Happy New Year everybody! I didn't really make a top ten list because there was so much travel and good times..hard to quantify(and remember) all the sweet spots. If there was such a list, going to Moscow and hanging with the Solyanka crew would be on there. Check out this remix our friend Lipelis(Moscow-based producer) did of Tesla Boy's 'Boy in your eyes'.
If you're out and about tonight, Miracles Club will be playing at Holocene. Later in the evening Emotion II Emotion will be doing a live set as well as djing until 6am. Text me for details :)
I am a huge fan of the master of the "Mo-town minimal sound" and asked him to answer some questions for our blog. He did not respond, which I kinda expected. I don't think any less of him for "doing me like that". haha.
He sells his own records for dirt cheap and they are amazing visionary paradise records! Check out this living legend.
Vinyl for our latest single "I Can't Help It" just dropped! It's a part of a series of 3 12"s that Wurst is doing know as "The Wurst Music Ever" with digital and a CD down the road. You can stream "I Can't Help It" along with the rest of the comp here. Vinyl available @ Juno & Phonica
"Cadillac is an Australian luxury vehicle marque signed to Future Classic. If you like guitar solos, slow mo piano jams and the sounds of balearic, disco, pop and rock then we might have just the vehicle for you."
You can stream it below and the rest of the record on their Soundcloud.
7 original tracks plus 6 remixes one of which is a gorgeous remix from Marcos Cabral. Vinyl here digital everywhere.
"See Blind Through" is amazing and the video is so up my alley.
"See Blind Through (DJ Harvey Remix)" Download or stream below.
It just so happens that two very good friends of mine are making beautiful music together. Okay I have to admit that Portland is full of dynamic duos(and trios and so on) But all week I've been really enjoying the new tracks from Kenna Jean and Mark Evan Burden as Litanic Mask. I want to bottle Kenna's voice and pour it into my lavender eye pillow so that i might be protected by the lioness mother as i drift into sacred sleep. Is that weird? haha Check it out!
So you may remember we had an abortive post on Polonaise, the polyrhythmic house project of Avalon and Scott, a while back. Well, we took it down because we had a 100% Silk release brewing and wanted to woodshed a bit, til... now!
Scope Amanda Brown of Silk's mix for Mixmag (yeah) with a bunch of cool 100 Silk tracks and check out the preview of "Trocadero" from the forthcoming Polonaise debut 12" on Silk below. Enjoy and watch the sidebar here to order the Polonaise 12" very soon.
Self-described as a "post-experimental lazer-funk party-music space ship," Purple & Green (pictured above) is comprised of Portland's Adam Forkner (a.k.a. White Rainbow) and Justin Leon Johnson, two dance music patrons of the highest order. This "club mix" by Emotion II Emotion pares down the spacey sounds and implements a straightforward piano-house sound that skips and bounces in all the right ways while the song's soulful vocal performance is showcased front and center. You can check out all of Purple & Green's "Right Here" 12" here via XLR8R
Stream & Download
Purple & Green "Right Here (Emotion II Emotion Club Mix)"
Tonight we are thrilled to host the live 9 piece disco-tripper-diva-funk ensemble know as Midnight Magic. We played a couple of shows together in NYC over the summer and are psyched to make it happen again in our hometown. Cut Copy will be joining us with a DJ set to close the party after their sold-out show at the Wonder Ballroom.
If you haven't checked it out yet Midnight Magic released a free 5 track EP last month on Scion AV which you can stream and DL below.
And a new single "Drop Me A Line" on Permanent Vacation with remixes by Steffi (<3), Holy Ghost and more.
Tonight Ecstasy DJ's will be downtown at Valentines joined by Ash Williams (SF, Donuts Party). Let's throw the doors open this August eve and dance in the name of love.
Also on the E tip check out our friend Moralez from Saint Petersburg.
Here is a clip of him showing love in Russia and a few trax from his Soundcloud Rock U House
A major inspiration for me in the last year has been my friendship with sci-fi house technician Elliott Thomas aka Etbonz . In these days of over-done, trendy, and distracted music culture, it's great to meet someone who loves to listen in his music, restrain, and slowly build. I've been trying to get some unreleased original stuff from the man lately for the blog, but instead (for the time being he assures me) he dropped this mix in my inbox, and I couldn't be happier. A proper mix in the dance-floor realm from a guy who could have taken us anywhere. You can hear the space, emotion, jack, and future on this journey, all hallmarks of our local electronic taste-master alchemist Etbonz. If you like the good stuff I'm sure you will dig! Also check out his 7" track on this BIS mix. -Avalon
Two polyrhythmic tracks from the newly minted Polonaise team of Ecstasy's own Avalon K. and Scott G. Check this "digital-double-A-side" preview of 3-on-the-floor Roland boxes and some serious Reichian modes!
UPDATE: We've removed the tracks, but for a rad reason. Watch here for updates on the Polonaise debut 12"!!! Make-up goodies soon, guys, we swear.
We have been out on the road quite a bit this summer and haven't had the time to do much posting so here is a lil catch up... We just got back from the Sunset Campout where we played alongside our friend Steve Summers and hero Larry Heard ! and we are now back in NYC for a couple shows. If you are around Miracles Club will be playing Glasslands tonight and the Public assembly tomorrow night with Midnight Magic!
Here's a remix we did for the NY's Sheen Bros. Download via XLR8R
Tracklist: Ron Trent Feat. Chez Damier - Sometimes I feel like Jus Ed- Im Comin (Levon Vincent Remix) Robert Owens - One Body (Nicholas Interpretation) Azari & III - Lost In Time Peach Melba - Can't Let Go Steffi - Arms (Lone Remix) 4th Measure Men - 4 You (Maya Jane Cole Remix) Harkin & Raney - Workin' & steamin' Kenny Dixon Jr - Shades of Jae Romanthony - The Wanderer (Rob Mello's No Ears Remix) Runaway - Chapter 3 feat. SAMN! Dpac - I wouldn't Levon Vincent - No Regret Innergaze - Shadow Disco The Dirtbombs - Sharevari (Omar S Remix) Morgan Geist - Outronic
Check out the latest videos by our homies the Experimental Half Hour. Eva and Brock have been steadily documenting some of Portland's finest underground, weirdo art and music movement as of late. These two videos happen to feature some of the Ecstasy peeps Operative, Alexis, Finesse and Miracles Club.
Alexis Blair Penney's debut single 'Lonely Sea' is available as a 7" via HNYTRX and includes a remix by Honey Soundsystem. Also available as a digital ep with additional remixes by Ecstasy crew and Emotion II Emotion via Itunes Check it.
Alexis Blair Penney 'Lonely Sea (Emotion II Emotion Remix)'
Operative DJs curate Ecstasy at Valentine's this Friday. We're getting proto-, ur-, and meta- with a blend of the classic Ecstasy house-pulse flavored with techno and EBM.
Arnold Dreyblatt, the America-born, Germany-based Minimalist composer has got himself a Vimeo account. Dreyblatt's 80s and 90s works with the Orchestra of Excited Strings and his various other ensembles are notable for puting just-intonation tunings into some pretty novel rhythmic frameworks. When I first got turned on to this stuff I was rocking Otha Turner's drum and fife music pretty deep as well as Tony Conrad's Early Minimalism, so stumbling on to Dreyblatt via Matt Carlson was pretty serendipitous.
The vids' feature some of Dreyblatt's innovative instruments and playing methods including what appears to be a JI clavier you play with lil' mallets, lots of contrabass harmonics, a fucked looking high-hat, and a tympani-as-floor-tom deal for the drummer in the Bang on a Can performance. Not a lot of JI music you can get down to, even if it's more hoedown than house.
I caught up with westcoast techno pioneer Marijke Jorritsma aka BREEZY NIX after asking for an mp3 of her latest work. Marijke has always had a provocative and psychedelic edge to her music/art, and her newest offering is no exception. I asked her a few questions to give a backdrop to this recording, "JARRY". I wonder if it is named after the author of Pere Ubu? I wouldn't be surprised! It's a deal, BREEZY, we will take you to the river! Enjoy the summer jam and all these mixes she just rained on you. -Avalon
Why and How do you make electronic music?
Currently I'm making most of my music using Ableton Live (software and a computer), working mostly with soft synths and drum machines, samples. I occasionally record hardware jams with what I have lying around or borrow and cut that into samples to be used in my sets and songs. I've also been working on some remixes.
The why is a bit more difficult.... Why does anyone make any music or art?... to create something they wish existed, to partake in something they love, to celebrate with others who do too, to have a social alibi for being a complete weirdo... ah, I dunno.
What is it like making and mixing this kind of music in SF?
Well, I've actually only played one show in SF as Breezy Nix, my other shows have been in Barcelona, Berlin, and Oakland. But San Francisco is generally pretty fun, people want to dance, and if the sound is good and the stars are aligned it can be pretty awesome.
What is your favorite music right now?
Oy, so much. I've honestly been just listening to tons of mixes that I download from blogs. These are my top ten mixes of the moment:
With a broad musical sensibility and inspiring enthusiasm for House and Techno, Portland DJ/Producer/Electronic Musician Erik Hanson is more than deserving of an Ecstasy feature. A shining star in Portland's nightlife, Erik has been shining a torch on the path, so to speak, for some time now. Below is a dark and mesmerizing dub edit of a Japan tune for download. I was able to ask Erik some questions about context. Go dance with him this month and enjoy the dub! -Avalon
Why did you make this dub, how did it come about?
I love this song and have always wanted to effectively work this song
into a DJ set, but the mood of the song, to me, is full of a certain
heavy restlessness. It's beautiful at home, but I wanted to diffuse
the mood a bit for a club atmosphere. Plus, it's just fun to dissect
and mess around with the structures of songs that I like. For
instance, trying to isolate the vocals and set David Sylvian's voice
in an abandoned, frozen factory. I also wanted to add a mechanical
aspect to it as sort of an underline to the original's repeating drum
pattern. I made this one with DJing at Holocene in mind. I did it for
a particular night that I was booked to the DJ between bands. The time
between having the idea and the show itself was pretty short. It made
me have to be strategic about what I wanted to do it, in order to get
it done in time.
What music are you really inspired by right now?
There's a ton... Inspiration comes from all over. Inspiration drawn
directly from music is tricky to pinpoint for me because it is so
wrapped up in feeling. When I feel connected with a piece of music and
get that *zap* it has everything to do with how I'm feeling at the
time. I'm very inspired right now by the interviews in the book "The
Record Players: DJ Revolutionaries" by Bill Brewster and Frank
Broughton. I really admire the eclecticism that was embraced by DJ
pioneers such as David Mancuso, Afrika Bambaataa, Françios Kevorkian,
and Frankie Knuckles. These guys would pull records from many styles.
I would love be able to effectively combine a diverse variety of
danceable music, regardless of genre, into a night of dancing the way
that they have done.
What do you think of the dance/tech/house scene in Portland?
I think I've spent the past four days trying to type an adequate
answer this question for you, Avalon, and I am now opting for the
short response! :P
Currenty, for techno, DJs Folding and Ian Obe are keeping me on my
toes! (Their set from the last Various is excellent:
Miracles Club and Finesse get international makeovers today and they are looking fyne!
The first of which is The Whendays heady take on "The Light of Love".
The Whendays are a half Swedish half American duo based out of Stockholm that are making beautiful pop music that sounds to me lie somewhere between The Stone Roses and Al B Sure. Their take on "Light of Love" is a deep and provocative take on thee Original.
Check it.
Next is Prague's Sasha Nevolin and his DEEEEP remix of Finesse's "Elevate". Sasha tastefully strips "Elevate" down even further to just the bare necessities where he finds a hypnotic groove and rides it in to the sunrise. LOVE.
Check out the fabulous new video for Innergazes's "Shadow Disco" out soon on 100% Silk. Really groovy new track and direction for the group a very NY mutant-disco-proto-house-ish vibe but all of thee stripped down psychedelia of their earlier trax is still in full effect. Features our dear friend Damon Palermo of Jonas Reinhardt & Mi Ami on drums too.
Check out our new video directed by Judah Switzer Light of Love originally released on Ecstasy has been "Re-visioned" by our friend Dan for his label Cutters The 12" EP is available now at Juno and Here digitally. Thanks to all our homies for being a part of the club.
I first heard this track while by myself in a Helsinki hotel room coming out of a 6 day fever. I had slept only 45 minutes in 2 days. Something about it's mesmerizing synchronized beat cycles, deliciously dubbed out stabs ascending, descending bell drips immediately took me into a beautiful dream-state where i felt lifted and healed like some sort of remote reiki. This is now already one of my top ten songs of 2011 and go-to for the need for the immediate chill-down/re-energizational tripsss treat. And it's on my new favorite imprint Discaire out of San Francisco started by members of Honey Sound System. This one-sided limited 12" single comes in a top secret envelope with a signed manifesto and special codes in order to view the video in it's entirety. RIGHT?!!!! This is MAJOR so get it before it runs out!
Check out Ecstasy's own Operative. They played an excellent show last week with other great local projects Soft Metals and Jason Urick at Holocene. This just got me psyched for summer :)
Excellent deep house cut from K Alexi, 1987 Chicago. Bongos, talk like sex...bassline is pure shivers. Alexi & Mr. Lee's echoplexed "Just Say No" PSA is an added bonus that always confused me. Enjoy my 320 vinyl rip!
"a lovely slice of smooth jacking wobble involving crew from Miracles Club and former Glass Candy. Elevate, the title track in their 12’’ in Ecstasy blasts us from the now like some lost transmission from 102.7 FM WBMX. Alchemical proficiency can’t be faked, all the elements are there and the right reaction ensues: muscles flex, a sequined dress rides up percolating hips, eyes roll, dance down a road to illumination signposted by erotic holograms."
For this long awaited debut 12" from FINESSE, Susan and Avalon teamed up with Rafael Fauria of Miracles Club, and your friends at Ecstasy, to bring you a striking and memorable underground House offering. With a flattering nod from 20 Jazz Funk Greats, the 12" vinyl will be available for purchase here [click the link on the right of this page to order]. You can also purchase digitally on iTunes.
Features the two jackin' Finesse tracks "Elevate" and "Believe" along with the dance floor ready "Lifted Mix" from Jason Kendig (Mr. International) that will send shivers down your spine, plus an expansive remix of "Believe" by our favorite West Coast morning star, C.L.A.W.S. (Bar25, liftyourheadup)
One of our favorite trax of last year just got a proper vinyl release from Honey Soundsystem's new label HNYTRX. Includes a stark and sexy remix from Honey's Jason Kendig and Peeplay.
Rafael and I stepped out to see our new buddies Blondes play a couple nights ago. They were awesome! The kids were dressed super fun in their versions of rave culture and were even gobbling up handfuls of ecstasy in the bathroom. AWESOME :) The light show was pretty cool too.
Look at your crazy-ass, EYE. Doing your thing with those light-globes and some dudes on DSP in AEO. People all going ape-shit at Fuji-Rock. I could watch this all day and try and figure out if I could just sell all of my records, re-learn Japanese, buy a one-way ticket to Japan and be the V∞rdoms intern. That would work, right?
Jeff Witscher of Rene Hell and Cuticle passed me this 12" today, warning me "shit is NOT synced up", like I would judge. For real?! Cuticle is Jeff, Daren Ho, and Brendan O’Keefe laying down some bubbling tape-saturated techno improvs. Fits today's low-light drizzle up here in PDX pretty damn well.
This one creeps out into 4D courtesy of 100% Silk, a 12" only label founded by Amanda Brown of Not Not Fun and LA Vampires. Available over at their blogspot for $8! We at E-Blog have got to get our hands on some label standard-issue sleeves, quick, to compete with that.
Special note, tonight: this is the 100th post! Wooooooo!
Ready to get tripped out for a few minutes? Our girl Brenna Murphy (Oregon Painting Society) takes us on a journey through her video (off)worlds. A trilogy of sorts. Music by Matt Carlson, Jason Anderson and Jamie Potter are like early evening nap dreams of eclipsing binary stars and dissociative playtime. So compelling, i find myself watching over and over. check it out Gift Tapes
Ecstasy II at Valentines. No cover 9pm - 2:30am eternal. W/EMOTION II EMOTION DJs, HONEY O & SPENCER D
"Ecstasy is unity ... all we want is your body ... and your mind... to move in and out ... cause that's what we're about. Come into our House. Celebrate your love. Elevate. Your underground disciples Boy Rafael, Honey O, Spencer D, and Avalon K will be there. We want to show you love. All we want is your body. "
In other Ecstasy news check out this nu track off the upcoming Finesse 12" out soon on Ecstasy records. This track is one of 2 remixes by our good friend Brian Hock aka C.L.A.W.S. who is also know for his O.K. Hole and a member of the group Bronze. Jason Kendig of Honey Soundsystem and Mr.Intl also does a remix on thee A side which we featured on our recent XLR8R mix which you can find here.
The TF50 was designed by Justin C Meyers who also runs the excellent ToneFilth noise and experimental music label. He's got a keen eye for design to say the least and while he was helping me complete a tape release called Referent on TF a few years back we were building modular synths at the same time. I rushed through mine, he took his time and even got his Dad to do the woodworking. His synth ultimately looks much, much better than mine and really hits that Buchla/Serge/AMPEX 60s/70s Cali "burly" industrial design-era of electronic music spot-on. Just incredible.
Pretty sure this is just a demo, but hell, watch it just for the aesthetic beauty if you're not a synth nerd. Personally, its the sonics and the layout that does it for me.
New video for We Like Cats "Meow Hear Me Roar" directed by Jib Kidder Tonight come check out Supernature an all-ages dance festival with Adam Forkner's new project Purple N Green, Finesse, Onuinu, The Miracles Club, Linger & Quiet, Dangerous Boys Club and more. 6pm @Branx
3.5 hour mix of contemporary synth ambience to chase off your insomnia or backdrop your next big come down. broke it into 3 bits, so that if used as a sleep aid you would have the option to not listen to the same 15 minute selection over and over on those nights where sandman comes easy.
To whom we are devoted, let's warm our hands together as we celebrate our one year anniversary this friday night at Valentine's. Strictly house, deep, vocal, garage, experimental, contemporary, old school aka deep roots massage, extended play, TGIF feelings and love emotions. A new dance night monthly from us to you(and us) w/ Spencer D (Operative), Avalon and Susan (Finesse), Dj Allan (!!!) and the miracles club dj's.
