is almost like dressing someone. When you see them naked, you might instantly think of something that would accentuate how that person looks, highlight their qualities and hide their flaws. Maybe they look amazing naked. Some people could make a bin bag look good and it doesn’t really matter what you do with them, if anything. So, if you follow my analogy, I think it’s all very subjective and at the end of the day you just end up with one vision, not perfection.

6. What are some difference between producing tracks as Dubka vs. producing Cazals?

I don’t think there are any similarities! The first is me pacing up and down, lying on the floor, not speaking and looking for exactly what it is I want to do and how I see the track. The latter is a compromise of everyone’s artistic vision, technical ability, ego and all the rest of it. If I want to try something, I have to convince the others of my intentions. And then working with Cazals differs from working with another band because I’m much closer to the whole thing. Luckily they’re usually quite tolerant when I tell them I’m right and they’re wrong. Haha!

7. Does your bass playing influence your Dubka production style? I have been playing bass for 10 years and feel that the bassline is the crucial link between the drums and melodies especially in dance/electronic music.

I’m sure it does. Bass was my first instrument so I guess I must relate most things musical to that in some way. I find the interaction between bass and drums and drums and melody really important. They’re like the book-ends of the track that hold everything else in place. Also, playing drums, keyboards and guitar gives me a better understanding of how they interact and how to arrange them and that in turn helps explaining ideas and communicating with other musicians.

8. How do you feel about DJs and electronic producers stepping behind the mixing board like Erol Alkan producing the Mystery Jets and Late of the Pier?

I was skeptical at first but when you think about it, it’s all just a matter of good taste and how you motivate people. Erol is a cool guy and I think he’s done a really great job with the bands I’ve heard him work with. As far as I know, he mixed those records as well, which is very impressive. SebastiAn said he’s working with Peaches and Uffie too but I guess that isn’t such a huge departure, apart from the communication and the compromise.

9. Dubka’s future plans? Cazals future plans?

I’m not sure what’s happening with Cazals. There are a few more gigs to honour this year, then who know’s? As for myself, I’ve just finished a remix for Hearts Revolution which I wish I could show you but it should be released soon. Oh, and I’m just starting one for Sebastien Tellier. I’ve been talking about revisiting an old project of mine with some friends called The Plastic Society (www.myspace.com/wearetheplasticsociety). I always have problems with my own music because I find showing it to others can somehow affect how I view it and that makes it difficult for me to judge exactly what it is I want to do, which I find very important. There’s music in my computer that nobody has heard and maybe never will but I’m talking about it more these days so I’m working on what’s going to become of it. Maybe you’ll see a Dubka album, who know’s?

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Late of the Pier – Live @ Paradiso – Amsterdam – 7.6.2008

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Late of the Pier x Zongamin

Late of the Pier – Heartbeat (Zongamin Remix)
Cheers, Waves at Night

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Music Video: Late Of The Pier – Heartbeat

What a weird and twisted band. I love it. Psycho-delic 🙂
Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel out 8.11.2008 on Parlophone Records
Late Of The Pier Myspace

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