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| Big Boi on the mainstage at Seattle’s Bumbershoot in 2011. Photo by Alex Crick. |
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| Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos at the Crystal Ballroom during MFNW 2012. Photo by Anthony Pidgeon. |
The second time Justice toured the States in March 2008, they brought along some filmmaker friends to document what happens "when a bunch of frogs gets dropped in dreamy America."
Dubbed A Cross The Universe after their debut †, the Parisian duo of Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé got themselves into more than enough hijinks. And amongst the blood, boobs, guns, arrests, and eardrum-singeing beats, the highlight of that tour may have come in Vegas, culminating in the impromptu, whiskey-swigging wedding between Gaspard and a groupie whom he had met just three hours prior (apparently an homage to Axl Rose). Watch 90 seconds of the NSFW trailer below:
According to The Guardian, Gaspard "misplaced his new bride hours after their nuptials. ('She tried to contact me,' he says with a shrug, 'but obviously I didn't do the paperwork when I got back to France, so I'm legally just married in Nevada.')"
Justice was quick to admit that these surely aren't their proudest moments, and things definitely got out of hand at times, but the movie is a document nonetheless.
Not out to repeat themselves on film or record, Justice's 2011 album Audio, Video, Disco distanced the pair from their disco-house dance roots and ventured into the territory of prog rock. The record has faced it's fair share of criticism, often regarding the sparseness and simplicity of the album—whether the songs aren't dancey enough, or there's too little cohesion or too many distracting bursts of '70s arena rock riffs—but as witnessed by their tour documentary and subsequent interviews, Justice has a casual, blasé attitude. What happens, happens and it doesn't seem like they harbor much remorse or apologies for past or present transgressions.
Besides, who cares about the critics anyways? They sold out their Portland show months in advance. Now at the tail end of their North American leg (the first US tour in two years), Justice hits up the Roseland as part of the Soul'd Out Music Festival on Tuesday, April 24th... the same night Coldplay is in town—think fans will have a hard time choosing?
OMN had the chance to catch up with Gaspard Augé via chat in the days leading up to their arrival in Portland.
Did you try to distance yourself from your last album (and maybe even electro-house music) with Audio, Video, Disco?
It's was not a conscious move. Obviously there are differences but we see more common points. To us it's driven by the same influences and obsessions—to make epic, romantic, melancholic pop music. The form changed a bit, but it's a natural evolution between the two records.
Right. So how is it stylistically different in your eyes (or ears)?
We wanted to have a roomy sound, with more air into music, and to make something violent without being aggressive, more laid-back.
Watch "Civilization," the first single from Audio, Video, Disco:
I've read that you wanted this album to be simpler. How did you try to achieve that?
We don't think it's a simpler album music-wise, but we liked the idea that the sound has to be raw, with not much effects, a bit like a good sounding demo, at least in appearance. It has to sound effortless though we put a lot of effort.
After Digitalism released their debut album, Idealism, in 2007, the Hamburg duo of Jens “Jence” Moelle and İsmail “Isi” Tüfekçi had to sit back for a while, allowing the world to ”absorb it.” Sitting back isn’t entirely accurate; they did tour their asses off and then they holed themselves up in their studio bunker to begin work on 2011′s flippantly titled I Love You, Dude. The new album merges loads of styles derived from myriad influences for a record that ”keeps things simple yet [is] completely full of sounds,” according to the band. I Love You, Dude falls somewhere between Daft Punk (on the closing tracks “Miami Showdown” and “Encore”) and Cut Copy (on the single ”2 Hearts”) yet offers a distinctively Digitalism, electronic flavor on the album opener “Stratosphere” and first dish “Blitz” alongside the places where it wanders into more vocally prominent territory (“Circles” and “Forrest Gump”) in a manner not heard on previous material. There’s a chilled trip hop vibe with the added female vox of ”Just Gazin’” while the dance-punk screeches and abrasion of “Reeperbahn” are anything but calm but immediately followed by classic, Digitalism-ized house on “Antiobiotics.”
Describing their sound as “cinematic electronic 2180’s music that’s full of riffs,” Digitalism are visual thinkers, imagining “movie scenes to our music” and titling the songs as such once tracks are finished. The most playful poke of this technique is “Forrest Gump,” a song co-written with The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas and which feels like it could fit on his solo 2009 album, Phrazes for the Young. But the result is better than the frontman’s affair with synths because the source material comes from experienced electronic masters rather than a one-off attempt.
Digitalism’s live performance has also been noted over the years as the duo, along with a touring drummer, gets the nod to headline this summer’s HARD Tour, which stops in Portland at the Roseland Theater on Thursday, August 4th. The line up is stacked, also including electronic duos and solo acts like British house makers Jack Beats and French electronic producer Gesaffelstein. (The originally publicized bill included DJ and HARD creator Destructo and London dubstepper Caspa, but Caspa broke his leg and Destructo, being the organizer of all the HARD parties, will be forced to stay in LA to prepare for upcoming festivities.)
To get ready, listen to Digitalism’s HARD Summer Tour mixtape below:
OMN had the chance to catch up with the duo, chatting about the new album and their influences, before the tour kicked off.
It’s been four years since your first album. Why so long in between albums?
First of all, it seemed like after we dropped Idealism, it took the world a while to absorb it. In some countries the album was released before people had even heard about us. We then went on tour for the next years, played lots of concerts and festivals around the globe. It didn’t really feel like we had to make a new album very soon [after] or that people were ready for the next longplayer. About two years ago, we stopped the live tour and started doing DJ gigs again, which was kind of “back to the roots” for us, because that’s how we started. We could try out new tools and ideas from the studio without people knowing about it. We then started working on the new album last year and now we’re here! It didn’t take very long to make it, but we think we needed that time in advance.
I Love You, Dude definitely shows growth in your sound. There are moments of Idealism-era Digitalism but there also seems to be more material with prominent vocals and several songs that are stylistically very diverse. How did this evolution happen?
It was quite a natural development for us. Compared to our first album, the new one feels like it was written by a band rather than made by producers. That’s probably because we’ve been playing so many live shows and gained so much new experience around the globe over the last years. We learned a lot during that period. Before we started the band, we had never been to a festival before, and we had never played live. So the songwriting was something that was new for us, and it kind of started with “Pogo” and a few other songs on the first album, but since it was so much fun doing that and performing them, there was no doubt that we would take that even further on the next record.
I Love You, Dude definitely reflects that live background now, as the songs aren’t based on the usual “club tempo” 130 BPM anymore. The music is much more extreme, the disparity between the songs is bigger now, like there’s really fast or slow songs, more melodies or much harder elements. It shows our current musical taste, and that has evolved over the last years. And of course, we feel more grown up now.
What’s the story behind the title of your new album: I Love You, Dude?
The title was a pure gut-decision...
To be fair, UK’s Rusko doesn’t really like the term “brostep.” But, also to be fair, it’s a beast that he helped create. And Rusko is the prime proliferator of hyper-energetic dubstep in a field of electronic music that is as vast as rock–for a whole different brand of dubstep check the soulfully rising James Blake or local purveyors, LoDubs.
The point is, Rusko has caught fire here in the States with his wonky wobble wobble, bringing some Euro club stamina to American dance floors and parties. But we wouldn’t be Americans if we didn’t make some demands of the music itself (or the music maker in this case). Crowds have confirmed that they like their dubstep faster, grittier, and heavier than ever peddled before, and whether he like it or not, Rusko has been just the man to deliver. So far.
Last time OMN spoke with Rusko, he said, “I don’t associate myself with being a dubstep producer, I am a musician full stop.”
So while he continues to take dubstep to the next level, there may be change in the future. But for time foreseeable, Rusko is enjoying his status as the master of ceremonies.
Upping the multimedia and light show since the last time he hit the Roseland Theater, Rusko still looks to melt faces with his dynamic electronica on Friday, April 15th at the Roseland as part of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.
OMN recently caught up with Rusko for a quick chat.
Rusko is hotter than ever… more HARD parties, more touring… how’s it all feel?
Amazing!!!
The multitude of descriptors for your style must make you smile. I personally have an affinity for “brostep.” What’s your favorite description of your style?
Hmm, I am actually not too into the term “brostep” but I guess it’s sort of my fault really. My favorite description is anything that includes BASS.
How much new music are you pumping out? I swear last time I saw you every other track was a brand new Rusko exclusive.
A lot! Working with a slew of artists and also have a special project coming out later on this year…
How do your tracks change in the live setting?
I always take new original tracks and test them out in the live setting. If they don’t hit hard enough, I go back to the lab!
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As the wide world of West Coast gangsta rap diminishes–Nate Dogg passed away on March 15th, Snoop Dogg subsequently released an underwhelming eleventh studio album, and Dr. Dre is taking forever to release his third and “final” album–with each passing decade, one is left to ponder, where’s Ice Cube? …in the rap game at least.
Still a family name (and we mean family more than ever before), the “Fuck Tha Police” thug has gone the way of Ice-T: acting on television. Whether you’re from predominantly white Portland suburbs (or Portland in general) or South Central, we all grow out of our gangsta rap phase–plus some money (and a few years) goes more than a little way to change those youthful predispositions. No exception to the rule, Ice Cube has focused most of the last decade on a successful acting career that has put his softer, comedic side on the big screen–now with several Friday sequels under his belt and humorous roles in two BarberShop films and a Showtime series plus many feature film writer, director and producer credits to his name.
Now an executive director and cast member of the TBS family sitcom Are We There Yet?, a show loosely based on the 2005 feature film of the same name (which was set in Portland but mainly filmed in Vancouver, BC and other NW locations), Cube appears to be spending more and more time away from music. In August 2010, Are We There Yet?, which also stars retired NFL d-end and linebacker Terry Crews, was renewed for an additional 90 episodes, some five or six more seasons.Since the world may never again experience a live arsenal of West Coast rap like the 2000 Up In Smoke Tour, Ice Cube is currently on his own 29-day trek across the States and Canada, which was interrupted last month “due to a filming commitment,” causing Ice Cube to reschedule his original Oregon gigs at the end of March–just another sign that film comes first these days. But lucky us, the tour is back on and Ice Cube now hits Bend’s Midtown Music Hall on Wednesday, April 6th and Portland on Friday, April 8th at the Roseland as part of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.
On the music end, The Voice of Cube blog has been silent since September 28th, 2010–the release date of his ninth and most recent album, I Am The West–but Cube has definitely not forgotten his Jheri curled days of Straight Outta Compton and Boyz n the Hood. On record, Ice Cube still carries himself as a savage gangsta with his distinct, gruff delivery and harsh, commanding lyrics. Stepping on stage, there’s still a glimmer of feisty protest left the 41-year-old, Don Mega gangsta who promises to perform “all of the classics and all of the new hits.”
With this in mind, know that Ice Cube still keeps it gangsta–in persona at least.
Keeping it gangsta while sporting some vintage Mariners’ gear, probably just because he liked the 1994 teal, in an OG rap music video that spares no expense when it comes to video production:
Longtime trip-hop purveyors Morcheeba have spent the last several years experimenting. Releasing two albums with a variety of vocalists, the Godfrey brothers decided to go back to the basics, reuniting with longtime female vocalist Skye Edwards for their seventh studio album, last year’s Blood Like Lemonade. It’s a return to the “old Morcheeba,” who broke forth during the mid-’90s, English trip-hop scene, with the soulful and sultry Skye Edwards back on vocals in a fresh “state of three o’clock in the morning.” Or more cheeba.
Spread across the globe, multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey was the glue that helped Morcheeba reconnect as he moved between his brother DJ Paul Godfrey’s house in France and Skye Edwards’ place in London to assemble the pieces that would become Blood Like Lemonade, the most hands-on record to date from Morcheeba.
“It was a true collaboration,” says Skye Edwards in the band’s A Brief History, which you can see when Morcheeba comes to Portland’s Roseland Theater on Friday, March 4th with their “close-knit band,” which even features Skye’s husband, Steve, on bass.
“We play a mixture of old and new songs,” says Ross. “We play a bunch of songs from the first couple of albums and about four or five songs from the new record. Any Morcheeba fan from any different period of Morcheeba that comes to the show should be pleased. There should be enough to satisfy everybody.”
Ross Godfrey spoke to OMN from his studio in Hollywood, Los Angeles, where he has lived for four years, although he spends most of time on the road and in London.
All three of you were recording from different places in the world during the creation of this album…
Yes and no. I spent a lot of time traveling in between LA, where I live, and London, where Skye was recording, and France, where my brother lives. I spent a lot of time going in between to link it all together. So yes, we did spend quite a lot of time in different places, but we did meet up a lot as well.
So you played the messenger role.
[Laughs] Well, yeah. I like traveling, and they probably exploited that fact. I spent nine months on the road last year, and then as soon as I got home my wife and I went traveling around India for a month, and I don’t know why I did that. I should’ve just gone home and sat on the couch and relaxed for a while. I guess I have itchy feet.
How’s it feel to have Skye back?
It’s really, really good, wonderful. It’s been a real pleasure playing with her again; we’ve had some great times. She’s such an amazing singer and she’s really good at writing. We spent a lot of time developing together so when we start writing together, it automatically fits. It was necessary for us to have some time apart because we’d driven each other a bit crazy, but it was really nice to get back together again. I just bumped into her on the street in London at the beginning of last year and we went to dinner and got drunk and talked about making a new record. And it happened very naturally. As soon as we started recording it just felt great.
“You will dance or die!” announced the The ArchAndroid Janelle Monáe, her massive golden face glowing from two video screens behind her dapper band. Addressing Portland from the year 2719, the messiah android told that contrary to popularly held fears robots and humans of the future could live together in harmony. But the atmosphere quickly turned to a more primitive state. Aboriginal faces emblazoned the same screens as rapper-poet Saul William’s recorded voice set off the aforementioned “Dance Or Die.” Backs to the audience, three cloaked druid figures bobbed their conical protrusions before one revealed her face. Throwing off her cape on Thursday night opening for of Montreal, Janelle Monáe strutted forward to tell a robo-tale and the Roseland screamed. Puffed white shoulders and an Elizabethan ruff around her neck, the girl rearranged the acts of Suites II and III from her debut studio album The ArchAndroid to a share the fictional story of a messianic android, Cindi Mayweather, a concept which is adapted from and influenced by the 1927 German-expressionist film Metropolis, as her 2007 EP was titled as such: Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase).
With her incredible afro jutting out front and drawing attention to the whites of her wide eyes, the tiny android diva commanded alone with presence and performance but shattered minds with her pipes. From soulful ballads that enraptured to impenetrable raps, Janelle Monáe’s set was seamless and theatrical complete with a Halloween vibe and costumed back up dancers–from the living dead stalking about in white-beaked, Venetian Medico Della Peste masks on “Sincerely, Jane” with arms extended to the lyrics “Are we really living or just walking dead now?” to her two girls in nun-like smocks.
Janelle Monáe’s expressions were deadpan robotic and serious while her saddle shoed moves were so perfect that they could have only been preprogrammed. From ballerina-esque poses to jittering possessed, she maintained a fluid elegance as she put her knee up and slithered deftly across the stage. The biggest shame was that most of audience on the floor could not she those toes tap. The woman needed, and deserved, a pedestal.
The show flowed continuously, telling her story as instrumental ludes from her talented boys filled the gaps between songs with selections from her album or a snippet of “The Star-Spangled Banner” ala Hendrix. A practiced duet with of Montreal’s singer Kevin Barnes on “Make The Bus” (the band appears on the recorded track) made the flamboyant Barnes look like a gawky teenager asking the belle of the ball for dance. The girl has a vision and the liquid moves to go with. Her uber-smoothness simply made Barnes seem awkward. No easy feat.
Back to “Wondaland” we went as Janelle Monáe hit...
They’ve given up silly name changes and they’ve given up on the labels that asked for those changes. They’ve given up compromising their artistic integrity and values… wait Starfucker has values? What thankfully remains true is that Portland’s most adored indie-electro-pop darlings Starfucker will be releasing their second album under their god-given, started-as-a-joke name after inking a deal with Polyvinyl Records’ West Coast office in San Francisco.
Yet, the latest press release from their new big box publicity company officially refers to the band as STRFKR (even misspelling the new abbreviated/acronymed moniker as STFKR in the title of the email… man those letters are difficult!). Although, it seems that Starfucker long ago accepted this fate when they reverted back to their original being, using the letter mash in for their current MySpace URL (myspace.com/strfkrmusic) and even allowing the family-friendly-spell-out-expletives-because-Johnny-is-too-young-to-understand-and-easily-fooled-by-comic-strip-cursing-#@$%!-approved Starf*cker.
Do you think all the past name changes have hurt Starfucker at all?
Succinctly and assuredly put: “No. It made it better,” says Ryan Biornstad.
Throughout it all, one thing has remained constant: the music. And the fact that Portland wants more of it. Playing their biggest gig to date at the Roseland Theater on Wednesday, October 20th, Starfucker has been co-headlining their current tour with the tight experimental pop of Austin’s The Octopus Project–traveling together and trading off nights as the closer depending on the city or whichever band ate the most cherry pies at lunch. Joining the tourmates are Portland disco-funk favorites Strength and indie-pop rockers Super XX Man.
OMN spoke to Ryan Biornstad on the phone from Washington DC when the band had just breached the two-week mark of their five-week tour and was heading to Philadelphia. Here’s the dish on Starfucker’s new album out in March (if they meet all their deadlines), a road diary of their creepy adventures, and a freshly “amped up” live show featuring tight new tracks off the new album. And you can bet your sweet ass that means new costumes!
Listen to the first single "Julius," available for purchase here...
People should be outraged when they arrive at a sold-out show to discover that only half of the act will be performing. But in the ubiquitous age of laptop DJ-dancemakers, who needs to watch another white dude stand behind a table of electronics? So when only one-half of Major Lazer strutted onto the Roseland stage in his slick suit, nobody cared. Even though the ladies surely swoon for Diplo’s boyish sex appeal, it could have been anyone back there tapping away at that table because the real action was thrusting in front of your face in the form of the daggering, diplomat from the Bronx: Skerrit Bwoy.
Major Lazer’s hyper-sexualized electro house, dancehall reggae, hip-hop requires a hyper hype-man. The yellow mohawked commando of dance floor dry sex brought his display of dancehall daggering (where a man and woman dance in a sexually provocative manner, which usually includes simulating various sexual positions, and often times rough sex, to the beat of the music) to the Roseland stage–ladder included.
Practice daggering with caution and let Skerrit Bwoy give you a quick lesson before you attempt what was witnessed on Thursday night.
Climbing his ladder and dropping trou, Skerrit Bwoy launched himself in between the spread-eagle legs of his partner, but the lady had her revenge after a night of chauvinist pummeling as she showed girls can play just as rough as the boys taking her own leap from the ladder.
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