vendredi 19 octobre 2012

Jozif Feat. Little Bear - The 508 (CRM104)

With a hectic summer of touring and the critically acclaimed ´Standard Rising EP´ on Culprit under his belt, extended family member jozif finds time to contribute the next installment in the Crosstown Rebels unstoppable streak with ´The 508´; a killer EP featuring the sublime vocal work of Little Bear and rising star Uffe on remix duty.
Unorthodox percussive elements lead the way on original version of ´The 508´, rattling away in an almost marching band fashion until we are swept into the ethereal vocals of Little Bear reminiscent of early Kate Bush. Deeply emotive grand piano chords combined with additional hats and shakers pave the way for a kick and sub-bass combo to give the track real purpose and drive. An electric piano melody during the breakdown builds tension to a climax that cascades down upon the return of the lush vocals.
On the remix the Rebels well renowned A&R team welcome young Danish starlet Uffe to the label after his exceptional recent outing on Pets Recordings. This one starts gritty and raw with tribal percussion setting a loose off kilter groove. The piano chords from the original are retained and are even developed further with a few extra chords added. This time its epic string pads that build the climax and a glockenspiel melody that completes this beautiful journey.
An instrumental version of the original is included to round off this excellent package from burning UK talent, jozif.
 
  • Label: Crosstown Rebels
  • Cat no: CRM104
  • Web: www.crosstownrebels.com
  • Distribution: Above Board Distribution
  • Released: Mon Nov 19th, 2012



  • LINK TO THE TRACKS

    jeudi 18 octobre 2012

    Damian Lazarus Q & A



    Crosstown Rebels' commander-in-chief empties the contents of his psychic record bag.

    The track I always play to rescue a dancefloor
    Donna Summer: I Feel Love


    There are times when I take people on long, deep, psychedelic journeys with my music, and having a track like this at your disposal is great for rewiring the crowd back to some kind of normality.

    The track that currently gets the most rewinds
    Andre Kraml: Safari

    A Crosstown Rebels classic. When you hear the opening bars, there's nothing you can do but be excited about what follows.

    The track I wish I'd signed to my label
    Chic: I Want Your Love

    One of my favourite records of all time. I play this one out as the last tune at parties where I feel like I've really connected with the crowd.

    The track I'd play at my auntie's wedding
    Exile: Kiss You All Over (Brennan Green Edit)


    Not because I'd like to kiss my auntie all over, but I think she would appreciate this genuine lovers' anthem.

    The track that got me out of bed this morning
    Prince: Purple Rain

    This is my most played 12" at home in LA. It sits there waiting for me every morning. My puppy and my four cats know not to bother me for their breakfast until the record has finished.

    The track I wish i'd never played
    Original Cast: Reviewing The Situation (from Oliver! soundtrack)

    Some say I should never have played this at half-speed over the top of some eerie sound effects … but you know, life's a gamble and there's no regrets.

    The best track by my favourite new artist
    Francesca Lombardo: Sofiel

    She's a classically trained musician and opera singer, and her house/techno music production is second to none.

    The ideal festival track
    Double 99: Ripgroove

    I closed the day with this one at the first Parklife Festival and the place exploded.

    The track that should have been a crossover hit
    Infinity Ink: Infinity

    A monster of a record that is so catchy, it deserves to be a global smash hit. I've just had new remixes made of it by Richy Ahmed and Claude VonStroke so we'll see what happens when we re-release it.

    The track I want played at my funeral
    Deodato: Also Sprach Zarathustra


    It's the track played when Chauncey Gardiner discovers New York City in the film Being There and I think it accurately reflects the drama and fun I've had in my life.

    jeudi 4 octobre 2012

    Francesca Lombardo - Eyes Of Nature (RBL012)

    After her incredible ‘Changes EP’ on Crosstown Rebels earlier this year, new lady of house Francesca Lombardo continues to impress this time through the Rebellion arm of the enterprise with her ‘Eyes of Nature EP’.
    ´Eyes´ is first up and opens with a slick percussive grove characterised by lots of organic elements coalescing to paint a mesmerising, ritualistic picture. Bells, shakers and cymbals rattle and echo while deep haunting synths climb and fall to create a real sense of drama. Francesca utilises her vocal training to devastating effect intermittently throughout the track, panning her own heavily FX´d vocals across the mix adding further to the suspense.
    On the flip vocal stabs and a tabla drum riff set the tone on ´Wander and Wonder´, before an infectious woodblock melody signals the arrival of a huge baseline taking this one straight to the dance-floor. The full potential of the track is released with the introduction of Julien Riachi´s hypnotic vocals, which are sure to prompt a few ´hands in the air´ moments. Exquisite production skills see that the track continuously evolves sonically and elementally, whilst Lombardo´s classically trained ear ensures that the vast array of musical elements on display make perfect sense.
    We wait in excitement for the forthcoming album to be released next year on Crosstown Rebels.


  • Label: RebelLION
  • Cat no: RBL012
  • Web: www.crosstownrebels.com
  • Distribution: Above Board
  • Released: Mon Nov 5th, 2012

  • LINK TO THE TRACKS

    mardi 2 octobre 2012

    Crosstown Rebels celebrate Day Zero in Mexico

    Crosstown Rebels have announced plans for Day Zero, a 24-hour party taking place in Mexico on December 21st, 2012.

    The event is timed to coincide with what the Mayans believed to be the end of the current "World Age"—that is, the cosmically significant occurrence at the center of the 2012 theories. Many people describe this event as some kind of apocalypse, but Crosstown Rebels boss Damian Lazarus assures us that "it’s more of a new beginning—the beginning of a new chapter." Day Zero is a celebration of this transition. It's taking place among the temples at a never-before-used Mayan theme park in Playa Del Carmen. The party starts 6:00 PM on December 20th and ends at 6:11 PM on December 21st—the exact moment this cosmic shift is expected to take place.

    The lineup is a unique mix of core Crosstown artists (Lazarus, Jamie Jones, Art Department, Subb-an, Amirali, Infinity Ink, Fur Coat, Francesca Lombardo), friends of the family (Acid Pauli, Maayan Nidam, Thugfucker, Metrika, Matias Aguayo) and a few interesting curveballs (3D of Massive Attack vs James Lavelle, Trentemøller and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs). There will be Mayan dancers and shamanic rituals, antics provided by Crystal Rebels and lots of crazy visuals (e.g. video-mapped floating pyramids).

    Day Zero is meant to be the first in a series of special events around the world, though no plans exist yet for future editions. Last week we called up Lazarus in Ibiza (post-disco nap, pre-Paradise at DC10) for his side of the story:

    How was Burning Man?

    Incredible, it really is like no place on earth. The Rebel Heart—that is, the Crosstown Rebels and Robot Heart party on the Wednesday—it’s become something of a phenomenon. It’s just so intense, literally like partying on another planet. We had about three or four thousand people there for the party. We drive out to the Playa, deep into the desert and then everyone follows on their bikes. It’s just such a bizarre occurrence. You start a party somewhere, then it starts moving and everyone starts following behind you, like all these art cars come and surround the party. I guess they kind of make a nightclub, if you like. It’s pretty special, man.

    In a way that seems like a similar experience to what you’re trying to create with Day Zero. Would you say that’s true?

    Burning Man offers up the experience for freedom of expression and I think this event will offer a similar platform. A chance to creatively open up and join with like minded people. We are in discussions with a couple of amazing art cars that we discovered at Burning Man this year about the possibility of them joining us in Mexico.

    I should point out, though, that the actual venue that we have for Day Zero 
is like nothing I’ve ever seen before in my life: it’s an as-yet unopened to the public Mayan theme park, so it has three pyramids, two lakes, four swimming pools. It’s as good as being in the real thing. We are going to have the stage in front of the main pyramid, and we are working with an incredible visuals company. We are going to be video-mapping onto the pyramids, and we have a lot of incredible surprises that will be awaiting people for the event. Basically the idea was to pull together the dream location, the dream lineup, dream partnerships, people that we love working with, to make this event something people have never seen before. It just kind of feels like the planets are aligning, and that’s exactly what is going to happen.

    Can you give me an explanation of the significance of the date? What exactly is the context?

    It’s the first time in 26,000 years that there will be a galactic alignment 
of the planets. The Mayans foretold that this would be the end of a life cycle, and many people kind of see this as being the end of the world. Most people who have any kind of understanding of the relevance of this date would say it’s more of a new beginning—the beginning of a new chapter. I think that the date December 21st, 2012 is the kind of thing that a lot of people would generally just dismiss as hogwash or just a load of old bullshit, but I think that for the first time we have something that our generation can latch onto that actually feels like something special. I think there’s been some kind of generational shift in attitude, there’s a lot of uncertainty in our world at the moment. There’s a lack of religious belief, and so that kind of means that the people don’t really have anything on a higher level to hold onto. I think this date actually offers people the chance to take a bit of stock of their lives, to think about who they are, what they do, what they give, what they take from this world in which we live. I think putting it into the perspective of what we do as musicians or DJs or producers or artists is a really good opportunity for people to come together and celebrate the fact we’re here and celebrating the way we know best—by putting on an amazing party and enjoying the best possible music together with our favorite people and basically coming together to celebrate the life that we have and see what’s about to come next.

    Do you think parties and festivals can have a semi-religious role in people’s lives?

    I think a lot of people follow this music and this lifestyle as ardently and with
 as much passion as many people follow a religion or belief, you know? I’ve personally witnessed and experienced so many moments of pure beauty and love and just true moments with dreamlike qualities that you couldn’t imagine happening in everyday life, for example a sunrise set to the backdrop of our music at a place like Burning Man or certain records that just kind of lift your spirit to a higher place, moments of pure clarity when you’re enjoying a moment like dancing with a friend or a stranger. I think our music plays a very important role in a lot of people’s lives. I think now’s a good time to appreciate that and to really show people that this music is about more than just paying money and walking into a nightclub and getting off your head for a few hours, you know?

    Would you say this is the most special event Crosstown has ever done?

    Absolutely, yeah, without question. I think it was just kind of time for us to step it up a little bit and try something different. I’m a bit of dreamer, obviously, and
 I have this whole idea in my head of how this event should be. Like I said, it’s trying to put my dream team together, both artistically and musically and from the production level, and involving people that bring something extra to my life that’s not just the day-to-day running of a record label or a nightclub. So I’m hoping this is going to be something very, very special, not just for Mexico but for our friends all over the world who will hopefully come and join us.

    Have you given much thought to future Day Zero events?

    Well realistically we’re so busy working with this at the moment that we’ll have to take each day as it comes, but I like the idea of finding alternative spaces, maybe places of natural beauty, to hold similar events in the future. But for the moment, we’re just concentrating on this one on the 20th and 21st of December. I found out that the Mayans say that the end of the calendar cycle will happen at exactly 6:11 PM on the 21st of December Mexico time, so I decided that we’d run a 24-hour event which would start at 6:00 PM on the 20th and close at exactly the moment the Mayans say that the cycle ends. So I don’t know what’s going to happen at 6:11 PM on the 21st—I suppose you have to wait and see—but I know that we’ll be planning something very special leading up to that.
     


    Words : Will Lynch