A Return (and some shit talking)

Goldie and me @ Ultra Music Festival


Wanna hear a funny story?

So, I sent an e-mail to Klaxons manager earlier... he had said as we got closer to the Chicago show I should send him an e-mail, and if they had a little extra time I could stop by to say hi.

So I rifled off a little letter and went back to watching Klaxons stuff on YouTube before I went to work (because I'm a big dork like that)...

So, I'm watching a video of them doing their NME tour diary (pt 1) and all of a sudden they're talking about doing liners for radio shows (what a coincidence seeing as they did one for me)...

And then all of a sudden they are, on camera, doing the liner for MY radioshow (fucking mental)!

Now before you keep reading, watch the video... I'd start the video @ 1:01...



"Probably the shittest fucking radio station on earth, isn't it?"...

HUH? Now what are the chances? What are the chances that I would send that e-mail (which had stemmed from them doing a liner for my show) and then I would immediately watch a video of them slagging my station (whilst doing that liner)!

It's all good though... I actually think it's funny... obviously they don't know me, the station, or our show so there is no harm in it... had they said "The guy who does the 'Spirit Of Albion' radio show is a loser who eats cat shit for breakfast" I probably would have had a problem with it... I'm sure it sucks to not have any free time and to have people like me with their hands out asking for something constantly...

I'm going to go so far as to say I actually kind of liked it (don't get me wrong... for the first couple of seconds I was like "What the fuck?!?!") because now thousands of people have heard of our tiny little show and are part of 5 seconds on the Klaxons history! I'll also go so far as to say I'm the biggest Klaxons fan in America so I don't care either way now lol... (BUT, it goes to show you though that you should be careful what you say because you never know who it's going to get back to)

Long story short... I got an email back and their manager said I can pop by for at least a picture... so keep your eyes on this spot for that!

While we are talking about Klaxons... I would like to take it upon myself to start a letter writing campaign to let Rolling Stone know what the fuck is up... they gave "Myths Of The Near Future" a two star rating. Two out of five.... I think the Ashley Simpson album got a better review than this... the review is a catty little snippet that has nothing to do with the band or their music; it's more just a slam on "New Rave"... If you believe in Klaxons let R.S. know they are retards and that they post crappy band wagon hopping bands all day long, and give them good reviews as well, so they shouldn't be talking such shit... here's the review...

On the sliding scale of terrible ideas, a U.K. "New Rave" scene rates somewhere between cat juggling and Studio 60. Until now, the best case you could make for old-school Madchester-era rave was that at least it didn't have any revival potential. But the Klaxons have made a bold entrance with the club hit "Atlantis to Interzone," dressing up in fluorescent wizard robes to chant, "Horses want to dance/But find their wings are damaged!" On Myths, they expand their suspiciously indie-ish rock riffs with tales of centaurs ("4 Horsemen of 2012") and Cyclopses ("Isle of Her"). Glowsticks are go! Or not!

Send it snail mail or go to this link here

But anyway... Sorry I was gone for so long! Miami ended up being more of a handful than I had expected. Granted... it was the most amazing time of my life. But I thought I was going to be able to post "live" from down there and that didn't happen. The hotel where WMC was at this year had internet you had to pay for and the internet at my hotel didn't work.

(If you don't like name dropping I wouldn't keep reading... I don't think I'M that special, but I do think that the people mentioned below are that special)

So I'm sorry I didn't get that info to you guys... but I ended up meeting Matthew Dear, Felix Da Housecat, Spank Rock, Oxy Cottintail, The Presets, BT, Paul Van Dyk, Keoki, Roger Sanchez, George Clinton, Goldie, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Vince Lawrence, Busy P, and a bunch of other people.... we hung out with Crystal Castles, my buddy Curt from Flosstradamus (who is THE COVERSTAR OF THE CURRENT URB MAGAZINE SO Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS NEED TO PICK THAT SHIT UP AND SUPPORT MY BOY, YA HEARD?!?!?), and Larry Tee (who has by far the best single I heard at this year's Winter Music Conference called "Licky" featuring his good friend Princess Superstar, remixed by Herve)...


Here's me and Larry @ Karu & Y. He was supposed to play the closing set but Paul Rauhofer decided he wanted to play instead. Don't ask about the outfit... or my facial expression... I was hot... I was sweaty... I'd been dancing... I smelled bad... let's just not talk about it.

Really the most baller part of the whole trip wasn't meeting all these crazy people at Ultra and all these fancy places, it was hanging out with Larry Tee who is the coolest, most down to earth person I've ever met in the music industry.... he (thank god) swooped me up at 3am in downtown Miami and saved me from a bunch of crackhead zombies... I'd met him a few years before at the IDMA's and have talked to him online over the years but actually getting to spend time with him was the highlight of my trip...

Here's a couple more pictures I thought you guys would enjoy...

Here's me and Fatboy Slim


And me and Carl Cox

Let's get into the music... After that we will get back to a long rambling essay on "New Rave", but I'm not going to force you to scroll through it to get to the music... this is the shit I've been enjoying the most recently...

Klaxons- "Atlantis To Interzone (Metronomy Remix)"

Bloc Party- "The Prayer (Phones Full Metal Jackin Remix)"

The Sunshine Underground- "Put You In Your Place (South Central Remix)"

Justice vs Simian- "Never Be Alone (DJ Hell's Bavarian Gigolo Remix)"

M.I.A.- "XR2 (Tigerstyle Remix)"

The Black Ghosts- "Face (Switch Remix)"

Ok, now time for me to weigh in on New Rave...


I was thinking about it more and more recently... and (as I'm sure you already knew) there is no such thing as "New Rave". HOLD ON, HOLD ON. Rewind. There is a New Rave scene but it's not the music... really...

To say it's a media construct is obvious and stupid. But really New Rave is a renewed interested in flourescent colours. And a desire for a new style of rock because the last drop of the Libertines legacy basically hit rock bottom with the Holloways, Milburn, and other bands from that ilk. New Rave came about because white males want to dance but "dance music" is too gay and punk (the other musical genre where people "dance") is too exclusive.

The funniest part about it is that New Rave came from a joke in a Klaxons interview with NME!

New Rave is really just a way to describe rock's "movement" towards dance music (but away from the commercial "trancey pants" end) and away from the "old guard" in British rock music. Now don't get me wrong... I love the old guard... but I only want to hear those types of songs from those bands! I don't want to hear one more band write a fucking Libs song! It's the same thing that happened in the U.S. for years after Nirvana. The "modern rock" scene in the United States is STILL just a stagnant pool of Nirvanawannabes.

So, basically, there is no solid musical thread for New Rave and that's why it doesn't exist. If there truely was roster it would be Klaxons, Shitdisco, Crystal Castles, Datarock, Goose, and CSS but not really. Then on the electronic side you've got Simian Mobile Disco, Justice, Digitalism, and a couple other people.

But that's too few bands so the music press have tried to apply it everywhere. It's kind of how people talk about how there's "something in the water" in Virginia because you've got Missy, Timbaland, and the Neptunes.... but, in all honesty, that's it! Same with "New Rave"...

Are Hot Chip "New Rave"? I don't think so. There are a lot of rock bands that get remixed (and have been for years), and there are a lot of electronic bands or duos or artists who appeal to rock fans. It would be easy to sling the New Rave term around to Chemical Brothers or anyone who's ever gotten an Errol Alkan remix. Primal Scream are the original New Rave band if you follow this logic. Also by this logic The Rakes Phones remix of "Retreat" is the first real New Rave song.

At the end of the day... "New Rave" is a fashion statement about wearing clothes that don't match with bright colours. It's early 90's nostalgia for a pre-9/11 world. It's young kids wanting their own Summer Of Love and people my age wanting to revisit their glory rave days... it's rock music wanting to dance and dance music wanting to rock but.... there is no cohesive whole and it's hard to make a case for it even existing (unless you're trying to sell magazines or records). It's about ten real bands, ten DJs/producers and all of them are so progressive they won't be sounding very New Rave for very long, as they are real artists! New Rave is a way for NME is make lots of money (which is fine because this is what their job is)... New Rave does not exist...

At this point this whole thing is going to collapse or grow out of it's prior constraints and the term won't be applicable... in the meantime shitty as bands like Enter Shikari will fall off, and somewhat more interesting bands like Hadouken! will either make new crazy mutant music or cease to exist... in the meantime bust out the glowsticks and mosh to your hearts content...

The term will not be used again on this blog...

Here's the Dance Your Pants Off Mixtape (which is not strictly British I might add):

The Presets- Are You The One? (Van She Remix)
Gossip- Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Remix)
Justice vs Simian- We Are Your Friends
Klaxons- Gravity's Rainbow (Van She Remix)
Justice- Waters Of Nazareth
Digitalism- TVTV
Simian Mobile Disco- Boat Race
Crystal Castles- Alice Practice
The Futureheads- Worry About It Later (Switch Remix)
The Rakes- Retreat (Phones Remix)
These New Puritans- Elvisss (Demo)
Shitdisco- I Know Kung Fu (James Ford Remix)
Datarock- Fa Fa Fa
Goose- Low Mode
New Young Pony Club- Ice Cream (Van She Remix)
Depeche Mode- Never Let Me Down Again (Digitalism Remix)
Muse- Supermassive Black Hole (Phones Remix)
Forward Russia- Nine (Napoleon IIIrd Remix)
Brakes- All Night Disco Party (Herbert Remix)
Franz Ferdinand- Outsiders (Isolee Remix)
Klaxons- Magick (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
Editors- All Sparks (Cicada Remix)
Bloc Party- The Prayer (Phones Full Metal Jackin Remix)
Hot Chip- Colours (Fred Falke Remix)
Goose- Low Mode
Dead Disco- City Place
Soulwax- NY Excuse (Justice Remix)
Client feat Pete Doherty- Down To The Underground
Robbie Williams- Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Dub)

A great deal of these tracks have been posted on the blog over the last year... most of the people I've talked to in the U.S. (including DJs) don't know shit about all this new music... so this list isn't redundant as you think it is... and a couple people asked for some suggestions so there they are!

P.S. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IF YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE IT IS THE NME DANCEFLOOR DISTORTION CD THAT CAME FREE WITH THE MOST RECENT (November) KLAXONS ISSUE OF NME! It's mixed by Simian Mobile Disco and is one of those CD's you'll listen to in ten years and think "Aw! The good old days all on one cd!"

Also you can click below and get a lot of the songs and bands mentioned at eMusic!