Over the last three weeks I have been running Chatroulade as a Roulade-only alternative to Chatroulette. Success is a difficult thing to measure. The first two episodes have generally been me lifecasting and hosting a quiz but this week I took a vaguely more Pump Up the Volume approach and pseudo-pioneered text-based radio. The entire transcript is available here and the tracklist (based on songs I really enjoy that are less than five minutes in length) is below:

1. Fleetwood Mac “You & I, Part I”
2. Ago “For You”
3. International Music System “Dancing Therapy”
4. Kasso “Brazilian Dancer”
5. Prince “Soft & Wet”
6. The Tony Monn Concept “Who Built the Pyramids”
7. Rocket Science “Being Followed”
8. Toni Toni Lee “Toni’s Outro”
9. T. Rex “Mambo Sun”
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Y Control”
11. Andre Cymone “Livin’ in the New Wave”
12. Mazarati “Players’ Ball”
13. Tapps “Don’t Pretend to Know”
14. New Order “Face Up”
15. Cut Copy “Saturdays” (Reprise)

CHATROULADE AT CHATROULADE.COM TUESDAY NIGHTS 9PM-10PM

The Swiss are a live disco trio from Adelaide, South Australia, fleshed out in the 4th dimension by ultraproducer Donnie Sloan (also from Adelaide, South Australia) and I have a huge amount of love all for them and what they do. In terms of what they sound like, here are a prior 41 words from elsewhere:

…crisp and snappy drums, quicksand laser-sludge bass, dizzy pops & flourishes, melody rays and synthesised strings that glide on the thermal currents of life. It’s as much a breathy telephone call as it is a mid-range Bordeaux shared between ensconced lovers.

Their recorded material is pretty spot-on but it’s their live set that’s the real mindblinder, check it out whenever possible.

You can hear a satisfying portion of The Swiss’ output at their SoundCloud or buy The Bubble Bath EP 12″ at the Modular Shop here or on iTunes.

The whole series of Prince and (the Golden Era of) the Revolution rehearsing in a Minneapolis warehouse has already been featured on a number of different social networking convergence points but I can’t avoid putting “All Day, All Night” and “Irresistible Bitch” on here. It’s so satisfying and such a privilege to have this candid glimpse into a 26 year old Prince surrounded by friends, doing what he loves, in an environment he is more than at home in and has total control over (although I suppose that translates to it being pretty much the same as him being on stage, minus an audience).

Thank you very much to Pepepurito2 of YouTube for plucking these from the hardcore Prince fandom bootleg circuit and sharing them with the internet.

UPDATE: AS IS THE WAY WITH PRINCE VIDEOS ON THE INTERNET, THESE ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. BIT OF A DOWNER BUT THEY WERE KILLER WHILE THEY LASTED.

maybe i’ve done it and maybe i haven’t but it’s entirely possible that i have managed to distill the essence of the years 2003-2012 (inclusive) into a single picture taken on a nokia 6300.

in years to come, i think the image of a hipster taking photos of people with an expensive camera with masking tape over the flash at a houseparty will be an enduring one (by enduring i mean “difficult to shake” rather than “sticking to the psyche via charm and merit”).

but yeah this is it. a tall skinny guy dressed head to toe in black, with a digital slr, at a houseparty in a house that’s white from floor to ceiling, taking a photo of a french dj who is smoking indoors and dj’ing (the track was “warp” by new musik, hot jam) to an empty dancefloor.

admittedly:

-he should be in vans, not nike am90s
-there should be a USE LESS tote bag in shot
-uncharacteristically there are no girls in american apparel leggings on the dancefloor
-those guys at the front door don’t appear to be talking about the monster children gallery

…but rarely can you have it all.

new musik “warp“

“face up” is one of my favourite songs of all time (top 5) and i can’t believe it’s taken me this long to think about finding a video for it. this is from their gig at shinjuku koseinenkin hall, tokyo, 2nd of may, 1985. FACT 150 for anyone who cares…

pretty special.

also, while i’m here:

(directed by jonathan demme)
equally incredible. the icy cold aesthetic and precision of gillian gilbert. the struggle of bernard sumner. stephen morris’ combination of focus and mild paranoia. peter hook and his brooding leather jacketry. the ribbit solo. i could go on…

not sure if that’s actually severo lombardoni standing out the front of discomagic hq but i like to think it is. here’s an emotively sensual gem from the golden era of discomagic records:

savage “a love again” (special remix)

thanks to dave at whalehammer

dj mehdi “pocket piano” (joakim remix)
bernard szajner  “welcome (to deathrow)”

joakim has totally done it again with this mehdi remix, crafting a jam prone to both COASTING and GLIDING on the dancefloor. 28 years ago bernard szajner released the epic “welcome (to deathrow)” and it’s also a piano-centric jam, although potentially less prone to gliding and more to an existential crisis. there’s not really much more i can say about it other than when i put the cd in to my computer to rip the track, it tagged it as “welcome (to Heathrow)”.

ice cube & george clinton “bop gun (one nation)”

a hot jam

robert palmer miming “johnny & mary” on italian tv in 1980

despite the fact that he’s miming, robert palmer’s on-screen presence is pretty much unbeatable here. his obliviousness to the girls, the relentless charm of his undying nonchalance, the fingers through the hair, the bit where he sits down, the coat …i could go on.

thanks to donnie for showing me this one.

trivia: the album (Clues) was recorded in the bahamas and gary numan played keys on it.

the normal album version has vocals by gwen stefani, programming by ewan pearson, bass by peter hook, vocals by bernard sumner, keys by lisa and guitar by wendy. it should be the ultimate future pop romance epic but it’s pretty weak. this alternate mix by wendy & lisa is great though. i played it out a lot when i was a wedding dj and am still into it.

gwen stefani “the real thing” (wendy & lisa slow jam mix)

gibson brothers “heaven”
ottawan “hello rio“