heartbeast/wolfgang

design in heartbeast

2010-05-30T14:29:00.001-04:00

elise castrodale has updated her site. check it out. www.elisecastrodale.com

IKONS babe, IKONS honey

2010-03-10T07:10:00.002-05:00

IKONS - SLOW LIGHT from Service on Vimeo.

IKONS debuts as a new style and an imminent force in a new era for Service. Various effects, plays on lighting, and wild staged scenes is only the tip of the iceberg. As layers overlap, one transcends into an alternate reality.

games

2010-01-28T14:30:00.012-05:00

the golden age of olympic design. clean lines, geometric, iconic.
really clear jump from the 1960 serifs and imagery to the stunning
1964 tokyo poster. each poster manages to capture the times and
the identity of the city quite effortlessly and with such simplicity.

a few thoughts.

2009-12-21T12:02:00.004-05:00

i only want to be with you all the time.

2009-12-10T17:43:00.004-05:00

i know i know, me too. so let's stop living like this superficial roller coaster ride on numbers, emotions and situations. once and for all. and not just believing somewhere deep down but actually go where that belief comes from. let's play the game just for fun and still go deeper where we belong. let's go where beauty can not be threatened. let's go now.

girls - headache

slow thoughts winter days

2009-12-08T10:52:00.008-05:00

heartbeast: why does london always seem like time out
of time when you photograph it?

wolfgang: maybe it is?

if someone asks this is where i'll be.

2009-12-01T17:41:00.007-05:00

heartbeast: still no snow.
wolfgang: still so still.

save up all the days.

2009-11-26T18:14:00.004-05:00

would you always
maybe sometimes
make it easy
take your time.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

Fitzrovia

2009-11-24T21:18:00.004-05:00

our souls exault, and London's towers

albums of the year.

2009-11-22T17:31:00.002-05:00

live alone.

2009-11-21T08:43:00.003-05:00

have you forgotten to be in love? let me give you the opportunity,
in case you lost the instructions. as much alcohol as it takes, as
many gilded synths. tonight there must be something going on.
put down your glass, give me those lips. i'm thirsty. this is how
you spread the word of mouth without saying a word.

franz ferdinand - live alone (delorean remix)

time to pretend again

2009-11-20T21:50:00.001-05:00

quiet places

2009-08-26T04:50:00.004-04:00

when do you ever get to see the inside of a summer? take
some time off, time to make sure. when it's easy, you just
want to be around.

working for a nuclear free city - quiet place

we love you

2009-06-08T21:10:00.006-04:00

image: elise castrodale
the very best - birthday

that was just a dream.

2009-05-27T17:04:00.007-04:00

it's not really a coincidence that the logo of Service happens
to be a diamond. it's entire output glitters with prismatic
perfection. the label has developed into the leading designer
behind swedish pop music in the early 21st century. from the
poplab comes lake heartbeat, and it's just what we need right
now. take some time off, slink into the sunshine, forget about
all the conditions, occasions, facts. time is just going by way
too fast and this year will be over all too quickly. so wouldn't
it be all that better if you could remember how you made it
slow down just a little bit by listening to this? maybe you can
never go back, but hey, going forward ain't so bad.

lake heartbeat - between dreams

since i left you

2009-05-23T19:29:00.004-04:00

it's been just a little bit of history repeating.

metric - help i'm alive (the twelves remix)

can't quite say

2009-05-19T11:03:00.008-04:00

image: elise castrodale
david bowie - time

now we speak rememberese.

2009-04-30T19:42:00.003-04:00

is it still yesterday? is there somewhere else we should be? no,
no i don't think so. but after all the things we've been through,
it's the end of april, and isn't scary that after all this we might
just be forgotten? so while we can, let's take the day off, we'll
forget what the future holds. maybe this is what it will sound
like.

memory cassette - rewind while sleepy ep

font love

2009-04-26T14:20:00.014-04:00

house industries, foundry extraordinare out of delaware,
continues to produce typefaces and fonts to dream about.
chalet is so simple and subtle, equal parts modern and
nostalgic, it's like a pin up girl for typographers.

not only is the font gorgeous it comes with a set of 100
clever and wide-ranging silhouette shapes — from the
taj mahal to milk jugs — that are versatile even on their
own.

house industries
kap bambino - chalet

one day, baby.

2009-04-19T05:20:00.003-04:00

outta respect for johnny walker, paul oakenfold, nicky holloway
and danny rampling, and of course, the packed dancefloors of
the hacienda, here comes the new single from DFA's the juan
mclean, like it's 1989 all over again. 20 years after madchester
ended, the party lives on through the rampling-style chunky
synthetic house beats that backdrop this year's minimalist
version of the human league's don't you want me. two decades
of the intersection of human and machine have created a sparkly,
timeless future where any era can be recreated with precision
and with enough love to fill your empty heart. so it's 2009, and
if you weren't there in 82, or 92, or even 02 (hey this owes as
much to electroclash as disco) come soak in the future of the
juan mclean, whose new album is titled, aptly, The Future Will
Come.

the juan mclean - one day

ether09: noise of art

2009-04-18T17:32:00.006-04:00

the noise of art collective celebrates the convergence of music and art brought about by the digital age. its latest project Deep Space Disco involves visual artists manipulating soviet-era space films from the 1960s, while fantastically costumed performers roam the floor, all set to space disco grooves by a live stellar international lineup:

the juan mclean (DFA, new york city)
dj t vs. thomas schumacher (get physical, berlin)
chateau flight (innervisions, paris)
ben osborne (noise of art, london)

dj gilb'r will also be playing a live score to the 1911 film les vampires, and orca and budam bring a taste of the new musical revolution coming out of the faroe islands. bizarre, and awesome at the same time, so what more could you really want:

NOISE OF ART presents DEEP SPACE DISCO
sunday, 19 april 2009
6.30pm
queen elizabeth hall
£16

ether 09: noise of art

ether09: spaceshipp

2009-04-18T16:12:00.012-04:00

ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space. 12 years on from that masterpiece of 90s psychedelia, j spaceman returns in a collaboration with producer mathew shipp. the result is an extended noise piece, sculpted from feedback, abstract guitar shapes, celeste and harmonium. not too far from the orchestral drone of spiritualized, and with the same quality of celestial ecstacy, so ladies and gentlemen, we are still floating in space. also at ether 09:

SPACESHIPP (j spaceman + matthew shipp)
monday, 20 april 2009
8pm
queen elizabeth hall
£17.50

ether 09: spaceshipp

ether09: fennesz

2009-04-18T14:05:00.011-04:00

do you ever get the feeling that fennesz has been forever defined by Endless Summer? it seemed to be as close to a guitar pop record that experimental electronica could ever get — despite the thickly veiled, scrambled processing and song structures sliced up and diced out, its title, cover art, sun-kissed aura, and surprising dreaminess nodded to a tradition of amiable pop music that started with brian wilson and those original boys of summer. maybe though, it is just that some of us have inflated Endless Summer‘s popness, forming it into the record we wished it to be, instead of letting it exist as it was. the “best” records challenge us while satisfying our need for simplicity and order, in a way that feels balanced and unforced. between what fennesz gave us and what we wanted from him, we ended up with a pop album by meeting him halfway.

so it's no surprise that everything he's made after Endless Summer feels like it carries a slight air of diminishing returns, like coming off a high resonating with endless-ism. still, it would be a mistake to dismiss his latest, Black Sea. instead of a blizzard of pixilated electronic fuzz, there are stately and slowly- evolving melodies. the puffs of static, feedback swoops, and digitally distressed acoustic guitars are still there of course, but in a welcome inverse: spaciousness over density. the record’s best moment is 'glide', a live duet with new zealander rosy parlane. wrapping what seems like orchestral samples in barbed wreaths of guitar noise, they build to a crescendo that rolls over the listener like a sonic wave, then dissolves, but this time to near silence.it makes what's come before it on the record seem even more momentous.

maybe the idea is that Black Sea, unlike Endless Summer, calls for an external imagery, rather than evoking its own - unlike the heady rush of Endless Summer, the theme that runs through Black Sea is actually static. you could say that it's an Endless Summer for the winter; spend some time with it, and it delivers on the satisfaction of blossoming into something beautiful and three-dimensional, something that asks little, but hands out a lot.

if you're lucky enough to be in london, you get to experience it all in full colour as part of Ether 09 at southbank centre. the influential Touch Records presents fennesz showcasing Black Sea, along with rosy parlane, and swedish artist christian von hausswolff, whose new double album Perhaps I Arrive - Music for Ataturk Airport, Istanbul contains four tracks that were playing in the transit hall during the Istanbul Biennial in 1997.

TOUCH presents FENNESZ, ROSY PARLANE, CM VON HAUSSWOLFF
tuesday, 21 april 2009
7:30pm
queen elizabeth hall
£17.50

a day before, at 6.30pm on monday 20th April in the purcell room at the QEH, Touch's jon wozencroft and mike harding will also be hosting a q&a session with fennesz, rosy parlane and cm von hausswolff.

ether 09: fennesz

it's only over until it starts again.

2009-04-16T06:52:00.010-04:00

a favourite weekend ending on a sunday in paris, and now here we have it. a video for lisztomania, a search for franz liszt. it's every bit as good as you think it will be. WOLFGANG amadeus phoenix is out on may 25, so get ready for the summer. everything old will be new again, even more favourite weekend endings. it's gonna be real love and real lovely all the way: you, us, phoenix.

phoenix - lisztomania (video)

four long days.

2009-04-13T12:10:00.004-04:00

everyone we know is losing their minds. but everyone
we know has a really good time. we've got so many
questions but so little time. so walk with me, say you
love me, do it for your sister, honey. i'll be there to
hold you when you're seeing double.

voxtrot - trepanation party

however down we get, baby, we'll always be in style.

2009-04-12T05:18:00.012-04:00

images: the lookbook

the lookbook is a real-life fashion magazine, but unlike
a fashion magazine, there are no stockists, no overpriced
skirts, and the only thing it encourages you to sharpen is
your imagination. it's a site where real-life people post
their 'looks' and the result is a wildly diverse and endlessly
eclectic combination of styles from all over the world. the
photos are works of art in their own right - this is no shoot-
from-the-hip myspace-athon of photography. dreamily
blurred, sharply contrasted, always hinting at something
elusive about the wearer. it's no surprise, then, that almost
everyone on the site is some combination of an art student/
model/photographer/designer/fashion student/under-22.
whatever you think of the fashion zeitgeist, this is a reminder
that the kids are alright and that if there is an international
style, it thankfully exists outside of the stifling confines of
the big-name fashion industry.

the lookbook

lego version 2.0

2009-04-10T13:39:00.008-04:00

USB 2.0 docking station

8 GB memory sticks

we never wanted to stop playing with lego, we just
discovered macs. now lego can be a part of all the
electronic things you build. 8 GB memory sticks,
USB 2.0 docking stations, and even lego webcams
are born and bred in wang, germany.

dead disco.

2009-04-05T14:09:00.005-04:00

photo: eanna freeney

days they go fast and nights they go slow, so here's the
perfect band for that. diamond vampires only come out
at night, bringing their slow bpm-ed disco, a synthesized
coda of pulses and a low-end bass that makes time shift
just a little bit. in the day we all dress in tight black jeans,
flannel shirts and the requisite chucks so at night it's a
nice change to have these slow-burning atmospherics and
a voice from a different era, being knocked around side
to side by that drumbeat, glowing translucently in the
inverted shade of the moon.

about diamond vampires you will know nothing, because
they hunger for the mystery and glamour to return to
music. but they've given us 6 gorgeous slices of carnivorous
sex to go roaming in the night to, and you can pick it up for
free right here.

meanwhile. they stay hidden. and remain unseen.

diamond vampires - friday nights

my heart is dreaming & paris is screaming.

2009-03-29T05:48:00.006-04:00

photos: sandra croft

all of the boys and the girls, here in paris. sing to the
night without sight, but with madness. i can't keep up
i'm a wreck but i want it all. tell me the truth, is it love
or just paris?

nothing but a sea of blue.

2009-03-21T19:48:00.012-04:00

goodbye endless winter, hello brand new sunshine.
the whitest boy alive can't keep it bottled up either,
so here it comes: that sea of blue. it's called happiness.
hey you, we just got started, you can't end this now.

the whitest boy alive - 1517

love etc.

2009-03-14T07:52:00.012-04:00

photo: sandra croft

too much of everything is never enough. you need more,
you need more, you need more. so the wunderkind pop
production house xenomania have taken the pet shop
boys back to form, back to the wow, and the result is one
of the best pop songs of the year. touched by the golden
hand of xenomania and fresh off the pet shop boys' writing
stint on girls aloud's 'the loving kind', love etc slots into
today's zeitgeist of electro-pop like something you didn't
know was missing til you heard it. you'll need more. so
here, also, is gui boratto, who keeps the clean pop aesthetic
of the original intact but adds an addictive layer of muted
propulsion, sleeking even more the sheen on neil tennant's
distinctive vocals, and taking it all out on his trademark
techno glide at the end. yeah, you'll always need more, but
thankfully, love is for free.

pet shop boys - love etc.
pet shop boys - love etc. (gui boratto mix)

past + present, 1855-1901

2009-03-01T16:12:00.003-05:00

by now, you know it's easy like we did all summer long.
new phoenix single. new album WOLFGANG amadeus
phoenix is out on may 25. it's gonna be an awesome
summer. everything is EVERYTHING. everything
old is new again.

phoenix - 1901

feel good lost.

2009-02-25T18:03:00.006-05:00

photo: sandra croft

for the spaces in between days, or when the days never
end or all end the same way: here is the sound of a saturday
afternoon filled with boredom, a one-litre jug of ecstasy, and
maybe an easy-to-use software program like cakewalk. it all
takes you back to ambient days when you did nothing but
dream your way out and find ways to fill lazy days.

practically nothing is known about teengirl fantasy, so let's
keep it that way, drift away, drift up, drift down and feel lost
the way that you used to.

teengirl fantasy - portofino

everything is going to the beat

2009-02-21T16:36:00.008-05:00

photo: shannon echlin

sometimes all it takes is a good song to take you
back: back to the future, back to sunny days, back
to the neighbourhood, back to the beat. just back.

passion pit - sleepyhead

no excuses, that's the way life goes.

2009-02-15T06:18:00.006-05:00

no excuses, no looking back. in the middle of winter the
dream of 'no excuses' that lingered all summer seems as
distant as the cyan expanses of the great escape. in the
new video, director marcus soderlund takes all the
signifiers of air france's sound - crashing waves, ocean,
sunsets, the off-camera beach - and churns out a visual
language that brings the escapism of air france back into
real life. the bleakness of the winter waves contrasts the
soaring orchestration of 'no excuses', and the result is a
rare and beautiful escape into something deeper and
more real about it. it's always tempting to look back, to
a time held up by the pillars of economic illusion, to sun,
sand, fun, or the illusion of it - but this time 'no excuses'
is not about escape anymore, but about living each
moment in soaring joy like catastrophe is around every
corner. so no excuses, no looking back, this is life as
we've come to know it. no matter how it treats you,
just fucking get on top of it and ride, baby, ride.

air france - no excuses (video)

the day we left town.

2009-02-10T17:17:00.007-05:00

this is what you can't explain, this is what you can't
say. it's real life, you + me, so why don't we just run
away? why don't we. you think it and keep thinking
it. one day, we wake up, the morning sun is seeping
through a crack in the blinds, you open your eyes
and you know that finally, it's here, that day. so let's
get off this queen-sized bed, where far too many
tears have been shed & dreams were left for dead.
we'll put on our best clothes, bring only what we
need. douse the walls with kerosene. drop a match
from the mezzanine. get into the car, we'll watch it
from afar. as the flames kiss the sky, there's only
you + me. let it burn to the ground, because we're
not hanging around. it's the day we're leaving town.
and it might just be today, the day we're leaving it
all behind.

islands in the sun.

2009-02-09T19:05:00.004-05:00

"what is distinctive is the symbolic transformation of the islands
to another thing. this is the nature of design, you are always
adjusting reality to arrive at some other thing."
- milton glaser

the islands of the bahamas: the first country we've wanted to
visit based on its logo. coloufully evocative, abstract yet still
representational, it holds its ground as a fantastic piece of
branding by the MN-based studio Duffy & Partners. come to
think of it, if summer had a logo, wouldn't this be it? as the
beach boys would say, that's where you want to go to get
away from it all.

another late night.

2009-01-29T15:55:00.007-05:00

image: sandra croft

okay we seriously need some happy news in here. a bit slow
on the uptake but here it is. owen meyers drops the 4am
installment in his late night series. more straight up electro
and a nice LED glow to fight the dark clouds and keep the line
between the the club and night tight and always ready to rock.
by the way, the other half of circuitflow & the bird, rajomo aka
mr. ray monner, makes his debut on 4am as well, courtesy of
the ace track hypa hypa hypa. keep your ears sharp coz there
is even more to love now.

you gotta listen: owen meyers - 4am mix

in all its stellar track-listed glory:

1. chromeo - bonafied lovin' (yuksek remix)
2. boys noize - oh! (a-trak remix)
3. midnight juggernauts - dystopia (turkish prison remix)
4. the teenagers - homecoming (guns'n'bombs remix)
5. the whitest boy alive - golden cage (fred falke remix)
6. photek - love & war (LA riots remix)
7. madonna - into the groove (sidechains remix)
8. justin timberlake - my love (diplo remix)
9. timbaland - miscommunication (the bloody beetroots remix)
10. beni - my love sees you
11. mstrkrft - bounce (feat. N.O.R.E.) [extended version]
12. daft punk - harder, better, faster, stronger (coin operated boy remix)
13. ghostface killah - charlie brown (yusek remix)
14. amon tobin - chicago jan 2008 mix (excerpt)
15. rajomo - hypa hypa hypa
16. snoop dogg - sexual eruption (boys noize remix)
17. lil' wayne - lollipop (chopped and screwed by dj young redd)
18. KiD CuDi - day 'N' nite (crookers remix)
19. deadmau5 feat. kaskade - move for me (santiago & bushid)
20. sébastien tellier - sexual sportswear (donovan remix)

and do we even need to mention that fred falke remix of
the whitest boy alive's golden cage. do we? i think not.

charlie cooper 1977-2009.

2009-01-29T06:29:00.015-05:00

telefon tel aviv is now down to one. on tuesday, joshua

eustis announced the news via their myspace page that

charlie cooper, his other half, was discovered dead on
the 22nd of january at the age of 31 - just two days after

the long-awaited release of their third studio album on

ellen allien's bpitch control label. the already sad news

comes with the disturbing speculation that it could be

a suicide. if you've spent the last 6 days or so listening

to the album, the idea that it might be true becomes

profoundly devastating. instantly gorgeous, subtly

unsettled, embracingly moody even when upbeat,
uncharacteristically and generously expansive,

Immolate Yourself looks set to be 2009's Saturdays=

Youth: a work that is contemporary in its skilful

new-wave redux and timeless in its scope.

what is it that we always like to say...that there is no

going back? well, this time it's actually for real in an

uncomfortably literal way - you can never go back to

the bliss of a more innocent circumstance, of the

sadness of the album being an abstract thing. in those

6 days or so of ordinary time at the end of january,

against the usual background noise of winter isolation,

mundane early mornings, anticipation, the stress of

daily commutes, the humdrum of real life just getting

on with it - Immolate Yourself came to be an elixir of
distraction and the gift of expansive calm. really, that
it took only twenty days for the first great electronic
album of 2009 to come along should be the gift in itself.

those of us who spent formative years with telefon
tel aviv have our long history to fall back on and the

knowledge that life is all about taking things in and

putting things out. it is not to say at all that there

are clues to be read in Immolate Yourself - after all

the album was completed as early as april 2008 -

but it is conceivable that the shrouded vocals and

sonic fog could be the antidote to getting lost in all of
those questions that have no answers. even as the
title of the album becomes an unsettling irony, early
stages of listening have already revealed a work of
enduring beauty about the affirmation of being alive
and wide-eyed in one's own time.

for the rest of the world that knew charlie cooper only

through the music telefon tel aviv made, that's what we

have left of him. after a while, you'll realise that's how
most things go, so make sure you listen real hard to
someone you love today.

endless summer january.

2009-01-15T13:52:00.016-05:00

for when summer seems like a million miles away,
here's that long awaited knightlife edit of cut copy's
so haunted. maybe we should also be asking: what
is it that makes us still come back to this track after
almost a year (an eternity in blog time)? and yeah,
it's almost been a year. before there was in ghost
colours, there was the so cosmic mixtape, cut copy's
preview of what was to be their annus mirabilis.
haunted with machines of the past and sounds of
the future, the so cosmic mixtape inhabits the
kind of space in time where trends are irrelevant,
music is about feeling rather than following and
1969 is just as relevant as 2020. somewhere in the
lovely looped piano riff of aphex twin's 'on' giving way
to the swirling sunburst dance rock of 'so haunted'
that started it all off, the ice melted and prismatic
reality set in in 256-bit colour. the rock kids were on
the dancefloor, the mode was maxi, and new order
was transcendental. it was great.

and so with the knightlife end edit on so cosmic,
heartbeast/wolfgang came into existence to chase
endless summers of blue-sky gazing. this is the hand
we hold, kids. so here you go: back to the beginning
as a way of looking forward to another endless
summer. it may be 5 months away, but this might
help it get here a bit quicker.

cut copy - so haunted (knightlife's sun-soaked reprise)

all these crazy crazy ideas.

2009-01-09T09:18:00.004-05:00

gotta keep on moving, gotta keep on going! it's almost
this month, day 10, and two-thousand-and-fine waits
for no one. everyone gets a new year, so what are you
gonna do with yours?

heartbeast/wolfgang starts the year by announcing
two upcoming mixes from owen meyers, 4am and 5am,
the fitting companions to even later nights that start at
3am. these ones point you straight to the dance floor,
you better get your move on. all that and more, coming
real soon. but first: here's a sweet taste, get dancing!

css - move (cut copy remix)

and so, it begins, all over again.

happy 2009.

2008-12-31T15:23:00.008-05:00

2008 goes out as one of the most blissful years for
music in existence. The Tough Alliance came to us
late in 07, and their Sincerely Yours label emerged
this year as one of our most beloved, managing to
casually place pop gems into our unexpecting hands
(ears?) that quickly became some of our most loved
songs of the year, and maybe, ever. Air France’s
No Way Down EP marked the start of the Swedish
Summer Beach Party 08, where foreign CFCs and
the Chernobyl hangover dissolved the Mamma Mia!
workprint into something warped and exquisite. It
was as much of a dream as anything else, about
imagining an impossibly idyllic place through sounds
that could never have been performed that way in
real life. So Air France became an idea of bliss,
whatever that may be to you right here in the
present: the sunny beach, the expansive countryside,
the virgin snow, speeding down the Don Valley in the
TT. Drifting in and out of musical genres, from pop to
electronic to afro-beat and back again. Sort of like a
dream? No. Better.

And then there was M83. Saturdays=Youth came in
with the spring and stayed all year, reminding us of
those bent-out-of-shape nights that were getting
further and further in between as we got another
year older. Me & you, over something to do? Could
this be true? That would easily be Cut Copy’s In
Ghost Colours. As spring turned into the decadence
of summer, In Ghost Colours synthesized the
looming divide between rock and electronic music
and left us feeling ever so haunted. Coming in nearer,
reaching down deeper to grab the whispers here as
we floated overseas through the seasons of change,
this is what was playing in the background of our
lives and we were unbelievably lucky to have it.

So here it is, 2009. Happy New Year from us to you.
We await, with nothing less than faith, anticipation,
excitement.

HBWG Best Albums of 2008.

M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
Air France – No Way Down
Portishead – Third
Tricky – Knowle West Boy
Foals – Antidotes
Van She – V
Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
Morgan Geist – Double Night Time

tokyo dreaming.

2008-12-28T08:21:00.001-05:00

photo: elise castrodale

let's never stop. no excuses, no looking back.
welcome to the end of 2008. it's coming soon.

02: so haunted

2008-12-17T08:15:00.002-05:00

HBWG 02: SO HAUNTED wakes up with a clear mind
and hazy scenery to the ultimate display of being totally
lost and yet still on to something essential. this issue we
let the the ghosts back in, feeling loveless and yet...never
more in love. this is no fantasy, no stupid escape. this is
real life, this is you and me. this is real life honey, just
you wait and see.

download HBWG02: so haunted.

HBWG02: so haunted
heartbeast: these are the dreams of heartbeast.
wolfgang: these are the dreams of wolfgang.
so haunted: things will never be the same again.
october language: spectral transmissions of the season.
too late: there is no going back to the endless summer.
data loss: deleting the months.
3am mix: owen meyers gives us another late night.
tokyo: stories from a dream city.

now available and more present than ever.

neon nights

2008-12-17T08:01:00.000-05:00

image: sandra croft

owen meyers releases his 3am mix in conjunction with
HBWG 02: so haunted, and it is a fitting accompaniment
of moody atmospherics and lush textures. taking it late
into the night to form a perfect sonic analogy of the
elasticity of time at 3am, this mix delivers an enticing
phantasmagoria of late night moods and a few surprises
that all come together beautifully to form a diverse
palette of sounds and textures that doesn't sit too
comfortably on either side of the dance-chillout divide.

if you've ever wondered what's between the clubs and
the blogs, this mix imagines those spaces between the
last club-banger and the light of morning, and coalesces
it all into an elusive, dreamy, pre-dawn mood of desire
enmeshed with technology.

you can download it for free here.

1. Gorillaz - Kids With Guns (Quiet Village Remix)
2. Deadmau5 & MC Flipside - Hi Friend (Original Mix)
3. Booka Shade - Charlotte (Dubfire Remix)
4. Bjork - The Dull Flame Of Desire (Modeselektor's Rmx For Girls)
5. The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This (Plastician & Skream Remix)
6. Guns'N'Bombs - Nothing is Getting Us Anywhere (Acid Girls Remix)
7. Pantha du Prince - Moonstruck
8. Air France - June Evenings
9. Tricky - Slow
10. A-Trak - Say Whoa
11. Kill The Noise - Hey You
12. The Glass - Mad At You (Arveene & Misk Remix)
13. The Proxy - Raven (Erol Alkan Live Set Extract)
14. Plastikman - Spastik (Dubfire Rework)
15. Elektrochemie - Caiti
16. Lulu Rouge ft. Trentemoller - Lulu's Theme
17. Swayzak - Smile & Receive (Apparat Remix)

so haunted

2008-12-15T17:51:00.001-05:00

photo: elise castrodale

FINALLY HERE!
HBWG02: SO HAUNTED
out 16/12

tokyo so haunted
october language
too late
dataloss
owen meyers's 3am mix

watch this space.

berlinette

2008-12-10T19:13:00.001-05:00

you can take the girl out of berlin, but it's harder
to take the berlin out of the girl.

bang my city up

2008-12-10T15:33:00.001-05:00

image: elise castrodale

styrofoam ones - OTTAP

historical rhetorical

2008-12-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

image: elise castrodale

Chromatics - Running Up That Hill

winter in our town.

2008-11-21T06:32:00.000-05:00

i think you're cool but are you in to skipping school?
snowflakes are falling now, it's wintertime, they're
falling on our town. do you like the snow? if you do,
baby, let it show! it's winter and it's snowing now.
there's snowflakes falling on our town, we're waiting
til they hit the ground; snowflakes falling all around.

so you think you're cool, skipping out on every day of
school? get yourself together girl; the summer's gone,
it's winter now. snowflakes are falling down, listen to
them make their sound. there's snowflakes falling on
the ground. it's wintertime they're falling on our town.

girlsareshort - snowflake

goodbye transistor tropics, hello digital winter.

2008-11-21T05:48:00.000-05:00

photo: sandra croft. the back stairs of 70 baldwin.

heartbeast: it snowed today for the first time, and i feel...
i don't know.

a flock of 500 starlings overheard.

2008-11-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

heartbeast: stop that sighing. yeah life is tough, but you gotta
keep trying.

"i just need this year's calendar, dear."

2008-11-18T07:03:00.000-05:00

heartbeast: i know a place where diamonds never fade away.
wolfgang: my dearest friend is shining brighter day by day.

even as the year ends, we are mesmerized by the whole -
no beginning and no end. when are you gonna see that's the
way life goes? and what a god damn blessing it is?

the tough alliance - neo violence (windsurf's neon violet dub)
the tough alliance - lucky

bad posture, good intentions

2008-11-12T12:33:00.000-05:00

image: elise castrodale

october language.

2008-11-01T13:08:00.001-04:00

photos: sandra croft

the language of october is nothing else but the impressions
and signs that nature itself speaks to us melted into sound.
autumn is a time of waiting and watching time go by, not
for action and loudness. as nature slows down after the
affluence of summer, october language speaks of the decay
of light, of leaves, of the quality of the sunlight and the
paradox of nature being both ephemeral and hauntingly
transient.

so, slowly, roll over and face the end. winter's here, but not
quite. october language whispers in these quiet spaces, and
what makes it such an effective expression of autumn is its
understanding of decay, the type that is always practically
imperceptible, happening over days or weeks or months
until the day you realise it's been happening all along.
grinding through filter overload, heavily processed guitars
and distorted loops that seem to go on forever, the sound
of october is about understanding that all beauty inherently
has an element of decay; behind the sunlight and warmth
there has to lurk an unspeakable melancholy and sadness
that will seep into the listener like the cold air on an autumn
night, slowly and imperceptibly, but surely.

so maybe another way to think about the language of october
is to imagine all the glorious pop music of the summer aging
and eroding before your ears in time-lapsed timelessness,
leaving only microscopic sediments that go on to form the
soul of winter as the heart of summer deteriorates.

belong - october language
belong - who told you this room exists

i heard she broke your heart again.

2008-10-13T20:57:00.000-04:00

image: sandra croft

can you see it's much better? it's been soo long.
can you believe it's much better, you've been so wrong.

van she - so high

seasonal adjustments, stars realign.

2008-10-10T06:27:00.000-04:00

image: sandra croft

we could change. we should change. you know that every
day from now on nature is trying to say "the summer is
over. and winter is on its way." summer songs have simple
blueprints, syndicated by open windows in june; winter's
about bells, strings, digital sounds, anything with a sharp
edge; spring can start from a fresh beat and grow in the
sunshine. autumn songs though...they're a lot harder to
pin down. not as pensive or hollow as winter songs, and
just that little bit more hopeful. autumn songs mean that
much more, because like the changing season, they're
about renewal; feelings come and go and change, good
and bad and sad. you can never tell exactly where it will
lead, and that's the beauty of it all. it's all about making
sure that as the season transitions, you do too, just a little
bit each day. when the leaves start to fall, hold out your
hand and close your eyes, coz you're in for a big surprise.

the bridal shop - violation

isn't anything like loveless?

2008-10-08T10:40:00.001-04:00

image: sandra croft

atonal, architonal. you and i listen to more music than
anyone else in the history of civilization. there are so
many records competing for attention, and so many
are potentially appealing on first listen that it is often
tempting to cling to the familiar and instantly likeable.
but it's important not to give up on those more difficult
albums. they serve as barometers, showing the limits
of your taste and understanding: here's where the music
gets too noisy; here's where it gets too atonal; this is the
place where i don't know what the hell is going on. and
while difficult records measure a boundary, they also
measure how your understanding changes between
listens. the way you hear music is continually shifting,
and many of those changes are unconscious. when a
difficult record finally makes sense, you will understand
how you yourself have expanded. in the end, it ultimately
serves as a reminder to listen real hard but harden not
your heart.

sy summer oh-eight

2008-09-17T22:31:00.000-04:00

sincerely yours sends YOURS0088 down the wire after
a quiet summer with an interesting proposition: a sales
contest.

"pelle's cd på nordpolen is out of the 24th of september
and for financial reasons we need to know how many
copies to expect to sell. 435 or 466? or maybe 632?
we're thinking maybe 1300. closest wins a night with
air france, a couple of 88:an or whatever. just tell us
what you need, baby.

mail your entry to 88an@sincerelyyours.se"

heartbeast: 886
wolfgang: 1234...

nordpolen is SY's newest signing, and his lyrics apparently
so affected TTA that they requested he sing in swedish so
as not to lose any of it in translation. to get the ball rolling,
the label has conveniently packaged all the nordpolen you
could ever want into a few cute little packages. the one that
caught our interest in particular: YOURS0086 + YOURS
0080 + some coke for 130 €...let us know if you do. the
gothenburg label ends a very successful summer of 2008
still coasting on the props from air france's lovely no way
down ep, as well as embarking on wide-reaching distribution
partnerships with the esteemed modular and montreal's
summer lovers unlimited label for all your TTA needs. what
next? we await.

see the forest for the trees

2008-09-06T00:17:00.001-04:00

image: elise castrodale

we'll miss you summer

2008-09-03T16:41:00.001-04:00

image: elise castrodale

happy birthday!

2008-08-20T15:01:00.001-04:00

image: wordle

wolfgang:
tell me what you hoped to say on your birthday.

heartbeast:
the secrets that we held that day will be kept
straight. everyone will be dismayed if you run
away.

wolfgang:
if you will stay with me we'll face the hardest
part. now, let's go out and have some fun.

c.y.o.a.
happy birthday! from modeselektor

we are the image-makers.

2008-08-20T01:45:00.000-04:00

autechre - quaristice (album cover)

heartbeast:
music is my imaginary friend.

wolfgang:
music is like the air, after that, it's gone.

what is the relationship between graphics and music,
especially in the age of ipods and torrents, when the
dissemination of music appears to rely so little on it?
well, the job of the visuals is both to announce - before
you've even heard the music - and to remind you of
its core attributes. it can arguably be said that music
is the one art form that has absolutely no basis in
reality. it purely exists at the time it is being heard,
other than that it's intangible. good artwork has the
ability to give the music credibility and vision that
plays an important role in creating a world for the
listeners to immerse themselves in. it can be the link
between what they're hearing and imagining. maybe
that's the relationship, then - perhaps the graphics
are a function that can make the ethereal slightly
more visible and less transient.

kidz at the disco: modular.

2008-08-18T21:57:00.000-04:00

modular is now 10 years old. really? really. one of the
record labels at the forefront of music right now, you'd
never guess it's been around since 1998. started in
sydney, australia by music promoter steve pavlovic,
the label made its name in 2001 by releasing the
staggeringly brilliant since i left you by the avalanches.
wolfmother, remember them? well people actually
bought their album, and it came out on modular. fast
forward to 2004, Year Zero for modern electro and the
first cut copy album, bright like neon love. in case you
didn't quite believe that cut copy would go on to rule the
world then, we're sure in ghost colours was quick to
change your mind. the rest of modular's current artist
roster reads like the dream festival bill: van she, the
presets, bang gang djs, ladyhawke, KIM (from the
presets/acidgirls), bumblebeez, ghostwood, softlightes
...and those are just the australians, before we even get
to the international signings and distribution list: the
tough alliance, new young pony club, chromeo, yeah
yeah yeahs, soulwax, klaxons, the whitest boy alive,
and MSTRKRFT. what, no mgmt?

the label has made heavy investments in talent for 2008,
so the recent financial losses come as less of a surprise in
that context, appearing as more of an ebb than a gloomy
end point. critics have pointed out part of the problem is
that its high-profile artists take too long to make albums,
citing the recent pushbacks to 2008 from cut copy, van
she, the presets and the avalanches, but maybe it's all a
clever strategy on the part of the label in an attempt to
cultivate a loyal and long-standing fanbase for its artists
in a notoriously fickle blogosphere. you can't buy the
priceless blog love that anticipation leads too. whatever
it is, it appears to be paying off - cut copy's in ghost
colours and the presets' apocalypso have already gone
to #1 on the ARIA charts - and will continue to do so with
the buzz about the recently released full-length from van
she, V.

the sun-kissed disco pop of modular is matched in equal
parts with graphics that convey a retro-futurist visual
language: technicolour shades with a whimsical sense of
humour, and madcap fonts. welcome to your childhood,
kids of the 80s, you'll love it here. popularized already by
so-me for ed banger and those four capital letters written
in gold, it's a sense of nostalgia without being old, and that
would explain how it's been so quickly assimilated as the
frontier aesthetic for dance music's blog culture.

it's not really a surprise to learn that most of modular's
branding and artwork is done by alter, the design studio
that includes dan whitford from cut copy. we shift into
music + graphics mode for week 2 of our design focus by
presenting you with a taste of alter's work for modular:
a balance of music and design, en vogue yet timeless.
stay with us, this week the dance party goes visual and
you're all invited.

modular people

far away: the modular magazine.

2008-08-18T20:49:00.000-04:00

image by modular people - it's the harbor bridge between city and north sydney.

in a distant arm of the design galaxy of modular but no less
awesome sits the magazine. if you've ever wondered what
exactly the presets eat while on tour, what on earth would
make the klaxons and label boss steve pavlovic travel to a
dalmatian island and about masturbation in music through
the generations, this magazine is for you. featuring beautiful
art direction from jonathan zawada from alter, it's a feast for
the eyes and even more proof of the diverse visual language
of modular. we couldn't have predicted the waves of envy
that descended on us upon discovering this and the inevitable
comparisons to the great escape issue that followed. we'll get
there, eventually, though. thanks for the push, modular, see
you on the other side.

modular magazine 01 (download)

time stands still: alter + modular.

2008-08-18T14:32:00.000-04:00

modular presents leave them all behind (album cover)

if you had a band, you'd do it too. it's not a surprise that
modular and alter have linked arms, since dan whitford
from cut copy is a member of the studio. the graphics of
cut copy evoke a distinctly 80s flavour with kaleidoscope
hues and playful stenciling that lends a dimension to the
band that is inseparable from their music. it's fair to say
that the cut copy covers are heavily influenced by the
style of international realism, arguably the most perfect
style for a band like cut copy that mixes emotion and
technology together into one synthful whole. here we
go, alter for cut copy:

cut copy - bright like neon love (album cover)

cut copy - future (single cover)

cut copy - saturdays (single cover)

cut copy - in ghost colours (album cover)

modular posters:

want it all?

2008-08-17T18:51:00.000-04:00

where to turn when bored of the bland AA options in your
closet, but scared of the garish and over-patterned jerseys
that scream at you from every main street window? luckily
there can be a harmonious marriage of graphic design and
fashion. one that is both witty and original -- of course
it's from japan.

Design Tshirts Store Graniph. the answer to your t-shirt
prayers. graniph takes the next step from where AA basic
t-shirts leave off. what sets graniph apart are collaborations
with contemporary and up-and-coming artists from around
the world. they also delve into the vaults of design history
using images from great minds of the 20th century. always
looking for more without pretense, graniph accepts ideas
from designers, type artists and photographers submitted
through their website to ensure the constant flow of amazing
design.

maybe you don't want to drop 2000 yen ($20!) for a tshirt,
but just want an accessory that complements your style?
graniph translates their ideas into portable mediums as
well -- the lighter! there's graniph all over japan and a
handful of locations around southeast asia and australia,
and if you get the chance to visit the Ueno location in tokyo,
you will be rewarded with a stunning store and lovely staff.
but even if you only visit their website, you will still be
presented with a modern and forward-thinking approach to
graphic design, complete with artist biographies, current
items for the season, and wealth of archived images that are
a feast for the eyes after all that boring cotton out there.

design tshirts store graniph

stay another season.

2008-08-17T15:09:00.000-04:00

i'm flying down to rio just to meet my girl cleo and then
go to venezuela and there be no better bitches. from the
beaches of the gaudiest and most fun party city in the
world comes this sparkling gem of tropical pop because
it's sunday, and we know you just need that extra pull
to get out of bed and into the sun. etienne de crecy amps
up the salsa-infused keyboards that backdrop the original,
throws in a few carnival samples and whips it all into
shape with sparkling, clean, tropical production. the result
is the perfect soundtrack for some girl-on-girl holiday fun.
as if you needed the extra incentive...

bumblebeez - rio (etienne dub remix)

the importance of being dada

2008-08-15T13:03:00.000-04:00

the large turf: image by flickr user christophotography

"nothing is greater than anything" else states dada, and
this is the first sign of hope that the artist can discover
the meaningless importance that has been invested in
the term ART. dada is irritated by those who write "art,
beauty, truth" with capital letters, and who make them
entities superior to humankind. dada scoffs at capital
letters, atrociously. dada scrapes from us the thick layers
of filth deposited by the previous centuries. you have for
once the invitation to make merry in our new and
unprecendented experience of art, with it's now reduced
front letter. at last! art and life are now the same thing,
resembling each other so closely in reality that it is never
a question if it should be set down on paper or canvas, or
given any greater degree of expression that we give a
morning walk, a good cup of tea or a rest in the sunshine.

cbc: inflatable dog turd sculpture escapes museum, wreaks havoc.
bbc: inflatable feces raises a stink (with image!)
bbc: two killed as artwork 'lifts off'
bbc: art lovers fall into the tate's crack

time travel is possible.

2008-08-14T23:04:00.001-04:00

international realism: image by elise castrodale.

international realism rose to prominence with the
technological possibilities of the late 1990s, combining
real life with an imagined reality to create a style that
could be from any era and all places. the marks of this
style are: a fluid sense of data, dignified elegance, and
flowing timelines that are neither synchronistic nor
linear. the style was created as a means to bring mystery
and graphic potency back into the international imagination
by transporting the viewer back to a time more innocent
of the normalization of the exotic.

international realism is set apart from other realism styles
by its revivalist use of perspective in international settings,
giving it the ability to hint at secrets of the past that never
actually reveal themselves. with the rapid advancement of
digital photography techniques and accessibility to photo-
manipulation software in the later part of the last century,
international realism developed into diverse and somewhat
abstract components combining identity and travel, each
representing a micro-style relating to either local history or
national vernacular.

it's philosophy is both simple and profound: eventually,
things will get to where we want them to be.

field guide to style & colour

deutsche liebe

2008-08-13T18:24:00.000-04:00

started in 1988, japanese company Delfonics creates
a variety of minimal, functional, and intelligent paper
products. their philosophy is simple (albeit slightly lost
in translation):

the stationery opens up your idea

of particular note are the Rollbahn series of notebooks,
(lined, grid, or sketchbook) that comes with several
pages of pouches at the back, and elastic to hold closed.
the notebooks also come in convenient and cute japanese
mini size. these products demonstrate the immense
popularity of the current trend in japanese design for all
things "german designed" -- even if not authentic. Delfonics
manages to meld a sense of german cleanliness of design
with japanese aesthetics, and for this we love.

delfonics/smith

everything old is new again

2008-08-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

image: elise castrodale

heartbeast:
i had a dream about a storm. it washed through
italy and took away all the old.

wolfgang:
so the new could finally be seen?

heartbeast:
but the best part was the rain.

wolfgang:
the best part is always the rain.

italy: art in the private sector
papesse

make make

2008-08-11T11:39:00.001-04:00

heartbeast:
you always had a way with words.

wolfgang:
you always had a way with design.

nostalgia+saturdays=youth.

2008-08-10T23:40:00.000-04:00

photos: sandra croft

is it august already? soon the leaves will fall in the
park, and the whole thing will look like a M83 album
cover. oh, which one? you tell us. let's go, xo.

5am in a perfect world.

2008-08-08T02:52:00.000-04:00

words: burial, photo: sandra croft

"i would sit around waiting for night to fall, wait for
summer to end. or i would go out, wait for it to get
dark, and then i'd go back and work on it, sort of
hypnotise myself. i love that feeling when you know
that almost everyone in your city is asleep, or you
go out and listen to your tunes in someone's car at
night. it's like hibernating. when i'm awake all night,
sometimes i see the people and the city waking up
around me. i feel a little bit moody at them for
stepping into my night-time. what i want is that
feeling when you're in the rain, or a storm. it's a
shiver at the edge of your mind, an atmosphere
of hearing a sad, distant sound, but it seems closer -
like it's just for you."

burial - near dark

it's wasted in the night.

2008-08-06T01:05:00.000-04:00

words: david castrodale, photo: sandra croft

my first fight was a couple of summers ago, and it was
pointless and unsatisfying. it never amounted to more
than a bunch of strangers blindly clawing at each other
on a street dried up of traffic and excitement. we tussled
outside the club while everybody watched slack-jawed
until the bouncers put a merciful end to it. you expect it
to be high drama - bodies pummeled, then restrained,
sweat-covered, shouting, veins throbbing, blood flowing -
but it wasn't that at all.

he came at me and i was confused more than anything;
if i were wearing a jacket he would have dragged me by
the lapels, but it was a t-shirt and he just dragged me by
the fabric while i calmly waited for somebody to step in
and stop it. nobody did, though. the specatators were as
calm, curious and confused as i was - we were all just
watching a situation develop.

finally, i got an arm free and hit him on the side of the
head. it probably didn't hurt, but he was drunk and it
knocked him off balance and i went with the momentum,
leaning forward while he reeled back, and we both went
down. he hit his head on the concrete and i bounced
back up while he stayed down and rolled over on his
side. i lunged forward to kick him and then instinctively
looked over at the gathering crowd to make sure i was
doing it right, that this was the correct way to act, but
nobody seemed to know whether i was supposed to kick
him or not. it was probably the right thing to do, but
neither me nor anyone else seemed certain about it either
way. I stood poised and bewildered, utterly motionless,
petrified, while he slowly pulled himself up. we looked at
each other and waited to see what was going to happen
next. finally, a bouncer came in and reasoned with the guy.

"look" the bouncer said. "he could have kicked you while
you were down, but he didn't. what does that say about
him, huh? what does that say about him?"

i couldn't say what it said about me. anyway, that was
the end of the fight.

the fight happened because he had offered me $10 for
a cigarette and i told him to just go buy a pack. and then
somehow in a way i couldn't quite comprehend, one thing
led to another. i was with my friend joelle, and all she had
to say afterwards was "well, he had a cool shirt on." and
he did, it was true.

anyway, i guess he had given me the $10 at some point in
the fight's preamble, and we went into the club, upstairs,
to the deserted dance floor, and shuffled around to ironic
new wave music while a cheap lighting show crashed
around us. i spent his money on beer, and all of a sudden,
my nerves caught up with me and it all hit at once, like i
had crashed into a wall. and, still, compulsively, i kept
dancing, jerking spasmodically around the dance floor
to the jangle of the cure like a broken automaton in a cage.

junior boys - teach me how to fight

nobody lost, nobody found.

2008-08-04T14:49:00.001-04:00

photos: sandra croft

burning in the face of love, staring at a silver sun.
i can see you almost in my town. nothing but a sea
of blue separates the seasons, and i think of you.
black out, keep your colours dim so nobody can see
you. leave me heading to the ground, always from
the same height, always falling down.

more than real.

2008-07-28T20:13:00.000-04:00

image: sandra croft

through the haze of countless days...eventually
things will get to where we want them to be.

digital love.

2008-07-28T19:30:00.001-04:00

caught in a wave.

2008-07-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

photo: sandra croft

sometimes it's just the simplicity of summer that lingers
in memory and nags with longing through the dead of
winter. from lazy afternoons to slow nights, this is a song
so simple and welcoming like a fresh breeze on a steamy
summer's night. the sound of ocean waves that begins
"beach baby" is an indication of the ease at which it will
roll over you; the vocals so seamless and dreamy that
you can almost imagine phil spector nodding in approval
at the modern, clean pop aesthetic. the beach boys will
inevitably surface as a reference, but it's all done in great
admiration for those original boys of summer. for all the
spaces between the wild nights, this is a reminder that
summer at its best is sweet, easy and smooth.

miracle fortress - beach baby

perfect sound always.

2008-07-24T15:42:00.000-04:00

photo: robin lacambra

why do all the kids on the west coast hate us? would it still
be that way if we headed out to the open sky, did acid all
night waiting for the rising sun, then after that we'll drive
into the setting sun? well, the future looks bright, so come
on, let's go.

history itself has revealed very little about the lives of
girlsareshort, other than their 2001 debut contact kiss
was written and recorded while alex lived in brooklyn and
daniel remained at home in missisauga, ontario, a suburb
west of toronto. but they were kind enough to leave us a
legacy of some of the most exhilaratingly relentless, and
ridiculously catchy electronic indie pop ever made, and
for that we'll always be thankful. when it rains (take note,
pacific coast kids!) this is how we keep dry - it's also the
sound of a busload of kids skipping school, running home,
pressing 'record', and shouting for joy. it's tough to decide
what to do when you're drenched in sunshine, and this is
not going to make it any easier, so let's go back to where
it all began (in more than one sense, since alex is now the
other half of MSTRKRFT) to the sound of an endless summer
when our biggest problem was just that - deciding.

there's your headphones, there's the door, there's the sun:
you know what to do.

girlsareshort - lovecal

postcards from the edge.

2008-07-24T02:01:00.001-04:00

01: the great escape.

2008-07-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

heartbeast/wolfgang takes off in style and with force
towards the new era with 01: the great escape. a
journey bound for clearer themes, greater precision
and higher ambitions. take a deep breath and jump in.

HBWG01: the great escape

everybody gets a little lost sometimes.

2008-07-19T17:01:00.000-04:00

photos: sandra croft

with hearts on fire i reach out to you tonight.

2008-07-19T01:39:00.000-04:00

when your sense of self-consciousness has evaporated into
thin vodka or you start getting the urge to bring your
hands together and touch the clouds, it's time to DANCE.
just in time for the weekend and always in time for the
great escape, we give you 19 tracks of razor-sharp candy-
coloured electro glass, from our friend owen meyers over
in barcelona. it's not the first time he's done this, in case
you're wondering, so wonder no more and go over here
to see what else he's mixed up.

so, now that summer is back and making partying more
urgent, more crazy, more "i know what you did last night"
"yes? please tell cos i don't", you can go hard with all the
boys noize your little heart desires, but still have one of
the classic moments in quality house music, jean jacques
smoothie avec 2 people, for when the sun comes up the
next morning. it's a very generous helping of sparkly
euphoria, and damn, does it make you just wanna dance
hard. so what are you waiting for? oh right, here, let's go.

tracklisting:
1. st. jordi day drum corps, barcelona
2. deadmau5 vs. jelo - the reward is cheese (jk remix)
3. boys noize - arcade robot
4. heartsrevolution - switchblade (la riots rmx)
5. fischerspooner - danse en france (d.i.m. remix)
6. crystal castles - knights
7. alan braxe - addicted
8. darkel - be my friend
9. the whip - trash (afrodigiscrache mix chopped by doorly)
10. boys noize - & down
11. cut copy - hearts on fire
12. simian mobile disco - i believe
13. van she - kelly (alan braxe and fred falke remix)
14. jesse mccartney - leavin (mstrkrft remix)
15. chromeo - fancy footwork (guns n' bombs remix)
16. jean jacques smoothie - 2people (mirwais extended mix)
17. kylie minogue - 2 hearts (the twelves remix)
18. little boots - stuck on repeat (fake blood remix)
19. M83 - couleurs

fire in your blog house, oh what's that?

owen meyers - bcn mix

stories from the city.

2008-07-17T23:44:00.000-04:00

hello, barcelona. it's the city that shuts down for three hours
in the afternoon, but with fun waves, blue skies and a desire
to always feel the sand between your toes, wouldn't you? it's
definitely somewhere you want to stay for a little bit longer.
at night, things only just get sweeter. the sun barely has time
to vanish before the dancefloors start to rock and altogether,
you start to wonder if you've arrived somewhere in music
heaven.

the days were getting longer so we thought it was just the
right time to introduce you to the first heartbeast/wolfgang
issue: the great escape. say goodbye to the endless winter by
perfecting the art of getting into deep waters with a big smile
on your face. or you could just visit barcelona and leave with
a big smile on your face, it's alright by us too. owen meyers
(barcelona resident and also half of circuit flow & the bird)
contributes a dazzling slice of electro goodness with his latest
bcn mix, and you can spend even more time getting to know
our favourite band at 36, 000 ft. we're sure you're wondering
when all the hype about air france will cease, but let us assure
you that there's never been hype between us and them, but
rather, pure love.

01: the great escape...COMING SOON.

modular landscapes.

2008-07-17T23:39:00.000-04:00

so you no longer care if there's another day. fred falke coaxes
erlend oye out of his shell, and in the process contributes to a
more beautiful world. this concentrate of pure bliss might just
be the track you are looking for to watch the sun go up and
down again, or simply just to roll around on the grass so you
tan evenly. you don't have to go very far or even to the beach,
to be absolutely honest. soft dance-inducing dizziness coated
with the sparkle of celestial synths is all you need to not be
cynical anymore. everyone in this house is hypnotized by
this track, when it comes up we stop what we are doing and
our heart skips a little, nicely.

the whitest boy alive - golden cage (fred falke remix)

transistor tropics.

2008-07-17T00:32:00.000-04:00

wolfgang:
we could fly to kingston tonight? high life like
everything's all right.

heartbeast:
maybe in chamonix i'll find peace of mind, simply
cruising down the hills in the sunshine.

in the karibien.

2008-07-15T13:21:00.000-04:00

our dearly beloved air france have finally resurfaced again
with the fantastic no way down ep on sincerely yours. it's
more aerial than last year's aquatic on trade winds, but still
with the same end product: 6 meticulous pop postcards from
a holiday so perfect that it could never realistically exist. but
that's ok, you still get 23 minutes of unspeakable loveliness
to dream along to, whether you're 6 or 36, 000 ft from the
ground.

since we're incurable romantics, we're going to take you back
to the winter when our love affair with the gothenburg boys
first began. it started with the usual coy glances, love letters
via sincerely yours and whispered invitations to tropical
hideaways. but it took only a single gesture of tender elegance
and unbridled wanderlust to win over our hearts completely.
before we knew it, the words were true: "i don't know why i'd
get sad when i had you". so hold on to me, baby.

air france - hold on to me, baby

deep into the waves we go.

2008-07-15T01:10:00.000-04:00

"sometimes the aim for reality feels too unrealistic. sometimes
you just have to indulge in sweet distractions, gentle escapes,
and beautiful illusions to be able to stand this excuse for an
existence."

tta escape the concept of a remix with a fleeting yet precise
touch, turning sweden's grandest 21st century anthem by the
embassy into a day spent in the waves. the sound of innocence
won back, or the only music you'll need this summer? it's up to
you to decide. now that's what i call indulgence.

tta - now that's what i call indulgence

the ambient century.

2008-07-13T22:58:00.000-04:00

"congratulations, you have reached the myspace page for the
greatest band in sweden. we're so good there's not enough bees,
pluses, lighthouses or whatever grademarks journalists use to
celebrate our records. the radio stations refuse to play our songs
lest an euphoric sense of class war should spread across the nation.
fuck you, be happy, that's the ticket."

air france - never content (video)

we own the sky.

2008-07-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

"no one understood how we possibly could circle round the
world, averting catastrophe, averting the sunrise..." can you
believe, we just caught the breeze? it's the dreamiest synth
line you could ever think up, light like a feather and deep like
an ocean. floating overseas through the seasons of change,
things will never be this good again...

midnight juggernauts - dystopia (cut copy remix)

setting sail.

2008-07-13T00:41:00.000-04:00

heartbeast:
i don't think i can take another day of this!

wolfgang:
why don't we run away somewhere?

heartbeast:
where?

wolfgang:
i don't know. san siro? reykjavik? barcelona?

here with you.

2008-07-12T22:44:00.000-04:00

warm like the sunshine and just as fleeting. time's passing by,
we're moving slow. all you need is this year's calendar, dear.
watching vapour trails, losing track of time...are you ready?