We’d like to introduce you to some dark, arresting and emotive electro-pop that we’ve been listening to recently. It comes from Los Angeles pianist, vocalist and songwriter, Banks. Though she could have easily taken the strictly pop singer route, Banks choose to dive deeper into sounds, arrangements and concepts giving her poetic songs a more complex worldly feel we have to admit, we’re a bit obsessed with!
As the follow-up to her skin-crawling love song Before I Ever Met You, she has recently released the B-side, with a track called Fall Over. It’s out now, and if you like it as much as we do, you can grab your copy here.
Are you ready for 8 minutes, yes 8 minutes of pure joy! Erol Alkan has put together his stunning rework of Night Works’ latest single Long Forgotten Boy. Been a big fan of all the reworks Mr Alkan has been putting together over the last year, and this one certainly doesn’t fail to impress once again.
Long Forgotten Boy arrives on March 18th via Phantasy. It comes backed with Daniel Avery’s remix of The Eveningtime remastered for vinyl. You can pre-order your 12” – here. Nice!
Posted: March 14th, 2013 | Author:givafizz | Filed under:MIXTAPE | No Comments »Paulie, one half of Cosmonauts, has been working his own magic over the last few months. Putting together these ace mixes, full of delicious deep house goodness. His latest mix is no different – dropping tracks from the likes of Eats Everything, Jonas Rathsman, Fadel & Sixth Avenue Express. And for all you London folk, he is playing a 4 hour set at The Nest on April 6th – as he celebrates the launch of his first solo single Spread Love which is coming out on Super Trooper in April. Get in!!
Fellow Northern Irish man, Ejeca does it again with another top notch remix, this time of Russ Chimes’ Praxis & Kathy Brown – sampling new single “Turn Me Out”. He brings all his house vibes to this massive remix. Give the preview a spin below before its release on April 29th on Deconstruction / Columbia Records. It’s also worth checking out the full original version of “Turn Me Out” – also below. Enjoy!
After hearing the anthem ‘Sunset’ by Compuphonic last year, it was agreed that it was one of the highlights of the summer in 2012. Although Compuphonic was an established artist since the early 00’s, with tracks on big labels such as Turbo & 20:20 Vision , 2013 is proving to be quite an exciting one for him; and its not even at the end of the 1st quarter! He’s a busy bee, with re-releases, a new music video and a new album set to come out this summer. We here at GIVAFIZZ got together with the man himself to see how he’s coping with it all …
Hi Maxime, thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Givafizz. How are you doing today and where are you talking to us from?
Hello! I’m speaking to you from the Belgian countryside. In front of me, the sun is shining and I’m looking onto an amazing view, a great forest stretching off to the horizon.
I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but what’s behind the name Compuphonic or how did you come up with it?
My name just comes from the very first synthetizer I owned, the Roland Promars Compuphonic. I had been booked to play at a party and I was on the phone to the promoter and had to quickly choose a name, when I looked around, I saw that word ‘Compuphonic’ which I thought was nice and simple, so I chose that and have kept it ever since.
Tell us a little bit about growing up in Belgium – who were your influences growing up? Did it have any impact on your productions?
You actually get very interesting music on the radio in Belgium. Because we are stuck between France, Germany, the UK and Holland, there are lots of different kinds of music reaching us all the time.
When I was younger, I was listening to electro stuff like Kraftwerk or Jan Hammer, eighties stuff and New Wave bands like Human League, Depeche Mode, even rock artists like Queen. Here in Belgium you can find lots of interesting records in people’s living room, so we’re exposed to so much and obviously, this has influenced me greatly in my music creation.
How was learning a demanding instrument such as the cello since a young age? Did it make you focus on your music more?
Yes, the cello is a very demanding instrument, it requires a lot of work and training. I was forced to be very involved into learning to play it, you have to be otherwise you just don’t make any progress.
To be honest whilst I actually find its sound interesting it’s also quite limited, I always wanted to be able to create more elaborate music than something composed in just one key at a time.
I have never played again after I stopped, and honestly I don’t regret it. I consider the cello as the first thing that lead me into studio based music.
Sunset – wow! The reaction has been amazing for that track! Did you anticipate such a response?
Not at all. You never expect this kind of response. Now truthfully I felt that the track had something special, a little magic, but I always make music with the same exact energy, so it surprised me anyways that this particular piece functions much better than all others.
How did the label Get Physical become involved? Whose idea was it to re release it with such a variety of remixes?
When I finished the track, I sent it to Turbo, Get Physical and DFA. I got 2 positive responses. DJ T from GPM answered me 5 minutes after I sent the track, “I want this track on Get Physical!”
Sometimes in life things just work out like that… As for remixes, we chose them with my management. I find them all really varied and all of them very interesting.
Do you have a favourite of the remixes (go on- we won’t tell anyone!)
Honestly it’s so hard to chose, they’re all great and do very different things, but personally to my own music tastes I would have to say that I have a preference for the disco classical style of Aeroplane’s version and the really fresh re-reading from Waze & Odyssey.
We’ve read that you have a new album launching in 2013 – can you tell us a bit more about it? Any interesting collaborations?
I prefer to talk about the album when it’s finished, right now everything isn’t completely defined, but what I can say is that I’ve been working very hard on it!
On a broader note, (deep) house music at the moment seems to be taking much influence from the earlier days of house (New York, Chicago, Detroit etc). Do you think that’s fair to say? How often do you call on the earlier years for inspiration?
Electronic music is constantly recycling itself, taking elements from the past and mixing them with new sounds and Deep House like any other style nourishes itself with many of the tunes from those times. The music from the first few years of dance music might be richer because it was a brand new creative movement. For that reason, the first years of techno and house inspire me very much.
What are your top 5 tracks right now?
Urulu & Steve Huerta – Things I Didn’t Mean
George Fitzgerald – Every_Inch (Deetron Remix)
Real Connoisseur – Faux De Baux
FCL – It’s You (San Sodas Panorama Bar Acca Version)
In Deep We Trust – Basen (Pool Party Dub Mix)
You’ve a few sets coming up in Belgium in the next few weeks– what’s it like playing to a home crowd? Are there any venues that stand out for you from a DJs perspective?
There are so many great clubs in Belgium! There’s Mr Wong in Brussels, an old vintage Chinese restaurant was transformed into a club whilst keeping the original decor, then there’s le Cadran & le Studio 22 in the very centre of Liège, the classical Café d’Anvers, and of course the techno temple named Le Fuse… We have many excellent clubs here which have all a very well defined identity of their own.
How much preparation to you put into your sets – are you are a believer in free-styling it or are your sets well planned?
Personally I prepare my sets a lot, but then when I’m actually playing it is usually a mix between what I’ve prepared and improvising. I’ll always prepare a few transitions which I find good, make a few edits of my own especially for my sets and think about what I will play. But then during the set itself, I’ll react to the public, the ambiance, sound and atmosphere of the club.
Thanks for your time. Keep up the great work
Compuphonics ‘Sunset’ has a new video out NOW – check it here :
The guys at NeedWant have only gone and brought together some of the best sounds in House & Garage, putting together this tasty compilation. For us, compilations can be pretty hit & miss, but this one hits the sweet spot for sure!
For those of you who don’t know, Garage music of the nineties was one of the most defining periods of electronic music. The sound was originally born in industrial American cities and was then reinvented in the UK. Nearly a decade on and a whole new generation of producers are reaching back in time to once again shape the sounds of current dance floors with their brand new take of the classic House and Garage era. And it’s a sound we’re getting more and more into, so expect to see a lot more stuff like this soon.
In the meantime, enjoy the sampler below and check out the ful tracklist blow. Drops on March 25th 2013. Pre order here.
1. HNNY – For The Very First Time
2. Ben Pearce – What I Might Do (Harry Wolfman Remix)
3. Dusky – Flo Jam
4. Rhythm Operator – Anytime
5. Disclosure – Boiling (Medlar Remix)
6. Rhode & Brown, Shegg – Joyride
7. Huxley – Can’t sleep
8. Washerman – Soulsearch
9. Ejeca – Horizon
10. Breach – You Won’t Find Love Again
11. The Real Connoisseur – Faux De Baux
12. George Fitzgerald – Child (NY Stomp Remix)
13. The Mekanism – Body Classic
14. Purple Velvet – Never Do You Wrong
15. Rachel Row – Follow The Step (Trikk Remix)
16. Tomson & Benedict – Switch
17. Citizen – Worship + Tribute (Your Love)
We only heard this track this morning and it has been on repeat throughout the afternoon! Marius Hösturzcurates his own version of Rihannas ‘Stay’ and really slows the tempo down for some chilled – feel good house. And he’s only gone and given it out as a free download – legend!
Its seems we cant enough of George Fitzgerald in the past month, we’ve been addicted to his Radio 1s Essential Mix when it came out, himself and Hotflush CEO Scuba absolutely smashed it in their session of Boiler Room last week, and now he reveals his comeback to the Hotflush label since 2011 with a track entitled Thinking Of You.
Thinking of You is very similar to the 2012 anthem that was ‘Child’ – in the sense that the vocals are in a perfect loop with the track and are insanely catchy. Fitzgerald digs deeper this time into this genre with a dark, robust bassline, showing off exactly why hes dubbed a future star of today.
‘Thinking of You’ is out on Hotflush Recordings on March 16th.
