Tim Callinu and Lucky Strike

MySpace is so cool. I hear so many complaints about it, but I shamelessly love it! I've met so many amazing people from that site who are now actual flesh and blood friends of mine. I've been exposed to so much awesome art and music from pretty much every continent on the globe.
Today I got a friend request from "Lost Dominion" who is Tim Callinu, an artist in Portland, who could be my next door neighbor for all I know! I don't know him, but here's some of his art.




artwork by Tim Callinu


LUCKY STRIKE



In other news, I finally found the best Chinese restaurant in Portland: Lucky Strike! It's a bit of a trek getting to it, located at 123rd and Powell, but well worth the journey. Lucky Strike is the closest to authenticate Sichuan cuisine I've had in a Portland Restaurant. I am lucky enough to have some friends who have cooked me authentic Sichuan, specifically Chengdu, style food and it is delicious! From what I've been told, most of the Portland Chinese restaurants serve Americanized versions of Mandarin cuisine: syrupy sweet deep fried morsels or stir frys drowning dispassionately in a bland, translucent gravy. Sichuan cuisine is bold, spicy, smokey, and complex! The Sichuan peppercorn and salty black (broad) bean paste are the most important and unique ingredients to this cuisine and have been absent at every PDX restaurant except for this one. The Sichuan peppercorn is a bizarre flavor/ experience unlike anything else. It is both a flavor and a sensation. It has a bit of a floral flavor that numbs the tongue and mouth. After eating one, inhale with your mouth and you can feel the sensation of the tiny pores on your lips and tongue opening up and cool air pleasantly shooting into them. Ask the server to bring you one to taste alone! It's such a special spice that's so rare to these parts!
I had the pork and cabbage dumplings, the dan dan noodles, and the Guinness Pork Ribs. All three dishes were out of control delicious! Check it out and bring friends so you can try out a few different things!

DW Remix of "Spacer Woman"

Illustration by DW Design

"Spacer Woman" is one of my favorite Italo Disco tracks. In the original, the singer's warbling voice sounds so sad and earnest, like a softer version Nico. She makes me feel as though she is on the verge of having her heart broken and is pleading for love and trust from the cold and suspicious Earthling she's singing to. I was very excited when I saw that DW remixed this song. His version begins with a more prominent, meditative, and droning bass line then suddenly jumps right into the vocal hook of the song with a new flirty feel. His playful use of reverberating drum fills, looping, and a new cheerful, baroque-style synth harpsichord melody color the singer as a more confident and optimistic Spacer Woman.

Charlie- Spacer Woman (DW Remix)

Charlie- Spacer Woman (original)

DW MySpace

Mystery Cat and His Mix Tape

Christian Petersen is a British photographer, illustrator, and graphic designer currently residing in Seattle, Washington. He is co-founder of the graphic and web design company Dumb Eyes. In 2007, he won the "Erotic Photographer of the Year" award in England.

Christian Petersen, also known as Mystery Cat, photographs women employing his unique eye for clever geometric and symmetrical framing. The minimal, yet dramatic use of color in his work grab at the eye in the otherwise dark and muted tones dominating his images.

His work is sexy, mysterious, and clever. His romantic world is that of urban nymphs and curious sex kittens.

Below are some of Christian Petersen's photographs. You can view many, many more (including nudes) at his Mystery Cat flickr page.

Visit his website, too! http://www.christianjpetersen.com/















180 magazine asked him to do a photo story. View the story, titled "Bucket".

Christian was kind enough to send me his awesome mix tape titled, "New Space Age" to include with my post.

"New Space Age" Download it here!

Track Listing:

1. Jean-Luc Ponty- Cosmic Messenger
2. Love You Madly Orchestra- Moon Maiden
3. Phuture Pfantasy Club- Slam (Trax Over-Ride Mix)
4. Suzy Lane- Ohh La la
5. The Shocking Blue- Love Buzz
6. Pico- Malaguena (Manny Slali remix)
7. The Feelies- Crazy Rhythms
8. Model 500- Interference (Mix 1)
9. Drinking Electricity- Breakout
10. Lime- On the Grid
11. Laurie Spiegel- Patchwork
12. Gino Soccio- There's A Woman
13. Bessie Jones and Group- Sometimes
14. Stephen Halpern and Georgia Kelly- Sand Dance

DW Design

The art of DW Design reveals a beautiful world in the future where electronic music is celebrated to a religious status and people live in a digital metropolis, some human, some animal, some machine. It's a romantic world where dancing to computer music is a sacred rite. Spiritualism is practiced in the creation and use of technology.

DW Design's artwork has been commissioned by many electronic musicians such as Miami Horror, Le Castle Vania, and Eli Smith.

To commission artwork from DW Designs please contact him at darkwoods@europe.com

Below are some samples of his work. For each image, I have chosen a song that I think somehow fits its theme. Enjoy!


SebastiAn- Momy (Erol Alkan's Simple Yet Effective Edit)


Dirty Hospital- Leave the Planet


Simian Mobile Disco- Wooden (Danton Eeprom Remix)


Polyphonic Size- Parlez-vous
*I'm not sure if "Parlez-vous is the correct title of this song. Lost the liner notes and I recorded the record out of sequence 5 years ago. It's likely from the Walkin' Everywhere LP and since there are several languages being spoken in this song, "Parlez-vous" seemed like a good guess.


Patrick Cowley- Megatron Man


Siriusmo-Femuscle


Rodion- Donq


Fox N' Wolf- Claws Against Knives (Todd Terje remix)



DMX Krew- Texture Mapping

Frivolous

Frivolous is the imaginary personification of Daniel Gardner's obsession with sound-design for both dancing and living alike. Manifesting itself in a multitude of performances and recorded works, his sound has been described as Jazz-infused minimal or experimental house. Stemming from an educational background in Classical Piano, electronics and Interdisciplinary Design, his "dynamic" one-man performances have taken stage from Montreal to Germany, Moscow to Texas, and many places in between all the way back to his birthplace of Vancouver BC . Currently, Gardner is calling Berlin "Home".
(taken from the Frivolous Myspace page )



Frivolous played a live set this past Thursday in Portland at Rotture. Portland was his first show in his most recent US west coast tour. Fresh off the jet from Berlin, the jetlagged Daniel Gardner gave Portland a spectacular perfomance incorporating live keyboard playing, live vocals through his red vintage telephone, and ambient/experimental tones derived from his contact mic on a knife jabs on metal-looped and effected to add a more analog and organic layer to his songs.

Check out this video to get a glimpse at what he does.

Video of Frivolous performing live.

I took a bunch of photos at the show. To view more please visit my flickr.com page.
Aside from being an excellent experimental house producer, Daniel Gardner also makes great DJ mixes. My favorite of his DJ mixes is titled, "House of Glass".

DJ Daniel Gardner- "House of Glass" mix

Here is the track listing he gave for "House of Glass"
1. Minilogue - Certain Things About Us (Part2)
2. Dub Kult - BIP
3. MIA - Safe Night
4. Thomas Melchior & Luciano - Father
5. Roman - So In La With Ya (Losoul Remix)
6. Miskate - A Day In The Life of Us
7. Pepe Bradock - Panash
8. Heiko Laux - Moved (Villalobos Rmx)
9. I only wish I knew this one... just an email promo that i always play that is called: NML08B1...???
10. Can't remember or find this one either... sorry.
11. Wishmoutain - Radio
12. Justin Marin & Sammy D - Swamp Thing
13. Soul Phiction Feat. Suzana Rozkosny - Appelle Moi
14. Max Mohr - Old Song
15. It is some
International Pony - Leaving Home / Losoul Feat Maite Warriors - Jam
Mash-Up... again... ?

Visit his MySpace page to hear more songs.
He's got a ton of releases available on vinyl, CD, and digital download. His music is well worth your money, so please support this artist and buy his music.

Valerie Dore- Emotion

Valerie Dore- Emotion

I haven't been able to find any information about this song. In my discogs.com search I couldn't even find it on an album. It's a great song, though for those who love romantic dance Italo Disco. With a prominent dance beat at 113 bpm that never breaks, a melancholy melody played on synth and electric guitar, and dreamy, emotional french vocals, "Emotion" is great song for creating a nostalgic and romantic vibe on the dance floor.

Valerie Dore was a pop star from the early to mid 1980s in Italy and France.
Valerie Dore is the name of a musical project, not a real person. The person portraying Valerie Dore is actually Monica Stucchi who often lip syncs the vocals which were sung by a variety of different women over Valerie Dore's career.

Monica Stucchi has a history with the stage dating back to age 15 singing songs in Italian bars. She was a fashion model at the time she was discovered by the successful Italian music family, Nicolosi. Monica's good looks and other-worldly dance and stage performance made her the perfect woman to front a romantic pop music group even if she wasn't the real singer.

The singer who actually did most of the singing for Valerie Dore is Italian singer Dora Carofiglio. Dora Carolfiglio is a prominent female vocalist in Italo Disco. She was the vocalist on "Call Me Mr. Telephone" by Answering Service and "Funky is On" by Funky Family. Valerie Dore is cited as one of contemporary Swedish electro-pop singer, Sally Shapiro's vocalist influences.

Monica Stucchi did do a bit of singing on Valerie Dore recordings. I wonder if she is the voice on "Emotion".

Tre Hardson DJing at Masu in Portland!

DJ Slimkid aka Tre Hardson from The Pharcyde will be spinning at Masu next Friday, January 23rd



I got to meet Tre last night during my set there and I am really excited to see him spin next week. I will be getting there at about 10 to have dinner and drinks and watch him mix. I would appreciate anyone's company that night. Come chill with me! Masu is one of my most favorite restaurants in Portland. The staff is awesome, the sushi is by far the best in Portland, and the space is very modern and comfy. They've got great cocktails and appetizers, too so we can just hang out and talk, drink, eat, and hear Tre play some great classic hip hop, soul, and r&b.

Masu is located in downtown Portland at 406 SW 13th Ave. It's off Burnside
above American Apparel.

He goes on at 10pm and will play til 1:30am. Show him some support!

Check out these awesome music videos for Tre Hardson and The Pharcyde

Tre Hardson feat. Fatlip- AyYoMyMan

The Pharcyde- Otha Fish

The Pharcyde- Drop

The Pharcyde- Runnin'

The Pharcyde- Ya Mama

The Baron Von Luxxury

Last Thursday I met the Baron Von Luxxury while he was visiting Portland. He's a friend of my San Francisco friend, Eli Glad who referred him to me as someone to meet while in town and get a Portland booking from. I'd never heard of him before, but I had heard of his blog, Disco Workout. After viewing his MySpace page and website and listening to his original tracks and remixes, I soon realized this Baron Von Luxxury's got talent! He was only in town for a short window of time, but I was able to get him a guest spot at my friend Marlon Brendo's night, "546 Tuesdays" at Red Cap. Unfortunately, I was really sick that night and missed his show, but by Thursday I was in good enough condition to get out of the house.
That Thursday evening we met for sushi, a warm drink at Rimsky's, and then dashed off to Rotture for DJ Beyonda's, "There's A Hole In My Soul" for a great soul music dance party. That night I had one of the best conversations with this creative and intelligent man spanning the topics of the dance music scene in Portland and San Francisco, advertising, political power conspiracies, Scientology, careerism, Italo Disco, Jewish history, Jews in contemporary art and media, and so much more. By the end of the night I made a new friend. Now that I've had a chance to check out some of his music, I'm also a fan.

Check out these two songs by the Baron Von Luxxury:

Baron Von Luxxury- Y Control (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cover)

Glass Candy- I Always Say Yes (Baron Von Luxxury remix Parts II & III)

http://www.myspace.com/luxxury

http://www.discoworkout.com

Bonus: Check out this awesome article about him in the San Francisco Chronicle .

Devo- "Mechanical Man" and "Blockhead" Demo Versions

By request, here is Devo's demo version of "Mechanical Man" and "Blockhead". This demo was released in 1978.

Devo- "Blackout" and "Auto Modown" Demo Versions

Do you ever daydream about watching Devo at one of their early practice sessions before they became world famous? You do?! Well, then here is a little treat for you: The demo versions of "Blackout", which I am in love with, and "Auto-Modown" The two songs are on one track because I failed to separate the track manually as it was recording. I think I got hypnotized by "Blackout".

I archived this quite rare 7" to CD about 5 years ago from my friend, Abe King's copy. He has the most amazing record collection! At this point, he has a rare and obscure punk rock/synth-punk museum-worthy collection to his name. He is also the owner of Discourage Records in Portland, Oregon which houses the rarest punk, hardcore, and experimental records in the state, perhaps at times on the coast, or country.
Check out the Discourage Records website http://discouragerecords.com/

If you want the other two songs- leave a comment! No one has left a comment yet!

Black Devil

I believe Black Devil was the first "Italo Disco" I ever heard. At the time I was really into late 70s early 80s synth punk like Suicide, The Fall, Chrome, Polyphonic Size, Snowy Red etc and 60s/ 70s psychedelic and experimental music like Can, Silver Apples, United States of America, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, etc. If you were to imagine those bands making a disco album, it would certainly come out sounding a lot like Back Devil. It was from that day on that I fell in love with Italo Disco and embarked on the quest to hear everything I could from that genre. It's unbelievable how much amazing music was made in Italy and France from 1978-1985.

Black Devil- "H" Friend" and "Timing, Forget the Timing"

These songs are from Black Devil's 1978 LP, "Disco Club". The record is credited to Joachim Sherylee and Junior Claristidge who are actually Frenchmen, Bernard Fevre and Jacky Giordano. "Disco Club" is an extremely rare record that is currently selling at $450 on eBay. It is probably one of the most sought after records of its kind.

Black Devil had been forgotten, but the 12" "Timing, Forget the Timing" was re-discovered by PP Roy of Rephlex Records in 2004 at a car boot sale (which is a British term for a flea market or yard sale out of your car's trunk, but done en masse in public parks or school grounds). The 12" was reissued on Rephlex the same year, but was not at first trusted as an authentic relic of the past. Bernard Fevre is alive and well to prove it's true and continues to perform and create new music today.

Below is a video of The Black Devil Disco Club performing "The Devil in Us" at the Offset Festival in Hainault Forest Country Park August 30th 2008.

Alexander Robotnick- Dance Boy Dance

This is my first post on my new blog! I don't have all the fancy display stuff down yet. Maybe you can help me make it look cool!

I am starting to share my music collection with friends and instead of burning CDs I'm going to to put stuff on here for them to listen to and download. "Dance Boy Dance" is one of my favorites songs by Alexander Robotnick. He is one of the bright stars of the Italo Disco legacy and is still making great music and tours as a DJ to this day in his 50s. His music and life are inspiring to me. His music is full of mood and drama. He invents a bizarre musical persona for himself, Alexander Robotnick, a Russian worker who moves to Paris to become part of the romantic artist life there.

In an interview he gave in 1984, Alexander Robotnick says this about "Dance Boy Dance":

"Dance Boy Dance is undoubtedly an underground track: In those days I'd work in a windowless basement lit up by colored neon-lights which I called "My Cripta". It reflects the kind of mood there was in Florence in the early 80s: A mix of irony and darkness that was very exciting and spontaneous, but unfortunately vanished, choked by fashion and "stylism" during the mid 80s. In all the tracks I did as Robotnick there is always something theatrical. So I'd imagine the protagonist of the track as an old dirty guy who is turned on by some dancing boys, a somewhat horror scene. And in fact I used it in Giovanotti Modani Meccanici versus Dracula, a theater show with Sandro Benvenuti as Dracula based on the comic strips by the same group published on Frigidaire."

Alexander Robotnick's website

Alexander Robotnick- "Dance Boy Dance"
(Alexander Robotnick 2003 remix version)