BLK JKS Ready Mystery Remix 12-Inch For July 7
Plot Summer Tour, Dates with Femi Kuti

Since the March release of their MYSTERY EP, BLK JKS have been on an absolute tear across the globe, including a highly anticipated return appearance at SXSW and an inaugural tour of the UK and Europe. The band shares the stage with Foreign Born, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Cody Chestnut, which speaks to the genre-ending mission of the BLK JKS sound.

A limited edition club remix 12” by house music guru Osborne will be released for the song “Mystery” on July 7. That's right, party people, BLK JKS care about you too. Very much, in fact. Their debut album, After Robots, on will be released on September 8.

GO TO GROOVEMINE AUDIOFILE, FIND FREE DOWNLOADS FOR BLK JKS



Ancient Astronauts ...Answer
Out on ESL Music; Released June 9th, 2009

Returning from extensive interstellar travels, Ancient Astronauts dropped their eclectic debut album We Are To Answer on June 9th!  Marking a foray into new territory for ESL Music, We Are To Answer is a melting pot of funk, dub reggae, and pure unadulterated hip-hop.  The albums feature vocal collaborations with Bootie Brown and Imani of legendary hip hop group the Pharcyde, Azeem, Tippa Irie, Bajka, Phat Old Mamas, Ulf Stricker, Raashan Ahmad and Entropik.

Ancient Astronauts is the alias of the funked out intergalatic duo, Kabanjak and Dogu, who recently returned to Earth in the year 2001. Having taken up residence in Cologne, Germany, Kabanjak and Dogu quickly set up a terrestrial sound studio, a record label (Switchstance Recordings), and a successful production, remixing, and DJ career dropping sound bombs all over the world.

Their name, "Ancient Astronauts" implies a mash-up of the distant past and the far future, the tracks on the album exhibit a melding of old school hip hop, funk and dub reggae with forward-thinking flair and production technique.

READ GROOVEMINE AUDIOFILE, listen to/download free AA music



The Thermals Exposed

Noisevox posted tons of amazing footage of The Thermals today. They perform 4 songs (3 off of their most recent Now We Can See) take part in a fantastic interview with John Norris.  He asks Hutch, Kathy, and Westin about their thoughts on the Portland mayoral scandal, lo fi, playing festivals, Twittering, etc.  This was filmed in the midst of their recent huge US tour and you can really see the chemistry both on and offstage with the band. 



Japandroids Sign to Polyvinyl
June 5, 2009 • Text: Ryan Dombal • from Pitchfork News

One of the most out-and-out enjoyable rock records of the year—Japandroids' head-rush-a-thon Post-Nothing—is getting a worldwide release on CD and vinyl via Polyvinyl August 4. (The record was released in Canada on Canadian indie Unfamiliar in April.) People around the world will be able to purchase the record digitally when it hits online marketplaces June 9, too.

Pre-orders for the physical version are currently available at Polyvinyl's site. After a medical setback, the Vancouver duo are hitting the road hard this summer, including a set at our very own festival.

READ THE GROOVEMINE REVIEW



Kim Gordon Disses the "Radiohead's Model"
June 5, 2009 • Text: Ryan Dombal • from Pitchfork News

"It seemed really community-oriented, but it wasn't catered towards their musician brothers and sisters, who don't sell as many records as them. It makes everyone else look bad for not offering their music for whatever."

Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon is not a fan of Radiohead's pay-what-you-want music-selling strategy. (via The Guardian)



Danger Mouse Talks to Domino about Sparklehorse
March 6, 2009 (re-published) • from Domino

Many of you will have read about the forthcoming Double Six release by Joker's Daughter, the collaboration between Helena Costas and Danger Mouse, maybe you've sampled some of the music...

So what made someone like the legendary Danger Mouse choose to work with Helena?  And ever wondered exactly what role he played in the music?

Danger Mouse took some time out to talk to Domino about all these things and more...

Q. How did you discover Helena?

A. A friend of mine saw her singing somewhere and told me about it. This was back in 2003, I think. She came out to LA and we worked on a couple of things. It wasn’t quite the direction either of us wanted to go in, that first stuff. After she got home, she started sending me demos that were a little bit more her. When I heard those, I encouraged it a little bit more, because I really liked the new direction.

When I was working on the Gorillaz album, I spent some time in London, and I met up with her on the weekends. Usually on Sundays. She brought some of her new ideas, and we recorded them in my apartment. After doing that over and over again, we had an album’s worth of material, thirteen or fourteen songs. That was 2005.

Later, she sent even more stuff that went even further, that I thought was even better. Little by little, we rerecorded some of the old stuff and then worked on some new songs. We never really did release that first one. There are a couple of songs, like “Jesse the Goat,” that survived. But she was really coming into her own style now, so we kept recording. Over the last couple of years, we put together this album.

[read the full interview here]



Animal Collective's New Single, Free Remix Download
May 19, 2009 • from Domino Records

“Summertime Clothes”, the second single from Animal Collective's critically acclaimed LP, Merriweather Post Pavilion, will be available 29th June on 12” and digital. “Summertime Clothes” is a deliriously warm and instantly infectious track. ”¨”¨

Remixes are courtesy of Hyperdub's elusive and spooky beatmaker, Zomby, LA's ”˜Ambassador of Boogie Funk' Dam-Funk, and South London breakbeat and dubstep producer, L.D. To celeberate the release of the new single we are giving away an MP3 of the Dam-Funk remix. Simply signup to the Animal Collective mailing list here to retrieve the MP3.



“Excuse me, but I believe you've sampled my funk.”
May 12, 2009 • Text by Egon • from Stones Throw newsfeed

It’s not often that a sample clearance claim against a record company turns out to be an altogether pleasant experience. Usually it’s a blustery, puffy-chested affair with lawyers on both sides citing arcane copyright cases and threatening court proceedings as if the year were 1987 and Biz Markie had just released his first album on Cold Chillin.’
 
We’ve been fortunate enough to never have to deal with any of that, as our attorney is the kind of woman who teaches copyright legends about the outcome of the most recent Koons case and its application to sampling before they even know about it. As a result, we have gained access into the superb Raymond Scott catalog through our association with Basta Audio Visuals and Scott’s musical steward Irwin Chusid. And, more recently, we inked a deal with singer, songwriter, pianist and man-in-the-know Matthew Larkin Cassell.
 
MLC hit us up after he heard his “Heaven,” from his superb (and superbly rare) album Pieces on the Madlib production “3.214” from Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix. At first Madlib had no idea he was using MLC’s work until he put two and two together and realized that his source material, a Japanese bootleg 12” labled “MLC” stood for, well, you guessed it.
 
Who wouldn’t want access to the multi-tracks to MLC’s break-beat laded “My Life?” Madlib certainly did. And MLC wanted to see his entire catalog (comprised of the Pieces album, an EP entitled Matt The Cat, a 7” single and a recent vinyl EP) issued on CD and distributed digitally. So, I flew to the Bay Area, hung out with the man and committed his story to tape. Even though our lawyer has been amazing with our other sample claims, Matthew and I decided early on to keep this conversation among friends so we got down to negotiations. Five months later, here we are. We’re officially announcing the soon-to-be-released Matthew Larkin Cassell The Complete Works and hinting that we might do something special with those multis. With MLC’s permission of course.

Matthew Larkin Cassell: The Complete Works
Coming on Stones Throw in 2009



Fever Ray Readies North American Tour
May 8, 2009 • Text by Maverick Newberry • from XLR8R

The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson has performed on U.S. soil before, but this fall will be the first time she does so under her Fever Ray name. Her debut album under this project was released earlier this year and met with endless amounts of praise, so expect this handful of dates to sell out in days (if not minutes). She's enlisted Swedish multimedia artist Andreas Nilsson—who directed the video for her first single—to mastermind the accompanying visual show.

Andersson is currently touring Europe and won't head Stateside until fall, but again, don't sleep on those tickets.

09/28 New York, NY - Webster Hall
09/29 New York, NY - Webster Hall
10/01 Montreal, QC - Metropolis
10/02 Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
10/03 Chicago, IL - Metro
10/05 San Francisco, CA - Grand Ballroom
10/07 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater

[read Groovemine review of Fever Ray and listen/download sample tracks]




Buraka Som Sistema Gets Remixed
May 14, 2009 • Text by Jennifer Marston • from XLR8R

We've learned a lot about the sound of kuduro lately, thanks to Buraka Som Sistema. The Angolian form of music rose to prominence earlier this year, when the Lisbon, Portugal-based group released Black Diamond, and now we can't get enough of them.

Hence, some remixes. BSS handed the track "IC19," off Black Diamond, over to XLR8R Artist to Watch Toy Selectah, Philly's DJ Sega, and Wales-based group Toadally Krossed Out for reworkings. Styles should be considerably varied for each track, and definitely different from the original version, also packaged with the release.


Another remix by Hot Chip, not on this release: