It's that time of the month again, no not THAT time of the month,
Although I'm sure that wouldn't stop our main men Teki and Orgasmic from "stunting on hoes", they're not that naaaasty and they ain't no pussies, ya heard? The time of the month we're refering to is more about the resulting joy you experience after having heard the awesome mix that the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team spent cooking up in ,what I can only imagine is, a sweltering hot Parisian basement. There's so much heat canned into this 50 odd minute mix that when Teki tried to upload it the internet broke...True story. With exclusives from every promising act of the moment, from our Island bound companion L-vis 1990 to the elusive Gucci Vump, this here mix is guaranteed to get you all sweated up. Ladies get buck naked, fellas do you best to keep your clothes on. Please. For god's sake.
Mike Gnacadja is the type of producer who needs balance in his life. When Luca aka Curses! aka Drop The Lime introduced him to us under the name Mikix The Cat, little did we know that a week later he would start bombarding us with a neverending stream of amazing tracks, each belonging to a cryptic, unheard-of subgenre of house. While unleashing his hard bass-driven rave bursts as Mikix for Luca's label Trouble & Bass, Mike kept his lighter, more playful side away from the public ear, but not from the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team's hard drives. Influenced by the sparse sounds of the house music of Now, as well as a rightful return to the African rythms of his Beninese roots, channelled by his move from Paris to Berlin, a new face of Mike Gnacadja was born, we decided to name it Momma's Boy (after the restaurant in Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Instantly praised by world class DJs such as Edu K, Andy George, Worthy (who will soon drop another Momma's Boy release on his wonderful imprint Anabatic) and many more solely on the basis of his remix of Douster's "For Weirdos Only" and a couple of Myspace tracks, Mike is ready to show the world what Momma's Boy is made of with the release of his Sound Pellegrino EP: Wedouwedou / Give It Up.
ling a drunken cross-eyed bird's tweet with a build up that would make Magilla Gorilla jizz strawberry-banana-flavored smoothie in his pan "Wedouwedou" was the track that made Orgasmic and I jump out of our seats and scream "Mike is ready". A slow-burning tech-funk groover that turns into a pumping mini fuzzy synth freestyle resembling a drunken cross-eyed bird's tweet with a build up that would make Magilla Gorilla jizz strawberry-banana-flavored smoothie in his pants.
Orgasmic and I had an argument about whether "Give It Up" should be the A side or not, but things like that don't really matter anymore with digital releases, do they? Anyway I believe "Give It Up" is the hit of the EP. Banging yet subtle, evil yet pointing towards the direction of "a fun jam", this track is like a sprinkle of hagelslag on an already delicious piece of toast in the middle of a well-furnished musical Dutch breakfast.
Speaking of Dutch, Rotterdam's Kid Kaio has been a hero to us for quite some time now, precisely since his collaboration with Lucky Charmes on the hit "Plain Dots", which we banged all year with unbounded pleasure. His remix of "Wedouwedou" is as tribal and bubbly as one would expect, while introducing a surprisingly deep and dubby mood. Here's what twitter-happy gangster house DJ Brodinski had to say about it:
brodinski @TekiLatex kid kaio Rmx amazing Prog House trance deep crack mafia music. love it. @MIKIXTHECAT
As a matter of fact Brodinski likes this EP so much he decided to include bonus track "Betowe" on his freshly dropped Bugged Out mix-CD. "Betowe" mixes deep minimal rhythms with tribal drums and chants, much like a lot of house music being released this year, except these chants are sung in the very dialect spoken by Mike's family, and I'm not even trying to get all "authentic" on your asses but Momma's Boy flips those vocal samples like no one will ever be able to, period.
So for the past few weeks, you might of noticed, we've been on an updating spree, getting back in touch with our inner internet geeks. Trawling up and down the web tying up loose ends here and there, making sure you, the public, get the correct dosage of Institubes. Amongst our other web-based ventures we've decided to put some new material up onto our Fairtilizer account.
Please go check it out. Lots of exclusive streamable material for your ears' pleasure.
The cds have been pressed and we're ready to roll them out!
All systems are go for the second coming of the Stunts Djs mixtape. On the lyrical menu are the usual suspects, So Fresh Squad (the mixtape's spearheaders), Joke, Craiz, Tekitek and Cuiziner. The dastardly duo Orgasmic and Pulse, once again take it upon themselves to mix the freshest U.S R&B and Rap cuts in with homegrown production, this time courtesy of the main man Pulse.
The mixtape will be available from the 6th of july on Amazon, Fnac and at Arcade Mode , make sure you get yours!
Since "Party De Plaisir", accompanied by Gonzales and Létang, Teki Latex showed his true colours as a lover of french pop and Italo-disco, but he's back for a sporadic show of his rapping excellence. "Mes pelures" is a manifestation of the man's amazing generosity, stealing from some to give to others, delivering his idiosyncratic flow over a variety of "borrowed" beats old and new and making them his. It's a compilation of freeflowing, arrogant and brave pieces put forward in the way only Teki can. It's the only proof needed to crown Mr. Latex emperor of all things rap. Teki The Emperor, sets fire to Rome and sings amongst the flames, you wanted rap? Here's some bloody rap! The album's out now and available at Arcade Mode and the Fnac.
Stunts is one of our brand spanking new sublabels and it specialises in rap, french rap to be precise. Curated by patron saints Genevan Heathen and Orgasmic, the label plays home to Cuizinier, So Fresh Squad, Tekitek, Craiz, Manaré, Joke, Young Pulse and Orgasmic himself. The Stunts Dj's' first mixtape came out at the tail-end of march to much acclaim and we're now preparing the label's second outing with a fresh new mixtape, expect it to be ready by september. Stunts' own mic controller Joke has prepared an EP that might be at your doorstep very soon.
Surely you've heard of our stove-hot sublabel Sound Pellegrino, Zombie Disco Squad and Douster's releases have been blazing dancefloors worldwide since the beginning of the year now it's time for men of the moment Renaissance Man and American housemaster Havard Bass to get a turn. We've sanctioned two heavy releases to get your body jacking throughout the summer months, both are out now exclusively in digital format, get buying!
Renaissance Man
First up are Renaissance Man, who's "Spraycan" (out on Dubsided) absolutely blew up the WMC this year, the finnish duo deliver a massive EP to add to your Sound Pellegrino collection.
How catchy is the tongue-in-cheek vocal sample in "What Is Guru"? Soon, even your mother will ask you to burn her a CD of "that Krishna song". But once the novelty's gone, what makes this track a hit is the impeccable and original production, serving a groove reminiscent of Akufen's early radio-chopping work.
It's so good that Riva Starr, one of artists who helped define this new sound we keep writing about, came up with an infectious percussive remix which will prove itself more than useful for DJs who aren't feeling the whole vocal/spiritual breakdown thing.
Harvard Bass
We got to know Harvard Bass through Johnny Love from Guns 'n' Bombs back in december 2007 when TTC flew to California on a quest for the perfect hamburger (shout out to In & Out). We closely followed his career since then, inviting him to remix our "Sixpack Anthem" on Institubes and watching him gather massive support from DJs like Crookers, Brodinski, Christian Martin, Jess & Crabbe, Acid Girls, Fluokids and many, many more. It's finally Harvard Bass's time to shine
One of the coolest French brands approached us to do a tee-shirt with them and behold: the APC x Chateau Marmont tee, designed by our very own House of Kids. It's on sale at all APC stores, along with the other tees from the series, featuring Koko Von Napoo,The Teenagers and Housse de Racket.
Tracks from Buenos Aires french expat Douster have been around on everybody's hard disks and playlists for ever, but thanks to Sound Pellegrino and Dan Haaksman's Man Recordings it is now Douster's time. He is finally getting actual official releases. With “For Weirdos Only” and “Freak Mode”, Douster moves one step away from his early banging fidget works to venture into pure house territory, and the result is a wonky banjo joyride backed with a jacking burst of pure energic groove. Warm and cold, perfect for the early summer days when you can hang out in a tee shirt all day but still have to wear a jacket at night.
We asked Das Glow from Institubes (Sound Pellegrino's proud "big brother label") to remix “For Weirdos Only” and in typical Das Glow fashion he named the first draft "Doustin Hoffman" and the second one "Doustin Timberlake". With his final file, he attached a picture of Mr. Potato Head dressed up as a Halloween ghost.
On the virtual flip, Momma's Boy (Trouble and Bass alumni Mikix The Cat's housier alias) provides a slow-boiling party-starting version of "for weirdos" ideal for hula hoop training sessions that also works as an introduction to Momma's Boy's forthcoming EP on Sound Pellegrino.
Douster's offering is available now as a digital only release.
With people losing their jobs left, right and center, the question "Do you wanna stop working?" might call for a unanimous and resounding "NO!", but think about it. Parisian genius Rob thought about it and translated the song into the sad, plaintive language of late-night soul-searching. And Swedish popsters Pacific! gave us a remix for the morning after, when, to your amazement, the sun is still shining.
WDYWSW? is out now on vinyl and in digital so go get it!
